Life on the High Plains

We spent Memorial Day weekend down in Albuquerque visiting Irv's family.  We've made the trek between Colorado Springs and Albuquerque many, many times over the 16 years we've lived here.  It usually involves loading in the car, hitting the interstate, and driving there as fast as we can.  It's monotonous, boring, and at times unbearable. On the drive home I suggested to Irv that we get off the beaten path and go exploring.  Much to my surprise he agreed so we turned off at Santa Fe and started our journey into uncharted territory.  My main goal was to go through Taos and find a great Mexican food restaurant where we could have one last dose of New Mexican food before getting back to Colorado. It wasn't long until we saw a sign for Bandelier National Monument.  This is somewhere I've always wanted to go because they have wild burros in the area.  I asked Irv "what do you think?" and he agreed.  We had to park our car in the town of White Roc...

It has been brought to my attention that I have never blogged about the newest member of our family--Sophie Jo. You may recall that I lost my Tabitha on March 18th.  At that time I said I would never have another cat.  For those who know me though, that was highly unlikely.  I like to be surrounded by my critters and the absence of a cat was overwhelming.  I started searching rescues and the humane society website in hopes of finding my new cat.  I wanted to save a life and adopt an adult who was having a hard time finding a home.  Irv on the other hand wanted a kitten.  Then one day in mid-April he sent me a picture of some adorable kittens that were on Craigslist.  Alright, I'll go look. Well, you can't so look at kittens without bringing one home so now we have Sophie. She looks a little evil in this picture, but you would too if you'd just been taken from your mother and siblings. She is quite possibly the sweetest kitten...

I talked the family into supporting the zoo through the annual "Run to the Shrine" on Saturday.  It's either a 5K or a 10K through the zoo and up to the Will Rogers Shrine.  This is the only day during the year where foot traffic is allowed up to the Shrine. Before the race we were energized and ready to go. We were chomping at the bit to get going. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm didn't last very long.  We were very quickly reminded that our zoo was built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain.  Up, up, up we went.  As you can see we're in the back of the pack with the walkers.  The runners are somewhere far, far ahead.  We lost track of Mr. Beans and Irv way back at the start line. Finally--the 1 mile marker and a water stop!  24 minutes for the first mile which isn't too bad considering the 8% grade we were going up.  That means only a little over half a mile until the top--woohoo! Just as Mary and I were thinking we w...

Could it be that spring has finally arrived in Southern Colorado?  I don't want to jinx anything, but maybe. Let's not forget that we just had a big snowstorm last weekend.  Irv put the chairs out in the yard yesterday.  This weekend it may finally get warm enough to sit outside, drink a glass of wine, and watch the world go by.   Where's your favorite spot to observe the world?   Happy Skywatch Friday!  

Last week was Mr. Beans' end of the year band concert.  Since he's in the symphonic bad we had to sit through the choir and beginner band before it was his turn.  It was definitely worth the wait though.  It has been so fun to watch him progress through the years and his band is actually beginning to sound like a band! For your listening enjoyment below is a link to their performance.  You can't really see Mr. Beans--the trumpets are in the back left row and Mr. Beans is the second chair in. Way to go Mr. Beans!

Well, our Get Fit on Route 66 challenge at work has come to an end and I'm bummed.  My team didn't come anywhere close to the top of the leader board, but I'm proud of my personal success. I more than completed the route from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA and logged 2,448 miles.  Even better I've improved my physical fitness level by becoming more active and losing almost 13 pounds in the last six weeks! In the month of May Irv, Mr. Beans, and I will compete in three 5K runs.  The most difficult of these is this coming Saturday with the Run to the Shrine at our local zoo. Mr. Bean's mom is joining us for this one.  It goes up an 8% incline with a rise in elevation of almost 1000 feet.  It's going to be tough, but we can do it!  My only goal is to finish!  We'll be in Albuquerque for Memorial Day weekend and I even found us a 5K to compete in while we're there.  It's all part of the training for the 1/2 marathon in October and it's better t...

I made a trip down to southern Colorado earlier this week to install new computers in our Monte Vista office.  The drive to this office is the most beautiful of our six office--the other five are on the high plains of Colorado. This is Mt. Blanca. I do all the driving and my partner does all the photo taking.  Luckily, she shared this one with me. Happy Skywatch Friday!

I've pulled this book back off the shelf and dusted it off.  I had wanted to do a half marathon in Vegas later this year, but stopped training when I had my procedure done at the Mayo Clinic in February.  I'm feeling better now and am ready to re-commit to walking a half marathon.  Since the time limit for a half marathon is 4 hours I need to start training to make sure I can keep up an 18 minute mile pace for 13.1 miles. Our long training run/walks will take place on Saturdays and next week, May 17th, it will be at the zoo for the Run to the Shrine 5K.  A 5K that goes up the side of a mountain.  It's going to be a killer, but it benefits the zoo so it will be worth it. There is a Rock 'n Roll Marathon and 1/2 marathon in Denver on October 19th at 7:15 a.m.  Irv and I are going to be there....who's going to join us? Here's the link to go register:  Denver Rock 'n Roll Marathon Take the challenge!

So have y'all heard of Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op?  I learned about it a few weeks ago from someone at work.  Now I'm hooked. Every week you can go to their website at http://bountifulbaskets.org/  and place your "order" for the week.  You also select your desired pick up location and here in the Colorado Springs area there are several pick up locations.  Then on Friday or Saturday you go to your pickup site to retrieve your basket.  I don't know if they're in all 50 states, but maybe. You don't know ahead of time what is going to be in the basket so it's a fun surprise.  Here's some of the fruit and vegetables that we got in last week's basket. Asparagus, lettuce, apples, corn on the cob, scallions, watermelon, radishes, zucchini, mangoes, and endive.  What the heck do you do with endive?  Last time we got butternut squash.  Since I'm not a huge squash fan I took it to work to share with the squash lovers. One bas...

Irv and I had a great anniversary celebration today.  As I told you last week it was my year to plan it. We started with my gift to Irv.  As soon as we turned south on the interstate he knew what our destination was--Pikes Peak International Raceway.  I purchased him an eight lap driving experience.  Once we got there though we upgraded it to 12 laps. He had to do a little classroom instruction first, then it was time to put on the fire suit. Then he had to squeeze his butt through the window to get into the #40 car.  This wasn't too hard for Irv, but some of the bigger men were having a little difficulty. Then it was time to go! It took him a couple laps, but he got the hang of it and just whizzed by time after time.     12 laps seemed to go by very quickly, but when he got out of that car with a big ole smile on his face I knew I had done good.     All that driving worked up a hunger so we had a champa...