Dear Mother Nature,

Shouldn’t you be in the Southern Hemisphere by now? I’ll pay your plane fare to get there if you will leave IMMEDIATELY!

Your worn out friend,

his-self

Winter’s Last Gasp?

This was the scene when I got up this morning. Another spring storm is blowing through the mountains and across the eastern plains. Just one last reminder from Mother Nature that she is in complete control and even though most everywhere else spring is in full bloom, only SHE will decide when we can put away the ski parkas and snow blowers!

She has been teasing us over the last few weeks but as the weeks pass the teasing becomes more bearable. Three weeks ago we would have three or four days of winter weather with one or two nice days. The situation now is that we get three or four days of nice weather followed by one or two of not so nice.

This system will be long gone by this afternoon and by tomorrow there will be absolutely no trace of the snow you see in the pictures here. It’s a little different in the mountains however. They are getting anywhere from a foot to two feet of snow out of this…..and that’s the way it should be. That’s why God made mountains. They are supposed to get huge quantities of snow which equates to water for us down in the lower elevations. Colorado weather is a marvel. Look at the pictures above and then look at the prognostication for the rest of the week.

If you remember from an earlier post, during the last storm my snow blower self destructed and I had to order a very expensive piece of small plastic to get it back working again. Well I received the part and installed it and everything appears to be working fine. Even though this snow will be gone by this afternoon without any help from me, I think I will fire up the snow blower just to be sure is works. It would be a bummer next fall at the first big storm to find out that the snow blower isn’t working right!

On the household front, The Bride and I are preparing to have our kitchen upgraded with granite countertops. We have lived in this house for 14 years now and still have the original Formica countertops which we have never liked. We have spent the last six weeks or so looking at different materials for both the countertops and backsplash. The sheer number of possibilities is truly amazing but The Bride finally has found a combination that she likes and we will meet with the contractor tomorrow to finalize the project.

I’m currently refining some of my travel plans for next month. On my last trip to Arizona I had planned on visiting Canyon de Chelly (pronounce canyon de shay). The same Mother Nature I referred to in the beginning of this post had other ideas however, and I never made it. This destination has actually been on my “to do” list for several years but it’s pretty remote and the weather window for a pleasant trip is pretty narrow.

During the first week of May I will be participating in a Passport in Time project just west of Taos, NM. That’s about half way to Canyon de Chelly from the Denver area. So, my current plan is that after the Passport in Time project I’ll continue south and west to Canyon de Chelly and spend two days there before heading back home. The weather should be perfect by then and the rest of the summer is already pretty well booked up with other adventures so I’m thinking this is a good plan.

Thanks for visiting.

Same Ole Same Ole

So we got 12-15” of snow early in the week and then we had two days of nice weather (high 50’s). Time for another storm! This one is not supposed to be as bad but the weather shamans are saying I may be looking at 5-10” on the ground by tomorrow morning. I hope they’re wrong this time because I haven’t gotten the parts for my snow blower yet and anything that ends up in the driveway will have to be dealt with manually.

While I don’t really mind the winters here or the snow, this time of year it’s hard because of the teasing that Mother Nature does. It would be one thing if it were just crappy weather all month long but the Spring weather that is wedged between the frequent storms gets my hopes up that it will be an early end to the snow and it will be RV season again.

Hopefully, this storm will be the last of any consequence because The Circle is planning on a Circle The Wagons camping trip in three weeks. This will be a local camp out at Chatfield State Park which is only a couple of miles from here…..about 8 miles to be exact.

The picture at the top of the post is a shot from the roof of my trailer “Bivouac”. It not only shows some of the snow left from the last storm but It shows the new wiring job on my solar panel. The original wiring was located under the panel and went through the roof and towards the back of the trailer. This new wiring goes to the front of the trailer and down the plumbing vent stack in the middle front of the roof.

The picture to the right shows the new Tristar TS45 Solar Controller installed in the basement storage area. The battery compartment is behind the wall to the left of the controller and the red “knob” on the left of the picture is a Perko battery cutoff switch that allows me to shut off or disconnect the batteries when the trailer is stored. That prevents the batteries from being completely discharged by things like the fire and CO2 alarms that cannot be turned off inside the trailer. 

Finally the picture to the left shows the remote meter that is installed inside the trailer. This digital display tells me all sorts of information about the charge state of the batteries, how much charge the solar panel is providing to the batteries and how much electricity is being used by all the electric things inside the trailer. It will also track this information over time. Cool stuff!

I expect that to be able to boondock for extended periods I’ll need at least one more solar panel but before I spend the money for that I will spend some time testing out the one panel system. The good news is that there is plenty of room on the roof for several more panels and it’s simple to add panels to the base system I now have.

Thanks for visiting.

A Typical March In Colorado

It was in the 70’s two days ago and even yesterday morning was pleasant. Yesterday afternoon however a storm blew in and for much of the evening it was blizzard conditions here. By the time it all ended at mid day today we had 10-15” of wet, heavy snow on the ground.

How do I know it was “heavy”? Well about 3/4 of the way through snow blowing the driveway the snow blower quit. Not the motor but the wheels and the auger. Seems as if there is a little  $0.50 plastic piece that keeps the control cables for the wheel drive and auger in the exact spot it needs to be to have the proper tension to work…..that broke.

That unfortunate breakage meant that I had to do the rest of the job manually. I haven’t done that in a while and the last time I did do it, the snow was our standard Colorado champagne powder which is exceedingly light and easy to move…if it’s not 3 feet deep.

My normal thorough and neat job….wasn’t today. I did the bare minimum to get by and I still think I’ll be a little sore tomorrow morning.

Now back to the snow blower. I pulled out the parts diagram and called Sears to see about ordering a replacement. The good news is that I can. The bad news is I can’t just get the $0.50 part but have to buy $30.00 worth of other parts to get that tiny little plastic part! While I’m pretty peeved about that there was no doubt in my mind that I would spend that much if I had to to get the snow blower back in operation. Before I called the parts center I checked all the miscellaneous junk I have in the basement trying to figure a way to jerry rig a fix and to my disappointment could not come up with a plan. So Sears has now got my $30.

The roads were so bad around here this morning that I decided to drive The Emmer to work. I’m glad I did because it was pretty slick at 5:30 am. Heavy wet snow is a different driving experience than champagne powder and The Emmer doesn’t have experience in the heavy wet stuff. The snow stopped and the sun came out right about noon and as of now (3pm) the main streets are clear and dry. Some of the side streets have a bit of snow left but that’s melting fast.

I mentioned that the weather yesterday morning was fair and pleasant and it was. I decided to go down to the RV storage lot and check the progress on the solar system upgrades I mentioned in my last post. They were just in process of finishing the last part of the job and everything looks great. I’ll report more on that at a later date.

The other reason for going to the RV lot was to replace some of the light bulbs in the trailer. I’ve got quite a few lights in this trailer and while that’s a good thing for being able to see, the light bulbs use a lot of power and put out a lot of heat. I’ve been investigating the possibility of replacing the incandescent and halogen bulbs with LED light sources. LED bulbs use very little power, produce almost no heat and last a very long time.

The picture to the right is one of the LEDs that I used. It goes in a recessed light fixture and produces almost the same amount of light as the halogen bulb that is currently in the fixture. It’s a simple swap out of bulbs so it’s an easy project.

I replaced four bulbs yesterday and if I’m happy with them I will replace all the rest of the bulbs both inside and outside the trailer with LEDs.

Thanks for visiting.

Waiting For Spring

Not much to report this week. We are now in the swing weather period here on the front range of the Rockies. We had a little snow on Sunday and today the high will be around 70. Friday night another cold system moves in and there is a chance of a lot of snow with lows in the teens on Saturday. While I enjoy the days of good weather it’s tough to be teased with a touch of spring, knowing that things are still pretty iffy weather wise for an RV trip….that is unless I want to head to Arizona again.

Because the weather was so nice today, I went down to the RV lot and installed two vent covers on Bivouac. I bought these covers over a month ago but just haven’t gotten around to installing them. These covers allow you to open the roof vents when it’s raining and not get water inside the rig. I have installed covers like these on every RV I have owned and they are well worth the money and effort to install.

While at the lot I made arrangements with the service department to do some work on my solar system. The trailer came with one 100w solar panel and a solar controller to convert the energy from the panel to 12v electricity and then charge the two marine batteries that power the lights, run the fan to the heater and move the slides in and out when I’m not hooked up to shore power. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the trailer is not an expert in solar power and the system really was sub-par because of the type of solar controller that was used and the distance of the controller to the batteries.

Over the last few months I have read a lot about solar power for RVs and decided to redesign and upgrade my system. I bought a new solar controller and a couple of accessories that will make it even more efficient and figured out a way that I could position the controller just a foot or so away from the batteries. The current controller is about 25 feet away from the batteries and in solar power, distance is an enemy. I will also install much heavier wire than the factory installed wire. All of this should mean that my one solar panel will be much more efficient and should keep my two batteries fully charged most of the time. My ultimate plan is to add one or two more panels later on.

On the adventure front….not much is happening right now but I’m arranging for some adventures when the weather turns. The latest is a couple of projects for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The first will be pretty mundane but it will offer me a chance to see a state wildlife area I have never been to before. I have volunteered to help clean up the Bosque del Oso Wildlife Area in late April. This 30,000 acre wildlife area is about 40 miles west of Trinidad, CO. I’m sure we won’t get to all 30,000 acres and will probably concentrate on the parking areas. My plan is to go down a day or so early and explore the area.

The second project will happen in the middle of May. I have signed up to help patrol the Mountain Plover nesting area at John Martin Reservoir in southeast Colorado. May is nesting time for the Mountain Plover and they build their nests on the ground in the sand around lakes and ponds. While they are not endangered by government definition, their numbers have declined seriously. John Martin Reservoir is a popular State Park and visitors to the park can disrupt the nesting activity so my job will be to interact with visitors to the park and explain why they can’t go into the nesting areas. I have committed to a week for this project and the Division of Wildlife will provide me with a camping spot with power and water hookups. Sounds like fun and I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for visiting.

Still In Vegas

What started out as a one night stopover has now stretched to three nights. It was cold and ugly all yesterday and I knew I'd have a problem today. I could see a lot of ice on top of both slides and without some way to get that off I couldn't close the slides. No slide close...no go south! My hope was that it would warm up today or at least the sun would shine and maybe melt the ice. No such luck. First thing this morning the sun came out and I got my hopes up for about a half hour. That lasted about 45 minutes and it clouded up again and got colder. The top of the slides have a rubber roof so anything I do had better be gentle or I would have another...and much more expensive problem.

The slides are about ten feet off the ground so it's not an easy thing to clean them off. I borrowed a step ladder from the Elks Lodge and put it in the bed of my pick up truck and then backed the truck up to the slides. I was able to get off the loose snow with the help of a broom but there was a lot of ice under the snow. I didn't dare try to scrape it off.

While unpleasant the decision was pretty easy. I'll just wait another day. So I busied myself with some reading and a trip to the local Wally World. Around noon it had warmed just a little and I went through the ladder-pick up routine again. I was able to get most of the ice off one slide and about 2/3 of the ice off the other slide. If it doesn't snow tonight and it gets a little warmer tomorrow morning I'll be able to head south.

I only need to get about 100 miles south of here to get out of the freeze zone so if I'm able to leave tomorrow my goal is Alamogordo, NM. I was planning to go through Ft. Sumner, Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns, but I also want to be in Sierra Vista by Friday. To do that I'll have to skip some of my planned destinations. It's about 225 miles through a lot of back country so I'll need to be out of here by late morning if this is to work.

This afternoon I went to the local museum which has the distinction of having a Rough Rider Memorial Collection. What's with that you say? Well, it seems as if most of the Rough Riders were recruited in the Southwest and men from New Mexico provided all the volunteers for one full Troop of Rough Riders. In 1899 the Rough Riders had their first reunion in Las Vegas and the reunions continued until 1962....ergo the Memorial Collection.

I followed that up with a meander through the old plaza section of town which dates to the first Hispanic settlers in 1821. I have been to Las Vegas several times now and I'm impressed with the amount historical buildings that survive. Next time I come however, I'll hope for better weather.

Thanks for visiting.

Home Alone – Almost

The Bride left home at about 4am on Monday morning for a visit with her mother, Ladder Lady, in NC leaving The Emmer and I to fend for ourselves until Sunday. Fortunately over the last few years I have done enough cooking so that The Emmer and I will not starve. My repertoire is not anywhere close to as extensive as The Bride’s but it is enough to keep the two of us from wasting away.

I have received a report from The Bride that she arrived without incident and is enjoying the visit with her mother, brothers and their families. She also reports that she timed her trip perfectly to coincide with a potentially major snow storm in the area! This is what Weather Underground is forecasting for Saturday, when the storm finally moves out…

Saturday

Cloudy. Snow likely...mainly in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches possible. Ice accumulation around a trace. Cold with highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.

From having lived in the area for many years I can tell you that this is going to be a big deal. Even though she is in the western part of the state where they are a little more accustomed to snow, they still do not have the equipment to keep the roads clear for a storm of this magnitude. Add to that, the fact that most of the electricity is delivered by above ground lines and there is a distinct chance that they could lose power for a couple of days as well. The Brides visit may be a little longer than she anticipated.

On the RV front, my new trailer should be delivered to the dealer either today of tomorrow and the dealer says that they will have it ready for me by Tuesday. That however presents a scheduling problem related to another project I have been working on.

Over the last year or so I have become interested in becoming a member of the Elks fraternal organization. A few weeks ago I went to the local Elks Lodge and enquired about membership. Long story short, this Tuesday I will be going to the Lodge for an interview and indoctrination so I will have to postpone getting my new rig until after Christmas. It’s just a good thing that I’m retired because I don’t think I could manage my schedule and squeeze in some “working” as well.

Thanks for visiting.

Comin’ Atcha!

Well the storm system moved out of here this morning but it left bitter cold. The picture above was taken at 7:38 am. Don’t freak, it doesn’t say –95, it’s –9point5 but that still plenty cold. The high got all the way up to +20 but it didn’t stay there for long and it’s now back to single digits.

The storm is now headed east and in watching the news, it looks like readers to the east of me are now getting the worst of it.

Yesterday, in the midst of the cold and snow I had my truck tonneau cover installed. It looks great and will be perfect for what I want it to do. I’ll post a picture later.  All I need to do now is get the snow out of the bed of the truck. That will take a day or so as the temperatures are not supposed to get above freezing until tomorrow.  I also called the RV dealer to check on the status of my fifth wheel. They said it rolled off the line early this week and is scheduled to be delivered next week. The dealer will take a day or so to do his thing and hopefully by the end of the week I’ll pick it up. If the weather cooperates I’ll probably spend the night at Cheyenne Mountain State Park the day I pick it up to try out all the systems before I drag the rig back to the Denver area. That park is only 8-10 miles from the dealership.

Meanwhile, The Bride is scheduled to fly out of here on the 15th to visit her Mom, Ladder Lady, in North Carolina. She will return on Sunday the 20th.

I took this picture this afternoon. If you look close you can see my reflection in the Christmas tree ornament…

Thanks for visiting.

We’re Havin’ A Heat Wave!

Things have been pretty low key this week. It’s been a frigid week with light snow and very cold temps which started on Tuesday. Right now it’s 11 degrees but we’re fixin’ to have a heat wave! The weather shaman says it will break the freezing mark today and get all the way up to 33 degrees! ….And, be still my heart, it will get all the way to a balmy 39 degrees on Saturday!

The title of the 1938 Irving Berlin song I used for the post title is right on point…even if the rest of the lyrics don’t follow my subject line too well.

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising,
She certainly can can-can.

She started a heat wave
By letting her seat wave
In such a way that
The customers say that
She certainly can can-can.

Gee, her anatomy
Makes the mercury
Jump to ninety-three.

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The way that she moves
That thermometer proves
That she certainly can can-can.

In contrast to my last post in which I referred to a terrible song (These Boots Are Made For Walking), this is a classic song that I have enjoyed over the years. First sung by Ethel Merman, it was also sung by Marylin Monroe in the 1954 movie, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”. Her version is typical Marylin….

The heat wave is only going to last through Saturday however and then we’re in for another blast of cold weather so it looks like next week will be low key as well.

This evening The Circle is scheduled to get together at a local restaurant for their happy hour specials. It’s a nice restaurant and the specials include not only half price drinks but half price hors d’oeuvres. About two months ago we did the same thing and with a couple of glasses of wine and enough food for a good dinner, the cost was only $25 a couple!

On the  RV front, I’ve had a Pullrite Superglide fifth wheel hitch installed in the bed of my pickup truck. These hitches are a bit pricey but have a reputation for being one of the best. The model I bought allows the hitch to “glide” towards the back of the truck when turning corners. This prevents the cab of the truck from crunching the trailer in tight turns.

I am now waiting for the delivery of a retractable tonneau cover for the bed of the truck that will allow me to leave the hitch in the bed of the truck and still be protected from the weather. The cover is also lockable for the security of the hitch and whatever else I may carry in the truck bed. I ordered the cover over two weeks ago and was told that it would only take 3-5 days for delivery but something obviously went wrong because I’m still waiting. The store swears it will be here by today but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Thanks for visiting.

Shut My Mouth!

In my last post I said “let it snow” because tomorrow we leave for a Caribbean cruise…..I hope! Seems as if the snow storm that started Tuesday, will hang around for another day, stopping tonight. Before it departs the weather shaman says we’ll get and additional seven inches of snow. So far I estimate we gotten about 36” of snow here at the house

I have already shoveled the driveway twice and used the snow blower on it three times. I’ve had to shovel a portion of the back yard so that Molly Dog can do her “business” because without that she would have to be Mole Dog instead of Molly Dog.  I’ve even shoveled the deck one time because I was afraid of the weight of the snow on it. Keep that in mind when you look at the picture of the deck. When I shoveled it, the snow was about as high as it is in the picture. Picture twice as much snow.

Yesterday afternoon I had to go help The Emmer get out of the parking lot where she works because the snow and snow plows had her pretty much walled in.

This morning it was bad enough that I decided that I would just drive her to work so at 3pm I’ll have to go back and get her. In the meantime I have to take Molly Dog to the kennel where she will stay while we are gone. In between all that I’ll probably have to shovel the driveway at least one more time.

We will leave here at about 4:30 am tomorrow morning and head to the airport. God, I hope they do a good job on the roads today!

I will be grateful for a change in latitude!

Thanks for visiting.

Not Looking Good For Prairie Chickens

Few words needed...

My garage Thursday afternoon.












My garage Friday morning.













Friday morning 9 am.












Thanks for visiting.

A Miss is as Good as a Mile

This old saying can be traced back to the 1600's. It means it doesn't matter how close the miss is, a miss is a miss and it may as well be a mile. In the present case the miss was about 50 miles according to the weather gurus.

It's bright and sunny this morning with maybe...maybe an inch of snow on the ground. Yesterday was nasty, windy and it spit snow all day but the 12" of snow we were supposed to get was nowhere to be seen. The road condition report however made it clear that people just to the east of us weren't so lucky...

EB I-70 is closed Aurora to the Kansas border,WB I-70 is closed from Kansas to Limon US 85 is closed from Ault to the Wyo. state line, CO 71 is closed between Limon and Brush, I-76 is closed in both directions from Ft. Morgan to the state line, and I-25 Wellington to Wyo. state line closed Northbound due to adverse weather.

It really didn't matter to me, I was inside the local big box store distributing samples of Orowheat English Muffins. It's a fun job, giving stuff away and talking with people. It's also interesting to see what people have in their shopping carts. The hard part of the gig is just standing in one place for five hours. It would be a lot easier if I could walk around but I can't. I have to stand behind the small display table for the entire time except for one 15 minute break. Today I'll be at a different store distributing samples of Fiber One Chewy Bars.

I'm not sure what's on the calendar for next week...haven't planned that far yet. I feel the urge to do some more photography so maybe I'll visit one of the local State Parks? Stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting.

Spring Is Still Unsprung

Our Monday snow storm was nothing special. We got about 1.5" of snow that was gone by Tuesday morning. Tuesday bright, sunny and windy and I took the opportunity to go into downtown Denver and take some pictures of the inside of the State Capitol and the Catholic cathedral. The picture at the top of the post is of the main altar in the cathedral.

The cornerstone for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was laid in 1906 but it wasn't until 1921 that the Cathedral was consecrated. It has twin 210 foot tall spires that are pretty impressive but apparently are very attractive to lightning. One spire was struck by lightning in 1912 and it knocked off the top 25 feet. In 1997, the other spire was struck by lightning and it took some 9 months to repair. All that aside it's an impressive building inside and out.

After photographing the cathedral I headed down the street to the Colorado State Capitol. It too is an impressive building. The cornerstone was laid in 1890 but it wasn't completely finished until 1908 when the gold leaf was installed on the dome. The building is only open during business hours and it's a pretty busy building. Not only were the legislators wrestling with this years budget but the hallways were filled with lawyers, lobbyists and of course school children on their civic outings. I managed to get a number of pictures but it definitely was harder than in the cathedral.

Yesterday afternoon another snow storm blew through and left us with another 1-2 inches of snow. This snow will also be gone by the afternoon. Yet another much bigger storm is forecast to hit tomorrow night and continue into Saturday. This storm is much bigger and the weather folks are guessing...I mean forecasting that we'll get 12" or more from this one. While I'm ready for spring, we need the snow badly and I welcome it.

This weekend I'm doing demos at the big box store...both Saturday and Sunday. After this weekend I have two more scheduled for the end of the month. After those, I think I won't schedule any more for the spring/summer....I've got to keep my priorities straight. RV season will be here!












Thanks for visiting.

Bits and Pieces

Trying to get back to normal after the celebrations of this past weekend but the cold weather is definitely throwing "cold water" on things.

I didn't report that several weeks ago I had the carpeting replaced in my RV. I replaced the original carpet which was about 17 years old. Even though carpeting in an RV doesn't get the constant use that carpet in a home gets, 17 years is more than enough to have made it pretty nasty. The transformation is fantastic....looks like a completely new RV in some ways.

Yesterday the temps were above freezing for most of the day so I went down to the RV lot and ran the engine and gasoline generator for a while. Gasoline generators are supposed to be "exercised" at least once a month to keep the carburetor from gumming up. The previous owner did not do that and the generator shows it by surging pretty badly for a minute or two after starting up. If my exercising it doesn't clean it out by spring I guess I'll have to have it cleaned out by my mechanic.

Tomorrow and for a few days after that it is supposed to turn bitterly cold again. High tomorrow will be 15 degrees. The Bride and The Emmer have said that they're going to go shopping?....It's a woman thing I guess. First off, you won't find me anywhere near a store between now and Christmas, especially during the weekend. Secondly, to add obnoxious crowds on top of bitter cold is just too much for a retired guy!

So, with the weather heading south....no that's not right, if it were heading south wouldn't you think it would be getting warmer? Let me rephrase, with the weather taking a dive...taking a plunge...that doesn't sound right either. That makes me think of diving into warm water. Maybe I should skip the literary stuff....

Seeing as how the weather will be crappy tomorrow, maybe I should make some pasta puttanesca? This is perhaps my favorite pasta dish. I think I first tasted it many years ago on a business trip to Chicago. Over the years I made it a point to have it at least once every time I was in Chicago. When I retired I decided to learn to cook it so I wouldn't have to go to Chicago to get my "fix". I found that it is very easy to make and that says a lot coming from me. Be sure you read the description of the term puttanesca in the link above!

I also hope that I'll be able to tell you the conclusion to my earlier post "A Sad Story That Makes Me Proud" in a day or two so stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting.

Graduation and Low Country Shrimp Boil

The Bride is now officially the holder of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting! It took many years of night school but she stayed the course and completed her degree requirements in October. This past Saturday was the winter graduation for Regis College, and family and friends were there to cheer for her. Not only did she graduate but she graduated Cum Laude. That's WAY better than I managed some forty years ago.

Ladder Lady flew in from North Carolina for the event and CaJenn and CaJon came from the left coast. The Emmer and the entire Circle was present as well.

After the ceremonies we all returned to our house for a Low Country Shrimp Boil in celebration of the event. This is for sure one of my favorite meals. It's kind of hard to beat shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes, onions and sausage. Then to top it all off, desert was Pig Pickin Cake! I'm pretty sure that no one left hungry.

Sunday morning The Bride and I took Ladder Lady, CaJenn and CaJon to the airport for their flights home. The cold front that now grips a large part of the country had just moved through Colorado. The temperature at the airport at mid-morning was 0 degrees! Ladder Lady was glad to be going back to North Carolina where the temperature was a bit more to her liking.

It looks like the cold weather will hang around for a while. Yesterday they set a new record low temperature for the day at the airport....-19 degrees. As nasty as that is we could benefit from an extended cold snap. Colorado has been plagued by mountain pine beetles for several years now. Literally millions of trees have been killed by these beetles and in some areas whole mountain sides are brown with dead trees. It's going to have to get even colder still to help though. At least five days of -30 degrees is needed to kill the beetles. I would gladly endure the weather if it would put a stop to this current infestation.

Thanks for visiting.

Surprise And A Circle Event

Our expert meteorological scientists have missed another one. If you remember, one of the reasons I came back from my trip last week was that the weather was supposed to turn a bit ugly on Thursday. Well, that never happened and the revised forecast was chilly and a slight chance of drizzle over the weekend.

Friday night I did some reading in my bedroom and when I turned out the lights at about 9:30 pm it looked like someone had left a light on, on the deck which is right below the bedroom. I got up and looked out of the blinds to see a pretty good snow storm going on.

By Saturday morning we had about 5" of the white stuff. I'm happy about that. We are already behind in snow totals for the year and the moisture will be good for us. It also helped the mood for putting up the Christmas tree.

We normally do not put up the tree until about the middle of December. This year is different, however, because in two weeks The Bride will have her official graduation ceremony. To help celebrate, my mother in law, Ladder Lady, and my oldest daughter, CaJenn and my new son (in law) CaJon are all coming to town. The Bride wanted to have all the Christmas decorations up by then. The fresh snow fall made it seem not quite so "commercial" to do it this early.

The Christmas tree decorating is The Bride's job. I bring the tree up from the basement and all the boxes of decorations but for some reason I have never liked or participated in the actual decoration of the tree. I think it stems to my childhood when my parents used lead tinsel on the tree. After the holidays it was the kid's job to take every single piece of tinsel off the tree, flatten it out straight and save it for the next year. I hated that job so much that I don't think decorating the tree ever became something that was fun for me. The good news is that The Bride loves to do it so this is not a family issue.

On the social front, The Circle had not gotten together for a few weeks so we all got together last night at Guitar's and Pic-E's house to celebrate Guitar's birthday. After presenting Guitar with gifts appropriate to his stage and place in life, (a wiener roller was probably the most apropos gift) we all headed out to a concert at the Swallow Hill Music Association hall. This was a great folk/western concert featuring Jon Chandler, Harry Tuft and Rock n Roll Hall of Famer, Richie Furay .

It was a delightful evening with very entertaining music and very talented musicians at a very affordable price ($20 a ticket). The concert started at 8 pm and was over by 10 pm, relaxing but not strenuous.

This morning when I woke up, I was greeted with another couple of inches of snow that was not forecast yesterday. My chore for the morning will be to hand shovel the driveway and walk. I have not as yet moved the snow blower out to where I can get it easily but that chore just went to the top of the list for tomorrow morning.

Thanks for visiting.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

These two little tykes were on their way to the school bus this morning. This picture was taken from one of my bedroom windows. Nasty weather eh?

Hey, I'm supposed to leave for a "road trip" on Monday!

Have no fear, after all, this is Colorado....











The 6 day forecast for the north central part of New Mexico looks like this.















That doesn't look bad to me either. I'm thinking this will be a good trip. I started packing and finished up researching the stops I'll make along the way. I am planning on staying at a commercial RV park on Tuesday night in Aztec, NM so hopefully I'll be able to file a report from there. For the rest of the trip I will be well beyond any WiFi or cell coverage so the stories will have to wait till I return.

On another totally unrelated but still "What's Wrong With This Picture" subject, what is the benefit to our financial system to allow "short" selling?

I rarely make political or social comments on this blog but our current financial melt down has me scratching my head. Now I'm no financial genius but I managed my way through a business career, raised a family on a budget, bought several houses over the years and numerous cars, boats and trailers. I even accumulated some stocks. Though the years I think I've also learned a little about human nature.

So I'm wondering, how is betting on a bad thing happening....a good thing? If someone makes money on a bad thing happening and they are serious about making this money, isn't it in their best interest if bad things happen? Do you suppose they might try to do what they can to have a bad thing happen? It appears to me that it's way easier to influence the stock market with bad news than it is to influence it with good news.

I just don't get the "logic" in allowing short selling in the financial industry. It seems like it's giving someone a big hammer, sticking a bulls eye on your forehead and then spitting in their face?

What have I missed here?

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I'm Dreaming of a.....Sunny Day

O dark hundred this morning and I'm on my way to the airport to send The Bride off to North Carolina. Dark, windy, snowy....oh what fun. The snow started at about 3 am so by the time I got on the road it was pretty nasty. White knuckles and all, we made it with time to spare and I immediately headed for home.

By the time I got out of the airport it was beginning to get light, which made the driving a little easier but it also meant that the work a day folks were into their commute. Now we all know that if you own an SUV, that means you are exempt from the common sense rules of bad weather driving, right?

I didn't mind sitting in stop and go traffic on a major highway for an hour. Really I didn't....that gave me time to reflect on the utter stupidity of some people.

It looks like this is going to continue through tomorrow and by Monday it will be 70 degrees.....Com-mone Monday! In the meantime I'll just have to catch up on reading.

Oh, a little added bonus for me. I live on the south side of the metro area. Right down there where that purpley color is with the text 6-12". Aren't I lucky?

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Spring Is a Tease!

Yesterday was gorgeous and spring like. I have to take The Bride to the airport tomorrow morning for her trip back to North Carolina to spend time with her mother.....

I know this is Colorado but stinking heck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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A Day Makes a Difference!

Well, it is Colorado and it is March...or almost April. This is the time of year for contrast. We went from the top picture on Saturday, an absolutely glorious spring day, to....


This is what Sunday morning looked like. Not a whole lot of snow and it was gone by the afternoon but is sure is a mood breaker. This morning looks exactly like Sunday. We had another snow last night. Only about an inch but it's cold and dreary.

I took full advantage of Saturday's nice weather and did some modifications to my RV. The major one was to install a vent cover over the fresh air vent in the bedroom. The picture above shows the original vent. It basically is a big hole in the roof with a screen over it. If it rains and the vent is open, guess what, you get wet. You can't take advantage of the vent while the RV is moving either because you're likely to have the vent ripped off by the force of the wind.

If, you install a cover over the vent, you can open it in all but the most severe rain storms and you can also open it while the RV is moving. This is a great way in the summer time to keep the inside cool without using air conditioning. It's a fairly straight forward operation and the cover itself costs less than $20. I had already installed one on the forward vent so I was comfortable with the installation technique. I have two other vents, one over the bathroom and one over the shower. I believe I'll install one more over the shower.

Saturday evening The Bride and I went to dinner at a restaurant close to home. The Old Blinking Light is the second of two restaurants with the same name. The original is in Taos, NM. A pretty nice menu with an informal feel. I had Poblano Relleno with Risotto, Spanish Paprika, Ratatouille and Tomato Buerre Blanc. It was very good with a slow burn on the spice side. When I ordered, the waiter made sure I knew that this was a meatless dish....worked for me.

Because the weather was less than optimal on Sunday I started a chore that I've been planning to do for some time. Bad weather and the fact that The Emmer is out of town made this the perfect opportunity. We finished off the basement about 9 years ago and in that time we've never shampooed the carpet. The Emmer's bedroom is in the basement as well as a dining area and a TV room. About 1100 square feet in all. That was my chore. I've just about finished The Emmer's bedroom and will start on the rest of the space later today....

In other news, the local rag reports that a skier died on the slopes this weekend after crashing into a tree. This is the 14th fatality of the year for skiers and snowboarders in Colorado. This is why I snow shoe and don't ski anymore. At my age I can't get up enough speed on snow shoes to make running into a tree dangerous.

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