Hail-atious Storm!!!!

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Dan and I drove to Sparkfun in Boulder and Rocky Mountain Test Equipment in Centennial today. After that, we stopped at IKEA to let the traffic settle down. While we got some cool and nifty things, we could hear thunder when we were near the checkout. We walked out at 8pm to see a fantastic lightning storm. Dan took one look at it and said we had to get moving. So, we did. The rain started before we were even out of Denver. By the time we hit Castle Pines Parkway, it was raining so hard we slowed down to about 40 mph.

Dan turned to me and said the clouds looked wrong. Then it started hailing. It wasn’t too bad, so we drove a little longer, thinking we could pull over in a minute. No Such Luck. It started hailing harder and we tried to find an underpass or turn off. No luck. People were pulling off everywhere and causing traffic jams. It was hailing harder and harder and the hail was piling up on the road. At one point I think it was nearly 2.5 inches deep. Plus all the water! Oh My God! We were afraid that the windshield would break because the hail was coming down so hard. It was so loud, that Dan and I had to shout at each other to be heard. Pretty bad considering that we were less than a foot apart!

Finally, near Castle Rock we were able to pull off under an underpass where we waited for at least 20 minutes. It finally lightened up and we drove into Colorado Springs. We stopped at Arbys to take a break. The back of the truck was full of hail from pea size up to nearly golf ball size! There are dents in the hood of the truck and on the left side. In the middle of the window casing on the driver’s side door, there is a dent nearly as big as my thumb where the hail dented it. I’ll put up pictures tomorrow.

Here is a Facebook page on the storm. Channel 7 News had this to say about it. Photos and story from Channel 9, Channel 4

Here is the Denver Post story. Wild Weather South of Denver.

 

Bloomin’ Roses!

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I thought that there were a lot of roses a week or so ago when I posted on my blog about the roses. However, when I woke up this morning I realized it was like the bush had exploded. Single, double and triple blossoms. So many blossoms that I had to dead head some of them so that the rest of the buds have room to bloom. Wow!

Then it rained for a bit and the air is now scented with roses. Ahhhh! Here are some more pictures taken before I picked petals.

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A Tortilla Run!

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What? you say. Tortillas? Running? Well, Dan and I got up at the crack of yawn and went with my parents to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Why? Because of Charlie’s Bakery. Oh. My. God.

Every four months or so, my parents drive down and pick up 12 dozen or more tortillas from Charlies. This time they took us with them. We could share the driving and help carry the tortillas to the car. Plus, we were treated to the most heavenly lunch! I’m still stuffed and it is nearly five hours later! After a heavenly lunch of enchiladas with carne avodovo, I got an apple fritter and Dan got cookies. We had to save them until we got home.

Now I have six dozen tortillas to savor until the next trip. Below are pictures of the bakery, the tortilla cooker and the pastry shelf. I couldn’t find a picture of the cooler where the 10″ high cream puffs or the 12″ x 5″ x 3″ long johns made with REAL cream live. They probably got tired of people licking their computer screens. Next time you’re in Las Vegas, New Mexico, stop at Charlie’s.

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Roses!!!

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My rose bush in the back yard had 3 blooms last year. I trimmed it back, let it grow and this spring, the buds just developed and developed. I must have over 100 buds and blossoms on this one bush. It is so beautiful. Not if the rest of the back yard was cleaner!

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Akkkk! Where did May Go?

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I’ve been so busy, that I haven’t had time to post. At least not on this blog. May has been chock o block with meetings. The school board stuff has been running me in circles. For those activities, go to my other blog, Untapped Potential.

Our weather has been weird for May. Hot, cold, windy, cold! We even had a few days when it rained in town, but snowed up in the mountains.

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Work has been slow, so I’ve been vacuuming my parent’s house. Mom is 75, so I see no problem with this. Plus it means I get to visit with her at least once a week.

A friend of mine posted a neat website. All about INFJ’s. 🙂 Yeah, me. Visit it here, here and here. After reading that last page… no wonder I’m a good hugger! I love the posters too. They are a riot.

The rest of this month will be taken up with three graduations, negotiations and a trip with my parents to Las Vegas, N.M.  We’re going down to Charlie’s bakery. Best tortillas in the world. 🙂

Oh, last but not least, a friend of mine is illustrating my story, Fairy Light!

I almost forgot!!!

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Dan and Morgan went to La Junta and visited Otero State Jr. College on Tuesday. Morgan took her accuplacer test and maxed it out! She is now officially a college student. :)! Since she did so well on the tests, she will have nothing but 200 level classes! As she is 15, she will live with a family like an international student. When she is 16, she will be able to take her GED.

We are so happy and excited.!!!

When she got home, and after she had told me the news, I couldn’t help but tease her just a little… I said that I was so proud of her, especially as she was now in Slytherin! She looked at me, blinked and then it dawned on her. OJC’s mascot is the Rattlesnake! 🙂

Meetings and concerts and printers Oh My!

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April has been a busy month. Lots of school board meetings and plenty of long nights. Yesterday was a prime example of life around here.

7:am- Arrive at the bus garage to meet Dawn Olson our superintendent and head for Colorado Springs for a Professional Learning Committee meeting.

9:00am to 3pm- PLC meeting with teachers, superintendents, board members from 11 districts, and CDE. Lunch included.

3:15-4:25- Drive home from Colorado Springs

4:30-5:20pm- Attended Jeanne Wilkins retirement party at Peakview School.

5:30pm- 8:15pm- Board workshop with David Benson and Iris Williams. Lots of good work towards becoming good board members. Dinner included

8:30pm – 9:30pm- Watched and listened to the last half of the Outside Track Celtic Concert at the Fox Theater.

9:45pm-10:30pm- home, relax and go to bed!

And today, Lots of pictures of Dan’s latest project. He built a 3D printer. A RepRap. To say that he’s pleased is an understatement. He still needs to work on some of the firmware and await the arrival of the plastic.

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Don’t blink! The weather may change!

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This has been a weird spring. Hot in March. No real snow when it is usually our snowiest month. Now April is being weird. Last week was warm. Then there was the wind. Oh My! I swear that on Saturday my laundry was going to end up in Kansas. Or, at least at my friend Jacque’s house. Geeze!

Sunday started out okay. There was a heavy dusting of snow, but the sun came out and melted it. It was sunny, but not too warm by mid day. I was suppose to go walking with Jacque at 1pm. We didn’t go because it kept getting darker and colder just while we were on the phone. Instead, I went out and worked on the gardens. I picked up trash, dug out trees starts and thistles, and began to work on the front garden. I have this big chunk of rail road tie that I want to use as part of a garden bed frame. The front yard slopes and I want to stop the erosion that is going on there. So, I started digging the trench needed to put the tie in place. Lots of weeds and rocks. Ugh! I realized I couldn’t move the tie by myself, so I weeded the area by the bulls head. There are ants right there and I needed to weed when they weren’t out. Otherwise I’d have been dancing. I even found the irises! Wheeee!!! By this point it had started to rain, so I went inside.

It rained. It snowed. It snained. (both at the same time) It got colder. In fact, it got cold enough for us to have a fire last night. We had one Saturday night too! I hoped for warmer weather today. So far, no luck. At least the clouds have broken up a bit and let enough sunshine in to warm the Wendy House up to about 68. After my walk today, I’d best pick up some kindling to add to the wood pile. Brrrr!

Renovations and Aprils showers.

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Last week it was in the 70’s and 80’s. We moved furniture, oiled floors, figured out where to put the business bits and pieces. We even sorted out and threw a few things away!

Monday was cool. Cloudy. And by 2am this morning, we had 3 inches of snow. By 8am, nearly 8 inches of snow. At 3pm, we have over 11 inches of snow and it is barely 36 degrees! Brrrr!!!! Instead of writing today, I have been busy keeping warm!

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The pictures are of the back yard, the newly reorganized interior of the main house and the front yard.

Busy, Hectic Week

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This week was something else. Monday I spent catching up on all the email from the weekend and met with Sandi Hansen of Edison Learning. She is working with our school district to help bring up our educational scores on the Colorado student assessment tests. (TCAP).

Tuesday was meeting day from hell. Dan and I had a Southeastern Workforce Investment Board meeting in La Junta. This was also the day that Colorado tried to blow all of it’s topsoil to Kansas. We had miles of dirt fog. So much dirt in the air that we couldn’t see. Tumbleweeds were passing us and we were going 65! It took 1 gallon of gas to get to La Junta and 3 to get home due to the wind.

At the meeting, we discussed the workforce/employment issues in our region. The map showing the regions can be found here. We also had a really good presentation on Demographics for regions 6 and 14, which is what we are according to the state. It was very interesting and we actually got to solve a question that the Demographers had. There was a statistical blip that they didn’t understand and I looked at it and knew in an instant what it was. There was a burst of households in the 44 to 65 yr range. They didn’t get it and I explained that it was the grandchildren coming to Huerfano County to occupy their grandparents houses. The reason I knew that was that I’m one of those. I escaped the big city, Littleton, to come down to Walsenburg to raise my family in a low cost, low crime/stress area.

After that meeting, we drove home, grabbed dinner and then headed to the board meeting. This was the first regular board meeting for RE-1 in February. All others had been special meetings and/or workshops. We got a lot accomplished and once again, there is more on that meeting on my other blog.

Wednesday should have been quiet. I got some stuff done around the office and then went to meet with David Benson around 4pm. He and his partner, Iris Williams are working to help our school district with trust issues. We have a situation whereby nearly 100% of the district dislikes/distrusts one person. Not healthy, and it is causing major issues. It was a really good discussion and we talked till nearly 5pm. Afterwards, I went to the library and then went to work to pick up Dan. We had to be to Peakview by 6pm to see a 4th grade play called the Emerald Egg. That was fun.

Thursday we were up early and went with my parents to Colorado Springs. Dad had his cancer checkup. Dan drove us home as Dad was a little loopy from the pain meds. We stopped at Romero’s for lunch. Yummm!

Friday was just as early a start. I had a State Youth Council meeting to be at in Denver. The weather was  bit nasty, so we left early. The meeting was very good. More info on that over on Untapped Potential. We drove home through bands of snow. We were going to stop in Pueblo for dinner, but with the snow, we changed our minds. Good thing we did as there was a huge car pileup accident due to the snow.

Friday was also Daniel’s 22nd birthday. 🙂

Saturday was sort of a stay in bed type day. We slept in, relaxed and did as little as possible. 🙂 Better yet, we went to Wonderful House in Trinidad with my parents. It was my parents way of thanking Dan for driving. They even promised him that he could bring a date if he wanted, or if he didn’t, they have this daughter…. that they’d set up as a blind date for him. ROFLOL!! Needless to say, there were a bunch of blind date jokes all evening.

Today is catch-up day. Dan has gone into work for the day and I’m writing blog posts, reading emails and cleaning house. Wheee!

For more school board adventures, check out my other blog, Untapped Potential