Life on the High Plains

Thanks to the blizzard we had a few weeks ago, our trailer got its winter cover removed earlier than anticipated.   This past weekend I decided to open it up, air it out, and get it cleaned up for the coming summer.   Even though the thing was covered all winter there was still quite a bit of dust.  I washed all the bed linens, washed the windows, cleaned the counters and all the woodwork, wiped down the leather furniture, and swept and mopped the floors.   In order to do all this I had to extend the slide out, but the battery was dead so I got out the electric cord and figured out how to hook it up myself.   After all the cleaning was done I brought Miss Sophie out to look around.  She's going to become a "camper cat" this summer whether she wants to or not. She had fun exploring and looking out all the windows. Now we just need summer to arrive!

I recently got a new camera so I tried it out on the full moon this week.  Normally my moon shots come out quite grainy, but these came out okay. I think I like the Canon SX710 HS. Happy Skywatch Friday!

Saturday morning was really sad this week.  For the past three years I have gotten up early on Saturday morning and gone to my painting class.  My teacher and classmates have become good friends over those three years. Then a couple months ago my painting teacher decided she was done with Colorado winters and decided to move to Florida.  She put her house on the market and my fellow classmates and I were hoping that her house would take months to sell.  But no, her house sold within a week (that's how the Colorado Springs market is right now).  So not only did I have to say goodbye to my teacher on April 1, I also had to say goodbye to my classmates although we are all working to find a new teacher so we can get our class back together. Anyway, three years ago I started with this.  My MIL was kind enough to ask if she could have the painting which now hangs over her fireplace.  Looking at it now I realize how much of a "beginner" painting it is....

The wet, heavy snow we got on Tuesday triggered havoc with my IT storage room.  I went down there yesterday to get a piece of equipment only to find puddles of water.  Water and IT don't mix well.   It took some investigation to figure out where it was coming from.  As it turned out, water was coming in through the orange conduit in our demarcation room.  That orange pipe was full of water that was seeping out of that room and under the wall to go into the storage room.     A guy came over to fix it and the first thing he said was "I need to speak to the IT guy".  I just looked at him and said "I am the IT guy".  Never make presumptions, gentlemen.   As it turned out there was nothing they could do because the ground water level is just high as that snow melts off.  He did put a cap on that orange tube to prevent anymore water from getting in.   So I got to spend the afternoon getting our new equipm...

Oh, how I am longing to get this trailer into the mountains. First trip is scheduled for May 14-15.  It's a celebration trip to celebrate Ellen's _________.  (I'll fill in the blank later.)  It's also a trip to make sure everything is working properly before summer begins. Then on May 22nd it will hit the road for its longest trip ever and it won't be for just a weekend. Wondrous things are about to happen.  The excitement is building...let the adventure begin!

This afternoon we decided to take the bikes out for a spin "around the block".  Now, keep in mind that our block is 4 mile trip. This sign was hanging on the next street over.  We never did see a "Big" party--fake news! The next corner had this sign posted.  I had known what was coming... a cattle guard at each end of this stretch of the route.  Irv told me to just get up some speed and ride right over.  Hmmm....no, I'm walking it across. Irv does a lot of this...waiting for me to catch up. The cattle guard was an indication of an open range so guess who else we were sharing the road with.  Plus it snowed yesterday so the road was a little chewed up. Luckily, these ladies all got out of our way after staring at us to determine who we were and what the heck we were doing out on their range. See...here's Irv waiting for me again.  We may live out on the prairie, but it's 6,500 feet and there are some lo...