Monday, July 07: Pine Valley Ranch
Jul. 16th, 2025 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistressofmusesOn Monday of last week, we went up to Pine Valley Ranch, another of the mountain open space parks.
It's a very pretty area.
A slightly different flower than I'm used to seeing. I think it's a type of Jacob's ladder.
A butterfly I managed to get close enough to get a picture of!
This thistle was taller than either of us, ha. But quite a hit with the bees.
The lakeshore was kind of disappointing. Usually we see lots of critters: fish, crayfish, frogs, snakes, etc. This time there wasn't much of anything. There were a few small fish and a couple crayfish, but we saw more dead crayfish than live ones, plus a couple dead fish. I did hear one frog or toad hopping away into the underbrush, but I didn't get a real look at it.
Last year was when I was very excited to see leopard frogs there, but I checked and last year's trip was at the end of July, so it's possible we were just a little too early for the things I'd hoped to see this year.
While a live one would have been cooler, the claws from this (probably eaten) crayfish were astoundingly blue. The weird little scrap of black and yellow turned out to be a torn piece of a swallowtail wing.
A swallowtail! We've seen a lot of them this year, but they never sit still long enough for a picture. Obviously I had to take this one from a distance, ha.
More bees on flowers? Always. (Adorable little antennae.)
Down at the end of the lake, in a sort of marshy area, a deer had stepped out for a moment. A moment later she stepped into the willows and she was completely gone from sight. (I wonder how often there are deer or other animals *right there* that we just can't see.)
We paused up at some picnic tables to get Bella some water and snacks (and for us too.)
A few minutes later, a pair of fawns came out from the trees down by where we'd just been.
The first little fawn, bounding up the path until it dodged over to the willows where we'd seen the adult.
The second one ran down the path, and then back up. It also started bleating, which is the saddest but cutest sound, but eventually also headed into the willows, so I assume it found where it needed to be.
A cool beetle.
I love how perfectly sized these flowers are, so that bumblebees fit completely inside except for their little butts, lol.
The river.
Daisies!
A tiny little blue spruce!
Paintbrush flowers.
Down at the base of the tree, another deer!
Bella did actually see this one, and she was very interested. We used to watch a wildlife channel to sleep to, and Bella was very interested in one of the wildlife rehab shows. Her favorite animals to watch were seals, but her second favorites were deer, haha.
We did go sit in the little pagoda by the river for a little bit before we headed out.
It's Bella!
A tussock moth caterpillar! They're very cool looking, though unfortunately can be pretty destructive.
And a neat crab spider.
Someday I'm going to get caught up, I swear. Eventually.
It's a very pretty area.
A slightly different flower than I'm used to seeing. I think it's a type of Jacob's ladder.
A butterfly I managed to get close enough to get a picture of!
17 more pictures (flowers, insects, deer, one spider):
This thistle was taller than either of us, ha. But quite a hit with the bees.
The lakeshore was kind of disappointing. Usually we see lots of critters: fish, crayfish, frogs, snakes, etc. This time there wasn't much of anything. There were a few small fish and a couple crayfish, but we saw more dead crayfish than live ones, plus a couple dead fish. I did hear one frog or toad hopping away into the underbrush, but I didn't get a real look at it.
Last year was when I was very excited to see leopard frogs there, but I checked and last year's trip was at the end of July, so it's possible we were just a little too early for the things I'd hoped to see this year.
While a live one would have been cooler, the claws from this (probably eaten) crayfish were astoundingly blue. The weird little scrap of black and yellow turned out to be a torn piece of a swallowtail wing.
A swallowtail! We've seen a lot of them this year, but they never sit still long enough for a picture. Obviously I had to take this one from a distance, ha.
More bees on flowers? Always. (Adorable little antennae.)
Down at the end of the lake, in a sort of marshy area, a deer had stepped out for a moment. A moment later she stepped into the willows and she was completely gone from sight. (I wonder how often there are deer or other animals *right there* that we just can't see.)
We paused up at some picnic tables to get Bella some water and snacks (and for us too.)
A few minutes later, a pair of fawns came out from the trees down by where we'd just been.
The first little fawn, bounding up the path until it dodged over to the willows where we'd seen the adult.
The second one ran down the path, and then back up. It also started bleating, which is the saddest but cutest sound, but eventually also headed into the willows, so I assume it found where it needed to be.
A cool beetle.
I love how perfectly sized these flowers are, so that bumblebees fit completely inside except for their little butts, lol.
The river.
Daisies!
A tiny little blue spruce!
Paintbrush flowers.
Down at the base of the tree, another deer!
Bella did actually see this one, and she was very interested. We used to watch a wildlife channel to sleep to, and Bella was very interested in one of the wildlife rehab shows. Her favorite animals to watch were seals, but her second favorites were deer, haha.
We did go sit in the little pagoda by the river for a little bit before we headed out.
It's Bella!
A tussock moth caterpillar! They're very cool looking, though unfortunately can be pretty destructive.
And a neat crab spider.
Someday I'm going to get caught up, I swear. Eventually.
This week on FilkCast
Jul. 16th, 2025 09:13 pmericcoleman posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
filkBroceliande, Brobdingnagian Bards, Anne McCaffrey Tania Opland & Mike Freeman, Daniel Kelly, Anne Passovoy, Mikey Mason, Playing Rapunzel, Mike Whitaker, Roberta Rogow And Company, Bill and Gretchen Roper, Echo's Children
Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com
Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com
Habit Tracking: Week 27 (July 06 - July 12)
Jul. 15th, 2025 09:57 pmmistressofmuses
Little frog, capturing my vibes.
This was a fairly good week. The second half of my time off from work was great, though it was of course rough to have to head back to work afterwards. I was really glad that I did things on all of my days off, and didn't end up with any "eh, we'll do something tomorrow..." days at home. I even did all right on the other stuff I needed to do for the most part. Unfortunately the didn't-realize-it-was-probably-a-migraine derailed the later part of my week pretty hard, and I had a few days where I just couldn't do much of anything.
Goals for the week:
- I did read more of Hummingbird Salamander
- We got some nice outdoor time
- I did not finish the chapter of my WIP, or indeed work on it at all
- I did not get caught up on DW
- We did go get crickets for Berry Mad
- I watered my plants
- I did not make one of the phone calls, and the other was rendered unnecessary when the website started working
- I went to breakfast with my dad while he was in town
- We went to the bank
- I sent money to a friend who was picking up a model for us at BreyerFest
Tracked habits:
- Work - 4/7
- Household Maintenance - 3/7
- Physical Activity - 3/7
- Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 0/7
- Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
- Meta Work - 2/7
- Personal Writing - 5/7
- Other Creative Things - 3/7
- Reading - 7/7 - Mostly I read Hummingbird Salamander, also read some of Witch King with Taylor, read some Duma Key with Alex, and read a bit of my ebook side read
- Attention to Media - 6/7 - Sunday had some paranormal and exploration videos in the background; Monday I listened to music; Tuesday and Wednesday had exploration videos in the background and listened to music; Friday and Saturday more vids in background.
- Video Games - 1/7 - Taylor and I played more of Final Fantasy XIV, playing through the first Sharlayan quest series
- Social Interaction - 6/7
Total words written: 0
Sunday, July 06: Roxborough State Park
Jul. 14th, 2025 10:15 pmmistressofmusesLast Sunday, after hitting the halfway point of my time off, Alex and I went to Roxborough State Park.
The rock formations are beautiful.
Absolutely huge bumblebee (appropriately) on a bee plant! I love these bees. They're at least an inch long, maybe a little bigger.
Small stripey lizard behind the grass! This must have been a young one, as it was very little.
Neat longhorn beetle on the milkweed in the garden by the ranger station.
We'd been a little afraid that it would be more crowded than usual, since we were going on a weekend day. I'd say we saw maybe a few more groups than usual, but it really wasn't too bad. It was a pretty hot day, and that probably kept some people away.
A little birds nest up on one of the historic house's outbuildings.
The historic house.
The back side of the house.
Down in the trees behind the house there were wrens nesting! They were very cute.
One of the parent wrens. Both were coming and going.
The nest, in the hole in the tree. You can barely see one of the adults' tails.
The wrens were very impressive hunters! We sat and watched for quite a while, so got to see them come back very frequently, with all manner of insects for their very loud little babies.
Lovely red rocks.
A cute little moth. ...I think this type camouflages itself as bird poop, ha.
Looking up the cliffs.
I never got to see it, but we heard a frog while we were on this part of the trail! It was a chirpier sound than the typical bullfrogs, so maybe a chorus frog?
Stormclouds moving in...
We were a bit worried about the storm, but aside from a bit of thunder and a few spits of wind-blown rain, it didn't do anything.
There were so many of the big bumblebees!
I always love the pollen saddlebags.
I like the trees growing on top of the rocks. Scale is really hard to convey, but those are full-sized pine trees up top.
As we were heading back, the stormclouds looked pretty cool.
And then two pictures from the same day, but not from Roxborough:
I'm pretty sure this itty bitty thing on my mom's geranium is a katydid nymph! So tiny!
And then a bit later, even more dramatic storm clouds from our apartment.
The rock formations are beautiful.
Absolutely huge bumblebee (appropriately) on a bee plant! I love these bees. They're at least an inch long, maybe a little bigger.
17 more pictures:
Small stripey lizard behind the grass! This must have been a young one, as it was very little.
Neat longhorn beetle on the milkweed in the garden by the ranger station.
We'd been a little afraid that it would be more crowded than usual, since we were going on a weekend day. I'd say we saw maybe a few more groups than usual, but it really wasn't too bad. It was a pretty hot day, and that probably kept some people away.
A little birds nest up on one of the historic house's outbuildings.
The historic house.
The back side of the house.
Down in the trees behind the house there were wrens nesting! They were very cute.
One of the parent wrens. Both were coming and going.
The nest, in the hole in the tree. You can barely see one of the adults' tails.
The wrens were very impressive hunters! We sat and watched for quite a while, so got to see them come back very frequently, with all manner of insects for their very loud little babies.
Lovely red rocks.
A cute little moth. ...I think this type camouflages itself as bird poop, ha.
Looking up the cliffs.
I never got to see it, but we heard a frog while we were on this part of the trail! It was a chirpier sound than the typical bullfrogs, so maybe a chorus frog?
Stormclouds moving in...
We were a bit worried about the storm, but aside from a bit of thunder and a few spits of wind-blown rain, it didn't do anything.
There were so many of the big bumblebees!
I always love the pollen saddlebags.
I like the trees growing on top of the rocks. Scale is really hard to convey, but those are full-sized pine trees up top.
As we were heading back, the stormclouds looked pretty cool.
And then two pictures from the same day, but not from Roxborough:
I'm pretty sure this itty bitty thing on my mom's geranium is a katydid nymph! So tiny!
And then a bit later, even more dramatic storm clouds from our apartment.
It's just a mystery...
Jul. 13th, 2025 11:22 pmmistressofmuses"Why have I have this omnipresent headache that just won't go away with any of my usual OTC painkillers for almost three days now? While the severity has waxed and waned, it just never goes away. And ugh, lights are really bothering me, too. It sure is frustrating that it seems to have come with horrible brain fog that has made work a struggle and made me basically useless once I get home. I also sure don't love how I've been so exhausted that I've been doing nothing much beyond sleeping, because I fall asleep after dinner, get up for an hour or so, and then go straight back to bed. Despite the 10+ hours of sleep, which is far more than usual for me, I've still been so tired for these last few days. I wonder what could be up with that?"
Oh right. *~Migraines~* are a thing that exist, and that I get! Why the fuck does it take me days to figure that out every time??
Still not gone, but at least the headache has been closer to a 2/10 all day today, rather than ranging from about a 5/10 to an 8/10 for the last two. No auras this time, which is nice, though that would have clued me in faster. And I feel like I can form complete, mostly coherent thoughts! So that's an improvement.
Definitely fell farther behind instead of catching up on things though. Rude.
Oh right. *~Migraines~* are a thing that exist, and that I get! Why the fuck does it take me days to figure that out every time??
Still not gone, but at least the headache has been closer to a 2/10 all day today, rather than ranging from about a 5/10 to an 8/10 for the last two. No auras this time, which is nice, though that would have clued me in faster. And I feel like I can form complete, mostly coherent thoughts! So that's an improvement.
Definitely fell farther behind instead of catching up on things though. Rude.
Thursday, July 3: Mount Falcon
Jul. 11th, 2025 07:49 pmmistressofmusesThursday was the first day of my break from work, and we headed up to Mount Falcon. We've been there before, though this was the first time for Bella. It's always a pretty spot!
I'm sure I've taken a variation on this picture every time we're here. I just love the layered windows and the tree behind, ha.
Looking towards the east, you can see a very long way.
There's Denver, way in the distance in the middle.
A fritillary butterfly.
Bella is... not a robust dog, haha. She is very strong, and can be energetic in short bursts, but endurance is not her calling in life, I'm afraid. Mount Falcon (at least the trail we were taking) is not super difficult or super long, but we still made sure we were taking frequent breaks for her to get to pause for a minute and get some water and snacks. (And stopping more often is good for us, too. We're trying to be better about staying hydrated!)
Look at this weenie.
Majestic.
Wild geranium.
You really can see quite far!
The biggest draw of this particular trail is the "castle ruins," the remains of the Walker Mansion. The house was built in 1911, and then was struck by lightning and fell down in 1918.
Having a large bird soaring right over the ruins on approach was pretty great. I think this was a raven.
The still very tall chimney.
I love the shield-shaped window.
Lots of wildflowers growing inside the ruins.
A little fireplace. Plus dramatic dead tree.
Plant growing in the pillar.
I wanted to get a picture of Bella on the same rock that I have a picture of Cy standing on. (One of my favorite pictures, the one my friend did the amazing art of.)
Unfortunately, Bella is not quite as good at posing, and the rocks were a little warm. Not horribly hot, but not super pleasant to be scrambling around on, so we weren't going to spend too long trying.
Not as dramatic, but at least it's Bella with a lovely background, ha.
Adventurous!
You can hike down and around the ruins area a bit, and get down to a little spot sort of below the edge of the cliff. It's often very nice and cool down there in the shade, so we headed down that way to take another break.
Some pinecones at a neat stage.
Huge thistle and a very vibrant bumblebee.
A pair of spiders. They were very small, and I couldn't really get my camera to fully focus on them. I assume the bigger one in the middle is a female and the thinner one up to the left is a male. (There was a second web with two that didn't seem to have gotten along quite so well... the female seemed to have made a snack of the male.)
A fern!
A ladybug on an oak leaf.
The meadow area was really pretty. Very multi-colored with the different things growing.
It'd been a few years since we went to Mount Falcon, and I was glad we got to go again. It really is a neat place.
I'm sure I've taken a variation on this picture every time we're here. I just love the layered windows and the tree behind, ha.
Looking towards the east, you can see a very long way.
21 more pictures: scenery, Bella, ruins, a spider...
There's Denver, way in the distance in the middle.
A fritillary butterfly.
Bella is... not a robust dog, haha. She is very strong, and can be energetic in short bursts, but endurance is not her calling in life, I'm afraid. Mount Falcon (at least the trail we were taking) is not super difficult or super long, but we still made sure we were taking frequent breaks for her to get to pause for a minute and get some water and snacks. (And stopping more often is good for us, too. We're trying to be better about staying hydrated!)
Look at this weenie.
Majestic.
Wild geranium.
You really can see quite far!
The biggest draw of this particular trail is the "castle ruins," the remains of the Walker Mansion. The house was built in 1911, and then was struck by lightning and fell down in 1918.
Having a large bird soaring right over the ruins on approach was pretty great. I think this was a raven.
The still very tall chimney.
I love the shield-shaped window.
Lots of wildflowers growing inside the ruins.
A little fireplace. Plus dramatic dead tree.
Plant growing in the pillar.
I wanted to get a picture of Bella on the same rock that I have a picture of Cy standing on. (One of my favorite pictures, the one my friend did the amazing art of.)
Unfortunately, Bella is not quite as good at posing, and the rocks were a little warm. Not horribly hot, but not super pleasant to be scrambling around on, so we weren't going to spend too long trying.
Not as dramatic, but at least it's Bella with a lovely background, ha.
Adventurous!
You can hike down and around the ruins area a bit, and get down to a little spot sort of below the edge of the cliff. It's often very nice and cool down there in the shade, so we headed down that way to take another break.
Some pinecones at a neat stage.
Huge thistle and a very vibrant bumblebee.
A pair of spiders. They were very small, and I couldn't really get my camera to fully focus on them. I assume the bigger one in the middle is a female and the thinner one up to the left is a male. (There was a second web with two that didn't seem to have gotten along quite so well... the female seemed to have made a snack of the male.)
A fern!
A ladybug on an oak leaf.
The meadow area was really pretty. Very multi-colored with the different things growing.
It'd been a few years since we went to Mount Falcon, and I was glad we got to go again. It really is a neat place.
Truly he was the bestest hiking boy:
Jul. 9th, 2025 09:59 pmmistressofmusesA long-time friend of mine (jeez... middle school...) kindly offered to do an art piece of Cy. She has long been an amazing artist. The picture arrived today, and is absolutely stunning. From one of my favorite photos:
Thank you so very muchboujee_redneck. You captured him absolutely perfectly, and I will treasure this picture of my best boy. <3
Thank you so very much
boujee_redneck. You captured him absolutely perfectly, and I will treasure this picture of my best boy. <3Habit Tracking: Week 26 (June 29 - July 05)
Jul. 8th, 2025 10:16 pmmistressofmuses
I was really quite happy with the color scheme this week. This is another sticker from the Atomic Pixies, a bee and a representation of the dance they do to convey information to each other.
This was a good week. It was the first time in quite a while that I'd had a chunk of time off of work (minus the memorial service earlier in June.) Over the course of the week, I managed to go out and do things every day that I had off, which was satisfying. Also doing okay on reading. Less so on creative stuff. I'm feeling really discouraged on writing, and I think I will take a break from it for a while. Quite happy with the hiking and such, though. Need to spend some time catching up on other things, though!
Goals for the week:
- I did read more of (and finished) Dead Silence (though then immediately started it over to read with Alex, because we needed something to do on the fourth while we waited for fireworks...)
- I started reading Hummingbird Salamander
- I did write up the books I read in June
- I got together with Taylor on Saturday
- I did post my writing goals, such as they are, for July
- Alex and I solidified the time off plans
- I did my getyourwordsout check-in (12334 words for June, year to date is 70817)
- We got plenty of outdoor time!
- I put my laundry away
- We cleaned the apartment (YET ANOTHER "annual inspection"; there have been three since the last time I complained about how many there were.)
- We celebrated the fourth of July... not for patriotic reasons, but as our 16th anniversary
- We bought our fruit and I made our fruit salad
- I did not finish the chapter of my WIP
- I did my July tracker grids
- I paid the car insurance
- We didn't really look at our subscription stuff
- I did not work on my pin boards
Tracked habits:
- Work - 2/7 - we were closed on Friday, and I took Thursday and Saturday off
- Household Maintenance - 6/7
- Physical Activity - 4/7
- Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 2/7 - one day of over 500 words, one day of over 1000
- Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
- Meta Work - 5/7
- Personal Writing - 5/7
- Other Creative Things - 3/7
- Reading - 7/7 - mostly reading Dead Silence, though Alex and I read some of Duma Key, then we also started reading Dead Silence again lol, I started Hummingbird Salamander, and Taylor and I finished Installment Immortality, then started reading Witch King
- Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday listened to an episode of Re: Dracula and news coverage Alex had in the background; Monday had paranormal videos in the background, and then another ep of Re: Dracula (shovel day!); Tuesday we watched a couple episodes of the new season of Alone, though I dozed off; Wednesday had some background stuff Alex was watching, an ep of Re: Dracula, and listening to music; Thursday had storm chasing and paranormal videos in the background; Friday I listened to music in the morning; Saturday listened to music after Taylor went to bed.
- Video Games - 1/7 - Taylor and I played some Final Fantasy XIV and finished the fourth part of Shadowbringers, and started on Endwalker (getting through the first questline that sends you to fantasy!India.)
- Social Interaction - 4/7
Total words written: 3793 on book reviews and writing plans
This week on FilkCast
Jul. 8th, 2025 11:52 americcoleman posting in filkJulia Ecklar, Feng Shui Ninjas, Cynthia McQuillin, Anne McCaffrey Tania Opland Mike Freeman, Kathy Mar & Zander Nyrond, Water Street Bridge, Summer Russell, Dave Clement, Sunnie Larsen, Brenda Sutton, Bill Roper, Three Weird Sisters, Leslie Fish, Chuck Rein, Lawrence Dean
Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com
Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com