We're Back!

Apologies to our 10-person fan base regarding the lack of posts but we’ve been swamped on this end with some exciting work related projects/travel, a set of mounting family obligations, and a dog that keeps landing herself in the hospital due to seemingly uncontrollable dietary indiscretions.

The good news is that we managed to take advantage of last weekend’s 80 degree weather to camp up the Poudre River at the lower Narrows walk-in site. Nikon finally repaired the camera lens (broken by the young Ghanaian in June) after a mere three months of having it in the shop, so we used the weekend as an opportunity to test the camera using the “white faced” black dog as the main subject.

Despite having just attended a presentation on Rocky Mountain Elk populations, when we hit the trail for Saturday’s hike we’d forgotten that it actually was elk season. Foolishly (and wrongfully), we’d taken Kiwi off leash for a few minutes once we got into the back country and were startled when we observed two orange-vested hunters atop an ATV off in the distance. We scared the heck out of Kiwi when we frantically called her back to the pack. I’ve reconciled my feelings toward hunting in situations where populations are neither threatened nor endangered, but the method of the hunt (an ATV?) still seems a slippery slope. Had they shot my dog or my husband I would’ve done far more harm than shove a banana in their tailpipe.

On the upshot, on Saturday the Yanks won against the Halos in extra innings. We lost the signal on our hand crank solar radio shortly after Jeter hit the first homer of the night and didn’t discover the game’s outcome until Sunday. In the meantime, we enjoyed a warm fire and marveled over our spectacular bed of coals just in time for the anticipated drop in temperature. Half way through the night, the Chinooks did an about face and brought strong, warm winds through the valley and into our little tent, waking us while the black dog slumbered.