Longmont, Colorado Springs, and Home

Too busy for photos, but this is close.

 Wow!! My last week in Longmont proved to be busy, strenuous and exhausting. My daughter, Kathy, decided to move, so it was scramble time. A house opened up that fit her needs and she took it. We reserved a truck, started sorting out closets and storage areas, made mental notes of how we'd handle the logistics on moving day, and lined up some helpful friends of the kids.

Moving is always stressful, and this was no exception. The departing owners were very disorganized and did not share our standards of cleanliness. The day we wanted to clean before moving in, they were still moving out, so we spent half the day helping get them out of the way so we could get in.

Even this was too small.

The truck we reserved proved not to be big enough, so a couple of the kids used their pickups to move a lot of the garage stuff and, even that took two loads each. We also loaded every available car to take stuff to the new house. We fed everyone pizza for lunch and take-out Chinese for the ones who stayed for dinner.

Hats off to our 'crew'. Those kids were our heroes, for we could not have accomplished it at all without their willing muscle and 'can-do' attitudes. It was a veritable bucket brigade for both the loading and unloading of all the furnishings and endless bags and boxes. They rocked.

Getting settled in went fairly smoothly. We finished some serious scrubbing, a little painting, lots of deciding where stuff went and hanging artwork on practically every vertical surface. The house finally has my daughter's touch on it and everyone is doing well in their new home, including the dog.

Me, Doug, Carolyn (I have a lot to learn about 'selfies')

I pushed my departure until the last possible moment, staying an extra week, and adjusting my scheduled visits and route home accordingly. I didn't want to be on the road for the week before 4th of July due to all the anticipated traffic and I had promised Mom I'd be back by July 1st.

I drove down to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, Carolyn, and bro-in-law, Doug, as well as my niece and her kids who live there, also. I only stayed a couple of nice, restful days before hitting the road home. I had to cancel a visit to my nephew and his family in the Salt Lake area, and took I-70 west, and I-15 south, then roads through Bakersfield and Paso Robles to the coast.

I drove home in two long days rather than three short ones, and it was fairly uneventful while being somewhat tiring. I was pretty done-in by the time I finally unloaded my car on Friday night. I had the wettest and stormiest June ever in Colorado and came back to a very dry weather pattern on the Central Coast.

It was good to sleep in my own bed and good to see Mom, but always sad to leave my family in Colorado. I was welcomed by a mountain of mail, including a jury summons for the following week, and lots of getting caught up on everyday business. I had a great visit with my family and friends with loads of activity and good times. I'm already looking forward to next year's visit.

Th-th-that's all, Folks!!!

McClave, CO

Jeff /Bert, Connie/Harry, Amy/Dekker, me, Jessica, & JW

I drove to Denver and had a lovely afternoon with a high school classmate and his wife. We could have visited well into the evening, but I had to get going, so we tore ourselves away and promised to get together, again, next year. I got on I25 south and ran into heavy rain and storms between Denver and Colorado Springs. I had my windshield wipers going as fast as I could and still had trouble seeing the road. That area is a 6-lane freeway and traffic was going 50-60 mph, hydroplaning on a steady sheet of water. Insane.

I got through that thunderstorm, common to the area this time of year, and drove to my sister's house in Colorado Springs, where it was dry. They are on vacation, but I had to drop off and pick up some things on my way south. I visited very briefly with my niece and got going again. It was already 5-ish and I had at least 3 hrs drive to get to my older daughter's house in McClave, a few miles west of Lamar, CO, in the southeast corner of the state.

I went east on Hwy 71, turning south on Hwy 287, hoping to beat or avoid the storms moving in the same direction, but no luck. I found myself on a two-lane hwy, sandwiched in between several semis, facing a solid yellow wall of ugly. Whatever was in there wasn't good, but I figured if the semis were going forward, I'd tough it out, too. I heard a large plop on my windshield, and then, another, and I was suddenly engulfed by a wall of rain, hail, and wind. Again, I had my wipers going as fast as possible, white-knuckling the steering wheel, leaning forward and focusing on the tail lights of the truck in front of me. I even turned on my flashers so the truck behind me wouldn't run into me.

Top to bottom; Decker, Bert, & Harry

I got out of that mess quickly, but not fast enough for me, and arrived at Connie's house by 8:30pm, and it was already dusk because of the heavy clouds. It was weird driving out of that storm because there was a break in the dark clouds and I could see clear blue sky and white fluffy stuff above, while, to the west, I saw a huge, dark red-orange orb between the black of the storm clouds and the horizon. Strangely beautiful, but there was not enough shoulder to pull off and take a picture. I was really glad to get to Connie's house and be off the road and out of all that weather. A rather nerve-wracking day for me. I'm a west coaster, now, and not used to it, anymore.

We had a quiet week, really. Jeff, my son-in-law, was home every night to visit, (he often is out of town for his job as Ranger of the Comanche National Grasslands), I watched Amy and Connie ride for a while, and got to see her prize foal and a couple yearlings they have. I, also, got to meet their new dogs, Harry and Decker, both Russel Parsons, not to be confused with Jack Russel's. They are so cute. Three of the oldest dogs all passed last year, so the new pups are a welcome bunch. They go everywhere with the family. Jeff has Bert, a Border Terrier, Connie and Amy have Harry and Decker, the Russel Parsons.

I've been as relaxed as Bert all week.

Connie, who does web design, advertising layouts, and logos, was busy all week trying to get some work finished before she and Amy leave for a two-week horse show, so it was a little hectic for her. I worked on my genealogy project for their dad's side of the family. It is fascinating to me, but time-consuming. It can get very frustrating with conflicting dates and multiple children with the same name when you go back a couple hundred years, but I enjoy working on it. I can't seem to get around all the day-to-day interruptions when I'm home, so I get more done when I'm back here. I still enjoy being around everyone, taking breaks with them, sharing in their day's activities and visiting in the evenings. I just love being with my family.

 The biggest hail stones I've ever seen.

We had a couple days of heavy storm activity with threat of tornadoes, too. One night, we were watching the storm tracker while a heavy cell was moving right towards us. It lightened up as it passed over us, and touched down south of us. There were other touchdowns north and east, also. While it passed, however, we heard the heavy pounding of hail and, when we felt safe enough to explore, we found the biggest hail stones I've ever seen. Miraculously, the house, barn and horse trailer escaped major damage, with just a few dents to the shed row roof. We had moved all the trucks and cars into the barn and garage and we heard later that a neighbor suffered extensive damage to their vehicles that were left out. We felt pretty blessed.

My grandson, J.W., came home Friday evening from finishing college at West Texas A&M with a bachelor's in business. It was good to see him, again. Amy is also finishing up high school this summer in her home-schooling program. I'm very proud of both of them. J.W. brought home his girlfriend, Jessica, for the weekend, too. She just finished up at Colorado State University, in Ft. Collins, and it was nice to meet her and get to know her, too.

Next stop; Loveland, CO, to see my brother and sister-in-law and, then, Longmont, for my last few days before the long drive home.