Under Constructon

Not really. This blog is not under construction....but I am under a few boxes!. We have been starting every morning at about eight  and working till seven at night.

With just the two of us unpacking. It is going slowly. I  have discovered that my Tom s no better at unpacking than he was at packing.  He has though, been meeting with the media guy, the plumber to solve a problem and the Direct t.v. guy. The painters have also been there for the last two days...touching up. Which means that all of the boxes, and furniture have to be moved to the middle of the room. I  know that there must be an end in sight, but at this point it is hard to see.....for the boxes...Janey

On The Road Again

We left Colorado about mid morning for our trek back to Texas. The weather was beautiful

People were enjoying raft trips down the Rio Grande, as we passed alongside.

Our weather went downhill as we neared the New Mexico border.

The Texas panhandle can be very boring. I caught myself counting utility poles

The green cornfields  were a welcome respite from the dusty landscape.

Every little town had a grain elevator

and most had oil wells, reminding us that we were indeed back in Texas

I knew I was getting goofy when I found humor in the name of the gas station.

We have landed in Childress. Nice to be out of the car. We have a much shorter trip tomorrow...and we will be home. Oh I forgot. We don't have a home....but we will on Thursday...when we move into our new house. Until then, we will be guests of my sister Polly. Thanks Polly for taking us in. Night Night.

The Party's Over

Well, friends. Even though we really needed to stay in Texas for the completion of our new home. We came on to Colorado for two important reasons. My cousins were coming for Cousin Camp, as I have blogged about already....and the other reason was the membership party that we host for the Creede Repertory Theater..That was last night.

 

I made several plates of chocolate fudge

and two trays of bacon Rotel cups. Up here we call them Rotel it on the Mountain. If you can buy cans of Rotel where you live, I will happily send you the recipe. I made another dish, which we will not mention. The altitude got to it... and it went in the trash.

 

The crowd drifted in slowly to the Anthony Gallery... but we ended up having over one hundred in attendance.

 

Creede sent over their band and one of my favorite singers, Jessica Jackson. Meet our master of ceremonies...my hubby.

 

Here I am flanked by two friends, who also have summer cabins here. Would you believe that we went to high school together in a small Town in Texas. How we ended up spending our summers in the same place is purely coincidental!

Headed to Texas tomorrow. They say our house is finally ready and we are moving in!!....stay tuned....Janey

Award Winning Newspaper

Standing proudly at the main intersection of our little town, is our historic bank building, built in 1881. It hasn't changed much over the years, even though  this building has housed many businesses...It has now gone full circle, back to the bank of the same name. I will tell you it's history on another day.

It is an office in this building that I want to talk about.

You see, the local newspaper office is upstairs, occupying these three windows. That one window, by the way, is open all summer...day and night

It is through this tall skinny door that you enter to get up there.

It is quite a climb, and I am usually out of breath when I get to the top. The stone wall on the left belongs to the soda shop next door...where we will visit on another day.

 

This my friends is the desk of the very successful editor, of an award winning weekly newspaper, that is read by everyone in town, on Friday.  Don't let the clutter confuse you. He knows exactly where everything is.

It could be in this pile in the corner

or in the basket that might be confused as rubbish...but he can find it..I assure you.
I think it is a proven fact, that a lot of intelligent, gifted people are unorganized. I am not...so I am wondering what that says about me :(
Please come back again for more on our little mountain town.

Repurpose

Skis, are a lot like technology, both are constantly evolving..making them in a very short time....obsolete.

Here skis have been recycled, or repurposed as fencing

Linking to Good Fences. See more by clicking :  Good Fences

The Mine

Last week when my cousins were here, we drove over the mountain to see a play at the opening night play at the Creede  Repertory Theater. Just past downtown there is a picturesque mining area.

This is actually the area where parts of the movie The Lone Ranger were filmed, two years ago starring Johnny Depp. I would have gladly had him as a guest at my house!

Cousin Camp

I so enjoyed my sister and four of my cousin's being here for a few days. We hadn't all been together in a long long time.. Even though we aren't young girls anymore....this visit really helped us turn back the years of time..

 

Here we are, three sets of sisters.(yours truly front and center) My sister Suzanne gifted us with mugs that had pictures of us when we were little girls. A great keepsake... and we sure enjoyed sitting around having coffee out of them every morning.

We had daily outings.. I drove them in all four directions, into the countryside. This is Pike Snowden's Meadow. A sunny place to walk around ...and you can even explore inside his old cabin.

click on photo to enlarge
An explanation as to who Pike Snowden was

 

We were also able to get in a couple of picnics. I think this was everyones  favorite spot...right beside the river.                                              A few of the sights we saw:

snow capped mountains

small waterfalls

 and large (North Clear Creek Falls)

Rivers and creeks almost over flowing from the snow melt

Flowers in bloom. Yes, I know...in your yard they are weeds. In the mountains, they are some of the first flowers of Spring!

 

The real ones are just starting to peek out...A wild Iris.

I forgot to mention, we also shopped, went out to lunch, and took turns cooking dinner,

saw a moose in the wild....had dinner in an underground mine, and attended the opening night play at the Creede Repertory Theater, Annie Get Your Gun..I certainly  hope that they weren't coming here to rest!

Let's Watercolor

I have mentioned that I am hosting Cousin Camp. Three sets of sisters, all cousins, who grew up together, including me. We have done so many fun things....including having a watercolor class.

My sister Suzanne helped us all paint the scene of our lake here in Colorado.

 

The finished products! Fun time...thanks Suzanne

The Moose

I have guests at the moment. My sister Suzanne and four of my girl cousins. We all are grew up together. Three sets of sisters.We are calling this Cousin Camp. I have talked a lot about there being moose in our area, and they have been looking for one ever since they arrived.

Well, yesterday we spotted one. I had driven them south of the lake to a trail head that crosses the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River.  Cousin Judy and I were walking down the trail, so interested in the little waterfalls, that we walked right past this bull Moose. Sister Suzanne who was tagging behind. yelled "Janey, come back now". I turned around and was startled to see him just standing there. Now, they want me to show them a bear....

Baking

I made cookies today, since I have guests arriving. No big deal you say. Well, you try your hand at baking at 9,000 ft. above sea level! There are cookbooks for high altitude baking , but most are only for people who live at about a level of 6,000 ft.

 

So, a couple of years ago when I found this recipe for High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies, and someone commented that they actually worked for her at 11,000 ft....I knew I had finally stumbled onto something that might work!

  And happy to report it certainly did. I have used this recipe ever since.

I had the first batch ready to go into the oven in no time.

The finished product. You see without the right combination of ingredients, baked good raise very quickly at high altitude and then fall...They turn out flat, crispy and dried out. Now, I just have to hide these. You, see Tom is playing golf. I will leave three or four out for him, but if he knew where the rest were, there would be none left for our guests, Yes, he is a sugar addict, or you might just call him a Cookie Monster!

A Colorado Fence

We are back in Colorado for the next five months. As I have mentioned before, we have a long drive to a supermarket! Tom and I were discussing, on the drive today, how we never tire of this  trip . This is just one of the many many pretty scenes we pass along the way.I have no idea how long this fence has been there. They had record snows this winter, so there are still snow capped mountains in June.

Linking to: Good Fences

Head Bangers

Tom and I live five months out of the year in a log home, high in the mountains. I always have to caution our guests about the head bangers upstairs in the guestrooms.

The least used room is the Texas Loft..above ( they all have names), mainly because it is a loft, and it has very little privacy (despite the great view out the front windows). Yes, that little door is the closet. It is tiny, and you have to bend down under the huge Engleman Spruce log, that is holding up the roof, to get to it. Folks usually clear it bending down, and forget when standing up and BANG!

Next is the Bear Room (a favorite with children). Only problem is, a lot of adults stay in there, and yes they knocked their head on the LOG!

...and then, there is the Fishing Room. Where I yelled" NO! Please don't put a log across that room". So, the builder met me halfway. After all, something has to hold up the roof....and believe it or not, this short little log (by comparison) is the biggest problem of all. Anyone sleeping by the window, who decides to find the bathroom in the middle of the night, has a run in with it.

So, if you are coming to visit, I strongly  suggest you bring a hardhat  and or a bike helmet,,,, to sleep in :)

Oh Hello

I had to go up to the newspaper office  for a meeting about the Home Tours yesterday. I so enjoy going to that office. I will feature it on another day.  It is up a very steep stairs case that has not changed one bit since 1874. When I got to the top (they are very steep) I was out of breath as usual. It takes awhile to get use to this altitude.This is what I saw:

The sweetest little dog....which a BIG rope around it's neck. I was oohing and awwing over the sweet little thing....and then I saw the other end of the rope!

Oh hello. I am a bit scared of larger dogs. I had a run in with a German Shepard as a child. But, this guy was just sizing me up...and I guess he decided I was okay....whew! I am not sure who was tending who here? I quietly  went along my way!

Boys of Summer

 

click on photo to enlarge

It is not unusual to see deer in most parts of the world, but coming from an urban setting, it is always a treat for me, especially when I first arrive . I saw these four young bucks, having an afternoon snack, down below our house yesterday. They all had small fuzzy (referred to as velvet) antlers, which will grow all summer. In the Fall they will rub off all of the velvet, and have a fine, shiny, pointed rack...which will help them attract females, and battle other bucks. After the mating season, their antlers fall off, sometimes aided by the buck rubbing them against a tree...and the process starts all over again.

A (yes, fuzzy) closeup of one of the bucks antlers.

The First Event

Last night was the kick off.... of the Arts Council Summer season. Local artists were featured in the Anthony Gallery, where refreshments were served. It's the first chance to also say hello to folks you haven't seen all winter.

 

This is a painting by local artist Jane E. Jones. Jane lives here in the summer and teaches art classes. In the winter she resides in Dallas, Texas

There was a nice assortment of mixed medias, and photography. Most of them done over the winter. Here, a photo of the Fall Leaves.

There was certainly no shortage of wild life photos and art.

This unusual piece was by local Yolie B.

Yolie, pictured here (a native of Slovakia) had several pieces on display.

Yours truly, and hubby had a great time. It is especially nice when one of the locals hugs you and says
"Welcome Home"