First Frost of the Fall

This morning there was a coat of white frost on the ground. Also, yesterday's rain had frozen on blades of grass.

However, the Goji Plants and house plants seem to have survived it, so it was not a hard frost. Does that make a soft frost?

I suspect this frost will the trigger for the turning of the Aspens.

Livestock Puma will not be trapped and killed

Thank you Sue (see below) for doing all this wonderful research and summarizing it in a email. I can picture the incident in great detail because I knew the horse and I've wandered through the pasture where it happened.

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Hi Everyone,
An update about the lion situation: The trap has been pulled.

At this point they are not planning on taking any further action other than to keep a close eye on any further incidents that arise.

Here are the facts as shared by the DOW information officer, Jennifer Churchill who was very informative and nice. Most of you already know these but here it is for those who don't:

• The pony was killed on Saturday night at the top of the lower meadow of the Kellogg's property. He was then dragged down near the corral which is near William Kellogg's house.
• The lion did not kill the pony at Otsie's house, nor did it ever go to his house, it was seen only on the Kellogg's property.
• The main concern was after Otsie had his farrier down to work with his remaining horses (I believe on Sunday or Monday). The lion stayed next to the pony's remains for the hour or so that Otsie and his farrier were working with the horses. Again-the lion was in the open meadow next to the pony's remains. The Camera reported that it was in an open meadow and neglected to mention that it was next to it's cache, very typical lion behavior.
• We discussed lion behavior and she agreed that some lions do stick closer to their cache than others, but it always makes them more cautious when they see lions who stay near their prey in the presence of humans.
• For what it's worth, I'd like to share my perspective on such behavior: I have done research on Open Space properties for the past decade and work in an area where road killed deer (and lion-killed deer who are taken too close to residential areas) are dropped off for lions to be able to eat in a safe location away from people. Many rangers have commented that they will often have to shoot lions with rubber bullets in order to get them away from their caches and I have pictures here, here, and here that show a lion in my study area in South Boulder doing just that, hunkering down on his cache, despite the rangers watching them and taking photographs from a truck.
• The only other killings that she said concerned them were of a llama and a pony. One was on Flagstaff and she couldn't remember where the other one was (I believe the llama was Sugarloaf). She said there was no way to know if this was the same lion, but they were concerned that the lion had possibly shifted it's prey choice to livestock rather than deer/elk and they target lions who start focusing on livestock.
• I asked if there was any regulation regarding responsible livestock or pet ownership and she said no. She agreed completely that the lion is the one who pays with his life when we choose to let our dogs run free or we don't keep our livestock in safe enclosures at night. Even if you don't report it to the DOW when your dog is killed, it's clear that word of mouth spreads the story and then, when an event happens as did with the pony, the stories fly such as "I know of 7 dogs in the Magnolia area that were killed by lions." Unverifiable information but quite powerful when rumors start to make it back to the DOW. When a decision about whether to kill a lion or not is unclear, those stories push the DOW into choosing a lethal option.
• I asked if we could organize a neighborhood meeting with their district rangers and she said she would make some calls and see if they can pull that together. I offered to organize things from this end and will call her next week to see what kind of time constraints they have on their end.
• If anyone has a venue that they know about or could volunteer to host such an event please let me know.
• Please send me a private email stating if you would like to come to a meeting with Sinapu and the Division of Wildlife and I will start contacting everyone to see what dates are best.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I still would like to gather as many factual accounts of lion encounters so that we can have the right information available should there be any other lion predation event. I'd also like to hear from people who have had no encounters as those are valuable as well.

Thank you all for taking the time to read these updates,
Sue

Mountain Lion Causing Quite a Local Buzz

We were repeatedly buzzed by two Helicopters this afternoon. The first was red, and the second was yellow with a blue tail.

I was not sure what it was about at first, but I'm guessing the following has something to do with it.

Mountain lion kills horse in Boulder County foothills
In case the Daily Camera link does not work, the articles says:
"Colorado Division of Wildlife officials are responding to property in the Boulder County foothills where a mountain lion attacked and killed a horse, sheriff's officials said this afternoon.

The property's owner reported that the cat was still in the area, located off Magnolia Road near Pineglade Road. "

Also See: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=76716

***

I've seen the pony that was eaten any number of times. I'm sorry to hear it's turned into cat food. I assume this is the same mountain lion that's been sighted on our land here. The pony lived about a mile from here, on the other side of Winiger Ridge.

True Confessions: I was a unpaid scout for the power company

We've had three lightning caused power outages in the last few weeks. It's fashionable to blame weather weirdnesses on global warming, so I'll jump on that band wagon to explain it.

Anyway...

A few hours after this latest lighting induced power outage, yesterday, a large Excel Energy Truck with a cherry picker shows up.

A "old fat man" (these were his words) jumped out and started asking directions to a pole so that he could replace the fuse.

It was twilight and I knew the moon would come up any minute because we'd had a lunar eclipse the day before. I'd not had my habitual walk either.

So I volunteered to show him the way. OK, I admit, I was curious too how this all worked.

The power pole he was looking for was in the narrow valley on the other side of Winiger Ridge. This meant going up 100 yards, then down 300 very steep yards. At night.

Fortunately, I knew most of the faint trail that would take us there pretty much by heart.

We set off and about 30 minutes later we where at the pole with the blown fuse. This is where it gets tricky. The fuse is nearly 40 feet up and the only way to get at it is with a 40 foot long telescoping fiberglass pole. Given the flex of the fiberglass pole, this is not easy.

Also, if the lightning had taken out more than just the fuse, it would have created a very loud explosion as the new fuse also blew.

After about 15 minutes of fussing, the utility line man was able to install the fuse. It held. No explosion.

My curiosity was also satisfied about how this all works.

On the way back up , I learned that the lineman would retire in 3.5 months, after 37 years. I wondered where the new talent would come from to replace him. Nobody in "the younger generation" seemed interested working in the wilds of Colorado in all kinds of weather conditions.

I had volunteered to carry the collapsed telescoping fiberglass pole back up after seeing how much of a strain it put on the lineman to manipulate the pole to get the fuse back in place. It got quite heavy by the time I was back on top of the ridge.

After we got back, I got to keep the old blown fuse as a souvenir.

Then, it was back to business as usual... at least until the next global warming induced lighting strike.

Scary!

I just picked up some folding tables that I had loaned to the NEXT DOOR neighbor over the weekend.

While I was there they showed me the passenger side front door on their van. The window had broken and the top of the frame was pulled back about an inch from the body.

This was the latest episode in a nearly nightly harassment by a bear.

Lions and Coyotes and Bears, Oh My

I just got word that neighbor saw a mountain lion in the woods below the house yesterday morning.

Other neighbors have seen the same cat at other times as well.

Also, the coyote infestation in the valley here seems to be particularly bad this year, judging from the nearly nightly yelping and howling. The deer have taken the hint and left.

And I read in the paper that bears will need to be spending 20 hours a day eating, so that they can pack on the weight for winter.

3 mile fox was hit by a car.

I feel like I lost a friend. The fox mentioned below seemed to take a special delight in greeting cars on the way home.
***
If you drove down Magnolia today you probably saw the dead fox on the side of Magnolia, past Magnolia townsite. He (or she?) must've been hit last night by a car. This fox was very wily to cars and people. He would run to the side of the road and turn around and look as you passed by. I'm amazed he was hit knowing how fast he got out of the way for me in car or bike. The driver must've been going very fast.

I know I'm speaking to the choir on this list (I hope) but lower speeds mean you can slow down faster and not hit wildlife (or dogs, pedestrians, runners, and cyclists). Driving 30mph down Magnolia from Lazy Z takes about 18 minutes (yes, i did the math). Driving 35 gets you there only 2.5 minutes faster. Driving 40 gets you there 4.5 minutes faster. I have 5 minutes to spare...how about you?

Thanks for reading,
Whit

Now that's a big bug

This bug landed on the living room window. The black circle next to it is a quarter that I taped to the window. The body of the bug was about 2.5 inches long.

Pine Beetles in the Colorado Rockies

Thanks Jenifer for some great research on Pine Beetles:

---

Dear Friends,
We are all aware of the beetle epidemic on the Western Slope. Anyone
who has driven I-70 westward has seen it.
In our own area, we need to be aware of the condition of our trees.
Over-crowded, stressed, or damaged trees are vulnerable.

Living pines should not be trimmed or cut between approximately
beginning of June to approximately September, as beetles are attracted
to the scent of sap.
Wood (and probably anything else) should not be stacked against living
trees.
Beetles don't acknowledge property lines. We must work together as
residents of Magnolia to protect our forest. Stay alert, communicate
with your neighbors. Know the signs of beetle presence. Know how to
determine whether beetle presence in a tree has been repulsed by the
tree, or is killing it. Not all attacked trees succumb! Healthy trees
can expel beetles in a flood of sap.

If you have concerns, call the Colorado State Forest Service
(303-823-5774), and/or a neighbor who has experience with beetle
management. Dan Metzger is one such person.

Here are some websites with info on Pine Beetles.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05528.html
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/we_pine_beetle/wpb.htm
http://www.barkbeetles.org/mountain/fidl2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pine_beetle


Best,
Jennifer

Large, Shaggy Dog or Black Bear?

A black bear that looked like a large dog walked across our long deck a few minutes ago at twilight.

My New Friend, A Lonely Dove

This is the kind of self-indulgent entries that blogs are famous for.

As I was walking up my very long and steep driveway this morning, a dove flew in front of me. I live high up in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by national forest. Doves are not native around here. A couple of hours later, I'd made a new friend, who you can see sitting on my shoulder.

I called over to my neighbor, who once had brough up some doves from Denver. He told me that this last, lonely dove had been hanging around there, but he was afraid that it would soon become Red tailed Hawk food.

Perhaps my new friend figures that if its friends with me, then the hawk won't get it. I hope she's right, because after getting a expert ear cleaning from her, I'm starting to like this bird.

The Grand Yellow Green Pollen Cloud Finali

There are some hazards to living high up in the Rockies that you don't find out about until you're actually living here.

In the winter, there are the large stinging clouds of swirling snow.

Right now, we are just coming to the end to the large gritty clouds of yellow green pine pollen. ON warm days (>80 F) like today the pine pollen gets ready in the calm morning air.

Then, as the first gust of afternoon wind blow across the hillside, the pollen takes flight, and forms huge yellow green clouds.

These clouds coat everything with a thick, gritty, yellow-green coat. This pollen keeps blowing around until it is finally washed down by a afternoon thunderstorm, like we just had.

We had similar situation last weekend. The whole process was interrupted by a cold snap that we had right after the weekend.

Hopefully, this is the end of pollen season. It takes weeks for the pollen coat to disappear from surfaces.

Finally back online

In my previous post I mentioned a bad wind storm. It knocked out our internet connection shortly after the post until this morning.

It's been stange weather. We had a hard frost last night, and I had to bring in all the house plants that did not have the good sense to come in on their own.

Wind and Snow

It has been quite windy today, as illustrated by this knocked over Aspen tree.

It also looks like its trying to snow over Thorodin.

Suggestions for a bear proof bird feeder

This morning, I heard the dogs in the neighborhood go crazy with howling an yowling. "Must be the bear" I thought to myself. Sure enough, I saw bags of scattered trash when I went throuhg the epicenter of the yowling a few hours latter.

Another bear related note: --
A neighbor suggests this for a bear proof feeder:

Hi Everyone,

A few years ago, we used a pulley system like the one mentioned here
to keep our birdfeeders out of reach of the bears. It worked for
about a year but then the bears started to figure it out. The first
bear to figure it out climbed up a tree until he was higher than the
metal cord that we had running between two trees (about 15 ft off the
ground). Then, he jumped down and grabbed the cord as he fell. This
method worked for him but it was a long jump down. We put the pulley
system back together, and the next bear (or maybe the same bear)
figured out which rope lowered the feeders. He pawed at it until he
got the feeders to fall.

We abandoned the pulley system at that point, and my husband
constructed a new system. We have a 15 ft tall metal pole sunk in
concrete, and 4 arms coming off of it near the top. There's a feeder
on each arm. We have an electric fence (3 fence posts with wires
going around them making a circle with diameter of about 2-3 ft)
around the base of the pole. We have a long pole with a hook on the
end to put feeders up on the arms (or take them down). This system
has now worked for 2.5 years or so. We've observed bears (in the
daytime) trying to get at our feeders, and they get completely
spooked when they touch the electric fence (it's not a huge shock -
we've touched it to see what it feels like). From what we've
observed, each bear never tries again after getting shocked once.

If anyone else is interested in setting up a system like this, I
could take some pictures and post them. My husband could provide
technical details. We really like this system because we can leave
the feeders out all the time with no worries that we're helping
corrupt bears.

Claire

Mountain Lions Sited on the Neighborhood on Saturday

Just a quick report on a great wildlife sighting from a Neighbor:

Brian and I saw three mountaint lions on Magnolia this past Saturday night
about 11:30 pm. The cats were in the road as we came up, roughly 2.25 mile
mark. We guess it was a mom and cubs since they were traveling together,
but don't know for sure. Got a solid look at one, two dropped off the road
quickly but the long black tipped tails are unmistakeable!

Save Forsythe Falls

I took a walk down to Forsythe Falls today.

I wanted see how far above the current level of Gross Reservoir it was. I eyeballed it, but I suspect that there is only about 30 feet between the current full level of Gross Reservoir and the bottom of Forsythe falls. Raising the level of Gross Reservoir will destroy this beautiful falls.

I have posted three pictures for posterity.

More Bear issues in the Neighborhood

Hi All:
Last weekend -- during the DAY a bear must have come on my deck and destroyed the bird feeders and on the other side of the house dismantled the hummingbird feeder. I want to feed the birds but I am not gonna do that anymore as it attracts the bears so much. I would love to have a bird feeder on a pully system between two trees but I bet the bear will pull on the roper or chain. Any suggestions from clever humans???
Terry

At 09:10 PM 6/1/2007, greg joder wrote:
>Hi everyone,>>The bear, or a bear, that has been around here for the last couple >weeks just tried climbing onto my deck (9:00 p.m.) - we could see >its feet, paws and face! My dog and cats went crazy!>>Just took in the feeders too (no trash out). Keep an eye out!
>>greg
http://www.wildmagnolia.org/phpbb/

Contact Xcel with your power flucuation problems

In regard to my previous blog, another neighbor suggests:
I just talked to a full-service agent at Xcel, andshe recommends that everyone who has noticedrecent fluctuations in electric service shouldphone so that they can understand the magnitudeof the problem and the region affected. She saysthat the number to call is 1-800-895-1999, andselect "outage". If you don't get through to areal person, just select nothing and after about6 prompts, it will ring a real person. Ask thatperson for a full-service agent.We also suspect that we may have had damage tosome of our electrical equipment, even though itwas connected to a UPS (that has been frequentlycycling on-and-off the last few days).

Lighting Caused Power Blips

In a message dated 5/31/2007 9:10:37 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, savitar@mric.net writes:
Has anyone been experiencing electrical service fluctuations lately? We've been have several episodes of flickering lights, and the computer UPS battery backup systems clicking & coming on. I don't know if it's surges or momentary loss of power. I'm wondering if it's our service only, or if others nearby have experienced anything similar. It's happening at different times of the day, and even when we are not using much electricity.
I read someplace that one Mt. Evans, which is actually visible from my location on Lazy Z, is world famous for the number of lightning strikes it gets.

A lighting storm some distance away can still effect our power here because of the way that the power lines run as they distribute power.

The moral of the story here is that the lighting around here is intense enough that it interferes with our electricity. However, you may just want to check that a recent storm did not blow a tree against the power line to your house. I've had that happen too.

I have included a picture above of the relative number of lighting stikes in Colorado over a 6 year period. I have called out Mt Evans. Boulder County is the rectangle above it with the ragged left edge and a notch half way along its southern boarder. We're just one County away from Mt. Evans.
P.S. Welcome to the joys of living "way out there" at the end of the line, so to speak.