Midas taking his time

We got to see much better color this year in mid-September than last. But, as you can see from the photo above, taken the day we left, things still had a way to go. (For how they looked a few weeks later, see the end of this post.)

But I thought that the progression from just turning to about midway there was interesting enough to share with you.

I got pretty excited on Sept. 17, when I saw the leaves starting to get yellow-y green...

On the 18th things were a little yellow-y-er...

On the 19th, it really started to pick up...

And even though we knew better times were to come, on the 20th things looked pretty good...

We really thought the surprise snowstorm (and accompanying low temperatures) would turbocharge the color change, but eventually we had to admit that Midas was determined to be slow. The color was pretty nice before we left, but we only learned how much further the old guy had to go when our nephew and his family dropped by on their way to Utah a few weeks later. Yikes! It really got gold!

out the windshield along Highway 50

our sweet niece, adorable great-niece, and friend on our deck

Wordless Wednesday: want a flake with that?

Almost too much of a good thing

We were home from our brief Colorado ski trip before the "bomb cyclone" storm hit last week, but we still had to deal with a pretty heavy snowfall during our time in the mountains. 

Henry spent more time shoveling snow than skiing, as he lamentably points out to anyone who'll listen. Here he is atop a giant pile of snow that our great snow-plow guy couldn't quite get down the hill. He spent a whole day whittling the pile down...

...only to have another 8-10 inches dumped on it starting the next day. We have a table on our deck that makes for a good snow gauge...

...as does the lovely railing (that was re-imagined a year-and-a-half ago)...

A whimsical measure of the snowfall was perched on another deck table. We speculated as to what gave it the cute mushroom-shape, and couldn't really explain it. Unless it was snow blowing off the roof in just the right way...

But the best indicator that this is a very good (and very welcome) snow year was the top of our garage. Since it's on the north side of the building and doesn't get much sun on warm days, the stuff just piled up and up...

picture taken after a few hours hard labor

So why is all this stuff a "good" thing? Because, of course, it makes for really heavenly skiing! Next time I'll show you some more samples of the good scenery from the slopes...

Wordless Wednesday: Icemen

Mountain DIY redux

As some of you might remember, I and a bunch of energetic and wonderful friends did a big DIY painting job at our Colorado cabin last summer.

This summer was nothing on that scale, but rather a series of nice, minor improvements that we think have spruced up the look of the place immensely.

First of all, the large garage door you see above, which used to be a rather unattractive red (and also rather beat up and worn out). Isn't its new green lovely?! The green matches the paint we used on the deck railing last summer.

Another project was the covering of the ugly black beams in the cabin's mudroom with a nice chocolate-y brown to match the house's exterior. I didn't take pictures of that project since it's not completely finished. Next summer we're going to take down the dowdy wallpaper covering the mudroom walls and replace it with something more appropriate. I'll wait until it's totally transformed to show it off.

My other big project (in addition to some other people-doors in the garage) was the kitchen cabinets.

Here's a shot of the kitchen at the outset of the job...the upper cabinets are still in their old black-and-white coloration. I started on the bottom ones, which as you can see are only just partially done...

The cream color I used isn't all that different from the white they were before, but the big difference, imho, is the covering of the ugly black hardware with nice creamy enamel. Thanks to Garry for advising me on the type of paint to use for this work; it seems to be holding up well!

Here's the finished product, of which I am pretty proud. Especially considering that I did this all myself...

Fortunately, the kitchen isn't too big...lack of storage space does have some advantages!

Wordless Wednesday: nice paint job!

Wordless Wednesday: is this heaven?

Clouds roll in

I just wanted to finish up the pix from my Colorado working vacation with these gorgeous cloud shots.

Afternoon thunderstorms, or their approach, anyway, when viewed from almost 10,000 can be pretty spectacular...

I had such a good time in the mountains....can't wait to get back!

However, next up on the travel agenda is an even more spectacular expedition. There will be a blogging hiatus while I concentrate on experiencing the trip instead of writing about it. But when I get home, hold on to your hats!

Family fun in Colorado waters

Thanks to Sally for taking this cute picture of the fam in the raft we fondly call the Battlestar. 

She, Travis, Henry, and I had floated on the Arkansas in it several years ago, but on a different section. This time we started at the Big Bend (not the one in Texas) put-in—one of the fabulous facilities provided by the Arkansas River Headwaters Recreation Area—and finished up at the ramp in the middle of beautiful downtown Salida.

Unfortunately the day we picked for this excursion (after needed repairs were made to the raft we didn't really have much choice) was cloudy, a little rainy, and somewhat chilly, especially for the two members of our party who couldn't get their heart rates up by paddling...

and of course Mom sacrificed her jacket;
notice Gramma selfishly putting hers on in the background

But everyone enjoyed it anyway. The first section, where rocks were more of an issue, was a little more exciting than we had expected, but sailing into town was pretty relaxing...

[Parenthetical aside regarding the raft: Henry and an engineer friend later spent 3 days designing and partially constructing a super-storage-facility for the raft in our cabin's garage:

The idea is that next time it won't need as much repair if it's stored properly. We'll see.]

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Although the raft trip was our major interaction with Colorado streams, it wasn't our only one.

We have a favorite waterfall nearby, just up a county road from Angel of Shavano Campground. I've probably visited it a hundred times, with many different groups of people, but was still quite excited to introduce it to our Adorable Granddaughter...

The water was a little chilly for wading, so she changed out of her cute swimsuit early on and actually had more fun clambering around the rocks with Dad than she would have had swimming...

She loves to climb!

More rocks and more water are even closer to our home base in Garfield. The little stream behind our cabin (whose noise makes it so easy to drift off to sleep at night or naptime) is crossed by a bridge just down Main Street. And around the bridge is a great place to toss rocks and sticks in the water, and do more rock clambering...

the shallow water here is a little more conducive to wading

I can remember when her Dad loved to come down to this very spot and play in the stream...so great to see that his daughter loves it, too!

Wordless Wednesday: Lincoln Logs for a BIG baby!

Mountain DIY: Part 2

I want to finish (see Part 1 here) telling you the story of my big summer project, one that had me working harder, physically, (and at almost 10,000’!) than I have in some time. I’m sure it’s not as riveting a tale for you, dear readers, as it is for me. But I appreciate the few of you who have stuck with me thus far!

After my first crew of helpers left, the prepping and priming was almost done. So I started in on the final painting by myself. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we took the somewhat bold option of painting the railing a forest green, instead of continuing the trim color from the cabin. I hope you agree with me, as you see the job progress, that it was a good choice. 

I started by doing mostly “cutting in,” that is, doing the brush work needed at the corners and junctions (of which there are loads on this railing!). That way I could finish up with the more fun roller work on the open surfaces.

One of the reasons I decided to do this was because of the unpredictability of the weather. We’ve had a lot more rain up here this summer so far than usual. And it often comes and goes during the day, which makes a painter skittish about doing wide swaths of the project unless she feels sure it will be sunny for a while. Here’s a typical view looking up our valley from the road to town…

The periodic showers did slow the work down, but in a way they were sort of a blessing. The few whole sunny days had me working so many hours I was an exhausted, stiff/sore wreck by bedtime. Taking breaks when the rains came forced me to limit my hours and my 68-year-old joints were grateful! 

At any rate a day or two after the departure of my first crews, my final pair of helpers arrived and the green painting work went much faster. (Again, sorry there are no pix of this group!)

After they left, I didn’t have much more initial coating to do, but the finishing up, touching up, and second coats where needed took several more days. But I think the finished product is worth the sweat (little blood and no tears, fortunately!)

However, the job wasn’t completely done. After the painting, the metal stock panels needed to be re-attached. At first I thought I should wait for our handyman’s help with this. But he’s been so busy since finishing our house with other jobs (that’s the problem when your guy does such good work!) that I decided I could try and do it myself. And as it turned out, except for a little difficulty getting the longer sections in place to be attached, it wasn’t too hard a chore.

Except for one section that needs another set of hands since it’s going to have to go on the outside, it’s all in place. (Which is especially good news since a toddler will be arriving soon to test its safety quotient!) 

Whew! What a job. It could not of have been done without the help of my wonderful “crews” and their expertise and labor. But I still feel quite a sense of pride when I look out my windows and see how much nicer it looks than it did before. 

There are still a couple of things that need to be done, and which will require additional help. For one thing, the stock panels need to be more securely attached with staples in addition to the screws and washers that I applied. 

And there are two gates that we removed and painted. I kind of wish we’d left them in place, although the painting was a lot easier with them and their hardware off. However, I neglected to take “before” photos of how the hinges and hooks were attached. So now I think it’s wisest to wait for males with better spatial senses to help re-attach them. I’d probably put them on backwards!