Elk Dinner Theatre

My brother and his wife live in Evergreen, CO. Up in the foothills of the Rockies, west of Denver. Elevation 7,400 ft. (They moved there from Coral Gables, FL -- just a little gain in altitude!). They share their neighborhood with a bear, who we didn't see, coyotes (also absent), humming birds by the dozen, and elk.

Sunday evening, as we were having dinner, a parade of elk came down the road, followed at a distance by a scruffy-looking young bull. He was working on acquiring himself a harem, but the girls weren't having any. We soon saw the reason: a mature bull who was not interested in sharing.

It was still very early in the rut, so the two bulls didn't get into it, beyond some posturing and elk-style muscle-flexing. After Big Daddy had ushered his girls away, Mr Scruffy took out his frustrations on the neighbor's trash bags.

We took our after dinner drinks out to the front patio, to watch the fun. The cows were completely oblivious -- one of the was grazing almost in arm's reach. My sis-in-law complains that they'll eat anything, so she's having a hard time establishing a flower garden.