Home

Home! Home!!!


I'm home. It was a surprisingly swift trip and I will try to blog about it later on. I want nothing more than to drink my coffee, eat my toast and catch up on things at the moment.

Better Half kept the house immaculate (he must have hid the kegs and dancing girls) and the dogs are behaving themselves (indubitably hung over.)


It feels good to be back. I'm already planning my flower beds, plotting to repaint the living room, and pondering cleaning the carpets.


'Tis good.

Mum's post-op(2) appointment is this morning. I'm hoping that everything goes well. I miss my parents.

Better Half is pestering the hell out of me, although I do not mind. I have to retrain him to keep the damn Pomeranian off the bed at night.

Read more...

Our First Tree

Once upon a time, Better Half and I lived in a very tiny house that was tucked onto a very tiny street.

We planted a very tiny tree. It wasn't any higher than my thigh.

In honor of Better Half, I visited the old house and found our tree.

Look baby! A little bit of our love grows all the way out here in Colorado!

Read more...

Olympic Training Center

A couple of pictures taken at

the Olympic Training Center

Read more...

Glen Eyrie with Dad

Can you stand one more tourist entry? This one has a picture of sheep.

Technically these entries don't qualify as "touristocratic" as they are my old haunts. Dad and I stopped by here on our way home from Garden of the Gods.

Glen Eyrie. The name means "Valley of the Eagle's Nest". Glen Eyrie castle was built by General Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs. You can discover the fascinating history at http://www.gleneyrie.org/us/ministries/gleneyrie/aboutus/history

I want to wrap up these posts; this is a quick tour of the areas that we were able to visit.

The bookshop, relocated to the Carriage House, had some sweet treasured tucked away.

Spring arrives at the Carriage House

An ancient gate

You can take a video tour from this room. The Carriage House housed the horses and carriages. The floors are still rough stone interlaced with iron grates that once drained away horse urine and water. The interior is freshly painted and everything looks romantic and crisp. What a delightful find!

The castle proper was closed to visitors; there are weekend retreats in session.

Better Half and I love this castle and grounds. We shared High Tea here, Revels and Mads, and a passion for his heritage.

Read more...

Air Force Academy Stadium with Dad

I've decided to quit my day job. Now that I'm not working, will you please let me out? I don't even like football!

The idiot in the window is your very own Autrice. I'm sans makeup (do I even have any?) and sporting my nifty "get ready in under 10 minutes" hairdo.

I tagged along with Dad today. He pulled a service call at the Air Force Academy football stadium. I never stay out of mischief, of course. I accept full responsibility for my penchant for getting into trouble. I had to check out the press box.

I wonder if the non-working media is escorted away. We are an Obamanation now. The needs of the unemployed outweigh the needs of the rest. Perhaps the now-defunct Denver Post would like to appeal to the AFA for free tickets?

The views were spectacular, both of Pikes Peak and of the stadium and field itself.



Dad finished up his project...

... under the watchful eye of this military K-9 Belgium Malinois. He was exquisite. I first caught sight of him as I crossed the second floor lobby; twin ears sliced upward and deep brown eyes peered at me as he tracked my progress. (The dog, not Dad.)

He loves his Kong.


It was a lovely morning with my Dad. He explained the complexity of the sound system and relays; it was like going back in time and visiting my younger self, sitting beside Dad and listening as he taught me during our weekends at Hannon and Paramount.

Read more...

Garden of the Gods

Dad and I visited the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods and Glen Eyrie today. Photographs from Garden of the Gods are below.



Our last house was down the way from this beautiful location. I would frequently drive through the park as a means of relieving stress after a hectic day.

Garden Of The Gods Official Website:
"Garden of the Gods Park, with its vertical red rocks and Pikes Peak views, is recognized worldwide as an iconic landmark of the American West.

Three of North America’s major ecosystems converge within the Park’s boundaries. Its varied rock formations reveal one of the most extensive displays of earth history found anywhere.

Garden of the Gods Park is nationally known as a cultural crossroads where American Indians, explorers, “Pikes Peak or Bust” gold-seekers, railroad builders, homesteaders and health seekers all were drawn to the red rock formations that mark the dramatic meeting place of the Great Plains with the Rocky Mountains."

The park is 3,300 acres (1,300 ha) and it was established as a park in 1909 when the land was donated by Charles Elliot Perkins' children. It is a Natural Monument designated as Category III by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Geological Data that Aut was too lazy to compile. It is borrowed from Wikipedia but it is accurate (amazing, that!)

"The outstanding geologic features of the park are the ancient sedimentary beds of red and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Pikes Peak massif. Evidence of past ages; ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, alluvial fans, sandy beaches and great sand dune fields can be read in the rocks.

A spectacular shear fault can be observed where the Tower of Babel (Lyons Sandstone) contacts the Fountain Formation. The name Colorado is said to come from the color of the sandstone. There are many fossils to be seen: marine forms, plant fossils, and some dinosaur fossils.

The hogbacks, so named because they resemble the backs and spines of a pig, are ridges of sandstone whose layers are tilted. Instead of lying horizontally, some layers are even vertically oriented. Each hogback can range up to several hundred feet long, and the tallest (called North Gateway Rock) rises to a height of 320 feet (98 m) tall. A notable rock feature on this hogback, the Kissing Camels, appears to be two very large camels sitting face to face with their lips touching. The hump on the northern-most camel broke off from erosion and heavy climbing."

I hate it when I spend time typing only to find that Wiki has assembled the facts. I also am amazed when Wiki gets the facts correct.

As I was saying -

The park has its own dinosaur: Theiophytalia kerri was officially classified as a unique species not too long ago (but discovered in 1878). It was an herbivore beastie that lived on the cusp of the inland sea that was tucked into Colorado itself. Yes, there are seashells and other marine life fossils within the rock formations throughout this area. [ DinoData - Theiophytalia kerri [sG] [T] ]

The pictures here are all mine. Use them as you wish as long as you don't abuse them.

Balancing Rock

Cathedral Valley

Kissing Camels rock formation

A bunch of ridiculously fat tourists pretending to hold up Balancing Rock

I need to comment on that.

Without fail, the conversation always plays out like this:


"Hey Bubba! Lookit that rock!"


"Yeah Dahrlin, that's a big ass rock. Woooeeee. Get up there, mama, and pose like you is holding it up."


"Bubba, I doe'n know if I'll make it up thar."


"Well sugs, you just try now, and I'll snap yer picture."


** panting, groaning, torn clothing and red dirt up the nostrils **


"Ok Bubba, dahrlin, I'm up here."


** Tourtist proffers routund bottom as she strains to hold up rock with both arms, her fat face shining from the effort of climbing up the rocks **


You ought to know by now that I don't like tourists. LOL


Now back to your tour. There isn't much more.

Read more...

A Snowy Adventure, Update

Monday was Mum’s first post-op appointment. She was so eager to have her staples removed. We planned to leave at 9:30 AM. Nature decided to throw us a curve, of course.
The temperature dropped significantly overnight. We awoke to a foreboding chill that the furnace didn’t dispel. Dad and I picked up the pace as the departure time loomed closer (it was Mum who was pokey, which is understandable given how difficult it is for her to maneuver around.)

I ducked into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Thunder rolled across the sky and reverberated deep in my chest. I looked up at the bathroom skylight, toothbrush stuck in my mouth and toothpaste froth dripping down, and I thought, “No way.” Rain drops splattered onto the hazy skylight plastic. A single heartbeat passed before a flash of lightening illuminated the dark sky. The rain turned to hail and then sleet in a matter of seconds. The “microblizzard” had arrived.

Mum asked, “What is that noise?”

I spat out my toothpaste and replied, “We’re having a thunder… snow.” It’s Colorado. It happens every so often. I always enjoyed these freak storms – when I was younger and did not have to drive in it.

Dad and I loaded Mum into the car, hung her wound vac from her visor arm (not exactly safe, of course) and tucked her temporary walker into the trunk. My hair was coated in mini sleet balls (they look like the white bean bag pellets.)

Driving became a chore. Dad did well as he squinted into the dense snowfall and navigated the icy streets. A blanket of grey slush and snow cloaked the black ice, the result of the earlier rain.

Powers Blvd. proved to be the safest route until we reached one of the numerous hills. Vehicles were stationary on the slope, emergency flashers piercing through the almost-whiteout conditions. We were forced to turn right. The road led us out of our way and in the opposite direction from our destination. Still, Dad trudged on.


We reached Austin Bluffs and found the road closed. Three police cars sat in an intersection and people, seeing the futility of the endeavor, tucked into a left-hand turn lane. Traffic flowed in the opposite direction and our procession of cars hardly moved. A snowplow ambled up the hill, fishtailing a bit. The nearest officer began to shunt traffic into the left-turn lane. Dad rolled down the window (Mum began one of her wordy explanations dealing with staples, doctor blah) and I explained that she was on a battery operated pump. Say no more. They waved us through and we followed the snowplow. We arrived at her surgeon’s office within five minutes.

The roads were clear once we left the building. They reflected the blue sky.



As for her post-op appointment:
Things are healing well. She is allowed to discontinue her Lovenox, Lasix and potassium. The incision line looks decent. Dr. Fischer is very pleased with her progress.

Her ankle swelling has gone down. Her discomfort is minimal. Her color looks fabulous, indeed the best I have seen it in two decades.

Her belly is black and blue from her thinner injections (the Lovenox) but I assured her that it won’t be permanent. My friend, Ox, has been on Lovenox for quite a while and was my saving grace when it came to questions. Mum has progressed nicely, as he said she would, and she is tickled to have one less medication in her system.

Her wounds are still mending and the vacuum will remain in place for a while. She did get about sans walker yesterday afternoon. Nurse R was not due until later in the day so Mum, free of her vac, made a break for it. She ambled to the bathroom and also raided the biscotti box.

She is still feeling a loss of coping skills. Her faith in God is shaken. She is depressed. I can’t force her to speak to her doctor about it nor can I force her to “snap out of it”. She has good reason to feel depressed.

I loathe people who use the “snap out of it” mantra. Depression can not always be controlled through sheer will. We can suffer from chemical depression or mental illness. Often, depression can be a loss of coping skills; an antidepressant will help us cope with things as we relearn how to apply our coping skills to those depressant situations.

Mum’s nurse visited today to change the wound vac bandages and take her vitals. Physical Therapy stopped by and set up a program for Mum.

We booked my flight (I return on Sunday) and Dad is going to find me a box. I loathe Denver International’s scales (strange how I can ship things home on my return trip yet my checked bag is always over the weight limit.)

Read more...

Pikes Peak

My first thunderstruck encounter with Colorado was when I laid eyes on Pikes Peak; my parents’ back deck had a breathtaking view of this extraordinary mountain cosseted in the Rocky Mountain Range (oft referred to as the Front Range; should you cross over the mountains and stand on the slopes, it would not be the back range.)

I’ve touched the top of Pikes Peak. I ventured up there when my Aunt Helen came out for a visit. We boarded the Cog Railway and ascended into the clouds. It was a lovely (and lengthy) trip filled with beautiful scenery. Once we passed the permafrost line (lichen or bust) we found ourselves gasping for oxygen and surveying a landscape of ice, brown granite rocks and solitude. There is a gift shop up there.

The City of Colorado Springs is ecstatic about its association with Pikes Peak. Their website has much to offer in the way of history.

Pikes Peak was named for Lt. Zebulon Pike, who first saw the mountain in 1806, but never reached the top…and predicted nobody ever would!

The earliest carriage road up the mountain was opened in 1889. The Pikes Peak Highway was built in 1915, at the then-staggering price of $350,000.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to the classic American anthem "America The Beautiful" after her trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1893.The annual Pikes Peak International Hill climb hosts top race car drivers who challenge the Peak at speeds of over 100 miles per hour.

The first Race to the Clouds was run in 1916, making it the second-oldest race in America…second only to the Indianapolis 500!

Every year, hundreds of hardy souls take part in the Pikes Peak Marathon, running from Manitou Springs to the summit…and back again!

Each New Year's Eve, a local climbing group [The Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club: http://www.adaman.org/] hikes up the mountain and presents a spectacular fireworks display that is visible as far away as Denver.

Pikes Peak Timeline
1803- Mountain is acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase

1806- "Discovered" and unsuccessfully climbed by Lt. Zebulon Pike

1820- Dr. Edwin James of the Long Expedition successfully climbed the mountain

1858- Mrs. Julia Archibald Holmes was the first woman to climb the mountain

1869- Gold rush lured prospectors and explorers to the Colorado Territory - "Pikes Peak or Bust"

1889- The first Carriage road was completed

1893- Katharine Lee Bates ascended the mountain in a prairie wagon, inspiring the words for "America the Beautiful"

1916- The Pikes Peak Auto Highway opened to the public

1963- Land above 14,000 feet declared a National Historic Landmark


Source: City of Colorado Springs - Topic Pages

I am captivated by the ecology and geology found here. My love of paleontology and the rock formations found in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming grew with each passing year. I was avid in my exploration of these areas prior to meeting Better Half – the marine biologist. I do not know if he found anything alluring about a bunch of old ugly rocks in the Badlands.

Geological Data:

Pikes Peak is not a volcano and has never been one. The granite rock of which the mountain is made was once hot molten rock located as deep as 20 miles beneath the earth's surface. The molten rock hardened and cooled below the earth's surface as much as one billion years ago. Great forces within the earth's crust pushed the rocks upward through a process called uplifting which created a dome-shaped mountain covered with a thick layer of soil and softer rock. Erosion and weathering loosened the softer layers and carried them away.

After hundreds of thousands of years of erosion and weathering, a tall granite mountain lay exposed like a large piece of stone waiting for the sculptor to shape it. Anyone seeing this ancient mountain would not have recognized it as the mountain we know today as Pikes Peak. It took the movement of huge glaciers that once existed on the peak to sculpt the mountain. The glaciers lasted about one million years and that ice age ended around 11,000 years ago.

Acting like a giant cookie cutter, the powerful bodies of ice gouged out the rock and left deep, straight-walled basins like the Bottomless Pit with its sharp drop of 1700 feet. The u-shaped canyons that lead down Pikes Peak were carved by the following "rivers of ice". Other v-shaped valleys owe their existence to ordinary streams.

Source: City of Colorado Springs - Topic Pages

I wish that I could return to that period in my life. (I would bring Better Half with me, of course.) If there is anything that I do miss about this area, it surely is having dinosaurs in my back yard. Ohio, for all her green splendor, hasn't anything like that.

Pikes Peak has live-time cameras set up. These views are from this afternoon:

Northwest Camera

North Camera

These were taken this afternoon:

Front Range, as seen from Holy Apostles parking lot

Pikes Peak framed by trees, Holy Apostles parking lot

Holy Apostles view

Peterson AFB Commissary parking lot.

Links:

City of Colorado Springs - Pike's Peak Panoramic Camera (As seen above; live updates.)

City of Colorado Springs - Topic Pages

Manitou Springs, Colorado at the foot of Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods

Pike National Forest, Colorado

Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club

Pike's Peak Cog Railway - The world's highest cog railroad, the highest Colorado railroad AND highest train in the United State

Read more...

Colorado Springs, still the Little London

WARNING: This post is cynical.

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit
and it goes by the name of London.
At the top of the hole sit the privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lonely zoo
turning beauty to filth and greed...
I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders,
for the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru
but there's no place like London!
~ Sweeney Todd, “No Place Like London”.

Colorado Springs is known as Little London for a reason. There once was a distinct separation of class. It was almost a parody of a Dickens novel. Times have changed but it will always have the Little London moniker.

This town seems intent to prove that it's a cesspool. It is currently embroiled in a ludicrous battle. Girls Gone Wild shot a video at a local club and the Opportunists (see Blizzard post below) flashed their titties with abandon; the club was promptly and temporarily shut down.

The Opportunists brazenly defend the right of Opportunist Bimbos to flash their titties. "It is free speech," they scream. "Our Opportunist Bimbos have the right to flash those teeny things!" Let's all flash our titties, shall we? It's PC! It's bold! It's our American right to show how White Trash we are!

I did write: White Trash. Loud, braying, puffed up, Opportunist White Trash. Classless and base, repugnant and puerile substandard knobs.

People wonder why I don't have any sympathy for the girls who end up gang raped after a night at the club. Oh poor little girls. Next time please forget your right to free speech and use your common sense.

Aut, you're a bitch!

No, I am a realist. Why should American rights equate to the right to make an ass of yourself and then cry "unfair!" when shit hits your fan? Why should society bail anyone out of their own mistakes?

"Ok Ms. Jones, tell me again how you were raped."

"I flashed my Opportunist titties, and let him fondle them. I did it for the video camera."

"Ms. Jones, video camera? Do you mean the group known for the porn series Girls Gone Wild?"

"Yes. I was standing on the chair and I bounced up and down so they would jiggle, and I let him put both hands on them. Then I left, and in the parking lot the guy grabbed me from behind and dragged me into his car."

"But Ms. Jones, you let him fondle your breasts and bottom in public..."

"Yes, but I didn't mean it!"

Aut hasn't any sympathy. Were it a man whipping out his penis in that night club, he would have been removed.

Colorado Springs passionately defends the club and the GGW group. Feminists, are you soft in the head? The girls were used as clueless tools to promote drink sales and porn (by a company that has found itself in trouble in the past due to using minors in its films.) We wouldn't tolerate that shit a decade ago. We would smack down the penis thinkers. Of course, this generation wouldn't know self-respect if it were branded on their... parts.

Aut, you're so angry. Are you a fundie conservative?

No. I'm not angry, either. I am disgusted and outspoken about it. I'm liberal on far too many things, but I have always stood against porn when it involves foolish girls who unwittingly debase their bodies for the sake of being naughty. Become a porn star and get paid, if you must copulate on film. Sign a contract that will protect you. I certainly won't respect you: you're a man-slave and a tool.

Finally, I need to add that the authorites were in the club because they are cracking down on underage drinking in that specific location. This would indicate that some of the girls in that club might be (probably were) minors. That isn't to say that the Opportunist titties belonged to minors. It does indicate that minors were exposed to porn, which is a crime that they, and the club and the adult Opportunists, can be prosecuted for. Teen Arrested for Posting Nude Pics

But really, it's all about free speech.

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and it's filled with people who are filled with shit!
And the vermin of the world inhabit it!
~ Sweeney Todd, "No Place Like London"

Read more...

The Great Colorado Blizzard 2009

Colorado weather has never impressed me. The current “blizzard” is no exception. The only danger during a Colorado Blizzard is the Coloradoan itself. Granted, the homeless population suffers and the wind chill and wet wind are a danger to them. God bless each of them as they endure this bitter weather.

Coloradoans are an odd breed. This “blizzard” has crippled the town. The streets are an icy morass, prismatic if not captivatingly crystalline in places and threateningly obsidian in others. The dastardly Coloradoan will not lay salt – “Oh God! The Environment,” they shriek even as they power up their diesel trucks, crank up their wood-burning pellet stoves and throw out another plastic Aquafina water bottle.

My Dad called the house yesterday and asked how the roads were. They were clear when I went out earlier in the day. By the time that he ventured homeward, they were a snarled mess of SUV carcasses and tow trucks. Were the roads that bad? Yes (thanks to the lack of salt combined with the idiocy of the typical Colorado transplant from California.) Dad made it safely home by doing a steady 20 mph. Dad is a native New Yorker wizened by his time driving in New York City.

My sojourn began when I noticed a few grains of snow. Yes, grains. Colorado has a variety of Snow Types. I left the house and found myself jostled among the panicked human herd.

Kmart was fairly empty but the supermarket, Safeway, was a nightmare. People were packed like sardines, jockeying at the check stands. Two sagging granolas tangled with a granny; Ensure cans clanged against the shopping cart rails and Kashi Go-Lean spilled onto the floor. People were churlish as they surveyed the quickly falling snow. Gazelles at a water hole waiting for a lion’s pounce could not have done a better job at conveying the level of anxiety exuding from these foolish Coloradoans.

Excuse me, but who in the hell shops moments before a blizzard?

Had this been Back East instead of The Land of Zero Oxygen, things would have been more civil. People would have checked their pantries five days ago (when the potential blizzard threat was broadcast). Any shopping today would be for last minute essentials, such as a dozen eggs or perhaps some fresh bread. It would certainly be orderly.

I walked to the car and chanted my now-too-familiar mantra: God get me out of this shithole and into a civilized place. God get me back to culture.

It’s a good mantra. It’s a variation of my old Colorado mantra. The new one simply adds “back” to it. It’s not a very clever mantra, but it wouldn’t do to walk through a snow-infested parking lot chanting “F____ Colorado and F_____ the people and their fake lives.” Of course, that’s a back up mantra and I do sometimes chant it when I drive.

Road rage. I have not lost my temper while driving in major cities back east. I lost my temper driving here on the very first day. I felt it was justified that I cuss out the ugly diesel truck with it’s dangling plastic scrotum (it’s a Colorado thang) as the driver, bereft of oxygen, was too stupid to hang up his phone and stay in his own lane. He would have ploughed into me had I not honked. He chose to give me the finger instead. I held my tongue. The poor SOB would have to go home and tell his wife some bi-polar disabled chick beat the crap out of him with his own arm, otherwise.

There are two types of people in Colorado: native and transplant. The native Coloradoans are a decent sort, very down to earth. Their families have lived here for at least three generations. They can drive in snow. The transplants are either military, Opportunists, or “needs must”. Of those three, only the opportunists give Colorado Springs and Denver a bad name. They comprise the largest portion of asshole motorists on the road; they are responsible for the ersatz eclectic feel that permeates the area like the stench of a rotting cat carcass accidentally left under an ex-girlfriend’s bed. They are as intelligent as primordial paramecium turds (think about it.) They are from CA and TX and they’ve come here because they can’t hack it in CA and TX. They came here to “be somebody” and we, the visitors and soldiers and “needs must” people, are forced to put up with them. The nature is irrefutably dazzling; the Opportunists occlude it.

Poor Dick’s coffeeshop was once a cool place to hang out. Someone once scrawled, “where will you be when the bomb drops” on the restroom wall there. I scrawled underneath it, “In NORAD’s shadow.” I would like to recant my graffiti response. I meant to say, “Trapped on Powers during a snow flurry, neck to neck with shitheads.”

“Aut, what were you doing out? You’re harping on them doing last minute shopping!”

I ran a quick errand. These people were buying enough food to last them a month. They were grabbing anything they could get their hands on and chucking it into a cart. Surely one person does not need 10 packs of hamburger buns and five bottles of ketchup!

My errand, by the way, was for “must haves” on the off chance of an early arrival of the Evil Red Dragon. I added ginger ale to the mix simply because I was shopping anyway. I was not trying to clobber a Boy Scout with a baguette, shove the cashier, nor whine that I simply had to be at the front of the line because my toddler was still in the car.

That wasn’t an exaggeration. The Opportunists were in rare form – they were displaying their true behavioral patterns. God bless that wretched Boy Scout.

I walked out of the grocery store and visited Walgreens instead. Customers in the line ahead of me were already commenting on what they had seen at the grocery store. Madness. Utter madness.

The natives and other people have been delightful to be around.

Ox emailed this morning to tell me that a mutual friend and fellow Buckeye, Ian, was in Denver for a wedding. Honey, I hope that the Denverites are behaving in a more civilized manner (they usually do.) He had better snowfall than we.

Snow in the screen.

The wind packed snow between screen and door.

Alas, poor fountain…

Brrrrrr. Black ice on the street but not much powder accumulation.

The back door is now frosted. Rather pretty!

Read more...

Colorado - a Sunday

Mum might come home tomorrow. We’re pleased as well as apprehensive. To clarify: I am apprehensive; her body has not reset its gastric clock.

Dad cleaned up the yard while I scoured a bathroom. I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. We needed to go shopping, and we had to make dinner. This cut a chunk out of my cleaning time. We then went to the hospital because the nurses and CNA’s would not “walk” Mum. They had taken her around the hall by the time that we arrived.

Tonight was a quick clean. I will scour the kitchen tomorrow. I intend to also do the television room, as it bears the scars of Mum’s nicotine habit. (I am a former smoker so I do know how difficult it is to quit. Mum spent fourteen days sans cigarettes without even so much as one withdrawal pang. She can make the effort to not smoke at home – we hope.)

Dad and I decided on steaks for dinner (with plenty left over for tomorrow.) He hasn’t grilled outdoors in two years. Wasps made themselves at home in his BBQ grill a season or two ago. The nest was abandoned and a good scouring took care of any dust. (I was secretly hoping to torch some bugs.)

It is almost 11 PM in Colorado. I’ve drained the last of my energy reserves. I’ll leave you with a few pictures from today.

MEAT!

Alas, poor Wasps, we knew you well.

Scrub, scrub, scrub.

The garden angel.

Her wings lay on the ground next to her.

She is a forlorn looking thing.

Colorado Blue Spruce

More Spruce

The fountain that we cobbled together today.

Another view.

Read more...