Tag Archives: Retirement

Last Mile of the Marathon

I swear, these last few months crawling by before retirement from the regular rat race remind me of the last couple miles of a marathon. You’ve been running for three hours, you are exhausted, feet hurt, knees feeling like they are going to explode. Only two miles left but you still don’t know if you are really going to make the finish line, head down mind on that one singular moment in time…  when you see that white line pass under your feet.  But those last two miles feel like a whole new marathon ahead, like it is never going to end

Sunrise on the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range of Colorado in winter

That’s what it’s like now… years of sleep deprivation, hundreds of hours of abuse from mouthy customers and managers bogging you down like an ocean of quicksand. I just want it to be over and I can’t seem to think about anything else 😦 It has even managed to affect my photography. The cold and the snow and the fatigue from the late nights of work have depleted my strength, my mornings now consist of trying to pry my eyes open instead of hiking on my favorite mountain.

But today, I looked out at the beauty of the Sangres and I found some strength in my legs, enough to go to my office and retrieve my camera. The morning sun on the snow was so amazing today that I had to go out and see it! I wasn’t sure I was going to need my snowshoes but I thought I would regret not lugging them along, the parking lot and the lower trail were dry and rocky but it looked like snow up in the trees. Sure enough, half way up the mountain, when I entered the trees the snow got deep and they became necessary. The surface of the snow was hard and crusty, impossible to get through with just boots, but a joy to effortlessly walk on top of  on with snowshoes!

Soon the summit and the anticipated view of the mountains… Tired and worn now, back in my office at the computer, but happy and proud that I was able to get it together and make the hike 🙂

My First Metal Print

So excited… getting my first glossy metal print of my work 🙂 Actually it is going to be two prints, both of deer that I photographed back in the winter of 2010. One of the images I had to search pretty long and hard for on the backup drive, couldn’t remember where or when I had captured it and I haven’t even seen it in a long time. But the memory of one of my most favorite pictures has stuck in my mind all these years as something I would like to print one day. The second one was easier to find, I have kept it close by, foremost on my mind as the first one I would print when I got the chance!

Mule Deer Couple

As I browsed through the images on my backup drive I was somewhat taken aback at the size of my collection. I was only looking through pictures of deer and there are thousands, many of which I have never even processed or uploaded to my stock agencies. Got me to thinking, maybe I had better stop and think about what I am doing. Maybe I need to spend a little more time in front of the computer screen!

Well anyway, while I was going through the deer images I also came across this cute picture of a couple of baby bighorn sheep that I have not given near enough attention! Once again, there are hundreds out of the thousands that have slipped my mind and my attention that I need to go back and look at some more! With 2018 coming to an end and my last year of full time employment before retirement coming into view, perhaps now is the time to start that massive project! By the way, I have a bunch more of those baby bighorns in my bighorn sheep and goat gallery!

Baby Bighorn Sheep Playing on Mount Evans

One thing I did get done this morning is to create another gallery on my website, the “Deer in Snow” gallery. I have so many amazing pictures of mule deer interacting in the beautiful Colorado snow that I thought it worth separating them out so they are easier for my customers to find!

Well anyway, here is the other picture I am going to have printed… the one of the very surprised trio of does that I captured in a huge Colorado snowstorm. I don’t know who was more surprised when I popped out of the brush in front of these three ladies, me or the deer!

Three does in snow

Special Mountain Morning

It’s not every morning I get a visit from a herd of deer but I did today and I had my camera with me 🙂 Right at the beginning of my trek through the woods and up the mountain, there they were. I would never have even seen them if Big Dog wasn’t pointing them out for me, like, “Hey, look some deer!”. They were peering out from the mountain grass and I really couldn’t see them because the sun was in my eyes, which didn’t make for very good pictures, back lit and all. There was not going to be any opportunity to move around and get a better angle, I knew the minute I moved they would be gone so This is the best I could do under the circumstances 😦 It is kind of cool that you can see individual hairs in their fur though and early morning sunlight is nice 🙂

Colorado mule deer in the winter

Three doe mule deer in the sun

The sun was much more handy in lighting the Peak though, the south face of America’s Mountain was magnificent today! With just the right light for me to use I was able to set the camera on f11 and use aperture priority to get some really good depth of field. The golden morning sun made for some great color on the beautiful red rocks and the scene was a joy to behold 🙂

Didn’t get to see my elk buddies today, but there was a coyote in the distance carrying on quite a conversation with me and Big Dog. I’m sure he was just telling us we were on his mountain. Been a long time since I’ve seen one of the little wild dogs close up, even longer since I’ve gotten a decent picture! Still, they remind me of my bucket list item to travel up to Yellowstone to photograph the wolf packs that have been nurtured there.

Pikes Peak Winter Morning

Fresh snow on the south face of Pikes Peak

It’s been a great few days on the mountain but tomorrow it’s back to the rock pile. Saw an article today that says there is spike in the death rate of men at age 62… Something about feeling useless and disengaging from society. Lol… I won’t have a problem I’m sure! Unless the death rate has something to do with falling off mountains because of the increased time spent there? Well who knows, all I know is I can’t wait for these annoying work week interruptions in my otherwise rewarding life to end!

As always, these pictures and more are available on my website for purchase as wall art, cool gift and household items and on the stock portal as commercial stock for all your advertising needs!