Category: General (Page 61 of 63)

I have a lot of ground to cover in this post, so let’s get started.

I generally like to post at least every 2 weeks, but  the delay from the last post to this one was due to a bout with the flu, which kept me down for about 4 days. Ever since my illness in January of 2011 I seem to be susceptible to the stomach flu. Not fun.

The kittens are entering their cute stage, about 5 weeks old, and are beginning to explore their surroundings.  Here is a photo of all 6 of them:

Kittens at 5 weeks

I figure we did well to get 4 looking in the same direction at the same time! Some of them are developing a taste for being petted and will roll over to have their chin scratched or tummy rubbed. They are a well- adjusted and healthy group.

I did make a land hunt trip, solo, on my motorcycle a couple of weekends ago. This time was a return to the Lake George area to look at a cabin on 3 acres. Not mentioned in the listing was the fact the cabin is off-grid and has no running water. Pass! It was a gorgeous day to ride, however, and I checked  a few other properties as well. I called the guy who was going to list his lot, and he indicated family problems (his father had a severe stroke) had delayed his moving ahead with the listing. I have a bad feeling about this. We will give this another few weeks, and if nothing happens we will move on.

Computer update: I have decided to replace my 10 year old Mac G4 with a newer (not new) model. Apple is changing its e-mail and other services to run in “the cloud” and I need a Mac new enough to run the latest software. I bought a used Mac Pro from E-bay and will be configuring it in the next couple weeks. Moving all our Favorites, music, photos, and other files from the old to the new system will take some time. The result will be a faster system for us and the ability to run newer copies of our favorite programs.

Around the house, yard work is big. Although there was a freeze warning this last Friday night – Saturday morning, it did not get that cold here. Our Lilacs are blooming and the yard needs mowing, which is on my list for later today. Daffodils are done, and a few Tulips are blooming. Lilies are coming up, and this year, for the first time, Hollyhocks are growing in a couple places. (Pam harvested some seeds from neighbor’s plants and planted them last fall). Hopefully they will bloom and we’ll see what color combinations we get.

I was able to take my ATV to Moab, Utah yesterday to run some trails. The area around Moab is famous for the number and variety of Jeep and off-road trails available for public use. I had to buy an out-of-state annual permit ($30.00) to be legal, but no one was checking permits where I rode. It was a good day; I ran 2 trails (Kane Creek and Hurrah Ridge) for a total of about 6 hours of riding. Here are a couple photos from the trip:

LaSalle Mountains near Moab, Utah

Part of the Kane Creek trail

Kane Creek trail scenic moment

It was a good day to be out and about, and I can now say I 4-wheeled in Moab. Given it is a long trip over and back, I won’t be in that area often, but will probably make another trip or two during the course of the summer.

Eli says she wants more photos of our cats and dogs. Well, Eli, here are a few photos for you:

This is what our 3 dogs do most of the day - sleep!

Velvet (in window) and Mira relax in the afternoon sun.

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

I was out last Sunday on my snowmobile. It was a glorious day. Lots of people out snowmobiling, skiing, and snowboarding. However, temps were getting into the 40’s even at that elevation, 10,000+ feet.

Our bulbs are starting to grow. Walking around the yard we see our Iris, Tulips, and Daffodil bulbs starting to sprout  their green shoots. Some of the trees look like their buds are filling out. According to our calendar, this is happening  about a week earlier than last year. Like many places we had a mild winter, which may explain the earlier than normal start to the growing season.

It is still below freezing at night, so I have not started riding my motorcycle to work, but the daytime temperatures of mid to upper 50’s sure feels good. Pam has been out raking the yard, which is bare of snow, just to get outdoors. The dogs have been rolling in the dry grass and bringing it in with them, so the more we can get picked up the cleaner the house will stay.

I was watching 2 female Robins this morning as they were picking at the yard looking for food. At night, after we get home, I have been cleaning the windshield of bugs. (That part of spring I could do without.) Still, all are indicators that spring will soon be fully here.

We have some around the house projects planned, including putting up some taller privacy fence. The dogs bark at everything that moves past the house, so the theory is that if they can see less, they will bark less.  We are waiting for the ground to fully thaw so we can begin putting in the posts.

I had completed a project to add more lights to the garage. The twin light fixtures at the rear of the garage had not been sufficient, so I added another pair to the front, just at the point where the garage door ends in its open position. What a difference that has made! Much easier to  feed the cats, back the cars in and out, and generally just get around. Understand the garage houses 2 cars, 2 motorcycles, 2 garden tractors, my ATV, and a bunch of other “stuff.”  It was not always easy to navigate in poor light!

We plan another Land Hunt trip this weekend, mostly to get out of the house as the weather is going to be great. I have been remiss in reporting on our last trip, so will combine notes on the two trips in my next post.

Last time I mentioned we had to do taxes…and have done so. What a bite. Due to a couple factors we ended up owing both the Fed and state extra money. That means there will be less to go into the housing fund. No matter what we do it seems we always own the Fed something at tax time, but we generally break even or get a small refund from the state. Not this year!

Thanks to family and friends who responded to the news of Pam’s father passing away on February 17. Your support was appreciated!

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

We drive a lot.

I keep a log book in both cars, entering gas fills and maintenance items such as oil and filter changes. I also keep track of mileage that I put on my motorcycle. Here are the numbers for all 3 vehicles from 2011:

Pam’s Honda: On 1-3-2011 it had 225,893 miles on it. By 1-2-2012 it had gone to 252,571. That’s 26,678 miles.

My Subaru: On 1-1-11 it had 49,903 miles on the odometer. By 12-30-2011 it registered 70,926 miles. Yep, 21,023 miles in 2011.

My motorcycle has a 2nd odometer which I set to zero at the start of the year. It showed I had ridden  7,247 miles in 2011.

Total miles for 2011: A whopping 54,948. That does not include short runs with the Scout II, which I used for going to the dump and pulling trailers on occasion. I don’t log the Scout as I do the other vehicles, but guess I ran it between 400 and 500 miles in 2011.

That takes a lot of gasoline. And tires. And oil. And filters. And …you get the idea. We replaced 3 windshields last year, all broken by rocks thrown up by energy industry trucks. Our deductible is $100.00 per windshield.

Believe me, we watch the price of gas going up with something approaching dismay. Most of the time Pam and I try to commute together, but this last week saw us with differing schedules so we ran a couple cars a few of the days. Fuel bill for the week: $108.65.

Our commute is about 114 miles a day. Including the running of local errands, the average goes to around 120 miles a day. We live in the boonies: A grocery run  is 58 miles, round trip. On outing to a shopping center is even longer. Long trips account for some of the mileage;  I was back to Wisconsin a couple times in 2011, dealing with the aftermath of my father’s passing. Then there are the “land hunt” trips we take one or two weekends per month. It all adds up to a lot of driving and a lot of miles.

We drive a lot.

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

Our friends for 30+ years, Hank and Elinor Tourtillott, live in Casa Grande, Arizona. (Casa Grande is about 45 minutes SW of Phoenix.) We like to visit them this time of year, both to catch up on the news and take advantage of the warm winter weather Arizona offers.  This year Eli is having some health problems, an even more important reason to touch base with the two of them.

We first met Hank and Eli when we bought a home in Colorado’s foothills west of Boulder, and became good friends. That was back in the early ’80s, and we have kept up the relationship through all of our subsequent moves, which include Oregon, Wisconsin, Arizona, and back to Colorado. They are good people, and we consider them family.

This year we made arrangements to meet our daughter, Felicity, at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix on our Arizona junket.  She flew in from Portland, Oregon, courtesy of  her boyfriend. We celebrated Felicity’s 29th birthday as well as visiting with Hank and Eli.

Blondie relaxes in the hotel room

Acting on a tip from Hank, the Legacy Suites became our base of operations.  We reserved a suite of adjoining rooms, one for us and the other for Felicity.

Our base of operations for this trip

We didn’t realize the place had a pool, or we would have brought our swim suits. (ha, ha) The weather was great the whole time, with daytime temps in the upper 70’s and night time temps in the upper 40’s.

When we arrived in the late morning, we were told we couldn’t check in until 4:00 P.M.  This gave us about 5 hours to kill. Felicity decided to take in a movie — the latest “Underworld” sequel — while Pam and I visited an IKEA store to pick up up a few ideas about living in a small space (which we will need if our land hunt eventually leads us to owning a small cabin). You have to think ahead…

We celebrated Felicity’s birthday with cake and a gift.

Felicity's birthday cake.

Felicity opening her gift

We bought ice cream for the cake from the Dairy Queen located across the road, and had a small party. It was good to have a chance to catch up.  It’s been about two years since we last visited Felicity in Portland.

The desert is renowned for it sunsets, and we were treated to some brilliant ones while in Casa Grande.  My point-and-shoot camera doesn’t really do justice to these kinds of shots, but here is one sunset:

Arizona sunset #1

Hank and Eli are of our parent’s generation, and, sadly, they have begun to have some medical issues. Because of this we needed to keep our 2 visits to about 2 hours each.  We found both of them as sharp and quick-witted as ever, and decidedly enjoyed our time with them.

Eli and Pam talking up a storm

Hank and Pam are exchanging comments with Eli

We hope the two of them enjoyed the visit as much as we did! In our “off” times we sat in the sun, read, walked Blondie, and just enjoyed the warm and clear days.

After the visits, birthday cake, and sunsets, we had to head home. We dropped Felicity off at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport, then headed north to Colorado, arriving home late in the day. (Felicity was in Portland many hours before we arrived in Colorado.) The trip back featured good weather, but returning to snow country made us regret not being able to spend more time in Arizona’s sunshine. Round trip was 1,440 miles.

One place we ate deserves special mention. Hank and Eli had suggested a restaurant called Mimi’s Cafe, which features French and southern (Louisiana) food. A banjo on the wall, part of the jazz theme, summed it up with the message it held: “Bonjor, Y’all!”  The food was very good, and we enjoyed the experience.

Here is a slide show with these and more photos taken on this trip:
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Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!

We may have a white Christmas after all. We woke up to a light coating of snow this morning, about 1/2 inch. It is just enough to make everything lightly powdered in white. This sure  makes the outdoor lights look more festive. A light coating is all we need, and it looks like that is all we will get between now and the 25th.

Pam has the week after Christmas off, as her work place closes down for a winter break. I’ve taken a few days off that week, so we will have some time to shop the after-Christmas sales and take a trip to look at some properties we have seen on the “For Sale” sites we monitor. We have often shopped and celebrated our Christmas after the 25th. This goes back to my retail days, when the weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with long hours and odd schedules. Both of us are looking forward to the break.

Ok..I admit it. I do have an off-beat sense of humor. To all who commented on the “Feliz Navidad” clip (and the limited-distributed “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”) thanks for your feedback. I find humor to be a good way to relieve tension and gain a bit of perspective. I hope these brought a smile to your face and maybe made your day easier. There will be more clips throughout the next year.

Pam’s father has taken a turn for the worse. He is suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, and now needs to be put in a full care facility. Up to this point he had been doing OK in an assisted living unit, but has reached the point where that no longer works. Pam’s brother Larry has done a Hurculean job of taking care of Myron’s affairs, and the entire family, including Pam and myself, thank him for his dedication. Larry is now in the process of finding a care facility for Myron.

I’m listening to Christmas music as I type this, mostly instrumentals. Its a good feeling. I am looking forward to Christmas and the break next week. To all who visit this blog, have a Merry Christmas!