Sagebrush-covered flats and hills were my first love as a dispersed-area-camper/mountain biker in the West. It's fun to be back in it. Greater Nevada and Utah are really the place to be if you like sagebrush, but Gunnison (CO) has a lot of it over 8000 feet. It would be more interesting if it was mixed with more grass. Would that be the case if controlled fires were used more?
This hillside seemed odd when I first looked at it:
You can't appreciate it as a postcard. What matters is what it represents. Presumably the dark (sagebrush) streaks are barely-visible troughs that collect rainwater and snow melt, allowing the sagebrush to survive -- barely. How much strife there is in Nature! Normally this brings up an image of scratching claws and bloody fangs, but that isn't the case here -- unless you see these streaks as the curved talons of a drought-beast, reaching down to rip at the soft flesh of the lower hill.
One way to insult a place is to say that it is 'in the middle of nowhere.' But being in the middle of somewhere is hardly less dull. So much of Life takes place, not in the middle of anywhere, but at the margin, the boundaries.
But what's this? Who is this impudent and prideful male ungulate?
Why, it's a pronghorn antelope. Notice the colorful neck bands:
By now my kelpie, Coffee Girl, was completely provoked by this pronghorn. Off she went, to vanquish him.
Now, for you softies in the readership, note that Coffee Girl has no chance against a long-legged antelope. The Wikipedia article on pronghorns says that they are the fastest runners in North America. This particular pronghorn seemed blase about being treated as prey.
Coffee Girl has a strange playful hunting style that resembles touch football. She almost reached the unconcerned pronghorn, when she turned right around and ran back to me, as if to say, "I won, Pops!"
All in good fun, or so I thought. These sagebrush-covered hills are loaded with ground squirrels. Coffee Girl has learned to bound over the sagebrush like she has springs in her feet. She finally caught one, and killed it in two seconds. It was her first confirmed kill.
Comments
I have marveled at this myself, how nature's haphazard ways can end up looking like thoughtful human intervention. Just as lucky as some sage were to land in just the right spots for growth is as unlucky as other seedlings were that landed on the higher ground and got no water.
I had to laugh a little at your philosophy of being in the middle of nowhere or somewhere and perhaps it's best to be at the margin. Truth be told, it really doesn't matter where you are but more what you make out of it. You found beauty in what countless others never bothered to even notice. That's real living in my book.
That's my philosophy 101 for the day. :)
Box Canyon
You need to add southeastern Oregon and southern Idaho to that sagebrush list. It is what I call buckaroo country which I love. A byproduct, so to speak, of sagebrush country is the very low population density which I also love.
Do you think your dog has some terrier in her? I don't think shepherd/collie types kill. They are usually more interested in herding everything up but don't go for the kill. Terriers on the other hand are bred to kill.
Having seen Coffee Girl in action she has probably killed before unbeknownst to you.
Jim and Gayle, Not my baby girl!
George, despite what those dog breed encyclopedias say, I think that all breeds have the same basic instincts. The breed-ness just affects how pronounced different tendencies are.
Ted, Coffee Girl immediately dropped the dead rodent and ran back to me when I scolded her.
Mark, I'm glad that some readers give me credit for restraining myself and trying to be polite.