Its been a while since I featured any of our cats but lately there have been a few photogenic moments involving a couple of them. Here they are:

Velvet playing under the sofa

Sunny showing off his ruff

And finally, our newest indoor-outdoor house cat, KitKat:

KitKat at rest

KitKat was supposed to be an outdoor cat, and was for several months, until she decided to come back into the house. Still quite anti-social, she will allow herself to be petted on rare occasions but plays with the inside cats (particularly Sunny) and seems to enjoy herself. She goes outside often and is comfortable around the dogs. We hope she ‘mellows’ a bit and becomes more social when inside the house. She is, apparently, a very strong-willed feline.

In my last post I said I would have photos of our ‘new’ used car, a 2004 Toyota RAV4. This particular car is the base level trim but has some options such as all-wheel drive, luggage rack, and alloy wheels. Color is a light tan with silver bumper covers and accents.

2004 RAV4 – front

Driver’s side

Passenger side

Rear

We have a slip-on cover coming for the spare tire and a center cap for the passenger front wheel. Otherwise the car seems to be in good shape.

We removed the back seats to gain cargo area and have already used the space to haul the three dogs at once, brought home a Christmas tree, and took packages (and hand truck to move them) to The UPS Store. The space will be very useful to us.

Cargo space with seats removed

The cockpit area is smaller than the Honda but comfortable.

Cockpit area

The 5-speed manual transmission and 4-cylinder engine got us 26mpg on the first fill; we hope to get a few mpgs better in warm weather when we tend to take longer trips.

The car has an after-market JVC brand stereo system in it; I was planning to revert back to an original CD/radio deck when I downloaded a User’s manual and found the JVC will play music from a USB thumb drive. This eliminates the need to carry CDs in the car. I copied some of my music to a USB drive and tried out this feature and it seems to work very well.

JVC deck

Another feature of this deck, which I have not yet tried, is that it can “pair” with a smartphone to enable hand-free phone operation. (Well, 14 states have banned the use of hand-held phones when driving and 46 states have banned texting while driving.) The pairing is done via BlueTooth technology. There is a microphone installed, part of the deck, that should enable voice commands to work with my iPhone 6+. I doubt if I will use this much as radio and music are the most-used features we wanted, but I occasionally do get calls while driving to and from work and the hands-free features may come in handy for those calls. For the record, the deck is a JVC model KD-X310BT. Reviews show it to be a decent entry-to-mid level unit.

The past week was pretty quiet and the weather for the upcoming week shows snow probable on Monday followed by a cold spell with high temps below freezing for the rest of the week. Not much will get done in those conditions other than some filing of photos, updating a few web pages, working on Christmas cards, and other indoor projects.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Finally succumbed to the first head & chest cold of the season, it was a doozy.

A few words about the guitar playing, see-eester; I play in private to keep my fingers (and brain) limber, no public performances (not even for Fields).  Did you think we were having hootenannys around here or something? Lately, my fingers have been cracking with the dry weather and office work, so until they heal I won’t be plucking and strumming much in any case.

Happy Trails.

Thanksgiving has passed and the Christmas season has begun. Here are a few things we have been doing for the past week.

Thanks to all who responded to my Thanksgiving E-card entitled “Pies.” It seems much of the Thanksgiving meal centers around pies; we are no exception. Here is a photo of the pumpkin pie Pam baked for us:

Thanksgiving Pie

Normally Pam bakes a rhubarb pie as well but no rhubarb was to be found locally this year. Bummer.

During the weekend that followed we put up our outside decorations. We will never win a prize but it is nice to have some Christmas lights on when we get home after work. Pam puts up a large garland complete with bows and lights while I put lights up on the garage eve and front of the house.

Garland and bows

Front of house decorations

Inside decorations will be going up in the next few days. We are going to get a small tree and hope the cats (5 in house) and the 3 dogs won’t destroy it.

We found a ‘new’ used car; a 2004 Toyota RAV4. I had gone over to Grand Junction last Saturday and located 3 potential cars; this past Monday Pam went with me for test drives. We picked this particular vehicle even though it is a bit older than we had planned mostly on the basis of removable back seats and a fairly well-documented service history. The car was a local trade and not from an auction. We will be picking it up later today (Saturday) and I will take photos of it for the next post. The car needs some cosmetic work (front bumper cover and spare tire cover) and we will address these things as we move along.

I have mentioned, in past posts, that our local grocery store has a ‘fuel points’ reward program. Each purchase contributes to the fuel point total, earning a discount on gasoline purchases. Last month we hit 1000 points, $1.00 per gallon discount, and I redeemed those points yesterday. Gasoline cost 87 cents per gallon after the discount. Purchase is limited to 35 gallons; in addition to filling the car I took my gas cans along and got the limit.

$.87 per gallon with discount

It was kind of unreal to see the gallon figure higher than the dollar amount as I was pumping the fuel. Too bad this is not the case every time we need to fill up!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The weeks before Christmas are, I feel, a struggle between what has to be done (going to work) and what I would rather be doing (writing out Christmas cards, decorating the house and baking). Will that change after retirement? Hope so.

I have nothing good to say about “pre-owned vehicle” shopping.  Fields has scheduled an appointment in a few weeks for the RAV4 with our foreign car shop to (thoroughly) check out the “new” silver-colored ride. Hopefully, there will be no unpleasant surprises. We already know the front bumper needs to be replaced.  I’m lobbying for a repaint job for [new] front and [existing] back bumpers – plus side trim strips – in Hilltopper purple (one of my high school colors). It would be lovely to be able to visually locate our RAV4 in a parking lot of SUVs; even if I develop memory loss, I’ll always remember Hilltopper purple.

Happy Trails.

Well, the Honda is finally dying of transmission wear. This last week a check engine light came on while Pam was driving to the doggie-daycare to pick up one of the dogs, Auburn Jo. The error code indicates the transmission is suffering from mechanical wear, probably a worn pump. When cold the transmission is reluctant to shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear and the engine revs up during the shift. The Honda is an Accord model, 2001 and recently rolled over 381,600 miles.

So, while the Honda is still drivable with care (I cleared the check engine light with my code reader), Pam no longer trusts it for daily commuting or long drives. This has kicked off a search for a used vehicle to serve as our daily driver. The Honda would be a back-up emergency ride. Right now we have switched over to using the truck for daily commutes but at 15 – 16 mpg it is expensive to run. Luckily gas prices are low this time of year.

We have decided a small wagon may be the way to go (dog transport, hauling stuff to Sanderling and back, etc.). The main contenders are a 2005 or newer Honda CR-V or a 2006 or newer Toyota RAV4. Both manufacturers made substantial updates in those model years and the vehicles are more reliable than the older generations. (We checked with our local mechanic for this opinion.)

2005 Honda CR-V (Web photo)

2006 Toyota RAV4 (Web photo)

We bought the Honda Accord back in 2004 and it has been so nice not to have a car payment for many years. It is with some reluctance that we are shopping; I had hoped to get another year of service out of the Accord and build up our house down payment fund. The fund will have to take a hit, or at least not grow, as we don’t want to carry a car loan very long. We do hope we get as long a service life out of a new vehicle as we have out of the Honda.

Neither of these small wagons are available (used) locally, or not at this moment anyway, as small used wagons that can handle driving in snow are quite popular out here. We will probably have to go to either Denver or Salt Lake City to look at a few cars. (The distance – a four hour drive one direction – is about the same either way.) Denver has an advantage in that Pam’s credit union, located in Boulder on the Front Range, is already tied into a financing network that includes the Denver metro used car dealerships so financing would be easier. However, it appears the Salt Lake City area has an edge in pricing.

Since we do have transportation (the Ford F-150) we can take a few weeks to find and buy a vehicle. Merry Christmas to us. More on this as we start to get serious about a particular vehicle in the upcoming days and weeks.

Our sympathies to those in the Midwest who were hammered with last week’s snow storm. The storm came out of Colorado but we didn’t get much out of it here on the western side of the state; Denver got hit and southern parts of the state picked up quite a bit. The high country picked up enough snow to enable several ski areas to open earlier than planned although travel was somewhat dicey until the road crews were able to get out in force. I-70 west of Denver was closed several times over the last few days due to bad conditions. Our snow melted in less than 24 hours and, although night time temps have dropped into the teens, daytime  temps have been in the upper 30s and low 40s, enough to make driving pretty routine.

Routine –  it has been a pretty routine week. Leaf season is about over although our Cottonwood tree stubbornly clings to some remaining leaves. I was out-and-about yesterday working on the lawn and I see  I will need to do some work again this morning, but this may be the last of it until next spring.

To all who read this, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

On my list of things I hate to do, car shopping falls somewhere above dental work and somewhere below going into labor. Used car salesmen – ugh. And the thing about malfunctioning cars – they always act up when I’m driving and have the potential to get stuck in traffic.  What.is.that?

I purchased a guitar book of Christmas songs.  Sadly, my 15-chord repertoire lacks somewhat when playing songs written in minors. (Really – five fingers needed for Bm7 or F#m7? Not going to happen.) However, I can play rock and roll-based songs pretty well (Little Saint Nick, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Santa Baby). I struggle along.

Happy Trails.

Most of the fall chores have been completed but our cottonwood tree still has about 1/3 of its leaves yet to fall. Another weekend or two and the leaf season should be over.

Our focus has shifted to looking at a retirement house. Last weekend we made two different trips; one to the Divide, Colorado area which is more eastern slope, also known as the Front Range, and a second [overnight] trip to the Durango, Colorado area, which is in the southwest [four corners] part of the state.  We viewed a variety of houses but none said “buy me” to us.

The first house in Divide was in an older subdivision and had views of Pike’s Peak. However, the layout was funky and the place had a lot of steps. Electrical was also an issue; extension cords painted to match the wall color ran up to the overhead fans [not code], for example. Despite some updates in the kitchen and main bath, we were not impressed.

Other places in the Divide area were drive-by stops and we did not get into the houses. One looks to have potential, but what would we do with a horse paddock area? On the up side, we did meet a realtor who seems to be personable and we may work with him in future.

Same trip included a stop at The Lot to check on the shed and take a general look around. It was a very nice day in the high country and an enjoyable quick visit.

Pam at The Lot

South Park from The Lot

Our second trip was an overnighter to Durango. Pam had been keeping tabs on several properties around Vallicito Lake to visit. This had been an on-again, off-again trip due to the weather forecast including snow over Red Mountain Pass. At the last minute it was a “go” and we braved the weather.

Pam had contacted a Vallecito Lake area realtor and we hooked up with her at her office. The realtor, Marilyn, drove us around the area in her 4-door Jeep.  (Dogs stayed at home, the neighbor watched them overnight.)

The houses ranged from very small to quite large, with price ranges to match. Our ‘wish list’ includes 2 – 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a lot with a view or water of some type. A garage is highly desirable.

Only one of the 5 properties we visited had everything we wanted, but the house was a manufactured home and Pam would prefer a stick-built home. The price was over our target but at least we know houses that meet our general criteria exist at Vallecito Lake.

Here are “view” photos taken from some of the properties we visited:

Middle Mountain Road

Tucker Lane (Pond with fish in it.)

Grimes Creek

Vista Estates

By the time we finished four hours had passed, and the snow had started falling, so we drove through the dark and flurries back to our hotel in Durango.

The next morning we looked at weather cams for Red Mountain Pass and decided to head for home after breakfast instead of spending more time around Durango. This proved to be a good plan as the trip back was very slow due to road conditions (and getting stuck behind a large semi-truck). The leg between Silverton and Ouray – 24 miles – took an hour in and of itself. Here are some views of  the trip home over Red Mountain.

Hwy 550 in winter – few guard rails

Twilight Peak near Durango

Road conditions on Hwy 550

House-hunting is a humbling experience. Colorado real estate is expensive particularly when we’re trying to plan on living within a retirement income. Many of the places we looked at would need renovation or upgrades, not to mention a garage. (Garages are something of a luxury in homes designed primarily as 2nd houses for summer vacations.) The search will continue (it’s only just begun, really), but we may have to amass a larger down payment to make a retirement mortgage affordable.  We enjoy getting out and looking at places, though, and have plans to make more real estate hunting trips during the winter.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Who knew there was so much shag carpet and so many avocado appliances still left out there?  I mentioned this to one of my younger co-workers at the community college, and she said, “What are avocado appliances?”  Call me older than dirt to remember not only avocado, but also harvest gold and almond appliance colors. Having been there for the original issue, I’m certain I do not want these colors in my future kitchen.

Happy Trails.

Avocado appliances (Web photo.)

Down time: Well, only in comparison to our normal schedule. Our weekends are still busy, but the jobs are not individually very big.

Take the skunk fence, as Pam calls it. This was an additional section of fence that I installed to help close off the back yard. The job took a few hours, including applying the wood preservative.

Jer applying wood preservative to the fence

The task was complicated a bit by the addition of a gate-with-hinges at the left-hand end of the section so we can access the areas behind the garage. The job took most of a morning.

Then there was getting the RV’s water system winterized. (This requires an RV specific antifreeze, not auto antifreeze.) That was the last RV-related chore; the RV is pretty well set for the winter. The solar panel is set up and keeping the batteries charged so I should not have to pull the batteries for winter storage.

I cut up the rest of the fire pit wood, put the snow blade on the John Deere lawn tractor, did a lot of leaf raking and mulching, cleaned out and organized the steel storage shed for the winter, and put new seals in the bathroom shower faucets. Each job in itself was not large, but in total it kept me busy every weekend.

I’ve also been keeping our snow-bird neighbor’s yard raked in return for letting us park the RV behind a fenced enclosure. This is a big job that takes some time every weekend. Pam took this photo of me working in that yard; you can see The Box in the background.

lots of leaves

Pam helps with most of these jobs plus has her own additional chores around the house. Her weekends are as busy as mine. She is researching Colorado retirement houses for us to look at; tomorrow we will be heading out to look at a few properties.

The high desert had a snow/slush morning the other day and there was some accumulating snow on the grass at our work location (Glenwood Springs). The snow has since melted but night time temps have dropped below 20 degrees and the furnace has been running regularly the last few nights. Winter is fast approaching and we are attempting to get all outside tasks done before the snow arrives in earnest. Other than more raking/mulching – a task that will continue for a few more weeks – I think we’re done. There are other small jobs to do that are not weather dependent (such as cleaning the garage and collecting my scrap metal to take to the recycle center), but these tasks can be done evenings and weekends at my leisure.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

A parcel arrived with items for my upcoming birthday.  My childhood/high school/adult friend Mary so thoughtfully sent along something to help me get through the long winter nights ahead.

Pam’s birthday book front cover

Back cover

Cat hair is certainly not in short supply around here.  Reminds me of “Trump Your Cat.”

Happy Trails.

It’s that time of the year again when we begin our fall chores.

I put new filters in the furnace, vacuumed out the floor vents (dog and cat hair accumulates in them over the summer), winterized the swamp cooler, removed a window air conditioning unit, put the fans away and took a couple of oil-filled heaters out of storage, started raking and mulching leaves.

Pam began winterizing a few of our windows (that are no longer double paned = plastic inserts) and helped with raking leaves and emptying the RV. (The RV has been moved to its winter location, which is behind a fence in our snow-bird neighbor’s yard. They winter in Arizona.) Pam has done a lot of work on the flower beds, cutting them back and getting them ready for mulching and winter weather. The iris bulbs for the new raised bed outgrew an existing bed; Pam had to dig them up and thin them out before planting them in their new (however temporary) home. This project required a lot of work!

New corner flowerbed already mulched for winter

There is still much to do; I need to finish winterizing the RV and there will be several more days of raking and mulching leaves. What we don’t use on our flower beds gets hauled off to a compost area the town has set up.

Other fall projects are on the docket; I varnished the stake bed sides for the trailer and I have a section of fence to install behind the garage (keeps out skunks – 9 trapped on our end of town this summer). Some firewood for the fire pit, which we keep on the back deck, has been cut but a small pile remains to be processed. After that I will need to put the snow blade on the John Deere garden tractor and make sure it is ready to run when needed. We saw snow on the top of the Mamm Range as we drove home from work yesterday. Winter is coming!

Varnishing the stake bed trailer sides

I upgraded the tires on my Generac generator; this project required me to make an axle. The problem with the old tires (kludged on by the previous owner) was they would not traverse gravel very well. Installation of the new tires, which are pneumatic instead of solid rubber and much larger, make the generator far easier to roll — I am confident the new tires will handle gravel and uneven terrain of The Lot. This will be important, as I plan to move the generator often this coming summer when cutting firewood with the electric saw.

Old wheel (left) and new wheel (right) on generator

All-in-all our weekends are busy with fall chores and winter preparation. The last big project, as mentioned, will be the installation of that skunk fence. After that there will be more raking and mulching as needed. But the bulk of my fall prep will be over, at least until it is time to put up Christmas lights…. 🙂

Our daughter, Felicity, is in England at the moment doing a house-sit. She hooked up with the local ladies singing group, the Crystal Chords, a UK group similar to the US Sweet Adeline chorus that Felicity joined several years ago. The Crystal Chords recently won first place in their division at a regional contest, quite an accomplishment, and Felicity was able to be part of that effort. Here is a photo of Felicity, taken on their return bus trip from the competition, holding the group’s trophy:

Felicity with the Crystal Chord’s trophy

Felicity sent us these You Tube links to videos of the Crystal Chords singing in concert at a local guild hall in Yorkshire.

Happy + Contest Package (All the Way & Let’s Do It) – https://youtu.be/lCfZMoFM-nw

Let’s Do It – https://youtu.be/n11E4HozIsw

Go the Distance – https://youtu.be/ZgvT54hln18

The videos are a bit fuzzy but the sound is pretty good so take a look/listen.

I’m keeping busy and I’m looking forward to a break once the chores have been completed. (Don’t know if that will ever happen; there always seems to be another project on the horizon!)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Busy. Yes.

Happy Trails.

There is not a major news story this week so this post will be a collection of short topics, including the new stove, The Lot, a few animals, and a few miscellaneous photos.

Our new stove arrived and I installed it this past Wednesday. It sure is nice to have a working stove again! Pam has tried the oven and reports it appears to be more evenly heated than the old one, and the top-side burners light quickly and have very even heat distribution. Pam hated to have to replace any more appliances here, since we don’t plan on staying that many more years.  It is what it is – you don’t mess with gas.

Our new GE stove

The last of the firewood has been picked up; it’s good to have it gone from the edge of the driveway but I do miss the woodsy smell that was present every time I walked past the pile.

There are a couple of miscellaneous photos from trips to The Lot. We took Tabitha’s advice and spent some time enjoying our visits from time to time.

Jerry enjoying a campfire

Pam viewing fall colors from Pavilion Point

Pam and Jerry look out over South Park

We will miss our mountain visits (eight weekends in a row late August through October), but the night time temps are getting below freezing on a consistent basis in the high country and, with the leaves fallen, the scenic views are not what they are in the spring and summer. Besides, there are plenty of projects to work on around the house.

On my last trip to the lot the free-range Llamas were pretty close to the road and I could not pass up this photo of a young one:

Young Llama in South Park

We have squirrels (and chipmunks) on The Lot and the dogs enjoy trying to find them. Although we see them often I’ve not gotten a good photo of one. Here is a bit of info about pine squirrels:

Pine squirrel info

One aspect of Colorado that I like is the history of the state, particularly the narrow-gauge railroads that were built during the gold mining days. South Park had the Denver, South Park & Pacific line that came out of Denver, crossed Kenosha Pass to enter South Park, and served Breckenridge by way of Boreas Pass. At the top of Kenosha Pass a bit of the line has been reconstructed. Here is one informational sign from that stretch:

A bit of rail history in South Park

For the time being our lives will settle into the cold weather routine, mostly work and chores around the house related to fall activities such as raking and mulching leaves, prepping the house for winter, and other low-level activities. Just as well; with sunsets coming earlier and earlier it is hard to get much done after we get home during the work week, usually around 6:00 PM.  We do have a couple of real estate property viewings scheduled for later in the month; more on those as they occur.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Fairplay property visits scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8.  Hope to set up Lake Vallecito property visits for Nov. 10-11 (taking some annual leave).  All dependent on weather – light snow already in the forecast for higher elevations.

Happy Trails.

During September I took some video clips of different events but did not have time to put them in my posts. Here are 4 short movies depicting events and outings from that time.

The first (1 minute) is a view of fall colors taken from The Lot on September 12th.

[cincopa AkMAS9MmZWrY]

This next clip (3:10) is of the delivery of 15 tons of gravel for the lower end of The Lot’s driveway. This occurred on September 24 and was the last major project for the year.

[cincopa AoEAu_M6ZyZa]

These next two clips are from ATV trips. The first, North Twin Cone Peak, (1:06) is silent as the wind noise over the microphone rendered the audio track unusable. It is a visual record that I was there (elevation of 12,600 feet) but otherwise is not significant.

[cincopa AQLA088ZZ6Di]

This last clip, the longest of these 4 at 6:22, is of scenery (mostly mine tailings and mountains) along Forest Road 290 near the old mining town of Montezuma. Again, it is mostly a record of “I’ve been there” rather than any cinematic masterpiece. The second half of the clip was taken from Handcart Gulch, the trail leading up to Webster Pass, also in the Montezuma area. This part of the clip has a bit more color and a couple of Jeeps in it.

[cincopa AIDA7_MBZSss]

These short takes are, as I mentioned earlier, more for documentation than entertainment, but I hope you enjoy some parts of them.

Finally, one photo of all the firewood cut up and stacked along our De Beque driveway before Kathy and Doug come and start taking it away. Kathy uses the wood to heat her 1-car garage, converted to rescue cat house, in the winter.

All firewood has been cut

(The cat in the background is Sunny, one of our indoor-outdoor cats.)

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

I looked back at the summer calendar – Fields and (less frequently) myself + the dogs were at Sanderling eight straight weekends from late August through early October. Which is what happens when there’s a late, wet spring and all the projects push forward to the end of the season.  Accomplished this summer: retaining wall and gravel work on the driveway, clearance of the future carport area, down and standing wood removal (includes larger trees) in The Nook, septic pumping system operational, components purchased for the cistern system.

Happy Trails.

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted. We have been very busy with a range of activities that includes The Lot, the “new” utility trailer, a couple of ATV rides, fall colors, and wood cutting. Here is a bit of an update on all these topics.

I had wanted to add stake bed sides to the utility trailer to increase it’s carrying capacity, particularly for hauling slash to the burn pit. It took me a few night’s work, but the stake bed is finished and working very well for my intended use(s).

Stake Bed sides help load capacity – burn pit wood, in this case – from The Nook area

In a bit of an unusual design, both the front and end panels can be removed giving me great flexibility in loading stuff. At the burn pit I can remove either side or end and unload the trailer right from the deck, a much appreciated feature.

Over the last few weeks I have taken several loads of wood to the burn pit and brought home two loads of firewood with this trailer and am very pleased with the way it has worked out.

One thing left to fix; the tailgate of the truck won’t drop down if the trailer’s tongue jack is in place. This is not a major problem but is inconvenient. Back in the day truck tailgates were not as tall as they are now and there was no clearance problem but the newer Ford F-150 tailgates are pretty tall, causing interference. I will either buy a bolt-on jack and mount it further back on the tongue or weld up a plate and re-use the original jack in a different location.

The trailer upgrades are tied in with work on The Lot, which pretty much ended last weekend due to encroaching cold weather. (Last weekend you could see a white tint on the top of Boreas Pass and other high peaks. Good thing we already “visited” Mtn Laurie up there for this year.)  We finished clearing The Nook to our satisfaction; the last of the firewood from this area is in the trailer and waiting for me to finish cutting it up later this week.

Last load of wood for 2015

Firewood waiting for delivery

It is always sad to shut down The Lot for the year and bring The Box home. It means summer is really over and signals an end to our weekends in the high country. I’ll miss my campfires under the stars.

Last campfire of 2015

Speaking of campfires…

Our gas range, 21 years old and original to the house, developed a leak and is not worth repairing. We have a new GE unit on order with expected delivery of October 13th. In the meantime we are using our 2-burner Coleman camp stove and microwave for cooking. Camping at home!

Camping at home with the Coleman stove

I did get one last ATV/Fall Color trip completed a couple weeks ago, a re-visit of Webster Pass and the surrounding area.

Old cabin along Forest Road 290

Gold Aspen along Handcart Gulch

I can say I am tired. August, September, and early October — a very busy time, including nights and weekends. Once we get the last of the wood cut and delivered, get The Box home from The Lot, and complete a few chores around the house (Pam wants a new raised flower bed and some fence work done) I will be ready for a break. By that time fall chores will have started, mostly raking leaves and mulching flower beds so we will see how much of a break I actually get!

A couple of miscellaneous notes…

KitKat has decided she wants to be an indoor-outdoor cat and has taken to coming into the house for long stretches of time, including overnight. She was the most anti-social kitten we fostered, and after Pam put KitKat outside I didn’t think she would even stay around. Surprise! KitKat even lets me pet her while she is in the house. Unbelievable.

The Honda turned over 377,000 miles last week. We are aiming for 500,000 miles. There are signs the transmission (automatic) is not what it used to be, particularly when cold, and we are just hoping it hangs in there through the winter.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

With the conclusion of the work on the Sanderling property for the year, we commence the winter project – our search for a retirement house.  Actually, the realtor who sold us the Sanderling property has already shown us several houses in the Fairplay area, so the search has begun.  Two schools of thought about a retirement location – we are attracted to the water and recreational aspects of Vallecito Lake near Durango.  But, their internet situation at the moment is not good and I need reliable internet to work at home.  An alternative would be finding a retirement home near the mountain property in the Fairplay/Alma area.  Internet is somewhat more established in Park County, and of course it would be nice to be a half hour drive away from Sanderling rather than four hours.  Homes everywhere in Colorado are expensive; it will take us a bit longer to put together the [outrageous] down payment needed, so the search will continue. If it takes as long to find a house as it did to settle on the Sanderling property, we are in for a two year run.

Clover Court home for sale near Fairplay

Happy Trails!

Much has transpired since my last post. Here is an effort to catch up on the last 3 weekends.

We had driven to our Sanderling lot the weekend before Labor Day to continue cleaning the area we have taken to calling The Nook. The Nook is an expansion of an uphill area we had partially cleared  last year, but is further back on the lot, in more pine trees, and steeper.

Pam and I created a slash pile (burn pit wood) and another pile of soon-to-be firewood. However, due to the terrain we had to haul the slash further than I really like; only with much difficulty could I get the ATV and utility trailer into the area. This slowed us down a bit but we still managed to get several loads of slash staged and one load of firewood ready to bring home.

That weekend we had mice again. Determined to fix this problem,  I crawled under the RV to identify the entry point. Peeling back some of the undercoating fabric,  I found a place where the mice had gained entry through a very round-about route. I think they had come in though a space near the holding tank drain line then followed a smaller drain line into the bathroom sink area. Having purchased a can of expanding foam, I proceeded to plug the route and every small hole and opening around the water tanks and lines that I could find. While this appears to have ended our mouse problem for now – no mice over Labor Day weekend or last weekend – I will need to make a more permanent fix when I bring The Box home for the winter.

And speaking of that…tree colors are changing here in the high country. Como had one night below freezing. It may be only a matter of weeks before we’ll have to shut down operations for the year. Seems like it is just too soon for fall to be here!

September 13, 2015, fall colors beginning to show

The next weekend was Labor Day.  I had taken off  Friday to make a 4-day mini-vacation out of it, planning to include a little adventure by adding a couple of ATV rides to the weekend schedule.

I went up on Friday with the truck and trailer and Pam followed Saturday afternoon with the dogs. By the time Pam arrived I had The Nook slash loaded and taken to the burn pit. Determined to get the most out of the Saturday, we tackled a project closer to the driveway…clearing an area adjacent to the dog run. This spot is in line-of-view of The Box, and has fairly easy access. We quickly had a load ready to go and when I returned from yet another burn pit trip Pam had a good start on a 2nd load. That load would have to wait until this past weekend as the burn pit was now closed for the day. We came to the conclusion that there will always be another pile of slash…for the rest of our lives!

Another slash pile takes shape

Jerry getting a load of firewood out of The Nook

Sunday morning we again worked on the dog run area and added to The Nook’s piles of firewood and slash. Pam headed home around 3:00 PM; I stayed to take my ATV rides later in the day and next morning. We feel we got a lot done and the absence of mice was an added plus.

My 2 ATV rides (Sunday evening and Monday morning) were of Hall Valley and North Twin Cone Peak. The former was fairly easy and short, only about 14 miles round trip, but a light smattering of rain made the evening a bit more interesting. However, the rain ended quickly and the long rays of the sun made for a very nice late afternoon ride.

My ATV and another family at the end of the Hall Valley trail. (Building is an old bunkhouse.)

Monday’s ride of North Twin Cone Peak, accessed from the top of Kenosha Pass, was pleasant but the final third of the trail was rocky and steep, thus making for slow going. The 32 mile round trip took me over 4 hours. Highest elevation, at the top of the peak, was 12,600 feet. I was glad Pam had insisted I bring my lined leather jacket along…it was chilly up there. I headed back to The Box, had lunch, hooked up the trailer full of firewood, and headed home, completing the long holiday weekend.

Downhill on the North Twin Cone Peak trail. Angles not enhanced by camera…trail was steep and rocky in places.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I drove up Friday after work  – no day off this time – while Pam stayed home. Saturday morning I managed to get the pre-staged slash (a couple of loads) out of The Nook and over to the pit and still had time to get another load ready by late afternoon. (Photo of this 3rd load is below.) Originally I had planned to return home on Saturday, but the weather was totally beautiful and I was tired so I decided to stay over until Sunday morning. I made myself dinner then built a nice campfire and watched the stars appear after the fire died out. At our elevation, just under 10,000 feet, and with no lights around (the moon had not yet risen) you can really see all the stars and the swirls of the Milky Way.  I slept well that night.

Load #3, more fuel for the burn pit

Sunset from The Lot, 9/12/2015

The last big project for the year is scheduled for September 24 – 25, when we will have another load of gravel delivered for the lower end of the driveway. While the gravel company will try to spread the gravel somewhat when dumping it from the truck, we anticipate a lot of gravel will have to be moved and raked by hand. We want to get this done now as some washout has occurred on the lower end of the drive over the last two winters. Hopefully the gravel will put a stop to further driveway deterioration.

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

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

It’s a mad rush to the end of the season.  Once we wrap it up at Sanderling, it will be time to accelerate the retirement house hunt– into next year.  Something to keep us engaged during the long winter months.

Happy Trails.