December 2010 Free Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

December 2010 is almost here. And if you are like me you are busy with all the preparations to make your holidays special. I hope that my wallpaper calendars make your life a tiny bit easier and fun. I wish you much joy and happiness each and every day. Happy Holidays!

download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for December 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size of this photo."
The file will then download to your desktop!

If you have enjoyed this year's desktop calendars you may also like the 2011 Landscapes of the West Wall Calendar. Most of the images you have enjoyed this past year are included in this handy wall calendar where you can save all your important dates. Each photo is featured in beautiful glossy full color. This is a limited printing of twenty and each calendar is signed. Click on the link below to find out all the details and purchase your copy today.

2011 Landscapes of the West Wall Calendar purchase information

Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Blustery Day - Colorado Rocky Mountains

It was a blustery day in the northern Colorado Rockies. This view from our deck, looking southeast, is often the direction we see weather coming and at times it can be dramatic. A small snow squall was heading toward our home quite quickly and I ran outside to shoot some photos before the sunny blue sky was covered by the cloud of swirling snow. The wind likes to follow the contours of the land and the first icy finger of the small storm raced up the ravine next to our home. I admit it. I love watching weather!

Blustery Day
A snow squall blows through a pine forest under a blue winter sky in northern Colorado.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Eagle in the Mist

Winter's breath frosts the landscape outside my window in every shade of white. Snow is lightly drifting falling floating from the sky. Fog creeps slowly through the pines whispering murmuring calling me outside. I can not resist. I love the softness of the world. I bundle up in layers of soft billowy sweaters. Camera in mittenclad hands I step forth from the porch. The dogs race ahead as I wander down the little trail away from our home.

The snow crunches under my heavy boots. I pass by tiny frosted firs glimmering in contrast to the fog shrouded dark pines, and head toward the saddle, a low point on the connecting ridges. With steaming breath held I watch as a single solitary bald eagle appears out of the foggy mist like a ghost bird and silently disappears. Our mission seems accomplished. With frozen fingers and paws, we return home to our warm cabin on the hillside nestled in the tall pines.

Frosted Pines
Chilling and frigid arctic air envelopes the tiny frosted fir tree in a northern Colorado pine forest.
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Eagle Pines
A snowy mountain hillside shrouded in a cold fog is the home of an American bald eagle.
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Cabin in Pines
A cedar sided cabin is perched on a snowy slope and nestled in a pine forest of northern Colorado.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

February 2010 Calendar for your Computer

Can you believe that it is almost February 2010? It seems like we just finished the holidays. But it is true, next week it will be February and I wanted to give you another desktop wallpaper with the new month on it. I hope you enjoy!

download this free desktop wallpaper calendar for February 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size"
at the top left of the page.
The file will then download to your desktop!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Happy Holidays to all my Friends

The holidays are here and it is one of my favorite times of year. I will be taking time off to spend with my family the next couple weeks. My Mom is visiting from Ohio, my husband has a little time off, and my daughter is with us. So I plan on playing games, taking long walks, baking cookies, and maybe even building a snowman. I wish each one of you a very merry and festive celebration with your loved ones and only the best for the coming new year. I will come back refreshed and ready to go after New Years. In the meantime, I hope you will accept this small gift of a desktop calendar for your computer. Just click the link and when you get to Flickr download the file. See you next year!

download this free desktop wallpaper calendar for January 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size"
at the top left of the page.
The file will then download to your desktop!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Going Home to a Warm Wood Stove

My trip down the mountain was to pick up a a perishable package that had been left at the little rural post office ten miles away. The truck plowed through the drifts that had blown across the road during the night. Unconcerned but focused, I slowly inched the truck forward and down the steep hill. Ten years of navigating this narrow twisting mountain road has taught me caution, but I know every bend by heart.

Mission accomplished. The dogs were happy to have gotten out of the house for awhile, and I was satisfied and loaded up with a box of citrus fruit. As we bumped our way back up the mountain my thoughts drifted to the warm wood stove waiting for me to warm my toes by. Our primary source of heat is our reliable Vermont Castings EPA certified wood stove. All summer long we work culling out the dead and dying trees, and improving the health of our forest. Our wood pile steadily grows all summer to provide us with high quality wood heat that wraps around you like a soft warm blanket on a cold winter day.

Going Home
A narrow mountain road disappears up into the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado on a winter day after the road has been freshly plowed.
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Fire Ripple
The heat shimmers through the glass face of the wood stove warming our home.
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For those that might be wondering, we do have several installed propane heaters and two gas fireplaces for back up heat when we are not home to stoke the wood stove. But I'll take my wood stove any day!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

A Mountain Home in the Colorado Rockies

The cold arctic air continues to dip down into the Colorado Rockies and sprinkle us with snowfall. One thing that is different for me from most people is that I live five miles from a paved road. Much of this dirt road is private and does not get plowed by any government entity. So anyone that lives on this road is responsible for keeping it passable in the winter months. My husband typically plows about a mile and a half of steep treacherous terrain with his sturdy Ford F150 and an attached snowplow. The other three neighbors pitch in for the remainder. That is another thing that is different for us. We really do rely on our neighbors.

Many of you know I live in a remote off-grid home and I thought I would share a bit of my lifestyle with you. There is too much to talk about in one post so I will try to mention just a bit at a time. If any of you have questions, please ask. I may even do a post about your question.

Stellers Ridge Snow
A winter wonderland of snowy pines greets me when I walk down my mountain top drive in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
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Snowy Home
This is a textured artistic interpretation of my off-grid home on a snowy winter day.

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunday Morning Gallery - Alpine Loop to Cinnamon Pass

Today's Sunday Morning Gallery is Part 2 of our Lake City vacation. After finding our campsite (see the April 26 blog entry in the archives) and enjoying a day of rest we packed up the 4 Runner with dogs and lunch and headed up the Alpine Loop 4WD road to Cinnamon Pass.

Cinnamon Pass Road is part of the Alpine Loop in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. This route is opened by snowplow early in the season. Be warned though, in the summer peak season Cinnamon Pass Road is an extremely popular 4WD route. Parts of the road are a single lane rock shelf with no pull offs. Uphill traffic has the right of way in these situations and believe me when I say that you do not want to back up on some of this road! There are also a few switchbacks that a full sized SUV can not navigate without several passes. If you are squeamish about steep plunging drop offs without guard rails this may not be your cup of tea.

Like many trails/roads in Colorado, the Cinnamon Pass Road was travelled originally by Native American Indians, in this case Ute Indians. The first documented travel by white settlers was in the early 1860s when Charles Baker used Cinnamon Pass in his exploration of the San Juan mountains.

Cinnamon Pass is at 12,640 and there are signs located here explaining the tundra conditions at this altitude. By the way, this is not paid advertising for Toyota. But don't you think they should send me money for this shot?

After a fun day driving up to the pass we headed back to camp and our room with a view, popped a beer, and kicked back. Not a bad day.

Spring Snow in Colorado

I usually do a Sunday Morning Gallery post and I had one prepared for today, but because many of you know I live in the foothills of northern Colorado, and may have heard of our intense spring storm I decided to post some photos. It has been a crazy few days.

It snowed all night Thursday and all the next day and through the next night too. Our landscape became surreal as the heavy wet snow clung to everything. The giant ponderosa pines, which normally can handle heavy snows, were swaying like drunken sailors with the heavy weight.

Then the snapping and popping like a rifle shot started as the tops, branches, and whole trees came crashing down around us unable to sustain the huge weight. I started to wonder when it would stop by that time and listened for house groans, but none came. Our post and beam construction held strong.

I am very happy to get this moisture after a very dry winter here in Colorado, but when it comes all at once it can be challenging. But now the road is plowed, the fire is stoked, and dinner is cooking away. All is cozy, safe and warm on a spring day on Stellers Ridge.

Spring Snow on Stellers Ridge, Colorado

The snow that we were waiting and waiting for finally arrived. It caused major mayhem on the freeways and in town but on Stellers Ridge we were happy to see it.

This was a moderate snowfall for us. One that really did not cause us much trouble at all. One that we are very grateful to receive. So the snowplow came out of the corner of the garage at last and onto the F150. A path was plowed from the house to the saddle a third of a mile away where our street sign tells us where to turn. (If the sign looks out of place to you in the photo you can imagine how we feel about it.) And in the last photo, if you look real close, you can just make out our mountain abode at the end of the road. Drop in for a visit anytime. But be prepared to stay awhile if it snows.