Category: General (Page 27 of 61)

There are a few things to cover this time. First up, this humorous photo of a dog playing with a sprinkler inside the house caught my eye. Dog is having a great time. Good thing the floor is tile, though.

(Internet photo.)

Pam continues to do some packing. Below is her doll collection waiting to be carefully boxed:

Pam’s ceramic doll collection

The biggest problem, when we do get ready to move, is how and on what schedule to relocate the animals. That will be a real challenge, particularly the cats.

Taxes are done and sent off to be processed. We will get some money back from both Federal and State as Pam’s unemployment-to-retirement dropped us into a lower tax bracket. Refunds will be a first for us in over a decade; we’ve always had to pay at tax time, both Federal and State. I’m always glad when that task is over for the year. (Pam filled out the short form. Retirement time has its advantages.)

I-70 through Glenwood Canyon was closed for most of a day due to rockslides this past week.

Feb 2019 rockslide in Glenwood Canyon (CDOT photo.)

Both east- and westbound lanes were closed. Eastbound opened first, followed by one lane westbound after many hours of work. (View above is of the westbound lanes.) Some of the boulders had to be split with dynamite into manageable sizes. All repairs, including road surface damage, will take a few weeks. Yes, we have a few travel challenges that are unique to western Colorado!

Fuel prices have dropped, as they normally do every year at this time. We are paying around $2.10 per gallon for regular. It would be nice if prices stayed that low but, sure as spring temperatures, prices will go up in the coming weeks.

Weather has been mild with lows in the teens and twenties and highs in the upper thirties and low forties. Storms are common, though, this time of year and conditions can change rapidly. A few mornings have had traffic moving at about 25 mph instead of 65 mph through canyon areas where the sun does not hit the road until late in the day. A few more storms are forecast for the upcoming week, but mostly rain as temperatures will not fall much.

Upcoming week’s weather. (Click on image to enlarge.)

As for my weekdays, routine is the word.

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

Pam’s Penny:

I’m packing.  Exactly where and exactly when relocation occurs is still a mystery. (One thing I do know, moving expenses are no longer tax deductible.)

Happy Trails.

After a stretch of decent weather, today has turned a bit nasty. Rain mixed with snow pellets, driven by gusty winds, makes this a good day to stay inside.

I had tried to get out for my daily walk but mistimed the incoming storm and got soaked as a result. I returned home early, changed into dry clothes, and am sipping on a nice hot cup of tea as I type. At least it’s not below freezing, although colder temperatures are on the way later this week.

Both of us are [still!] recovering from colds, which seem to be hanging on much longer than normal. Hopefully the next week will see us over this bad spell. Below is a photo of Pam relaxing on the glider with London on her lap, JoJo getting a tummy rub, and Cirrus sitting on the cat post. Note Pam is holding the TV remote control. This is not Pam’s normal posture but recovering from the household cold has limited some of her energy.

Pam surrounded by pets

The Midwest house hunt continues, but online listings are down this time of year. The houses we are gravitating toward are in small towns; we’d like to find an appropriate retirement house on some acreage close to town. One with room for my toys and the dogs to run in a fenced area.

Pam has started packing our infrequently used items, such as holiday glassware. She says it gives her the feeling of forward movement toward relocating, with that much less to dust in the meantime. I picked up ten U-Haul small boxes ($1.07 each with tax) and retrieved a box of bubble pack from the garage attic to help this project along.

I raked the lawn yesterday. Leaves had blown up along the fence lines, making the place look a bit messy. Today’s wind may reverse some of the cleaning but the lawn looked good for a day! I was surprised to see the town’s compost site, where I drop off leaves and grass clippings, still being used by several residents.

The groundhog Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow which is supposed to mean an early spring. I sure hope this is the case!

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

Pam’s Penny:

Scotland weather today. Memories…

Happy Trails.

Tax and cold season has started. I missed a couple day’s work this past week due to a bad cold which, unfortunately, Pam picked up from me and is now suffering through.

For the life of me I can’t see any reason for phlegm. Or mucus. Nasty stuff!

Tax season has begun. We are starting to get various statements and tax notices (property tax) for our home and our lot. We will get a break this year on our home property tax due to a “Senior Exemption.”

Our annual property tax is around $257.00. This year our payments will be half of the normal amount:

Full-year tax bill

We don’t know how the county can afford this credit, but I had applied for it last year since I turned 66  in 2018. (Property owner has to be over 65.) While the savings of $128.00 per year will not be a windfall, it’s a psychological boost. Just think: Property taxes of $128.52 per year!

No wonder Midwest property taxes look so high to us!  This comes while Pam is house-hunting, and one of the things she checks is taxes on the various properties. Not only is our Colorado tax rate very low compared to other states, the 50% reduction is unheard of. Most of the Midwest properties Pam has viewed have tax burdens of $150.00 per month on up to several hundred dollars per month. This has to be accounted for when we calculate potential monthly payments, to determine if we can afford a specific property into retirement or not.

As a side note, property taxes on The Lot (seven acres in Park County) have gone up every year and are now approaching $100.00 per acre. Our tax bill for The Lot is considerably higher than for our home in Mesa County. This tax increase is mostly due to recent referenda passed relating to fire protection and emergency response services in Park County’s rural areas.

Income tax preparation will be a bit different this year due to Pam’s retirement in 2018. The State of Colorado offers an exemption for a portion of retirement income — plus our gross income will drop; we should be in a lower (we hope) tax bracket. We’ll have to be sharp to claim exemptions we now qualify for to minimize our tax burden. Another retirement challenge!

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

Pam’s Penny:

Temps are not below zero, at least.  Almost inevitable that when Fields has hacking coughs around our fairly-compact square footage, I will get whatever he has — no matter how much I clean door knobs, light switches, cupboard doors etc.  Murphy’s Law.

(Internet graphic.)

Happy Trails.

Our oldest dog, Blondie, is writing today’s blog. Here’s what she has to say:

Blondie, our oldest dog

Dogs that live in the Fields household have a pretty good life.

After all, our humans care for our every need. Have to get up at 3:00 a.m. to go outside? No problem — just whine until Pam wakes up and takes you out. Hungry? Breakfast in the morning, snack in the afternoon, dinner at night. Diet is a mix of dry dog food (ordered online from Chewy) and canned dog foods. Occasionally cooked green beens and sweet potatoes (fresh, of course) add some variety.

The biggest stress is deciding where to sleep. Will it be couch #1, Pam’s bed, or couch #2? Do we have to whine to “encourage” a human to move a cat so we can sleep where we want?

You see, all is not roses. Sometimes, when we’re outside, we have to bark at the door to be let back into the house (if the door concierge is slow to respond). When there is a lot of foot traffic on the sidewalk, Pam won’t let us in the front yard to bark at everything we see. Jer works, so his at-home time is limited, time he could be spending playing tug-of-war with me or petting us. Sometimes we have to howl the song of our people. <sigh>

Then there are those trips to the vet and groomer. Bru just hates them even though she looks so much better after her hair has been cut. I don’t need to get my [short] hair cut, but my nails are less saber-like after the groomer’s attention. Jo looks much sleeker after her appointments. I guess we have to tolerate medical and grooming attention.

Thinking about those summer trips to The Lot —  Jo enjoys them if she is given the freedom to run. There is enough space to let her greyhound blood let loose and she runs at top speed. Bru and I tolerate these four-hour-each-way trips.  The car offers some good sunny sleeping spots, but mostly the  benefit is getting away from those darn cats for a while.

Yep, a dog’s life in the Fields household is pretty darn good. Food, grooming, medical care, travel, a yard to run in, things to bark at, places to sleep, companionship. Now if the cats would quit sleeping in my spots…

Back to Jer to finish this post.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

After I finished painting the quilt square, I started working on what I call my “hearts” project.  My challenge was to use only sewing items I have on hand – fabric, trims, buttons, quilt batting – to make a bunch of cloth heart ornaments for a holiday tree this coming December.  I ordered an artificial tree from Balsam Hill during their off-season sale; maybe we won’t want to cut a fresh tree every year. The artificial “heart tree” could stay up until Valentines Day, if we have a house (by this December) big enough to leave it out.

Pam’s hearts project

Projects are what I do to pass the cold winter away.  That is, when I’m not the door concierge, or getting up at 3:00 a.m. for doggie potty breaks…

Happy Trails.

This weekend is Playoff Weekend for pro football. None of the teams we would routinely root for has made it this far. I watch some of the games and generally root for the underdogs but really don’t have a lot invested in the outcomes. It will be interesting to see who makes it to the Super Bowl this year.

There wasn’t much going on at the home front this past week. Some snow fell, enough for me to plow with the garden tractor, but it has since warmed up and melted all but the most stubborn patches of snow and ice where the sun hits. Shady areas are still white. There are 10% – 30% chances of flurries this upcoming week but accumulations will be (hopefully) minor. The high country has received more precipitation, welcome by skiers and good for spring water, but down here we are enjoying typically mild temperatures for this time of year — daytime highs in the low to mid 30 degree range and nights in the high teens to low twenties.

I worked on my web site and added a “Chipper” gallery with links to a couple videos. During these winter days I will be looking at updating other galleries and possibly adding a few more video clips from my library. For example, I added a link to the “Howling Dogs” clip on the Dogs page. Pam laughs at these changes, noting that most folks reading these posts are not that interested in my chipper, but – hey – it keeps me busy when I can’t get outside much.

Otherwise life is pretty routine. Pam continues to view potential retirement homes online and I have started a few projects at work. Weekends have a few minor activities – I moved the vehicles out of the garage and swept / shop-vacuumed the place – and took a 42 mile ATV ride out on Wild Horse Mesa to play in the snow for a bit. Now and then I wash the car at a U-Spray place. This is typical winter weekend stuff.  Not real exciting…

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

Pam’s Penny:

Same-o, same-o.  About a minute more daylight every day. Stay warm.

Happy Trails.

We hope everyone had a good New Year’s Day!

As has been my habit in past first-of-the-year posts, I would like to begin with a short review of 2018 before I get into recent news and events.

The biggest news of 2018 was Pam’s retirement. I can report that she does not miss the long daily commute and likes the time she has to work on projects and taking care of our pets.

The retirement house hunt continued with two trips (May and October) back to the Midwest to meet realtors and view some properties. “The One” has not appeared yet but we continue the search.

Son Toby bought a home in South Bend and was promoted to a crew supervisor position. He seems happy with this. We met with him and a few of his friends on our May trip east; his friends are a varied and friendly group. It looks like he has settled into a routine that suits him.

Daughter Felicity traveled to England and Wales in 2018. She still works for a couple of on-line companies and managed to get overseas for a bit. Travel is her thing. On return to the US she found a studio apartment in Vancouver, Washington, to use as a home base until her next adventure. She would like to get to Australia and New Zealand in 2019. We hope she can swing it.

According to Pam’s notes, we managed 20 visits to The Lot in 2018. Much was accomplished in cleaning up and salvaging firewood. We concentrated in an area we call The Aspen Grove and it is great to be able to walk this area now after the dead and down trees have been removed. Chips were spread on several of our walking paths and we hope they settle in over the winter, resulting in easy-to-walk trails next year.

I was kept busy with working at The Lot, travels back to the Midwest, and my regular job. One project, recently completed, was to redo almost all of my web site pages to move my Galleries and videos off my old hosting service onto the one that hosts this blog page.

Now onto current items.

Pam has been working  on her “barn quilt square” and it is looking pretty good:

Pam’s barn quilt square

Based on a 24″ x 24″  framed canvas foundation, the paint is acrylic.The square is hanging on our front door and can bee seen from the road. It makes for a cheery entrance.

My mother, now in a care facility, appears to be fading according to my brother Jon. Not unexpected but sad just the same. It remains unclear if she can recover enough to move back home but I suspect she will be in the care facility for some time.

I have new projects at work and plans for The Lot are being formulated; more clearing and chipping is in the works. 2019 promises to be another busy year.

As I write this it is snowing fairly hard. The forecast is for 3 – 5 inches of snow today, making this one of the heavier snow falls of the season to date. I’ll be out later shoveling the deck and ramp then firing up the John Deere and using the snow blade to clear off the driveway and sidewalks. Tomorrow it will be back to work.

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

Pam’s Penny:

Retirement.  At last.  Looking for the fun and fulfillment that eluded me in my working years.

Happy Trails.

Fourteen degrees.That was the temperature in Fairplay (Saturday) as I took a trip to The Lot to check on the RV trailer and storage shed.

It had been a couple of months since I was at The Lot, shutting down for the winter season. I thought it was a good time to check to see if mice had made their way into The Box – they have not.

Even though the temperature was cold, it was a gorgeous winter day. The sky was clear and the sunshine bright off the fresh winter snow. Below are a few photos I took during the outing.

The Box, December 29, 2018

I was surprised to be able to make it up the driveway in the car, without four wheel drive. The heavy snow months in the mountains – January and February – are still to come.

Here is a view down the drive and looking out over South Park:

A winter day in South Park

Even the higher parts of The Lot, those facing south or southwest, didn’t have a heavy blanket of snow:

South Park view again, above Pavilion Point

And, to those who received one of our Solstice cards, this view of The Nook may be a bit familiar:

The Nook in bright winter sunlight

While the air was dead calm at The Lot, a breeze was blowing light snow across Elkhorn Ranch Road a few miles away:

Light snow was in the air

It was a good day to be in the mountains and I was relieved to find zero evidence that rodents had taken up residence in The Box. After walking around The Lot a bit, and distributing some odds and ends of bread products for the chipmunks and squirrels, I jumped back in the car and headed home.

I have a few days off for  New Year’s break. Tomorrow we’ll begin to take down outdoor decorations in advance of an approaching storm. This holiday season seemed to fly by very quickly!

Have a good New Year’s Day, everyone.

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

Pam’s Penny:

My New Year’s Resolution is plain (but not-so-simple) — locate and purchase that retirement property in the Midwest.

Happy Trails.

Well. We had a bit of an “episode” that landed Pam in the ER for a few hours. She was having chest pains but attributed the discomfort to heartburn — until her right hand started to tingle. Time to get her heart checked out.

Pam’s vital signs

After a couple hours of tests and chest x-ray, the doctor determined the chance this was a cardio event was very low. Nothing in the blood tests indicated the heart was involved. However, the cause of the pain couldn’t be identified.

We returned home and, over the next few days, the pain subsided (although it is not completely gone as of this writing). Not the best way to spent the week before Christmas…

Adding to the troubles, I found the Honda needs about $1,500.00 in repairs. The radiator is seeping a bit of fluid and at least one ball joint (front suspension) is making noises and needs to be replaced. Additionally, we want to get the routine service done; the car turned over 100,000 miles a few weeks back. Repairs have been scheduled for January 3rd. The car is drivable until then.

Work was not immune; an installation job that should have taken less than a day stretched into four days, as the vendor had shipped the wrong hardware. The upgrade is still not over. The servers are back on-line but I am short four network ports that are used for redundancy and I am not happy about it. The situation will not be fully rectified until after the first of the year, due to vacations and the holidays.

On the bright side, my jaw is healing from the tooth extraction. Absence of pain is a good thing.

I worked on my galleries and have finished converting them. Should you find a gallery or link that does not work, please let me know so I can get it fixed. This project took many hours but I am no longer at the mercy of the old hosting service (and their new business model).

In other family news, daughter Felicity is in a new studio apartment and is settling in — for now. She would like to visit Australia and New Zealand next year and is looking for a house-sit in that part of the world.

Toby is settling into his new home; this will be his first year as a homeowner and he seems to be satisfied with that.

My mother is going into a care facility for some rehab after she had liquid removed from around her lungs and heart. An estate guardian has been appointed to help run the day-to-day operation of her affairs. Mom is upset that she will not be home this Christmas but she needs a level of care that can’t be arranged in a home setting.

Christmas is only a few days away and it looks like we won’t have snow this year. Long-range forecast has dry conditions, with a high on Christmas Day of 41 degrees. (Snow and colder temperatures are in the forecast for the 26th and following days.)  I don’t mind it as these conditions make commuting much easier, but my Midwest upbringing finds it a bit odd.

We hope everyone enjoyed the Solstice and has a Merry Christmas!

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

Pam’s Two Cents  Worth:

I probably wouldn’t have brought in the medical personnel if I hadn’t gone online to check out my symptoms on MedDoc.  According to online information, heart episodes can be mimicked by heartburn or flu symptoms in post-menopausal women (me). Day 1 no big deal, Day 2 somewhat concerned, Day 3 the whole “tight band of pain” thing was getting old. Since I had been running [slightly] high blood pressure in the last five years while working at the stressful (and sedentary) community college job — well, better safe than sorry, right?

Now I have a lovely photo of my lungs and more information about my heart chemicals than I care to know.  They asked to see my Medicare card at check-in, first time for that.  Altogether a surreal (and expensive) experience. And still no definitive answer on what caused it all. I’m not going to be a very good “old person,” I can see that already. First time wearing a hospital identification band in 32 years.

The Solstice on the 21st was partly cloudy here, but I did catch a glimpse of the full moon.  The Solstice and full moon will not occur together again in my lifetime.

Happy Trails.

Pam has been busy this last week decorating the Christmas tree. The ornaments are a combination of hand-made and commercial and the tree looks great. Here are a few photos taken during the decorating process:

Coming out of storage

(Greenwood HS) Cheerleader

Mountain Man

Ballerina

Queen E. I

Santa Bike

Fat Cat (Looks like our Antonio!)

Santa ornament

Golden globe

Decorated tree

Even the Spirit of De Beque received a decoration:

Spirit of De Beque

We hope everyone is getting into the holiday mood.

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

Pam’s Two Cents:

All the holiday stuff is pretty much done – cards, decorating, tree.  (I don’t bake much in light of Fields’ diabetes.) Highlighted above are just a few of our collected ornaments — hand-made or purchased.  The stout branches on this year’s pine allowed me to pull out heavier ornaments that aren’t well supported by lighter-weight evergreens.  There is always at least one ornament on the floor every morning.

I started working on a new project. While in the Midwest on the two trips in May and October, I noticed “quilting squares” on the sides of barns in the countryside drives we took.  I’m working on my own version of a quilting square for our garage, to go up when the holiday lights come down.  Looking at my quilting square will bolster my spirits during the coming days of Winter.

Barn with painted quilt square (Shutterstock image)

Where are your holiday cards, people?! Support the USPS…

Happy Trails.

For the past few years our daughter Felicity has sent us a table-top Christmas tree from Oregon. This year we decided to locate a full-size tree in Colorado.

Pam found a tree farm near Montrose that looked like a good candidate, the Covered Bridge Tree Farm:

Covered Bridge Tree Farm, Montrose, Colorado

We drove about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the farm, then hopped on their tractor-pulled wagon, and headed out to find a tree. (Well, some of us hopped, some of us climbed slowly and carefully into the wagon…)

On wagon. (Photo by another passenger.)

I located a suitable tree — the first one we looked at and near the road — but Pam needed to look around a bit before I cut it.

Jerry with cut tree

So far the tree has lights but no other decorations. Pam will take care of finishing the task this coming week.

Beginning – lights on, more to follow

You may have noticed Maxwell Moose (in his Christmas hat) looking in from the top-left corner of the above photo:

Maxwell Moose in holiday garb

We are very pleased with this Scotch Pine tree; the size, shape, and scent are all excellent. It’s been a while since we had a taller tree and it will be interesting to see some of our less-used ornaments on display again. The tree is, of course, fastened to the wall to prevent the cats from toppling it.  (We hope.)

There is an update on a topic mentioned last time; my dental appointment came and went. The tooth that was bothering me – with a “leaking” crown – was too far gone to salvage and had to be extracted. My jaw is very sore and I am popping Tylenol every 6 hours or so. This kind of sucks but things should improve by the end of next week.

Another update – the defective furnace relay has been replaced and the furnace is now working without having to be whacked to shut down the boost fan. Sometimes it’s the small things that matter!

Our Solstice cards have all been mailed to those of you lucky enough to be on our card list this year. The tree is up. Less than two weeks until Winter Solstice!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

When we first moved to Colorado in the 1970s, we often purchased a national forest tree cutting permit and ventured into the wilds for our Christmas tree.  (Once we topped a tree that was physically longer than the car we were driving.)  Later on, in Wisconsin, tree farm day was a family event when the kiddos were young; we used to cut our tree every year.

This year — the first year of my retirement — I found myself thinking about the tree farm experience again.  The Covered Bridge Tree Farm did not disappoint.  The operation functioned like a well-oiled machine. Trees available to be cut on the acreage were marked with information as to name of conifer, height, and price. I must admit I enjoyed visiting the various animal pens (and saying “hi” to the goats) while Fields supervised the shaking/netting/stashing the tree in the RAV.  (I must observe, though, Christmas trees were much less expensive back in the day.)

What a gift to have time for decorating the tree at leisure.  When I was working, it was all I could do to find time to throw a few ornaments on a tree each December.  This year, I have started going through all the containers of decorations and ornaments; I do believe we will be seeing some items on the tree that have not seen the light of day for decades. Assuming, of course, these items are pet proof.

ChristmasCat (Shutterstock image)

Happy Trails.