Eclipse 2017

How cool was it to see the eclipse!!!!  I usually don't get real excited about these types of things but as the day got closer and closer, I was ready to see it!!

Glenn and I each had a pair of glasses - courtesy of Gary and Jessi - so I made coffee and spent the next hour or so on the deck!!

It didn't get very dark of course as we were in about 87% totality but the temperature dropped about 10 degrees!!  And when I went inside to heat up my coffee, then I realized it DID get darker as I had to turn on the light!!  All in all, an awesome sight!!

Drama And A Musical

Time to head back to Florissant on Sunday morning!  I left early, knowing I had to get home and shower before meeting Jaime, Rayna and Jane in Divide - we were all heading to Annie Get Your Gun which was being presented in Cripple Creek!

Outside of Monument, I noticed the car was acting strange - it felt like I was on a "wavy" highway where it's harder to control the wheel!  But then it was fine - but happened again in Co. Springs.  All I could think of was that the car needed an alignment since Glenn had both back tires off to replace wheel bearings and brakes.

I pulled off the interstate at Fillmore and started up the long, steep hill and that's when I knew I had a flat tire - darn - no place to pull off so I slowed way down (luckily I was in the right lane) and saw up ahead there was a large driveway that I could pull into ( it was a gravel business and plenty of room).  Just as I started turning the wheel to get in there, the metal scraping started and I knew I was driving on the wheel and had ruined the tire................

I went about 15 to 20 feet on the wheel, hoping I wasn't ruining it but had to get off the road far enough so the tire could be changed.  I hopped out and looked - no tire - yes, I had been driving on the wheel but there is no tire there!!  I looked down towards the main road and there right on the corner is my tire - fully inflated and looking just fine!!!

I raced over there and got the tire and brought it up to the car, not realizing what had even happened at that point!!  Called Glenn and after sending him a picture of the wheel and the tire leaning by the car, he informed me I had NO LUG NUTS!!!!  No wonder the tire came off!!!  My guardian angels must have been with me that day as I could have been going 65 mph on the interstate when the tire came off - that wouldn't have been pretty!!

Decided to just call the towing service from my car insurance policy to come over and put the tire on for me - so called in a claim and they said it would be an hour.  And then the rescue company called to make sure they knew where I was at and I told them I needed lug nuts - they said they didn't have any - I told them to stop and buy some for me - no deal - they aren't allowed to do that - would have to tow me!!!  REALLY?????  It's Sunday - nothing is open!!!

I was ticked off by this point so told them to cancel the claim - called Glenn and he said he would be down asap.  And he made really good time and got me back on the road again!!  All we can figure out is that he forgot to tighten the lug nuts when he worked on the car!!

I made it home just in time to shower and throw some lunch in a bag and met everyone in Divide.  We headed to C. Crk along with a lot of other people as it was the motorcycle rally over there!!  They always have a huge flag put up and it's so neat to see it blowing in the wind.............

We all loved the musical - the cast did a fantastic job!!

Rayna took the above 2 black and white photos!  When we came out, they were taking the flag down with the help of the cranes!  After a loud and heavy rainfall on the way home, I was excited to be home!!  And totally exhausted by the days' events!

Denver Babysitting

It was that time of year for Jessi and Gary to go to seminars in Westminster - I'd marked my calendar months ago to babysit for them so headed up on a Thursday to take over!!

Jessi and Gary enjoyed their seminars - I enjoyed taking and picking up the kids from school, having Gwyn to myself all day Friday, and taking them all to the Party in the Park on Saturday!!

Gwyn and I had a ball playing with play dough!!  She liked to handle it ALL, while I would just use small pieces and make cute cutouts for her!!

I had brought Hostess cupcakes, not realizing it was Evan's 1/2 birthday so we all enjoyed them - especially Gwyn!!

Adjustment time!!  I'm so lucky to have an adjustment by Jessi every time I go to Denver - and little Gwyn lays right down for hers!!

Saturday morning when I went to get my coffee, I brought smoothies back for the kids - always a hit!

It was downright HOT outside on Saturday!  I've gotten used to the cooler weather in the mountains so I was quite warm!  Luckily a little bit of cloud cover came for the Party in the Park!  Here we are riding the little train!

The girls decided to get the "glitter" tattoos vs. the face painting!  But you really had to hold still and then the glue had to completely disappear from your arm before the glitter went on - Gwyn put her arm up so one of her stars didn't come out so good!

 They had a photographer there to take your picture with cute little props!  So we grabbed some and got in line and of course you can see the results - I'm standing there like a bump on a log while the 2 older kids are doing really cute things - and poor Gwyn is so short all you can see are her bunny ears!!  Now why didn't the photographer tell me to hold her???

All in all a great time - we played some games and I read hundreds of books (so it seemed!) to Gwyn!  She was my little shadow for 3 days and it was hard to leave her..........................

Glenn's Wildflowers

Glenn is the gardener around here - not me!  He not only has a huge garden out back but also planted wildflowers around a couple of the trees and on this built up hillside.  The results are amazing and I love looking out at all the beautiful flowers!!

Weekend Visitors

We were thrilled to hear that our good friend Cindy from Tx. was flying in to see her daughter Cheryl, grandson Brenner, and Cheryl's boyfriend, Jeremy who now live in Firestone!  They all decided to come to the mountains for a weekend to catch up!!

We had a great time just talking, playing cards, walking the property and feeding the deer!!

The Smiths came out Saturday afternoon for Happy Hour and dinner - some of them played pool and sure had fun!!

Cheryl and Jeremy

Cindy and Brenner

A fun weekend with great friends!!

Shop Update

Slowly but surely, the shop is progressing!  There's just too many other things to do in the summer it seems and the shop sometimes gets put on the back burner!!

Glenn was thrilled to get the tar paper on the top to enclose the roof since we have had rain, rain, rain for weeks!!  He would go out in the morning and would have to sweep water before he could even start working!

The dirt pile in front got moved yesterday and I believe he is working on putting up the rest of the OSB today!!  I'm really hoping it will get far enough along that we can move the stuff out of the garage before winter to get the concrete poured!!!  BUT hunting season is right around the corner - as is our annual fall trip - and a trip to Utah to see the national parks.  So we shall see.......................

Makin' Jam

I love homemade jams and jellies!  And I had NO IDEA they are so easy to make!

My cousins' wife, Adrianne, offered to teach me how to make jam one day so we set up a day and I headed to Co. Springs for my lesson!  She already had the fruit frozen (which she was glad to use to help empty her freezer) and I brought jars and the sure jel!

And she was right - it was surprisingly easy to make the jam!  We made peach and concord grape - I've already used up almost a jar of the peach!!

To make the jam taste even better, she made a loaf of homemade bread that morning and sent it home with me  - gosh it was good!

Since most of the fruit is in season now, I am already stocking up on fruit to freeze for later jam making!