Life on the High Plains

There was a challenge issued between two of my daughters over the weekend.  You see both of them have blogged, but neither has updated their blog in years.  The sisters challenged each other to make a blog entry before the end of the weekend.   They actually did it!   Here's Jillian trying to force me to eat funnel cake--something I've sworn off for the rest of my life, but in a weak moment I might have had a bite or two.  Be sure to visit her blog--Meet the Mooses.   http://meetthemooses.blogspot.com/ Here's the big sister.  I won't say why she's looking at me like this, but it might have something to do with multiple margaritas at the Loop the day after Thanksgiving last year. Her blog is Dana of Oz.  http://danaofoz.blogspot.com/ Now I challenge them to keep up the blog entries, at least one per week for the rest of the year.  Do you accept? Enjoy!

I found some pictures that I haven't shared yet. Mr. Beans started high school this year and he joined JROTC.  On September 11th his school has a ceremony to honor the victims of 9/11 and specifically one of the flight attendants who was an alumni of his school. All of us were working except for Pappy.  Pappy got permission to attend the ceremony as long as he promised not to do anything embarrassing. Isn't he handsome in a uniform?   About to release the doves. When I was in high school it was pretty uncool to be in ROTC.  Looks like things have changed. We will never forget!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a while. Here's why. I went to Vegas last week to attend the Farm Credit IT Symposium.  The dominant theme was Cyber Security.  It opened my eyes more than could ever want it to.  There is so much going on in the cyber world that you can't even imagine.  It was me, a handful of other women and 170 men.  Women, why are we allowing men to rule the IT world?  When you're the person charged with keeping the systems and data safe...it's nerve-wracking.  I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and start thinking about the threats.  I know it's stupid...I can't do anything about it in the middle of the night except that's when some of my best solutions pop into my mind. Irv tagged along we me on this trip, but I think he was kind of bored while I was at my meetings.  We did make it down to the strip one night where we each wasted $20 on the slots.  I'm sorry, but ...

When we were on vacation last month in the Teton/Yellowstone area we rented an ATV and headed to the high country on some very remote, deserted, unimproved roads.   I love to take shots of fence lines.     I love aspen trees.   I love the big blue Wyoming sky.   I love going on adventures where there are no other people.   I love wildflowers.   I love the Tetons more than any other place on earth!   Happy Skywatch Friday!

Yesterday was my new favorite race of the year--Broncos 7K.  Last year a group of us did this run together and it was quite a fiasco.  Seven thousand people showed up and it was chaos.  They sent out surveys afterwards and asked for feedback.  I'm glad to say they listened and this year it was as fantastic of an experience as a Rock and Roll race.  However, this year there were two thousand less people so obviously a lot of people were not willing to give them a second chance to fix their mistakes. This year I was solo so I got up early and left the house at 5:30 to get up there in time to pick up my packet.   One really cool thing about this race is that they do personalized bibs if you pre-register in time.   No race is complete without a group picture and since I was a group of one, a selfie did the job.   This year there were corrals based on your expected finish time.  I checked my corral assignment at the beginnin...

The end of summer is always sad for me because it means winter is right around the corner.  I really, really, really dislike cold, wind, and snow.  Oh well, it is what it is (until I move to Phoenix anyway). One of the best things about August are the sunflowers.  We live on the high plains of Eastern Colorado and our fields are filled with them. Luckily I snapped this shot before the county came and mowed all of them down. Stunning!  I'm going to enjoy every last minute of summer possible. Happy Skywatch Friday!

Last week was my turn to host Caravan. What is caravan?  It's a really simple card and dice game that I play with a ladies group every month.  There's 12 of us so each of us takes a turn hosting it at our houses.  Drinks, dinner, and dessert followed by more drinks and snacks. You know what happens when women host other women, don't you?   It's a contest to see who can out do the other.   Lots of delicious food presented in an appealing manner.  Dana provided me with the most delicious pulled pork recipe that was super easy, but required 20 hours of cooking.   Lots of beverages of many varieties. Lots of wine and wine glasses that are soon to be painted by the new "Glam Glass by Mom and Me" duo.   Most importantly, lots of conversation, laughing, and loud and rambunctious fun!   It's been fun getting to know these ladies who come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds across the city--teach...