Stop the bus, I’m all funned out!

This last week has been “oh my gods” busy. After the birth of the kittens, life did not slow down. Instead, it got busier. Why? Well, because it was the week of the Grand Opening for the Spanish Peaks Public Library. It was an all hands on deck event. Dan, Beth and John were at the library every day from dawn to way after dark. The only reason that I wasn’t there helping was a nasty chest cold. The last thing I wanted to do was give anyone that cold.

Thursday was the opening event. A Gala Party…… Lots of dignitaries of one kind or another and plenty of people in fancy clothes.

The Huerfano Winds

The Huerfano Winds played during the party which was wonderful.

Dan, Deva and Beth

We had lots of lovely food and it was a good evening.

Me in my beaded dress

I even got all dressed up.

Then there was Friday and Saturday. Friday was the big ribbon cutting ceremony with all the speakers and state dignitaries.

John and I.

Gene Hainer, Colorado State Librarian

Dan and Kayla

And the ceremonial sissors go snip!

the stacks

The view into the children's library

The front entrance

John and Dan at the Children's Library check out desk

The quiet reading area

Weavers guild in the Conference room

Susan Tweit, author, reading to the children

Sons of the Conquistadores

John and Dad getting ready for Dad's program on Saturday morning

The book sculpture and Monica in the center of the library.

The Archive/Colorado Room

The Donations wall of fame

The quiet room and the fireplace made of old school slateboards.

Quiet at the end of the day

These photos cover three days of chaos and beautiful fun.

The Shadow knows…..

Well, at 4:30am, our cat Shadow woke me up. She was in labor and wanted MaaaMaaa! So, I put her in her box next to the bed and tried to go back to sleep. Silly me. No sooner did my head hit the pillow, than she was up on the bed. Tried to get her off the bed before there was any mess…. too late. So, Dan got me some towels and we did our best to comfort and midwife Shadow. She’s never had kittens.

The first one was just crowning when she decided that the only place she wanted to be was in my arms…. I almost had her all the way in my arms when “poof” we had a kitten. Next one took a bit. It was breech. Dan helped that one into the world. Third one was fine except for a foot stuck. We figured that was it and Dan went back to sleep. I curled up around Shadow and her three kittens, thinking that after 2.5 hours, that was it. Dan woke me up at 8am, just in time to see that #4 had been born. We put them in her box, and then I curled up on the part of the bed and took a nap.

Shadow and the babies

I woke up at 9:45am to hear Shadow mewing pitifully. She wanted MaaaMaaa! Why? Well, because she had just had #5. So, I moved them all back to the bed and curled around them. Shadow settled down and her five wee black babies tried to figure out how to nurse. Once she drifted off, I got up. We now have 6 all or nearly all black cats. They are Solstice New Moon babies. Haven’t sexed the kittens yet, but they seem to be doing well. They are nested in the super deluxe box on the bed and will move to the floor for bedtime. Now I’m off to wash laundry.

Pictures of the hiking trip…

Dad finally sent pictures of his trips.

Dan up on the pass

This is Dan up on the first hike. They were looking around for signs of the old Spanish Fort. They later found a spot that they think might have been a lookout post.

Sangre Pass

This is the spot that they think might have been the lookout post.

Sheep Mountain

This is a view of Sheep Mountain to the north of the previous shot.  They had a great time hiking in this area.

Sangre Pass

Looking towards the East Spanish Peak

Looking across the saddle

Sunburned

Teddy Peak

Hi Ho, Hi HO, it’s off Hiking they do go!

I’m not sure whether to giggle or not. My dad has been feeling the urge to go hiking now that the weather is nice and warm. Walks around the lake and Lathrop park have been nice, but not enough. So, as Dad is 72.5, he’s decided that the ideal thing is to have a hiking buddy. He asked Dan if he’d like to go hiking. You’d think it was a match made in heaven. Dan has been wanting to go hiking. So, when Dad asked Dan, the answer was a resounding YES!.

They went out Saturday for about six hours. About a five mile hike. They took it easy. They left at 7am and Dan was back by about 1:30pm. Exhausted. His comment was that he was A) out of shape and B) “Your Dad walked my legs off!”. I had to laugh. Dad has this stride, once he gets in it, he eats up the miles. I remember as a teen and in good shape, watching him walk the legs off anyone with him. However, Dan had a great time. Dad came by the next morning to pick up a map he’d forgotten and let Dan know that he’d walked the3.5 mile trail at the lake in 54 minutes. Dan smiled although I think he was thinking “shit!” in the back of his mind. They made a date to go out on Tuesday.

Well, Dad picked Dan up at 7am. They headed up to Blue lake. Another 6 mile hike. Dan got home around 3:30pm. Worn out again by Dad. Although, he said Dad was pretty tired too. They had a good time. Discovered that they are pretty well matched. Dad is happy and so is Dan. Dad gets to go out hiking and Dan is getting in better shape and getting to go hiking. I couldn’t help it, I had to tease Dan about being Passepartout to Dad’s Phineas Fogg. He got the joke.

I think it is great.

Teens, drama and dogs

We’ve had Morgan and Kayla at the 520 house for the last three nights. We had Matt here last night as well. That wasn’t too bad, but we also babysat Spike for Daniel. The house was full of noise. Squeals, barks, hisses and noise from the TV and computers. We got a short break when they went swimming and out for pizza, but the rest of the time was rather loud. They watched vampire movies until nearly 2am!

Morgan and Kayla planning world domination

Here are the girls. Giggling and being silly on the computer. This morning I made bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast. It is Matt’s 16th birthday. Tonight the kids are working at the move theater and treating Matt to the movies. Wheeee…. Then they are here again for the night.

Giggles

I have to admit that it will be nice to have a bit of quiet while they are at the movies.

In other news, Lyra had five kittens on Tuesday. That brings the number of cats up to fifteen at 203. Gods! I have possible homes for three of them.

School wise, I’ve got all A’s. All points too. Now if I can keep that up when the subjects get harder. Intro into online learning isn’t that difficult. Biggest issue is not dissing the instructor during Live Chats. I’ve made a few friends too. Daphne in Louisiana and I have struck up a good beginning friendship. We have fun chatting back and forth. There are a few others I want to get to know better.

The library is getting ready to shut down and move into their new building. I get to go help pack boxes later next week. Wheee….. At least I am not swamped by classes at this point. I took out a stack of books to read while they are closed. The idea being to get all the patrons to take home at least 10-15 books each. This way there will be fewer to move. It makes it interesting on the other end, when they all get checked back in, but… it does make fewer to pack up.

John is in Denver today. He had a VA appointment. Dermatology. His skin is doing better. He is waiting in town to pick up some caviar for the grand opening. I hope someone likes the dammed stuff. I sure don’t. Bleckkk…. Tarmasalata is good, but totally different. I have a dress made for the grand opening. I need to make a waistcoat to go with it to finishe out the outfit. Plus, as I like this pattern, I’m going to make a few more in different materials. I also have a surprise… Can’t wait to unveil that one. Of course, the grand opening coinsides with the end of the first chunk of classes. This shall be interesting.

Well, best go tackle the laundry.

Irony

I had two challenge tests to take for college. One English, one math. I’m horrid at math, so I decided to do it first. English should be easy, right? So, I sit down, start the math test and panic. It was all Business Math, and “story” problems. Dan walked by and saw me glaze over. So, he gave me a few words of encouragement and reminded me that I could do this. Lots of blood, sweat and tears later, I passed. I was amazed.

I took a break, had some lunch and then in the afternoon, I tackled the English test. Now, the advisor had said that the test had a few questions about APA in it. (apa is the style of writing a paper the college requires) I studied a bit and figured that I’d be ok. (insert laugh track) The test wasn’t an English test. It was an APA citation test. A good 2/3rds if not 3/4ths of the test was about APA. Sigh… I failed.

Couldn’t believe it. Oh well. Class wise, I am making straight A’s with no points lost. This is an easy class though. All on how to take an online class. Not sure what’s next besides English.

I’ve been playing on Facebook a lot. Its been fun. I’m finding all sorts of people that I haven’t heard from in years.

Babysitting…

Daniel brought Spike over to play with Blanca and Brandy. Oh how that pup has grown.

Spike at 8 weeks (february)

Spike, 5 months old May 31st.

I can barely lift him now as he weighs nearly 45 pounds.  Our new cat, Shadow wasn’t too concerned that Spike was around.

Shadow

She just laid there snoozing while Spike, Brandy and Blanca ran around like three little kids on a sugar high. It was hilarious.

Daniel wanted breakfast, so we made a big breakfast. Daniel cooked the bacon while I made the pancakes. Daniel had three eggs too. It was heavenly!

Daniel

He will probably get mad at me for posting his picture, but he looks good. Dan and Daniel talked about him going into the Marines. Eeeep! As a mom, I’m allowed to get wigged out. sigh…. At least I know that of all the boys, Daniel will probably handle the military the best.

It might as well be winter!!! Brrrrr…..

Yesterday, it was almost 55 degrees. And let’s not forget the rain…. Lots of it. With more to come. Makes me wonder if it would be prudent to build an ark…. Oh, and of course there was snow on the Spanish Peaks this morning. It warmed up briefly, but…. I’m still running around in a long skirt, denim shirt and wool socks with my sandals! Brrrrrr.

All jokes aside, it is wet, with more rain due later in the week. Not our normal end of May weather. In some ways, this is good, because I have been indoors doing college work. I have my first class in mid session and I think I’m doing alright. Even learned how to do power point programs yesterday. I have one to do for class next week.

Right now though, I think I’ll curl up with a book, a blanket and a cup of tea.

Summertime, and life gets hectic!!!

Here I am thinking about how I won’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for three months to drive Morgan to school. Then I got to thinking about all the garden work (two houses, community garden bed and the vet’s nursing home beds), house repairs, LoboSavvy, college and maybe, just maybe… I might get a job. Damn! There went my free time. Oh well. Not that I really had any to begin with.

My day so far…

• 6am. Alarm went off, I got dressed, made sure the kids got up, threw a load in the washer, folded the load in the dryer.
• 6:30am. Drove to Badito, dropped off Morgan, drove home.
• 7:30am. Showered, got dressed, and grabbed the garden gloves and tools. Oh, and shuffled more laundry. Worked on the front yard and side yard dead heading all the plants that needed it, pruned the Russian sage and some of the roses, cleaned some of the beds and totally cleaned the herb bed.
• 9am. Went to the office. tea, breakfast and then started on stuff for LoboSavvy and my college classes.
• 4:30pm, decided to take a break.

Now, I still have dinner to make, dishes to wash, more laundry to do and start all over again at 6am. Last day of school. Then I can sleep until 7am. Wheeee!!!

We have another pregnant cat. Lyra the one tabby. We moved Shadow over to 520 in hopes that she isn’t preggers. I’m not betting on that one. Not sure what we are going to do with all the kittens. Stella had 4 and one is spoken for. And when it comes to stupid animal tricks, my dog Blanca howls every time the train whistle blows. Not fun as there are an average of 30 trains a day… And Blanca is afraid of thunder and lightning. (can I go home now???)

I’ve had to get use to dual booting my machine. Not happy about it. Really not happy about using Windows, but… CTU only supports Windows. grrr… Probably would have had to do it anyway. Dan wants to do training and that means we need to be able to work in all computer operating systems. sigh.  I now run Windows XP and Ubuntu 9.04.

Last but not least, the library is having it’s grand opening June 25-27th. As John is assistant director, that means I get to put on fancy dress clothes. Haven’t decided if this is a good thing or not. What it does involve is me hauling out dress patterns and making myself a nice Formal style outfit. Hmmm…. maybe that velveteen and chinese silk print might have a use after all.

And now for the baby pics…

Bryan and Stefan sent me pictures!!! I have a bunch, but will upload the best.

Talon sleeping on Katie’s chest.

Bryan and Talon

It was really cool to have all the pictures when I got back this morning from paying bills. I did the happy Nana bounce as quietly as I could, because Dan woke up with a sinus headache. However, would he stay in bed? No!… silly man.

Himself, not so awake...

So, he worked half heartedly all day.

Around 1pm, I went out to the nursing home across from Lathrop Park and helped some of the people plant a garden. They have two areas to garden in out there. I helped Inez and Grace plant the flowers. Two 4×8 raised beds and 4 tire planters. These are made from tires left on their rims and cut then folded out to form pots. Very cool. :>

I got back around 3pm, and Dan was still trying to work. Sigh. Heading to Pueblo tomorrow should be fun…

Oh! Last but not least, I have officially started college! CTU. A bachelors in Business Management. We shall see how long I last!!! Hopefully, all the way to a Masters…