Suburban Elk

Well, I have to say, the fall sure does bring about some wonderful weather here in Colorado. Nice cool nights, perfect for sleeping, with crisp mornings that don't offer much incentive for getting out of bed in the morning. By afternoon though the temperature is near perfect, coupled with the wonderful sun shiny weather that the state is known for. Fall has always been my favorite time of year. It's cooling down in the mountains, and the peaks are starting to become snow covered, which I have a wonderful view of from my office window at work. In fact, 2 local ski resorts have already opened, but only one slope on each so far. Talking to others that have lived here longer than I, soon we'll see some of the other crazy weather Colorado is known for. Unbelievably radical swings in temperature... It's in the mid 70's here today, and they're calling for mid 40's the middle of the week, then a swing back up to the 70's again. Variety is the spice of life I guess.

On another note, and also the reason for the title of this post. The fall weather has brought on a flurry of wild life activity in our area. When I first moved here last year, I had mentioned observing quite a variety of wildlife as well. Well, nature does not disappoint. We were over at a friends house last night, who happens to live across the street from our local park. This lead to the opportunity to witness an elk in an area I would have never suspected one to come. Seems this guy likes to chew his cud in the local ball park.

After running home (literally), and grabbing the camera, I managed to get these shots of him. Turns out he wasn't to afraid of me either. I was probably standing about 15 feet away from him at one point (with a fence between me and him). That was close enough for me. I suspect he wasn't lucky enough to win himself a harem this season. Someone else said he was walking around with a bum leg too. Still, pretty wild that I live close enough to the mountains that these things are around. Several of my co-workers who live further in the mountains have some nice photos to show off of the wildlife they get to see. Let's just hope the cars around here drive with enough caution to not make a mess of things.