Anyone have an anchor?

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I swear that someone put speed in the water for the last two weeks of October. Last week was just crazy. Between work, school and other obligations, I felt like I was on a bullet train.

Wednesday, Spike got one of the cats. Didn’t know which one, as we couldn’t find it.

Thursday was suppose to be a day off. Ha! I went to KnitWits, my knitting group. We went to Pueblo on a field trip to visit Colorado Fiber Arts, a really cool yarn store. Then we had lunch at a place called Bingo Burger. I had a lamb burger and it was heavenly!!! Oh, and sweet potato fries with curry ketchup. Yummm… However, when we got home, Dan and I had to take the little gray kitten to the vet. Spike had ripped her lower lip off. Nothing to do for it, so we had her put to sleep. Dan also got a call from our one client in Denver. We wanted to borrow my parent’s truck. Not a problem except that Dad went to change the oil and couldn’t get the filter off. So after we put the cat to sleep, we went over to help Dad. Wheee…

Friday, we left right after I got done with work. Drove to Denver after a stop for lunch at Bingo Burger. More lamb burgers were consumed. Yumm!!! We arrived 10 minutes past when we said we’d be there. Not bad for city traffic. Four hours later we were done. Spent the night in a hotel and oh…. it was so nice to soak in a tub!!!

The next morning, we got candy at Target and then headed over to my sister Lori’s house. We visited for about an hour and I harvested 10 pounds of concord grapes. Yummm….. The smell was heavenly. Then we dropped books off at Isis and headed home. A stop in Pueblo for…. yeah, more lamb burgers. LOL… Only one down side of the day. We forgot to call my parents and tell them we were spending the night. They worried and were not happy with us, as should be expected. We apologized, and promised that next time we would call. Felt so stupid. Had to go do laundry as well.

Sunday was sort of a weird day. Tried to get things done. Handed out lots of Halloween candy, cooked down the grapes into syrup and worked on the computer.

Monday I went to work only to find out that my hours have been cut yet again. sigh…. It rained and slushed. Brrr!!! Then I had a ton of paperwork to process at the court house. And, Stefan’s house taxes are paid! Wheeee!!! By the time everything was done, all I really wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep for a week. Instead, Morgan, Dan and I watched the Bounty Hunter. It was a riot.

Today was another run around like crazy day. Dan helped Dad unload and stack 2 cords of wood. Then we went and voted. After that, we did some errands around town. By the time we got home, about all I could do is make dinner. Tamale pie!!!! Lovely comfort food for a cool day. We ate dinner while watching Wolfman. It was a pretty good movie. Now we are watching the election results. The bad trio of amendments 60, 61 and proposition 101 did NOT pass. (phew!) The rest of the stuff is up in the air.

It’s 4am in the morning…

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And what is that noise???

We woke to hearing the front door open and then a thud and a crash. Dan went to go look, and we had a drunk on our living room floor. He’d walked right in and fell over my desk chair. (the crash noise). He was Really Drunk. Couldn’t get up off the floor type drunk. He passed out and Dan called the police to come pick him up.

This is where it got a bit funny. In a Keystone Kops kind of way. First off, they knew who it was. Knew him by name. Second, when they tried to handcuff him, he got belligerent. When he refused to obey, they hit him with pepper spray. Oh the hollering… Both the drunk and the cop… the cop got it right down the lungs. Dan gave him two big glasses of water. Then the drunk wouldn’t stand up, Of course, we have 8 very steep stairs up to the house, so they had to carry him down the stairs. Then he wouldn’t get in the police car. By this time, there were two police cars and two ambulances in front of our house at 4:30am! I of course am stuck in the bedroom because of the pepper spray all over the living room.  Dan is watching this circus from the front door. he was laughing and giggling. Especially when the cops lost his keys… They had gotten knocked out of his pocket in the struggle with the drunk. They finally got the guy in the car around 5am. We didn’t press charges, just told them to throw the drunk in the drunk tank for the night.

We aired the house and finally fell back asleep around 6am. Gads, what an odd ball adventure. Oh yeah…. it was a full moon last night too. Of course, it has been rather the week for oddball things. Two nights ago, a dog attacked Spike while he was asleep. So, we woke to a dogfight at 1am.  Dan and Ian went out and discovered that Spike was bitten, and no sign of the other dog. Spike is now recovering with us. Two big nasty gashes on his shoulders and lots of bite marks on his legs. Lots of stitches  No idea what the other dog came out like. Spike of course is doing a Big job of looking Pitiful. Good grief! So much for the awesome and fearful reputation of pit bulls. I think we should have named him Marshmallow or Buttercup. 🙂

Did anyone get the number of that bus?

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Yesterday was just blahhhhhhh….. Woke up in the middle of the night too hot, but didn’t think about it. It’s autumn, and some nights it is 40F and other nights it is 65F. Went to work and felt tired. Okay, crazy hours catching up with me. Ate breakfast, felt better. I went to work and did alright for about an hour. Then I realized that I felt hot even away from the stoves. Working in a kitchen is a real test some days. 12 burners, 2 grills, a deep fryer… need I say more? So, I stand up and realized I feel Wwwwwooooosy. Not good. Get a drink, take a break, I’m okay. I go back to making pies. 15 minutes later, wwwwwooooosy. Hm…. Feeling very hot, and I am NOT standing next to the stoves. Hmmm… Another glass of water and a break. No, I am not feeling better. By this time, it is 10:15am. I’ve been here for over 2 hours, and most of my work is done. Time to go home before I fall down. So, I tell my boss that I’m feeling ill, and call Dan. He says he will be right there. I go outside to meet him.

He was 15 minutes late because the phone rang. Brrrrrr…. Sunny but windy. Of course. I get home and stuff myself in bed. It is 10:45am. Next thing I know, it is 2:30pm. Look at the clock, fall back asleep. 5pm, I finally got up. Still feel a bit wrung out, but I am hungry and thirsty. Morgan is home, Dan is off at a job. We heat up some dinner and have coconut cream pie for dessert. Dan gets home around 8pm, and I curl up with my book. We went to bed before midnight, only to be woke up around 1am by a dog fight. Spike and another dog fought. Spike got a bit chewed, but he won. The other dog ran. Last thing I remember is Dan reminding me to call Daniel in the morning.

I woke up at 9am this morning. Yawn… It is cold and rainy today, but I actually feel a bit better. Still a little fuzzy around the edges, but better. I hope that Dan and Morgan don’t get whatever it was I had.

 

Yet another catch up post on life in ‘Burg!

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I have to admit that I am so tired of computer problems. Hard drive failure, mother board fritz, change operating system, do it again, swap computers with Morgan… Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still having freezes, loss of data-three pages of a story- and other issues. Right now, I am working off of Dan’s computer yet again. pout. I really don’t need the extra stress in my life.

On another note, I have most of my possessions from the other house. John has been fairly decent about things. I think once he realized I was serious and what I wanted was not to cut everything down the middle, it has gone well. (knock on wood) I have a few books left to pick up and the three big items of furniture will stay there until they can replace them or I can pick them up. (a bed, dresser and coffee table) Otherwise, the rest is here with me. 🙂 I spent part of last week moving stuff when I wasn’t fighting my computer. Now I’m just trying to find a place to put all of it in this house.

Last week was busy in other ways. Last Saturday, Dan discovered that most of the supports under the front porch had fallen. So, we drove to Pueblo and bought the lumber we needed to shore up the porch. We also had to pull everything off of the front porch to lighten the load. It made the whole house look like it was under construction. Sunday was prop up the porch day. Dan and Ian worked most of the day. I stayed in the main part of the house and tried not to flinch when the jack dropped or I heard cussing coming from under the porch. We will be rebuilding the porch in the next year or two. Dan was really hurting by the time they finished as he worked the jack most of the time. Once they were done, I got to start putting my sewing room back together. We also worked on the front yard, by moving rocks, raking and digging until it looked less like a pile of weeds.

Monday…. the week started like we never had a weekend. Morgan had volleyball games, I worked and on Wednesday the Tannahill Weavers played at La Plaza. Dan and I did the lights. It was a great concert, and I think I have my hearing back by now. We were right under the speakers and in front of the bag pipe player. Oh that was loud. 😛 Then on Friday,we headed to Alamosa for a WorkForce meeting. William Beverly went with us and we had a good afternoon. Lots of conversation and a nice late lunch at Cavillo’s.Saturday I worked and then collapsed in the afternoon. 🙂 Sunday Dan and I both slept in for the first time in a few weeks.

The plans for the next two weeks are plumbing, oiling the floors, and cutting down the other tree in the front yard. It is dying and we could use the firewood. Once Dan gets paid for some of the jobs he’s done of late, we will be working on the cars and hopefully getting a new computer for me. Until then, I will work on his computer.

To Denver and Back

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Yesterday, we left at the crack of dawn for Denver. Dan had a meeting of the Colorado Workforce Development Council. So, we dropped Morgan off and headed up I-25. We had breakfast in Monument at the Village Inn. Not bad food, and we were rather hungry. We got to Denver by 10am, which was a good thing. Why? Because we got LOST. Or to be more exact, we couldn’t find the hotel where the meeting was being held. We finally found it at last. It is one of those dark glass buildings where the name is embossed on it in letters only slightly lighter than the smoked glass of the rest of the building. We found parking for $8 and then walked back to the hotel. Dan went to the meeting and I headed to the 16th Street Mall.

I walked around in various shops and finally made it to the Tattered Cover. I got Dan a copy of Common Sense and us a copy of Terry Pratchett’s latest book, Unseen Academicals. Then I had lunch at the Noodles shop just up from Tattered Cover. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and walked around another bunch of shops. Dan got done with his meeting around 2:30pm and we headed home.

We went shopping at Vitamin Cottage and King Soopers in Pueblo for things we needed for the house and got home around 10pm. We were both so tired, that once we got the groceries put away, we straight to bed. Yawn…

Today it was back to work as usual. I had to wash our bedding as one of the feral cats peed on it. Yuck. Of course that made for a wheezy day for me. Tomorrow is house cleaning day and a volley ball game for Morgan. 🙂 Hopefully, they will do better than they did against La Veta.

Can I buy a Day?

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I know it is Monday, but… I think I need a few extra days this week. I simply can’t figure how to get everything done this week. While there seems to be plenty of time, I keep feeling like I’ve forgotten to write something down and that it will sneak up on me with a resounding thump when I least suspect it. Part of it is the whole Autumn Cleaning Urge. Second of course only to the Spring Cleaning Urge. Part of it is also trying to find places to put bits of furniture, decorations and the like. I picked up more stuff from the other house today. There is also a shuffling of the office to be done once Ian heads off to the Air Force. We are still in limbo about that. argh… I am so sorry that he has to deal with ‘hurry up and wait’.

Work is driving me a bit nuts too. While I don’t mind doing prep-chef work and pastry chef work, I want to be making bread! Pastries! Biscuits! Oh well. I could do with more hours as well. 6 to 9 hours a week just isn’t going to cut it once the winter bills set in. Aieeee!!! I don’t want to have to look for another job, but I might not have a choice. Or, I may have to have a second job. That would be equally frustrating.

Tomorrow, I’m going to Denver with Dan. More as company than anything else. Oh, and an excuse to get out of Walsenburg for a bit. A day in Denver reminds me of ALL the reasons I like to live in a small town. 🙂 I may hit the book stores or the big fabric stores. 🙂 I haven’t been to Denver Fabrics in ages. I could certainly use a new couch cover.

Well, I had best get my arse in gear. Dan should be home in about 15 minutes and it is off to the bank and the store. Wheee…..

Oh, and my computer, while better, is still having some funny glitches. hmmmm….. I may have to get a new one sooner than I expected and give up the laptop for the bone yard. pout!

BTW, would you wrap that day up and make it a Saturday? I could use an extra one!

Where the ‘ell do I start?

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Okay, this is the third time I’ve tried to write this post. Sigh. My computer is having snit fits.

Last week was the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.Take a peek at their website!

I did a lot of baking for two bake sales I had promised I’d do for Barbara Yule. Thursday after work, we headed up to the Ceilidh in Gardner. It was wonderful. Lots of good music and almost every act played. Morgan joined us after her volley ball game. Gardner won!
Friday was the picnic at Uptop which is the ghost town at the top of Old La Veta Pass. The bake sale was good and the music great!. That night, we worked the concert at the Fox Theater in Walsenburg. Ed Miller and John Taylor followed by Chris Newman and Mairi NiChathasaigh. Lovely lovely evening.

Saturday, I baked more items and we then went to the concert at the Fox. This time it was the Shamrock Kitchen Quartet. Singing and Sean Nos dancing. Once again a wonderful evening. Sunday we got up early, packed a ton of baked goods into the truck and headed to La Veta for the morning bake sale. We did really good and headed over to the concert with Colcannon Express. Fantastic music. We had a great time. The whole festival was wonderful.

Monday, I woke with a Migraine… Ugggghh… too much sun, not enough water, and stress. Wonderful combo. NOT. I crawled to the aspirin, and Dan brought me the phone so I could call off work. I was in bed most of the day. By about 6pm, I began to feel human. I read a bit and then went back to bed.

Tuesday, I was up and moving, because I had Jury Duty.

I was there by 8:15am. I didn’t expect to be chosen. I was the last juror chosen. We took a lunch break and the trial started at 2:30pm. It was a Domestic Violence type case. We heard all the evidence, saw pics, listened to witnesses. We went into deliberation around 7pm, and they got us dinner. After a lot of deliberation, discussion, agreements, disagreements, and more discussion, we finally decided that while something obviously happened, that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict. We had way too many doubts. So, about 8:45pm, we gave the judge our verdict. You could tell that the DA and the Judge thought we were nuts, but we just couldn’t choose anything other than Not Guilty on the evidence we were given. That whole thing about ‘reasonable doubt” takes on a whole new meaning when you look at the laws. I got a certificate. That was just strange. It even has the court case on it. As I waited for Dan to pick me up, the defendant came out and thanked me as he passed. I just nodded.

I got home at 9:15pm, and was asleep before I could even hit the pillow.

Today I went to work, did a bunch of errands. I met with John and told him again that I want a divorce and sent him a list of stuff I want from the house

Tomorrow I’m going to catch up on the tons of email I have to read and then I’m going to start working on the house. I have a big urge to do Fall Cleaning!!!

Thursday was wonderful, weird and sad.

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Thursday was Dan’s 47th birthday. It was also the day we had to head up to Palmer Lake and have lunch with the Governor. On top of that, it was the day Ian headed for MEPS, the big physical which decides if he can enlist or not in the military. Oh, and my parents left for New Mexico and we are babysitting Elway, the cat.

So,… Up at the crack of dawn. Morgan off to school, and all three of us trying to cycle through the bathroom to get ready to go. 8am, all of us out the door. We dropped Ian off in Pueblo and headed north to Palmer Lake. It was a good thing we were early, because we got lost. The Inn at Palmer Lake might as well be the Bat Cave. It isn’t easy to find at all, even with directions and GPS. One of the women there said her Garmen’s GPS had failed. sigh…

The meeting was great. Governor Ritter signed the Colorado Workforce Development Council into law/being and then we had lunch. The food was okay, and yet not enough. One of the guys at our table asked if everyone was hungrier than they were before lunch. Most were. As it was, we ate in Pueblo on the way home.

After our ‘second lunch’, we drove to Gardner for Morgan’s volleyball game. Gardner was playing La Veta. It was a tighter game than Aguilar, but Gardner’s A and B team were both winners. As a treat, we took Morgan to A&W for a rootbeer float. 🙂 We had a little bit of time with her before she had to head over to her mom’s for the weekend. sigh…

Then it was time for a bit of quiet for Dan and I. I sat down to my computer so I could write and Dan started on school work. There wasn’t any magic smoke, but my computer died. Dan thinks it is the hard drive and we will try and fix it in the next few days. Meanwhile, I am timesharing on his computer. pout… tears… sadness…

Friday Ian enlisted in the Air Force. He isn’t sure when he will ship out as he is waiting for a job opening.

Today we went to the Upper Huerfano to pick choke cherries. The bears had been there first, so we got more rosehips. sigh…

Tomorrow I plan to do a lot of baking for the Spanish Peaks Celtic Festival where I will be holding two bake sales. At least that will keep my mind off the lack of computer.

A cool September morning

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The mornings have been getting cooler, and Autumn is getting closer! I’m harvesting squash out of the garden and finding 101 ways to serve it. 🙂 Tomorrow we are off to the hills to harvest choke cherries. We harvested rosehips last week and most of them were on the edge of over ripe. I didn’t get as many as I’d like, but we will see if there are any up higher.

In a week, the Celtic Music Festival will begin to roll. I have two bake sales to get ready for. Wheeee!!! I’m going to try to do little pies as well as cakes, breads and cookies. First one is at Uptop, the old La Veta Pass ghost town. The second one is in La Veta on Sunday. I’m a bit nervous about this, but looking forward to it too.