Doh! A Deer...

As Katie and I were walking in the park adjacent to our apartment complex, we spotted this buck bedded down in a dry culvert. Upon further inspection, the grassy places all over this area, among the trees, are conspicuously flattened. We see deer fairly regularly; now we know where they spend the night.

We are not far from the base of a low foothill that, presumably, allows deer a direct conduit into the city from the mountains. Once, while I was waiting for my car at a nearby tire shop, I was astonished to see a large buck suddenly gallop across the parking lot, dodging parked cars. Strangely, he was headed east, though I can't imagine where he was going...

A Close To Summer, 2007

I was beginning to think that August would never get here. But here it is, August first.

Summer school has ended, and now for three weeks Katie and I can have a relatively "normal" existence before classes start again on August 20th. Although I registered for Fall classes nearly four months ago, I only recently put the finishing touches on my schedule. Everything is ready; now it's just a matter of not losing momentum between now and when classes start.

Despite our hectic schedules, Katie and I have still managed to have fun this summer. Last Saturday we were in the annual Buffalo Bill Days parade in Golden. Yes, we were in the parade. Katie's work had a float -well, a miniature train with tiny seats made for kids- and we rode on it. It was very exciting. The photo was taken with my cell phone from the middle of the parade route.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Dinosaur Ridge, a nearby attraction that features dinosaur tracks fossilized in vertical layers of strata. In order to view the fossils, you have to walk along a winding road that goes up and over a hogback. It was hot, but we had a good time. We live for museumesque attractions with lots of wordy placards.

We also managed to squeeze in a hike to the top of South Table Mountain. We were lucky to take our hike early in the summer, before the mountain became a virtual teeming mass of rattlesnakes. The "mountain" is really a low plateau that has a prominent, cliff-like outcropping on its northwest side. The top of this geologic feature is completely flat and used to have a dance hall on it -until the 1920s when members of Golden's KKK chapter burned it to the ground. You can still see rebar from the building's foundation, surround by burn marks, protruding from the rock.

It's been a good summer. We are going to apply for Katie's passport tomorrow; a fitting way, we think, to celebrate the close of Summer, 2007.