Don't You Just Love New Babies?

Meet my new great-nephew, Eli. He was born last week on Thursday morning - very early morning! He may have already shown his parents that he's pretty stubborn because he was reluctant to come and took his sweet time about it. He likes to be wrapped up tight and rocked and he especially likes for me to sing to him. Puts him right to sleep. Of course, with my voice that could be self-protection.

Here's the question of the day: if Eli is my great nephew, what is his relation to my grandchildren? And don't give me any of that once removed stuff because I will not accept "removed." He's mine and I'm not giving an inch on that. Well, really he is his parents first but then he's mine. Well, maybe he's my sister's grandson second, but I'm sure I'm third on the list. And I know he loves me very much because he arranged to be born in Denver when I was only an hour away on vacation!

Halleluiah!

For those of you who have been following my cell phone story and fiasco.....Sprint came through! For the first time since last April my sister is able to call my cell phone and it actually rings instead of her getting a disconnect notice! She literally spent hours on the phone with Sprint trying to get this resolved and they came through. Here's the explanation, which makes absolutely no sense to me: some phone numbers can have two ways to route to them instead of one; mine did; when she tried to call me her phone got confused as to which route to take so it took none. :) Hmmmm, sometimes I do that too!

However, now AT&T has some catching up to do. As of last Wednesday I no longer receive my e-mail on my Blackberry. Out of the blue. I changed nothing. This whole trip, even when I didn't have e-mail access on my computer I didn't worry because I got my e-mails on my Blackberry. Then boom! nothing............ It just can't be easy can it?

Great Giveaways!

Check out this great giveaway at Old Farmhouse Gatherings!












Also here's another one I'd love to win at The Firecracker Kid.















And here's another! This one is from Sweet P Quilting.

I Have Never!

Ya'll we've been to Colorado several times and seen lots of elk. This is our favorite time to come because the dynamics of the males and females during this season is so fascinating. I believe this is the largest herd we've ever seen and for some reason this year they are very close to the road. They act as if the hundreds of people standing there with cameras in hand don't even exist.

Jerry said he counted 41 cows in this group. We couldn't get them all in one picture so I'm posting three.

Now usually there is only one male with any group of females, whether that group has one cow or 41 cows. They are very territorial. But this year there are often a half dozen males with any group. Oh, the women all belong to only one man but the other males watch him like a hawk and if they think he isn't looking they try to sneak in. The males lose several hundred pounds during this couple of months! They don't let down their guard long enough to even eat.

These two young males aren't really fighting. They are like two teenage boys wrestling on the living room floor trying to see which one is strongest.

They sort of lock horns and push, each one trying not to lose his footing.

They might stay like this for several minutes, then back away for a little while. Once they've gotten their breath back they go at it again!

I cannot describe the peace in this place. The mountains, the streams, the trees....

How could anyone look at this and not say How Great Is Our God!

A Morning's Ride

The promised 6" of snow never materialized in Estes Park...we were truly disappointed. I bet all those campers who fled yesterday are too. The camp host walked around telling everyone we might get as much as 16" and all the fishermen hitched up their waders and got out of here. But as we drove up into the park this morning we did see this tiny bit of snow. It looked as if God had sifted confectioners sugar out among the trees.

Of course up on the peaks He must have sifted a lot harder for a lot longer!

I promise you this is not a statue. It's rutting season for the elk, and if you don't know what rutting season is I'm not explaining! The male elks gather up a herd of females and for a couple of months they stand guard over their harem. They make the most amazing sound, called bugling, as they declare their territory and keep their women in line. This one stood perfectly still for the longest time as all of us gawkers took pictures, almost as if he knew what we were doing and he was posing.

Just a little farther down in the meadow I spied a long horn sheep making his way down the mountain. I've never spotted one like that before so I was thrilled. They have tiny little hooves and seem almost to be dancing around and over the rocks as they make their way. They have to cross the highway to get to the mudflats in the meadow below.

And once they reach their goal they eat the mud. That's right I said eat the mud. There are minerals in the mud that are necessary for their health. This sheep is just a young one and his horns are still very small.

We did stand out in a snow flurry to take his picture and I nearly froze to death! We made a quick stop in town and I bought a really, really warm North Face hat with ear covers. It will be perfect for sitting out in the wind to watch the animals.....both here and on the football field when we go to watch my son's games.

Outside My Door

We got to Estes Park, Colorado about 1:00 this afternoon. We're in an RV Park near one of the gates to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We've parked in this resort several times over the years and really like the people as well as the amenities. This is the first time I've had real internet access (except on my Blackberry) in over a week! The view outside my door is this one - you can just barely make out the snow on the mountain peaks. By tomorrow night that might be a lot plainer since they're predicting 6-12" of snow here tonight! No telling how much they will get even higher up. :) Thank goodness by Saturday the high will be in the sixties. While I'm excited about the snow I don't want to be stuck here! This resort closes on the 30th of this month so we have to be out of here by then.

Do you think we ever outgrow our child-like excitement over the first snow of the season? I hope not.