Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Happy Autumnal Equinox!
We celebrated today with a 6 hour road trip into the mountains, driving up behind Pike's Peak to Cripple Creek and Victor. I wanted to see the changing colors of the aspens. We both wanted to get out of the house, out of town, out of our same old same old routines. We visited a state park I had not heard of before, on the road to Cripple Creek. Mueller State Park isn't a large park, but it has some really nice camping sites, both for tents and trailer. They also have rental cabins. We might...
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Saturday, September 19, 2020
This is what a teacher and a leader looks like.
First thought in my waking mind this morning, no surprise, is about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I posted last night on my Loosely Speaking blog here after I'd had a little time to get past the first reactions of great loss, and consider what comes next, what she devoted her life to making sure could come next. This morning I am so greatly heartened to see over on Facebook an overwhelming support of this same idea: The way to honor her is to continue to do what she showed us how to do. That...
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Friday, September 18, 2020
Friday, AGAIN?
Waking to another smoke-hazy day... I read that the West Coast smokes are now affecting European skies. Don't visit the US, the US will come to you. Census guy knocked today... Already sent mine in, but he needed to ask about the neighbors in the apt bldg next door. I know nothing useful of them, but we chatted some as I had his job in 1990. It hasn't changed much, but I suspect that it is easier in a residential area than in a rural area. Today is a watering day. We have not had rain in some...
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Thursday, September 17, 2020
Soup and Ears
It''s another smokey morning here, the sunlight filtered to that soft rosy gold color and the mountains vague shapes in the distance. Temps are cool, will be in the 80s later. I woke up before dawn. There were only two visible sparks in the sky, one bright and likely Venus. That's how occluded the sky is. Yesterday I came home from grocery shopping with a box of pre-roasted chicken, had some of it for dinner, and saved the bones. This morning those bones went into a pot with water, and they've...
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020
How time flies... or stumbles by!
Halfway through September... hard to believe it, hard to feel it... My sense of time has never been great, but this is just unsettling in so many ways! Also unsettling, even aggravating, is how when I am not looking, and the computer is supposed to be sleeping, an uber-gremlin comes along and updates everything--losing, in the process all the ready-access links to pages I'm working on. Last night I went to my Patreon page and my draft of the next episode of the novel I am presenting there had...
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Sunday, September 13, 2020
Sunday after the storm
It's clear and bright today, with temps expected in the mid 80s F. The the plants went back outside yesterday, and the house finches and other little birds have rediscovered the bird feeders. The dove is on the nest up in the corner keeping an eye on me anytime I am out there, or if I hover near the sliding door to the deck. Looking out the front window at Pike's Peak, I see a bit of snow on top. That's all that's left of our big, late-summer snow storm. Baking artichokes this morning... the...
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Thursday, September 10, 2020
Cricket in the house
I woke this morning to a single chirp. It was kind of loud, and solitary. After it repeated itself a minute later, and a minute after that... And I realized, it is time to change the battery in the smoke detector. So, I need to shift all the tomato pots, because it is behind them. It is also high up on the wall behind them. This means I will have to get out the step ladder. Yes, I have a step ladder. I never knew my real ladder.
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Wednesday, September 9, 2020
And here it is...
https://flic.kr/ps/rhS1C The heat is on early this year even if only for a couple of days. Temps in the 20s when I woke up this morning. There's no snow on the street, it's still summer-warm and laughs at snow.
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Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Winter in September: welcome to Colorado!
The winds blew intermittantly through the night, and I enjoyed so much being huddled warm under the down comforter beside the sliding door open to the deck. I loved the sound of the wind, knowing my plants and the dove under the eave were all secure. Sleep was also intermittant as is not unusual for me. Temps got down into the high 30s, and by the time I got up, there was only wetness outside, and not a flake of the white stuff. My friend in the mountains got snow, but none here yet. The local...
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Monday, September 7, 2020
And it begins...
The smoke blocked out the mountains again, and by late afternoon, the sun was a big bright orange in the sky, well above the horizon. Air Quality Index is up to to 140, well above the healthy range of under 70. The wind that flies before the storm is gusting bravely, probably around 10-15 mph, and is expected to be ~40mph. If you can't picture that, imagine putting tall potted plants unsecured in the back of a truck, and driving at 40mph down the road. With the help of the Birthday Boy, all the...
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