Made It Home

We made it home Thursday about ten thirty am...We wanted to attend the board meeting at one pm so our timing was within reason...I wanted to check out the Ball Room and listen to the acoustics for the first time since the remodeling...The contractors did a beautiful job and my job will be a lot easier on the console...Friday we started unpacking the motor home...It will take us about a week to get things back to normal...I unpacked all my carving equipment and tried to get the shop in order...I hope to get things hooked up and be able to start carving again...I always need more room...Mary Ann was in a quandry on whether or not to buy a new refrigerator...The old one is about seventeen years old and getting worn in places, but it still runs good and makes ice...Well, Sunday she made up her mind and went to Sears and bought a new one...It will be delivered Wednesday...Now she wants a new range...So we will have to have some electrical work done before she can buy and have a new range delivered...I love to see her shop and plan for new things...I believe she is the happiest when she has a new project in mind...This morning I am going to my first wood carving meeting for the season...I hope there are enough members back to be able to meet...I want to finish painting the carvings that I did this summer...Sorry I took so long in bringing you to date, but unpacking in this hundred degree heat takes a lot out of me...I hate to admit that it is probably the seventy-six years of experience that I have...Talk to you later with some pictures...I hope to take some pictures of my wood carving after I finish painting them...Talk to you later...Philip

Let Me Catch You Up

I got up Monday morning to high winds, rain, snow and temperatures in the low thirties...There was only one decision to make...Go or no go?..Well the final decision was to wait twenty four hours and see what would happen...Tuesday morning was cloudy, but it wasn't raining...Checked the weather, on the computer along the route, and looked good except Raton Pass...We hooked the car up and disconnected utilities...Looked at the sky one more time, jumped into the motor home and took off...The wind was a little strong but navigable...When we got to Castle Rock we could see some breaks in the clouds...Traffic was heavy in Colorado Springs...When we got to Trinidad there was snow on the side of the road...All the mountains were capped with snow...Now the dreaded pass...The road is clear and traffic is moving...We reach the summit at forty five MPH and start down the South side and gear down...There is still heavy, broken clouds as we enter New Mexico...I told Mary Ann that I wanted to go as far as we could with out becoming too tired...Interstate 40 looked good...We turned West at Albuquerque and decided we had had enough for the day..We stopped at Enchanted Trails RV Park and were assigned a space...The sky was clearing and the wind began to calm down...Mary Ann prepared a delicious Chinese Chicken dish and I checked the e-mail and was ready for bed...I woke up and could not go back to sleep, so I decided to let you know we are well on our way to Happy Trails and should arrive on Thursday...We want to stop and spend the night at the crater east of Flagstaff...Well I will talk to you later...Philip

Checking Weather

I am up checking the weather early...We just had a front move through yesterday with strong winds...The forecast for today is another front moving in from the NW and bringing snow...We have to make a decision about leaving ahead of the front or maybe being held up for a couple of days...It looks like we may leave early this morning and try to get through Raton Pass before the weather hits...There are a lot of RV parks along out route, so if the weather gets too bad we will stop and wait it out...That is a great thing about being retired, we do not have to be any place at any time...I will talk to you later after our decisions are made...Philip

Catchup Day

Today  I will try to catch up with things that I have been allowing to slide...Mary Ann is planing on washing and I will catch up with some outside motor home maintenance...I want to do some carving on an eagle head that I have started...Tomorrow is a woodcarving show in Ft. Collins...I hope to take some pictures and look for some books that I need...It is always an inspiration to look at other artist's work...I want to carve an image of my dog Sunshine...The image of the Mayan Moon Goddess has turned out better than I expected...I do miss my equipment at home and am looking forward to getting back...Ann Smith wrote Mary Ann an e-mail stating that the Christmas Show is coming along real well and she was sending me some information...I do look forward to the Christmas Show and the Variety Show...Talk to you later...Philip

Other Pictures

Sorry...These did not post...Philip

Looking For Aspins

Today we took a tour to Fairplay,Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, Keystone, Love land Pass, Golden, and back to Chatfield...We were looking to see if the aspens had turned yellow...We woke up to a cloudy and foggy morning...We decided to go anyway...We were not disappointed...We had to get to an elevation of about eight thousand feet before there had been frost to turn the leaves...There had been frost and there was fresh snow in the higher elevations...I tried to get some of the beauty of the season on camera...Here are some of the pictures...Talk to you later...Philip

Today We Moved

 Today we moved back to Chatfield...We will be here a week and then we will head for home...We plan to head up to the mountains by Fair Play to look for the turning of the aspens leaves...I will take some pictures if they have turned...We are not through setting up our canopy, so I will go out and do some more work after lunch...I will talk to you later...Philip

Pictures We Took Today

Here are the pictures we took this afternoon in Rocky Mountian National Park...The bulls were bugeling and hearding the females...You will see the male mounting the female in one picture...This was a very interesting afternoon...Philip

Tons Of Downloads

If you ever take your competer to day one, there will be tons of downloads...I realize that after five years, I have a lot of up dates...It has taken me most of three days and I am still getting updates...I do keep my computer up to date for security reasons...Today it has stopped raining...We thought there might some frozen stuff, but it bypassed us this time...Our plans are to go back to Rock Mountain National Park and observe the elk once again...We are trying to get close up pictures during the mating season...I did not realize the enjoyment I would receive from my camera...We will be leaving St. Vrain Tuesday and returning to Chatfield...We will be there for a week and then we will head for Arizona...I always have mixed emotions about ending the travel season and returning home...I will always look forward to the busy activities of the resort...I will post the pictures of todays trip tonight...I have some interesting pictures of some birds that I want to carve...You might get a preview of future carvings from of these pictures...Talk to you later...Philip

I THINK I HAVE LEARNED TO IMPORT PICTURES

THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME LEARN A NEW PROGRAM...PHILIP

MORE PICTURES

Stay with me...I am learning...Philip

Still Trying

Here we go again...Philip

FINALLY GOT THE COMPUTER WORKING AGAIN

After days of working to get my computer back, it looks like it is working again...I am using with delicate hands...I have decided, with Mary Ann's permission to purchase a new one after the new windows comes out...I am hoping this one will hold together until sometime in October when the new Windows is suppose to be released...Well we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and watched the elk gathering...Their bugeling could be heard eccoing through out the mountains...Witching the females going to the sound of the chosen bugel...Watching the males sparring for terrirorial rights...We did take some pictures, but the rangers were not letting us get too close to the activity...The educational value of travel is unending...I wish I could share the experiences with you...One of the most important things in life is having someone to share these experiences, like eating out, watching TV or a movie, riding down the road, cold crisp air in the morning, smelling the bacon cooking out in the open, the camp fires at night and the fellowship of fellow campers...I don't see how anyone could possible go through life without a partner that is reading off the same page...Well here are some pictures....Talk to you later...Philip

COMPUTER PROBLEMS

My computer crashed and I have had to completely start from scratch...I am now putting all the programs back on...I am fortunate to have backed up most of pictures, documents, and favorites...I was up all night with updates...I had 92 updates for windows...I hope to have it back to normal by Sunday...I will talk to you later...Philip

The Family Reunion Is Over

Well we had three days of family fun…There were from Missouri,   Nebraska, Illinois, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas…It was constant eating, play, eating, sight seeing, eating, and oh yes, family fellowship…I tried my best not to pull any ones chain…Only because I promised Mary Ann that I would be good…There were a lot of pictures taken and passed around…I had seventy-one pictures when I put them on the computer…I made enough CD’s for each family to have all the pictures that I took…Of course I am not going to put all of the pictures in the blog, but will give you enough to see what was going on…We are going to St. Vrain in the morning…we want to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park and see the elk bulls gathering their females and fighting the other bulls off…Late in the evening to hear them bugling in the crisp cool air is a real treat…We have done this for the last three years…I will try to take pictures of the herds and all the activities…Talk to you later…Philip Karen’ family Mary Ann, daughters, sister,and grand daughters

Mary Ann and daughters

Another of Rob and family Look Who is lazy We did eat…

We Are Off The Road Now

For the last three days we have traveling…Trying to get back to Denver for Mary Ann’s family get-together for the Labor Day week-end…We left Sheyenne, Wyoming this morning and arrived here in Chatfield State Park about ten-thirty am…We are now hooked up and getting ready to have lunch…It is good to be back in telephone range again…The Computer is much faster than it has been…As Mary Ann said,”It is great to be back in the city”…I will put the large canapé up this afternoon before the group arrives…It is a little on the warm side so I might wait until late in the afternoon…I will post pictures of the get-together when they all get here…Most of them are due in tomorrow…Mary Ann wants to go to the grocery store and post office and pick up our mail…It has been almost two weeks since we have received mail…I have a lot to get done before dark, so I will try to post something tonight…Talk to you later…Philip