Hummer Landing

Jason's hand

Homesteaders

Laura and Jason

No TV for kids

This is what happens when you take TV away from kids. They began by
building a teepee below but apparently were not happy with the result and then constructed the
wikiup above. As one adult stated,"There is hope for the human race!"

From the Peak

Our son Jason and his wife Laura hiked up to Snow Mountain, peak 2, with Butch. They were able to get some great pictures and the first one below will be of particular interest to SMR people. You can see quite clearly the burned area from our wildfire last month. To get an even closer look click on the picture and it will become large enough for a closer look.



Jason and Butch

Colorado Album

Colorado

Teeter Wedding Cake

The Teeter (Amanda & Brad) wedding reception pictures can be viewed on webshots.
Click on the webshots link to the right.

Clover

We have been most busy and it seems the blog gets last priority when I am tired.
One of the things most impressive about our location is the flowers. There are so
many wildflowers and they are so abundant and large. The ones purchased and in pots
struggle to grow but the local ones do not. Pictured above is clover to give you an example and it is
beautiful enough to be a cut flower in my kitchen.
We have heard reports of mountain lions and bears but so far have not seen any.
We also hear the weather reports for "Down the hill" and how hot and humid it is.
Mostly just hot when we speak of Denver but we are living in cool comfort.
We have had 2 hot days whereby we would have normally turned on the
AC for a couple of hours in the afternoon but for the most part it has been quite pleasant.
The dryness of the air makes such a difference. I would never have believed that 50 degrees
would be shirtsleeve weather but when the air is so dry 50 degrees is not bad. By 9:00 AM it is warm and pleasant.
It gets a little warm at 80 by midday and starts to cool down nicely around 5:00 PM. There are very few bugs.
At night we have the windows and vents closed and about 3:00 AM when one of us goes for a potty break we turn
on the heater as it gets down to about 40 degrees most nights. I was shocked one morning
when I noted that it only was down to 50!
This weekend we are headed for KC and Amanda and Brad's wedding reception. It will be a nice midsummer break for us.

Amanda & Brad

Granddaughter Amanda & Brad Teeter
are now man and wife as of Friday, July 6th.
We all get to wish them well at a reception next weekend

Got Water?

Butch's brother Bill,of Heber Springs AR got this shot of a deer
drinking from their pond. Great Pic!!

Grand Lake Area



Mountain Wildflowers. The flowers are so amazing at this altitude. They are large, lush and abundant.

Odds and Ends

Butch and Lum make flags for July 4th
 
Looks good to me!
 
On the road to Granby
 

Yeah, You are cute!

My sis, Myrla sent me this cute pic of her dog Hewy and cat Tippy.
 

Chair Dollies

Kay Voss, a friend from Magnolia Park, made these chair dollies and
I have been meaning to post these pictures for a very long time. They are sooo cute!!

Body Atlas

Body Atlas

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/7140.html

SMR Senior Volunteers

Jerry and Diane Larson from Kansas hosted a BBQ for the senior volunteers.
We were all ready for some un-common food!

Lum gets a call

Brian and Blueberry-Brian related a story about Blueberry last July 4th.
They were attending a rodeo in Granby and Brian was occupied with the
horses and stagecoach when the fireworks started. Blueberry hates fireworks.
It wasn't long when Brians phone rang and it was from The City Market (local grocery store)
and they told him his dog was in the breakfast food aisle. Blueberry was looking for refuge
from the bombs bursting in air!

Craft Shop

Phyllis and Boala make a poster for the 4th of July Parade

Helen adds up a receipt

Joao washes out a tie dye shirt

Fire Damage

You can see in the photo how close the fire came to the buildings.
These are the Reunion Cabins where families plan to stay for months and sometimes years.
Plans were dashed by the fire, Click on the picture for a close up look.

Sky Pink

Fire update

The firefighters did a fantastic job of containing the blaze. It was heartwarming to see the Y camp kids thanking them when they came to the Commons for breakfast. Six fire departments were johnny-on-the-spot. A fire (Colorado) here becomes everybody's problem. The Y staff also did a commendable job of evacuating the kids. They train for this and it showed.

Everyone forgot to call the night auditor however! He was sleeping and safe from harm but he didn't find out about it until they called him to come to work early at 10:15 PM. Whoops!!

Many of the diseased trees had been cleared because of fire danger and those folks who are unhappy about the tree removal can perhaps now see the need.

So today we are in traumatic event recovery. Or perhaps I should say one of us is. Butch went golfing on the course that yesterday was in peril.

Forest Fire

Butch and I had a meeting this afternoon and when we came back to the truck..after the meeting...at 3:15pm we noticed a fire. Butch had the radio on and we soon started hearing lots of chatter. A young man who was near the fire said he saw a gasoline can. You could hear the panic in his voice.
It spread quickly and we decided to get ready to evacuate. It took us 45 minutes to get ready. We watched the progress closely and you can see the pictures I took after we were ready to take flight. The fire was less than a half mile from us as the crow flies. Very nervous afternoon...

Forest Fire Album

Forest Fire

Busy Week

It has been a busy week at SMR. We worked Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Wednesday I worked in the craft shop and the pop top belts were a big hit. I also got 4 International students and the Craft Shop Director started on a Swedish Weaving project.

Wednesday evening we took part in a skit honoring the alumni who had returned for a reunion. This world is filled with talented people!

On Thursday we went to a Rockies game at Coor's Stadium in Denver. They played the Yankees and Roger Clemons pitched. There were 5 of us "Seniors" and 3 of the International students on the trip. We had a very good time. Butch and I also decided that when we leave SMR we will be going north to Laramie WY...the same way we came here.

Friday we rested and we needed to! I did meet up with some Swedish Weavers I had met online. Pam and Randa live in Granby and came out for a visit Friday afternoon. We had a very enjoyable visit.

Today we went to the Rowley Homestead which is on SMR property. It was a ranch that was here when the property was sold to the YMCA. It has been maintained as it was found with some donated items added to enhance the place. The Just Ranch is also on the property but those buildings are not being maintained.
We are slowly feeling at home here. I have come to the conclusion that once I feel at home I take better pictures.
So most of the pictures are on the Webshots site so look to your right on this page and you will find the link to Webshots.

Rockies Game

A day at the Ballpark Album

Ballgame Day

More to add later

SMR's Got Talent!

SMR Variety Show

Hot Air

Yesterday morning I spotted a hot air balloon over the mountains.
It was hazy at the time. Summer has reached the Rockies.

Latest

We have a day off today. Butch is immersed in the US Open. I am doing laundry. I hung some sheets on the line and then the wind came up so I went out to take them down and they were dry! A full five minutes had elapsed.
There are 30 departures today from the campground so the hosts working today (not us) will be busy. The work days are getting easier and more enjoyable. It doesn't pay to take 3 years off from the work force. It seems one has a work fitness as well as a mental and physical fitness. It has been good for us to be back!

The weather in the mountains is a very different experience from anywhere else we have ever been. The mountains seem to knock those clouds around like pinballs making it impossible to predict where they may go. We can see the clouds hung up on the divide and we can tell it is precipitating to beat the band and we will remain in sunshine.
People who have been here before are in "Tree Shock" when they come here now. The pine beetles have devastated the area and the effects will be decades in the healing. But the bottom line is that it is still and will remain a beautiful place.