Monthly Archives: May 2016

King of the jungle

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This is why you don’t walk carelessly through the savanna — there may be big cats lurking.

kingofjungle

Here, though, the only ones likely to be in danger are Chloe and Dusty. Dusty is up near the street, barely visible. Smokey just happened to decide, quite by coincidence, to plop himself down close enough that Chloe and Dusty — especially Dusty — could see him. As soon as Smokey heard me coming he turned around in all innocence to face away from the other cats.

Smokey is an affectionate cat, but, as I have mentioned before, he makes Dusty’s life hell. Sometimes he chases Dusty and sometimes he just sits and watches him. He’s well practiced at the art of intimidation.

Emily’s bear

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We got some pictures of some of Emily’s most recent artwork.

leland bear

According to our information, she is currently calling the bear Leland.

The front is nice. I like the back, too.

leland back

Pretty cool, right?

I’m sure this bear is a nice bear, but bears do have teeth.

leland teeth

There is a bit of a color cast to this image that I couldn’t get rid of.

Just remember, he’s keeping an eye on you.

leland eye

I’m looking forward to a visit to the artist’s studio.

Sunset in the east

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We happened to look outside at just the right time to see the entire world bathed in a warm, yellowish glow. I grabbed the camera and went out onto the deck.

sunset1may16

As I stared up at the clouds, I noticed a bright silver speck moving silently and quickly across the sky. Something about it seemed unreal.

sunsetjet

The jet is barely visible slightly below and to the left of center here. I zoomed in a little to make it more visible.

sunsetjetzoomed

The passengers in that silver cylinder didn’t realize what kind of show they were putting on.

The show lasted a few minutes and then it was gone.

 

Handcycles to the gap

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The top of Fouche Gap was the finish line for a handcycle race Friday.

bike finish line

They started a few miles away down in Texas Valley and climbed up what I call the back of the mountain. It’s as steep as the front.

These guys impressed me.

handcyclists

What impressed me is not just that they have the upper body strength to crank their way up the mountain, but that they have the endurance in their arm muscles to do it. Legs are adapted to long, heavy work, but arms usually aren’t. These guys’ arms certainly are.

The race was one stage of the Clocktower Classic, which, according to the Website, is the only timed stage race in the world specifically for handcycles. They had done a 26-mile race the day before. That was two laps around Rocky Mountain, which divides Little Texas Valley and Big Texas Valley. I have ridden one lap from our house, down the mountain, around the loop and back up. They are riding another stage Sunday, the day this post is scheduled to post. I’m also impressed that they can do this kind of racing for multiple days.