From Smokey Colorado

Hello and Happy Thursday! Many of you may be aware of the enormous wildfire that is still raging here in northern Colorado. Tuesday night our winds picked up and so did the fire; yesterday while getting dogfood for Hunter, I was shocked to see just how far the fire has progressed. From the parking lot in Loveland I snapped these photos; let me tell you this was an unreal scene. Not only was it in some towns close to Estes Park, it was headed for the town of Estes and the famous Stanley Hotel.

In the thirteen years that we've lived here, we've never seen anything like this.  There has been wildfires, but generally they are up in the Rockies and not as visible as this fire is.  As of yesterday, the fire only had to cover 4,000 more acres and it would be the largest wildfire Colorado has ever seen.  

Our fairgrounds is housing not only the command center for the fire, but also evacuees and animals.

It is so sad!  Thankfully our weather has cooled off and snow is predicted for Sunday; the snow about three weeks ago helped quite a lot, but it's needed again.  Our air quality is so bad that on certain days it is just not safe to spend time outdoors.

I keep saying our Colorado is experiencing what California has experienced over the last three years. 

I hope you have had a great week.

Hugs,

Noreen
 

Fall At My Home

Happy Friday to you! Fall is definitely here in Northern Colorado and one of my top must haves for the season is Mums. This cute wall hanging was my latest Patchabilities project and I love it.

We have five Burning Bushes in our back yard and this year they've been so brilliant.  Love them.

Our huge Locust tree in the back yard, just starting to change colors.

I lost about four Mums last year with our weird weather, so of course needed some new ones for the front walkway.  Although red would have  been my first choice of color, the purple have been so beautiful. This one will be planted in the front yard when it is at the end of its bloom.

This beauty will be planted in the back yard; I just love these plants. I always liked them, but it wasn't until we traveled in Massachusetts, this is a plant that I immediately get when autumn weather arrives.  In northern California they lined our brick stairs to the front door.  New England has a way of decorating their front yards and porches for the season, which is forever imprinted on my heart.   

Our sky is still so smokey and hazy; it is hard to be out. I'm thankful we got a treadmill so that I can get my miles in daily.  Most of the time I aim for four miles, between walking Hunter and using the treadmill at night. Yesterday I only got in a little over one mile, but today I've already done one mile on the treadmill and will do at least 2-3 more tonight.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,

Noreen
 

Looking Back

Happy Fall to you! We have lots of golden Aspens here with some Flaming Maples, but I always love the brillant colors of New England. Three years ago we joined our best friends and spent time touring Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachutes. Here are just of a few of those photos; looking at them again is really making me want to go back.

With the new blogger format, I've yet to figure out how to enlarge our photos-ugh!  Just seeing them again makes me happy.  In today's world, we need all the joy we can handle.

Have a day filled with smiles.

Noreen
 

A Fun Adventure

Hello and Happy Tuesday! Yesterday hubby and I went on a drive, mainly to see the colors and we had a fun adventure! We took a couple of roads we'd not been on before and it was so refreshing. WE love barns and of course stopped to get photos of this one and all of the sudden hubby says "there's a moose". He was huge and very fast.

We continued on to a new to us Recreational Area and saw some pretty colors.

The lake we went to was at the Tundra level and it was gorgeous.  There are about 5 lakes in this area, but it was just too cold to hike; we plan on going back next summer.

 After this, we headed to Estes and enjoyed our picnic lunch in the park and walked through town.  We always try to support the shops there, especially since they have taken a hit from Covid-though there were a good amount of tourists.

I love the autumn season and colors changing, so know we'll head back up there soon.

Have a great day!

Noreen

To The Mountains We Must Go

Happy Tuesday to you. I know we just got back home last Thursday, but I talked hubby into going up to Rocky Mountain National Park today and was lucky enough to get reservations for entrance to the park. With Covid, they have limited the number of people allowed each day; while I've never heard of a National Park doing this, these are different times. We packed a lunch and headed to the mountains, hoping to see some Elk and walk a couple of trails. The elk were grazing in the meadows and not up close like during the rutting season. However, when we went to walk around of one of favorite lakes, we spotted these Rainbow Trout in the streams. We are not fisherpeople, but still appreicateed their beauty(and taste when we eat trout at restaurants).

 It was a quick trip, we were back home within four hours~but for this mountain girl, it satisfied the need.

Hope you have a great afternoon.

Noreen

The Beauty of Creation

Hello again, These are the last of our trip pics and I hope you enjoy them. The lake is Sylvan Lake in Custer and is gorgeous! We hiked around it and even had to do some bouldering.

The waterfall was Bridal Veil falls in Spearfish Canyon. 

This historical marker was on the side of the road where we pulled off for lunch; we loved seeing it, but due to time restraints we weren't able to go explore.

 Hope you have a great week and please stay healthy.

Noreen

Overload of Bison

Happy Saturday to you. I'm pleased to say we have clear blue skies today and it is wonderful. As I mentioned yesterday, we took lots of photos in Custer State Park and the Bison shown here are proof. They are magnificient animals and we always enjoy seeing them.

Not sure if these were in the Park or in Spearfish Canyon.

This old cabin was out on the way to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We love old barns and homesteads, so had to stop to be a photo.

One last pic of one of the herd.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Joy to you.

Noreen