Bonanza! I found the two old photos, and I took another shot today! I didn’t want to complete and post this entry without the “froggy” picture. I looked all over for it this morning, and it was just now that I remembered I had named it “froggy.” I’ll now attempt to get the pictures inserted in some logical order.

In trying to find the two photos of that old tree below me (from November 6, 2010 entry), I spent a lot of time looking at pictures from 2001 to now. I’m having so much trouble with my camera (translation: ME) and as I looked at old photos, I found some really good shots. I may be trying too hard. There’s also the possibility that the lens on this machine just isn’t what the lens on the older cam was. I got used to getting good, clear shots, AND the color was almost always good. Guess I’d better dink with white balance? (I believe “dink” is a tech term?)

So, on to the shots of “my” tree.

This shot is from my house and it was taken on a foggy day prior to March 6, 2004. I believe I shot it before I owned a digital camera and this is either a scan of the photograph or the negative.

This is the old spring shot. This one was taken on March 29, 2006. The day I snapped this picture, the sky was heavy with those blue-gray clouds that often push through Western Colorado on the way to drop their load of snow in the high country. It was an incredible weather day, and during a break in the storm, I headed out to get a picture of this tree against those incredibly dark clouds. This one was cropped a lot at the bottom to eliminate some old boat that looked like it had taken a bumpy tornado ride.

After starting this entry, I decided to go on down the street and take a shot of that tree from essentially the same perspective as the old spring storm shot. Apparently someone removed the old boat. I should thank them for that.

How can you not love an old soul like this? On foggy days, its bare arms reach out through the mist when I can see almost nothing else below. In the fall, I get to watch the sun play on the changing colors of its aging leaves. In the spring, I get to see it leaf out in new green. In the summer, and earlier than you’d think, it develops a single patch of yellow leaves near the top.

I love its gnarled branches.

Do you know there’s a really cool old tree on the way to Montrose? Another big, old one like this. You can find it on Highway 50 just before you drop completely down into the valley; before the airport. There are two hills on the south side of the road, and between those hills is a stand of trees that I look for each time I drive by. I can’t remember if there are power lines intruding or not, but I’ll bet there are. I guess I should pay closer attention. I thought I’d been pretty observant to notice them in the first place — not to mention to remember each time to look for them. I often think to stop, but by the time I get to Montrose, I really just want to get where I was headed.

Well, this has been fun, and it all started with a hike on the Colorado National Monument yesterday. Now, up there are some old, gnarly, very interestingly bent trees!