Life on the High Plains

 Lots of things going on around here this week.   The veggies are ripening!  Lots and lots of green beans, cucumbers, and zucchinis.  The tomatoes and carrots are taking their sweet time though.  Have you heard there's a tomato shortage now?  I believe it because the grocery store only had one variety available yesterday and they were twice as expensive as they should be. There's nothing like fresh veggies for dinner--green beans, German cucumber salad, and Pioneer Woman's fried zucchini.  Yes, I know fried things aren't good for you, but Pioneer Woman never disappoints and the fried zucchini was amazing! These young-uns like to watch us as we walk Maisy down the road.  I think they expect treats. It was time for me to go donate some blood.  I learned a valuable lesson about taking it easy for 15 minutes afterwards.  I started seeing stars and had to quickly sit down while shopping.  Luckily Irv was with me. The area we live in...

 So, this week I took on a project that should have been done 40 years or more ago. This bookshelf has been hanging around our house since the mid-1980's when my dad retired from the Forest Service and moved to Idaho.  My parents brought us a truckload of furniture when we lived in Ft. Hood, Texas which we were grateful for because we were kinda poor back then. From some letters my dad left behind after his passing I assume he built this bookshelf in the early 1950's when he and my mom were newly married and he was a junior forester who didn't have enough money to buy furniture.  This was several years before I was born so maybe my brothers can correct me if I'm wrong about that.  Anyway, I think this piece of furniture is approximately 70 years old. It's been an eyesore for many years and every time I walked past it I thought something needed to be done about it.  You may be wondering why I didn't just trash it.  Well let me tell you, I am a sentimentalist...

We've been getting monsoon rains lately and everything around here is growing very nicely, by Colorado standards anyway. Mary gave me some hollyhock starts back in the spring and last week I had the first bloom.  Of the six or seven plants I planted this one is by far the biggest.  Those that are in full sun on the east side of our house are doing the best.  The three I planted in my perennial garden in the west side of the house are still really puny.  I'm thinking about transplanting them.  A few years ago I repurposed Mr. Bean's old wagon for a planter.  Irv drilled holes in it and every summer I plant yellow, red, and purple flowers in it.  It always does really well and I think it's quite cute. I was reading on the back deck a few days ago and this gal decided to stop by for a snack.  She'd come over for a drink then go sit in the tree.  As long as I held real still she'd keep coming back. Our new lawnmower is getting quite the workout....

When we were in Santa Fe last week I was hoping to visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, something I've wanted to do for years.  Unbeknownst to me was that reservations are required to enter.  I was a little bummed at breakfast when I tried to make a reservation and the earliest time available was in the afternoon and we had a family obligation that afternoon. Irv suggested we just walk over there anyway to see if there were any cancellations.  We arrived before the museum opened and when we were loitering outside this woman walks up.  She was wearing a lanyard and it was obvious she worked there and she asked us if she could help us.  We told her the situation and then she told us to follow her through the locked door.  She took us to the front counter and got us tickets for the 10:00 opening time.  What a great way to start the day! Georgia is a woman I greatly admire.  She was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and left home to attend the Chicago Art Insti...