The Flag, the Funeral and the Conference

Posted on by jsudar

Last week was hectic. Really hectic.

Monday: Packed for a week’s trip. Finished running errands and getting ready by 1am.

Tuesday: Up at 6am. Out the door by 7:30am. Funeral at 11:45am at Ft. Logan in Denver. After the funeral, the Thomas family, Dan and I went out for breakfast/lunch at the Littleton Cafe, which use to be an IHOP. In fact, it was the IHOP that John and I use to go to for breakfast before speech meetings. It was great. Granted, the cafe was probably glad when the 22-23 of us finally left.  After that, we headed over to Judy’s house and visited for a while. When Dan and I got ready to leave, Erin asked me to wait. He had something for me. It was the flag that he’d been presented with as eldest son. He said that as I had been the military wife for 17 years, that I should have it.

John Thomas' flag

Later that night, we went to the wake held by the SCA. It was lovely. Lots of good food, friends and drink.

Wednesday: After sleeping in, and a brief trip to IKEA, we headed to Colorado Springs for the CASB conference. We checked into the hotel and collapsed.

Thursday-Sunday: The Colorado Association of School Boards 75th Annual Winter Conference. It was a good one. I didn’t get elected to the CASB board, but I will run again next year. Learned a lot. Saw a lot of people and made some new connections. I will have a bunch of stuff to tell my board.

Today. Catch up day. Job day. Deal with insurance day. My head is spinning and it isn’t even noon yet. Oh, and the week isn’t slowing down yet. Tomorrow is the school board meeting. Wednesday, we go shopping in Pueblo. Saturday is John’s memorial down here at the library. sigh….

Getting back to normal

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Or, whatever that is!

Monday we unpacked. We moved the TVLH into the garage and while I worked on sorting clothes, dishes and other bits, Dan worked on paperwork and Mark 2 of the TVLH. (yes, ideas were burning up his brain!) I did a lot of computer work as well. All those pics! Oh, and I wrote an article for the newspaper.

Tuesday I did laundry, put clean dishes away, had a Celtic Music Fest and a School Board meeting. At the meeting, it was announced that we don’t have to hold an election. As there were only four candidate petitions, and only four seats open, we are automatically rolled in. 🙂 It saves the district over $10,000. Oh, and I folded more clothes than I thought possible. I swear that they multiplied in the dryer. Wrote a letter to the editor about someone’s bad behavior too!

Today we went to Pueblo and got groceries. This afternoon, I’m taking delivery of the CMF office boxes and harvesting veggies out of the garden. More zucchini to shred!

I’ve also added a few pics. I forgot my bracelets and the forks that Dan made. This evening, I plan to organize all of the crafts stuff. I want to get started on sewing EARLY rather than late. No more finishing a project the night before a war!

Wow! What is that blue stuff?

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Oh yeah… The sky. We’ve had a couple of short rain showers, but for the most part, we’ve had lovely sunny weather. Dan says it is because I’m working on coats for Battlemoor. 🙂 All the sun has allowed us to finally mow our weeds out front. They were hip tall on me! Maybe next week we will attack the back yard. Right now, our dog plays hide and seek in the weeds.

Also over the last few weeks, Dan has worked for the school district as a contractor. Since we only have the one truck, sometimes it means we have to shuffle schedules. It’s been a long week. A really long week.

Monday: Teacher inservice breakfast meet and greet.
Tuesday: Take Mom to Dorcas and a school board meeting. Also first day of school
Wednesday: Cleaned parents house, did laundry. School district IT interviews in the evening.
Thursday: Did not feel well.
Friday: Ran errands in Pueblo and got the oil changed on the truck.
Saturday: Breakfast with parents, did yard work for parents.

Along with all of that, I’ve taken Dan to work, run my own errands, worked on SCA clothing for Battlemoor, and tried to keep up with all the “Regular” stuff.

Tomorrow, we take Morgan back to college.

I am so ready for our vacation in 9 days!!!

It’s the snow storm that never ends…

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Well once again, Mother Nature played chicken with us and we lost. After horrid winds on Sunday, warmth up to about 70 yesterday, we woke to clouds and damp this morning. I thought it would be rain. Smelled like rain. Looked like rain. Hoped it would be rain.

So, I went off to the County Commissioners meeting to hear the proclamation of Ludlow Centennial Year. This Saturday, April 20th is the 99th anniversary of that horrid day. So, the state has decided to have a year long event. Our three commissioners signed the proclamation and handed it to our local UMW representative. In June there is usually a memorial service out at Ludlow. I’ve written about this event before. Here and here. I will be writing more about it as the year goes on.

Once that was done, I did my usual Wednesday thing. Vacuumed my mom’s house and did laundry. I was just getting ready to leave when I realized that it was SNOWING! Oh My was it snowing. Big Fat Flakes. Instead of heading to the Laundromat to dry my clothes, I picked up Dan. We headed out to George’s and had lunch. We celebrated our 9th anniversary with pie. 🙂

Afterwards we stopped by my parents as they had just returned from Colorado Springs and Pueblo. They brought us fried cinnamon rolls. Yum! We went to the grocery, then to the Laundromat and dried clothes.

Now we are home and curled up next to the wood stove keeping warm and working on our computers. Oh, and watching snow fall on top of the 5-6 inches we have from this storm already.

Reeeeelax!

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It’s Friday!

The B&B was hopping this morning. All 15 guests came down at once for breakfast. I helped Karen plate food and get it served.  Then it was time to bake bread, make pies-coconut cream- and get stuff ready for lunch.  I was out the door, with paycheck in hand by 12:45pm. I normally work about 4 hours. Sort of wish it was more. Then again, unless I’m working the lunch hour, baking only takes about 4 hours. It does leave me time for other things. Plus, I know that the schedules will change again mid August. I’m just happy to have a job!!!!

I’m almost done with my first class at Ashford as well. So far, so good. It was an easy get to know the University style class, which is fine. Next up is statistics. Has me a little nervous.

We’ve been getting the LoboSavvy site updated. Much better than it was. Dan is working on AlphaDogtechs.com now. That is the sister site to LoboSavvy.com. We are still using the paw print, only ADT will have a surround. I’ll post it when we have it up.  I just got a peek at the first page, and it is pretty!!! Probably shouldn’t say pretty, as it is a computer services website, but then  I’m a geek, and seeing techy things is pretty.

Dan gets to update the La Plaza website. We are thinking of asking Dad to take the pictures as he has a better camera and ‘eye’ for these things.

We did some shopping after I got paid, which was a good thing. We needed a few groceries. I’m spending the rest of my day relaxing, doing a bit of laundry and then writing. I have one story half done!!! Plus, two or three more begging to be written. 🙂

Housework roundup

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Yesterday, we went and did some shopping. Ian went and spent time with Jillian while we got a few things here and there. Mostly did a lot of ‘window shopping’ at places like Home Depot. One good thing we did was buy Avatar. OMG! A very good movie. Fern Gully for Adults! I really enjoyed it.

Today of course has been catch-up day. Catch up on laundry, housework, email and writing. I have two stories futzing around in my brain! Must-write-stories!!!!

Went to the Huerfano Cat Coalition meeting today too. I will be doing some of their computer work. Probably a FaceBook page and some general word processing work. They need things like a letter head and such.

This week will be busy with two board meetings, class assignments and general mayhem. Now to go write a bit!

A Saturday in April

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The sun is shining, my homework is done, the laundry is washing and a gentle breeze is blowing through the house. Ah…. contentment.

It has been a busy week. We started out with taking my parents to Colorado Springs on Monday. Dad has his cancer check up and all was well. We did a bit of shopping and then came home. It was also Morgan’s first day back to school and Dan and I have classes again. Tuesday we taught computer class and then later on I went to bed with a headache. Wednesday I still felt like dreck, Spent most of it curled up with Dan and watched Planet 51. Gods that is a funny movie!

Thursday, we rearranged furniture. We brought the dresser out to the living room so that we could use it for an entertainment center. Then we dragged the big dresser thing out of the bathroom and we put it in the bedroom. I will paint that as soon as it gets scrapped and wood puttied.

Yesterday, I worked on my homework in spite of a headache. Yeah, one of THOSE weeks. I pinched a nerve in my neck and it has caused a referred pain headache. However, I finally got the power point presentation done and turned in. This is a ‘fundamentals of management’ class. For me it is one of those ‘sit down, shut up and pass the class’ classes. sigh….

Today so far has been fun and productive. Dan and I got up at the crack of dawn. Okay, 7am! He went off to Lathrop Park with my Dad, and I went to breakfast with my Mom. Yummmm! Ian woke up with a migraine, so we left him sleeping. After breakfast, we went shopping at Safeway and then I dropped Mom home. A cup of tea and a fruit pie later and I started working on my next class assignment.

Dan came home and after a bit of conversation, he sat down to play ‘kill the bad guys’  on the Xbox while Morgan read her book. She is with us this weekend!!!! Ian finally got up and is doing better too. Dan fixed my washer and now I can do laundry at home!!!!! I know that sounds daft, but it makes me much happier to be able to multi task instead of sit at the laundromat for 3 hours doing nothing.

In an hour Dan and I are off to dinner at my parents. Our first one. LOL…. should be fun. Plus, I have this urggggghhhhhhh to write! hmm…..

All quiet on the emotional front

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Or at least as quiet as I dare hope at this point. I got to sleep until nearly 9am which was a blessing.  After a bath and breakfast, we got some stuff cleaned up around the office at 520. It is taking a while to get things in order. Partially because there is so much empty space and partially because we keep changing our minds about where things go. Dan has moved his work desk at least three times.

About 2pm, Dan went to go pick up the futon mattress and I finally got a chance to read my email, make journal entries, etc. At 3pm, I started laundry. Where the hell did it all come from? I swear that I only had 3 loads in there on Thursday. Sheets, towels and a whites load. I still have two loads of sheets and a load of darks left to do. However, I did seven loads today!!! Good grief people! Luckily, the sun was hot today and there was enough of a breeze to dry everything quickly.

Daniel was calmer today. Thank goodness! John was still being a bit of a wreck. Understandable, but… Oh well. Things will settle down. I asked Matt and Morgan to quietly pick up Oscar’s toys and tidy up the back yard so that it wasn’t “in Daniel’s face” so much that Oscar was gone. The whole house was quieter.

We went down to see Pauline at the Silver Dollar Bar. She bought us a soda and we picked up her computer so that we could download her email. She doesn’t have a good connection at the house or out at Mike’s. Dan has her computer downloading the latest updates and her mail. She will pick it up later tonight or in the morning. Pauline is also going to see if Mike can fix my rocking chair.  YES!!!! I would be so happy if it was fixed.

Tomorrow we have a toilet to fix, cable to run, general housecleaning to do and some painting. I have to paint the fence and the front door. Wheee…. Maybe I’ll repaint the gates too. Hopefully, it won’t be too windy.

Can I go home now? Oh wait….

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I’m already there. It has been a busy week.  The office still looks like a tornado hit it. Or, was it just a small grandson. Hmm… could be both.

Sunday was Mother’s Day.  Daniel and John wished me Happy Mum’s day. Stefan had called me the night before since he had work and wasn’t sure he’d have time to call.  I slept in a bit, then had to get up and start working on various projects. Laundry being the biggest. Does it ever end??? I came back upstairs and was going to cook some breakfast. That’s when I realized that there wasn’t a clean dish in sight. Nope! Not even going to do dishes on Mom’s day. So, I headed over to the office and started to dig it out. Ha! Dan needed to check out some stuff, and asked if I’d go with him. So, I packed up my book and off we went.

There is a tower nearby that we are thinking of buying for the business. While he was inspecting it, he saw a crow’s nest. Dan got some really good pictures of the babies.

Crow babies

Hungry babies!

I made him promise them some worms if he goes out there again. They were so sure he was a big crow! At least I got a wee bit of time by myself. On the way back, we stopped by and visited my mom to see how the work was going. It was nearly done, but Jimmer and Bill still had the back porch floor to do.

Monday was one of those hazy days. I was doing stuff, but didn’t seem like I got anything done. I was suppose to have a meeting of the Stragic Planning committee, but there were only three of us. I chatted with Chuck and Maria and then headed home.

Tuesday was hell on wheels. We woke up to cold and damp weather that just got worse as the day went on.  I took the kids to school, showered, took my mom to Trinidad to catch the train, drove home and went straight to a meeting for the Celtic Music Festival in September. http://www.celticmusicfest.com/ Barbara Yule, the coordinator of the festival is trying to connect Huerfano County and Scotland through the common links of coal and mining for this year. I’m part of a group who are going to be telling stories and working the family histories of the area into the festival. I think it will be a lot of fun. I’ll probably work my arse off too, but that’s alright. I get to hear lots of good Celtic music.

I no sooner got back from that meeting than we were off to my mom’s to pick up her laundry, the roses she got for Mother’s day and the food out of her refrigerator.  Dan and I barely got stuff done when it was time t to head up to Gardner.  We found the weekly agenda for the school and discovered it was Academic Fair Night. Oh, and a school board meeting afterwards. Chuck wanted us to be there for support. The school board is messing around with his contract. grrrrrrr!

The Academic Fair was brilliant. We got to see all the kids work. Poetry, pottery, collages, all sorts of writing, wood work and more. The school board meeting was a bit of a write off. They tabled the section dealing with Chuck’s contract. Not a smart thing to do. Methinks heads will roll. On the way home, we could see that there was snow up on the mountains. It was very cold!

Afterwards, we dropped the kids home and Dan and I went to go check out some of the network equipment. When we got out of the car, we could see snowflakes in the headlights. Brrrrrr!!

We finally headed to bed around midnight, and I had to get up to put an extra blanket on the bed!

This morning started out fairly calm. I stepped out the door to the most beautiful sight! Snow on the Spanish Peaks! In May no less!

Frosted Peaks!

I got more pictures as I drove out to Badito. Daniel was outside waiting for me this morning, so I dropped him off and got to the office early. Dan was still asleep. Oh well… I got a cup of tea and started trying to make sense of my desk. hahahahaha!!! Foiled again! Carlos our business partner showed up, the phone rang off the wall and just as I tried again to work on the mess it was time to go to Pueblo.

We headed up for a new microwave, toner for Dan’s printer, a few groceries and car parts for my car. Managed everything except the car parts. They will be shipped to us as the parts dealer messed up the order and had to redo it. grrrr…..

We got back to Badito just in time to pick up the kids and head home. I made steak pot pie for dinner. Very good! Tomorrow the kids go to Pueblo for an all school roller skating party. 🙂 Wheee….

Maybe, just maybe I’ll get something done!

Sunday, Busy Sunday!

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Finally, a quiet moment, a cup of tea and a few gingersnaps. It has been a long 36 hours. I no sooner got the last entry posted than Dan called from Aguilar. I had to pull on my steel toed boots, grab Erin and head to Aguilar so that we could adjust the antennas on the tower. It was real fun when we hit the tower road. The snow from the last few days had turned the local clay into a morass. We had to put Blue into 4wheel drive and nearly went through the gate sideways.

When we got there, Karen and Erin went off in the trucks with computers turned on searching for the signal from the tower.  We had to adjust the antennas and let Karen or Erin tell us what the signal strength was. Then re-adjust them. Sort of tedious for me down on the ground listening to the radio chatter and watching Dan . I was safety.  Not exactly sure what I could have done had he fallen, but… that is what my job was. Dan of course was up on the tower holding on with a safety belt and his arms while he worked with the antennas. The wind gusted at one point, and he slipped. Luckily, he grabbed the tower and held on tight enough to bruise his arms. Ouch! I was really glad when he decided that the antennas were as good as they were going to get for the moment. We will do more adjustments later in the week. For now, all we have to do is turn on the billing system on Monday and pass out fliers to various businesses. Wheeee!

We came home, cooked dinner and watched Hogsfather. It was a riot! Almost didn’t make it all the way through it though as we were so tired.

Today started out slow and built up a head of steam like a boiler on a steam train. I actually got to lay in bed for a bit this morning. I think it was nearly 10:30am before I even pulled back the covers. However, once we got up and moving, life just ran away with us. Dan had to work on the kids computers, finish getting some stuff for Morgan’s trip to D.C. and then get ready to drive her and Beth to the airport. I had laundry to do and needed to run to the store. Divot was doing multiple trips between 203 and 520. Morgan came over to 520, and we helped her get the last of her stuff done. That included editing an assignment she had to take with her for the trip. (People to People)

Erin and Big Morgan along with Logan came over and helped finish things up. Erin and Big Morgan bought Morgan a trac phone so that she’d have a way to contact us here if there was an emergency of if she just got lonely. I wrote her a note to put in her bag, and gave her my Kwan Yin to take with her. Dan gave her his big amethyst crystal- the one I gave him about a year ago. Morgan was just dancing in place with happiness and nerves. Finally, around 6pm, we headed over to 203 where we picked up Beth and said our goodbyes. While Morgan is in D.C., Beth is going to Florida to visit a friend. Dan was taking them up in LRT. Cramped ride that! Oh well. They left around 6:30pm, and I headed over to Karen’s for dinner.

Karen had invited Dan and I over for dinner, but with him off to Denver, I got to go. Not bad. She made spaghetti. We had dinner and chatted for an hour or so. Played with Brandy a bit and then headed out the door. Ran into two friends of Daniel’s who wanted Karen to train their puppies. She said she’d help, but that was it. I finally got over to 203 around 8:30pm. More laundry and then time to get ready for the morning.

Tomorrow is going to be busy. I have copies of the Micro Soft fix for Vista to print. Apparently, Vista doesn’t like some wireless connections. grrr…. Plus, I have a few bits of procedure to work out. I have to write scripts for phone work and a news release for the business. Wheeee…… Not looking forward to the scripts, but I have to have something to say when people ask me questions where I’m not sure of the answers. Plus, I have to have something for any new employee who might come along later. sigh…

Now to finish my tea and curl up with my book! I am determined to finish the Kim Harrison novel before I have to dive into the book on WWans. (wireless wide area networks)