Our Girl Strikes Again!

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On Wednesday, we went up to Gardner for the Open House. This was for the science fair as well as the Voices of the Past presentation. Morgan got a 1st prize for her science fair project. She made an electricity generator. Water falling through a copper loop to generate spark, in the style of a Kelvin water dropper. She and Dan built it.

Then the Voices of the Past presentation. This is an oral history project that has been going on in Huerfano county since 1993. Students interview people who have lived in the county for at least 20 years and write a story up based on the interview. As the representative of the Huerfano World Journal, I got to hand out the prizes. 🙂 Better yet, Morgan won first prize!

This weekend, Morgan gets to go to La Junta for the regional Science Fair. We drop her off in a few hours and then we are heading to Pueblo for a bit of shopping. 🙂

The slide show has pictures of Morgan’s science fair board, Morgan and Douglas, the man she interviewed, all the winners, and Liz Schneider, the 7th & 8th grade teacher.

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At Last…

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I am divorced. The judge signed the paperwork on February 11th. That was the day after John and I filed the last of the paperwork. I was beginning to wonder when it had been signed as I hadn’t gotten anything in the mail. So I called. The clerk looked it up and she told me it had been done on the 11th!

Wheeee!!!!

 

Snow, snow, snow, snow….

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Lather, rinse, repeat. Gads. I woke up yesterday to 8 more inches of snow. Luckily, I did find the snow shovel. It was right where I said it would be. It was hanging on the wall in the garage. Oh well. I’ve had my revenge in that Dan has been shoveling snow with a 12 inch wide shovel for most of the winter.

I did shovel the walks and brought in firewood. I spent the rest of the day watching movies and knitting. I made Morgan a pair of socks, and they fit really well. I think I have enough yarn for a second pair. So, I may knit some more today.

Dan is having some fun and some frustration in DC. I got the Cliff notes version last night. Poor dear is just not use to the bureaucratic bullshit on that level. He had one really good workshop and then the frustrating one. We then got sidetracked about the weather. It is suppose to snow like crazy tomorrow, which means I can’t drive up to get him if the weather is bad. So we are trying to decide if he should stay in a hotel for the night, whether he will even get to Colorado Springs, etc.

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

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Mr. Harper goes to Washington…

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All I could think of this morning as Dan got dressed was of the 1939 movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Now, I sort of doubt that Dan will be naive enough to try and change the world in one conference, but… He certainly will do his best to be heard when needed. LOL!

Last night we headed up to Colorado Springs so that we could make sure Dan caught his flight on time. He is off to the National Association of Workforce Boards Conference. It is in DC, so we got him some nice clothes a few weeks ago. Can’t have him heading off in flannel lined blue jeans and hiking boots. Although, that would probably make a real impact on people. Hmmm…

However, he got dressed in nice clothes and the new socks I made him. Brown Fair Isle patterned socks which he got to show off every time he had to board a plane. LOL… I can see it now, all the ladies he’s traveling with are going to want socks. He looked very nice though. Beard and hair all trimmed up, suit coat and trews as well as a wool great coat. I need to get pictures of him and the socks. 🙂

I dropped him off at the airport and then drove home. Made it home by 8:50am and had a nice visit with my Mom. Dad brought me home and I got busy around the house. I let Brandy out and brought in firewood. Then I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Then I made myself some lunch and plowed through most of the email. After that, I decided I needed a treat. So, I made popcorn, got the sock out that I am working on, and watched Peter Pan. This was the version made in 2003. I hadn’t seen it and totally enjoyed myself.

While Dan’s away, I’m relaxing. Movies, writing, knitting and books. I pick Dan up on Tuesday. It’s suppose to snow, so I’ll leave early and drive slow. At least it is only to Colorado Springs. Hmmm… I think I hear a movie calling my name!

A wet but relative warm day

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At least in comparison to the rest of the week! It’s 43 degrees and the 6-8 inches of snow we got last night is melting so fast that the streets are flooding. We still have no water, but we hope to have that solved soon. Just have to wait until it thaws.

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These are a series of pics out the front and back door. If you look carefully, you can see the river of snowmelt running in front of the truck. There are snow plumes coming off the Spanish Peaks and a lot of snow in the back yard. We watched the city plow the slush and water out of the way for probably an hour. At least we will have a clear spot to park my Dad’s truck. We are borrowing it to take Dan to Colorado Springs in the very early am. He is flying to DC for a Workforce Conference.

Frozen!!!

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The last two days and nights have been bitterly cold. -22 last night. We have about 3 inches of snow from the storm, but it is the cold that is really annoying.Our pipes froze last night. I’m just glad we have firewood.

We are working on thawing the pipes and staying warm. Morgan didn’t go to school yesterday or today as it was just too cold to be out on the roads. She has a 26 mile one way trip to school.

I had planned to do lots of cooking/baking today, but with no water, I’m stuck. Here’s hoping the pipes thaw soon.

A Mouse!!!!

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Not that mice are any real news, but today they were a focus for laughter. This winter had been very mouse-ful! We’ve had traps in the kitchen, mice mess to clean up as they’ve found bits of food and occasionally, we’ve had a mouse run across the counters. Not really a problem, but just one of those things.

However, today I was cleaning house. We had a heatwave of 67 degrees, and we opened all the doors to let in the warm air. It was marvelous. Of course, the two feral cats I feed, took full advantage of the open doors to come see if there was any extra food just waiting to be eaten. Red Tom walked through and left. Black Tom, aka the Luuuuuv Sponge, decided to visit Dan and I and then follow me where ever I went in the house just in case I might have a bit of a snack for him. As I was taking the trash out, I moved a bag on the back porch which had been there for a couple of days. Two wee mice shot out from under the bag. One went left and the other went out the back door. Black Tom shot out the door to grab the mouse. Around the rosebush he ran and bingo! He had the mouse.

I realized he was running for the house and tried to stop him. No such luck, as he dived past me. I stood there giggling and went to see if he had gotten all the way through the house and out the front door. Oh no! He got as far as the big chair and decided to play with his food. He dropped it and chased it, recapturing it just before it got under the chair. I’m laughing and Dan is wondering what is going on, just as Black Tom drops the mouse again, right at his feet. He bats it around and catches it again.

By this time, we are both laughing. Black Tom does the release and catch thing one more time and then tears out the front door with mouse in jaws for a lunch. Of course, Red Tom is standing on the front porch with a look of confusion on his face. It was a riot!

Once we finally stopped laughing, we cleaned up the back porch, hauled all the scrap metal in the back yard to the front for the guy to pick up tomorrow and then had dinner. It was a warm wonderful day! A very Mouserful day!

I know we need the moisture…

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But damn I’m ready for warmer weather. Not sure what it is this year, but I have just not been in the mood for the below freezing weather. Today for example, we’ve had sun, snow, more sun, more snow and it never got above 31F. Brrrr…..As it is, we started a fire at 2pm.

Meanwhile, we are working on the business plan yet again. Dan has done the financial data and I’ve done the narrative. I’m seeing business plans in my sleep.

At least I’m not outside shoveling snow.

Fountain Valley School

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Sunday we went up to Colorado Springs. This was so we could be at the Winter visiting day for Fountain Valley School. This is a private college prep high school that we’ve been looking at for Morgan.

The hotel was um… a joke. Yes, it was cheap, but we’ve stayed in nicer hotels for about the same amount and had much better service and rooms. Oh well. We got up early and headed for FVS. We were WAY early, so we grabbed a second bit of breakfast at Burger King, because the breakfast at the hotel was….um….horrid.

We arrived on time and guess what…. Third Breakfastses!!! It would have made a hobbit proud! LOL! We had a lovely tour of the campus, visited with teachers, student and parents. Lunch was fantastic, and we were assured that Morgan would Not Starve if she attended FVS. We had an interview with one of the admission assistants and that went well. After that was over, we visited the stables that we had missed earlier due to a bit of rain. Yes, rain in January. Better yet, rain in sunshine in January!

After the visit, we headed home with a stop in Pueblo to find Dan some dress clothes for his upcoming trip to Washington DC. He really wanted a suit and an extra pair of trews, but we ended up buying a sports coat, two pairs of trews, a shirt, a belt and a wool overcoat. It took forever! Morgan got bored with waiting, so we let her roam JCPenny’s, which is where we were. She found a sweater and we got it for her. Biggest issue we had was finding the size that fit Dan. Normally he wears 34/30 jeans. However, when it comes to suit pants, he wears a 38/29. Just weird. Snakes on shoes weird! I don’t understand their sizing. Oh well. We got the stuff purchased. We also all remember just how much we hate shopping!

Afterwards, we went to Bingo Burger for dinner. Yum!!!! It was a good ending to a long day. Especially as I had an asthma attack in the Mall due to some perfumes in Bath & Body… which we just walked by! uggghhh…  When we got home, Dan took the truck back while I crawled in bed with a hot water bottle. Between the asthma, the long day and the inhaler, I was out in moments!

Of course, waking up today was a real effort. I was so tired. I was bribed out of bed with a cup of tea and then later Dan took me to lunch at George’s. Yumm….

The rest of this week will be busy with clients and working on our business plan. wheeee….. On Friday, we have to go to Trinidad on business. I am really looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday!