Loiosh also got to visit the lambs, who were VERY curious but VERY loud about it, which he really didn’t love.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, is in the foreground of the shot; his stroller is facing a paddock full of fluffy white lambs, but he has turned away. Most of the lambs are looking at him, ears perked forwards. ] Continue reading cats: everything but the alpacas edition
Loiosh got to meet alpacas. He was … not sure about this.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, is sitting in a blue cat stroller. He’s facing a curious alpaca, who’s white with the loveliest dark eyes. The alpaca is leaning forward curiously; Loiosh is ducking back just a bit. ] Continue reading cats: also alpacas edition
Having (mostly) dried off from my creek adventures & wrangled Loiosh back into the van, I consulted Jasper for his opinions of how to spend the rest of the day. Turns out he hadn’t slept well on the train (as who WOULD have) so I drove us to Fountain Creek Park, near the fishing ponds, & parked there for the rest of the afternoon.
Mostly there was napping, but Tom was a wigglebutt & had a lot of fun wandering.
[ Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a black harness, stands next to the trunk of a huge cottonwood tree; he’s sniffing curiously at something in the bark. ]
All photos, once again, by Jasper.
Tiny pinky-purple flowers:
Continue reading small beauties: Fountain Creek flowers edition
I spent last week in Colorado! I went up for a bunch of reasons, but the biggest one involved alpacas. Before that happened, though, I visited a favourite old haunt, Fountain Creek.
(confidential to Dragonsspine: I know, I know, but I didn’t know I was gonna be there ahead of time)
The day’s FIRST task involved driving to the absolute center of Denver to pick up Jasper from the train station, which, having nowhere to drop off Tyrava (nor time to do so), I accomplished with Tyrava in tow. It wasn’t FUN but I didn’t hit anything or get arrested, so I feel like I did okay.
Having managed that … well, I needed a break. & thus, Fountain Creek.
Loiosh immediately recognized our old stomping grounds.
Camping in the ‘woods’ was fun, but sometimes what one really wants is a place to poop.
… look, no, you know it’s true.
Anyway I found a TRULY awesome campground. Which happened to also include a potty.
[ A small camping area, with a picnic table and a fire pit; massive boulders rise all around the clearing. ]
oh HELL yeah, I was RIGHT up those rocks, have you MET me. Continue reading land trip: lots of rocks
Sometimes when you’re on the road, especially with cats, you need to find a place to spend the afternoon, cos it’s gonna be too hot in the van to just hang out there until the sun goes down.
Fortunately, Alamosa has a disc golf course. Slightly to my surprise, the disc golf course has deer.
Extremely brave deer. Continue reading land trip: breaktime at the disc golf course
Having unloaded, but not yet having made contact with the realtor, I decided to find a spot in the national forest for the weekend.
[ A meadow rising to rocks and trees; the sky above is cloudy. ]
… for a fairly liberal definition of ‘forest’ but there WERE some trees. Continue reading land trip: in the national forest
Not long after setting out — in fact, before I’d actually left the driveway — I realized that Tyrava was having a problem, which was that her back door wasn’t staying shut.
Since she was carrying approximately half of what I own at the time, this was KIND OF A PROBLEM.
The immediate solution was obvious …
[ Tyrava’s back doorknob, a fancy black lever, is fastened to a heavy-duty handle next to the door by a bungee cord. ]
… but the actual fix was gonna hafta wait til I’d had a chance to stop at a hardware store.
[ A close view of one of the heavy-duty hinges holding Tyrava’s back door on. The screws that should hold it in place are visibly pulling out of the door. ]
Given that the screws were only an inch long & set into the particle-board interior of the original door, yeah, they were gonna pull out eventually. Fortunately it was an easy fix. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought any clamps big enough, so I hadda buy another one.
… oh well, not like you can have too many clamps.
[ A quick-release clamp that’s a good eighteen inches long sits on the seat of my comfy folding chair, along with a package of more heavy-duty door hinges and a baggie of LONG screws. ]
I’m glad I thought to GET the clamp, otherwise I’d’ve been trying to hold the door in place with one hand & probably my knee while trying to get screws in with the other, & that never goes well. But this made it easy.
[ The door’s all the way open, and clamped into place; one of the screws formerly holding the hinge to the door is partway out, the rest waiting their turn. ]
The new screws are four inches long. THAT oughta last a while.
[ Four new screws holding the hinge in place. Everything looks properly lined up and sturdy. ]
& then I added a third hinge, on the theory that overkill is rarely a BAD idea.
[ There’s now a third heavy-duty hinge between the two that were holding Tyrava’s back door in place. It’s closer to the top one than to the bottom, because I just slapped it on there. ]
Success! The door is held firmly in place! It still closes & opens correctly! It’s not going anywhere!
… it still flaps open if I drive Tyrava over anything bumpy, I DO NOT KNOW WHY & IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING, but at least the door is staying on the hinges now.
Couple weeks back I packed Tyrava full of Stuff, shoved the boys in the van, & drove north to Colorado to look for land! I decided to go over Wolf Creek Pass because I love it & also am, occasionally, pretty foolish.
Tyrava, loaded as she was, made it over the pass fine, & even refrained from overheating as long as I didn’t try to go over 25 mph or so. & at the top, snow.
Tom was extremely skeptical.
[ Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a purple harness, stands in the doorway of the van, looking off to the side. ]
… Loiosh didn’t even bother to get up. Well, not until a couple people came by to say hi, but that was later.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby, is flopped on the van bed, both forepaws kind of hanging over the edge. He looks extremely underwhelmed. ]
I saw a friend while taking pics of the snow!
[ A broad, snow-covered meadow, with tall conifers rising behind and around it. The sky is deep blue. A black bird can be seen flying across the meadow, stark against the snow. ]
Friend!
[ A raven stands perched on the peak of the ‘Wolf Creek Pass’ sign. ]
& then we went back down the other side, & I even didn’t overheat my brakes!
