Good Morning Sopris

This is Mount Sopris above Carbondale. Named for "General" Sopris who "discovered" the hot springs in Glenwood.

It has a "rock glacier" and misses being a "Thirteener" by 47 feet at 12,953 feet altitude. It's one end of the Elk Mountain range- Mnt Elbert the highest mountain in Colorado is at the other end of the Elk Mountains. We're at around 7000 feet at the ranch. Although I've climbed around the Elk Mountains a bit I've never made the hike. I did "ski" up Elbert many years ago but that's another story.


It's warmer this morning (out of the minus' column)



Jinks is looking perky and Ginny is following him more and more instead of the other way 'round.

I've heard the "eep eep eep" of elk the past two nights. They normally come back through here for Christmas and New Years.

Grey day

Yesterday was overcast with flat light.



No fresh snow to play in so everybody made due playing with the hedgie and having a barkfest

One picture.....

BB and , well, I really don't need to say much do I?

Starlings and Shakespeare

"The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I’ll holler ‘Mortimer!’ Nay I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion." Henry IV

Which is why we have the European Starling in the United States. In 1890 Eugene Scheifflin imported and released 60 starlings in Central Park on the theory that every bird species mentioned in a Shakespeare play should find a perch in the New World.

Here they flock with Brewer's Blackbirds. They love my roof. Lucky me. Henry IV isn't my favorite play and the Starling isn't my favorite bird. The native species of Chickadees, Nuthatches, Nutcrackers, and Finches are nearer and dearer to my heart. We even had a Western Tanager stop by one year. The Mourning Doves are escapees from a local shooting range. Starlings are something we've seen increase recently along with Pigeons. This is probably directly due to the filling in of irrigation ditches and replacement by wheel sprinkler systems. Magpies, Ravens and Starlings have thrived in the less diverse ecosystem and the smaller birds are having trouble keeping up.

vegetarians?

I'm the only vegetarian in the house.



Since Jinks' cancer diagnosis I've made an effort to increase the amount of protein in his diet. The pet store had a 20 oz. bucket of dried chicken breasts on sale for $25 (made in China). I broke out the dehydrator and sliced up some chicken.



Because of the pneumonia Jinks is on a spectrum of antibiotics which is killing off just about every type of bacteria in his system. Bacteria are pretty important for digestion- so he gets a little yogurt. slippery elm and mashed banana to help out.



Omega 3 - fish oil- everybody is nuts about it. Well, the whole pack is nuts about sardines in oil. It does take doggie breathe to a new level however...