Life on the High Plains

The Lion King touring company is currently in Denver.  We had tickets for today's matinee performance.  It was supposed to be Irv, Mr. Beans, and I, but  Irv kindly gave up his ticket so Mary could go with Mr. Beans and I.  Who knew Mary had a desire to see a Broadway show? What a good looking mother and son! Of course before the theatre you have to have a good meal.  Since Irv wasn't with us I took Mary and Mr. Beans to a "foo-foo" place.   Mr. Beans was hoping for Taco Bell.  Darn, I couldn't find one. I had the roast leg of lamb with cucumber pita. Mary made a safe choice with the baked mac and cheese. Mr. Beans enjoyed brunch with French toast and bacon. It was all very delicious!  (Except for Mr. Beans' bacon which wasn't crispy enough and they forgot to leave the berries off his plate.  Now he may die.) (Why is it that people who blog take pictures of everything including their food?) The...

On Monday we're having laminate flooring installed in our living and dining rooms.  That will leave us with only two rooms with carpeting--the master bedroom and office. We were going to get rid of all the carpeting, but decided to leave it in the bedroom and attached office so that we would have a chance of sleeping at night.  (The dog's toenails make a lot of noise when they're running on the laminate.) So we have to move everything out of the two rooms where the laminate is being installed.  It's almost as good as moving every three years because everything has to be cleaned out! I'm going through all the drawers and cabinets and getting rid of stuff.  We have really accumulated a lot of "stuff" over 34 years of marriage. I found a lot of treasures and also a lot of things that I don't know why I've kept. Like these green and gold table coverings that were leftover from Jillian's graduation from CSU.  Is there a need to keep these?...

On Sunday afternoon I was summoned to our county's 4-H achievement awards.  I've been involved with 4-H for many years, but the last five years or so I have only been involved at the state level--state horse advisory committee and superintendent of the state horse bowl contest although I do help with some of the county horse shows and judging contest.  I only know a handful of the 4-H kids in our county anymore. Jillian was there to present her livestock bowl kids with certificates and to recruit new team members.  I'm very proud that Jillian has joined our county's horse advisory committee. I served on that committee for a couple years and before me, Irv was a member. A family tradition! I think it's awesome that Jillian is giving back to the 4-H program that gave her so much. The awards went on for what seemed like hours, but it was a good thing that Jillian and I stayed until the end.  Our county extension agent presented me and a couple other leaders ...

My dad is famous.  At least to me he is. When we visited him last month we visited "his" museum.  It's actually named The Museum of Idaho, but I think of it as Dad's museum.  He was a volunteer there for many years, he even managed the construction of the best exhibit in the museum--Eagle Rock USA.  We celebrated his 80th birthday there a couple years ago. But we aren't going to blog about the museum or Eagle Rock today.  Since this is Veteran's weekend I'm going to blog about my dad's service to our country. Dad's museum currently has an exhibit on World War II which is top notch.  After viewing all the exhibits on the 1st floor we ventured upstairs and my dad led us to a case that was all about him. Wow! He never said anything about being a local celebrity. My dad served as a MP in the US Army at the war crimes trials in Japan after the end of the war. He's kept photos and letters and all kinds of mementos from that experie...

On Saturday Jillian and I ventured out to the 13th annual Holiday Gift and Food Festival.  It was the first time either of us had been to the festival and  I was expecting great things. I had the goal of buying lots of unique and wonderful gifts. Well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.  For me, it turned out to be more of a FOOD festival than a gift festival. We bought lots of chili seasoning, red pepper jam, and dip dressing mix from Chugwater Chili, a company based in Wyoming.  Yum, yum, yum...they are so smart to give out samples.  My favorite was the red pepper jam mixed with cream cheese and served with crackers.  Jillian's favorite was the dip dressing mix. You have to follow a salty snack with something sweet, right?  Next stop was Deedee Desserts and their no-bake cheesecake mixes. Delicious!  My favorite was the Grasshopper.  Jillian liked the caramel apple and of course I had to get strawberry for my sweetie. T...

A couple weeks ago one of our vendors from work invited me and a couple co-workers to Photopalooza.  This is a thank you event for customers which includes a photography contest. Each invitee could submit two photos for the contest. I intended to submit two of my best photos, but unfortunately I kept forgetting to look for photos when I was at home. The submission deadline arrived and I was forced to select two photos that I had on my computer at work which didn't leave me with a lot of options. I selected this photo that I took in Australia. The second picture that I submitted was this one of Doc and Cody.  I love this photo. Both of these photos were blown up to poster size and printed on glossy paper with a high quality color printer.  My kangaroo photo looked good, but the photo of Doc and Cody was AMAZING . There's just one problem--I didn't take the photo of Doc and Cody. You won't believe it... Doc and Cody won second place...

I left work today and decided not to go to the gym. Then I felt really guilty so I talked Irv and the dogs into going for a walk before dinner. Beautiful sunset. Happy dogs! Big, full moon and ... the worldest sweetest hubbie. An evening stroll on the Colorado prairie beats the gym any day.  (If only it were a little warmer!)