Hot day for a hike

With today's high temperatures predicted to be in the 90's, Bill and I headed to Palmer Park early - 7:30-ish - before it got too hot. We were going to try and locate a multi-cache (five geocaches with the first leading to the second; the second to the third, etc.) but could not locate the first leg after looking for over an hour so gave up - wondering if this geocaching hobby was really for us after all.

Since we still wanted to hike, we decided to look for another cache on the north end of the park. We parked the van, marked the spot on our GPS, and set out to look for the cache. According to the GPS it was just .5 miles from our parking spot - as the crow flies. Unfortunately, you can't get there the same way the crow does!

We climbed down to the Templeton Trail. It wound around a beautiful canyon and around again the other way until we can to a spot with a breath-taking view of Pikes Peak about 2 hilly, rock-climbing miles from the car - as the old people walk.

We looked and looked for the cache. It was supposed to be just off the trail in a small unique container. Just as we were ready to declare defeat - our second in one day - I decided to check for the umpteenth time around the rocks nearest to the coordinates.

I looked under two large rocks and didn't see anything but another small rock which I reached to move and out fell the log and a pencil.

I had found the cache! The container was unique as cache containers go - but looked just like the million or so other rocks on either side of the trail. We signed the log and headed back to the car feeling a little better about our geocaching abilities. We've now found 10 of 13 caches.

This is Bill looking for the cache. The views of the mountains were drop-dead gorgeous.

On the way, we saw this Marmot - or large Rocky Mountain ground squirrel. According to Wikipedia,
"Marmots typically live in burrows, and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social, and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed." The name marmot means "Alps mouse." They eat grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots and flowers.

We were able to take a shorter path and arrived back at the car about 3 hours after we parked it. The temperature was beginning to rise into the high 80's and we decided to call it a day.

The ANA Summer Seminar has been in full swing for the last two weeks so we have entertained son John and his friends several evenings. It has been great fun spending time with my youngest child. He just broke off his relationship with girlfriend, Anne, but seems to be fine about it. I wasn't sure I liked her anyway - at least not with John - so this, in my opinion, is for the best.

Yesterday I saw this Blue Jay in the yard - the first one this year. They are beautiful birds and always remind me of my earlier life in Penn-sylvania where they are more plentiful.

We've seen lots of English (or House) Sparrows at the feeders. This one is the male. The female does not have the black bib.

Mr. Squirrel looked like he was taking a nap on the fence. He was just laying there longing to get to the feeders.

I wish they made a Starling baffle to keep these loud, dirty birds away. I believe this is a young female.

Tonight I'm heading to Lucy's house for a rousing game of Bunko with girl friends from Einsteins. I must remember to take my roll of toilet paper.

A Wonderful Holiday Weekend

Bill and I again spent the morning hiking, this time in Red Rock Canyon. It is a fairly new park near Manitou Springs off Route 24 on the west side of Colorado Springs. We headed out early - before 8 a.m. - before it got too hot and before our daily thunderstorms.

The trails are well marked and range in difficulty from an easy stroll to a challenging climb. The views of Garden of the Gods are fabulous. We hiked from the parking lot up to the far southwest border near Bear Creek Park and Gold Camp Road - about six miles with an elevation climb of 500-600 feet.

The birds were singing as we climbed. This is one of my favorites - a young Spotted Towhee.

I'm not sure what this is - I think it's a Mockingbird - but it sang a wonderful welcoming song as we passed.

Tall Coneflowers were everywhere along the trails.

This is the quarry area. We had the coordinates of a geocache hidden in this beautiful area - but after yesterday's rain, we had to trek through deep puddles and lots of mud to find the cache. Bill located it first - on a rock wall. It was in a very small camouflaged container with just enough room for a small log - which we signed before we hid it for the next cacher.

I was surprised to see a Great Blue Heron on top of the rocks. It seemed out of place.

On our way back to the parking lot, this deer watched us for quite some time before continuing on his way. We watched him back.

We found another cache, hidden by five-year-old "Noah" along the path, but could not locate a third cache, "Slippery Rocks," even after searching the area for almost half an hour. I suspect it was just at the edge of a sharp drop-off. We decided to play in safe and not get too close as the area was covered with slippery rocks as the name of the cache indicates.

Back at home, I took some pictures in the backyard - our haven from the world. Our roses have never been more beautiful.

The feeders were busy. These little yellow finches are our most abundant visitors.

Last summer Bill's sister, Terry, gave us this beautiful orange hibiscus. It was gorgeous right up till the time we were ready to leave for Florida. We hated to just let it die - so our good friend, Nancy took it over the winter - along with two red geraniums. She took wonderful care of all three plants - and thanks to her loving care - this hibiscus is full of beautiful flowers again this summer. The geraniums are also treating us to an endless supply of bright red flowers.

The Downy Woodpeckers are back. We hadn't seen them for a couple of weeks while they were busy with their young.

Our Day Lilies are in their full glory. Each bloom lasts only one day - but just as one fades another takes its place.















Yesterday was the 233rd birthday of America. We celebrated with son John and "son" Erik who are in Colorado Springs to teach at the ANA Summer Seminar. Bill, as usual, made a delicious dinner with the help of his outdoor grill (The Benford) and I opened a nice aged red wine. Nice, very nice.

Great Excuses for a Hike!

We spent the morning hiking in Palmer Park - looking for geocaches and birds. We found both!

Bill took this picture at the first geocache we found. He wanted to take another picture of my back side as I bent over to pick it up - but I wouldn't let him.

The view from this site - on top of the bluffs, north and east of the dog park - was beautiful. In this picture, I have the container - which was beside a tree under a pile of rocks - in my hand.

We signed the log book, took a clip and left an Original Hobo Nickel Token designed by Ron Landis before we headed further north and west to find our 2nd cache of the day.

Bill re-set the GOTO on the GPS to give us the direction to the 2nd cache. I had already entered the coordinates.

This is a Western Wood-Pewee that was singing in a meadow that we crossed.

This is the site of our 2nd find. It was just off a popular hiking and biking trail - but we got there the hard way.

The actual cache was in a 35 mm film container - hidden in a hollowed out branch beside a rock. According to our GPS, it was 35 feet from the coordinates we had - but all GPS units are just a little different and the variances can be that much - which means we had to hunt around for about 15 minutes before we found it. We signed the log - the only thing inside the cache. It was too small for trinkets.

This is a Broad-tailed Humming-bird, very common here in Colorado. When they fly, their wings whistle and buzz.

The third geocache we found was "Camo-Cache #1" - hidden by the same person who hid the "Camo-Cache #2" that we found yesterday. We did not take anything but left two OHNS tokens.

The cache is in this picture. Can you find it?

Geocaching in Palmer Park

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

Bill and I headed to Palmer Park with our new GPS. We entered the coordinates for the "Hoffmann Boys First Hide" and started hiking. We found the location - but could not find where the cache was hidden. We returned again later in the day - but still no luck.

I emailed the "Hoffmann Boys" and asked for more clues. They kindly responded with precise instructions - so we tried again - and this time we were successful!

This is our first find - a treasure trove of trinkets, toys, key chains, coins, beads and other miscell-aneous small stuff hidden under some rocks at the base of a tree on top of a canyon in Palmer Park.

We took a key chain and left a silver ANA Summer Seminar token. I had to replace the box in exactly the same place as we found it. This is a terrible picture of my big butt - but it helps to tell the story.

Finding the "Hoffmann Boys" cache gave us the confidence to try for another - "Camo-Cache #2." On the GPS it looked to be just a short hike from our first find - but it was down the side of a steep canyon. Bill found it first then re-hid it so I could locate it with the GPS. We had a great time hiking, rock climbing, bird watching and geocaching for about 3 hours!

On our first trip to the park, we saw this beautiful Red-tailed Hawk in a nearby tree.

Several sparrows were trying to scare him off. He must have been too close to their nest.

The cactus are still blooming - and I can not get over how beautiful they are this year!

This thistle was about six feet tall so I had to shoot this picture from under instead of from above.

Back at the house, this Northern Flicker was checking under the bird feeders to see if I had dropped any peanut butter. I had - and he found it!

The pond lily is especially beautiful this year. So far, the raccoons have not knocked it over.

Last week I was in Maryland for the 1st birthday party of my youngest grandson - Sebastian (or Sebanstian as his cake mistakenly said). My youngest daughter, Pamela had all the in-laws and out-laws at her house for a wonderful party with delicious Cuban and Italian food. Big-brother, Gabriel and cousin Zachary were helping with the mound of presents.

Orlando and Pamela - proud parents of Gabriel and Sebastian. They have a beautiful home and were wonderful hosts. I'm very lucky!

Three of my four children - Pamela, John and Laura. I wish my oldest son Rick, his wife Lisa and son Dylan could have been there - but it was the same day as Lisa's 20th high school reunion.

Laura with Aunt Caroline. I had not seen Caroline in years, so it was really nice to visit with her and catch up on her life - children and grandchildren.

John and Pamela. John is my youngest and Pamela is just 13 months older. Don't they look alike?

Pamela and the birthday boy - Sebastian. He was just getting over Roseola so his face still had red splotches.

Sebastian on his actual birthday.

The almost newlyweds - Cheryl and Laura - looking oh-so-cute together.

My wonderful hubby, beautiful children and grand-children are my real treasures!

A Momma and the Night Visitors

Last night around midnight Bill woke me from a sound sleep and told me the raccoons were in the yard again. A mother raccoon and her four babies were at the pond - turning over all the stones we had so carefully placed.

Boy, they were cute! It took me several minutes to put something on and to get outside with my camera.

By the time I started taking pictures, Bill had made enough noise that they had retreated to the fence - but were not sure they really wanted to leave.

I had no idea if the pictures I took would really show anything - I was just aiming into the darkness and shooting. I did have the flash on.

Momma raccoon is hiding behind the leaves peeking to see if I would leave so she can go back to the pond.

Bill says raccoons are really the squirrels we see during the day - that have morphed into raccoons during the night.

Momma finally gave up and left. We caught them before they did too much damage and I don't think they came back after we went back to bed as things seemed to be intact this morning when we got up.

But I'm sure they will be back. I'll keep you posted...