Life on the High Plains

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16 We had a very quiet Easter at our house.  Irv is working nights this week so we had an early Easter dinner. Mary and Mr. Beans are under the weather so they weren't able to come.  Not to worry though, Irv dropped off a care package for them on his way to work this evening.  Irv, Jillian, and I enjoyed a lunch of smoked turkey,  ham, asiago potatoes gratin, asparagus, potato salad, and biscuits. Last night I had fun making a special Easter cake which turned out quite nicely even I do say so myself. We missed having Brian with us as well as Dana and Adam.  Even though you guys aren't here with us, we were thinking of you.  Prayers are also with my Dad who has been under the weather this week.  Happy Easter!

The Grandson Mystery Trip has come and gone.  We told Mr. Beans that we were going to Afghanistan for spring break to visit his Uncle Brian.  He's such a great kid, he was actually looking forward to the trip even though we were going to have to travel all day and night to get there. We started in Colorado Springs with de-icing of the airplane even though it was a bright, crisp morning.  That always makes me a little nervous, but better safe than sorry.     We had a beautiful day for flying.  All of our flights, both coming and going were on schedule.     When we arrived in Orlando, Mr. Beans had an idea that we might be doing something "Disney".  I have to tell you nobody knows how to make a vacation run more smoothly than Disney.  If you stay at one of their resorts they pick you up at the airport and even retrieve your baggage and deliver it right to your room.  All we had to do was find their travel center i...

We just got home from a fantastic trip to Walt Disney World with our grandson.  We had a fabulous time and almost cried when we had to leave.  (A vacation blog will be coming soon...I promise.) Coming home to a view like this though makes me remember why I love Colorado so much. Happy Skywatch Friday !

GeoTagged, [N32.90204, E97.03831] Let the Grandson Mystery Trip commence!

My beautiful orchid that bloomed for the first time in two years is dying.  Is that normal?  I haven't changed any of its care, but now all the leaves have fallen off and it's near death.  I just googled and it says not to let the plant sit in water.  Guilty!  We've been letting sit in water since it bloomed and I think we've killed it.  Now I have to go back to the Big Island of Hawaii to get another one (or maybe I go to Lowes, but that doesn't sound as nice).  On a happier note...two more days until the Grandson Mystery Trip commences.  Of course every girl has to have new things for a vacation and this year I bought myself a pair of Jambu Adventure Design sandals.  All I have to say is these are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned.  This is from their barefoot design and my feet are the most comfortable when they're bare so I know they will do well for all the walking we'll be doing.  Try to ignore my pasty whit...

Gosh, am I glad that weekend is over!  My goal was to get two weeks of homework done for my class so that I would not have to worry about it while we are on the Grandson Mystery Trip later this week. I did it--two research papers.  One on High Availability and Disaster Recovery and the other on Database Security.  Pretty exciting stuff especially when you have senioritis really bad.  Only five more weeks of class until I finish! I did do one thing fun yesterday...rode the horse.  My dismount was a little sketchy though when my belt got stuck on a carabiner that was hooked to a ring on the back of the saddle.  I envisioned myself being dragged through the pasture to my death, but luckily Jillian was able to get me loose before the horse freaked out (not that he would freak out).  Thanks Doc for being such a good horse. I had a really nice birthday.  Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts and wishes. Irv got me this beautiful c...

My daughter's wedding in Maui last October.  She's from Phoenix, he's from Australia.  Maui was the perfect meeting point for the families.  Such a wonderful week in paradise.  Now how's that for a skywatch ?

In the last several months Colorado Springs has been inundated with new gas stations--mostly Kum & Gos, but a few 7-11's as well.  It seems like there's a new station on every other corner. I wonder what is driving this growth.  It seems to me that there were plenty of gas stations already. Interquest Parkway   I wish they would build one of these out here on the prairie.  A Safeway or King Soopers would be really nice too.  Of course, if that were to happen I wouldn't have to plan ahead as much as I do now.  It's amazing how easy it is to improvise when you live 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store.   Powers and North Carefree Is the same thing happening in your town?

So, we're going to try a new drug for the next two weeks to see if it helps.  The procedure to fix Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction is apparently quite nasty with only a 50% chance of success and a 20% chance of some pretty serious complications.  Hmmm....something to think about.  Hopefully the drugs will work.

Today is the big day!  My appointment with the specialist at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver is at 1:30.  He will be the fifteenth doctor I've seen during this ordeal  I'm equipped with CDs of all the imaging studies I've had done the last 21 months along with reports on all the medical procedures, tests, etc.  All of my faith rests in this doctor.  Yesterday I did I search on him and he looks about 12 years old although he graduated from medical school in 1993.  That makes him young, but with enough experience to be good at what he does.  Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that he has an idea. Something I need to remember during the time I'm not feeling so great:  Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed , for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10 On another note, it's only 11 days until the Grandson Mystery Trip.  I...

Mr. Beans is a Wrestle Maniac. For his birthday last week we bought him tickets to The Road to Wrestle Mania. I never thought my name would ever be associated with a wrestling event.  I'm not a fan, I've never even watched more than 11.2 seconds of wrestling.  However, as a grandparent you do things you wouldn't normally do. When we arrived at the arena Mr. Beans said he was so excited that his legs were shaking. So here we all are with our fabulous ringside seats.  We had really great seats--right on the alleyway where the wrestlers aka fighters, actors, scantily-clad men, entertainers entered the ring. Did you know there are "good guys" and "bad guys" in wrestling.  I didn't.  Mr. Beans said that if we didn't know who to go for, just follow the crowd.  Such good advice. Mr. Beans was in heaven. He got so many hand slaps and even a head hug grom Alex Riley who stopped and singled Mr. Beans out for a special "man hug".  Mr. ...

A few weeks ago we ventured up to Cripple Creek, Colorado for the Ice Festival.  Cripple Creek is an old mining town in the mountains west of Colorado Springs that is now known for its gambling.  It's a beautiful drive up there especially in the Fall when the aspens are turning color.  There's one very odd thing about this picture--February in the mountains of Colorado and there's no snow.  Not a good sign. Even though it was a beautiful sunny day, it was still cold.  Irv, Jillian, and I, plus a few thousand of our best friends, enjoyed the ice sculptures, then we made our way into a casino, lost our $20 each, then went home. Happy Skywatch Friday !

I was trying to figure out what to blog about today.  I don't like my blog to be static for too long because my faithful readers will be disappointed and they might stop visiting. While searching through the pictures on my computer I came across a bunch of pictures that I scanned at my Dad's house when we were there for Christmas.  For a while I've been thinking about posting pictures from my childhood and writing things I remember about that particular picture.  I wish I had more stories from my parent's childhoods so Dana, Mary, and Jillian this is for you (even though you might not be interested). This is me when I was in kindergarten.  It was 1965 and we were living in Price, Utah.  My mom made me this jumper and it was made of blue corduroy. I went to Harding Elementary in Price and as I remember it, I walked to school by myself even at the age of 5.  When I look at this photo what I think of are pink, sponge curlers.  My mom would wash m...

Today I start the final class required for my IT Management degree!  I'll be finished in 8 weeks.  It has been four years since I started this journey one class at a time, six classes per year. I think there's going to be a big party in 8 weeks and 1 day.  Everyone who reads this blog is invited (all 15,000 of you)!  Irv is barbecuing. I saved the most exciting class for last - SQL Server 2012.  Don't you think that sounds very interesting?  I can hardly wait to dive into this book! I've already started my list of the things I'm going to spend my weekends doing since I will no longer have homework to complete: 1.  Watch more television (sad goal don't you think?) 2.  Paint all the remaining white walls in my house and repaint all the baseboards 3.  Make a full-size quilt 4.  Double the size of my garden 5.  Hike up Pikes Peak 6.  Make it all the way to the top of the Manitou Springs Incline 7....