We finally decided that we'd miss too much, if we took the easy way out and stayed in Estes Park instead of going to the refuges in March. It was our first big decision of the new year, and we knew we were taking a big risk that we'd have to drive through the passes in treacherous weather.

I didn't love raccoons, they had parties on our roof. I trapped out 13 of them. Years passed & they came back. After I saw them in my videos, I changed my mind as I watched them work. We left scraps for them when we saw how a house cat owned the place if they didn't stop by.

Thank you so much Evelyn! What a wonderful way to start my week. ;)

Thanks for the challenge, Susanne. I picked a view of Rocky Mountain National Park that I've seen hundreds of times but it was the first time I tried to take a photo of it. It's before you actually enther the park. A teaser of things to come but we always fly right by. :giggle4:

One of the peaks was Sundance, and to the right of it, Chapin. There's no pullout, and we were always in a hurry at that point to see what was ahead in RMNP. On New Year's Day I finally had us stop on the road for a few seconds just before the entrance, to take in the view.

Thanks for the challenge, Ona! I learned so much! I wanted to avoid using the same exact elements, and it took a lot of trial and error to get the delicate feel of her work. And atypical for me, I spent days on it. :giggle4: From Veer:

On our last day, there were snow flurries and about an inch of new snow. The main thing was how gray it was, and that we were tired. In the afternoon we took a walk down to the Evergreen Bridge, and they had shoveled the steep path down the hill and the bridge itself.

Got it! ;)

Thanks for the challenge, Amy! I don't take all of the freebies, but really love some of them from my favorite artists. ;)

One of the fun things in going through my videos, was finding those shots where it was clear that the bunny, a bird or a raccoon had studied the lens, especially at night. The funniest ones were the raccoon, with expressions of surprise and curiosity, and sometimes maybe suspicion.

The hallucinations started after steroid shots, and had not stopped, when I saw a bear in the cabin, and I had to let it go. But the night cam photo of the raccoon was as real as I know, and I couldn't quit thinking how much his tail reminded me of Alice's grinning Cheshire cat.

Thanks for the challenge, Diane! Alice was always my favorite story, so I sent her into the land of Steampunk. ;)

I wasn't clear at first, but this turned out to be fun. Thanks for the challenge. Rae!

With hundreds of videos to study, it didn't take long to learn which of the visitors to the feeders were friendly and which ones were not. The most interesting of all to me, was the way the towhee would so often fly in when a bunny was eating, and the bunny mostly didn't seem to mind.

A good one for my first page in January. Thanks for the challenge. I took the photo while he was driving. I asked him if this was good times and he said it was. Fine by me, don't overthink it! :giggle4:

On New Year's Day it was bitter cold with a strong wind. Snow was coming, and we knew we'd have to limit the time we were exposed to the weather. We also knew it would be a beautiful day for photos. The elk stayed sheltered and we enjoyed the views and the river ice.

JANUARY 2025 Challenge Layouts Links: Challenge 1: One Word https://oscraps.com/community/media/1-good-times.403775/ Challenge 2: Storybook/Fantasy https://oscraps.com/community/media/2-steampunk-alice.403838/ Challenge 3: Through the Lens...

When we got to the cabin, I headed to see the river and whether there were any tracks in the snow. We had a long string of unseasonably warm days in December, and the ice that was there a month ago was gone.It was shocking to me, to find a spring-like river flowing by.

In a few hours each day, I was able to turn about 700 videos from that day into 30-40 keepers, plus a set of highlight photos I would enjoy in my books. Sometimes only one screenshot was all I'd keep, and some videos would bring smiles but no useful stills. It was rewarding work.