Just Moosed Me

My heart is still pounding.

Earlier this afternoon I had told one of our guests that moose are more dangerous than bears or mountain lions, and 4 or 5 people have been injured in moose attacks this year.  The victims had been walking their dogs, and the moose (mooses?) had taken offence.

This evening I was crawling backwards out of the chicken coop after checking to make sure they were in for the night, and had my little pocket flashlight in hand.  I closed and latched the coop door and was still on my hands and knees when I heard something behind me.  I turned and lit up a moose kneecap about 15 inches from my face on the other side of a chicken wire fence.  I made some sort of growling/shrieking sound and the moose ran off, followed by another moose a pace or two behind it.

I know moose are big, but when you are on your hands and knees right beside two of them, it gives you a whole 'nother perspective.

Since they both left, I guess chickens don't offend them as much as a dog would have.

(And surprisingly, I didn't even crush the egg I was holding in my hand...)

Bill

Repairs Can Be...Difficult

Stuff breaks down here at the lodge.  I fix it.  I enjoy fixing stuff.  It didn't work, and now it does.  That makes me very happy.

This morning I replaced the dishwasher.  After about 15 years of service, it was time.  I pulled the old one out, put in its replacement and ran a couple loads through it.  It worked fine.  So I hauled the old one out to the garage/hay barn to store it until the next trip to the landfill.

As I was getting ready to open the door and put the leaky old dishwasher into the garage, I heard a sound next to me.  I glanced over my shoulder to see TWO HUGE FRICKING MOOSE coming around the corner about 2 feet from me.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.  They were "long yearlings", just babies really.  But they are still bigger than my horse (not that that takes much).

We all left the area in a HellOfAHurry.  I went back into the lodge and told Juanita about the TWO HUGE FRICKING MOOSE and we went up on the roof to take pictures.  They had already gotten over their fright and the "THREE" of them were eating our trees.

The mother was just out of camera sight, behind some trees.

Some of you may wonder why I tend to flee when I see a moose.  It's because they are the North American equivalent of a rhinoceros.  Poor vision and cranky.  I'd rather face a bear.  At least our little black bears.  I'm just glad we don't have grizz.

As for the dishwasher, it's still outside tonight.

Maybe next spring I'll put it away...



Bill

Dinnertime Excitement

Yesterday we took the horses out for a picnic ride.  Ranger did quite well the whole way (whew).

As we were coming back and crossed the road by the horses' corral, we noticed that the choke cherries were fully ripe, and discussed coming back and picking some to make jam.  We marveled that nothing had eaten them yet...

Feeding last night was going along normally.  The horses had their feed; the hay bag was out.  It was quiet and I was enjoying listening to contented chomping sounds.  Then I noticed another sound; the llamas were clacking.  They quack kind of like ducks when something excites them.  I started walking over toward their pen at the opposite side of our corral, thinking they had spotted coyotes on the trail across the road.  That was holding their attention.  Standing there staring at the trail a motion caught my eye - much closer than the trail.  A bear was stripping the choke cherries off our bushes maybe 20 yards from the llama pen!

Washoe had quit eating and followed me over to the fence.  I pointed at the bear to show him and he was so excited he was running up and down the fence trying to get closer.  I think he thought it was a big dog that did not belong and had plans to run it off.  (He's my dog chaser.)

I finally went back up the hill to get Bill, hoping the bear would still be there when we got back.  We watched it until it was almost too dark to see it.  After Bill came over, Ranger stood near the feeder and snorted; Jesse wouldn't even raise her head out of the food.  Gotta love living in the mountains.

The llamas spent almost all of their time running back and forth at the fence line closest to the bear.   Quacking.


Bionic Cowgirl

A Great Day to be Outdoors

It's been a while since I have felt I had the time to blog; lots of blog worthy stuff but just no time to put it in the computer (maybe this winter).  Right now I have some great memories.

Today I grabbed one of our granddaughters to head out for a ride.  Autobot has been 'working' at the Livery next door on weekends this summer as a junior wrangler, so she has gotten to ride, but not with grandma.  Well, this weekend the kids got to stay longer to help out and being a Monday holiday thing, they were here on a Sunday (Livery closed on Sundays this year), so I took advantage of the situation to grab her for a ride.

We didn't waste any time on saddling; just grabbed the grays and headed up the mountain.

This is what it looked like on the mountain on August 9 when I rode with our neighbor.  We had a lot of rain this summer and you could hardly see the trails for all the trees and tall grasses.  Compass and I did get up higher and locate the Rocky Mt. Sheep herd that frequents this area.

I was hoping to get some good shots of the aspens starting to turn gold.  What we found were several that had their leaves blown off while still green.  We did have a freeze on the 19th of Aug., but I didn't think it was hard enough to cause that.

This is what it looks like so far on Sept. 6; just tinges of yellow.

This is Autobot informing Washoe that he CAN walk through grass without eating it!  She is becoming quite the horsewoman.  It was a lovely day in the forest.

Bionic Cowgirl

Website - Spring Riding - Skeeter - Moose - Trail Maintenance

I know that I have been absent more than a bit for the last few weeks - but I have gotten a LOT accomplished!

The big announcement is that we have our NEW website active and live on the internet!!!.  Look for us at www.AllensparkLodgeBnB.com.  We had to establish a new domain name so we just added bnb to the end of our old site.  Long story short:  our webmaster of 13 years took ill and sort of faded out of existence. (He has since been located, but is fighting for his life against cancer and cannot handle the business right now.)  In the meantime, we were notified by the hosting company that our domain name had expired and they were less than helpful in getting the situation taken care of.  It would have taken a minimum of 80 days to get the situation under control, and feeling that we could not go the entire summer without a website, we started from scratch - purchasing a new domain name, registering with a host, and developing our own website.  So, please take a look and let me know if you see anything that you think could be improved or 'fixed'.  We are still adding options, but it is up and running!

Now that I can break away from the evil computer - that I swore to never be a slave to again when we moved up here - the weather has also finally cooperated and we have done a few short rides - and not along the road between snow drifts, although those were fun, too.

Look!  A lack of snow.  OK, I cheated.  This was taken the day before the last 30" of snow we got nine days ago.  But still, no winter coat and a ball cap.  Now that's wishful thinking for spring.

Then our daughter's newly adopted BLM mustang was delivered.  Meet Miss Skeeter Bang.

She is a four year old mare from the Canon City training facility; technically "unhandled".  She was on the wait list to go into their training program, but she chose our daughter instead.  Look at that blaze.  I believe it's been called a profile of a unicorn - and I totally agree.  Don't ask GunDiva what she calls it; she has taught tooooo many med/sex ed classes.

 GunDiva was hoping she was a dark bay, but I think she is a true black - and a gorgeous one at that.

She was so unconcerned about all the goings on and people around her, that she had her official 'ribbon cutting' that same day.

Two days ago, we took the boys and headed up the mountain to check the trails.  Most of the snow was gone already.

 

No green showing on the aspens yet, but the water is starting to flow.  We were going out bareback so we opted to just mentally mark the spots that needed the first of the trail work.  Things like this where debris just needed moving.

The upper trails looked pretty good...

 ...even with Ranger's cute ears.

We spotted 10 deer in four different groups.  They all looked pretty young.

Washoe and I had to have a few discussions about how he was not going to spend all of our ride-time with his head in the grass!

Not all of the trails looked quite that good.  We didn't have pictures turn out of the washed out areas, but planned on improving them.

Our youngest granddaughter, Asset, will be 'stepping up' to first grade next year, so her school is having a stepping-up-celebration this Thursday.  Her family all came up yesterday to bake tie-dye cupcakes for the fun times.  We made Bill a mini-loaf cake with the leftover batter - but this is what the cupcakes looked like.

Afterward, we all went hiking.  The kids chose the Allenspark Trailhead.

We hadn't gone very far when the trail looked like this.  I guess we won't be riding on this one for a few days yet.  Then last night, Compass called to say she had two moose wandering among her wrangler cabins.  We hurried over....

Mama and young one; probably the same one spotted late last summer as a new born.

We had set aside today to do some major riding and trail maintenance.  This meant saddles and everybody got to go.  We had only been out about 45 minutes when we had our first excitement:  more moose.  A couple crossed the trail ahead of us and headed up a small meadow to the next hilltop.  At first it looked like our mom-kid pair, but as we watched them it became obvious the 'kid' wasn't such a kid.  They both looked like young males just starting to get their racks.  Then the horses got a whiff of them and the cameras got put away, so sorry, now pics.  We opted to go the opposite direction and started up an old, unused trail that looked promising.  Almost at the top of the hill, I spotted barbed wire crossing the trail and down among the trees, so we 'parked the horses' and removed that.  They are quite patient at this stuff.

I would love to try a ride-and-tie, but I am afraid either of these two alone would uproot whatever tree they were at - but they do know trail maintenance.  After we came off that hill, we rewarded them with a picnic.

We soon started our way back by way of the trail that needed most of the water work.

Bill took care of that in short order and we spent the rest of the way picking up trash that the wind had blown in.  It's a good thing that I decided to do this blog tonight.  When I wanted pictures, we couldn't find Bill's camera.  It soon became apparent it had been dropped on the way home.  We headed out hiking - on foot, no less - and luckily found it right where we thought it had dropped out of his pocket, not too far away.  He had been wrestling with a fairly large piece of cardboard stuck under a stump.  It never would have been seen again.
Bionic Cowgirl

Snow & Moose

So after a couple of days of a May snow storm, we got more than three feet of new snow; about 18" on the ground now because it is melting and going away almost as fast as it came down.  The sun is sparkling and the sky BLUE!  I went out to feed, calling to the grays who are sun-bathing in the middle of their corral.  They come running up and then I get this:

 

"Hey, guys.  What do you see?"  I stare for awhile and don't see anything but snow falling from the trees.  Jesse figures there's nothing to hurt them and looks at me for food.  I go in the hay shed, cut the strings on a bale of hay, and look over my shoulder.

"Washoe, what is so interesting?"  

I put their hay in the feeder and they ignore me, so I stand and watch with them.  Soon there is a movement and out walks a very young moose.

I hurry home for a camera and Bill comes back with me.  I cropped this picture hoping it would really look like a moose.

Don't you just love it when your horses share information with you?  What a great start to the day.
Bionic Cowgirl

Corral Inspection

The horses are still down on winter pasture at the base of the mountains.  Eating grass.  Sleeping in the sun.  Being lazy.

It's driving us nuts.

We looked over their corral a bit to see how long we will need to wait for enough snow to melt off so we can bring them back up here.

The hay we bought and stacked last season seems to still be tarped and dry.

Hay Okay

The corral itself has some clear ground.

And some drifts.

But the most interesting find was this.

Those are moose droppings next to my size 11's.


Man, is Ranger going to be pissed.


Bill

Moose Crossing

Today we decided it was time for our weekly horse check; just to make sure they were still where they belonged (sometimes Jesse takes them on a walk-about).  About 200 yards after we turn onto Hwy 72, we see this sign:

Now this always causes a chuckle from Bill and I because we are not known for moose on our side of the Continental Divide, although we have heard that they are spotted more frequently now; but really - a sign!

So another mile and a half down the road, I see this:

I start hollering, "Moose, stop!"

Just to make sure, Bill turned the car around and we drive slowly by as this beautiful, juvenile, female moose happily chews on bushes - right at the edge of the road.

Talk about making our day - and of course, now we have to quit laughing at the sign.

We did get over to the horses, too, who were more than happy to enjoy the apples we had taken for them.
Last week we brought them no food, just a drink.

They were kind enough to take an obligatory drink of water after we painstakingly hauled it over to them in 5-gallon containers.

 I love this picture of the wind blowing Ranger's mane.  They are all so furry and shiny; I think they like their "wild days".

We spotted 'other' large tracks in one of the fields next to theirs.  Some we checked on and they belonged to our guys, but others were obviously a 'different' animal.  Wonder if they have met their neighbor moose yet?
Love mountain life!
Bionic Cowgirl

Just'a Ride

   Juanita and I finished getting the lodge ready for guests early in the day.  And the sun was out.  And there was minimal wind.  And we had a couple hours before check in.

RIDE!

   We grabbed the boys and threw bareback pads on them to keep our jeans clean.  And off we went.

   This time, we weren't looking for trail damage, just riding for the joy of it.  And the horses seemed to be enjoying it, too.  We saw a group of hikers way off in the distance, walking their llamas.  That was the only people we saw.  But after coming over a small rise in the trail, we surprised a herd (flock?) of a dozen or so big horn sheep by the trail.  Actually, they didn't seem surprised at all, we were the startled ones.

They were content to just watch us sort of out of the corner of their eyes and keep eating.

Herd of Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep

I think the horses were more interested in the sheep than the sheep were in us.

It was an odd and peaceful couple minutes, with just a little sound from the breeze.

We finally rode off, and finished our ride.



By God, I love it up here.

Bill

In the Dark

We've had a few distractions lately, so it's been a while since I checked the game camera (thanks again for the camera, GunDiva).  It had a couple hundred shots triggered, so I looked through them.  Most were pictures of blowing bushes, hopping crows and neighbor girls feeding the horses.

But a few were kinda cool.

On 8/27, a coyote was slinking around.

On 8/19, a buck was checking out the scrap hay.

On 8/8, a fox was following the neighbor hens' trail.

But back on 8/3... Is this a juvenile mountain lion?

It sure looks like a cat to me.

Probably just as well I didn't see the picture until a month and a half later.


Me-ow.

Bill

Lookin' for Wildlife

We'd heard through the grapevine - small town telegraph - that a moose and a bear had been seen at the neighboring lodge this morning, so when we finished our work we grabbed 'the boys' and headed for the mountain to see if we could find our friendly mama moose and her baby.  I got all excited because just at the top of the first switchback, we spotted a very dark back side of an animal - was it the moose?

Not quite, as we got closer the heads came up and they turned to face us.  A tad smaller than moose, but very pretty anyway, and perfectly willing to wait for a photoshoot.

We continued on for a long way, just enjoying letting the horses mosey in the sunshine.

As you can see, we were a bit lazy about our gear, so it was probably a good thing we didn't come across anything too dangerous.  In fact, about the most excitement was Ranger going under a branch too low for Bill and knocking his hat off, which called for a short discussion....

Farther on, we did come across a few trees that could use a chainsaw.  This one is right at head height, so we had to go around; the Forest people won't like too much of that.

Looks like Beel and Ranger are back on hospitable terms for the rest of the way home.

Great day!
Bionic Cowgirl