It's not a pink elephant

It's another dinosaur!  Sister to the big Easter dinosaur, she greets people driving into Vernal from the east.  The Colorado border is about 30 miles from this notable landmark.

This is the view as you drive in towards the city center.  Notice the hopeful spring flag on the pole.  It is not spring yet.  It was a breezy 38 degrees today.

For more views of our wonderful world, check MyWorldTuesday.

Scenic Sunday

There are so many scenic places in the world, but Bhutan pretty much "takes the cake" on scenery.  We took so many pictures I could probably post a year of Scenic Sundays.....but for some more scenic shots from around the world, check here.

Spring Sunrise

"He who binds himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sunrise." --William Blake

Check out additional dazzling skies from around the world at SkyWatchFriday.

Eyelashes and ears

We have three llamas, two we use for backpacking.  Everyone always asks, "Do they spit?"  The answer is yes, but not at us.  They spit at each other when they are irritated and our female, Domino, spits at Brogan, the wolfhound, when he chases her.  The spit smells disgusting, really disgusting, and turns Brogan green if he's been chasing Domino around the pasture all day.  We don't let Brogan chase Domino any more for obvious reasons.  

Llamas are part of the camel family, and though they look very sweet and fuzzy, they are not. They are aloof like cats and don't like to be petted.  Our wild pasture llamas stay just out of reach because they don't like human touch.  It takes two people with ropes chasing them around to catch one.  Once caught and loaded with up to 80 pounds of gear, they are cooperative.  Their toes spread when they walk so they don't wear down trails like horses do. They hum while they walk on the trail.

For more interesting sights around the world, check out MyWorldTuesday.

And thanks to the glory of instant internet access, I am adding this little poem that David McMahon just mentioned in his comment--thank you!  It's by Ogden Nash and I can't believe I've never heard it before.

The Lama

The one-l lama, 

He's a priest.

The two-l llama,

He's a beast.

And I will bet

A silk pajama

There isn't any 

Three-l llama.

A different kind of recession

Brogan has been eating all the snow.....

....and it's receding!  

Spring Equinox

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...in short, the period was so far like the present period...." --Charles Dickens, 1812-1870

Apparently it is true: the more things change, the more they remain the same.  

Southern skies

Flags were flying in the cloudy skies of Ft. Worth when we arrived at the entrance of the Botanic Gardens.  Lots more pictures from the gardens are posted below, but for more SkyWatchFriday pictures check here.

More from the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden

Recognize these monkeys?

The Botanic Gardens in Ft. Worth are the oldest in Texas.  The Japanese Garden was most lovely to visit this time of year.

Gotta love ducks!

I was fascinated by the combination of tree reflections on the water and the koi in the water.

Springtime in Texas

Last Thursday we left for a long weekend trip to Ft. Worth.  While we were there I got an early birthday present--a new macro lens!  We had the opportunity to visit the Botanic Gardens and I had fun experimenting with my new toy.  It was cold and rainy most of the time we were there, but the skies cleared on Sunday.  It was wonderful to get out of the snow and see flowers.

"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity." --John Ruskin

Dinosaurland

Vernal's nickname is Dinosaurland. About 20 miles outside of town to the east towards the Colorado border is the Dinosaur National Monument. For more official information and pictures you can check the site here. There is a dinosaur fossil excavation area that was of great interest to tourists until the building started to collapse and the site had to be closed. There wasn't any funding available for renovation (so "they" said even though the deterioration was obvious for years.) Those of us who support tourism over gas and oil exploration in the area were very disappointed.




Anyway, this is the Utah Field House in Vernal which is full of dinosaur replicas and other interesting displays.





Outside the museum, someone with a great sense of humor and creativity enjoys decorating this dinosaur for each holiday season. Happy Easter soon!

Deep Peace

Deep peace of the running wave to you;

Deep peace of the flowing air to you;

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;

Deep peace, deep peace.

Deep peace of the sleeping stones to you;

Deep peace of the wandering wind to you;

Deep peace of the flock of stars to you;

Deep peace, deep peace.

Deep peace of the Eastern wind to you;

Deep peace of the Western wind to you;

Deep peace of the Northern wind to you;

Blue wind of the South to you;

Pure red of the whirling flame to you;

Pure white of the silver moon to you;

Pure green of the emerald grass to you;

Deep peace, deep peace.

Deep peace of the running wave to you;

Deep peace of the flowing air to you;

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;

Deep peace, deep peace.....

The words are from a prayer adapted by Donovan.  

The moon and Venus without a tripod

Perhaps these shots should be submitted to Crappy Photo Blog but I kind of like the strange effects. I'm weird that way. For more interesting sky pictures from around the world, check out SkyWatchFriday.

Sawtooth Mountain

This unique mountain top is to the northwest of our house.  The ridges resembles the tines of a saw, hence the name.  Our next door neighbors own Sawtooth Saddle.  They make beautiful and authentic western style saddles from the bottom up, all custom design and hand tooled.