Bronco game-September 29, 2013

Here's the reason the Broncos won today.

The Broncos new cheerleader!

You have to start training them early.

 

It was an incredibly beautiful day today after so many days of wind, rain, fog and cold nights. There might be a few days of real fall weather before winter moves in and we move out. Plus we spent a lot of time with the sunshine of our lives.

 

Yaks-September 28, 2013

This is at least our third year here that we have tried to get decent pictures of the yaks being raised down the road. Finally, right before we get ready to leave, they posed for us today. We did go to a farmer's market where a lady had ground yak meat for sale for a mere $7.00 a pound. We declined to buy any, not because of the price but, well, just because. We do like buffalo meat and perhaps the yak meat tastes like buffalo but we did not want to try it.

Supposedly the long hair does not cause the yaks problems during the heat of the summer.

But it sure looks hot and uncomfortable.

 

I think there are only two yaks here, but maybe there are three and we were going too fast to tell. They do appear to be close friends. The black and white ones are called Royals. I thought they had been bred with cattle, but no they have not been. The first time we saw the yaks there was only one ranch raising them. Now there are three ranches on one road alone. Might we assume there is money to be made?? Are we missing out on something??

 

Interesting stuff-September 25, 2013

 

The nights have been dropping into the 40s so we feel like winter is on the way. Daytime is in the 70s which we love. We have had to move the pomegranate tree into the garage at night. We got another ton of rain on Sunday and Monday. It is supposed to rain again this weekend. We might have to get a wrecker to pull us out of here.

 

Since this is a travel blog I generally keep personal information as brief as possible. But what I am about to share is really interesting. Derrick and two of his cohorts are working in the boonies in Wyoming this week. They are installing a wireless network for a gigantic mining company. Forgot the name and it really isn't important. What is so interesting is what they mine there. Soda ash known  by its name brand, Trona. Soda ash is what Tide and all other laundry detergents are made of. It is my understanding this is the largest such operation in the country. Derrick said it covers a huge amount of miles and miles. The following picture was taken day before yesterday. The main complex of the entire operation is in the background. This equipment is being installed on the top of mine shaft # 7. I did not ask how far in the air they are because I really didn't want to know.

 

That little white dish looking thing weighs 200 pounds. They will be installing three of them. That is stating simply a very complex and involved job.

 

Perhaps you know about soda ash but I had never even heard of it. So, I am sharing some of what I learned this week.

 

 



Change in plans-September 22, 2013

Our plans to depart Colorado have been delayed by a week. Our babysitting services will be needed on Wednesday for sure plus Friday is Derrick's birthday. We don't get to celebrate with him very often so this will be fun. We certainly don't mind additional time with Hannah so we are not complaining about staying one more week.

Just pray it does not snow this week!

Updates-September 21, 2013

As we start preparations to leave here early next week, we realize we have lots to do. Jerry needs to work on the coach but the ground around us is still so muddy it will be difficult. Just changing the air filter will cover him in mud. We will do what we have to do. We must leave. We have had two groups of birds to migrate through here headed south for winter. If they had sense enough to do that, we must move south also.

As the starlings migrated through here first and then the robins we realized that those dreadful Russian olive trees I detest so much actually do serve a purpose. The olives are food for the migrating birds. What a shock to watch them eat the funny looking little green olives. However, Arizona is still making everybody dig up any Russian olives they have in their yards and destroy them. That's because of the huge amount of water they absorb. There are two right here by the coach and by the irrigation ditch. They are pulling water out of that ditch that should go to keeping the grass in the field green. However, they are technically on the neighbor's property so nothing can be done.

We kept Hannah all day on Thursday from before sun-up to that night. I will repeat that I now know why old people don't have babies!! But she had such a terrific day that we did not care how tired we were. Her giggle is a joy to hear. And that smile warms our hearts. She slept well that night, too. We are really going to miss her and we suspect she will miss us, too. Sometimes life is hard but we all do what we must.

As for the flooding, the water is down a bit but in some areas the rivers are not back to their normal flow pattern. The Big Thompson river cut new channels and destroyed 85% of the bridges and roads in the Big Thompson Canyon. Some officials said they will have a temporary road in place by December 1st. I personally think that is not possible but I certainly am not an engineer. When that same road was destroyed in 1976 it took 4 years to build the road back. They told us then the road was built to withstand a 500 year flood. That turned out not to be true at all. Man is not in control here. At least the number of missing is down to 80. That's wonderful. We all still think they are people that left and went out of state for safety. We do not think that many people were killed in the flood. That number is at 7 for now. So, that is all good news.

I think I have brought you up to date. Stay tuned as we get back on the road sometime next week. That would only change if we got more rain. In a small way, though very small, we are looking forward to moving about again. That's why we bought this coach.

I wish for all of you to have a good weekend and an especially blessed Sunday. Stay safe.

Sunshine, at last-September 17, 2013

The sun came out for a little while yesterday afternoon. It is out full force today and temps should rise to the mid 80s. We went across the Poudre River again today, about 10-12 miles away from the last trip last week. It is still running very strongly and it is oh so dirty and muddy.

Picture taken looking west toward the mountains from whence the water comes.

At the rate it is flowing it might be more than a week before the level changes. Look closely toward the bottom of the picture. That's the top of a fence and this is farm land, not the actual river.

 

Looking east, this is the actual Cache la Poudre River. It is  normally small, barely noticeable and also extremely clear. Just above the rail see the dark boards. That's a fence. After all these days the river is still huge. The volume of water has been astonishing.

 

The numbers vary greatly depending on which report you read or hear, so the actual numbers are unknown. This morning I stated that I was sure that 12,000 homes had been damaged statewide and 1200 completely destroyed. I just heard the number has risen to 19,000 homes damaged. I suspect a very large percentage of those people are about to be shocked to find out their homeowners insurance is not going to cover their losses. Flooding is covered under a separate federal policy. There have been two small mountain towns wiped off the face of the earth. The number of missing people changes by the hour. Lots of people who were reported missing simply could not be reached. No cell service, no land phones, no electricity so they could not be contacted but were still in their homes. They are being rescued now. There's no water or sewer in many cities. In Evans not far from us, people cannot even take showers. No water can go down the drain because the sewage system is under water and has failed. That means all the water we see flowing everywhere is contaminated. Kids are playing in it. Dangerous to say the least. This is a flood of a magnitude no one anticipated ever. Jerry and I are stunned to realize we have witnessed two separate 100 year floods in our married life. The last one almost kept us from getting married. This one keeps us from leaving Colorado. What an unforgettable experience. Lots of people need lots of prayers and lots of help. 

 

 

 

Flooding-September 15, 2013

We ventured out yesterday to see what roads are open. We could go north and then west because the only bridge on that road was probably 20 feet above the river. The pictures I am going to post won't mean as much to you simply because you never saw the land before. But still I want you to see these pictures. These pictures are of the Cache la Poudre River which flows through Fort Collins. The traffic was so horrific there was no getting out of the car to take pictures.

Taken looking north. The river is normally docile and flows to the left of the trees and dirt road. It overflowed and filled all the fields to the east (right).It was flowing very strongly.

 

The big trees on the left of the picture used to be on the right bank of the river.

 

Taken looking south. The river normally is well to the right (west). It has crossed over a road and continued its own journey through open fields which are normally dry. Now they are all completely underwater. The flow of the river was much stronger here and it was clearly cutting its own new path.

 

This river is the least flooded of all of the ones in Colorado. There are some incredible videos on YouTube. The following link is of a storm chaser who started filming right as you leave Loveland proper and head up through the Narrows in the Big Thompson Canyon. Even if you don't know this area, just to see the power of the water is eye opening.  We were on this road only 9 days before these pictures were taken when we went on our picnic to the mountains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWGK4CiWxeM.   

 

More rain is predicted today. Obviously it cannot be absorbed so the flooding is bound to increase.

 

By the way, the Cache la Poudre river means cache or stash of powder. In earlier times the native Americans, when they could get it, would hide their black powder in the high banks of the river. That meant they had stashes of powder by the river. Thus, Cache la Poudre River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much water-September 13, 2013

It is Friday, the 13th. There is water everywhere. Roads are closed. Bridges are washed away. We are on higher ground so we are safe, but we are essentially stuck where we are. We cannot go anywhere. Good thing we have food or we'd be in trouble. In fact I feel like cooking something good. Something chocolate. Interstate 25 is closed from Denver to the Wyoming border. The Big Thompson is raging over the interstate just as it did with that horrible flood in 1976 when 150+ people were killed. So it is not a shock to our senses. There are dozens and dozens of houses in that particular spot that were not there for that huge flood. At the very least they have basements full of nasty water. We will not be moving this coach in the next few days. We would only sink in the mud. So, we'll sit tight. We will have to wait until after the roads are open to see just how much damage has been done. Who ever thought a state that's classified as semi-arid would almost wash away? The power of water is awesome. There is a lesson to be learned from this. It will be interesting to see what it is.

Still here-September 12, 2013

We have not floated away yet. It has rained cats, dogs, frogs and every other small creature you can think of but we are still in the spot where we parked in the beginning. However, the ground around us is a quagmire. It is not fun to even try to walk to the Cute Red Vehicle. They say it will start drying out by next Monday. Until then our activities are restricted. I just wanted you to know we are still kicking! I wish you drier weather than we have.

Rain and oops-September 9, 2013

It started raining about 4:00 this afternoon. What a blessing! It has been so dry and the corn dust was covering everything. And we were sneezing our heads off. They say the rain will last for 3 days. That could be a lot of water. We both noticed about a week ago that the ground always vibrates here. We can't figure out what could cause it, but it is really bizarre. We can feel it in the coach but we feel it much more outside especially standing on solid ground like the concrete driveway. So, Jerry said he thinks we are parked on a sinkhole and this rain is going to make it worse. He laughed when he said it but I didn't think it was too funny. After 3 days of this kind of rain we'll be floating toward the irrigation canal anyway. And we won't be able to go outside without hip waders on. It might only be in the 60s tomorrow. Yippee!!

Hannah has since day one been intrigued by our washer/dryer which has a glass door. In her house the washer and dryer are solid. So she sits and giggles as I sing "The clothes in the dryer go 'round and 'round". She twirls her tiny little hands to the clothes going around. So, when her mom was folding clothes out of a laundry basket, Hannah thought they needed to go 'round and 'round. She grabbed two pieces of clothing and headed for a nearby toilet. In they went! Oops! Look at it this way, she was actually right in her mind. The toilet was white and round and had water in it so she was washing her clothes. We got a real kick out of that. Her mom did not.

I spent a little time today with friend, Mary K, helping her get adjusted to Ancestry. I am not paid to advertise for them but I will tell you it is such an interesting and addictive website. We made it back to her maternal great great grandparents. I was enjoying it as much as she was. If you have not tried it I think you can check out some things for free.

Tomorrow should be another interesting day. Hope you have a good one also!

Catching up-September 7 ,2013

Yesterday we drove all over everywhere trying to find supplies for the coach. We had no luck. It was so hot that we just gave up and stopped for lunch at the Cactus Grill in downtown Loveland. It was fabulous. They started in 1988 so we remember them from years ago. It was always good food. Then they moved to a different location and things went downhill. Cactus Grill was always owned by two brothers. This story is being told by the one brother we saw yesterday. When they had a falling out over how to run a restaurant one brother moved the restaurant back to downtown Loveland. This Grill is exactly as we remember it from years ago. It was then and is now once again an excellent place to eat. What a treat!

We got up early this morning and went to a farmer's market in Windsor. Windsor is a great city and we are happy to support them in any way we can. We got some excellent locally grown food. I am sure it would have been a better market if the hail had not wiped out so many farmers. We did get huge peaches from the Western slope. Everything is sitting on the kitchen counter begging to be eaten. The bad part about bringing home bags of fresh veggies is all the work it takes to clean them. But it is certainly worth it. 

I hope you are having a great Saturday. And have a very blessed Sunday.

More Trail Ridge-September 4, 2013

We took the Cute Red Vehicle to the dealership today knowing that whatever made it ill was under warranty. They told us an hour to go through it. We had no sooner sat down in the customer lounge than the service writer came in and said that the rear dome light had been left on and he turned it off so all is well. We remembered how it might have happened though the perpetrator of the crime is reluctant to confess and it must have been left on last Saturday night. It took it a long time to drain the battery. It is charged and we are up and running fine. We have taped the dome light in the automatic position so hopefully it will not get left on again. What a relief!

Now for a few more pictures from Trail Ridge.

This is at the entrance to the Big Thompson Canyon which leads to Estes Park which leads to Rocky Mountain National Park which leads to Trail Ridge Road. Confused?

 

All the layers of mountains are fascinating.

 

See the pointed mountain spire? The point means it is younger

than the smoother round mountains. That's fascinating to me, too.

 

This is where we had our picnic. Great view.

 

At the summit, little Miss Hannah needed a snack. She is frowning

because of the bright sunshine, not the food!

 

Ok, I won't bore you with any more pictures. It was really pretty. We have not been up that far in a number of years so we really had a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

Trail Ridge-September 3, 2013

What a trip to the mountains. We went to the highest point on Trail Ridge in Rocky Mountain National Park. It is where you choose to go forward and end up at Grand Lake or turn back via a different route and go back home through Estes Park. We turned back. It was a long drive because it poured rain this afternoon and two of our party were on a Harley. Jerry, Hannah and I were in Derrick's truck. Cute Red Vehicle was sick this morning and the doors didn't even want to open. It would not start either. Guess it goes to the doctor tomorrow. Anyway, we were gone for almost all day. Hannah did well but she does not especially love her car seat so she was bored for the most part. I only took 106 pictures. I have gone through all of them and picked out a mere 30 that I want to share. Since that is not possible in one posting on this blog I may spread it out over a couple of days. So many pictures do not need explanation except to say we were on a two lane road at about 11-12,000 feet. That's above timberline. The air gets thin that far up, but the scenery is striking. I hope some of these pictures make up for the lack of pictures this summer. Hope you enjoy them.

This is just as you enter the park, not very high up.

They have really pretty meadows where the elk gather to bugle in the fall.

Timberline just ahead. Very few if any trees grow above timberline.

Timberline runs between 10,000 and 11,000 feet in altitude.

 

The prettiest scenery is higher up.

 

The road ahead.

 

Just so you would believe what I said about the altitude!

 

I believe this would be considered a high altitude lake.

This is wrong in so many ways. On a small two lane road with few retaining walls and no guard rails at 11,000+ feet in altitude one does not expect to stop for a traffic light, but we did. On this hairpin turn they were repairing a rock retaining wall that stands only about 3 feet high. So, did a car go off the road? Who knows? This was not a comfortable place for me. But we made it.

 

 

This is enough for today, is it not? I'll share several more in the upcoming days. It was quite a day for us. We have not been on a local trip like that in a very long time.

Labor Day-September 2, 2013

Happy Labor Day to everyone! Whether you rest, work and/or barbecue, have a wonderful day. We will probably throw some ribs on the grill later today.

Tomorrow, finally, we are headed to the mountains for a picnic. That is such a special treat for us. I'll pack the lunch and we have a huge watermelon chilling already. We are really looking forward to this adventure.

The coffee pot is calling my name. Have a fun day!