Life on the High Plains

I did it!  I finished my quilted table topper for the silent auction at the family reunion. This might be more appropriate for a Texan family with all the stars, but it will do just fine for the Maloney family from Idaho who is getting together right before the 4th of July. I have to admit that I love how this turned out. We're leaving for the Denver airport after work to take a late night flight to Idaho Falls. We hold our reunion at a dude ranch in Island Park, Idaho.  Horses, canoes, fishing, hiking, hot tubs, cabins (why is it more fun to pay to rent a horse than riding your own horse?).  I can't wait to see my extended family!

Mary and Mr. Beans have been encouraging Irv's love of the Kansas City Chiefs.   I'm never riding in Irv's car again...especially if that flag is up.

I haven't posted anything about my garden in quite some time.  It's coming along, but is a little "punky" this year.  The lettuce is doing great, but my cucumbers are having a hard time.   I added some green beans this year so I'm hoping they'll do okay.     The tomatoes are not doing great either although I did harvest my first golden grape tomatoes on Saturday.  I thought they were delicious--Irv wouldn't even try one.     Of course the zucchini is doing great, but the summer squash is taking it's sweet time.  This year I only planted half as much zucchini as I usually do.  Last year we had zucchini coming out of our ears and I was making zucchini bread every day.  This year I have my Kitchenaide mixer and Irv gave me the shredder attachment for my birthday.  I can't wait to give it a try!   Irv planted himself a bed of corn this year.  I don't think it's going to be an...

On Thursday Irv, Jillian, and I were in Ft. Collins for the Colorado 4-H State Conference Horse Bowl Tournament.  I've served as superintendent of this contest for several year.  It's a volunteer job I'm afraid I'll have forever.  This contest takes place at one of my favorite places on earth--CSU in Fort Collins. Jillian served as our scorekeeper.  I found out she is a little OCD about making straight lines on the whiteboard.  (I wonder who she gets that from.) I have a great team of volunteers that show up year after year to help with the contest.  They all promised they would be back next year. I tabulate the scores during the contest.  Most people do this by hand, but I made an Excel spreadsheet with all kinds of formulas that do all the calculating for me (if it's possible to do something with a spreadsheet, I'll do it). It's against the rules to take pictures during an actual round of horse bowl so I don't ha...

More fires in Colorado this week.  This is a shot of the sunset from our prairie home last night.  We still need rain! Happy Skywatch Friday !

So I was looking through my Youtube channel (yes, I have my own channel with about 11 views) and I found this video that makes me laugh. Enjoy!

Baby bird update:   Just as I predicted, the baby birds have flown the coop. Last night we ventured down to the Black Forest Fire camp to join in a community "thank you" to the fire fighters and first responders.  It was very touching. Here's a short video I shot with my iPhone.   We saw fire crews from all over Colorado and as far away as South Dakota and Montana.  Quite amazing how all these fire crews band together to help a community in need.   These little guys were the star of the show.  More than one fire truck stopped to shake their hands.     My dad was in the Forest Service and used to spend a lot of time away from home during the summers.  These men and women sacrifice a lot to help others.  I think it's great that these crowds form every morning and evening to greet the fire crews as they come off the fire line.     It was fun watching the reactions of the fire fighters....

First of all, happy Father's Day, dad!  I wish we were there to celebrate with you, but we'll be there in a couple weeks.   This is a very old picture of my family--Bob, Alan, Dad, Mom, and me in the front. We've had kind of a stressful week with the Black Forest Fire--many friends and acquaintances displaced and some lost their homes.  Thankfully, the weather the last couple days has helped and the fire is being contained.  At last count 482 homes were lost.  This just blows my mind. There are small things in live that bring me hope and reminds me how special live is.  One of these are the baby birds that are living in one of our pine trees in the front yard. They looked like this just a couple weeks ago.     Now they're almost grown.   One of these days I'm going to come home from work and they're going to be gone.  I think mama bird is getting tired of taking care of them and it's about time they got their ...

It's hard to think about much of anything today other than the fire that has affected so many in our community.  92 homes have burned as of the last count--still zero percent contained.  It's heartbreaking watching those houses burn on the live news feeds that all three of our local TV channels are continuously showing.  Many of our friends and 4-H families have been evacuated.  Hot and windy predicted for tomorrow--high fire danger.  We need rain and less wind!

It's that time of year again--hot, dry, and windy--which makes for a deadly combination.  After the Waldo Canyon fire last year I didn't think we would see a fire like this so close to the city again. Last night we had a fire start on the Air Force Academy.  Today there is another one north of town in the Black Forest--this one I can see from my office window.  There are two more fires south of Colorado Springs near the Royal Gorge and La Veta. From my office window I was able to watch the Black Forest fire explode rapidly. Below are some shots I took on my drive home from work.  This fire covers a huge area with lots of beautiful homes, the smoke plume extends for 50 miles.  So far the news is saying 7-8 homes have burned.  We have many friends who have been evacuated.  Along with my concern for people, I am concerned about the animals.  There are lots of horse owners in this area.       As I turned s...

Remember when I spent all that time in Wichita assisting with the development of NGS?  Well, today we begin training all our people on this new system.  Four training sessions in 10 days in three training rooms.  An IT person's nightmare. Only 11 days until our data conversion starts. 14 days until we GO LIVE! It's going to be a long two weeks, I'll be working lots of overtime, but I can't wait.  Almost five years of preparation is about to come to fruition.

Sometimes in life you find things that you just love.  My spring cleaning has now carried over into the summer, but yesterday was the day to thoroughly clean Irv's bathroom. While I was cleaning I decided it was time for a new decor.  Jillian and I went to Target and found a great shower curtain, towels and rug--all with turquoise, my favorite color.  I love the color combination--brown, turquoise, and lime green. When Irv gets home from work today he'll be in for a little surprise, actually I wonder if he'll even notice. It's somewhat manly don't  you think? I'm considering painting the walls turquoise and lime green.  What do you think?

  This is my sweet Keira.  She always makes me happy.  In September Keira will be 10 years old.  How do I remember that?  Keira was born the same day my mother died--I always think of her as a special gift that helped me through that difficult time in my life.   Keira is almost completely deaf, or at least she makes us think she's deaf when it's convenient.  She wanders off and can't hear us when we call her back.  We can walk into the house and she is sleeping soundly on the couch and doesn't wake up until we get right in her face.  However, she never has trouble hearing when it's "biscuit" time.   Silly dog.     

Today we said goodbye to Zima, Dana's cat who came to live with us when Dana moved to Australia several years ago.  Zima was 21+ years old.  We knew this day was coming, but last night it became painfully clear that the time had come.  My tender and brave hubby took her to the vet and held her in his arms while she took her last breath.  He knew it would be important to Dana that Zima not be left alone at the end.  Irv and Zima had become buddies these last few years.  She has a beautiful resting spot on the prairie.  This might seem kind of silly to some people, but in our family the critters are members of the family.  Rest in peace Zima.