Life on the High Plains

In April we visited our daughter and son-in-law who live in Phoenix and they took us to the Desert Botanical Garden . The entire garden was beautiful especially with the Chihully exhibit that they had at the time.  Another exhibit that I really enjoyed was the Butterfly Pavilion.  It was filled with butterflies of every color. Beautiful! Visiting the Desert Botanical Garden in the midst of an Arizona summer probably isn't a good idea, but I highly recommend it if you're there when it's a little cooler. Happy Skywatch Friday!

On the drive home from a recent trip to New Mexico we took a new route.  Out in the midst of nowhere we came across these cattle crossing signs unlike anything I've ever seen before. When we passed the first one I said "what was that?".  I thought it was just a smudge on the sign. Then we passed more. We were near Los Alamos, but that doesn't have anything to do with flying saucers does it?  I might expect to see this near Roswell, but northern NM? Hmmm....maybe it's an all over New Mexico thing.  Whatever it is, I like it!  I like things that are clever and unusual. Then we got back to Colorado and I saw my favorite type of sign. I'm still watching for that herd of wild horses who roam the high plains.  Let me know if you see them. There are other good things about getting back to Colorado.  It's hard to not love a view like this (even if it means you need a winter coat in May).

So this weekend I learned what a pain in the butt it can be to have a career in Information Technology.  Now, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have no problem going into work on the weekend if there's an IT emergency, but if it's not an emergency then things can wait until Monday.  I have a boss who lives to work, she doesn't believe in annual leave, she fights against flex time in the summer, and she never allows any of her staff to take comp time.  I, on the other hand, work to live.  Let's just say that I was a very unhappy camper this weekend who ended going into work on Saturday night and spending half a day at work on Sunday.  Did y'all know that IT professionals don't receive overtime pay or compensation time?  It's some kind of loophole in the law that exempts IT professionals.  To me that basically means that any extra time I put in is a donation to the company.  Now, if I were paid what the typical system...

We spent Memorial Day weekend down in Albuquerque visiting Irv's family.  We've made the trek between Colorado Springs and Albuquerque many, many times over the 16 years we've lived here.  It usually involves loading in the car, hitting the interstate, and driving there as fast as we can.  It's monotonous, boring, and at times unbearable. On the drive home I suggested to Irv that we get off the beaten path and go exploring.  Much to my surprise he agreed so we turned off at Santa Fe and started our journey into uncharted territory.  My main goal was to go through Taos and find a great Mexican food restaurant where we could have one last dose of New Mexican food before getting back to Colorado. It wasn't long until we saw a sign for Bandelier National Monument.  This is somewhere I've always wanted to go because they have wild burros in the area.  I asked Irv "what do you think?" and he agreed.  We had to park our car in the town of White Roc...

It has been brought to my attention that I have never blogged about the newest member of our family--Sophie Jo. You may recall that I lost my Tabitha on March 18th.  At that time I said I would never have another cat.  For those who know me though, that was highly unlikely.  I like to be surrounded by my critters and the absence of a cat was overwhelming.  I started searching rescues and the humane society website in hopes of finding my new cat.  I wanted to save a life and adopt an adult who was having a hard time finding a home.  Irv on the other hand wanted a kitten.  Then one day in mid-April he sent me a picture of some adorable kittens that were on Craigslist.  Alright, I'll go look. Well, you can't so look at kittens without bringing one home so now we have Sophie. She looks a little evil in this picture, but you would too if you'd just been taken from your mother and siblings. She is quite possibly the sweetest kitten...

I talked the family into supporting the zoo through the annual "Run to the Shrine" on Saturday.  It's either a 5K or a 10K through the zoo and up to the Will Rogers Shrine.  This is the only day during the year where foot traffic is allowed up to the Shrine. Before the race we were energized and ready to go. We were chomping at the bit to get going. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm didn't last very long.  We were very quickly reminded that our zoo was built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain.  Up, up, up we went.  As you can see we're in the back of the pack with the walkers.  The runners are somewhere far, far ahead.  We lost track of Mr. Beans and Irv way back at the start line. Finally--the 1 mile marker and a water stop!  24 minutes for the first mile which isn't too bad considering the 8% grade we were going up.  That means only a little over half a mile until the top--woohoo! Just as Mary and I were thinking we w...