Stormy Weather-July 29, 2014

We did not believe what we heard during the weather forecasts last night. We struck out today to get all of our errands run and made it back home just as the predicted weather moved in. Wow, it was ugly stuff. We were in a "sucker hole" so we watched the storm rage all around us. We only got a ton of rain.

This is the storm from our house.

 

This is the same storm from Derrick's house.

 

 

This is where we would have been parked at Derrick's house.

We would not have sunk into this river, but it surely would

have been messy to try to walk out our door.

 

It has stopped raining for the moment but they say it will start again during the night and will continue through tomorrow. This has been a very wet July in this area. It makes one wonder what August will be like. Time will tell, won't it? 

 

 

 

 

 

Same park, different day-July 25, 2014

Hannah enjoyed the Eaton City park so much last week, we took her back again today. The mosquitoes were pretty bad because of all the buckets of rain that have fallen this week. Yesterday they had an inch of rain in less than an hour. Everything is wet and has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Hannah loves to swing so much that we let her do that as long as she wants to. She sings and giggles. Today she put her arms out like an airplane and grinned. What fun to watch.

There were 3 pre-teen girls next to us. Hannah was just fascinated with them.

Last week she was still crawling up the steps. Today she held onto

the rail and walked straight up. What a surprising change in such

a short length of time. She's growing up!!

 

While we were having lunch an aerial sprayer flew over us, so we went outside to see it. Hannah loves airplanes so she watched until it headed back to the airport. I have given up on her being a dainty little lady. We are going to feed to her strengths. If she likes to build, we'll buy blocks. If she likes toy airplanes, we'll buy those, too. She loves to sing and dance so we'll join her and teach her songs.

 

She loves the hokey pokey so we do that, too. That reminds me that there is a church in Windsor which on its sign out front, stated: "I used to be hooked on the Hokey Pokey but then I turned myself around". I was laughing so hard when I saw that I could hardly drive. Hannah can turn herself around, too!

At last, Zoey-July 23, 2014

Today we finally got a picture of Zoey. The living room was dark and we turned off the flash so she could sleep. But you can see she is a plump little thing.

Zoey is a few days short of being 2 months old.

She has put on weight nicely. She still has to be on oxygen

at night but can be without it during the daytime.

We babysat Hannah this morning. Then we took her back to her house for nap time. That's when we started sitting with Zoey. Both parents arrived home about the time Hannah woke up. Things seemed so chaotic. We came home and crashed!

Rambling thoughts-July 21, 2014

It has become such a struggle to log onto this site it is really frustrating. It only took me 30 minutes tonight. We do not have a cell tower anywhere in sight. It must be several miles to the closest one so our MiFi actually gets hot to the touch trying to pull in a signal. Thank goodness for Verizon.

Yesterday we heard this fascinating discussion about our taste buds. I have always known there is one taste bud we are born with and we die with and that is the sweet taste bud. Others come and go. So this discussion said the most satisfying foods have 4 of our taste buds covered at once. Those are sweet, savory, salt and fat. If you find a food with all of those at once that food will make you happy. The number one food that provides those is fried chicken. We realized that Five Guys burgers do that for us, so we hurriedly got ready to head to Fort Collins so we could eat there. So many of the Five Guys places have the five guys singing while they cook. This one did not. However, that didn't bother us because the burgers met our taste buds' needs. We didn't even eat last night because we were so pleased to have had that food. Yummy. Wish it was possible to eat those burgers more frequently and not have a cholesterol problem. Alas, it is not.

I think I mentioned the smoke over the mountains over a week ago. Finally we found out what the problem is. We have smoke in here from fires in Canada, Washington, Oregon and California. Today we had a break for part of the day. But the smoke moves back in tomorrow and we will lose sight of the pretty Rockies. The wind was just right yesterday and we could even smell the smoke. There is an ozone alert in Denver in addition to the smoke, so we are much better off than they are.

The weekend farmer across the road who also owns the lumber yard in Ault told us that he was growing a field of sorghum to feed to his half dozen cows. He explained that it had to be about 4 feet high or it would poison the cattle. All the tons of rain we have had in the past week made the sorghum grow really fast. So, when the farmer turned his cattle out yesterday they completely disappeared! The only time you can see them is when the roam to the end of the field. I wonder how they feel about not being able to see where they are walking? And I wonder how they know when to quit eating? This will be interesting to watch.

We have succeeded in getting Hannah to count to five. We are so excited about that. Her other speech skills are equally as much fun. We almost never know what to expect her to say. The trick is to not overreact when she says something a little shocking. I am sure you know what I mean. We have settled into a routine of having her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then other times when her parents want to go somewhere. It's a great arrangement which we are all enjoying.

That means tomorrow we have a day off. We haven't even started thinking about what we might want to do. We still want to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit in Denver, but not in this heat. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I hope you're having as much fun as we are!

Another nice park-July 19, 2014

I can't believe it has taken me over 24 hours to post what we did yesterday. Our travels with a wild and crazy Hurricane Hannah took us to a nice park in the middle of Eaton. Every park we take her to seems to bring out more boldness in her. We have to be quick to stay ahead of her.

 

This is the first time she ever wanted to go through the "tunnel".

 

Her first completed trip through the tunnel, but not her last.

 

She looks sweet and innocent, doesn't she? She's quite a handful.

And we love every minute of it.

 

It was also her first time on these bars. She had no fear and no

shyness Friday. I dread the day she can do this alone.

 

For the record, yes, we sanitized her thoroughly before we got in the car.

 

As if Hannah had not worn all of us out at the park, Derrick had a cook-out last night and it was like she had been drinking Mountain Dew all afternoon instead of napping. We left at 9:30 and she was just barely slowing down. Bless her heart. I bet she slept til noon today.

 

If we continue to do housework today and I don't post again tonight, I do hope you have a wonderful and blessed Sunday.

More Hurricane-July 16, 2014

We have sort of settled into a routine of keeping Hannah on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The other days vary. We'll go back tonight and keep both girls. For today's play time we could not go outside because of the rain, so we bought some big blocks that are like ice cream cones. It only confirmed what we suspected. Hannah has a more mechanical mind than that of other little girls. She really likes to build things and she is doing that beyond her years. We don't think she will ever want a collection of Barbie dolls.

First of all, you can see it is dark and gloomy. Then look at Hannah

building an ice cream cone looking tower taller than she is. She can do this

for hours on end. I guess we'll get Lincoln logs next and give up on

the Barbie dolls.

 

We hear the weather is supposed to dry up and get really hot. We would prefer cooler, but we are not in control. Hopefully summer will be over quickly.

 

 

Eaton Days-July 12, 2014

We had the privilege of taking Hannah to her first parade this morning. It was in Eaton, Colorado, a tiny town very close to us. It is where Hannah and Zoey will go to school. It is a farming community so we knew the parade would be different. All in all it was a great parade and the weather was only slightly warm but with a nice breeze. We got there about 15 minutes before the parade started. We should have gone earlier but it still worked out well. We were sitting in the sun so we covered Hannah with sunscreen. We had already decided to use our bodies to put Hannah in our shadow to try to keep her cool. A nice man walked across the street and told us we could sit on the curb in front of them in the shade of a huge tree. I was so impressed it almost made me cry. You just don't encounter that type of kindness anymore. So, we went across the street and sat on the curb, in the shade. How wonderful. Those people enjoyed watching Hannah as much as we did.

People actually stood for this color guard. The men took their hats

off. And everybody put their hands over their hearts. Talk about emotional.

 

The people stood and applauded these veterans. Many yelled

"Thank you!" to them. And the veterans all smiled from ear to ear.

This was emotional, too.

 

And what parade is not complete without Smokey the Bear?

Afterward, kids could have their picture made with him.

 

Hannah loved this one because the square dancers were all dancing

while the float went down the street. I'm not sure that would be an easy thing to do.

 

I think this is a clever idea from the town florist.

 

A living reenactment of the raising of the flag on Hiroshima.

This could not have been easy on the top of a tall float. Very impressive.

 

Would you want to ride one of these things for the entire length of a parade?

 

There were lots of horses in the parade. This team was just stunning.

We were so close Hannah really got to see how big horses can be.

 

I should have made a video of this horse prancing. He was wonderful!

I didn't mean to cut off the rider's head, but he wasn't prancing so I

guess it doesn't matter.

 

After the parade we walked to the big shindig in the city park. It was a packed house and the line for barbecue was over a block long. We passed on that. But we did take Hannah to a petting zoo.

 

Hannah's first contact with a big pig. She really liked it and was not

at all intimidated by it. It was a docile pig. She did not like the goats.

She also loved the llama because it was so soft. For the record,

yes indeed we washed her hands thoroughly and then sanitized them.

 

This is one day we will not forget for a very long time. Hannah had so much fun and we had a fabulous time watching her. She was shy at first but she finally got the hang of it. She even managed to scoop up some candy that was thrown. And she waved at every single float. The lady behind us commented that at her young age, Hannah already had "the wave" mastered. Sometimes Hannah danced and sometimes she shouted "Look, another car!". She loved the fire trucks. What a wonderful day. Her parents were going to take her to the fireworks display tonight. We watched it from our front window. Hannah had a very busy and very special day. So did we.

 

We will be resting on the Sabbath tomorrow. I hope you can do the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally-July 9, 2014

This is the third time today I have tried to post this blog. I just could not make it work. So you can imagine my surprise when it worked this time!

I really don't have a lot to tell you but I want you to know we are still kicking.

We had Hurricane Hannah today and she was so full of energy. We try to watch what we feed her but she still has energy. Today was a day of singing and dancing.

You can tell she is just a happy little girl. Her songs

are great. Some sound like originals. Those are Dora

stickers on her tank top. She loves those stickers. And

she loves Dora, too.

 

Tomorrow we will go to their house because Jerry and Derrick are trying to replace a broken sprinkler pipe. It is a challenge. Maybe I can hold Zoey while they work.

 

It rained so hard yesterday near Derrick's house, the mud was many inches thick on the highway. Today we saw where it had to be bladed off and piled on the side of the road. We got a little rain here but nothing like 1.03 inch in 20 minutes. The water here drained off quickly. Everything is really fresh and green now.

 

We plan to take Hannah to her first parade on Saturday. We're actually excited about it. They also have a petting zoo so we'll see how she feels about that.

I had to think twice about posting this picture. Yes, it is blurry.

However, much of the blur is due to Hannah's dancing. Can you imagine

how much fun this is to watch? (Jerry was dancing, too).

Firecrackers-July 5, 2014

Our two little firecrackers.

Zoey has the tape on her cheeks that holds the oxygen tube in

place though she does not have the tube on in this picture. In fact,

all day yesterday she went without the extra oxygen. She needs it

most at night. Hannah seems to be accepting Zoey a little more each day.

 

We had a great 4th with Derrick and family. I hope you had a great day, too. We were really surprised at how much money was spent by the people in this area on illegal fireworks. We were happy the sprinklers ran all day yesterday on this grass. People were still respectful and the noise stopped by 10:30 last night.

 

 

Hannah wanted to pick Zoey up all by herself.

That's not allowed of course.  

 

 

Tomorrow is Sunday-please have a very blessed day.

 

 

July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July!

Celebrate with appreciation, pride and safety!

A lady and her tractor-July 2, 2014

Where has this year gone?

When I realized that Hannah was such a rough and tumble little girl, I took it upon myself to try to teach her to be a genteel little lady as all girls are raised in the South. I'm working on please, thank you and excuse me. I do not like her hair hanging in her eyes. I want it fixed in some manner. Today I realized how miserably I am failing.

Here's our little lady with her John Deere tractor toy.

I was not pleased that I remembered we gave the toy to her for Christmas.

It was originally to remind her of her granddaddy's lifetime job of farming.

But now it is one of her favorite toys. I really am failing.

 

Today was so hazy we felt like we were living in a cloudy bowl. Even the fairly strong winds would not clear the haze out of here. It's still hanging around. We're not sure what it is because it is not smoke and it's definitely not cloudy. No fog, just an unpleasant haze. Tomorrow will be better I'm sure.

 

Little Zoey went to the doctor today. She weighs 9 pounds, 8.2 ounces. She's a month old. She is short but her weight is good. However, she must have oxygen at night for at least two more months. I suspect the doctor is covering his bases legally, but I guess that's acceptable. All in all, the report on her was good. I can't get over the blue eyes. Surely they will change down the road.

 

I think we will stick close to home tomorrow. We know the traffic will be horrendous and if we don't have a reason to be out in it, we'll stay here. If you are out and about this weekend, be safe.