Baby Deer

I thought I should give an update on the little ones. I've been out of the Internet loop for a while. Unfortunately, it does seem like it was the mother in the story below. I haven't seen her around (but deer can be shy, so there is still a chance). On the bright side, however, the babies are doing great! I think they were right at the weaning age. They are grazing and seem to be doing fine (though our flowers aren't). I've been keeping a close eye on them.

Animals amaze me, by the way! A human child would be so helpless at four months- even if you translate their age from "deer years" to "human years!" It's impressive.

A Goodbye

I just heard the gun shot.

I was making my obligatory rounds to gather my cat. I mistook one of the baby deer twins for my cat. We both frightened each other, but we were okay. I fed two strange cats the treats that were meant for mine and then continued on my way to find Lyra. I rounded the corner of Mapleton and Folsom. I heard a sound. A dog was running around in the street. My heart jumped right as Lyra jumped from a bush behind me. My emotions were confused. I was relieved that my cat was unharmed, but afraid of what was. I scooped her up and threw her in the house. I ran frantically to the street. Carl ran after me. A mature doe had been hit by a car- two dogs had chased her into the street. The drivers called someone, dragged her off the road and then took off. She was still alive (and I want those drivers to know that to leave a life kicking and panting like that is irresponsible and cruel). A bike rider approached us. She stopped and knelt with us. We waved off traffic and spoke soothingly as the deer struggled with her last breaths. Finally, a police officer arrived. She told us that another officer would arrive shortly and that there would be a gun shot- that we probably shouldn't watch. I came back and wanted to reach out to the virtual world with shaking hands. I hope she is no longer scared and in pain.

I will be looking out for those fawns. If I notice that their mother is not here within a day, I will call the Park Services to help.

E.T. Phone Home (to your blog)

Oh yes. Is this the future or what?

Inane? Yes. Someday, though, I might see a shooting star (or even the kind that walk around; e.g. Ms. Jolie) and feel the urge to call my blog!

Unusual Weather

This post is a little late, but I wanted to include some amazing photos taken by our neighbor:







That was about two weeks ago (June 24th). This was actually mild compared to other areas in Boulder.

The interesting thing is that I got to experience the development of this storm. I was in Lyons (West of Boulder, in the mountains) with friends. We got caught in an electrical storm. The electricity soon turned into a downpour! Luckily, we were able to get indoors.

About five minutes after the storm passed us, our friend got a call from another friend of ours who was in Boulder (East of us). I could overhear her on the phone saying that she had pulled over in her car because it was so bad. While I agreed that the rain was heavy, I didn't really think it was that bad. That is, until we started driving home!

It looked like it had snowed! It was incredible. The hail ripped up our trees and our garden. All of Boulder was a mess for a few days.

What is interesting about this storm is that we were able to witness what happens when you force a saturated air mass over mountains! All of that downpour (just rain) that fell on us in Lyons had to be forced over the mountains to make it into Boulder. The rain droplets got pushed up higher in the atmosphere (where it's colder) and froze! Once it got over the mountains and fell on Boulder, everything that was rain in Lyons was hail in Boulder!

Thanks to Geneva for the loverly photos! She said it sounded awful in her house as the hail beat down on her roof...