Finally, the duplex is finished! On to the next one!

I flew into Gunnison two weeks ago. It's one of our more dangerous airports--only Captains can fly in or out. It's in a pretty steep valley. If something goes wrong, there aren't a lot of options, so you have to be aware of everything that is going on, and be prepared to take immediate action is something isn't quite right.

The scenery on the way is beautiful, isn't it? We got quite a snow pack on the Rockies this year.We were grounded for almost an hour due to fog at DIA last week. Here we are, sitting in the de-ice pad, engines shut down, waiting for the fog to clear. What fog, you say?

THIS fog! The east side of the airport was clear, but the take-off runways were down to 500' (yes, five hundred feet) visibility. We can take off with 600' visibility. That's not much visibility when you are barreling down the runway at 150 MPH. Think about how scary it is to drive in dense fog at 55 MPH when you can barely see the car ahead of you. In 600' RVR (Runway Visual Range), you wouldn't be able to see the car in front of you if there was one--and thank goodness there isn't one!

We were in Sacramento two weeks ago. This bridge has appeared in one of my favourite TV shows--The Mentalist--several times.

This was the last snowstorm in Denver in early April--Aurora and points south got hit hard. It was pretty, though, and melted quickly. So, the instructions on the moving walkway are pretty clear, aren't they?

Um...really????

Glamour don'ts......Why is this guy wearing a teacup? Is this fashionable? Am I missing something--should I don a teapot tomorrow?

I'm sorry, but if your butt is THAT big, you probably shouldn't wear a lacy thing hanging out from under your shirt to accentuate it.Finally, as promised, the finishing touch on the duplex (the one I live in, for the next week at least!) You joined me last year during the saga of the gutting and renovating of the bathroom and kitchen. Well, the last project was finally completed this morning--the kitchen backsplash. The walls are pretty rough and ragged--I would have been smarter to gut it down to the brick (it's plaster and drywall over brick), then frame it and install new drywall. I didn't know that at the time, and I figured tiling over it would be easy enough. Then I got the granite, and realized that I didn't want tile. I thought about beadboard, but that would have taken a lot of work. So, I've lived with ratty unfinished walls for a year.

Then, I bought the new house and time started running short. I couldn't rent this out with unfinished walls with holes in them, so I decided to use the faux pressed tin. Here's the first sheet...And the finished product! Looks great, doesn't it? It doesn't compete with the granite at all--I was worried about too many textures and designs, but the tin looks fantastic! It really sets off the colours in the granite, and brightens up the cabinets, too!However, after all of that work, I only get to enjoy it for a week. But I get to move into my new home next weekend--and that's more than consolation, isn't it!

And, I rented out the half-duplex tonight! Ben and Tony move in next month!

Happy Birthday, Beau!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAU!!!

Today is Beau's 23rd birthday! In horse-years, that's OLD! But, he's going strong, healthy and happy, so I guess he's one of those sprightly old guys. We celebrated with party hats... chocolate cake (is there any other kind?)...apples (THANK YOU Auntie Trish!)More cake...I was covered with icing!Portrait of the Birthday Boy! Isn't he handsome?Everyone celebrated, including Luis, our barn guy-Even Ranger partied...a little too much, apparently...Then, unfortunately, Beau got his teeth done. That torturous contraption holds their mouth open so that the dentist can file their teeth down. Horses' teeth grow continuously, and chewing grinds them into sharp points which hurt. Those points need to be filed every year.The drugs are great, though!Back in the stall...a little more alert. A little more over the hill, too...

Hope your day included a piece of cake and an apple!

Dashing through the snow...!

As you may know, it's snowing here in Denver. Not just snowing, but DUMPING! I had to go to the barn during this blizzard to check Ranger's bandages and to give him bute (horsey vicoden). I also wanted to be sure that Beau was doing OK--it's a cold wet snow, and he's having trouble keeping weight on so I don't want him to get chilled. This is what I found...

I LOVE this photo--it looks like Ranger has an icicle hanging off of his ear!

Thank you, Dana, for blanketing Beau. He was toasty warm under the blanket!Just so you know--they can both go into their sheds to be out of the elements. Neither of them do, though. Ranger loves to play in the snow and I suppose he'll be rolling snowballs all day tomorrow!

I'm home now, drinking tea with some of the fabulous honey that John & I picked up at the Pike Place Market on our way to the Olympics. The snow is still falling, and should fall all night. Going to work tomorrow is going to be an adventure, to say the least...hope you are toasty warm with plenty of hay tonight!

More of the recent past!

This was not how I wanted to end my Sunday. I had just saddled Ranger after lunging him, and he started hopping as I asked him to walk off. Somehow, between saddling and mounting, he managed to slice open his foot just above the coronet band, right where the sidebone protrudes. That's the sidebone that was broken last summer and is still healing. Of course, I thought the worst! The vet came right out, cleaned it up, shaved it and realized that it looked a lot worse than it really was. Fortunately, although he sliced the skin and it bled a lot (and HURT), it didn't go into the foot structure. He should make a full recovery in a week. Still, it was a big puddle of blood. You can see two of my footprints to the right of it to get an idea of the size.

I'm trying to remember where this was. Somewhere on the East Coast--somewhere COLD. That's a SNOW PILE behind the BBJ!

This cool virga was on the way to Chicago the other day. Spring thunderstorms aren't far away.Speaking of Chicago, because the turn to the jetway had me turning about 130* blind, I insisted on a wing-walker. This is what I got.Really? You are USING A TRAFFIC CONE??? YOU ARE TOO LAZY TO GET WANDS???

Time to unveil the new house! We're in escrow. Yes, I'll live here--this is the first house I've purchased in which I WANT to live. Every other place has either been so below market value that I couldn't pass it up, or because I needed the tax break. This is the first house I've walked into and said, "I'm home. This is THE place."

I fell in love with it during an estate sale (hence the mess). This photo is from the living room. The next room is the formal dining room, and the room after that (to the left) is the sun room with the blueish arched thing. To the right through the door with walnut trim (not arched) is a glimpse of the breakfast room and just past that, almost invisible from the sunlight, is the kitchen.The kitchen has walnut cabinetry with art deco pulls.This is the fireplace mantle niche. LOVE the art deco Italian roccoco tiles!Speaking of Italian roccoco, in the '30's, wealthy homeowners had fountains inside their homes. This is mine (although I'm certainly NOT wealthy!). I'm hoping that I can get the bubbler going again. It's in the sun room, which is completely tiled with blue, aqua, teal and green tiles. Garish, yes, but totally art deco cool? Absolutely!On closer inspection, I spotted something funny...the center tile is upside down! Those are dolphins with Poseidon's Trident! Speaking of fish, these are at my favourite sushi place. :-) OK, I can't eat them--they have such CUTE smiles!!!Ever wonder what goes on in an airport in the middle of the night?

Absolutely nothing....

There had to be one...why? Do you REALLY think that pajamas are appropriate travel attire?

The Rocky Mountain Horse Expo was last weekend. I attended all 3 days. Karen Scholl was among my favourite clinicians. This horse was running his owner over. In fact, he bolted and knocked her down when she brought him into the arena. Karen worked with him, then taught the owner how to ask for respect. Within an hour, the horse was standing like this--quiet, respectful and a delight to be around.

I went to the Mane Event, which featured horses from around the world. The ever-wonderful Arab-A dressage horse. I think this is a Dutch Warmblood.And a Dragonhorse from Romania...complete with fairy princess. Actually, he's a Percheron. The little blur running around him is an Icelandic pony. Those little things can MOVE!And move and move and move! They have very smooth gaits--you won't spill a beer when you are riding one! Not that you should be drinking beer when riding horses.This is a BLM Mustang that was available for adoption. I couldn't believe it, but he's a blue roan dun. I didn't know that there was such a colour combination. It's incredibly rare.Had to show his face, too. He was a really nicely built gelding with a great personality. Should have adopted him...The Westernaires colour guard.
My crew & I were in Birmingham, so we hopped the trolley to get BBQ and the best banana pudding I've ever had!That's just a little of what I've been up to the past few weeks. Hope you are having as much fun--and a lot less blood!