Ballpark-March 30, 2019

thiYesterday we needed to waste 15 minutes before an appointment to get my sewing machine diagnosed. So we stopped at a softball park in south Loveland. We found it comical.

(Smoke in background is Loveland Fire Dept. practicing.)

 

These Canada geese were there hanging and practicing but nobody

else showed up!! Poor guys. It's not the best picture in the world

but if you can count the geese, there are 9 of them there. I kid you not.

 

Sometimes one must find humor in anything we can!

South Dakota pictures-March 23, 2019

I am going to post the rest of the pictures from our Deadwood trip. No particular order and limited comments, hopefully.

Just a quiet little stream.

Same stream. Look at the depth of the snow.

Same quiet little stream.

 

Snowmobiling is the sport of the day in South Dakota. See the

back end of a snowmobile exiting off the screen. He was going

too fast for me to get a good picture!

 

See the black dots about an inch up from the bottom of the picture?

Those are the tops of fence posts. You may call this deep snow.

 

On Main Street:

These mannequins represent "ladies of the evening" who plied their trade by

posing in upstairs windows. Seriously. This was a gold mining town and all

of the vices existed in it.

 

Look closely. There is a deer in this picture. We so enjoy watching

them walk across the hillside in the evening. There were about 5 or 6

this day. They are beautiful animals.

 

We had to stop for about 9 or 10 deer to cross the road. This

cute thing is beside a "No Passing Zone" sign. Smart deer.

 

There are so many pictures but I don't want to bore you posting pictures of snow. This was a really nice trip. The weather was great. The blizzard (bomb cyclone) had blown through a couple of days before. We had temps in the 40s and bright sunshine while we were there. Deadwood is a terrific city. The people are so nice and friendly. And it is very affordable. Wish we had time to go to Deadwood more often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadwood-March 22, 2019

Prayers get answered. They brought Zoey by the house to surprise me this afternoon. She was released earlier this morning. She and I were so very happy to hug each other. She's my girl. She looked great but has lost a lot of weight which she did not need to lose. She is on medication for a while and has been warned not to even be in the same room with a sick person. I will keep her clean while she is with us. She asked to go shoe shopping tomorrow so we will definitely do that. And I will keep the germs off of her.

As usual we had a wonderful time in Deadwood. Zoey went in the hospital the day we got to Deadwood. We might assume that is why they did not tell us until we got back here. Maybe they were wise to do that.

The huge blizzard had just blown through Wyoming and South Dakota. We thought we had a ton of snow in Colorado. It looked like a dusting compared to those states. The further we drove the more our jaws dropped. I will just post the pictures in no particular order.

A fun sign welcoming everybody to Deadwood.

 

This is Laramie Peak in Laramie, Wyoming. At 10,275 feet it is

the tallest peak in the Laramie Range of Wyoming. It's a cute

little mountain.

 

 As promised here is the bald eagle we see on almost every trip.

She is just west of Lost Springs, Wyoming. I did not get too close

as I did not want to cause this beautiful bird to take flight. This

is a really big eagle. The size is what tells us she is a she. Check

out the volume of snow.

 

This rock is right outside of New Castle, Wyoming (home of Dana

Perino). I have no idea what it means but one day I will find out.

I just think it is very odd. I know it is at least two types of sandstone.

 



The next spot was Lusk, Wyoming. I was so shocked by the amount of snow I was not able to take a single picture because I was gasping through the entire little town. In order for people to drive through the city they pushed the snow everywhere they could. There were piles in parking lots everywhere. Piles that were 6 and 7 feet tall. It was unbelievable. That much snow is not going to melt so they will haul it out in dump trucks.

 

South Dakota is next. I have so many pictures of the snow there I will post in a later blog.

 

But, I will share this one:

Doesn't this look like fun? This time of year

snowmobilers have the right of way. Maybe we

should not have sold our snowmobile years ago.

 

 

 

Deadwood Trip-March 20, 2019

We just got back from Deadwood, a city we thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately we returned to find Zoey has been admitted to Children's Hospital again and our services are needed for full day babysitting. So, please bear with me and I will post some great pictures. It was immediately after the huge blizzard so there's a lot of snow to show you. I should be able to get to all of it by this weekend.

Thanks for understanding. And thanks for prayers for our sweet little Zoey.

Blizzard-March 14, 2019

I tried to take pictures of the blizzard but they did not show the real intensity. We hope we do not see a storm like that at any time in the future. It was dreadful.

The density of the snow shows better on the left side which

is across the street. The window is not dirty. That's snow.

 

We are digging out today. Because there was a sheet of ice underneath the snow the roads are still treacherous today. We have already had an SUV stuck on our street this morning. He had a tough time getting out. It's a good day to bake cinnamon rolls.

Weather changes-March 13, 2019

Yesterday was one of those rare winter days where you just have to go outside. We took the girls out with sidewalk chalk. They had such a fun time.

Daisy was concentrating so intensely I could not get her attention

to smile for a picture. 

 

Then when I could get her attention this is all I could get.

 

 

The glare was actually bothering Zoey.

 

Hannah drew a Hop Scotch board for everybody because Zoey

had learned to Hop Scotch in preschool yesterday.

 

And then today.....................a blizzard. Strong winds, snow, sleet and bitter cold. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. NOT! It's just dreadful.

 

 

 

 

Town Hall-March 11, 2019

Without getting too political I wanted to share with you what I was able to experience last Thursday. I checked how my Representative Rep. Dusty Johnson voted on supporting President Trump's emergency declaration and I didn't like it so I sent him an email. I thought he was ignoring me because I didn't hear from him for a while and I was none too happy. Then on Thursday evening I got a phone call from him, a personal phone call, not a prerecorded one. He asked if I would take part in a telephone Town Hall meeting. I said yes. So his secretary (or whatever her title is) called back and connected me to the Town Hall. A large number of people were already on the line and the meeting was already underway. I do not know how many people were on the call. Dusty was in his office in DC. He knew who was on the call and who to call on for questions. It was like he was in the room with all of us. Everyone was allowed to say what they wanted to say and I can tell you that no one was afraid to speak their minds. He was able to explain his vote. He gave a detailed explanation of what funds are available for the wall without a Congressional vote. And he discussed many other things going on. It was so interesting I think I was actually holding my breath during most of the call.

 

I was most honored to be invited to take part in such a minor political event. And I honestly felt like I had a voice and I was worthy of speaking my mind.

 

If you ever get the chance to participate in a telephone Town Hall, be sure to accept it. It's well worth your time.

Popcorn-March 8, 2019

Today we had Zoey and Daisy with us to play and have fun. We try to be aware of what we give them to snack on although we are grandparents and think they need sweet treats sometimes. Today we decided to give them microwave kettle corn. We really like it. Zoey did not like it at all. Daisy loved it. When it came time to take them home Daisy made a beeline for the bag and was not going to leave our house without it.

Can you tell by the smile that she just loves that popcorn?

 

 

Then the exhaustion took over and she kept chewing while she

was asleep. I have seen videos of kids doing that but have never

seen her do that. It was really funny. Asleep she had her right hand on

her water bottle and he left hand holding the popcorn bag. She did

not let go until right before we got to her house.

 

Our little crazy Daisy is just so much fun. I hope she never lets the world beat her down like her sisters. Zoey tries to have fun and smile a lot but Hannah does not. Daisy is always happy and smiling and/or laughing. It makes us so happy to watch her.

 

More sickness-March 2, 2019

As of today there are 5 schools in this city closed due to an epidemic outbreak of norovirus. It is so highly contagious that after school programs are cancelled for now also. They have brought in professional crews, not volunteers, to thoroughly sanitize these schools. The sad part about norovirus is that it is easily contained or prevented by thorough hand washing. Can you believe kids don't know how or when to wash their hands? Makes me nauseated thinking about what must have been in these schools. I just hope it does not spread anymore. But if it is in the schools you know it is elsewhere also. The kids took it home with them. Siblings and parents picked it up and took it outside the house. Oh my I cannot think about it or I would become a hermit.

For now you may call me a strong germophobe. I'm looking for a cave somewhere to call home!