Persistency Pays!

I had my mammogram back in August and when I checked in, gave them a check for $150.00 for the cost of it - my insurance states that I must pay for it in full and then turn the bill in to them and they will reimburse me for part of the cost No problem...........

Of course the radiology bill is NOT included in that price so that bill was sent directly to me and I promptly paid it.

So imagine my surprise a couple days ago when I received an additional bill for my mammogram to the tune of ANOTHER $72.50! I called and got a very nice gal on the phone and explained that I had paid in full for the procedure at the time I checked in - she assured me that yes, they had my check for $150.00 but that the procedure was $222.50! I said no, they told me when I checked in that the cash payment was $150.00 - we went back and forth, back and forth - I kept my cool (although I was outraged by the entire deal!) and just kept explaining and explaining that this was unacceptable and that if the procedure was that much, they should have collected that much when I checked in!

After getting nowhere, I finally told her I would be going elsewhere to get my mammogram next year as that cash price was just outrageous - and all of a sudden, she changed her tune. She told me she was mistaken and didn't realize that I had paid up front (duh, I had only been telling her this for 5 minutes!!) and I was to be given the 50% cash discount since I HAD paid up front and that I not only DIDN'T owe the $72.50 but that they would be mailing me a refund check for around $38.00!! REALLY????

I feel sorry for the people that don't pick up the phone and question a bill if they think it's wrong! I stood my ground and stayed persistent - and the result was WAY better than I thought it would be! I think dinner out with my $38.00 sounds reasonable to me...........

Lake City/We Ran Out Of Gas..............

...on Cinnamon Pass!!! More on that later..........

We took off early Saturday morning (in the cold!!) with lots of layers on!! But the cold was worth it when we climbed a little ways and saw this magnificent view!!

It seemed around every corner that the views just got better and better!!

The sun was just peeking through the aspens when I took this shot!

We had taken a shortcut up a trail to get us over to Stony Creek Pass and then eventually Cinnamon Pass! The views as we were climbing showed off the aspens in their peak and even though the trail was pretty rocky at times, we loved it!

This is a shot taken of some of the rugged mountain terrain we were on!

Before we headed over to Cinnamon Pass, we had to ride on a main road - pretty dusty as there was a lot of traffic so one more item to add to the pack, a kerchief to put across Glenn's face!!

We stopped for lunch at a ghost town called "Eureka" - this was the view from where we had our picnic!

So we headed up Cinnamon Pass and were about a mile from the top when the ATV just stopped - I asked Glenn what happened and he turned to me and said, "We ran out of gas" - REALLY???? The owner of the campground had assured us we would have plenty of gas to make this 70 mile trip but apparently not!!! BUT, Glenn told me there was a small reserve tank that he could switch on and that would take us about 6 more miles - great - except for the fact we were still about 12 to 15 miles from our cabin!!

We made it to the top - 12,650 elevation!!

There was no one at the top waiting for us with a can of gas so we did the next best thing - we started coasting with the engine off - after all, it was downhill for a long ways!! It was crazy coasting along with NO noise from the ATV - people would pass us going up and look at us as if to say - WOW, what a quiet ATV!! I'd check out the back of their trucks but alas, no cans of gas!! When we would come to a level part, Glenn would start the engine for a few feet till we started going downhill again and then he'd shut it off. This went on for a LONG time!! We started laughing about it as we were coasting and it was darn funny when you thought about it!!

Let me tell you, those 6 miles stretched out for what we needed them to as we made it back to camp just fine!! What a day - What a laugh!! And now there's another item to put on the list - a one gallon can of gas to strap on the front for cases just like this!!

So all in all, one AWESOME weekend!! We saw some gorgeous country, rode over some pretty rocky, rough trails and just had ourselves a great time!! One more weekend for the memory book!

Lake City - Castle Lakes Campground

We discovered this place about 3 years ago and now it's our place to stay every year when we come to Lake City!! By the way, sometimes when you hear a town name that has "city" in it, you think of a large city!! Not in this case - this is a tiny little town with probably a population of about 400 people!

We stayed in a different cabin this year and it was right across from the second lake they own so it was nice and private! But we did discover that this cabin was smaller and we felt a little cramped so will go back to our "original" place next year!!

I thought the picture below was kind of unique - Glenn just looked at me like I was crazy when he saw it - oh well, I can be different............

I snapped this picture on one of our evening walks!! The main lake is just beautiful, even in the evening!

Saturday morning when we got up and were ready to leave, Glenn said it was pretty cold out - try REALLY cold out - he had to scrape the ice off the seat of the ATV which you can actually see in the picture below, right towards the front of it!! I checked the car thermometer - it was 33 degrees when we headed out at 8:30am!!

Here's a picture of our cute little cabin!

With the aspen covered mountains at the side and back of this lake, the reflections are just amazing! I wanted to capture this dead tree which was standing in the lake!

And of course, one of my all time favorite pictures that I take every year - I actually had this shot blown up a couple of years ago and had it framed!

They actually have WiFi at the main lodge now - but I was glad I didn't bring my computer - kind of takes away from the rustic atmosphere I think! Next blog - Cinnamon Pass!

Lake City - Engineer Pass

When the alarm clock went off at 5:30, I sincerely hoped that my 3:00am headache would be gone - after all, this was my FAVORITE weekend of the year and I sure didn't need or want any complications - but it wasn't - so I downed a couple of headache relievers and we were off to my favorite destination in Colorado - Lake City!!

We had already decided that this year we would stop and eat at Dottie's - it's kind of a hole in the wall at Sargeant's where Glenn hunts about every year! But I KNEW it would be better than McDonald's where we were forced to eat last year!! By this time the sun was well up and it was turning out to be one gorgeous day!!

Alas, Dottie's was NOT open - so into Gunnison we went and the little cafe where we wanted to eat last year was not even busy so we sat right down and ordered our breakfast - large portions, small booths and fairly good food!! While Glenn paid the bill, I told him I was heading next door to get us turtle mochas to go - imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw they ALSO served breakfast - not JUST breakfast, but crepes - my FAVORITE thing to eat in the morning!! So I tucked that little bit of knowledge in my brain, knowing that next year, we would stopping here for breakfast!!

Lake City soon came into view and we stopped at the information building to get a map of the Alpine Loop, which we knew we would be taking!! The guy told us there was an ATV staging area just a little ways up the road and we found it with ease and soon were on our way!!

The aspens were in full color - probably peak weekend was the weekend before but it didn't matter to us - we started up Engineer Pass and it was so beautiful, we didn't know which way to even look!! It's always fun to look back down after you have climbed for a while and we saw several fishermen fishing in the stream below us!

As we climbed higher and higher, the views were even more breathtaking and I was snapping pictures around every corner - the scenery just kept getting better and better!

By this time, we had turned off on a trail called Nellie's Trail and it proved to be my favorite trail out of our 2 days of ATVing.

There was snow on the distant mountains and it made for a dramatic backdrop against the gold aspens!

Most of the aspens are gold - but once in a while you'll find a patch of orange colored aspens and they sure stand out!

We had bought a neat ATV pack to put on the back and it worked out great!! A huge zipper bag for the extra coats and sweatshirts as we shed them during the day and also a great place to hold the maps and a blanket for our picnic! On each side of that were small coolers for our lunch and drinks!

It was a great day on the ATV and I couldn't imagine that Saturday would be any prettier than what we had already seen - but I was mistaken...........

We headed out to Castle Lake Campgrounds where I had rented a cabin for the next 2 nights! The place was as beautiful as always with their 2 private lakes and our cabin was cute as could be! It was naptime for Glenn and a new book to start for me............... To Be Continued.........

Fall Has Arrived!

September 23rd - the first day of Autumn!! HAPPY FALL!

And also just for the record, it's the first time in 20 years that a full moon has fallen on the first day of fall! ENJOY IT!!

Below is what I see on one of the curves when I go home from work - it's only a couple more miles to our house and this rock formation with the gorgeous trees makes me smile every time I drive by!

And the aspens below are at the bottom of our driveway - you'll notice the different shades as some of our trees haven't turned quite yet while others are already dropping their leaves!

We'll be heading to Lake City VERY early on Friday morning for our annual 3 day weekend so more aspen pictures to follow................

September......

It FELT so good to stay home this last weekend!! Although I love the summer when we are gone virtually every weekend, I get to the point that I actually miss staying home! It was fantastic to go home Friday night and KNOW that we were spending the weekend at HOME...... well, most of it anyway!

Saturday morning was our subdivision garage sale - Glenn rarely gets to go to any as I usually go with Jessi up in Denver, so we promptly got in the car and headed out at 8:00 am to see if there were any bargains to be had!! I have found that unless garage sale participants have kids in the house, they really don't have much to look at!! We stopped at several where you could tell, it was just ADULT stuff and didn't find anything, although it was fun to visit with the neighbors. But soon we found one that had KIDS stuff and now in my possession are 6 monster trucks - excellent shape - along with a pickup and an attachable trailer behind to haul them!! Kylan and Evan will love them - and they're in such good shape that 4 of them will be given to them at Christmas!

I also found a neat floor lamp with an African type theme that I bought for $3.00 and it's now sitting up in my bedroom and looks great!

After the garage sale, it was time to go cut wood - not my idea of fun (or probably Glenn's either) but it's something that has to be done before winter hits! Luckily, (or unluckily) it was a gorgeous day - downright hot when you're cutting and hauling wood! I was exhausted by the time we got back home as I'm not used to that "physical" labor like Glenn is!! And sporting sunburned arms and a nasty cute on my forearm from a branch!

When we got back from cutting wood, I noticed this small buck was sleeping in the shade right beside the house - I tried several times to get a picture of him but he would spook each time - I FINALLY got a shot though (disregard the ladder) and am now wondering if it's Freckles or Speckles - gosh, those little fawns sure do grow up!!


Sunday when we came out of church, Glenn noticed something - a bear paw print on 2 of the windows and one of the doors!! The car is kept in the garage so of course we didn't notice them when we left for church but the sun was hitting it just right when we came out and sure enough, the paw prints were easy to recognize! Guess the bear was peeking inside to see if I forgot any groceries!!!

On the way home, we pulled over on Edlowe Rd where we used to live and I snapped this picture of the mountain and the turning trees - this last weekend and next weekend are peak for the aspens - and I'm patiently anticipating my FAVORITE weekend of the year - the last weekend in September!!

ONE FANTASTIC FRIDAY!!

Where was I at 10:00am this morning??? Taking an early break to BOOK MY GORDON LIGHTFOOT TICKETS!! I'm sure I was one of the first ones online to book - and both friends I talked to were BOTH excited to join me so I bought 3 tickets - balcony, front row dead center!! The acoustics in the place are AWESOME - another friend and I sat in the same seats (that I just booked) for a Jim Brickman concert and it was fantastic so even though we are a ways back, the music will sound just as good!!

So I pick up the newspaper and on Fridays there is a "GO" section, that talks about upcoming events and movies and reviews, etc. etc. Of course there on the second page is the advertisement for Gordon Lightfoot and I just smiled, knowing that MY tickets were already purchased!! And then I glanced below where there was an advertisement to the Buell Theater in Denver and lo and behold, the musical Mamma Mia was coming to Denver! This musical has been on my bucket list ALSO, ever since I saw the movie (which I've seen HOW many times now since I own it????) I frantically researched the Buell Theater online, found out the dates and called Jessi who was just as excited as I was and of course our first thought was if Jaime worked that weekend - she did - darn - so our only choice would be a Saturday night performance.

I immediately got online to see about tickets - tried and tried and it kept popping up that I had to call in - that didn't sound good at all - but I did end up calling the place just to see what was going on with the tickets. In the AFFORDABLE price range, there were ONLY single seats left - which meant all 4 of us would have to sit by ourselves - that was disappointing as 1/2 the fun is sitting together!!

We checked into Sunday night - yes we could sit together BUT that would mean I'd get home about 1:00 or 1:30am and after calling Jill on her lunch hour and asking her, she said that Sunday night just wouldn't work for her so we were back to Sat night!!

It was time to make a decision- I knew whatever remaining tickets were left would be going FAST - gosh, why hadn't I seen this ad a couple of weeks ago when the tickets went on sale???

SO I made a decision - I ordered the tickets - the expensive ones - and all 4 of us could sit together!! Yes, again we're in the balcony (can you believe the expensive ones are also the entire balcony??? ) At least we're not in the back row, we're in the 3rd row of the balcony, dead center!! And I'll just pay the extra cost myself as a special treat for my wonderful girls!!!

We've already decided to take the light rail to downtown Denver so we don't have to worry about driving at night AND I'm excited about that too!! We'll leave early enough to eat dinner before the musical and it will be a GREAT time for the 4 of us!!!

I won't be too excited to see my credit card bill this next month BUT sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!!! A concert AND a musical in Novemeber - I'm ONE EXCITED GAL!

Back Home............

but not a successful hunt! Glenn arrived home yesterday and although him and Bob had a great time, there was no meat to put in the freezer!

And I'm sure that means he'll try to snag another tag somewhere and go hunting again.... sigh....

As we were talking last night, I asked him if he had taken a pillow out of the camper to sleep on as his was STILL on the bed when he left!! He said no, he forgot his pillow!! I chuckled softly to myself as I always feel bad when we go camping and I forget something! Then he tells me that he ALSO forgot the can of condensed milk (the thick, syrupy stuff) that he uses to make a cherry dessert in his dutch oven - he tried using real milk but it didn't work at all!!

We have a long standing tradition when Glenn goes hunting - he leaves me little notes all over the house that say, "I miss you", "I love you", or "Be back soon" and it's always a test to see where he puts them! I in turn, write him cards for every day he is gone as to what I THINK I'll be doing that day and just cute little things to make him smile!

When he returned home yesterday, he asked me if I had found all the notes and I said yes, I was sure I had - I had them lined up on the table and he said I was missing one!! His first response was, "You DID look in your camera case, didn't you?" He knew I was heading to Denver last weekend and I ALWAYS take pictures of the grandkids!!! Lo and behold, I DID NOT open my camera over the weekend, Jessi used hers and emailed me photos for my blog!! So I went and got my camera and sure enough, the last note was there..............

I haven't checked the laundry room but I have a feeling there's a HUGE pile of clothes from his hunting expedition, just waiting................

Concert Bucket List

DO you have a bucket list for concerts???? I do - and I have to admit that the older I get, the less excited I become about concerts! Maybe it's my age, maybe it's the driving to the place and trying to figure out where to park (and pay THAT price on top of the ticket) or maybe it's the late night driving home - whatever it is, I haven't been to a concert in years!

Most of the artists I have wanted to see over the years have gotten crossed off my list - Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith, Aaron Tippin, Herman's Hermits, The Turtles, The Dave Clark Five, Collin Raye, Jim Brickman, Rascal Flatts, Diamond Rio, and the list goes on and on................

But one name has remained on my list for years and years and years - Gordon Lightfoot - and I'm sure many of you don't even know who he is! Remember "If You Could Read My Mind", "Sundown", and "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald"??? If anybody would ask me what kind of music he sings, the only answer I could give is "folk music" - and I'm sure that's not a very good description at all!! He was quite popular in the 70's and 80's and I used to listen to his music for hours on end!! An awesome composer - a unique singer.

Anyway, I'm watching the news this morning and up pops an advertisement for an upcoming concert at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs for guess who??? Yep - GORDON LIGHTFOOT!!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!! I will FINALLY, FINALLY get to see this guy in concert!!

Tickets go on sale this Friday morning - I have no idea how much they'll cost, nor do I care!! I AM ORDERING A TICKET!!! I've emailed a friend to see if she is interested in going, and if not, I'll probably go by myself - or I may get a ticket for Glenn, even though he is not much interested in that type of music!

So I'll not only get to see this great guy in concert, but I'll also be crossing off the LAST name on the concert list! But who knows, I may add another one someday.............

Denver Happenings

As of Friday morning around 4:00am, I was a hunting widow for the week!! The nice things about having Glenn gone for a week are: 1) I don't have to cook for an entire week if I don't choose to 2) The house stays picked up at ALL times. The not so good things about him being gone are: 1) I miss him and really don't like being by myself at night 2) Something usually breaks down or goes wrong when he is gone! (Seeing as how it's only Monday night, I feel fortunate that whatever is going to break down, HASN'T yet!!)

I headed to Denver Friday after work and spent the weekend at Jaime's house!

Jaime's Surgery - Jaime had her tonsils out last Wed. - I guess she's probably doing as well as can be expected but she was hurting a lot when I was there and it's always hard for a mom to see her child hurt, no matter HOW old they are!!! Her throat not only hurt, but her tongue was very swollen and her ears felt like they were on fire! She could talk a little bit but most of our conversations were pretty one-sided! I know each day she'll feel better and better......

Garage Sales - Saturday morning Jessi and I headed to Caribou Coffee for our first stop!! I had read online that coffees would be 1/2 price that day if you wore your favorite "team" shirt!! So I emailed Jessi and asked her if she had any shirts as I didn't and she did!! Hawkeye sweatshirts were our team of the day and the 1/2 priced coffees tasted wonderful! We hit a LOT of garage sales - I wasn't looking for anything in particular but managed to get a 3 tiered shoe rack to put by the door for $2, 13 paperback books for $1, a game for Evan and Mackenzie for Christmas for $2, 4 kids books for $1, a fan that looks brand new for $7, and a clip on lamp for my scrapbooking table for $2!!!! But the best buy of the day was a the LARGE Fischer Price barn that opens up for $1 - there were a couple of animals that DID go with the barn and several that were of a hard plastic that really didn't go with the barn but the lady was selling them with it!! As we put the barn in the car, all those cute little animals fell out - Jessi picked one up and saw it had a small magnet on the bottom of each one and then we realized they actually went with another toy in the pile - a large treehouse type toy!! Jessi took the little animals back up to tell the lady they went with another toy and she said, Just take the other toy too!! So I REALLY got a bargain!! The treehouse toy is the cutest thing ever - you sit the animals in special spots and there's talking and music and numbers and colors - Mackenzie loved it and she'll find it wrapped up and under the tree this Christmas!!

The Playground - Jessi and I took all the kids down to the playground and the boys rode their bikes with training wheels all the way down and all the way back up!! They looked SO CUTE! It was downright HOT and I was glad to get back up to the house where it was cooler!!

Food and Drink - I made a batch of chicken and noodles which I know Jaime loves!! She won't be able to eat much of it for a couple of days yet, so we froze most of it but I know she'll enjoy it when she's able to eat it!! After our dinner Sat. night, I made a batch of peach fizzies which the kids love!! Kenzie is a riot to watch when she drinks them and her face was one sticky mess!!


Here are a few pics at the park!! (Courtesy of Jessi as my camera never made it out of my bag this time!!) The one below is one of those crazy pics where NO ONE LOOKS GOOD but it's so funny that you just have to post it!! Check out the kids' red faces from the heat!!

Jessi's House - Jessi and the kids had LOTS of new things to show me, including her newly painted bedroom walls which look WONDERFUL!! It's always nice to get an adjustment and since my lower back had been bothering me, I really needed it! Jessi also taught me how to use a jump drive on my computer - I'm pretty sure Robby had taught me at one time how to use it, but of course I had forgotten!

Walmart - Sunday I took Rayna and Kylan to Walmart as I needed to pick up a few things and also decided to get donuts for all of us! Both kids started arguing on the way back to the parking lot about WHO got to carry the bag of donuts!! Note to self: next time put ONE donut in ONE bag so each child gets to hold a BAG!!! After listening to them fight and bicker on the way home, I ended up holding the donuts in my lap!! And I also left the bag of things I bought on Jaime's dining room table - darn!!

It was good to get home on Sunday - our weekends have been filled for probably the last 2 months and all I wanted to do was to sit on the couch and watch TV - of course that was AFTER unpacking, laundry, unloading the dishwasher, paying bills, you get the picture!! But I'll leave you with this darling picture which makes me smile!

September Happenings..........

Evan and Kylan are starting pre-school today!! It's just hard for me to imagine that they're already at that age............ I wish I could be an observer of this first day of school........... And I can't wait to hear about it from BOTH boys!!


Jaime had her tonsils out yesterday - she came through the surgery just fine and is recuperating at home for a couple of weeks - and I'll be taking up some homemade chicken noodle soup for her to have when she's up to eating!! Because of all the strep throats she has ALREADY had this year, the doctor advised her to get those tonsils out and now seemed just as good a time as any!

Glenn leaves EARLY tomorrow morning for his annual hunting trip - I'll be a hunting widow for a week but as you've probably already guessed, I basically have the time already filled up!! I'll head for Denver after work on Friday to spend the weekend and Monday night is choir girls night out and Tuesday a friend and I are doing dinner after work - Maybe I'll stay home and catch up on the laundry Wed. night............

One of our major accomplishments DID get done a couple of weeks ago - the water pipes were dug out and re-buried LOWER and we're hoping they won't freeze this winter when we go on vacation! One more thing, crossed off that never-ending list!!

Next on the list is cutting wood for our wood stove - and finishing up the stove pipe change! Our wood stove is in the lower level and because of the angle of the pipe going outside, the stove didn't draw well and everytime you opened it to put wood in, smoke would pour out!! And I just can't handle smoke as it makes me cough! So the only other alternative is to put the stove pipe up through the main level (behind the hutch) and have it go out through the roof! It has turned out to be ONE major project and one more piece needs to be ordered before the job can be finished!! None too soon either as it's getting pretty chilly at night and soon we'll need the warmth of that stove!! A couple days ago it was 28 degrees when we got up!

Even though fall doesn't OFFICIALLY begin until Sept. 23rd, my fall decorations are out!! It must be time to start drinking apple cider and THINKING about eating pumpkin pie - yum!!

Labor Day Weekend - 2010

I am one of the lucky ones who does not have to LABOR on labor day weekend! And because we close at noon on Fridays before holidays, it was a 3 1/2 day weekend for me!!

Glenn and I were off for our last camping trip of the season as soon as we could finish up the packing and merge onto the traffic filled highway!! The destination for the weekend was Marshall Pass - the same area where Glenn will be hunting!!

I had a spot all picked out from a previous trip over there but there was a huge mudhole in front of the road to get into it and somehow, the spot just didn't look as great as it did a few years ago - oh well - Glenn assured me we would find one on the other side of the pass and we did - probably the most beautiful spot we have ever camped in!! This was our view!

Did you notice that the aspens are still green??? Even though we've had some cold weather, the trees haven't started to change over in that area which I'm really excited about - if fall is running a little bit late there, then the trees should still be gold when we head to Lake City at the end of the month!!

We took a ride on the ATV that evening after roasting brats on the fire and it was darn cold that night - I even woke up cold and had to tell Glenn to scoot over next to me so I could have some of his body heat - BRRRR!!! The furnace felt good that morning!!

I dressed in layers that day - a tank top, a long sleeved t-shirt, a short sleeved t-shirt, a heavy pullover sweatshirt AND a hooded sweatshirt!! For the lower part, I had on kneesocks, long johns and fleece pants!! Glenn and I both looked like we were heading to Alaska!! But believe me, when you take off at 8:30am, it's DARN cold riding the ATV!! It was that morning that I remembered what I forgot (does that make sense?) - the suntan lotion!!

After 7 hours in the sun, my face was pretty crisp so the next day I was reduced to wearing a ballcap under my hood!! I despise wearing hats - don't get me wrong, I LOVE hats - I just can't wear them - they make my head itch!! But I just didn't have a choice so I put up with it!!

We were camped just about 3 miles from the actual Continental Divide!! And if you'll peak at the elevation on the sign, you'll know why it was so cold riding! And the majority of the time we were a LOT higher than that!!

I LOVE this spot on top -you can see for miles and miles - I could see a bunch of towers on one mountain and then finally realized I was looking at Monarch Pass - or should I say looking DOWN on Monarch - we were pretty high!!

We stopped and had our picnic high on this mountaintop and enjoyed the sunshine!!

One of my favorite spots to ride through were the aspen groves - acres and acres of aspens!! I love their white bark with the black spots and I'd give anything to come back to this spot in a couple of weeks when they will be gold!!

We spent 3 days riding around the mountain - I think we hit every trail there was to take!! Most of the trails were pretty decent but there a few times I chose to get off and walk!! Evenings were spent playing Scrabble and Upwords, eating, and listening to my IPOD while sitting around the campfire! Below is a picture of our campsite!

It was a glorious weekend with excellent weather and I was sorry to see it come to an end!! But I'll leave you with a little preview of what is to come VERY soon!! This little branch decided to turn early and in just a couple of weeks, every aspen around will be turning gold!!