Life on the High Plains

So this week I took a big step and went out of my comfort zone.  With my stack of test results and radiology reports, I went to see a new doctor.  Dr. K was recommended by a couple people in my office.  I tend to prefer lady doctors, but I thought I'd give Dr. K a chance.  It was a terrific experience that may have actually renewed my faith in the medical profession.  Dr. K took the time to read all the reports I brought with me and then spent nearly an hour  questioning everything I've experienced in the last 15 months (which I'm sure the people who were scheduled after me just loved).  Then he started poking and proding which led him to my latest diagnosis...Psoas Syndrome. The psoas is a long muscle that runs down the side of the body.  I've been prescribed eight weeks of physical therapy for the psoas, which can't be done by just any physical therapist...he sent me to Dr. R who has a Ph.d. in physical therapy. I don't know if this i...

We leave for Hawaii in 30 days.  The wedding is in 33 days.  Today...Adam had his interview with the U.S. Consulate in Sydney and he must have done well because they approved his visa! Hopefully he will be in country in the next few days.  Immigrating legally to this country takes time and patience.

I've taken a couple photography classes this year.  One of the things I have learned is that when you're taking pictures of wildlife, the eyes should be the focal point.  I thought I would try this theory out on a recent trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with Mr. Beans, Mary, and Irv.  Don't worry, I'm not going to show you all 200 pictures that I took that day, just a few of my favorites.   I'm not sure about the eyes of zoo animals. They seem really sad. I suppose the zoo is the only life they've ever known so they don't know how it feels to run free on the Serengeti plains.  It must be better than being eaten by a lion. This is my new friend.  I'm pretty sure that her eyes are telling me that she wants to come live in Ellen's zoo on the Eastern plains of Colorado (the next best thing to the Serengeti). "Please, please, please take me home with you!" This litte meerkat was adorable.  I think his eyes are saying...

Moulting:  The most familiar example of moulting in reptiles is when snakes "shed their skin". This is usually achieved by the snake rubbing its head against a hard object, such as a rock (or between two rocks) or piece of wood, causing the already stretched skin to split. At this point, the snake continues to rub its skin on objects, causing the end nearest the head to peel back on itself, until the snake is able to crawl out of its skin, effectively turning the moulted skin inside-out. This is similar to how one might remove a sock from one's foot by grabbing the open end and pulling it over itself. The snake's skin is often left in one piece after the moulting process, including the discarded brille , so that the moult is vital for maintaining the animal's quality of vision. Source:  Wikipedia We've found a couple of these laying around the property in the last couple weeks.  Does this mean there are naked snakes slithering around our place? Gr...

On Saturday we attended the wedding of J & J.  Miss J is not only the daughter of some of our friends, she was also on my 4-H hippology team for years.  We did a lot of traveling together and  had some great times. It was a beautiful day for a wedding.  They had the ceremony in a park and it was was very warm and sunny, in fact it was so warm that we were wishing we would have found a spot in the shade rather than on the rocks in the sunshine.  The ceremony was devoted to Christ and the relationship J & J have with Him.  It was a time of worship, song, prayer, and watching J & J commit their lives together.  God provided the most perfect setting for J & J and I'm so glad we were invited to share in their day.   Miss J's little sister was Jillian's flower girl last year.  She told me that she's too old to be a flower girl anymore, so she has been promoted to Jr. bridesmaid.      The reception w...

While I was having an incredibly stressful day at work today with power outages and servers crashing, someone was at home playing with my Nikon.  I must admit that he took some awesome photos. It's sad to think that all my beautiful flowers in the yard will soon be dead.  Great job Irv!    

What is this wet stuff that fell from the sky ALL day long today? It went from 80 degrees yesterday to 50 degrees today and the rain fell all day long.  I can't even remember the last time we had such a dreary, wet, cold day. Winter storm watch at elevations above 11,000 feet. It was wonderful! Bring on the rain.  Irv went to pick up a load of 50 bales of hay today.  $500 for 50 bales--ridicules, but that's the going price. We need to pray for rain and snow until next summer so that hay prices go back down to normal.

A guy I work with made me these two chairs and table.  He's also working on two ottomans that go with the chairs, but they're not done yet.  He has been working on them all summer and I was very excited to get them last week. Irv came to pick them up and had them all set up with a bottle of wine when I got home.  I planned to have these in the front yard so we could sit in them and watch the sunset over Pikes Peak every evening.  Irv and Dave ruined that plan though when they asked how I was going to keep someone from stealing them. Hmmm....maybe we can chain them to one of our spindly trees.  For now though, they've been moved to the backyard.  (And by the way, don't laugh at my trees, do you know how difficult it is to grow trees in the high desert?) I love these chairs!  I think we will be making a stop at Lowes to get some cable so I can have them in the front.

Irv and I made the drive up to Denver last night for dinner and a concert.  We having been wanting to eat at Pappadeux and last night was the night. How have we lived here for 14 years and never eaten at Pappadeaux before.  I started with a Nawleans punch.  Then Irv and I shared a Greek salad and Irv had a cup of gumbo. Needless to say, by the time dinner rolled around we were pretty much full already.  It was so yummy, however, that we still managed to eat enough to make us extra full.  Irv had the Mardi Gras Pasta. I had the Cedar Plank Atlantic Salmon.  Ummm...it is quite possibly the best salmon I have ever had.  It came with asparagus that looked like it was on steroids and it was delicious too. The portions were so big that we couldn't even eat half.  After dinner we went and bought a bag of ice and cooler so our leftovers would stay cold during the concert. Pappadeaux is a little pricey, but it w...

This has been a very stressful week. It started about 8:30 Tuesday morning when Mary called and said she had a kidney stone.  I jumped in the car and leave work without even shutting my computer down. Posted with Mary's permission We went to the Memorial Hospital up north.  They had Mary admitted and hooked up to the morphine in about 10 minutes.  Then she went to the CT scan which showed she had a 6mm stone on her right side that was too big and too high up for her to be able to pass it on her own. Posted with Mary's permission So we requested my favorite Dr. M, but would he be on call that day? Yes, he was.  Mary was admitted to the hospital and the procedure was scheduled for 6:00. Dr. M was running on scheule for a change so about 4:30 they came up to get Mary to take her down to the pre-op area.  She was a little nervous, but Dr. M and her anesthesiologist who looked about 22 years old calmed her down. The procedure wen...

6,473 Fallen Warriors 49,746 Wounded Warriors Afghanistan.   Iraq. These are words that every American president, or every American presidential candidate should think about and talk about everyday.    Thanking our troops and thanking their families is a must for any Commander-in-Chief.  Making the hard choices. Remembering their sacrifices.   Never forgetting   These are words we've heard repeatedly in Charlotte.   We didn't hear them at all from the other guy.   Something to think about....

We have lived in Colorado Springs for 14 years and we've never gone down to the balloon fiesta that takes place at Memorial Park over Labor Day weekend every year.  (I don't know if it's really called a fiesta, but since I'm from Albuquerque where the largest balloon fiesta takes place, I call all large gatherings of balloons a fiesta.) Last night we made our way down to the balloon glow.  We were surprised that they let people walk among the balloons as they were filling them.  We were feet away from these big propane burners.  I don't quite understand why these balloons don't catch on fire.  This was my favorite balloon, but I don't remember it's name.   I have just one thing to say...this was amazingly beautiful, why have we waited 14 years to be there?  This was my first chance to take night pictures with my camera without the flash.  I had to get the shutter speed, aperture, white balance, and ISO just right.  I did a pr...