A mix-up with respect too transportation found me alone at the hotel on Sunday, while Kay, Karyn, and the kids toured Garden of the Gods and Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs. Matt toured the area independently. I spent most of the day processing photographs. Kay posted photos of their trip on Facebook.

We didn’t need much of an excuse to escape the sweltering heat and humidity of Arkansas! And the soccer tournament was just the thing. In that regard we added a few days to the the trip to the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. Our initial plans were to depart Thornton on Monday morning to drive Skyline Drive in Rocky Mountain National Park; however a permit is required because of the crowds and we didn’t have one. Instead, we drove to near Ridgway where reservations at the Double G Ranch had been made. What was supposed to be a relaxing drive took us an extra hour and a half because of a detour caused by a potential bridge failure over the Blue Mesa Reservoir. The detour included a lot of stand still-time on a long gravel road (maybe 15 miles of gravel). We stopped for dinner in Montrose and arrived at the Double G Ranch early in the evening. After unloading luggage and being shown our room, we adjourned to the deck enjoying the mountain views, cool evening, and lots of hummingbirds.

Our only “agenda” item for Tuesday was to visit Telluride and like to the 365-foot Bridal Veil Waterfallsl at the end of the box canyon overlooking Telluride.

The “moderate to difficult” 1.8 mile one-way hike proved to be too dangerous for us, and we aborted after hiking only a short distance, though a few photographs along the trail were made. Following the aborted hike, we drove to the gondola upper parking area and rode the free gondola up the mountain and then down to Telluride. Too many people and too much commercialization resulted in our return to the gondola and back to the parking area.

From Telluride, we drove to Ouray, a lovely old western mining town. It too is drawing large crowds, and we opted to drive the streets rather than maneuver the sidewalk traffic. With time on our hands, we drove the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton, another lovely old western mining town that is also too crowded. These towns reminded us of Red Lodge, Montana, which was absolutely delightful in the 1980s, but has now been taken over by commercial development and crowds.

The drive along the switchbacked portion of the Million Dollar Highway was well worth the time and effort with beautiful scenery virtually everywhere. Most conspicuous was Red Mountain.

We also say a young male moose between Silverton and Ouray on our return to the Double G Ranch.

The couple who own and operate the Double G Ranch are German expats. We opted to have dinner at the ranch, and it was good—bratwurst, masked potatoes, and sauerkraut, followed by a delicious dessert with a homemade berry sauce poured over ice cream. After dinner we enjoyed the deck and the buzzing of Rufous and Red-throated Hummingbirds.

We extended another night at the Double G Ranch as our plans were to spend another four or five days in Colorado. However, after seeing Telluride, Ouray, and Silverton yesterday, we were wearing thin on crowds. Consequently, we spent Wednesday chasing wildflowers and animals in the San Juan Mountains, driving a well-maintained gravel road through the Uncompahgre National Forest, cresting Owl Creek Pass at 10,114 feet, turning around at the Silver Jack Reservoir. .John Wayne loved this country, as both How the West Was Won and True Grit were filmed along this magnificent route winding through national forest and river basin country. The stunning peaks of Chimney Rock and Courthouse Mountain pierced the blue Colorado sky as we journeyed along this 1885 cattle-drive trail.

Tall white-barked aspen trees, spruce and fir, rivers, reservoirs, and seas of wildflowers were nestled among towering peaks. It was indeed a spectacular drive.

After returning to the Double G Ranch, we dined on grass-fed steaks cooked in a German specialty sauce, with German noodles. And of course, dessert followed.

Kay and I departed Tuesday morning at about 8:30 am driving to McPherson, Kansas, on the way to Thornton, Colorado, northeast of Denver.. This is the first road trip for the new Hyundai, and we’re anxious to see if it is as comfortable as the Honda Pilot. The purpose of the trip is to attend grandson #2’s super regional soccer tournament Commerce City, Colorado—his team is representing Arkansas 

The day’s drive was without incident, but the roads in Oklahoma, including the toll roads, were in pretty rough condition. This has not changed since we last traveled through the state some 10+ years ago. The roads in Kansas, on the other hand, were some of the best we’ve driven. Of note was that Kay drove most of the way.

For reasons unknown, I was sleepy most of the day, and slept a good p portion of the drive. Perhaps it was stress or the previous day’s work on the irrigation system, but it knocked me for a loop. We arrived in McPherson about 4:30 pm, had dinner at a local eatery, and then drove to the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge northeast of town. Regretfully, we didn’t see any of the 200 bison or 60 elk present at the refuge. It was an early evening for the both of us.

On Wednesday morning, I awoke fresh and feeling 100 percent. After a continental breakfast at the hotel, I drove most of the remaining way to Thornton, Colorado; Kay drove the last couple of hours. The first pronghorn was spotted about 60 miles east of Denver where we say a couple of small groups grazing. As we neared Denver, traffic was at a near standstill, and it was stop and go for most of the way to the motel. We arrived shortly before 4:00 pm and unloaded the car onto a luggage cart, completely filling it.  In all fairness, most of the stuff was mine, including photographic equipment and a portable refrigerator. Kay checked us in, and we enjoyed a brief rest after the drive. Five Guys provided our carryout dinner.

To open the month, we played golf and pickleball whenever conditions permitted. I ventured out on Monday, July 1, to make a few photos in the back yard.

We celebrated Independence Day holiday with a get together at the Seitz’ dock to watch the Balboa Lake boat parade on Wednesday, July 3, and held the “former educators” traditional July 4 (Thursday) get together at our house, featuring hot dogs and fixin’s, and Pam’s apple pie and ice cream. 

On Saturday, July 6, flowers, wasps, and butterflies were the subject of a few photos. 

Wrapping up the first two weeks in July, a few more photos were made on Wednesday, July 10, and on Thursday, July 11, while Kay attended the July “The Book Club” meeting. The bottom photo is of a Variegated Fritillary, the 19th observed species in our yard this season.

In addition to our regular activities—golf, pickleball, church, and club meetings—the last two weeks in June were occupied by local photography, basketball on weekends, and naps in the afternoon. Here are photographs made at Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area on June 17 and 29. (Just click on a photo to enlarge.)

These photos were made in our yard on June 19, 23, 24, 25, and 28. No new yard butterflies were observed. 

We were off to Cabot fairly early Saturday morning for Ridge’s AAU basketball games. They breezed through the first game, and won the second by a sizable margin. He is a really good basketball player, and has really good teammates. 

More basketball was played on Sunday, missing out on the state finals by only a couple of points in OT—the boys played well, but made way too many turnovers. We took Ridge home after the game and he was awfully quiet; he doesn’t like to lose!

Kay had her usual social and sports events Tuesday and Wednesday, while I played pickleball for the first time since injuring right knee a few weeks ago. First game went okay, but at the beginning of the second game, I was waiting on my partner to serve and felt three pops, and excruciating pain in the right hamstring. It’s been a terrible season for injuries; and I’ll be out for a few more weeks. Ridge played more basketball on Wednesday night, including a few minutes with the 8th grade team. He played really well in all the games, and especially well with the 8th graders. We provided his shuttle service to and from the games. These photos were made on Tuesday, June 4.

On Thursday, Kay took care of some car maintenance in Hot Springs while I had a haircut and dental cleaning, after which a few photos were made in the backyard.

The highlight of the week was on Friday as we had lunch with the Starrs. Food was good, the company was great, and the $2 beer was fantastic. Seems like the same creatures were enjoying the backyard as the day before.

No basketball today, Saturday. Kay played pickleball in the morning, and I drove to Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area to do some photography. It proved to be a good day as the really rare Pelton’s Rose Gentian was blooming and the rare Diana Fritillaries were flying. Interestingly, the butterflies did not start moving until about 11 AM and the dragonflies about 11:30 AM.

After returning home, these photos were made in the backyard.

On Friday and Saturday of the following week, I took advantage of our new butterfly garden and made several photographs of butterflies, and dragonflies and damselflies. It is so relaxing to just walk around and observe the flittering and sometimes fast-flying creatures.

As another month comes to an end, the unpredictable weather was predictable—great, then windy and rain! Kay got in a few pickleball games on Monday at Diamanté, A snake, a few butterflies, and dragonflies and damselflies provided subjects for a few photographs in our back “yard”.

I participated in a golf scramble with the guys at church on Tuesday. The golf game was pretty bad, though there were occasional good shots that keep one coming back. My excuse is that back issues and a strained right knee ACL alter my swing just enough such that there isn’t any consistency.

We traveled to Memphis on Wednesday to visit with Jenny, Harper, Lina, and Sutton. We had not seen them since mid-December; they have grown a bunch. And their communication skills are greatly increasing. Jenny is a supermom, and is to be admired for raising an 11, 4 and 3-year old as a single mom! Jenny was trying to work at home, and the kids were excited and rambunctious—not a good combination!

After the visit, we attended Harper’s Spring Dance Recital. She performed in the Jazz, Ballet, and Gymnastics categories, and I must say that she was the best of her group, executing all routines to near perfection. And, she’s such a sweet young lady. Regretfully, I didn’t shoot any still photographs, but did make a couple of videos which I will post to YouTube.

The drive home on Thursday was near effortless as we let the car do most of the driving, with frequent warnings to put hands on the steering wheel. Actually, the car drove itself only occasionally! After arriving home, a few bugs awaited photographing in the back, plus our friend “Slim”, including a beautiful Calico Pennant dragonfly. It’s the first time one has been observed in our yard. 

Friend Sue arrived for a visit in the afternoon, and she, Kay, and Pam went out for dinner at Diamanté in the evening while I remained home to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Friday was pretty quiet for me as Kay had an appointment in the morning, and she and Sue had a fun and productive night at Oaklawn Casino. I did go to Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area about midday and shot quite a few photographs as there were several species of butterflies flitting about. Here are a few of the small butterflies photographed.

And, here is a Pipeline Swallowtail.

And, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

And, a Great Spangled Fritillary.

And, Arkansas’ state butterfly, the rare female Diana Fritillary.

And, Arkansas’ state butterfly, the also rare male Diana Fritillary.

Not to be outdone, a couple of dragonflies cooperated.

And this most rare wildflower, Pelton’s Rose Gentian, found in only two places in the world, both in Saline County, Arkansas..

And finally, a few other beautiful wildflowers.

For each of the last several summers, a new project has been created to challenge knowledge and memory—not a difficult task these days! One such project was to learn to identify all of the skipper butterflies observed; this project carried over into two summers. After that, a new project was created to identify local dragonflies and damselflies for which a photo had been made. Let’s just say it remains a work in progress, and seemingly, every step forward is followed by two steps back. With the creation of the new butterfly garden and planting additional attractor flowers in other beds, this year’s project involves inventorying all the butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies observed and photographed on our property, mainly the back yard and lake shoreline.

A semiannual appointment with the cardiologist occurred on Monday, and he said I had the heart of a 19 year old. He must be a great BSer. A butterfly and a dragonfly were photographed Tuesday morning. The dragonfly was a “lifer”, a Prince Baskettail.

A knee injury and persistent back issues generally prevented my serious participation in any physical outdoor activity during the week, although I did play golf on Tuesday; it was not pretty. Kay played golf with the Lady Duffers Wednesday morning, and shot a decent game.

The weekend was all about basketball as we drove to Cabot both Saturday and Sunday to watch grandson Ridge play. The handily won the three games on Saturday and the first on Sunday, but didn’t fair well in the second game; Ridge takes losses so seriously and he gives everything during the game.

Prior to the games on Sunday, a few photos were made of butterflies and damselflies. Even a bird made it into the album.

This first several days of May focused on continuing garden work: planting flowers, dressing existing beds, and creating a pollinator garden. The latter involved moving washed gravel (our “grass”) from the garden area, and replacing it with topsoil. Sounds easy. The gravel was moved shovelful by shovelful as neither of us were physically able to carry much more than that. We did move the topsoil from an existing bed on the north side of the house by loading it into a plastic box and “dragging” it to the new bed—a slow and arduous process resulting in our doing only about a third of the new garden. Back soreness from last week’s yard work limited both our ability and amount of work we were able to do. A shopping trip to the local nursery yielded purchase of several hanging baskets, potted plants, and dozens of pollinator flowers. In the new garden, I dug the holes and Kay planted the flowers. The flowers will be awesome when filled out. It should be noted that all of this occurred among almost daily rain showers.

Working outside provided extensive opportunities to observe butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies flitting hither and yon in the back “yard”. On Wednesday, May 1, I ventured out to Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area for the first time in almost a year. It was a bit too early for many butterflies and dragonflies, though a few were captured by the camera. Of significance, at least to me, were photos of an Indigo Bunting and a Bell’s Roadside Skippers, the former being the first photo of the bunting, and the latter being a “life” butterfly.

On Monday, May 6, “our” Green Heron visited at a convenient time when the camera and big lens were ready. We’ve had a pair of Green Herons regularly visit the shoreline at the house since we moved in in 2015! 

Kay was busy Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with social functions and a golf game sandwiched among them. Of course, the biggie among the social activities was the monthly meeting of The Book Club. 

I managed to snap a few photos in the back yard on Tuesday of a bird, a couple of dragonflies, and a snake.

And the back yard produced again on Thursday with a bird, a butterfly, and a dragonfly.

Another butterfly (perhaps the same as yesterday) and a bird posed for photographs on Friday morning.

During the course of the week, back problems persisted, limiting our participation in both golf and pickleball, though opportunities to play were limited anyway because of rain or wet conditions. We did get out to play the front nine at Cortez on Friday afternoon.

The remainder of gravel was finally moved and and on Saturday, May 11, grandson Ridge hauled and placed top soil in the butterfly garden, and hauled and placed mulch in one of the front beds. To be only 12+ years old, he has a great work ethic, and it was such a pleasure to spend time with him, though he didn’t talk much!

I snuck in a couple of photos while he was working.

Kay’s kids treated us to dinner Saturday evening to celebrate Mother’s Day. I’m sure they know it, but she is a super mom, and we’re fortunate that our daughters and daughter-in-law are super moms as well.

Mothers Day on Sunday was without fanfare, and we hung around the house relaxing.

Making entries into this journal is typically done each day, or at least notations are made daily to help refresh my memory. However, almost two weeks have gone by since last writing. To say that I’m easily distracted would be an understatement!

Kay and I continue to play catchup after being gone for three months this winter. And, the yard work is overwhelming, particularly since a new “butterfly/hummingbird” garden is being built in one of the few places at the back of the property receiving sun most of the day. This work in progress involved relocating about a half yard of washed gravel (one shovel at a time), cutting plastic ground cloth, adding a half yard of top soil, and planting flowers.

During the course of creating the new bed, a few photos were made on Tuesday, April 22. The dragon fly is a Common Green Darter.

The butterflies are a Red Admiral and Gray Hairstreak, respectively.

More yard work was done on Wednesday and a couple of butterflies, damselflies, and dragonflies posed for photographs.

On Thursday, a new dishwasher was delivered (as mentioned before, this is the third Frigidaire appliance to be replaced since moving in 9 years ago). Also, a couple more photos were made.

Neither of our backs held up to the yard work, especially when combined with sports. We were sore for days, and spent a good portion of time inside recovering.

Kay began feeling ill on Friday, and over the course of the next day and a half came down with a full-fledged head cold. It is so rare for her to be sick!

On Saturday, we picked up a new 2024 Hyundai Palisade to replace the 2018 Honda Pilot. The Pilot was perhaps the “best” car I’ve ever owned, but lacked a couple of options I wanted/needed. It will take days, if not weeks, to learn how to “program” all the bells and whistles. Grandson Ridge played basketball Saturday evening in Little Rock and while he played well, the team won one and lost one. In the loss, the other team was more disciplined and deliberate, and had a couple of big “men” that took almost all the rebounds.

Basketball was the main attraction on Sunday, but was short lived as the team was overwhelmed by a slightly better group of players. Ridge played really well again, but his contributions were not enough to make the difference. Both Kay and I attended, and enjoyed a quiet Sunday late afternoon and evening.

Wet conditions prevented my sports participation on Monday, while Kay had a few minor appointments. I played golf with the church scramble on Tuesday, and Kay stayed home for installation of the new dishwasher. The first people who were to install the dishwasher priced installation at $600+. After making a few calls to Metro Appliances in Maumelle (from whom we bought the dishwasher and who recommended the expensive installation), a more reasonable installer was identified and did a good job. We see more and more “contractors” taking advantage of the elderly here in Hot Springs Village; shame on them!

Our yard and house have been ignored too long; a bad back followed by back surgery, and then a gimpy shoulder followed by shoulder and bicep surgery has taken its toll on our ability to take care of things around the house. We’ve tried hiring it done, but first of all, it’s hard to get anyone to rake leaves and put out mulch. Secondly, they charge an exorbitant amount for such work. And thirdly, none have been able to satisfy us in terms of quality and completeness. Thus, we’re the only ones to do the work if it is to get done.

On Monday, still recovering from all the yard work on Sunday, I rode over to watch the “Chicks” play pickleball at Diamante, but there were not enough to play, and of course I volunteered. Kay had medical appointments most of the afternoon. Late in the afternoon, I walked around the back yard looking for things to photograph and was surprised to see a Black and White Warbler. It was only the second one I have seen and the first was in Gilbert, Arizona.

There were also a few Yellow-rumped Warblers darting from limb to limb, and a Blue-winged Teal was swimming in the lake just off the dock. 

Even a dandelion posed for a photo.

Kay played pickleball on Tuesday, and we shared a quiet evening. Just looking around, the office is a disaster as photography and computer equipment are scattered all over the place.

Kay played her first golf with the Duffers on Wednesday and shot a pretty decent game, hitting her “Heaven” wood (Callaway 7 wood) and putting well. My semi-annual medical exam took place on Wednesday, and all is well, relatively speaking. I had lost 17 pounds since my last visit, and blood sugar levels had dropped in half—but they were still too high. He asked if I had fallen lately and I said yes, six times, playing pickleball. He said that didn’t count! Dinner was a petite chopped broccoli salad at Diamante for each of us, and it was really good.

Early Thursday morning, eleven lemony blueberry/cranberry muffins were made with sourdough discard, followed by preparing and smoking a rack of ribs on the Big Green Egg. I then repeated Monday morning’s pickleball activities, not intending to play but the “Chicks” were again short one player. The four of us had some great matches! Following pickleball, I tried to play 18 holes of golf, but my back hurt too much. Consequently, I played only 11 holes. Kay played duplicate bridge. And then, in the afternoon, we planted almost three dozen flowers, all intended to attract pollinators, especially butterflies and hummingbirds. Once again, we both were dirty, sore, and near “exhaustion”. It’s sometimes hard to remember that we’re in our mid-70s! I take that back. After pickleball, golf, and gardening, it’s pretty darn easy to remember—soreness in the knees and back, and leg cramps don’t let you forget!

Working in the yard has not been kind to my Lumbar Spinal Stenosis; my back is in constant pain! But, we keep on working to get things in shape for late spring and summer, and we only lack a few more days until completion. Consequently, we were back at it on Friday morning, continuing to prune the significantly overgrown Creeping Juniper. It has just about creeped over the entire front “yard”. After about three hours of hard work, the rock and gravel work in the yard can be seen once again, and accumulated leaves and pine straw can be collected. Shredding/chipping will be put off until a later date.

On Saturday, we traveled to Conway to watch grandson Ridge play AAU basketball. They won their first game with outstanding three-point shooting, but lost the second to a much taller and older team. In fact each of their players was as tall as I am—about 5’ 10”. Of course, Ridge was quite dejected, but he played well, rebounding, passing, and playing outstanding defense. It rained most of the day, keeping us inside.

Though Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest, more yard work called after church. It’s hard to tell if progress is being made since work efforts are so slow!