Connie in Ouray

 We finally made it all the way up the trail to the overlook yesterday, and we saw so many sights along the way.  But first, my happy place: There are still areas of snow, enough for Mirabella and Dempsey to lie down in and get snowcones.  My girl will find the last little bits of snow until it's all gone, and then she will be sad.  Because of the snow still on the trail, there are rivers of water coming down and mud, mud, mud.  Fortunately, Dempsey didn't lie down in the mud puddles, as he loves to do.  We're of course not out of the woods, literally, on that, but Mike has the hose hooked up for dog rinsing. We saw bear prints in the snow, huge prints.  They were heading uphill, luckily, and I was for once smart enough to bring our bear horn.  There weren't any sightings on our part, but I would bet they saw us. There were four to five new trees down on the trail.  Mike was thrilled, of course, because he'll get to take his chain saw and clear the path.  One of the

 On our way home from Ouray last night, we came across a yearling bear scampering across MFL near the Fickerts' driveway.  It was heading down towards Barb and Steve's.   We've been seeing signs for the past few months, specifically poop on the road, but this is our first live sighting. The pond is very full, as full as we've seen it, and the little spillway is doing its job.  We've been seeing lots and lots of crawdads/crayfish/mudbugs - whatever you want to call them - in various forms, alive, dead, swimming, more than we've ever seen before.  I think they're creepy.  We've been wondering if foxes, which are still doing their screeching thing at night, or bears or coyotes are feasting on them.  Hard to believe, but I haven't studied up on what those animals eat. The fish that were delivered last week seem to be thriving and alive.  I've been feeding them once a day, and I still find it hilarious to watch them grab the feed. And I have a daffodi

 That was on the overhead sign as we came back from Montrose yesterday afternoon.  They were right.  We had 5.5 inches of snow when I got up this morning, and it snowed/rained/sleeted until early afternoon.  I'm only able to measure the snow, but with that 5.5 inches, we are now at 185 inches for the season.   In talking to locals about this past winter, everyone says what a tough winter it was.   It had little to do with the amount of snow and mostly to do with the lack of sun.  Last year, the document on which I kept track of snow events was one and a half pages.  This year, it was three.   The extended forecast for the next few weeks is above-freezing temperatures at night and more than 50% chance of precipitation every day.  We're seeing more wildlife signs up here, coyote and bear poop on the road, foxes screeching at night, but no bear signs.  The fish were delivered before we even knew it had happened, so no pictures, but they are a hungry bunch as I go out once a day to

 On my way to my dental checkup in Ridgway yesterday morning, I saw this: Two complete rainbows, ground to ground Double rainbows are frequent in Colorado, but I've never seen to complete double rainbows.  Much to the dismay of drivers behind me, I pulled over several times to take pictures.  They were just too amazing.  I ran into the dental office and made the receptionist come out and ooh and aah with me.  She was appreciative...or so she said.  We put up hummingbird feeders a few days ago, and we've already had visitors.  There will be many more as it warms up, and I'm concentrating on annuals that will provide them with food. If anyone has ever been confused about when the tourists are expected to arrive, this removes all doubt. Yield to pedestrian signs are up! It's 45 degrees today, and it's been snowing off and on, most of it coming in sideways.  Welcome to spring in Colorado. The new fish are arriving sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Aaron says it's a new

  Last avalanche down Shook the house No windows broken The teeniest, tiniest little flower in the front yard