Life on the High Plains

 Happy birthday in Heaven, Mom!  I miss you each and every day! It's been a long 20 years without you!

We bundled up last Saturday morning and made our way down the road to the Pikes Peak National Cemetery for Wreaths Across American day. We knew this was going to be a different experience because of all the cars that were flowing in.  We had quite a walk from the car to the cemetery which is absolutely great!   Boxes of wreaths were lined up and ready to be distributed. First there was a small ceremony. All the speakers kept their comments brief and to the point.  My favorite part was a speaker that highlighted these famous words by Ronald Reagan. "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." There were all kinds of honor guards, color guards, ROTC, active duty service members, and veterans.   Even some red coats showed up. There was a 21 gun salute followed by some rounds from the canons. When the ce...

It's been a pretty quiet week around here.  I'm pretty much ready for Christmas except for stocking stuffers and a couple gifts.  We've really cut down for Christmas this year--our kids are all adults and have what they need.  Now the grandkids are a different story although a 22 year old is very difficult to shop for.   We've ordered the Christmas meal and will only need to make a couple side dishes to go along with it.  We'll see who wants to participate in the holiday cocktail contest.  It was so much fun we should do it again this year.   I have to admit that I really used to dread Christmas.  It was so much work probably because I was working full time, felt I needed to get everyone 10 unique gifts, and did all the cooking myself.  My new mantra is to enjoy the reason for the season and my family.  I'm especially happy that the Tulsa family is coming!  I've done all the meal planning and have my shopping list put toge...

Owning horses is not for the faint of heart.  There is always something that needs to be done with them in addition to feeding and watering. We keep their stalls clean on a daily basis, but these boys like to stand outside their stalls and poop. A horse poops an average of 50 lbs. per day.  On what might be the last nice day of the year Irv and I went out there to clean up the outside area. We each have our own apple picker (pitchfork) and wheelbarrow.  Load after load got hauled to the muck pile.  The horses love the muck pile in the winter because all these poop generates heat.  It's not uncommon to see them taking naps on top of the pile during the day.   Then there are the other lovely chores like cleaning the back of Doc's legs and tail with the hose and a scrub brush after he had a bout of diarrhea last week.  He's okay now. Doc will turn 27 on January 1st (all horses birthdays are on January 1).  He's been a member of our family for 24...

What's happening with the weather?  It's December in Colorado and it's supposed to be cold and snowy. Now mind you, we've had a few cold days and a little bit of snow, but nothing like it should be.  We've had days in the 60s so you know what that means don't you?  Time to put Irv to work. In a previous post I told you how we purchased some bulbs in Amsterdam.  They really need to be planted in the fall so we were lucky to have a day to put them in the ground.  (it is technically still fall until December 21) We bought three varieties and I wanted them planted in bunches so three holes were needed.   The weather is so nice why not keep going with outdoor maintenance?  While I was gone this summer one of my beloved pine trees died.  Irv tried to save it by cutting the top half off. I had to break it to him that the tree was a goner and needed to go.  It's really hard to keep trees alive out here on the high desert of Colorado.  Even ...

Life is back to "normal" after our travels.  I got pretty sick right after returning home and stayed that way for two weeks.  Covid tests were negative, it didn't have symptoms that resembled the flu, I think it was just a really bad cold that moved into my lungs.  My sweet hubbie took great care of me so now I'm back to normal. I volunteered to host Thanksgiving at the house this year.  Our nephew and his family moved to Denver last summer so we invited them and Irv's brother and sister-in-law to join us.  Several years ago I retired from cooking holiday meals, but this year I made an exception and roasted a turkey and all the fixings.  On Christmas I'll go back to catering the meal and it will just be us and our kids and grandkids that I don't get to see very often. No worries though.  We have plans with the NM and Denver relatives on Christmas Eve and I got the best news ever when my brother said he and his family will come a few days after Christma...

One of my dreams came true on our last day in Amsterdam.  Van Gogh is my favorite impressionist painter and has been for years.  I've been lucky enough to view a few of his works here and there, but the goal was always to get to Amsterdam where the Van Gogh Museum is located.  Once again, tickets are only sold online and sell out weeks in advance.  Prior planning is a must! Vincent was an artist whose talent didn't come naturally (maybe that's why I feel a connection to his work).  He started in the art world working in his uncle's gallery, when that didn't work out he thought about becoming a minister which didn't work out either.  Eventually he enrolled in a couple art academies but that didn't work out either because he butt heads with them when he wanted to do his own thing. My goal was just to soak in the paintings and leave the camera put away except for a few of my favorite pieces.  Sometimes people are too quick with the camera and miss the bea...