Picking Apples in Colorado

As most of you know, I go to Colorado twice a year to visit my family on the ranch.

This year I got there just in time for the first frost.

That means apple pick'en time.

I was more then happy to be involved in this task!!

My sister Janet, hard at work!!

The hornets decided this would be a good place
to build a home.



Part of the harvest.
The snow on the mountain in the background
came the night before.



Yes, that is Dad up in the tree.
He is going to be 88 next month but he
doesn't let that stop him.


Most of these apples are off of one tree.
They are Organic Heirloom Macintosh.

Mom cookin' some up to make applesauce.
She is the pro!!

Dad giving us a hand.


It was gooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!

At Least Finished

Just a little project, but at least finished!!!

You know I have trouble getting things finished
I have been working on this design for awhile
and decided to finish it even though it is
not exactly what I pictured.

Here is something else I finished,

a baby doll quilt and pillow.

Soon it will be living at Sophie's house.

Sleep Over

Sophia spent the night with me.

She still seems like a baby to me.

Especially at bath time......but then

sometimes she seems all grown up.

Like when she shows me what she has learned

at Cheer Leading Class.

It is hard to believe!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Weekend with the Grandkids

Well, we waited all weekend for this tooth to fall out

but it didn't. It fell out Monday morning and I missed it.

Sophie and I had a tea party.

So you ask where is Tiler??

He is trimming the front yard to make

and extra buck!!

I cannot believe he is this big/old to run and

electrical device that could hurt you!!

The First Day of my Weekend

My friend Toni and I decided life was too boring so we

went down the Verde River with 40 other people.

Not really my style, you know I like the NO PEOPLE PLACES!!

But it was so much fun!!!

It turned out to be a little more wild than

we expected, this was our first river.....

and it had rapids, A LOT OF RAPIDS!!!

Too bad I forgot my memory card at home

or I would have more good pictures...

or maybe not, I really didn't have time to take pictures.

This leg of the river was 10 miles,

we were so tired and we could not wait to get our hands on the Ibuprofen bottle.

The Second Day of My Weekend

I had not planned on kayaking on Sunday
because I thought I would be too tired from the river trip.
I was OK, so off I went!!

I first went to Woods Canyon Lake,

it was not far off the highway. There were so many

people there I thought I would not like it.

But... it was not bad, it was pretty big

for a northern lake.

Most of the people were on shore fishing and letting their kids

run a muck and make all kinds of noise. But some where

in boats since they rent them there.

These girls caught a fish and were happy to pose for

a picture. I witnessed a lot of fish being caught here.

I guess that is why the crowd.

If there is a quiet place I can always find it.

At the left end of the lake there were NO PEOPLE!!!

It was a hike on foot and the water was to shallow for most boats

so I was all alone.

It was pretty here but I had to move on,
I was pretty far from the camp and had more

stops to make.



Next I stopped at Bear Canyon Lake, a little
disappointing because you could not put your boat in.
You can only hike to it, only 1/4 of a mile
but down a step hill.

But coming to this lake was worth it.
I have only seen three Tarantulas in my
life, in the wild, and this one was a beauty!!




Knoll Lake

My third stop and it was getting late in the day so
I did not get to stay at this lake as long as I would have liked.
Since it is 20 miles on a dirt road not many people come here.


It was a beautiful lake with a large island in the middle.
I kayaked around the island and then had to go.
I was almost out of gas in the truck so I could not go
back the way I came. I used my map and took the
Rim Road (303) back to camp 24 more miles on
a dirt road, boy are we dirty, my kayak and me!!
That is another blog!!!

Garden Day

Today was my garden day. I had not been to the garden in a few

weeks and how everything had grown. There are a few things that grow

exceptionally well here in the summer and one of those things is

Okra.

This is Red Okra.

The bloom.

The pod.


The plant.

The Silent Lake

I only had one day to go up North but what a beautiful day it was.

This is looking over to Anderson Mesa. You can see the

San Francisco Peaks in the back,

they are near Flagstaff and are the highest in Arizona.

There is a sign on my way to Lake Mary it says Kinnikinick Lake 9 miles.

I have been wanting to see what a Kinnikinick Lake looks like.

So it looks like this.

It was a pleasant surprise to arrive at this lake.
The road was dirt but not bad to travel.
There were only a handful of fishermen at this lake, it was so peaceful.


Even though it was a little muddy in spots and a little wavy from a breeze.


It had a very pretty shoreline with some interesting plants and trees.

I will try to make this long story short!!

When I got to the far end, there was a dam, I got out of my kayak and walked up on top.
I never do this, it must have been fate!!!

What did I see??

I could not believe it!!

It was another lake.

This lake was clear blue and perfectly still, there was not one person there.

You know how much I love...... NO PEOPLE!!

I had to go!!!!!! It was like a dream!!!!!

I hustled back to my kayak and across lake Kinnikinick.
I loaded up in the truck and starting down the little road to the East;
this was a terrible road, it took me forever, only going 1-5 miles an hour.
The road had big rocks and holes, I didn't want to hurt my truck,
you know how much I love it!!
Luckily it was only a little over 1 mile to that lake.
When I got there it was very primitive, no parking lot and no boat ramp, NOTHING!

THAT'S A GOOD SIGN!!!!!

When I was putting in I scared 5 Great Blue Herons
and they flew across the lake, what a beautiful sight!!

I started to paddle out and then I stopped........

I realized it was totally silent here, not just quiet but silent.

The Silent Lake!!!

I stayed at this lake as long as I could, enjoying the peace that it had to offer.

When I got home I looked up the name of the lake, the real name is Morton Lake, but I like my name best.

Little Cheerleader

This picture is not very clear do to the fact that I had to take it through the window of the gym

but none the less,

Sophia is very proud to have accomplished this.

Girls Only

Jen, Sophie and I went to Blue Ridge Reservoir this week,

we left the boys home. We missed them but we had a good time.

I had a wonderful time, I was with my favorite girls!!





Yes, Jen likes to kayak too. She is checking
out the wildlife.

Sophie took a few pictures of her own

and

we took a little lunch break when it rained.

Just me and my Kayak

Enjoying the cool weather up North.

7/13/2008

Upper Lake Mary

near Flagstaff, Arizona

Happy 4th of July

This is my friend Toni's cabin in Pinetop.

Thank you Toni for inviting Cindy and I to the

cool pines for the 4th of July.

We had a great time, we relaxed....

We kayaked at Scott Reservoir.....

Toni (right) and Cindy (left) you both sure look cool and calm

in your kayaks.

We sure miss our friend and kayak buddy Marlene.

We investigated the far end of the reservoir.....


and then we hightailed it off the lake
when we noticed that dark sky overhead.