Of being cold and having colds

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Or how I hacked my way through most of December so far.

I went up to Cheyenne on December 5th. Time with Dan, the grandboys and running around Cheyenne. It was fun. Right up until they shared their cold. First with Dan, who was sick the entire time I was up there, and then with me. I’ll blame Dan as well for my cold. I came back to Walsenburg on the 10th and was miserable. And no, not just because Dan stayed in Cheyenne. I had the cold. Ugh.

I managed the board meeting on Tuesday, and then crawled in bed until yesterday. Ugh.

I came home to 4 inches of snow on the 10th. That was the first moisture since early October. It is still far too dry, and if we are lucky, we are suppose to have snow tonight. In the mean time, the wind is cold. Brrrr!

Life in general has been a bit up in the air. We realized in July that our business was about to expire. No clients. No one wanting their computer repaired. The reason is that the most common computer down here is the smart phone. They don’t repair them, they just toss and replace them. So, we’ve had no work. this has caused a rather radical change in our thinking and plans. We started and  to look around and realized that we would have to move. We began to look around. Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Denver and even Loveland. Nothing. Or, at least nothing that would last. Then my oldest son asked us to come up to Cheyenne for a weekend. We did and were surprised at how much Cheyenne had “grown up. Dan decided that come October, that he’d start looking for work up there. That’s why we’ve been running up and down I-25.

While Dan has been in Cheyenne, I’ve been slowly sorting and packing up the house. Dan is still looking for work. He’s had a few good interviews and we are hoping that the last one he had will be “the one’. We hope in the new year to be up in Cheyenne. I’ll keep you posted.

A Dry and Warm December

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So far, the weather has been dry. Oh so dry. In fact, I think the last time we had any moisture was in the first part of October. By now, we’ve usually had at least two or three snowstorms and a few flurries. The peaks have only had a dusting as well.

Well, the month of November was crowded to say the least. After the quiet weekend after my birthday we were up and down the road to Cheyenne twice. Then my Dad hurt his back and we did a trip to Las Cruces with my parents. We did have a good time in spite of Dad being in pain. It was very good to see Toni, Karl  and their son Kristopher. Karl took us on a few short tours around Las Cruces and we visited the Farm and Ranch Museum where my Aunt Toni is the curator. 🙂 It is a very nice museum. Of course, we ate too much, drank a bit much and had a really good visit.

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When we got home, it was time to take Dan back up to Cheyenne. I visited for a few days and then came home to catch up on laundry, housework and all that kind of thing. I’m heading back up on Wednesday. It should be an interesting week.

November ???

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I swear that this month has flown. Don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact that I’ve been driving up and down I-25 between here and Cheyenne, but damn!

We recovered from all the company, meetings, odd ball jobs and then we started going up to Wyoming to visit Erin. We also sat up all night watching the elections. That was very interesting. It will be interesting too, to see how things work out in the next few months.

We had a WorkForce conference in Canon City. I got to visit my friend Jude and her little farm full of geese, ducks, chickens, and goats. She had two of the cutest baby goats. One was angora and so soft! The last day of the conference was also my 53rd birthday. I had lunch with my friend Jacque at this neat bakery in Florence. It had macaroons to die for. Omg! Then we drove home and pretended we didn’t exist for the whole weekend. It was lovely.

My parents are going to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving at my Aunty Tony’s house. We get to watch the cat, Zoe. Wheee… Otherwise, I’m making Green Chile for dinner. I hate turkey. Morgan is going to her mom’s for Tday, so it will be just Dan and I.

I’m doing NaNoWriMo. I’m a bit behind. Tonight I plan to see how many words I can write between 6 and 10pm. Hopefully a few thousand. I’m writing a story about colonizing Mars.

 

Quiet at last

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… for at least a little while. Erin came by to visit with Natalie on Thursday. We had pizza and chatted until he had to get back to his truck around 9pm. Friday we went to Pueblo. We took Natalie to Bingo Burger for dinner and then we looked around in various shops for a light coat for me. No luck. Finally around 9:30pm, we took Natalie to the bus station and saw her off to Austin Texas. After a quick stop for a drink, we drove to La Junta and picked up Morgan. She had a meeting in Colorado Springs the next morning. We got in late, up early and headed out.

The meeting was a People to People meeting about a trip to Australia. Morgan was really excited about this, but as the meeting wore on, it was apparent to us that Morgan had ‘out grown’ what People to People could offer. That jump in maturity has sent her straight out of PtP’s league. So, it was a rather sad trio that drove home. We are now thinking of just raising the money for Morgan to go visit Natalie in Oxford.

To take the edge off, we went to the Citadel Mall and got Greek gyros for lunch. Yum! Then we did the great coat hunt for me again. In the end, we gave up and I bought a pattern and material for a coat. I’ll be making that this week. (hopefully). We drove home and after a bit of dinner, headed to bed.

We slept in for the first time in nearly 8 weeks! It was glorious!!! We got up, pottered about and then after watching the Space x launch, had a bit of dinner and then drove Morgan back to La Junta. It was a nice ride home, as we watched rabbits zip across the highway. We also talked a bit about my project for NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month) I’ve decided to give it a try again. Last time my computer died. We talked about the plot, some characters and where I’d like things to go. We discussed just how much I was going to have to pick his brain too. 🙂

Today, it was back to the grind. A much quieter house now that the girls are gone, but good to be back to a more ‘normal’ (?) schedule.

Natalie’s Visit

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Natalie, my oldest daughter has been visiting. We haven’t seen her in six years. So, on her way down from Canada, she stopped here. We’ve been out to see Morgan, had dinner with my parents, visited with some of the boys on the phone, drove up to see the aspens and have visited until the wee hours of the morning. Here are some of the pics so far.

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Supersonic September

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This month has rushed by. We started with Battlemoor and will end with the Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival In between, we have had birthdays a plenty. Morgan’s, Dan’s, Mom and Dad’s. And, since we got paid, there were new glasses for Dan and Morgan, new shoes for Dan and new tires for the truck. Then it was back to the daily grind of house work, computers and cleaning.

I thought I’d get a breather in there. Wrong. Day after his birthday, Dan felt ill. By Monday night, he was in bed. I won’t share the gory details, but he was not a happy camper. Oh, and he passed out/fell at one point. One moment he was fine, next… out. So, he spent most of the next day in bed and has been making a slow recovery ever since. Why? Well, when he fell, he smacked his hip and cracked a rib. We knew about the hip right away… Can’t miss it if it hurts to sit. And yes, plenty of bad jokes were made about cracks… However, it wasn’t until he actually began to feel better, and stopped hurting everywhere, that he realized he’d cracked a rib.

Now of course, it’s the beginning of the music festival. Dan is up in Gardner today with some of the musicians at the school. Tonight is a pot luck which I need to make a cake or something for and Thursday night is The Taste of Things to Come, the first concert. It is going to be a really good festival this year.

Oh, and on top of that, we are 1) cleaning house to do the plumbing-don’t faint, 2) cleaning house because it’s time to get ready for winter, and 3) Natalie is coming to visit October 1st!!!!!  I’m sorry that she’ll be here when it is all chaotic, but we haven’t seen her in nearly 6 years. (bounce! bounce! bounce!)

After mid-October, when I think I’ll get some time to sew, we’ll see what else crops up.

Battlemoor III, Plums and too much going on

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August ran us over and we crashed in the Middle Ages. Aka… Battlemoor III. I barely got all of my sewing done in time to head out on a Wednesday to camp. Originally, Dan was not going to stay the whole time. He’d planned to work and then come out in the evenings. Serendipity swung her mighty fairy dust wand and Poof! Things changed. Dan got off of work a little late and didn’t have to go back on Thursday. He got his class work done and realized he might actually have a chance to take some time off. Not like we needed it or anything.

Wednesday as we sat up camp after sundown, we got to know a few of our fellow campers in Artisan’s Lane. Then we slept for the first time in ages with no real schedule for us in the morning. Ahhhhh!

We woke at dawn and started getting ready for the day. I worked on the potters wheels and the pottery tent. Dan started running errands. Then he discovered that there was no ice truck this year. So, he started running ice in from First Choice, our local grocery store. At least two trips a day. He gave free ice to the Troll gate, Chirgeons, the watch and to the parties.

I had a lot of fun working with the pottery and the fiber tent. It was the first time I’d thrown on a potter’s wheel in about 8 years. I didn’t do to bad, but I realize I will have to build up my hand strength for next year. I made a couple of hand built pieces as well. One was a small rose. It was about the only piece of mine that made it through the firing. We did do a kiln fire and realized that we need better air control next year. At least there was enough pottery to award some to the king and queen. 🙂

I got a lucet this year and learned how to make cord. 🙂 Dan bought me presents too. A torque, shears, a small knife, shoes, hair pins, a shuttle and the lucet. 🙂 I’ll post pictures below.

I think that camping with the Artisan’s Lane group was the best thing we did. I really enjoyed the company and the way it all worked. We all pitched in with cooking and cleaning up.

Once we got home, we were thrown into the craziness of ‘life’. I picked 50 pounds of plums off of my mom’s tree. Since then I have made plum jelly, syrup, jam, butter and chutney. Oh and cake and cobbler. Yummm!

We also have been to visit Morgan at least two times. Once on her 16th birthday. We took her out to eat, gave her a prezzie Dan picked up for her at Battlemoor III and gave her some money. She is really adjusting to college well. While she may be the youngest person on campus, she is on par with many of her fellow students mentally. For others, she is the adult supervision. LOL!

Wednesday, it rained almost all day long and oh was it COLD! I pulled blankets out of boxes and threw quilts on the bed. Today we got a clear glimpse of the Spanish Peaks. There was snow on the tops and the Trincheras were white! Brrrr!!!!

Last night we drove to Pueblo and had dinner at Bingo Burger. 🙂 It was Dan’s birthday treat to himself. We went to Barnes and Nobel for a while and then came home. Tomorrow we are heading out to pick her up, and then we are going to Pueblo. She and Dan need new glasses. Maybe, just maybe we will eat at Bingo Burger again. 🙂

Oh, and week after next is the Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival!

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Morgan and Anabel

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Life has been just a tad hectic. Between work for Dan, lots of meetings for me and life in general, we’ve had two big events. The first one was Morgan going off to college! Earlier in the month, Dan and Morgan got her Colorado ID and then registered her for college at Otero State Jr. College in La Junta. Locals call it La Hunna. 🙂 It’s about 78 miles east of us. Morgan took her accuplacer test and maxed it. I’m not sure who was more proud. Dan, because she did so well that she doesn’t need any classes below 200 level, or Morgan because she beat her dad’s scores. 🙂

Then the great packing began. Morgan had lots of stuff. Some she left, some was trashed and loads was packed to go to college. Our big worry was housing. At nearly the last minute, we did find her some temporary housing. It is a very nice house about 3 blocks from the college. So, on Sunday we drove her out there, met the woman who owns the house, unpacked Morgan and then took her to Walmart for some groceries. Morgan had a little melt down, but not bad at all. Especially as she won’t be 16 until next month!

Then we said our goodbyes and headed home. On the drive home, we hit a coyote. 🙁 No help for it though. We dropped like rocks into bed.

Monday morning, Dan went off to work by 6am and Anabel, my grandaughter arrived at 9:30am.  She’s 8 and I hadn’t seen her in a year. It was so good to see her. We talked, took lots of pictures, made a carob cake and a carrot cake. My parents and my ex husband came over to see Anabel too. Anabel and I looked at treasures, made her a pillow, and two necklaces. She played on the Xoom while I did dishes and cooked dinner. Luckily, Dan got home in time to see her too. She’d been asking for him all day, which I thought was great. 🙂

Her Great-grandma Sue picked her up around 7pm. I’ll miss her, but we will see her soon. 🙂

And now the house is so quiet.

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Cheyenne!

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Last week we went up to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We visited my son Erin and his wife. It was a good visit with Logan trying to do genealogy and figure out the family connections. 🙂

Logan: What do I call you? (meaning Dan)

Dan: Well, you can call me Dan or Grandpa Dan or Papa Dan. It doesn’t matter to me.

Logan: You live with Grandma Sudar, but you aren’t my Grandpa, so I’ll call you Dan.

Which was great. Ewan on the other hand was a giggle. I asked for a hug and got “No! No touch!” Okay, he hasn’t seen me in a while, I understand. Logan hugged me and Dan. I asked Ewan if he’d hug Dan, thinking we’d get the same answer. Instead, we got… “Paaaapa!” and a great big hug. LOL! Ewan did make up with me later.

We drove all over Cheyenne. Lots of beautiful houses and buildings and these big 8ft cowboy boots. I took lots of pictures, and some of them are posted. We also drove out to Vedawoo Rocks. I remember a picnic there as a kid.

All in all, it was a really good trip. On the way home, we stopped at IKEA and bought a desk for Dan and a bed for us! Wheeee! Dan wasn’t too enthusiastic about it at first. Thought it was just an expense we could do without. I said I wanted a bed frame!  I explained it had been nearly 24 years since I had a nice bed frame. So, we bought it. Morgan and I put it together and it is heavenly. About 30 minutes after we went to bed that night, Dan rolled over and apologized. He decided that I’d made a good choice. 🙂 Come to find out he’d never slept in a bed with a whole frame, just one of those frames on wheels things. So,… 🙂 I forgave him.

Here are the pictures of the trip. Oh, and as usual, I was behind the camera.

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