Some near, some far

26 12 2011

A long view of Sundance’s band (“near”) and Kreacher and Duke. Apollo and Raven are the two dark horses at near left, then Sundance, Kootenai and Mysterium at right. Straight back “above” Sundance is Duke, and just down the slope – left – from Duke is Kreacher; he’s hard to see, grey against snow. The Spring Creek arroyo is between them.

Much nearer – Juniper. Fuzzy, furry, wooly little bear cub! How cute is she?!

Mama Kestrel … and not too far away, snow spilling over the eastern ridges – unnamed promontory and McKenna Peak.

Last view of the day, looking in the opposite direction from above – west – snow falling in clouds beyond Spring Creek Canyon.





Merry Christmas!

25 12 2011

Mysterium wishes everyone a very enthusiastic merry Christmas, with some help from big brother Apollo!

From our herd to yours, we wish you all all the joys and blessings of the season and the hope of peace and protection for all our wild ones in the new year.





Piedra and Hollywood

24 12 2011

Sleepy, sleepy.

Piedra and Hollywood napping comfortably together. Comanche was just to the right, and Kestrel and Juniper just right of him.

Snow coming over the eastern ridges.

They have such a bond. She’d look at me, and he’d stretch slightly to nose her tenderly on the neck. She’d turn her head back and close her eyes, their faces together.

When Comanche stole most of Hollywood’s band last spring, Piedra stayed with Hollywood … Comanche very quickly lost them (Iya, Cougar and Sage ended up with Poco and Roach, who pretty quickly kicked Sage out; Baylee and Tenaz ended up with Storm, who were together all summer), but he never seemed to0 interested in them – and not nearly as interested in keeping them as he seemed interested in sticking close to Kestrel and Winona.

Very interesting little combined-family dynamic here. What will happen when the girls have their foals? Piedra is due the end of April, Kestrel around early to mid-May.

But now is now, and now is a beautiful season. 🙂

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!





Carrying wide

23 12 2011

With about five months of carrying still to come, Kestrel looks pretty and plump.

Juniper, bashful, behind her.

Is she not the spitting image of her mama Luna?

Baby girl gives mama some love while she naps.

They’re still hanging out with Hollywood and Piedra – one little happy family.





Yahoooo!

22 12 2011

Baby’s feeling goooooooooooood!

And why not? He lives in the most beautiful place on Earth! At least, I’m sure he shares my opinion. 🙂

He was playing with Mysterium, and this was his reaction to baby girl getting some momentary mama protection.





Piedra

19 12 2011

Pretty Piedra. Haven’t had any pix of her up lately. This is from the week before last.

As much as I love the warm, rich colors of dun and sorrel and bay against the snow, I love the white-on-white of our spectacular greys. OK, she’s not “white,” being still fairly young (about 5 now? 6 next year), but I still love the more subtle contrast of her soft shade against the “soft” sage and shadscale and saltbush and snow.

Sublime.

Our forecast has changed from all sunshine to lots of snow – again. Good moisture, banked against summer’s dry. So far, La Nina seems to be turned slightly inside out – supposed to be not as much snow but cold. It has been not so much snow – and warm.





Depth

18 12 2011

Busily getting out Christmas cards and calendars – wait, shopping?! I knew I was forgetting something!

So these are fairly disjointed posts, I know, but here are three more from last week’s visit:

Apollo. They’re not visible in this image, but Comanche’s and Hollywood’s were out on the east-west hill there in the background beyond this ridge where Sundance’s band was grazing and napping.

Raven, blissed out on snow. 🙂

Sundance – love the 3-D feel of this image with the light and soft color.





Aspen’s band

18 12 2011

A very far view, but it gives you a feeling of the basin that closer pix just can’t convey. Though here to there is a lot farther than it looks because of the compression of my lens! Aspen’s band, minus Roja and Killian. That’s him bringing up the rear, Mona leading and Shane behind her. They’re on what I call the north-south road heading north from Flat Top. In the far background, you can see the fog lingering over the western hills (outside the basin).





Wild and precious life

17 12 2011

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?

~ Mary Oliver, “The summer day,” New and Selected Poems, 1992

At work yesterday, my secret Santa gave me a copy of Mary Oliver’s book of poems titled American Primitive. I’ve been seeing Mary Oliver’s name lately … I can’t remember where, and it’s not anything anyone would know – would they? My secret Santa remains just that. S/he wrapped the book with a typed note. We’re copy editors – our writing is distinctive. I used the Google machine to seek more info about Mary and found the above. It reminds me of those we’ve lost … all wild and precious lives … some went out fighting, and some laid down at the end. All our lives are wildly precious.

What is it I plan to do?

Just this, and I thank God every day that I can do it.





Shining

15 12 2011

Had a big day on this, the 40th anniversary of the Wild Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act. What better way to recognize the people who recognized the need to protect our wild horses and burros?

Love seeing stallions with foals – nurturing the next generation. Sundance and curious Mysterium.

Lots of snow, but this time, lots of mud, too. Mostly under the snow still, but it has been warm. On the drive out, I dropped from much-missed sunshine illuminating blue skies into the Dolores River canyons and Disappointment Valley, almost entirely shrouded in fog. Would you believe the basin, across to the east, was glowing under a break in the clouds? On this blog, of course you would, and you’d be correct. 🙂

During the day, the sky over the basin cleared completely, though the fog line stayed over the western hills, then floated back and came up from the south, obscuring Brumley Point, McKenna Peak, the unnamed promontory and the far southern ridges and hills before sunset.

What I would have given to have horses in front of that delicious light! But the original horses I went in looking for were the ones I didn’t see hide nor hair of – nor even hoofprints! The pinto ponies proved elusive.

Saw most of the horses from a distance but had a wonderful visit with Sundance’s band.

The big news is what I didn’t see.

Explanation?

Who stole Roja and Killian?!

Aspen doesn’t have them! Not Grey/Traveler. Not Sundance. Not Comanche. Not Hollywood. Not Bounce, Tenaz or Seven. Probably not Storm or David (distance … trees …). Those are the ones I saw. 🙂 Maybe next week will provide an answer!