Big day for wildlife

Today I heard my first humingbird for the year.

Then about 30 to 40 elk came through the yard and mowed my lawn a bit.

X-C ski: To Go Where Only the Elk Have Gone Before

This afternoon I took the time to enjoy one of the "fringe" benefits of living up high in the Colorado Rockies - being able to x-c ski right out the back door in April.

When I got to the top of the ridge, I found that I was not the first one on the trail - a couple of elk had beat me to it.

The carnage to the trees from the weight of the snow continues to impress me. Full sized trees would be snapped off half way up. I've always wondered why there are some ponderousa pine trees around here that had a curious 'Y' shape to them. Now I know why. A previous storm had snapped of the top and the two nearest top branches would form a new top.

It appears that the last time this happened, judging from the maturity of the 'Y' shapes, was probably 20 or 30 year ago.

So, given this evidence, I can safely say that this was the worst storm in decades.

Storm Causes Carnage

Some more updates about the snow storm from my previous post.

It looks like this storm dropped more snow, by weight then the famous snowstorm of March, 2003.

Let me explain.

This snow storm dropped over 4 feet of snow around here. That's over an inch an hour.

I noticed on our drive back on Sunday that I've never seen as many broken branches and trees every since I've lived around here. By the way, that explains why the power was out for nearly 2 days - the trees where overburdened with snow and took down power lines as they fell.

Today, the snow was melting down at a rate of about an inch an hour in the intense April sun. This has gradually exposed a carnage of broken trees and branches in the yard as well.

The good news is that the snow melted enough for me to be able to drive the Toyota truck all the way into the garage. However, turning around will be another matter. But, if the snow melts as fast tomorrow as it did today, the ground should be mostly clear in a day or two.

Snowstorm of April 2009

This storm made the national news.

The following is a blow by blow of the snow storm of 2009 as told through an email thread. I have also edited out email addresses and certain other identifying details so that they will not end up on a spam list.

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Hi All,

Yesterday (Friday) morning I was watching the snow pile up on the pick nick table outside my window on Lazy Z, when my gut whispered "Storm of March '03" You might remember it - it dumped 4 to 5 feet of snow in our neighborhood.

... THEN the power goes out. ... and I figured that the internet would not be far behind.

I love where I live, except when the power and internet goes out - so I bailed.

What I mean is: I beat a retreat to Boulder - the land of health food stores, free wifi, and (more) reliable power and snow plowing service.

Not that all is peaches and cream however. For example, I heard that the "improved" King Soopers on 30th is leaking like a sieve and is closed. However, the traffic is moving pretty well in the rain.

Rain down here... snow up there. That's the way it usually works this time of year, right?

Anyway, does anybody have enough electricity and digital bandwidth to give a report of the conditions in the PUMA neighborhood?

BTW, I meet a couple in Sunflower market that said that Ned was still a mess, with power in some parts and not others. Sunflower market itself was taking on water too, but was open.

Excuse me for taking this long to get to my point, but I'd like to start a discussion about current road conditions on Magnolia as well as side streets such as Lazy Z.

Also, how's the power holding up? (No need to answer if you don't have any :-)

- Mike

Allen Gordon to Mike

show details Apr 18 (2 days ago)

Reply

Hi Mike

Power was off on on then off again about 6 PM last night. Still off until estimated 6PM tonight. This appears to be area wide. Snow is about 4 feet and stll snowing. Don't know how the roads are. Haven't finished plowing yet. I don't know if this will go to to the puma list. If you come up, post a note about the road conditions.

Allen Gordon
Pine Glade

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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Greg Ching

I've been on battery backup going on 20 hours the last 24 hours and 4.5 hours...

Apr 18 (1 day ago)

Greg ChingLoading...

Apr 18 (1 day ago)

Greg Ching to Mike

show details Apr 18 (1 day ago)

Reply

I've been on battery backup going on 20 hours the last 24 hours and 4.5 hours the previous. I've been on battery backup going on 20 hours the last 24 hours and 4.5 hours the previous. Phones out since last night. I've not driven. Roads by me have one lane plowed.
ones out since last night. I've not driven. Roads by me have one lane plowed.

greg

mvgerard@aol.com

Just got my power back about 2 hrs ago on Pinon Way. BTW, I meet a couple in ...

Apr 18 (1 day ago)

mvgerard@aol.comLoading...

Apr 18 (1 day ago)

mvgerard to mikeseiler

show details Apr 18 (1 day ago)

Reply

Just got my power back about 2 hrs ago on Pinon Way.

Clark R Chapman to Mike

show details 8:27 AM (13 hours ago)

Reply

Mike -- I assume that you've made it back. Our internet was out until this morning. Briefly, here's what happened around here. A snowplow came down Lazy Z around midnight Thursday night, then not again until around noon on Friday. It was just before noon on Friday that the power went out. I was down in Boulder on Friday and returned between 5 pm and 6 pm, driving up Magnolia. It was totally marginal, even with our high clearance, all-wheel drive, and studded snowtires. There was about a foot of unplowed snow on this part of Magnolia and Lazy Z. The temperature got down to about 47 degrees in our house. Finally, a major snowplowing effort was made fairly early Saturday morning. The power came back on last evening at 8:50 pm -- 33 hours without power! (The weather bureau reported a snow guage 3 miles southeast of Pinecliffe with 53 inches of snow...roughly what I guess we had here.) Hope your feline is o.k. Clark

d

Mike Seiler to Clark

show details 9:18 AM (12 hours ago)

Reply

Clark,

Thanks for the update.

Rachel and I are glad we sat this one out at the Golden Buff in Boulder.

We're heading back up after a good breakfast.

- Mike

Mike Seiler to Clark

show details 9:43 PM (0 minutes ago)

Reply

Hi All,

Thanks all for the updates.

We got back this afternoon.

About 1/2 mile from home, we suddenly found ourselves in the ditch because of a surprising thick,irregular and hard patch of snow, which was followed by a slippery mix of mud and snow. Fortunately, a neighbor yanked us out.

Right after that, it was my turn to try yanking another neighbor out. (Long, strong tow straps are a must have in the car up here) But this neighbor was much more stuck then I had been.

Just then Steven McCullum (from Blackhawk) came by with his backhoe. Steven pulled the neighbor out, then he came by to dig out my driveway. 1 hour and $100 later, he had made it all the way up except the last 100 feet. That was just to steep and the backhoe kept spinning its wheels in the heavy wet snow. ... but getting almost all the way up was good enough for me.

It was good to be back after two days and everything was just fine. Power and internet were both back on. The cats were really glad to see us (we had left lots of food and water)

- Mike

Rocky Mountain Winter Wonderland

In the past 9 days, we've had 3 significant snows. This is the time of year for heavy snows since the air has a lot of spring moisture in it.

Some Local Views of the Snow

You Can't Split Frozen Wood

This fall I decided to turn some dead trees (mostly pine) into firewood for winter.

The tree was cut down and cut into portable sections.  The sections where then trucked up to a cutting and chopping station right next to the deck.  

Each trunk section was cut into logs that would fit into the wood stove.  If the log was more then about 4 inches thick it was chopped.  

The ready-to-burn wood was pilled onto the covered deck.  This way it would be easily accessable even if it was snowing.  

The whole operation went smoothly until it started getting really cold at night.  Suddenly, instead of hearing a loud CRACK!!! when I brough the maul down on the end of a log, I'd just get a dull thud.

That's how I discovered that you can't split frozen wood.  We recently had a warm spell, and I was curious if I could once again the logs I had prepared for that step.

What I discoved was that I could split smaller logs, and larger logs as long as I avoided the still frozen core.  Here's a couple of pictures of a log that I could split about 4 inches in.  The inner core was still frozen and would not split.

You can see how the maul blade would just dig into the frozen core without creating a split like it's supposed to.  You can also see the section that split off.  The split would follow a tree ring at the edge of the frozen core. That way, I ended up taking a slice out of the log.

Moral of the story:  Don't try to split frozen wood.  You may have to wait for a few days, or even a week, of above freezing temperatures for the wood to "melt."  Then you can split it.

Blowing Snow Closes Mountain Schools

It's been quite windy of late.  In fact, the below freezing temperatures and high winds (gusting to near huricane strengths) has been hard on the trees.  At about the half mile mark on Lazy Z, I saw one live tree pulled up by the roots.  Another tree had the top 20 feet snapped of.

Today there is a light snow with the wind.  This creates large swirling clouds of snow and near whiteout conditions.  I heard that this even caused the closing of mountain area schools around here.

Fortunetly, I recently cut down some trees from the forest below the house.  I've cut, chopped and stacked them on the deck.  It's enough to keep us nice and tosty warm.  Aside from a little work, they did not cost me anything, so I don't mind cranking the heat up a bit.

Solstice Sun

This is where the sun rises on the winter solstice. Sunrise was about 7:26 am

I Love My Bed

Yesterday afternoon I was surveying the 4 acre forest that is between my home and the road. There where a 5 beetle kill trees that I had the neighbor kid cut down and are now fire wood.  They should keep me warm for January and Feburary.

But that's not what this is about.  I noticed a few dozen ice patches in the 4 inches of snow.  It took only a moment to realize that they where made by the elk that came through a few days ago.  

Can you imagine this?  The elk must simply sleep on the snow.  Gradually, the snow melts as they slee on it.   This leaves an icy patch to freezes up after they get on with their day. 

I now have a whole new appreciation for my nice WARM, soft bed.

100 Elk on the Meadow

I took this picture of about 100 elk at about 10 mile marker on Magnolia

I wish I had a video camera to take a video of  two bucks that where locking horns in the middle of the herd.

The herd was to big fit into the picture.  The mountain in the background is Thorodin.

Moxxor

I've been exploring all kinds of new corners around here in the last few weeks.  I've even blogged about some of them. 

It's been fun seeing familiar sites from totally new angles.  ... and even seeing them with greater clarity then before.   My distance vision, although already fairly good, has recently improved.

I owe my new athletic energy, as well as other improvements to my health to an number of things I've recently discovered that work really well.   One of them is an antioxident called astaxanthin.

Another is a extremely potent "fish" oil called Moxxor.  I would never have believed that such a small quantity of oil could have such an energizing effect.  Moxxor is supposed to have lot's of "essential fatty acids" or EFAs.  I guess that the fats really are essential, and I've not been getting enough of them. 

How Cute! Mommy and Kitten Bobcat Pay a Visit

I took these pictures 2 days ago, about 10 am.  I first noticed them because the walked across the entire length of the deck.

The 2 bobcats are not that easy to spot because they are camoflaged quite well.  They where making the rounds, looking for brunch.  

The kitten is almost impossible to spot in the upper picture (it's on the very upper left) because it blends in so well with the wood pile.

Is Winiger Ridge a Glacial Deposit?

On the way back from the post office, I notice a large white van parked on Lazy Z at about the .5 mile marker.  There where about 10 people standing at the side of the road.

Curious, I stopped and joined them.

The group was a geology class being lead by Ken Hopkins of the University of Northern Colorado.

I learned that IF this was a glacial deposit, then it would be between 600,000 and 1.2 million years old.  However, it is uncertain if this is what Winiger Ridge actually is.

Mystery Bear: Case Solved

I met a neighbor on my way to the post office this afternoon.  I asked her about the large plastic honey bear. 

She knew all about it.

It turns out that it hidden away in the woods like that so that they could cheer up a mountain biking friend who was having a hard day.

Mystery Honey Bear

It's been an amazingly mild fall this year. It's one thing to hear scientists argue if global warming is real, but another entirely to experience such unseasonally warm weather personally.

I've been taking advantage of the warm weather by spending some time soaking up lots of vitamin D producing sunlight.

While riding around in the woods, I found a mysterious large plastic honey bear just hanging out in a dense stand of trees. It was clear that someone put it there for reasons that I'm sure was clear to them.

Also, I noticed 2 elk in the trees near there as well, but I don't think the elk were there to admire the honey bear.

First Snow of the Season

Freezing rain and snow have been making clear that winter is here.

Note the thin layer of ice on the Aspen leaves. Click on small picture for a larger image.

Found Another One

I found another large puff ball today. It weighted in at 1 pound, 4.2 ounces.

Into the cooking pot it goes.

The Aspens are turning