Leadville Latrine

look! a two seater outhouse! I don't even want to imagine!

fall colors

it was insane how yellow the aspens looked today. there were scattered showers so the sun wasn't always luminating the aspens... but they still shine with a light of their own!

Gilman Colorado

the colors are peaking out here. lots of vibrant yellows and oranges. Went to the beautiful Leadville area. took pictures of the ghost town of Gilman. It was founded in 1886 and a fire destroyed it in 1899. but they rebuilt and millions in zinc and lead were mined through the 1950's. The town was abandoned and closed to the public while being cleared of mining pollutants in 1984.

friendly forest friends

he's sooo cute. 'specially since he isn't throwing pine cones at me!

Red Marble

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprizing a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes, but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me. ; 'Hello Barry, how are you today?' 'H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. They sure look good.' 'They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?' 'Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time.' 'Good. Anything I can help you with?' 'No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.' 'Would you like take some home?' asked Mr. Miller. 'No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.' 'Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?' 'All I got's my prize marble here.' 'Is that right? Let me see it' said Miller. 'Here 'tis. She's a dandy.' 'I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?' the store owner asked. 'Not zackley but almost.' 'Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble', Mr. Miller told the boy. 'Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.' Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. ;With a smile said, 'There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.' I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles. Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could. Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts...all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes. Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket. 'Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size....they came to pay their debt.' 'We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho '. With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.
The Moral : We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.

trails

hiked up the hill behind our house... it's a steep hill! and finally found the trail system that was up there. it was a beautiful day. love the smell of pine trees. walked aroud some of the trail til we came to a 4x4 road. we will wait for another day to see where they go.

The seven thirty mine

we all went hiking today. this mine site is at a nearby town. The story goes that a man named Heneage Griffin owned the seven thiry mine. so named because unlike other mines that started work at 6:30 am - he started his an hour later. Griffin's fiancee was found dead in his room the night before their wedding! He was a reclusive person and joined the Colo. gold rush living not in town but up on the mountain near his mine. he was an accomplished violinist so he often played from sunset to dark to the delight of the towns people below. they would stay outside and listen an applaud at the conclusion. On June 10 1887, the audience heard his final note followed by a gunshot. The miners walked up the steep trail to his home to find Griffin lying in a crude rock hewn tomb of his own digging. A suicide note asked that he be buried here. his brother put up this monument.

gold fish

out n about today. finally quit raining so we took the motorcycle out for a ride. these gold fish are in a pond next to where we keep the bike. there are so many gold fish in this pond! I think this is where people bring them when the kids git tired of them and the parents don't want to clean the bowls once the county fairs are gone on to the next town.

'shroom

out picking the last of the rasberries today. found this cute little mushroom in the moss... thinking of all the childhood stories about fairies and the like... then T stepped on it. Hmm, hope no fairies were sitting on it. they'll send the misquitos after us as revenge!

Chicago Creek

out playing with my new camera! Whoo hoo, I finally have the manual settings figured out enough to get the "feathered effect" on waterfalls. Some may think no big deal, it's easy to do. Well, with digital it is easier to experiment. no wasted film!

soggy weather

Thunder and lightning, rain and hail... today's weather! interesting weather report for today. Went out this morning and got a few more raspberryies. Mmm rain fresh berries!

Guanella Pass

went hiking today. had to layer up a bit today... a misty rain was in the air. everything smells so fresh and clean. and all around you is... silence with an occassional bird calling.

home

my baby is home today safe and sound. she spent the summer with all her grandparents. T & I want her to remember them and have good memories of them. so the last few years we've been sending her back each summer. we'll let her rest today... tomorrow we all go 4 wheeling! lol!

Big Horn Sheep

some of the big horn sheep of our area. these are a small band of females with one baby. the males are in a seperate group away from the girls for the summer.

a friendly neighbor

this guy does this almost every afternoon. he spends the day munching grass in the field. looks like he likes the attention when he gets on his "soapbox". always seems to wait until evening rush when everyone is on their way home to hop up on the flatbed trailer in his field. lol.

Chicago Creek

Chicago Creek

August, 2008

flowers n bees

ahh, those lazy hazy days of summer...

August 2008

Cows eye view

Cows eye View

Wyoming field, July 2008

How many Zeros in a Billion

This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it' s releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ....
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congressfor 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number...what does it mean?
Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child)
you each get $516,528. Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787. Or... if you are a family of four... your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D. C---
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??
Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) ,Fishing License Tax, Food License Tax, Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax, Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, Telephone- Federal State and Local Surcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax; Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax..
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt... We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to press '1' for English.

Life is not Fair ...

Every child in every school from the age of Kindergarten through every last year of college should hear this one - And not only hear it - they need to be required to memorize it and recite it outloud! This should be posted in all schools and work places. Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this. Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a high school about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer- This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don 't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you 'FIND YOURSELF'. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television and video games are NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.