Month: January 2016

Since our outdoor activity is limited at this time of year, I’m going to touch on a variety of other subjects this post.

Sports:

The Denver Broncos are in the Super Bowl, to be played next Sunday. They will face the Carolina Panthers. How will the Broncos do? It depends on what team shows up…the dominant defense and the well-executing offense, or the team that won two early games without an offensive touchdown. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Go Broncos!

Politics:

The primary season begins tomorrow with the first votes taken in the Iowa caucuses. Pam and I are registered Independent voters which, in Colorado, means we cannot vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries – you have to be a registered member of the party to vote in the primary. Leaning more liberal, the Democratic Clinton / Sanders side appeals to us more than the  Republican Trump / Cruz philosophy. The next few months should be interesting.

Family history:

Going back through some photos  came across this family shot:

Felicity, Toby. Pam and Jerry on June 22, 2008

We don’t have many family group photos and nothing very recent. Since this photo was taken (at our home in De Beque) Toby has moved to Indiana and Felicity is currently in Portland, Oregon. It’s been a while since the family has been in one place at the same time.

Weather:

The past few days have been warmer than average for this time of year, which resulted in  snow melt. However, supposedly there’s a big storm on the way. The forecast for the next 72 hours includes the possibility of 7 to 11 inches of new snow beginning tonight. Temperatures will fall to below normal levels which means the entire week will be on the cold side. Pam says she’s ready for winter to be over (except for the skunks)!

Otherwise it has been a mostly routine week here. I put new license plates on the RAV4; this required a trip to the Motor Vehicle Department office in Grand Junction to pay the license fee. At work I received notice my pay will be going up 2% — but — Pam’s take-home income will go down (due to increased insurance plan costs). One step forward, two steps back…

Due to weather conditions we haven’t been able to house hunt last weekend or this weekend, so no news to report on that project. Pam continues to monitor the For Sale listings and when we do get a decent weekend there will be a list of properties to drive by and preview.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I feel as if I’m in “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,” the part where everyone is snowbound until the pass opens at the end of winter.

Happy Trails.

I have a few small things to comment on this time around even though this time of year is generally pretty quiet for us.

We’ve had a couple snowstorms; nothing major (like the East Coast and snow in feet, not inches) but enough for me to use the blower and garden tractor to clear the drive and sidewalks. Photos featured below were taken this past Tuesday, January 19th:

January 19th snow

Driveway after removing snow

“Artsy” shot of our chain link fence

The snow was quite heavy; we received about 3 inches or so and it would’ve made a good snow fort or snow-people. More white stuff is in the forecast for this weekend but daytime temps are getting into the upper 30’s so the snow should not stick around long (except on the lawn in shady places).

I had to replace a tire on the John Deere garden tractor; it’s had a slow leak for some time and finally gave up the ghost. The tractor is a ’93 model and the tire was original; 23 years is a pretty good service life for a tire.

January 10th saw me driving to Park County to check on The Lot and the storage shed. Snow rules the high country this time of year, but I spent some time walking around Sanderling and taking a few photos.

Driveway and shed, January 10th

The Nook

On the way home I stopped in Blue River (near Breckenridge) and took this mountain scenic:

Mountains near Breckenridge

I find myself humming “Muriah” (from Paint Your Wagon) every time I see the snow blowing around the mountain tops.

From time to time small things just make me smile. A few days ago Pam and I were trying to find a term for a group of skunks; Pam came up with “a stink of skunks” which made me laugh. And, very infrequently, advertising copy catches my eye. While shopping for shampoo I had picked up a bottle of Prell, inexpensive and it does the job. However, right next to the Prell was a display of Old Spice products so I picked up a bottle and enjoyed the ad copy on the back: “The strength of a redwood and the mystic scent of mint in TIMBER is power for your hair, soul, and jet-powered chainsaw if you happen to use one.” “Directions: Wet hair, lather, rinse, and get on with your day.” The Old Spice is now sitting in our bathroom.

The Denver Broncos play the New England Patriots tomorrow in the divisional playoff game; the winner goes to the Super Bowl. I have my doubts about the Broncos getting that far but we will see! Watching Peyton Manning in the twilight of his career can be an exercise in fan frustration.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

And we wouldn’t be talking about skunks at all, except I smelled one in the neighborhood already this week.  Apparently the nine skunks that were trapped and relocated out of this part of town last summer were not all of them. (?)  I was anticipating the Spring warmup, now I wonder. Note to self: stock up on Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor Remover…

We did load up the dogs and drive by about seven properties in Delta, CO last Sunday.  Delta is aptly named, as it sits at the juncture of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers.  Irrigation water is plentiful there (unusual for Colorado). Pondering what we could do with a “farmette-sized” acreage in that location – how about a seasonal pumpkin patch + small Christmas tree farm? Possibilities abound.

Happy Trails.

The year 2015 has passed; this is a recap of the year for Pam and myself. Rather than a month-by-month recital, here are various topics and projects that highlighted the year.

The Kids:

Felicity, currently in Belize, spend much of the year in England house-sitting and working at her new job with a South Carolina-based internet company. Her job is to help businesses use social media to best advantage. It is a job she enjoys and can perform anywhere she can get an internet connection. Felicity will be back in Portland, Oregon for a few months beginning the end of  January.

Toby is still enjoying Notre Dame football as he is living in South Bend, Indiana. He is working a couple of jobs including refereeing summer softball leagues. We don’t hear from him often but he seems to be satisfied with life so far, other than the lack of a steady girlfriend.

The Lot:

We continued cleaning up our recreational lot located in Colorado’s Park County, right in the middle of the state. It was determined, before the snow melted, we could not afford to put in a [very deep] well on this property, which means it will always be recreational land only. A late spring cost us some weekends; we didn’t get started on any real work until June. More gravel was added to the driveway, an off-driveway parking spot was cleared, many loads of scrap wood taken to the burn pit, and several loads of firewood were taken home, cut to length, and donated to our animal rescue friend Kathy Hall. (Kathy re-married this year and is now Kathy Powers.) I was finally able to mouse-proof the RV trailer, purchased a honey wagon kit so I did not have to pull the trailer to a dump station, and we cleaned up the area Pam has taken to calling The Nook. A pole saw, purchased at auction, allowed me to prune dead and low-hanging limbs from quite a few trees; that work will continue into the future.

First load of burn pit wood, 2015

Health:

Pam had bursitis in her hip; this slowed her down for several weeks  over the summer and she occasionally still feels a twinge from time to time. It’s not fun when your body doesn’t do what you want it to. I finished one year with my type-2 diabetes, diagnosed in December of 2014, and have adjusted to a diet much lower in sugars and salt than I had been accustomed to. I miss my ice-cream!

Passings:

Our good friend of almost 35 years, Elinor Tourtillott, passed away in 2015. She was in her 90s and had been in poor health for a while, but her spirit remained unbroken. She will be missed. My Aunt Gert and Uncle Emil (relatives on my mother’s side) also died in 2015. Our feline buddy, Soot, crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge just as 2015 ended.

Travels:

2015 was a quiet travel year. I took a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in mid-July to attend a motorcycle rally and used the return trip to stop and visit my mother for a few days. I managed to visit Pam’s brother Craig (who retired in 2015) and his wife Dianne at their new lake-front retirement home which was still getting a few finishing touches during my visit. I have an aunt and uncle that live in the same general area and was able to stop and see them for a few hours before heading back to Colorado. The trip was a good one for both family visits and seeing new country.

Brockway Mountain overlooks Copper Harbor and Lake Superior in Michigan’s UP

We continue to take day trips around Colorado checking out potential properties that would work for us in retirement. This has resulted in learning some local history and seeing parts of the state that are still new to us, something we both enjoy. The retirement home search continues into 2016.

ATV trips:

A few were made this year: North Twin Cone Peak, Hall Valley, Lead King Basin, and Handcart Gulch being the most notable. The Handcart Gulch trip include a run up Forest Road 290, a scenic and less-traveled trail complete with old mines and some equipment that survived the scrap steel drives of WWII.

Old mine at end of FR 290

Acquisitions:

In December we bought a 2004 Toyota RAV4 as a daily driver; the 2001 Honda Accord developed transmission problems at 384,000+ miles and is no longer reliable for daily use. A new home-built utility trailer joined the fleet and was used to haul firewood + my motorcycle, and will see future use as a cistern trailer. The John Deere LX176 garden tractor was updated for snow removal chores with the addition of extra weights and chains. I put my old reel-to-reel deck back in service as part of my garage stereo system. Pam began learning to play guitar, which was her 2014 Christmas present. A new stove replaced the home’s original stove; the new stove is quite an improvement. A generator, after repair, provided power at The Lot for the RV and power tools.

Generac 4000XL generator

Summary:

2015 was pretty typical for us. We worked on our lot and around the home, dealt  with a few medical episodes, did some traveling around the state, had some good times and shed a few tears. We are looking forward to 2016; after all, the numbers 2+0+1+6 add up to 9, one of Pam’s lucky numbers! (We didn’t win the PowerBall, though.)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

New Year Resolutions –

• broaden the retirement house search (including examination of outside-the-box ideas) while continuing to save money for the down payment,
• begin investigation of on-line employment sites (some require a monthly subscription fee) for potential part-time employment into retirement,
• start composing a draft of my own obituary (Fields says he hasn’t a clue what to include, I want to make sure the fact I ever lived in De Beque is definitely not in there).

Happy Trails.

We hope everyone made it through the Christmas season OK and that you are looking forward to a good 2016.

It is with sadness we note the passing of one of our De Beque-born house cats, Soot. He had not been feeling well Christmas week and Pam took him to be examined/observed by the vet. To make a long story short, Soot was suffering from invasive cancer that could not be remedied with surgery; the “no brainer” decision to euthanize was made during the surgical procedure. Soot will be frozen for now, to be buried later in his “native sod” this spring.

While not popular with the other cats – being something of a bully at times – Soot was very personable with humans and liked to spend time sitting on my lap. His longer than normal tail was carried in a crook and occasionally showed up under the bathroom door when we were in there in the mornings. He will be missed.

Soot on Jerry’s lap

We received about 8 inches of snow between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; clearing this White Christmas kept me busy for a few hours and gave me the chance to play with my Troy-Bilt snow blower and John Deere LX186 lawn tractor; the later is fitted with a snow blade, suitcase weights, and tire chains. Otherwise the days have been quiet, frigid, and calm.

Blade and blower both come in handy for snow removal

On New Year’s Day we took down our outside decorations and put them away. Pam had removed the inside stuff during the week (CMC closes the week between Christmas and New Year, so she was home). We are pretty much done with holiday decorations. Unlike our neighbors, many of whom will have their sad outdoor decorations up until Valentines Day (or Easter),  Pam insists we maintain some discipline in promptly packing ours away.

The spare tire cover arrived for the Toyota RAV4, along with a replacement jack; both were installed as part of my effort to get the car in top-notch condition. I also bought a LeBra for the Toyota (in black, no purple front bumper after all) but have to wait until warmer weather to install it. Later this weekend I will change the oil and oil filter along with the cabin (air conditioning) filter and that will about wrap up all the routine maintenance tasks that needed to be done at present; we will be comfortable knowing all maintenance is up-to-date. A total fluids/belts run-through will occur at the mechanic sometime this spring.

New spare tire cover on the RAV4

While deleting Soot from the blog, I also added KitKat to the Cats blog page along with a short description of her, and Pam made a few changes in the commentary. Check it out!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

With as many cats as we have around here, it seems odd to miss one.  But, being the OCD person I am, I always count the animals during the day to see where everyone is.  Some one is missing.  Soot was only five years old; I’m not used to having cancer-filled animals at that young age.  The vet and I had a conversation about how my rescue population is aging and that we will likely be repeating the Soot scenario in the coming years. It’s a bummer to contemplate.

Fields isn’t going to do his “Year In Review” until a future post, I will include my 2016 resolutions then. (I just know everybody is waiting expectantly for both!)

Happy Trails.