Tuesday, August 24, 2010

No excuse, but...

It's been a busy year. I can't believe it's almost fall.

We spent the first six months getting ready for mom's estate auction. We lost dad in January of 2008, and mom had attempted to keep the 1.5 acre place with the home that dad built in 1958-60 up like dad would have. She was finally overwhelmed and decided to auction their large collections of everything antique, and the house, and buy a smaller place.

Bad times to have an estate auction, or sell real estate, but mom's 81 and she didn't want to wait around to get better prices.

The stuff sold, albeit at bargain basement prices, but the house hasn't yet. We have high hopes though, as it's still a showplace, and the appraiser said he had never seen a 50 year old house in such nice condition. Which isn't surprising, since mom has put around 60K into upgrades since dad died.

Mom has already bought a nice "patio home" in town. It's big enough for her to have the nice things she wanted to keep, and all maintenance is taken care of, so she can entertain her doll club without worrying about the yard.

I'll try to post some pictures of the auction and house later.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Long day

Friend Bud showed up with his Bobcat to help me build a land bridge across the water bog that the neighbor has been kindly dumping on me for several months, keeping us from accessing about 75% of our property and 95% of our firewood supply. Bud was able to do a lot better job than I have been able to with my loader tractor, so we should have access by tomorrow.

Yes, I have spoken to the Colorado Division of Water Resources, and the next step is a lawyer. But that's a long story. Some other time, with pictures.

While Bud was building a road, I was splitting what little bit of firewood that was left on this side of the bog, while Don Hartman was cutting and loading. Must have processed about a cord.

About 3:00, we came up to the house and had a bowl of chili, and Bud and Don headed back down to finish their project. I jumped in the shower, changed clothes, and then we took off for Denver to meet Larry Correia at his book signing, then had a nice dinner with Larry, Justin, farmgirl and farmmom, another author John Brown, and his entourage. Met a few other people there, but Justin is going to have to fill me in on who they were, since my rememberer doesn't work that well anymore.

Anyway, long rewarding day, and I'm about two hours past bedtime.

Friday, December 4, 2009

In their infinite wisdom...

The board of Colorado State University decided to ban concealed carry on their Fort Collins and Pueblo campuses today.

Not that CCW holders were causing any problems, mind you. It just seemed like the thing to do, you know?

"Overwhelmingly the faculty feel our campus will be a safer place" with a concealed weapons ban, said Dan Turk, associate professor of computer information systems."

Yeah, I guess all those classroom gun battles you've been reading about will undoubtedly stop now, eh?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Comments on the picture above

Sandy has always wanted a windmill to watch from the porch. Not one of the little decorative ones, but a "real" one. It didn't have to do anything, just sit out there and spin.

Last winter, our youngest daughter started the ball rolling. She called my cousin in Limon about getting a windmill, and then contacted her siblings, my brothers and sisters, and everybody else she could think of, asking for donations for Sandy's birthday.Sandy's birthday is in April, so they couldn't get the windmill here because of snow on the drylands, but the kids gave her a little replica and promised the real thing was on the way once the weather got better.

In July, we had a huge party for our "200th Birthday". Mom turned 80, and Sandy and I both turned 60. Everybody came, my sisters from New York and St Louis, my brothers from Denver and Albuquerque, my sister from Pueblo, most of Sandy's sisters (she has five), and lots more family and friends. Somewhere around 100 people showed up, and it was the party of the decade. Cousin Terry brought the windmill, and in the 100 plus heat in the afternoon, a bunch of us installed it just north of the house, down by the well.

The windmill is a Fairbanks-Morse, and surprisingly enough, is still operational, although it's obsolete, and parts are no longer available. But that's OK, all it has to do is spin to make Sandy happy.

A special thanks to Bud and Terry and Don, who braved the razor sharp blades to get the thing operational.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

First post, November 7, 2009

Since Oleg posted my ugly mug on his, I'm going to try this blogging stuff.

Sandy and I both turned 60 this year. We have a little farm on the Arkansas river bottom with a 1933 Craftsman bungalow and a big front porch, which we bought in 1994.

We have no end of adventures with our three children, nine grandchildren, three dogs, four cats, gardening, canning, shooting, and just general country living.

Nice to meet you.