July 14 Observations

- Cool and pleasant this AM on the mountain.......

- 17" below normal rainfall has created strain on much of the flora and fauna......

Highlights of the last few days...........

- Watched a young Bobcat recently...almost perfectly camoflouged, as it ran into the forest along the roadway and paused to watch....

- A very young spotted fawn almost got me...as it ran from the forest across a wilderness road, and almost collided with me on a bike....as it attempted to change direction, it's feet flew out from under it...and it skidded on its side just in front of my front tire.....what a way it would have been to end it all!

- Discovered a rare species of tree (for our mountain environment)....A Bigtooth Aspen...the only one of the species I have seen.....

- Whitetail Deer come in to my front yard on regular intervals....primarily for the salt I have in two locations...two young bucks are regular visitors....see photos....note the antlers in velvet.....

- Reported sightings of Mountain Lions on two occasions....investigation underway.....could it be? Interesting if nothing else......

- The miles of wildflowers within our developments are staging a comeback after a couple of saving rains the last few days....though it is still very dry......