bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We were up at about 8. It was still very cold, with the temp about 9 degrees. No freezing problems this morning. I had washed the dogs collars before we went to bed last night and let them dry overnight. The dogs were not happy about having no collars ( it usually means a bath or grooming), so they were excited when I put them back on! Bob made a quick run to the hardware store and I cooked the dogs food. Dr. Tom, the vet, called to say that Karlie’s blood work was fine but that her urine was over hydrated. He wanted to know if she drinks a lot of water. No, she hardly ever drinks water, so we add extra water to her food. He is going to recheck  the urine before the anesthesia for her dental cleaning next week, but otherwise she seems very healthy for a 7, almost 8, year old pup!

After lunch, Bob started painting the skirting and wheel covers. He only paints what can be seen, so he is not worried about the back of the motor home. I baked some chocolate chip cookies for later and did laundry. Actually, I do laundry every day, so that is nothing new.

We took a quick nap, ate dinner, then drove to Frisco to the Timberline Toppers Square Dance and Halloween Party. Most of the club came in costume. Since Bob had bought a disposable ‘painters’ coverall for painting the skirting, he added some paint spots to the coverall, put on a baseball cap, backwards, and we stuck name tags on the cap and on him saying  “Bob’s Paint Company”. I bought some cheese cloth and ‘spider rings’ and hot glued the spiders to the cheese cloth, wore black top and pants, and put my ‘spider web’ over me. I shed spiders all night! We had a great time dancing and meeting up with our new friends from the square dance club. We were welcomed back with open arms which was really nice!

Sunday- After we paid bills, I went over to the Activity Center and used the elliptical and bike. Following lunch, we put up the Christmas lights on the evergreen tree in our site. Bob borrowed Frank’s step ladder to be able to reach the top. Darn, we checked to make sure that all the lights were working, but later when it started to get dark and we checked them, we noted that we have an area out!

We needed to buy gas, and it was the last day of the 10 cents off, so we ran into Breck to get gas( $ 3.39) and checked out the condo’s where the Southern Maryland Ski Club is going to be staying the end of Feb into March. It is a nice looking building, ski in/ski out and right on the bus line. So it is a great location!

Before dinner, we went over to the Activity Center again and soaked in the hot tub.

Monday- I started the day out right, heading to the Rec. Center to exercise. The temperature was 19 degrees with no clouds in the bright Colorado blue sky.  Bob ordered a new ‘soap drawer’ for the washing machine. The door, which slides open and you put the liquid detergent and fabric softener in it, lost a little area on it. So I have been having a real problem sliding the drawer closed. Because this piece is missing, the front falls off, and since this holds in the liquid, it makes a mess. So a new one is on order.

After lunch, we decided to drive over Loveland Pass. We wanted to do that last year but never got around to it. So we put the dogs in the car, and off we went. We drove north on Hwy. 9, then turned right on Swan Mountain Road, heading towards Keystone and Hwy 6. This  is Frisco and Dillon Reservoir from Swan Mt. Rd. We We turned into the White River Forest National Park, Lowery Campground as they have a sign saying trailers. Unfortunately, we drove about 1/4 mile to find out that the park was closed for the winter. We went in to see if the sites are large enough for us to stay there. I looked It up on the internet and the sites are only for as long as 32ft. Oh well…

We continued on Swan Mountain Rd to Hwy 6. We stopped at Keystone Ski Resort. We have always been to the gondola entrance and never the other entrance. So we drove there and looked. There is no way we want to ski down the slopes to return to this entrance at the end of the day, as they appear to be double black diamonds. So we will keep going to the gondola entrance.

We continued on Hwy 6 up to Arapahoe Basin ( A-basin). It is already open for the season. We cannot ski , as we do not have our passes yet, but it was nice to look at the place. It has a reputation for being very steep, and it looked like it lives up to its reputation.  Not sure we will ever ski there.

We continue on Hwy 6 to go over Loveland Pass. In this area, there are two ways to cross the mountains, one is I-70 through the Eisenhower tunnel and the other is Hwy 6 over Loveland Pass. The pass road is frequently closed during the winter, and now we know why. Been there, done that, hope to never have to do it again.  And we were doing it on a bright sunny, 41 degree day, with dry pavement. The road is a winding, curvy, road, that has an 8 mile drive up the  mountain to cross over the pass. This is the route that all of the hazardous material trucks have to take as they are not allowed in the Eisenhower tunnel. There was construction a mile past A-basin, and we had to stop for about 5 minutes. The traffic backed up, so at the top of the pass we pulled into the overlook and I took these pictures. The dogs enjoyed a quick walk, then we started down the mountain on the Loveland side. What a road! Twist, turn, and 20 mph curves with lots of semi’s!

As we were reaching the bottom, we saw lots of ski and snowboard tracks made by idiots skiing in the back country. Back country skiing means that they walk up and ski down on National Forest land without any ski patrol etc. Lots of avalanche area signs. No way we would ever do that kind of skiing, it is simply too dangerous. We passed through the Loveland ski area, which is also already open for the season. There were lots of cars at both ski areas. Keystone opens on the 4th and Breck on the 11th. We can wait until then!

On the way back, we saw that someone had dressed this Elk Statue for Halloween. Since we were driving, the picture is not great, but the Elk has on a purple scarf, beads and sunglasses! He is located in the round-a-bout at the east Frisco exit from I-70.

We stopped at Walmart to pick up a new harness for Karlie, as the catch on hers broke. We returned to the motor home at about 2 PM after a 50 mile ride.

A little after 5, we drove down to the Senior Center in Frisco for dinner. The menu was Salisbury Steak. They served roast beef with gravy. Still good, but not what we expected.  We had no cell service, which was odd. At the 10 PM news they were talking about how someone had taken out a line and there was no telephone service anywhere in the mountains. We did not realize that land lines and cell were connected, but evidently they are.

Tuesday- We have cell service again this morning. The issue was a broken line on Swan Mountain Rd, where they are putting in guardrails. Cell and land phone service was out pretty much in the entire center of Colorado.  We were up early, and I headed north to Frisco to the Senior Center for the free Yoga class that is starting this morning at 8 AM. I haven’t done Yoga before, so this was a good chance to try it out. I came back exhausted.

In the afternoon I returned to the Senior Center to play Mahjongg. Again, there were only 3 of us, Marsha, Donna and myself. We still had a good time. You are supposed to have 4 people, so with 3 the game moves really fast!

The snow is to start this evening and it is supposed to snow until about 11 AM tomorrow morning, with blizzard warnings to the east of Denver .

Wednesday- We received about 6 inches of snow overnight. Bob helped me with cleaning off the car and he shoveled around the motor home. It is a very light, fluffy snow. It was not snowing and by the time I left the Rec. Center, there were just a few puffs of clouds in the bright blue sky.

After lunch, we went  to the Family History Center in Frisco.  The volunteer who runs the center’s name is Rae. She says that last week, when we tried to go there,the internet was out. They only have two working computers, so Bob and I each took one. Shortly after we arrived, a gal name Gwen, from England, arrived and wanted to do some research. Bob was not having any luck, so he turned his computer over to her. Since we had been to the FHL in Salt Lake City, we knew more than either of them. Rae said that the center does not have access to Ancestry. com. I just went in and clicked Ancestry which popped right up;  Rae was amazed that I could get in. We also helped Gwen with finding some items she was searching for… Bob had also gotten the second computer running, as Rae did not know how to get it up and running. ( It had a loose cord). So we were teaching her a few helpful items.

Rae, who has had cataract surgery and is on oxygen, had to leave early, at 2:45, since she rides the Summit County handicap van;it was a short day. What I did find was that my great grandmother is listed on 3 other family trees on Ancestry.com. I was really excited as this means that my g-g- grandparents, on my mother’s side, are being researched by others, meaning that we all have a better chance of finding the information we are searching for!

The temperature dramatically dropped this evening and it was 7 degrees when we went to bed!

Thursday- It was only 1 degree when we got up this morning, but Frank told Bob that the low at their site was -2. They are out in the open more than we are.  Bob drove Karlie to the vets in Frisco. He said that Karlie thought it was great that she had Bob all to herself. When she arrived, the staff made a big deal over her, which she loved, then she went into the back with  her buddy, Michelle our  petsitter, who she really likes. So she was okay.

Bob ran over to the True Value in Silverthorne to pick up an electric shovel. He had broken the snow blower on something, and we are waiting for a part. We thought, since the electric snow shovel was on sale, that we would buy it for a back up. He had also worn out  the regular snow shovel, so he bought a new one of those also. Dr. Tom called at about 9:45 to say that Karlie has a very bad abscess, with significant bone loss, and needed the tooth pulled. Fortunately, it has not effected the other teeth. So we gave permission to have the tooth pulled and we can pick her up at 3PM. Meanwhile, Roxie is one very lonely dog. It took awhile, but she finally settled down on the couch to take a nap. Before that she did a lot of pacing, although she gobbled up her breakfast!

Once Bob was back, I went over to the Activity Center to do the exercise bike and the elliptical. I decided not to continue the Yoga class, as it was not giving me the time(and energy) to do the aerobic activity.  Plus we will be starting to ski next week and it is scheduled on our ski days. So I am going to continue my schedule of M-W-F at the Rec. Center and T-Th- S-S of the aerobics at the Activity Center. That is plenty of exercise!

After lunch, Bob went to the office to see if the electric water hose had arrived. It had, as well as the new soap drawer for the washing machine. So he has been busy getting those put on the motor home.

I looked at Roxie and said “ lets go get Karlie” she ran to the door and did circles she was so excited. So we ran to Frisco to the vets to pick up our missing pup. When we had gone to the vets for the first appointment, Roxie was shaking. No shaking this time, she knew what was up! Dr. Tom showed us the X-rays of Karlie’s teeth. Since Karlie had not acted sick, we had just thought that she needed her teeth cleaned. But even we could see the abscess on the X-ray. She was happy to see us, but a little loopy from the anesthetic and pain medication. So after I paid an arm and and a leg to the vets office we brought her home. Bob’s crown cost us less than half the price of Karlie’s dental care!

Bob settled in for a nap on the bed with Karlie, but they didn’t stay there very long. We ate an early dinner then went to the Gold Pan Saloon for the free beer tasting! I was the designated driver. Bob tasted 17 out of the 35 beers. Mostly he tasted the porters and stouts. His favorite was not on the list that they gave us. It was a vanilla stout by Tallgrass Brewing company of Manhattan Kansas. He also liked, Old Chub by Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont CO; American Brown Ale also from Tallgrass; Avery Out of Bound Stout from Avery Brewing Co,Boulder CO; Bristol Laughing Lab Scottish Ale from Bristol Brewing Co, Colorado Springs CO; and McSorley’s Black Lager from McSorley’s Old Ale House , New York, NY.

I poured Bob into the car and we were back within the hour. We did not want to leave Karlie alone for too long. She had eaten dinner, but we were not sure it was not going to come back up, especially since we had to give her the antibiotic with the food. The beer tasting was fun. The place was packed with young guys, in their 20’s and 30’s. The ratio was about 20 guys to one gal. Where were these  cute single guys when I was young and single? They were all very polite! I guess since I am their mother’s age, they were very nice to me as I was trying to maneuver  through the crowd. I noted that they did not check out ID’s when we arrived!

Karlie was fine when we arrived back at the motor home. We watched TV and the dogs were very happy to go to bed. at 10:30.

Friday – It was 16 this morning when I went out to clean the frost off the car so I could head over to the Rec. Center. Karlie is much better’; she is acting like her usual self; she and Roxie are playing again.

In the afternoon I went to Mahjongg at the Senior Center. There wee 6 of us this time, but one lady, Jan had never played. So she watched and Sandy, who has been playing since she was a child, spent time teaching her the game. Then for the last round, it was my turn to be out, so I sat with Jan and helped her play her second game.( we lost), but that was okay.

After Mahjongg, Bob and I went over to Jeanne and Dave’s new chalet for wine. The chalets are small, but nice. They got a really good price on their chalet. We stayed until 6:30, returned and ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

 

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