We took the road in the previous October and it was snowed in, and we waited until August because even in July some of our jeep trails would still not be open, and by September it could be dangerous again. It was all we had wished for, and we made it on a gorgeous blue-sky day.

We had a break from 100 degree temperatures, but our visitors were gone. I was surprised to hear a chickadee and even got a photo of one, but every day, even with temperatures in the 80s birds and bunnies were few and far between, and most hurried off. Humidity was 17%.

So nice to see you again! Always so appreciate your support! :heartpumpred::waving3:

Each year the greenhouse had very few cannas when we got there, so we went earlier this year. We picked red ones, and the only ones there had bronze foliage. Each year the cannas surprised us, and this year we got through most of July with only pea-sized hail. The colors were amazing!

Kate's chiari surgery has her getting daily seizures now, some as much as 15 minutes. I told her BFF to tell her Happy Birthday for me because I can't get through, and this is her reply: She will be told. She got up today by herself and ended up having a seizure and falling down. They switched...

A few iris flowers bloomed in the area that had been a bog a few years back. I remembered going out into the field and turning my travel shoes into spares when it was unexpectedly soggy. There had been dozens of plants but we were thankful to see at least a few survived the drought.

A new bird for the trail camera in mid-July: the pine siskin. And after a violent hailstorm without damage, there were more visits to the feeders when the daily highs dropped back into the 70s. I didn't know if we had more monsoons or it was just that I could see each one on the camera.

Even hundreds of yards away, I could tell the little speck of white on the far shore moved like an avocet, so I took many dozens of photos. It was weeks later, when I had sifted through them all, I settled on my favorite. It was the one with the bonus of a whole family of cinnamon teal ducks.

I was fascinated by the iridescent colors of the grackles, and they came in large groups and reminded me of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The look when there was no food was spooky. What changed my mind about these heat-tolerant birds, was watching them feed their big babies.

We got to the refuge exactly at sunrise, but the morning started out moody and dark. A little bit of fog was coming off the first little lake. My happy place— where yellow-headed blackbirds would be singing long before sunrise, and it was a joy to capture photos with so little daylight.

The mallards left the water and were out of view, as soon as they saw me. We watched the line of geese, and I loved seeing them swimming past the hardstem bulrushes, a wetlands favorite of mine. On the trip back to the hotel, I became a huge fan of the Rocky Mountain beeplant.

On Monday you didn't get much sleep and we almost didn't go to the refuge. You got ready anyway, and we stopped about ten minutes away when the sun came up in a clear blue sky. There were very few birds but I liked tracking the juvenile coot. I may have watched him catch a fish.

Photos from July 4th 10a - 11p When they saw we were home again, and there were treats.

It's a Jeep! Of course we put up with the ride and the road noise, and are fiercely proud of everything about it. Even its mileage. We took it in for a cylinder misfire and the shop people suggested it was time to fix the steering, which we never noticed was anything less than perfection.

Love it! The AI people call me the queen of the trail because I go through thousands of shots every day now, and I also turned one into a dashcam. Of course I'd love to see what you come up with! ;-)

I left old dirty trail camera on duty at the feeder, while I put the new one on the dash of the Jeep. What stood out in almost 10,000 photos with no food, I was watching wildlife in full foraging mode. Raccoons came before it got dark at night and in the morning again after daylight.

A floodgate had been opened, and all of that water had flowed in within less than 24 hours. Could they have drained and let the lake get parched to kill some unwelcome mollusks? It would probably never be in the news. People who manage the refuge quietly worked behind the scene.

The queen was on the street in a winter sweater, though it was over 100 degrees. She kept her house cold to sleep better and didn’t bother to change for a short walk. She welcomed a break from thousands of daily photos, though the birds and furry critters were too stressed to visit.

It was a hazy sunrise on Wednesday. Along the canal, I found the cutest baby yellow-headed blackbird. There were a few birds in the shallow water of the large lake, far out and standing ankle-deep. It looked to us like the water was leaving, and we wondered what might follow.

Inspired by Jenn's new flairs.