Life on the High Plains

Once again, I've not been following up on my goal to blog more often.  There's a simple reason for it...it's winter in Colorado and we've had a long streak of incredibly cold temperatures and some snow here and there. I feel like an inmate who has been sentenced to solitary confinement.  I find winter to be terribly lonely and depressing probably because we live so remotely.  My days normally consist of waking up early to feed the horses, doing a little painting, a little reading and trying to get to the gym as often as possible.  I really miss being able to be outside in the sunshine and enjoying nature.  In the coming week it's supposed to get up to 40 degrees so if the wind isn't blowing  I'll try to hit a trail somewhere.  Just think, I could be enjoying another winter in Mesa right now. We're thinking about adding another furball to our family so we dropped by the humane society to see who was there.  They literally had about 12 dogs most of ...

It's been an interesting weekend.  I've decided to get more involved with our local democratic party this year so I dragged Mary along to their kick off reception for 2023. We did a little shopping before the reception and then I dragged Mary to a café that I've always wanted to eat at.  Little did I know that it was a mostly vegan restaurant.  I was really proud of her because she agreed to stay even after viewing the menu because she's a meat and potatoes type of person.  She was able to find some asiago macaroni and cheese and I selected the vegan street tacos.  Mine was absolutely delicious and I'd go back to have them again.  I don't Irv would be too thrilled to dine there either. Then we made our way over to the arts center for the reception where they put on a really nice wine and charcuterie board spread.  There were lots of candidates and current representatives there in addition to the officers from the Colorado Democratic Party.  We tri...

So, I said I was going to try to be a better blogger in 2023 and I've already missed that goal.  Here's a quick post to catch up for the first two weeks of January. My handsome grandson seems to be having a great experience in Korea.  I was lucky enough to get a friend request from him so I can see his adventures (little did he know I'd be stealing an occasional photo of how happy and healthy he looks).  He doesn't let many "older" adults in and if you're offended by the "F" word you should definitely stay away. I finished up two paintings this week and they're both of the same thing!  Above is the 30"x30" version that I painted all on my own.  His name is Tatonka (Lakota for bull). Here is the 20"x20" painting currently known as Tatonka Junior.  I worked on the smaller version with my teacher and then would go home and applied what I learned to the big guy.  I've ordered frames for both of them which unfortunately hav...

 We painted the town on New Year's Eve with a visit to the zoo followed by dinner with Mary. It was a fairly warm evening by Colorado Spring standards so glove, hat and a zipped jacket weren't even necessary. My all time favorite zoo lights are at the Phoenix Zoo, but unfortunately we didn't have time to visit during our recent trip there. It was nice going after Christmas because it wasn't nearly so crowded and was mostly an older crowd.  We even ran into some long time friends that we hadn't seen in a very long time. One thing our zoo needs to add is some music.  The Phoenix Zoo has music everywhere and even exhibits where the lights and the music are timed together. You can't go to the zoo without taking the long walkway to the elephant barn.  It's a great place to warm up also. The wallabies were all tucked in for the night in their enclosure.  Normally you can walk right through them because they roam freely in the Australia exhibit. Not a lot of animal...

It's been awhile since I posted about anything other than our European adventures.  It's a new year so I'm going to try to get back into the blogging habit.  First, I need to finish off 2022. For Christmas we decided to head to the Valley of the Sun.  Our flight there was uneventful on Southwest Airlines.  The champagne always flows freely at the Watts house on a holiday. I didn't take many pictures over the holidays maybe because I was feeling a little defeated because I'm no longer the cat's meow when it comes to my favorite granddaughter.  I'm usually the first person she hugs, but this time I was #3 behind Auntie Mary and Pappy.  I guess I'm chopped liver now.  I knew this day would come but I thought I'd have two more years of being the favorite. Some of our family are currently serving overseas in the military so we could only be with them virtually.  Here's the Germany crew in the matching PJs I sent them (including Diesel). The festivitie...