Baeutiful nonetheless

The chilly autumn nights are hard on a flower, but it's still trying.

Stone Swirl

One of the artsy stacked stones with carvings on 'em that're supposed to look like they're done by aboriginals...with power tools.

New bench concept

Looks so much more comfy than those traditional wooden-slat benches. Complete with seat-belts, too, in case we get an earthquake.

Beeman Park

I never found Beeman Park. But since they're still building, perhaps it's yet to come. Nevertheless, they have banners exalting it.

High Security

Must be an insurance thing. I've never noticed much worth stealing on construction sites. (Though I suppose someone building something might make off with a truckload of lumber, but still...)

Curvy sidewalk

Curvy sidewalks look nice, but does anybody actually follow them?

"Water Feature"

A sign leading into the park prohibits playing in the "Water Feature".

Plant Map

A map that allows one to locate whatever particular species of shrubbery one is curious about. The only poisonous one I spotted was Digitalis Obscura, but I bet a botanist could spot a few more. Surprising the Five Parks developers didn't vet the list of plants to be sure they're all safe in salads.

Contorted Filbert

This central park of the Five Parks development has a small arboretum, with plaqued plants that allegedly grow here. This is the first time I've seen a "contorted filbert", though. They also have a corkscrew willow that looks a bit deformed, though not as obviously as this poor fellow.

Main Street, USA

Materialization of the Five Parks Main-Street Disneyopolis tract-home concept. I like the look, but wish they had a bit more space between them. And I don't get what's with these people parking their cars on the wrong side of the road, British-style.

Nice Entrance

Entrance to Five Parks community swimming pool.

Mailboxes

In an odd juxtaposition of small-townishness meets modern postal reality, Five Parks appears to have provided individual mailboxes in the familiar shape of those used by rural residents, but has bolted them onto a common frame, just like the anonymous silvery NBU's that most neighborhoods have nowadays.

The Depot

Part of the small-town, main-street, Disnefied ambiance that the marketeers of Five Parks have created is The Depot. This would be cool if Five Parks were actually served by light rail, as some commuter-oriented developments are nowadays, but the "Depot" appears to be more of a small-towny-flavored rec center.

Now you know

This small park, with the quaint playground and nice horizons, is one of apparently five in the Five Parks subdivision.

Nice spread

The view from Russell Park looking NE reveals a ranch house surrounded by colorful windbreak.

Mystery Mounds

I just can't figure out what they're building or growing that would require them to create all these mysterious mounds of dirt. It'll be interesting to see what it turns out to be.

Playground

Quaint little playground set that appears to be much less lethal than the monkey-bars, teeter-totters and large swing-sets I recall as a kid.

In the round

Round touristo snaps self-portrait in convex side of the burning-ray-of-death playground piece.

Unintended side-effect

The concave side of this mirrored dome faces South-East, allowing the sun to be focused into a little burning ray of unintended evil as it passes low in the afternoon sky. You can see where some pebbles have been heated enough to melt larger pits for themselves, and the sun traces lines that correspond to cloud-free afternoons as it precesses lower into the autumn sky. I bet the first time little Billy burns his precious fingers on that molten plastic, this feature of the playground is coming out. Too bad, really. It's sort of educational.

Tree of ambition

Trees don't grow to the sky, but there's no reason not to try.

Nice moss

In addition to their bright choice of flowers, I found myself taken by the pools of green moss between the flagstones on the left. Moss is a little unusual in this semi-arid climate.

Ring of bad taste

This little "attraction" consists of concrete poured in a spiral with a concrete faux tree stump in the center proclaiming it "The tree of knowledge & the ring of stone". Never mind that it's all concrete, rather than tree or stone, and never mind that the tree of knowledge appears to have been cut down or that the "ring" of "stone" is actually a spiral of concrete. This little attraction has absolutely nothing going for it. I can't believe that a new housing development like Five Parks, whose whole shtick is trowelling a sort of Main-Street Disney Mythos over their otherwise pretty ordinary tract homes, would commit the cash and dirt to make this visual catastrophe part of their development. Must have been an art project for the developer's daughter or something.

Brown on green

The trees give up sooner than the grass, for some reason.

It just doesn't get any redder than this

Woodvine on a fence, going out in style.

Riot of color

A maple, showing off.

No Outlet

Color-coordinated sign.

Entrance to the Dry Creek Trail

This entrance to the Dry Creek Trail is about half a block away from Laurel's house. I decided to walk down to the Standley Lake Library this morning. They don't make days much nicer than this for walking.

Rain totem?

Colorado is a semi-arid region, averaging just 15.4 inches of rain per year. Perhaps they hope this raingirl will attract more?

Happy

Most dogs bark as I walk past. This fella just popped up and looked enquiringly as I snapped his pic.

Dogs walking man

This guy was constantly juggling leashes from hand to hand as these three pooches went every which way, mostly ignoring his commands to stop or go or stay. It was pretty clear who was walking whom.

Sea monster

Loch Ness has Nessie - Dry Creek has, uh, "Messie"?

A bridge

A bridge over the raging creek. (Seems like overkill, with the creek spanning all of a meter across, but it's a nice bridge).

Every day is flag day

These folks have a splendid Tudor-style house in a lovely yard and appear to fly the flag all the time.

Not-so-dry Creek

The "Dry Creek" the trail follows, sparkling in the autumn sun.

Cottonwood Blaze

Cottonwood trees in fall regalia leaning over the Dry Creek Path.

Laurel's House

Laurel's house.

Neighborhood

This shot is taken from the SW corner of Laurel's front lawn, facing SW, showing the foliage of her diagonal neighbors'.

Halloween Decorations

In the US we celebrate Halloween on October 31st. It's a holiday for kids, mostly, which they celebrate by dressing in costumes and going door to door begging for candy. Some people like to decorate their homes for the occasion.

Entrance Road

This is the entrance road to the subdivision, facing south having turned about 45 degrees left of the sign, showing fall colors and a weary salaryman making his way home from the bus.

The Landing

The entrance to the subdivision where Laurel's house is. The entrance to the Standley Lake park is about 50 meters behind me in this photo.

Wispy Clouds

Wispy clouds right before sunset, looking SSW.

Fall Colors

More fall foliage at the lake, looking SSE.

Countryside

Open countryside looking NW showing front range of rocky mountains. Just over the plateau ridge before the foothills (thus not visible) is Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility. They've been cleaning up the plutonium for decades and have decades more work ahead of them. We like to joke that there is no need for streetlamps here because the ground simply glows in the dark. I have heard there is a thin layer of plutonium oxide about 18 inches below the surface from accidental plutonium fires at the plant back in the 1950's.

Update: Astonishing practically everyone, DOE announced that Rocky Flats cleanup is complete. More astonishing:

The cleanup project was estimated in the early 1990s to take at least 70 years and cost more than $37 billion. The final price tag was $7 billion and it was finished 56 years ahead of schedule.

So I don't know whether hearty applause is in order for getting things done so much faster and more cost-effectively, or whether the original project architects should be taken out and flogged for having grossly overstated the time and materials costs. (But, being in the software biz for over a quarter-century, I can think of only two projects I've worked on that came within 15% of target. But still, 70 years becoming 12 and $37 billion becoming $7 billion? I'd have thought someone could have scoped the project a little tighter than that.)

An irrigation canal

An irrigation canal looking east with cottonwood trees in fall colors.

Goose Island

Looking NE from the SW corner of Standley Lake, showing Goose Island. The Island is actually a peninsula this time of year, owing to the lower water level of the reservior in Fall.

Wide Open Spaces

Here's a shot looking NNW near the entrance to Standley Lake Park. The large mountain in the distance is Long's Peak. It's about 60 kilometers away.