Off to the 10 year High School Reunion!

E #1 and our son in law posed for a quick photo before heading off to the reunion last Saturday. We got to babysit for our grandson and had a great time with him. E#1 was surprised that many of her classmates who live in the area did not attend.

Our son in law attended high school in California and said that his graduating class also from 2002 was not even having a reunion at all. Oh well, I only attended one of mine and that satisfied my curiosity and was enough for me.

Stunning Photographs of Norway

This is a random post to share a link to a site with truly stunning photographs of Norway.  I am sure most/all of my immediate family have never been there. As a little girl I remember being fascinated by the fjords and for some reason the pictures captured my imagination. I guess it looked like a fairy tale setting or a magical place to me. This site has it all including the northern lights. Enjoy! Just click on the link. Scroll through all 50 photographs. http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2012/07/norway-photography/

Best on a big screen.

The Terry Bison Ranch

The Terry Bison Ranch

S. and I checked out the ranch south of town on Saturday to see if maybe we might want to take the grand kids out there this year or next. Not that it is a classy place but it does have opportunities to see animals and get a western experience. There is a large RV park there that gets heavy traffic during the annual rodeo week. There is also a tourist store and a restaurant to get bison steaks and burgers. Probably the best thing there are the areas to view animals for free. There are camels and llamas and the usual goats, chickens, and horses. There were three mares with their young in a special area for viewing when we went. There is a bird house with chickens, ducks and peacocks. 

A “train” (a home-made bus sort of vehicle that rides the rails) takes groups out to see the bison herd on the ranch property. The bison gather all around it (we watched from afar) so they must be giving the bison some food or treats. It was full of adults and kids who were all part of a birthday celebration when we were there.

It is a working ranch and the fences and buildings are functional but somewhat dilapidated. The stables smell like stables, but it is an authentic western experience with dust and all, should you decide to check it out.

Sewing projects

I have been attending quilting less frequently since May but have still been doing a little sewing. I finished a quilt top made of batik fabrics for a small lap quilt/throw for a couch. This one is for E #2. The first quilt I made for her has really bright colors on a black background. Well, she told me she liked color! This one is toned down quite a bit. My friend Cindy will quilt it sometime this summer on her long-arm quilting machine using leaves and vines.

The second project was a collaborative effort by three of us, actually mostly two as one doesn’t sew much but helped with the hand sewing portion. It is a baby quilt for our associate pastor’s wife who is having a baby girl due in September. It is just crib sized and the fabrics are old-fashioned looking I think. It has a ruffle all around the edge. In the photos it still needs quilting on the last border. I helped with the piecing and the ruffle and my friend Linda did all the quilting.

That's it for now. E#1 has a project for her bed that I am helping her with but nothing to show yet. She got the idea on the Pinterest website.

The gardener is appreciated

I’ve always thought it quaint that English homes in novels always seem to have names and there are always gardeners whose whole duty is to maintain the property. Of course wealthy landowners had vast estates to maintain. What did the gardeners do in the winter? Probably they had to haul wood for all the fireplaces or something.

Anyway, Van Court House has a real gardener this year. Since S. retired it is getting much more attention. S. always did a great job of mowing, pruning, and weeding while I more or less (mostly less) maintained the containers, window boxes and “gardens” but now he has time to devote to other projects.

This year all the patio furniture has been sanded and repainted. A new fence has been installed to prevent curious toddlers from falling into a deep window well.  I got terrific help in selecting, purchasing and planting the above mentioned containers etc. The gardener is using miracle grow and watering everything well that the sprinkler system misses. He has plans to paint the gas grill next.

I am loving this. The yard at Van Court House is looking park-like despite the drought. 

Sadly though, our next door neighbor is completely neglecting his yard, no watering, no weeding, no trash pick-up, no maintenance. Ugh.

Particulates in the air = pretty rosy sunset

The record wildfire season of 2012 continues. While the High Park fire near Fort Collins has been contained, several wildfires have started burning in Wyoming. Yesterday the winds shifted from the north and we had very poor air quality all day with visible smoke in the air at ground level. It also smelled terrible.

The smoke was from a fire 28 miles NW of Wheatland, Wyoming. The size of the Arapaho Fire is 82,187 acres and is burning sage and timber in rugged terrain.

There is another smaller (so far) fire burning closer to the Snowy Range called the Squirrel Creek Fire, the community around the Fox Park area has been ordered to evacuate. Here is a link to the fire information for the state.   http://www.inciweb.org/state/52/

Afternoon and evening thundershowers are predicted for the next several days. Let’s hope that some moisture gets onto those fires and the ones in Colorado too.