Merry Christmas!

Wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a great 2011. I thought I'd post some pics of our decorations. The girls collect antique or antique looking Santas and I do too. I try to find them at garage sales or Goodwill, etc through out the year. I've really found some great ones at garage sales. Thought I'd better get some pics before they start taking their Santas or Val wants to take her Dickens Village. The tree looks very tall and skinny which it is but that's the kind we like to find. I never did get all of the ornaments hung on it.
We have always hosted Christmas eve and have a tradition of having cioppinno and apps. We always have another soup option since quite a few people don't like 'seafood' soup. This year I made Italian Wedding soup and it was delicious. The cioppino was very good too. We decided to change the gift giving this year (thanks Val) and make it a 'stealing gift game'. One $10.00 item per person was all that was needed to participate. It went really well and was fun so we'll do it again next year. It was neat to see people strategize and go for things they wanted. We had a good variety of gifts but the most sought after were the gourmet coffee and the 'scratchers'. We'll open gifts, snack all morning and head to Stan and Bea's for a 'Mexican fiesta' this eve. Meredith has to work tomorrow so she'll leave this afternoon. Wishing everyone 'heavenly peace' in the coming year, less stress, and lots of happiness!

Happy Birthday Valerie!

Happy Birthday to Valerie, Dad's brown eyed girl. This picture is at the age of three at Halloween (she won the costume contest. She spent the day driving home from North Dakota. We're ready with a Hickory Nut cake and will celebrate more tomorrow. Oh, forgot to say...Val is 27 today!

1st CB ski trip of the Season

We took a short trip to Crested Butte this past week for some early season skiing and to see Meredith. Grandma had never been there and she had a great time. We skied two days, got some Christmas cards sent, and played a lot of cards. We also met Mere's roommate Danica. We stopped by Camp4Coffee at both locations where Meredith works to have some of their delicious chai. Arn and I also got our xmas presents for each other!
We each got a Cross Country ski pkg. so we can go when we go to CB or just around Monument at the golf courses and hiking trails.

Best Tree Ever !

Yesterday we got the best tree ever! We've been cutting our own tree for quite a few years now. You just have to go to the Forest Service office downtown and pick up a permit for $10.00. The day was blue skies and sunny but chilly. I wasn't going to say anything about missing Maggie on this trip (she really enjoyed going tree hunting), but it was the first thing Arn said when we started the search. We found the best spot. So great that I saved the map and got road markers so we can go the same place next year. It was a little trail that was beautiful with lots of our favorite types of trees (tall, skinny, short needles). I want to go back in the summertime and walk the trail to see where it goes. Also, getting it into the stand and into the house was a breeze. It was even straight with the first attempt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Planning for this holiday has been a little weird this year....Valerie had to stay in North Dakota (work). Tyler didn't know until this week what he would have off (work). Meredith has to work this morning and then will be driving home from CB but will now be able to stay an extra day because a co-worker is so nice. I'm thankful that they all have jobs!
So our plans have been up in the air day to day but we are now brineing the turkey and I'll start the pies any minute. I've worked all week so Arn was on his own yesterday with fixin' prep work. Hoping everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Round and Round!

I've had two of these ugly little ottomans in the garage for several years. Mere and I picked them up at a garage sale for $1-$2 dollars each. It was supposed to be a DIY project but they just never got done.
With Mere and Tyler both getting apts. I figured it was time to finish the project. So....I found some great fabric for about $3.00 at the ARC on Senior discount day (yes, I qualify) and called Peg. She's a great upholsterer in Monument that we found when we needed the cushions for the leather sofa at the condo redone. She's great - inexpensive and fast. She had both ottomans done within a week. I don't know yet how much her labor charge is yet. Aren't they cute? Mere has first dibbs.
A few of my favs - finding a great deal, reusing and recycling, and circles!
Wait till you see my next job from Peg - 2 chairs and an ottoman I snapped up at a garage sale for $40.00 with fabric off the bargain rack at Denver fabric!

Still having good weather but not for long...

We got out and took advantage of the great weather the last couple of days and tried a hike we hadn't done before. The Columbine Trail in Cheyenne Canyon starts at the bottom of the canyon and goes up to the bottom of Helen Hunt Falls. It's 4 mi. one way and we did it up and back. We also did the HH Falls hike which was .6 mi., nice but the water was low. The columbine trail follows the road some of the time and you can hear traffic but most of the trail is away from everything. It took us about 4 hr. and 15 min. So our total was 8.6 mi. I could really feel it when we got home! The canyon has lots of rock formations and great views (we could even see the Broadmoor). A couple of times we could hear the chimes of the Will Rogers Shrine. When I was pregnant with Val and took Arn's mom with me to Co. we went to the shrine and also to Helen Hunt Falls.




I still can't figure out how to turn a posted pic! Note the sideways pic of me.





Sunday we met Meredith in Buena Vista to take a load of her things to her. We lunched at the Eddyline Brewery and checked out the BV River Walk. It was pretty cool and the outdoor seating area was really creative! It was all made out of colorful tile cement furniture. Meredith may be in CB for a year. She's working for Camp 4 Coffee and wants to volunteer on the mountain.


On the way back we decided to go over the mountains (basically wilderness) from Woodland Park to Monument and come down over Mt. Herman. We made a wrong turn and drove for 1 1/2 hr. to the back of Garden of the Gods. I think it would have taken about 45 min. if we'd gone the right way. We did see lots of scenery and canyons we hadn't seen before. It was another world up there!



Wildlife spotting this weekend. Two deer crossed our trail on Sat. and we spotted a bald eagle on the drive back from BV on Sunday.

A couple of DUD hikes.

1st snow of the season 11/1/10

Today was our first snowfall in Monument. It was just a light dusting that was melted by noon.
Arn and I decided to check out an area south of Castle Rock that I've always noticed from I-25. It wasn't repeatable! Evidently some Colorado Lottery money was used to make a trail beside the interstate in a preble mouse habitat. Lots of money was probably used to make a couple of loops between the highway and the railroad tracks. We could hear and see traffic the entire time and the loops weren't
even in a very scenic area. Definitely won't do that again. It took us about an hour to do both loops. From there we headed to Castle Rock and hiked the rock (about 1 mile) and it was also kind of dissapointing. Again we could see and hear traffic the whole time. After reaching the top Arn did a little rock climbing and went up on top of the rock. The whole thing took about 30-40 min. We drove east and south and took some roads we hadn't traveled before. It was all ranch land with pretty views. Not very good hikes but pretty weather and at least maybe 4 miles of exercise.

Happy Halloween!

It's a quiet Halloween here in Monument. Meredith left this morning to live and work in Crested Butte for the winter and probably next summer. She'll work for a great local coffee shop, 'Camp 4 Coffee', and volunteer on the mountain for a ski pass. She wants mountain safety but could end up as 'Betty' or 'Bubba' bear. Tonight is Tyler's last eve home....he leaves for Houston in the morn, goes to Tulsa next week, and then training in Denver.
So unfortunately Arn and I missed the Halloween party at the club. I think I'll keep our costumes a secret so we can use them next year. Our Halloween this year (chinese take out, laundry, and football). I guess tomorrow is really Halloween but we usually don't get trick or treaters. I'll pick up some candy just in case and maybe a pumpkin for us to carve. Feeling blue....this is really empty nest time. All 3 kids have jobs and are on their own!! Oh for the days of making their costumes, giving out candy, carving pumpkins, and going to the school Halloween parade!

Beetles, Gutters and Windows, oh my!

Trees cut, windows washed, gutters cleaned and deplugged! Our fall ' to do' list keeps growing. First of all each Sept. we need to walk the lot and look for pine beetle infestations. If infested the trees need to be taken down while the beetles are still in the larva stage (they are harder to kill as they get bigger). The Co. State Forest Service came and gave us info and tagged two tree. Arn and Tyler already have them down and the wood is in the sun and drying. We have two possible people who will take the wood. One tree (really a half tree since it broke during the last heavy snow) is already dead so we left it as a wildlife tree (basically to give woodpeckers someplace to peck). Wednesday the gutter/window guy was here all day, washed the windows inside and out and cleaned all the gutters. Sadly it won't last....every spring the yellow pine pollen flies and pine needles are continually dropping. At least we are closer to being ready for winter. We also planted a couple of new bushes, one to add some interest to the side of the garage and the other to camoflauge the well cap. I plan on posting pics of the newly planted bushes so I keep up with their progress. The lady at Tagawa (garden center) said to plant them in our soil without any additions. Our soil is awful so it will surprise me if they grow.

Date or just Quality Time (QT)??

What a nice fall day. It started off with some charity sewing for the Palmer Divide Quilt group (we make hats, turbans, and comfort pillows for cancer patients) and a delicious soup luncheon (cream of green chile soup) and then on to a 1 1/2 hr. hike out on the Monument Preserve. Then we stopped at La Casa for a great mexican pizza, chile rellenos with fresh pablano chiles and a refreshing mojito. What will the eve bring?? Football and then listening to the Clamdaddy's at the Speedtrap in Palmer Lake!

Boys will be boys!

Balanced Rock!

The famous Kissing Camels



Balanced Rock (G of G)
Mike (NGD) and Greg (Doc) flew in for a fun weekend getaway last weekend. Lots of golf was played, we checked out Garden of the Gods, and went to O'Malley's and La Casa. It was good to see them and I think the break did Mike good. Meghan was in town for work and was able to extend her trip another day so she could join the fun.

It's Elk Mating Time!

A view of Long's Peak (Ty and Mere have hiked to the top a couple of times!)


Horseshoe Park Bull Elk and his harem.


A bugling bull elk.

Tyler and Miranda (we ran into them at Moraine Meadow)

A view from the top of Trail Ridge Road in RMNP - the highest road in the US (goes 11 mi.)

I've always wanted to head to Rocky Mt. Nat. Park during the elk rutting season (call me weird) but so do lots of other people. Arn and I started off this past Sun. morn by heading to Winter Park, going thru Fraiser, to Grandby, Grand Lake and over Trail Ridge Rd to see the elk. We stopped for lunch in Grand Lake. Elk viewing is best from 5-7 pm. so I wouldn't let Arn stop and do any hikes on the way. We arrived at the best viewing area (so did a lot of other people) and got our spot. Just after 5 pm a bull elk with his harem showed up and they all played in the lake. Wanting to see two bulls reaction to each other we moved to another area (Moraine Meadow). There were several bulls with harems but no sparring. Ty and Miranda saw two bulls bowing. All of them were bugling. A reminder for for next time (take binoculars)! Arn's reaction to everything - 'you see one elk, you've seen them all' and 'how long can you watch a bunch of elk'.

Fall Color Weekend in CB

Paonia, Co. vineyard

Colors while driving over Kebler Pass

More colors Kebler Pass

Driving over Cottonwood Pass to CB

We took a spur of the moment trip to see the fall aspens this past weekend. Arn and I left Sat. AM and drove to Buena Vista, over Cottonwood Pass, past Taylor Res, along the Taylor River to Crested Butte. The aspens were in full color. We stopped in Cottonwood Pass to hike a little and ended up going for 3 hrs. on a segment of the Colorado Tr. It was kind of hot and mostly uphill so it probably won't be a repeat hike. On the way home when we stopped at Kay's Dairy Barn we met an older couple who are CT caretakers. They clued us in to the south leg of that segment that isn't uphill so we'll try that next time. On Sunday we drove from CB to Paonia thru Kebler Pass. It's beautiful but a several hr. trip. Not many of the stores were open. I've always wanted to drive to Paonia, Arn wasn't thrilled, so it's a Been there, Done that item. We got a few things done around the condo. The pics aren't mine....I forgot to return the memory card to the camera.

OBX fun!

We finally made it to the beach again...Corolla, NC....Whalehead Beach....OBX. It could be our last time at our beach house 'Happy as a Clam' We had 21 relatives, friends, and sig. others for the week and it was wonderful. Hurricaine Earl passed thru the area a day or so before we got there and left us with great weather and great water. Crabbing was great and the crabbing crew brought home about a doz. keepers for dinner. We saw dolphins, a whale, jelly fish, and more. Tyler, Eric, and Kevin rented surf boards one day to catch some hogs!
Ages ranged from 10 mo. to the 60's and it was so nice to reconnect with everybody and have such a good time.

Bal catching a wave!

'Happy as a Clam'

Frank and Sass

Kevin

Kenna

Mini Matt

Tyler and Miranda



Eric and Joe

Chris and Maren

Joe and Ben (celebrated his 3rd birthday at the beach)

Sass and Arlene

Mel and Mere (celebrated Mel's Birthday at the beach too)

Crabbing at the Whalehead Club (lighthouse in background)

The 2010 group minus Matt and Tiffany (below)