Category: nature

The Dusty And The Scenic

KarenLeave a comment

I made a lot of progress on the garage over the long weekend! I finished mudding and then sanded and even started with primer in one corner. My dad told me about “dust control” drywall compound and it was definitely worth the extra money: It’s still dusty but the particulates want to fall to the ground faster, so at least it’s not floating in the air.

My walls aren’t the smoothest in the world but they’re also not the most textured either. I can tell I got better!
Wet mud on all the drywall seams in a long garage wall

A close up of mudded and sanded walls in a corner of a garage

A built in shelf in a corner of a garage. The walls are covered with primer.

 

I took a little break from everything to go on a hike Friday afternoon up Big Cottonwood. The clouds were doing the most and it was just lovely.

Big white clouds above a mountain lake, reflected in the water

An alpine meadow with white flowers, with mountains in the background and white clouds above

Mountains seen through a grove of aspen trees, with a blue sky and whtie puffy clouds

Still Green

Karen

We had a really hot day with wind over the weekend so the valley is starting to get a little crispy, but the mountains are still green and still doing their “enchanted forest in bloom” thing.

The side of a mountain against a blue sky, with bright green new growth on the evergreens

A closeup picture of ninebark, a shrub with white flowers

A patch of yellow daisies in the woods

Enchanted Forest

Karen

When you get an overcast day in the first flush of spring in the mountains, everything looks the way you imagined the England you read about as a kid did–green and gray and maybe filled with unicorns?

Spring In The Mountains

Karen

Whatever little bit of snow the mountains got is long gone and everything is sprouting and leafing out. Even with some wet weather moving in, it was nice to see it all yesterday.

Yellow glacier lilies grow up through dead grass

A tiny fern sprouts through a moss-covered rock

A hillside of evergreen trees, with scrub oak leafing out at the right.

Finally Some Snow

Karen

We got a big storm last week and some of it was still around even in the lower elevations, which made the hike yesterday feel much more right. (This is the worst snow year since Utah started keeping records in 1980.) The sun was warm, though; I bet the snow will be mostly melted by next Sunday.

Seeing Green

Karen

Let’s ignore the fact that we’re seeing green because there hasn’t been any snow this winter and yesterday was 50 degrees in the mountains and instead just enjoy some growing things:

Checking On The River

Karen

Our Sunday visits took us further west than we usually are so we walked a section of the Jordan River Parkway to mix things up. Every time I see a body of water, I think we need a SUP or a kayak because how fun would it be to float down that under the trees?
View of a river with thick trees in green and yellow across the bank and some fluffy weeds in the foreground

Of course, you wouldn’t see the Virginia creeper on the bridge doing the most from a boat. (That is an unedited photo; the light was making those stems just radiate.)
Virginia creeper vine in fall colors growing on a steel bridge. The berries are on a bright red stem.

OK Fine, Fall

Karen

Fine, I guess fall is OK if it’s going to do stuff like this:

Looking through dark spruce trees to a mountain slope covered in red and orange scrub oak

A mountain slope in fall colors with dark clouds forming above it

Closeup of scrub oak leaves changing colors with rain on them

Looking through dark spruce trees to a mountain slope covered in red and orange scrub oak

I’d say colors are peaking in the next week or two at altitude, so get up there!

The F Word

Karen

I’ve been prioritizing going to the last open days of the pool for the last month, so imagine my surprise when we headed up Millcreek and saw (whispers) fall colors. 

a single oak tree in a group is starting to turn red. A mountain peak and blue sky is behind.

A mountainside seen behind tall dark evergreens is turning orange.

a bunch of ripe elderberries in front of evergreen trees.

Hot And Dry

Karen

Suddenly it’s August (it was Lughnasa on Friday) and the light is a little different and I don’t remember the last time it rained. We hiked the lower canyon in Millcreek and it was so dry–you might think those yellow bits on the scrub oak are leaves starting to turn, but they’re just crispy.
A mountainside with blue sky and white puffy clouds. The scrub oak tree in the foreground is yellow and dry at the ends of the branches.

(Who else hears “hot and dry” and is immediately transported back to playing on the Apple 2 with their cousins in the 80s?)
Screenshot of an Apple 2 video game, Lemonade Stand. Primitive 8-bit graphics show a sun and a lemonade stand, with text reading, "Lemonsville weather report: hot and dry"