Our friend John went flyfishing in Russia.
Durango
But us; we’re not in Russia; or even in Glenwood Springs. We’re in Durango. Here for a week. Cold blustery weather at the start, with nighttime lows in the twenties. We had to go to winter utility mode, disconnecting the water each night, draining the hose, and running off the tanks until the weather warmed up again the next day. It has cleared up since, with daytime highs in the seventies. Perfect fall weather surrounded by fall’s evolving colors. Watching the steam trains go by each day; hearing the whistles. Wrapping up jobs. Enjoying the Rockies’ run. Eighteen of their last nineteen games. Got a flock of evening grosbeaks.
Birds
While we were in Glenwood Springs a pack of pine siskins descended on our feeders. An entire bowlful of pine siskins. They flow to and from the feeder in waves, depending on the presence of jays. One jay in; every little bird out until the jays have vacated. Siskins make the sweetest, faintest little twittering sounds while they’re there. They probably make the same sounds when they’re not there, we just can’t tell. We can tell with the chickadees. You can hear them from everywhere. The chickadees and siskins are wary of jays, but not of us. A person can stand within reach of the feeder without interfering with them. Little birds bouncing around, going about their little bird business all within three feet of the observer. Fun.
Football
The Broncos suck.
Cortez
Exciting Rockies playoff games. The Rockies won the first one. Before the second game, one of the television announcers was pondering the Phillies predicament and declared if they didn’t win the second game, they would have a big mountain to climb out of. The Rockies won that one too. The Phillies have a big mountain to climb out of. Last week on the way here, we stopped at the top of Wolf Creek Pass and had lunch. While watching the white crowned sparrows on the ground, we got swooped by a gray jay. What a treat! We get lots of blue jays, scrub jays, and steller’s jays, but we haven’t seen a gray jay in years. Two of them hung out within binocular range for about ten minutes. A busy week in Cortez is over already. Nice fall weather; a great variety of warm sunny days and rainstorms. Mostly, we just worked, but we got to sit in the front seats and have coffee each morning, watching the dawn as the sun rose from behind Mesa Verde. We’re happy to be here and would gladly stay longer, but… Tomorrow, Durango.