A Social Week

It has been a busy week full of social
activities which I always enjoy. We
had lunch at the Boulderado on Tuesday
with our friends, Gerard and Alice Ochs.
On Wednesday night Shirley and Earl
Mosburg came here for dinner. What a
pleasant evening that was. On Friday,
I had lunch at Zolo's with Suzanne
VanScotter. We had lots to talk about
since we hadn't gotten together in
quite some time. Friday evening
Jo and Alf came for dinner and we had
another very pleasant evening.

In between the social activities we
had each had a skin check at the
dermatologist and I have another
basal cell carcinoma. The second
in six months. I'll have it
scraped off on Monday.

And that about covers the week
from here.

Winter wonderland...

Robyn sent a few pictures from Antarctica.
I am sharing my favorite.














Photo taken by Robyn D. Edwards

We have discovered that Weather Undergrund
posts the weather at McMurdo Station so
we can keep track of Robyn's weather as
well as other favorite places around the
world.

Book Club was scheduled for Wednesday, but
it was a cold, cold evening so only
Allison ventured out. We had a cozy
chat and only briefly discussed the book.

Bitter cold at the beginning of the week,
but today it was above 40 for a while. We
had a brief snow flurry which was unexpected,
but didn't last long.

Corned Beef and cabbage was the meal of
the cold so I spent a day cooking same.
We have enough for a small army so the
freezer will have many dinners of
Corned Beef stashed away.

Tebo's Holiday Party

As we approached the Boulder Theater the sign
above the theater blazed out "TEBO'S HOLIDAY
PARTY." And party it was. There were hundreds
of people there. We all had to check in to
verify we had been invited and at that time
were given two bar tickets.

We found ourselves a table for four and Robert
went off to see if he could find anyone he
knew while I held the table. Shortly, he
came back and I left to get a drink and
some food. Their were at least two stations
set up for hors d'oeuvres; one had Italian
food, the other had veggies and sushi. I
had a little of each and went back to our
table. I saw no one I knew nor had, to
my knowledge ever seen before.

We took turns wandering and at some point
Robert discovered a station with Texas
barbecue and salads so he came back with
dinner.

By this time the place was a buzz. Lots
of people and all making lots of noise. There
were musicians playing on stage and they had
been playing country western, but by this time
even though we were not far from the stage we
couldn't hear them.

Stephen Tebo came on stage and asked everyone
to quiet down and then announced the next
entertainment would be the "Skippets." The
Skippets were youngsters with an age range
of about 7 years to 17 years. They are
International skip-rope champions. Came in
second, I believe, last year and are hoping
to come in first in the UK this coming year.
They were sensational. Amazing stunts while
jumping rope, sometimes two ropes at the same
time. I was really impressed.

The final entertainers were Barber Shop singers.
There were probably 50 of them and they could
sing, but because of the noise coming from the
bar-area it was difficult hearing them. Tebo
twice, politely asked people to be quiet. The
third time he told them to shut up. Nothing
worked they kept on with their laughing and
screaming. Rude as rude can be!

Earlier in the week I had minor surgery to
repair my right eye which had become
very blurry. All better now.

It has been very cold this week and we received
about 6 inches of snow.

Cold weather, but a good week

There were several highlights of the week

The first was a phone call from Robyn in Antarctica. It is always
good to hear from her, but quite thrilling when she is so very far
away. She has settled in to life in Antarctic and exciting it is
not. They are pretty much kept on base; no snow shoeing off to
explore..and that sort of thing. I'm sure she's happy that it
isn't a life time commitment.

The second event was that Robert's computer blew up, not quite
literally, but it wouldn't boot and the fan sounded like a jet
ready for take off.

Thanks to a tip from Carl we learned of a place in south Denver
called MicroCenter. Robert ordered a computer on-line and we
made the 100- mile round trip to the store to pick it up. Since
then he has it up and running and we, together, got it on our
network. We do it together because we each remember pieces
of the process and neither one of us seems to remember the
whole deal. In any case it is up and running and has XP installed.
That was asurprise because Robert thought the one he ordered
had Vista and he wasn't happy about that, but apparently there
was a switch made somewhere and he is happy with it. The
drive plus $500.00 is a good deal, so far.

The Salina Literary and Roasted Sweet Potato Society met for a
Thanksgiving eve party at Julie's. She made a fantastic almond
cake, using almond flour so that it was gluten free. It was
really delicious. I brought Sushi from the Sushi bar at Table Mesa
KingSoopers. I just discovered that Sushi Bar. They seem more
uptown than the one at 30th Street. And not much further and
the knit shop is close by; perhaps I'll go there from time-to-time.

Happy Thanksgiving day

Jeanne and I both remembered the Thanksgiving
of the kite flying. Ramesh, a Post Doc from
India came for the day. After dinner he showed
us how to make kites and told how, in India,
they would have kite string with glass bits
embedded so that they could cut the string of
other kites. It was quite a shock to me.
Didn't seem at all sporting. But, having
read "The Kite Runner" I have a better
appreciation of what he was trying to
convey to us.

We and Vernon are off to have dinner with
Carl, Martha and Ariel. I have three pies
in the oven, two apple and one pecan. I'll
leave one of the apple pies here for us to
enjoy later.

It is a lovely sunny day. A fine day to
give our thanks for all we have and for
all our friends and family. Many of the
family are not going to be with us and
we shall miss them very much.

Boulder, Colorado

We're home. Yea! We arrived at Carl's at 4:30 PM
and dropped off the stuff we were carrying of theirs
and then came on home. We've had a small supper,
soup and biscuits and are ready for bed. It's only
7:40 PM here, but where we were this morning
it is 9:40 and we've been up since 5 AM.

More another day.

Kansas City, MO

We've been burning up the highway.
Should be home tomorrow. We're both
ready to be home.

I finished my knitting project today.

Lexington, KY

We left Cocoa Beach on Tuesday.
That was hard! We'd had such a good
time and now were headed to Durham ,NC
to visit Robert's sister,Pat and her
husband, Thomas. They live in a
retirement village which we find
depressing.

We arrive there about 11 AM on
Wednesday. Thomas has Alzheimer's
and is much worse than he was a
year ago. He has no idea who we
are although we tell him often.
At one point he gets really upset
and starts to leave "since you
seem to have a new man". We tell
him again that Robert is Pat's
brother and he settles down for
a while.

The bomb shell that Pat dropped is that
she has Parkinson's. The disease
manifests in different ways. With
her it has caused her to lose much
mental ability. She can't even balance
her check book. Robert visited their
accountant and made arrangements for
him to take over all of Thomas' finances
and be ready to handle Pat's. She has
a friend helping her, at this time.

It was a tough visit for Robert and
so short it was hard to do more than
meet the accountant and be as reassuring
as we could. I'm glad they are in the
retirement facility.

Heading north

Leaving the beach

It was really hard to leave this morning.
We had such a good time and the staff were so
pleasant! Martha, Carl and Ariel headed for
Sea World, would be there as it opened at 9 AM.
Their flight back to Colorado was at 5 PM.

We headed for Durham to visit Robert's
sister and husband, Thomas. Thomas has
Alzheimer's. It'll be a difficult visit,
but not as difficult as it is for Pat. We
will be there tomorrow night; we should
get there mid-morning. We have about 100
miles to go.

The Beach Place was so great and to be
there with family made it really special.

Shuttle launch

Another day in Paradise!

I've been walking 3-4 miles a day. The
life of a beach bum is quite pleasant.
I'm sure Ariel is "walking" many, many
more miles. She and Martha left for
the beach after breakfast, about 5
minutes before we did. When we got to
the beach thee wee two sets of tracks;
one going mostly in a straight line
down the beach and the other zigzaging
all over the place. You know, the way
a puppy runs all around if you let it?
The zigzag were Ariel's tracks.

This afternoon we drove about 8 miles
north to get a better view of the
space shuttle launch. The day was
perfect and it went up right on schedule.
It was spectacular, even at 3 miles! It
put an exclamation point to our trip.

We leave tomorrow. Carl, Martha and
Ariel are leaving early enough to get
to Sea World at opening. They'll
spend the morning there and part of
the afternoon and then catch their
5 o'clock flight. We head for Durham
tomorrow. Our drive is about 650 miles.
We'll make it a two day trip so it'll
not be too bad.

Cocoa Beach, Guest Place

We are in Cocoa Beach at the Guest Place.

We arrived Thursday, last, and it was cold
and very windy. Friday was the wedding and
it warmed up; the wind died down in the
afternoon; the wedding was picture perfect.
Keating and her mom had organized it
beautifully. It went off as planned. It
appeared everyone had a really good time
at the wedding and the reception/dinner
after.

Yesterday Keating and Lee and all Lee's
relatives (15 of them) went on a Disney
Cruise. Carl, Martha, Ariel and Robert
and I spent most of the day on the beach.
We walked about 5 miles; Martha picking
up shells, Ariel running and picking up
shells.

Ariel is in 7th heaven. She is on the beach
and in the water most waking hours! It's
her first ocean experience and is a good one.

We picked up a coconut when we were on
Sanibel Island and the handimen took off
the outer shell and drilled a hole in the
inner coconut for her. She drained out
the juice and took it back. The walloped
it with a sledge hammer and she now
has lots of pieces of coconut from which
to dig out the coconut.

Hernando, one of the owners gave us our
own cabin at no extra charge so we could
rest. Sometimes being grandparents does
have its advantages.

Tomorrow we go to Sea World and Tuesday
we head for Durham, NC and the Cowleys
fly back to Colorado.

Red Tide

Yesterday Robert and I walked along
the Gulf beach. Ida was still in
evidence. The ocean was very choppy
and something I had never seen before,
very foamy. Ranch wave came with a
bucket of foam which washes up on the
beach and blew around through the air.
Very strange. I get very congested
near the beach, coughing and sneezing.
Fred informed me that the ocean had
undergone a red tide and that many
people were allergic to the red algae
in the air. I apparently am one of
them.

We had a heavy rain storm early this
morning; this caused much rushing to
close windows. Most of the window are
louvered such that they may stay open,
but not all.

The temperatures are mild, mid to high 70s
and it is humid. Our host, Fred, is
also from Boulder and is still getting
used to the humidity. He turns on the
AC during the day just to dry the air
and that helps.

They have a lovely home, on a lake and
there are gators in the lake,but they
are shy. Don't seem to come out during
the day, but the cat is kept in, just in
case.

We'll be heading for Cocoa Beach tomorrow
morning.

Sanibel Island

We are on Sanibel Island, arrived
here last evening about 7:30 PM. We
were on the road by 6 Am and,as it
turned out, a very good thing. We
missed Ida although she hit where
we had been we didn't even get wet.
We started without breakfast thinking
we would stop a little way down the road.
Not a good idea, nothing to be found
except bars. Finally, at 9:40 we came
to a McDonald's which suddenly looked
really good. I was thinking hamburg
and french fries. No, she said only
breakfast so, with a sigh, I ordered a
McSausage and coffee. Robert ordered a
milkshake and some eggy thing. I ate my
sausage in about 3 bites and decided to
go for a milkshake. About 10 minutes
had passes since we ordered. It was now
9:50. I saw someone handed french
fries and looked more closely at the menu.
It had all changed. No more eggy things.
Now, why didn't she tell me I could have a
hamburger in 10 minutes, I was willing to
wait???

Our route took us across Tampa Bay bridge.
It is the most beautiful bridge I have ever
seen, but impossible to photograph from the
bridge.

Another 500 miles and and another 500+ to go.

Another 500 mile plus day. We are in
Panama City, Florida. It's been another
gorgeous day,sunny and in the high 70s.
We didn't stop except for lunch at a
China Buffet and McDonald's for a potty
stop. There were few rest stops on
the highway and they were all closed.
Another way for States to save money??

We'll be visiting our friend Fred Gould
tomorrow. He lives on Sanibel Island
and owns at least one condo on the beach.
He rents it out and it is currently
empty so he has offered it to us for
a couple of days. It'll be fun to see
Fred. Barbara is in Colorado. She
has been telecommuting, but is back
for a couple weeks.

Still on the road

West Memphis, AR

We traveled 618 miles today. It was a lovely
warm sunny day. We had a picnic at a rest stop
before we left Oklahoma. It was very nice,
large with walking paths and large trees.

I had a minor tragedy with my knitting. The
cable came off one needle. I dropped about 50
stitches. I have rescued them, but it'll
take a new needle and patience to be sure
I have them all. Argggg.

On the road

We headed out this morning heading for OK City.
We made it as far as Shamrock, TX, where we are now.

We stopped many times,hence we are not in OK City.
One stop was just south of Eads, CO. It's a wild life refuge.
We have camped there many times in the RV under
a row of Cottonwood trees not far from the lake. What a
shock, the trees are dead and only 10% of the lake is left.
It is so dry and barren we were shocked!

We had lunch in a park in Springfield, Co. It was very windy
and about 75 F. This is November.

We listened to "Halsey's Typhoon" a story that was
classified top secret until recently. A WWII story.
It's a horrendous tale of a horrendous storm.

I knitted, too. That really helps the time go by.
The scenery is not great on this route.

We have a lovely room' a window that opens and
although their wireless is down they gave me a cable
get on the Internet the "old" way.

Lunch with Governor Ritter

Let's do a little catching up.

On the 11th, Sunday evening Bob Gray came for dinner and that is
always fun. His company continues to prosper, but he doesn't
have much time to actually program any more, too busy trying to
bring in the resources.

On Monday we both had appointments with Dr. Ho, our
dermatologist. And both had little glitches frozen off.

Wednesday was book club, but I was feeling poorly so skipped it.
I was sorry because I always enjoy meeting with the Salina ladies.

Thursday was driving day for Robert...

Friday, Robyn arrived in Denver for a few days of classes prior
to her departure for New Zealand on Monday.

On Saturday we went to Longmont to enjoy a barbecue with Teri,
Tim and the boys. Teri was in pain with a back problem, but Tim
held forth and turned out a fantastic Japanese barbecue. It was
delicious. It was good to see the whole family. The boys have
grown up quite a bit since last we saw them. Jesse is a high
school senior!

Sunday evening Robert, Carl and I met Robyn at her hotel in
Littleton and went to Pasta Jay's for a farewell dinner. Martha
stayed home with a sick Ariel. We missed her and Ariel, although
we had a longer time to talk without an impatient 10-year- old
wanting to leave. Robyn is enjoying her Kindle and has a bright
red leather cover for it. It makes me sort of interested in one
for myself. No problem finding shelf space with one of those.
I'm thinking about it.

Monday, as I was leaving for a luncheon with other activists and
Governor Ritter I couldn't help but notice water pouring out of
the pump house. The big white tank was filling the green tank
that is in the pump house and it had over-filled it a bit. I ran
back and yelled for Robert and he turned the valve off. I could
have done that, but I didn't want to get my feet soaked..

The luncheon was very interesting. There were about 50 people
there and the governor spoke for about 20 minutes and took
questions for another 15 minutes. He is a good speaker and
politically very savvy. It is a tough time to be a leader; so
many things to do and so little money to do it. He announced that
Seimans company was going to build an International Test Center
near NREL in Golden. Their focus will be on renewable energy.
He is anxious for school reform and suggested we look at
www.schoolview.org which is a site describing the hopes and
directions for changing performance of Colorado School Districts.

He went on to describe his ideas on health care reform and the
Colorado Health Affordability Bill.

With regard to transportation he noted we have 125 bridges with
structural liability. In addition he said that the
transportation bill in committee had been endorsed by the
Republicans, but when it came to the floor they all voted against
it. This was a shock because the Republican party has been
pushing for more money for transportation.

He also noted the recent passage of a bill to allow students to
go to high school for five years and end up with a high school
diploma AND an associates degree. He's hoping that will keep
more kids in school when they see they'll end up with the extra
degree and a better chance at a better job.

That's not all he said, but I'm sure that's more than you wanted
to read.

When I came home from the lunch Robert announced his
computer had been infected and trashed. The afternoon was
spent talking to Carl and Fred (in Florida) but by evening his
computer was up and running and he is grateful he is pretty
careful about backing up his files.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Susan in Lafayette. We, as usual had
a great gab fest.

Completed sweater

The sweater I started fifteen or more
years ago is finally complete. I'm
now starting on a new project. It is
a throw and the wool is washable. It
is easier to work with than the cotton
from which the sweater is made.

Today it is very windy and I'm
about to venture out to hang the
laundry. Hopefully neither I nor
the laundry will blow to Kansas.
If they do though, I'm sure Connie
will rescue them.

Nobel Peace Prize

The exciting news of the week was, of course,
President Obama being selected as the Nobel
Peace Prize winner!

I guess the local event of note this week is the weather.
The temperature dropped into the high teens Friday
night. The irrigation system at the Longmont house
was to be blown out and closed for the season at
8 AM on Saturday. Unfortunately that was about
6 hours too late. The system was at least partially
frozen up. We won't know what that means until
it thaws out. Hopefully, not too much damage!

We had a few inches of snow up here and our new
pink sidewalk stands out as a pink ribbon over
a white package. It looks quite pretty and has
been admired by the UPS man and the FedEx man.
They think it is wonderful! I'm sure they do.
Anyone who has made his/her way along that
path with their arms full, pushing a wheel-
barrow, or pulling a cart appreciates it
very much.

A spider in the clean room, oooppps

Robert and I went to town. Our
first stop was for me to get a
hair cut and while I was doing
that he went to Eco-cycle to
drop off our recycle items.

From there we stopped at Target
to kill time and to get Robert
a cheap belt to wear with his
work pants.

On to get our flu shots at
Passport Health Center. We
had vouchers from NCAR so
didn't have to pay for them.
Yea NCAR...finally a perk for
being retired (only took 22
years).

And finally on to a small cafe
at the CU Research campus in
east Boulder. It turned out to
be a great little cafe, nice
setting and reasonable food and
very quiet. A great place to
stop for a quick lunch.

Our main focus for the day was
a tour of the Laboratory of
Atmospheric and Space Projects
(LASP). This Lab is not a
theoretical lab, but a hands on
satellite research lab. They
currently have 5 satellites they
are monitoring with differing
research on each. The one I
found the most interesting is
called Kepler. They are orbiting
in the earths orbit and looking for
other starts, similar to the sun with
planets orbiting, similar to earth.
The pictures they get back are
interesting and of a magnitude
not reached by any other satellite,
to date. Far more magnitude than
the Hubble. It would be interesting
work there. They have 150 students
working there on a ration of 1 grad
student to 5 undergrads. The grad
students are totally supported; the
undergrads are not. They have to
work 20 hours per week in addition
to their course work; it's not an
easy task. They also have to be
available 24/7 365 days a year. BUT
they get to actually run and monitor
the satellites.

During our tour, we stopped to admire
a "clean" room and hear at what
lengths they go to guarantee it's
clean. Robert, however, pointed out
there was a spider on the floor of
the clean room...ooopppps.

Dang bear!

Dang bear! One of them went into the pool
and attacked the aerator. Punched a couple
of holes in the rubber top. Now, instead
of a zillion little air bubbles coming out
a couple of big ones come out which don't
really deliver much O2 for the fish. Robert
is trying to fix it, but we may have to
go for a new one and those things aren't
cheap. S/he also knocked one of the
papyrus pots off the table, but it landed
right side up and the water level in
the pool is so low that the green tops
are still sticking out of the water. I'll
leave it. I hope we get more water before
we get a killing frost or I may lose it.

Home again

We drove home Gothic on Tuesday, the 29th
and on Wednesday Robyn took the attached
photograph. Clearly, we lucked out with
our 4 days of sunshine!
RMBL, Gothic, CO














photo by RDEdwards
We stopped for lunch on the way home in
a small town on route 285. I'm blocking
the name of it at the moment. Everything
was closed except Pizza Hut so we ate
there. It took a long time, but the pizza
is always more than eatable and we had
another chance to talk about the good time
we had visiting Robyn. And how happy we
are for her that she is employed for the
winter in Antarctica. What an adventure
she'll have.

I finished unpacking on Wednesday and
stashing the food we didn't use and
doing some laundry.

On Thursday Robert drove at Tebo's and
I cleaned. I use Thursdays to clean so
I don't have to clean around Robert.

Friday morning I called NCAR to order
vouchers for our flu shots. NCAR is
providing them for retirees and spouses
at no cost to us. They were e-mailed
to us. Very nice. We'll get our
shots this week.

I went to the knit shop in Table Mesa
and was happy to see it is still there.
It has doubled in size in its 17 years
of existence and has half of it devoted
to weaver's supplies. I picked out
some washable wool yarn and a pattern;
bought some of the "modern" needles and
as soon as I finish the sweater I
started some 15 years ago...I'll start
the new project. I finished knitting
the sweater yesterday. I just have to
put it together.

At 11:30 I met Suzanne at Murphy's for
lunch. We had a good time catching up
with what each had been doing over the
summer.

In the evening we went to the Ochs'
ranch for a lovely dinner and evening
with the Ochs. We always have a good
time catching up with their doings and
sharing ours.

Saturday I went to Boulder Democratic
Headquarters for training on the new
data base system we'll be using. It
is called Vote Builder and is being
used by all precincts through out the
state. It is the software that the
Obama folks were using during the
election and since the local Dems
had a different one it caused all sorts
of overlap, duplication and worse,
errors. This looks pretty nice. It
is linked to Google Maps so we can
print out walking lists, with maps.
I haven't used it yet, but looking
forward to finding out all it can
do.

Another gorgeous day in Gothic

We took a walk along the old road which connected
Gothic with Crested Butte and which runs along,
but way above the river. Actually, it is better
situated than the "new" road because it is out of
the avalanche path.

Ariel is coming down with something. Coughing and
sneezing and feeling rotten. She voluntarily went
back to bed this morning. What a bummer to get
sick on your vacation!

Carl fixed another magnificent breakfast this
morning. We are eating like kings.

Gothic, Colorado

We left from Erie, in tandem, with Carl, Martha and Ariel. Because
of snow in the high country we didn't go over Cottonwood Pass
this year; took the highways all the way to Gothic.

Teocali was ready and waiting for us and Robyn showed up as we
were unloading the vehicles. The vehicles were both very full. Carl
had his telescope in his car and we had the box for the batteries,
we plan to bring back, in our car.

Robyn was delighted with the Kindle we gave her as a Bon
Voyage present and has already started down loading books
to have with her in the Antarctica.

We had a late dinner, which Carl prepared, of ravioli and salad.
cake that I brought, for dessert and ice cream that Carl and
Martha snuck in, much to my amazement.

Yesterday we took a tour of Gothic from Teocali to the othe
end of town and saw all that Robyn had accomplished this
summer, which is a lot! She has wrought many improvements
to the physical plant.

Robyn and I fixed dinner; we have a tradition of preparing
enchiladas together. We did that again. Robyn points out the
tradition is the same, but the recipe differs depending on what
we have to put in them. In any case they were very good.

This morning we are all up, breakfasted and ready for another
adventure. At the moment Robyn and Martha are experimenting
with their Kindles.

Black bear on the patio

We were awakened this morning by our motion-sensitive
light shining on a medium-sized black bear ambling
past our bedroom door. He seemed aware of us, but
totally disinterested for which I was happy.

On Saturday we went to Chautauqua Auditorium for the
2nd Annual "Catastrophe or Opportunity," a panel
discussion and "Climate and Energy call to action.
It was run by Richard Brenne whose major claim to
fame seems his ability to stage these events.
Bill McKibbon of the New Yorker Magazine was there
joined by Al Bartlett who with Erlich has been calling
for zero population growth since the early 60s, Kevin
Trembeth whom I knew at NCAR and who was one of the
recent recipients of the Nobel prize for their work
on Global Climate Change. Ben Toon whose work I am
not familiar and Diane McKnight an engineering Prof
at the University of Colorado and Bob Hansen a
spokesperson from NCAR. It was interesting and it
was clear they were "singing to the Choir." I
did hear about an international organization called
350.org that is working with people all over the
global to diminish carbon dioxide entering the
atmosphere. It's an interesting site and I plan
to follow it now I've heard of it.

On Sunday we went to Gerard and Alice Och's 50th
wedding anniversary party. It was held at a ranch
in north Boulder. A charming venue for a picnic
party. The site was backed by a pond on one side
and the front range foothills on another. The
weather prediction was not good so there were
tents over the food stations and over the eating
areas which was very nice. However, the rain did
hold off until just before 4 PM which was supposed
to be the end of the party and which I would
guess ended it quite abruptly. At least we ran
for our car and left.

It was a very nice party and huge, more than 75 people.
Robert and I would be hard put to have that many
invitees to a party at this stage of our lives. We
keep losing friends. In any case there were several
generations represented from wee small and very
young ones to some very old ones.

Last Wednesday we listened to President Obama's speech
to Congress. He has so much on his plate, but seems
overly submissive when it comes to taking on the
opposition. He also is listening to the Military
with regard to Afghanistan. It's hard to be patient.
The bank bail out was bad enough, but worse is the
lack of action on writing new legislation to prohibit
some of the behavior that caused the huge collapse!

We had book club at Allison's after the speech and
discussed it some. He is popular, but concern
continues about his limited approach to health care
reform. He seems to be backing down over and over
again.

On Thursday Robert had his driving day and I have
no idea what I did for the day...except I did read
a bit.

One of Bob Gray's employees and the programmer for
the software Robert uses to communicate between
the batteries in the hut and his computer in the
office came for a tour. His father-in-law was
visiting from Sandia Labs and Nick was sure he'd
be interested. Nick's wife also came along. They
were duly impressed as just about everyone is. It's
quite a hobby and the technology very interesting.

This weekend is a quiet one for us. I'm taking care of a
neighbor's cat and had planned to walk the mile up and back
to feed it. However, I woke up feeling rotten so Robert
drove me up there this morning. I'm feeling better now so
hope to be able to continue my walking tomorrow.

A quiet time

So..no company, no trips. What to do.
Play catch-up, of course.

That is what has been going on. I have
been walking every day and finally got up
to 2 miles. And that shall continue because
I have promised to cat-sit for a friend who
lives 2 miles up the canyon. I'll walk there
each day to care for the cat.

The smoke from California has invaded us. I
can't imagine what it must be like there
considering how bad it is here!

Robert and I removed a pipe from a culvert
up the road. The culvert is going to be
replaced and the pipe was doing nothing so
it seemed a good time to pull it out. That
required working our way along the creek and
digging up the pipe in places and pulling it
up and out through the culvert. It made you
appreciate how hard it must have been for the
earlier settlers to make their way through the
canyon which, I am sure, was equally full of
underbrush.

Replacing the culvert will require the road to
be closed above us for at least one day and
maybe two. I hope they do a better job of
warning everyone before they close the
road than they usually do so that they may
have the opportunity to move cars below the
culvert.

I had a trip to the hair dresser and to the
dentist. The State Farm adjuster came and
looked over the damage on the Saturn. As
expected, they'll not pay a whole lot for the
repair. The estimate included finding used
parts. Saving money is their job, after all.

Ariel went to an ENT and was diagnosed with
fluid behind the ear drum which was causing
her to lose her hearing. Hopefully antibiotics
will solve the problem.

The restoration of the Little Church in the Pines
continues. The new building at the rear of the
chapel is coming along. The tile floor has been
laid and the walls have been stuccoed. The plan
is to have it finished in time for the annual
Craft Fair which has not taken place for two
years because the venue, the schoolhouse, has
been filed with the church pews.

A busy week

Keating and Lee arrived around dinner time on Sunday.
We had Bison burgers and french fries in honor of the
"Brits."

On Monday I picked up Ariel in town at 8 AM
and later we all went up to the Gold Hill area
and walked to Big Horn mountain and the
Crows Nest. It was too murky to see
DIA, but we could see the front range
well on the other side of the saddle.

After we finished there we went to the Gold Hill
Store for lunch. It was the usual casual scene.
The payment is unusual in that you tell them
what you've had just as you are leaving and pay
then rather than when you pick up your food. But, we had a pleasant lunch and talked with some of the others having lunch, one of whom was Edie who was the teacher at the Gold Hill School for many years.

On Tuesday Robert and I did our usual day in Denver
when we go to the VA. That is the VA to give blood,
the museum to look around and have lunch and then
back to the VA. While we were doing that Keating
and Lee "did" Boulder and met friends for lunch.

Wednesday we again picked up Ariel only after she
had gone to school to meet her new teacher so
we all went down the mountain to meet Carl and
Ariel and then headed for Trail Ridge Road.

As usual it was blowing and amazingly cold up there
despite the heat in Boulder. We had a pleasant ride,
but ended it at the Visitor Center on top rather than
doing the full loop.

In Estes Park Keating's sharp eyes spotted a restaurant
on a side street and on the second floor. There also
was parking across the street which was an added
bonus. When we got to the restaurant it looked like
we were the only folks there, but actually we were the
only ones who opted to eat inside.

After lunch we drove up to the Stanley Hotel. As we
came through Estes on our way to Trail Ridge Lee had
spotted the hotel and exclaimed that it look just like
the hotel in Steven Kings book. We assured him that
it WAS the hotel in Steven Kings book, "The Shining,"
I think. The guard at the gate let us in so they
could get pictures of the hotel to take back to
England. I think that was more exciting than the
mountains, at least at the moment of discovery.

Thursday was Robert's driving day so he headed off
to drive in the Crown Vic pointing out that every time
he has driven he has shown up in a different car.
Keating, Lee and I decided to go to Denver and
to Imax and the museum. They had a dinner engagement
so we went to Boulder in two cars, leaving one in
the King Soopers parking lot. Actually, I had been
to the Toyota dealer all ready to get a new Smart
Key for the Prius. Robert's key had gotten damaged
somehow. It took an hour!! to get a new key and
the price of the key was about $250.00, but it was
under warranty so I paid nothing.

After that I met the kids and we headed for Denver.
We opted to watch an ocean and wildlife film which
started at 1 PM. That gave us time to look at
several exhibits including the pre-historic travel
exhibit, the gem-carvings and the mummies. We
had lunch somewhere along the way and then watched
the film. I enjoyed the film, but the sound was
way to loud. They showed Shoals which are schools
of small fish; one type was sardines. They fit
into a huge, but tight ball, so tight that it was
clear the seals thought it was solid and left it
alone it being too big to tackle. The penguins
were a little smarter and dove right in as did the
gannets and sharks. But it was a wild frenzy of
motion, but eventually the shoal managed to get
away and some to live another day.

The special event at the museum currently is a health
show. There were many exhibits and tests you could
take. One was testing your stride, another was
pedalling a stationary bike to attain your optimum
heart rate. At the beginning of the exhibit you
enter information into a computer as to your height,
weight, age, gender, etc and get out a plastic
charge-card type card. You put that in to each
machine as you go from one station to another.
I entered my card and got on the bike and
started pedalling and my rate went up to 132,
but they said my optimum should have been 99. I
think I would have had to be dead or not pedal
at all to have that rate. Keating's optimum
was 132 which was probably too low for her, too.
But, she didn't think so; I suppose the altitude
was against her.

We headed back to Boulder about 3:30 PM and they
picked up the Saturn and were headed for Target
and then another dinner date. I headed home.

I hadn't been home long when the phone rang. It
was Keating. While they were in Target a truck
had crunched the front bumper and fender of the
Saturn. Fortunately, the driver of the truck
had waited for them to come out, apologized and
gave them all the information about his insurance
and his parents' insurance. It is the parents'
truck. I reassured Keating not to feel bad;
those things happen and it was really nice that
the other driver was being so cooperative.

They went on their way to their dinner.

On Friday State Farm Insurance called and it
sounds like they'll take care of it. We
are waiting for the adjuster to call to make
an appointment to see the car. It doesn't
look bad; but having had a small ding cost
$1000.00 to fix I can't even guess what
replacing a fender and bumper will cost.

Keating and Lee left Friday on the 2 PM
shuttle and I went to pick up Ariel at the
East Boulder Rec center at 3. She was
staying over because Carl and Martha were
running in the "Tour de Cure" on Saturday
and they needed to get a really early start.

Today Ariel made herself a place mat using
Contact paper which is clear plastic that
is sticky on one side. She used sequins
to spell out her name using a pattern she
made and could see through the plastic and
then put another layer of the plastic on
top. It came out really well. She, as
usual, wanted me to help. I told her
I'd help put the top on, but the rest was
up to her. She is growing up and can be
really careful if she tries.

This afternoon Ariel and I went to Longmont
to welcome her folks back from their race.
Martha was there having completed 100 kilometers.
Carl was coming in soon and will have
completed 100 miles. I saw Martha, but left
Ariel with her and came home.

It's been a busy week and I am ready to take
life at a very slow pace.

Fact or fiction and a visit to Gold Hill

A comment was made to my previous blog that I wish
to clarify. The comment was citing remarks made
by Jefferson and Madison about the Constitution.
I think Amendment X should answer the question.
It states, "The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to
the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people." Also, Amendment IX states that,
"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people."

Enough said...

Gold Hill has been celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Today was the last of the celebrations so we went
up to enjoy the celebrations. One of which was the
"firing" of an anvil. This consisted of laying
an anvil on the ground and adding black powder
to it and then laying another anvil on top. The
fuse leading to the black powder is lit...and
you wait. First, a little smoke and then the
most humongous boom you can imagine and the
anvil flies into the air 100 feet or so. We have
been prepared to run, but it didn't fly in our
direction enough to make us move. It was a most
impressive display, however.

Many of the cabins were open for touring, but we
had come to tour the Bluebird Lodge, which was
not open, sadly. In 1920 the Holiday House
Association of Chicago, Illinois purchased the 1873
Wentworth Hotel as a summer resort for working
women. It was renamed the Bluebird Lodge. This
gave Gold Hill a much-needed boost. And these
ladies were known as the "Bluebirds."

In 1939, Elizabeth A. Sullivan of Boulder donated
a 3200 square foot parcel on the southwest corner of Pine
and Prospect streets to the Most Reverend Urban J. Vehr,
Bishop of Denver. Over the next year and a half, the
Bluebirds saved their money and hired A.J. "Tim"
Walter, assisted by Wilbur D. Goudge, to build a
small frame structure with log siding at the cost
of $3000. The chapel was named St.James in
memory of a Chicago woman's husband who gave the
first donation, $500, and in honor of St. James
the Apostle.

As the years went by the Bluebirds gradually declined
and the chapel sat unused. By 1962 the chapel was
purchased by Daniel and Margaret Grupp for $10.00.
In 1997 the property was bought by Historic Gold
Hill, Inc., and was financed by a grant from the
State Historical Society to become the Gold Hill
Museum.

The museum is a gem. We spent most of our time at
the museum. They have a fantastic "school" map
of the early United States showing how Texas
owned a good section of western Colorado. I
also purchased a set of playing cards, each of
which has an historic photograph on the facing
side.

For lunch we stood in a brief line for homemade
ice cream served at the Gold Hill school. The
ice cream was delicious. We were told by one
of my Gold Hill friends that they had spent
a very busy morning making ice cream. The
ice cream had been made and stored in a freezer
in someone's garage and last night a bear
broke into the garage and into the freezer and
ate most of the ice cream!

The Gold Hill schoolhouse, unlike the Salina
schoolhouse is still functioning as a school.
The original school was built in 1873 and was
a log structure. It was razed in 1883 and
replaced by the current frame structure. In
1898 another room was added and two teachers
were employed. In 1894, the school bell woke
the residents in the early hours as a forest
fire swept down on the town. Fortunately,
a change in the wind and the a snowfall
saved Gold Hill and the schoolhouse.

On-going battle of fact vs fantasy regarding Health Care Reform

A busy summer, but it goes so fast I don't really know
what we have been doing.

I continue to politic. Just called Udall's office to
voice my opposition to indefinite detention. I don't
understand how that can even be an issue. It is so
patently against our Constitution.


The Health Care Reform is causing quite a stir. In
some areas of the country the radical right have
organized such that they disrupt the Town Meetings
being held by their Congress person to answer
questions about the bill in progress. They have
been shouted down in many places.

In Denver a man had his car vandalized to the tune
of about $3000. He had fliers in his car advocating
Universal Single-payer Health Care system. Someone
is really full of hate.

There are so many myths out there and people have
been scared by them. These are orchestrated by
the right-wing of the Republican Party and it is
a real shame. I think the Republican Party is
going to go down the tubes if it continues on
it's current path. I feel sorry for moderate
Republicans. Of course there are the Blue Dog
Democrats that I would just as see move on
to the Republican party. They don't vote with
the Democrats anyway and they make it look as
though the party is not behind health care
reform.

The following are a few of the myths being
bandied about and the facts:

MYTH: Grassroots Protesters are Disrupting Town
Hall Meetings.
FACT: Lobbyist-Run Groups are Orchestrating
Extremist Mobs
MYTH: Government-Encouraged Euthanasia
FACT: The claim is "nonsense."
MYTH: Private Plans are Outlawed
FACT: Private Health insurance not banned
MYTH: 120 Million Americans will be deprived
of health care
FACT: "False"
MYTH: There is a Republican Plan
FACT: Republicans have yet to coalesce around
a single plan

We had book club on Monday at Heather's and discussed
"Olive Kittredge." It is a strange book and she is
an even stranger person. But, it was an interesting
read. Out next book is "Sarah's Key." I'm three
quarters of the way through that. It has two
intertwined plots. One current and one in the 1940s
with the terrible atrocities against the Jews. The
current plot is of a journalist who is writing a
story of the anniversary of the round up of the Jews
in Paris by the Paris police. It is well written and
hard to put down.

August is Here Already

A cold, wet few days. I hung out the laundry
last Wednesday and finally was able to take it
down today! The plants and our well are really
happy with all this water, but I do love the
sunshine.

I have been trying to dig up horror stories
for Jared to share with the Congress. The
Health Care Reform is not going well. The
Republicans again are doing all they can to slow
it down and dismantle any real change. It is
distressing how partisan our political scene
has become. After the Bush years and with
the Obama popularity one would think the other
party would try and cooperate a little. But,
no. Not only that but lies are being promulgated
through the media to frighten the population
into not wanting reform.

Robert drove a 1937 DeSota on Thursday and he said
that heads would turn and people would wave as
he went by. It was really fun.

Climate Change is here

I think "Global Warming" is a misnomer. Climate Change
is more apt, at least this year. We are cold and wet.
I doubt if my tomatoes ever ripen. Today the high so far
has been 65 F. and tonight it is going to be in the 40s.

I have finished cleaning the pantry. I plan to put
down new floor covering and then it'll look really nice.
I'm always happy when I have it organized. I wish it
would stay that way.

The Health Care Reform is not going well. The Blue
Dog Dems have joined with the Republicans and the
Insurance Companies and Pharmaceutical companies to
kill any hope of getting away from Fee for Service
nor is there any hope of having a government-run
plan to compete with the Insurance Plans. The
Single Payer Option sounds very good to me. Getting
the Insurance Industry out of the Health Care business
also sounds good to me.

Robert has a new hobby. Mr. Tebo has a huge collection
of antique cars, most in running condition. He needs
volunteers to "exercise" the cars and Robert has added
his name to the roster of volunteers. He'll be going
on Thursdays to exercise, hopefully, 10 cars. They
have to check them over, gas them up, drive them 10
miles and bring them back and park them. Also
required is a check-list of things done to the cars
and/or things needing attention. It sounds like a
very full day. Some of the cars are extraordinary.
One is valued at one million dollars. It is a
vintage Dussenberg. Robert doesn't plan on driving
that one.

It's July already!

Sue has come and gone and Elske has come and
gone.

While Sue was here we were pretty lazy. We
had dinner, here, with Carl, Martha and Ariel
one night. One day Sue and on went to town
and parked at the library (it was free that
day whether or not you were in the library;
Robert called to let us know. He read that in
the paper. We walked along the creek path to
the Tea House. It is such a beautiful building.
We did not have tea, but we went in side and
looked at the carvings and the tiles.

From there we walked to the Pearl Street Mall
and window shopped along the Mall. We did make
the mandatory stops; we visited the Pepper Corn
and the Boulder Book Store. After the Pepper
corn we meandered on our way to the book store.
We'd spent about 40 minutes in the Pepper corn
and another 40 in the book store. We headed
for the Boulderado Hotel and the Corner Bar for
lunch. The Corner Bar has become my favorite
place for lunch. It is quiet and low keyed;
perfect for chatting as well as eating. Most
restaurants I find to be too noisy for an easy
conversation, especially since most of my friends
and I, to a lesser extent, are deaf.

Sue was anxious to get home and had another visit
to make before she headed east. We took her to
the airport on July 4th and off she flew to Portland,
Oregon.

The next few days were spent getting ready for our
next guest and also buying plants since we'd not
had a chance to do that in May or June. I went
to Sturtz and Copeland and bought a bag of mixed
top soil and manure to spread on the depleted
flower beds. I also bought a huge pot of geraniums
to set in the middle of the bed by the porch. In
addition I bought a couple other pots, one with
peppers and a tomato and sage in it. The flowering
Quince bushes that we planted a couple of years ago
are, finally, beginning to look like healthy bushes
and the two columbine plants that I have been nurturing
are coming along quite well. One has a couple of buds
on it!

The next day I went grocery shopping and found that
KingSoopers was selling pots of flowers (the same
size as two smaller ones I had bought at Sturtz and
paid $25.00 for each) were on sale 2/$10. They may
not be up to Sturtz quality, but they look lovely and
at $5.00 a piece I couldn't resist and bought 4 of
them.

The Salina Literary and Roasted Sweet Potato Society
met here on the 8th. The next book selection is
"Olive Kittredge."

A few days later, on the 10th, Elske arrived. She
had a HUGE suitcase so we decided to leave it in
the computer room and she could unpack as she needed
things. I had emptied a drawer and the closet for
the use of guests. That worked out pretty well and
she actually found it convenient since she was down
stairs most of the time. The first morning she was
here she twisted her knee coming down stairs so was
unable to walk; at least we tried very hard to make
it such she didn't need to walk. We cancelled all
plans for the day and just enjoyed conversing.

Fortunately after icing her knee and staying off of it
for the day, it was very much better the next day. We
set off, with a picnic lunch, for Pikes Peak. Robert
and I hadn't been there since before we were married!
We drove down through the Rampart Range which is a fun
drive, but turned out to be a mistake because the
thunder clouds rolled in and before we could get to
the top of the Peak the road was closed at, where else,
the gift shop. We did get a rain check, but that
didn't do Elske any good because she wouldn't be
back in time to use it.

The following day we followed the same route that
Sue and I had followed from library to tea house,
to Mall (and Pepper Corn and book store) and on
to lunch at the Boulderado. The Boulderado
restoration is really fantastic so it is fun to show
it off to visitors, too.

Elske left on the 15th.

We have been catching up with all sorts of things
we haven't done since April. In addition, I have
been carpet shopping for the Longmont house. I
think Teri and I have settled on something and
the new carpet should be installed by the end of
the week.

So there you have it. Up to date for the moment.

The fish pond is looking pretty good and we have
more than 40 good looking gold fish which seem
to have acclimated themselves to our cold mountain
stream water.

A few pictures

The following photographs were taken by
Sue Berkenbush. I have not down-loaded
mine yet. More to come, maybe.
Betsie Light House at
Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes
Michigan












l

Picture Rock National
Seashore, MI

• 
  

• 

Cornish Steam Pump
Iron Mountain, MI

The Rest of the Story

The rest of the story:

We drove like crazy most of the rest of the way
home. The first night we stopped in Valentine,
Nebraska at the Trade Winds Motel. A very nice
and modestly priced motel. The served a substantial
breakfast including ham and omelets, juice, toast,
bagels, and fruit.

The next day we drove home, arriving here about
3 in the afternoon. It is good to be home. I
had assumed Sue would be here a while, but she
is anxious to get home and has another stop, in
Portland, before she heads back home. She
leaves here Saturday (the 4th) morning.

Another note about our trip

On the 25th we visited Picture Rock National Park. The rocks are
best seen from the water, but we got a pretty good view from the
land and the overlooks. At this point we are in Manestique on Lake
Superior. The rocks are of varying colors and the "castle" is a pillar
sticking up from the water. It has been formed from the wind and
water wearing the stone into a castle-like formation. We walked
around there for a while, enjoying the lack of rain.

We had also visited an Iron Museum while we were in the area.

On Friday we drove to Iron Mountain and visited the Industrial
Museum there which featured a Cornish Pump. This is the largest
water-pump in the US and was used to pump water from the iron
mine. It is huge; the fly-wheel is something like 40 feet in diameter
and it could pump thousands of gallons of water in minutes, if I
remember correctly. It seems impossible that anything could
pump so much so quickly, but it did. The irony is that when they
moved the pump into its currently location they had a flood
and it was in 20 feet of water!

Our next stop, also in the Iron Mountain area, was the Cathedral
of the Pines. The wife of the president of a logging company
prevailed upon her husband to protect an area of the virgin
white pines. He set aside 22 acres of trees to be protected.
The trees are spectacular. They rise 100 feet or more up into
the sky and are huge! The surrounding area has all been
logged so the contrast in significant.

In Rhinelander, Wisconson we visited Pioneer Park. The parks
contains a conclave of museums all started by a charity that
was hoping to preserve the history of the area. Now the city
has taken it over, but they still depend heavily on donations
from the tourists. All the museums are free, but each has its
donation box prominently displayed.

The first one was the logging museum which included a replica
of a logging camp; the dining room and bunk house. The most
interesting aspect of this museum, to me, were the huge
logging sleighs they used to haul the lumber out in the winter.
Also, the "icing" wagon. This consisted of wooden boxes the
size of a railroad car. These were filled with water and driven
over the path the log-sleigh would use. The boxes leaked so
that the path could be iced making it easier for the sleighs
to run through the snow. What the horses did on the ice
was not explained!

Another museum was the CCC museum. I told the docent
we were old enough to know what the CCC stood for and
what they were about, so he didn't give us the usual spiel.
It turned out that he didn't know much more about the
displays than his spiel designed to explain why the CCC
existed to the younger generations. When asked questions
about various pieces of equipment he was at a loss.

They also had a restored schoolhouse. It made me wish
we had the resources in Salina to re-furnish ours as it
must have looked when it was used as a school.

We spent the night in Ladysmith, Wisconsin and came on
to Minneapolis in the morning. On our way, between
rain showers, we stopped at the Inter-state Park to see
the Potholes. These are formed by large stones being
caught in the flowing water of the St. Croix River and
then spun around and around, with more stones, such
that eventually the potholes were formed. That is
at sometime in the past this happened. The river used
to be much higher than it is now. One of the potholes
has been excavated down 60 feet and still the bottom
rock layer was not found. An interesting place to
walk through the rocky landscape to find potholes.

We arrived at Jeanne's about 2 PM. We are enjoying
a day of not driving! We'll head home tomorrow
morning. We expect to get home on Wednesday.

One thing I must note, we have paid as much as
2.98 for gas, but here it is 2.69. The motel prices
have amazed me. They are low. The highest we
have paid is $70.00. Most of them have been
almost empty. We have never had to worry about
showing up after 8 PM and not getting a room. The
proprietors have always been very happy to see us.

Just a note

It has been since June 12th that we have been on the road.

This is not a full blog, but a brief update as to where we are
and where we've been.

Our trip east was a fast one; we did stop in Champaign and
have dinner and breakfast with Janice and George. Then on
to Newtown, CT to visit Joy and Walt. We arrived at
West Newbury, MA on the 16th.

Most all the way it rained and it rained all the time we were at
Sue's. A new roof was being put on to the farm house. As of
yesterday they still hadn't finished because of the rain.

Leaving The Farm we headed for Vernon, CT (near Hartford)
and spent a couple of days there with Kit and Heather
(Sue's son and daughter-in-law in their palace.) More about
that another time.

We have been on the road since then, stopping here and
there and I shall fill that in when I get home.

Now we are in the UP of Michigan in the town of Manistique.
We are in a very old, but renovated motel $45.00...the
Comfort Inn is asking $98.00. They are crazy; all the motels
are empty!. We spent much of the day at the Sleeping Bear
Sand Dune Nat'l Park so were late getting here.

We are going to Iron Mountain tomorrow and tour an Iron Mine.
More when I get another chance.

House guests

Our friends, Paul and Barbara Kelly arrived June 2nd.
We had supper held for them, for which they were clearly
grateful. They had driven from Reno and had hit sleet
along their route; not an easy drive.

On Wednesday we let them have a leisurely day for the
most part. We did walk up to the Apple Tree Mine. That
took long enough so that I had to excuse myself and race
back to rescue homemade soup I had on the stove! But,
I made it back in 14 minutes and the soup was fine.

On Thursday we went to town and walked the Pearl Street
Mall to the Boulderado Hotel. We had a lovely lunch in
the Corner Bar. It was not terribly crowded so we took
our time and enjoyed a long, leisurely meal. After lunch
we walked over to the Boulder Book Store and spent an
hour there. It is such a wonderful book store. It is
impossible for me to get out of that store without
buying at least one book. They bought many books and
the store let them use my discount. I thought that was
nice!

We had so many books that Robert volunteered to go get
the car while we sat and waited on a bench near 9th
street.

While sitting there Paul noticed a banner advertising
Chautauqua and since he grew up near the New York
Chautauqua he was curious. I described our Chautauqua
history and he and I reminisced about the NY Chautauqua
and playing on a large model of the Holy Land that was
hills and dales all made of concrete, I would guess. I
remember it,but not the details. We drove up to
Chautauqua and through the grounds. The main road
was blocked with huge motorhomes; I gathered some
music group was there and you could hear them
practicing in the auditorium.

From Chautauqua we drove up to NCAR and admired the
various exhibits including the art show in the
cafeteria. Will Spangler was looking at the art in
the cafeteria. We chatted briefly. He has retired,
but still has his office at NCAR. I was amazed.

That was our last stop for the day. We drove on home.

After dinner we played a new word game, a take off on
Scrabble. I think it is called Wild Word. Paul won
hands down. I didn't come in last, amazingly. Only
because Barbara had challenged a word I had used and
she lost 20 points doing that so she came in last.
It's a fun game and I expect we'll use it some this
summer. We are having many house guests.

Paul and Barbara left this morning about nine. I
am taking a lazy day! I did do laundry, but that is
about all I plan to do in the line of housework!

More California

It's been some time since I last made an entry here.

We were in California most of that time.

Leaving Stockton we drove to Berkeley and to a circus
rehearsal was being held. Sophia and Sarah are aerialists
and do a twin act. They are really fantastic and make whirling
in air look easy. They complement each other very nicely. It
was good to see Dan and Rebecca, too. They have been having
a difficult time because Dan's father fell some time ago and
broke his neck. He has more or less recovered from that, but
undergone a series of traumas wherein he has been in/out of
the hospital many times. In addition to that Rebecca's t-cells
are low so she has reluctantly decided to go on meds. It's
been 27 years since she was infected. Amazing.

We had supper with them and then headed to San Francisco to
see Ryan. By the time we got there and checked into our
motel it was past 7 PM. Ryan hadn't eaten and was tired so
we made plans to meet for breakfast in the morning.

We were fortunate to find a motel less than a mile and a straight
shot with the bus to Ryan's house. Our motel was the Days Inn At
The Civic Center (465 Grove St, 415-864-4040) a convenient
location with on-site free parking and a double room was $109
including taxes. In the morning Ryan showed up at our motel and
we walked to a Crepe shop around the corner. Very nice breakfast
and great conversation. The best I can do to describe Ryan's
work is to say he is into a form of Genetic Engineering. He is
enjoying it, for the most part. There is always scutt work to do
that no one enjoys, but life is like that.

After breakfast we loaded our luggage, checked out and drove with
Ryan to his house and parked in his drive. A rather precarious
parking place because his drive is so short we were parked on
the sidewalk. His house is great. There are three flats in it
and he is in the middle which is the second floor. It is quite
lovely and shows all sorts of promise. I'm sure he could be
happy there for some time to come. He and his house mates are
working on sprucing up there back yard which was all concrete.
They have busted up the concrete and have arranged through a
friend of one of the house mates to borrow a dump truck to
haul it all away. Quite a project!

From Ryan's we headed north to Bodega to visit Alyssum. She
was home and happy to see us. A friend had dropped in unexpectedly
which made things a little strange. The friend seemed to be
depressed or unhappy or both. But Alyssum took us for a walk
through tall grass to the top of a hill where we were surprised
and happy to see wicker chairs so we could sit, chat and admire
the view. It was a lovely day and we had a fine time talking
about some of her future plans. She is really hoping to go
to India again to get more training in Yoga so that she may
come back and have some good credentials for teaching. Sounds
like a plan.

We all went out to dinner in Occidental at the a restaurant/bar
called Barley and Hops. Rachel perked up a bit through dinner
which was nice and we all had a good time laughing a talking.

Alyssum offered us the gypsy wagon for the night and we jumped
at it. The little wagon is truly a work of art. I hadn't
appreciated it quite so much as lying there in bed and admiring
the workmanship and the fine detail. It is really a work of
art. Alyssum was afraid we'd be cold so in addition to a
down comforter she piled on 4 more blankets...we were not cold
and removed all by the comforter and slept well.

We had picked up breakfast stuff the night before so Alyssum
fixed us a lovely breakfast which ate sitting under the trees.
Visiting there is fun; living there is work!

By now it was the 19th of May and we were due in Santa Barbara
on the 20th. That gave us a day to wander and be by ourselves
which made a nice break. I lovely company, but we like to do
things by ourselves, too.

We wandered down 101 and 1 depending on where we could get
closest to the shore and ended up at Morro Bay for the
night. The weather had been so hot in Stockton we were
grateful for the cool weather along the coast and in
SF and Bodega. Morro Bay is a tourist town and even as
early as this there were a few tourists about. We wandered
around the town and found a grill which was very informally
run..they lost my order..but everyone was friendly and we
sat at long picnic tables. The food was good and the price
was reasonable and it was a fun place to be. After dinner
we headed back to our motel to check e-mail and catch up
with the world a bit.

We got permission to check out late so had a leisurely
breakfast next door to our motel, checked out at noon
and headed toward Santa Barbara arriving around 3 PM.
I called Bud to tell him we were on schedule and left
a message. He picked up the message that evening as
we were sitting around the table in the family room.

The next day Bud took us on a tour of Santa Barbara;
the Presidio and the Tower at City Hall. He couldn't
believe we hadn't seen them when we house sat. We
didn't remind him that our stay had been cut short
or perhaps we would have. The town is restoring the
Presidio and hope to close the streets that pass through
what was the center of the Presido so that it'll be
a square with no streets running through it. It's
an ambitious plan, but should be a fine historic site
if they do that.

The next day Bud and Robert went to a country club to
have lunch with a group that Bud meets with regularly.
Robert had a great time. They were all very articulate,
educated and interesting men. I was sorry I had missed it,
but wives are not included.

Cicely and I went out to lunch and shopping. Cicely admitted
she loved to have a chance to just wander and look; Bud is
not into shopping any more than Robert is. I am not much of
a shopper, but we had a good time and a pleasant lunch.

Our last scheduled visit was with Rochelle in Los Angeles. While
we were in Santa Barbara I booked a room for us at the Claremont
Hotel near Rochelle's apartment. I liked the name and the
price ($72), but after I did that I panicked. I told Cicely
what I had done. She knows LA quite well and asked me where
it was. I said Westwood, and she said, not to worry. That
is a nice section of LA and it can't be too bad. And it
wasn't. It was Spartan, but fun. The furniture in our
room was 1930s vintage; a high boy, a dressing table with
mirror, a double bed and a night stand. One chair at the
dressing table. The bathroom was tiny! Not big enough for
a tub, but adequate and the room was very clean. I'd say
it was the cleanest room we stayed in on the trip. The
lounge was pleasant and had comfortable seats and reading
lamps and wi-fi. We were happy.


Rochelle is doing well, has a lovely apartment, but is about
to move and we saw the outside of the new one, but not the
inside.

We met her boyfriend, Patrick. A fine young man, good sense
of humor, self confident, but not cocky. A very nice person.

He was very busy editing a movie his brother was producing,
but took the time to come see us even though he could only
stay a short time. And he came to breakfast with Rochelle
in the morning. In the evening we went to "The Garden"
where Rochelle works and it was wonderful; the food was
good, but the best part was how loved Rochelle is by
everybody! I was so proud.

Breakfast was at La Soleil (sp) a French restaurant near our
hotel. That was very nice, too. We had a little chance to
find out more about Patrick and in what direction he would like
to see his life go.

Rochelle gave us a tour of the campus. It is a lovely campus
and Robert asked her if she'd been nervous when she arrived.
She said she didn't think she'd be able to find her classes,
but of course she did and now she knows her way very well.

After our tour we checked out of our hotel, said goodbye to
Rochelle and headed towards home. We made it to St. George, UT
that day and home the next, stopping briefly in New Castle, CO
to visit Betty and Jack Wilson.

We've been home almost a week...but that'll have to wait until
next time.

California

We attended Liza's (Robert's granddaughter) graduation from the University of the Pacific.
It went well and Liza was beautiful. The speaker was a pompous so and so, the retiring University
president and he started off with "I was born (almost)" and continued with his life. Not great and
the seats were boards with no backs BUT it was 106 outside and we were inside...YES!

We all dined together after graduation ( Viki, her ex Duffy, Liza, Robert and me). We said our
goodbyes and today we headed for Berkley to visit my niece Rebecca. We showed up at a
"Circus" performance where the twins did a fabulous job. They are beautiful and talented and
love the ariel stuff. We spent the afternoon and part of the evening with them. It has been a
very difficult year for them, not the least of which is that Dan's dad fell and broke his neck in
February. He is still recuperating, but also has dementia which does not make things easier.

We are now in downtown San Francisco and will have breakfast with grandson, Ryan, tomorrow.
He is getting his PhD at UCSF and is VERY busy, so not sure how much of his time we'll have.

After Ryan...we'll head for Bodega to spend some time with Alyssum.

I haven't gone into the details of our trip from Boulder to California, but it went well. We stopped at the Great Basin National Park in Nevada on our way. It is a lovely park and it
would be fun to return with our pick-up truck and camp and roam the place.

Prices for motels have dropped considerably since our last visit west. $50 plus tax in Utah and Nevada. This motel, which is more than "just adequate" is $109.00 including tax and has
free on-site parking. The lady at the desk suggested they served a "free" breakfast, but that
around the corner was the Crepe Shop and they had VERY good food. We may go there in the
morning.

Moving on..

Robert picked up my virus and has been miserable. I took him to
the doctor. Our doctor was off and the young doctor who we saw
was rather strange. He prescribed an antibiotic, because or
Robert's CLL and also some cough pills. Even though I said we
still had plenty of cough medicine left that Dr. Haimes had given
me. He claimed these were better. Later, when Robert read the
fine print we decided to throw them away. The side affects were
horrendous, if they occurred. So far they haven't.

I have finished my internship at Jared Polis' office and was to
meet with him yesterday; then he was to call, yesterday. Neither
happened. I had given him information about the Canadian health
care system and some other things on Long Term Health Care and
wanted to discuss these things with him. I can only gather that
they are not on his priority list.

The weather, for the most part, this week has been lovely. I
have cleaned out the front gardens; now need to fertilize them
and plant some annuals and a few perennials.

We leave Wednesday, the 13th of May, for California. We'll
attend Liza's graduation, visit Rebecca, Ryan, Rochelle and the
Wheelons. Santa Barbara has been under siege with huge wild
fires in the mountains. Fortunately, the Wheelons are down low
and safe.

I had Mohs surgery a couple of weeks ago for a basal cell cancer
on my forehead. It has healed up, but some of the bruises are
still apparent.