Author: admin (Page 52 of 66)

The Wisconsin Badger men’s basketball team made it to the final 4 but lost to Kentucky last night by 1 point. For all our Badger friends we would like to say it was a good season in spite of this loss.

Birds are building a nest in our Cottonwood tree again. I saw one of the pair flying into the hole while carrying a feather to line the nest. The cats in the house can see these birds from the front window and it provides quite a source of entertainment for them.

I mowed part of the lawn yesterday. Mostly this area grows weeds rather than grass and is used as parking space for the Ford 8N, the aluminum trailer, and the ’76 Scout. I retrieved the Toro mower from the storage shed, did spring maintenance on it, and fired it up. It was nice to smell fresh-cut greenery again, even though this heralds the start of  Summer maintenance chores.

The solar panels for the RV (The Box) have arrived and will be installed on the next trip to the lot. I also ordered a carrying/storage case for the chain saw as hauling it around inside a garbage bag was getting old. We are getting “real uptown” now. 🙂

Pam has added a couple plaques to our walls. I like this one in particular.  Since I was born in the mountains Pam says the first part of the sentence is for her and  the second part is for me:

Our friends Mary and Jeff are traveling in Great Britain right now and we hope they are having a great time.

Daughter Felicity is planning a working vacation trip to Wales, starting in April. Given that most of her work is done via computer, she’s not restricted to any one geographic area to make a living. Certainly a change from my generation.

Just for hoots (like, when we win the lottery) we have been looking at real estate listings in Sooke, British Columbia. (Water and mountain views.) One million can get you a very nice house overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. “Sweet dreams are made of these…”  Hey, we’d have plenty of room for visitors!

Strait of Juan de Fuca from dream house. Pam loves the water views. Jerry has mountain views. (Realtor photo.)

On the “we are getting old” front, we watched a special the other night about the Beach Boys who are celebrating their 50th anniversary as a rock-n-roll group. We are still hoping for the “…fun, fun, fun..” to come along.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Big news in little De Beque – the town voted to allow marijuana sales in town, the first town in the county to approve retail pot sales.  Great.  We have a cop-for-hire police force and unsophisticated town government.  This should be a fiasco.  And, De Beque is on the Fall 2014 state ballot to allow gambling in town.  Is it too much to ask that this  might actually increase our property values so we can move out of this dump?  Not likely.

Happy Trails.

Yesterday (March 29) I scheduled a high country drive to visit our lot at Sanderling Court. I wanted to see how much snow was left and use that as a gauge to determine when we could get started on the driveway extension project.

Quite a bit of snow has melted since my last visit but there is still more on the ground compared to last year at this time. Given the conditions I found I think we can plan to start the driveway work during the last week of April.

Drive extension will go along this hillside about half-way up the slope.

The saddle still had a significant amount of snow and it is deeper than it looks.

End of March snow in the saddle.

The winter view across South Park was quite nice.

Late winter view across South Park from Pavilion Point

The most noticeable sign of Spring was the livestock released into our open range.  What are they finding to eat this time of year?

Cattle on Link Road near our lot.

It was a very pleasant visit overall and I was glad to see the snow retreating. Now we can start making definite plans and schedules for late April.

In about-the-house news, last week I took up a maintenance  job I had not done before: replacing the filter elements in the swamp cooler. Supposedly this should be done annually or semiannually but I had not changed the filters in the 8 years we have been here. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Basically one must remove the filter holders, remove the old filters, and install the new ones. Shouldn’t be such a job.  Right.

I couldn’t find filters in the size our unit takes. The filter material is shaved aspen held together by a fine nylon netting. I found filters the correct width and had to cut them to length.

Given the amount of time since the last maintenance, I had to scrape and wire bush the holders to clean them (no surprise).  Not fun, but I used my shop vac to help clean up the debris. Here’s a photo of one frame being cleaned:

Cleaning the swamp cooler filter holders

Once the old filter was removed and the frame was clean, I installed the new filter material. Repeat 3 more times for the other 3 holders. By #4 I was getting pretty good at it.

Installing new filter material

Installing the filter material holders in the filter frame

I hope it will be months before we need to use the swamp cooler and with this maintenance it should be ready for Summer cooling season.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

At about the same time our storage shed is being built in Colorado Springs for our mountain property, my brother Craig and his wife Dianne are having their storage shed built in Bloomer, Wisconsin for their lake property.  Interesting  —  both my brother and I are at approximately the same stage in life where second home property projects occupy our time (and money).  Where our interests differ is Craig and Dianne have two married children and four grandchildren.  We have zero married children and zero grandchildren.  Each is as it should be.

Happy Trails.

The truth be told, it was a quiet week. Spring arrived with more moderate temperatures, around the home front there was not a lot going on. But…here is an update on a few of our projects.

We ordered our 10×12 shed this week from Sunset Buildings in Colorado Springs. While ours will not have the windows pictured below and will be painted tan, here is a manufacturer’s photo of the shed:

Our King model shed. (Mfg. photo.)

As noted before, this is a top-of-the-line shed and we hope it will last a long, long time. Sunset will hold it for us until we get the driveway extended to the saddle where  we want the shed to sit. Our unit will have a wider (5-foot) door to facilitate getting equipment in and out.

In other “lot” news, a local lumber yard – Sutherlands – had their annual spring sale featuring 15% off all purchases. We had taken advantage of this last year to buy railroad ties, pavers, and gates for the lot. This time around we bought fencing, personal gates, more pavers, and various odds and ends to be used on improving the Sanderling property. The fencing and gates are for a semi-permanent dog run (hopefully good for several years); Pam wants containment so the dogs have a secure place to move around [dig!] while we work. We bought enough fencing to build a (roughly) 40×20 dog run. It will take us a full day or better to get this built.  We will likely relocate the dog run in the future, once house plans start to take shape.

Stuff (mostly dog run) for The Lot

We will store the stuff in the aluminum trailer (under a tarp) until we can get it up to the mountains.

I ordered a solar panel kit (80 watts) from Northern Tool to help supplement the solar panels installed on the roof of the RV.

Solar panels for the RV. (Mfg photo.)

I plan to re-mount the 3 existing panels (total of 60 watts) as well to improve their performance, giving us more charging capacity. I hope to leave the generator home this year, at least until the shed is in place and I need more electrical power for various tools. I would have waited on this purchase but it came up on sale so I went ahead with the order.

We are going to have a bunch of “stuff” to take to the lot once the snow has melted and we can begin working on our various projects. This will still be a while; although daytime temps at 9,000 feet are above freezing, night time temps are still in the teens and twenties. The snow will not totally disappear up there this month. I hope to get over to the lot next weekend and check things out.

So, other than ordering “stuff” and going to the sale, it was a quiet week. We had some rain here but higher elevations received snow. Powderhorn Ski Area, which we can see from our back deck,  picked up 6 inches of new snow out of the same storm. The mountains around here are at about 127 percent of normal snow  (aka: snow pack) for this time of the year. Daytime temps are in the upper 50s – low 60s but it is still below freezing at night. Not yet time to break out the lawn mower. 🙂

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Happy trails to you, until we meet again

Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ on till then

Who cares about the clouds when we’re together

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather

Happy trails to you, till we meet again.

I guess Roy Rogers and Dale Evans had an actual “club” on TV back in the day, it stretches the beginnings of my memory to recall much more than Trigger (Roy’s horse).  I do remember the two of them singing the Happy Trails song in two-part harmony.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. (Studio photo.)

Happy Trails.

Every place needs some art. Art to this point, for us, has consisted of  framed photos hung around the place. We’ve never invested in other types of non-photo art. Enter Bali, their artisans, and metal wall art. We decided to get this one for Valentines Day:

Wall art from Bali

Size is deceiving; the piece is about 52 inches high by 26 inches wide. It depicts a waterfall dropping off a high mountain cliff. We ordered it on-line around Valentines Day but waited a month to receive it, as the importing company delays order fulfillment until they have a full container to be shipped from Indonesia. We’ve looked at this type of thing for many years, amazingly enough the metal sculpture we ended up with is quite attractive, sturdy, and an interesting addition to the room upgrades Pam has been working on all Winter.

Small flowers are beginning to appear on our lawn. I have not taken the time to identify them but they do add a splash of yellow and purple to the wilder parts of the lawn:

Yellow flowers appearing on the lawn

Purple flowers blooming this spring

There was snow on the wind yesterday, though, and night time temps are still in the mid to upper 20’s, so Winter hangs on, even at our elevation.

We are getting ready to order a 10′ x 12′ shed to put on the Sanderling lot. A Colorado Springs company, Sunset Buildings, has a sale going through the end of March and we have decided to take advantage of sale prices. The unit we’re purchasing is a high-end mini-barn with trim and eaves. Not the cheapest at around $4k [including delivery and taxes] but we need it to “last until we die” so we’re looking at a high-end structure. Plus, delivery from anywhere to 9,000 feet has to be taken into consideration.  I requested a loft space upgrade, as well as upgrading  to a 5-foot wide door instead of the standard 4-foot door to make getting equipment (such as the ATV) in and out easier.  The company will hold the unit until we can get the driveway extended up to the saddle (where we want the storage building to sit).

Purchasing a shed would check off one of my four goals for the summer (the driveway extension is a primary goal) — the other two being the installation of a septic system and drilling a well. (Well would have to come first according to Park County rules.) This is an ambitious plan but it’s nice to dream. Of course there’s always lot clean-up to fill our high country days.

Next year’s goals would be to put in an off-grid electrical system, get a large propane tank on the property, and finish the lot clean-up in the immediate building area. After that we could start house planning in earnest.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Goals – all it takes is money.  And lots of it.  Forget expenses in hundreds of dollars, try thousands.

Happy Trails.

I had mentioned, a few posts back, that I would not be out snowmobiling this year. I am, however, still on our club’s e-mail list. When I received a note that Arctic Cat would be hosting a spring demo event featuring their 2015 models I signed up for a 12:00 noon ride.

Arctic Cat and Yamaha are the two major players in this area that put on these demo sessions every few years. It is a good time to see (and ride) the factory-fresh models. This years’ demo was held at a lodge overlooking Vega Reservoir, part of Vega State Park, about an hour drive for me.

I am not in the market for a new sled but thought I would get out for at least one ride this season. In addition the demo rides were to be lead by Amber Holt who is well-known through the snowmobile industry as a premier back-country rider and instructor. Amber’s web page is  http://www.backcountrybasics.com and she offers classes to individuals and groups with the aim of improving rider skills.

I arrived a bit early and found the rides were running a few minutes behind schedule. That was OK as it gave me a chance to talk to the AC folks about their new sleds, and particularly the models that are using a Yamaha engine. From these discussions I decided to demo ride a M 7000 Sno Pro. This upper-end unit (not top of the line) is designed for a combination of on and off-trail riding. It features a fuel-injected, 135 hp,  Yamaha 3 cylinder 4-stroke engine.

Jerry on his demo-ride Arctic Cat (Photo by A. Holt)

The day was perfect, almost too warm as the snow was fairly packy. Due to some participants changing their ride times there was only myself and one other rider, along with the ride leader, on this particular run. (Each outing was scheduled to last about 2 hours.) This gave us some flexibility to ride to more remote  destinations that a larger group may not have visited. After a dealer-provided lunch of Sloppy Joes and home-made cookies we headed out.

It was good to be out on the trail again. After a 15 minute trail ride we arrived at a large meadow area with some interesting side trails to explore. Given the small size of this group I approached  Amber and asked if she could give me some tips on improving my cornering technique, allowing me to “carve” a corner instead of going around “flat.” She agreed to do so, and for the next half-hour she demonstrated her advanced cornering techniques. While I sort-of got the hang of it, trying to implement these tips on a new and unfamiliar sled proved difficult and I am a long way from being proficient. Still, it was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit.

After the training and playing in the snow for a couple hours we headed back to the staging area. I filled out a survey giving my impressions of the sled I rode, headed back to my truck, and drove home. It had been a very good day. I may have to renew my snowmobile registration for next winter.

Changing the subject, in a previous post I mentioned the “snow line” we often see as we commute to work. This is the point at which snow turns to rain. Here is a photo, taken near De Beque,  showing a snow line on  the Roan Plateau:

Snow LIne on Roan Plateau

It was raining in De Beque and snowing on the upper portions and top of the Roan. (Photo was taken on my way to work this past Friday.) It happens quite often that the weather conditions at home area quite different  than conditions at work due to the 700 – 800 feet change in elevation. We have acclimatized to these changes, they are now normal for us, but these elevation changes are not common to most of our friends and family. This is just one of the differences that characterize living in Colorado from living in the Midwest.

The last of the ice has disappeared from our lawn. Grass is greening up. Today we will take the mulch off the flower beds and rake up some leaves that hit the ground after last fall’s final raking. I guess Spring is really here even though it is still below freezing at night.

Taking mulch out of the front flower bed.( Photo by P. Fields.)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

While Spring may be “here” in the  high desert, it has not arrived in the high country.  We’re discussing when we can return food items, cosmetics, water etc. to The Box up at Sanderling without being concerned liquids will freeze in overnight temps when we’re not up there.  We can’t move forward on machine rental for the driveway extension until such time as it’s feasible for us to RV overnight.  Maybe late April is a target date this year?

Happy Trails.

Today we are enjoying (?) intermittent rain showers. Iris plants are poking up through the remaining snow and mulch. Birds are flying in and out of the hole in the Cottonwood tree. Snow is gone from the roof and nearly gone from the yard. (A layer of ice persists in the most shaded areas.) Grassy areas are turning green.

It looks like Spring is here. However, looks are deceptive. The high country is getting hit with snow and as we commute to and from work we can see the snow line [on the bluffs of the Mamm Range and Roan Plateau] only a few hundred feet higher in elevation than De Beque. This morning the deck was slick from the below-freezing temperatures we had last night. So, while we are enjoying the Spring-like conditions (forecast high for Thursday is 60 degrees), we know Winter isn’t over yet. The only question is when will we get hit again?

Yesterday (Saturday) was nice enough that I moved the cars and several of my toys out of the garage and did some cleaning. I swept and shop-vac’d dirt, old leaves, cat hair, and other assorted stuff along the edges of the garage and under the counters. This time was not a full Spring cleaning, but it was good to get the Winter’s accumulation of dirt cleaned out.

In other news, our good friends Hank and Elinor, who live in Casa Grande, Arizona, celebrated birthdays in the last couple weeks. Eli is in her early 90’s and Hank is in his late 80’s. They’ve been good friends since we bought our first house in Colorado in ’79 or so — they were the closest neighbors. Our kids’ middle names come from this couple. We hope Eli and Hank are around for many more years.

Since we don’t live particularly glamorous lives, there is not a lot of other news to comment on. This week we went through only 23.1 gallons of gasoline plus a couple gallons more for the ATV, one of the lower totals for an average week. This translates into about $90.00 for fuel; any time we are under $100.00 for the week we think we are doing pretty well. Regular gasoline is selling for about $3.60 per gallon at our usual station.

We have penciled out a couple of additional house plan ideas for Sanderling, but really need to get to the lot and pace off some distances to get a good feel for where a cabin will sit, measure the grade of the slope involved, and consider other factors (well and septic placement) that would affect the design of a place. Lately our rough ideas are for a 32 x 40 house-over-garage arrangement, but that is subject to change!  The Solargon and cabin from an earlier post are in the running too.

Although lot clean-up and projects ( driveway extension, well, tool shed) will take up most  of our spare time this Summer, we’re going to try to take a few trips and travel a bit more than we have in recent years. All this takes planning and a budget, which at this point includes putting a few charges on our (mostly) paid off credit cards. If we waited until we could pay everything in cash we would never go anywhere, so this may be the year we tap into that reserve.

The latest shower has passed over for now, so this is a good ending point for this post.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Of all the moving we’ve done in almost 40 years together ( 20+ addresses), keeping in touch with some of the friends we’ve made along the way is “the best.”

Happy Trails.

This week’s post will consist of a little of this and a little of that. No major theme.

Local weather has warmed into the mid 50 degree range the last few days, above our normal highs by 10 – 12 degrees. Snow on our lawn is almost gone except for a few piles that are in the shade all day. Robins have returned and we see some birds flying in and out of the nesting hole in the cottonwood tree in the front yard. Pam says she saw a couple of iris shoots coming up through the leaf mulch. Is spring really near?

I took the ATV out for a ride today. There’s still a lot of snow in elevations just a few hundred feet higher than De Beque. Chance of snow is in the Thursday night forecast with undoubtedly a lot of winter left, but it was very nice to get out today.

Yesterday I did some scraping of old paint on the back deck and repainted until I ran out of paint. Deck looks better from the road as I did get most of the front-facing wood covered. Also was able to hook up the hose and wash the Honda by hand, have not been able to do that for months. Even fired up the 8N Ford and ran it around the block. Pam opened the kitchen window and back door for a bit and we had fresh air in the house for a while. The dandelion plants are turning green.

I mentioned in my last post that we had cats under the trailer and had plans to remove them. That project appears to have worked and we have closed up the skirting. With the reinforcements we made we hope to avoid a repeat of the tunneling problem. Pam says she has seen all the cats she thought were under the trailer out and about at the garage and back deck feeders.

Those of you who know me well know my mother has never forgiven me for moving away from Wisconsin. In her last letter she reminded me – again – how great my brother is as a son as he stops by often and does maintenance projects around the house. I liked living in Wisconsin but the mountains are my home. Apparently my happiness is not all that important in my mother’s scheme of things…

We figured out our State and Federal taxes. We knew we would get whacked this year as I started getting a retirement annuity from the State of Wisconsin in 2013 (the annuity distribution takes out Federal but not State tax) and I had cashed in a small trust fund that wasn’t taxed. As a result we owe both Federal and Colorado state taxes this year. This was not unforeseen (Pam has been putting funds aside) but it’s irritating to see the final numbers. Since we owe money we won’t actually file until early April. This gives us a couple more months to get the money together before we write the checks.

That’s about it for this past week, and there doesn’t look to be much going on in the upcoming week. Goodbye to the Olympics coverage – have been watching some of it most evenings –  although I’m not so thrilled to see all the X-Games events added to the Olympic venues. I still prefer the standards; downhill races, male/female/pairs ice skating events, and ski jumping. Half-pipe and slope-style are not my thing. I’m just a grumpy old man, I guess!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Love to see those robins.  Bless them. Time to plan the year’s getaways, now that we know our additional tax liability.  Potential trips could include: Jer’s cycle getaway in June/July (this year in central Canada, likely to include a Midwest swing), 40th Anniversary trip in August (thinking about Napa Valley, CA), possible road trip in November (to Florida?).  Plus all the travel to and from Sanderling during the summer (potential development plans there start in early spring).  Busy.

Happy Trails.

It has been warm for a change. All the snow on the roads has melted and small puddles of water dot our emerging lawn. It is a different story in the high country, though.

Yesterday (Saturday) I took the truck and drove up to our Sanderling lot to check on the trailer and check things out. Last March we were able to start putting in the driveway and we hoped to get an early start on the extension this year. It doesn’t look like that will happen this Spring!

Here is a through-the-windshield shot of me going up Red Hill Pass east of Fairplay:

Heading east up Red Hill Pass

The wind was blowing and snow was flying. I had no idea what I would find on the lot,which is about 20 miles from this point.

Elkhorn Road, the main road to the lot, was much better:

Elkhorn Road (Co Rd 15) south of Como

The gravel part of the road was mostly dry as well, but there were some muddy places. I still did not know what I would find at the lot.

I was relieved to find Sanderling Court fully plowed out. Our driveway was a different story, but after several tries (and some shoveling in the deepest snow) I made it up to the RV. Here is a shot of the driveway looking back toward Sanderling Court:

Looking back down driveway, 2-15-14.

Note the section in the middle of the photo where the undercarriage dragged. 4-wheel drive was required!

The trailer was OK, but the snow  deeper than I had anticipated. In fact there’s more snow than at any time we have visited up to this point. It looks like our hopes for beginning projects in March may be doomed as there is a lot of Winter left and more snow is certain to accumulate.

Pam asked me to bring home some of the small aspen we had set aside at Sanderling last year (we thought they might be used as posts for a dog run). Instead, the small tree trunks will now be used to reinforce the bottom edge of the skirting around the mobile, which has started to show signs of developing a few gaps. I had brought along my snowmobile boots but even so the snow, in places, was up to just below my knees. The snow melt later will be great for the alpine flowers and trees, but walking and dragging those aspen trees down to the truck was real work. 

After getting the wood in the truck I ate my lunch (it was about 46 degrees inside the RV) and took a short break before heading home. As in my previous trip I had the generator going to charge the batteries and had been on the roof to clear the snow off the solar panels. I could see a snow storm coming in over the Mosquito Range and wanted to get back on the road home before 3:00 PM.

Storm from the Mosquito Range heading for South Park

There were no real problems getting home, though the north side of Hoosier Pass was fairly slippery:

Light snow on Hoosier Pass made for slow travel

I made it home by around 7:00 PM, pretty much as I had planned. I was glad I had made the trip – it has been nearly 2 months since the last visit – and it was good to be on the lot again.

Today we tackled a problem that will need a more permanent fix later this spring. A gap in the skirting  allowed cats to get under the trailer this Winter. We removed a couple panels and reinforced the skirting base inside with some of the wood I brought from the lot. We also spread three bales of cedar shavings under the trailer after spraying a couple containers of Out pet deodorizer under the dark, grungy space. We replaced all panels but one and just outside of that panel Pam has set up one of her cat cages. The idea is to make sure all the cats are out from underneath the trailer before sealing the skirting up again. Sure hope this works!

So it was a long and busy weekend, as there were the “normal” chores of grocery shopping, a Walmart run, and getting fuel for the cars. It was warm enough to warrant taking both the truck and the Honda to a local U-Spray car wash to try to get the layers of road dirt and road grime off them. Weather outlook for the next week is seasonable but no major rain or snow predicted so the cars should stay clean for a week or two.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

No good deed goes unpunished.  Rescuing De Beque cats frequently causes problems, this time it’s the skirting needing repair after the little beasts clawed their way under.  Gr-r-r-r-r.

Happy Trails.

Well. The Super Bowl was last Sunday and the Broncos were embarrassed 43 to 8. I had predicted a Seahawk win but the margin was greater than I ever imagined.  Oh well…time to move on.

We are watching the Olympics today and rooting for US athletes when we can, but so far the US has not had a lot of success. It’s early in the games — there have been some excellent performances already.  Pam likes to watch figure skating, both the individuals and pairs. Some competitors have great style and elegance and others have fantastic jumps. It’s interesting to contrast the performances. We tend to go more for the grace and elegance rather than spectacular  jumps, particularly in the pairs events, but the singles tend to score higher with the more athletic programs.

Following are updates on topics mentioned in  previous posts.

First, Pam has completed the cushion for the glider and it turned out very well.

Pam sewed a pad for the glider.

It’s a nice feeling to sit on the glider and gently move to and fro. The padding makes it even more comfortable. I think we’ll get much use from this piece of furniture.

Second, the weather. The snow I mentioned in the last post did arrive as predicted. We didn’t get huge amounts but it snowed for about four days in a row, meaning I had to clear snow when we arrived home and again in the mornings before we left. Each time it seemed like we had 2 – 3 inches of snow to clear. Today it is well above freezing and the snow is melting but there is still a bank on the side of the road that seems melt-resistant. Night time temps, although moderating, are still well below freezing.  Snow melts during the day and freezes at night, creating  slippery conditions for driving to work.  We  are ready for spring, or at least a break between snow storms.

What else…

January is done, and the month saw hectic work schedules for us both. CMC, the community college where Pam works, has several new managers including one for the Registrar’s Office. While this manager occupies a spot a few levels higher than Pam’s position, office politics always come to the fore, something  Pam dislikes after all these working years (creating drama she would rather avoid).

As for me, one of my vendors discovered a problem in their hardware that necessitated swapping out two of my network storage units. Although we were able to make the swap in one day I can’t say it was very much fun. That is, however, life in the IT world.

Our daughter Felicity has a new job with a Canadian-based on-line marketing company named Fire Pole. Felicity is writing web page content and answering on-line questions from the client base. She’s quite good with social media, an area of expertise Felic developed while running her own small business these past years. So far the only problem encountered is Felicity has to be up and functioning for a  daily 7:00 AM staff meeting phone call (the company is in Montreal, she’s in Oregon), and Felicity is not a morning person. I guess she’ll learn to cope.

Our son Toby was disappointed at the Bronco loss but otherwise seems to be doing OK. The carpet cleaning business he works for in Indiana shut down a couple times due to bad weather, which cut his hours a bit.  He’s looking forward to spring so he can pick up his refereeing work again.

That really is about it for now. Next weekend I hope to drive into the mountains to the Sanderling lot, to check on snow conditions and make sure the trailer is OK. We also need to get started on tax preparation. Not looking forward to it; I suspect we will owe federal taxes this year.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Due to delicate sensibilities, I will not be discussing “Amateur Night at the Super Bowl.”

Happy Trails.

First, thanks for the comments. I am feeling better this week and am back to eating 3 regular meals a day. Looks like this particular health episode is over.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and the game starts at about 4:30 PM our time.  Locally this has caused quite a buzz with parties, sales, and media coverage of even the most inconsequential details of the Broncos football team. Seattle is picked to win by 3 points by many of the odds-makers, though, and that indicates it should be a close game. We will see.

Pam has been looking at house interiors for ideas. This living room, from a house for sale near Lake Tahoe, caught her eye:

Comfy living room. (Realtor photo.)

This place features stone walls, windows and open areas,  ideas we find attractive. Leather furniture is definitely not in our future, but there may be a way to replicate the feeling on a smaller scale and with other cabin furnishings. At this point we’re starting to put together things we like — we’ll eventually  try to incorporate as many of these ideas as we can into a floor plan and design for a house on the lot.

Locally, last Friday the area set a snow-fall-for-the-date record. The past record was 2.3 inches and the new one was 5.7 inches. Not a huge amount, but it was a heavy, wet snow that was difficult to shovel. I fired up the old Gilson lawn tractor and used it’s blade to clear our driveway and sidewalks, then did the same for our neighbors up and down the block.  (At which point the local “plow” came by with it’s blade to clean the streets and pushed the snow  up onto the sidewalks again.)  Yesterday and today the high temps were above freezing so some of the snow is already beginning to melt. More snow is forecast for this week, though. February and March are the biggest snow months for Colorado so I expect to be using the Gilson again in the near future.  At least the ski areas are doing a thriving business, and the snow pack in the mountains is above average, so the Spring melt should bring this area some much-needed water.  (Unlike California’s water situation.)

There really is not much going on at the moment that is noteworthy. Pam and I are very busy at our jobs as is normal for the beginning of a new year. We haven’t been out much and I have not been touring on my ATV for a while, so no trip reports to write up. It is a slow time of the year!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Jer is feeling better.  However, I’m thinkin’ a colonoscopy may be in his [near] future.

More snow on the way is depressing, but hey, it’s not getting dark till almost 5:30 p.m. —  that’s progress.  We arrive home from work in the twilight instead of full dark.

I’m going to try to work on a cushion for the glider, maybe Jer will sneak in another picture at some point.  Watch this space.

Happy trails.