Sitting overlooking the city below, you can see the top of Pike’s Peak from most places in Colorado Springs. They have a racing car hill climb, a marathon, I’m sure a few bike rides. It’s unique at 14,115 feet as one of the few mountains that high you can drive to the top. The other is Mount Evans, also in Colorado.
And even more so, check out the nature you get to see on the way up…
For a getaway with all the views, Pike’s Peak is hard to beat, whether taking the Cog Railway up from Manitou, hiking the Barr Trail, or driving… you’ll get a greater than 20 – 30 degree dip in temp at the top. But fantastic views.
Mountain Goats on Pike’s Peak
The road to the top is a feat of engineering and one of the smoother mountain roads I’ve been on. If you are in the area, don’t miss a trip to the top.
When you have a new house with a yard, you start with a blank slate. There’s possibilities there. Find you favorite yard plants, trees, shrubs, the placement of them, and mix in some rocks, and it can be great space for years to come.
Cool Tree Trunk walkway
Sure it might not be possible to get your outdoor living space to look like the ones you find on Pinterest, gardening with Bob Villa, or some Garden & Home Magazine, but you can find something you love and find joy in seeing it develop.
And lately there’s been unique materials to add to a landscape design like colored cut glass as mulch. It adds color and contrast.
I’ve got a blank slate in my backyard now and am imagining the possibilities.
Out of all the birds in the bird world, there’s something magical about the Cardinal. Living in Idaho we don’t get Cardinals in these parts so when I see one in Texas, Tennessee, or North Carolina… it’s something indeed. The Cardinal is an elegant bird.
Everyone wants to rule the world and also everyone wants to claim the Cardinal as their state bird…. at least 7 States that is!! Here’s some other stuff about the Cardinal:
Contradictory to many other songbirds, Northern Cardinals are mostly a non-migratory species, opting to overwinter in their chosen spring/summer habitat.
Many migratory birds move to warmer climates in the winter as they depend on insects or fruit for sustenance and their food supply drops in the colder, winter months. The diet of Northern Cardinals consists mainly of seeds and nuts, allowing them to forage for food year round.
Occasionally, a lack of the typical red pigment in the plumage occurs and is replaced by vibrant yellow or orangish pigments, which results in a yellow cardinal. The appearance of vibrant yellow Northern Cardinals is typically caused by a genetic plumage variation called xanthochroism.
It’s incredibly rare to see a yellow cardinal, but when it happens, it becomes a national news story for bird lovers!
Go find you a Cardinal. Tell ‘em you think they are cool.
This beautiful cathedral was designed by Swiss Architect Mario Botta. The gray and white lines are created from alternating slabs of granite and marble quarried from the valley that the village of Mogno lies in.
The chapel was built from 1992 – 1996 on the site of the previous 17th century chapel that was destroyed by an avalanche in 1986. The new structure is both stout, resilient, and beautifully elegant.
The structure is built around a cylinder that is diagonally dissected creating a giant sunroof spilling in daylight to highlight the interesting gray and white patterns inside.
They were able to salvage two of the original 17th century chapel bells and house them proudly in the new structure. The modern structure stands out in contrary to the traditional Swiss houses of the village of Mogno. A truly unique building and design.
Every now and then you run into something in nature so unique it screams to be noticed… and appreciated. The Silversword, or Argyroxiphium, is just such a plant. It’s in the sunflower family and it holds out to show you what it’s made of… every five to twenty years!!! Just once. It goes out with a bang.
Haleakala Silversword
You haven’t seen this unique plant around your neighborhood? Well they only grow on the islands of Maui and Hawai’i and even then only above 4,900 ft. of elevation. Talk about a rare bird! This leaves them growing in the poor soil of the volcanic mountains on those two islands, Haleakala and Mauna Loa.
They have to grow within reach of each other for the rare cross-pollination chance every 5-20 years. These plants are patient.
There is whiskey in the water, And there is death upon the vine. There is fear in the eyes of your father, And there is “Yours” and there is “Mine.” There is a desert veiled in pavement. And there’s a city of seven hills. And all our debris flows to the ocean, To meet again, I hope it will.
How could something so fair, Be so cruel. When this black sun revolved, Around you!
There is an answer in a question. And there is hope within despair. And there is beauty in a failure, And there are depths beyond compare. There is a role of a lifetime, And there’s a song yet to be sung.
And there’s a dumpster in the driveway, Of all the plans that came undone.
How could something so fair Be so cruel When this black sun revolved Around you!
How could something so fair Be so cruel When this black sun revolved Around you!
There is whiskey in the water, And there is death upon the vine. And there is grace within forgiveness, But it’s so hard for me to find.
How could something so fair, Be so cruel. When this black sun revolved, Around you!
How could something so fair, Be so cruel. When this black sun revolved, Around you!
Kelli Erdmann is Tik Tok famous for a good reason. She has a brand going… a happy feel good vibrant color energetic vibe. And it’s not just her alone. It’s a team. Of course it’s her persona and her way of making her dance training come out front and center always with a smile, dancing with joy. But what makes it stand out is the video editing that pops bright colors with Kelli’s jumpsuit changing colors throughout the moves. Add that to the jump camera angles and elevations that move to the moves of the dance and you have something wholly unique.
Kelli went to Los Angeles after High School in Marysville, Washington. She started dancing at age 5 and it led her to the Edge Performing Arts Center’s Professional Scholarship training program. It obviously gave her the moves. And then her husband, Freeman Butler, dabbled in video editing and together during some down time due to Covid-19, they came up with a formula that went viral.
Kelli Erdmann has collaborated with so many other dancers out there. It you are a recognized dancer on Tik Tok chances are Kelli has danced with you, elevating the whole not just the individual.
Kelli not only does Tik Tok dancing, outside of that, she has professional dancing credits… Wicked on Broadway, “Glee,” and “Hairspray Live!”)
Well first off, his name is Turk. So he already has a built-in likeable quirky baseball name. He played in the Major leagues from 1993 to 2004, 11 years as a reliever for the Cubs, The Mets, the Phillies, and finishing it off with The Rockies for one season. He pitched all of 645 innings with an E.R.A. of 3.93. But why Turk Wendell as a good thing? He was perhaps the most eccentric superstitious OCD player to ever play the game.
– Turk insisted that the umpire roll the ball to the mound rather than simply throw it to him. (If an umpire would ignorantly throw the ball to him, Wendell was known to let it go past him, or even to let it bounce off his chest, after which he would retrieve it from the ground.)
– Whenever he began a new inning, Wendell would turn and wave to the center fielder and wait for him to wave back before proceeding.
– At the beginning of each inning, Wendell would reportedly draw three crosses in the dirt of the pitcher’s mound.
– Once Turk Wendell got in a “who has more testicles” contest with Lance Armstrong. He won by seven.
– Whenever his catcher stood, Wendell would crouch down.
– When entering or leaving the field, Wendell would always take a colossal leap over the baseline looking like a kangaroo.
– Instead of chew or bubble gum, Turk would put three massive sticks of licorice in his mouth and pitch that way with his cheeks swelling out.
– Wendell often brushed his teeth between innings (some claim that he brushed between every inning). While brushing, he often hid in the dugout, either by ducking behind objects or by facing the wall. (picture above)
– Turk wore a necklace made from the claws and teeth of various animals he had hunted and killed.
– Wendell sometimes threw his glove into the stands when leaving a game.
These Bowerbirds really have to work it to date. It doesn’t sound all that great for a Bowerbird actually. The “Bower” is a creation equivalent to a teenager’s car… meant to be showy so a female Bowerbird will want to hang out there and be mesmerized by all the objects in front of it. And the male Bowerbirds spend days and days collecting, building, arranging, re-arranging…. just to get their love lair just so.
There are 20 species of Bowerbirds all living in northern Australia and Papa New Guinea. Each has a varying degree of this unique love nest ritual and certain species will prefer certain colors of objects to display… like orange and red flowers and funghi, or the Satin Bowerbird who prefers blues even gathering up human objects like plastic spoons to display.
And yet another quirky thing about the Bowerbird… they arrange the smaller objects in the front of the nest and the bigger objects further away that way when the female hangs out in the Bower… all the objects look the same size. Evidently they are pretty OCD about it and some mad cruel scientist took the objects and arranged them mixing up everything and the Bowerbird spent days arranging them back just so… going into the Bower studying the objects to see if they were right, moving a few, back in the Bower, studying the perspective again. Days I tell you!!
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 