What a Week.

Oh, what a week it's been.  Les left last Friday for California.  He expects to be gone pretty much 3 weeks.  In the meantime, I'm here at home with my January blues.

I'm blessed to have so many clients who love me and need me.  But during January I burn the candle at both ends and there is no help anywhere.  Boo-hoo.  Yes, I'll have my glass of whine now.

To add to things, Schultz has been sick all week.  He's having a problem with "things not coming out as they should."  A serious problem.

This morning that problem reared its ugly head in the Jeep.  IN THE JEEP!  Fortunately, we have a "Scout's Seat Saver" from Duluth Trading Post... one of our favorite merchants.  It took me about 1/2 hour cleaning that off when we arrived at the property.  It was a challenge since we have no running water up there.  So with paper towels and Lysol Pop-Up wipes, I was able to clean it enough to get it and everyone back home.  Then, into the washer it went.

While that was washing and while I was in the throes of  trying desperately to keep up with the massive volume of work I have that's due on Monday, Schultz came into the office, looked deeply into my eyes, then hunched his back again.  This time he christened the floor, the door, the printer table, the printer cable, and my laptop computer bag.  And the moment I realized what was going on, I rushed him quickly out of the house.  So in addition to most of my office, he got the hall, the dining room floor, the kitchen and the mud room.  By the time we made it outside he was empty.

Fortunately, today was a nice warm day.  ALL of the doors and windows were opened in a brave attempt to air the place out.  But then I was back on my hands and knees again with the Clorox and the paper towels.  Good Grief!

I made a quick call to our country vet who said to bring him in.  His temperature is normal, so it could be the cancer.  But we are choosing to believe that he just has some bug and antibiotics and some heavy-duty meds should (hopefully) do the trick.

I have to write about our vet.  He is a very cool man.  Down to earth in his jeans and cowboy boots.  Doesn't have much of an examination room so he just gets down on the floor with the dogs.  After he took a look at my boy he sat on one of the chairs next to me.  Even though I was really scared for Schultz, I couldn't help but be amused at the fact that he took off one of his cowboy boots, then adjusted the placement of the hole in his sock before he put the boot back on.

I love this town.  I love most of the people in it.  This is pretty close to heaven, I think.

Zumba

So I started attending a Zumba class.  My friend, Joelle, invited me last Sunday (yes, during the second football game) and I really enjoyed it.  Joelle was not able to attend tonight's class, so I just went by my self.  I wasn't alone long since the class was packed.  But it is so much fun!  Now, you just have to picture me... Large Marge shaking her bootie.

Les's Firepit

This morning we took our usual drive up the mountain to hike on the property.  We had about a 1/2 foot of snow yesterday so it was undisturbed, pristine, sparkling magic.  And what a lot of tracks I saw!  No cougar today, just fox, coyote, rabbit and deer.

And finally, finally I saw some critters on our property.  They are so elusive!  But yesterday as the dogs and I walked onto the road from our driveway, three deer broke cover and bounced up the hill.  Schultz couldn't be bothered, but Mindy was busy chasing the wind.  Otherwise, she would have chased them, all the time saying, "Put 'em up!  Put 'em up!"

My honey left for California last Friday, so it's been really quiet... just me and the kids.  He expects to be gone 2-3 weeks.  I miss him.  But I get along OK.  I really don't mind being alone as long as it's for a little while.  I get to watch the shows that I want to watch.  I get to sleep in the middle of the bed.  (I get to take the garbage out and wash the dishes.)  Oh well...

Tracks in the Snow

 It's been a really dry and warm winter here in Southern Colorado.  The locals say it's really unusual that it's been so dry and so warm, but we've always heard that the weather is really mild here.  I guess it's just a bit more mild than usual.

The night before last it snowed about 3".  Pure white powder adorned the trees, rocks and grass.  It's just too pretty for words so I thought I'd put a few more pictures up than I usually would.



Last week as we walked our mountain top, we came upon these tracks in the snow.  They were about twice the size of Schultz's print.  (My 90 pound German Shepard.)  The conspicuous lack of claw marks and the 3 lobes on the large pad identified this print as one of a cougar. (No, not our 40-something single neighbor.)  I thought about putting a pen or something next to the print so that the size would be evident, but having a young, spunky blue heeler mix nearby the decision was to take the picture quickly before she saw that we were interested in something.  Otherwise the print would look more like a mish-mosh of cougar tracks and dancing dog prints.

Fox and dog tracks on our driveway

County Road 67.7 at the bottom of our canyon

We're not too concerned about having a large predator living on or near our mountain-top.  They pretty much keep to themselves.  However one lady in the next ranch had one of her goats taken by a mountain lion.  But that was over a year ago.  There's plenty of foxes, coyotes, rabbits and deer in the neighborhood to keep a mountain lion's interest.  I carry my walking stick when we walk.  Les sometimes has his pepper spray.  But of course our first line of defense would be the dogs.  They'd alert us to any danger long before we'd have any idea something was lurking.

Mindy just really enjoys the snow.

The Week in Review

This was an emotionally exhausting week for me.  January is always a tough month for me with all of the tax returns and W2's and 1099s.  But this week was hard because a former client decided to make it hard.

I don't understand why people are the way they are sometimes.  They delight in taking their aggressions out on others.

That's why -- ever since I was 16 years old -- I wanted to live on a mountain top in Colorado.  I didn't want to have to see people if I didn't want to.  Frankly, I think I'll be able to go some time before I have to run into town for companionship.  My trees and my dogs (not to mention my wonderful husband) will be my companions and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Today, Saturday, we hiked the lower part of our property again.  We see so much petrified wood and so many fossils.  And in my last post I put in a picture of a Moqui Marble.  We see scat of all kinds.  Lots of evidence of various fauna, but we still don't spy the actual critter on our property. 

My hunch is that, since we are the first to spend any measurable time up there, they're just not used to the noise we make.  I am certainly no light foot.  The animals could probably hear me a mile away.

The other day Les saw 6 deer frolicking at the bottom of the canyon.  There's more traffic there as people have lived at the bottom for over 10 years.  I think the critters just know that the people are passing through and they don't concern themselves too much.

We also saw a gorgeous fox the other day.  It was dark and we had just dropped off Les's truck in our garage.  As I was driving down the canyon a fox ran in front of us, paused at the edge of the road, and we eyed each other as I stopped to watch her.  She was gorgeous!  A red coat, white on the tip of her tail and black stockings.  She trotted right next to my Jeep and I was in awe of her beauty.  What a treat! 
Unfortunately, I was no-where quick enough to snap a picture.  Too bad.

Hiking

Just a beautiful patch of trees and sunlight

One of the wonderful things about having 35+ acres of land is that you get to hike it.  We often walk the road on our property -- almost daily.  We have our typical paths we walk.  I always stop to appreciate the magnificence of our land.  And I thank God for making it for us.

Les with his beloved cup of coffee

 Palm leaf fossil

Today we decided to hike some of the lower part of our property.  The majority of our land consists of a very steep canyon covered with pinons, junipers, cypress and fir trees.  At the bottom of the canyon is a stream bed and lots of ... you guessed it... rocks.  I've only been down to the bottom of the canyon once.  But it's time to change that.

Barrel cactus

So today we went "off-roading" a bit and hiked down a little ways just to explore.  And it was lots of fun.  Both of the dogs really enjoyed it and so did Les and I.  Both of us find it amusing to say, "See that rock over there?  That's my rock."  Or, "See that tree?  That's my tree."  It's amazing to me that we have such a place that -- to me -- is wondrous.  I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a place, but I'm certain that for the rest of my life I will still stop and gaze with respect and appreciation this perfect piece of land.

Moqui Marble 

 BBBrrrrrr it's been cold!  Last night, as Les was coming in from a New Year's Eve party, it was 1 degree.  


We went to our good friends' house -- Ken and Angela.  The whole gang was there and so was lots of food and drink.  We both went to the party, but I hitched a ride with another friend who had to run into town to get a friend from the train station.  I left shortly before 9:00.  Yes, I know... what a fuddy-duddy.  As much as I love hanging around with friends -- laughing and talking, there's nothing like my own warm and cozy house.

 Les stayed to bring in the new year, though.  He had a lot of fun.

The night before last it snowed during the night.  There was only about 1-1/2 inches of snow, but it was so pretty.  We went up to the mountain and walked the dogs.  I was curious as to what animal tracks we'd see.  Oddly enough, there weren't a lot of tracks.  Just fox, deer and birds.

I was kind-of hoping I'd see bear tracks, but I guess they must be hibernating right now.

There are a lot of foxes up there.  We saw one as he bolted across the road in front of us today.  They are beautiful creatures.

 But the snow.  I didn't think it was possible, but with a fresh new blanket of snow, our mountain-top was even more picturesque and peaceful than usual.  Fresh snow somehow brings silence to the landscape.

As we hiked our property, Mindy harassed Schultz as usual.  The snow doesn't bother her one bit.  Schultz doesn't seem to mind either, but this morning at 2 degrees, he wasn't interested in much of anything except getting back into this cozy, warm house.

It's been a very mild winter so far.  Jacket weather, for sure.  But not much else going on.  It was nice to see the snow.