Tag Archives: Northern Colorado

We Three Blooms

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Peppermint7502

It’s the season for candy and presents and stuffing yourself with good things to eat and that’s what we have today. This is a beautiful edible flower called the Peppermint Surprise or Pepperminticus Candii. It’s perfect as a garnish or added to your favorite salad or simply eaten one petal at a time.

The blooms usually grow in groups of three and ripen together around the first of the holiday season. One unique characteristic they have is they need the light of a single bright star to fully realize their deepest richest color. That’s when they become fully ripened and must be picked quickly as they immediately turn into a hard brittle candy that is prone to wind damage. They look and feel like the finest delicate porcelain until you eat one. Then its heaven on earth. There is a OMG flavor-burst that will have your eyes watering, and your tongue smacking the back of your teeth, it tastes so good. You’ll be begging for just one more. It’s a good thing they’re expensive and hard to find because you’d eat next months house payment in one sitting if you could.

These flowers are fairly difficult to locate and harvest as they only grow on the eastern slopes of The Big Rock Candy mountain in Northern Colorado. They are found and harvested by listening for the sound they make as the night breezes flow by them causing them to vibrate and hum in harmony. It may be that this is why their blossoms bloom in threes as they need the three different tones to make a chord. Their bell-like shape amplifies their song and makes them slightly easier to locate. Although you can hunt for the flowers by listening for their songs often the flower’s song is drowned out by the buzzing of the bees in the Cigarette Trees, which is a trash plant that has completely fallen out of favor and is to be avoided at all costs due to its adverse effects on humans and other living things. However there is some unknown symbiosis that must occur between the Pepperminticus Candii  and the Cigarette Trees, cigagretable awfulitica that is not fully understood yet. But if you find the Cigarette Trees you will almost always find Peppermint Surprise flowers growing amongst them. And for that reason we haven’t burned out the Cigarette Tree grove yet.

Due to it’s incredibly high sugar content they should be kept away from young children under 30 as they might make them hyper-active, and hard to stomach and that’s  the last thing you want at this time of year so simply tell the little tots that they’re deadly poisonous and they should leave them alone.

As mentioned previously we are lucky enough to have a small grove of the Cigarette Trees with their attending Peppermint Surprise flowers in our arboretum here at The Institute where they can be purchased for 118.00 per ounce. Shipping extra. Please be advised that due to their delicate nature they can be broken and damaged in transit which reduces them to a powder that appears to resemble fireplace ashes, however the unique taste remains in full flavor, so they can be used as a sprinkle for cupcake toppings or on your favorite white ice cream. However, order at your own risk, this is a non-refundable item. Happy Holidays!

A View To The South

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ViewToSouth1404

Here at The Institute there is always a constant flow of activity where our many departments pursue their various objectives. In a high-tech environment like ours, with its pressure-cooker deadlines and high stress levels, our staff sometimes forgets to stop a moment and look around to see if all is right in the world.

That’s why early on, when The Institute was first being built, I saw the need to provide a place where one could go and just look. To stop, see, contemplate and become one with yourself again. So there, high up on the tallest spire that anchors a corner of the main hall, right where the south and west walls meet, the tower we call “Cloud Catcher” was constructed that overlooks the foothills of the mountains.  We built a small balcony that juts out through part of the conical roof where you can stand and look out over the land below as far as you want to. Many times you will look down on Redtail hawks and Golden Eagles soaring below. The stingingly cold west wind blowing through your hair and tugging at your clothes as you listen to the snapping sound of the pennants at the very peak above, make you feel alive as never before, and you can see once again if all is still right with the world.

This is particularly important during times of change when monumental decisions are being made and you have to be centered to make those hard choices. So it is mandatory that every member of our staff, especially those who makes important decisions, makes the trek up the 380 steps of the Cloud Catcher Spire and takes in the view from the Balcony of Serenity. I know, it’s a trite name but it makes sense after you’ve been up there a few times.

The image above is an early evening view to the South during the first few weeks of fall. We are still in the last of the monsoon season and there is high humidity in the air which forms mist and low-lying fog in the valleys below as the temperature changes. It is nearly impossible to observe this view for any length of time without your blood pressure coming down and calmness spreading through your mind. The relaxation is total. This is why we limit the visit to once a week and then for no more than 20 minutes at a time. You have to be able to descend those 380 steps.

I am presenting it here this Monday morning for any of you that are faced with hard decisions, stress, uncertainty, and strife in your life to look at and hopefully find some calmness for yourself. But remember only look at it for 20 minutes at a time. Any more than that and you could find yourself saying, to hell with it, I hear the living is easy in Fiji. Or Northern Colorado.

Spirit Cave

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cave1193

Those of you who have visited my portfolio on DxO in their Image Masters section https://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/gallery/dwight-lutsey  may have seen this photo before. For those of you who haven’t this is an image of seven warriors drawn on the surface of the stone and is located in a small cave at the top of a bluff in the foothills of Northern Colorado. It overlooks the plains below with nearly a 180° field of view.

It is a very special place and dates back to a time before the tribes acquired horses. Experts in these types of drawing speculate that these figures represent hunters or warriors because of the large shields they are carrying. After horses arrived the shields became much smaller so they were more easily managed while on horseback. These figures are petrographs rather than petroglyphs as they are drawn on the surface of the stone rather than etched into the surface.

As you can see there are seven figures represented and if you could visit this cave you would see that there is no way that seven people could fit into this space. It is difficult to get more than 2 or 3 people in there and that is a tight squeeze. So why seven figures? One can only speculate. Perhaps this was the number in the party that waited back in the safety of the rocks while the viewer in the cave looked for animals or enemies, or is a warning to others that he saw seven warriors below. Perhaps they were a raiding party and this was a regular path or trail they followed that could viewed safely from this cave.

To view these figures at all you must lie down on the cave floor as they are on a small ledge that forms the edge of the ceiling and are only 3 to 5 inches in height. The artist who created them had to draw them from a prone position. The seven figures are the only petrographs in the cave. The cave is a cool place to sit and watch out over the landscape below. Cool as in temperature, but also cool as in, cool.

While lying there attempting to figure out how the drawings were made and possibly why, I heard a small fluttering noise and turning my head discovered that I was nearly lying on the nest of this little wren. She was civil about it, quietly telling me to move over as she had to feed the young inside. Being a busy mom she was constantly coming and going usually with an insect of some sort in her bill. I could hear the young rustling about in the nest but couldn’t see them due to the shadows that partially hid the nest from view.

cave1289

I was hoping to have a conversation with her about how long her family had been nesting in this cave and did she have any stories about the earlier inhabitants that may have been passed own from mother to egg but motherhood was making too many demands on her time so the conversation would have to wait.

This part of Colorado has an amazing amount of history attached to it and a person is constantly made aware of all the events that took place here. There are teepee rings, and Oregon trail wagon tracks, the occasional headstone signifying the loss of a loved one by those heading further west, stagecoach stops and outlaw dens, all the stuff you heard about as a kid is here if you know where to look and be observant. It is truly a photographers privilege to be here and more so to share it with you.

CloudMaker

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CloudMaker4115Cloud Formation Front Range Northern Colorado

When Spring slowly morphs into Summer, like a young girl easing into adulthood, there is a certain amount of drama involved. Spring is an awakening and as the days pass and the maturity of Summer beckons the weather patterns change. The gentle spring days with their warm sunshine and gentle rains begins to alter as the new experiences of longer days and the other influences affect her. There is an anxious volatility now and an expression of anticipation and anger and a desire to rush headlong into this new aspect of life.

This is when we get our late Spring storms. Everyday it seems there is a new formation that can range from slowly moving billowing cloud banks to the fierce and violent thunderheads that lash out with lightning and swirling winds and torrents of rain. Tonight we have something in between.

This particular cloud is undecided at the moment. Not sure if it should develop into a full-blown tantrum or simply pout a little before gently dispersing into the night sky. Without the sun to heat it to the boiling point it’s a good bet that this little bit drama will suffice for the day. But there is always tomorrow, when each new day brings new beauty and new experiences. I can’t wait.

Golden Eagles Sky Dancing

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Goldens2047Golden Eagles Colorado                     click to enlarge

High above the cliffs in the foothills North of Ft. Collins, a pair of Golden eagles perform a courting ritual. They have reoccupied their nest which clings precariously to the face of the cliff wall that juts several hundred vertical feet into the sky and are now in the process of re-bonding, prior to mating and laying eggs.

For several hours in an on again, off again manner, they suddenly take wing and perform amazing acrobatics and synchronized flying that appears to be choreographed or at least very well practiced. They will fly within inches of each other, turning and swooping, diving and tumbling until they finally tire and return to the nest.

The female will sit on the nest while the male goes off and hunts for nesting material, returning with a new branch or something to line the inside of the nest. He rarely brings back food as the female isn’t sitting on eggs at this point. I have been photographing this pair of birds for several years and noticed that they leave the nest area to mate. They fly together for a while in another aerial display, then land on a point of rock or the top edge of the cliff to mate, returning to the nest afterwards. They may mate at the nest site, it’s just that in all my time observing them I have never seen it.

These particular birds are nesting about 3-4 miles from my home but because of a distinctive feather pattern of missing primaries on one of the birds I recognized them as the pair that have been using the rock-face behind the house as a resting and observation point for their hunting. They may be the parents that have brought their offspring here to dump them when it was time for them to leave the nest as described in a pervious post.  http://www.bigshotsnow.com/higher-than-the-clouds-lower-than-the-heavens/

This year because of the damage sustained during the flood of September 2013 the area of the river which runs in front of the cliff where the nest is located was severely damaged and the restoration will apparently take most of the summer to complete and consequently the entire area has been placed off-limits. So it looks like the family gets a pass from being photographed this year. As the nest and the eagles are easily 1/4 mile from the observation area photographing them is not intrusive. It does take some powerful glass however to get even mediocre pictures of them.

While that is disappointing, this being Colorado and an area rich in wildlife, there will be plenty of subject matter to train my lens on. I’ve already got my eye on a new nest of Great Horned Owls and my old standby’s, the Bald eagle family, is revving up for a new season. So I’m tanned, I’m rested, and I’m ready for the summer. How about you?

Cold Tubbin’

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ColdTubbin8503Red Fox at The Institutes Cold Tub                                  click to enlarge

There  are many strange customs in the animal world, almost too many to catalog. For instance up in Yellowstone the animals all gather around the thermal areas for warmth and fellowship, spending many long hours in the soothing hot water enjoying the company of their friends and neighbors. They talk over the days events, speculate on who the new rangers might be, trade recipes and generally hang out like a bunch of suburbanites.

Down here in Northern Colorado our animals do things a little differently. Our animals don’t tend to be as sociable with each other as they are up further north, consequently their behavior is quite different. Way up here on the mountaintop where the headquarters of the Institute are located we get our share of cold weather. Our animals handle it more like their cousins in the great white north handle things. That is they embrace the cold, revel in it, and look for any reason to celebrate it. You can often see them out on our frozen lakes ice fishing, skinny dipping with the black bear club, having packy fights ( what you know as snowballs) and spending time in the cold tubs that are set up around the Institutes property.

It was noted earlier that our animals don’t tend to be as sociable as they are in  other parts of the country but as in all general statements there are exceptions and this fellow is one. He delights in the companionship of other animals and is often seen inviting others to join him in the cold tub. It has been noted that he tends to befriend his neighbors the cottontails the most as well as the occasional mouse and appears to have a large acquaintance among them. However it’s strange that his companions always seem to be new with little revisiting if you will, strange that, but it may be that he just needs more stimulating conversations as the rabbits all tend to talk about how little grass is left over after the summer heat, who’s expecting again and there’s always somebody expecting, how many redtails have been hanging around and similar topics. If our neighbor the fox was bored you’d think he’d invite another fox to his cold tub. Well, its behavior that we’ll have to look into later. Right now we have to make sure the tubs are cold enough and ready for use. There’s still plenty of winter left.

I’ve Got Sunshine

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MyGirl5316 Mule Deer Colorado Mountains                                  click to enlarge

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day

When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May

I guess you’d say What can make me feel this way?

My doe, my doe, my doe

Talkin’ ’bout my doe My doe

I’ve got so much honey, the bees envy me

Well, I guess you’d say What can make me feel this way?

My doe, my doe, my doe

Talkin’ ’bout my doe My doe Ooh

Hey, hey, hey

Hey, hey, hey

Yeah

OK I couldn’t help it, they were so much in love.