Cliffs and guns: two new lows

Our neighbour and Morwenna's friend Eden is off to Hawaii today for Christmas and we are looking after her enormous rabbit Pepito, and inheriting their Christmas tree.  President Obama is also in Hawaii, and I hope he is having a good Christmas.  I am imagining him with his head sunk in his hands, as he tries to work out how to make progress when he has to deal with the Republican party and the NRA (National Rifle Association).  

The Republicans have flatly refused to raise taxes on millionaires, and the NRA's response to the Connecticut shootings was to advocate armed guards in every elementary school.

No doubt this was reported in the UK.  But when your own children go to one of the elementary schools to which the NRA must be referring, it brings it home more.  How can these views be mainstream (the NRA has 4 million members) and yet so removed from rational thinking?  

After Dunblane in 1996, hand guns were banned in the UK.  Even a small step towards that here - e.g. changing licensing laws for automatic weapons, would be a victory for Obama.

Canyonlands

Small boy, big landscape.

Our route into the next canyon, to the left of the large butte on the right - improbably? 

Up the slick rock

Another album cover shot at our lunch spot.  Where's my head?

We had an amazing day in Canyonlands National Park in Utah.  It's a wild and remote park (as those of you who have seen the film '127 Hours' will know) and during our five hour walk we saw only a couple of people. We were glad to be hiking in November, as there isn't much shade, it's a desert and gets very hot in the summer.

We walked through one canyon and then had an exciting ascent on 'slick rock' over to another, with lunch with a view of both.  The scenery is a geologist's dream.  The whole area rests on a thick layer of salt from an evaporated sea, which was covered in sandstone by the next sea which came along. The sandstone is now being weathered by wind and ice into all sorts of weird and wonderful rock shapes.

Our next album cover

Staying in motels, driving the big open spaces of the American South-West, listening to Muse and Mumford and Sons and eating burgers and beer is having a strange effect on us.  We keep posing for the covers of our up-coming album(s):

At Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

Or perhaps more moody?

Root beer and chicken wings in Durango, Colorado.

Canyon de Chelly again.

At Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet, it took a while to decide who would stand in which state.

At Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet

Road trip!

We are in the middle of a week long road trip around the American South-West.  On Sunday we visited the Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado, an extraordinary 30 square miles of sand dunes, butted up against rocky, snowy 14,000 foot peaks.  Rivers have carried the sand down into the valley, and wind has blown it up against the mountains and into perfect dunes.  Never has dune running been so exhilerating!

Sand Dunes National Park, Southern Colorado

Climbing back up after a run is hard work

Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind

Local fauna

Black-tailed prairie dogs near our house

Don't leave the page! Although most animals featured here are rodents (sorry Clementine), they are very nice, and the chipmunks in the video at the bottom are officially cute.  The prairie dogs definitely have the sparsest following.  They live in big colonies and people like to get them gassed as they dig up your "yard" and infect your dog with diseases.  We like them as they are roly poly versions of the meerkats at Edinburgh zoo.  Click on the photos to get a better view!
You have to go up to the alpine tundra to see the marmots, and now they are fast asleep, which they remain for up to 7 months over the winter.

Yellow-bellied marmot in Rocky Mountain National Park

Stellar's jay, lovely flashes of blue

Golden-mantled ground squirrel in Rocky Mountain National Park - interest in our picnic

 The fox squirrels are very common around us and are large and handsome with long tails.

Fox squirrel near our house

We LOVE the chipmunks, and I think they love us, or at least our picnic: see below for some close up action with a least chipmunk:

Images of the school run

Outside our garage

The school run starts around 8 o’clock and takes between 10 and 20 minutes depending on how much stopping there is to: 1) push bikes uphill, 2) admire squirrels, mule deer or stellar’s jays, or 3) work out whose turn it is to go next at the stop signs.

Our driveway, opposite Fairview High School

Fairview High School is on the other side of our street.  It is notable for an ugly façade, a repetitive school band that plays outdoors a lot, and way too many student cars.  Apparently it is an excellent school.

Our neighbourhood, looking over to NCAR (Mat's work) on the hill and the Front Range of the Rockies

Daily reassurance of Boulder's political leanings

Some parts are a bit too steep to ride

Over the cross walk and into school

Run a mile, jump a stile or eat a country pancake?

4th grade boys starts, with Mrs T.

Dan and Morwenna’s school, Mesa Elementary, has an annual tradition that all children from 2^nd grade (age 7ish) upwards run a mile round the local high school track each September.  They train for a few weeks and set themselves personal goals (Morwenna’s were to pace herself and keep running).  Their times are taken and then they can compare year to year.  It’s not a race but a personal challenge.  The teachers wear silly wigs etc and run with them or spray them with water to keep them cool, and parents cheer them on. It’s typical Mesa, typical Boulder and I wish I’d had it at school (of course a few of the kids hate it!)

Very determined, with one lap to go.

Morwenna and friends after the run

The video is Danny, going steady with one lap to go, watched by Mat, Ed and Laura.

More bears!

The Flatirons, Boulder

We had a lovely walk on a local Boulder trail a few weekends ago, up between the Flatirons, impressive rocks just to the west of Boulder.

Click on the play button of this video to see how close we got to these two bears.  The scary thing is that, during the encounter, we had no idea where Dan and Morwenna were.

Real bear skin complete with scary claws

Rocky Mountain wacky weather

We are in a political maelstrom here in Colorado as apparently Obama and Romney both have it all to play for.  Meanwhile, we are discovering that violent temperature and weather condition swings can also occur.  On Wednesday it was too hot – mid 80s; Friday morning we woke up to snow.  Just a dusting but it has hardly got above freezing since, and today’s weather would be worth complaining about even for a Scot: cold, wet, sleety and gloomy.  Mid-July to mid-January in 48 hours.  We are a very long way from the sea here.

5 days later, same spot, with Nora on a school trip

Friday morning, 2 days since our last barbecue.