Right now, it’s about 93 with wind gusts up to about 15mph. The fire is down to about 5 major hot spots that we can see when we drive up to the football field. Oh, and it has eaten 13,491 acres as of this morning, and is considered 50% contained.
Today we are officially off pre-evacuation status. Phew! What it has shown Dan and I is that we need to re-evaluate how things are stored. I’m returning items to more concentrated and/or collected spots. I also plan to scan all of the umpteen million family pictures when the weather cools. This way, if they burn, oh well. I have digital copies.
Another thing I’ve been looking at are family treasures. Some I’m going to pull out and use! Others, I will do my best to figure out which of the 6 kids would want some of them. Other items, I may simply give to my sister and hope she has something to do with them in the next 30 years. 🙂
Meanwhile, amidst the fires, and hectic weekend, we got a bit more plumbing work done on the Wendy House. And…. We’ve Filled In The Ditch! Okay, 95% of the ditch. 🙂 What this means is that I now have more of a back yard and can move on to other projects. A compost bin and a keyhole garden are next up on the agenda for outside work. Oh, and finishing the last 5% of the plumbing. 🙂
Now to go work on some embroidery. Battlemoor is only two months away!
This weekend was full of digging, plumbing and sticky things liked grout! First off, we tiled the top of the rolling cabinet in the kitchen. It has needed a new top ever since the Formica peeled off years ago. And, I’ve had these tiles for oh… 15 years at least. Pretty ones with herb pots on them.
I glued the tiles down on Friday morning. Then I went up to Pueblo to get what I thought was the last of the supplies needed. Wrong! sigh.. The tiles I bought were too narrow for the space, so it was back to option B. Glass blobs, or whatever it is you call those little round bits of glass people put in vases and use as game markers. I have this huge bag of them.
Saturday, we grouted the tiles and then while I dug the trench for the water pipe, Dan worked on drilling holes in the Wendy House wall. As he drilled there was a high pitched squeal. He pulled the drill out and there was an old pepsi bottle. He couldn’t move it, so he pulled the board out. The reason he couldn’t move it was because there was a bunch of coal in between the walls! We ended up with two small buckets of coal. 🙂
Then he fought with the tin on the wall. Nearly burned out his drill and then found out that his little saws-all worked the best. After that, we collapsed.
This morning, I made steak and eggs for breakfast. While Dan did school work, I cleaned up the digging work and placed the water pipe into the ditch. Of course, the minute I did that, it started to rain! At least I know the drainage works in the ditch!
I ended up using window caulking around the little glass blobs as there wasn’t enough grout. Fussy. Next time I’m filling the channel with grout and THEN putting the glass blobs in place. It looks okay though.
After dinner, we got all the plumbing we could done because we were short a coupling and a 45 degree elbow. We plan to finish up the plumbing on Tuesday.
Or should I say Windy? Here it is the 3rd of June, and the wind just hasn’t stopped.
Friday we went to Pueblo for some needed shopping and just plain relaxation. We got soil for the raised beds, plumbing bits for the Wendy House, a staple gun (wheee!!!! ) and groceries. When we got home, we could smell smoke and discovered that HWY 160 was closed off. There was a fire in town. The Main Event, also locally known as the Walsenburg Walmart had a fire behind it. We looked at the fire for a bit and then went home.
Saturday, I went to Rock Ledge Ranch, in Colorado Springs. They were having a sheep shearing and spinning event. I was suppose to meet a friend there, but her ride didn’t appear. I still had a great time though. It’s well worth the visit. I loved the houses and walking around the grounds.
Afterwards, I went to Joann’s and got some stuff for Battlemoor. It’s in just over 2 months! I have some sewing to do and I’m going to try and make some more nalbinding needles. 🙂
Sunday was suppose to be a workday around the house. Well… we slept in. While Dan worked on his school work, I did a little gardening, and cleaned house. Next weekend though is all about the plumbing! 🙂 Who’d have thought the idea of running water could make a person so happy? 🙂
The last week has been busy. Between trying to teach Blanca how to be a housedog, changing weather, plumbing foul-ups and Chamber events, I haven’t had much time to post. Oh, and it snowed.
Not just a dusting like we’ve been having ever 3-4 days since Thanksgiving, but an honest to goodness snowstorm. More on that later.
Middle of last week, the laundry room sink clogged. No way to fix it, so John started to undo the U-neck under the sink. 40 gallons of water later, he pulled a clog of lint/cat hair and OMG’S gunge out of the pipe. Only problem, the plastic was so cold it shattered at one end and we couldn’t put the pipe back together. Dan and I would have to do that the next day. Not a problem.
Next morning, I hear water running. We thought Beth was in the shower. She thought that one of us was in the shower. John went to look. Next thing I hear is “OH Shit!” and the sound of the water being shut off. It had been a VERY cold night, and my first thought was that the pipes had frozen. Burst pipes, etc. No, some idiot had walked into our back yard and turned on the outside tap. Water ran for about 15 minutes, but that was enough to flood the basement and the kids room with about 2 inches of water. Ice cold water. ARgh! While the kids cleaned up, Dan and I fixed the laundry room sink.
Last week we also had the on-off-on again Chamber of Commerce Christmas Party. On Tuesday, no one had sold any tickets. So, we canceled it. Then they changed their minds and on Wednesday, they got it up and going again. So, by Friday they had about 30 people coming. Oh, and me. I hadn’t planned to go. Couldn’t afford the ticket. However, they decided that being the Chamber Rep, I aught to be there. So, they paid for my ticket. Chris gave Dan his ticket at the last minute, so off we went. It was at the La Plaza Inn which is a very nice B&B in town. Marty made roast beef. Lovely. After dinner, Larry Patrick ran the present auction. Everyone brought a gift and then it was auctioned off. Now Larry plays dirty tricks, so if you scratch your nose, you bid. If you blink loud, you bid. Lots of laughter ensued. We raised about $650. Dan got a bag of kids toys and one person got a traveling trophy. A plaster deer head. It now lives in the Chamber office.
Sunday was a really warm day, so Dan and Matt started digging a trench for the electric line from the house to the guest house at 520. I had to help for a while when Matt had to run home. Gods we were tired by the end of the day. Blanca all worn out the ditch
Monday Dan was suppose to help me at the chamber after he got the pipe at the local lumber yard. It was 4 times the cost, so he headed to Pueblo. The weather was getting bad, and by the time that he got home it was raining. Dan and Matt put the pipe in the ground and covered up the trench as fast as they could. They were soaked.
However, it was a good thing that they got it done. The rain turned to snow, and when we woke up on Tuesday, we had nearly 9 inches of the stuff in places. Brrrr!!!
Snow drift
It was a very cold day and even colder night. Today I concentrated on keeping warm. At the Chamber, the heater circut blew again and so the boiler didn’t go on until nearly noon. The dogs are not enchanted with the snow either. Brrrr!!!
