Good morning!
I saw this beautiful bird at the Denver Zoo. I forgot to take a photo of the name so, I have no idea what kind of bird this is. (If anyone knows the name, please share in the comments) These were taken through the glass of the enclosure. They came out better than I expected.
I am not sure the look on it’s face would qualify as happiness (below). Maybe it’s doing an angry blue bird impression.
Good morning,
I have been posting about predator problems with my chickens. Recently we lost a young chicken and an adult chicken, most likely to raccoons and a fox or coyote. They are being kept strictly in their coops and enclosed run areas now. They do not like this and tend to start pecking at one another. I add different things to the coop hoping to distract them from this behavior.
When I was in Denver, Colorado, I went to the Denver Zoo with some friends. They had an exhibit called DINOS! Live at Denver Zoo . They have 21 life-size animatronic dinosaurs. They were very cool. Two caught my eye due to their bird like qualities.
First was the Citipati (pg 5)
It stood about 5-6 feet tall and were very protective of their nests. If you click the name, it will take you to the pdf with facts about the dinosaurs in the exhibit. I put the page number by the name. The Citipati photo in the pdf even shows a chicken for comparison. If we had a few of these, I don’t think we would have the predator problems. 😉
The other feathered dinosaur was the Utahraptor (pg 8). It was huge! It was about 23 feet long and weighed about 500 pounds. It had feathers, long sickle like claws and hunted in packs. Scientists think they were warm blooded and protective of its eggs. I would rather not have one of these around. We might be dinner, as they were carnivores. Yikes!
It is the last Dragon Thursday before Halloween. I decided to go with dragon masks. Although they never look as good on me as they do in the photos, I love them. I have a blue dragon mask. It is a little worn in places and now stays on the lamp shade by my bed.
I can’t remember where I bought it, but it was ordered from an Etsy store several years ago. In my search this year, I found several Etsy stores that carry dragon masks.
One is named Squirrel Creek Creations, LLC
From their stores description: They make Unique Leather Masks, Armor, Costumes and Accessories.
red and gold leather dragon mask.
They also have one described as Icy blue and White, leather dragon mask.
Another unusual leather mask is one from MaskEra on Etsy.
Ryu, Asian Dragon – Handmade Leather Mask
And last is this lovely, unusual mask from MeriMask described as an
Eastern Frilled Dragon Leather Mask.
Hello,
On my visit to Colorado, I had the pleasure of visiting the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was a wonderful day of hiking, spending time with great friends, taking photos and enjoying nature. I will start with the beautiful red rocks the park is known for. This is a view from the visitors center looking out towards the park. The visitors center has wonderful exhibits about the park, the rock formations, flora and fauna and the history of the area.
Starting our exploration of the park on the Perkins Central garden Trail.
The scenery was breathtaking and this was just the first trail we explored. There were signs for rock climbing posted throughout the park, but did not see anyone climbing that day. This are also had another formation they simply call White Rock, but that is for another day. 🙂
Good morning!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I will be flying home today from Denver. I came across an article titled
Annoying Flight Delay? Your Coffee Habit Might Be the Reason Why Your Plane Can’t Take Off
on a website called Bravo (bravotv.com). The article described how broken coffee machines were a major reason for flight delays. Hmmm This was posted in July 20,2016. It goes into reasons why this would be necessary, and not only for the poor caffeine deprived passengers.
So if you have made it this far and have some time to spend, here is another article on the same website:
Hopefully this helps start your day with a smile on your face. 🙂
The first day in Colorado we went to Garden of the Gods. After a morning of hiking and photos, we stopped for lunch at the Colorado Mountain Brewery.
The atmosphere is much like a sports bar with sports playing on the big screens above the bar, tables scatter throughout the pub, some areas with more intimate seating and outdoor seating as well. They have a nice selection of beer and food. I chose a stout from their brewery called Monumental Stout. The description had me at coffee, as one of my favorite seasonal beers back home is a Coffee Stout.
From their website:
Sounds good, right. It was! At first sip,there was a strong roasted coffee taste (slightly bitter),but had a nice smooth finish.
I also tried one of their Colorado Mountain Brewery specialties – Bison Poppers. These were jalapeños stuffed with ground buffalo and cream cheese. Then it is wrapped in a thin pastry dough and dipped in a batter their menu says is their Ole ’59er Amber Ale Batter and fried. It was so good! Not too spicy, and had a wonderful crispy texture. The sauce was slightly sweet and complemented the mild spiciness of the jalapeños.
Unfortunately we will not be able to go back and try more from their menu. If we venture to Colorado Springs again, I would definitely go back.
Good morning,
I have a dear friend that lives just outside of Melbourne, Australia. She surprised me with a package containing this amazing dragon roof tile. ( Thank you!) She found it on Ebay a few years ago. I do not have the paperwork for the company selling it and have not seen another like it. I love the colors!
Bottom of tile.
Good morning
I visited Blanco Gardens recently and their Mist flowers are blooming. The bees and butterflies love them. I bought a plant last year from Blanco Gardens and right now they are covered with butterflies. They are easy to grow and have spread throughout their section of the garden.
Off to Colorado. 😀
Good morning
I have had several Keurig coffee makers. I have to say that they have been great about trying to help with any problems I have called them about. They replaced two of my coffee makers that just would not work correctly.
While I was waiting on a replacement, I decided to try something different since I had all these coffee pods and no way to use them. I read through Amazon reviews and watched Youtube videos and decided on the My Jo Coffee Maker by Presto. It is fairly small, easy to use, easy to clean and needs no electricity, just hot water. It would be great for traveling or camping too.
The My Jo makes up to a 10 ounce cup of coffee.
The base has a needle in it to puncture the pod like other pod type brewers.
The bottom of the top piece has a pointed cone that punctures the top of the coffee pod.
The My Jo is made to be able to heat water in the top of the container in the microwave. It has a small plug in the bottom of the top piece that has a split in it. The split is tight and holds water until you add pressure from the top piece. Kind of a plunger action to create pressure to move the water through the coffee pod.
I had to use both hands to get the water through the plug, one to push the plunger and one to hold the bottom of the coffee maker to keep it from slipping off the mug.
The size of mug makes a difference. the mug needs a stable base and a size that is a little bit smaller in diameter than the My Jo base.
What I found out accidentally, is that taking out the plug allows the coffee to gravity flow through the pod. I use pressure if I want to speed it up and at the end to make sure all of the water is pushed through.
This gravity flow allows me to do other things while the coffee is brewing. It didn’t taste any different from the coffee I had brewed by applying pressure with the plug in place.
This coffee maker also came with a reusable coffee pod. This works great with my own ground coffee. No messy grounds leaking through, easy to fill and easy to clean. It is sized to sit in the pod area of the My Jo base. It is shorter than a regular coffee pod and the needle doesn’t pierce the bottom (which makes sense – that would be a mess!)
Even though I had my Keurig replaced, I find that I am using this coffee maker everyday. It is quick and easy to use and I like using my own coffee in the reusable pod that comes with the My Jo.
I planned on making a video using the My Jo Coffee maker. I did a test video sitting on my porch using my iPhone. Not an easy task for a first timer. My cat tried to help and that was interesting. I tried to remake the video a couple of times using my camera and a tripod with out much success. Since I made a cup of coffee each time, my caffeine limit was going to be over the limit before I made an acceptable video review. (Yes, even I will admit that I can have too much caffeine. 😉 ) My daughter watched the video and patted my shoulder saying, Nice try mom. Oh well. I am sharing the first trial run anyway.
Coffee and Captured Moments 