Month: November 2016

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! For us this kicks off the holiday season and means we will be putting out our holiday decorations shortly. (For those who might have missed out electronic Thanksgiving card this year you can view it here.)

Even before this, though, we had a bit of a treat as the Capitol Christmas Tree made a stop in Glenwood Springs on November 17th. En-route from Idaho to Washington DC, the transport schedules several stops along the way and this year we were the beneficiaries of one such stop.

The day was a bit rainy and cold but that didn’t stop people from enjoying the visit.

Christmas tree transport truck

Tree inside, partially decorated

Crowd enjoys the visit.

Note the snow on the slopes in the background and the fire pit off to the right. The day was a bit raw but that didn’t dampen any enthusiasm.

We plan to put up our outside lights and decorations in the next day or two; this year we may add a few new items to our aging collection. We don’t go overboard but do enjoy having the lights on when we get home from work.

A different milestone was reached this past week; our 2001 Honda Accord rolled over 400,000 miles. We bought the vehicle in 2004 and it had just under 64,000 miles on it then. The Honda has served us well over the last 336,000 miles.

Honda hit 400,000 miles on November 23

The car is beginning to show its age in small ways: the doors occasionally lock for no apparent reason, the door lock switch on the driver’s side does not work, and the rubber gaskets around the doors and trunk have a few gaps. Nothing major and the car keeps providing our daily commute. We’re glad we spent the money to replace the transmission at about 384,000 miles.

It’s been busy for us at work; in my case the search continues for an assistant without much luck. This has put additional stress on me to cover the 4 locations in my organization. I did interview one person but lack of knowledge and no experience ruled her out. The search continues. Pam has also been busy; applications for the spring semester have been arriving in increasing numbers and along with them come transcripts that she needs to evaluate. Both of us would have appreciated a bit of down time, but no!

The guy who bought my snowmobile paid me but has yet to pick up the sled; he indicated he will be coming by this Sunday with a trailer and it up then. I will be sad to see it go.

Otherwise there is not a lot of other activity around the house, at least in the evenings. Yard work has come pretty much to an end, too dark at night to do anything anyway.

Here and there are small victories in life. Our corner street light finally got fixed after I called the energy company – twice. The first call was canceled “due to lack of information” but I gave the same information when I called in to check on the repair order status. Pam happened to be home when the serve tech came out and she reports the guy appeared to be quite unhappy about having to make the service call. I guess we should just be glad the light is working again.

Along those same lines I finally (since June) got credit against my insurance deductible for my c-pap machine which is used to treat my sleep apnea. First the insurance company could not find me in the system. I resubmitted all the paperwork and eventually they had to admit I existed, but they denied the claim citing the need for more information.  After another round of phone calls the company grudgingly admitted some of the expenses but not the cleaning supplies; those were classed as “comfort and convenience items” and my claim for those expenses was denied. (They also asked how much would it have cost to rent the machine? Really?) Oh well…I received credit for a partial claim; that’s the best I can hope for. The money applied toward my deductible and at least I gained a moral victory in the end. Those insurance companies are definitely run by Ferengi.

That about brings me up-to-date for this week. Next time I may have some yard decoration photos so share. Oh, and I did get the snow blade and wheel weights on the John Deere garden tractor since my last post, just in case anyone is paying attention!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Kiddo Update: Toby called to say he’s picked up another part-time job (in addition to his waiter gig) in South Bend.  Felicity arrives back in the USA December 1st.

House Hunt Update:  Zero progress.  Information regarding a water supply line to that house in Cedaredge (mentioned last post) resulted in news we would have to pay for the line to go under a state highway to reach that location.  Nope.

Happy Trails.

Thanksgiving is next Thursday and Pam and I will have a few days off. We’re looking forward to the break even though we have little planned for the holiday.

Normally Pam puts a roast in the crock pot but our pot died earlier this year; the ceramic pot broke. Pam ordered a new pot but it is back-ordered so we may not have it by Thanksgiving this year. Oh well…on to Plan B for preparing Thanksgiving dinner (whatever that may be…).

As for the past week since my last post, there are a few points of interest. We had our first snow of the season, very light, but nighttime temps have now been below freezing for several days and it looks like that trend will continue. Winter is arriving here and has already arrived in the high country; several mountain towns report a foot of snow or more fell during this last storm. Time for me to take the mower deck off the John Deere garden tractor and put on the snow blade, wheel weights, and chains. That is my task for today.

I’ve sold my snowmobile; the guy is supposed to be by later today and pick it up. I had really enjoyed riding for several years but have done little riding over the last couple of years so it’s better to move the sled along rather than keep it stored behind the house. The proceeds will go toward a brush chipper which will aid in cleaning The Lot up at Sanderling.

I get out with the ATV fairly frequently, which somewhat offsets selling the snowmobile. Last month I joined the Western Slope ATV Association and attended my first club ride yesterday. (Here is a link to the Club web site.) The ride was based out of De Beque, convenient for me! We went into some of the new space I had mentioned in my last post. While the scenery is not all that great I did see an eagle (photo did not turn out well) and passed a few year-round springs I didn’t know were in the area.

The group ride also passed an old homestead site, interesting in that the cabin was made mostly out of stone.

Stone cabin homestead, Wild Horse Mesa

Not only the material, but the construction is unusual for this part of the country. The walls are double; an outside wall and an inside wall with the gap filled with rubble. This is old country construction that I have not seen in western Colorado. Would be interesting to know the history of this place! Just to the right of the photo there is a small stream that appears to run year-round; this supplied water. Best guess is that sheep were run in the area which contains a lot of high plains grass. Cattle may have been run in the area but the consensus was more to sheep than cattle.

Here is a photo of a couple of us who made the ride. This was taken on a branch off the main trail, that goes up a sand – covered hill (my “sand dune”) and emerges at the top of a rock formation.

Two riders plus Sophia the dog

Keith is in the middle of the photo while Steve, with Keith’s dog Sophia, is at the left. Sophia rides with Keith on some ATV trips.

From this vantage point you can see the “De Beque Arch”, a hole in one of the local sandstone rocks.

The De Beque Arch

De Beque is a very small town and this is a very small arch.

The ride was fairly long, almost 60 miles, and did not require 4-wheel drive during any part but there were a couple of places where low range came in handy. The snow we encounterd made the main route muddy so we detoured onto less-used trails that were more grassy and traversed more rock shelves. This approach worked out well and gave us a variety of terrain to ride through. It was a nice way to spend several hours this past Saturday morning.

When I returned home Pam was outside with the dogs doing some leaf raking to tidy the last bits of the yard, so I pitched in until that job was finished. A final batch of leaves was used as mulch for the tree peony and various columbine plants. Anything left over was mulched and taken to my dumping area. By the time we finished the sun was setting and it was time to call it a day. As usual it was a busy Saturday, with lots of outside time and activity.

A comment on the house hunt: It’s been a week of doing some background checking on the house we thought might be a possibility (I mentioned this house in my last post). One concern is the cistern; I looked into the possibility of getting city water (Cedaredge) into the place. Turns out that’s not an option, and even if it was the total cost to connect to city water lines would be over $16,000.00. There is another water supplier in the area, the City of Orchard Mesa, and they are doing some research to see if they could connect to that parcel. I hope to hear back from them next week. Water in Colorado is always an issue. If domestic water to that location in Cedaredge is that expensive (a well would also be around $10 – $12K) then this house is out of the running (even though we are attracted to the lot and stream). Watch this space.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I had an adventure in pet care this week when I removed Blondie’s stitches.  After all these years of cats and dogs, I’ve never done stitch removal before.  Luckily it went well; Blondie was very patient with me.  I don’t do needles/injections either, although as my pets age who knows but that might be an activity I need to add to my skill set.

Our house hunt financing window may be closing.  The Federal Reserve meets in December, when home mortgage rates are predicted to go higher.  With the new administration due to hit D.C. in January, investments are volatile, which will impact one of the funds we plan to use for the down payment.  I kinda figured we should’ve had an offer in play by election day this month, and it isn’t as if we haven’t been looking continually.  Figures.

Happy Trials.

My comments this time are going to cover a range of topics, including the weather, Fall chores, the election, ATV rides, and our house hunt.

Weather:
I must say that Colorado’s October weather, and so far November, has been excellent. Although a few mornings have seen frost on some surfaces, the daytime temps have been in the 60s with no snow so far. This has made our weekends very pleasant. The soil is getting pretty dry, though, and could use some moisture.

Fall chores:
The leaf season is nearly over; what remains are a few straggling leaves that persist in clinging to their branches. While there may be another weekend or two requiring some raking, the bulk of the season is completed. This is OK with me; while I enjoy outside work, raking leaves gets a little boring after a while. Fortunately I have the leaf vac/mulcher (which got a new catch bag this year) that helps the cleaning process a great deal.

The Election:

Kind-of sums up our attitude.

ATV rides:

The weather has been so pleasant that I have been able to get in a few more local ATV rides. Nothing special; I ride west out of De Beque into the Wild Horse Mesa area. However, on my last ride I found a gated trail, previously locked, is now open for public use. Apparently the Forest Service came to an agreement with a private landowner to allow access across a small portion (.1 mile) of the landowner’s property. This agreement  opens a huge area for future riding and exploration.

On my last trip I took these photos:

Moon rise over a promontory

De Beque Canyon / Colorado River overlook

As long as the weather remains fairly warm I’ll keep riding.

House Hunt:

Last weekend we did a drive-by of several houses in the Cedaredge area. Of the 4 we looked at, one may have possibilities. Located on 3+ acres and with a stream going through, the lot is appealing. The house is a two-story plus basement, which means steps, but it does have bedrooms and a bath on the main floor. Drawbacks: coal boiler for the hot water heating system, a cistern for water, and no garage. (There is a pad poured for a garage or shed.)  For us, the water is the biggest issue; we would have to put in a well or see if city water was available as an option. The coal boiler would have to be replaced with a natural gas or propane boiler. Eventually a garage or carport would be needed. Right now we are waiting for our realtor to get us a plat map of the property. If we find another house or two in Cedaredge with possibilities, we’ll arrange to see the inside of this one too. No rush.

Kizer Creek home

Footbridge over Kizer Creek

Jerry checks out deck

While the creek is not large it produces a lovely sound of water falling over rocks. The property itself is the biggest draw of this place; it remains to be seen if the inside would be suitable for us, now and into the future.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Blondie’s surgery on Election Day went well — not a cancerous lump, although a fairly large mass was removed, and a steady recovery.  Now the oldest cat, London, is ailing.  A trip to the vet next week for him may need to be scheduled.  Our animals are in the process of “aging out.”  It makes me sad.

New house hunt areas to research include the Dolores area outside of Cortez, CO and Cascade/Green Mountain Falls outside of Colorado Springs.  The retirement house hunt has lasted a year already; good thing we started early.

Happy Trails.

Little of note has passed this past week. I have been working my typical Fall chores which consists mostly of raking leaves and a bit of yard work. Among other small tasks I moved the RV trailer over to our neighbor’s yard, where we have been able to park it for the last few winters. Other than that the week has been pretty quiet.

So…here are a few off-beat topics.

Bagger kit on JD tractor

The bagger kit (grass catcher) was my birthday present back in August. Designed for a different model tractor, I adapted the used kit to my rig. It works pretty well and speeds up lawn mowing. Previously I did not use the tractor on the lawn, as the dogs tracked the resulting grass clippings into the house; with the catcher in place this is no longer an issue.

I added a new gallery to my Galleries page; the Photo Wall gallery is a collection of some of my favorite photos. The Galleries page has been modified a bit to make it look a little better; headings centered and icons re-arranged a bit for better viewing.

Along those same lines I added the Easter 2016 e-card (electronic card) to my E-Card page. While I had included this card in a previous post I had neglected to add it to the page.  I’ll continue to tweak various web pages over the winter months to freshen them up a bit.

Rebuilt banker’s lamp

This banker’s lamp had been in our garage attic for over a decade before Pam encouraged me to get it out and repair it so she could use it when working at home. A new lamp holder and bulbs were procured and installed; the lamp now sees almost daily use. This is just another example of smaller projects that are getting attention these days.

At the office, my assistant of 3 years has taken a job with Amazon; he will be moving his family to Seattle to begin his new job. While I wish him the best, this development means I will be without an an assistant for a while — any new hire will require a great deal of training. This complicates my future for the next several months or longer; I am not looking forward to it. Just me and 145 fellow employees in four locations that need 24/7 computer support.

Later today we will be going on a house hunt drive-by; Pam has identified 4 potential homes, all in the Cedaredge area, that warrant taking a first look.

By my next post the elections will be over and we will have a new president-elect. Can’t wait for this cycle to be over, but then comes the aftermath — which may be just as bad as the election itself. I think our Founding Fathers would cringe and be ashamed at how the democratic process has degenerated into the mess we have today. For the record, I have long held that gerrymandering election districts – done by both parties – is the root cause of this degradation. (Gerrymandering is the formation of voting districts that specifically advantage one political party over another.) This practice has resulted in the gridlock of the political system that we have today. If we are to fix our system – which is broken – we will need to start with de-gerrymandering our states.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The groomer found a lump on Blondie this week; she is scheduled for lump removal on Election Day.  I always worry when my pets require operations, as it is one of my least favorite parts of having companion animals.

Time to pull out the Christmas music and see what I can play on the ukulele.  The uke is keyed the same as a guitar, so I am trying to see what songs in the guitar books I can play on the uke.  It’s a mental exercise – the chords are fingered differently between the two instruments.  I can almost feel my mind working through the conversions.

Tenor Ukulele

Happy Trails.