2006 Adventures
Updated: 22-Jun-2006
April
'Twas an interesting day in my
back yard... I looked out and saw a fox sneaking up on a group
of a dozen geese... finally she took off running and caught
one of the geese (the slowest one) by the wing and fought with
for several minutes until she finally killed it. This was at
about 2pm, when there were several people nearby. Apparently
the little fox was very, very hungry to risk being out in
the middle of the day with people around.
The other geese stayed just
a few feet away, apparently wishing their goose-friend strength.
But immediately after the captured goose finally stopped battling, the
remaining geese
all flew away together. It was so interesting... they all stayed,
just twenty feet away from the battle, until it was obvious
that their goose-friend had lost the battle and then they all
departed in unison. They seemed to know the exact instant when
life had departed.
It was all very touching...
tears came to my eyes when I saw the goose and fox battling,
each in their own way battling to save their life. The fox was
so exhausted that she laid down to rest after the battle.
They were too far a way to get a very good photo...
Now she is trying to find a
way to carry it back to her hungry family... but she is too
small and too weak to carry that huge bird. She's been struggling
to drag it, but in ten minutes has only been able to move it
about ten feet.
At first I thought it was a
coyote... but now I'm convinced that it is a red fox... she
has a noticeable reddish color and a very large, bushy tail,
as well as black feet, white tip on the tail, and black underside
of the tail.
And after all that exhausting
work, now some passers-by have come along and scared her off.
I hope that she is able to come back soon and get the goose...
Oh good, she's back... trying
again to drag away her huge catch, but still unable to do so...
now she's starting to eat it. Maybe she'll be able to take some
of it back to her family once she's got it a bit more disassembled.
All are He... ever changing
forms and appearances, yet always the same One. What a miracle
it all is.
June
As a delightful weekend adventure, my friend Susan, who
lives in Durango, took me to a relatively unknown group of
three Anasazi cliff dwellings in southeastern Utah. The
cliff dwellings were probably occupied around 1100 AD.
It was wonderfully peaceful and quiet in the canyon. The
gentle sound of the breeze through the trees was
occasionally punctuated by the sound of birds and some
bees... it almost seemed as if we could begin to hear the
happy voices of children playing nearby. Magnificent.
This is the view from inside one of the cliff dwellings,
looking out about 40 feet above the stream-bed that runs
down the center of the narrow canyon:
Apparently this was home sweet home for somebody:
This pictograph of three human-like figures is just
inside one of the caves:
And, amusingly, this next pictograph is just outside one
of the caves, located immediately below the edge of an
overhead cliff... and seems to be showing what happens if
one falls off of that cliff... perhaps a memorial to
someone's friend who suffered a nasty fall:
September
Last night I was flipping thru the TV channels to see if
there was anything interesting, and as I passed by one of
the religious channels, a skinny woman preacher from Texas
was shouting out:
"Whatever your problems may be, always take
refuge in the Lard!"
and in the next couple of moments I couldn't even change
channels.. my brain was frozen, half amused at the idea of
escaping from worldly problems by hiding in the lard, whilst
the other half of my all-too-literal brain was protesting
that surely there was some mistake here.... and then I
realized that she just had a very heavy Texas accent. Oh
brain.
October
Hmmm... every year about this time, it starts to get cold
here in Colorado, and the trees begin to change color.
Here's a photo taken from my backyard, looking across the
golf course:
And, for even more color, here's a photo taken near just
below Kebler Pass, near Crested Butte, Colorado:
But, since it was getting so chilly in Colorado, I headed
on down into Arizona. The area around Ajo, Arizona is
somewhat desolate, but I really like these Ajo Mountains,
especially with the desert so beautifully green from all the
autumn rains:
And from there, on down to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. When
the winds are calm, the Sea of Cortez is flat... but when
the wind is blowing from the south, the 3 to 4 foot waves
are quite delightful:
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