Month: July 2017

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted, so here are a few of the things that have happened in the interim.

My mother is in a nursing care home at the moment; it remains to be seen if this is a temporary or permanent situation. Mom appears to be OK with this; the food is good, they make her exercise, and she can talk to the other residents for some social interaction. We are playing this on an almost day-by-day basis to see what happens next.

We let Rambler, the feral mom cat, go today. She had her spay operation this last week and it was time to return her to the outside world. I’m sure that, just like other cats in the same situation, Rambler will stay around the house where there is food, water, and shelter (the garage) available.

Rambler’s kittens had their first set of shots and will soon get a larger run in the cat room. They are socializing well and are very cute at this age. Kitten spay/neuter operations are scheduled for mid-August; after a few post-op days at home recuperating, they will be off to the shelter for adoption.

In my last post I mentioned another feral kitten, Devon, that we had captured due to injury and taken to the vet. Although hoping for the best, considering her injuries (leg lacerations), Devon began to fail and had to be euthanized. Can’t win them all, but I felt bad for this particular kitten. At least her last days were spent in clean and caring surroundings.

I did get to The Lot last weekend and managed to get in more clean-up work. I am starting to work in the higher areas of The Lot which has caused me to change tactics a bit. For example, there is less room for the trailer so I have started using the 2-wheel cart to haul logs. A set of side stakes makes this possible:

Hauling logs on the 2-wheel cart

The second load of wood has been cut and is waiting for our friend Kathy to swing by with her truck and take the wood home. This was a good-size load, about 2/3 of a cord by my measurements.

Second batch of firewood for 2017

Another three loads like this and Kathy will have all the wood she needs to get through the winter. Most likely we will bring home the bulk of the wood in September when the temps drop a little.

Walking around The Lot, I came on this stump. Patterns in wood always attract me so I took a photo of it.

Pine stump #1

We have had a spell of rainy weather; the moisture is greatly appreciated and the lawns have “greened up” again. Temperatures have dropped into the upper 80’s and lower 90’s, better than the 100+ days we had been experiencing. It is a welcome change. (Except for the humidity.)

This weekend is a stay-at-home as thunderstorms are forecast for The Lot and there are other chores and projects to work on around the house. I need one of these weekends from time to time; driving 400 miles every weekend to get to The Lot and back plus the normal work schedule requires a weekend of down time now and then.

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

Pam’s Penny’s Worth:

I hate the high desert in July/August.

Happy Trails.

Quite a few items to report this time: Motorcycle rally, kitten news, family news, and general updates. Last weekend (July 14 – 17) our motorcycle group held a rally in Kremmling, Co. Kremmling is near the west entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and via Grand Lake.

Our group consisted of 16 riders and a couple who came up in their Toyota to visit. Weather was warm (of course!) but the riding was very good and the socializing was excellent. I had met 14 of the 16 riders at previous rallies; it is always good to see friends again and the new attendees were welcome as well.

Below are a few photos. I will put together a gallery page later that is more complete and will contain photos from some of the other participants.

Kremmling entrance sign

Socializing at campground

Burgers on the grill. Spatula is a pair of pliers and an electrical junction box cover.

A stop at the Forest Canyon overlook off Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. (I am 3rd from right.) Photo: S. Hanson

I put on just under 1,000 miles this trip and it was a good way to spend the weekend; riding  and visiting with friends.  I enjoyed the outing very much.

Turning to family news, my mother had an episode that put her in the hospital. She is now in a care facility recuperating from a loss of blood compounded by taking an aspirin-based pain reliever on top of the blood thinner meds she is on; aspirin also acts as a blood thinner and taking the two together is not a good idea! It has yet to be determined if she will be able to return home after her care is completed. At 88 years old it is getting difficult for her to keep up her own house and independent lifestyle. We will learn more in the next few weeks as her treatment continues.

We have sort-of acquired another feral kitten; Devon was found beneath our back deck in pretty bad shape and is currently at the vet. Problem is leg damage; she had an exposed bone and several sores on her legs and may yet lose a foot although the vet is trying to save it. We don’t even have a photo of her at this point but the vet says she is doing well, particularly over the last 24 hours. Devon is now walking (although wobbly), eating, and eliminating and seems to be getting quite comfortable with humans thanks to a volunteer worker who is working to socialize her. We hope for the best.

In general news, both of us get new glasses later today. Expensive but it had been several years since the last pair(s) so it was time. Firewood cutting continues some evenings and we are about half-way though the current load of logs brought home from the last lot visit. Heat has been an issue; we work for an hour or so then clean up for the evening. This is not a critical task but I would like to have the trailer empty for the next trip to The Lot.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Having Fields out of the house for a long weekend was my vacation too.

Happy Trails.

Felicity flew to Denver from the East Coast on Thursday, July 6. A college friend drove her to Morrison (west of the city) from Denver International Airport, where I met them, and then she and I were off to The Lot for the evening.

The morning of the 7th found Felicity helping me chip brush. A clip (1:24) of this activity was recorded for posterity:

[cincopa AAJAFAeWbdGK]

The chipping took up some of the morning. Other chores, including getting a load of wood ready to bring home, took up additional time. Early that afternoon we headed home to De Beque.

Felicity spent Saturday just kicking back, reading, and doing laundry. Pam prepared a delicious dinner of [crock pot] roast beef and fresh corn on the cob, a good ending to the day.

Here is a family photo taken to document the visit:

Felicity with her parents Pam and Jerry

On Sunday, July 9th, I took Felicity to the Grand Junction Amtrak station where she boarded the California Zephyr headed for Denver. (I’ll be interested in getting her report of that trip!) In Denver she will make her way from the Amtrak station to DIA to board her flight back to Portland, Oregon, and home. After almost 4 weeks on the road Felicity is looking forward to getting back to her own place. It was timely to have Felicity in Colorado for a while to catch up with her news and events.

Felicity’s visit was not the only activity I enjoyed the last few days; I took an ATV trip into the Lead King Basin.

I’ve done this route a couple times before, always a favorite of mine as it combines rivers, waterfalls, mining history, flowers, and excellent scenery into a single trip. Below is a 5:40 clip — but it is a little different for me as it combines still photos with video footage.

[cincopa A4AADAuIgxY8]

This upcoming weekend I will be off to a motorcycle rally that is being held in Kremmling, Colorado. So far there are about 16 people who have made reservations; it should be a good group. My next post may be a bit later than average!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

(Who are those old people leering out of the photo with Felicity?)

Felicity helped socialize the kittens during her stay, an activity that will greatly aid those little furballs as they move forward toward adoption. She begins the European portion of her year later this month; I generally track Felicity’s whereabouts when she’s abroad, so those details are of particular interest to me. Plenty of information was exchanged this visit!

Happy Trails.

On my drive home from work on Monday evening, July 3rd, I saw a plume of smoke rising up ahead. Forest fire, I thought, and I was correct.

Just south of the town of New Castle, off County Road 335, a fire was moving up toward the top of a ridge. I stopped the car and took a couple photos with my camera; this is the best of that bunch.

Hogback Ridge fire near New Castle, Co

I decided to take a bit of footage with my iPhone 6+ even though I was parked on the shoulder of I-70. Cars going past me are visible in this 2-minute clip:

[cincopa A0LAqAeVNZ1X]

As of this morning, July 4th, the fire has been contained with the aid of air drops of fire retardant and water dropped from helicopters. The fire burned about 120 acres of land.

Due to record (or near-record) heat and low humidity, the countryside is very dry. Most western counties have fire bans in effect; no open burning of any kind is permitted. The cause of this burn is not yet known but given the closeness to a county road it is highly likely human-caused.

In not so dramatic news, I was at The Lot last weekend and cleared part of Homestead Acre, creating a large pile of brush to be chipped and a pile of logs to bring home and cut into firewood. I walked the border of the property and located all the corner markers, weed-wacked the driveway, filled the water tank to the top, and did some other cleaning around The Box. An afternoon thunderstorm on Sunday cut my work day a bit short  — but getting any rain is worth the interruption.

I did take some time off on Saturday from projects in the woods to attend the Elk Horn Ranch homeowner’s picnic, the first time I had attended this annual event in the five years we’ve owned The Lot. I met the association’s current president and talked with other home and lot owners while chowing down on hamburgers, fresh fruit, and other picnic items. It was a very relaxing break from working on The Lot.

This upcoming week will again be busy, as daughter Felicity is flying in to Denver and stopping in Colorado for a couple days (on the way back to her Pacific Northwest home). Felicity decided to take a vacation trip to Washington, DC and other East Coast cities during the last weeks of June. Her Colorado stop is something of a layover between both coasts. She will arrive on the 6th and hit the road again on the 9th (a brief but welcome visit).

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Rambler’s kittens are now 7 weeks old.  I’ve started taking them out of their mother’s pen during the day so they can drink water and munch on dry kitten kibble in a separate enclosure.  Rambler is a bit of a bitch, and reaching in to grab the kittens is a “careful” process. The kittens are not feral exactly, but they’re not people-friendly either.  Socialization will be interesting with that group. The sooner they are weaned and away from mom, the more successful socialization will be.

Happy Trails.