MORE THAN AN AIR SHOW
10 Nov
Air Show… (Photo credit: naathas)
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Speak Up Saturday-Paint Mine Park
20 OctSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
A few years back we took a ride to northeast Colorado near the small town of Calhan. Someone had told us that there was a beautiful area there called the “Paint Mines.” We were out in the middle of nowhere, when we saw a sign ahead that said “Paint Mine Park,” so we turned off and followed that road. We drove further out into the prairie land which was flat and barren. As we drove along, we saw indications of some ridges and gullies in the landscape.
Our road led to a parking lot, where we parked our car in an almost vacant lot, and started walking along the trail that was indicated there, although we saw nothing and did not know what we were looking for. As we got further along, we saw a couple of crater-like holes in the ground. When we looked into them, there were indications of beautiful rock/dirt formations in different colors. As the trail went on, we came to a curve, where the trail doubled back and went downhill from there, then snaked to the right and further downhill.
When we got to the bottom and looked ahead, we were flabbergasted to see we were in a rock canyon with beautiful spires and rock walls in breathtakingly different formations and colors. As we walked into the area, we were soon surrounded by these amazingly beautiful formations in bright purples, pinks, mauve, yellows, and stark white. It was absolutely unbelievable to walk into this alien land in the middle of the Colorado prairie. To make it even more eerie and exciting, the area was deathly quiet and no one was around. We almost felt like we had walked into the past. We eventually did run into a few people during our walk. It was strange how you could be alone in the quiet one minute, round a corner and meet up with someone without hearing a sound or seeing anyone until they were right there with you. At other times, you could hear voices, and never find out where they came from.
These rock walls, tunnels and spires were cut in here thousands of years ago by Mother Nature, and the Native Americans used these natural clay deposits for painting and pottery. The trails go along for a few miles of different kinds of formations. They are amazingly alike and amazingly different from each other. At one point, there are rows of large towering ghost-like formations called “hoo doos.”
This is one of the best kept secrets in Colorado. We took pictures, but you will get a better view of the Paint Mines if you just want to Google “Paint Mines, Colorado.”
A NATIVE AMERICAN QUOTE:
“WE DID NOT INHERIT THIS LAND FROM OUR ANCESTORS, BUT BORROWED IT FROM OUR CHILDREN.”
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Speak Up Saturday- Grizzly Encounter
13 OctSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
A couple of years ago our grown family members reminded us we never got to take family vacations when they were little, as we had a business and were always working. So we decided it was time. We coordinated our vacation time and decided to make it a trip to Yellowstone where most of us had never been. We took two cars and off we went.
On our first day into the park, I realized that wherever there was a group of cars stopped there was usually wildlife to see nearby. After a couple of stops behind umpteen cars, we barely got to see anything. Then we were driving along, rounded a curve and saw a group of cars and people standing by the side of the road. We were able to pull off the side of the road and stop.
So we all got out of our cars. I followed my son and said, “Let’s go up to the front of the crowd, as I am too short to ever see anything.” So there we were at the front of a crowd, close to a steep ravine and about 50 feet from the edge. Suddenly a park ranger, who was in the middle of the road to our left, and on the curve of the road directing traffic, started yelling, “Get back in your cars! Everyone back in your cars now!” Well, I did not see anything, but knew something was coming, and I was bound and determined I was not going to miss it this time. So I stayed where I was and actually took a couple of steps forward. Suddenly I saw directly in front of me a grizzly head pop up over the ravine. At that point, I quickly turned around and…. I was the only one there! Everyone had already made it back to their cars. I hightailed it as fast as I could, dodging between cars to get back inside our vehicle before I ever looked back.
In the meantime, my daughter was out on the road near the park ranger and could see what was coming up the ravine. She was in a safe place and close to their car, so she focused in on the bear family. As she brought the image in closer, she saw Mama Grizzly followed by her two small cubs, and at the top of the ravine there I was waiting for them to come over the top. She screamed at me, nearly losing the camera, but did manage to get the two babies and part of the mama bear in the picture (enclosed). After we were all safe and the bears had crossed the road she snapped two more pictures you see here. Mama bear was not concerned about the cars and people all around her that day, but only finding food for her family. I am glad I was not part of that.
It turned out to be a wonderfully exciting trip for all of us, with many adventures, and we were rewarded with the beauty of nature in all its wonders.
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The Elusive Mouse
29 SepSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
Here on the porch I have so enjoyed Patricia’s stories. Sadly it appears she may be taking a Fall break. If anyone has s story they would like to share, leave a comment or tweet me @onisha. I would love to hear your stories-Onisha
I think our elusive mouse has disappeared. Could he have been a figment of my imagination? I was so frustrated with something that wasn’t even there? However, he did leave behind his little gifts for me to clean up. And I remember when I first discovered his presence. He was trying to nest in my husband’s knee pads. He never even went near the pile of rags I keep in the laundry room. This just gets curiouser and curiouser.
If he is living under my house he must be an “arachnidavore” because that is all I have under the house. He would have to survive by devouring bugs and spiders, as he has not set one little foot in any other part of the house. I know because I have kept up a ritual of sweeping glances in every corner ever since he showed up.
We have had several cool nights and I figured if he was coming in from outdoors, he would be in on those nights. Black Cat has been hanging around just enough to make me think he could read my mind, and took care of the problem. No doubt Cat is a very intelligent animal. We have a mutual respect and understanding between us, even if there is no love lost there.
End of Mouse I think…. will let you know if otherwise. At any rate he still remains a mystery!
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A Better Mouse Trap
22 SepSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
The Last Meal
What’s this, you’re bringing the laundry down?
But I’m doing no laundry ‘til that mouse leaves town.
What did you say? You’re out of shirts?
So what, I’m also out of skirts
You think that I’m just getting lazy?
No, I’m not, I’m going crazy.
Besides, he’s eating up my laundry soap.
Is this weird little mouse high on dope?
I don’t want the whole place to belong to that mouse!
I’m doing no laundry, no, I’m not,
Not until that monster is caught!
“Do you think he’s inside that wall?
How did he get in here at all?”
We’ve never faced a critter like this before.
That’s it! I’ve had it, we’re waging WAR!”
“We’re going to serve him a fabulous meal.
One that he’ll beg, borrow or steal.
A Mouse King’s feast for the little beast.
The best of everything at the very least!”
“I’ll fill those traps just one more time —
He’ll face this ultimatum of mine!”
The traps are filled — a gourmet trough,
One tiny toenail will set it off…”
“Now we’ll just sit back and see,
Who’s going to win this battle – him or me.”
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A Better Mousetrap Round Two
15 SepSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
Here are some thoughts regarding our pet mouse.I think our precocious mouse is enjoying the new “live” traps we set out for him.
First, he is laughing and turning up his nose at the few little seeds in the middle of the sticky surface. He has completely ignored the seeds that came with the trap, but he has to be eating something!
Second, I think he is using these traps to attract his own preferred food products for his gourmet appetite. I always thought mice were vegetarians. However, he either consumed the beetle bug or dragged him off somewhere in order to clean up his own private space, leaving only one skinny beetle leg behind.
On the other hand, maybe he has a secret entrance to come in and out of the house, while enjoying the fruits of my garden before coming in to cool off in the evening.
At any rate, I can feel his little beady eyes watching me and I even imagine I can hear his little snicker when I check the traps and he isn’t there. (We currently have five traps in the laundry room). I’m certain he enjoys the laugh of the day and then goes on his merry way to wait for the next challenge from our simple little minds.
Proverbs 17:22
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Speak Up Saturday – A Better Mouse Trap
1 SepSpeak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
Patricia had been guest blogging this summer sharing her diary of the robin family. Now the robins have left the nest and a new critter is moving in….. Onisha
Well, now that the birds are raised and gone we have another critter to deal with. We have been trying to catch a mouse that has been living in our laundry room for two months. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But, we have tried everything to catch him–peanut butter, Cheetos™, honey, and a combination of these, which usually gets them right away.
Last night we set three traps — two of them with honey and Cheetos™. This morning he had those traps looking brand new, clean as a whistle, to the last drop of honey, but he did not trip the trap. We thought he was too small and light to set them off at first, but after two months of eating all that good food, we figured he ought to be big and fat enough that we could almost catch him with our hands, but he never sets off the trap.
Two years ago, our neighbor brought his trailer house down from the mountains. He said he was going to clean it up and take it to Texas. He also said it was full of mice. It was, and we have had mice ever since.
The black cat from across the street got fat on those mice. He spent a lot of time in our shed (with the broken board in the door so he could get in.) I can hear him prowling around in there at night. The cat stole the old traps that worked from the shed. He took mice, traps and all. He is a good mouser, but there are still a few mice around. Yes, he is the same one who goes after the birds, the one I put rose branches around the yard to keep out. I can’t get too mad at him, though, because I like the way he takes care of the mice.
Our laundry room guest, besides being a smart mouse, may be a “Smart Mouse” (you know like a Smart Phone – with a computer chip in there to tell him how to eat his fill without being caught.) We got a couple of new compassionate traps or whatever you call them, with sticky on the pads so you can catch them alive. Aaaghh! However, unless he is disguised as a beetle bug, we have not caught him yet.
Last month our neighbor sold his house and took his trailer to Texas, but he obviously left at least one mouse here.
Are mice now more intelligent than humans are? Is there not an engineer or inventor out there who can design a trap for a modern mouse? Or do EPA regulations forbid them to design one that can harm the little critters?
Beats me, but then, I’m not the first person to be beaten by a mouse.
Leviticus 11:29
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Speak Up Saturday- About Booze
18 AugSpeak Up Saturday
Introducing Bev’s Tall Tales by Bev
Last winter we had a group called, “Ten Minutes Stories,” where we each picked a word and wrote about it spontaneously for ten minutes. This short piece came from Bev, a woman who had experience with family members’ drinking. It is from her point of view, but I know many people who have loved ones, and have lost loved ones in the same deep hole. May this small writing help express the pain and frustration of loving (and despairing of ) people in our lives who are addicted to dangerous, unhealthy substances such as drugs and alcohol. DiVoran
Bev’s Tall Tales
About Booze
Booze, whiskey, toddy, cocktails, drinks…the list goes on; the word defines who we are. Cocktails? That’s a social elitist word for drink. Old fashioned terms for a drinker are: boozer, down and out drunk, wino, AA candidate, but won’t admit it yet and many others. (See, The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary, which contains 2,964 other terms to describe the condition.
Alone? What better place to strike up a conversation than at a bar. Even if you never utter a word there’s always comfort in hearing the din, the bartender taking an order, the jukebox bellowing out smooth and swaying music or hard rock and roll. My brother always found the bars to be a place of comfort; a place where everybody knew his name.
Unfortunately, booze can rob you of your soul, a perfectly sweet, gentle, kind woman becomes a foul-mouthed, vicious rampaging madwoman, a kind, and caring man becomes a belt swinging hitter and beater of the tiniest child. Booze becomes cocktails in a civilized living room setting; voices get softer, quieter in a bar until the third drink then it equals out–ALL BOOZERS.
Proverbs 23:35
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The Robins Are Gone
11 Aug
Speak Up Saturday
Patricia Franklin
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The Robin Diaries- Part 7
4 AugPatricia Franklin
This is the 13th day since the babies were born. We have been gone most of the weekend, enjoying some xeriscape yard tours around town and in Pueblo West. There are some beautiful xeriscape flowers and plants that I have never seen before. A few small plants really interest me…the butterfly weed(bright orange and almost like a wallflower),
An entire Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) plant from the ground to the flower. It shows the characteristic blooming flowers, hairy stem, and is within 1 to 2 feet tall. Photo taken in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Photo was a handheld shot. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
varieties of creeping thyme, which we have also planted in our flagstone walk, pine leaf penstemon, wine-cup, ninebark, sea holly, gazania (like a daisy in various bright colors), candytuft and my favorite, desert willow. That’s a willow with pink flowers that look like orchids. It loves the dry desert. It looks as if the flower does not belong to the willow tree at all. Gorgeous! Then there are several plants with wonderful scents, honeysuckle, chocolate flower, ornamental oregano, agastache (various scents, even lemon, mint and licorice), hummingbird mint, lemon thyme (a ground cover similar to what we planted), and various types of lavender.
I cold go on and on. I have fallen in love with all these beautiful plants that can grow easily and beautifully on our dry plains here. It was a great get-away for a couple of days.
The robins have been so busy feeding the babies. It takes two of them all day long, especially since the miller season is gone and they have to search for food. We decided to give them a treat yesterday and brought them back a few night crawler earthworms. We did not see the robins when we went out there, but put a few worms in the raspberry patch, then the rest in our garden. We were not gone thirty seconds when the mother and father came out to gather them up. I could not believe how fast they could spot the worms and have them back to the nest. Those little birds got their tummies filled in no time and mom and dad got to rest in a nice long evening break.
The babies are getting lively, flapping their wings and trying to stand up the tallest to get the first mouthful of food. I hope they do not fall out of the nest before they are ready to fly. They are three different sizes, one is quite a bit smaller than the other two, but they are all very lively. They are quiet. I thought I would hear them tweeting, but they do not make a sound. I guess it is safer for them that way. They recognize mom and dad’s warning call, and will scrunch way down in the nest when they hear it. They are all used to us by now, and don’t seem to care if we are out there though I’m thinking at least one of them will be gone soon, as my research said it takes ten to fourteen days for them to fly. It has already been thirteen, but I don’t think they are quite ready.
I think this is a critical time for the babies, so I am going to keep a closer eye on them for a couple of days. That cat knows when we are gone, and would be over here in a flash if he knew they were there. I will now go out front, water my flowers and make sure the cat knows I’m around.
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Old Things R New 