All is calm

 I'm starting to feel like Garrison Keillor from A Prairie Home Companian when I say it's been a quiet week on Mineral Farms Lane.  We had an inch of snow earlier this week, which brings our total this fall to 12.5 inches.  Here's to much more!

This morning, there was a skim of ice on the pond because it got really cold last night.  Never having lived by water, I'm finding the changing scenes of our pond fascinating.  Unfortunately, you all will be the recipient of many pictures.  I just can't help myself.

Mike has been trying to figure out what kind of ducks are floating on the pond.  They haven't been coming close enough to get a good picture, but he finally got one and sent it to his law partner, who is a duck hunter.  He said they're not ducks.  They're coots, and according to him, they taste terrible.  Believe me, we have no intention of finding out. 

Mark Veenstra (22) called yesterday and walked us through turning up the amount of water flowing from the water tank.  Ad nauseum, we are city people, so this was a challenge.  Fortunately, his instructions were so clear that Mike was easily able to adjust the flow.  And that said, we walked up to the water tank the other day just to get out after the snow.

Mike, of course, had to go up the ladder
and look in the tank

I had a checkup with my internist in Montrose, Ryan Wisler, this week.  He and his wife have a house on McNulty Lane, just up from MFL, and they are both ultra marathoners.  We spend a good portion of our time talking trails and wildlife.  He asked if he could run up our road as part of his training, and I agreed immediately.  Any doctor who wants to be in our neighborhood is okay by me - not that I'm a klutz and constantly use up my supply of bandaids.  So if you see a younger man running with a white border collie, give a holler to Dr. Wisler.

Coming home Tuesday from that appointment, betwen Montrose and Ridgway, I saw my favorite alpaca herd, a huge herd of domestic sheep with their black-faced lambs, and a flock of wild turkeys.  Between Ridgway and Ouray, I saw the elk herd, the four yaks, and deer.   I've been on the lookout for the bighorn sheep, but I think it's got to get a lot colder before they come lower.

A pretty sunset