Wildlife Still Thrives in Colorado Springs City Limits

This past week I had a couple of vivid reminders that wildlife is very abundant inside the city limits of Colorado Springs. Friday I took this picture while I was waiting for some clients, to show them a house. It was on the west side, but probably less than a mile from the heart of downtown. I spooked her buddies while trying to get this photo, there were a half dozen or so grazing together. Yesterday it was really foggy, and I was heading out to Falcon to pick up a client, when a couple of pronghorn came up to fence along Woodmen road in such a way I was afraid they were going to jump right in front of my car!

Wildlife tends to do well here for several reasons. To the west of the city, we back up to the Pike National Forest and the Air Force Academy, so there is an incredible amount of unspoiled land very near. Within the city, we have a lot of open space and parkland, so there is plenty of area for wildlife to live, even if the National Forest or Air Force Academy (which is like a big national park in it's own right) are not a factor. Also, we have a fair number of creek beds that traverse the area, making it easy for wildlife to move around, in many cases without ever hardly crossing a road.

When we decided to come to live in Colorado Springs, one factor was that we wanted to be "where the wild things still grow', and it is nice almost 20 years later to see that they still do!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

We closed on a bank owned home on Friday. Distressed / foreclosures were 23% of the market in Colorado Springs in August. It was actually one of the smoothest foreclosure home deals I've done, but it was still not without it's moments. These deals all use Denver title companies, so if there are any changes to the figures, checks to be written, etc, it is tough getting help during the closing. For some reason the seller never has signed off their paperwork ahead of time either, so we ended up sitting around for 2 hours waiting for the seller to sign so the keys could be given to the buyer (who had help coming to unload her POD). It is hard when you can't count on everyone to execute on time with these, but we got through it, and the buyer got a very good value.
Today is the first day of fall, and what better symbol of fall in Colorado than a herd of elk? We spotted these right off Highway 24 on Saturday, just west of Woodland Park, before Divide. I've only spotted elk along this stretch of road a few times in the 17 years we've lived here, so it was a treat to have them out in the late afternoon sun posing for us. It is supposed to hit 83 today, which is unseasonably warm for this time of year.
What another crazy Bronco win yesterday. This is an interesting team, with the highest scoring offense, and most scored against defense in the league. I like the offense side of that, but the defense is making me crazy. How big a lead can they fritter away? Still, it is good to start the season 3-0.

I hate to see a football game that is really decided by bad officiating, but the Bronco win over San Diego yesterday was an exception. After all, it was the Chargers, and the Broncos won! Football season is off to a good start for Colorado Springs fans. Air Force is 3-0 and the Broncos are now 2-0 (although it was a pretty dicey win yesterday). Both teams did put on a good show, 39-38 is a lot of scoring. This blog is not really about football, but that was a game to remember.

The sun is back out after a pretty rainy day on Friday. I have to go check out a house under contract that sprung a leak in the basement. These kinds of things are more common than they should be, in part because often the drainage system for the foundation of a house gets "messed with", either by feeding water to the foundation (such as downspouts that are not tipped back out after mowing), or other such things. I always hate it when there are problems like this, especially since a bank owns this house and they are not very good about getting around to taking care of things.

Today's photo is a symbol of the fall, but was taken over Memorial Day up in Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (about an hour away?) My son in law is a bow hunter, and he actually filled his tag his first day out this year. We have LOTS of deer and elk in the region, though the elk are considerably more shy.