Bear Creek Falls

Trying to help all my Las Vegas friends think cool thoughts with the 100+ degree days they have been having.  Yes, that is a little snow still left on the rocks.

Telluride Street Party

Talk about a block party!  Saturday night; after having watched the balloons launching in the morning; we got to see them set up on Colorado Street in Telluride.  They closed the main street through town and had eight of the balloons set up along the street.  It seemed like the whole town came out to watch. What a sight to see them light up at night when they turned the heaters on.

 This morning Steve and I woke up at 6:15 am and braved the almost freezing temperatures (just a small exaggeration) to watch the launch of 15 hot air balloons from the town park in Telluride, CO.  Yes, I am wearing a winter coat, gloves and a hat!  This was absolutely fascinating to watch.  First the balloonist set up their baskets and make sure the fire ignition is working.  Then the baskets are tipped over and the balloon is attached.  They use hugh industrial type fans to fill the balloons with air.  After the balloon is filled the heater is ignited and the air is heated which causes the balloon to right itself.  At this point the balloonist gets in the basket and about a half dozen volunteers hold the basket to the ground and angle the basket and balloon to the launch site.  Not sure I want to ride in one but it was sure fun to watch the launch.

Rundola in Telluride

Steve and I are in Telluride celebrating the Fourth of July.  This morning before the parade the town hosted a "fun" run from the base of the gondola to the next station called San Sophia.  The distance was only a mile but the elevation gain is over 1,800 feet!  Your choice was to take the trail which makes several long switchbacks or to bushwhack up the slope.  The winner accomplished this feat in 21 minutes and 45 seconds.  The first woman's time was a little over 31 minutes.  Steve and I watched the start at the bottom and then took the gondola up to the next stop to see the finish.  These people are amazing.  We are enjoying our time but no fireworks tonight all over Colorado because of the fires.

We finally moved! ! ! ! !   We actually moved in ten days ago.  My sister Nancy volunteered to come out for a week from Florida to help.  This is a picture of she and I trying out the new rug that had just been delivered for the master bed room.  OOOH is it nice.  One day we rented an enterprise truck to move the smaller items and the next day we had a moving company move the bigger item.  We have the old house almost cleared out and will put it on the market soon.  The new address is 5970 Winding Canyon Drive and the zip is 89120.  Thank you Nancy for being such a great help.

A Stairway to . . . the second floor

When Steve and I bought the house we had no idea that we were going to change out a stair case.  I'm not even sure I knew you could.  But you can!  We had this ugly staircase inclosed with sheetrock.  Soon we will have this wonderful open staircase with walnut stairs, metal railing and cable stringers.  The amazing part is with their design we went from a less than 36" stair all closed in to an open stair of 44" without changing the landings.  Thank you J&J Stairs.

Kitchen Appliances

We finally have kitchen appliances and counter tops!  Of course the range is not hooked up because the gas valve the plumber put in is too long and we can't use the top drawer under the range.  This is just run of the mill stuff when you remodel.  We just need the plumber to come back out to change the gas valve.  To bad he didn't notice that the valve stuck out beyond the slider for the drawer when he was installing it.  Oh well!  We are hoping to move in sometime next week- hopefully.