New Haircut

Well, we finally got Riley's Haircut!! Here's a before and after picture, just excuse the grilled cheese teeth in the after shot! The only time I can get face shots are when he's strapped in a chair!! Such a wiggle worm, and the lady that cuts his hair is starting to realize that (note the snakelike bangs)!!

As you can see from the pictures his black eye is getting better too. Although now it's more of a "Green eye" - just in time for St. Patty's day!

I thought you guys might like to see some of the pictures of my new "office". Most of my patrols have been focused on the Southern District of the county, because that's the area that I need to learn the most. My Headquarters are now at Fossil Creek Reservoir, a Bird sanctuary where there are a lot of Bald Eagle winter nesting sites. Here's a sunset over the Reservoir a couple of weeks ago.

Also at Fossil Creek we had a pier collapse. The ice and wind were so bad this year on the reservoir that it sliced the concrete pillars holding it up in half!! So we had to bring in a crane and remove it.

This picture is taken from Rimrock Trail looking south over Devil's Backbone Trail. Rimrock and Devil's backbone trails meet about half way between Loveland and Horsetooth Mountain Park.

This picture is taken from the Hunter Loop on The Devil's Backbone. The rock formation you see is the actual "Devil's Backbone".

Another shot of the Backbone:

This is a shot of the Backbone from the northern end of it.

The Devil's Backbone is really a fascinating formation if you've never seen it. There is one area called the Keyhole where the trail goes right up to the rock (and there's a hole to see the other side). But that section is closed off right now because there are some ravens nesting on the western side of the Keyhole. So I'll try to get some pictures of that later on when it opens up again. The open space is about 10 miles long and connects the "Devil's Backbone" in Loveland to Horsetooth Mountain park. So you can actually hike or mountain bike from one to the other! And if you don't want to go the whole distance, Coyote Ridge (a Fort Collins Natural Area) is connected into it by Rimrock Trail near the halfway point! (so that's a lot of trail for me to cover in my patrols!!)

I'm really enjoying this job!! There is so much to see and do! Last weekend I hiked over 17 miles in 2 days and didn't even realize it until I got home and tallied it up from a map! I loved working at Horsetooth Mountain, and I'm glad that I still get to be there, But I'm so excited about see the other Open Spaces!! More pictures to come!