Hosted Ragbrai

Leo & Keri hosted several Ragbrai groups and I asked Keri to tell me what it was like. Here is her reply:

"Sorry I have not written sooner – it has been a busy and tiring week. RAGBRAI in Jefferson was really a great opportunity for the community. The Jefferson theme was “With all the Bells and Whistles”, but the true underling theme was hospitality. In general, the citizens welcomed the bikers with open arms. I was in charge of the meal at our church; I decided it would be a good way to see if this is what I want to do in my retirement years. The menu included ham balls, cheesy potato casserole, green beans, yogurt and fruit parfaits, and home made pie. We decided that we could feed 500 from 4-8pm. It was great. I might never eat a ham ball again after making over 1,500 of them. The bikers were so nice and appreciated the AC, a clean “real” bathroom and the home made food. When I finally returned home (exhausted) around 10pm, I was greeted with a yard full of motor homes and tents. Leo had invited additional groups as he rode on Sunday and Monday. I would guess we had around 50+ people at our home. I was too tired to spend much time with them and many of them had gone to bed. The next morning I was up at 5AM getting ready for the ride to Ames, I walked out of the house and the sun was just beginning to come up, I wish Barb would have been there to get a picture of the tents and the dew in the early morning light. It was fun to watch the bikers start to stir and get ready for the day. I had lots of bananas and granola bars to give the bikers to get the day started. I think I was the first biker out of the driveway, I was scared about not being able to make it to Ames, so I wanted to leave early to ride in the cool and have the whole day to make the trip. When I arrived back home on Tuesday afternoon it was as if Monday had never happened, not one piece of trash anywhere. What a great group of people to have at my home. I had a great time riding to Ames and only suffered a little sunburn. Leo is still on the road with a group, I think it might take several days for his recovery."

Come Monday

Come Monday we will be headed over the mountain and down the hill to Maryville MO and Mozingo Park and golf course. Butch is pictured here at Adam's Falls near Grand Lake CO. It is a beautiful place and one worth seeing again. We will miss all our friends at SMR but we look forward to fun with other friends and family the remainder of the summer.

At Steamboat Springs CO

Butch thought he looked very fine in this jacket but I said we didn't need another closet ornament. We will be leaving Snow Mountain Ranch next Monday headed for Maryville MO where Butch and Gary will be playing in a golf tournament at Mozingo. So soon we will be "On the Road Again".

Donn & Peggy

While friends Donn and Peggy were here we had a busy and fun-filled 3 days. They made walking sticks, and we went to Hot Sulphur Springs for a soak. We stopped at Grand Lake after our trip through Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park and they were unsuccessful in moving a rock.

Friends Visit

Friends Donn and Peggy Gordon of Carson City NV came to Snow Mtn Ranch for a visit and we spent yesterday at Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park. We went to Estes Park and returned on the one way road. I was able to get some great pictures and will put the best of them here now and make an album later.

Our Glenwood Springs, CO. Trip

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Auntie get your gun

This is a picture of my Aunt Ruby. Neither her granddaughter, Joanna Neff , nor I know the story behind the picture but it is a nifty picture nonetheless.

Shawn Johnson

Jason and Laura were privileged to attend the induction of Shawn Johnson to Iowa's Hall of Pride. Laura is employed by Iowa Boys Athletic Association and thereby received an invitation to attend. Pictured is her coach, Chow. Another with Jason and Shawn's mother. Laura is pictured with Shawn. It certainly adds interest to watching the Olympics in August.

Now the news

We work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday- off the other 4 days. That is by choice. The busiest days are the weekends and the time flies.
Tonight we are going on a staff excursion to Boulder for a dinner theatre. There are 18 of us going. Should be fun. You will most likely see photos of it on www.smrvolunteers.blogspot.com tomorrow or so.
My job of taking care of the blog has been a bit of a challenge lately because of an ailing Internet connection but I called Verizon yesterday and we determined my aircard was not functioning properly and a new one is on the way. Friends Terry and Lisa pulled in a couple of days ago and they have Verizon also which was working great for them. That helped in the diagnosis.
So I hope ya'all are keeping up with the posts...till next time...

Long Dry Spell

We have just been busier than hmmm..scat!!! We work the weekends and right now the supervisor is in Oklahoma so we ...ahem...are in charge!!! The campground has been full on weekends. With fuel prices such as they are we are getting primarily Colorado people.
The weather has been in a word perfect!!! Highs in the 70's -lows in the 40's!
By the way...Did any of you know you can volunteer here for as little as two weeks? And you do not need an RV to do so. They would house you in a room. Wow! A working vacation!! You put in 3-8 hour days and the other 4 you can play with the YMCA footing the bill for many things including food.
I do not understand why we are not swamped with volunteers.
Butch is playing golf today with Mike Bryce. They are using Grand Golf passes whereby they golf on very expensive courses($89) for free!! That is a new feature this year and one that will most likely bring Butch back again next year.
Things a running smoothly this year-enjoying the people and the work and all is well.

More Flood Info

From friend Phyllis Thompson in Atlantic IA:
SW IA got hit hard in places with winds, tornadoes, very heavy rain, etc although we were very fortunate here in Atlantic. A couple of our low lying areas flooded, but those aren't unusual. Some farming fields still have ponds and some replanting will need to be done. We did have 5 out of 6 straight nights of watches and warnings for severe thunder storms, tornadoes and flooding. All the updates, and constant weather broadcasts out of Omaha stations over rode the TV programs those evenings and nights. Mason City, in north east IA had the worst flooding ever in it's history, but daughter Deb and Kevin were lucky - not even water in the basement from ground water. They live in northeast Mason City. They are about a block from the river, but it didn't come up that far where they are. It was a couple of days before they could get out of their immediate area though. A lot of MC was at a standstill because the water overflowed the levy at the water treatment plant which pretty well shut down the City because so many places couldn't function without tap water - just think of the hospital, for instance. Emergency medical tankers came there, but only emergencies & in patients already there were treated. Inmates at the jail had to be taken to other counties, restaurants couldn't be open, day cares couldn't function, etc. Curfews were issued and enforced with heavy fines because of traffic congestion and looting, etc. You couldn't get into MC unless you could prove you lived there or had to be there. This flooding continues to play out as the water has progressed on south into areas that got plenty of rain also before the flooding rivers come to their towns and areas. 2008 has NOT been kind to Iowa this winter and spring!!

More Flood Pics from Iowa

Thanks to Richard Jorgensen & Jean Hall:

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Iowa Flood -Boone Area 2008

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Benefits

Some of you have wondered what we get out of volunteering at Snow Mountain Ranch. Trust me, the reasons are abundant but here are a few things we like about it.

For quite some time winter senior volunteers have enjoyed the benefit of Grand passes for skiing but now summer volunteers have the benefit for golf. This is a big deal for golfers who can now play free golf at the courses in the area on their days off. Come on golfers, volunteer at Snow Mountain Ranch and enjoy a Grand golf benefit!!

Summer Grand Pass Use Benefits/Rules
Summer 2008 Season

I.Grand Passes - For a complete list of Grand Pass benefits, please come to the HR office. A Grand Pass Benefits book is posted on the bulletin board immediately to the left of the HR entrance for your perusal. Examples of some of the Grand Pass benefits include:

Free Golf at Pole Creek, Headwaters, Grand Lake and Grand Elk Golf Courses
Free entrance to base activities at WP Resort (mini golf, alpine slide, lift ticket for downhill mountain biking and more!)
Free entrance to High Country Stampede Rodeo in Fraser and Flying Heels Rodeo Series in Granby
Free skiing at Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort, Copper Mountain Resort, Sol Vista and Steamboat
Cross Country Skiing at Devil’s Thumb Ranch
Discounts at local restaurants and retailers

Snow Mountain Ranch Volunteers

We have been here long enough to get in the groove. We work mainly weekends and that is okay with us. Next week finds us in charge as our supervisor is going back to Oklahoma for doctor appts. Not crazy about being in charge but we will manage.
Today was Butch's birthday. He had a good time...played golf for free!...had birthday cake and a song.
We had snow yesterday morning. Yes, snow in June...about 2 inches. Last night we didn't get snow but it was 27 degrees this morning. It has been interesting and a challenge to figure out which coat to wear.
I have been working on the SMR blog and you can find it at www.smrvolunteers.blogspot.com.
I haven't heard from hardly anyone lately but I can understand that. Especially in Iowa where they are dodging tornadoes and bailing water.

From Laura & Jason

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First Day of work

Butch and I finished our first day of work today. We are both tired tonight. Not used to putting in 8 hours of honest work. We will get used to it soon. Some things have changed and it is all about getting the routine down again. Once we do that it will be smooth sailing.
Yesterday we walked up to the waterfall...at least we intended to. It was muddy, snowy and slick in spots. We had been told you couldn't go all the way up because of a snow melt filled stream and beaver ponds. We did plan to go as far as we could but gave up short of that goal. We did walk far enough to give both of us sore calf muscles. We saw moose, deer and "large kitty" prints in the mud. None were fresh.
I am doing much better with the altitude this year.
I will be doing more posting on the www.smrvolunteers.blogspot.com so may want to check in on that one too.

Leo and Keri's Big Rain

Leo sent me these flood pictures. He said they have never had this kind of flooding, even in 1993!

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Our Trip to Snow Mountain Ranch

I took photos through the windshield as we made our way to SMR taking the northern route through Laramie WY and Walden CO. Below is a slide show of my windshield shots. The trip was smooth with great weather. Windy in Wyoming but then it always is. The first hour or two after arrival is spent greeting all the friends we made last year as first time volunteers. So good to see everyone again. Once we get acclimated to the altitude we will begin our duties as campground attendants. The acclimation process seems to be easier this year. I didn't huff and puff nearly so hard walking up the hill to the Commons for meals.
Be sure to check out the www.smrvolunteers.blogspot.com site as well as this one because if I get short of time that will most likely be the one that gets attention since it will be part of my volunteer duties.
This one will always get the straight skinny though so if I need to vent it will show up here. Nahhh...Ain't gonna happen...right?

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Memorial Day 2008

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