Really, Mother Nature? Really?

Dear Mother Nature,

We had an agreement: once Labor Day passed, we were home free as far as fires go.

This year, we made it all through the summer without one. single. fire.

And then came Labor Day.  I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking we were out of the woods.

Boy, was I wrong.  The Fourmile Fire burned (and is continuing to burn) 6,400 acres; it's only 73% contained and has burned 166 structures.  I'll give you the Fourmile Fire, as it started on Labor Day, and our agreement was once Labor Day passed we were home free.

Today, however, was completely uncalled-for.  700 acres west of Loveland and not a bit contained.  Really?  Today is *clearly* a violation of our agreement.

Who the hell peed in your Cheerios?  Can't you just smite the person who pissed you off and get on with it? 

The rest of us are tired of breathing in smoke and worrying about how fast the fire is moving and which of our friends is next to be evacuated.

So, really, just smite the person you're pissed at and be done with it already bitch.

Sincerely,
Fed up with fires already

Just another perfect day(te)

The Denver Zoo welcomed quadruplet tiger cubs earlier this year and released them from the nursery on August 31.  As soon as RCC saw that he decided we needed to go see the babies at the zoo.  We made a date to go.

I got off of work early Thursday evening (meaning I'd only worked 9.5 hours) and we decided to go out to dinner and then a movie at the three dollar theater (boy do we know how to live large!).  Lucky me, our date started a whole twelve hours early.

I cancelled my standing shooting date with Tara for Friday and off we went to the zoo to see the babies.  We were pretty much lazy bums and didn't get to the zoo until early afternoon where we got a pleasant surprise - because the zoo had a fundraiser that evening and would be closing early, we got in for half price!

We saw Lions....

...and tigers...

...and bears...

...and the cutest darn ocelots on the planet...

...and the coolest upside-down reflection ever...

...and then we went back and saw more tigers...

I could have stood and watched those cubs all day.  Only six weeks old and already larger than some dogs.  Finally, being jostled by all the little kids who wanted to see the babies got old and we decided to continue our date at Casa Bonita.

Now before y'all get excited about us going to some romantic place, go check out the link for Casa Bonita. 

It's okay, I'll wait.

You get the gist?  It's as romantic as you can make it with all the kids running around (blessedly few since we were there so early), but it is perhaps the most fun restaurant anyone can go to and is a Denver landmark (even though it's technically in Lakewood).

Of course, our date wouldn't have been complete without a cheesy picture at the fountain in front of Casa Bonita.

Just for you South Park fans, here's a little video of Casa Bonita for you (no, it's not us in the video).



What do you think HCRers - should we build a trip to Casa Bonita into our schedule?

The Sky Is Falling!!!

Well, not exactly, but a good portion of the mountains south east of the Lodge is on fire.  Over 7100 acres have burned, including 92 structures and one fire truck.

This is what I fear every year - wild fires.  I thought we were almost out of the woods without one single fire in our little piece of paradise until yesterday.  The Fourmile Fire has grown like crazy and there was another, smaller fire in the Tahosa Valley, just a couple of miles from the Lodge.

The smoke from the Fourmile Fire is visible on satelite...

Scary stuff...

True Story Tuesday is Back!!!!!

After summer break, it's time to bring back True Story Tuesdays courtesy of Rachel and Mr. Daddy over at Once Upon A Miracle.

Thank you to Crazy Texas Mommy for giving me the idea for this post - I'd almost forgotten this story.

Five or six years ago, my friend Angelina and I decided that we wanted to BBQ one night at her place.  Her husband was working in another state and all we had was one of these things...

Now, I was a single mom for a very, very long time and Angelina was a military wife.  We were pretty self-sufficient, so we thought we could handle one small charcoal grill.  Pretty simple, right?  Pour in the briquettes, spray on the lighter fluid and drop in a match.  Jeeeeeeeeezzzz, if guys can do it certainly two smart women can do it.  Right?

We bought the briquettes...

Sprayed on the lighter fluid...

And added one of these...

No big whoosh, no big flame.  So far, so good.  So we waited for the charcoal to be ready.  We'd been careful to move the grill away from the house just in case of big flame, but it appeared our caution had been unnecessary.

And we waited.

And we waited.

And we got hungry.

And impatient.

So we did what any male would do.  We added more of this...

And we waited.

And we waited.

And the kids got hungry.

Now, we had two hungry women and three hungry children and the coals still weren't ready.

We'd tried what we thought any male would do to make the coals heat faster, but that wasn't working so we started thinking like women.  The coals were putting off a little bit of heat and were taking their time turning gray.

I'm not sure who had the idea to add more heat to the grill, but we suddenly thought it would be a brilliant idea to hit it with a blow dryer.  Angelina ran upstairs, got her blow dryer and plugged it in.  We aimed it at the coals - but not too close - and let loose.  After a short bit, the coals started glowing and we finally got to eat!

After we stuffed ourselves, the kids went off to play and Angelina and I hung out waiting for the coals to die down.  A couple of hours passed and I had to take the kids home to put them to bed.  The coals still hadn't died down.  We put the lid on the grill and closed the air vent to suffocate it; we didn't give it another thought.  The heathi and I went home and Angelina went to bed.

When Angelina's husband came home three days later, those darn coals were still smoldering!  We might have over-done it a wee bit on the charcoal thing. 

Maybe.

Monday Minute - Labor Day Edition

This week our guest host is Evonne from Jules Out Loud.

1. If you could interview any famous person, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you ask?
I have no idea.
2. You have to give up one thing for a month. What would it be - car, guilty pleasure (ie. food, drink, fav. tv show), or sex?
Favorite TV show.  I've had lots of practice at that with my work schedule, so I think that would be the easiest.

3. Is there a word/phrase you say that you are made fun of for? If so, what is it?
Not that I'm aware of.  Who knows, my co-workers could be making fun of me behind my back and I don't know about it.  Hmmm...

4. Which is a stronger emotion: Anger or Love?
I think Anger is easier to hold onto than Love, but I think Love is stonger.

5. Where was your first job?
Glen Echo Resort - I was a waitress.

Is This Not The Sweetest Thing Ever?

So far this Labor Day weekend has been pretty darn good.  Went shooting with Tara, took Monster up to the Lodge to work this weekend and got to shoot in a Defensive Pistol competition this morning.  I'd say this weekend has been fabulous!

Monster is my problem child; he's not always easy to get along with and has a huge chip on his shoulder.  He's my skater boy, attitude and all, has been in and out of trouble and chooses to live with his father's mother-in-law.  No matter what, he's my baby and I love him (even when there are times I'd like to kill him myself).

Then there are things like this:

...and this...

...and especially this...



...that make my heart so happy.

Estes has claimed Monster as her boy.  Monster can do no wrong as far as Estes is concerned - whatever he asks, she does.  When we arrived at the Lodge Friday night and walked over to tell the horses hi, her head popped up, ears forward and she made eye contact with Monster and nickered.  My horse barely nickers at me, but she was just beside herself to see Monster.  I ceased to exist Friday night.

In fact, watching the two of them, I felt the bond that they have and offered to let Monster ride her.  So here's the thing - Monster doesn't ride.  He's not much of a horse guy.  But he's definitely an Estes guy.

None of the other kids have ridden Estes - they've not been interested.  Monster, though, couldn't wait to get up on her...

Yup, that's my Monster up on my horse.  I had to borrow Bill's horse Ranger to go out.

Really, there are good days. 

And there are really good days.

And then there are perfect days.

Love you Monster and Estes - thanks for taking care of each other.

Goodbye Dashurie

Photo courtesy of Rachel

It is with a very heavy heart that I say goodbye to Dashurie,

Ashinator's beautiful pricklepig hedgehog.

She hadn't been eating well and had become a little anti-social, so we assumed that she was pouting about her new temporary roommates, Ashinator's aunt's bird and fish.

The minute Ash came home with "other" pets, Dash began pouting.

When I took her up to the lodge for HCR, she was one happy little hedgehog and spent the weekend re-arranging her room at the lodge.

She came out to poop on Momma P's shorts play with Momma P, Rachel and myself and was just a happy little critter.

Dashurie, enjoy your new life across the Rainbow Bridge and know that for the short time you were with our family, we loved you.