Christmas hike

Went for a hike this morning up the Mitchell Creek Trail past the Fish Hatchery:








Typical warning signs for this area:



But if you look closely:










Some of the things we saw:





























My "hit the mountain lion when attacked" stick:










Some hitchhikers DH picked up:









There must be some years when there's a lot of snow. See how high off the ground the door is?













As for wild animal sightings, here is one we saw on the trail. DH didn't even need to use his "hit the bear" stick, as the critter was quite friendly.









After our hike, we stopped by the beautiful Hotel Colorado and did see some wild animals there:












Merry Christmas!

Not much time for blogging....

A friend and I --- and her adorable dog --- went for a long walk out to Cardiff Glen and the Airport a few days ago. What a treat! Weather was perfect and we got to check on the progress of a new part of the Rio Grand Bike Trail.

Little Run'way got a bit annoyed with us at one point because we had turned around to backtrack just a little. He plopped himself down and said, "No more!" So he had to be carried for awhile. This is a dog who hikes 30 and 40 miles at a time so he really was annoyed --- not tired! :-)








This is the Historic Cardiff Schoolhouse. It's used for small community productions. Run'way didn't understand why no one would let him in.










Walking next to the airport we came across this stop sign. There are no other streets around --- just the airport runway, which runs parallel to the road we were on. So, we're not sure who they want to have stop there. We stopped, just in case!









Finished this absolutely wonderful book recently. It may be one of my all-time favorites now. While reading it, I had to track down a copy of Euclid's Elements. Found one at the Parachute Library, so our local library procured it for me.








Sewing has taken up most of my time lately. This is my favorite apron so far!

Crafting time

I headed over to the nearest thrift store to see what I might find. I was looking for old velvet -- the kind I could emboss-- and old jeans that I could turn into little stockings. I did find both and when I went up to pay, the cashier mentioned how pretty the dress was. I told her, yes it was, and that the stockings and ornaments I would make out of it would also be pretty! Well, she then tells me that someone had brought in some Christmas fabric and it hadn't been priced or packaged yet. Would I like to see it? Sure! I waited a few minutes and she comes down with a laundry basket FULL of fabric and some other sewing goodies. She told me I'd be saving her some time by not having to price it, etc. so I could have the whole thing, including the laundry basket, for $5.00. Oh my goodness. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I left her the basket though, as I was walking home. I must have looked like an odd Santa, walking back home with an overstuffed black garbage bag!

I washed all the fabric, as I'm sure it had been stored for awhile. After drying it, I measured and folded it all. Grand total: 42 yards of fabric, 35 full skeins of DMC embroidery floss, and lots of other "stuff." I recently bought Christmas fabric at our local store. It was $10/yd. And the floss: I think it was about $1.25 the last time I bought one. What a haul!! My lucky day.

Some little bird ornaments:











A birthday card:










A special order coffee sleeve for a friend:





















What are you crafting for the holidays?

Virtual Retirement Dinner

DH has worked for IBM from home, alone with his phone, and his co-workers live -- on the other end of the phone line -- in India, South America, Europe, and the Far East. He always referred to his "virtual job." Join us, won't you, for his virtual retirement dinner.

He picked Rivers Restaurant for his dinner. It's conveniently located near our home so we could walk to dinner. We've eaten here for Sunday brunch, especially enjoying it in the summer when we can eat outside on the lovely deck, right next to the Roaring Fork River.










They have a wonderful menu and the problem was narrowing down what we would order.















We chose the Smoked Trout Pate with homemade scallion bread, and Calamari with Jalapeno Lime Aioli.
Quite good!



We then had a Warmed Spinach Salad and a House Mixed Greens Salad-- the lemon herb dressing was SOOOOOO good!














Our entrees were Blackened Mahi Mahi with Blue Curacao Sauce, and Surf and Turf, filet mignon with lobster tail. They were so beautifully presented and tasted delicious, although I have to say, I've never seen anything edible that was that shade of blue!


Dessert was Pistachio Creme Brulee with Caramelized Raspberries. A beautiful and tasty end to a great dinner.







Here's the man of the hour.






And here's what he wrote:
My Virtual Retirement Speech
When I was hired by IBM in 1979 the company was expected by Frank Cary the CEO to be a $100 billion dollar company in a matter of a few years. There was no Apple; no PCs, much less laptops; no internet, much less Google; no visible Microsoft; phones were still pretty much connected with wires. HP made oscilloscopes.

The IT world changed.

IBM is sill looking for a 100 Billion dollar year. Apple owns the number one spot for market capitalization. HP enjoys more revenue. Microsoft makes more profit.

It is not just about cost cutting. Creativity is critical for survival. It has to be creativity that the world needs. I am looking forward to seeing if IBM can capitalize on its Smarter Planet idea.
Looking forward to a wonderful retirement.
Thank you IBM. It has been an interesting 31 years. No regrets.

*******************************************************


I sure am proud of my newly retired guy and I'm looking forward to enjoying retirement with him!

Colonoscopy day

Well, today was the day I'd prepared for yesterday! And all went well. DH was the photographer today as I was mostly incapacitated. All involved got a kick out of learning they would be on this blog! Got to love medical personnel with humor.

First up is Jaime. He got me registered and gave me my bracelet. He actually put it on my wrist. Such a sweet young man. Although I do believe the bracelet is plastic....





The elderly volunteer who escorted us up to the Endoscopy Center said a photo of him would ruin my camera, so no picture of John. He delivered us to Ms. Melody, a hard-working nurse, as you can see. I think she was struggling over how to spell "colonoscopy."


I think this nurse's name is Tammy, but I do know she's from Australia and I could have listened to her all day!








We did get a shot of my doc, the most wonderful Dr. Jason Collins, who very thoughtfully was brushing up how to do colonoscopies and upper endoscopies on his iPhone right before my procedures.
Got to appreciate doctors who keep up to the minute!







I remembered to bring my Sudoku book to work on while I waited. I didn't even get one finished.







A couple of other nurses were fighting over who was going to give me the drugs. I told the lady in blue that the lady in brown would do it because she had hold of the IV. It just made sense to me.

And yes, they would do the upper endoscopy BEFORE the colonoscopy, in case you were worried.......





This is where DH waited for me. He kept warm by the fire and was treated to a Starbucks coffee from the hospital's coffee shop. This hospital reminded both of us of a ski lodge. (Gosh, I wonder where they got that idea?)






This is how DH found me afterwards. I wonder why I was hanging on to the bedrail?







And finally, here is the lady who helped me out to the car. First, we stopped and got a hot chocolate at the cafe as I was very cold. I think she put something in the chocolate.... look at that fiendish smile.......!



All in all, a fun day....... everyone should be so lucky to have a day like this.
And I have asked for DH to give me back my camera!