Posts Tagged ‘CO’
I don’t leave home very often, and I like it that way. I can’t remember the last time I stayed in a hotel, so being away from home in a strange place is weird to say the least. The hardest thing for me the first night away was staying in a hotel in a city, next to a highway with traffic so loud I barely got any sleep. I’m so spoiled from living in B.F.C., where we rarely hear a car go by so it makes it very difficult to fall asleep when there is lot of ambient noise. The hotel was kind enough to move me across the hall, to the side of the hotel that overlooks a golf course. At least I should be able to get some much needed sleep tonight. I miss my honey and all my kitty kids so much, and I’ve only been gone 36 hours. Only 156 to go. But since I’m in a place that has much better internet service I figured I’d take the opportunity to upload a bunch of pictures that have been stacking up in the queue. First up is more pics added to the Spring 2009 gallery, and I’m working on galleries for the rest of the kitty kids to get posted before I head back home. Being away is hard, but it also makes me grateful for being able to live where I do. It may be inconvenient sometimes, but it is so beautiful and peaceful and there isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.
Short post today as I have another busy week ahead. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous with temperatures in the mid-seventies, which is perfect at our altitude because it feels ten degrees warmer than it actually is. We’ve been spending a lot of time outside getting this year’s projects underway. Everything is so green right now, and the wild flowers have started their annual display which makes it difficult to focus on the work at hand. The barn patio project is almost done, we just need to move a little more dirt before I can start laying the stones. Frequent work breaks are necessary during this beautiful weather, and here are a few photos I took while out on a walk the other day. I hope you enjoy them.
Pete started smoking meats last summer, using a propane grill that my mom bought for me when I purchased my first house in 1997. (Thanks, Mom, we still use that grill at least three times a week!) He’s got a system that works great and produces excellent (m)eats, but he wanted a dedicated smoker. He was so serious about it that he’d done a bunch of research and had even picked one out, so I thought it would be fun to get it for him this year. On April 10th I found the best price on the Char-Griller Outlaw smoker at Amazon.com, with the best deal on shipping. The smoker weighs about 140 pounds, and most places wanted over $100 for shipping; Amazon charged $39. I ordered the smoker and it arrived within 5 days, heavily damaged. The box looked like it had fallen off the back of a truck and had been taped together with at least one roll of packing tape, maybe two. (Click here or on the thumbnail image to view the smoker pics.) The smoker is powder coated and the lid had such bad dents that it cracked the powder coating, which will just lead to premature rust. It was also missing a bunch of assembly parts like bolts, nuts, and even the thermometer. I’d bet that one of the parts bags fell out of the gaping holes in the box. I sent Amazon an email with photos of the damage and they said they would send out another smoker and we can return the damaged one using the pre-paid shipping label they included in their email. The tracking number I got for the replacement says it’s being shipped to Oregon, so I call Amazon to try to figure out what’s going on. They don’t know either, but assist with getting the package bound for Oregon re-routed to Colorado and is expected to be delivered on Friday, May 1st. At this point it seemed that things were sorted out. On Tuesday, April 28th I went to our mailbox in town and guess what’s waiting for me? A smoker! Fine, whatever, as long as it’s not damaged and we can get on with the fun part of making some yummy food. We swap damaged smoker for good smoker, damaged smoker gets put back in good smoker’s box and sent back to Amazon on Friday May 1st. That same day, when I get back home from town, the UPS truck comes driving up our road at 3:30 pm. Now mind you, I live in B.F.C., and for the most part no delivery company will bring packages to the house which is why we have a delivery address in town. Guess what was on the truck? Smoker number three! I went outside to stop the driver before she unloaded the monstrosity and briefly told her about what had happened. We both had a good laugh, and I refused the delivery. It is the only time Amazon has made a mistake, I just wish it would have been something less heavy. But everything’s copasetic now. Pete is very happy and is already planning his summer meat smoking schedule. I can’t wait!
Pete’s been working on a patio for the barn and it’s just about done. There’s been a bit of a mud problem since we bought the place; the sloping around the building is not correct causing water to pool around the entry doors. He used some rail road ties that we got for free to create a base for the patio and borders for raising the area near the doors to divert the water. We bought pressure treated 2×10’s for the patio from a local lumber yard that’s going out of business and saved 30% off the regular price. The patio looks very nice, and Pete also built a bench next to the door with a shoe rack below. I’ve started on a low rock wall to extend the railroad tie border to the end of the area in between the parking spaces, and the plan is to make a fire pit and put a table and chairs in the section between the two big pine trees. I’m going to make a rock pathway in the space right in front of the barn, to keep down the amount of mud that gets tracked onto the patio, and next to that will be a small grassy area. The past few days it’s been raining off and on so I’ve not been able to make much progress on the rock work. Hopefully the rest of the week will be nice so we can get this project finished and start refurbishing the table and chairs that will go between the pine trees. When it’s all done the mud factor will be somewhat under control and we’ll have another place on the property to sit and enjoy the scenery.
We’ve been very busy the past week or so, which is why it’s been ten days since the last post. Pete’s been working on a patio down at the barn (I need to take some pictures of the project before it’s all done), the new Char Griller Outlaw smoker that I bought for him is finally all put together (more on that story in another post), I made a cover for the master bedroom window seat cushion (more on that in another post), and then I spent two days this week doing spring cleaning. While all this was going on the kitties have been loudly protesting the lack of attention, except for Squeak who’s been having fun with her new toy – an empty Pacifico twelve pack box. She is so damned cute, that Squeak in a box!
Our current kitchen is small and not suited to our culinary adventures, but until we can build our dream kitchen we have to make due. The biggest problem is the lack of cabinet and counter space, which was somewhat lessened when we brought the steel prep table home from the restaurant we used to own in town. It is three feet deep and four feet long, has a large drawer, and a bottom shelf where we store one of our sets of pots and pans and the deep fryer. The problem with this is that it is open, and we have four indoor cats. So basically whenever we want to use any of the items that are stored on that bottom shelf they have to be washed first. One day I got so tired of having to clean the fryer before we could use it that I decided to make a cover for it. I’m a novice sewer, at best, and am amazed that I made something like that without a pattern. I just looked at the fryer and could see in my head the shapes that I needed to make it work. The fryer cozy made Pete and I laugh because even though it is a useful item it is a bit ridiculous due to the leopard fabric it’s made of. But when you live in B.F.C. you’ve got to use what’s available when domestic silliness happens!
Years ago I saw a refrigerator magnet that said “cats are like potato chips, you can’t have just one”. At that point in my life I’d never had a cat, so I didn’t really understand the truth to that statement. Well now I can say without hesitation that it is absolutely true. Since moving to B.F.C. I have rescued ten felines, and kept all but two. I’m starting to think there is a kitty sign post somewhere on the property because a few weeks ago another cat showed up out of nowhere and has been hanging around the house. He’s super friendly, and he’s a big boy – I call him Big Kitty. He was shy at first but now he’s pretty comfortable here, and even came into the loft and slept in the pillow pile the other night for a few hours. I just can’t help myself, they are so sweet and cute and all they want is some love. Isn’t that what we all want?
