Life on the High Plains

I went to the barn yesterday morning to feed the horses around 7:30 and witnessed a beautiful sight. The sun was rising to the east above the prairie. And the moon was setting in the west above the mountains at the same time. Living out here with the big open skies and where the deer and antelope play sometimes provides the best starts to the day. Happy Skywatch Friday!

 Hallelujah!!  The artic blast of January 2024 has finally moved on from the front range of Colorado! To celebrate we loaded up the dogs and headed to Cheyenne Mountain State Park to enjoy the sunshine and soak up the warmth! In a 30 hour timeframe we went from an artic -19 degrees (-30 with the windchill) to a high of +56 yesterday. We were all glad to get outside after being cooped up for four days. That's Maisy on the left and Aspen on the right.  They were especially happy to hit the trails. Interesting paw print.  One of the trail cams at this park picked up a mountain lion a few days ago.   Aspen is mostly an Alaskan Malamute according to her DNA test.  She could have kept going in the snow all day. As we were leaving this beauty decided to make an appearance. The rest of herd was not far behind.  What a glorious sight! Happy Skywatch Friday !  I hope you survived the cold spell too.

 Have I mentioned lately how much I hate winter? I love painting and I love my little studio, but winter is a challenge.  Today I went out there for a couple hours.  It was 29 degrees outside with unbelievable winds and 47 degrees inside.  My little heaters can't get the job done. Here I am in my winter coat trying to finish up my teepee painting. It's close to being done.  Hopefully I won't turn into an ice cube out there one day. Today I had the thought that maybe I need a job.   How long until spring arrives?  Why can't we move to Arizona?

It was that time of year again--the 4-H Western Roundup that is held annually every January right before the National Western Stock Show opens.  I was once again asked to come up and tabulate the national 4-H Horse Judging Contest. A friend who is still actively involved with coaching kids called me the day before I was heading up to Denver and asked if I wanted to go to the horse bowl contest.  Why not?  So I headed out the door at 6:30 a.m. to pick up Jackie and head north to Denver. This year the contests were held in Colorado State University's newest campus--The CSU Spur.  It's an educational campus that focuses on education surrounding food, water, and health.  I was truly impressed by the facilities. We watched several rounds of horse bowl and when they broke for lunch we made our way over to the Denver Stockyard Saloon.  Of course we had to stop for a selfie in front of the saloon entrance. Later that day we attended the coach's meeting for the hors...

This morning I got up bright and early and got all the Christmas decorations put away.  It went quicker than anticipated.  It always feels so good to get the house back to "normal" after the holidays. My next goal was to give my art studio a good clean out and disinfecting.  Everything had to come out so I could get all the dead Miller moths out and mop the floors good.  Of course, I did some sorting out and organizing while I was at it.  I like things orderly. What caused all this commotion you ask?  I got a new "real" artist easel for Christmas and I can't wait to use it.  I talked Irv into putting it together today! Sophie is doing quality control before it's moved to the studio. Here it is all set up and ready to go!  I have a new painting just waiting to be painted. Woohoo!

Christmas has come and gone!  So many weeks of preparation, so much time finding gifts, so much time waiting for loved ones to arrive and then poof--it's over. Miss G and family were the first to arrive.  Aspen was glad to have her good buddy back. Christmas Eve crafts called for the making of festive holiday glasses for the whole crew. Three different artists and three different techniques. The big day arrived and we had to have some afternoon snacks before the mad gift unwrapping begins.  My SIL is from Australia so I thought prawns might make him miss home a little less. He made the beautiful salami flower. Miss G was very patient waiting for the rest of the family to show up.  I would have hated waiting when I was eight years old. Not many pictures from Xmas day.  Here are the first cousins enjoying a game of Pig Out (or whatever it's called). The next evening some of us ventured out to the Electric Safari at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a little chilly...