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Busy, Hectic Week

Posted on March 4, 2012 by

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

Rapture Day?

Posted on May 21, 2011 by

Or so some people thought it would be. As it stands at the moment, there have been no mass ascensions to heaven. I have the feeling that we will see the same thing happen in December when so many believe the end of the world will arrive because of the Mayan Calendar stops then. I’m not sure who I feel sorry for. Those who get disappointed because the Rapture didn’t arrive as promised, or those people who’s lives were damaged by people close to them who believed in the doomsday scenario in the first place.

Meanwhile in Walsenburg, the mornings are still cold and the afternoons warm and windy. It’s always windy here. We still have snow on the Spanish Peaks. It has been dry enough that I am going to pull the weeds out of the garden area and plant seeds. I had planned to do it earlier, but it has been such a cold May, that I didn’t want to loose everything to frost or snow.

It’s graduation week. La Veta and John Mall did their thing today. Gardner graduates on Wednesday. Morgan has her dress and she looks so grown up! She got a bespoke dress from Shanghai off a website. It fits her perfectly.

We’ve gotten the main room of the Wendy house (aka the guest house) set up as a combination sewing area and work station.All the damp weather has made the front porch ‘move’ again. So, we decided to get the weight off of it. We are cleaning up the Wendy House to move into while we do some major reconstruction on the main house. I don’t want to try and breathe when we open up the floor to do the plumbing. Too many critters and dirt for my lungs. It would be a different matter if there was a real crawl space, but there isn’t. Whatever was there has been filled in by the hill moving south. I am looking forward to running water and a totally functional bathroom!!!!

Next will be relief of the dirt away from the garage wall. That will be a major undertaking unless we can get the city to help us as it is their alley which is rolling into the garage. I want to get my umbrella clothesline up too. It was my Grandma Pauline’s. I know where I plan to ‘plant’ it, we just have to get a sleeve for the end of the pole. I figure that with all the lovely sun, that it’s a shame to feed quarters to the dryers at the laundromat. 🙂

Here are some pictures of the new workspace in the Wendy House, and Morgan in her new dress.

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Out like a Lion!

Posted on March 31, 2011 by

Well, at least a windy one. It’s about 70 degrees and the wind is a light breeze at 22mph! Such fun to be hauling trash in an open truck with this breeze! Dan, Morgan and I loaded the truck. Dan and Morgan have taken the stuff to the dump, aka the waste transfer station. Then they will pick up a load from Yolanda’s and take it to the dump. 🙂 She had some trashy tenants.

After they get back and we have some lunch, It will be time to work on the Wendy House a bit more. Most likely we will work on emptying the shed and getting ready to rebuild it. Plus start lifting the brick so we can dig on the one side of the house to lay the new plumbing. Wheee… Argh. Where oh where are the boys when I need them for sweat equity labor?

I’m glad Morgan can help. She is on spring break. Otherwise most of it would be done just by Dan as I am achy. Sort of feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. ugh.

We also plan to re-dye Morgan’s hair. Her mom took her to a salon and they got her hair dyed. It turned out much brassier than redder. Ugh. Not a good combo for Morgan. Her mom said to just let it grow out. No, I don’t think so. So, Dan bought hair day and we will do that today. 🙂

Last but not least, my writers block on my one story has begun to lift! Wheeee!!!!

A blustery day

Posted on March 22, 2011 by

Today is the second one with very high winds. Yesterday saw all the loose dirt for at least an area the size of the county head East to Kansas. Right now the gusts are from 35 to 45 mph. Geeze!!! At this rate, we might even get some snow.

Granted, we were up in Denver on Sunday and the wind was blowing up there. My sister even asked for us to take the wind home!

Sigh… we did.

The weekend was busy. Thursday morning we left early and headed up for Denver so that Dan could go to a Workforce meeting. A Colorado Workforce Development Council -CWDC meeting. It was downtown Denver, and once we parked, we saw my sister who works for the Colorado department of Labor and Employment. She had watched the truck go by as we tried to park. LOL! Then we met up with a friend and visited for a bit. Dan went to the meeting and I headed back to our hotel. Well, sorta back.

My sister had mentioned a quilting store… Creative Needle, and that it was near the Joann’s that I knew on Ridge Road. So, I detoured. 🙂 First Joann’s, where I found two patterns for dresses. Wheeee!!! Then on to the Creative Needle. OMG! All sorts of goodies in that shop including the fact that they are the only Elna service dealers in Colorado. I must have spent an hour in there. Then, off to a bookstore I spied on the way in. Heaven!!!!! Tons of used books. I was lost on where to start there were so many choices. I found a new to me Charles De Lint and the last three Jane Austen’s I needed to find. Plus I found a book for Dan. He’s been talking to Fr. Martin, and has been wanting to find a catechism book so that they were on common ground for some of their discussions. I found one! Happy-happy-joy-joy!!!

After finally pulling myself out of the bookstore, I headed to the movie theater. I found what time The King’s Speech was playing and realized I had time before it started. So, I went to Red Robin for dinner. I had fish and chips and apple pie for dessert. Then, back across the parking lot to the movies. The King’s Speech was fantastic. I understand that it wouldn’t be everyone’s choice, but I enjoyed it.

After the movie, I headed back to the hotel. I had a nice long soak in the tub and did some writing. It was really nice to relax. Dan finished up with all of his stuff including a dinner and ‘meet and greet’ around 9pm. Of course, that all that relaxing came to a screeching halt at 5am! Up, through the shower and out the door to be in Denver at the CWDC Youth Council meeting by 7am! Awwwgh!!!! Worse yet, it had snowed during the night!!!

We made it to the meeting in spite of the fact that Dan got turned around when he went to get a coffee at Starbucks! LOL. I laughed so hard at that. Mr, Mountain man gets lost in the big city!!!! Oh well. Breakfast was buffet style. Glad there was some fruit stuff, because all the eggs had cheese on them. sigh… I went to the State Youth Council meeting and Dan went to his Workforce Investment Board meeting.

Best part about my meeting was that my friend from high school was one of the co-chairs!!! Yeah Dani!!! The meeting was interesting and I met a lot of people. After lunch, I joined Dan and we heard the Lt. Governor talk. While I know he was towing the party line, there were some questions concerning the budget I would have liked to have heard a real answer on instead of dross. Our state is so polarized when it comes to Rural vs Urban, and a one size fits all kind of budget is not going to work well. Other people in the room felt the same way from the questions being asked.

We finished around 2pm and headed back to the hotel. We took a nap, grabbed dinner and then headed to Mari and David’s. We visited while Dan fixed Mari’s laptop and troubleshot another. It was a good visit, but we got home late. Showered and dropped into bed.

Saturday morning, we got up, showered, packed and were out of the hotel by 10am. Why? Because we had another computer client to visit!!! 🙂 It was really nice to have the work after the dry spell we’ve been having. That job finished around 3pm and then we went to visit my sister. After Lori’s, we went to Red Robin again and then to the movies. 🙂 We saw Rango. It was a riot!

By the time the movie was over, we headed home and arrived around 11pm. I think I face plowed the pillow! We slept Late on Sunday, and then unpacked, played with Brandy to make up for leaving her alone for three days, and straightened up the house.

Monday was busy with Morgan back to school and us back into the daily routine. Best part though was the mail. Morgan got her SSAT scores!!! We were over the moon, and she was upset that she hadn’t done better!!! Gads! Her overall scores were 2166 correct, or 89% She missed 63 points. Nationally, her percentiles for the test were Verbal, 95%, Math, 98% and Reading 97%!!!! When we finally got her to understand that only 3 to 4% of the 8th graders in the nation were better than she was, she finally mellowed out. Our next big hurdle will be hearing from Fountain Valley School and if she has been accepted. (Lots of good thoughts people!!!!!)

Snow, snow, snow, snow….

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

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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Wind, eclipses and Yule!

Posted on December 21, 2010 by

The wind has been blowing hard enough to toss all the loose bits in any yard clear to Kansas. Lots of semi’s flipped on I-25 in the last day or two. Only good thing was that the wind blew all the clouds away and we got to see the lunar eclipse. It was really cool.

Today is Solstice and the beginning of Yule. 🙂 Here are pictures of our decorations. 🙂

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Sun, Sand, and Snow!

Posted on April 24, 2010 by

Or, just another week in April in Colorado.

Tuesday, Dan’s divorce was final. We were really busy with class and meetings, so on Wednesday, we went to the Sand Dunes! Got up early, drove to the dunes and cooked breakfast. Granted, the stove didn’t want to work, but… we managed. Then it was off to the dunes. While Dan and Morgan climbed the highest dune, Ian and I waded up the river to my favorite spot. We played in the mud, water and sand for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we went to the visitors center and then drove home.

Thursday was weird and wonderful. I tried to drive Morgan to school, but the car died half a mile from the turn onto HWY 69. (yeah, it really is numbered that!) Jolene took Morgan to school and Dan and Daniel towed the car home. Half way home, we hit a bump just right I guess and the car started working right. sigh… However, that meant that I could still do everything else I’d planned for the day.

First, bake a cake…. I was going to KnitWits and wanted to provide a treat. Once that was done, Ian and I piled into the car. I paid the water bill and then we headed to Colorado City. KnitWits was quiet, but we had a good time. Around 2pm, we headed to Pueblo. Ian was going to spend the day with Jillian and go to a concert with her that evening. I went to the library, did a little shopping and had dinner. I spent most of the evening reading. Ian met me around 10pm, and we drove home.

Dan of course had spent the whole day sick in bed. He had gotten the same stomach bug Ian had had earlier. Yuck!!!

We headed to bed around 1am, just as the thunder/electric storm from hell started. A lightning bolt hit a transformer somewhere and we lost all power. So, we went to bed. It had started to rain really hard. Then it turned to hail which covered the ground in about an inch of ice. The lights came back around 4am. Yawn!!! When we finally did get up, there was nearly 4 inches of snow on the ground!!!! BRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr!!! The whole day has been cold and clammy.

Dan is feeling better. I got two papers written and had to argue with my professor, because he gave me a poor grade. Why? Because he didn’t read my paper!!!!! I was pissed! However, he regraded it. Went from a C+ to a B+. Still…… grrr……

Tomorrow, I don’t think I have anything to do except write what I want to write!!!!

Winds-day!!!!!

Posted on April 13, 2010 by

Even though it is Tuesday….. Oh my gods it is windy!!! So much so that Ian had to rebuild the clothesline as it kept blowing down. Last night was windy too. There was a thunderstorm that hit right after I got home from my meeting.

This week has been productive. We went to Colorado Springs yesterday. Dan beat CTU around the head and shoulders for forgetting to send him the software he needed for his class. We had a lovely lunch at Ruby Buffet, and then we went to Home Depot to check on things to redo the bathroom. Then we drove home via Westcliffe, which was beautiful.

Today, I’ve gotten the house tidy, laundry done and even some ironing. Now to listen to my business class and then head off to the school board meeting that promises to be a real interesting…. in a Chinese proverb sort of way.

-23degrees is COLD!!!

Posted on December 9, 2009 by

After a week of snowy cold weather where I thought it couldn’t get colder, it did. BRRRRR!!!! I’m sitting between the fire and the heater and I’m still cold. Next summer, we WILL do insulation! Oh, and on top of everything else, the pipes are frozen. Argh…..

Only good (?) thing is that it is just Morgan and I tonight. Dan is up in Pueblo for a Colorado Workforce conference. Three days of central heat and lots of running water. Damn.

Let’s see… since Thanksgiving,… what has happened? Hm…. Oh. snow. Lots of it. Last Thursday, we had our friend Curtis down from Buena Vista. Of course it snowed. However, we had a good time. Lots of funny CW McCall music including Four Wheel Cowboy. In it is a stanza that says…

Well, Texaco’s open in Trindad
I didn’t stop for gas but I wished I had
‘Cause I could use some
They’s a bunch a’ wild women in Walsenburg
They all make love like a buffalo herd
I wish I knew one

ROFLOL!!!!!!

He might come back down on the 17th if the weather isn’t too terrible. We want to run around Pueblo. 🙂 You know, lure of the big city… movies, bookstores, food. 🙂 He is a ham radio operator, which makes Dan pleased. They chic-chat away.

I have Knit-Wits tomorrow. That should be fun. I enjoy my knitting time with the ladies. Dan gets home Friday and we have the Christmas train again Friday and Saturday night.

Saturday we also have a holiday party with Sangre De Cristo Volunteers for Change. Not sure if we will make that for more than an hour, but we will see. We also have to start digging up the water pipe to re-insulate it if the weather is warm enough. Oh, and one other thing. We have to repair my car. It is still in pieces due to the super cold weather. sigh….

I am looking forward to warmer weather. You know, something in the 40’s! 😛

Then Hell froze over…

Posted on March 27, 2009 by

You see, yesterday was my last day of work. I resigned on the 12th. Finally had enough of the board breaking the law. I can say stuff now that I am no longer employed. Wheeeee!!!!

In case you the audience hadn’t guessed, they screwed up big time. Broke the Sunshine Law, various state and federal tax laws and various state and federal labor laws. Oh, and had the audacity to say that they didn’t have to follow the laws like other boards do. My biggest concern was how to bring them to justice… I didn’t want to sue them. I don’t want their little businesses. However, I really want them to understand just how badly they screwed up in the best way I can.

I hmmmed and hawwed for a month. Then it came to my attention that not only hadn’t they paid all of the taxes correctly, but that they had totally missed the Unemployment and Workmen’s Comp stuff. I tested the waters of that illegality on two of the people who work for WorkForce, the “jobs” people. Their reaction was pretty impressive. That whole OMGS!!! type thing. So, later today I will be calling Labor Standards and filing a complaint.

Dan, who is the treasurer at the moment will be resigning too. As his lawyer told him, 27 different violations that she counted, so get the hell out! It will be interesting.

Between sitting on my hands and doing nothing in the name of the Chamber, I applied for two jobs and did a bunch of writing. Some of it will be up on my wordwytch blog. Other bits…. who knows. 😛 I attended a lot of meetings about gardening too. :>

Now, about that hell freezing over… Our standard phrase around the office when someone decided to not choose us is “Either you pick us, or you made a mistake.” It started out as a joke and then we realized that most times it was true. Especially when we have had to redo work because some idiot charged less and screwed up badly. Well, in this case, it was one of “you had the best and threw it away.”

We have had beautiful weather. Nice, warm springtime stuff. Yesterday, we were under a winter storm warning. 1-2 feet type storm. I got up yesterday, and while it was cool, there was no snow. Went to work and around noon, a few flakes fell and then melted. Some storm. 2pm- quitting time! We packed things up and delivered them to my “supervisor”, the one who did nothing this entire last two weeks. Dan said that he’d take me to lunch. I said fine, and as the weather still hadn’t hit, we went to the bank and then headed towards Pueblo.

2:30pm. All the work done and we headed out. Five miles out of town, the flakes of snow started to fall. The road went from wet to slushy. Nothing we couldn’t handle. The snow got heavier and so did the wind. We stopped at Colorado City for gas and decided that we were not going to make it to Pueblo. So, we at lunch at Max’s. Nice little place. As the wind howled and the snow fell, I started to giggle. I had to explain that it looked like Hell was freezing over, and perhaps that was rather appropo considering it was my last day at work. Dan, the waitress and the other customers in the place all giggled. There was some good natured teasing about it being all my fault. 🙂

Then we drove home. Oh gods was it snowy! We got back to the highway and our first suspision that something was wrong was the fact that while there were plows on the Northbound side, there were none on the Southbound side. Dan was plowing the road. The wind was blowing harder and it was difficult to drive.

It took us 45 minutes to drive home 23 miles. It was an adventure. The girls were happy to see us. They’d been outside! oops!!! I missed a lady I was suppose to go check on a garden with, but I would have reguardless because of the snow.

Today it is still snowing. We have at least a foot in places where it didn’t melt on impact. The dogs are enjoying the stuff. I slid and plowed my way to Safeway this morning for soymilk and eggs. Wheeee……

Now I’m going to catch up on my journals, read my book and clean up my computer. Right after I call Labor Standards.