Life on the High Plains

We have attempted to put an end to Sophie's nightly escapes from the house. I found this really cool electronic dog door that can only be opened with a "key" that the dogs wear on their collars.  When they get within a couple feet of the door it unlocks with a loud "thud" and then the dogs can go through.  I was telling my CEO about the door and he said "leave it to a techie to find a dog door that works just like the proximity badges at work". Keira, our incredibly smart Lab, figured it out immediately.  She waits for it to unlock, pushes the flap with her nose to make sure it's unlocked, then she jumps through. Cody, the not so smart Border Collie, is terrified of the door.  He hears the "thud" and then runs the other way.  It's gotten so bad that he runs even when we open the door for him to go out.  I think I've learned the secret to training him to use it--chicken.  He'll do just about anything for a bite of chic...

I realize everyone is probably getting tired of the running stories and photographs, but oh well, here's another one. On Saturday we participated in the Veterans Home Run at Memorial Park in downtown Colorado Springs. It was a beautiful day for a run/walk.  This flag might suggest the wind was blowing, but no, it was a little chilly but perfectly calm morning. We started out at the back of the pack.  That's Jillian on the left in the pink shoes.  In addition to the 5K there was a 3K walk going on also.  We lost most of these people at the turn for the second lap around the lake. Here are the leaders lapping us on our second lap around the lake.  At least we got a mile completed before the lapping started.  I always have to take a picture of runners who carry flags even if they are lapping me.  I love the patriotism! My legs were weighing me down from the start line at this race.  I think the Thursday evening run ...

We went out for a quick run/walk this evening even though the sky was looking a little ominous.  We were only going for about 1.5 miles so we figured we would beat the storm. We almost made it.  The lightening made us go a little faster for the last 200 yards or so.  We made it to the back door right as the rain drops hit.  Then it rained for 2 minutes and the storm passed. We were left with this beautiful sight over our barn. Beautiful, don't you think?  We're grateful for every drop of rain here on the high plains of Colorado. Have a great Skywatch Friday !

One of the things I love most about summer is the flexible schedule we have at work.  This year they incorporated all kinds of new rules so we can only take half a day off and it can't be every Friday so I rotate between Wednesdays and Fridays.  I work four 9-hour days and one 4-hour day. It's a great time to get errands done. I started by getting my haircut.  Then I shifted back into work mode and met one of our contractors for a lunch meeting about virtualizing our servers. After that I met Irv and we went to one of our local running companies.  During that 10K a couple weeks ago my feet really hurt and Irv has had pain on the bridge of his foot ever since so we decided it was time to be professionally fit for good quality running shoes. First they videoed our feet while walking and then running to analyze our gait.  Turns out we are both pronators which means out feet roll inward more than they should and the foot and ankle have problems stabilizing t...

What do I love the most about summer? Being outside. Enjoying the weather. Having a glass of wine and admiring Pikes Peak from my front yard. My garden. Flex time at work! Warmth (or at least warmer). Vacation! Not having to drive to work on icy roads! Seeing my family that I only get to see once per year! Having the opportunity to run in a race almost every Saturday morning. Rain! Dining outside on the patio at my favorite restaurants. Green grass (for the first time in years). Coming upon snakes in the barn, road, or least unexpected places (NOT!). Going outside without a jacket on. Flowers. My fire pit which Irv recently converted from wood burning to propane.  Now I can go out and start it whenever the feeling hits. Summer is definitely my favorite time of year and that's why some day I'm going to live in Scottsdale or Florida where it's summer year 'round. What's your favorite thing about summer?

Remember last week when I told you my life was in disarray because of the new carpeting we were having installed?  This weekend instead of running in a 5K or 10K I knew we needed to have a working weekend. This was the mess I had to look at for an entire week--my life was out of whack and I literally did not sleep more than a couple hours per night. Well, this weekend Irv was working, but I knew I had to do something about this mess.  On Friday night we went to Lowe's and picked out paint colors.  Then at the crack of dawn on Saturday about 5:00 a.m. I got to work (I'll tell you why so early a little later on). Goodbye horrible white walls!  I painted by myself for about 12 hours on Saturday.  The only time I left the house all day was to run to Lowe's for another quart of purple paint.  (Yes, purple.)  I only fell off the ladder once--my mind thought I was only on the second rung of the ladder when I was actually on the third rung....

We made our annual trip up to Fort Collins, Colorado this week. You see about seven years ago I was asked to "help" with the State 4-H Horse Bowl Contest that is held at the 4-H State Conference on the Colorado State University campus.  My "help" turned into being superintendent for the contest several years ago and now I don't know how I'll ever get out of that job. Horse Bowl is a Jeopardy-style quiz game where teams compete against each other for the State Champion title.  All the questions are horse related.  Winning at state qualifies the team to compete at the national contest in January.  Sorry I don't have any photos, but cameras aren't allowed at a horse bowl contest. I have a whole crew of volunteers who "help" me with the contest, but none of them want to take over.   I'm not surprised.  The 4-H Extension Agent that I planned to hand it over to just told me that she's expecting a baby in October.  Oh well, so muc...