Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep

Here's some quick pics of the sheep we saw in Hardscrabble Pass on our way to civilization last Friday. Usually if you take a camera, you won't see them. But this time we were ready and got some clear shots. Enjoy!

Current weather is gorgeous! Warm, clear, and very good for procrastination and lazing in the sun. Hey, I'm home sick, it's all I want to do. Um, I still need to go clean up the exploded poodle (see previous post). Ok, I'm going. I'm going.... mmmm.... I need some more coffee, first....


Bonnie

What NOT to do to your favorite cat's favorite bed

Have you ever had one of those messes that you just walk away from? Perhaps it'll clean itself? This happened three days ago, and since I'm home with (another!) cold this week, it's time to go face the fluff. But, hey, might as well share the joy first!

This spring, we grabbed a Tyson Chicken box from Costco to create a nice box for Cleo. I had stuffed the box with a thin, flat pillow I picked up from Ikea for $2 (a clue, perhaps?). We hoped she'd find comfort in it so we could load it and her in the car for our drives to AZ. She wasn't impressed when we tried it. However, when we got back from a trip, she decided to give it a shot. Now it's become her favorite cozy spot. It's where she goes to hide when kids come. We call it the kitty cave. She loves this pillow. She lives on this pillow. And I disintegrated it on Monday.

I just wanted to clean it. It had 7 months of kitty life on it. I could have scraped up another kitten from it. Now I could scrape up an entire poodle from my floor.

Apparently, the casing melted in the dryer. I opened the dryer and was attacked by the poodle. Jeff wasn't home and so I shut the dryer door and went back upstairs to revel in what I had done. I tried to apologize to the cat, but she didn't seem to realize the magnitude of the problem yet. She also was hungry, so that was a great distraction.

Meantime, I went on a hunt for any other flimsy, crummy pillow in the house. To no avail. The only one was exploded in my laundry room. Unfortunately, I'm wearing socks and the room with the extra bedding was just beyond the laundry room. Now I have exploded poodle all over my house.

Jeff came home and I brightly suggested he go downstairs to see what I had accomplished. Usually this means I rearranged a room while he was gone. Although this idea sometimes fills Jeff with trepidation, he's usually pretty proud of what I can maneuver with out help. He also like the results. So, I imagine this was his expectation as he came down the stairs.

I'm so glad Jeff and I share in the same sense of humor.

Needless to say, now that I've procrastinated some more by blogging this, I'd better git down there and clean it up. I'm hoping the dryer isn't any worse for wear. I have a beautiful potential rats nest in the remains of the pillow (which is very NOT flat nor thin anymore) and need to decide how to corral the fluff.

Oh, and as I went down to take these photos, I discovered an antique-ish light (yes, mom, the silver floor-to-ceiling with the three globes one) had fallen and broke in our family room. Yay.

Thank you, Lord, for my shop vac.

Bonnie

PS - Cleo is not impressed with the substitute pillow I shoved in the box. I'm telling her, "cope!"

Sunset Alert! Sunset Alert!

(I kept my eye on this sky, knowing it would develop into something special.)

My family has a tradition that started, I think, when I was a teen. We started yelling, "Sunset Alert! Sunset Alert!" whenever we saw one of those sunsets that AZ is famous for. I remember getting phone calls at home (pre-cell phone, mind you) if a sunset was in progress. In turn, I would call home to alert my parents if I was off on any of the many college gallivants. No surprise, when I moved into an apartment, these calls continued. It was really am "I'm-thinking-about-you-and-want-to-share-this-special-moment-with-you!" call. It was always something special to receive a "Sunset Alert!" call. These special calls to and from my parents continued after I was married and were still treasured. Now, my parents are all over and we're in Colorado. When we saw some of our first Colorado sunsets, my heart found a home amidst the colors. I hadn't given up sunsets by moving to CO. I was relieved. And although I can't call my parents and let them know to look out their window, I still think of "Sunset Alerts!" every time I behold them. I will yell up at Jeff to look out (he's usually wrapping up work), and for a brief moment, as we stare out different windows, we're connected by the beauty. I guess that's why I love them!

When Jeff and I were dating, I mentioned once that my favorite color was whatever color the sunsets was. Sometimes you never know what someone will actually hear. Well, when our church threw us a shower just before we were married, one of the games they created was that version of the Newly Wed Game. They took me away and asked Jeff several questions for him to answer on my behalf. When I returned, they asked me the same questions to see which ones Jeff got correct. One was asking about my favorite color.... "did he hear me? Did he listen? Would he remember? Did he just pass it off as something crazy? Maybe I should say purple!" I swallowed and said, "I've said that my favorite was the color of the sunset." knowing very well how many colors that could encompass. Everyone murmured and clapped as I realized that Jeff truly had heard and responded with this very personal answer!

There's some silly moments I guess we all treasure as something special. These are some of mine. So, to my Beloved and my dear parents, and now to all of you... "Sunset Alert! Sunset Alert!"

Bonnie

(This photo was about 3 minutes after the first.)

Completed Walkway

Hey, Y'all!
It might not be big news for you, but we're really excited to have this thing done (mostly!). We worked on it again this weekend and finished it off Sunday night at 38 degrees and holding flashlights. I pretty much replaced the rocks to hug against the walkway and make it look more finished. Um, really sore today!


This is what it looked like last night as we were finishing up. It was too dark to clean up, so we planned on doing that this morning. So we woke up and....



We woke up to snow. We still put away all the tools and picked up the old wood. We took the wood down to the barn. We spent about an hour cleaning up in the snow - it wasn't too cold and the air was still. It was really beautiful! So we're finally done. We have a few aesthetic details we want to finish on the railing - painting and trim pieces - but structurally we're done. YAY!
So hope you all have a wonderful week! It's beautiful here and we've been watching a fawn frolic. The heater is going. The candles are lit just for the fun of it. And the cat's snoring beside me. Life's beautiful.

Bonnie

Feelin' a bit Wintery!

Um, it might look like powder snow on the windshield, but it might actually be ice. This is my lesson learned today! Part B of the lesson is that I have to get up/out earlier to accommodate the resulting delay. But it's not all bad - it comes with fabulous views!!!

So here's a pic from this morning that Jeff took. It was chilly today!

We've also discovered that going off daylight savings is a trip. We're trying to adjust to the sun going down before 5pm. However, it's definitely easier to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. That was getting difficult before!

Hope everyone is doing well! Seeing that this blogging thing might work out on our end, I'm going to blast an email to let y'all know it's here - there's a thought, huh! I do know it'll be more difficult for me to get to on Tuesdays-Thursdays with my work schedule and our evening schedule for the semester. I'll do my best though!

Bonnie

Walkway update

We've had a lot of requests to see photos of the walkway, so here goes!

This video was taken last October during our first snow storm. At the time we were fostering a sweet dog named Shiloh. But it shows the steps as they were - with Jeff shoveling for the first time! As you'll note, from the bottom up, there was first a walkway, then three steps up onto the portion that was terribly slanted. We spent last winter walking very gingerly. (We still will!)
Then it was two steps up to the top platform, also a bit slanted, then a step down into the dirt (insert mud or snow here!) There were a few rocks concreted in as a "stepping path," however, they were all over the map and the surfaces of the rocks weren't level either. Going to work in heels was becoming a real bear.
There, now you can see the slant a bit!
One plan was to put in flagstone but was rejected due to cost. So we thought we'd do some work and fix it temporarily so it would be safer, leveling it out with railings. So, off to Home Depot or Lowes, some 50 miles away. Driving with 8' lengths of wood in the car became very interesting! So, when we decided to simply level the middle and top section, we found ourselves in slightly over our heads! Pulling up the section we found boulders concreted in underneath - AARRUGH! Our little project has taken several Saturdays, but thankfully the weather has been terrific with no snow like last year! We're working in short sleeves instead! Using our pick-ax, we pried out the boulders. We've discovered that we are in the house the wise man built on the rock. We're not falling!In order to correct the slant, the rise that we had to overcome required several steps instead. It looks steep, but we'll get the hand railings in hopefully before the big snows. We're out of time. This week was great weather, but we'll drop temps and have snow perhaps this week. We already have out lumber so hope to get it up asap! Anyway, here's where we are at now...





And I guess that's about it for now. We bought paint, too, but we might be doomed to wait till next spring. As far as the paint goes, our other nemesis will be the wind blowing stuff on the wet paint. We had a lot of wind yesterday, so we have to be a bit choosy on that.

Meanwhile, we'll just do what we can!

Hope you're all doing great!


Bonnie

Hey, everyone!

We can't believe that we're already wrapping up our second autumn here! We're learning what it's like to have real seasons. We've also discovered that summer is extremely short compared to the "eternal" summer we were used to in AZ. Each season is full of something beautiful and special. We're getting ready for snow again, although it seems so far away - we've been having a lingering Indian summer with highs in the 60s all October. The aspen season, although over, was breath taking! We still drive to town and comment, "We actually live here!?"

We hope to add photos and news regularly so check in as often as you desire!

Bonnie