Tepees and Buckley's Golf Balls

Tuesday, November 12

A pretty mellow day for Martha and I, this day marks the 29th Anniversary of her putting up with me as a husband.  I say it often, the woman should be sainted!

No festivities planned for or wanted by either of us, there'll be trips to foreign lands in our future we'd rather save our money towards.

I did get a short ride with Scarlett, out to the VRRV storage yard for some minor chores.  On the way home, I posed the rig at the Plains Conservation Center:

Thursday, November 14

The weather was sunny and in the mid-50s so it was time for Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW to get a little bit of exercise.

On the return half of the ride, I almost had a close encounter with a herd of Buckhorn Sheep that was thinking of crossing over the road which borders Buckley Space Force Base's northern perimeter.  They turned around back towards the snow covered fields as I passed by.

I turned around as quick as traffic allowed and parked the motorcycle near the herd which was once again timidly edging towards the highway in another crossing attempt.

Before they made it though, more cars and trucks came along and this time succeeded in scaring them into giving up crossing the highway at this location.

I managed to get within telephoto lens of them though.  No time for tripod or manual focus though as they moved steadily away from me:

I believe this is the largest herd of Buckhorn Sheep

that I've seen!

Walking back to where Brigitta was parked on the side of the highway; I realized she was in a good spot to get Long Peak and three of Buckley SFB's Golf Ball shaped satellite dish enclosures:

Lots of post-processing went into the above two shots, it was very hazy and the conditions precluded sharp imagery of the front range mountains.

I think there's also some slight calibration/focus issues with the telephoto lens, it's a smidge out of focus unless I go manual and use a tripod.  Oh well.

Post-Snow Storm Views of Mount Blue Sky

Record-breaking snow falls, this past three days.  We approached two feet of snow accumulation I think here in our cul-de-sac in the SE portion of the mess which is Metro Denver!

Lets just say I spent quite a bit of time running the snow-blower and doing some shoveling along with my loving wife Martha.

I elected not to ride out immediately after the snow storms, I was concerned my worn tires on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig, were not very grippy anymore.  Subconsciously I think I also knew the snow was deep enough to high-center the rig easily and probably immediately.

The above concerns were proven out when after the last snow fall, and once the cul-de-sac was mostly cleared, we went riding.  Martha accompanied and asked to be taken through a neighborhood next to ours so we could visit friends.

Our friends weren't home, and I managed to high-center Scarlett as I tried to leave from our friends' driveway area!  Doh!  Martha secured a snow shovel nearby and I dug out the high, solidly rutted snow, from under Scarlett.  

We finally got her loose and moving again without any cursing.  We slipped and slid our way to the library and from there back to the house for more snow blowing and shoveling.

Today, I rode out to Buckley Space Force Base to check on the VRRV's snow accumulation.  

That's Mount Blue Sky

formerly known as Mount Evans

Before the storage lot though, I quick ride to the gravel/dirt pit area on the eastern part of the base:

Found perhaps 1.5 feet of the stuff on the roof and spent some time clearing it off.

Leaving Buckley SFB, I motored over to the Denver Tech Center to check out the archway at the entrance to the Westlands Park.

These two geese sauntered by to get

their picture taken

After the park, it was a ride on the Arapahoe Road of Death, thankfully without any attempts by cagers to share my lane back to the home neighborhoods.

One more stop by the golf course for one more shot of Mount Blue Sky:

As you can see the sun was out, temperatures were in the low 50s and it felt quite balmy.  Roads were wet as the snow melted rapidly, I expect things will be dry again in a couple of days.