Ain't No Mountain High Enough

(Diana Ross, 1973)

Oh, my feet are sore, sore, sore. Today Tyler took me on a hike that made me realize that I have passed the age when activities such as this are invigorating and exciting. I feel pretty much dead and mutilated. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but the spring chicken in this body has definitely turned into one tough old bird. Tonight I just want to soak my feet and wrap up in a big blanket. How sad is that?

For about the first five times we came to Estes Park we stayed pretty much on one side of the park. Then, one year, our accommodations were on the west side, closer to the Fall River entrance. It was then we were introduced to bighorn sheep. Or, I should say, the concept of bighorn sheep. We would go daily (sometimes multiple times during the day) to try and see them. There's an area called Sheeps Lake that has vitamin rich mud that lures the sheep down from their lofty mountain perches. Ron was determined to see them and would sneak off at 6:00 to try and catch them. This was before he became an ad for Orvis and took up flyfishing. Now he sneaks off to try and catch fish, which most days also prove to be elusive.

Anyway, back to the silly sheep. We had maybe seen one from about a mile away. At least Ron says it was sheep. Personally I think it was the backside of some hiker answering nature's call, unaware that he was being mistaken for a bighorn sheep. BUT WAIT! This trip we've not only seen bighorn sheep, we've seen them on two separate occasions! The first time was our first day here and we came around the corner to the Sheep's Lake area and there they were! I thought Ron would start hyperventillating and wreck the car, but he was nonplussed. I took that as a sign. Don't keep Ron Martin waiting or he'll just move on to some other obsession. Like he did with the fish.

Today, we saw something really remarkable - something we'll probably never ever see again. A bonafide showdown between four bighorn sheep and a coyote, There were two ewes and two yearlings taking their OneADay mud supplement and a coyote approached to within about six feet, They locked eyes and stared each other down for about three minutes and then the coyote turned and walked away, finally settling about 50 yards away. He kept a watchful eye on the foursome, who resumed their feeding, although at least one of the two ewes kept the coyote in sight the whole time. We left before the sheep made their way back across the highway and up to safer ground. It was cool.

I'm almost finished with "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and plan to watch the HBO special tonight. I hope it's an accurate representation of what really happened. If it was produced by white men I have my doubts. I'm also now reading "Truman," by David McCullough, a mammoth book of nearly 1,000 pages about the President from Missouri. I was a little disappointed because I thought it was going to be about that movie with Jim Carrey. I guess my first hint should have been the picture of Harry Truman on the cover. Hee hee,

I'm dying to upload some awesome pictures but Tyler's Mac doesn't have a program to resize photos. So much for Macs being all that. It'll just have to wait until I get back home to my sweet little Dell. I guess that makes me the farmer.