Remember how you were sick all the time when you had little kids? It happens when they get to school age. Those rotten little buggers go hang around a bunch of other unsanitary rotten little buggers who are sick and they bring every virus on the planet home to you! You can’t help but get sick all the time. We, Judy and I, are so far beyond that. We hang out with a bunch of responsible adults all winter. We can go so long without getting sick that we forget when the last time was. So, after not being sick for years, we show up to visit the grandkids; watching for signs of sickness. None. We’re in the clear. Then, from out of nowhere, both Judy and I get sick. Head cold. Fever. Sore throat. Cough. Exploding sinuses. Totally charming. Know what? Not a sick kid to be found. No-one to blame it one. Have to figure out another angle, and here it is. Grandparent’s revenge. We’re going to be the rotten buggers and leave our germs all over both our kids houses. We’ll be long gone and totally well while they struggle through what we’ve done to them before they could do it to us. If it really were Grandparent’s Revenge that’s how it would be. The problem with that theory though, is that no-one else is sick. I am slowly getting better. Judy is slowly getting worse. We took her to a clinic today and asked if they could please either cure her or shoot her. Her cold appears to have degenerated into a sinus infection and bronchitis, something they can treat, so they chose to start with drugs instead of the gun. We’re still open to either option though.
St vrain state park
A strange morning. It was cloudy. It’s always sunny in the morning then clouds up for the afternoon. Red winged and yellow headed blackbirds, grackles, brown headed cowbirds, and finches on the feeder. Horned larks, lark sparrows, and doves in the grass underneath. Sandpipers piping from both sides of the pond. Orioles in the bushes at the edge. Geese and pelicans in the water. Herons and egrets at the edge. Robins, kingbirds, and killdeer in the fields. Swallows flying through. The kingfisher rattles a strafing run across the water. The osprey lurks. It’s a busy place here.
St vrain state park
We really like it here at St Vrain State Park. It’s not like a fancy RV “Resort” though. The location is handy, but it’s a little close to the freeway. If there is no breeze, or the breeze is from the east, you can hear the freeway. That’s better than if the wind is from the north. With a north wind we get to savor the intoxicating bouquet of Greely stockyards thirty-five miles north of us. If there is wind from the south or west, the prevailing direction though, all that other stuff goes away. This camping loop is so new; it’s a work-in-progress. And good news for us, we’re told they’ve gotten the funding to pave the dusty dirt access roads this fall. We’ll like this place even better then. All things considered, it’s hard to beat this front-yard view.
Grosbeaks
Grosbeaks
The blue grosbeak came to visit us in Texas during the migration. In Colorado we got evening grosbeaks. The evening grosbeaks were not worn out from flying across the gulf, so it was harder to get a clear picture.