Category: Uncategorized

I have been reading that the weather is different state wide this year, the worst in many of many. It has still been a bit challenging here, five hours south of my former home. I arrived on the 26th of August last summer, and thus far, June 2021 included, last August is the only month I haven’t received snow. The only month that didn’t require lighting a fire or the wall heaters to keep the house warm. My body is yearning for Summer, for heat, for movement with the pounding sun, a time to leave windows open, put plants outside, walk barefoot.

It is lovely here, both the land and the community, and it is my home. It just weighs heavy on my heart, less than three weeks from the equinox, and I still wear a wool hat and wool jacket whilst walking the dog.

Better than a drought, yes.

Better than my former home, yes.

Idyllic southern Colorado weather, not yet.

I left at 4.01 pm to go visiting. At 4.28 pm I had my own visitor.

The animals have officially woken up in the park, everything from the smallest rodents to the largest of bears. A couple days ago I spotted a large, very large, brown mass moving across the fields between Spangle and Gray Place. I located the moving animal in my spotting scope and watched him as he navigated downhill. A full sized bear, the largest I have seen in this park, was constantly licking his lips as he walked, rarely looking from side to side. When he hit the patch of snow remaining in the opposite valley, he started to run and run across the snow until he dropped into the depth of the valley, out of sight. I decided to stop carrying the 9mm outside and started strapping on the 357. Heavier and less comfortable on the hip, but far more comfortable on the psyche; my nine mil would probably just make him madder, were that scenario to arise.

Closer to home, and very much underfoot, the rodents are back for the summer, and making a myriad of underground tunnels that look like miniature cities scattered about what is supposed to be a lawn out here. Rodent fodder. That’s what it is. Thus far in 2021 only two managed to enter the dwelling and both were quickly snuffed out by what is in fact a better mousetrap.

I have two large male grouse that frequent my front yard. They seemed like brothers, friends, or mates of some sort, often wandering together, often one would follow the other out of familiarity or with a semblance of safety. The gist is, they seem like mates. Rather, they seemed like mates.

Yesterday morning a pair of young lady grouse entered the scene. The mates quickly went from bonded to rivals. With large red patches on their throats, tails in full regale, and strutting harder than the old Bob Seger song, one of these males chased, danced, strutted, bobbed, weaved, and courted the two ladies for ninety minutes.

On a tree, in the field, on my split rail fence, you name it, one of the ladies was coy, almost receptive, and then blushed and shyly flew away every time. I am not sure I’ve seen a fellow work harder for less effort, but he gets an A in my book for the relentless attempts.

It is a morning of darkness here upon my mountain. The middle of May is in full swing, but the seasons simply refuse to fully change. Awoke this morning with nearly 14 inches of fresh snow, and it’s still snowing. Nature might win this one. I love it here, the park, the land, the people who have become my friends, but I have now lived in this house for ten months. Nine of them I have endured multi-foot snow storms, and this is my fourth major snow storm in the month of May alone. Life is starting to feel too short to stay here, hoping for a spring or a summer.

I moved five hours south in Colorado, nearly to the New Mexico border but winter is now longer here than any winter in any year of my life thus far. I want sun. I want warmth. I want to walk around outside, without boots, hats, gloves, and a snow shovel. As it is, neither I, nor the guest visiting me this week, can even leave the property; we have to sit here and simply wait for the snow to melt before any vehicle in the lot can even move.

I am a strong man, a capable man, and a proud man. This is not considering defeat. This is considering that, nine continual months of winter, with drifting snow, shoveling and still feeding a wood stove I’ve been feeding daily since October, is simply not my next path. I want to be outside! I have yard work to do, repairs to make, wood to collect for next winter, but here we sit, fourteen inches of snow between me and the Earth.

I want to see the damned sun and feel a breeze on my skin. Instead, I am off to shovel paths for the dogs, another path to the wood pile, and we’ll hunker down inside and feed the woodstove, looking exactly the same as every day from November to March outside. It can destroy a man’s spirits.

We have seen strange activity from a young man riding around the park. At least one time, one of our members seemingly let the young man in, yet having entered one gate and exited another, it is also possible that he has access to a key if not a key of his own.

On his last visit, Thursday May 13, 2021, he was in the park less than an hour, entering the 160 gate, and leaving via the railroad gate. We do not know who he is, but he twice visited one of your neighbor’s houses. The first visit was seemingly to ensure no one was home, and the second time, he walked straight up to the house, and peered in the windows, careful not to touch anything. The property owner does not know, nor recognize, this young man nor his vehicle.

Please keep your eyes open and contact me or anyone on the security team if you see him. Please do not let anyone in the gate that, if you do not know, you have not queried as to their reason for being here. We have his license plate from the security cameras (captured at both gates), and we are reporting this to the Sheriff’s Dept. for review, but we need to look out for each other out here.