I saw the coolest thing in the woods last week. I was in a sunny aspen grove, surveying birds early in the morning, when I happened upon this scene (look in the very center of the photo):

Can't tell what it is? Here's a closer look at this animal (I didn't take this photo; it's from the Animal Diversity Web):

It's a male blue grouse, displaying to impress a female. They fan out their tails and lift feathers on their necks to display yellow skin patches underneath. In the following picture, you can vaguely make out the female to the far right (she's brown). She's facing away from the male, and she's all, "as if" (say in Alicia Silverstone voice). I wish I had better pictures of the pair, but I didn't want to get too close and interrupt their date. I will have to get a telephoto lens at some point.

Here's the same picture, zoomed in a little. The male's on the far left, the female's on the far right:

Lotsa lovely scenery

I realized I have all these pictures of mountain vistas that I just keep taking, because the scenery is so picturesque here and the novelty hasn't worn off yet. I thought I'd just post a sampling from the past couple of weeks.

And I'll leave you with this image of Matthew and I, pondering the question of how two people living in a 1000 square foot apartment can accumulate so much crap (the moving-in process is still ongoing!):

Baby! Baby! Foxes! Foxes!

So, Christian and I were driving along one day, minding our own business, when we look over and see this scruffy-looking fox sitting in someone's front yard:

Cool, we think, it's not often you see a fox just hanging out in broad daylight. The homeowners must have been feeding it. We snap a few pictures and we're on our merry way. But on the way back. . . .

BAAAYBEE FOXES!! These out-of-focus pictures don't do them justice; I squealed with delight and just about died of a cuteness attack. There were two of them, living under somebody's porch. Sigh. Why can't that be MY porch??