Missing Colorado!

I miss you, Colorado! I miss you Mountains I miss you skies I miss you cool evenings and sudden thunderstorms I miss you deer and people and .....everything about you!

A year or so later................................Ditto, Ditto, Ditto!!!!!!!

After spending Thurs. night at the Super 8 in Lamar, I left there about 9 am Fri. morning and headed for Dodge City. Kerry & Tracey both worked until noon, and we arrived at the La Quinta Inn in Dodge at about the same time - I stopped to eat lunch in one of the little towns along the way, and I had been there only about 10 minutes when they got there! Ate at a pretty good restaurant, gambled some, and had a very good (free) breakfast at the motel Sat. morning - got to Hutch around 1:00 pm, went to Carls for lunch, then back to my house to unload the car. Was really glad to have the help! Big job! John & Syd helped too. It's really good to get home to my own house, bed, yard, cat, etc.!!  Sunday I went to 11 Mass, and shopped awhile with Tracey at Target afterwards.

Monday and Tuesday, started serious packing to go home!!  Monday I went to Walsenburg to talk to George at Birco about storing my camper. He's such a rough looking old guy! And his place is dirty and jumbled and full of stuff! I really hate to have to go there. He really is nice to me, but certainly not a businessman!! When I asked if I could come by Thurs. on the way thru town to pay him, he was almost offended! He said " you can just send me a check". I said "Will you send me a bill so I know how much to pay you?", and he said "Naww", "You have the receipt from last year, don't your? Well, just make it the same amount"!!  He did promise to come and get the camper Thursday, although he wouldn't say what time. During the conversation, I mentioned that I may want to sell my camper, and he jumped right on that, and it ended up that he is going to put a for sale sign on it. When he asked how much I want, I said $14,000. He pretty much told me I won't get that much, and would probably end up selling it for less - Oh Well - it's worth a try! He also said he will do whatever I don't get done - like putting the sewer hose away, etc., so I guess I'll see what I get done, and then maybe call him and ask him to do the rest - or maybe call him tomorrow? Got the awning rolled up and the carpet dried out, folded and stored, and most of the stuff packed in the car.

Got a motel reservation made at Super 8 in Lamar for Thurs. night - one more night after tonight and I'll be on my way!! I'm so excited to be going home!!

After Walmart, I went to the "Wonderful House", picked up some chinese food to go, and took it to our favorite rest stop - 2 miles north of Trinidad - to eat at a picnic table.  It was such a nice day to be out, temperature probably in the low 70's!  Got home about 4, and took a nap.

To church in Walsenburg, then on to Trinidad to do a little shopping at Walmart.

I'm not keeping up with this blog very well! Today is Saturday. After some discussion, it was decided, I will leave here sometime (late morning or early afternoon) on Thursday, Aug. 15 and drive part way home - probably to Lamar. I will spend the night there and drive on to Dodge City where Kerry & Tracey will meet me.  I'm having a bad case of the "Wanta Go Home Blues"!! Don't know exactly why, but I just want to go home!  I called George at Birco today and he assured me that he is still in business and will come & get my camper whenever I want him to, so that's what I'm going to do - Go Home!! I have been doing some packing and getting ready to leave, but really having a hard time - trying to keep busy so time will go faster, but counting the days/hours till I can go. Really feeling lonesome these days, too.  :(

Email sent to K & T on Tues., Aug. 6 - "Hi to both of you! Right now I'm thinking I really want to go home the weekend of the 17th.  Don't know why I'm so ready to go home - maybe partly because of all the stuff going on with my house and I feel like I really should be there to see about things, and partly because I just want to be home in my house!  I called George at Birco today and he assured me that he is still in business and will come & get my camper whenever I want him to. So - you two talk it over and tell me if you want to meet in Dodge again, or what.  (If it doesn't work for you, I know I could make it by myself - if I can't get gone from here early enough to drive to Dodge - because of packing & preparing the camper to be left for good, I could spend the night in La Junta)  Maybe we can do something else Labor Day weekend. Unless my feelings change completely in the next couple of days, I will be ready to head home the 16th or 17th"

I drove to Taos today - to Walmart and the casino! :) Kinda tired tonight - think I'll go to bed!

Friday, Aug. 2 to Monday, Aug 5 - Didn't get things written down as they were happening, but had a great time with Kelly, Sydney and Sebastain.  Went fishing several times - to the two local lakes, Bear & Blue lakes, near Cuchara, and Lathrop State Park, near Walsenburg. Went to the Sand Dunes and Zapata Falls, got in a lot of visiting time with Kelly, and the kids seemed to have a good time. They all left Monday morning about 9:30, - I went to Walsenburg to meet Pat, Carl, Michelle and Lee for lunch around noon.  Had a great time visiting with them.

Thursday, Aug 1 - We walked downtown this afternoon to get ice cream. On the way back, two girls driving by in a pickup stopped to ask Syd where she got her "YeeYee" shirt - they said they say that all the time!! Made her day!! :)  I don't know why that msg didn't go thru??  Getting ready now to drive to Walsenburg to the store. Kelly & Sebastain will be here by 5 or 6 I think....................... They arrive about 5:30 and we went to Cuchara to the Dog Bar to eat. I had rented the little (16 ft) camper here in the camper for Kelly & S. to sleep in, so after some visiting time, they went there to sleep.

July 19 to 29

Friday, July 19 - finally got around and gone about nine or 930. The drive was uneventful - Met Kerry and Tracy (don't remember the name of the town) and drove to Dodge city. Had fun weekend Thursday night and Friday. Drove on home Friday night

Sunday, July 21 - Nice to be back in my house!

Eye doctor appointment - dog groomer Monday and Tuesday

Wednesday, July 24 big hailstorm! 3 inch hail hit the house, Garage door, patio cover - lots of damage To my house and To this part of town!

Thursday & Friday, July 25 & 26 - Next couple of days spent figuring out what to do about it - contacting the insurance man and contractor. Decided to spend some money on furniture for my patio Need to buy things now while they're on sale, So have been looking. Saturday went to Wichita to Minards &  bought Chiminea, then came home and went to Kmart and bought Furniture.

Sunday, July 28 - John & Sidney came over and help me put it together.

Monday, July 29 - afternoon Sydney and I left Hutchinson and headed to Dodge city. Rained hard all the way! Spent the night there and on to La Veta Tuesday, July 30

Everybody was real glad to see me and welcomed me back!

Wednesday morning, July 31, (Colleen's Birthday) Sydney and I both played Pokeno With the gals, Then drove to Cuchara to have lunch at the Dog Bar. Later walked downtown to have ice cream, Then took a little drive and let Sydney Drive The car. Very nice day!


Sent from my iPhone

Spent most of today getting ready to be gone - emptied the black tank. Jacquie called and invited me to come over and make jewelry. I did go over for awhile, but didn't feel like I had the time to spend doing that, so we picked out the materials I wanted to do it with, and then I came back home and got busy.  A lot of discussion with Kelly and Kerry about when Kelly is coming and whether or not Sydney is going to come back with me, and I'm not sure it's all settled yet!  Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and hopefully will get that figured out at some point.

Had to tell everyone here where I'm going, when, how and with who!! Really getting riduculous! I went over to Happy Hour, and explained - even the guys think it's their business!!  Worse than Sweet Adelines!

Just one of the beautiful views of the mountains we saw today during our side trip!

Stonewall - ate lunch here

Ate lunch here today with Harris & Kit. They wanted to take me to lunch to repay me for dog-sitting for them - ended up wandering around all afternoon! After going to Stonewall to eat (on the hwy between Hwy 12 and Aguilar - just a few miles east of Hwy 12), we went to see an abandoned town, then to view the Cordova overlook on that same hwy. After doing that - with a lot of stopping for pictures and slow driving over very rough roads, we headed back towards La Veta, but went out east of La Veta and over more, worse roads, to see "Little Kansas". A unique collection of houses up in the mountains apparently built a number of years ago by a group of people from Kansas.  The road up to where these houses are (deep in the woods), is extremely rough, rocky, steep and narrow! I can't imagine why anyone would want to go stay there for any length of time! If there was a forrest fire, it would be so hard to get out - you would not be able to drive fast to escape, because of the condition of the road. It was a very interesting and fun trip, but I am TIRED!

Played Pokeno this morning, tomorrow will get ready to GO!

River is running! First time this yr!

Just wandered by!

Katy, "business" all done - waiting by the gate for me to take her out of the dog park

Dog-sat today with this little girl - "Josie" - a miniature poodle, so black, you can't hardly take a picture of her! Friends Harris and Kit asked me to keep her while they went someplace today.  Katy would love to play with her, but she's a little skittish, and Katy comes on a little too strong, so Josie jumps up in the chair and Katy sits wagging her tail below! :)

It started raining yesterday while I was in Trinidad and continued the rest of the day, pretty much all night, and until 9:30 or so this morning.  I was told we go almost 3 inches of rain! As it does in Kansas, this brings a smile to everyone's face! La Veta has been on a strict water restriction policy ever since I've been here - no watering of any kind, no washing cars, also no fires anywhere outside, including smoking! The river is running here in the park, maybe the water situation will get better now!

"Our" rest stop - where Katy & I stop on the way to & from Trinidad.
Notice the storm clouds gathering - It rained so hard I could hardly see the hwy all the way back to LaVita!!

I went to church at St Mary's in Walsenburg this morning. I was a little bit late, and the church was pretty full, but there was one pew, about 5 rows from the back that only had one man in it. There was a post kind of blocking the way into it from the center aisle, but I squeezed thru and the man, after looking at me as if he was a little bit surprised to see me, moved over to share his pew. When it came time to kneel for communion, I discovered the reason no one else was sitting there - the kneeler was broken and the end of it was kind of jammed in behind the post/pillar. My "seat mate" - since he now had a female sitting in the faulty pew with him, got down on the floor and got the kneeler unjammed and into a more or less usuable position. I couldn't help smiling and by the time he got it set up, we were both trying to keep from laughing. Mass went on normally, the only distraction being when my knees started to hurt and I sat back in the pew and my new friend leaned over to ask if it was too far back and did I need the neeler moved forward. I assured him it was OK. Then when Mass was over - the priest asked all with anniversaries to stand, then birthdays, then visitors. I looked around and didn't see anyone else standing, so I didn't move (not wanting to attract anymore attention after being late and then causing the kneeler disturbance) - but - N.F. (new friend) leaned over and said (didn't even whisper) "You're a visitor, aren't you?". I nodded, so he said "You need to stand up!", I smiled & said "I thought I'd just sit here quietly", and he said (louder) "No, no - You need to stand up!. So I did and he stood up with me to show his support - his arm around my shoulders! The priest said something - a welcome speech I think - by that time N.F. had sat down, and I, thinking it was over, started to sit. "No, no!" NF said - "They will pray for you!" "You need to stand so they can pray for you!", as he took my arm and helped me to my feet again! And so they did. I'm pretty sure I was the only one standing, and the whole congregation sang a short prayer, their hands extended toward me. N.F. told me again - after I sat down - "You get prayed for!" he said, smiling. I smiled and after Mass was over I thanked him for fixing the kneeler. I thought later, I should have thanked him for making me feel welcome, because he certainly did!

REALLY had a quiet day today! Hardly left the camper, except to walk Katy a couple of times. Having trouble with itchy, burning eyes again, so stayed in and babied them and listened to a book - I think I finally figured out what's causing it - Dry Eyes. I had gotten some Murine, and after I use the drops a couple of times and keep a cool wet cloth on for awhile, it gets better. Tomorrow I'm going to the Walmart in Trinidad after Mass in Walsenburg, and get something to put in them - maybe "artificial tears". I do think I'll see if I can make an appointment with Dr. Ridder for when I go home next week - should have done that before I left anyway, it was time. Talked to Mary V about the program - need to meet with her when I'm home.