mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-20 07:10 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-20 07:10 pm
Entry tags:
Monday, September 08: Colorado Wood Stork
This summer we've had a birding celebrity here in Colorado. A wood stork!
Wood storks are typically a tropical bird, so while they're common in places like Florida, they're almost unheard of in Colorado! The last one seen here was back in the 1930s.
This one has been pretty comfortably hanging out in the same pond up in the Broomfield area, and lots of people have been excited to go get his picture.
We found him! (My cell phone pictures are not amazing. We did see two guys out with serious business cameras. Maybe someday. Even with little cell phone snaps, I was happy to get to see him.)
Though it wasn't why we came, we were also surprised by there being so many pelicans. (Plus some egrets on the far side.)
The park is just a little neighborhood park, with a path around a large pond. We parked in the neighborhood, and went for a walk.
A squirrel with a snack.
Looking at the pond, as I said above, the much more obvious thing was...
A bunch of pelicans. Just so many pelicans. (There were two large groups, pretty sure 30-some total on the pond.)
Zooming in on the pelicans... there's a white bird on the far side along the shoreline. It was obviously bigger than the egrets we'd also seen around, so we were hopeful that was our sought-after wood stork.
'Twas! :D
Pelicaaaaaans.
I love him and his weird head feathers and his huge bill... He was neat to watch.
Bella was less enthusiastic about birdwatching.
One last picture of the wood stork.
It was fun to see our celebrity visitor, and I'm glad we got a chance to go up and see him before he leaves. (As far as I know he is still there, but it's likely he'll migrate away before too long.)
Wood storks are typically a tropical bird, so while they're common in places like Florida, they're almost unheard of in Colorado! The last one seen here was back in the 1930s.
This one has been pretty comfortably hanging out in the same pond up in the Broomfield area, and lots of people have been excited to go get his picture.
We found him! (My cell phone pictures are not amazing. We did see two guys out with serious business cameras. Maybe someday. Even with little cell phone snaps, I was happy to get to see him.)
Though it wasn't why we came, we were also surprised by there being so many pelicans. (Plus some egrets on the far side.)
The park is just a little neighborhood park, with a path around a large pond. We parked in the neighborhood, and went for a walk.
Eight more pictures:
A squirrel with a snack.
Looking at the pond, as I said above, the much more obvious thing was...
A bunch of pelicans. Just so many pelicans. (There were two large groups, pretty sure 30-some total on the pond.)
Zooming in on the pelicans... there's a white bird on the far side along the shoreline. It was obviously bigger than the egrets we'd also seen around, so we were hopeful that was our sought-after wood stork.
'Twas! :D
Pelicaaaaaans.
I love him and his weird head feathers and his huge bill... He was neat to watch.
Bella was less enthusiastic about birdwatching.
One last picture of the wood stork.
It was fun to see our celebrity visitor, and I'm glad we got a chance to go up and see him before he leaves. (As far as I know he is still there, but it's likely he'll migrate away before too long.)
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-19 07:24 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-19 07:24 pmTuesday, September 02: Castlewood Canyon (yes, again)
I am so far behind... T_T
Waaaaay back at the beginning of the month, we went back to Castlewood Canyon, wanting to see the rest of the "Cave" trail, which had been closed earlier in the season for nesting turkey vultures. The turkey vulture nesting was definitely a success, judging by how many of them we saw!
As always... Bella!
And we got to see a couple deer! I know that we have just... so many deer, but I'm still always happy to see them. This one was obviously young, still with little fawn spots, though it was most of the way grown.
Wandering up the short stretch of road between the parking lot and the trailhead, there were some milkweed that were absolutely COVERED in aphids. But they also had lots of happy ladybugs having a massive buffet, haha.
Looking up from lower on the trail.
The rock wall that was roughly where the trail was closed off last time. I like being able to see the space behind the front "section" of the rock.
We were able to continue on, now that the nesting closures have been lifted.
It wasn't... quite as impressive as hoped. Still didn't find the alleged caves, haha. The cliffs are really pretty, though.
Unfortunately the sun was at just the worst angle for all of these pictures looking up at the cliff, haha. But I liked the dramatic dead tree and the tall bit of the rock.
Again with the sun making it look like a dream sequence.
Turkey vulture!
Something was drilling into this fallen log, ha.
As we were heading back, Alex looked over to the side, and...
The little deer! Mostly grown, just a little small, but still with white fawn spots! So cute. (Yes, this is almost the same picture as above the cut.)
And a second deer, nearby the first.
Bella was very excited to see the deer. (I think I've mentioned before, but she does enjoy "watching" TV sometimes, especially animal programs. There was a wildlife rehab show we used to watch sometimes, and her favorites to watch were seals and deer, haha.) She doesn't seem to want to chase them or anything, just wants to go see them, ha.
That second deer, staring back at Bella. It didn't seem overly concerned.
Speaking of successful turkey vulture nesting... Not sure how easy it is to see, but aaaaall those little black specks in the sky are vultures. SO MANY.
A fairly nice chunk of a shed snake skin. Probably a bull snake... but not nearly as impressive as the one my mom found last weekend!
Another ladybug on milkweed.
A very impressively active wasp nest over the bathrooms, ha.
Bumblebee on a sunflower!
Still more trails to explore, but glad we got to do the rest of the sort of "horseshoe" of this trail, and glad we had a chance to get out for the day.
Waaaaay back at the beginning of the month, we went back to Castlewood Canyon, wanting to see the rest of the "Cave" trail, which had been closed earlier in the season for nesting turkey vultures. The turkey vulture nesting was definitely a success, judging by how many of them we saw!
As always... Bella!
And we got to see a couple deer! I know that we have just... so many deer, but I'm still always happy to see them. This one was obviously young, still with little fawn spots, though it was most of the way grown.
Sixteen more pictures:
Wandering up the short stretch of road between the parking lot and the trailhead, there were some milkweed that were absolutely COVERED in aphids. But they also had lots of happy ladybugs having a massive buffet, haha.
Looking up from lower on the trail.
The rock wall that was roughly where the trail was closed off last time. I like being able to see the space behind the front "section" of the rock.
We were able to continue on, now that the nesting closures have been lifted.
It wasn't... quite as impressive as hoped. Still didn't find the alleged caves, haha. The cliffs are really pretty, though.
Unfortunately the sun was at just the worst angle for all of these pictures looking up at the cliff, haha. But I liked the dramatic dead tree and the tall bit of the rock.
Again with the sun making it look like a dream sequence.
Turkey vulture!
Something was drilling into this fallen log, ha.
As we were heading back, Alex looked over to the side, and...
The little deer! Mostly grown, just a little small, but still with white fawn spots! So cute. (Yes, this is almost the same picture as above the cut.)
And a second deer, nearby the first.
Bella was very excited to see the deer. (I think I've mentioned before, but she does enjoy "watching" TV sometimes, especially animal programs. There was a wildlife rehab show we used to watch sometimes, and her favorites to watch were seals and deer, haha.) She doesn't seem to want to chase them or anything, just wants to go see them, ha.
That second deer, staring back at Bella. It didn't seem overly concerned.
Speaking of successful turkey vulture nesting... Not sure how easy it is to see, but aaaaall those little black specks in the sky are vultures. SO MANY.
A fairly nice chunk of a shed snake skin. Probably a bull snake... but not nearly as impressive as the one my mom found last weekend!
Another ladybug on milkweed.
A very impressively active wasp nest over the bathrooms, ha.
Bumblebee on a sunflower!
Still more trails to explore, but glad we got to do the rest of the sort of "horseshoe" of this trail, and glad we had a chance to get out for the day.
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-17 09:20 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-17 09:20 pmEntry tags:
Saturday, September 13: High Country Live Model Horse Show
I took last Saturday and Sunday off to attend a model horse show with Alex. There haven't been many shows this year; he attended BreyerMidwest in the spring, but I wasn't able to take that weekend off, and the host who usually holds the majority of the semi-local shows has been taking a year off from it to do other things.
This one was held by a regular shower in the local community, and it was nice to have a show to attend!
It definitely made for a long day: we got up around 5:00 to get the car loaded, and then take Bella over to my mom's house for the day. We managed to get on the road by 6:30 or so (just slightly later than hoped, but did include getting coffee). After a couple hours' drive through mostly rural areas, we made it, just a bit after the 8:00 setup start.
The show itself was fun, but long, and a liiiiittle frustratingly disorganized. (The host kept changing things in the weeks leading up to the show, and continued changing things day-of.) Still, running a show includes SO many moving parts, and so much to keep track of, it's just a whole lot to do, so I appreciate anyone willing to do it!
Alex did pretty well - 21 NAN cards (the cards awarded to the top two places in each class of a NAN-qualifying show; serves as a "ticket" for that model to be entered into a relatively prestigious annual show) and 28 "Western Conference" cards (which appear to be an attempted regional "competitor" to NAN, which I have never heard of, despite it apparently having been a thing for 10 years... these "tickets" are awarded up to third place.)
Alex's biggest win was:
This is a custom that he did a few years ago. :) It was first in the custom Morgan class, and then went on to win the sectional champion for custom light breeds! (Got a ribbon and the 3-D printed dog. The show holder is very into German Shepherds, ha.)
This custom does extremely well for him, and deservedly so! The finishwork (done in pastels rather than paint) is extremely well done. (It's that much more exciting that it does so well, since he was the artist.) He never seems to believe that it does deserve it, though!
By the end, we were just extremely tired. The biggest divisions took a long time to get through, and we didn't end up finishing the last of it until 9:00... and then had to deal with the drive back.
I felt really bad making my mom stay up that late to wait for us to come get Bella. We made decent time on the way back (via a different route), and managed to get there just after 10:30 to pick her up, so not really much later than mom and Taylor would have been staying up anyway.
Mom said that Bella was very good. (She still hasn't really met Jaspurr; he came downstairs once, and as soon as Bella hopped off the loveseat to approach him, he bolted back upstairs and didn't come back down.)
Their excitement for the day was mom taking Bella on a neighborhood walk and finding...
A huge snake shed! Broom for scale, lol.
There is a huge bull snake somewhere in the neighborhood! :D
This one was held by a regular shower in the local community, and it was nice to have a show to attend!
It definitely made for a long day: we got up around 5:00 to get the car loaded, and then take Bella over to my mom's house for the day. We managed to get on the road by 6:30 or so (just slightly later than hoped, but did include getting coffee). After a couple hours' drive through mostly rural areas, we made it, just a bit after the 8:00 setup start.
The show itself was fun, but long, and a liiiiittle frustratingly disorganized. (The host kept changing things in the weeks leading up to the show, and continued changing things day-of.) Still, running a show includes SO many moving parts, and so much to keep track of, it's just a whole lot to do, so I appreciate anyone willing to do it!
Alex did pretty well - 21 NAN cards (the cards awarded to the top two places in each class of a NAN-qualifying show; serves as a "ticket" for that model to be entered into a relatively prestigious annual show) and 28 "Western Conference" cards (which appear to be an attempted regional "competitor" to NAN, which I have never heard of, despite it apparently having been a thing for 10 years... these "tickets" are awarded up to third place.)
Alex's biggest win was:
This is a custom that he did a few years ago. :) It was first in the custom Morgan class, and then went on to win the sectional champion for custom light breeds! (Got a ribbon and the 3-D printed dog. The show holder is very into German Shepherds, ha.)
This custom does extremely well for him, and deservedly so! The finishwork (done in pastels rather than paint) is extremely well done. (It's that much more exciting that it does so well, since he was the artist.) He never seems to believe that it does deserve it, though!
By the end, we were just extremely tired. The biggest divisions took a long time to get through, and we didn't end up finishing the last of it until 9:00... and then had to deal with the drive back.
I felt really bad making my mom stay up that late to wait for us to come get Bella. We made decent time on the way back (via a different route), and managed to get there just after 10:30 to pick her up, so not really much later than mom and Taylor would have been staying up anyway.
Mom said that Bella was very good. (She still hasn't really met Jaspurr; he came downstairs once, and as soon as Bella hopped off the loveseat to approach him, he bolted back upstairs and didn't come back down.)
Their excitement for the day was mom taking Bella on a neighborhood walk and finding...
A huge snake shed! Broom for scale, lol.
There is a huge bull snake somewhere in the neighborhood! :D
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-16 12:24 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-16 12:24 pmEntry tags:
Habit Tracking: Week 37 (September 07 - September 13)
Honduran white bats, sticker by the Atomic Pixies.
This was a long week (despite being a short work week for me) and a rough one. The shooting at Evergreen High School ("minor" as it was, considering, and how awful is that?) impacted me more than I expected, having interacted with the two named students. I didn't know them well, by any stretch, but it still hit me hard. The endless discourse around Charlie Kirk's death has also been completely exhausting. The stuff from early in the week - more back and forth getting the AC fixed, a walk in a neighboring city to see an uncommon bird - seems like it was way longer ago now. We had a model show to end the week, which was tiring but a nice break. Having a long weekend was a good thing.
Goals for the week:
- I did finish reading The Dead Take the A Train
- I started reading Tidal Creatures
- I did not finish (or even work on) the WIP intro
- We did finish the model show prep, even if it was last-minute
- We went to the model show on Saturday
- I stopped by mom's earlier in the week to collect caterpillars, and Saturday to drop Bella off
- I went to the bank
- I ordered birthday gifts for Taylor, though they aren't supposed to arrive until day-of :/
- We got a bit of outdoor time
- I did write up my September writing goals
- We paid rent, finally getting an accurate amount
- I still haven't put my laundry away
- I did go buy fruit flies
- I didn't work on my reading page
Tracked habits:
- Work - 4/7 - I took Saturday off
- Household Maintenance - 7/7
- Physical Activity - 2/7
- Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 1/7 - over 500 words
- Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
- Meta Work - 3/7
- Personal Writing - 5/7
- Other Creative Things - 2/7
- Reading - 7/7 - I finished The Dead Take the A Train, and started Tidal Creatures, I also caught up on Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula, Alex and I read more of Duma Key, and I started reading a short story called Swelter
- Attention to Media - 6/7 - Sunday we watched the Ravens game (which was good for the first three and a half quarters), then watched two episodes of The Paper; Monday we watched two eps of The Paper, and then an ep of Great British Bake Off, then a documentary I don't remember; Tuesday I caught up on Re: Dracula, we watched a couple eps of Dateline, then finished the last couple eps of The Paper; Wednesday I listened to Re: Dracula and we had news coverage in the background; Thursday had some documentaries in the background; Friday watched Great British Bake Off, and then The Most Hated Man on the Internet
- Video Games - 0/7
- Social Interaction - 4/7
(I've got way too much to catch up on.)
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-09 08:16 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-09 08:16 pmEntry tags:
Habit Tracking: Week 36 (August 31 - September 06)
A fancy moth this week, also by Abi Stevens art. It was a set of three fancy moth stickers.
Another picture to show the little holo stars in the sticker, too.
This was a pretty mid week. Spending time with Taylor and my mom early in the week was nice. Work was fine. Worried about my dad and his health scare. The apartment stuff around rent and our broken AC was frustrating, and spending a few days fighting off illness was also unpleasant. (Luckily it seems that all of the above has now worked out.) I didn't get a lot of my stuff on my goals list done, but at least did more than nothing, though I have some things to catch up on, still. Ended the week feeling anxious, and unsure exactly why.
Goals for the week:
- I did visit Taylor and my mom for Labor day
- I posted my August book reviews
- I did not post my September writing goals (though I have by now)
- I did not put my laundry away
- I didn't put together a WIP template
- I did read quite a bit of The Dead Take the A Train
- We didn't pay rent, as we were still sorting out what the amount was
- We did not finish the model show prep
- I did not work on my reading page
- I did my August check in for
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
getyourwordsout (3386 words for August, bringing the ytd total to 79463) - I did my September tracking grids
- We did go get crickets
Tracked habits:
- Work - 5/7
- Household Maintenance - 2/7
- Physical Activity - 1/7
- Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 2/7 - one over 1000 words, one over 500 words
- Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
- Meta Work - 5/7
- Personal Writing - 4/7
- Other Creative Things - 1/7
- Reading - 7/7 - mostly reading The Dead Take the A Train, but Taylor and I also finished Witch King, and Alex and I read some Duma Key. Also some of Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula.
- Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday and Monday listened to music after Taylor went to bed; Tuesday had some Netflix documentaries on in the background (some of the "Trainwreck" series); Wednesday a couple more "Trainwreck" documentaries, then Talk to Me in the background, which I remember liking, but paid almost zero attention to this time; Thursday watched the first two episodes of The Paper, then had some paranormal videos in the background; Friday watched two more eps of The Paper, and had exploration videos in the background, then I caught up on Re: Dracula and listened to music; Saturday had paranormal and exploration videos in the background, listened to Re: Dracula.
- Video Games - 2/7 - Taylor and I played through more Final Fantasy XIV, getting through a couple job quests and a good part of part 2 of Endwalker
- Social Interaction - 6/7
Total words written: 4011 on reviews and planning
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-08 08:00 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-09-08 08:00 pmTuesday, August 26: The Greenbelt
A couple weeks ago, we wanted to get out and do something, but also got a late start on the day. We headed to the local greenbelt, since it's reasonably close and we haven't been there in a while.
A very cute bumblebee.
My other favorite insect from the day: a really big moth hanging out on a tree. :)
One of the road bridges over the greenbelt path has some pretty mosaics.
Another of the mosaics.
(There are two more mosaics on the other side of the bridge, but someone was sitting there, haha.)
Crossing the creek.
There were many big, impressive spider webs along the path! With big, impressive spiders in them! I didn't realize until after looking at the picture that this one had a snack. :)
Not a spider, but a daddy longlegs! This one was almost orangey in color, which was neat.
These beetles were just face-first, going to town in the flowers. It was very funny. I believe these are "bumble flower beetles."
Some huge carpenter ants!
Some lovely little sweet peas in the overgrown/abandoned garden area behind some of the apartments.
Hollyhocks have definitely been having A Year! I saw them all over Santa Fe, and in a ton of gardens this year, and even a bunch of landscaping. This one is also in the abandoned garden.
A very charming little duck swam over just as it started raining.
I'm really not a fan of the influx of Japanese beetles that we've started having each year. They're terribly destructive. However, this one was very interesting - almost pink on the front segment instead of the usual green color!
It was also a two snake day, which was delightful! I didn't get good pictures of either of them, but Alex spotted one pretty large garter snake, which I got to see as it headed into the underbrush. Then I was leaning down to look at a little spider that scuttled across the sidewalk... and wound up pointing directly at a tiny baby garter snake that had been just at the edge of the path. Very tiny and cute!
It was a lovely day out. We got caught in a tiny drizzle, but not bad. It was pretty humid (especially for here!) so we were all a bit sticky by the end.
A very cute bumblebee.
My other favorite insect from the day: a really big moth hanging out on a tree. :)
Eleven more pictures, including more insects and spiders:
One of the road bridges over the greenbelt path has some pretty mosaics.
Another of the mosaics.
(There are two more mosaics on the other side of the bridge, but someone was sitting there, haha.)
Crossing the creek.
There were many big, impressive spider webs along the path! With big, impressive spiders in them! I didn't realize until after looking at the picture that this one had a snack. :)
Not a spider, but a daddy longlegs! This one was almost orangey in color, which was neat.
These beetles were just face-first, going to town in the flowers. It was very funny. I believe these are "bumble flower beetles."
Some huge carpenter ants!
Some lovely little sweet peas in the overgrown/abandoned garden area behind some of the apartments.
Hollyhocks have definitely been having A Year! I saw them all over Santa Fe, and in a ton of gardens this year, and even a bunch of landscaping. This one is also in the abandoned garden.
A very charming little duck swam over just as it started raining.
I'm really not a fan of the influx of Japanese beetles that we've started having each year. They're terribly destructive. However, this one was very interesting - almost pink on the front segment instead of the usual green color!
It was also a two snake day, which was delightful! I didn't get good pictures of either of them, but Alex spotted one pretty large garter snake, which I got to see as it headed into the underbrush. Then I was leaning down to look at a little spider that scuttled across the sidewalk... and wound up pointing directly at a tiny baby garter snake that had been just at the edge of the path. Very tiny and cute!
It was a lovely day out. We got caught in a tiny drizzle, but not bad. It was pretty humid (especially for here!) so we were all a bit sticky by the end.
sammich (sammich) wrote2025-09-08 09:49 am
sammich) wrote2025-09-08 09:49 am
Normal Journal Entry!
I don't think I really have had a lot of public and normal journal entries. Usually I write stuff that is more private and related to my personal life, but it's good sometimes to remember the mundane more ordinary stuff I'm doing that I might otherwise forget.
So I'm super late to the party and have been listening to Lady Gaga's Mayhem album. I'm really bad at following artists in general and so I'm highly influenced by algorithm. I listen to a lot of lofi on YouTube and that will kind of force me to listen to whatever the robots want. That's pretty bad. I will say that after watching Kpop Demon Hunters this summer, I did get into the soundtrack for that.
I've already been hyped for horror films. I mean, I usually am, but my friend Sam and I have been watching them a lot. So I got to see some stuff like Teeth, It Chapter One and Two. I also finally got to watch more of the American-made Godzilla movies.
I don't watch TV. Generally I watch YouTube and that in turn tends to support indie creators online, but I really dislike that robots are trying to determine and undermine what I watch. That's been a big issue, especially with YT implementing and rolling out "Restricted Mode" which is sometimes just turned ON for some accounts without them knowing. This is usually where I rant about finding FOSS alternatives, but with YouTube there really isn't competition, at least in the English-speaking world. It's a monopoly and Alphabet Inc. (Google) will decide what you watch and don't watch.
So outside of supporting small content creators, I'd suggest moving away from Google in general. They already have enough power. But if anyone else has suggestions, please let me know!
So I'm super late to the party and have been listening to Lady Gaga's Mayhem album. I'm really bad at following artists in general and so I'm highly influenced by algorithm. I listen to a lot of lofi on YouTube and that will kind of force me to listen to whatever the robots want. That's pretty bad. I will say that after watching Kpop Demon Hunters this summer, I did get into the soundtrack for that.
I've already been hyped for horror films. I mean, I usually am, but my friend Sam and I have been watching them a lot. So I got to see some stuff like Teeth, It Chapter One and Two. I also finally got to watch more of the American-made Godzilla movies.
I don't watch TV. Generally I watch YouTube and that in turn tends to support indie creators online, but I really dislike that robots are trying to determine and undermine what I watch. That's been a big issue, especially with YT implementing and rolling out "Restricted Mode" which is sometimes just turned ON for some accounts without them knowing. This is usually where I rant about finding FOSS alternatives, but with YouTube there really isn't competition, at least in the English-speaking world. It's a monopoly and Alphabet Inc. (Google) will decide what you watch and don't watch.
So outside of supporting small content creators, I'd suggest moving away from Google in general. They already have enough power. But if anyone else has suggestions, please let me know!