Critters!

To tell the truth, I could care less if I ever see another mountain. But the critters? That's what I'm talking about! I am SO in it for the critters. The list of animals we have sited includes:

a moose;

a mule deer in the middle of Ouray;

camp robber birds (real name Hudson Bay Crow). What you can't tell from the pic is that I am SITTING in the chair while that bird came to eat Fritos off my knee;

mule deer at Grandma's birthday picnic;

LOTS of chipmunks;

three spotted fawns bedded down together next to our driveway;

and MARMOTS! Lots and lots of marmots!

Our friend's yard is an unofficial animal sanctuary.
Visiting her and her herds of semi-tame marmots is the highlight of my trip.
Every year.
Z may have learned at the hands of the master (me), but she has surpassed even my freakish skill when it comes to feeding the fuzzies. She is the Marmot Whisperer.

Not pictured, but sighted: Golden mantled ground squirrels; mountain lion; grouse/prairie chicken; feeder birds of all sorts; bears (AT OUR HOUSE), weasels/ermine; pica; beavers; and swarms of humming birds that dive-bomb your head like giant mosquitoes.