Pam and I spent a long weekend at The Lot —  September 15, 16, and 17. There was one problem (the chipper, more on that later), but it was a great autumnal weekend.

Fall colors are nearing their peak. The trip to and from The Lot is a drive through some stunning color areas (Vail, Breckenridge, Fairplay among them). A percentage of trees are still green, a few have lost their leaves already, and the colors between ran the gamut from gold (most predominant) to patches of red and orange mixed in. The contrast between the colors, set off by blue skies with a few white clouds, was striking.

Fall colors at The Lot – 2018

The aspen at The Lot were not quite at full peak color but the Aspen Grove was awash with a fall-yellow light that made walking in the cleaned-up areas a real delight. Sunday evening, just before sunset, we hiked up to Pavilion Point and watched the sunset side-lighting the trees. With a light breeze blowing and an almost ideal temperature in the upper-60’s, the weather and view was as good as it gets.

2018 fall colors from Pavilion Point

Then, just after we were back at The Box and with dusk settling in, a young buck walked through the nook, grabbing a few mouthfuls of grass as he went. I was within 20 feet of him, Pam a bit further away. He had two and possibly three points on each antler and seemed quite unconcerned about us watching him. In the evening light and with the fall colors the effect was almost magical. (Wouldn’t you know I had stopped to put the camera back on the table and did not have it on me!)

Work was actually accomplished; Pam and I spread the two piles of chips that had been generated over previous work sessions. We started with the large pile of chips along the path near the chipper and ended with the pile of chips up on Homestead Acre. I lost track of the number of 2-wheel cart loads this took, but it was around 20. The process: I loaded our 2-wheel cart (pulled by the ATV) with chips using a snow shovel, then drove to the part of the footpath where Pam was waiting to spread the chips. Dumped the cart, leaving a large pile of chips, then moved it ahead a few feet to empty the rest of the cart. I returned for the next load while Pam raked the chips, spreading them evenly, and covering the width of the path. This process guaranteed that both of us would get a lot of exercise, but it’s good to know the job is done for the year and the paths look tidy and fresh with their new coating.

Jerry loading chips

Pam unloading and spreading chips

Next job up was to chip the last two piles of brush along the west side of the path. Didn’t happen. The chipper would not start; the engine kept flooding. I took off the top of the carburetor and found a problem with the floats but did not have the tools on hand to fix it. No chipping this day. I was bummed out.

That pretty well ends chipping for the year; I will tow the chipper home and work on it so it’s ready to go next year. I need to check the “blades” or “knives” and get them sharpened over the off-season as well. I did not do this before using the chipper this year, and I really don’t know what condition they’re in. A new set costs about $125.00 but I hope the current knives can be sharpened and re-used. There is a professional sharpening service near my work place and I’ll see if they can sharpen these blades.

So – – on to Plan B. (There is always a Plan B.) Plan B was brush clearing on the east side of the current work path, a non-cleared area. We produced several more piles of brush and added more to the ‘burn pit’ wood pile. By the time we were done the brush piles were fairly large, we had more firewood logs piled up, and that side of the path – up to our property line – was looking much better. I still have some chainsaw work to do to finish gathering the salvageable wood, but a few hours of work will about finish that task. It will be my staring point for next year’s work.

With the chipper out of commission and the chips spread, we left The Lot for the return trip a bit earlier on Monday than planned, but enjoyed the trip home, taking in the fall colors and basking in the beautiful weather.

By the way, the dogs could have cared less about being in the high country. JoJo likes to get out and run (she’s part Greyhound) but the other two (Beagle mixes) are pretty ho-hum about going to The Lot.

Bru (Left) JoJo (Center) and Blondie (Right) nap in The Box

All-in-all, it was a very good weekend!

My next trip to Sanderling, scheduled for this weekend, will include maintenance items. There must have been a hail storm at The Lot this summer, as all three of the RV roof vent covers have holes in them. I have replacements that I need to install which will take a couple of hours. Then I’ll check underneath The Box to make sure there are no places for rodents to enter; this may entail adding washers to some of the screws that hold the cover sheets in place. (Since we plan to leave The Box at The Lot this winter, rodent-proofing is a high priority.)

Pam wants me to start bringing home some of the linens and clothing items that will not over-winter in The Box, so I will take a few empty containers to fill and bring home. While I plan a few more trips before finally closing down for the winter, the end of the work season is not far away; normally we are done by early October but it depends on night time temperatures. Right now overnights are in the low 40 degree range, OK at the moment, but getting closer to freezing.

There is some family news to report; daughter Felicity is in England and attended a Jane Austin Festival in Bath. She sent us a a photo of her posing in the ensemble Pam had prepared and I mailed (Pam sewed the clothing and found the bonnet and shoes in the costume box). Here are a couple photos of the event from Felicity:

Felicity (right) in Regency costume

Men in 1800s costume at the festival

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I’m always somewhat sad to leave Sanderling after my final work weekend in the fall.  It is absolutely lovely up there — particularly spectacular in the Aspen Grove.  We started our clearing process six years ago in the Aspen Grove.  It’s a delight to walk through that area now, moving quite easily, without stepping over downed trees and piles of brush.  We met a goal by paying off the loan on the Sanderling property in late August.  It is now Fields land, debt free.

Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox. Perhaps I am the first to wish you felicitations of the fall season?

Happy Trails.

I made an overnight stay at The Lot this past weekend, September 8 – 9. There was quite a bit to do for such as short stay and all I set out to do, I am glad to say, was accomplished.

I started by moving the chipper. It had been sitting in the middle of the path and pointing uphill but needed to be backed off the path and positioned so that I could get to it with the ATV  in preparation for the next move.

Chipper in old location on the path

Chipper moved and large pile of chips to be spread on walkways

The move was interesting as I had to use the ATV’s winch, some chain, some wheel blocks, and my manual puller to get this job done.

Basically I had to un-block the wheels and let the chipper roll backwards using the winch line to control the descent. (A wider area in the path, big enough to turn and park the chipper, was behind and downhill of the current location.) Now and then I had to use a wheel block to get the unit to move a bit left or right. Pivoting on one wheel, I used the manual puller and chain to winch the chipper off the path until I could get past it with the ATV and trailer. (Should have taken photos of this process but did not.) Got the job done! Wheels are chocked so the chipper won’t ‘escape’ it’s current location.

Moving the chipper closer to the remaining brush piles is on the agenda for the next trip along with more chipping. I will be able to move the chipper using the ATV since the slope is downhill, no more using the winch. I hope.

Last 2 piles of brush to chip on west side of path

Other jobs finished included loading up the last load of firewood and putting a load of ‘burn pit’ wood in the bed of the truck. The Aspen Grove is really starting to look good; chipping the last brush piles will finish it off.

Current view of west side of path

Previous wood and brush on west side of path

Note the pine stump in the foreground in both above photos, a before-and-after comparison.

Here is a shot of the trailer and ATV on the path after I moved the chipper out of the way. I was loading up some burn pit wood to put in the back of the truck for disposal. Logs stacked to the left of the path (east side) became part of the last load of firewood.

ATV + trailer + firewood+ burn pit wood + chipper + chips all in one photo

Last load of firewood plus junk wood in bed of truck

I did some work on the east side of the path as well. This resulted in more stacks of chipper wood which we may or may not get to on our next trip.

Brush piles on east side of the path

Finishing the east side will be my starting task for next year. There is some firewood to salvage and a few standing dead trees to take down but the final push should not take more than a day or two.

There was more color in the aspen this last trip; next weekend (up on Saturday, home on Monday) will be a good weekend to be in the high country – colors should be getting close to peak intensity. Chipping and spreading chips will be the primary jobs activities but we will take some time just to enjoy the fall colors and cooler temperatures this time of year offers.

Fall colors beginning to appear at The Lot

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

This coming weekend will be my last at Sanderling for the season.  I’m hoping there will be full fall color to enjoy, in addition to hauling and spreading wood chips.

Back in the high desert, I’ve been working on a retirement house mortgage pre-approval process. It will soon be time to register for Social Security.  All paperwork to process my pension, due to begin in November, has been submitted. Time to renew my CO driver’s license too – I may try their on-line process this year.

Felicity plans to attend the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England this weekend.  Her costume made the trip from Colorado to the UK in plenty of time.  We anticipate some interesting photos forthwith.

Happy Trails.

Two weekends ago we spent an overnighter at The Lot and could not help but notice the aspen are beginning to turn into their fall colors. It seems early for that to happen, but then again it always seems to be “too early.”

Fall marks the end of our work season in the high country, as the temperatures drop along with the leaves. Our remaining work days are limited and we won’t be at The Lot every weekend; time to start thinking about wrapping up for the year.

A few things remain to be done to meet my goal of cleaning up the Aspen Grove. We chipped several piles of brush last week but have a few more left; I cut more logs to be brought home to cut into firewood, and there is a large pile of chips to be spread on footpaths and trails. Pam suggested I load the truck with some of the “burn pit” quality wood at Sanderling and bring it home with the firewood and chipper, then drop it here in town at the local “organic materials” site where we take our grass clippings. (There is a spot reserved for trees, limbs, and other larger chunks of wood.) Good idea! I won’t be able to bring home all that has been accumulating but I might manage to get the stuff out of the Aspen Grove. Photos will follow after our next trip.

Closer to home, we stayed put for  the Labor Day weekend — just too much traffic to fight and I needed a weekend at home to relax. This doesn’t mean we weren’t busy; far from it. Pam is putting another coat of waterproof sealer on the front privacy fence and I had several projects (mowing lawn, weed-wacking, maintenance jobs) to attend to.

One of these projects was to install a backup camera in the F-150. The truck is so large that backing up to either of the utility trailers or The Box can get to be a chore so I decided to try the high-tech approach.

The backup camera is located above the rear license plate:

Backup camera mounts above rear license plate

The 4.3 inch monitor is mounted on the dash:

Backup camera monitor on dash

Biggest problem was stringing the wire from the camera to the monitor and connecting the system to power. Per recommendation, the system is powered from the backup light circuit and only comes on when the truck is in reverse. It took me a while to run the wire from the camera into the cab; I finally located a place near the parking brake cable to make the transition from under the truck into the truck. I’ll have to see how well this system works. The camera arm is metal and can be adjusted a bit up or down so I should be able to set it so I can see the trailer’s hitch while I am backing up.

Another job was replacing the tail lights on the utility trailer. I had dropped a log on one and cracked the housing quite badly. The light still worked with it’s cracked  lens but I wanted to get the fix in place before the next trip. A replacement set of LED tail lights was purchased from Amazon and installed. This took longer than it should have as the lights came with no wiring instructions and I had to figure out which wire did what. (3 wires: Ground, turn, tail /running lights.) I did get the replacements in place and wired up; they sure are bright compared to the original lights.

Still another job was done; the water hoses going to the clothes washer were replaced with stainless-steel braided lines. I had noticed the hot water hose was bulging and looked to be ready to fail. I have no idea how old those hoses were but it was obviously time for a new set. As part of the project we labeled the water faucets for future reference. The new hoses are supposed to flow more water as well, leading to faster fill times and shorter wash cycles. I don’t know about that but having the new hoses in place gives us some peace of mind; we won’t have to deal with a burst hose flooding the laundry room!

Pam has been keeping up our corner (location of the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden); morning glories have started blooming there late this summer, and everything looks good.

Corner garden looking good

Here are a couple more morning glory pictures:

Morning glories in 2018

Morning glories on fence line

Next week will be busy with a trip to The Lot and more clean up work.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The best thing about summer ending is the temperatures are coming down to something resembling normal.  The bad part about this time of year is the continuing loss of daylight in the evenings.

Happy Trails.

The last couple of weeks have been fairly routine- for the summertime: “Went to the lot, cut firewood, chipped brush, etc…” Here are a few updates and photos taken along the way.

Chipper:
I moved the chipper over to our new path through the Aspen Grove and chipped some brush. No easy task, as the chipper weighs 1700 pounds and is not very “nimble.” There is  plenty of brush to work through; the chipper will be in its current location for several weekends worth of work.

Chipper in new location on the path.

Firewood:

Here is a photo of a typical load of wood after it has been cut and is waiting along our driveway for our friend Kathy to pick up. This pile is about 2/3 of a cord:

Typical load of firewood

The above load has since been picked up, but another load waits in my utility trailer.

Load of uncut firewood

The load is shown here with the tie-down straps removed; for transport I use no fewer than 4 separate straps to keep everything from falling off. (Pam says the outside cats consider the cut and uncut wood”Wood Disneyland.”)

The Lot:

Because of the South Park view from Pavilion Point, we get a number of people trespassing on the Sanderling acreage – they usually come in from the ridge above. Pam thought these signs would help cut down the traffic over the upcoming Labor Day weekend:

Pam’s custom Keep Out sign: Don’t disturb the SNAKES

We’ve never actually seen any snakes in the rock outcroppings (under this sign).  If there were any, they would be rattlers, but I don’t think they live at 9,000 feet elevation. Pam figures people who would walk on private property will not pay any attention to a “Keep Out” sign but they might pay attention if they thought they would suffer a snake bite for their trespass.

Around the house:

Foster cat Sollette is getting pretty comfortable in the house. She now mingles freely with our other inside animals, both feline and canine.

Sollette relaxing on a pet bed. (Photo by Pam)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

We drove over Boreas Pass this weekend and I communed with Mom. It has been almost three decades since her ashes were dispersed up there, and Boreas Pass has seen some changes in the interim.  Considerable conservation activities have occurred at the boarding house and log cabin, plus railroad signage now describes the historic activities that took place at this location. Mom is always with me, but particularly on Boreas.

Happy Trails.

I had taken Monday and Tuesday (August 6 and 7) as vacation days to be able to spend some time working at The Lot. The path I previously cut through the side of the Aspen Grove opened a lot of area to work in.

Since I had stockpiled quite a bit of salvageable wood to convert into firewood already, this weekend was not about new cutting. Instead I concentrated on clearing and stacking brush  along the path. (You can see  some of my brush piles in the photos.) I did bring home another trailer full of wood and plan one more load before the end of the season. That will give our friend Kathy the quantity she needs to get through the upcoming winter.

Salvage wood, foreground, and burn pit wood, center back. Other brush further down the path.

Wood and brush to right of path

Pam had driven up with the dogs on Sunday and stayed over to Monday; this gave us a chance to chip some of the brush and bring home a couple of bins filled with chips. (Pam plans to use the chips around the house.)

The chipper is still up on Homestead Acre, quite a distance from the current work area. I hauled some brush to the chipper location, but I’m planning to move the chipper operation closer to the path where I’m currently working so I don’t have to handle stuff twice. We’ll have to see if this works out! It will require some judicious maneuvering with the Ford F-150, as the path for the new chipper location is not very wide and has a few bends in it. Plus it will mean backing the chipper up a slope. Should be interesting.

Back home in De Beque we had a bit of an event; our irrigation pipe broke at the connection location near our driveway. The four inch pipe sent quite a bit of water out over our lawn and up and under the driveway itself. In fact, the driveway cement slab tilted down just a bit and is no longer level with the sidewalk. That will make shoveling snow interesting.

Drive and sidewalk now off by about 1/2 inch

The town did a pretty good job of repairing the break and had the neighborhood irrigation water back within two days. (The incident occurred Saturday and the pump was shut off; the town completed the repair on Monday.)

Town guys working on the irrigation line in our yard

Otherwise, it has been h-o-t. The local record for the most consecutive days with temperatures over 90 degrees was 63 — we have blown by that mark and look to have at least another week of 90+ temperatures. This summer will go down as one of  the hottest on record. We are also in an extreme drought zone this year.

Our friend Kathy picked up another load of wood from our driveway, and I am about half-way though cutting the last load I brought home. I think there will be one more load after this for Kathy to retrieve. Then I will concentrate on the chipping  that needs to be done up at Sanderling. I would like to get those piles of brush chipped this year, and work on spreading the chips on the Sanderling footpaths.

Kiddo Update:  Daughter Felicity just arrived in England for an extended house sit. While there, Felicity hopes to take part in a Jane Austin Festival in Bath (in September). Pam sewed up a Regency-era costume and I mailed it off to Felicity this week. We’ll have to wait on photos to see how well the costume fits and looks on her. Back in the USA, Toby is working on a plan to purchase the house he has been renting in South Bend, Indiana. Now there’s an example of “adulting.”

There were two anniversaries last week; I celebrated my 66th birthday and Pam and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. Yes, I know…we are getting older than dirt!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

What a nasty summer from hell this has been — good thing I’ve been at home to keep the cooling equipment going!  The absolute best purchase this year was the multi-room air conditioner.  Without it, I know the animals and I wouldn’t have been nearly as comfortable indoors.  The evaporative (“swamp”) cooler we used in previous years wouldn’t have been able to keep us cool during these 100 degree days.

Occasionally a reference to a famous relative of mine shows up in one of the local newspapers (this time, the Aspen Daily News).  Although only distantly related to Harriet Quimby on my mother’s side, I find it so cool to say I can claim kinship (in any way) to this aviation pioneer.

This Day In History – August 1, 2018

Happy Trails.

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted; very busy weeks they were for me! I attended a motorcycle rally and spent some time at The Lot. Here are some of the details.

This years’s motorcycle rally was held in Gunnison, Colorado, only about 158 miles from home. I arrived Thursday with my camping gear and a few other attendees were already there, including the rally organizer.

The itinerary called for rides on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then return home on Monday. This worked out pretty well, with rides over many of Colorado’s high passes and a stretch along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. On Monday a friend and I headed off to the Great Sand Dunes National Park before heading home (my companion was heading to Grand Junction for the night).

About a dozen guys showed up for some or all of the rally. Here is a photo of the Friday group at the top of Monarch Pass:

XS 11 Friday ride group.(Photo by a passerby.)

The rally organizer is at the left side of this photo, Howard Bonser. Harry and Joe are in the foreground, I am at the top off the sign, and Russ and Jeff are at the right.

Here is a group photo from the Saturday ride which included a stop at the top of Independence Pass:

XS11 members at Independence Pass, July 14, 2018 (Photo by Jeff H.)

I did not take a lot of photos this time but did manage a selfie at Great Sand Dunes National Park:

Selfie at Sand Dunes Park.

I arrived home Monday night, then it was back to work on Tuesday. The rally – almost 1,400 miles total – was a great success and I enjoyed the rides and the company.

This past weekend I spent at The Lot, going up for an overnighter on Saturday. I finished cutting a path through the woods near the east side of the lot, opening it up for clean-up. While I don’t like cutting live trees, the only way we would be able to access this part of The Lot and be able to clean it up was to have access for the ATV and trailer, so a path was needed. I tried to put it where the fewest trees would have to be removed.

Path through the aspen grove on The Lot

After completing the path, I loaded up another trailer-full of logs to bring home (and eventually to cut into firewood). I also did a little chipping; Pam wanted a few more chips to use around the yard at home. My work time was interupted by a two-hour shower, very welcome in this dry summer!

The next couple of weeks should be routine (work + maintenance chores), then I do have a long work weekend planned for the first week of August, taking off  August 6 and 7.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Global warming deniers should be living on the Western Slope of Colorado this summer.  Normally, at this point in the year, the high desert around us experiences an average of 4 days with temps over 100 degrees.  Counting today, we are at 13 days of over 100 degrees (not consecutive) and tomorrow is predicted to be #14.

Our Arizona friend Hank realizes what kind of heat this is.  Dry heat, right? Dry heat it may be, hot-hot-hot it is.  When the wind blows, the hot moving air almost takes your breath away. Ugh.

The irrigation water for outside watering is still coming through the yard faucet (apparently the ditch that supplies the town hasn’t dried up yet).  So I continue to water the grass (every other day) and the flowers (pretty much every day). I promised myself I would try to keep the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden going through the worst of the high summer.  So far, so good.

Outdoor cat Uno enjoys a warm evening by sitting on the OC-3. (Photo by Pam.)

Happy Trails.

I had taken the week of July 4th (July 2 – 6) off as vacation time. Quite a busy week, as it turned out; I made two trips to The Lot and worked in an additional ATV trip. Here are a few photos and highlights of the week.

The  first trip to Sanderling followed a typical routine; I had taken the ATV and trailer, and proceeded to fill the trailer with a load of firewood logs. I enjoyed a cooler (52 degrees) evening in the mountains. However, smoke from the Weston Pass forest fire (still burning as of this writing) was clearly visible from The Lot. (Colorado has seven fires burning at the moment, the state is super dry this year.)

Smoke from the Weston Pass fire seen from the Sanderling driveway

I came home on Tuesday, cut the firewood on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Thursday evening I was back at The Lot for a 2nd time. Friday was my ATV trip day; I had decided to return to the North Fork of the Swan River (located east of Breckenridge). I was on this route once before and enjoyed the scenery. My guide book included a side spur and indicated this was a good photo spot (not really accurate, as it turned out) and I wanted to explore the photo option.

The North Fork trail traverses a lot of mining history and gets well above timberline. However, the trail is rough with LOTS of rocks and one steep section that is a real challenge. Over the years the trail has degraded from constant use and was more difficult to travel than I had remembered. The results were worth it, though, as I enjoyed capturing the following photos:

Mountain goat – Wise Mountain

Mountain goat kid

Small herd of mountain goats

Not far from this herd of goats was the top of the trail:

High point – North Fork of the Swan River trail

Along the trail I encountered many wild flowers, including blue columbine, and several small streams.

Mountain stream

Wildflowers along trail

Columbine and paintbrush near Wild Irish Mine

Signs of previous mining activity abound in the area; I found this vintage wash plant near an old mine shaft.

Remains of old ore wash plant

Of the mine itself, only this sturdily-built 1-holer has survived:

1-holer at old mine site

Inside of outhouse

After the trip it was back to The Lot for dinner and a good night’s rest.

Saturday brought the only disappointment of the week. I had loaded up the utility trailer with ‘burn pit’ wood; this stuff is too rotten to salvage and too big for the chipper and included some stumps. However, for some disappointing reason the burn pit was closed! I had to leave the loaded trailer at The Lot and will try the burn pit when I next go up for a visit.

Load of burn pit wood

I had planned to empty the burn pit wood and reload the same trailer with firewood. The burn pit being closed changed my plans a bit. I did some tree cutting in the Aspen Grove area of Sanderling instead, then returned home late Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow it will be back to work for me. I would rather be in the high country, not only for the scenery, as the cooler temperatures are most welcome. The high desert has been experiencing another run of triple-degree temps. In the mountains the high temps are 20 – 30 degrees cooler and night temps are in the upper 40s and low 50s, good sleeping weather.

Back on the high desert, Pam has put a lot of time and effort into the corner of our lot and it shows. This corner looks better than it ever has! It’s the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden part of our lawn; Pam has dedicated the maintenance and care to the memory of her friend who died last year.

Corner of our residential property

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

It’s H-O-T on the high desert.  Picture the animals and I huddled in front of the air conditioner, “enjoying” the third run of 100-degree days already this season.

Happy Trails.

Long-time followers of this blog will recognize the name: The Lead King Basin ATV trail has become one of my favorite rides and one I try to make once a year. This post will be long on photos!

We begin with some mountain scenics and water:

Mountain stream

Mountain scenic

Me at my lunch stop. (Not exactly a scenic!)

In addition to the mountain scenics and streams, flowers are a major part of the attraction. This year saw an abundance of blooming flowers including my favorite, the Colorado columbine.

Here are some flower photos.

Wild rose bushes in bloom

Butterflies on wild sunflowers

Not sure of the name on this one

Hillside of red trumpet flowers

Yellow mini-columbine

My favorite – Colorado blue columbine

No trip to the area would be complete without a short trip up to the Colorado Yule marble quarry where this stack of marble blocks is awaiting transport:

Blocks of marble at the Colorado Yule quarry

And, finally, the signature Crystal Mill:

Crystal Mill – 2018

There was quite a lot to take in on this single ride of less than 30 miles!

I have taken next week off as vacation and plan one or two trips to The Lot; more from there in the next post.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

Just playing with the remaining kitten, accomplishing household and yard work, reading — staying cool during intense heat waves. The unemployed-until-retirement lifestyle is pretty low key.

Happy Trails.

The high point of the week was, for me, a ride on my ATV with other members of the Grand Junction ATV club. Destination: Battlement Mesa. (Rather than make the trip to Lead King Basin solo this weekend, I changed my plans to take advantage of a group ride.)

Battlement Mesa is a huge area, around 500 square miles, and contains numerous ATV and Jeep trails. I had ridden a few trails up there but knew there were many more I had not yet visited. When the club announced a group ride in an area new to me I made plans to make the ride.

Unfortunately I left my camera in the truck and had to rely on my cell phone for photos.

One disadvantage of group riding is that you can’t stop everywhere you want to take pictures. The ones included in this post were taken at stopping points for breaks and lunch.

Trail sign post

Group stops for a break

Vista view from lunch stopping point

Club members enjoy looking over the Interstate Corridor – Rifle to Silt – from this overlook

My ATV parked under a tree at a vista view overlook

What I was not able to capture were photos of the variety and profusion of wild flowers in bloom, including my favorite mountain flower, columbine. Also missed were photos of high mountain meadows with views of Vega Lake. I’ll have to go back and photograph some of these views!

We had 11 machines on this trip and the route was just under 40 miles long. One of the members suffered a flat tire on his rig which slowed us down; the cut could not be plugged (he tried) and frequent stops had to be made to put air in the tire. The result was loss of more than an hour on the return leg so I arrived home later than I had anticipated, but had called Pam when I came into cell phone range and let her know the situation.

Overall it was a good trip and one I will make again when I have the opportunity. The route does not have much for water features (a few very small streams) but it did show off mountain vistas, meadows, wild flowers in profusion, and would be considered a moderate trail; a few times in low range to climb hills and only once in 4-wheel drive and that only for about 50 feet.  It was a good outing.

In other news, Pam made a pie from the cherries she picked off our tree; if anything the pie turned out slightly sweet even with reducing the sugar content recommended by the cookbook. I will be picking the last of the cherries later today. Pam already has enough to make another pie or two (in the freezer).

Cherries – first picking

Maintenance item: I replaced the main drive belt on my John Deere riding lawn mower; that job took a few hours. The old belt, original to the tractor which dates from the late ’90s, was badly cracked and was making noise as it would around the pulleys. Hopefully the new belt will last as long as the original. The mower deck had to come off and various guards removed and I even had to unbolt part of the steering linkage, all jobs that require me to work underneath the tractor. I knew the job had to be done before the old belt broke completely and left me stranded in the yard, but I was not looking forward to it. I’m glad to have the replacement completed.

Pam will have a few comments about the foster cats and their moms, but for me, not much else  (other than trip above) happened this week.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Mom and four kittens now out of the “cat room” so two less pens to clean.  Second feral mom to vet for spay this week, then release.  Remaining kitten Solette will be in-house for awhile yet. She is a spunky cutie, and I don’t really want her to go to the shelter, so will need to devise some other placement scenario.

Three feral kittens (they appear to be 3-4 months of age) made their first appearance at the back deck feeding station a few nights ago.  The beat goes on — I can never help them all.

Cherry pie is not really my thing; this pie was for Fields (cherry pie is one of his favorites.)

Happy Trails.

I stayed home this weekend, partly because rain was in the forecast and partly because there were chores to be done around the house. And, frankly, I needed a weekend off.

So I cut some firewood, mowed the lawn, went grocery shopping, bought my “full” load of gasoline (35 gallons using our fuel point discount from last month) and did a few other things around the house. This made it a pretty normal around-the-house summer weekend.

Our cherry tree is producing more cherries than it ever has; I may have to get out the ladder and do some picking! This is the end result of all those blossoms and bees earlier this year. As far as we know the fruit is good to eat. We never put any pesticides or spray on the tree. I’ll have to try a few and see how they taste.

Cherries on our tree

My main Saturday chore was cutting up that first small load of firewood I had brought down from The Lot. This load was made up of trees that had died in areas we had cleaned up in the past. With aspen being the predominant tree at Sanderling, there will always be some maintenance in cleaned areas, as a few trees die every year. New growth makes up for the lost trees pretty quickly.

First firewood of 2018

Our hollyhocks have begun to bloom. Normally the flowers are bright red but we have some that are a pastel yellow, a nice change.

Yellow hollyhocks blooming near our privacy fence

During the week there was a forest fire west of us in Utah (Colorado has 7 major fires burning at the moment) and the smoke made for some interesting “red sun” sunsets:

Forest fire smoke makes a “red sun” sunset

Next week I plan to make my Lead King Basin ATV trip, a highlight for me as this has become my favorite ride in western Colorado.

On the “this is life” front, my mother’s health appears to be deteriorating. She now has 7-day a week house care (not nights, though) and cannot get up if she falls, which has happened a few times. New is a hospital bed with side rails that will help prevent her from falling out of bed at night.

A neighbor lady, Jolene, has been hospitalized and is now suffering from early signs of dementia. She is 94. Her husband, Jim (89, I think, who is not in the best of health), is struggling to cope. We do what we can, and a few other neighbors have pitched in, but it’s not easy for them to manage. Saturday I mowed their lawn and did some weed-wacking while Jim was visiting Jolene in the hospital.

A few years ago, the details of aging and geriatric care would not have resonated with us.  What a difference now, though, as we look forward to retirement.  Illness and aging around us becomes a constant reminder that our time is coming, and to enjoy the health we have.  Life is made up of bits and pieces like these, some good, some not so good.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

On Thursday of this coming week I will note the arrival of the Summer Solstice. When I was working, the annual cycles of the Earth were very low on my priority scale. But this year I plan to totally enjoy the day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere with the longest light. Twilight around 9:00 p.m. is groovy.

Deb, I did order the Simply Soothing bug spritzer. Very satisfying to see the gnats approach me and then turn away.

Foster kittens are starting to be placed with “barn folks.” The litter of four never did warm up to humans much; they are now three months old and ready to get to work as mousers.  Feral moms are on schedule to be spayed in the next two weeks, then released back into the neighborhood.  This will leave Solette, the single kitten from the second litter, still in-house as we head into July. I am really tired of cleaning and maintaining [the current] four pens in the cat room.

Foster kitten Solette

Happy Trails.