the miserable gardener

scanning again

More slides from the vault, and then, some negatives. I’m too busy working on my New Year’s resolutions to say anything interesting. If I don’t make these resolutions, the dog will have to, and I don’t think we want that.

Boreas Pass

BLM public lands, north of Kremmling, Co. There are thousands of mats of Penstemon caespitosus, phlox, astragalus, etc.

surprise visitors on the Guanella Pass Road

Pictures of the old barn, etc., at Perennial Favorites in Rye, Co. (Their website here.) Lots of things struck Cindy’s eye, and sometimes I would have to stand around while she took pictures. She liked me right away (and vice versa), so obviously she had exquisite taste.

I think this structure has since collapsed. Some of the images here are reversed; maybe there’s a tool for that in Photoshop, but that means looking at the instructions. I’ll save that part for later.

Then I scanned some negatives. It takes a little longer than scanning slides, and the holder deals (technical term) on the negative platen could be easily broken by someone like me, so I tried to be careful. These were taken in 1982, the year we met (met in May, married in September, it was love at first sight); not sure where some of these were taken, except in the mountains, somewhere. The passes might be Cottonwood Pass, or Tincup Pass. I haven’t been to that part of Colorado since then.

Near the roadbed leading to the Alpine Tunnel

eastern entrance to the Alpine Tunnel. the tracks are still visible inside the tunnel. Mark Twain rode the train, I think narrow gauge, through the tunnel; on the west side the grade was so steep that the locomotive had to set it brakes, and even then raced down the mountainside at full speed.

looking east from the entrance to the Alpine Tunnel

I think this is the start of the road to Williams Pass, 11766 ft, which is usually impassable even with four wheel drive.

near the town of Hancock

St. Elmo

Redstone

Redstone, up the road from St. Elmo, heading toward Tincup Pass.

a gray jay, or camp robber.

my new toy

near the summit of Boreas Pass, 11,481 feet; old wagon trail between Como in South Park and Breckenridge.

I bought a slide scanner. Canon 9000F. Came yesterday. I’m not much of a gadget person but I’m already tired of looking at snow and thought I needed something to do. I could drive around Denver counting geese, or eat a lot, or spend time digitizing Cindy’s slides.

The scanner came with instructions. Pfft. Like I need those. It did take me a while to realize that the error messages I was getting on my computer had something to do with the scanner’s On switch not being pressed, but once I turned the scanner on, things went fairly smoothly.

The scanner comes with platens that accomodate negatives, photographs, or slides. I tried to fit the slides into the platen, and they kept falling out, so I came to the logical conclusion that all of the slides were too small and this was a complete waste of time, until—yes, I admit it—I took a teeny tiny peek at the instructions–just a peek–and discovered that the platen fits on the scanner bed and the slides go into the spaces provided. You close the scanner lid, then press the Scan button, and sit back.

I know a lot of the slides have dust on them, and I could dust them with one of those duster things, but I don’t have one, and blowing on the slides might have made me dizzy, so here they are au naturel. More or less.

Penstemon virens on the Guanella Pass Road. about 10,500 feet.

I fiddled with the slides a little, using Photoshop Elements, yet another thing that comes with instructions. I might read them someday.

Years ago we took a trip out east to Wray, to look for Penstemon ambiguus. It was a long drive, with our first border collie riding in the back of the truck (it had a shell on it), barking and jumping up and down for 150 miles or so. The smell of hog farms along the highway was something else, too.

We finally got to Wray, and looked for Barr’s “flowery stretch of sandhills in northeastern Colorado, between Holyoke and Wray” found nothing, were prepared to go back home, when I looked in the empty field next to a motel and there they were. And the highway median was filled with penstemons, and nothing else.

Penstemon ambiguus at Wray, Colorado

Some years, the fens in South Park burst into bloom with sheets of Gentianopsis thermalis. This was taken just outside of the town of Jefferson.

Gentianopsis thermalis, Jefferson, Colorado, about 9500 feet.

The next few slides were taken on a trip to find the type locality–the only locality–of the endangered Penstemon penlandii. The plants grow on one adobe hill of the Troublesome Formation in a very lonely part of northern Colorado.

BLM public lands north of Kremmling, Colorado. This slide was damaged being inserted into the carousel so many times, but I’ve always liked this view.