Colorado Colors

For the next few days I will just be sharing pics of Colorado back roads.  We had such a good time!  I have had several people tell me how much they missed the fall colors (hello flip-side friends!) that I decided to just share pictures.  There will be very little (if any) blogging - I want you to enjoy the views!

And this is the summer house Steve said he would buy us... 

Someday.

Probably when he gets that 'round tuit'.

180+ Miles!

Haven't heard much from me, have you?  It is because we went 4-wheeling in Colorado!

The mountains were high with many to climb, the waters were cold and the colors were beautiful!

We found old mines and mining towns:

The guys found old trucks to examine and determine the types... although I think they may be still guessing on this one:

And they found neat... machinery... 

We even found a town for sale!

Steve is considering buying it just so he could be mayor!  I, on the other hand, want the house in the background - to heck with being a mayor's wife!


And of course, Steve found trouble to get into... you know him:

Thankfully, I was not there to take this picture.  Joan, my sister-in-law took them!


Take a look at this one:

That is my sister-in-law's shadow on the bottom left hand corner.  But could you make out what was on the top right hand corner?  Well, I blew it up for you... 

Yes, he is still nuts!  I told Joan if he had the common sense God gave a peanut he would give it away!

He is still alive to tell the story - I guess you should ask him about it, but I am glad I was not there to see it.


We put in over 180 miles with 4-wheelers, Rhinos and 4-wheel drive trucks.  Oh my gosh did we have fun!  It was a fantastic trip!  What would we do differently next time?  

Bring dust masks!


More pictures to come... stay tuned!

Pond Aerator Installed!

This morning we went out and planted trees.  We planted Lacebark Elm trees, Althea (aka rose of Sharon), and we planted Bald Cypress trees.  We planted raspberries and are still contemplating whether or not we want to plant a Washington Hawthorne or not..  I don't think so, so we are waiting a bit on planting those.  They are gorgeous, but they have thorns...

While we were near the pond planting our Cypress trees, we were able to enjoy these:

See that yellow cone in the middle of the flower?  

 

When it is mature, this is what it looks like:

Here's my guy...  in the t-shirt (that he never wears)... I have actually only seen him in a t-shirt several times in our 35 years of marriage, but today he donned one and off he went on his toy:

He was working on our pond aerator and he actually got it installed.  Now our pond can dance! 

Well, maybe not dance, but it can thrive again for sure!


He is still working on the pump house:

Right now it doesn't look like much, but he is going to build an outhouse (non-usable one thankyouverymuch) here and put the pump and fishing poles in it.  I can't wait to see it done - it will be cute!  It will be complete - with a slice of moon and all!   If you look up in the middle of that spool, you will see the beer bottle holding the spool down.  I guess that is what it is doing anyway - why else would it be there?  Right?


We felt very accomplished when we got it working.  It has been quite a task!  Do you see that long line from the bottom left of this picture to the top center?  We had to rent a Ditch Witch and dig a hole to bury electric line to run the air pump.  Then we had to cover the hole back up again... and believe me doing all of that was 180 foot of hard work - mostly for Steve!

Then Steve had to build a weight to hold the aerator down on the bottom of the pond.  Once he did that, we had to tie cable/rope to it and drag it across the pond and stop it in just the right place - the center.  Lots of sweat and tears has gone into getting that aerator going...  So when we saw the bubbles it was quite rewarding!  I think we both felt like we had accomplished something huge!

The reason we had to have an aerator?  We have had very little rain this year - we just got a bit over an inch last week, but we are exceptionally dry.  In fact, look at Steve measuring below.  Do you see that black line just below his fingertips?  That is the level the pond is usually at when it is full.  It is down 44" after an a bit over an inch of rain!

Anyway, today was a good day - we got a lot accomplished and he grilled burgers and  I made fried tators and onions to celebrate.  And we finally ordered our first pay per view movie EVER to sit back, relax and enjoy.  Heck I might even break out the popcorn.

Off I go!

Underground Railroad Quilt

Have you ever of the underground railroad?

Have you ever heard of the underground railroad codes? 

We guess who is working on an underground railroad quilt sampler?

Me!

I have actually finished 3 quilt blocks, thanks to my friend Sharon!  I am still new to quilting but Sharon is a pro.  We decided doing the quilt together would be fun - she got material for hers and I got material for mine.  I wish I could say it was just that easy, but finding civil war like fabric is no easy feat - especially if you want it all to look good when the quilt goes together.

I am finding most of the fun of quilting is looking high and low, far and wide in quilt shops for the perfect piece of material to go with your project.  I think if I had the money, I could easily make this a nation wide shopping trip!  That is a big statement coming from this gal that despises shopping.  Lol...

Anyway, we finally got all of our material for the quilt and cut the material.  Last week, we started our trek.  Since I am so new to it I figure I need her assistance.  She and I live 20 miles away from each other so it takes planning to get together, but we have managed 3 days and accomplished making 3 blocks:

I am learning a lot.  And I know several things: (1) I know that block number 1 does not appear to go with blocks 2 and 3.  (2)  I know the blocks are not perfect, but I am still pretty darned proud of them!  And (3) I also know, when we put all these blocks together, all the colors will work out and I am counting on it looking beautiful! 

This is what the quilt is supposed to ultimately look like:

Do you think I can do it?

We are gonna see...

Today is the big day - I have been hobbling along on this shoe for my broken foot.  I get to see if it comes off today!  Can you hold your breath for me?  This has sure been a pain in the backside - it is not comfortable to walk on, leaves blisters on my feet and I am ready to move on. 

We have an adventure coming up and I need to be fit and ready for.  What?  Not gonna say yet - still want to be sure it all pans out... but I will let you know when we work the kinks out...

Finally, our daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter made it through Hurricane Isaac just fine.  They had a lot of wind, a lot of rain but fared well.  They have a few limbs down and will start clean-up today.  I will be thinking of and praying for all those out there still dealing with Isaac's fury.

Off to get this foot checked out.

Then back to sew!  Wish my quilting buddies were here to share the joy.   :-)

Makes My Heart Smile

 Granny Bon teaching Aedan to use a sling shot:

Papa and Aedan having a water gun fight:

Aedan making apple straws (he was really peeling an apple):

Aedan eating what he called 'apple straws':

Papa Rod, Aedan and Granny Bon hanging out on the swing:

Aedan eating a 'granny taco' - and he said I needed to teach his dad to make it!

Aedan's angry bird mask:

Papa and Aedan playing Kerplunk!

My Turning Twenty quilt top - finished!

I am smiling today!  It is nearly the weekend and my sweet hubby and I get to be together for two whole days.

And I am feeling ok again.