...I see
the turning of a leaf
dancing in an autumn sun
and brilliant shades of crimson
glowing when a day is done...
Hazelmarie "Mattie" Elliott, "A Breath of Heaven"
Saturday, October 5, 2013
In the sunshine of life, the colors of the world....Autumn
Travel over Buffalo Pass in Steamboat, and found the colors radiant. Something about the curves of dirt roads call me, take one more curve, still one more, stop and relish standing in quaking Aspen, seek creatures on hillside appearing and disappearing before your eyes, and then let's take one more mile down the road.
...I see
the turning of a leaf
dancing in an autumn sun
and brilliant shades of crimson
glowing when a day is done...
Hazelmarie "Mattie" Elliott, "A Breath of Heaven"
...I see
the turning of a leaf
dancing in an autumn sun
and brilliant shades of crimson
glowing when a day is done...
Hazelmarie "Mattie" Elliott, "A Breath of Heaven"
Saturday, June 1, 2013
In the presence of the King of the Cottonwoods
I have not forgotten the first sight of an eagle in Colorado. In the late 1980's, going north on county road to Longmont. I said "there is a big bird" to my mom, who said "that is an eagle". An eagle? In Colorado? Ever since that day my eyes have looked upward daily.
Having been a follower of the Xcel eagle cam for five years now I have see their stories. Of eggs being laid, birds buried in snow and protecting the future of their line, of the nests of babies frozen due to spring storms that swept the parents out of the area of their nest, of pips making small cracks and the labor of emerging from eggshells, of fuzzy gray heads bobbling to and fro seeking a morsel of fish, of sibling rivalry and runts struggling to gain a foothold in the nest bowl of food competition, it has been an amazing window of the lives of eagles.
Two years ago a nest crashed to the ground in a wind storm with three eaglets, all perished. Yet that same nest survived a tornado in Windsor not but a few miles away, in previous years.
I have found five nests this last five years. I shan't reveal their places unless I know you, as many will infringe upon this space too closely and stress the parents to possibly abandon the nests.
This lovey guy flew right over us and landed in tree above us, was not at all worried about us, but all the prairie dogs in the meadow stopped chirping away and stood up on hind legs and stared at this bird, frozen in time. It was quite funny. Unless you were a prairie dog.
But at a distance I have found some wonderful backgrounds to our eagles in Colorado, if I am willing to rise early or drive some distance.
This is a nest before eggs laid when the parents were often on the love branch.
This is a close up of the same nest, taken at dawn. I was very pleased at the sunrise on Longs Peak area to back light this scene.
In mid-March I found an eagle "rookery" you might say. We counted at the end of the evening, thank you daylight savings time, 22 eagles in a pond, Many were juveniles, maybe 10 adults. Take a look, at a distance, and adult and one juvenile and one other older maturing bird on the far right. This was just the start of the evening.
They filled a tree with so many birds that we were just grinning ear to ear. The parents flew with young birds, most likely last years or more offspring. One white head stayed in the nearby nest, I am sure full of envy at the soaring, but dedication to the end that her eggs stay warm.
As we watched the sun sink and looked for a comet in the west, many birds flew away from us, seeking less company and I caught this shot of them on the wing. What a lovely day it was in Colorado.
And then there is that wonderful time when you just are at the right spot at the right time, and a Northern Harrier Hawk flies by you as you are in the grasses...
These lovely cottonwoods will be soon green with leaves, and the view from the grasses will hide the babies who will begin to fledge and only those who skim the lake will be seen come spring time. But for the moment they are the thorns for the King of the Grasslands, sitting on the highest limb, overseeing and protecting precious lifelines of offspring and mates. That simple cottonwood, aging and rough to the touch, is home for our eagles...
The rough barked Cottonwood, backdrop to our lives in Colorado....
FisherGirl
Having been a follower of the Xcel eagle cam for five years now I have see their stories. Of eggs being laid, birds buried in snow and protecting the future of their line, of the nests of babies frozen due to spring storms that swept the parents out of the area of their nest, of pips making small cracks and the labor of emerging from eggshells, of fuzzy gray heads bobbling to and fro seeking a morsel of fish, of sibling rivalry and runts struggling to gain a foothold in the nest bowl of food competition, it has been an amazing window of the lives of eagles.
Two years ago a nest crashed to the ground in a wind storm with three eaglets, all perished. Yet that same nest survived a tornado in Windsor not but a few miles away, in previous years.
I have found five nests this last five years. I shan't reveal their places unless I know you, as many will infringe upon this space too closely and stress the parents to possibly abandon the nests.
This lovey guy flew right over us and landed in tree above us, was not at all worried about us, but all the prairie dogs in the meadow stopped chirping away and stood up on hind legs and stared at this bird, frozen in time. It was quite funny. Unless you were a prairie dog.
But at a distance I have found some wonderful backgrounds to our eagles in Colorado, if I am willing to rise early or drive some distance.
This is a nest before eggs laid when the parents were often on the love branch.
This is a close up of the same nest, taken at dawn. I was very pleased at the sunrise on Longs Peak area to back light this scene.
In mid-March I found an eagle "rookery" you might say. We counted at the end of the evening, thank you daylight savings time, 22 eagles in a pond, Many were juveniles, maybe 10 adults. Take a look, at a distance, and adult and one juvenile and one other older maturing bird on the far right. This was just the start of the evening.
They filled a tree with so many birds that we were just grinning ear to ear. The parents flew with young birds, most likely last years or more offspring. One white head stayed in the nearby nest, I am sure full of envy at the soaring, but dedication to the end that her eggs stay warm.
As we watched the sun sink and looked for a comet in the west, many birds flew away from us, seeking less company and I caught this shot of them on the wing. What a lovely day it was in Colorado.
And then there is that wonderful time when you just are at the right spot at the right time, and a Northern Harrier Hawk flies by you as you are in the grasses...
These lovely cottonwoods will be soon green with leaves, and the view from the grasses will hide the babies who will begin to fledge and only those who skim the lake will be seen come spring time. But for the moment they are the thorns for the King of the Grasslands, sitting on the highest limb, overseeing and protecting precious lifelines of offspring and mates. That simple cottonwood, aging and rough to the touch, is home for our eagles...
The rough barked Cottonwood, backdrop to our lives in Colorado....
FisherGirl
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Sun is around longer this week....
As I left my office this week I saw that at 6:00 there was light over the mountains! I cannot tell you how happy that has made me. January is somewhat of a trial for me! Cold and dark. Difficult for an outdoor girl.
My mother took a fall the week before Christmas. She was not hurt, but it sent her to a hospital for four days, which took the wind out of her sails. She had to have 24/7 care for about 10 days and so the three of us girls took time out to stay with her. Staying in her place from a Friday night until Sunday nights, working all week to make up time so I could get her to a Dr appointment, had left me drained. She is pretty much up and going well now, but no more driving, ever again for her. But today is a Saturday, and the weather is now out of the single digits, and I have new Simms waders that have a step up from my summer waders, and leak proof as they are seamless, so I think a day to the high country is in order.
I wonder what I will do when I am her age and we cannot drive any longer. I am already asking (telling) my granddaughter "will you take me to see the elk when they bugle?" "Will you take me to Sprague Lake in the summer?" Will you make sure I do not have to live in the lowlands and never see the high country but once every year or less? "will you make sure?..."
I will miss standing in waters waving a stick, someday. So off into the world today, with my green stick and my new waders, and work the rust out of my body.
And I do not even recall Christmas and New Years...but my mom, she is doing OK.
FisherGirl
My mother took a fall the week before Christmas. She was not hurt, but it sent her to a hospital for four days, which took the wind out of her sails. She had to have 24/7 care for about 10 days and so the three of us girls took time out to stay with her. Staying in her place from a Friday night until Sunday nights, working all week to make up time so I could get her to a Dr appointment, had left me drained. She is pretty much up and going well now, but no more driving, ever again for her. But today is a Saturday, and the weather is now out of the single digits, and I have new Simms waders that have a step up from my summer waders, and leak proof as they are seamless, so I think a day to the high country is in order.
I wonder what I will do when I am her age and we cannot drive any longer. I am already asking (telling) my granddaughter "will you take me to see the elk when they bugle?" "Will you take me to Sprague Lake in the summer?" Will you make sure I do not have to live in the lowlands and never see the high country but once every year or less? "will you make sure?..."
I will miss standing in waters waving a stick, someday. So off into the world today, with my green stick and my new waders, and work the rust out of my body.
And I do not even recall Christmas and New Years...but my mom, she is doing OK.
FisherGirl
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Summer of Content....considering the heat....
Summer here in Colorado this year was filled with record heat, and again we spent the summer in a drought of water on the front range. Heat was so unbearable in the city that we ventured every weekend into the high country, escaping the high temperatures, and how that heat makes it difficult to cycle down bike paths, go to the park and spend a day, hike farmland trails, all much to enjoy being outdoors, but high heat meant each step or pedal would be a strain when done all the day. We are such a short distance to the high country from our home. I can point the SUV in that direction and she knows where to go.
Here are some photos from the summer escape...
Escaping to the high country gave us time to find wonderful animals such as the moose crossing Sprague Lake and the bears in the trees near where we were spending the week in Steamboat. And of course the fish, the wonderful fish on my little spots that my waders have stepped into.
Hope you enjoy these shots of my summer escaping the drought and the last photo is Fall River Road on a day in autumn, looking for little fishing pockets of water for next year....
We need snow, then we need rain in the Spring. Here's hoping.
FisherGirl
Here are some photos from the summer escape...
Escaping to the high country gave us time to find wonderful animals such as the moose crossing Sprague Lake and the bears in the trees near where we were spending the week in Steamboat. And of course the fish, the wonderful fish on my little spots that my waders have stepped into.
Hope you enjoy these shots of my summer escaping the drought and the last photo is Fall River Road on a day in autumn, looking for little fishing pockets of water for next year....
We need snow, then we need rain in the Spring. Here's hoping.
FisherGirl
Monday, October 1, 2012
Over to the Yampa
Fall is here, and it was the best time for us to take off for some down time. We headed to Steamboat Springs for the week. The colors were vividly bright, as always this time of year.
We found our way to some ripples on the Yampa, and I saw my backing for the first time in my fly fishing life. That one, he did hunker down, and he did finally break the very end fly of three. He felt like a gallon milk jug coming through the water, and running.
What a day! And my sweet husband got my moment on his camera, and I thought he did rather well. I edited this shot in black and white, just because...I liked my leg moving up and through the water, showing motion....and my eyes and face at that big fish...
We caught seven that day, all released, all big, rainbows, cutbows and a couple of brownies...
And the one that got away....
Fishergirl, in the yellow trees...
We found our way to some ripples on the Yampa, and I saw my backing for the first time in my fly fishing life. That one, he did hunker down, and he did finally break the very end fly of three. He felt like a gallon milk jug coming through the water, and running.
What a day! And my sweet husband got my moment on his camera, and I thought he did rather well. I edited this shot in black and white, just because...I liked my leg moving up and through the water, showing motion....and my eyes and face at that big fish...
We caught seven that day, all released, all big, rainbows, cutbows and a couple of brownies...
And the one that got away....
Fishergirl, in the yellow trees...
Monday, September 17, 2012
Oh I could fish this spot a long time...
The spot I really liked yesterday....yes full of brookies, and I know everyone wants that big fish, but the brookies here thought they were rainbows....just a leaping flying after everything I threw in, but look at it, sure looks like a bug dinner table to me....caddis was the chefs fav....
FisherGirl
Friday, September 14, 2012
The phone call came, new rod, reel are in....!
I ordered new rods and reels about ten days ago....I have done this before, four times. It is a bit like learning to ski, buy the ones that will get you down the slop, and then out ski them, buy the next step up, learn the back bowls of Vail in the late '70's when Vail was $10 a day to ski and I could park in the front row of the parking lot, walk to the booth. One set after another, taking one down the hills in a nicer way, equipment does make a difference.
So in 1989 my papa gave me his Sage graphite. Class rod at the time. SA reel. I was smokin', but then got distracted with a Harley Davidson in my life. But every time I rode past waters the feeling was there, jealousy. I missed the waters. But one can only be in one place at one time.
Then I sold the Harley, husband sold his. Decade of riding, was time for quiet change. So we bought Ross rods and reels, made in Colorado at the time. Bought another Ross for me, for bigger fish. Then my wonderful neighbor gave me her Orvis 2-1/4 rod and very nice reel, just because she loves me....
Then I went out with my guide friend, used an RLW, wonderful rod, so I bought one of those. Bought a new little Orvis reel as the above one locked up, I was in tears...have to figure that one out, send it to England or something!
Now after fishing my special place, with my special guide, I used a Baron IIt, my gosh I loved it for those types of waters.
I fished so well with it, spot on. As in skies, there is difference in equipment. So put in an order four days after Wild Basin, there ya go!
Not only did I get the rod, but a Lamson Litespeed....and my husband a the same set up. He has earned it. Goes everywhere I send us, with a smile and does all the prep for a fishing weekend, have to love that.
So, Sunday I get the new rigs. The way I look at it is I am not rich, a simple smart working woman, for over 40 years I have counted the beans for others, and well. If I wait until someday, it may not come. I want to live now, and out loud, and catch fish, and finely. I am so excited I am up late typing this as I can't sleep, think of fishing. Think of water sounds, think of Legands of the Fall and his casting. Think of brookies leaping up water falls, think of the Greenback Cuttie that I have yet to trek for, and I know where I am going, maybe not this year, too high and too late. But we will be in Steamboat last week of September, new territory, new waters, new tales, new adventures....and Walden over the hill.
Now I will have a greenstick....and this weekend....!
Also a flashlight down my waders to find that darn leak!
Life is good. When I am too old to use this rod, it is nice enough I will had it to one of my four grandchildren, and step to the side of a stream and show them how it is done...maybe the seed will be planted for another generation.
I am glad these rods have warranties! They have a story to start!
Tight lines, tight knots...
Fishergirl
So in 1989 my papa gave me his Sage graphite. Class rod at the time. SA reel. I was smokin', but then got distracted with a Harley Davidson in my life. But every time I rode past waters the feeling was there, jealousy. I missed the waters. But one can only be in one place at one time.
Then I sold the Harley, husband sold his. Decade of riding, was time for quiet change. So we bought Ross rods and reels, made in Colorado at the time. Bought another Ross for me, for bigger fish. Then my wonderful neighbor gave me her Orvis 2-1/4 rod and very nice reel, just because she loves me....
Then I went out with my guide friend, used an RLW, wonderful rod, so I bought one of those. Bought a new little Orvis reel as the above one locked up, I was in tears...have to figure that one out, send it to England or something!
Now after fishing my special place, with my special guide, I used a Baron IIt, my gosh I loved it for those types of waters.
I fished so well with it, spot on. As in skies, there is difference in equipment. So put in an order four days after Wild Basin, there ya go!
Not only did I get the rod, but a Lamson Litespeed....and my husband a the same set up. He has earned it. Goes everywhere I send us, with a smile and does all the prep for a fishing weekend, have to love that.
So, Sunday I get the new rigs. The way I look at it is I am not rich, a simple smart working woman, for over 40 years I have counted the beans for others, and well. If I wait until someday, it may not come. I want to live now, and out loud, and catch fish, and finely. I am so excited I am up late typing this as I can't sleep, think of fishing. Think of water sounds, think of Legands of the Fall and his casting. Think of brookies leaping up water falls, think of the Greenback Cuttie that I have yet to trek for, and I know where I am going, maybe not this year, too high and too late. But we will be in Steamboat last week of September, new territory, new waters, new tales, new adventures....and Walden over the hill.
Now I will have a greenstick....and this weekend....!
Also a flashlight down my waders to find that darn leak!
Life is good. When I am too old to use this rod, it is nice enough I will had it to one of my four grandchildren, and step to the side of a stream and show them how it is done...maybe the seed will be planted for another generation.
I am glad these rods have warranties! They have a story to start!
Tight lines, tight knots...
Fishergirl
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