There is farmland just west of our place, and it is fun to watch how it changes. Here are a few views of our south pasture and the farm at different times during this summer. This first one was at the end of July in the morning.
This was sunset a few weeks later.
This was this morning - the sunflowers have really gotten bright this week!
Here is Cecil eating dinner last night in his stall in the barn. He is always the first to come in from the pasture in the evening because he loves his grain and hay. After all, why eat the free grass in the pasture when you can have the expensive hay and processed feed?
And this is his less flattering view - his many faces crack me up
Our willow tree has been very sad looking this year - not just because it's a "weeping willow' but it is actually weeping from spots where these beetle things have been getting it. These are the bugs - the epitome of disgusting.
Here is a close-up of a bug - any guesses for identification? It's about 0.5" long and 0.25" wide, you can see it dwarfs the ants also now eating the tree.
This is the entire sad willow.
This is Z, the barn cat we inherited with the house. She is the only cat I've ever had that tries to communicate with me. Owen laughs, but it's true. She'll tell you if Russet is getting into trouble, if she's frustrated with you, and that we really need to get rid of the dogs because they are a safety hazard. She looks a lot like Marbles, a calico cat I grew up with.
This is Russet, my mouser. Last summer he was a feral kitten the neighbors had seen trying to take down adult rabbits. They said, "if you can catch him, you can have him", so I went with a friend, her daughter, and a package of deli ham to the neighbor's. The kittens were sleeping on the porch, so I knelt down, and woke them up by tossing a slice of ham onto them. "Oooh, ham from HEAVEN!" they thought. I proceeded to toss little slices closer and closer in a trail to where I was kneeling, and the kittens all followed the trail right up to my knees. Russet was the first one to get close to me, and I scruffed him, put him in a plastic box, and took him home. He lived in a giant dog crate in the shop until he was old enough to be neutered, after which he was able to go out and play. While in the crate the only time he got to come out was when I was feeding him or loving on him. Now he's my "dog cat" because he comes when I call him, is crate trained (so goes in his crate on command for meals like a dog), lets me play with his paws and brush his teeth. 
He was getting tired of all the pictures.
And so decided to take a nap on my leg.
Here is the sunset from last night, looking west towards the mountains. I love summer here, we have amazing sunsets every night. 
Who knew the sky had so many colors in it?
This is our driveway looking towards the road, our house is on the left, our vehicles on the right.
The sky over the barn at sunset
A better shot of our house
My favorite - the sky really was all lit up orange like this looking east
Sunset over the barn and paddock
Here are some more pictures from Eagles Nest, we saw the longhorn cattle at the trailhead with all their calves - very cute.
Me and my Dad
Me taking the perfect shot and looking like Oliveoil with "the biggest ball of hair in Colorado" as Owen calls it.
I love this one framed but who knows what this wood thing is!
Here is the view from our house to the west - the barn and Cecil are on the right, and we look over the paddock at the foothills. Not a bad view.
My parents were in town this weekend visiting, so Dad and I went to Eagles Nest Trailhead (about 10 min. west of our house) for a photography trip. Here were some of our pictures.
