Life on the High Plains

Saturday night Irv and I went to the first ever Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo concert.  There were three performers:  Heidi Neufeld (formerly of Trick Pony), Joe Nichols, and Craig Morgan.  It was a general admission concert that started at 6:00 p.m.  Irv had to work until 5:00, but fortunately my friend Debbie got there early and saved us some seats so that we didn't end up in the standing section. Our monsoon season started last week and we've had rainfall almost every evening.  Saturday was no exception.  It downpoured before the concert and then for a little while during the concert, but then it was a beautiful evening.  Heidi was really good, she played a couple of her Trick Pony songs plus some other stuff.  She is an AMAZING harmonica player. Joe Nichols was my favorite.  He has a lot of hits...my favorite is Tequilla Makes Her Clothes Fall Off which he did for an encore.  He puts on a great show and interacts with the audience a...

Dana was supposed to be on her way home from Australia today, but guess what...she's staying another year. Her company needed her to work on another job there. She'll be working in Brisbane, but will continue to live in Canberra. This gives us a chance to visit again although I can't find any plane tickets for less than $2,000. My baby must be one smart cookie to be so valuable to her employer! I wonder who she inherited that from?? By the way this is the first post from my iPhone, during work hours no less (let's keep that our secret, okay?)

hə-būb n. A penetrating sandstorm or dust storm with violent winds, occurring chiefly in Arabia, North Africa, and India. I wonder what Dana's pool looks like today????

We spent the weekend in Albuquerque.  Uncle Jeff and Aunt Mel always have a big 4th of July party.  They have a pool at their house so it is the location of choice for summertime get-togethers. The takeoff Mr. Beans (aka the King of the Belly Flop) spent about five hours in the pool.  I think he's part fish. Perfect form! Mid-Flight!  Entry (ouch!)  Look at these two good-lookin men! Mr. Beans swimming with Great Grandma. The ladies enjoyed a jello shot or two (my first ever). What goes better with a jello shot and Bahama Mama than a chocolate cupcake? A beautiful sunset followed by a spectacular fireworks display.  Because of the dry conditions, fireworks were banned in our part of Colorado this year.  Mr. Beans was glad he got to enjoy some fireworks at his Uncle's house. Everyone had a good time, some had a better time than others... Except for the teenager who...

I'm on my summer break from classes right now--a whole two weeks before the fall term starts.  Since I'm not one to sit around doing nothing, I took on a new project.  The cushions on Mary's outdoor furniture were in need of either being replaced or recovered.  Well, it was going to cost a small fortune to replace them so guess who volunteered to make new covers for them.  I've been working on it every night this week and I would have finished today, but I ran out of fabric.  If I had only bought another quarter yard of fabric I would be done.  Oh well, I'll stop by the fabric store tomorrow and pick up what I need to finish. Here's the before and after. It has been a fun project.  I wasn't quite sure how to make the corners so guess what I did...YouTube.  I looked up how to reupholster cushions and I learned everything I needed to know.  How did we ever get by without the Internet?

The garden is doing really good, at least for Colorado standards. The tomato plants are getting fairly big and they have quite a few blooms. The bell pepper and green beans are doing okay. The zucchinis are probably doing the best of any of the seeds we planted.  In this picture you can also see our cantaloupe and pumpkin plants plus Irv's corn.  This corn isn't going to be "knee high by the fourth of July" like they say in Wisconsin, it's just slightly more than ankle high. The radishes are getting pretty big; however, the carrots have hardly sprouted.  I must have gotten some bad carrot seeds.  How do you know when to pick the radishes anyway? The lettuce is kind of punky.  I'm told lettuce prefers cooler weather and we sure haven't been having cool weather.  It was in the upper 90s today--that's crazy for June in Colorado. The veggie patch has been a lot of fun, I can't wait to pick my first veggie from it....

Do my eyes deceive me.... Is it really raining? Woohoo !  I'm dancing for joy! I wonder what happened to our mailbox while I was at work today??? Could it be just a coincidence that our road is freshly graded?