Thursday ride

I saw a lot more signs of Fall during my Thursday afternoon bike ride, but only stopped to get this one pic. 

 

Man, there were a lot of little bugs hovering over the road on top of the Chatfield dam! I'm glad I'd brought my face mask with me, as it made the ride endurable, if not enjoyable, for those four miles...

Stormy Thursday

We woke up to a pretty blue sky 65 degree Thursday morning, although I’m sure it’s warming up now. I was thinking of going for my bike ride soon, and then noticed a thunderstorm was heading toward us from the west, and building, so I’m taking a little while to let it pass, before I head out. 

The incoming storm looked pretty interested from the deck, with just a touch of Fall color in the foreground. 

While I was finishing breakfast, we saw a parliament of Magpies descend on the deck box, to feast on the bowls of seeds that Jennefer had put there. Those guys are so raucous and fun to watch. There was only one left, by the time I pulled out my phone's camera.

Visitor from Switzerland

We were visited on Tuesday and Wednesday by my friend Peter, who went to high school with me, so many years ago. He has been living in Switzerland for some time. He’s here in Denver for the wedding of his niece. We invited him to stay with us for his first night here, before he headed off to visit another friend. 

It was nice to catch up a little, and take Peter for a short walk along the river yesterday, before he headed out to stay with another friend in the area. Here's a view of some of the Fall yellow color we saw along the river.

And here's just a little of the red Fall color in the Staghorn Sumac plants we saw on our walk.

 

Chilly Monday

We woke up to a beautiful chilly 47° morning in Littleton, and now it’s warmed up to a lovely 77° and sunny. I’m thinking it might be safe to go for a bike ride, two days after getting double vaccinations, and having the usual sore arms and mild fever spike yesterday. We’re still enjoying the occasional hummingbird visit, although we expect they’ll be heading south sometime soon. Here's a Hummingbird on initial approach this morning, checking out the feeder. We’re seeing a little Fall color around the neighborhood, and especially out on the trails when walking and riding. Hoping hurricane Ian blows itself out, before making landfall, and that it doesn’t cause much damage in northwest Florida and lower Georgia.

 

Update: I saw a few reddish hints of Fall, along with many clumps of yellow foliage, on my Monday afternoon bike ride…

Cool moist Wednesday

We enjoyed a cool, moist Wednesday, with the temperature starting at 59 degrees, and falling all day. It felt like a good day, to hang out indoors. I took advantage of the indoor time, to help my long-time friend with his computer. 

Our hummingbird visitors are tapering off for the season. While I was trying to catch a pic of a rare visit to their feeder, I accidentally caught this Magpie in flight, after leaving the top of the conifer tree in the background. Their wings are down as they launched themselves.

It's fun to see a Flicker on the bird feeder, as they're such a large bird, compared to the usual Finches, Nuthatches, and Chickadees we see out there. 

Jennefer hasn't been feeling well for the past few weeks. I was sitting on the couch watching TV this evening, while trying to let her sleep, when her kitty Cleo came over and laid down on my hand. Aww...

Mandy's holding her own these days. She was sleeping comfortably on the other side of me, in her usual position on the couch.

Tuesday ride

I saw some pretty little rays of sunshine (the word "sprites" came to mind) over the foothills, during my late Tuesday afternoon bike ride.

Fall in the air

When we went to pick up breakfast this morning, and passed in front of Whole Foods, we noticed they had their pumpkins out already! 

It was 49° this morning, so I deferred my bike ride until after breakfast, to see if it might warm up. Now it looks like a perfect 75°, and I’m heading out for a late afternoon Saturday ride!

Pleasant walk

Here's a view of the South Platte River Friday afternoon, when I took Mandy out for a three mile walk to the river and back. She did great, considering her strong drive to sniff everything along the way. We ran into Jennefer, who was on her way back from a much longer and faster walk. I felt bad that we slowed her down, as she decided to join us for the rest of her walk back home, but she didn't seem bothered.

Thursday ride

On my late afternoon Thursday bike ride, I enjoyed a pleasant view of the sun peeking through some clouds, and reflecting off Chatfield lake. 

I enjoyed the view at Chatfield lake so much, that I stopped again later, to snap another pic of the afternoon sun over McClellan Reservoir, from where the Highline Canal Trail passes nearby.

Tech stuff on a rainy day

Cool rainy day in Littleton. Nice opportunity to update my Linux boot disk. Turns out, I had to jump the OS up four versions, starting at Fedora version 32, which required two separate installs, and only one hiccup with an unrecognized Wi-Fi card, when v34 booted. Luckily, that was resolved by simply rebooting again. Feels good to have it up to the latest rev for now…

New bivalent vaccine

I recently learned that there's a new "bivalent" anti-COVID-19 booster vaccination available, that is tailored to be more effective against the more recent variants of the virus, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5. This vaccine contains less mRNA, which only makes it effective as a booster. 

 

I realize that "effective" means that, even though there's no use data out there yet, to show if it prevents infection or re-infection, it's even more likely than the original vaccine, to suppress any symptoms, and keep vaccinated people out of the hospital, considering the current mix of variants out in the wild. Everybody (and their metabolism) is different - no guarantees of course - but I'm planning on getting this one too, when it makes sense for me.

And yeah, we're still wearing our masks in close quarters in public, in case we do pick it up, so we don't give it to anyone else, and also because doing that, and being careful in other ways, we haven't caught COVID-19 so far. With thousands around the world still dying every day from this thing, I don't see any good reason to let down our guard. 

 

So... this feels more like what they've been doing with the Flu vaccine seemingly forever (since the 1930s) - tailoring the vaccine for the current threat, one or more times a year. Welcome to the new freakin' normal... Y'all stay healthy and safe out there!

Tuesday bike ride

 Perfect Tuesday morning bike riding weather - sunny and 67° with dry trails and a cool breeze. There's just a hint of Fall in the air, although not a lot of colors to see yet. This is the third of perhaps five bike path tunnels along my route, with a short but steep climb on the other side. Descending into the shadows...

 

We finally received the Palisade peaches that I ordered from my neighbor’s son, back in early July. Yum! These huge peaches are as sweet and delicious as always. I suppose I must have been ordering peaches from coworkers' and neighbors' kids for a few decades now, and they never disappoint.

 

I’ve been using the new MarineTraffic tracking app that I found this week, to follow my brother-in-law Bob and his sister Janet on their cruise to Alaska. They invited me along, but I had to decline, in consideration of Jennefer's compromised immune system, wanting to spend time with her, and especially not wanting to leave her alone for a couple of weeks. Fun technology in this app, as it will let me search for a vessel by name, or just browse an area, and pick it out from the collection of little icons in the water. Bob had posted a photo of the Space Needle from their ship, as they were leaving Seattle, so I found this app, then went and looked in Elliott Bay and found what I think is the ship they must be on, and started tracking it. Looks like they're heading for Juneau.