Black Canyon Quilt Show in Montrose

We returned to Delta, to the home of our friends Pam and Fred this past Tuesday. The days are flying with much to do before we head out on Sunday for our campout at Ridgway. Dan and I really like that park, so we were pleased that our host and hostess wanted to return there for their monthly campout. The temps there are quiet a bit cooler than here so we will enjoy that too.

Pam invited me to go with her to the Black Canyon Quilt Show in Montrose today. I have looked forward to this because my Grannie and Mom were avid quilters. I've never seen so many beautiful quilts in one place in my life. I will remember this day!! I took many pictures. There was a section of quilts that were on display for a silent auction, those quilts could be touched. Then, there was the section with signs asking folks to refrain from touching. The folks who did any touching wore white gloves....these are works of art after all. I'm amazed at what folks can do with fabric and thread.

Check out some of my pictures!

There were approximately 150 quilts, all kinds of patterns, colors, themes, all beautiful. So much talent on display!

Grand Mesa-Anniversary Drive

We returned to Island Acres State Park, near Grand Junction, last Wednesday, got settled in and went fishing. We caught several small perch and released them. Thursday we went fishing again and caught many very small perch and a couple of small bass. We released all of them...I'm talking about 30 or so fish. It was a lot of fun. Great entertainment.

Friday I went shopping and we were planning to go fishing in the afternoon. I got information from the office person that one of the ponds in this park has catfish in it. Now we're talking. I'm from Arkansas and I don't know how other Arkansans feel but where I'm from catfish is THE fish. Dan and I will be giving that pond a try.

When I got home from my shopping expedition I got busy hooking up our new router...getting Dan back online was my anniversary gift to him. He is very pleased! It works like a dream!

Since we've been coming to this part of Colorado I've wanted to drive the Grand Mesa. It is said to be the largest flat top mountain in the world. Dan and I celebrated our anniversary today by driving the Grand Mesa. He drove so I could take pictures. Dan....thank you!!! It was a breath taking, beautiful drive. I've seen much of Colorado but the drive today goes to the top of my list of favorite places. We saw some wildlife, many lakes, some snow, and views that words don't do justice. Check out some of my pictures.

Yes....SNOW!!!

A fellow is paddling a small boat in the center of the lake!

Great memories!!!! Happy Anniversary Dan!

Camping---How Do You Do That!!!

The past week has been a blur. We returned to Delta on Friday and by Sunday, Father's Day, we were taking Caleb home. We spent most of Monday resting, enjoying our solitude and regrouping. On Wednesday our hostess, Pam, left to go visit her sister in Aztec, NM. I thought she would be gone until Monday. She surprised all of us and came in Saturday night. I didn't know she was on the place until I was checking emails Sunday morning. She emailed me to let me know she was home. As crazy as it might be, Pam and I email each other and we are about forty steps from the house. We sometimes even chat by computer. How cool is that?


I was happy to learn that Pam was home. That meant the four of us would attend church together. We were planning to go anyway but it's really nice to go together. The service was wonderful, such a blessing. We came home after the service and all of us hibernated the rest of the day. I've always thought Sunday should be family day....the world keeps its distance and families just hang out together. That's how I was raised. Good memories!!



Dan and Fred have been doing much work around the place, tending the garden, pruning bushes and trees, fighting the weeds, like my dear friend Janice said, all those things that go with having property. Of course this isn't our property but Dan helps Fred out when he can. Two days ago he was pulling weeds and moved the wrong way. He has to be careful about things like that. Multiple back surgeries and then a fractured back make being able to pull weeds something of a luxury. Today Dan is better but is still moving carefully.



Back when we decided to go fulltime in our motor home I remember asking Dan, "now what will we do for fun?" Before, our idea of fun was packing our RV and heading to a state park in Arkansas. You might make a note...Arkansas has some incredible state parks...great fishing and beautiful. Dan's answer was "I don't know". Well, I'm here to tell you we still get excited about going camping. Today I finalized plans to return to Island Acres near Grand Junction about noon tomorrow. We will be there a few days, then return to our base camp here and caravan with Pam and Fred back to Pa-Co-Chu-Puk for another campout. Today we went to the store to get our camping food. We don't want to have to run off for groceries once we get set up. I told Dan I'm so excited we are going camping. It's funny....we take our cabin on wheels, we don't have to load it, it's ready to roll. We are changing our yard and the view. I really do get excited about that. I'm trying to get Pam and Fred to come on up and join us there. I got a maybe on that one.



So, that's how camping is done. Put things away for travel, crank it, and roll. Yep, that's how you do that.



This is one of the views we will see by tomorrow afternoon.

We're going camping!!!! We're going camping!!!!

Wildlife, Walking, and Waiting

I keep thinking I'm going to blog more often and it's not happening. I remember my dear friend, Ellie, saying she was having too much fun to write about it. Guess that's the case here. I get up, get my first cup of cappuccino, head out with KD for our morning 45 minute hike near the hills, return home, get more cappuccino, cool off and then plan my day. It's not like I don't have the computer on because that's part of the ritual after my walk. I do follow my friends blogs. I must try harder, slow down, or something. My time in Colorado is very interesting, certainly not boring.

We were at the Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground in the Ridgway State Park for thirteen days. Pam and Fred came in on their scheduled date of arrival. We really enjoyed our time there. We got in a lot of fishing and caught our limit most of the days we fished. Caleb and I joined our friends for a few friendly rounds of Jokers Wild. The girls won some, the guys won some. Everyone came away happy. One evening Dan prepared a fish fry for the group since we had such good luck fishing. Everyone pitched in with some of their favorite dishes and the meal was great.

Last Friday the 19th we returned to Delta and to the home of our friends Pam and Fred. Saturday I made my wally world run. While we were in the state park we were about sixteen miles from wally world and I refused to run back and forth every day. Needless to say by the time I made my Saturday run we were getting low on things. I stocked up, came home and put the things away. Caleb was suppose to be with us until the 28th so I thought the food supply would last.

Saturday night Caleb announced he wanted to go home. After much discussion on Sunday morning we told Caleb to pack his stuff. He didn't want to leave on Father's Day...he wanted to wait until Monday. We took him home on Sunday...it was not the best Father's Day Dan ever had. Caleb is back in his world and we have our home back. We truly enjoyed having him with us but it was time for him to go home. He is suppose to get a job for the rest of the summer but that remains to be seen. I hope he does find some work. Things that come to mind are learning responsibility and team playing. Both never hurt anyone.

Here it is Wednesday already. I took KD out for our morning walk at 6 a.m. this morning. As we took off down the road toward the hills several elk took off across the field. I thought it was antelope but I've been informed it was elk.....beautiful creatures. KD didn't see them..she was too busy watching for the rabbits. When she sees the rabbits she just knows she is in for a chase until she gets to the end of the leash. That is precisely the reason she wears a harness. Poor baby.....in her mind she lives in the wilds and must chase anything that moves.

Yesterday my friend Pam came to the door and asked if I would like to go to New Mexico with her. Ohhhhh.....that was tempting. She was on her way to see her sister for what she called her sister fix. Having had and loving my sister as much as I did....I'm aware of sisters needing time together. I declined. Dan asked why I didn't go. I told him it was a sister thing. I told Pam to go and enjoy herself and to give Ginny a hug for me. They need alone time together without friends or husbands around. So, Pam left. It is strange here without her. She will be back on Monday. I hope.....well....I know she will have a blast. She and Ginny are very close and they always have a good time together. I'll wait until Monday to hear all about it.

One of the ponds at Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground!

Delta is the city of Murals...there are many here! In this picture, the bike is real.

Another mural!

Approaching one of the tunnels on I-70 while taking Caleb home!

Inside the Eisenhower tunnel!

A view of the beautiful mountains!

Whether one is viewing wildlife, walking for the sheer joy of it or waiting for a friend to return or waiting for the next campout.......this is the place to be.

Can you tell I absolutely love Colorado?

Camping In The Wilds

The camping club plans to meet at the Ridgway State Park, Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground for their campout in June. Dan and I talked it over and decided to go early so Dan and Caleb can get in some fishing before the official campout. Our friends Pam and Fred will join us no later than Sunday....we are hoping they can come a bit early.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!!!!

I am in awe of the beauty of this area. We look to the south and the east and see snow covered mountains. We are just north of the reservoir. The nightly temps are in the mid 40's, although it did get into the mid 30's one night, and the day temps are upper 50's to mid 60's. The elevation here is between 6500 and 7000 feet and that's just within Ridgway State Park. The park has three or four campgrounds or day use areas and the elevation changes that much within the State Park. Some mornings we have mule deer grazing near us. They are so different from the deer I've seen in Arkansas and Texas. The mountain terrain and the climate makes them a sturdier looking animal. We also have chipmunks running about, cute little critters.

When we first got here I got up each morning so happy that we have almost two weeks here. That time is down to little more than a week and I'm still in awe of this place. We have full hookups but with 30 amp instead of 50. That's as close to roughing it as we've had.

Not bad for camping in the wilds!!!!!!

Let The Games Begin!

This past Monday we drove to Grand Junction to the airport and waited for Caleb's plane to arrive from Denver. The plane was actually early. I was impressed. There he was coming through the door grinning. He went straight to his Dad and hugged him. It is so good to have him with us for a while.

Dan and Caleb have already been fishing and I understand they caught fish but released them. These two guys absolutely love fishing. Caleb was fishing when he was big enough to hang on to a fishing pole. One time we took him camping in Mississippi and I witnessed him teaching another child how to fish. I told him he did a very good thing. I just know that kid who is probably a teenager now is still fishing and loving it. Yes, he did a good thing.

We have a list of things to do while Caleb is here. Of course there is much fishing to be done, hiking, camping at a state park, geocaching, and 4 wheeling. We are going to be busy.

This crop duster was working on the field across the highway. Before he left he flew right over us.

This is a view of the mesa from the house.

This is a view of the house, airpark and the highway from top of the mesa.

Let the games begin! Yes!!!

The Adventure Continues!

We really enjoyed the James Robb Island Acres Park, one of the most beautiful parks we've been in. We walked the park and I got to see other sites and get the layout of the park. The site we were on was perfect, we had shade much of the day and we had a breeze most of the time. We were surrounded by mountains and hugged by the Colorado River. I hope someday we can return to that park.



Friday morning we returned to Delta and to the home of our friends, Pam and Fred. We have the view of views from our rv site on their land. We are looking out at the mesa to the north and to the south a mountain range with snow on the peaks. Pam and Fred live in an airpark and have a private hangar. The treat of the day is to sit inside the hangar and watch the traffic and visit. We talk about how we should be busy doing something and decide that whatever we need to do can wait another day. This is retirement after all.



Saturday came and went and I vaguely remember what we did. Remember this is retirement and I don't have to remember what I did...right!!! Hummm! OK, now I do remember Sunday. Dan and I went with Pam to church. The pastor had all the members of the congregation who were servicemen and women to come forward in honor of Memorial Day. The oldest fellow was a WWII veteran and he was presented with an award for his service. The pastor thanked all for their service to this country. Then, the pastor spoke on being soldiers for God. It was a good sermon.



Today we are talking about our plans over the next few weeks. This coming weekend Dan and I will travel by car to pick up Dan's son, Caleb. It is always a joy to have him with us. He brings life and energy to our home. He is a good kid, a smart kid. He likes to challenge his Dad. That is always fun to watch. When he was a little guy Dan had the upper hand. That may not be the case now. Caleb is taller and outweighs his Dad. This could get very interesting!!! Caleb told me the last time he was here that he was going easy on his Dad. Uh huh!!! He doesn't know his Dad very well. Let the games begin!



Sunday evening we had a storm come through the area and as I watched the clouds I grabbed my camera. Mother nature can really show her stuff!

Monday morning after the rain, everything looks fresh and clean. The mountains have fresh snow on their peaks and the mesa looks more alive with color.

What an adventure!!!