Hiking up the Peak

This week has been goregous. Last Saturday Lynn and I decided to go up Barr Trail. There used to be a cable car called the Manitou Springs Incline that went up the side of Pikes Peak, but was dismantled in the 90's. People run up the huge wooden beams that are left. Some of the runners run back down it while others go down on the trail. It doesn't look like fun to me. See how steep the incline is. The Barr Trail was icey and snowy so Lynn put screws in the bottome of some old hiking boots and off we went. The trip to the top of the incline was 4 miles. Lots of people!!! We went to the Loop (a really good Mexican food) and had Margaritas with our lunch. Great Time.

New Year's Pictures

Isn't Lynn cute? It was a nice New Years.

My Sweet Cats

These are my barn cats, but they are spoiled. I got them from a friend whose kids named them Fluffy, Squealers, and Baby Gray. I throught about renaming them after my sisters as in the family tradition, but I didn't want to disappoint the kids. When it is really cold, they get to sleep in the garage. They have a spot in the shed with a heat light on a timer, but they really like the garage. Baby Gray is really rotten. I let her in sometimes to lay on the couch and eat bacon. Kimo is jealous of her. I didn't get them nuetered in time so I ended up with 3 litters of Kittens. I'll never do that again. I contributed to the animal overpopulation which I feel so guilty about. I still worry about those kittens.

Christmas

All of you know how much I love Christmas. Must be genetic from my dad. Robben and Zak hosted the celebration with snails on Christmas Eve. It's a tradition in the Pitman house. Other Pitmans came namely Greg, Margot, and Jeramey to join in on the feast. On Christmas day, we opened presents and had fried turkey cooked by Zak. Robs made her peppermint ice cream along with Lynn's pecan pie. I made my famous deviled eggs. Margot made a German recipe served with cabbage and fried noodles that was sooooo delish! Since we were having trouble saying the German name, Zak christened it as the Bin Lauden. As you can see we pigged out! We all ended up spending a second night and leaving the next day. It was a great time with family. All I can hope is that Robs didn't take any videos.

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Happy New Year

December is over! I can't believe it. We had lots of fun. We went to the dinner theater with the kids and saw White Christmas on the fifth. On the 19th we went to Cripple Creek lost $20 each in 30 minutes in the slot machines. The Imperial Hotel is the preferred place for us to stay, when we go there. Built in 1880's it is terribly haunted. Cripple Creek is considered the most haunted place in the United States by the way. We had supper of crab legs at the wonderful restaurant in the hotel. The Butte Opera House was our next destination where Miracle on Bennett Street was the holiday live theater offering. The play is a variation of Miracle on 34th Street as Bennet being the main street of Cripple Creek. In the middle of the night, I heard Crazy Alice, the resident ghost, picking up Lynn's watch on the dresser and dropping it back down. The next morning, we met Robben in Manitou to eat at our favorite Mexican place, the Loop and had the best Margaritas. Robben came to baby sit Kimo while we were in Cripple Creek, because of his surgery. She stayed the whole weekend and it was good to see her. I'll post pictures of Christmas later and tell you about the celebration.

My baby boy

Kimo just had a fat tumor!!!!! I am so glad, cause I love that dog. Like Molly said they don't ask for money or the car keys, and it is legal to put them in a kennel or rather cage. Kimo is the smartest dog I have ever had. I couldn't bear to have another one and worry about him. Maybe that is why I only had one kid.

My sweet little Kimo has to have a lump removed next week. The Vet will do xrays first and if there are any masses in his chest, he won't do the surgery. We won't know for a few days what it is. So needless to say we are upset about it. He's 11, but that is not that old.

On the fifth, we went to a dinner theater with Robben and Zak to see "White Christmas". The musical was great! We spent the night, of course, and left the next day. It was our friend Mark's 60th birthday party that afternoon. Mark and Mia are our friends that live to the south of us. It has been nice to have them as our friends.

Thanksgiving at the Georges

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Georges and Eleanor. Lots of good food and company. I suppose you have seen Robben's video of us playing chicken foot. Very funny! We are looking forward to this weekend when we go to Zak and Robben's to go to the dinner theater. Keep you posted. Here's a few pictures that are not very good. Oh, it started snowing on Thanksgiving and continued until Sunday. Big Dog and Little Dog were sooooooo bored. Lynn even made another pecan pie to pass the time.

Friends

We met Howard and Elsa for dinner this week and again stayed out way too late. They live most of the year in Arizona and summers here. Each time we get together, it's like no time has passed. We have been friends for 26 years. People are lucky if they have 2 good friends in their lifetime, because there are so many people that you think are your friend, but are not. So here's to 2 people who are.

Old people should get their sleep

This weekend we went to Pueblo and went to Scott's Birthday party. Lindsay and Scott bought a home so it was part birthday and housewarming party. It was great. Liked their first home together and wish them much happiness. There was the best sushi ever! I ate like a pig. Stayed up way too late. Popeye had to eat a lot of spinach afterwards. Thanks to Greg, Lynn's brother, and Margot, his marvelous sweetie, for letting

us spend the night. Margot has got great taste in decorating. I really like her house, too. Thanks for being relatives plus friends.

Lynn writes about our trips for. Click on this to make them big. Of course I got the last page first! He and Robben are really good writers.

November Blues

Hi everyone! This time of year is kind of boring. Can't go anyway and play outside. I am trying to sub some, but it is slow going at this time. Just getting the applications in is a job. I don't like winter too much, but I love the holidays.

Happy Halloween

As most of you know I have been working part time in a Halloween store. It's been a hoot! There are some people that try on the sexy costumes and shouldn't be. As Robben says, "Halloween is an excuse for people to go out half naked." We ate our usual Papa Murphy's pizza smothered in my home grown tomatoes (which are probably the last until next summer) and watched movies. I couldn't help dressing up. I did decorate Lynn's truck. He bought me a spiny oyster pendent, because it is orange. Oh, Lynn's wearing an aviator scarf along with his devil horns (the flying devil).

Biking in Picket Wire

It was a glorious day so we decided to sneak one one more day in the outdoors. The bikes were loaded and off we went to the Dinosaur Tracks near La Junta. 13 years ago we were exploring with 12 year old Robben in tow. Her maiden voyage on her grown up bike which she still has today. Well the ride down into the canyon has deteriorated. Instead of a nice smooth road, the path is small with lots of rocks and boulders. Needless to say, I walked most of it trying to keep myself and the bike from going over the side. Once in the bottom, most of the trail is pretty mellow with a few challenges. We managed to have 3 flat tires with Lynn crashing once on a steep incline. A couple of skinned places and a bruised ego was the damage. I had 2 of the flat tires cause I was close to out of control going down a small rocky hill. We had to ford the Purgatoire river past our knees to get to the tracks. I don't remember hardly any water the last time we were there. It had rained a lot so the tracks had mud in them so they didn't look as spectacular. Alosaurus and Brontosaurus had meandered along the side of the prehistoric lake before the canyon was formed. Going back up was rough with me walking my bike again with many timeouts. Lynn did ride part of the way up. He's my Popeye. Great Time.

Okay One More

Although a lot of the meanings of the drawings are not known to us, the spiral means abandoned. This was at one of the ruins.

Newspaper Rock

This is a famous cliff wall where the Indians left probaly messages to each other. I was being artsy and did sepia on this shot.

The road in the Needles National Park

We had to get a back country permit to go out on this road. Only 8 are given on any day. Part of the road was deep sand and part was a river. It was very cool.

The Campers

Aren't we cute?

Our Camp

We sleep in the back of the Cruiser. This is our favorite spot, because there are some fabulous ruins in the cliff walls and on the top. So far I have been too chicken to go to the ruins in the cliffs. You have to drop down on a rope.