Yes, it has been forever since I last wrote. A month in fact. Sheesh! Let’s see…

Shadow had another litter of kittens… 6 this time,

Had a fun Halloween,

A good Samhain with Morgan here to celebrate with Dan and I,

A very mellow 50th birthday. A lovely romp, breakfast in bed and an easy going day doing what I wanted,

Applied for jobs,

Had a job at a coffee house for two weeks… until the owner decided that he couldn’t cope with the bills the previous tenant left,

Applied for a job as a dispatcher,

Oh, and I’ve been doing theater on a train! A melodramatic version of A Christmas Carol. I’m the narrator, Dan is Scrooge, and there are three other people acting out the rest of the characters. It is on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad and we will be doing that until Christmas.

And of course, we did the big family Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house. Lori, Bill and Shawn came down from Littleton, Aunty Toni and Uncle Karl came up from Las Cruces and Daniel and I went as well. Lots of good food, wine, and of course, dessert! It was really good to see everyone and as soon as Dad and Toni send me pictures, I’ll post some.

Saturday was Logan’s 3rd Birthday. His parents had a party for him down in Aguilar.  Since I don’t have a car at the moment,  I went down with my parents. When we got there, Logan ran up to my mom and I and said, “Two NANA’S!!!” He was just a little excited. There were a handful of kids and parents there. Logan had a great time running up and down the community center. At one point, he came running to me and after plowing into my leg, he looked up and said, “I love you Nana!” Later I found out he had told my mom he loved her and ‘Nana’. So she had told him to go tell me.

There was lots of cake, pizza, cookies, punch and green jello with Gummie Bears. Oh, and lots of noise. We came home around 4pm. Two hours of noise was about all I could take.

It was nice and warm. Probably about 58, and I had hung laundry out in the morning. Of course, none of it was dry, so I left it hanging up. Silly me. We woke up to snow on Sunday morning. In fact, it snowed all day and most of the evening. Then the clouds moved off and it got COLD. Brrr……. We honestly wondered if Morgan would have school today. She did. The roads are icy, but not too bad. It has warmed up to a brisk 50. Some of the laundry thawed and dried. The rest will just have to wait. Tomorrow is suppose to be warm too.

One thing this cold weather has done is finally made a dent in the woodpile on the side of the house. Dan gets to chop more wood as soon as we have a maul. Then I will have to rake all the bark and sawdust and really small twigs to where I want them. The plan is to xeriscape the front yard. There are just too many deer that walk through the area to have really “normal” gardens. We had a bear through the yard too. Found the prints complete with claws in the mud. I think it was after the berries on this one bush out front.

The front yard

Yeah, I know that sounds like a contradiction of terms, but…. it is Sunny outside and still only about 45 degrees! Here are some pics of the snow.

Snow Last night

Bundled up Dan

Spike has had enough!!!

Spanish Peaks hiding in the clouds

Last night it started to rain.  We went to bed fairly early because Morgan had a field trip to go on and they had to leave at 6am this morning. At some point in the night, the rain turned to snow. Daniel turned up around 2:15am. He didn’t want to fall asleep and not be able to be woken up. I woke up at 3am, when something pissed off the skunk. Oh gads! The smell sent me into an asthma attack. 4am, my alarm went off. Dan was suppose to get up, but didn’t want to move. I don’t blame him. 4:25am, Dan and Morgan finally got up and moving. It was snowing and they knew that they needed to get on the road. Dan, Daniel and Morgan left around 5am for Gardner. I went back to bed, as I could finally breathe.

7:35am-The phone rings. Daniel. “Hi mom, we’re stuck in the mud and Erin is coming to pull us out.” Huh? Okay. I figured that they had gone off the road and were just stuck on the side of the road. I hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

8:58am-The phone rings. It’s John this time telling me that Daniel and Dan are still stuck, Erin couldn’t get them out of the mud, and that they were waiting for Daniel’s Towing Service to unstick them. Great… The boyz went Mudding. What the hell were they thinking? I debated rolling back over and going to sleep versus getting up. While I lay there debating, Dan and Daniel arrived. Dan was soaked and mud covered. They were hauling the hose out of the back yard to clean off Daniel’s car. I got up and took a peek. There must have been ten pounds of mud on it.

Brandy and Blanca of course took advantage of the chaos to run off. Dumb dogs!

They hosed it off, and Daniel headed home to shower and hopefully get his car fixed. He had planned to get a ball joint or something like that repaired today. If he couldn’t, he was just going to sleep. While fixing breakfast, Dan told me what really happened. They had gotten Morgan safely to school and were almost home when they decided to go play in the arroyos near Toltec. Dan said to Daniel that this probably was NOT a good idea. Daniel, being Daniel said “Well, I want to” and off they went. They did fine right up until they hit clay. The sand in the arroyo was okay. However, the mud was…. sticky, sucking and treacherous. Daniel almost got them out. he slid off the ‘road’ and that was it. So, they called Erin, who has a big 4WD pickup. Daniel’s is a 4WD Blazer.

Erin came out and couldn’t even get near Daniel’s Blazer. He got stuck twice and finally gave up. So, they called the towing company. The guy with the tow truck has a Mudder truck that he tows with for situations like this. He almost got stuck. It took Everyone, 8 wheels, two drivers and lots of luck to finally get the Blazer out. The guy told Daniel he was lucky! gads! Boyz!

Dan said the mud was sucking the shoes off of his feet, and rivaled Montana mud. (and that is something to rival!)

So, now we are curled up with a fire in the fireplace, the two dumb dogs have returned and are drying off on the back porch, Spike is with me in the house and the cats are on the front porch. Dan keeps saying he will take a nap. (ha! silly boy) At least he did crawl in bed even if he does have his computer with him.

There is about 10 inches of snow out there and it is still snowing. Such fun. I’m going to finish this post, play on the net a few more minutes and then go back to writing my story.

Yes, while my parents got a load of wood in today, it decided to be a balmy 75 degrees today. Yesterday it was in the 80’s. Oh well. So much for snow in September. Of course, it will probably snow 3 ft tonight. (you think I jest?) Autumn is such a weird season here in Colorado. Either warm and pleasant, or bitter cold. Sometimes both on the same day!

Morgan is off to Mesa Verde for a field trip on Wednesday and Thursday. She is excited. She has been enjoying not having volleyball practice. With my car down, I’ve rather enjoyed the brief break in driving. Daniel has been doing it, because he has a car. Wheee!!!! It means I get to stay home and do things like school work, blogging and story writing.

We still have Spike here. Dan swears that Brandy tried to kill him last night. The dogs got so tangled up that Spike was choking. Today we moved the cables so that no one is close enough to tangle the other.

I might have a job soon. A friend of ours who owns an antique shop wants to open a tea room. Yeah, English tea, tea breads, etc. She didn’t have a clue how to do it, or who to run it until Dan mentioned that I’d be perfect for the job. So, I went down, talked with her for an hour and then looked where we could put the shop. She is going to hunt down some of the details and I will do some other work. Whee!!!

Yesterday was the Staff appreciation dinner put on by the FOL. We had KFC. It was a pleasant 2 hours. Then it was home for work on my college class. Professional Communications. A’s so far, and I’d like to keep it that way.

At least today I get a chance to write!!!

I ran out of hours in the day…  I didin’t get to the fun of Thursday. We got Morgan off to school and I started to get ready for the day. Spike, Daniel’s dog, went tearing into the house and scared the kitten, 5. 5 ran and Spike gave chase. He caught the kitten and started to shake it, when the kitten planted all twent claws into the dog. Meanwhile, Dan and I are trying to get the dog to let go. Spike is a pit bull… I thought that we were going to loose the kitten. However, Dan pulled Spike’s gums back and popped him in the jaw. It worked, and We got the kitten free and out of the way. Spike went out on the back porch, and we took 5 to the vet. Just a puncture in the jaw from what the vet could tell. So, we came home. Cleaned up the blood and looked at Dan’s hand. He broke two small bones when he hit Spike. Ouch!!!!

Then Dan went to work on a computer for a client. Meanwhile, I discover that there is a bat on the inside of the porch. Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered me. However, with everything else, I was a bit nervy about moving the bat. When Dan got home, he moved it outside. I have a picture, but it isn’t very close…

the bat....

The other thing that freaked me out is that I adjusted the piece of plexiglass between the bat and the outside world earlier that morning, and I don’t remember seeing the bat!!!!

Then it was time to head off to Gardner and then to Westcliffe, because Morgan had a volleyball game at Custer school. It was snowing of course.  We drove up and watched the game. The girls won!!! After that, we went to Pizza Madness for pizza. Very good! Ate more than I should, but oh it was nice. Then we drove home in snow and fog.

Next day was suppose to be nice and quiet so that Dan and I could get school work done. Hahaahahaahaa….. First Daniel showed up to talk to us about Spike. (7:30am!!) We know he was just being a dog and 5 a kitten. Now we will just take care to lock up the cats before we let the dogs in. sigh…. Finally got Daniel out the door and thought we’d snooze a bit when the phone rang. It was Dad. He had computer problems. So, we got up and tried to get stuff done… Oh yeah….. I think the phone rang 20 times in at least a two hour span. Sigh. Daniel came back with new cables for the dogs and then they all escaped. Dan and Daniel went after them and I stayed put in case they came home. That escapade over, Dan tried again to get his school work done. He finished it just in time to go out to Lathrop park to help my Dad and the park rangers with the computer equipment. Meanwhile, I did laundry, housework and tried to start my school work.

Morgan spent the night and Dan and I got our school work done around 10:30pm….. Off to bed because Saturday was Volleyball tourney time!!!

Up at 6:30am and started to get ready. Dan was a slug….

Dan and Brandy

And Brandy wasn’t helping………

Bed slugs

I finally got everyone up and fed… and out the door. There was ice all over the car. Brrr….. Dan got it started, but then it died. No idea what is wrong. So, I came in and called Faith Espinosa who’s daughter Madiana (sp?) is on the team as well. She gave us a ride up and we got there just as the tournament started. Wheeee!!!!

The Gardner Team

Gardner B team played Gardner A team first. Then there were games between Primero, La Veta and Gardner. Gardner B team ranked 4th. La Veta 3rd, Primero 2nd and Gardner A team Won First Place!!!!! It was a really good set of games with lots of breath holding. Morgan did really well and we are so proud of her. We got home around 1:30pm and started a fire in the fireplace. It is still bitterly cold. I’ve got chicken in the oven and I figure we will curl up with a movie later tonight. Brrrr!!!!

When last I wrote, it was warm… sunny…. and Summer. Well, Summer went out with a SLUSH!!! It was cool, and  began to rain. Next thing I knew, it was SNOWING!!!!!

Looking out the front.

We ended up with three inches of snow in town. Not exactly what we had planned for the last bit of Summer. Nor, for the Celtic Festival that was due to start the next day!!!

Up the street.

Of course, I had to tease Barbara Yule, the festival co-ordinator that she really didn’t have to import the weather as well as the musicians…… She did laugh. Dan and I worked the festival again. Lights and sound at the Fox Theater. We had a good time. The music was fantastic. The main band this year was GiveWay, a 4 sister band from Edinburgh. Great! Lovely! I liked Roger Landes and of course Aine Minogue. There was a Burn’s supper too as it was the 250th anniversary of his birth.

GiveWay in Concert on Saturday Night

Linda Hickman, David Coe & Roger Landis on Friday night

Coe, McKee & Willson

Girl'sNnight Out at the Ceilidh

Jack Yule

Ed Miller at the Ceilidh

Barbara Yule at the Ceilidh

Aine Minogue

Roger Landis and David Coe

GiveWay Girls

Willson & McKee

We had the first snow on the peaks about a week ago. Brrrr!!!!

Snow!!!

It had been rainy and cold in town, but when the clouds moved off, there was the snow. It made me a bit nervous as we were due to go up into the Upper Huerfano to pick rosehips and such the next day. Luckily for us, it was just cool. We got lots of rosehips and chokecherries. I’m making jelly out of the chokecherries.

Morgan had a birthday on the 10th. She had a volleyball game the day before and I sent cupcakes up for her birthday.

Yesterday was Dan’s birthday. He’s 46 now. LOL…. I tease him and call him Old Man.

Dan and Morgan

Morgan had a volleyball game yesterday too, and after the game we all went to Taco Bell where the whole team sang Happy Birthday to him. Oh the glow on his face!!!! It was a riot.

Today we went to do some work at the Catholic Church, ran errands around town, went to Morgan’s conferences and found out that she is doing well. Figured out some strategies for her expanding education. If she can pull it off, and turn in her work with good grades, they may skip her to the 8th grade mid year. She was very happy about that.

After that, we came home had dinner and called my Dad to wish him happy birthday.

Oh gods…. Since I last wrote, school has started, and we’ve had company, and TEENS!!! At the same time no less. Aieeeee!!!!! So very busy. The weekend of the 29th, we had four teens…. three girls and one boy spending the night for Friday and Saturday night. Giggles, gory movies, lots of junk food and oh…. more giggles.

We all went to the Sand Dunes at one point. One girl didn’t go with us, but spent the night, so we had three adults and three kids. Wheeeee!!!!! It was a lot of fun, and very sandy.  There were also two trips to Pueblo. One with Daniel in tow, and we all went to our favourite Chinese buffet. Daniel was drooling over one of the waitresses and we got him to hug her goodbye. All of the adults thought that that was a riot. We did some grocery shopping too. Oh that was fun. Daniel is so funny.

By the time Sunday came, we were ALL ready for the teens to go home. Our company left Tuesday morning and life got sort of back to normal. School runs, picking plums at Mum’s and Dan going out on hikes with Dad.

Today they just took a drive and a little hike. Mom and I went out to lunch and I finally got the jam bottled. Gods that was a lot of plums. I just hope it sets up well. If not, oh well…..

I am half way through my class at the moment. English 112. Not as bad as English 111, but oh my… Teaching to the lowest common denominator. Argh….

Would have shot me a long time ago. Why? Because I have so many stories just hanging there waiting to be finished. I don’t so much get stuck or blocked, but simply run out of time to work on a story. So, I let it sit… ferment as you might say. Then, the inevitable happens…. another story pops into my head and I start to work on it because it is screaming in my head so loud I can’t not write.

Really must figure out how to get some of these published. Publishing = money= more time to write…. hmmm…. I understand that part of it is fear. Where? How? Why? etc…. Oh, and rejection. Basic issue, is that I simply don’t know where to start on that bit.

Not to mention that I have some stories only fit for certain markets. Fairy Light is a children’s story that needs illustration. Sheeple, Sweetwater, In the Arms of Fenris… Adult market, ala LKH’s books. Then there is Chase, the latest stream of words…. Spy guy/werewolf/sex all rolled into one. Oh, and set literally in my own backyard. This one is only 23 pages in, but at least reads good so far. I’m picking Dan’s brain for the technical bits. Right now, I’m in the middle of a bear attack scene.  This story is called The Chase. It is about a team of marines that is going in to pick up a “vet who has lost his mind”.  The vet is not off is rocker, but has a secret that the military wants. So, he runs up into the mountains he knows like the back of his hand. The marines follow, and chaos ensues. Nerys is the main female character. A Navy nurse stationed at 29 Palms.  Here is an excert. She has just had to deal with a drunk ex-boyfriend who is also on this retrival team.

Nerys breathed a sigh of relief and turned down the bed to climb in. Before she had a chance, there was a knock at the door. Opening it, she found Gunnery Sgt. White and the LT standing there.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

“Ma’am, you weren’t the problem. We put him back to bed though.” said Sgt. White, making a fist pounding gesture.

Nerys smiled. “You can call me Betty. Want to come in? Or just stand on my doorstep?”

“We’ll just stand here if you don’t mind Betty,” said the LT. “If you don’t mind me asking, what the hell is between you two?”

“Nothing now, and that is his problem.”
“Oh?” the two men asked at the same time.

“We use to date, but when he decided that he liked playing mind games more than fun and games, I said enough and kicked his ass out.”

“Ma’am, umm… Betty, sorry, but this old Sargent just can’t see what attracted you to him.”

“Sargent, every sailor or marine gets drunk and does something stupid. I got real drunk one night, took home a pretty thing from the bar and when I woke up in the morning, thought I’d at least give it a try sober. However, sometimes the strays you bring home have bad habits. He has plenty, and after a while, I just couldn’t cope any longer. So I tossed his ass out. Been holdin’ a grudge ever since.” Nerys leaned back and took a deep breath. The air up here was thinner than she’d ever experienced.

Both men laughed. Sgt. White smiled and nodded with a knowing look to his face. “Well, I’ll see to it that the ’stray’ stays out of your way.”

“Thank you Sargent, you are a gentleman.”

“Oh no ma’am,.. Betty. I’m a Marine,” he said with a big smile.

Nerys smiled. “Have to admit that if I’d known that this little flight had him on it, I probably would have found myself a weekend to enjoy at the psych ward. Didn’t know until I got on the bird.”

“No wonder you went from smiles to growling in about thirty seconds,” said Charlie. “And is it me, or is this about the weirdest mission you’ve ever been on? Eighteen people just to pick up one man?”

More later …. maybe…

Then, there is my college class. English Comp II. Seems like it might actually be a decent class. I’ve picked a rather touchy subject for my essay, but I do hope she lets me keep it. Otherwise, I’ll probably pick another thorny issue. Not into writing boooooooooring stuff. The Guardian Newspaper is so good for edgy articles. Being bored during the last class about had me ready to quit.

Well, I think I’ll pull up Chase and write more on the bear slaughtering soldiers.