Well, We did come home!

The train ride back from Grand Junction was nice too... Unfortunately we got a good view of the Four Mile Canyon fire just after it started... It had only burned about four acres at that time.

Ah, so now we're home, all is pretty good.

I saw my lovely wife made a FB entry that said she put some paintings at the "Dream Pastry & Crepe" shop in Castle Rock. 

I had pointed out that she FAILED to post a picture to go along with it....

BUT, not only did she FAIL to post a picture, she FAILED to tell everyone that after THREE(3) days she sold one of the paintings for the asking price.

I was going to let her post it since I didn't want to "steal her THUNDER", but I haven't seen anything about the sale.  Ahhh perhaps she didn't want to brag too much..... hmmmm.... That's OK I can rag for her. congratulations lovely wife....

On the weather front.  It's been hotter since we returned from Grand Junction than it's been all summer. No rain in about a month, VERY HIGH fire danger, it finally did rain today.

We got TWO(2) smallish acorn squash from our garden. At least they were good. NO tomatoes, NO melons and NO peppers.

The Hollyhocks is 6 foot tall and has several dark red blooms.

The squirrels have shared he sunflower heads with the Stellar Jays.

The Cherry Tree, which did great as did the rhubarb, is starting to turn yellow and lose her leaves (I call her Virginia).  I did find out that MOST varieties of cherry require TWO trees to fruit... hmmm...

I almost forgot. We went to the "water dog" trials at Chatfield Reservoir.  We didn't stay long as we had the grandchildren and they get hot and bored rather easily.

Brown Newf retrieving the paddle

Same Newfy pulling the "stranded" boat

Grand Junction, Home to TWO of the FIVE Grand Children

part II .........

Rachel went to WalMart for me and ordered  a cake for the NO surprise birthday, well it woulda been a surprise but it "leaked" out.  In any case Rachel told 'em yellow with sunflowers. As you can see it's yellow with sunflowers, I think it's great, taste pretty darn good too...

Happy Birthday, dear Grandma, Happy Birthday to you!

So, picked up the cake and called "Famous Dave's BBQ" (Rachel Suggested and it was good) to get food for a dozen, to go.... Got there right on time to pick it up, expected it to be ready and waiting and figured Becca, Brent and the other three grand kids would be there when we (Cordelia went with me) got back.

Went to the Famous Dave's bar, just like they told me. The bartender looks at me like I'm outta my mind, says "I'll get my manager, I don't HAVE an order for you"... While I was waiting for the manager I pulled out my cell phone and re-dialed the number I had called.... "Hello, Famous Dave's BBQ, FT COLLINS"... oooohhh nooo... Well I placed an order to feed twelve that I was suppose to pick up at 3:15. Well the problem is I'm at the Famous Dave's in Grand Junction, 300 miles away... DUH!!  "Oh no problem sir, we'll use it all". So I ask him to read me the order so I can place it in Grand Junction... OK so everyone got a laugh at my expense...  At least Cordelia and I had a strawberry shortcake while we waited... hmmm hmmm good.

Well after dinner and cake, between eating too much cake and drinking too much of Becca's $6.00 bottle of cheap spiced rum, I felt kinda bad, went in, laid down and promptly "fell asleep" (read - passed out) till morning... cake, rum and don't forget the "run Forest, run" to the front of the train.... mild case of shin splints....

Woke up to a major slumber party, kids and Becca in the living room....

We were SUPPOSE to get up and go to the Colorado National Monument for morning photos (it's the light). too bad, so sad perhaps tomorrow. 

We did however make the butterfly pavilion, ONE that's right ONE butterfly but hundreds of fabulous flowers.... and a fruiting cherry tree, beautiful. 

Water Lillie's

Exotic Red Orchid

My favorite - Cherries, probably Sour Cherries

More later.....

The train ride to the first annual NO surprise birthday party

Hmmm Am I the ONLY one I can surprise? must be... Last time  we drove  to Grand Junction we saw the Amtrak going into the tunnels through Glenwood Canyon.... Hmmm I smell an adventure, sure enough the train stops at Denver and Grand junction on it's way from Chicago to San Francisco (EmeryVille)... $184.00 round trip for BOTH of us...

I made the tickets for the weekend of Susie's birthday. Conspired with Rachel to "surprise" her. 

Left Friday morning in the dark to drive to the Denver Union Station, got there and learned the train was two(2) hours late for down trees in Iowa (some storm).  No problem off to breakfast we go, followed by a trip to the corner three story ancient book store, the "Tattered Cover". Susie bought books...

We boarded the train, found our coach seats and promptly moved to the "lounge" car.  It was a GREAT eight(8) hour ride.... never did go back to our "reserved" seats... Met lots of people, 1 couple flew from London to Denver, the train from Denver to Salt Lake City where they are going to rent a car and drive to the western national monuments.... sounds like fun to me... The other couple, also from England, brought their two teenage kids and were going all the way to San Fransisco to drive down the California coast... I reminded me of our family vacation to Europe.... OH YEAH, they don't hate Americans like the MSM would have you believe... They say that's just the elitist politicians, which I already knew...

Two(2) shots from the lounge car, the second in one of 28 tunnels before Winter Park, one is 6.2 miles long and takes 12 minutes to traverse.

So we're going to stop at Winterpark/Frazier for five(5) minutes.  "If the whistle blows two(2) short, make sure you get on because it's LEAVING".... Hmmm...

Me being the type that likes  LOTS of pictures for "documentation" decided I was going to the front of the train engine and taking a picture back along the length of the train...

my, oh my.... who would have guessed it would be THAT far away? Certainly not me....

So there are two(2) engines, a baggage car, three sleepers, a diner, the lounge and finally our car, the 510 coach followed by two more coach cars.... You can't leave from the diner or the lounge car so I went back to our car, got out on the platform  and thought WOW that's a long way, better RUN....

when I got there I was in a full blown asthma attack (which I haven't had in over five(5) years) standing there wondering how the heck I was going to get back.... DANG, dang.....

Got the shot Hmmm, at what cost. The 510 car was PAST the people on the platform.

NOW all I gotta  do is get back before it leaves.  On the return run, I notice the door on the first sleeper, no one guarding it, I'll try that... So no sooner did the door close, toot... tooot... and it's away... I walk through the train to the lounge car and there's my lovely wife sitting there patiently waiting. guess she knew I'd make it.  Unfortunately the next 3 hours of asthma made it questionable as to the worth....

 I did take quite a few photos, but the following out of the back of the train was of particular interest to me. I actually DIDN'T notice the rock standing in the pond when I took the photo, I found it later.

We are on the last leg of the journey to Grand Junction, I'm just taking photos out of the back of the train and happen to get the rock balanced in the middle of the pond. Watercolor reference photo...

More to come........

Cats!!!, Why??? & the continuing EPIC truck/brake story. (whine)

EPIC truck/brake story.... Hmmm, Finally got the entire right side apart, now I'm just plain sore and tired from fighting with it.  I put the caliper on the left side and tried for 30 minutes to attach the brake line.  Hmmm this is weird, wonder why the "banjo" bolt won't go back in. FINALLLY in disgust I try the bolt from the other side, same deal so I take the dang thing off. set it next to the other new caliper and low and behold they (Chinese I'm sure)  had re-threaded the hole (looked like a heli-coil job) the WRONG FRIGIN SIZE, too small....

Went BACK the the parts store for the THIRD time, and showed them. Hmmmm.... well we don't have another in stock but we can get one by Monday or  err...Tuesday. Fine.... It's ALMOST together, just waiting on the replacement caliper.... So for all those that wonder why we pay $85 to $135 dollars per hour for our mechanics to do this HORRIBLE, FILTHY, GREASY, THANKLESS task (or any vehicular task for that matter). Just come and help me work on truck brakes and it'll ALL be crystal clear.... BTW I'll be making the FOURTH trip to the parts store to pick up the replacement caliper (this is at 30+ miles round trip)...

Cats.... A couple of years ago we decided to let a couple of kittens live in the house with us.... I have NO IDEA what I was thinking....

Today there are a total of SIX(6), that's right SIX(6) frigen feline CATS.... Now don't get me wrong I have affection for all of them, each is unique in it's own little feline personality, each is physically attractive... The PROBLEMS however seem to far out weigh any benefit. 

1. We have MICE in the kitchen (I have caught two(2) cats ZERO).
2. The white cat (Cream) self apppointed queen of the  house and cat that LOVED Amanda, picks on all the other cats, well one of them (the grey cat, Miles), hooked her in the eye almost to the vitreous humour, the clear gel that fills the eye ball.  That was nearly $100.00 dollar trip to the vet.
3.  Try and pick up a cat, any of the cats  to get them a little love and attention and all they want is DOWN.
4.  Try and keep a cat away because your busy or something and all they do is NAG to be held.
5. We have to close all six(6) cats OUT of the bedroom at night or they climb up on me and play "king of the ass", (good thing I sleep on my stomach).... they fight over who sleeping where, the purr, claw with that annoying "kneading" action, they PLAY in the dresser drawers and generally cause trouble..... OH and don't forget, eat the cut flowers knocking over the VERY EXPENSIVE one of a kind vase we picked up from Waterford Ireland. I finally tossed the flowers after the fifth or sixth time.
6. I almost forgot, they've lived in this house (well mostly) their entire  lives, at the minimum a heck of a long time, They are AFRAID of people (UPS Guy) knocking on he door, afraid of planes flying overhead, helicopters, noises the horses make, the ESPRESSO machine.... They take off like cats out of hell skidding, sliding and failing to gain traction on the hardwood floor..... This I gotta say is at least FUNNY...... stupid, but FUNNY!

Some people point out this behavior and tell me "cats are SO independent" personally I find them, well rather STUPID, relative to the other animals I have or have had around here.... No this doesn't mean I'd get rid of them, BUT I just can't see what I get from them relative to what I get from a dog or a horse (or seventeen) for that matter....

We have one(1) cat (Garfield) that's SO STUPID all he does is purr, NEVER stops except PERHAPS when he sleeps. Doesn't matter WHAT you do to him, he keeps right on purring, I think he's broken.

A couple of things... In cronological order

So, last night I go feed the horses as usual. It's getting dark and Susan calls the outdoor cats into the garage so they don't get eaten by the foxes trying to feed their young.... Almost EVERY night I "nag" Susan to get them in and close the door. Well July is the month the mama creatures teach their younguns the ways of the world. I'm getting, uhm... my "pajamas on" (scary huh?) and getting ready to crawl into the warm bed (it's about 50 and "cold").  Susan open the people door to the garage and SCREAMS running back inside doing the "woman hop" telling me there  are two HUGE ones out in the garage. "Ones?" .... uhhh raccoons.... DANG or the other word.... (this is a family friendly blog site). 

So I go  out to see one little  baby raccoon scooting to the door. I see a SECOND baby on the shelf, scared and looking for an escape route so I can kinda cleared a path and number two scoots out.  Well I stand there trying to see if any more are around, sure enough little cooing, whimpering under the wooden pallets holding all the expensive, boxed stuff from Ireland.... hmmm.... I could see the little eye peeking out and these desperate little noises. Well this one was much harder to clear a path for and I thought for SURE I'd get bitten and have to take the rabies series..... In any case it FINALLY decided to venture out and I kinda scooted it toward the door with a broom.... TONIGHT if Susie doesn't call the cats (they like her), I'm closing the overhead door and the fox family can have some tasty morsels for dinner.

So this morning I get a call from the mother of the young lady that Squirt went to live with. She's in tears telling me that their California home is being foreclosed and Squirt is coming back. While I'll be glad to see Squirt I am broken hearted for him, Carson (the girl) and the entire family. They've lived in the house for over 20 years. Scott, the dad, has been a landscaper for his entire working life, owns his own business and just can't make it in the California economy..... This is a real nice family who's entire  life is being upended and turn upside down by the liberal policies that have wrecked California and are wrecking THE REST OF AMERICA as we speak.... To me this is an more pathetic than I can possibly describe.... Please Pray for Scott, Georgan, Max and Carson.... I told them Squirt will be here for them if and when they can take him back....  PLEASE go out and vote conservative in November.... Help a family survive....

An Interesting Week in the Forest....

Well the BEST news is that Susie's (she WAS mine BUT SHE chose Susie), 22 year old mare, Kat, is STILL with us. She was scheduled for ah, "termination" last Wednesday. The vet arrived but the grave digger had a broken hose and couldn't make it till later.  In the mean time I started giving her extra large doses of pain meds and she seems to be MUCH better. the PROBLEM is that the pain meds are like aspirin and will eventually cause other issues that will kill her. BUT she's good for now..... I did take a few pictures Wednesday morning I'll post at the end.

Kats Eye

The mama doe that's been hanging around, I call her "Notch" because she has a rather large notch in her left ear, has FINALLY exposed her fawn.  I saw it once several weeks ago, just a fleeting glance.  Subsequently we've seen Notch all the way up into our "yard".  She's been acting very strange, we thought that perhaps the fawn had died, but Susan saw the fawn (Spot) out playing and eating with mom. Sorry no pictures, well Susie may have one or two but Spot's nearly impossible to find...  Pictures of "Notch" will follow.

Notch

So I get up this morning to 50 degrees. That's right, heater weather in July.  It's suppose to get up to a glorious 64 degrees with "flash flood" warnings from noon until Sunday Evening..... Hmmm more rain...... Well at least the grass will grow (if it warms up) to feed the equine. Guess I'll just have to stay indoors and watch NetFlix....

I'm a little concerned with our garden, because it's been so cool this "summer", all the plants are rather stunted. The Daisies are just starting to open, the Sunflowers are half as tall as they need to be before they bloom. We are getting plenty of Basil and Chives and ONE(1) of the tomatoes is starting to produce "licopene" (what makes them red).  None of the squash plants or melon plants has even produced a flower yet. The shiny garden spot is the Cherry tree we planted last year. No Cherries just yet but it's gotten MUCH larger and has a lot of new growth, I thought it froze to death last winter, all last years growth had been killed but the root system survived.... This year I'll use Solitares solution and put a plastic trash can over it, well her, I call her Virginia, she still has all her Cherries. lol.... (how stupid)!

Cats, six, yes six cats live in the house full time, one lives in the house when the weather is bad, but stays outside when it's nice.... I finally had to run them ALL out of the bedroom at night to get sleep.  If they stay, they play.... and play....and play, inevitably one of them offends another and they start a fight.... this went on night after night until I got the can of "air" (compressed air for cleaning the cameras and the computer), they simply haul ass out of the bedroom with one TINY squirt, then I close 'em out.... Hmmm.... a good nights sleep at last.

So we go to the farmers market in Monument and the sun comes out for a beautiful morning, still only 61 degrees, but sunny is always good.

When we get back, Susan decides to take some "slash" (branches and limbs) to the slash recycling center They grind it into mulch and essentially give it away.... Well you can load it yourself or pay a skip-loader dude $2.00 per bucket, BIG bucket....

In any case I'm working on other things and Susie is loading the truck with the slash.

Clearly one can see the slash pile BEHIND Susie. She's loading the truck from about 30 feet. Hmmmm....

NOW, I am NOT "making fun" of Susan, this is a serious matter. I'm wondering why it SEEMS like MOST  women would rather walk the 30 feet than take the 20 seconds it took me to back the truck up to the pile.  Personally I admit I'm way  to lazy to walk the 30 feet.

For further clarification, Susie cut the branches off the tree, made the pile and is OBVIOUSLY loading the truck while I'm taking pictures.... 

It just seems to me that in the name of efficiency backing the truck... well.......

 I did find a shot that Susie took of Notch and Spot. It's hard to tell from the full frame photo, BUT through the magic of photoshop and the really high pixel rate of Susan's camera, we could crop out all the extraneous stuff and zoom right in.

You can see more photos including Notch and Spot

Some days it just doesn't pay | and to our Military Heros

So this has been a VERY annoying month. (well June and so far July).  First the Red Dodge Ram finally died.  The fuel transfer pump was bad, several hundred dollars. and subsequently caused the injection pump to fail (diesel stuff), Over $1,700.. just for the pump.  One of the back windows is ALSO broken.

Then the White Dodge (Susie's truck) had the transmission rebuilt for $3,500.00+, BUT it runs real nice though.  NOW the brake caliber on the right front side hung and destroyed the rotor.  Figured may as well replace both calibers, at least the destroyed rotor (probably both as it'll be all new) and obviously the brake pads.

So what am I doing on our 4th of July holiday weekend, replacing the brake components on the white truck, a little over $400.00 so far, just in parts. 

GggggRrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Well I suppose the good news is the brakes on the white 3/4 ton are MUCH easier than on the red 1 ton....



On seconds thought, I suppose it could always be worse, think about and pray for the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in afganistan, iraq and around the world.... Hmmmm Much much worse for them. I (and I hope you too) thank them  for thier service and sacrafice.....