Deer From Dale's Veranda

We were sitting on Dale's veranda, after a lovely supper of our own making, and visiting about what a wonderful day we had.  "We" included, Sandy and Allen Clark, two of the dearest folks we have ever met, Dale Hannegrefs, whose praises we continue to sing, and Lance and myself: a motley crew, I might add.

Sandy spied two little deer foraging for tender grasses on a little strip of exposed vegetation in the river that runs along Dales property. Actually, the little river is the headwaters of the mighty Rio Grande, but here it is a little river.  These deer aid us no never-mind, until Sandy alerted all of us to their close proximity and I scrambled for my camera.  I don't know how wildlife know when they have been "made" but they immediately waded into the water and took their leave of us!

Can you imagine what a terrific backyard view Dale has?

There were two deer here but they separated before I got my camera rolling so I couldn't get them

both together.  

This doe was still wading and the water was getting deeper! 

This doe is the second doe who waded out into the water after the first one.

They eventually crossed tot he other side and were away!

Woods and River RV Park, Del Norte, Colorado

The Woods and River RV Park is a picturesque, slightly primitive RV Park, with zero amenities, but a terrific cottonwood lined riverfront and wide open grassy RV spaces.  It has great tenting areas along the river and under the cottonwoods, and full hook ups for RV's in the grassy area.  I am surprised that there are any spaces available at all because it is one of the prettiest Parks we have stayed at so far in our travels.  It is cheap to stay here with the Little House and we are so glad we have a whole month in this place.   We pay $388 including electricity, which suits us far better than up the road at The Mountain View RV park and Resort in Creede.

Another beautiful place!

Get a load of this pretty spot!  This is between the river and the RV spaces.  I can't get enough of this scenery.  Yesterday I saw a little buck and two does, bounding around along the riverbank..  It was like something out of Snow White, or Bambi!  I couldn't get to my camera soon enough to snap a pic for you all to see.

On the right is a biffy with actual flushing toilets.

I can't get enough of the beauty of this place.  It is only about 1/3 of a mile to town and it is a nice walk.  The town of Del Norte is a struggling, little, one-traffic-signal joint to stop and fill up with gas, eat a little something and then head on down the road.  There are a few sad store fronts, that are closed more than they are open, and look like they need a bit of paint and repairs, but mainly they need customers.  The locals run to Monty (Monte Vista) or Alamosa for their stuff.  All over town are hastily posted signs that read Spend Local, Shop Local.   It is a Catch 22 like in all small towns.  If there were more stuff and services, the locals would shop locally, and if more locals would shop locally, there would be more stuff and services.

Del Note is a good town, and I like it very much!

Magnificent Toadstool

Yesterday my husband brought me a beautiful toadstool and I was enormously delighted to be presented with such a fine specimen of natural beauty. Some women get flowers... and me, I get a toadstool, but that says more about me than it does about this sweet gift.  I like this kind of thing!   I think, however that it is a poisonous variety, so it got me thinking...hmmm.

Amanita Muscaria

 Here's the info I found on wikipedia.

 The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare. After parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. 

I thought this was interesting, how such a beautiful thing could be poisonous!   However, I enjoyed it for about 36 hours, until I had my fill of gazing at it and it had become wilted and tired looking.  I wrapped it in newspaper and threw it out.

Thanks, Lance for thinking of me as you and Dale roamed the wilderness!  

Some Changes to the Little House - This is a little dull but photos are coming!

Living in a tiny space poses a few unique challenges. (We live in a 22 ft Nash Travel Trailer, my husband and I, no pets.)  so, to make it more liveable we have made a few adjustments and/or additions, subtractions, and alterations.

1.  New awning sunblocker - We maximized the functionality of our awning by the addition of a sunblocker shade.  this is simply a curtain-type shade that hooksonto the edge of the awning, when it is extended, and hangs straight down to the ground.  What this does for us is it creates a shaded area under our awning, provides outdoor living in the rain, creates more living space which we find super valuable, and it looks cool.  Besides, all the big boys have them and I wanted one too.  So, I went to RV accessory websites and priced them,  Ouch.  I went to Ebay and found a new one, still in the package for half of the price!  My kind of deal!  So I bought it, Lance easily and quickly installed it, and here it is!   We found it really needed deflappers, and guy wires to make it very stable in the high winds.   We have had rain, rain , rain here in Southern Colorado and it is holding up beautifully. I will take some photos to show you what I mean stabilizing it. I love this sunblocker  and highly recommend it.    PHOTO

2.  We continue to weed out the stuff we need, versus the stuff we think we need.  When we first took off  RV-ing, we brought too much stuff with us.  I took my best guess but still took too much.  Living in our RV for 6 months now has given me some new perspective.  I could cull my whole LH (Little House) and rid myself of all the superfluous stuff but I am having too much fun to do it all in one sitting.  But, I cull as I go.  The things that I am letting go of  are excess kitchen linens.  I do far less dishes because I cook less than I thought I would.  It doesn't make sense to cook too much.  the kitchen in the LH is not designed for cooking three complex meals per day.  We still eat well, but we cook more simply.  We eat more raw stuff.  (Blog fodder for another day.)  the upshot is that we do less cooking, so we need less dish cloths, tea towels and etc.

I need fewer bath towels.  2 each is loads.  I do laundry about every 10 days and we reuse our towels.  I got those towels that are  made of microfiber that the army uses, because they dry in a snap and they are durable, lightweight and take up about 25% of the space as regular towels. They are really cool.  A quick note about them:  they feel really weird at first because they dry so well that they stick to you when you towel off.  However, you are dry immediately, which is the point, no?

3.  If there is an item that can do double duty, it can come with us on the road.  If it is a one use item it has to stay home.  For example:  I use hand soap to lather up my legs before shaving.  No need or space for ladies shaving foam.  Also, in the kitchen, my sieve is my colander.  I cook bacon, grill sandwiches, and cook meats, and wieners on my George Foreman Grill.   I eat out of my small mixing bowls.  I scrub myself with worn out kitchen sponges, and they work great!  I have one, I say, one (1) notebook that has the spine sewn together, you know the cheapie Walmart kind that has the speckled card board cover, and I write everything in it.  I just checked and they are called composition note books.  Everything gets written there, even the things that I would have normally written on post its.  This way I don't have papers everywhere and I know where I can find it later.   This is a very valuable tip!  Try it!  You will like it!  After some info becomes obsolete I cross it off with one line through, so I can still read it if I need the info again, by chance, and if I don't need it I can easily page thru to the good stuff.  If a whole page is lined through, then I cris cross the page.  You can easily blow through a bunch of pages and quickly find what you are looking for.  Hot tip!

We truly have no room for anything that is a cute little chotsky.  I have no tabletop room whatsoever.  So, if anything is pretty for pretty's sake, it has to be taped to the wall.  I have a few pretty pictures taped to the cupboard doors.

4.  Speaking of cupboard doors, I have magnetic strips in a line on the inside of the cupboard doors, along the top.  I can stick pins, tacks, bobby pins, and etc in a safe place,  out of sight and where I can find them easily.  I also screwed in a few cup hook to the insides of the doors.  I can hang my ear buds,9 I have several pair,) charger cords, sunglasses,  keys, tire pressure gauge and etc.  this works well.  I hate having little things that i use constantly, hanging around with no place to put them.  I also put a calendar there inside my cupboard doors, photos of the grand kids, and useful that i am supposed to remember, like when to rotate the tires on the rig or family birthdays.  My LH looks tidier for it.    PHOTO

5.   Sleeping Arrangements - ours are pretty good but pretty spartan.  I have to admit that we sleep really well in the LH.  lance sleeps on the double bed, diagonally, and with a full complement of sheets, blanket and bedspread.  I sleep on the jackknife bed, that is a sofa by day.  I also sleep diagonally and have to make up my bed every night and fold all the bedding and jack knife it into a sofa again the moment I wake.  I cannot be a slob and take my time because we need  turn our bedroom into a living space again upon rising.  Oh, I alsmost forgot.  The twin size jersey sheets that you can buy at department stores, fit the jacknife bed.  Because they are stretchy, a twin fits size  fits the irregular shape perfectly.  One adjustment I have yet to make is that my bedding takes up too much space when it is all folded and stored under Lance's bed.  It requires about 3 square feet.  A friend told me about a goose down sleeping bag, but I think I will pick up my goose quilt with my flannel sheet.  I think that will be better.  As spartan as our arrangements sound, we sleep very well, like two logs.

6.  Our bathroom situation is less than perfect, but  still very workable.  When we are in a campsite we do small business in the LH, and big business in the restrooms at the park or campsite.  No big deal.  We use our bath tub for a place to store our dirty clothes, in a hamper, waiting for us to do laundry.  I also use a dishpan for my shoes.  I hate to have shoes all over the place because they are big and clunky, they should be on the floor (  you can't put them on the table or counters and I have no closet space) so I put them heel down and toe up in a dishpan.  It can hold 4 pair and I sit the whole works int he tub beside the hamper.  I shower at the campsite.  Or if  I need to use my own shower, it is simple to remove the hamper and dishpan, and replace it after I shower.  This works well to keep my living space tidy.      PHOTO

7.  THE BEST ALTERATION WE MADE TO THE LH!   You know what a kitchen looks like in a trailer.  They are all the same, and mine is tidier than most because I see to it that it is!  What we found is that Lance and I are so big that we have to stand sideways to pass each other in the kitchen area, between our stove and the kitchen dinette.  Our LH has the dinette that is actually two very uncomfortable right angle bench that face each other with a tiny table in between - you know what I mean, the kind that the table flops down and fits between the benches, and the back cushions remove to flat and make a mattress?  Well, this is not very workable for us, because we are tall and big folks. We don't need a bed for midgets, at least not in the foreseeable future.   So we took the table out and cut it off on the wall side by about 5.5 inches, and reattached it to the wall in a permanent fashion.   And it doesn't wobble anymore.  The improvement made a huge difference.  Now we can pass by one another with ease, and I can now reach to the back of the cupboards that are over the table.  Lance could always reach this space but I couldn't.  I used to ask him to put the stuff away that belongs there, and he is happy to do it but he is no good at it.  All the stuff has to be just so, nested together and in the "right" way so it will all fit.  Now it is better.  Much better!  In fact, I will reiterate!  It is flaming awesome!  I love it so much!        PHOTO

Texans

Oh Texans!  So much can be said about them, so I will say a little, since this is my blog, and I have an opinion! Tuddy-dut!

We parked our rig in the Mountain Views RV Park and Resort, but we may as well have parked it in Texas, in fact, to quote Bugs Bunny, we thought we may have taken a wong toyn in Albukoikee!  Nope, we were in Creede, Colorado, about three hours south west of Denver, up in the high Rocky Mountains!

So, why is half of Texas here, RV-ing in Creede?  Well, there are several answers.  One reply I received when asking a lady from Texas that very question said, and this is a direct quote including her Texas accent, "Texas use' ta own Colarada, ya know!"  Well, that explains everything!  Her brash answer succinctly sums up the Texas attitude around here.  They feel they "used to own it" and so they claim some kind of convoluted entitlement even now. (What actually happened in a nutshell is that the Republic of Texas included what is now part of Colorado, but that all changed after the war of 1846.)

Another answer, which I think is more accurate,  is that Texas is bleedin' hot in the summer, and the senior citizens with dough and an RV get out of there and head for higher country.  The ones who choose Creede are the ones that wish to avoid the incredibly high mountain passes in every direction, except to hed for the San Luis Valley. It provides a route that is easier to drive in a half a million dollar Class A Diesel Pusher.  The roads into Colorado from the south are tricky, and tough, to say the least.  We know because we survived the Wolf Creek pass, at 27 miles per hour in first gear, all the way up!

Big 4 wheeler, bigger truck, and biggest Rig!

Back to Texans!  They have always summered here, since before there was a Texas and before there was a Colorado.  When people  are too hot they find ways of getting to cooler climes. The attitude of the Texans here is that  Colorado is a quaint and sleepy little back woods state located conveniently in Texas's back yard and made for Texan's enjoyment.

 In the spring, after the main melt in rural Colorado, here they come with their brightly colored, super turbo 4 wheelers, secured on to matching trailers, and pulled behind  mammoth motor-homes.  Their clear intent is to buzz all over John Denver's country roads and get their Rocky Mountain high, until the temperatures fall and  time to head south, to the cooler weather in the Lone Star State. And some of them have been coming here all their lives!  It is unlike anything I have ever witness before in such magnitude:  how one group of people can feel so entitled to overwhelm another. (Sadly, this happens all the time in our country and all over the globe. ) The people of Creed, and I imagine all the small Colorado towns,  have come to rely on the Texans  spend their money and breath life into their diminishing economies of southern Colorado.  So, it ain't all bad and it seems to be the only option, unless of course the silver market recovers.

Creede is a great example of this.  It is a mining town that hasn't mined since 1985 and so now must rely on tourism to keep afloat.  and it seems to be working...barely.  Creede has some economic issues and is experiencing many difficulties, but the locals are fiercely loyal to their town and they will tough it out in their mountain home any way they can.  After all,  it is Creede we are talking about.  And Creed is a fine place.

I love it too.

Wildlife Photos

Here are the photos of note, taken while we were camped in Creede, and Del Norte, in southern Colorado


This young Big Horn Sheep was sitting on the side of the narrow road, on the steep slope, lower than road level and we drove by, Lance spotted him, and we continued 25 yds farther and stopped the car.  We  crept back so we would not scare him away, and to our amazement this little sheep was all by himself and as curious about us as we were about him.  He came right up to us and,  since our friend Dale was wearing a sheep colored shirt, he felt like he and Dale were kin.  We were delighted that he seemed to have no fear, and our inclination was to hold out our hand.    All three of us were spellbound.  We froze to encourage him to stay so close, so I could take some photos.  He stood within a couple of yards of us, sizing us up, and slowly determined that we were not his kind, and we had nothing for him.
 

The little sheep left the road and went down the embankment and settled in a sunny spot about 25 yards away.  I took a dozen photos of him and he was a very tolerant subject indeed. He went on about his business of sitting int he sun.

Soon, we were the ones to leave as we had a whole lot more fun to do before calling it a day!






On another day we saw a few Marmots.  These little fellows are very cute and seem huggable.  They are not friendly, and if they get skittish they jump into their burrow just like a prairie dog, which I am sure they are related to in some way.  They are kind of like a badger, sort of beaver-ish too.  They are so cute!  When they retreat, they scamper along with bowed front legs, and they fling their short tail wildly in circles, round and round as they go!  They are stinking cute!

Cute little guy,I wish you could see the tail going in circles!

Over the course of a few weeks we also saw several moose,  one at a time,  feeding in the grass near streams or ponds.  They are ungainly creatures with long gangling legs, a bulbous nose and a short body.  They have antlers that point skyward, and their hair is a very dark brown, surprisingly dark brown: so brown it can only be a moose!  (That is what I look for when looking for moose!)  In spite of  looking as though they are made of spare parts, moose are very beautiful and I never give up hope in looking for them and am delighted when I actually spot one.  They are rare, or should I say, they are not easy to find, or maybe they are plentiful around here and it is me who is rarely in moose country! Probably the latter.

And we saw plenty of  sheep!  Big Horn Sheep!  I wish my dad was alive to tell him about all my adventures.  He would have sat for as long as it took to hear all of my stories of my terrific days in Colorado.  I am in my element here!  The Boonies!  Why was I not a mountain man? (I digress.) 

 These sheep were standing on the roadway, and Dale slowed his rig so I could scramble with my camera.  These lambs and ewes were taking off quickly.

 These sheep were quite far away and I had to zoom in to see them far up on the hillside.  We watched them  for quite a few minutes but they were on the move and clipping along the steep and rocky terrain with amazing sure-footedness.  They have no problem getting around up there, even the little lambs.  There are folks that think these are goats,  because of the goat-like look of them.  I too thought they were goats, but mountain goats have  snow white, shaggier hair and are much more spectacular, with their black, pointy horns. These little sheep are scruffy and beige...oh, nothing is sadder than to be beige animal, unless it is to be a scruffy beige animal, and these were.  A sad looking little lot they were.  But, such is sheepness!   My friend Dale is the final say on these matters.  He knows everything.

More sheep

  

These fine fellows are rams.  They are quite spectacular with their white rumps and their curling horns.  Wow!   What a sight.  Sorry these photos are blurry.  I had to zoom in to get this shot and when you zoom, all is magnified and so any little movements are also magnified, hence the blurriness.  I will get better though.

Here is Dale.  He is a very dear and generous man.  Lance and I have him to thank for the terrific 30 days we spent in Creede!  He was wonderful to take us up in the boondocks, the tops of the mountains, and show us many of the peculiarities of Creede and the area.  Thank you Dale, so so much for everything!

Notice the sheep colored shirt Dale is wearing!  Love him!

Stars Over Creede

  Here is a small water color painting.  I was attempting try painting that I could finish in just one

sitting, as I have such limited space in the Little House to have my painting stuff all over the place!

I have made this painting about 6 times, trying to get the right look!  I am learning lots about watercolors!  As you can see I named this one Over the Rockies, because I have not perfected the horizon of Creede yet.   This painting lives as our daughter Heidi's house in Denver.   I will post the other paintings as I get better at posting!

The Mason's Big Neon Sign

I was driving home from Creede to Del Norte, and was keeping a eye out for an interesting subject for a night-time photo, to practice my photography skills.  The southern Colorado skies are very dramatic, as well as the weather, scenery and etc.; plenty of great photography opportunities.

Suddenly, I happened onto these unique neon signs, on the hillside, in the darkness.  They stood out like a pair of lighthouses in a dark harbor! My guess is that they are about 20' X 20' and are about 400 yards off the highway!  

MASONS, MASONS, MASONS!  (Would you imagine there were masons around here?  Why don't they put up a sign somewhere?  Like neon, on the hillside, above the lodge?)

The obvious question is, what are these signs for?  Do they attract Masons?  Do they indicate where the lodge is?  I would think that if one belonged to the secret society of the masons, then one would know where to find more Masons,  or am I all washed up?  I don't pretend to know one thing about them, but I think they have rockin' signs on the hillside over the lodge!  Kind of a point of interest marking an otherwise blase ride into South Fork from Creede.

Wow!  These were huge!  The only way they could be more splashy and brash would be if they were flashing on and off!  Now that I have suggested it, maybe they will be flashing the next time I drive by!  (I hope I am not offending any Masons!)

and....I TOOK A PHOTO IN THE DARK!  Hooray!  I am learning to be a better photographer!

This is the Top of the World

Here is a photo of the top of the Rocky Mountains.  A wonderful friend, Dale Hannegrefs,

This is Lance on the left and Dale on the right. 

took us in his four-wheel drive pickup for an all-day trip along Engineer Pass, American Basin and Cinnamon Pass.  We started in Lake City, Colorado and followed the alpine Loop.  It was nothing short of breathtaking!

There are 52 peaks in Colorado that are approximately 14,500 ft high!  We were there, looking out across the expanse, and looking these peaks right in the eyes!

This is the steepest hillside!  I think this kind of road is called a shelf road.  One side goes straight up the mountain and one side goes straight down, and down and down into the valley 1500 or 2000 ft below!  It was scary, no, terrifying to ride on the downhill side of the truck. I loved to look down and squeal with fear!   Sometimes while looking out the window, I could not see the road  beneath the truck!  Or the bottom of the canyon, for that matter!  It was very thrilling!   Dale is an old hand at these roads and a very cool driver! The stick you see is a marker used to tell where the road is when it is covered with 25' of snow.

Even though this was June 25th, there was a surprising amount of snow.  The weather was glorious and warm enough for T-shirts. It is a very thrill to look at these peaks in the distance and to realize that we are the same altitude as they.  Mankind is insignificant indeed!