One of my dearest friends came to visit me! Jess and I fought fire together in Oregon a few years back for the Forest Service, we backpacked around New Zealand two years ago for 2 months, and we even ran a half-marathon together about a year and a half ago. This was the first time she’s been able to see where we live, and she loved it! Her and I even looked at land for sale close to us. The little wheels were turning very fast in her head… She even convinced me it’s infinitely better to build my own chicken/duck coop rather than buy one. She can be very convincing.

For several weeks now, R has been informing me that we have horny toads living in the meadow. Usually while I’m at work, he’s finding little dragons in the meadow, taking pictures, and telling me how awesome they are. I’ve never seen a horny toad in the wild, and I was stoked. So in the late mornings, if I’m at home, I’ve been going down to where he’s found them to look. I could never find them.

While Jess was here, I took her down into the meadow to look. We never found them. Then one day while I was at work and Jess and R were at the cabin, they found a bunch! I was convinced they were lying or that horny toads just didn’t like me. A couple more days went by after that and STILL I couldn’t find one. I’ll admit I got real sad. Then my day with the horny toads finally came.

How freaking cute are they?! Little brown dragons. And they are so hard to spot. I was so tickled. In other wildlife news, the reptiles in general are out. Lizards, mostly. Loki loves to chase them. I spotted a bobcat late one night running across the road. We’ve been seeing lots of bird activity and even a couple of foxes nearby.  There is a plethora of neat wildflowers starting to bloom around the property as well. Colorado has had a hard time deciding if it wants to be Winter or Spring over the past couple of months, and after (hopefully) our last snowstorm of the season a few days ago, today it is 60s and sunny.  Come on, Summer!