The smoke!

 Ugh!  There are a number of big fires burning on the western slope, two northwest of us and southwest of Grand Junction, one that just crossed over from Utah, the South Rim fire at Black Canyon, and various others.  The ones most likely the cause of our smoke are the Turner Gulch Fire near Gateway and the one just crossing over into Colorado.  Wherever it's coming from, it's a stark reminder that we're in a deep, deep drought, and Ouray is under fire restrictions.  I can't imagine any of us up here on Mineral Farms Lane are going to tolerate an outdoor fire of any kind.

Taken from Ridgway tonight

Mike and I walked up the overlook - so dry!  It looked like early September in a drought year.  However, the hardiest of the wildflowers are out:


Gunnison's mariposa lily

aspen daisy

wild geranium

Indian paintbrush just starting to bloom

cow parsnip

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