Turkey Day!!!

Yes, it has been forever since I last wrote. A month in fact. Sheesh! Let’s see…

Shadow had another litter of kittens… 6 this time,

Had a fun Halloween,

A good Samhain with Morgan here to celebrate with Dan and I,

A very mellow 50th birthday. A lovely romp, breakfast in bed and an easy going day doing what I wanted,

Applied for jobs,

Had a job at a coffee house for two weeks… until the owner decided that he couldn’t cope with the bills the previous tenant left,

Applied for a job as a dispatcher,

Oh, and I’ve been doing theater on a train! A melodramatic version of A Christmas Carol. I’m the narrator, Dan is Scrooge, and there are three other people acting out the rest of the characters. It is on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad and we will be doing that until Christmas.

And of course, we did the big family Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house. Lori, Bill and Shawn came down from Littleton, Aunty Toni and Uncle Karl came up from Las Cruces and Daniel and I went as well. Lots of good food, wine, and of course, dessert! It was really good to see everyone and as soon as Dad and Toni send me pictures, I’ll post some.

Mother Nature has Hiccups!

Saturday was Logan’s 3rd Birthday. His parents had a party for him down in Aguilar.  Since I don’t have a car at the moment,  I went down with my parents. When we got there, Logan ran up to my mom and I and said, “Two NANA’S!!!” He was just a little excited. There were a handful of kids and parents there. Logan had a great time running up and down the community center. At one point, he came running to me and after plowing into my leg, he looked up and said, “I love you Nana!” Later I found out he had told my mom he loved her and ‘Nana’. So she had told him to go tell me. 🙂

There was lots of cake, pizza, cookies, punch and green jello with Gummie Bears. Oh, and lots of noise. We came home around 4pm. Two hours of noise was about all I could take.

It was nice and warm. Probably about 58, and I had hung laundry out in the morning. Of course, none of it was dry, so I left it hanging up. Silly me. We woke up to snow on Sunday morning. In fact, it snowed all day and most of the evening. Then the clouds moved off and it got COLD. Brrr……. We honestly wondered if Morgan would have school today. She did. The roads are icy, but not too bad. It has warmed up to a brisk 50. Some of the laundry thawed and dried. The rest will just have to wait. Tomorrow is suppose to be warm too.

One thing this cold weather has done is finally made a dent in the woodpile on the side of the house. Dan gets to chop more wood as soon as we have a maul. Then I will have to rake all the bark and sawdust and really small twigs to where I want them. The plan is to xeriscape the front yard. There are just too many deer that walk through the area to have really “normal” gardens. We had a bear through the yard too. Found the prints complete with claws in the mud. I think it was after the berries on this one bush out front.

Rainforests, classes and computers

It has been busy in other ways around here. The Monsoon season kicked in early and is still going strong. I think we have had more rain storms than we did snow storms last winter. Nice, but frustrating when you try to dry laundry.

I’ve been working hard this last month on my math and english comp classes. Math has been a booger trying to remember things I learned 32 years ago. However, in spite of my fears, I am actually getting some of this! Dan put this poster up on my wall behind the computer that reads What yould you attempt if you knew you would succeed? I look at it every day. I admit that there are days when I want to curl up and cry, and others when I just get so frustrated that I walk away from the computer. Last test was a 90% though!!!

Then there is my english class… I am suppose to be in it to learn APA formating, even though it is an english class. However, I am peeved about being in a 101 class and still not learning APA style! Grrrr….. I write for a living!!! sigh….. As it is, I am teaching 3 other students how to write because they don’t get what the teacher is trying to do.

Last Thursday, we got a call that the library had finally gotten their computers from Tech for All. 25 of them. Dan and I went down and started helping Rose Keating, from Tech for All, to set them up, etc. 12 hours later, we still weren’t done. The contract tech worker and Rose went round and round. He choked the network and delayed us on end. Grrrr….. Not happy. However, we are going back today to finish up some stuff. Then, we will be able to have compute classes at the library! Wheeee!!!!

Dan went hiking with Dad yesterday. They had a good time. Half way up one of the Spanish Peaks. They came down because of the rainstorm headed in. On top of the peaks is not a good place to be in a thunderstorm. Mom and I went to lunch at George’s. Yummm.. It has become our date when the guys go hiking.

Hunting the elusive LoboSavvy…

We are Finally getting the website online! Wheeeee!!! lobosavvy.com

grey_wolf_tracks

Dan is working hard on the engineering side of things like making the buttons and mouse overs while I get to write the text. No, we don’t want Dan’s engineering brain which is thinking more Auf Deutsche then in English to start the “sentences and paragraphs writing!” Not unless we want all the verbs at the end of the sentences. 🙂

Now what to write! Oh yeah…. the IT support company…. You have a problem, we’ll come up with a solution… Or something along those lines. We are working on being a business that supports business from the hardware and software sides. To find solutions that won’t break the bank, etc. If the company is invested in closed source software, we will let them know about open source stuff, etc. We aren’t going to be able to do this very well in Walsenburg, but hope to expand this to Pueblo and Springs.

Now to figure out what to write…. (see Jaye.. see Jaye thump head against desk…)

Meanwhile on the family front… We take my Dad up to Springs tomorrow for surgery. Nothing too invasive. Sort of a roto-rooter job on his bladder. Too much muscle can be a bad thing. We will bring him home on Wednesday.

I’m still looking for work. Put out another resume today. Oh, and I have a few hours worth of work down at Web Coast-to-Coast. Filing for my friend Erin. :> I will probably hit the job fair stuff later in the week to see if there are any secretary jobs. argh….

Helping Senior Citizens with heating bills

My parents have a small wood stove in their new house. Every so often, my Dad heads down to the library and picks up newspaper for fire starter.  Well, when he went down today,  all of the Rocky Mt. News and Denver Post papers were gone.

Instead, John gave him a bunch of the newspaper print magazines from the recycling pile.  Now, this is where things get interesting… Why? Because, these magazines were the Out Front magazine put out by the Gay and Lesbian community in Denver for the state of Colorado.

(snicker…. twitter… giggle… )

My Dad took the pile without looking, thanked John and took them home.

I can see it now… My very conservative Dad sitting there getting ready to start a fire and taking his first real look at the papers that John gave him. Then the blushing starts…

I figure that amount of facial blood flow ought to be worth at least 10 degrees temperature rise per fire.  Dad will probably safe a lot of firewood.

teeheehee…..

What a way to help people with their heating bills!

Screeeeech!

I am putting the brakes on this week! It has gone by way too fast. We got home Monday from camping and the week just ran away from us.

Tuesday was a blurr of homeschooling and laundry. We also set up my mom with a new email address. Oh, we also got a new domain for a website we are building. Wednesday I took John to the VA in Pueblo. He is having a flare up of cellulitus. I ran to Walmart while John was in the drs. Bought Daniel a toaster oven, and power cord. I also picked up tennies for Morgan and dog food for Sasquatch.

Thursday was more homeschooling. Matt is sort of getting the hang of how we want stuff done. Then it was time to head up to Gardner. Morgan had her first volley ball game. She plays on the B team, and is so proud of herself. They won! First time in 7 years against La Veta. She just glowed.

This morning, I got up at the crack of dawn, showered and got ready to take my parents to Colorado Springs. I got to drive my parents ’06 Subaru Legacy. Talk about nerve wracking! This is Dad’s baby! Aieeee~~~ Dad was going to see the oncologist about his bladder cancer. While he was at the doctors, Mom and I went to breakfast. By the time we were done, so was he. We drove home with a brief stop in Pueblo for a bit of lunch, paper and wine for my parents. Then I drove home.

We dropped Dad home while Mom and I went to Safeway. I dropped her home, Dan picked me up and it was back to homeschooling and now blogging. Gads!

Did have some good news though. Mike, the Chamber of Commerce president called to tell me the secretary job was mine if I wanted it!!! Part time, and I’m pretty sure it is minimum wage, but…  it’s a JOB! I start on Monday.

Tomorrow holds no rest either. Shopping in Pueblo.

Back at LOOOOONG Last!

Oh my gods! We lost our phone line on August 21st. Our ex-business partner would neither turn the phone off, nor give us access to do it ourself. sigh… So, when she didn’t pay the bill, Qwest turned it off. We got the phone back on rather quickly, but it took them until yesterday to turn the DSL on. They forgot it on the first order and I had to redo the whole thing. Grrrrr……

Meanwhile, we’ve wired my parents house for telephone service. That was fun.. NOT! Dan had to crawl under the house in the crawl space. Not a fun time. He did however zing my mom. Told her that she really needed to dust down there. She told him to “bite me!” I laughed.

We’ve also dealt with tons of rain. Yesterday’s storm was so heavy with lightning that I nearly got hit. I had just gotten my feet out of the inch deep puddle at my mom’s house when there was a Flash/BOOM! That blast was so loud that all I could do is yell “Shit!” and watch the sparks from up above fall into my parents yard. We think the antenna next door got hit. It rained hard enough that the arroyos flooded and several low spots on the frontage road parallelling I-25 were full of mud. Dad and I saw this on our way to Pueblo today. In fact, one area washed out the road. At least 65 sq. yds of road and land next to the road were gone.

As mentioned, Dad and I went to Pueblo. He and Mom needed a pantry cupboard for the kitchen. Their house is sadly lacking in storage. It was really heavy, so when we got back, I dropped off Dad and picked up Dan. This way they could put it together. At one point, Dad was saying that he was use to being precise like they were on missles when he worked at Martin Marietta. Dan, who was putting on the hinges turned to him and said, “Jon, this isn’t rocket science!” They both laughed.

They got the cabinet together, and we took home a dresser that they didn’t need. Wheeee! Dan now has a place to put his clothes! As Mom and Dad unpack boxes, she is sorting through things and deciding what she doesn’t want any more. I of course get first pick.:)

Dan and I have also been working on lots of information for our other blog, The Pagan Way. We are getting ready to formally start a coven. I’ve been working on by-laws, book lists and other bits and bobs.

Wheeee….

Build a boat, grab an oar!

Because it’s Monsoon Season! Here it is Saturday, and it has been raining almost non-stop! Apparently, it rained most of the time I was gone, and the few partial days we didn’t have rain have been made up for. My friend Chas posted a lovely piece in his blog. rain-on-back-order.html

As for myself, I blame my parents. teeheehee. You see, Hell is attempting to freeze over and all this rain is the result. My Dad decided at long last to retire. He has been a park ranger at the Grand Canyon for over 25 years.

Jon Sudar, Park Ranger
Jon Sudar, Park Ranger

Dad did the whole Interpretive Park Ranger thing. Trail talks, Evening Programs, etc. He was very good at it. However, over the years the politics of it has worn him down. Plus, he will be 72 in just over a month. So, he retired.

My parents bought a house and have slowly been moving things in. They did the final packing and left the Canyon yesterday. They arrived today on this bitterly cold August day. 30 degrees below normal! I almost started a fire in the fireplace! I woke up to thunder and lightning at 5:15am. Could not believe the length of the thunder roll. Nearly a minute at one point. We’ve had a few breaks in the rain, but not many. Right now, the gutters are flowing so full that they are spreading out into the street.

Monsoon!
Monsoon!

As for the rest of this week… I spent most of Monday and Tuesday trying to catch up on sleep and house hold stuff. Lots of running around and trying to get stuff done while jobs kept piling up on top of everything else that needed done.

We wired Boutique Blvd. on Wednesday. Marianne Smithey is a sweet lady who was having telephone troubles. Dan re-did the wiring and fixed that issue. Thursday I went down and worked on her computer for 2 hours. Made $50, which was nice. However, that will get dumped into the bank on Monday for bills.

Friday, we went with Maryjane H. up to visit her husband who is finally up at the VA hospital in Denver. Friday was Carl’s 77th birthday. He was happy to see all of us. He also learned that he has cancer that can’t be operated on. They can treat him, but not cure him. Not a nice thing to learn on your birthday. We stayed as long as we could and then had to drive home. The trip up had been wet and rainy. The trip home was just as bad. I swear that parts of the highway were under 2-3 inches of water at times. Dan drove which was a good thing. Got home around 10pm and collapsed.

I planted a few Italian plum trees in the back yard. I hope they take well. The plums are wonderful for cooking as they are very meaty and tart. At least I don’t have to worry about watering them for a while!

Catch up!

I had planned to tell all about the adventures of my parents being here and other bits of last weekend, and all that went to hell in a handbasket. Dan and Beth told Matt and Morgan about Tirion last night. They had an imprompto Samhain/wake for Tirion. Told stories and remembered things until nearly midnight.  By the time I got organized, I was too tired.

So, let’s try this again.

My parents who had originally planned to come in on the 17th, rescheduled their trip because my dad discovered he has a very small treatable cancer in his bladder. At the time, he didn’t have the go ahead to travel. However, on the 16th, he did get permission as he was going to start medical treatment some time after the 23rd. So, they packed up the car and headed to Walsenburg. They got here on Thursday, which was the beginning of the fast action house attack. Just how much can you get done in four days?

Friday, Dan went to La Veta and rented the sewer snake. He got home late, and the evening thunderstorm had rolled in. Water, lightning, sewer…. Nope! Not going there.

We attacked Mom and Dad’s sewer on Saturday morning. Well, he did. Mom and I ran away to the Black Diamond Jubilee. Not the best town based festival this year. However, I did find some treasures at the FOL booksale. After I picked up Dan, the trash, and the sewer snake, we went over and cleaned out 203’s sewer. That of course meant cleaning up 205’s as well since they are linked. Daniel helped Dan out. Loaded the snake up a second time and headed to 520. Now, keep in mind that this damned thing weighs nearly 60 pounds if not more. It’s a two person lift most days. Dan of couse had been hefting it himself. stupid!!!

When we got to 520, the thunderstorms hit again. This put the sewer swiping to Sunday. Poor Dan. This was the bad one. He used two gallons of bleach to kill all the nasties. It also took nearly three hours to fix it. There was a broken toy and a rock clogging the sewer. We didn’t get the snake back until Monday, which means that I owe an arm and a leg for the damned thing, but… we did four houses!

Between the muck, bleach and allergies, Dan came down ill. Fever, sneezing and a gallon of snot. Ewww! Wrenched his arm and back lifting the snake too. Our neighbor across the street who watches everything that goes on even chided him about not being a young kid! Dan had to agree with him. I know that Erin and Karen were peeved that he was sick and not able to go off on whatever adventures they wanted him for, but… too bad. He only gets paid by the job and there was no way he could do anything safely feeling like he did. Here it is Friday and he still feels rough!

We also planned out all the repairs that need done on 520 and started a roster of what order they need done. Bewtween time and money, I figure it will take at least a year. Maybe less, but a year is my estimate. Our first project is to fix the front porch.

Monday I also went to hopefully the last Strategic Planning Committee meeting for RE-1. It’s been going on for nearly four months. Now to see if the District Accountability committee approves of it and then the school board. gads!

Today has been busy. Slow at work, as no one is here, not even Pattie. I did get a job application for the Housing Authority. Dan took it in for me this morning. Not sure when I will get an interview or even if I will get one. If not, I’ll keep looking and call around. My luck, Pattie will quit, the new person will take her job and then this position will be open again. sigh…

I’m watching the Nelson Mandela Birthday concert while I’m typing. http://www.46664.com He is 90 this year on July 18th. To me Mandela is a hero.  I remember watching his release on the BBC. What a moment in history.  John shares the birth date with him.

Probably aught to go do something. Anything… Sitting here waiting for the phones to ring is mind numbing! Only two more hours to go.

The phones…. they won’t stop ringing…..

You’d think I worked at a business or something! Gads! Today has been phone hell. They ring, they ring some more and sometimes there are 3 calls at once! Plus we have been having issues with Vonage and a mix up with our service. They connected the device to the wrong account numbers. What a cluster f*ck. However, I think that Dan finally got things worked out. Here’s hoping!

Stefan called and I had to put him on hold three separate times in less than 5 minutes. Wow! Poor guy, he was just trying to tell me how life was going for him and Anabell, and he could barely get a word in edgewise. I kept having to interrupt him, put him on hold and answer the other phone. Twice it was my parents who arrived in town today.

Then there were the conversations. :> Geeze! Here we are a wireless internet service provider. A WISP. Better yet, we are providing free access to Aguilar government entities. So far, two of them don’t want it! What the hell? I sort of understand the fire department. They probably have some government based contract that they can’t get out of. However, the library is not.  They’ve gotten a grant with a company that is suppose to give them WiFi. It’s been promised service, but as far as I understand it, they aren’t actually connected yet. Instead, they are costing the town money for a satellite that has been their connection for a while. I talked to the city manager, and he wasn’t sure if they were connected and didn’t understand why they didn’t want free service. Sigh….

The rest of the phone calls were about service. When would it be turned on? (it is) How long will it be free? (until the end of the week) How much? What do I need? What’s a WISP? and When are you coming to our area? (as soon as possible) Oh, and the software company called me because Dan forgot to give them his cell phone number. Wheee….

My parents arrived amidst all the phone calls. They are here for the rest of the week to work on their house. Dan was a tad crabby, so I took Mom with me to go pick up the kids. I told her all about the shopping trips. I thought she was going to laugh herself silly. Especially over the ear piercing.

Now I get to have a quiet evening. The kids are home, work is mostly done and now all I need to do is return the DVD we forgot for the last 4 days and head to Safeway for some milk. Tomorrow looks like it will be just as busy, so I think I will head to bed early again.