Shots

Springtime is when the calves get vaccinated. Both the mamas and the babies put up quite a fuss about being separated. We were careful not to mention that during the fall they castrate and brand!

Bottle Feeding

This baby was one-half of a set of twins. It was obvious that the Mama was not going to be able to take care of both the calves, so this one has to be bottle-fed. He is a very persistent, knock-kneed little fellow and I fell in love with him. I let him suck on my fingers and I don't think my wedding rings will ever be the same!

Letter Regarding Adoption

Dear Senators Michael Bennett and Mark Udall:

I've written e-mails (more than once) and I called both of you today, but I am hoping that whoever monitors your names on the internet will see this blog post, too.

Please attend the CCAI meeting on Friday, May 29th and advocate for my friend Kimberly (resident of Centennial) who is one of the 65 waiting families who is trying to adopt from Kyrgyz. Her sweet girl has been waiting to be adopted for two years. It's time for her to come home to a loving family in Colorado. Both Kimberly and Moonbeam need you to step up and start pressuring for these adoptions to go forward.

Thank you for your assistance in this very important matter.

Beulah

Fish Creek Falls

These are Quaking Aspen, known as "Quakies" by every Colorado native except

The Mister, who had never heard the term. The two non-natives in the group (Little Sister and I) gave him a hard time about that.

This is skunk cabbage. It really does smell like skunk, which is too bad,

because it's a very pretty plant.

This little fellow had no fear. We were within 4' of him and he was not phased at all.

On Friday we picked up Nephew from his sitter's house and drove into town to meet Little Sister and BIL for dinner. BIL was delayed (always) so we had some time to kill. Little Sister had never been to Fish Creek Falls so we grabbed a snack and drove over. Nephew has just learned to walk so we needed a short trail--he gets heavy to carry and we didn't have a stroller with us. It was just as well that we had to take it slowly, because the scenery was worth the extra time.

Steamboat Springs

We had a delightful time in Steamboat this weekend. I will be posting pictures/stories for the rest of this week.

Whenever we go to the ranch I feel a compulsion to take a lot of pictures. Steamboat Springs has changed so much just in the last 10 years that I've been going, and it feels like there is a way of life that is being lost. More restaurants, hotels, and traffic and fewer glimpses into the agricultural origins of the town. Skiing and tourism have run out most of the family farms and ranches. BILs family has been in the valley since the late 1800s so they have deep roots, but the way they run their business will eventually have to change. There's no way around it. So every time I go I try to document their life as it is now so there's a record.

I'm no Pioneer Woman, but I'm doing my part to maintain an account of ranching life in the Yampa Valley.

Weekend

We're in Steamboat this weekend with Nephew, Little Sister, and BIL. Pictures and stories to come! Hope you all have a delightful weekend.

Thinking in Bullet Points

• Class was awesome. Students were a real joy. Second half at the end of this month.
• Bought a new sewing machine. Aaaiiiiyyy! Very excited. More to come...
• Headed to Steamboat this weekend to see Little Sister, BIL, and Nephew. Weather should be gorgeous, hoping to hike Service Creek.

No Time

No time for blogging...teaching my class this weekend! Aiiyyyy! I'm still in the "I'm going to make a total fool of myself!" phase which will drive me to perform Herculean feats of instructional design until 2/3 of the way through the Saturday session when my adrenaline will wear off. I always design a group activity for Saturday afternoon because that's when I mellow out. When I finally relax and enter the "OK, this is going well, I'm not an idiot, these students might be getting their money's worth after all" phase. This teaching business, it's an emotional roller coaster.

Encouraging image for the weekend--the flower pot I put together a few weeks ago at Echter's is blooming and looking gorgeous.

The Nerdery Increases

My dad was at our house this weekend and suggested going to the Star Trek movie. There was an awkward pause after this query because just the week before I'd been mocking the movie. Relentlessly. Specifically mocking The Mister and his desire to go to the movie. I believe I said he'd have to take his other wife if he wanted a spouse to go with him. Dad suggested it and we had nothing else to do, so I swallowed my pride and went to the Star Trek movie. In fact, I waited in line even, because it was opening night (oh, the shame) to see the movie that I had made fun of.


And I liked it.


A lot.


(Crap.)

A Recent Conversation

The Mister: You have a problem.

Me: I do?!?

TM: Yes. You do. I was in the shower this morning and couldn't figure out why there wasn't any room in there. I realized it was the abundance of bottles ...so I started counting.

Me: Yes?

TM: Yes, I started counting. I counted four bottles for me, which came as a surprise. That's too many. Then I started counting your bottles...do you want to know how many bottles you have in the shower right now? Right at this moment?

Me: I'm not sure I do.

TM: SEVENTEEN! You have SEVENTEEN bottles in the shower!

Me: I don't see how this is a problem.

TM: How do you have seventeen bottles in the shower?

Me: I'm a girl.

TM: mutter...mutter...Can you maybe get rid of some of the bottles?

Me: I'll do what I can.

Peony Heaven

The peonies have really taken off in the last week. We might actually get blooms off them this year! My little flower garden is showing promise, even after a couple of late snows that definitely damaged some of the more delicate plants.

Bliss

Saturday morning was the opening day of the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market! Of course I did not take a single picture, but still, it was great fun. Produce was scarce, but the abundance of pecan sticky buns at the various bakery booths made up for it. On the way there I had a moment of pure bliss--the spring air coming through the open car window was cool and fresh and reverberated with the classic sounds of Boston's "More Than A Feeling". Frankly, I don't think life gets much better than that.

Springtime in the Rockies

These are all from our neighbor's tree. She teaches youth piano and voice lessons, so as I was taking these pictures I got the pleasure of listening to a youngster trying to play Neil Diamond tunes on the piano.

Even More Progress

The top image is a corner of our yard from last summer--it's hard to tell, but that area is completely dominated by pampas grass (bah!), mint, and the grape. Earlier this spring we cleared out the grass and grape, and I've been slowly pulling out the mint and other weeds. Last weekend I was able to get 10 bags of mulch to start covering the exposed soil with newspaper and mulch to keep the weeds from returning. I ran out of bags before the job was complete but I'm so happy already with the way that corner is looking. Not sure if the pampas grass will survive, but with the mint pulled out at least now it has a fighting chance.

Tres Chic

On Saturday we went to Tres Jolie, a tea and gift shop in Old Town Littleton for an early Mother's Day, late birthday party with my Mom. The sandwiches and scones were delightful, and as you can see, so was the atmosphere. Very girly and very fun!

Progress

Spent about four hours in the back yard this weekend pulling mint and composting (more to come on that). To reward myself I picked up some annuals from O'Toole's and got one of my new Brandywine tomato plants into a pot. I had a lot on my mind this weekend and several hours of hard work went a long way toward restoring good mental health.