New PJ's

Summer PJ's

Time to put away the long-sleeved, fuzzy warm pajamas and move right into new summer ones. You might notice a bit of a "fat lip" on this little girl. She bumped her mouth on the edge of a table and we think she bit her lip at the same time. There was blood on both the inside and the outside of her lip and it swelled up immediately. Unfortunately, it happened on Grandma's watch -- I was sitting on the floor right beside her. One minute she was standing up next to the table, patting the table top, bouncing up and down and very happy; the next instant she was on the floor crying (screaming). Mom came to the rescue and was able to stop the bleeding and soothe the little patient. All was well pretty quickly, but she still has a bruised lip to show for the mishap. Grandma felt so bad for her little girl!

Grandma visits the Twins

Maggie checks out the packed boxes

This stroller is so easy to push (not even too hard up the steep hills)

Facing forward!

Fun in the tunnel

Greg and Heather needed a little help with the twins while they start getting their house ready to sell. It's almost impossible to get more than a couple boxes packed while the twins take their naps; and definitely impossible to get ANY packing done while they are awake. These two are in perpetual motion when they are awake. Add three meals, numerous diaper changes, baths, dressing and undressing, making formula, washing bottles, answering distress calls (Maggie does not appreciate Emmett taking a toy she is playing with), (Emmett makes a beeline for the bathroom if the door is accidentally left open), and you have a very busy day.

Chuck is busy getting ready for our extended stay in Seattle this summer, but was not quite finished with his TODO list at home. So I flew to Seattle last Monday and stayed with G&H this week to help with the babies. Greg took some time off work so he could help with the packing, etc. I will stay in Seattle until the 6th, then fly back home.

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL here since I arrived so I have been taking the twins on a walk each day. There's a really nice area for walking that is not too far from the house. They really enjoy the walks, and I do too.

The twins are now facing forward instead of backward in their car seats. They seem to enjoy seeing their parents now, instead of just hearing them. The photo above was taken on their first-forward-facing ride.

We went to a birthday part for a friend of G&H's. The birthday boy, True, received a fabric play tunnel. We convinced Emmett to crawl through it. He wasn't too keen on it at first, but once he got in there he scooted to the opposite end where Greg was there to greet him.

Birds and Bunnies

very hungry baby robins

tiny house finch

baby bunny

I am enjoying the birds this spring; not that they aren't here every spring, but ever since the orioles arrived, I have just noticed them more. What is better than waking each morning to the sound of the birds singing. (If we just had a rooster, I'd be even happier!)

Chuck pointed out a robin's nest in the garage. Robins do make the finest nests. What a lot of work; imagine having to build a new house EVERY spring. (May I just remind you that we have lived in the very same house for 36 years!)

We have always put seed out in the winter for our tiny finches. The adults have very red bellies and heads; this tiny new one is mostly a brownish color. If it were not for the zoom on my camera, you'd hardly notice him hopping around in the grass. The adults are pretty small too.

Oh, and there's another animal that has, shall I say, invaded the property? When my niece, Barb, was here she was not nearly as impressed with our four-legged guests, as I am. I just love to see the cotton tale bunnies out there munching on the grass -- I wonder how many times a minute their little mouths are crunching on the green blades -- it's either very efficient, or very inefficient -- I haven't figured out which it is, but those little mouths move amazingly fast. And it's true, last spring we only had 3 or 4 -- Barb insists there are, well let's just say, MORE than that this spring. It is interesting that a rather large bunny can squeeze through a tiny little opening between the wires of the fence. And okay, Chuck likes them too -- and he even talks to them -- no kidding -- he does, and he claims they don't run away when he walks by if he gives them a friendly greeting. About this time I am sure readers are questioning our sanity, right? Not to worry, retirement is a time to enjoy the little things in life.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep

Barb in my "yellow tripod"

Elk on north side of RMNP

Our favorite picnic site in Endovalley

Lots of snow at Rainbow Curve

Elk on south side of park

Mule deer behind RMNP south visitor center

Didn't finish my blog about Barb's visit. It was interrupted by the oriole blogs. So back to our day in Estes Park and RMNP. Whenever Barb visited Colorado, one visit to Estes was never enough for her; she sometimes went as many as three times in one week. So she was excited to go (and she went there again two days later!).

We stopped at the south entrance visitor center and asked where we might see some elk. The ranger told us there was a small herd right behind the visitor center. So we very slowly drove on the roads back there and were lucky to spot two mule deer resting in the trees, and around another corner, the herd of elk. We were VERY excited to see these animals, after never seeing a single animal on our trip up the Poudre Canyon.

The ranger told us the road was open to Rainbow Curve -- Trail Ridge Road isn't open all the way over the Continental Divide until Memorial day weekend (or later) because the park gets TONS of snow and it takes a couple months in the spring to get it open. There wasn't much traffic on the road, as it was a Wednesday, so we went really slowly and saw a couple more mule deer on the way up. At the curve Barb carved her name in the snowbank -- they had plowed the parking lot there so we could get out and look down the valley -- beautiful!

On the way down we took the fork in the road to Horseshoe Park. There is an entrance to Endovalley, which is a road that goes a couple miles back to a wonderful picnic area. In years past, whenever relatives came to Loveland, we spent a day in Estes and had a picnic in Endovalley. The sign said the road was closed, but there was no gate up, so we drove to the picnic area and found our favorite picnic site, right across the road from a little stream. Such fond memories of those picnics.

We were excited to see another herd of elk just before we left the north entrance of the park. They looked kind of mangy this time of year, but it was fun to just sit in the car and watch them. Well, actually Barb didn't sit -- as I told her to stand up, put her head out the sunroof, and take pictures from that vantage point.

The park has built a wonderful new visitor center at the north entrance to the park. We pulled into the parking lot and Barb said "Those rocks are moving!" I glanced to the end of the parking lot and it did look like rocks, but in fact, it was a small herd of big horn sheep. And they were coming right through the parking lot. I quickly stopped the car and turned off the engine; Barb hopped up into her photo-taking stance and got some great pictures.

We were amazed at the ability of the sheep to just stand still one second, and then the next second, hop right over the fence, with what looked like very little effort. Three of the sheep performed this trick for us. You can only imagine Barb's excitement! She was giddy. What a great day for watching wildlife.

Hawks

Swainson's hawk atop our light pole

We have noticed a hawk for a couple of months now -- swooping, hovering, and diving into the tall grass across the road. It's been so interesting to watch this huge bird hunting each day. A couple of days ago Chuck told me to go outside and look up on our light pole. There he sat. I got my camera and clicked a photo, and then got out the bird books and started searching. The Birds of North America Guide to Field Identification didn't help. But when I went to the RV and got my National Audubon Society book, The Sibley Guide to Birds, I spotted my answer quickly.

I read a little more about this hawk on the net and found out that these hawks migrate here from South America -- this breed of hawk travels a long way to find their summer home -- and then back again for the breeding season in South America.

Ever wonder what retired people do all day??? Now you know.

And then there were two...

The "wife" goes to the "restaurant" for breakfast

Imagine my excitement this morning when I saw the male oriole chasing off another bird, while he was slurping up the orange. Taking a closer look, I realized it was the FEMALE oriole. I had already found an old bird feeder, nailed a couple of small nails onto the wooden side pieces, and plopped an orange half on each nail. I thought maybe there was a female around, and sure enough there she was. I am trying to get a photo with both birds but he usually shoos her off, so it may be difficult; that won't keep me from trying!

I read on the internet about Orioles and found out they also like hummingbird nectar, jelly, and raisins. So I threw a few raisins in their feeder, and we'll see if they eat them. So far I haven't noticed them hopping down in the bottom of the feeder to get them.

Oranges and Orioles

I recently connected with a good friend of mine who I "ran around with" from junior-high through high school. She lives in Missouri and mentioned how she was enjoying the Baltimore orioles in her yard. I asked her how she attracted them, and she told me to just put half an orange on the bird feeder and "they will come!"

So I put the orange out on Monday afternoon. Yesterday morning about 11:30 I looked up and there was a Bullock oriole working his way through that orange! I was thrilled! I got out my camera and started taking pictures. Here's a photo I took this morning. Notice that he has already eaten almost all of the orange -- he comes frequently and has to perform some interesting acrobatics to get his beak down in there, but that does not seem to deter him.

I love watching wildlife -- more photos to come.

Barb is in the Rockies again

Mom and Barb

Barb along the Poudre River

with Barb in Poudre Canyon

Barb at Cameron Pass

"Real" flocked trees

My niece, Barb has not visited Colorado for ten years, so we were happy to welcome her on Sunday. We went to visit Mom yesterday afternoon and this morning we headed up the Poudre River and Canyon, northwest of Fort Collins. The weather was perfect -- warm enough to get out of the car and not freeze -- and yet a spectacular view of the fallen snow on Cameron Pass -- 10,276'.

We were hoping to see some Moose, but we were disappointed -- it doesn't seem fair that Gary gets to see them quite often -- he even saw one just this morning -- but we didn't see a single animal. Hopefully we will be luckier when we go to Estes Park and RMN park on Wednesday.

We stopped and saw Mom on the way back home. She was looking at her photo album and showing the photos to one of the caregivers. She seemed quite content, and she had a bit of chocolate on her bib, so we knew what she had been doing - ha. She was also sporting a new haircut and very nice nail polish.