Getting Ready for Halloween

So last time I wrote in the blog we'd been at the cabin, seen a cougar and had all the excitement we could handle. Now, it's mid-October and we're just back from a working visit to the cabin (finishing the basement with drywall) and we're getting ready for Halloween. The kids (Laurel and Lucas) are counting down the days until they can go to Aunt B's for her 10th annual Hallow's Eve party. They love to go there - Aunt B does a great job putting on a party for the kids and the adults too.


Here are some shots of last year's Aunt B party.

















Here's a dress rehearsal for Lucas practicing to be a pumpkin this year.




















The cabin is looking better in the basement now. We drywalled all of the walls, except one that will be done in pine tongue and groove. Lucas willingly posed as my model for scale.

Nature encounters at the cabin in 2006

This year has been the most exciting year at El Monte. It started out as any other year - opening up the cabin, doing maintenance, etc - then it started looking like a "Wild Kingdom" episode. In June we had a hummingbird come and nest - on our windchime!! Amazing little thing, I barely noticed it as I was spraywashing the cabin and nearly blasted the windchime with the washer. We never saw the egg nor the chick. It must have fledged while we were away in July.

Then in July we had another avian visitor, or two. About 2 meters away from where the hummingbird had nested, we had a mother Robin put her nest and it had two chicks in it when we returned in August.

Finally (so far), we were out at the cabin in late August. One morning my wife and youngest had just come in from outside. Abby, our 6 year old Retriever started growling while looking out the south window. I took a look and there was a Cougar!! Not a small, scrawny cougar either. A full grown and healthy one. I alerted everyone in the cabin and ran to get the camera. The cougar was walking along the drive behind the cabin so I went to the porch door where I could see the cougar as it cleared the corner of the cabin. Here are the pics I snapped.

We've seen bears here before (walked right by the porch) and we've had countless Big Horn sheep come by to munch on the tall grass out front. But this is by far the most exotic summer in terms of variety of wildlife.

Amazing!