Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wildlife count for my trip to and from Lander:
4 pelicans
1 golden eagle feeding on what appeared to be a pronghorn (how a car managed to hit one is beyond me)
dozens upon dozens of live pronghorn, home on the range
a close-encounter with 2 sandhill cranes, heard but not seen (dinosaurs!)
several mule deer
an osprey (!)
a single, lonely wapiti
several hawks/falcons (of varying browns and grays)
several turkey vultures
two herds of wild (feral? the debate rages on...) horses
and 4 genuine cowboys!
4 pelicans
1 golden eagle feeding on what appeared to be a pronghorn (how a car managed to hit one is beyond me)
dozens upon dozens of live pronghorn, home on the range
a close-encounter with 2 sandhill cranes, heard but not seen (dinosaurs!)
several mule deer
an osprey (!)
a single, lonely wapiti
several hawks/falcons (of varying browns and grays)
several turkey vultures
two herds of wild (feral? the debate rages on...) horses
and 4 genuine cowboys!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Colorado Sahara
Where are the camels? Replaced by bison, you say? I'm not sure I believe you...
This is young petrified sand dune! Underneath all this dune is this crusty stuff that is what the sand dunes in the park will look like millions of years from now. The dunes are not active, so they never change, leaving the sand to harden and the iron to solidify in interesting ways...
This is young petrified sand dune! Underneath all this dune is this crusty stuff that is what the sand dunes in the park will look like millions of years from now. The dunes are not active, so they never change, leaving the sand to harden and the iron to solidify in interesting ways...Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Another trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (the "preserve" part indicating that in some places one is allowed to hunt, but not the bison, which are livestock, not game... ah, an argument for another day). This time of year, the creeks are flowing with shallow and warm snow melt and the dunes are swarming with weekend sunshine revelers and picnickers...
Monday, May 18, 2009
5.8-10.09
Last weekend we celebrated spring in the "traditional" Celtic fashion by going to a Beltane Festival. We went to one in Edinburgh, the oldest of the "new" revival festivals, last year and had a blast (so much so that I broke my ankle in revelry), so we though we'd hit up this one.
It was a good time, all-night drumming, fun music, dancing, rain, mud, chanting, fire (most importantly). Unfortunately, I felt rather out of place, as the entire rite here in the US is religious in nature. Religions of all kinds freak me out, so I wasn't big into the praying and worshiping mother earth stuff. In Scotland, celebrating Beltane isn't at all religious: the dancers and musicians are all paid performers, putting on a show. Beltane is conducted out of historic and cultural context, and there is no praying or worshiping. It's a public event.
Beltane here in Colorado is a bunch of people in elf ears and dragon-master costumes pretending to follow a Celtic tradition that was really just made up in the 1800s and added to by social and religious rejects throughout the decades. The Maypole was fun, but traditional? Medieval? It was Germanic in origin, but largely used as a territorial marker that other villages would pillage to make statements. The dancing around it part is only recent, and certainly nobody in Scotland has ever done it...
No matter, it was a nice weekend of music and drums and dancing and drinking and hippie-dressing and swimming in the freezing creek and mud and not-showering and fire and being outside. Some of my best shots from the weekend:
A close-up of the finished Maypole
The completed Maypole... took a while
A wayward tractor on the festival grounds
Dancing Hippies!
It was a good time, all-night drumming, fun music, dancing, rain, mud, chanting, fire (most importantly). Unfortunately, I felt rather out of place, as the entire rite here in the US is religious in nature. Religions of all kinds freak me out, so I wasn't big into the praying and worshiping mother earth stuff. In Scotland, celebrating Beltane isn't at all religious: the dancers and musicians are all paid performers, putting on a show. Beltane is conducted out of historic and cultural context, and there is no praying or worshiping. It's a public event.
Beltane here in Colorado is a bunch of people in elf ears and dragon-master costumes pretending to follow a Celtic tradition that was really just made up in the 1800s and added to by social and religious rejects throughout the decades. The Maypole was fun, but traditional? Medieval? It was Germanic in origin, but largely used as a territorial marker that other villages would pillage to make statements. The dancing around it part is only recent, and certainly nobody in Scotland has ever done it...
No matter, it was a nice weekend of music and drums and dancing and drinking and hippie-dressing and swimming in the freezing creek and mud and not-showering and fire and being outside. Some of my best shots from the weekend:
A close-up of the finished Maypole
The completed Maypole... took a while
A wayward tractor on the festival grounds
Dancing Hippies!
Friday, May 15, 2009
(Ball) Park Day!
So, here at NPCA, we're allowed to take park days: days when we head out to parks and get paid to go. So what better way to celebrate this little tradition than take in a day of baseball, one of the US' most notorious cultural resources!
The Boss Lady!
Megan and Dan, concentrating hard in different directions
The Gang's All Here!
Dan, scoring the game
Guy, being a cool guy
View from our seats and the ballpark
The Boss Lady!
Megan and Dan, concentrating hard in different directions
The Gang's All Here!
Dan, scoring the game
Guy, being a cool guy
View from our seats and the ballpark
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