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Welcome to my zone 9a habitat garden near Houston, Texas.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Christmas trees

On Tuesday night, we got 14 to 16 inches of snow in Estes Park, Colorado where we are now.  It has turned this place into a Christmas postcard scene.

This tree near the front of our motel looks like the tree on any number of cards I have sent out over the years.

The trees and deep snow in front of the local library.

And more snowy trees.

There are snowy mountains behind those trees but you can't see them for the fog and snow.

There are plenty of snowbirds - Dark-eyed Juncos - around.

They're not reindeer but there are plenty of these guys hanging around, too.

 It amazes me that they are not at all skittish around people and they wander freely around the town.  Hunting is prohibited in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park exists primarily to serve visitors to the big park, one of the most popular destinations among the national parks.

Whenever you see a herd of elk, there will always be at least one of these big fellows with them, especially at this time of year which is their rutting season.

All of these pictures were taken yesterday.  It is a gorgeous day today.  The sun is out and the temperature is supposed to climb above freezing this afternoon. We're off to the park to enjoy a day with Nature and view more Christmas postcard scenes.

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful photos. Love the Christmas trees outside the library. Do we get juncos in the Houston area? I don't think I've ever seen one.

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  2. I've only ever had them a couple of times in my yard, but they do come to the area, Jayne. Here, they are very common.

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  3. How fabulous! Looks like you picked a perfect time to go. I'm going to tuck your trip into memory for future respite.

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  4. We really lucked out with our timing, Kathleen. The snow was a great adventure for us snow-deprived Texans.

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