This and that

 Thanks to Bryon Radle (15) and Ed, our on-call water dude, our water situation has stabilized as we wait for new parts to arrive this month.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Barb (3) texted last night that there was a big bear in their yard, not a cub, a bear.  Head's up, everyone.

Last week, we drove up Camp Bird Road to where the road was closed due to a mudslide.  There is a lot of damage on the road, from the ice caves to Senator Gulch, due to the deluges of rain we've been getting.  There are ruts and potholes, too many for Mike to fill in, which he'll probably try anyway, and a kind of scary erosion near Sandy and Larry's house where the road has been eaten into.  The county is going to have some work to do.

Have any of you seen the cord running across the ice caves bridge?  It appears the county is monitoring traffic, which I hope is their way of working on speed issues up our road.  Fingers crossed.

Son Greg pulled a 16-inch trout from the pond last night, released it, of course,  but he remarked that all the fish he's caught and released have looked very healthy and been strong, nice red gills and putting up a good fight.  And in that regard, Aaron (24) shipped some pond bacteria to us, which we'll be spreading out in both the upper and lower ponds soon.  

And, finally, if you are lucky enough to be asked to go hiking with Barb and Steve (3), say yes.  They took us to Porphyry Gulch (pronounced por-fur-ee), which is accessed from Bullion Lakes Road off of 550 south towards Silverton.  It's four-wheel drive to the trailhead, we started hiking at an elevation of 12,362, above treeline, and we  ended at 12,700 feet.  The trail itself is not hard, but anytime you're above treeline, breathing becomes more difficult.  Scenery, wildflowers, and waterfalls, oh, my!

Our start