Beauty All Around.

 I haven't blogged for awhile. We've been preoccupied with Mr. Keith's diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, blood and bones. The treatment we've undertaken is aggressive and should produce good results. He spent 5 days in hospital and this was his view! The Wyoming State Capitol. The gold leaf on the dome really shines out. The platform in the forefront of the photo is where the helicopters land. Keith was lucky enough to be able to see one land while he was there, right outside his window!

 Traveling around, sight-seeing, has been a little delayed, but we did take a short ride yesterday on the outskirts of Cheyenne. This is a reservoir on the Wyoming Hereford Ranch. I think that is some kind of white egret or heron in the center. I didn't get a close enough view to be sure. Maybe one of my bird watching blogging buddies can help me out! Click to enlarge.

 And here is a fairly common sight around Cheyenne, horses. The little colt is having a drink from mom. Everything on the prairie is greening up and it is quite beautiful.

Hmmm! An interesting sight in the downtown! This is a recycling plant. There are many sights to see in the city. We saw an old brick house with beautiful flowers and bushes and trees in the front yard, as well as a white-haired lady bending over pulling weeds. We stopped, rolled down our window, and complimented her on her work. She was pleased, and told us to come back next week when she had it all done. Gotta appreciate beauty where you can find it!

Day One in Cheyenne

 This is the setting for the Cheyenne KOA. We looked back as we set out to tour the town and could see our 'house'. It's the one just in the center with the fir tree sticking out above it. We decided to have a quick drive-through in downtown Cheyenne so we might see places to investigate in detail during our summer here.

We chanced upon the park where the Frontier Days Rodeo is held yearly, and found the Botanical Gardens there as well. The grounds were not yet blooming, or even planted, but inside the greenhouse I was intrigued with this jade tree, a bonsai. I've had jades most of my life, and never saw such a healthy one with practically no room for roots! How do they do that?

A Bird of Paradise! How beautiful!

This is the majestic Wyoming State Capitol building. We photographed it from different angles and got pictures of some sculptures and statues outside. We will save an inside tour for another day. Can't wait!

In my advance reading about the town of Cheyenne I discovered that there are many sculptured cowboy boots in the downtown area. Here is one outside the old Railroad Depot. It's about 6 or 8 feet tall and there were several in the courtyard at the Depot. It looks like the Depot is used now mostly for a museum, gift shop, restaurant, etc. I'm not sure if it's still used for train business. There is a huge complex of tracks right below the street and I'm thinking there may be a newer building for passengers down there. We'll see! This is the first place we want to really visit and tour. Get ready for photos!

Right across the freeway from the KOA we found the Wyoming Hereford Ranch. I've read it's the oldest working cattle ranch in the U.S. We'll find out more about that later. We did see a herd of Herefords, red cattle with white faces. This is the lane leading up to the beautiful ranch house. This place is definitely on our list to tour later. I want to see this lane when all the trees are leafed out!

Cold Weather!

Winter in the Black Hills can be very cold and stormy, we're finding out! It is beautiful, too. Yesterday there was an inch of snow, which is not bad, but there was wind gusting up to 55 mph and a 20 degree temperature, too. That's more difficult to deal with, especially since we have to be out in it, feeding the animals and going between buildings. We've had a mild sampling of what it will be as we get deeply into winter.

Here is a striking sunset outside our 5th wheel back window. I caught the reflection in a large mud puddle nearby.

This is our 5th wheel decked out with hay bales to protect against the wind which comes from the west mostly. It really works! We will have to guard against mice, who love the hay, but the wind is much more bothersome to contend with. We watched leaves and other debris being fiercely blown to the east and almost felt like our "house" was going to go along, too!

Hug a Roo!

Here we are in the early morning light giving bottles to a few of the kangaroos. They don't really need them but they are given for a treat to help keep the roos tame and to make it easier to give medicine if necessary. These 4 young ones are Yaba, a male, Bella, Jitterbug, and Meeka, females, waiting for their sip. To the right is Boo, the big dominant male. We look out for him because he can get testy when we're messin' with his mob. He did try one on with Keith just before I snapped this photo, but Keith held out his arm and said "no" loudly, and Boo backed off. Gotta know who's boss! He doesn't look all that big in this picture, but he can stand up to over 5 feet and look you right in the eye. He has a beautiful face with distinctive markings!
Jack, another full-grown male in Boo's mob, is a lover. He likes a daily hug from whoever is willing, and pouts if he doesn't get it! Here he is hugging Keith and giving him kangaroo kisses. We continue to be fascinated by these strange hopping creatures and are working diligently to learn the names and characteristics of each individual one. And I think we have finally figured out who's a kangaroo, who's a wallaroo, and who's a wallaby! (Click on picture to enlarge.)