The Colorado State Open Thread is published most Mondays around 7PM Mountain Time. It’s open for anyone, but primarily for those who have a fondness for Colorado, whether you’re a resident, a visitor, someone who used to live here or still looks forward to it, or you’ve just enjoyed pictures of it from afar. Please stop by and share your thoughts, and even volunteer to host if you’d like.
Well, I don’t have much to say — we’re still healthy and hunkered down in our home in Estes Park. I’ve visited grocery stores, hardware stores and a couple of restaurants for takeout, but it’s hard to really help the local businesses during this time when they’re all shuttered and concern is all over for the health of the population.
So, the Mrs. and I took a drive Saturday to just get out of the house. We did visit a coffee shop to add something to their coffers, and then we fed the duck population some dried corn kernels. For a buck you get a small cone with the kernels and we probably bought seven or eight cones.
We decided to continue driving around for a little bit and we saw these guys by the side of the road.
We also saw several little herds of these.
The reason there are no antlers is because deer and elk have antlers made of the same kind of material as fingernails and they’re shed every spring, usually around the month of March once the new years’ antlers need to come out. I saw three elk the other day with thin antlers, but I also saw the elk our neighborhood has dubbed “Big Boy” because of his size. Here is a picture of him last summer.
Here he is walking down Route 66 a couple of days ago. Yes, Colorado Route 66 goes right by our house.
His huge rack of antlers is gone, but when I looked closer, I saw these.
Bighorn sheep, as well as antelope, jackalopes, buffalo and cows have horns, which are actual bone. Those are never shed and they keep growing through the whole life of the animal. There are some differences between male and female, but not as much a difference as for the elk, deer and moose that have antlers for the males and nothing for the females. The antlers for the males are primarily for mating purposes — the bigger they are, the more fit the male supposedly is (look at the big rack on that guy!) but it does require energy to grow bigger racks so that means the male must forage for food harder than a male with a smaller rack. Males with bigger racks generally are able to out-duel males with smaller racks so they’re able to recruit and defend larger harems. They can also be used for defense against an attacker like a mountain lion or wolf, which is why older and weaker animals are preferable as food for predators.
Ah. It is a slice of heaven up here.
The offer still stands to any Kossacks that want to come visit, once the “Shelter-in-Place” order is complete. Our house has room for plenty of guests.
So, what have you been doing during this shut-down season? What’s on your mind? The floor for comments is yours.
BTW — you should check out this diary about the Colorado Springs Republican death cult — www.dailykos.com/… by tjlord.