Wildflowers

One of the many nice things about hiking in Steamboat this time of year is the wildflowers.

Hungry elk

Because we had heavy snow early, the elk have struggled to get enough to eat and have been coming into residential areas much more than they usually do. Last night we almost hit a herd on our way home from dinner with friends and then this morning we looked out the window to see this big buck attacking a patch of exposed grass in our neighbour's yard.

Just a photo

I took this on a walk near my parents house (with my phone - apologies for the quality). The way the sun was shining on the grass caught me eye.

Cats

I've stayed in a lot of hotel rooms - more than a thousand nights in the past ten years - but the guest house we're staying at in the suburbs of Pretoria is the first place where a cat comes with the room!


Not that I mind; I like cats but we travel too much to have one. Think of it as a type of outsourcing (catsourcing?)

Of course this is more like the type of cat South Africa is famous for.


What's that? Not that much bigger than the first one you say? OK, what about this one?


We took these at a Lion Park we visited last weekend. They had a surprisingly good range of lions and other wildlife considering it was only a 30 minute drive from the city. But tomorrow we're off to the real South African safari experience at the famous Kruger National Park!

Dead trees

Since the mid 1990's Colorado's pine forests have been affected by an infestation of pine beetles which eventually kills the lodgepole pine trees that the beetles attack.

I've been vaguely aware of the problem and even noticed a few dead trees on the mountain whilst snowshoeing this Spring, but I was shocked when we returned home at the beginning of July to see great swathes of dead, brown trees all around the valley.

Fortunately much of the Steamboat ski mountain is covered by a mix of pine, spruce and fir trees so the death of the lodgepole pines won't leave it completed denuded. Nevertheless the dead trees do pose a hazard that the Ski Company and Forest Service will need to tackle one way or another.

Bird life

We visited my sister on the Gold Coast today. Her pet birds (Wally and Girlie Bird) were glad to see me. All I needed was an eye patch!


My sister's garden was also full of colourful bird life.


For those who are interested (probably just my Mum!) here's me on the left, my sister Joanne, by brother-in-law Greg and my nephew Julian.


Julian and I also went to the footy in Brisbane later that night. The Lions played like a rabble so the less said about that the better.

Alpine wildflowers

Part of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in summer is the wildflowers. So beautiful and yet so transient. Here are some from a recent walk on Mt Werner.

Local wildlife

Here's a picture of a little guy we saw on the mountain today.

Mountain picnic

I took a couple of hours out of my work this afternoon to ride the gondola, which you can do for free during the summer on your season ski pass, and have a picnic on the mountain. The squirrels were itching for some table droppings, but while it would liven up this post, I'm glad the aroma of our lunch didn't attract any bears.

The columbines, Colorado's state flower, are in bloom at the moment. Here's some we saw on the mountain today.


Up above, some hang gliders were riding the thermals and I reckon one of them had made it as high as 12 or 13 thousand feet, which is pretty good when you launch from the top of the gondola at 9 and a bit thousand.

Finally, we took a drive out to Oak Creek this evening to try out Chelseas Chinese restaurant. Now that I've tried every Chinese restaurant in the Yampa Valley I can say with certainty that while there are a million good reasons to visit, the Chinese food isn't one of them. Fortunately we're off to Hong Kong in a little over a week, so I'll soon get my fix of some real Chinese food!