Family!

Posted on by

Bryan, Katie and their two boys, Gavin and Talon are now living with us! Crazy! Busy! Very nice to have grandbabies here to play with!

We’ve moved into the Wendy house and Bryan and family are in the main house. We are working on the Wendy house to make it more livable and upgrading the plumbing in the main house. Dan and Bryan fixed the old screen door for the back door and have built one for the front door.

As Katie unpacks boxes, I’m packing things in boxes until we have the Wendy house done. We have some stuff in a tent too. Weird, but it’s working.

A Wild Time in Walsenburg!

Posted on by

Just in case anyone in the universe missed the news yesterday…. This   is what happened in Walsenburg. Around 9:45am, Dan called to tell me that he might be late getting home from lunch. He’d gone to get gas at the Acorn when suddenly everything went crazy. He got over to George’s Drive Inn and managed to grab a burger while waiting to see if he could get out of the area. He finally ended going up over the hogback and through the back side of town to get home. He also got the chance to talk to our local sheriff, Bruce Newman.

Meanwhile, Daniel and some of his work buddies were getting gas as well. Everyone got hung up. My parents were trying to come home from Pueblo where they’d gone early this morning for groceries. I don’t know how long it took them to get home. Oh, and Morgan and I were suppose to go to Pueblo to do some shopping. We got delayed and had to go out of town by the southern exits. We passed the scene and could see the car and the traffic backed up for miles.

We got our shopping done, had lunch at Bingo Burger and still managed to be caught in the traffic jam. We did see the Dougherty Gang being taken in convoy to Pueblo. Lots and Lots of law enforcement vehicles with flashing lights.

It certainly has been a media circus. Walsenburg’s one day of fame. Now to going back to a quiet sleepy town in Southern Colorado.

Wind Power in Huerfano County!

Posted on by

Who’d have thought that would ever happen? LOL! Good grief! We have more wind here than you can fly kites in! We’ve had wind studies for years. BP did one and said that there was No Viable Wind Power in the county! Others have said there is plenty of wind, but no one wanted towers to ruin the view. Now Black Hills-Vestas is going to try to bring wind power and the associated jobs to the county. It’s about time! We need industry in the county. We need to use renewable resources as well.

Read the article here

August Already?

Posted on by

Damn! Where has the summer gone? I want a refund or at least a rewind. One second it was June and now it’s August!!! sigh. It has gone so fast this year. Granted, we’ve been busy.

We have moved into the Wendy house in preparation for the great plumbing attack. I have the floors in the main part of the house oiled and I’ve been sorting out things. Do I use this? Do I use that? Oh, and why on earth did I keep this?!

On a trip to Denver we went to the IKEA store. Oh my god! It took us three hours just to walk through at a FAST pace. Lots of wonderful things to buy. Lots of things I’d like for my house.

We also did something brave. We moved the office out of the house and into an office on Main Street! Scary. Lots of change. Most notably, Dan has to wear ‘dress clothes’ most days. LOLOL!

There are days…

Posted on by

That I hate the phone. Marvelous communications tool that it is, there are days that I would rather it not ring. Of course, those are usually the days that I am VERY glad to have the damned box.

Early Tuesday morning, my two grandsons, Gavin, 4.5 and Talon, 2.5 woke up, broke down the baby gate, got frozen tv dinners out of the fridge and when they discovered that they were too cold to eat, stacked things up and got to the locks on the front door. They went for a walk. This was about 4-5am. They were picked up by the police about 1.5 blocks from home. They were taken back to the house and the police woke up Bryan. Katie was at work.  Of course, the police took the boys to the station, gave them clothes, toys, treats, movies, etc… Bryan got a citation for third degree child endangerment. DHS visited, the cops visited again, etc…. DHS checked out the house, said the back door lock was tight and shouldn’t be a problem, but they needed to get a chain on the front door.

Bryan missed work, they got the locks on the door and chaos was supreme. Bryan and Katie were aghast that the boys did this. Of course, living in Arkansas doesn’t help either.

Of course, they called me. A lot. Oh, and don’t forget the texts.

Yesterday morning, Bryan again wakes to the sound of police knocking at the door. The boys broke the baby gate again, couldn’t get out the front door, so they got out the back door. They only got half a block away this time. The same policeman arrested Bryan after giving him a citation for second degree endangerment. Katie of course had just gotten off of work and was dealing with the boys while Bryan went to jail.

Once again, the phone began to ring.

Many phone conversations later, including some which were NOT so pleasant, we find that Bryan had been released on his own recognizance. He was suppose to change clothes and get to work. What you have to understand is that Bryan works at a swanky country club in Arkansas. So does his brother Stefan. The chairman of the board of the club is the Chief of police. Stefan called in a favor. So, Bryan got out of jail, got yet another lock that was put on the OUTSIDE of the back door and then went to work.

More phone calls.

As the dawn began to break, I wondered if 1) the boys had been kept inside or escaped again, 2) if Bryan or Katie got any sleep 3) if the phone was going to ring again.

It did.

The boys did stay inside. Locks, baby gate, Bryan sleeping in front of their bedroom door, etc. Bryan and Katie did get some sleep. Enough so that Bryan went to work. Today, he’s seeing a probono lawyer who also is a board member at the country club from what I understand, about the case. He is due to go to court on August 11th.

I have to admit, that the whole lawyer and police chief involvement gives me the creeps. Granted, the police rewarding the boys bad behavior bothers me too. Around here, things would have been handled differently. Even DHS said that the cops shouldn’t have arrested Bryan or given him a second ticket. sigh…

I expect the phone will ring more in the next few days…

Anabell!

Posted on by

She came to visit! Her mom and stepdad are in town visiting family and we got to visit with Anabell for about 5 hours.

We made tortillas, burritos and then I made a carob mayonnaise cake. Morgan and Anabell put mint chips and carob chips in the cake as well. It was heavenly. After dinner, we watched Tangled. Plus I gave Anabell some of my dolls. A Navajo doll, some worry dolls, and a big porcelain doll from England that has red hair. Oh, and I found a book for her. She was in heaven.

Then today, Dan sent me a picture… he was teasing me the other day about having to rip out some of my knitting, which is called tink-ing. 🙂 (knit backwards) I laughed!

Life is a bit slow at the moment. We are trying to get the house cleaned up and ready for some major construction work. That includes the Wendy House as well. Do I have the energy? Nope! Not today. I’m a slug. Hmmm….. maybe that noneuclidean sweater ate my ‘get up and go’.

Oh, and today is Erin’s 29th birthday.

Return from Battlemoor II

Posted on by

Yesterday, the 4th, we packed our camp up and returned to the 21st century. sigh…

Battlemoor was great! Probably should have been called BattleDUST, but we had a wonderful time. The rain on one day did help, and made  the dust/powdered cow patties settle. I swear we inhaled/ingested at least a pound of that dust. Ughh! However, the Stroh Ranch is a working ranch and there are cattle!

We arrived Wednesday and set up camp in a lovely little dell. Amazingly, it was only 50 yards from the Town Hall. There was a cool tree that had fallen and it looked all the world like the Pi symbol or a henge. While we were all part of the Shire of Villaleon, we were also in three separate areas. So, there was the main camp, Persia where Arty and Nyusha lived and then ‘the Savages’,… us. 🙂 Rather appropriate as I’m a Viking and Dan is um…. Lothar de Savage. This lead to many jokes. “Oh, that isn’t Viking,… Oh. Wait… you plundered that didn’t you…”  and “I’m a Viking. You going to hand that over or shall I just take it?” It was a lot of fun. We teased Lothar as his era didn’t write…. “Don’t worry dear, I’ll teach you how to write…” and other bits. “He’s a savage, be glad he’s wearing clothes… eats with a spoon… cooks his meat…”

The week was busy with a number of tourneys and classes. I learned how to tablet weave and to spin!!!! Oh, and how to write/send a letter. 🙂 That was fun. I took tons of pictures and they can be seen on my Facebook page. I really enjoyed the spear tourney. Dan of course was watching most of the tourneys. Between answering questions, making comments on fighting, patching up a few fighters and other bits and pieces, he got offered belts three times! So, while he didn’t accept a belt to be a squire, he will be getting his armor together and will be getting his heavy fighters card. He teased me at one point calling me his armor bunny. I about spewed with laughter. (an armor bunny is someone who helps their knight with armor, spotting weaknesses, etc.)

There were also courts every night and revels. (parties!) Thursday night was Hafla. Rolling Thunder played drums until probably 4am. Women belly danced, people chatted, good beer was consumed and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Friday night was Halls of Valhalla. There was a Viking ship where you could memorialize someone and then the boat was burned. We payed homage to Sir Starhelm. Once again, there was great conversations and lots of beer. I had one called Vikings Drool. It was a lovely dark stout. OMG! Oh, and there was a non-alcoholic ginger beer that was heaven, as well as a sarsaparilla to knock your socks off.  I drank more of those than the beer. 🙂

Saturday was the Medieval Red, White and Blue celebration. Everyone tried to dress in red, white and blue and still stay in character. It was a riot. The drummers played again and it was about 1am before I got to bed.

Sunday night was the Farewell Siege Revel. It was a time to eat and drink all the leftovers, say goodbye to people and unwind. It was another late night, but well spent.

Monday of course came Way Too Early. However, we broke camp in about 90 minutes. We said our goodbyes and headed home. Once we were home, we unpacked, showered, checked a few things on the computers and then crashed. I even got my article written for the Huerfano World Journal and pictures sent. 🙂 We napped from 4pm to nearly 10pm. We got up for a little bit of food and were back to bed by 1am. Damn we slept heavy! I have to admit that about the only thing I missed was my BED! So, we are planning on making a Viking bed for next year. Whether we make a Viking tent or a yurt is still being discussed.

Today we are putting stuff away, cleaning and washing things and trying to move. All the aches and pains have come home to roost. We didn’t get too badly sunburned, but there were lots of bites and Dan got all itchy from bucking bales of hay used at some of the battles. Yes, we clean up after ourselves so that the ranch can be a ranch.

Only a year till Battlemoor III. 🙂

 

Ludlow Massacre Memorial

Posted on by

Today was the UMW memorial service held at Ludlow, the site of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre. The actual event occurred in April 20th, 1914 in Ludlow, Colorado. The coal miners were on strike for decent treatment in the mines. If you want to read about it, visit this site   or Google the event.

However, this has a family connection for me. The Sudars were coal miners. In 1914, Paul Sudar Sr, his wife Rose and their four sons, were living in the tent colonies. One of those sons was my grandpa John Sudar. He was four. Grandpa said that his father got nervous about the machine guns being set up on the hills around the camps. During the run up to the Ludlow Massacre, My Great-grandpa Sudar sent his wife and children out on a flatcar with lots of other women and children. The flatcar sat out on the plains for four days as they waited to hear what happened to their husbands and friends. It was cold, as that April had been very snowy. They had only what they could carry. When they came back, Ludlow was burned. People died. Mainly women and children who suffocated in a basement under a tent.

I realize that if my Great-grandpa hadn’t been nervous about what he was seeing, we might not be here. The Ludlow Massacre was part of a war that most people don’t even know about. They don’t know how one small place in Colorado became so important to the unions and the history of the labor movement.

Today we had local union reps,politicians, clergy, a Mother Jones impersonator, national union reps, an author and most importantly, two Great Granddaughters who’s families worked in the mines and were at Ludlow. We had welders who presented the site with a memorial sign that they had welded. One of the welders had started out as a miner and changed jobs to become a welder. We had awesome barbecue to eat. Most importantly, this was a family event. Families of miners, union members and community.

I’ll be there again next year.

Agggghhh!!! Life Interrupts!

Posted on by

Or, how I went crazy trying to get ready for Battlemoor.

It’s been quiet. Not a lot of business, (boo!) not a lot of stuff because of school, or weather, etc. I figured I’d have lots of time to sew. Battlemoor is at the end of the month. Then it got busy. Business has picked up. (Yeah!!!)  We had a BUNCH of meetings. South East Workforce Board, South Central Workforce Board, State Youth Council, school boards, etc… Then the classes… SCA classes and computer classes.

I finally found time to sew and started on Dan’s stuff. The tunics went together beautifully. The trews were a bit of a hassle, but I figured out a combo of modern pattern and old fashioned pattern. It took a little to get the gusset right, but then everything just worked. So, I started on my clothes. The under tunic went together fairly easily. Then I started the Apron dress. To say that I fought with that pattern is an understatement. I finally discovered that my printer had not printed everything. However, the whole experience has been so frustrating that it took me nearly 5 hours to work one dress. Now, I’ve sewn for 40 years. I started when I was ten. I’ve drafted patterns and done things that have gone from a 14 inch drawing to a 1860’s ball gown. Never half the issues I had with this dress. Why? I don’t know. However, I have decided that it was a mix of non-seamstresses and academics trying to engineer a garment. I thought about all the issues, redid the pattern on some basic levels.  The next one I did I had the drafting, cutting and basic sewing done in 40 minutes. So, when the dust of Battlemoor settles, I will be sharing my new way to draft and sew a Viking Apron Dress.

Below are pics of my new sewing companion, and Dan in his tunic and trews.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Preparations for Battlemoor II

Posted on by

Or how I will spend most of the next two weeks sewing!

Last year, the SCA kingdom of the Outlands held a new event called Battlemoor. It was on the Stroh Ranch up near Greenhorn Mt., about 10 miles from Walsenburg. We went up and took lots of pictures and had a great time. However, we only did the one day thing.

This year, we have a new Shire in town… So to speak. Next thing we knew, a bunch of SCA people poured out of the woodwork, got together and *poof*, we had the Shire of Villaleon!  You can check it out here  And you can check out Battlemoor II here

As with last year, I am covering the event. This time though, from the INSIDE. yes, we are actually attending the whole event. 🙂 So, I’m making clothing like a mad woman. I’m a 900-100o AD era Viking who hooked up with a Lombard Mercenary from approximately the same era if not a little earlier. So, Jaye and Dan will morph into Unna Farulfsdottir and Lothar de Savage at the end of the month.

Last night, we attended the shoe making class held by two other SCA members in the Shire. We got to cover a sock in duct tape and then make a pattern for our shoes. The big test though will be getting them sewn, by hand, before June 29th. Oh, and all the tunics, underdresses, apron dresses, and trews. Wheeee!

If you’re in the area at the end of June, Stop by. Dress up and come play for a day!