Life on the High Plains

Our granddaughter from Arizona was here for a visit last week.  She's 2 1/2 and has been very excited to ride "her" horses. Her and I went out to feed early in the morning and then we walked around the property while she explored. Jasper, the gray horse pictured above, is very inquisitive.  He was very sweet and kind to my little girl. She rode our other horse, Doc.  Doc stands 16 hands high which is tall for a horse.  Little Miss G showed no fear on his back.  I think she would have been happy to have us lead him around all day. I think we have another equestrian in the family.  (Yes, I know she should have a helmet on--next time we'll have one for her!) Happy Skywatch Friday!

Thanksgiving 2017 is in the books now and it was a great one!   Except for a few items, we catered in the meal so that everyone could relax and enjoy the day.  We supplemented the turkey meal with a ham from the pig we purchased.  It was about 14 pounds of deliciousness that Jillian and Brian took the lead on.   Our budding artist provided artwork for the evening.   Mary provided her award winning deviled eggs and an entry for the 2nd annual dessert contest.   I didn't snap any photos of the main meal, but when it came time for the dessert presentation apparently someone grabbed my camera and took a few shots.   My entry was a Yule Log--red velvet cake with cheesecake filling and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with coconut.   Mary submitted her infamous Pumpkin Roll.  I really had no chance of winning against this magnificent creation.     Once again everyone got put in the awkward ...

It's that time of year--holiday craft fairs.  Way back in May before I left for Yellowstone I applied to two different fairs.  Luckily we were accepted to both (yes, there is an application and approval process for these craft fairs).  Last Saturday was the first one.  It is a large one that is very popular.   Set up time is always the Friday night before the fair.  Since it's at a school you have to wait for basketball practice to be done so it's late at night (at least my idea of late).  Mary and I had great help unloading the car and hauling all our goods into the gym.  Mr. Beans and Irv are very much appreciated for their muscles.   We're beginning to have a larger inventory and added a few new products this year.  My Colorado flags made from pallets were a big hit.   Another new item is the mason jar solar light and holder.  These are really beautiful and we sold several.   Of course we...

We met with the designer who's working with us on our kitchen refresh.  We made a lot of decisions and came up with a plan.  This process is really stressful.  You have an idea of what you want, but what if it looks ridicules when it's actually done?  What if it's too trendy and gets out of date really quick?   Above are the cabinets we're going with.  White lowers and uppers.  The island will be the gray which I think will look super.  We also picked the drawer pulls and cabinet knobs. I chose to go with classic white subway tile for the back splash which should be timeless.  Irv wanted to add an accent so we're going with three thin lines of glass tile. For the counter tops I made a big spluge and chose a white quartz that is accented in gray.  I decided not to go with granite because I've seen too many slabs that had some really funky veins of color in them.  Quartz is more durable and the color is consi...

I got a beautiful panoramic shot of Pikes Peak tonight.  I love it when we get sunsets like this! Happy Skywatch Friday!

The weather was quite nice this last weekend so Irv and I committed to having a work day.  Some things need to be readied for winter and it was time to get it done. First on the list was covering the travel trailer. To maintain the value of an RV it's a good practice to cover it from the sun to keep it from fading. When you live in a place with over 300 days of sunshine per year you need to either garage it or put a cover on. Putting a cover on is no small feat.  It weighs a ton and you have to climb on top to cover it.  Last year the wind shredded our cover, but somehow Irv convinced the manufacturer to replace it.  When we got the new one we added the extended warranty because the wind will more than likely shred this one too. Once that was done it was time to do some weeding.  The sunflowers around our mailbox were beautiful, but now they're dead and it was time to clean them up. It looks much better now and since Irv has a geocac...