Happy New 2015!

Bruce, Sharon, Patti and Rich!  Don't you just love the paper hats?  They came in our Christmas "crackers".  It contained a "toy" and a hat. 

We have a special needs kitty. This is the only way Gunnar will take food.

Gunnar is doing great but requires being hand fed and Sub-Q injections every other day.  The food bowl is 10 feet away but he won't eat out of it.  Go figure that one out.         I'll take whatever just to have him around for a couple years longer. 

A little holiday spirit - downtown Basalt street lamp

Back yard special!

Amatuer hour cookie sampler 2014

Next year maybe we'll experiment with icing!  Take it up a notch up.
Haven't had any complaints on the taste.  Bruce has been gobbling them up!

Look who is in town!

Gunnar's make shift hospital IV station

Warmed IV fluids hanging from the log, nice slip proof rug on the counter, all ready to go.
We only got about 20ml into him tonight but we don't like to stick him more than once per day.  We'll try again in the morning.

Womens World Cup Slalom - 2014 Aspen Winternationals

Stiegler ended up, I think 6th, but took this picture when she was #1!

Thanksgiving

Gunnar's been diagnosed with acute renal failure.  See him under the table?  He had a bad day with blood in his diarrhea.  Going back to Vet in the morning.  He has a continuously changing smorgasbord.  Today it's Whole Foods turkey (which he used to eat slightly warmed up but now prefers dried and crunchy), canned calms, and rice with beef gravy, and of course tuna juice.  Only thing he eats is Temptations treats and tuna juice.  Poor little guy,



Bruce is going to learn how to home hydrate him tomorrow.

How would you like to find this outside your dining room window?

Just to add a little humor in a humorless day...

Bob dressed up the punch man like this.  It scares the sh*t out me everytime I catch the image out of the corner of my eye!

Bruce is doing good enough that I'm returning home on Thursday.  Gunnar is back in the Vet hospital with kidney failure and is not happy about being there.  I'm hoping I can bring him home on Friday; test results from biopsies expected on Saturday.

Bouncing between the most critical need is taking a toll.  I'm exhausted.  A big THANK YOU to Patti for filling in for me with Gunnar.  I just can't be in two places at once.

Release from the hospital after 3 nights

Gunnar also got released for a few days.  Both patients go back to the doctors for evaluation on Tuesday.

Lani The Bird in California

Baby it's cold outside

From shorts in 60 degrees earlier this week to down parka.
Bruce's hernia/abdominal repair surgery was successful today but will be staying in the hospital for at least 3-5 days.  I fly to CA on Friday to tend to him.  There's nothing I can do for him when he's on morphine at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.
Gunnar is also in the animal hospital at least for over-nite because he wasn't eating. Running tests and shaving his beautiful belly fur for an ultrasound.  Lots of snow predicted for Friday; hope I get to fly out as all afternoon flights were cancelled today.  I had a great day... not.  And I didn't even win anything at Bingo tonight!

First snow at home

Last visit to the Maroon Bells.

No people and so very quiet.

Can this day get any better?

 It started at 8 am this morning... the smoke detector started beeping.  After removing 4, yes 4 different types detectors, (couldn't determine which one was chirping as there were 4 grouped together) I was able to disable it with the help of a lovely 20' ladder,

At exactly midnight, the carbon monoxide detector went off in a different location.  It was freaking the kitties out and I didn't know what to do because my batteries, light blubs and filter man is currently in North Carolina and hasn't answered his phone all day.  So I called 911 and had 2 fire trucks and one fire/rescue truck with lights blazing, and 5 guys and a gal at my front door.

Turns out the "plug in" monoxide detector has batteries in it too.  (I could have done that if I had known)

Maybe I should have taken the darn device into the garage and closed it up in the car??

Sven made some new friends and Gunnar is under the bed covers for protection from stranger-danger people.

What a day.....  They report these kind of things in the local paper.  Hope this doesn't make it into the news.

Happy Halloween

Crew reunion in Norfolk, Virginia

Hubs Hubbard and Bruce meet up in Norfolk!  Side tied nonetheless!  Hubs and Diana were our crew on the passage from Panama, Caymans, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica to Trinidad a couple years ago.   Bruce is headed to Charleston tomorrow while Hubs and Diana are headed to the BVI's.

Final 2014 garden harvest

Back yard Fall colors

Last ride up Aspen Mt for the summer

Got reptiles? We got the bowls!

                                                                                                  Bruce received these samples to better quote a new plastic project.  If you or anyone you know needs a reptile bowl, please let me know!                                                     

Where's Mama bear?

Baby bear #1 coming up our patio.


Baby bear #2 waiting in the wood.


Baby bear #1 and #2 get together before heading back into the brush.  Sven and Gunnar had eyes wide open looking through the window.


Never did see Mama bear but we did see footprints on the deck two days ago.

Aspen Ruggerfest and fall colors

 Aspen's Gents in orange and black.  We left at half time when they were losing 31-3.

Colors are peaking along the road to the Maroon Bells.

National Sheepdog Trials

The Sheep:  Raised in the rugged stretches of the Colorado Plateau pose a unique challenge to dogs and handlers.  Many dogs and handlers have no experience with working range sheep.  The differences between farm flock sheep of New England and range sheep of Colorado are dramatic.  These sheep are female yearlings, likened to teenage humans--often unpredictable, uncertain and unsure who is the leader among them.

  

Snowmass Ballooon Glow

My first homemade peach pie!

Palisade Colorado peaches are at their peak.  Stop on over if you're in the neighborhood.  Bruce can't eat the whole thing and I don't eat pie!



Update:  Bruce DID eat the whole pie in under five days.

Empty Atlantic City, New Jersey

Hardly a soul on the beach in August!

USA Pro Challenge coming through Basalt

Took all of 30 seconds for the peloton of 125 riders to pass.

They were en route to Crested Butte.

First bear of the season!

Ducky Derby, Lance's Bike and Turtles with I-pads on their backs.

 The dumping of 29,000 rubber ducks into the Roaring Fork River.

 One of Lance Armstrong's Tour de France bikes up for silent auction.  Initial bid of $5,500 required.  No one bid...

Three live desert turtles with I-pads mounted on their shells.  Someone's idea of "art" on display at the brand new Aspen Art Museum. Sick.

Flash flood - the convergence of Frying Pan and Roaring Fork

Sporadic thunderstorms are an everyday occurrence this time of year, especially up valley from our home.  Rivers' running red on the Frying Pan.  This pic is where the Frying Pan and Roaring Fork Rivers converge.  The Gold Medal Trout fisher people have to to be bummed but looks like the "duckers" (paddlers) have to take what they have. 

Look what Sharon found in a trash can!

While throwing away my Carbondale Mountain Fair wrist band, I spied something colorful.  Looked a little closer and it was flowers.  Super fresh!  Why would someone throw away perfect flowers?  There was another whole handful in there!

Another panhandler pic

Panhandler Signs

This is our friend Bob.  He doesn't give money to panhandlers but if their sign is clever enough, he'll buy the sign.  Check back for examples of the signs he's bought.

our adventure up Castle Creek

86 degrees and nothing on NOAA's weather radar so we headed up to Taylor Pass, elevation 11,908.  3/4 of the way up the sky opened up, temperature dropped to 45 degrees and the heavy rain turned to hail making the rocky trail slippery.  We pulled off the 4 wheel drive road and ate lunch in the car.  It started lightening and since there's already been at least 3 deaths due to lightening, we turned back.  

On the way down we stopped at one of 10th mountain huts, Markley, which is just one of many no electric, no running water huts available for reservations for cross country skiers.  Bruce thought he was on the stern of the boat....:-)

The Markley Hut.  It was locked but it had sleeping for about 12 that we could see.  Foam on the bed platforms, propane and fireplaces for heat and cooking.

The ghost town of Ashcroft.
Once inhabited by over 1,000 people during the silver mining era, only a few buildings remain.  Been there a dozen times but not since the Forest Service started charging a fee.  If you've seen it once, you've seen it all.

Cast and Blast day with Colorado Wildlife officers...women only!

 First, 4 hours of fly fishing instruction and practicing on the four private trout ponds that were loaded with fish, followed by 4 hours of shotgun instructions and shooting at clay birds.

Ratio of instructors to "students"  one to one.

Compliments of the Colorado Park and Wildlife officers.