Category: General (Page 62 of 63)

Welcome!

Welcome to all who might be looking at this page as a result of our Christmas card, which included the address of this web site and blog. Pam and I wish you the best of the season!

A year ago this blog did not exist. I started it last spring (February 23)  as a means of letting extended family and friends know what we’re doing and what’s going on with us. So, what happened in the last year? Plenty. Some good, some bad; the year was a real mixed bag.

My Dad died on December 27th, 2010. As that anniversary approaches he’s on my mind a lot. We also lost Pam’s Aunt Angela in the last year (and her husband Uncle John a year prior). They were among the few relatives who had visited us when we lived in Arizona and here in Colorado. These losses have been low points.  Additionally, Pam’s father is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s at a care facility in Wisconsin.  Adding to the list: A good friend for 30 years, Elinor, from our Nederland mountain living days, recently had a stroke.  We’re in that stage of life, I guess, where the previous generation is starting to leave us and it hurts to lose them.

On the up side, Pam’s sister Becky had both of her daughters, Caitlin and Lilly, graduate from their respective colleges. Way to go! My sister Kitt (Carolyn) visited us in early June for a few days. We enjoyed her visit and the opportunity to catch up with each other. Pam’s friend Sarah from our Madison, Wisconsin days, was able to meet with us while she was in Colorado; her home is in Rhode Island.  Sarah’s son was married this year, and she had a lot of photos to show us. It was good to see her again. My cousin Marcia became a grandmother, and is delighted to have a grandbaby. There is a whole new generation growing up from nieces and nephews who have married and started families.

Our kids, Felicity and Toby, did OK last year. Both are employed and making it on their own. I guess that counts for something in this economy!  Felicity is living in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys city life. Toby is living in Longmont, Colorado, which is north-west of Denver. Both are in good health and trying to make their way in the world – or at least live above the poverty line. Felicity is working part-time and trying to develop her web site design and maintenance company. Toby is working at a manufacturing plant that makes small metal parts for a variety of products. Neither is living high off the hog, but they seem to enjoy what they’re doing. That counts for something.

Most of you know I ride a motorcycle, and have since before I was married. (We celebrated our 37th anniversary this August.) I did ride to the California coast in June, and co-sponsored a rally in Durango, Colorado in July. We had people from many Western states attend, and a good time was had by all.

In a similar vein, I’ve been working on my ’76 Scout II 4×4, my 2001 Mountain Max snowmobile, and was able to purchase an ATV. I enjoy all 3 rides in addition to riding my motorcycle.

Pam continues her animal rescue work. We fostered kittens again this year, our 19th foster litter since 2004. The last 2 kittens were returned to their shelter about 2 weeks ago, where they were put up for adoption. Many get listed on-line at www.petfinders.com. If you are ever looking for a pet, this site is a good place to visit! We also acquired a 3rd rescue dog in November. Auburn Jo is mostly Spaniel, but has some Italian Greyhound and some unknown mix in her genetic make-up. She is settling in well. Between the fosters, our pets, and the outside cats that more-or-less call our place home, we often look like Pet Central. 140 pounds of cat litter per week, anyone?

Pam and I embarked on a quest in 2011 to find a piece of Colorado high country recreational land we could afford to purchase. Although the town we live in is not large, neither of us is particularly fond of living in it, and we feel the need to get out on a frequent basis. We thought we’d found our “dream land” but ran into issues of access. The parcel we wanted is reached by a road that runs through BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, and the road is not considered public. So, the search continues.  Land purchase in the high country demands a long learning curve, and apparently we’re still learning.  Maybe we’ll find “it” in 2012?

We encourage you to look at the various pages on our site. There are separate pages that talk about most of the things I’ve mentioned so far. There are  Kids, Cats, Dogs, and Jer’s Toys pages, with pictures, that go into more detail.  You can get to them from the main page.  Get there by clicking the  “AppleAttic Home” tab at the top of this page, and from there visit the “specialty” pages by clicking on the tabs at the top of the page. (Here is a shortcut.)  Many of the photos can be clicked on to open a larger version. If you click on photos in the slide shows they will open into a larger version with captions and comments.

If you really have time to kill, you can go back through my previous posts on this blog! 🙂  Most of the posts have photos, so you can pick and choose what you care to read based on what looks interesting.

If you wish to leave a comment, or read comments left by others, click on the little blue dot at the bottom-right of each of these posts. A page will come up where you can enter your comments and send them to us. We would like to hear from you! I generally post a couple of times a month, so check in now and then in 2012 to see what’s new.

May this Christmas  be a good one for you and your families, wherever you all may be.

Home for Christmas

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

We live in a dry climate. Central Wisconsin, where both Pam and I grew up, receives around 34 inches of precipitation per year. In western Colorado the annual average is around 9 inches per year. To put it another way, Milwaukee  gets more rain by the end of April than we get all year long.

So, its dry. Interestingly, that does not mean we are without lakes and pockets of water. Where there is water there are alpine flowers.

Grand Mesa, the Flattops, and other high-altitude areas are around us. I took a motorcycle ride last Sunday to the top of Grand Mesa and took a few pictures of some of the small lakes that dot the area and photographed some of the wild flowers currently in bloom.

One of the Mesa Lakes

This photo is our current desktop image. It looks better blown up a bit! If you go back a few posts and look at the one detailing my sister Kitt’s visit, there is a shot of her (with much snow around) at the Visitor’s Center on Grand Mesa. This is the lake she would have seen from where she was standing.

The day was somewhat overcast, but otherwise nice, dry and temperate. Pam had encouraged me to take this ride. (I think she wanted me out of the house for a while.) Elevation at this point is somewhere around 10,000 feet. The high point of the road over Grand Mesa hits 10,861 feet.

Alpine lakes range in size from small puddles to large enough to support boats and canoes, although you won’t be water-skiing on them any time soon. I travel over many of these lakes in winter as they are links in various snowmobile trails. I walked down to one of the smaller lakes that had water lilies blooming on it, and got the next couple shots.

Lily pads #1.

Lily pads #2.

Views like these are not normally associates with western Colorado, but are one of the reasons Pam and I love to drive the less-traveled roads in this part of the state. The high country is dotted with these little gems.

Another less-appreciated aspect of these high areas is the diversity of flowers that grow there. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different varieties of wild flowers dot meadows that are at elevations of 9,000 to 11,000 feet. The best known is the Colorado Columbine, which is done blooming for this year, but there are asters, harebells, sunflowers, daisies, and many varieties with names I don’t know. The down side: Even here there are dandelions and thistles.

Asters in late August.

A member of the Thistle family.

Little sunflower.

While not “dense” in the number of flowers per square foot, many varieties intermingle in open areas, giving color ranges that include white, blue, red, yellow, and other striking colors.

Varieties intermingle in open areas.

It is nice to see the patches of flowers growing along the road.

Yes, we live in a dry area. However, we have learned to look for the water areas and stop to enjoy the wild flowers that bloom in the high country. The top of Grand Mesa is the closest spot that offers us these gems, and we can be there in in about 30 minutes. I had a nice outing this particular day.

Odd bits and pieces attract me when I ride, such as cloud formations. Here is one of them.

Clouds over Grand Mesa #1.

Update on the Land Hunt: We plan another trip to our target area next weekend, taking advantage of the Labor Day break. We have  planned an overnight visit that will give us more time to look at the properties we have seen and marked as “potential” from on-line listings. This trip will find us on the south side of our target area, fairly close to Cripple Creek. Maybe we will get lucky and find “the one.”

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!

My sister Carol (AKA: Kitt) came to visit us the week after I was in Wisconsin. In fact, Kitt rode with me on the drive back to Colorado. The plan was to have Kitt visit a few of the our favorite spots, have some time to talk, and wind down from the Wisconsin trip.

Kitt and I had always been able to talk. Perhaps it is being the oldest daughter and oldest son out of the 4 kids. At any rate, we feel comfortable in each other’s company. It helps that we share a similar sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd.

After surviving a storm near Kearney, Nebraska (we pulled off the interstate 3 times) we arrived back in Colorado 23 hours after leaving Wisconsin. First order of business: Get minimally unpacked and get some rest. Pam had not yet left for work when we arrived, so she was able to confirm that we were tired but otherwise OK.

I had taken a few days off work, so the next morning Kitt and I took off to vist one of my favorite ‘quirky’ spots: Brush Creek. A large ranch is located in the valley that Brush Creek flows through. The ranch caters to hunting parties and corporate get-aways. A few miles up a  gravel road you suddenly see these metal horses. Made out of hammered metal and 3 or 4 times life size, 4 horses are on the east side of the road, and another is on the west side. They appear to be coming out of a canyon and running toward the road. Here are a couple photos:

Kitt with Iron Horse #2.

Wild horse statues - Brush Creek.

After admiring the valley and getting a few pictures we headed home.

That afternoon we headed out to another favorite spot, Redstone. Home of the Redstone Inn and the Crystal Dreams B&B, Redstone sits on the banks of the Crystal River. We stopped at the park, walked downtown, had some lunch, strolled though an antique store, and visited the Redstone Inn. For the historically minded, we visited the coke ovens just outside of town. This coke is not a beverage; locally mined coal was “coaked” to make it burn hotter in furnaces that were used to make iron. Redstone was a coal company town, and houses were provided to the workers and their families. Some of these houses, now on the Historic Register, remain in private ownership. Now a haven for summer art festivals and music-in-the-park concerts, Redstone is hard to imagine as a company mining town. The big draw for us is the park on the edge of the river.

Here are a few photos:

Kitt at the Crystal River Park in Redstone.

We visit the Redstone Inn.

Beehive coke ovens, Redstone, Mt. Sopris in the background.

Just up from Redstone is McClure Pass, and to get there you pass Hayes Creek:

Kitt near Hayes Creek

As it was getting later in the day, we turned toward home.

Alas, even travelers have to stop and rest sometime. The next day we went grocery shopping, did laundry, and took care of chores around the house. Kitt travels with her Kindle, and was able to pass some quiet time sitting on our deck and reading.

By this time we had gone north, west, and east from our house, so the next logical route took us south. The final day of Kitt’s visit we (Pam took the day off to join in the fun) had planned to visit Crested Butte, an old mining town turned tourist town. The most direct route was over Grand Mesa. Still lots of snow at the top, as the elevation is 10,860+ feet. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to take it in:

Visitor's Center in early June - Grand Mesa, Colorado

After crossing the Mesa, we continued toward our destination. Alas, we found the road over Kebler Pass, our planned route into Crested Butte,  was closed by the Forest Service for maintenance! Shucks, Darn, and stuff like that. On to plan B.

After taking some photos from the part of the road we could travel, (see below)  we backtracked into the town of Paonia, where we asked a local bicyclist to recommend a good eatery. She pointed us to the “Fork In The Road” restaurant and bakery. Good tip…we had a relaxing Italian lunch in the outdoor garden under a tree. Food (and dessert) was excellent.

Kebler Pass Road.

After we finished lunch we walked up town to see if we could find any t-shirts for Kitt to take home. Didn’t find any, to our surprise. However, I did find a “memory maker” in an antique store…a Little Lady toy cook stove. I remember Kitt and Sienna having one of these. Kitt says she still has the cupcake pan that fit in the stove, and the china set that she used to use at her tea parties. She recounted how Dad would come up, sit in the kid’s chairs around the table, and have a cupcake and drink tea from these tiny tea cups. It was one of her strong memories of Dad.  I just remember that Mom was afraid someone would get burned on the stove…the 4 top burners as well as the oven would get hot when in use. Neither of us has the place to show or store such an article, so we left the store without it but with some strong revived memories. We headed back to the car and made our way home.

The following morning Kitt was scheduled to fly  back to Chicago, so she packed her stuff and I dropped her off at the Grand Junction airport. (She later called to let me know she had arrived home OK.) I did some grocery shopping and ran a few errands, then headed for home. Pam and I planned to head over to Colorado Springs that afternoon for another look at property, looking for our Colorado Dream land. That trip will be the subject of my next post. After that, my motorcycle trip to California will be on deck.

We had a good visit and Kitt enjoyed the trips we took. I think  it was a very good 3 days!

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in on us!

First, a shout out to our nieces Lilly and Caitlin. Both graduated from colleges in the last 2 weeks. Caitlin was the student speaker at her graduation, and we watched that event on streaming video. Caitlin (AKA: Cat) did an excellent job. Congratulations and Good Luck to both young ladies.

Lilly and Caitlin’s mom, Becky, deserves a tribute. A single Mom, Becky put her two daughters through college and upgraded her job skills at the same time. Not an easy task. Way to go, Becky!

Weekends are generally busy around our place during good weather. We get out to run the dogs, do chores around the yard, and do routine maintenance.

We started this weekend by cleaning the gutters.

Jerry cleaning out some gutters.

Jerry got out the “big” ladder and cleaned out all the leaves, seed pods, and “stuff” that had clogged the downspouts. Between the garage and house he repeated this routine 4 times.

Another project for this year is to repaint parts of the house and garage. We had painted the place shortly after we bought it in 2006, but some of the trim, in particular, was getting a bit shabby. Jerry started paining the west end trim on the garage and the walk-up ramp leading to our deck.

Jerry painting trim on garage.

Pam generally paints the trim around the windows, but Jer does the prep work, scraping and wire-brushing.

Jerry preps window trim for painting.

This is what the place looked like when we bought it:

House was dusty blue when we bought it in 2006.

This is what it looked like when we finished painting:

House painted 2007 and new gutters in 2008.

We did get other chores completed: weed-wacking, mowing, and planting some more flowers. It was a busy couple of days! Still, we had time to sit on the deck, run the dogs, and do our grocery shopping.

The lilacs are blooming, the iris are just about ready to pop, and the white lilac we planted on Mother’s Day (Pam’s gift from Jer) has new growth coming up from the base, so it looks like it will do OK.  Our tree peonies are  in bloom, or at least 2 of the 3 plants have blossoms on them. Weather is still unsettled, as we had temps well below normal (but above freezing) last week.

The next month will be very busy, starting with Jer’s trip to Wisconsin later this week, followed by a visit from Jer’s sister, Kitt. Jer next heads off to California for a motorcycle rally during the 2nd week of June, followed by another rally in Colorado – he is the co-sponsor – in Durango over the 4th of July weekend. We have been identifying potential land parcels to look at, and hope to get over to the Divide area, west of Colorado Springs, to look at some of them. We will be puppy-sitting Mr. Biggs for a week in June as well.

Last bit of good news…we have heard that Tabitha has managed to get her last foster puppy adopted. That makes 17 puppies adopted this spring! Now that’s an accomplishment.

Late-braking news…we learned late last night that Pam’s Aunt Angela passed away. Angela was 90, and had been living in her own place in Oxnard, California. We are hoping to get more information from her daughters,  Joan and Barbara, in the next couple of days.

That about wraps it for this post. Since Jer will be on the road quite a bit this week and next, the next post may be more than a week away. Thanks for looking in on us.

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment or e-mailed us about our “Colorado Dream” land search. Its nice to know you are interested enough to respond! I’ve created a new search category (see Categories at the right side of the page) called Land Hunt. Use the category feature to follow posts on a given topic, rather than looking at all posts. Of course, right now there are only 2 land search posts! 🙂 There will be more, I’m sure.

In the mean time, life goes on. Both of us are suffering from colds, not fun. Our out-door time has been curbed by snow(!) and hard freezes. We have been trying to cover most of our plants nightly, but don’t know, yet, what survived and what didn’t. Below-freezing temperatures are forcast for the next 3 nights, with a chance of snow or rain during the days. Such un-Spring like weather is hard to take!

This weekend looks to be a “chores to do around-the-house” kind of weekend. Jer needs to change oil and filters in both cars and wash them, get the lawn weed-whacked and mowed if possible, and then there is the regular stuff like grocery shopping.

Getting groceries is a bit of a chore for us, as our favorite place, and nearest full-line store, is about 30 miles away in Grand Junction. We typically run a few errands (including Wal-world), get groceries, and get gasoline all in the same trip. Getting gasoline consists of fillling up the car, and normally filling up Jer’s extra gas cans. On a bad day we purchase upwards of 30 – 34 gallons of fuel. The car that doesn’t make it to the gas station gets fueled from the gas cans. Since our local station is generally 25 – 40 cents per gallon higher than “in town” we can save arouund $8 – $15 per week  by getting fuel in Grand Junction. Jer says his using the gas cans is his form of “couponing”.

Typical grocery run

Thats about it for this entry. Thanks for checking in!