The Hayman Fire - 10 Years Later

The weekend that wasn't supposed to be but WAS!!  We didn't get to go camping the weekend before as planned because the pickup was STILL broke down with the transmission!  I'll spare you all the lovely details we've had with the truck by just saying Glenn has taken out the transmission to be fixed, then reinstalled it after it was rebuilt - didn't work - took it out ONCE again and the guy worked on it - STILL DIDN'T work - and as I'm writing this (2 weeks after we started dealing with this truck), the guy is here AGAIN trying to get it to run!!

Needless to say, that's why we didn't get to go the last weekend so we put off our little trip for the Memorial Day Weekend, just knowing the truck would be done and you guessed it, it wasn't!  By this time, Glenn was pretty fed up with the whole situation so he said we would take the white work truck and MAKE it work with the camper and ATV trailer - and it worked just fine!!

Our plan was to leave work at 1:00 last Friday - well you can guess that didn't happen but we did manage to get out of here by 3:30 and head for home to hook everything up and get on our way!  We chose to go someplace close and went back to the Pike Nat'l Forest where we had hunted mushrooms the weekend before!  Glenn figured it wouldn't be busy - WRONG!!

I think the white truck looks quite nice with the white camper!!

We found a place to camp right off the main road and got set up - the night was beautiful but by the time we had a drink and appetizer and then cooked dinner, it was getting dark!  At that point, we really hadn't decided if we could even have a fire or not as the website we had looked at didn't explain it very well.  So I told Glenn that we would hop on the ATV and check out a couple of campsites and if they had a fire, it would be OK for us too!!  We checked and they did have a fire -but it was so late we didn't start one on Friday night - and that was a shame because it was the ONLY night we could have had a fire with the windy weekend we had!!

Saturday morning dawned COLD and WINDY!!  But we were excited to ATV (first time of the season) so we cooked a great breakfast, packed a lunch, donned our warm clothes and headed out!

The first thing we noticed when we went outside was the smell of smoke!  I figured it was from campsites - Glenn figured it was just the burned smell of the trees from the Hayman Fire, 10 years ago!  BOTH of us were wrong - as we got to higher ground, there was a complete smoke haze on both sides of us - kind of creepy in fact!!  So as you can see in this next picture, it's pretty hazy in the background!! (We never did figure out where all the smoke came from!!)

The following pictures won't look like my usual Colorado pictures of our beautiful mountains and our fantastic lush forests of pine and aspen trees!  They will show the aftermath of the fire from 2002 that burned up 138,000 acres and completely burned up 133 homes!  The fire started on June 8, 2002, and was finally contained on July 2nd - wow - I had forgotten how long of a time it took!!

Even though there were thousands of burned trees, the aspen trees have come back and are about 5 to 6 feet tall now and quite thick!!  The little pine trees though have years and years of growth before they'll get to be their usual height!

This is a large quartz rock that must have fallen off this mini mountain that was pretty white!  There were quartz rocks all over the place!

The wind got so bad that we just headed back to the camper for lunch and the afternoon - I spent the rest of the day reading and Glenn took a nap and then went out digging for rocks (not my idea of fun).  The wind kept blowing and blowing and even cooking outside on the little gas grill was a chore!  It didn't stop either which meant no campfire for the night!  I retaliated by just eating the marshmallows right out of the bag!

Usually the wind stops blowing during the night but Saturday night it didn't - it was a tough night sleeping!  And I just knew that when we woke up Sunday morning the wind would stop and we would have a perfectly lovely day - wrong again!  The wind was just as bad and it was probably around 30 degrees out when we got up - brrrrrrr!!

I didn't dress warm enough that day - I should have had one extra layer on because I was cold all morning!  My mistake!

This is a neat shot - I didn't even know if it would take because of shooting into the sun but it was a neat backdrop with those dead trees!

Glenn went out by himself in the afternoon and came back to tell me that there was a mini pond/mud hole on one of the trails he was on and that an ATV was stuck in it and another one was trying to pull it out!  Guess what - the 2nd ATV got stuck too!!  I made Glenn take me by it and it was so funny I had to shoot a picture of it!  Now what dummy would even TRY to get through that - obviously not a very smart one!!

Even though most of our riding was through the burned area, it was still interesting to see and nothing like I had ever seen before!

Sunday night once again proved too windy for a campfire - it just wasn't meant to be on this camping trip!!  But we still had a good time and even did some riding on Monday, since we didn't have to be home at any particular time!  Coming back to the campsite, Glenn said we had company and sure enough the forest service people were there - they advised us that we had camped too far in - you are only supposed to be one car length off the main road - REALLY?????  I've never heard of that before!!  As we were walking away, I looked at Glenn and smiled because of all things to forget, we FORGOT to put the new tags on the ATV and they hadn't caught it!!  But then - BUSTED - she walked back over and said, by the way...............I explained that yes, we had bought the tags but had forgotten to put them on since it was our first time out this season and she let it go at that...........

I'll leave you with this last picture - mainly because I can't get it to scoot up so I can write underneath it!!

I Love SQUARE!

My Mothers Day gift from Glenn was setting on the deck when I arrived home today! I could hardly wait to open up those 2 boxes and see my new gift!!! Check it out!!!

Even though all the mugs are not showing, I did get a place setting for 8!  I had wanted the "square" plates and bowls for a long time and when Glenn said he would get them for my Mothers Day gift, I didn't hesitate!!  I checked all the local Walmarts around but the place settings for 4 were not even carried in Denver so I ordered it all online!!

Come over for dinner sometime so I can show off my new dishes!

Mushroom Hunting in Colorado!

We were supposed to be camping this weekend...........we're not!!  But more on that later............

Glenn decided this morning we were going to go mushroom hunting in the burn area from the Hayman fire which was 10 years ago!!  We had no idea if it was the right time here in Colorado, but it's certainly the right time in Iowa where we used to hunt them!

It's been years since we've tasted morel mushrooms!!  Glenn said he used to pick them by the bushel back in Iowa and sell them for $1.00 a pound!!  Want to know what they go for now???  $25.00 to $30.00 a pound!!

I can hardly remember how we even cooked them - I think we coated them in an egg/milk mixture (or maybe I'm thinking of french toast???  Maybe it's just egg.......) and then dip them in either corn meal or flour and fry them!!  They were delicious!!

So we set out this morning with 2 bags - Glenn was super optimistic - I was just kind of along for the ride!

We stopped in Florissant to grab coffee to go and then headed to the area where the fire was!!  It's still kind of strange to see all those standing burned trees, but actually there were more on the ground than standing!  It was pretty tough walking - lots of branches and downed trees and uneven ground!  We walked and we looked but found no mushrooms!

It was amazing though how many aspens were blooming (small ones) and  how much grass, flowers and plants were on the forest grounds.  Nice to know nature is replenishing itself!

After about 1 1/2 hours of traipsing through the area, my leg was telling me it was time to get back to the car and rest.  We ended up going to another area but I stayed in the car while Glenn looked a little bit - still no mushrooms - which means something else will have to be cooked for dinner!

Glenn and I both came to the conclusion that we might be too early, we might be too late, the elevation might be too high, the deer and the elk could have eaten all of them or maybe they just don't grow in the mountains.................whatever the reason, we sure didn't find any!

Now why didn't we get to camp?  Well, you remember a while back that the transmission went out of the truck - Glenn finally had time to get it out and take it to a person who was going to rebuild it!  (a referral from a friend!)  In the meantime, we had decided to go camping the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend to miss all the people who camp that weekend - a great idea if it would have worked!!

The transmission was delivered but an "o" ring had broke off on the way down so the guy had to run to Colorado Springs and get another one and put it on, so Glenn didn't get it put back in that night.

The next day it was put in - Glenn stayed late at work to finish up and then took the truck for a test drive - but he only made it out on the road and to the stop sign before the truck stopped and wouldn't budge - he called a friend to tow it back to the office...........

After calling the guy, Glenn did a couple of diagnostic tests on the truck and figured out no fluid was running through which meant it was the transfer case on the transmission - so guess what - Glenn had to pull the transmission back out of the truck!  The guy is supposed to come down tomorrow (Monday) to fix it and then Glenn will once again have to put it back in - a time consuming task!!

So now our camping trip has been bumped to this next weekend, Memorial Day Weekend - but I'm not holding my breath or anything...................

Mothers Day 2012

What an honor it is to be the mother of 3 wonderful daughters who are now mothers' themselves!!  It's always a special time when the 4 of us celebrate together!!

This year I got each of the girls a frame that is entitled either "Big Brother, Little Sister" or Big Sister, Little Brother" with a really neat saying about how the siblings sometimes fight but at the end of the day are still best friends!!  And I even put pictures in the frames so they're all ready to hang!  And yes, the girls loved them!!

 We celebrated by eating lunch together at Red Lobster!!  We ordered so much shrimp that we ended up bringing a lot of it back to the house - but the best part were the drinks!!  Not only is their pina colada fantastic but their berry mango daiquiri was AWESOME!!!  I am trying to figure out what's in it but have just decided I'll have to go back there and WATCH the bartender make it!!  They were delicious!!!

Rayna took a picture of us which isn't the greatest but doesn't matter - it's still a special picture!!

And what did I get for Mothers Day and an early birthday gift????  My "Rollin' With The Flow" hard bound book of my blogs for the last year!!!  I have come to LOVE this annual gift more than anyone can imagine and this is year #4 that I've received it!!  I can't tell you how much fun it is to read back through the previous years and look at the pics I posted!!!  I have all 4 books on my coffee table so they're all within reach......And check out the new color this year - YELLOW!!!  I LOVE IT!!

After the days festivities, Jaime, Jessi and I put on Mama Mia and packaged up pills!!!  Jaime is going on a missions trip to Nicaragua as the pharmacist so all the drugs must be pre-packaged into little bags with labels in Spanish on the outside!!  The trip isn't until August but all of the medical supplies have to be sent out Tuesday!!  She's had a couple of "pill packing" parties but still had about 10,000 pills left and Jessi and I volunteered our services!!  We enjoyed every minute of it as we watched the movie and sang along!!

Thanks girls for a VERY special day - you are all the best!!

Kylan's 5th Birthday

We love packing our weekends with event after event!!!  And after the ballgames, it was time to celebrate Kylan's 5th birthday!!!  Jessi and Gary got Kylan this helmet that looks like a shark and he looks so cute in it!!

I decided to get Kylan this little vest that is an "adventure" vest which kind of looks like the older guys fishing vests!!  But the neat thing is they have all this stuff to match and go with it!!!  So Jill got the bug catcher, the actual bug holder and a cute little lantern to match it and Joleen got the canteen to match!!!  He loved it all and would put it on and head outside in it!!

Lots of smiles from the birthday boy!!!

Kenzie, Aleah and Evan were all excited to eat the cupcakes - lemon with cream cheese frosting - yum!!!

Kylan doesn't officially turn 5 till the 25th of May and will actually get to celebrate his birthday at Disneyworld since the Smiths' are heading to Florida next week to attend Brads' daughters' graduation!!  Happy Birthday Kylan!!!

T-Ball and Baseball

BRRRR - does this look like a nice sunny day to enjoy the boys' baseball games???  NOT!!!  We woke up Saturday morning in Denver to gray, cloudy skies and COLD weather!!!  Luckily we all brought jackets and blankets to the fields and as you can see, we were all bundled up, trying to stay warm!!

Kylan's practice and game was first so Evan cuddled up to Jessi to try and stay warm!!

Meanwhile Brad was helping out with practice and it was so cute to see these little ones try and catch the ball!

Kylan was on the 3 and 4 year old team as he hasn't turned 5 yet so his was t-ball!  He did a great job of hitting the ball and somehow I must have caught him batting on the movie camera instead of the regular camera - but he was cute as can be!!

Next up was Evan and because he is in the 5 and 6 six year old group, he actually plays regular baseball - but if they haven't hit the ball after 6 tries, then the t-ball stand is set up and they can hit from it.  Evan did great and is quite the little hitter!!!

We sure enjoyed watching them, despite the cold weather!!  Jill and Aleah came down from Ft. Collins so the little girls loved playing on the playground while we watched the games!!

The little guys only have one more practice and game in this particular season - so we'll look forward to seeing them play next fall in the next session!!

The Hallway Gallery

Groupon came to the rescue again!!  After Jessi had a print made onto a canvas and then after she gave Jaime her family picture on a canvas for Christmas, I knew I wanted to get some for the long hallway at work that goes upstairs!
And of course a Groupon came along so I not only bought one, but two more!!  Because you have to have an odd number of pictures to make it look right - right?????

Unfortunately, one of the pictures I had picked out didn't work out - it was my favorite picture of Colorado - one taken over at Lake City with the golden aspens and the mountains in the background.  But because my camera is not that great at taking far away pictures, the place emailed me and said I wouldn't be happy with that particular shot so to send another one - which I did of course!!

All 3 prints arrived at least 2 if not 3 months ago - and they've just been sitting here in the office because I was waiting for Glenn to help me hang them - you know the drill - one holds and the other person "eyes" it and then you pound the nail and it's still wrong so you move the nail again!!  Of course these pictures had the DOUBLE hangers on the back - one on each side, part way down!!

Tuesday Glenn had to be gone so I just decided to tackle the pictures myself!!  I did great on the first 2 but just couldn't reach that 3rd one so Charles (employee) helped me hang it!!  See I was putting them in the hallway where the 15 steps are and the walls go all the way up to the top floor so it's really high - and then trying to hang them while balancing on a step was a little difficult!!!  So these pictures are kind of strange looking because I could only get so far away as I was taking them in the stairwell!!!

Bottom line - the pictures look FANTASTIC in the hallway - the setting sun was taken in Jamaica, the palm trees over the pool was taken in Puerto Morales, Mexico and the cactus was taken in LePaz, Mexico!

My friend stopped by yesterday to see them and thought they looked great - and was totally shocked when she found out they were my pictures................and that made me feel quite special!

May Snow

Snow in May - not unusual for this time of year but after all the warm weather we've had, it was kind of tough to go back to the 20 degree mornings!!  But it was nice wet snow AND it's already melted of course, except for the gorgeous peak which I just had to snap this morning!!  I took this out of my window at work so it's not the greatest but you just can't beat that Colorado blue sky against those white mountains!

1 Flower, 2 Fish

The fish story - Glenn FINALLY got to take a Saturday off and he even took the boat out!!  Spinney Reservoir was the destination and it was a perfect day to fish - warm and sunny and no wind till later in the afternoon!!  He caught several but brought the 2 biggest ones home - 20" rainbow trout - and we enjoyed one of them for dinner this evening - yum!!

 The flower story - On my trip to Colorado Springs this last week, I remembered that I had wanted to buy something last year but couldn't find it - and as I was driving to Kohl's the back way, I saw a Family Dollar Store and it reminded me that THAT was the place I was supposed to look for the little flower I wanted - so I stopped - they had it - and I bought it!!!

It's the CUTEST little flower ever because you set it in the sun and it dances!!!  YES, DANCES!!!  You see it's solar powered - and when the sun hits it, it moves back and forth!!  I LOVE IT!!  It sits in my window at work and dances all day long because the sun is there all day long!!

Front Deck Relaxation

I'm excited about our new patio set for the front deck where the hot tub is!!  All we had before were white plastic chairs that blow all over the place when the wind comes up and I needed not only something sturdier, but also a little table to set drinks on!

Because the summer afternoon sun hits THIS deck instead of the deck facing Pikes Peak, this is where we need to sit when we come home from work as it's nice and warm!!  And the bonus about this deck set - it all folds up for nice storage in the garage during winter!

I think I'll be sitting out on this deck tomorrow after work with a glass of wine and a bowl of chips - want to join me?