Life on the High Plains

I want to be a Wyoming rancher and here's why:   I don't think any further explanation is necessary about God's country. Happy Skywatch Friday!

I've kind of lost my zest for blogging this past week.  We just came back from this fabulous trip to visit my dad and then Yellowstone, but at the moment I don't feel up to sharing the stories of our many adventures. One thing I can tell you is that visiting Yellowstone is always a visit to heaven on earth for me.  This visit, however, came at the perfect time.  We received some bad news during our trip that really brought us down, but being in the midst of the beauty of Yellowstone was like a spiritual renewal for me. I was reminded of God's promises.  It's hard to understand why bad things happen and why life can't go on forever and why we have to say goodbye to the people we love the most, but God never promised us a heaven on earth; only in our eternal lives. The forests of Yellowstone were devastated by a massive fire many years ago.  Much of this devastation is still evident in the park. Amongst the devastation is the promise of new life....

Greetings from the Tetons aka God's Country.  This area is my favorite place on earth!  We went white water rafting this afternoon down the beautiful Snake River.  It was a blast.  Mr. Beans got to jump into the river twice to go for a "refreshing" swim.  Refreshing because the water is about 45 degrees.  Crazy kid!  Then it stormed, rained, thundered, hailed, and the wind blew like crazy as we were trying to get out of the river.  We were soaked and cold, but had a great time! We had a fantastic several days with my dad, brother, and nephew.  We even found a 5K to run in.  I was pretty happy because I ran/walked my fastest time ever and was 3rd in my age division!  Of course 3rd out of 7 isn't too much to brag about, but it will probably be the only time you ever see "3rd" next to my name. Tonight we're staying at a fantastic lodge that not only has wonderful accommodations, it has...   incredible cuisine. ...

Woohoo! I'm officially on vacation for the next 11 days!  However, we may need an ark to get out of Colorado. The high desert of Colorado is changing.  There's a river now. And a lake (filled with frogs). Bubbling pools. The roadway is gradually turning into a waterway.  I was too scared to drive through this one on the way home from work so I took about a 15 mile detour to get home the "long" way.  I didn't want to be that woman who chanced driving through a flooded area only to have to be rescued by complete strangers all while being caught on the news.  You know...the one that we always call the "idiot". We're still grateful for the rain, but how 'bout some sunshine to help dry things out?  It was 58 degrees when I left work today, summer has yet to arrive. Happy Skywatch Friday!

Happy Birthday Dana! This was my baby's first ever passport photo when she was only a year old (sorry, I should have combed your hair before they took this pic).  A world traveler right from the start! Hope you have a fantastic day and safe travels home! Love you!

It's no wonder that Americans are so overweight. We eat enough for a whole village in a single meal.  My partner and I are hosting the annual Information Systems Coordinator's Knowledge Share at our office this week.  IT people (aka geeks) are here from several states to share IT stuff.  Sounds like fun don't you think? We took them out to dinner at a Brazilian Grill this evening.  The first course was the most amazing salad bar I've ever seen. Then out came skewer after skewer of meat. Sirloin Tenderloin Some other kind of beef Brown sugar glazed pineapple Marinated chicken hearts (gag!) Pork loin Not pictured was the chicken, chicken wings, turkey, kielbasa, brisket, pulled pork, fish, scallops, etc., etc., etc. This was followed (for some of the group) by dessert.  This "piece" of chocolate cake could have fed all 30 people. As long as this little thing has the green end on top, the servers keep coming by with...

Do you see that green pasture? Wow...it's almost unrecognizable to us.  For the last several years all we've seen is brown.  We've had to pay astronomical prices for high quality horse hay because there was no grass for the horses to eat. Now we have a pond.  The ground is saturated.  I'm not sure that's a good thing.  We had inches of rain over the weekend, but not nearly as bad as our neighbors to the east who had something like 5 inches of rain in an hour.  Roads were flooded, ditches were overflowing, there was even a tornado to the south of us. When it rains it pours.  And you know what, I'm not complaining.  We prayed for rain for years and now we're getting it.  Colorado is back to being Colorful Colorado.

Late afternoon thunderstorms are becoming the norm around the high plains of Colorado again. I have just two things to say about that: 1.  Thank you Lord! 2.  Woohoo! Happy Skywatch Friday!

We went to a wedding last weekend for one of my young co-workers.  This is the brand new Mr. and Mrs. J and some of my current and former co-workers.   We are a group that gets along especially well.  We have fun at work and at play.   During the $$ dance we all chose to dance together with the bride. We had a fantastic time at the wedding.  Congrats Mr. and Mrs. J and thank you for including us in your special day!

I love three day weekends!  That one extra day makes such a huge difference. We headed out to a new hiking trail on the 4th of July--Spruce Mountain in Douglas County.  It was recommended by my friend Scott. It's a pretty small mountain by Colorado standards--about 7,500 feet which means it's an easy, family friendly hike.  The entire loop is about 5.5 miles, but somehow Irv and I missed one of the loops so we only ended up going about 4.9 miles. The trail head starts at the base of the mountain with beautiful trees including a lot of scrub oak. There were really cool rock formations all along the way. White cliffs at the top that overlook some beautiful meadows that my horses would love to live in.       Of course you can always find nice people at the top to take your picture so you don't have to resort to a selfie with the cell phone.     Do you see Pikes Peak in the background (you may have to...