Back Door Friends Are the Best

Lately I've been out of the blogging loop while I work on a writing assignment. However, I did take the time to snap a few shots of this extraordinarily friendly fellow after the big May 1 snowfall we received.  He came right up to my back door and posed for me.

 

I wanted to share it with Weekly Top Shot as it is not only my top shot this week, but truly a once in a life time shot. 

 

A special thanks to Mr. Elk for being such a good sport.

 

 

 Weekly Top Shot Blog Hop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



This Week on Our Homestead - Mr. Coyote

“Coyotes move within a landscape of attentiveness. I have seen their eyes in the creosote bushes and among mesquite trees. They have watched me. And all the times that I saw no eyes, that I kept walking and never knew,

there were still coyotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"When I have seen them trot away,
when I have stepped from the floorboard of my truck, leaned on the door,
and watched them as they watched me
over their shoulders,
 

 

 

 

"I have been aware for that moment
of how much more there is.
Of how I have only seen only an instant

of a broad and rich life.”  

--Craig Child, The Animal Dialogues:

Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

 

Sharing with Weekly Top Shot, Camera Critters

 



Birdhouse Funnery

Since I'm still recovering from a cold 

and it's 0 degrees outside this morning, 

my camera is stowed away

and I'm forced to pull from my archives for a photograph.

I thought about posting something from a warmer season, then decided

to go with this photo I took last winter outside our favorite

breakfast spot, the Meadow Mountain Cafe in

Allenspark, Co.

In keeping with my 2013 theme of "Discovery", 

I researched the history of birdhouses. 

According to eHow.com:

"In America, Native Americans built simple birdhouses out of birch bark and hollowed out gourds. They were designed to not only shelter the birds from storms, but also to help the birds breed and multiply. The Native Americans passed this tradition on to the English and German immigrants."

(Read more: The History of the Birdhouse | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7526986_history-birdhouse.html#ixzz2HsB3SVaY)

Linking today with Simple Things Sunday, Weekly Top Shot

A Perfect Blend

As I photographed this buck 

I marveled at how he blended into the landscape. 

His coloring a marvelous camouflage 

amid the rocks and trees in our backyard.

All part of God's perfect design to protect

this beautiful creature from predators.
And a reminder that He is intimately familiar 
with all He has created.

"You have searched me, Lord,

    and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

    You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

    You are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

    You, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,

    and You lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too lofty for me to attain."

Psalm 139:5-12


Sharing with Simple Things Sunday, Spiritual Sunday, Sunday Snapshot, Weekly Top Shot

Sheltered Bloom

My pink geranium has begun to bloom.

One of the perks of living here is the amount of sunshine 

we get, even through the winter months. 

I carry my geraniums in for the season 

and place them in south facing windows. 

They graciously reward me with lovely flowers.

"More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always." (Claude Monet)

Linking up with

Weekly Top Shot

Pink Saturday

Morning Gift

Sometimes in the early hours of a new day

God surprises me with an exquisite gift.

Like this morning's sunrise.

"Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; 

And hastening to its place it rises there again."

Ecclesiastes 1:5

Sharing with

Country Fall Wagon

My husband artist Dennis Reinke has been commissioned to paint a rural scene of the Scottsbluff area in Nebraska. Recently we traveled there to shoot photographs of the scenery. Dennis got some great shots of the bluffs and the farm land around them to use for his painting.

I took a lot of shots for my own pleasure. 

Those of you who know how much I love old wagons 

will understand my thrill in finding this one 

all decked out in autumn finery.

Sharing with

Weekly Top Shot 

Your Sunday Best

The Artist's Touch

I snapped this photo this morning at the 
Rockies Plein Air Quick Draw in Estes Park, Colorado. 
The painting and the hand belong to 
my favorite artist and husband Dennis Reinke.

(I blogged about the 2011 Rockies Plein air Event here.)


Linking up with
Weekly Top Shot 
Your Sunday Best

Patient Mother

Photographically captured this gentle scene 

outside our home this week. 

I love this place where I live.

Linking up with

Weekly Top Shot

Your Sunday Best

Camera Critters

Shoot Edit Submit

Sunday Snapshot
Simple Things Sunday

Mountain Song

I took this photo on Trail Ridge 
last week when we drove with friends 
from our home in Estes Park to 
Grand Lake for dinner. 
It reminds me of this psalm:


Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.


The Lord is my constant joy and inspiration.




Linking up with
Weekly Top Shot
Inspire Me Monday

Spring on the Homestead

The day I took this photo (last week) 

the daytime temperature was in the high 70's. 

The next morning it snowed. 

Such is the month of May in the Rockies.

Hope your day is full of sunshine.

Blessings,

Nancy

Linking up with

Play Time

Earlier last week I watched our neighbor's horses frolick around the corral in a light sprinkling of snow. By the time I retrieved my camera they had stopped. I was disappointed, but then they began nuzzling and nibbling each other and 

I ended up with this playful shot. 

Blessings,

Nancy

Linking up with

Rural Thursday

Friday's Fences
Camera Critters
Your Sunday Best
Weekly Top Shot

Weekly Top Shot - Open For Business

This could fall under "shameless promotion", but this is not only my "top shot" this week, it's the one I'm most excited about. Our Fine Art & Consignment shop 
is now open for business. 


A Joyful Cottage is located at 
300 E. Elkhorn Avenue, Suite #304 
in downtown Estes Park, Colorado.
Just steps from River Walk.


Stop by if you're in the neighborhood. :)

Blessings,

Nancy

Linking up with

Chicken Chat

"Why did the chicken cross the road?

Grandpa: "In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us."

:) Blessings,

Nancy

Linking up with

Elk Walk

The warm temperatures this week have brought 

the elk down to graze in the green grass. 

On our way downtown this morning we drove past a crowd hiking toward the golf course, some stopping to nibble along the way. I managed to get

 a few drive-by photos.

Hope you're having a a great weekend.

Blessings,

Nancy


Linking up with

Taos Sweet Peas

"Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

~Hans Christian Anderson

Blessings,

Nancy

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Sunday Share - Just Playin' Around

It's been such a go-go-go week that I'm devoting today to rest. But I still want to join in the blog fun so I played around with a photo I took on the way home from church. With Picasa and Picknik editing I took the original photo below and increased the shadow, then brightened the image and tinted it. Maybe I did some other things -- who knows? I can't remember all 

that when I'm just foolin' around. . 

Kinda fun.

This is the original photo. 

Our neighbor left her sprinkler on all night. The water froze on her bush and created an ice sculpture. We still have freezing temperatures here at night. 

After all, we live above 7,000 feet.

Hope you're having a restful Sunday, too. 

We all need to turn down the volume now and then.

Blessings,

Nancy

Sharing with 

Saturday Share - Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” -- John Muir

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were born 

Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, 

Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

Psalm 90:1-3

Blessings,


Nancy

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