Spring Snow…… Oh Yeah

Snow fall in the spring is not unusual because the varying altitudes across the eastern prairie.  What is rain at lower elevations becomes snow higher up.  The temperature difference becomes very noticeable this time of year.

This is a narrow band that stretched from Pikes Peak NE out across the rolling hills.  Elevation here is from 7000-8000 feet and temps can vary tremendously.  I love what it does to the land.  It is a cleanser and it can also be a killer for those caught unaware.   Not as nasty as the tornadoes in the SE but can be just as deadly.  My heart and prayers go out for the victims down there.  I hope they can recover and deal with their losses and go on with their lives. 

What is upsetting to me is how some elements of society are trying to use this tragedy for political gain.

Under a fresh mantle of snow Pikes Peak looks great.  Hard to believe it was a volcano that blew its top, going from about 30000 feet elevation to over 14000 feet.  One big mountain.

 

Nature creates some awesome scenery after these storms..  clouds roll and dapple the snow covered grasslands. Grab the sled and go sledding.  Just may go back over there in a week or two and see what kind of wild flowers have sprung forth.

 

May you have  wonderful weekend

The Money Tree

The price at the pump is going right out the top.  It is costing more to drive and who is to blame.  A finger points that way, another points over there but no one takes responsibility.  It is the great blame game….. hmm… maybe a new reality TV show, blame the politicians, blame the big corps, blame everybody but yourself.

It is real easy to blame others rather then take responsibility for our own actions.  As the price keeps gong up there are all types of stories that point fingers at suspects except the consumer.

Look at the type of cars on the road, great big pickups, SUV’s, full size sedans, monster trucks, bigger then 18 wheels and then there are the RV’s.  All these consume great amounts of gas and many drive these big beasts for status.  I see big pickups going to work during the commute, no tools in them.  Monster semi’s so they can drive faster.  Longer, larger RV’s with cars or big pickups along for the ride.  All these consume large amounts of gas and as they drive more miles, more gas is used. 

This is just a small part of why oil prices are going ballistic.

 

Look at all of the other things oil is used for.  Plastics are an oil based compound.  those friendly little plastic shopping bags use volumes of oil.  All the plastic drink bottles, barrels of oil go into their manufacture.  The electronic devices are plastic components, stereos, mp3, cell phones, note pads and this thing….. the computer.  Plastic manufacture takes barrels and barrels of oil to produce.

Look at the other chemical products from oil.  There are fertilizers, oil is an organic compound and when processed makes a good fertilizer.  Petroleum products are also used in the production of insecticides, herbicides and similar products. 

Oil is used for so many things besides gasoline.  It is no wonder prices go up.  As our appetite for products grow, the price of oil grows.

Look at all the things we have in our houses that require energy of some sort.  Getting that energy to our home requires and expenditure of more energy.  Even the so called green energies are outrageously expensive.  The renewables are probably the most expensive.

So as we consume all these different energy gobbling gadgets the price goes up.  We go crying to the politicians for a solution.  So what do they do, pass more laws in hopes of artificially keeping prices low.  Is that a successful strategy…. very seldom.  Oh, this is where the cry, nanny state comes in.  If we can not take care of ourselves, Big brother will step up and take care of us.

As fingers are pointed, I should go look in the mirror and see who they are really being pointed at.  consumers have a big influence on the market, but they do not exercise their decisions judiciously.

Happy Easter

Christ was crucified and died on Good Friday.  On Sunday God brought Him to Life, the resurrection.  In this is the good news of Easter.

It is also a stumbling block for many and those who do not believe mock the believers.  Christ said expect this to happen, “You will be persecuted for believing in Me.”

The renewal of the resurrection is also the beginning of nature’s new life.  Babies scurry around, buds are popping and the spring is underway.

May you have a blessed Easter.

May Christ be your companion.

Transformation

The greening of the ground, the renewal, the death is overcome and it is Easter.  With the death of winter comes the life of spring.  Brown drab gives way to colors of palette, green shoots forth, flowers burst their seams.

 

I don’t know if could live in the tropics where it always lush and green.  I like the change of the seasons and do not mind the cold of winter.  God created life that could exist in a variety of climates and man is one that can live in all zones.  The only limitations man has are the ones he places on self.

Soon the heat of summer will be upon the land.  It is already tearing up the country side in other parts.  Thunderstorms and tornadoes have been rumbling across the land.  Property has been destroyed, worst of all, lives have been lost..

Nature carries such a fury and man tries to control it.  The predictors are better at it and have helped to save lives.  Yet nature will go its course.  This is why I am such a skeptic about the global warming bit.  Nature has a mind of her own and does a pretty good job of taking care of herself.  We are able to help nature, a nudge here or there, a helping hand but influence………..

The weather is still below freezing at night here.  Today it was in the mid 70’s.  Nice weather for outside.  Trees here are just starting to leaf and no flowers yet.  I had go a distance to find this fruit tree in bloom.  If the fruit trees bloom around here there will be no fruit because of the freezes.  A whole block line of fruit trees, man would that be something. Don’t know of any orchards near by.

 

Water flows over the land, nourishment for the plants, life for the fish or a play spot.  When all of these can be combined man is at his height of stewardship of his resources.  Life can not exist without water, as we know it.  There very essence of life.  There are battles over control of this life sustaining liquid.  cities and farmers battle over this resource. 

Cities want it for their residents, who want a nice green lush lawn.  Farmers get rich selling their water rights to cities and leave the farm.  Soon there will be more green lawns then there are green vegetable fields.  Which is more important, a green lush lawn or green veggis on the table.

 

Water flows through the neighborhood, lofts are built, offices, restaurants and other shops line the water way.  Like a magnet the water attracts people.  Paths are laid out, strollers amble the course of the water.  Life grows and is sustained by the stream of life.

May you have a blessed week as Easter approaches.                                   God loves all of His creation.

Springtime in the Rockies

Spring struggles at times to get going on the prairie.  Winter keeps rearing up and sending more white stuff to remind of what spring is all about.

Get up this morning, the ground is damp and there are sleet pellets sprinkled about.  The clouds are low and scudding overhead.  It is a cool morning, below freezing but not much breeze, a mystical look to the sir.  The dogs trot outside and pause on the steps, noses working overtime, eyes darting, questioning what is in the air.  Another day is underway.

I fix the morning coffee, pour a cup, find the easy chair, sit down and watch the morning unfold.  Out the morning window the mist tumbles along, the grey becomes a silver overcast.  Soon the clouds are going splat, splat.  Snowflakes the size of quarters are splashing on the window sill, the grey has become a floating white picture.  It becomes thicker, sight is limited, the birds a scampering about scratching the snow to get at the seeds that have fallen out of the feeder.  Morning has gone from an overcast to a white wonderland.  There is a light wind and the snow angle shifts to a side draft.  The ground disappears under a white mantle.  The birds sit on the fence looking at the covered ground, soon they fly off.

Shortly the flakes stop and the a quiet settles over the land.  A muffler has been placed on nature.  Mist lifts off the trees, some light penetrates and the land is white to the eyes end. Drops splash off the ground, no longer is it snow.  Before it gets out of the clouds the snow has melted to a drizzle.  The white mantle becomes a patch work.  brown ground peeks back out of the blanket.  Melted drops turn to white splatters, a fickle cloud hangs overhead, not making up its mind what it shall deliver.

Robin hops around looking for breakfast, a killdeer hops along the roads edge, stopping and searching out the shoulder looking for a meal.  Grackles huddle on power lines staring down at the covered earth.  Finches and sparrows perch in the shrubs.  All looking for a place to wait out the weather, to find a dry spot, looking for a meal.  cottontail goes hopping across the snow, pausing to nibble at sprigs of grass, scrambling through the white wet stuff, crawling into the nest.

Yeppers, winter just does not want to let go but spring battles on.  The moisture is greatly needed, even in the form of snow.  April showers whether they are white or silver drops, all are welcomed.

 

From the mixed up hi-plains

Have a Great Weekend when it gets here.

A touch of Spring

 

Went to the big city of Pueblo to take care of aof things and found a few things of interest.  Pueblo is lower in elevation then where I live plus it is further south.  There spring comes earlier and gets a whole lots hotter in the summer.  100 degree days there are not unusual.  It is also the Steel City of the west. 

 

The old part of downtown has been spiffed up and trees planted along the streets.  Most of the fruit trees were in full bloom or on the verge.  The fruit trees add such a color to a usually monochrome downtown. 

 

Come this fall and there will be food for the birds, now the bees are indulging.  Along the city blocks the colorful trees graced the sidewalks.

 

Being an older city, Pueblo has lots of neat old buildings.  Not the shiny plastic style of today.  These were built by craftsman who had limited tools to work with.

Older cities like this, I go looking for the old parts.  sometimes that means the rougher sections.  The bums and transients hang out in these areas also.  This trip was an easy one.  No derelicts on the corners begging.

Evening Chow

The pace of time on prairie goes in its own way.  Saving time carries no meaning.  It is either daylight, dark or somewhere twixt n tween.  With ;light on the wane it is time to grab a bite.

Peacefully up the hill, undisturbed by the passing humans they browse away. 

The wide open prairie is becoming cluttered though.  No longer is the view uninterrupted across the horizon.

There is a collection of man’s intrusion on the landscape.  The railroad crosses by in the lower foreground and by the RR signal is a water well.

Both have been there for more then a century.  Not very prominent but visible.  Up on the ridge is progress brought by the other two pieces.

The Interstate highway crosses the middle of the pic.  I have mixed feelings about all the man made things growing on the prairie.  Wonder how the greenies would feel if all of this was in a wilderness?

Soon there will be more clutter up there, over 150 more wind turbines are on the drawing board.

What do we need to live, what can we do without….. seems to have too many answers and not many ask.

 

The week begins….. may yours be a blessed week.

Here N There …. Thoughts

 

Found some trees just starting to leaf out and there was some new shoots on the bushes.  Bellevue spring is starting to take hold.  Last night was the first night since last fall when the temperature did not drop below freezing.  the green thumb is itching at me and I stuff it back in its cabinet but it pops back out a few days later.

 

Living at a high elevation it takes a while to warm up yet that is nice in the summer.  It doesn’t get outrageously hot.  I can go north a few miles and climb to almost 6000 feet in elevation.  The dryness and lack of clouds does allow the land to warm up real quick yet it cools off great at night.  There can be as much as a 40 degree temperature swing.  Makes for great sleeping at night.

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Can you believe it we are getting into another war.  It’s bad enough to be bogged down in some countries where we have gained almost nothing.  We did not learn from the Russians and from other incursions in the Middle East. 

What gets me is the president went right past congress and start4ed shooting.  This is one issue I believe both sides of the aisle would of agreed on.  The debt load is outrageous and now it will grow even more.

When Obama was campaigning against Bush he was badmouthing Bush on getting us into war over there.  So what does Obama do, sticks his foot in his mouth. So now some more innocent Americans are going to be killed to satisfy some politico puffer in DC.  Of all people I figured Obama to be a dove but he is turning out to be something else that is becoming very disgusting. 

 

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These are the coolest little steam engines.  They are called Shay’s.  They are gear driven rather then rods.  The pistons operate a cam shaft that turns the gears mounted on a side rod that then turns gears mounted on axles to drive the wheels.  they are very slow and can handle steep grades and sharp turns.  There forte was in the woods hauling logs out of the lumber camps down the mountain to the mill.

When they are in motion they remind one of a Rube Goldberg contraption.  All the spinning wheels and gears, there is lots o motion on one of these things.

This is a different view where one can see all the shafts and gears.  They still are used today on a few tourist railroads back in the mountains.  Catch one and pack a picnic lunch and enjoy a day out in the mountains, if…. if , one is near by.

The weekend is here.  Go forth and enjoy God’s creation.

May God bless your weekend.