Happy birthday to my dad, the best man I know. I’m grateful to have grown up his daughter, raised with horses even as we moved around the country and the world and shared him with Uncle Sam.
He’s still busily ranching with my mom, waiting out the severe Texas drought with horrible heat and no rain in sight, taking care of cows and horses.
Thanks, Dad, and happy birthday! I love you!
Sundance – handsome from every angle!
Another pic from the magical evening in the basin with the rainbow. The last few days/posts have been from before that night … posts that were already scheduled, that I pushed back to get those rainbow pix posted. So here’s another one with Dundee and Buckeye. Showing off their treasure status. 🙂
Do you blame me for having no words to express my appreciation?
Subtle. Gorgeous.
Temple still has the trickle of darker hair down her shoulder, but as she greys out more, it gets fainter.
Doesn’t she have the most lovely expression?
This was about a week ago; I’d nearly gotten rained out (wet roads in the basin are no joke!), but then Temple and her band appeared near the western boundary. Perfect location and timing (except the rain … that hasn’t been too plentiful, and now we’re back to heat and dry … ).
Something a bit different today. None of these pix were taken within Spring Creek Basin, but they were taken outside the basin in Disappointment Valley (the basin is a tiny corner still considered part of the valley). … Do lizards and bees count as fauna?!
When I saw this little critter on the edge of the road, I wondered whether it was alive. It was completely still, and though somewhat flattened, not *squished*. I took some pix and went on my way. When I returned about 30 minutes later, it scampered away as I approached! I was startled but relieved! I so love these little critters (this is not the brightest collared lizard I’ve seen, and it was little/short, which makes me think it might have been a youngster).
This bee on this sunflower is different than THIS bee on THIS sunflower:
The top bee was just a little bitty bee, and the bottom bee was a great big gigantic bee! Both were so completely immersed in their bizziness of pollen gathering that I was able to hold my phone quite close to them to snap pix (I took multiple to try to get some sharp – voila!).
Follow this link to a recent Colorado Sun article about bee research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory near Gothic (near Crested Butte), Colorado.
I don’t know a thing about bees, but the article is fascinating … and bees are, too. I’m glad they’re doing their bizziness here in Disappointment Valley!
The most subtle light … Kestrel’s sandstone color … that beloved horizon. … Love.
Buckeye’s band waits their turn while one band drinks at the catchment trough after the first band heads out to graze.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Mustangs have an extremely highly elevated sense of etiquette. There was no pushing and shoving, and while there might have been some reminders, drink time proceeded calmly and with utmost order.
No surprise that Kestrel is the gold at the end of this rainbow!
Didn’t I say it was super cool?
The almost-supermoon (technically rising today, Aug. 1) would have risen slightly out of frame to the left; you can see how there was no way it was going to be visible through that heavy rain-cloud layer.
There never was a fully-arched rainbow, and the intensity varied depending on sunshine/clouds from the west (the above is looking southeast), but it wasn’t till late in the show when the faint second arc appeared.
The lesson is clear: Mustangs are always the gold. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 