Life on the High Plains

We flew out of Denver earlier this week on a crisp, snowy morning.  The snow makes for an even more beautiful view of Colorado's Front Range. I always love the patchwork quilt look of the crops below, I think they're even more interesting with a covering of snow. Then when we got to somewhere over Nebraska (I think) the snow stopped--see the line where the snow ends?  I don't know about you, but I don't like it when the plains, the breadbasket of our country, aren't covered with a layer of snow in January.  The farmers need that moisture to produce abundant crops.  Now I have to pray for snow even though snow is not one of my favorite things. Have a great Skywatch Friday !      

I flew up to Minnesota with my sweet hubby yesterday.  Who flies to Minnesota in January?? Let me tell you about cold...bone chilling, breath taking cold.  Wow!  Are we ever spoiled living in Colorado where it might be 20 degrees one day and 60 degrees the next. Anyway, I'm up here for a consultation at the Mayo Clinic.  Before you ask...no, I do not have cancer.  That's the first question everyone asks when I tell them where I'm going. I have chronic pain.  We know what's causing the pain, but nobody in Colorado can treat it.  That's why I'm here--for a consultation with the best vascular surgeons in the States. In my mind I had an idea of what the Mayo Clinic was like.  I knew it provided exceptional service, but it's been around for years.  I expected older infrastructure that is very "hospital-like".  This place is amazing.  Everything is state-of-the-art, modern, and up-to-date.  The service they provide to pat...

How was your weekend? Ours was very nice, but it sure went by quickly like it always does.  One not so good thing that happened is that my email account was hacked and I thought I had lost all access to my email.  Talk about panic....you don't realize how dependent you are on your email until something happens that might take it away.  My darling husband figured out how to restore it to normal so I'm a happy camper again. On Saturday I took my husband on a date to the theater in Denver. On our way downtown we had to swing by Mile High to say goodbye to Peyton and the boys and wish them luck.  Go Broncos!  After lunch we had a little time to waste and since my Fitbit said I needed lots of steps to reach 10K for the day, we did a walking tour.  First stop was the convention center and the blue bear.  Then down to 16th Street to see what was going on down there.  The light rail runs downtown.  I wish I lived in a town that had a lig...

In case there's any doubt about who will win the Super Bowl, just look at the glorious orange and blue sunrise that our Heavenly Father gave us this morning here in Bronco Country. Happy Skywatch Friday !

It's here! My new Fitbit Force.  I'm so excited!  I decided to buy myself one of these with the bonus I received from my 10 year anniversary with FC.  I couldn't find one in a store locally so I had to order it from fitbit.com and it was a couple weeks back ordered, but it's finally here. Now I can track my daily activity, calories burned, and sleep patterns (do you think it really knows when a person is asleep?). It's only 7:30 in the morning and I've already walked 1,857 steps which is almost 1/5th of my daily goal of 10,000 steps.  (Don't worry, I won't be posting daily updates from my Fitbit.)  This is going to be so helpful in making sure I get enough activity every day. If anyone has any helpful hints about using the Fitbit most effectively, I'd love to hear them.

How 'bout those Broncos? In honor of those smokin' hot Broncos, I got out my new electric smoker that Irv gave me for Christmas.  You may recall that I bought myself a charcoal smoker last year, but after two tries I had to retire it.  Way too much work with very unsuccessful results. I couldn't decide what kind of meat to smoke so I decided to try a variety. I soaked some country style pork ribs in a brine solution for several hours before applying the rub. A brisket is a must have for any smoking experiment.  I must say that I love the built in temperature probe that let me monitor the temperature of the meat from inside the house while watching the big game. I had to include some chicken for those of us who are watching what we eat. I must say that it turned out quite well for a first try although I apparently thought I was cooking for an army.  Oh well, the kids all got to take some home and we have leftovers for a day or two. ...

Happy Skywatch Friday from the high desert of Colorado which happens to have the best view of Pikes Peak.  There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't stop and take a photo of this magnificent mountain.  It not only provides magnificent scenery, it also always lets me know which direction is west.  I don't know people who don't have mountains are able to navigate. How 'bout those blue skies?  If the sun isn't shining in Colorado we get very grumpy. What is the compass in your life?

Yesterday was a "wow" day. There aren't many of these in life so you have to really enjoy them when they roll around. It was my first day as a volunteer at our local zoo.  My assigned areas are the ponies and Rocky Mountain Wild.  I will admit that I wasn't too thrilled about these assignments because I had wanted the penguins and hippos.  Gosh, was I ever wrong.  I even enjoyed hanging out with the ponies yesterday. The "wow" came in the Rocky Mountain  Wild area.  I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I didn't want to be the geeky volunteer who can't put the camera away. Here's a quick summary of some of things I got to do yesterday. I got to throw pieces of trout to the river otters to wake them up and get them going for the few zoo guests who braved the wind and cold to visit the zoo.  These guys are a bunch of clowns and might easily become my favorites. I got to get the grizzly's night time cages ready ...

These have been quite the first ten days of 2014. I woke up on News Years Day with a little "tickle" in the back of the throat, fever, congestion, cough, body aches, headache, etc. Yes, the typical symptoms of the flu. By Saturday I needed to see a doctor--my throat felt like I was swallowing crushed glass.  I was sure I had strep throat, but no, just the flu which they can't do anything about.  The doctor did give me some cough syrup with codeine to help me sleep. Six days in bed, 3 days out of work.  This was definitely the sickest I have been in a long time.  I'm finally starting to feel human again. In the midst of all this I had to go to the zoo for my final volunteer orientation.  My first day is this Sunday.  Yes, the same day as the Broncos playoff game.  Would it be wrong to call in sick on my first day? We're going to record the game and I made Irv promise that he wouldn't watch it, listen to the news, or look at anything on the I...

Have you ever visited the Teton National Park? It is one of the most magnificent places on earth and is definitely one of my favorite places. The pictures were taken on a cool, crisp day in October 2011. I am very much overdue for a visit to Wyoming. Love it! Happy Skywatch Friday !

On a recent trip to Albuquerque we got an amazing view of the Sandia Mountains as we were leaving town.  It was cold while we were in Albuquerque and the mountains had a slight dusting of snow.  Beautiful! Happy Skywatch Friday !