This is a First

In the 22 years that we have owned this house we have seen some wild life. 
Bears in our mudroom and on our deck. 
Racoons clinging to the side of our house.
Deer and elk in the yard.
Plenty of fox and porcupines up close and personal.  Ask our old dog Buck.  He loved porcupines.  To the tune of around $1500 total. 
The neighborhood dogs daily coming by to say hello.
A pack rat ON ME IN OUR BED at 3:00 in the morning. 
Hundreds of mice.
2 weasels in my livingroom.
A mountain lion in our driveway.

This morning, last week, Jack started yelling that there were goats in the yard.   I shot out of bed thinking that he was joking and he wasn't.  There, in the yard, were 5 mountain goats. 
It was beautiful.  And a first. 

Mountain Life, This Summer, in Colorado

What a slacker I've been.  I love to blog and haven't been writing and I really miss it.  Time to change my ways. 

Mountain life in Colorado sure has been interesting since school has ended.  Especially now with all of the wild fires we are experiencing throughout our beautiful state.  It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch the devistation going on around us knowing that one lightning strike up here or stupid camper with a roaring fire could torch our forest.  It's super scary.  Our family made plans and we have started putting things together for a "quick grab" just in case.  
Pets first, laptop, albums and the girls have their own bags of stuff that they definetely do not want to leave behind.  Crazy to be preparing but we feel we need to.  It's getting too close for comfort. 

We had a huge rain/hail storm today which made me want to dance in the rain and I did.  It was cold but I was so incredibly happy to see some water and my flowers and yard were drinking like there was no tomorrow.  Such a great smell.  Even the cat and dog could tell this was good.  It was great.  Living in the mountains, right now, I'm curled up under a blanket.  We are always curled up under a blanket even though it's record temps in Denver.  It is still cool here and I love summers.  I'm happy. 

We just closed all the windows and our house smells like summer rain and I'm so thankful that we aren't experiencing an evacuation.  Everyone is talking fires in Colorado and it's amazing to think of the firefighters doing their job right now and how exhausted they all must be.  My cousin's son, Jake, is a working as a paramedic at the High Park fire as we speak so we are all keeping him in our thoughts and prayers.  He's one incredible kid and we are all so extremely proud of him.  I am anxious to hear of his experience.  I'm sure he has a story to tell. 

Mountain life, this summer so far, has been weird.  Watching the fires, no rain, it's just been weird. 

I love our beautiful state.