OUR FINAL DAY!!!

It's our LAST day running Mountain Aspen Granite - wow - a long journey of working the last 40 some years and it's about to end...............

Most of our things are packed and home but the final files and personal items will be packed today and just put to the side here as both of us will be here Monday and Tuesday for final paperwork and to finish up things.  It will be my last day to do payroll - my last day of taking client's checks to the bank - the last day of visiting with clients who walk through the door - and the last day I will HAVE to dust and sweep!

Reality hasn't set in yet and I doubt it will for a while - but for today, there is a smile on my face and my brain is secretly saying - YOU'RE RETIRED!!

2 Days...............

It was a good morning - but it went downhill fast after that!  The best way I can describe it is it felt like one of those BAD Mondays that you just can't wait to be over!  But time passes and soon the day was over or so I thought.

Glenn was in Cripple Creek doing templates all after noon so he missed out on all of the craziness!  But after I got home the new buyer called with the icing on the cake - the 2nd work truck was broke down on the side of the road outside Woodland Park with a busted radiator.  He went down and got the crew and all of the tools out of the truck and also noticed the license plate was missing from the back of the truck - someone must have stolen it when it was sitting out back at the shop.

When Glenn got home, I passed on all the news and then it was time to unload the big trailer and head back in to go pick up the disabled truck...........a long day...........but tomorrow HAS to be better!

3 Days................

Closer and closer - I can feel the ending is near! There are no estimates to type, no phone calls to answer as they all go to the buyer now..............reality is starting to set in!

Glenn spent the day at home - he had pulled a hip muscle and was in pain this morning so decided to stay home -I always know when he's really hurting as he NEVER stays home from work!  I did get him in to my massage therapist and he felt much better after getting a massage!

I even went to the doctor today - something I rarely do!  But my ears have this noise that is driving me crazy when it's all silent and when I lie down to sleep, I can feel my pulse pounding in my ear!  I assumed I had a large wax build up but it wasn't that - I have allergies and my ears are not draining properly due to the swelling in my eustachian tubes - a simple fix - get some over the counter Allegra and that should take care of it!  Now that I can do...........and I'll be looking forward to NOT hearing that pounding pulse soon!

We had rain today - lots and lots of rain in W. Pk - it was coming down so heavy that I couldn't even leave work for a while and it was slow going driving home through the rivers of water on the highway!  But oh it smells SO GOOD after these rains!

4 Days........................

Usually Mondays are crazy busy -always wondering if the employees are going to show up - new clients and current clients stopping by - lots of phone calls - but this Monday was different!  Not a lot was going on and since we only have our installs for the week, basically all of my work was pretty much done except for some invoices.  It was a strange feeling sitting at that desk and not really having much to do today...............

But the exciting news of the day happened at 3:00 this afternoon - we closed on a piece of property where our new house will be built!!  And I'm sure you're saying, why would you want to move? We both love our house but the property it sits on is steep with not much building room on it - and since we're retiring, Glenn wants a huge shop built, somewhere he can store all of his "stuff" and a place to work on his old car. So we started the process of looking for a home to buy - I literally spent hours looking online at homes and photos and went out 3 different times with a realtor but just couldn't find anything in our price range that was nicer than what we already have.

We then turned to looking for land - endless miles of driving and researching online for something that was 1/2way flat to build on and once again we came up with nothing!  It was pretty discouraging.  So I took the matter into my own hands!  There were 3 vacant lots right in our subdivision that were pretty flat and were beautiful 2 acre lots but they weren't for sale!  So I went to the Teller County Property Database and found their names and addresses and wrote them letters, basically asking them if they were willing to sell their land!

Believe it or not, all 3 answered me - yes, 2 were willing to sell and the 3rd one lived out of state but they were coming in Oct. and would make a decision at that time!  We figured our #1 choice would be out of the price range as our #2 choice WAS out of our price range but it wasn't that way at all - we emailed back and forth and their asking price was much lower than we expected and we quickly settled on a price, without using realtors!

And now you know the rest of the story - we closed today and it's officially ours!  We put up the sign tonight with smiles on our faces!!  (Did I mention our new property is 1/4 mile from our current house!!)

 As you can tell by the pictures, the land at the top of our parcel is pretty flat, in fact so flat that we had to change our floor plan around somewhat!!

 The trees on the acreage are beautiful - it will be such a shame to have to cut many down for the house - we'll try to replant some of the small ones but the larger ones will just have to be used for firewood.   There is also a rather unique rock formation view at the back of our property which you can see below.

 My FAVORITE part of the property - this cute rock setting surrounded by aspens!!  I have already planned to put a firepit by it with some log benches.

 Our property goes part way into the meadow below - it's really a gorgeous piece of land!

And now it's back to the house plans!

5 Days.....................

until Mountain Aspen Granite is no longer ours - 5 more days of working - one more Monday to work - I really can't fathom that after years and years of working, that I won't have to set the alarm for 5:40 and begin my morning routine - it's unbelievable in some respects and yet it's something you work towards your entire life.  I have a feeling I'll muddle through lots of different emotions this next week as we begin the downward spiral of turning our business over to somebody else!

But let's back up a minute since I haven't blogged for a while!

I snapped this picture a week or so ago as the full moon was inching up over Pikes Peak - it was so beautiful I almost forgot to snap the picture as I was so busy watching it rise!

 The Farmers Market has begun!!  Yes, I stopped in the first day to get my hanging baskets!  But there was also a bake sale so I got the guys cookies and brownies and for the new buyers and Glenn and I - nothing but the best - a peach pie - yum yum!!

 Once again we were supposed to go to Jessi's to install her counter top but guess what, her cabinets didn't arrive..............Friday night found us having those great yummy hamburgers at Russ's with friends and then out to our house for dessert!  I actually made a "scratch" dessert on Thursday night - pistachio or as we know it, My Green Heaven - it WAS good!!

Saturday we headed to CS as Glenn had a blind appt. for an entire house and plans were to go to a show but the times just didn't work out great so we had a nice lunch and then headed back up the pass!  Sunday we decided to head over by Tarryall to scout out campsites for our annual camping trip with all the kids and grand kids!  I packed a picnic lunch and it was a wonderful drive over there!  The best part was that we found some great large campsites for us and it won't be as far for everyone to drive this year!

 We barely got our picnic eaten when the skies got pretty dark and pretty soon the hail came down HARD!! 

Luckily it was the soft kind and we soon drove out of it!  It was a "perfect" weekend weather wise but we're  hoping for rain the first of the week!

5 days...............

Change of Plans

Colorado scenery at its' best!  But weren't we supposed to be in Denver installing Jessi and Gary's new counter top instead of camping?  YES - but Jessi's had ordered new cabinets and as Glenn and I both know all too well, cabinets don't always arrive on time and are sometimes damaged - hence the case with Jessi and Gary...............we were disappointed we weren't heading to Denver but decided Thursday afternoon that we might as well go camping!

Thursday night we worked till LATE getting everything ready - we hadn't camped this year yet so the camper hadn't been cleaned or packed with the annual supplies and we had our work cut out for us!

But of course we managed to get it done, head out of work early and finish up packing on Friday and by 4:00 we were on our way!

We had planned on going somewhere close but that didn't happen - Teller County was still under a fire ban when we left and Buffalo Peaks was partially closed due to elk calving.  So we ended up heading over Monarch Pass and camping on Black Sage Pass.  We had found a neat campsite last year but it was taken - luckily it was available this year and we rolled in Friday night and got set up - boy that campfire was nice!!

Saturday morning we headed out to ATV with our picnic lunch!  It was cool out but the sun was shining and that's all that mattered!   We headed in the direction we wanted to go but then came to the stream which is usually a small stream - not this year!  With the snow melt off, the stream was now a small river crossing - we had no idea how deep it was and the current was so strong, we were scared to even attempt it - so it was turn around and come back the way we came in...........

Yes, that's snow you see in the above picture - and of course that was the trail we had to not only trudge through to get to the stream, but then turn around and come back through it!  The front of the ATV was caked with snow!

I had forgot to bring syrup or jelly for our french toast on Sunday morning so we went into the little town of Pitkin and stopped at the general store - always a fun stop as it's such a cute little town!

It was a nice relaxing evening with some great grilled charcoal hamburgers and marshmallows by the campfire!

Sunday morning we lingered over coffee and then packed up to head out for the day - but it wasn't to be - soon the storm clouds came rolling in all around us and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees - it was a race to get back to the camper and pack everything up before the rain came but we made it!  We've got that down to a science!  A great trip for our first camping trip of the season!

Good Bye To Los Barriles

The best sunrise of all waited for our send off on Saturday morning - wow - we couldn't stop snapping pictures!

One last stop at The Roadrunner restaurant for breakfast and coffee before we left!

And one last look at the beach!

And then we were off to Cabo to catch our flights!  Ours was delayed a couple of hours so I got lots of reading time in and FINALLY we were Denver bound!  It's always good to come home!

Last Minute Shopping.........

It was a beautiful morning for a long walk on the beach - sun, sand and waves lapping at your feet!

Glenn headed out to go fishing after our breakfast at the Roadrunner again and the rest of us decided to go shopping!  I found my ornament at the first shop that we stopped at!  And later found a couple of nice t-shirts for Glenn and a ball cap that he picked up later that evening - I had to make sure he really liked it before I bought it!!

One little courtyard had several shops surrounding it and we just had to take pictures!!

Since it was our last day, I chose to once again read under the patio and watch the ocean!

I'm not sure who snapped this picture of me dozing but I did a lot of it during vacation!!

Notice the cat sitting beside my chair - this wasn't a pretty cat and he had the most hoarse meow you can imagine..........needless to say, he wasn't our favorite but we were HIS favorite - he stuck around all week long and the only way to keep him from meowing was to feed him - which of course we did as his meow was driving us crazy!!

One last night to dress up for dinner and I finally remembered to take a picture with the East Monona koozie.........which I will forward on to Patty so she can post it on the school website!!

After dinner, it was time to lug those suitcases out and pack for our morning get away - only it's sure not as hard to just throw everything into the suitcase and not worry about the wrinkles!!

ATVing Along The Ocean

I call this picture - the hand off - ha ha - no, it's nothing bad, just Glenn giving Cindy shells that he's picked up along the beach - but kind of a picture that makes you think if you don't know what's happening!!

It was another cloudy sunrise and we knew it would be the perfect day to ATV!

While we cleaned up breakfast dishes and packed a picnic lunch, the guys went to rent the ATV's - they seemed to take forever but we heard them coming up the beach by the rocks and they were stopped so we went to investigate - Rene's ATV had already broken down!!  But I guess better there than out in the middle of nowhere!  So back to the rental place to get another one and soon the 4 of us were on our way!

We drove down the beach first and around the cove corner for a long ways and stopped to take pics by the ocean!

It was sure different riding along the beach and ocean vs. riding in the mountains!  This ATV had the actual seat for me to sit on - I haven't decided if I like that better or just like riding right behind Glenn!

After the beach, we headed to an old riverbed and rode along it for miles - we had hopes of finding the waterfall at the end and FINALLY we reached it!  It was back where there were a lot of rocks on each side of this canyon and it was pretty neat!  The waterfall of course was just a trickle this time of year!

There was one patch of green in and around the rocks - this lonely palm!

You can see along the rocks that this canyon fills with water when it rains!  Also there were several zip lining stations!

Then it was on to Punta Pescadora where we had been before when the guys fished - it was mighty hot out by this point and I couldn't even sit and read in the sun!  So we walked along the beach in the water to stay cool until it was time to head back home!  We drove a lot of miles that day and sure enjoyed being on the ATVs.

We decided to go back to the place for dinner that served the yummy mango margaritas!  And THIS time they put the Tajin on before they served - excellent!!

It was hot and stuffy in the house when we got home so we turned on the a/c and had a dance party - fun fun fun...........I can never get in enough dancing and since they were all MY songs from my IPOD, it made it all the better!!