Life on the High Plains

August has been a crazy month dominated by our travels to Europe.  This time we chose to go to Eastern Europe because we'd never visited these former Eastern Block countries.  The starting point was Bucharest, Romania. After a long day's travel we made it to our hotel.  Much to our delight across the street was this magnificent building.  It was closed by the time we arrived, but we took a walk after dinner to look through the gates and grab some pics.  It's the National Cathedral of Romania and is also known as the People's Salvation Cathedral.  It is tallest (410 ft.) and largest  Christian Eastern Orthodox Cathedral by volume and area in the world.  It can hold up to 5,000 people in the nave and 23,000 on the esplanade. This smaller building in front of the cathedral is the Ascension of the Lord Chapel built in 2011 as a place to worship while the cathedral was being built.  As we were standing there looking through the gate someone opened...

It's that time of year again--time to take the horses in for their annual exam, vaccinations, and teeth floating.  We used to have the vet come out to our property for all this stuff, but as the horses have aged they need the metal stocks in the vet barn to lean on while they're sedated. We always get very tense when it's time to load them in the trailer.  We never go how it will go--will be out there for an hour trying to convince two 1,000 lb. creatures to jump into the trailer?  Fortunately, this morning they decided to jump right in so we were ready to go an half hour earlier than we had planned. Doc, our buckskin gelding, got to go first.  First they take vitals.  Then the vet starts with the sedation so it has time to take affect before she starts grinding on his teeth.  Doc is the lightweight with sedation, one dose and he's asleep on his feet within minutes.  After the float is complete the vet administers their vaccinations.  The hard par...

There was only one thing my hubby wanted for his birthday this year--to attend the AC/DC concert in Denver.  I reluctantly bought the tickets many months ago and although I was dreading it, I was going to be a good sport about attending.  At one point I even called and upgraded to much better seats. First stop of the evening was for margaritas and enchiladas.  I'm not really fond of stadium food and preferred to eat before arriving at the stadium. Everyone was in good spirits when we arrived at Empower Field at Mile High. We chose to arrive after the opening act, Pretty Reckless, but we caught the tail end of her show which included a lot of screaming. I'm only sharing a couple short clips from the evening.  (I hope I don't get a copyright infringement from You tube.) Let me tell you, these old guys could put most younger people to shame.  For two hours straight with only quick hydration and oxygen breaks, they ran up and down that stage.  Brian Johnso...

I'm sharing some simple shots from around my house this week.  Nothing too exciting.  Last Friday afternoon I was painting in my studio when I heard a lot of rumbling trucks heading into the property across the street.  This 40 acre parcel was sold last year and we knew some folks were planning to build a house at some point this year, apparently the time is getting close. This parcel of land is very odd.  An easement road had to be built through two adjoining properties to reach their 40 acres.  Out here in the wild west there are occasionally disputes over easement roads, some have lead to shootings when the property owners block it off.  I hope everyone gets along. Anyway, on Monday morning they started drilling and by this afternoon they packed up and left.  Seems pretty quick.  Our well is 600 ft. in depth, I wonder how deep they had to go for theirs. Other views from our yard is my front "English" flower garden.  A few years ago I plant...

Colorado is parched, just like most of the West.  In the forecast this week we're supposed to get multiple days of monsoon rains. Earlier this afternoon I was at a meeting at the Nature Center and snapped this photo of Pikes Peak aka America's Mountain.  The clouds look promising! About 20 minutes later I was almost home.  It looked like rain had reached our pasture.  I loved how the sun was reflecting off this cloud.  Very grateful for the rain we received, but hoping for much more.  Our horses can only eat hay this summer because the grass is all dead (hay is very expensive right now). An update on the Aspen Acres fire I've posted about the last two weeks.  It's staying quite stable at 101,545 acres and it's now at 61% containment.  Residents in the area are being allowed to return home after being evacuated for three weeks!  Woohoo! Keep your finger crossed for rain! Linking with Skywatch Friday

 We recently came back from our favorite camping trip of the season. We headed up to Pike National Forest to one of our favorite forest service campgrounds. This is real "roughing it".  No water, no electricity, no sewer hookup.  This is the first real test our off-grid trailer has had.  It has solar panels on top and despite all the trees our batteries stay charged the entire time. At this campground you have no choice but to be totally unplugged.  The cell service is very sporadic and non-existent most of the time.  There's no better way to recharge! One day we drove to Buena Vista to go to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.  It was a beautiful day! They have an adults only area which was great.  We spent most of our time at this infinity pool with Mt. Princeton as a backdrop.  Its temperature was 106 degrees.  I tolerate the hot water much better than the hubby. There is also an opportunity to get into Chalk Creek which runs through the r...

Today I'm going to the archives for my Skywatch shot of the week.  In the spring I visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Surprise, AZ. I'm an oil artist and I've been contemplating using this windmill as my next subject.  I love the desert bushes and trees, the old fashion fence is cool too.  The shadows might add an interesting element. I think I've convinced myself to add it to my long list of projects.  What hobbies spark your creativity and keep you busy? Linking with Skywatch Friday