Of Digging and sticking

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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.

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And now for…

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Something completely different. Yesterday we woke to fog, mist and later on rain. All day long was a study in mist and moisture. The plants loved it. My asthma hated it and it was one of those stay warm kinda days.

Dan took us to Wonderful House for dinner. On the drive to Trinidad, we got to watch the fog roll in, the clouds hang low and the rain fall. Lovely. It was like being in England again.

Today, we woke to blue skies and sunshine. Mother Nature, you are one crazy woman at the moment! Hope you stay calm for the next 24 hours. I have to drive up to Cheyenne to pick up Daniel. His sweetie’s sister is getting married on Saturday.

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.

Battlemoor III, Plums and too much going on

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August ran us over and we crashed in the Middle Ages. Aka… Battlemoor III. I barely got all of my sewing done in time to head out on a Wednesday to camp. Originally, Dan was not going to stay the whole time. He’d planned to work and then come out in the evenings. Serendipity swung her mighty fairy dust wand and Poof! Things changed. Dan got off of work a little late and didn’t have to go back on Thursday. He got his class work done and realized he might actually have a chance to take some time off. Not like we needed it or anything.

Wednesday as we sat up camp after sundown, we got to know a few of our fellow campers in Artisan’s Lane. Then we slept for the first time in ages with no real schedule for us in the morning. Ahhhhh!

We woke at dawn and started getting ready for the day. I worked on the potters wheels and the pottery tent. Dan started running errands. Then he discovered that there was no ice truck this year. So, he started running ice in from First Choice, our local grocery store. At least two trips a day. He gave free ice to the Troll gate, Chirgeons, the watch and to the parties.

I had a lot of fun working with the pottery and the fiber tent. It was the first time I’d thrown on a potter’s wheel in about 8 years. I didn’t do to bad, but I realize I will have to build up my hand strength for next year. I made a couple of hand built pieces as well. One was a small rose. It was about the only piece of mine that made it through the firing. We did do a kiln fire and realized that we need better air control next year. At least there was enough pottery to award some to the king and queen. 🙂

I got a lucet this year and learned how to make cord. 🙂 Dan bought me presents too. A torque, shears, a small knife, shoes, hair pins, a shuttle and the lucet. 🙂 I’ll post pictures below.

I think that camping with the Artisan’s Lane group was the best thing we did. I really enjoyed the company and the way it all worked. We all pitched in with cooking and cleaning up.

Once we got home, we were thrown into the craziness of ‘life’. I picked 50 pounds of plums off of my mom’s tree. Since then I have made plum jelly, syrup, jam, butter and chutney. Oh and cake and cobbler. Yummm!

We also have been to visit Morgan at least two times. Once on her 16th birthday. We took her out to eat, gave her a prezzie Dan picked up for her at Battlemoor III and gave her some money. She is really adjusting to college well. While she may be the youngest person on campus, she is on par with many of her fellow students mentally. For others, she is the adult supervision. LOL!

Wednesday, it rained almost all day long and oh was it COLD! I pulled blankets out of boxes and threw quilts on the bed. Today we got a clear glimpse of the Spanish Peaks. There was snow on the tops and the Trincheras were white! Brrrr!!!!

Last night we drove to Pueblo and had dinner at Bingo Burger. 🙂 It was Dan’s birthday treat to himself. We went to Barnes and Nobel for a while and then came home. Tomorrow we are heading out to pick her up, and then we are going to Pueblo. She and Dan need new glasses. Maybe, just maybe we will eat at Bingo Burger again. 🙂

Oh, and week after next is the Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival!

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Rain!!!!!!

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Okay, it isn’t often I post three times in ONE day… We are in the midst of one hell of a rain/hail/thunderstorm. Wow! Brandy of course is barking and trying to attack the lightning at the same time she hides from the thunder. Silly MUDDY dog!

Of course, I will have fun cleaning up the Wendy House. We still have a few leaks. Dan is reorganizing the office and back porch, so I am staying out of the way. 🙂

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Rock Garden

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About ten minutes after I posted about it being cool and cloudy, the skies opened up and it poured rain for at least twenty minutes. 🙂 Ahhhhhh, delightful! After the rain, I took some pictures of the rocks in the front garden, Redtom our feral friendly neighborhood cat and my herbs. 🙂

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Heavenly Cloud Cover!

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After nearly two weeks of 100 degree days, it is Finally cool. Yesterday, was the first day in Pueblo that only made it to 97. We are south of Pueblo, but we are usually close to the same temperatures. It’s been so hot that I’ve had issues with my laptop overheating!

The day we cut the weeds in the front yard it was 98. It rained, and we just stayed working as the moisture felt so good. Granted, we were dry by the time we finished. I now have a lovely brown front yard with designer rock piles. 🙂 I stacked the various rocks in little towers where possible because I didn’t know what to do with all of them and having them line the sidewalks was a pain. We plan to tackle the back yard today or tomorrow. Maybe. 🙂

It rained yesterday. A nice heavy but constant shower that soaked the dusty ground. And of course, the rains have been across the state which helps the fire danger, but also makes those area prone to flash floods. sigh… However, I plan to enjoy my cool morning! It’s 60 degrees! 86% humidity and only a 5mph breeze! Wheeeee!

Hail-atious Storm!!!!

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Dan and I drove to Sparkfun in Boulder and Rocky Mountain Test Equipment in Centennial today. After that, we stopped at IKEA to let the traffic settle down. While we got some cool and nifty things, we could hear thunder when we were near the checkout. We walked out at 8pm to see a fantastic lightning storm. Dan took one look at it and said we had to get moving. So, we did. The rain started before we were even out of Denver. By the time we hit Castle Pines Parkway, it was raining so hard we slowed down to about 40 mph.

Dan turned to me and said the clouds looked wrong. Then it started hailing. It wasn’t too bad, so we drove a little longer, thinking we could pull over in a minute. No Such Luck. It started hailing harder and we tried to find an underpass or turn off. No luck. People were pulling off everywhere and causing traffic jams. It was hailing harder and harder and the hail was piling up on the road. At one point I think it was nearly 2.5 inches deep. Plus all the water! Oh My God! We were afraid that the windshield would break because the hail was coming down so hard. It was so loud, that Dan and I had to shout at each other to be heard. Pretty bad considering that we were less than a foot apart!

Finally, near Castle Rock we were able to pull off under an underpass where we waited for at least 20 minutes. It finally lightened up and we drove into Colorado Springs. We stopped at Arbys to take a break. The back of the truck was full of hail from pea size up to nearly golf ball size! There are dents in the hood of the truck and on the left side. In the middle of the window casing on the driver’s side door, there is a dent nearly as big as my thumb where the hail dented it. I’ll put up pictures tomorrow.

Here is a Facebook page on the storm. Channel 7 News had this to say about it. Photos and story from Channel 9, Channel 4

Here is the Denver Post story. Wild Weather South of Denver.

 

Bloomin’ Roses!

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I thought that there were a lot of roses a week or so ago when I posted on my blog about the roses. However, when I woke up this morning I realized it was like the bush had exploded. Single, double and triple blossoms. So many blossoms that I had to dead head some of them so that the rest of the buds have room to bloom. Wow!

Then it rained for a bit and the air is now scented with roses. Ahhhh! Here are some more pictures taken before I picked petals.

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Don’t blink! The weather may change!

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This has been a weird spring. Hot in March. No real snow when it is usually our snowiest month. Now April is being weird. Last week was warm. Then there was the wind. Oh My! I swear that on Saturday my laundry was going to end up in Kansas. Or, at least at my friend Jacque’s house. Geeze!

Sunday started out okay. There was a heavy dusting of snow, but the sun came out and melted it. It was sunny, but not too warm by mid day. I was suppose to go walking with Jacque at 1pm. We didn’t go because it kept getting darker and colder just while we were on the phone. Instead, I went out and worked on the gardens. I picked up trash, dug out trees starts and thistles, and began to work on the front garden. I have this big chunk of rail road tie that I want to use as part of a garden bed frame. The front yard slopes and I want to stop the erosion that is going on there. So, I started digging the trench needed to put the tie in place. Lots of weeds and rocks. Ugh! I realized I couldn’t move the tie by myself, so I weeded the area by the bulls head. There are ants right there and I needed to weed when they weren’t out. Otherwise I’d have been dancing. I even found the irises! Wheeee!!! By this point it had started to rain, so I went inside.

It rained. It snowed. It snained. (both at the same time) It got colder. In fact, it got cold enough for us to have a fire last night. We had one Saturday night too! I hoped for warmer weather today. So far, no luck. At least the clouds have broken up a bit and let enough sunshine in to warm the Wendy House up to about 68. After my walk today, I’d best pick up some kindling to add to the wood pile. Brrrr!