A Full-time Life

Category: Colorado

We’re having a heat wave

We have been living under a heat dome lately. So hot! But it is supposed to be moderating a bit this week. I took the screen shot below from Thursday's local paper:

The line under the icons reads: Thursday Sunny and Hot; Friday Very Hot; Saturday Very Hot; Sunday Colder; Monday a shower……

Temperatures over 100 are definitely not summer normal here in western Oregon (or at least they haven't been up until the last couple of years. ) But I laughed at the five-day outlook when I noticed that under the icon for Sunday it says "Colder" (with a temperature range of 89/62). I don't think that's quite the right way to describe a day where the high is expected to be 89! (I'm writing this on Sunday morning and it is more pleasant outside than it has been, but I'm not wearing winter clothes just yet thank you.)

Because of the heat, we didn't get outside to play much at all last week. We've spent some quality time with our Oregon family and loved it, but somehow the camera never remembers to come out of hiding on those days.

Geoff's picture from their Colorado backyard

So this week I'm blogging a a few Oregon pictures from earlier this month and interspersing those with some lovely (and cooling) pictures from our Colorado family. Colorado is our "third State."

Lisa's picture from Colorado

Above is Lisa's picture of Geoff with Max the big white dog on an early summer hike. Morning or evening, Colorado skies are beautiful.

The pictures in the next mosaic are mine from a week ago Saturday before it got so hot here:

Just some random people showing some of the ways to enjoy the beautiful South Willamette River Trail (and on that river as viewed from the trail). Walking, kayaking, bicycling, walking with the dogs, tending plots in the two community gardens along the path, fishing, and just chilling in the park and along the water's edge. The trail offers something for everyone on a perfect summer's day. I'm pretty sure we'll have more good days before summer's end.

Green Heron

This is also my picture but from three years ago. A couple of weeks ago I showed a distant shot of another green heron and then I remembered this old picture. It's the best one I think I've ever taken of this particular species of heron even though we see them often both here and in Florida. Like the more recent picture, this one was also seen at the Delta Ponds and also in July.

We've been watching this big apartment complex going up along one of the streets on our way to the River paths. It's interesting to watch the progress. At this stage, the buildings didn't look like they were ever going to be finished, but now they look more like people will be able to live in them someday soon. The already finished building is, I think, going to be the office.

And here's one more Colorado picture:

Geoff's picture

And it's another one taken from their deck. They have magical views from their new home.

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities where I'm linking this week:

NATURE NOTES; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

July 31, 2022
Catching up

It has been a quiet week at the Canal Cottage. But the weather here has been good, we have things to do, and I am always grateful for ordinary days. One evening, we had a little wander around at the nature area down the street from home. It used to be the nature area next door because we could walk there along a short path from where we live to the center of the park.

The nature area hasn't moved and neither has the Canal Cottage, but now there's a gate that prevents residents of our snowbird resort from using that path. (We think it was a management decision due to insurance or legal concerns.) It isn't safe to walk along the shoulder-less highway to the public entrance, so now we have to drive there. Which means we don't go as often. It's never been the best nature park for seeing birds and animals, so if I have to get in the car anyway, it feels like we might as well go somewhere else.

That's about it for pictures from the week, so this is a good time to serve up some planned-overs. (Not left-0vers, because I have always meant to use these before the end of the season.) Most of them are from our Autumn stay in Colorado, which was so picture-worthy that it is no wonder I'm still blogging about it.

On one of our mountain drives with our son, we stopped in downtown Ouray. There is a beautiful koi pond (actually kind of a man-made canal and pond) at the town park. It was a fun place for a rest-stop.

Ouray is a charming mountain town that looks like a toy village from the viewpoint above. The town nestles at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, not too far away from where our son and daughter-in-law live.

On another day we visited a city park on land that was donated to the town of Ridgway by the family of Dennis Weaver (Chester in the long-running western series "Gunsmoke" for those old enough to remember.) The Weaver family had a home in the area.

I believe the sculpture below was meant as a memorial to Dennis Weaver. As the sign says it is a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle.

The Mountain and the sky are real. But the Eagle is NOT the real thing!

It really is quite a nice depiction of a soaring Eagle. And I think the pictures look like it could be a real bird taken with a good zoom lens! It would be a sub-adult because in the bright Colorado afternoon light, the white head didn't show up well. If I were at all inclined to cheat, it sure would be tempting to say I'd finally taken some good flight pictures!! (But I wouldn't do that. ) By contrast, below are the best flight shots I've ever gotten of the real thing:

These were from "our" Eagle nest (the one here in Fort Myers Florida) in 2018, the year I stopped by the nest on the very day that one of the Eaglets of that season took its final flight away from the nest.

And finally, one more picture which has nothing to do with anything at all that I've blogged about recently, but that I saved just because:

This handsome fellow belongs to a man who helps out at the property where we store our boat while we're away. He was keeping a close eye on us when we went to bring the boat home last Winter. Isn't that mask great? Unsurprisingly, his owner called him "Bandit." Definitely one of the most interesting random cats I've ever seen!

SHARING these random cats, birds, and wanderings with the following: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

April 3, 2022
GETTING AROUND at the Canal Cottage … and elsewhere

This one is elsewhere — seen on one of the Colorado backroads we recently explored with our kids:

I can get lost in a large closet, so I love my GPS. But I would know better than to use it on a backroad. And better yet, I know smart people who do have a good sense of direction who are happy to take me along when they drive them!

Here are a couple of places where even I don't need a GPS:

Morning on the Canal

Rise and Shine

Both the above pictures were taken across the Canal from the Cottage on my morning walk. I've taken similar pictures for years, but this great start to the day never gets old.

And below, a little further away from home, are pictures from Franklin Locks Park where I walked one day last week. This park is just a bit past our current favorite Farmer's Market, so the car pretty much knows the way all by itself!

Ibis along the edge of the river, taken from the pedestrian bridge at the Lock. And below is my Bird of the Week, the Northern Shrike, perched on a fence at the edge of the Park:

At least that's what I hope it is as it seems to match the description in my books. Even if I'm wrong he is still my bird of the week just because he posed so politely for me.

Grateful for ordinary days!

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

December 5, 2021
FLOR-ORADO – two favorite places

Here's the nature walk of the week here in Florida. These pictures are from Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford, in the Northeast corner of Collier County. We had some rain last week, but on this day, the sky was blue and it was shirt-sleeve weather.

Lake Trafford

Lake Trafford is about a 45 minute drive from home and we had to drive about half that distance in order to return a couple of packages. When we got to the UPS facility, we found that the Internet in that part of Fort Myers was down and we were unable to make our returns that day. So we did some accidental birding — something that's not at all hard to do around here. Little Blue Herons and Ibis are both fairly ordinary birds here, but these are the first ones of the season. Actually of two seasons, since we weren't here last year and neither of these guys hang out in the Pacific Northwest.

Like its title, this post is a mashup of two of our favorite scenic states. The following pictures are from last month's visit to Colorado.

Aspen trees make wonderful photo ops, whether a picture is a golden stand in the distance or a close-up showing the thin white outer bark, so different from other deciduous trees. And they are a fascinating tree. "One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism.   A stand or group of aspen trees is considered a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system." This Source article is well worth reading : National Forest Service Tree Profile.

Debbie's Meadow and Chimney Rock

We went along for Max's walk at Debbie's Meadow one day. We had a good view of Chimney Rock. Scenes from the original "True Grit'" movie were filmed here. And although I'm not much of a John Wayne fan, of course now I want to watch the movie again because I don't remember any of this.



On another day Geoff drove us over a Jeep trail to the ski resort city of Telluride. It was a beautiful drive and not anywhere near as scary as the sign makes it sound. We trusted our driver! It was on this drive where I took many of the scenic pictures from the past couple of posts. We enjoyed a good lunch and a walk around Telluride, which wasn't too busy during this off-season time of the year. (I don't imagine we would have been driving that back road if it had been ski season.)

It was almost impossible to stop taking pictures of Colorado gold! We were so lucky to be there at just the right time. But November is a pretty nice time to be in Florida and we're glad to be home. The picture below was taken a couple nights ago from our back porch. It's not the best moon shot ever, not even the best one I've ever taken. But like the birds in the top photo, it's the first one of the season. And we don't have good moon views from our porch in Oregon.



We are grateful.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; WANDERING CAMERA ; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

November 21, 2021
WE ARE STILL HERE!

In Blogland, we've been away for awhile …

but in real life we're still here on earth.

Happily, we're now at home, getting re-acquainted with our little corner of the world here on the Caloosahatchie River in Florida. But that's not where I took the above photo. I did the familiar "stop, gotta get a picture" yell as we passed through Earth, Texas — really just a rather run-down wide spot in the road — on the second leg of our cross-country trip. (The sign was the only photo-worthy part of the town.)

All of the rest of the pictures in today's post are from Colorado — our favorite stop on our trip.

The Autumn color was a feast for the eyes and the company was wonderful as always in beautiful Colorado. We visited our son and daughter-in-law in a part of the state that was new to us — Lisa and Geoff had moved into a brand-new home, on the Western side of the Rockies, just a couple of months earlier. We really enjoyed our stay — we always have such a good visit and it was fun to explore new territory. The gorgeous scenery was a huge bonus — the State really lives up to the motto "colorful Colorado" this time of year.

I'm not ready to post about the whole trip in any kind of chronological order yet (pictures to label and sort and real-life getting organized still going on here). Above are some more Colorado pictures featuring blue skies and more golden Aspens. (And our youngest son getting very close to the edge of a cliff.) By this time in my life, he didn't even scare me too much.

Gunnison Sage Grouse

An "accidental sighting " on one of our exploring days. I wasn't even looking for birds, but this one practically asked me to take its picture.

Ouray County, Colorado

More to come from Oregon, Colorado, Florida and points in between.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

November 7, 2021
OLD FAVORITES

It's kind of in-between seasons here in the Eugene area. Too late for summer and too early for Fall color. And no wildlife sightings. I took not a single outdoor picture last week. In fact, I took no pictures at all anywhere. That really doesn't happen too often in our world! But thankfully there are memories to share as we get ready to make some new ones.

Autumn Flyover – Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes – New Mexico, 2006

This was our second visit to the amazing Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

Last week, I didn't have any pictures to link to Skywatch Friday nor anything to link to Saturday Critters, so this post is definitely trying to make up for those omissions. As always I appreciate the hosts of all the sharing opportunities.

Immature Little Blue Heron and Roseate Spoonbill

Corkscrew Audubon Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Corkscrew is just enough out-of-the-way from our Florida Canal Cottage that we don't go there regularly, but it is always a joy when we do. It's definitely on the list for next time.

Colorado

Feeding Moose, Mountain Goat, and Elk in or near Rocky Mountain National Park

Pictures are from three different visits. Our Colorado family has moved to another area of that beautiful state and we are excited to see them and learn more about the new area. I'm sure the camera will come out of hiding there if not before!

So yes, we are planning to hitch up soon and head off for a (still) socially-distanced and masked road-trip. We always enjoy the journey but also look forward to visits with other people we know are vaccinated. I'll be taking a break from posting for a little while. But I will be reading and catching up with other blogger's adventures as we travel. When the tiny trailer is parked for the night and it's too early to go to bed, our IPads are the source of the evening's entertainment. Your posts are far more entertaining than the TV set that we took out of the trailer so that we'd have more storage space. I haven't missed it at all.

Grateful for everyone who visits and comments here at Full-Time Life. Thanks for your interesting posts and a special thank you to those who host the sharing opportunities where I link. This week, these:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

September 12, 2021
WILD MEMORIES

Sticking close to home this week doing some fun stuff that I don't document well with photographs. You know, like cooking, eating, reading, walking, visiting with local family. Of course I do take pictures sometimes when I do the latter two things, but photo-worthy nature subjects are hard to find around here on hot, dry August days. I might have to teach myself to take decent pictures of food and people at least during the height of summer.

We are also hopefully planning some not-too-distant travel (and I think everyone knows by now what I mean by "we" in this context.) I am grateful to the Travel Planner. I am also glad our weather here in Oregon seems to be cooling down some and I look forward to a few more good photo walks here. Meanwhile, while the other half of us is planning for the future, I'm collecting memories from the past. Obviously, I've also been trying to sort through a million or so digital photos.

I do better making family portraits of birds and animals than I do of human ones. Here are a few:

Top row: hungry baby Great Blue Heron and mom – Wakodahatchee Nature Center Florida; Pie-Billed Grebe family, Fern Ridge Lake Oregon; Swan Family, Germany River Cruise

Middle: Sandhill crane family, Upriver RV Resort Florida; Wood stork with baby in nest, Wakodahatchee; Whistling Ducks, Florida.

Bottom row: Burrowing Owl family, Cape Coral Florida; Stork Family, Wakodahatchee; Ospreys, Florida Keys

Pronghorn Antelope, Hart Mountain Refuge Oregon

The above is not my best or favorite animal picture by far but it is from the one and only place I didn't post about after our July trip to Eastern Oregon so it gets a separate picture. Below are some pictures that really are candidates for favorite animals — and favorite places visited.

Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado; Bison, British Columbia; Brown Bears, Alaska;

Moose, Rocky Mountain NP; Mountain Sheep, Colorado; Musk Ox, Prudhoe Bay Alaska

Mother and Baby Moose, Cook Inlet Alaska; Stone Sheep, British Columbia; Caribou, Alaska

Virtual nature viewing is almost as much fun as the real thing! I love the way digital cameras make it possible to capture all these memories. Here's a fly-in memory shot from another trip:

Happy September everyone.

Don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit on Wednesday.

Addendum from Wikipedia: "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words "rabbit", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it. The origin of the superstition is unknown.

LINKING to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; WANDERING CAMERA; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

August 29, 2021
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL 2021

To celebrate Independence Day, July 4 2021.

Pike's Peak, Colorado

I wish "America the Beautiful" were our National Anthem. With all respect to Francis Scott Key, the words of Katherine Lee Bates better express what we celebrate about our country. Here are a few of her words and a few of our archived pictures from places we have been fortunate to visit in our travels:

Oh Beautiful for spacious skies

Colorado Front Range

For Amber Waves of Grain

Palouse Country, Washington State

For Purple Mountain Majesty

Mt. Rainier, Washington

Above the Fruited Plain

(why have I never taken a picture of a fruited plain?)

…

And Crown Thy Good With Brotherhood,

Oregon – Central Pacific Coast

From Sea to Shining Sea

Atlantic Ocean – from Acadia National Park, Maine

We are grateful. Happy Fourth of July!

Linking this week to the following: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;

July 4, 2021
SMILES — REARRANGED

Nothing much new under the sun this week. Or actually under the rain and gray clouds. Rain is definitely needed, so I'm not feeling sad about it at all. And besides there are photo-worthy skies in the archives. Here are a few I re-arranged:

These six pictures are from four of our favorite states. Can you guess which? There's a hint (and an answer) at the end of this post.

No hint at the end about the above plant, but information from any experts is always welcome. It's fascinating that it has green flowers! There's a whole bed of them in a neighborhood garden I walked past last week.

Random soft color from a neighborhood walk before it started to rain.

When I said nothing much new happened last week, I meant in a blog-worthy way — the camera didn't get much of a workout. But things happened. We read, we walked, we ordered groceries, we cooked, "we" worked on getting our tiny trailer ready for some future trips …

And, as usual these days, we got a delivery or two. Now honestly, does every photo-blogger have a mental list of things they wish they'd snapped a picture of? My long list now includes the new mattress FedEx delivered last week. It arrived vacuum packed and rolled in a box light enough for the two of us to carry from the porch. Then we watched it magically inflate to a lovely 14"- thick queen-size as soon as the tight wrapping was removed. I wish I'd taken a picture of that! It's kind of amazing — sure beats the old way when a mattress purchase took two furniture store delivery persons . (Of course this time we had to move the old one ourselves — that was the harder part.)

One of these "wildflowers" is not like the other. Can you find it? Oh wow it's another puzzle. Every open space along the walking path is covered with these little jewels, in about the same proportion seen here. All so spring-like and pretty. I refuse to call them weeds.

This collection may help with the sky photo locations. These animals and birds are from the same four states as in the sky photo — re-arranged in the same order. (* see below link ups)

Thankful this week for the rain (but also kind of glad the sun has peeked through occasionally); for the new mattress that feels almost like it was custom-made for us; and for travel — both memories and future trips now in the early planning stages.

Linking this week to the following: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

Top row L-R: Colorado, Florida, Oregon. Bottom row: Oregon, Colorado, Washington.

April 25, 2021
WILDLIFE BREAK

Taking a little break from our Grand Tour

with pictures from familiar places.

(See the previous two posts for the first two chapters of our trip.)

This Green Heron was perched in a bare tree at the Delta Ponds near our Eugene apartment. It was just a short neighborhood walk during the first week we were home. Not really even looking for birds but very glad I had taken the little camera anyway. Nice welcome back to the neighborhood.

The week before that we were in Colorado with our son and daughter-in-law, our Colorado family. Toward the end of our stay, more-or-less recovered from jet lag and travel weariness, we spent a day with them in one of our favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park. As always, we had a great time with Geoff and Lisa — and as always on our Colorado visits we saw beautiful scenery and wildlife.

The Moose (Mooses? Meese?) were having a lovely splash in what was really just a large puddle. (The background photo shows what it looked like from where we stood — without our binoculars or zoom lens.)

LINKING to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY , NATURE NOTES; SATURDAY CRITTERS, and RATHER B' BIRDING . Thank you to the hosts.

July 16, 2019