Life on the High Plains

 Not much has been going on this week.  We had false spring last week during our camping trip because winter decided to re-emerge with snow over the weekend followed by wind and cold since then. A friend who is in Switzerland this month offered her Anastasia tickets to Irv and I.  I had never seen this show so I was excited to go.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed.  The actors all did a great job, but I thought it could have been shortened from it's almost three hour running time.   The people sitting behind us decided to rest their cups of red wine on the top of the ledge that we were sitting in front of and guess what happened at intermission...I had two cups of red wine fall down my back.  To top it all off they all just sat there and laughed like it was the funniest thing.  I'm usually not confrontational, but their laughter infuriated me.  These were people our age too.  I don't think an apology ever left their lips....

I'm still going through old photos and found some from my first trip to Italy back in 1990 (I think).  It was an all girl's trip (with the exception of Nancy's husband Mick) to Florence and Venice. Back then there was a tour company that offered this bus tours to destination all over Europe.  They usually started at night so that everyone could sleep on the bus then be ready to tour the next morning.  It was pretty miserable and I wouldn't do it these days, but back then it must have been okay because we went on several of their tours. In the back row was the three of us who were great friends...Shelly, Nancy and myself.  Then in the front in the read is Joanne who was our upstairs neighbor and a teacher at the elementary school.  The other lady I can't remember her name, but I do recall she was a lot of fun. We formed really close friendships in Germany--the best in my adult lifetime.  We were a big family over there.  I hope Jillian and Brian are hav...

It's about time to load up the trailer and head to Montana for the summer.  In preparation we decided to take the trailer out for a few days to make sure everything is still in working order.  Strange things happen to trailers that have set idle for several months over the winter season. Off we went to Cheyenne Mountain State Park about 25 miles to the west of our house.  We had originally booked a site for two weeks ago, but the weather was still cold and snowy so luckily we were able to reschedule it for this week.  We went from cold and snow to 88 degrees on the day we arrived. We took the dogs on a lot of hikes although most of the trails are prohibited to dogs.  As you can see everything is still brown and dead in Colorado although I was able to find a lot of lamb's ear that is coming back to life. Both dogs did really well.  Sometimes they like to be right next to each other for comfort even if the big puppy has to scrunch up to fit in the little dog'...

For Easter this year we decided to do something a little different.  We went hiking and had Easter lunch on Saturday rather than Sunday.  It was a beautiful spring day in Colorado so we headed to the Paint Mines Interpretive Park. The Paint Mines are located about 30 miles east of Colorado Springs near the small town of Calhan. They're located out on the plains and you could drive right be them if you didn't know they were here.  From the parking lot it's a little bit of a hike and then you start seeing the formations. It's said humans have used the Paint Mines area for at least 10,000 years because of the cultural artifacts found throughout the site.  The area was used by the Plains Apache, Ute, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne before white settlers starting homesteading the area in the 1800s.  Iron oxides create the many colors that are found in the clay deposits.  The area was in private ownership until the early 2000s when the site was purchased for cons...

My hubbie is the subject of the blog today.  I'm still scanning photos and thought I'd share a few of him. We only have a handful of photos from Irv's early years.  Maybe photos weren't too common back then or maybe when you're the third of six kids the camera doesn't come out too often.  His mom always told me this was his first passport photo.  He was born overseas when his dad was stationed there. Irv with his older brother and mom. Cutie patootie! His mom used to tell everyone about a medical condition Irv had at birth, but I won't embarrass him by repeating it here. Is this really Irv?  All babies looked alike in the old black and white photos. The three older brothers. I think that's Irv in the center back. With his two older brothers visiting Santa.  Love the white shirts and bow ties! Irv's graduation from kindergarten. His mom with the six kids...wait there's only five of them.  Who's missing and why didn't they get to be in the ...