The Nice Thing about Pet Peeves is that You Don’t Have to Walk Them!

So many of the things we believe are ideas that were implanted by the authority figures of our youth.  We didn’t know any better – and still believed in authorities – when we were small.  And now we just parrot those ideas without thinking about them.  Add to that all the ideas that are embraced by the media.  We get bombarded by those ideas: 

Buying this car will make you sexy.

Eating this food will kill you.  Except that some number of years later that idea gets reversed and now NOT eating this food will kill you.

The weather is going to be too hot.  Or too cold.  Or too rainy.  Or too snowy.  Or too windy.  Anything other than the “average” is “too…”  But, think about it.  Average is actually not what is normal.  Average means it’s in the middle and by definition, there are a whole lot more numbers higher or lower than “average!”

Or my favorite one from the Catholic Church:  eating meat on Friday is a mortal sin and if you die without going to confession, you will go straight to Hell.  That was what I was taught when I was growing up…  But that got reversed after I became an adult.  So what’s happening to those poor souls who went to Hell for eating meat on Friday?  Are they still in Hell?  Is there an Appeals Court that can intercede for them and get them out?

And why does “liking” something or posting an emoticon following some post on Facebook constitute a conversation?

In the interest of conversation – as in dialogue, not as in emoticons or quick clicks, share your pet peeves.  I’d love to hear them.

I can see mountains from my house. Just not very impressive ones.

Panorama Point - Coal Creek Canyon

Panorama Point - Coal Creek Canyon

Because of pictures such as these, someone asked if I could see mountains from my house.  The pictures above were taken from Panorama Point in Coal Creek Canyon Park.  I took them on one of the house-hunting trips when my realtor stopped there to get some cell reception and update his GPS.  (Signals tend to drop out in the mountains, mostly just when you need them…)  These were taken in the fall not recently, so the snow cover is not from the most recent snows.

The rest of these pictures were taken from route 119 within a few miles of my home in either direction.

On the way to Nederland without...

...and with snow.

On the way back from Nederland.

The mountain photos included in last week’s blog were taken from route 119 going in the other direction towards Black Hawk.

View from Back Deck - Facing East

So, back to the original question:  can I see these kinds of views from my home.  The answer is no.  Here’s a “sunrise” shot from my back deck.  I took it at this time of day because the contrast between mountains and sky is most pronounced.  This view is to the east which means looking towards “the flats,” so the mountains tend to be somewhat lower than where I live. 

The views from the other side of the house – towards the west – would show wonderful mountain views if it were not for the wonderful towering pine trees.  The whole of my western view is shrouded by trees! 

Driveway in Front.

Front "Flower Beds."

(Not that I am complaining!)

And on a final note:  My computer is currently situated in my dining room, next to the slider to the back deck.  While I was preparing this blog, I glanced out the slider to notice a big gray rabbit on the deck!  Unfortunately, the card from the camera was in the computer.  By the time I got it back into the camera, the bunny was on his/her way.  But I did get the following movie which includes some of the mountain shots before I got to the bunny.  At the very end, you can just barely see the bunny hopping down the deck stairs.  He must have been very hungry to have come up as there is absolutely nothing on the deck that is edible, but apparently there’s not much on the ground, either

Today’s adventure – but first an apology or explanation…

I need to apologize to those of you who were faithfully reading and following this blog.  The holidays intervened, then my computer died, then I bought a new house, moved in, waited for furniture, and unpacked.  So now I am caught up on my life and hopefully will resume my weekly blog.

We’ve had a lot of snow, but melts in between, so it is not too deep at present, except where the plows have piled it.  But yesterday was above freezing all day and sunny;  we seem to have entered mud season.  You can tell the local mountain cars – most of our side roads are dirt – by the amount of dirt on them.  Cars from the flats are much cleaner.

Anyway, the forecast for today was about 60° F so I decided to take my first adventure walk.  Drove down the mountain to get something to eat first and to spot places where I might be able to park and walk some.  Here is the view from one such spot – actually not a walking place, but a place I could pull over and take a picture from inside the car.

View from the Car.

 Pulled in close, it looks like this:

Zoomed-in View from the Car.

 On the way back, I decided to stop at the first place on the right that I could.  A place I had noticed before because of the abandoned-looking sluice running down the mountain.

Abandoned Sluice.

 

Close-up of Abandoned Sluice.

 Up close it looks every bit as abandoned as it did driving by in the car.  I have no idea why it starts where it starts, although the top looks very flat, so maybe a lot of dirt has come down that way.  It was too steep for me to try to climb especially since there is still snow on the ground in some places and mud in others!  (Maybe later in the spring when conditions are better and I’m more acclimated to the altitude!)

The area where I was able to park was quite large and well off the road, but there were “no parking – cars will be towed” signs in the upper area.  I left my car near the road where there were no signs and explored on foot.  There were clear signs that one or more buildings had been there:

Retaining Wall or Foundation?

The corner shown in the next picture, to the right of the trees in the foreground, is behind and above the retaining wall, so it is possible that the retaining wall is part of the foundation of the building.

Corner of a Building.

Detail of the Wall.

Across the road was another retaining wall – again with no visible reason for it’s being there.

Retaining Wall.

This wall kept the hillside from sliding down into a tiny creek.  Look how clear the water is after frothing around some rocks.  I would really like to have tasted it, but could not see an easy way down to the water.  Or, rather, could see an easy way down – which probably would have ended up with me in the water, but no way back up!

Little Creek Next to the Road.

Adventure over, I headed back home, not really in the mood to be inside, but when I stopped at the library and thought about sitting on this lovely bench to read, the crows and road noise were too loud.  So I backtracked home to sit on my own deck in the sun.

Bench Outside the Library.

My thermometer – also in the sun – read 80°.  I took my lounge chair out and sat for about half an hour in the sun by which time I was way too warm.  So I came back in, put on shorts and a tank top and sat outside for about an hour and a half, listening to the snow melt, reading, and making vitamin D until the sun went behind a tree.  I’ve never walked barefoot in the snow and today seemed like the perfect opportunity, so I did!  Mostly it was ice crystals rather than snow because of all the melt, but it was fun none-the-less, especially since when my feet got cold I could go back up on the deck and let the sun and hot deck warm them!

A good time was had by all…

Hope to see you again next week.