John Clay, I gotta get up there and see you again in beautiful Beulah!

This is a carved statue that was in John Clay's wood carving shop when I was up in Beulah, Colorado in the Spring.  I actually met John at that time and I think I did a blog on him.  If I didn't I sure should have because he is a very talented man.  I think he told me this one is Father Christmas.  If it isn't it sure should be!

 Then here we have a little Indian Chief almost ready to go to war.  I did not measure this and I should have.  There is a big one in the Beulah Inn that I know I did a piece on earlier.

 Here are some tulips that you can stand in your yard and people will drive by and say, "Damn!  Those are the biggest Tulips I have ever seen."  These are, of course a work of art, as is everything John Clay does.

 Now what is this?  This is a necessary item in the shop.  John assures me he goes through a lot of band aids on any project he does, and I do believe the man!  If anyone should know it John!

 Here we have some of the tools of the trade.  There are several different sized power/chain saws.  There you will see a hand and a foot.  Those belong to John and in my usual inept way, that is all you are going to get until I get back up there and catch the illusive little man.

 Here is a tangle of cords and more tools which are a bit smaller.  Looks like a mess to me, but the man turns out some very intricate work in this tiny shop.

But here is the part I want to tell you.  When I first went up there John showed me a tree root behind his shop.  He was working on it at the time and had called it "The Dragon's Nest."  This has a mother dragon, father and then lots of little babies.  I snuck by his shop when I did the Indian at the Beulah Inn and took more pictures.  It did not look like he had done much, so I need to get up there this week and find out what is going on. 

John is now working on stone carving and I hope this is not the end of the Dragon's Nest.  I don't think it will be cause that thing is going to be fabulous.  So John, you are on notice!  Lou Mercer is coming back to Beulah and you are going to get reported on again and this time I will get a picture of the whole John Clay!

John Clay does custom carving in and around Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure he ships orders elsewhere.  Call John for prices.  1-719-485-9605.  And be sure and tell him Lou sent you!  Won't get you any discounts, but makes me feel like I did something to help a Beulah Artisan!

I think I am a self centered ego maniac!

It has just come to my attention, through self induced introspection that I am indeed an ego maniac!  Introspection is defined as self examination of ones own emotional state and mental processes.  Ego is defined as ones own self.  And we all know what maniac means.  So by self definition I am just crazy about myself.  This is not to say I am egocentric.  The last guy I dated was a true egocentric, which is defined as one who is the center of everything.  That being said and all defined for the guy in Canada who keeps a dictionary handy to converse with me, I shall continue.  (And Hi to Fanty!)

A friend asked me what a blog was.   Now there is no dictionary entry for that, but if you go online you will see it is a combination of Web and Log.  It is defined as a  journal, or something that interests the author.  Now I envy the people who are actually showing their work, such as the one lady who can teach me to make a quilt in 8 easy steps, or the lady who makes the brownies, and especially the guy who does daily blogs and updates on Cuba.  Those pictures are to die for and I have gained a plethora (over abundance) of knowledge about the workings of the Cuban government as well as the people in the street. (Type in Malceon)

But then you come to my little blog which is not really a journal, nor a diary.  Some times I explain things that are dear to my heart, or cry over a love gone wrong, or show you something I made.  The point here is that there is no rhyme nor reason to what will so up on my site, and this is where I get the idea that I am perhaps a bit of an ego maniac.  I love to write my blogs, and I love to read them!  I even have a book printed every 3 months in case some body missed one!  This is a mark of someone who really likes themselves!  But I stop short of being and ego centric, because I am not the center of my universe.

I just want to share with you my thoughts while I have your attention and you can not get a word in edgewise.  So I shall keep hammering away and trying to tell you something new every day.  Like today you learned  two new words and some of you learned three.  I do not like to get too deep into anything, because then I actually have to think!  But right now, what I am thinking is this...I am doing something I love.  I am expressing myself and you are getting to know me better.  Sometimes that is all one of us needs!

Thanks for reading and tomorrow or Monday I will have a surprise for you!

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado!

 This is the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  These pictures were taken October 9, 2010 which was the date of the annual Southern Colorado  AIDS Walk in the Garden.  Bear in mind that as I was taking these pictures, I was also walking the 3 miles that were required to fulfil my committment.  So if the pictures are a little blurry, and not centered, please forgive me.

The first picture is the shot of where we are going.  There were a total of 200 walkers so this is going to take a little while to do.  If you look closely at this picture just off center is a tiny white dot.  That, my friend, is a human!  That dot is about 2 city blocks away on a twisty, turny trail.  My goal is to catch and pass that dot and all the other dots ahead of me!

 This is one of the many formations in this Garden of the Gods.  There is just no name that could have been given to this place that would fit any better.  I have driven through the Garden, but there is nothing to compare with walking these trails.  I wanted to do this for a long time and when I got the opportunity to be a fundraiser and get to walk, it was just more than I could have ever  asked for!

 As we got further into our walk we came a lot closer to some of the formations.  This particular shot is where we crossed a parking lot and we are now about half way back to where we started.  I did not think I would ever be able to walk 3 miles in this thin Colorado air, but I think I could have gone a lot further!  May do it some day for no reason!  

I want you to pay particular attention to the sky in all of these pictures.  Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?  It is like God picked the most spectacular day of the year for this walk, but that is not true.  Everyday in Colorado is a true miracle to behold.  When I came to this part of the country 34 years ago, it was just some where to go.  Just a place to be, but now it has truly become my home.  People say "Where are you from?" and I tell them proudly, "Colorado, via Kansas!"

And here we are on the final leg of the walk.  Well, not us, those are the people in front of us.  We are back here with the camera.  We started out behind 200 people and we ended up with 15 ahead of us.  Pretty good for an old lady, but this old lady is just now hitting her stride, so watch out world, Here I come!!

Remember when I raised these baby birds?

I know it is difficult to tell what these are, so I am going to tell you.  This is a picture of 5 baby cockatiels.  This little fellow in the lower left corner is probably the oldest of this clutch.  The little pink one behind the white one is probably 1 day old.  I do not remember what year this was but there were several years that I was in the bird nursing business.  Like everything in my life this started out so innocently.

Kenneth, my late husband had always wanted a parrot.  Well parrots cost a lot of money, so the compromise was made to give him a gray Cockatiel, so that is what he got.  That was one mean bird, so we thought he would be better humored if he had a wife.  So we purchased a White Cockatiel to be his bride.  As luck would have it, this was a match made in heaven.  Or seemed made in heaven until she laid her eggs and decided that was not for her.  So she ripped the eggs out of the nest, but Big Bird put them back.  It was soon clear that Baby was not going to be a good mother so she was removed to another cage and Big Bird hatched the eggs.  He tried to feed them when they hatched, but it was too much for him.  We put Baby back in, and she attacked the babies.  So it was clear what must happen.  I must be the surrogate mother to these little feathered creatures.

This entailed mixing food and feeding them with an eye dropper several times a day for a couple weeks until they could fend for themselves.  All the time Big Bird hovered near and spread his wings for them to sleep under.  Big Bird had a bad wing and could not fly, but he taught the babies to fly,  They were in a big flight cage with a limb in it.  He would line them up on the limb and then push

 the line of babies up the limb and as room ran out the first bird would fall off the limb and flutter.  It was at this point that I learned just how much Mother Nature had instilled in her wildlife.  Big Bird had never laid an egg and he had never seen a baby, but he knew what had to be done and did it.

Meantime down in the cage in the basement, Baby was as happy as she could be.  I would set her on my shoulder while I sewed.  She would rub her head against my neck and chew on my glasses.  No sign of the aggressive bird that tried to kill her babies. 

We hand raised all the babies until they were ready to go to new homes.  We named all the gray ones "Snapper" and all the white ones "Baby".  One "Snapper" went to Alamosa, one to Syracuse, Kansas, and I do not remember where else.  We raised several little batches of baby birds and it always went the same way with Baby.  Well, and with Big Bird and with us.  Baby just never was the mothering type.  Sort of like some women I have met.

When they reached a certain age, birds die and it was that way with our two little  friends.  Baby died first and it was very soon after that Big Bird also died.  I like to think they were flying around the Rainbow Bridge when Kenny walked over in 2003.  I know he would have smiled to see them, cause one thing is for sure, that man loved his animals and they loved him!

AIDS Walk 2010 Garden of Gods C/S

Well, today is October 9, 2010.  If my sister-in-law were still alive it would be her birthday, but she is not.  So it is the day we went to Colorado Springs to Garden of the Gods for AIDS Walk 2010.  What a beautiful day it was!  First I thought it was just right, then I thought it was cold, and then about halfway into our 3 mile walk, it got downright warm.

These are my two partners on the Loosey Goosey Team.  The one on the left is John Tenorio and Erik Gibson.  We have vowed to do a much better job next year, because all our money we raised stays right here in Pueblo.  Our team raised $1430.60 which made our team #3 on the fundraising docket.  I raised $1100.60 which made me #4 on the individual division of raising money.  Pretty impressive since there were 145 people raising money. 

 I am wearing my hat that I wore to the 10th Annual AIDS walk.  Do not remember what year that was. But it has lots of pins on it.

 Now look at this!  Who would not enjoy a walk through this scenery.  We actually went between these.  If you look real close you can see the line of people ahead of us.

 Here comes cousins Steven, Mark and Daryle Smalley.  Steven and Daryle live in Hutchinson.  Mark is currently in Denver. It was just great having them go on this walk with me.  I see them so seldom and they are all dear boys!  I used to change Mark's diaper.  Don't know about Steven.  Not Daryle, he was all potty trained when I worked for Aunt Alice.

 See we all got a red ribbon to wear and then we we got back we had to write our name on it and it then went into what is called the "Commitment Ball".  I knew when I headed up there this morning that some sort of commitment was in order!

 These are the shoes that carried this body on the route.  I am going to publicise them and then put them on eBay for sale to the highest bidder.  All proceeds will go to Southern Colorado AIDS Project and be earmarked for Pueblo.

This is the grand daughter that walked with me.  We had a great time.  Since she is a minor I shall just call her Dear Girl.  Next year she will help raise money and we will do really well.  Just got a late start this year or we could have really kicked butt!

And there you have it!  I have not put a lot of scenery pictures in and that is because I wanted to present the human face of this walk.  Scenery will be along in a day or two.  So, now I am going to have a nap and bask in the joy of the day!  A job well done, my good and faithful servant!

So, getting pretty tired of talking about my past, let's do yours!

http://www.firstgiving.com/loumercer

Today is the last day for me to do this and I am not going to ask you for anything.  Will just leave that there for anyone who might be interested.

Now, talking about my good old days back in grade school and even high school was a kind of hoot and there is many memories that are actually humorous, sad, learning experiences and such, but we can just touch on those "I remember when" moments lightly in the future. But as you see I grew up.  No one is going to set around and read about me falling madly in love, having children, divorces, job, moving cross country, and all this because I am not going to write all that down.

I read something the other day that really made an impact on me.  It was another blog I follow.  It went something like this: "If he was so great, where is he today?  I he was such a butt hole, why did you marry him? If you would rather be there, why are you here?"  Then I had another friend explain it so I could understand it.  It is called "free rent in the noggin and that is not good."  I shall now interpret that into terms that you (I) can understand.  Something in the past that dwells in your mind and takes your mind off the present day is taking up space in your head.  Can not think of the present or future because that memory is getting free rent in your brain space.  It has to do nothing to stay there, except to be.

So, like the every changing woman I have become, I am cleaning out all the bad memories, all the dead weight, and all the frivolous things that don't make two whoops in hell (like my momma used to say).  Oh, I will remember my heritage and the strong deep roots that have brought me to the point I am today.  I will pass that on to my children and grandchildren, but they do not need to know every step I took to get to this day.  They only need to know that this is where I am.  I am in Colorado and I shall stay in Colorado.  I have very little family here as they are mostly back East, but I have friends,  mountains, blue skies and my home.  I have my church and my God.

There are people who count on me here.  If I were not here I am sure someone would step up and take my place, but they would never be me.  For some reason God saw fit to deliver me to this particular spot 33 years ago, and like a noxious weed seed that fell on fertile ground, I have taken root and flourished!  I am happy here and I am sure this is where I shall stay all the days of my life.  Who knows what the good Lord has in store for this little atom that is but a piece of space dust?  Stick around and find out!

It is a wonderful world today!!

Sometimes I just wake up and I am so happy!  Today is one of those days.  Do you ever have those?  I do not know what I dreamed, but I think I dreamed about my brother.  I must tell you about him someday, but not today.

I can hear birds outside so you know the sun is up. Well, it better be because it is after 7:00 AM!  I know I am late getting around, but I been pretty busy.  Checked my fundraising and I only need $13.00 to make my goal on that.  Still short on the personal goal, but I will dig that out of the savings because there is no way in hell that I am going to fail.  That is just not in my vocabulary.

Today is one of those days when I feel like I could grab the world in both hands and run to the end of it.  I just love days like this.  Maybe I will get out there and take everything out of that tin shed and sweep it good, throw most of the crap away and then rearrange the rest.  Oh, but first I have to go to town and get a new pair of shoes for the walk, because mine are falling apart before my eyes.  I would hate to get up in the Garden of the Gods and just have my shoes fall off my feet.  Bet that would put a damper on this good mood!

I am taking a couple camera's with me and you will see some beautiful shots when I post the next time.  My pink camera is 6 mega  pixels; my black one is 10, but the bottom falls off of it and the batteries roll across the floor.  So, I am thinking about borrowing one from Bret who seems to have an endless supply of money and can buy this stuff at his leisure!  Any way, you are going to see scenery that will have you grabbing your car keys and heading for Colorado!

And when you do that, you be sure you look me up!  I am always game to spend a few hours with someone who drives that far.  We will run up to Beulah and see my good friend, Jan, at the coffee shop and stop in and see Jim at his wood place where he does his carving.  Oh and I forgot to tell you that yesterday on my way to town a deer leaped across the road right in front of me and then jumped the fence into the cemetery!  What a way to get my little heart beating!

Well, people, I got water fowl wanting out, my tummy is growling and I bet a dollar I could find a load of clothes for the washer if I look hard enough.  So as mundane as the day may be, it is going to take more than that to bring me down today.  I love these days, just don't know why some are so much happier than other days.  I will go with it!