The storm clouds gather...

One of my favorite things in life is clouds.  I have albums full of them and now I have my Picasa albums full of digital pictures.

 This is a fairly harmless shot of "maybe if we get together we can make rain" clouds.

This is a shot of drifty, buttermilk looking clouds at Garden of the Gods on one of the AIDS Walks.

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This looks like it could really do something.

So anyway, you get the idea of the cloud fetish.  I want to go on record now as saying the clouds that are not clearly defined and hang over our heads like a foggy blanket are the ones we need to watch out for.  My state is being devastated by a silly thing called "rain".   For most of the summer we prayed for rain.  "Oh, Please God, just a little rain."  Our world was withering before our eyes.    Remember that?  Three feet of hail in Denver! 

I took Stockyards Road home on Thursday and the conflux of the Arkansas and Fountain creek was visible.  Arkansas was clear and calm.  Course it flows through the reservoir, but the Fountain was a ugly, angry brown mess.  Bear in mind that it had travelled 35 miles down here from up North and it had lost some of it's furor along the way, but it was still enough to terrify this faint little heart of mine.

It made me think of the people who are in the "eye of the weather".  How frightening that must be to have the rain just keep coming and watch your street fill up and see your property line shrinking.  It was bad enough when the fires were burning up on the mountains, but now there is nothing to stop the water when it races down hill.  And the faster it races, the more debris it picks up.  And our "powers that be" just nod and say, "Oh, a hundred year flood.  That is what it is."  Kind of sad that the loss of property and life is written off with such a simple statement.  Course there is always FEMA.

Here are my thoughts on this phenomenon;

We are a mighty nation.  We shake our fist and nations tremble.  We open our checkbook and nations grovel.  We smile and nations simper.  But when the storm clouds gather, no one is in charge.  Mother Nature has the last word.  (In my simple mind, Mother Nature and God are one and the same, but I shall call the entity Mother Nature in this missive.)  Mother Nature can not be controlled by mere mortals.  She causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  And she keeps no time table.  She sends earthquakes to destroy temples and fires to consume the dead wood.  She washes her earth clean.  And we, being mere mortals that we are, fall to our knees and tremble.  We beg.  We grovel.  We try to explain it away, and  much like the fires in Yellowstone, we wait.  We wait and we know that soon the green shoot of grass will appear.  The tiny pine will peek from the forest floor.  The roots will go deep and cling to the bosom of Mother Earth.  In a few years we will have a forest again and God in his heaven will smile!

So for now, I will continue to collect my clouds knowing that some day I will be seeing the very bright sun!

You can not sprinkle showers of happiness on other people without getting a few drops on yourself!

 

 

 

Finally made that hike I was looking forward to for so long.

Check out the scenery in this slide show.  Last Tuesday I finally got the chance to hike in the high country.  I forget what the name of this place is but it is out of Canon City.  Beautiful scenery.  This is the bluest sky in the world.  Almost as blue as Kenny's eyes.
I even wore hiking boots, back pack and everything.  I went with a friend who does this on a regular basis and I want to go on record as saying he was very understanding that this was my first trip doing anything like this.  You all know that I am a city girl at heart and my favorite things in life are hot and cold running water, electricity, a firm mattress and indoor plumbing.  Sad to say that there were none of my favorite things there in the wilderness, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  No doubt he chose the easiest trail he could find, and for that I am eternally grateful.
So enjoy the slide show and I am going to go post to Long Ago and Not Very Far Away.

Well, life suddenly makes no sense at all!

Got my insurance bill the other day and it rather ticked me off.  I carry full coverage, medical, towing, and all the good stuff.  The one I resent is the premium I pay for "Uninsured Motorist".  Excuse me.  What did I miss here?  Isn't there a law on the books that says I have to have car insurance to drive in Colorado?  I have to show my proof of insurance when I get a tag for my vehicle.  Was this a special law that was written for me alone? 
So I think the way this works is if I crash into someone,you can rest assured it will not be my fault because I am the most defensive driver in the whole world.  So if this happened in a perfect world my insurance would pay for his car and his would pay for mine, sort of a way to say, "Hey guys, accidents happen."  So if he did not have insurance, it would be fair if my insurance paid for my car.  This is in a perfect world.
But here I am with insurance on my car for me and an "Uninsured Motorist".   So I am assuming that the "Uninsured Motorist" premium I pay will kick in and pay to fix my car.  So, does my insurance now pay to fix his car?  I certainly hope not.  So if it does not, and it sure as hell better not, what does my insurance do?  Is this "Uninsured Motorist" something I pay just as a way of hedging a bet that I am the only one on the road out there with insurance?
Now, I had to have proof of insurance to get my tag. So how did he get his?  The state keeps better records than that.  If I forget to take my card when I renew my tag and I quite by accident get a kind clerk at the tag place, they will look on the computer and see that my insurance is indeed paid.  So can't they know when Joe Blow let his policy lapse and declare his tag illegal?
You know, they talk about inequality in taxes and all especially during the election, but is this fair?  I understand that I need insurance, but why do I need to buy insurance against the person who does not obey the law?  And if he should get a ticket for no insurance, who gets the money?  I paid the premium, but the judical system gets the money!  Fair play?  I think not.

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Fall is in the air, believe it or not!

I know it is a little hard to believe that Fall is almost here when you are sweating your way through another one of those 100 degree days, but trust me on this!  I am setting here in my jammies with by coffee and looking out my office window at the Cherry tree.  And there is another bone of contention with me.  Kenneth and I bought that Cherry tree when we first moved in here almost 30 years ago.  Bought it and two Peach trees.  The Peach trees stood side by side in the front yard and the one on the right was loaded with the biggest sweetest peaches you ever seen.  Course in my little Utopia here,  you only get a crop every 7 years.  But when you get one, it is fantastic!  So the one on the right was prolific and the one on the left must have been a boy cause it never even bloomed.  Finally the bores got to them both and they had to be pulled out.

And all the while the Cherry tree which we planted right out side the office window grew like a weed into a beautiful specimen.  Every year it was covered with blooms and every year not a cherry in sight.  The neighbors have one that is always loaded and the bees are swarming on mine, but not a cherry one.  I have to get out there every few years and trim around on it to keep it from rubbing on the house.  I have thought that maybe I would take it down, but the birds and squirrels like to play in the branches and peer in here at me, so it stays.

When we were hauling in Paonia we went and picked Apricots on the BLM, which you can do.  I had a bread sack full that I brought home and made into jam.  I threw the seeds out by the septic tank and the next Spring I had lots of seedlings, which I planted here and at my mother in law's.  I am down to only two, but they faithfully produce every 7 years.  The reason that happens every 7 years is the weather pattern more than something mystical, I  think.  I do not like Apricots, but some people do and the ducks (before they were fox food) and geese love them.  Course either way, I have to pick them.

So this is how it goes around here... The back acre is barren except for goat heads which the geese refuse to eat regardless of what you and I both heard about them eating goat heads!  The garden area is weed free for the first month of planting and sprouting season and then my mind wanders and it gets hot and the weeds take over.  But the zucchini produces prolifically and I chop them for the geese.  Saves on grain.

The yard area is pretty well going to pot.  At one time I had 64 rose bushes which I fed and pruned faithfully, but the last couple years the ground has gotten so far down there that it has become impossible to do what was once so easy and so much fun!  So the rose bushes are about gone.  Except by the front gate and in the back.  And the Choke Cherry bush that I planted 20 years ago has now spread out and enveloped most of the side yard.  It has completely swallowed my Austrailian Copper  Rose and is encroaching on the Lavender and Sage Herb garden.  But you know what?  I think this will make a very nice wild life area.  The birds have first call on any fruit that pops up out there since they are a hell of a lot faster than me, so why bother?  The Raspberry bush has thorns sharp enough to pierce my heart so that fruit is gone.  The Rhubarb is inside the protection of the Rambling Rose which has thorns with hooks that have left scars all over me.  I think me and and Round Up are going to have us some quality time this fall.

But any way, what I started out to tell you is this, fall is in the air.  I once more have not gotten done what I dreamed of last winter.  So here is the plan now, as I see it.  Fall is here.  I am too late for the Spring pruning.  I think I will take a drive to the mountains and enjoy the fall colors.  I will call Renate and Val and Dale and we will have a tiny picnic.  Then I will come home and once more start thinking about what I am going to do this next Spring.  I will write it down so I remember.  Trim the Evergreens on the North side of the house.  Trim the Cherry tree out of the rain gutter.  Top the Austree by the car port.  Oh, and do something with that tin shed!  Or not...........

Hey! Wait just one minute here!

This is not fair!  No way is this a fair thing to happen to me!  Yesterday it was 70+ degrees.  Day before that it hit 80.  Now  this morning there is snow.  Stop this madness.  It is Spring.  The Daffodils are blooming and everything!  The ducks are mating as are the geese. Now I have Robins playing in the snow.  What is wrong with this scenario?

Oh, yeah, now I remember, I live in Colorado!  Beautiful Colorado in the foothills to the Rockie Mountains.  Kenneth and I were on our way to a place near Durango many years ago to get a load of coal for some one.  Being the end of May and hotter than the dickens, I wore my shorts and we did not bother taking a coat.  The first problem we encountered was that the pass had the chain law in effect.  Usually we called and checked things like that, but rarely, if ever do you worry about it when it is 80 degrees.  Course there is that little altitude thing we should have thought about.  A lesson learned, but not retained, although we did make it a habit to carry chains and coats no matter where we went or when we went.

See, I should have known when I met that man what I was in for.  Before we ever did the "I do" thing in front of the minister in the assisted living center in Canon City and had a celebratory doughnut as our wedding supper, there were signs of the future.  Take for instance, the weekend camp out and boating trip the weekend AFTER Labor Day. 

We loaded the camper shell, boat, fishing tackle, lots of food, camp stove, two kids and my poodle/chihuahua, Sysnyck  and headed for Turquoise Lake, about as high up as you can get without going clear to heaven.  It was late when we got there so we immediately pitched the tent and went to bed.  It immediately began to rain.  The bathrooms were locked up, being after Labor Day and all, but it was a big forest.  Morning broke to show a beautiful view of the lake, ice floes and all.  Fuel had leaked out of the camp stove.  Kids were wet and frozen.  My bottom  and the forest floor did not take to well to each other.  But we had come to boat and fish and by jeepers that was what we would do.  And did it we did.

The worms were frozen, but the boat was not.  We boarded the seaworthy vessel and cranked it up;  fishing poles remained on the bank.  My stalwart Captain roared away from the dock, the dog jumped overboard, the daughter burst out in tears because she was going to die.  He idled, turned  around and picked up the dog and headed back to shore.  We arrived home early that afternoon and it was again 80 degrees, but we were still frozen.

The year on that was 1982.  Perhaps you recall that being the year there was a sudden spike in antibiotic sales?  Both kids had raging fevers the next day.  I am a firm believer that such things are brought on by a virus and not getting cold and wet, but I did make an exception in that case.

The following summer, July 4 weekend to be exact, we took a 3 day weekend, same boat, vacation to the high lakes in the Rockies.  Kids refused to step foot off the place after the first vacation.  When we got home I was so sunburned I had to sleep standing up.  Not really, but it was bad!  So I now know, but still occasionally forget what Colorado is all about.  Check my car.  I have blankets, coats, sunscreen, water, an emergency stable food source, and my Bible.  I am taking no chances. 

The kids are grown up and gone.  Kenny has passed to his much deserved  reward and I am here alone.  I do still go to the mountains, but only for the day.  I go with a friend or sometimes just drive up to Beulah to see my friend Jan.  So I stay in Colorado.  It has become home to me and I expect when I close my eyes and see Kenny coming to pick me up, his silhouette will be against the back drop of Pikes Peak or Turquoise Lake or something else quite as beautiful.  When that happens I will not look back.  And I expect you all to be happy and wish me bon voyage!  Cause I will be tripping the light fantastic with a man who never had a lick of rythym any where near his body, but he could catch a fish.