Thursday

It was so beautiful up at the lake this afternoon. Warm, sunny, and no wind. Barrie and Kasey and I went up a little after 4:00 and stayed until the sun was down.



Mom: "Don't climb on the rocks."
Kasey: "Can I lay on the rock?"
Mom: "OK."
Kasey: "My stomach hurts."
Mom: "You look like a lizard sunning yourself on a rock."
Kasey: "Meow."
Grandma: "Yuck yuck."

Life doesn't get any better than this. Feet in the water, a dill pickle in my hand, and wearing my favorite hat.

Twilight on the lake.

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Barrie and Kasey are planning to take a few dogs and sleep in the tent Saturday night. I'll think of them while I am lying in my soft bed in my warm flannel pjs.

Wednesday

There were only five of us at Art Group today, and we managed to spread out across all eight tables. We finished up preparing most of the art work for the silent auction. Helen H. brought some paintings in today for the auction..

This is the poster Paul had made up for the auction.

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I ate at Rendezvous Pointe today with Judi. We sat with Carl and Peggy. They serve such big meals there - good, but too much.

Tuesday

Dogs and More Dogs

Paul and Tracy are in Denver, and when in Denver, They almost always stay at the Hotel Monaco. Daisy seems to like the hotel!

There is no additional charge for pets, and the hotel offers complimentary food and water bowls and dog-park maps; dog-walking and pet-sitting services are available. I think Tracy told me once that guests can take their dog to the cocktail hour and there are bowls of dog treats.

Guests can request a goldfish for the duration of their stay

Barrie on a training run early this morning.

Her lead dogs are eager to go.

Maddy likes to go along and pretend she's a sled dog too. She sits on top of the spool just like they do.




My friend Lenore sent me this photo. Funny!

Monday

Beautiful sunset at the lake last night. I think this one must have been for Nancy.

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The Clampetts go to the lake.


Stomping in the water.

In the tent.

Cold enough to wear a coat, but KC loves to play in the water.

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When Kasey started to turn blue, we finally made her get out. Then she played in the tent a while, and we went home.

This morning my laptop would lock up on some web sites, it wouldn't let me delete my e-mail, then a message popped up that said something was corrupted and that I needed to run Check Disk. It wouldn't even let me shut down, so I did a hard shut down.

Later, I started it up again and walked away. Don't know if it ran Check Disk on itself or not, but it is working great now. And I can't figure out why the screen is suddenly so much easier to read. Seems it has more contrast, and the text is darker.

Going to try the new AV cable on the TV this morning.

Barrie got the tent set up yesterday at the lake. I put an old plastic tablecloth and a cooler on the table of the campsite. If everything blew away last night, it will all be in the trees.

The sky got very black and the wind came up while we were there. I haven't been up today. It's kind of cold and windy.

There were campers and trailers up there, but I think the campers were all inside their trailers, or had come to town. But we drove past one campsite with three pickups, two four wheelers, a boat, and some guys drinking beer. And guess what - the pickups had County 23 plates. Some locals celebrating that many of the tourists have gone home?

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I heard some geese go over before I was out of bed this morning!

I signed a check for Barrie to go shopping at Ridley's today. I'm SO happy she does that.

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My brother says he doesn't understand Facebook. Here is the link to a funny Youtube video about Facebook in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn45jEQ5H8Y

Saturday

All last night and again this morning, it rained and rained. I love the sound of it on my metal roof.

I've seen some blackbirds gathering together in a flock, being very noisy and arguing about who gets to be the leader when they leave.

There are some yellow leaves around, and my caragana bushes are popping their seed pods and scattering seeds so Barrie can kill them next year. It's interesting when the ones by the garage roof start to throw their seeds. They pop off on the metal roof, making a "ping" sound when they hit, then they roll down the roof, "pinging" as they go. It's very noisy!

Unless my chokecherries hurry up, they've not going to get ripe before it freezes.

This does not look good. When this first showed up on the ground under the big pine tree, Barrie had just removed some branches, and I thought it was sawdust. But yesterday I notice it's all around the trunk, and also under the second pine tree.

And this is what the bark looks like. It appears the bark beetles have found my trees.

Maddy helped me inspect the yard yesterday. She looks very worried about the bark beeetles.

This stump, or what's left of it, is in the back yard. It's not beavers, it's not bark beetles. Looks like the work of Maddy.

Now playing on XM Radio - Toby Keith "You Ain't Much Fun Since I Quit Drinking."



Kasey's dahlia's have gone crazy. It's going to be sad when they freeze.

Years ago I dug up some Butter and Eggs and planted in my back yard. Then I tried to get rid of them for years. We just let them go this year, and they look really pretty. Sometimes they get bugs so bad it almost ruins them, but this year they look good, and have spread across the hillside behind the house.

Barrie moved these rabbits out of the back yard when we discovered the dogs were starting to chew on them. She put them out by the back gate and today I brought them in the front yard. They look happy there with my Sedum.

Wednesday

Now playing on XM - Mozart, "Symphony # 29". Yeah, I changed channels for a while!


I took three new pieces to Art Group today for the silent auction. I have no idea what to expect from this auction. A lot of people will see the art work, but who knows if anyone will bid and buy?

We got kicked out of Rendezvous Pointe this morning. They had burning wires somewhere. The County Maintence crew was there looking for it, and they hadn't found anything yet.

Haven't seen any smoke this afternoon, so I guess the building didn't burn down. I don't know if they got it taken care of before people showed up for lunch or not.

Tuesday

My brother tells me the hat he has belonged to our great grandfather. This picture is from a Chicago newspaper in 1929. Great grandfather is in the back row, center, next to his wife. My dad is kneeling in front, wearing his school sweater with three stripes on the sleeve.

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The mesh stand for my laptop computer came, and I wish I had gotten one a long time ago. The computer gets more ventilation, so doesn't get so hot. And the keyboard is tilted, which I really like.

Read in the news this morning that the big tree that Anne Frank wrote about in her diary blew down during a storm.

Also read that some guy in Florida was picked up for the fourth time by the cops for driving a lawnmower down the street drunk. I bet he was a fun neighbor.

I actually watched TV yesterday. I watched Paul Newman in the western "Hombre." You know, that guy with the blue eyes? I had seen it years ago, and forgotten that he dies in the end. Bummer.

There was one line in particular in the movie that tickled me. Hombre and another guy are waiting in the rocks for the outlaws to come back to kill them. Hombre tells him "Try not to puke. You may have to lay in it for a long time."

Monday

Ah! Got the cordless keyboard fixed this morning. All it took was stealing two batteries from Barrie's remote control! Not to worry - I replaced them with battteries from my DVD player remote.

Tracy called this morning. They have a campsite reserved at Fremont the 28th through Labor Day. She's not sure they are going to be able to make it because of things going on in their life right now. Good things, not bad things. And no, she's not pregnant!





Anyone recognize this place? Yes, it's Sandy Beach. Tracy used to take Bars up there and ride him in the lake. I'm pretty sure the beach cops would not allow that now.

My brother Bill, in our Grandad's hat.

In 1929, my Grandad and his brothers went to Chicago to play in a baseball tournament - the championship game for the World Brothers League. Except for two nephews, the team was made up of all Marlatt brothers. Our dad was one of the nephews, and come to think of it, the hat may have been his. They lost the game, by the way. But when they went, they all wore big hats and hairy chaps. None of them were cowboys.

My mom gave this hat and some other things to the museum in Torrington. They never displayed any of it, so my brother stopped in there one day and took the hat back.