Bighorn sheep, rabbits, and deer. Oh My!

Here I am on a sunny Monday morning, thinking over the great weekend we just had.

Heidi is the newest member of the Columbine Rebels Marching Band and even though school hasn't even started yet, they have been practicing for hours already.

As Heidi was at band practice all day Saturday, Rich and I took Chloe for a bike ride down along the Platte River. We biked 13.4 miles (21.6 km) altogether, and it was great. You can bike all the way into Denver on that path. Chloe is a great biker and so is Heidi, but these long rides seem to be over the limit for them at this point.

Sunday Rich and I went to Waterton Canyon again and biked to the dam and back, which is 12.8 miles (20.8 km), so we sure got our exercise this weekend!

While at the canyon, we saw a whole herd of bighorn sheep, some coming down the mountain and the rest right at the side of the road, grazing. I counted eleven of them and it was really something. They didn't seem too wary of all of us bikers and hikers, and everyone was respectful. We see a LOT of wildlife on our bike rides, no matter where we go- thus today's blog title! lol

This morning we are going out to get back-to-school haircuts and to buy a couple of items that we missed last week. 

Then I need to call the schools to get the girls student numbers; one of the great things about this school board is the Parent Portal- I can log in and see exactly what assignments they have due, what their grades are, and everything. We can also put money on their cards to buy lunches and stuff.

Today is the last day of vacation for the girls. They are both nervous and excited. Another new adventure is about to begin.

What's new?

It's the start of another week. Things are getting so busy, with the girls starting school next week. Yep, next week. Chloe is already registered but we have to pick up a folder at her school tomorrow, and we have an appointment to get Heidi registered tomorrow too. They are both eager to get started, they want to make friends and get lives of their own... lol

Do you LOVE that stained glass???? My BF Brenda made it for us as a wedding gift. Here it is, hanging in our dining room window. That is at the front of the house, the middle window and you can see it as you walk up the sidewalk. How happy!

She made me a mirror too, but I haven't hung it yet. We have hung very few things so far.

Let's see, what is new since last week? Oh, apparently the sharing of the laptop wasn't going so well, as Rich bought me a new iMac with a HUGE screen. I do love it, I must say! It has a lot of cool features. I don't know how to do everything on it yet, I haven't used a Mac in over twenty years... but it is all good!

My sewing furniture came in and so I have pinned my "Fun With 5" Squares" table topper that I made in Nellie Holmes' class last spring, it is ready to quilt. And I have cut out a bunch of postcard-sized pieces of Peltex. I can't find Fast2Fuse around here for love nor money. So Peltex and Wonder Under it is. It is lovely to have a space that I can leave the stuff out and go back to anytime I want. I will post a photo soon.

We went to see the movie "Mamma Mia" yesterday. My BF Brenda took me to see the play for my birthday back in 2004 in TO, and I loved it immensely. It was awesome. When the movie started, I thought I would hate it, it was sort of campy- but it was spoofy and goofy and I had fun watching it. And I kept thinking, Rich must REALLY love me to sit through this- he took me as a surprise, knowing I am an ABBA fan. He is not an ABBA fan, though he admits he really isn't familiar with their stuff. He will be... lol

I spent time at the dentist last week... not fun and not looking forward to going back, but it must be done. Yuck!

We are having company today and I have baked bread and made homemade ice cream. I don't want to do much else right now or I just know I will spill something on myself! Our first guests!

A little catch up

Hello again,

Hope everyone had as nice a weekend as I did... of course having Rich home for a three day weekend spoils me...

We went on a spectacular bike ride Sunday night, just the two of us. It was sort of spur-of-the-moment and so I didn't have a camera with me, but we are going back there for sure! I am including a photo from another site to give you an idea of the view as you ride there... it was 12.4 miles all told (about 19 km!) and it was hard but exhilarating! We saw some bighorn sheep up on the mountain on our way to the dam and some deer (even a little spotted fawn!) on the way back down. Awesome!

Here, finally, is the photo we had taken at the Renaissance Festival. Slowly but surely we are getting all of this technology to work! LOL

Very cool delivery

I have to tell you what was waiting on my front porch yesterday morning: our milk delivery!

A number of our neighbors get milk delivery and we were curious. The dairy will bring you a half gallon of milk to sample, so we had them bring us one. We all thought it was fresh and yummy, so we are giving it a try!

Our standing order is for a couple gallons of milk, a couple of pounds of butter, some half & half, and a dozen eggs. We will see how that works out.

All of these products are from local farmers and are guaranteed to be at your door less than 48 hours after the cow is milked! Many of us are now buying organic products whenever we can, and so this is very appealing. The products are not organic, but the cows are grass-fed and not given routine antibiotics, everything is natural.

We are very excited! Fresh dairy products delivered to your door each week. I feel like I have stepped back in time...

Oh- as an afterthought, I realized that I didn't post a photo of my new glasses... it has been interesting getting used to them- they are set up for long distance, computer work, and reading. Rich laughs at me because I am still adjusting a little... lol

All the kids are planning to sleep in this morning so it is off to wash floors for me!

Feel the burn!

And not in a good way, either.

Well, yesterday was a true food adventure, and not anything like I was expecting.

The girls and I did the grocery shopping to make the dinner I had planned and were back mid-morning.

I started on the corn ice cream and the cheesecake right away, and got those things done. By the way, the corn ice cream was very unusual but good. It made a LOT!

Then I thought I would finish the dinner prep before I did my vacuuming and such. So I chopped veggies for the tacos and cleaned out 24 jalapeno peppers to make the poppers. I have never bought or eaten jalapeno peppers, but I didn't think they were that hot. I was so wrong.

As I was cleaning up, I made the mistake of touching my mouth and HOLY COW! It burned so bad all of a sudden I saw stars. I remembered that drinking milk was supposed to help and it did after a bit. Thankfully I was wearing my glasses and didn't touch my eyes. My nose was burning too, and it did for a good couple of hours.

You would think that was the end of it, but you would be wrong. My hands started burning- intensely- about an hour after I finished cleaning the peppers, around 1:30 or so. I looked up help on the internet. I tried milk, I tried peanut butter, I tried soap meant for removing grease, and all of it only gave me temporary relief. I took some Advil and that did take the edge off.

But when it came time to cook the meat for the tacos, I couldn't stand the heat of the pan, it made my hands burn so badly I couldn't hold on to the wooden spoon. Zach finished cooking it for me. By dinnertime, the pain was making me so antsy I couldn't sit still.

I obviously don't know much about peppers, but I am wondering if they weren't mixed up in the grocery store with something else, because some of them were edible and very tasty, and some were so hot that not even Rich or Zach could eat them. And that is saying something!

The pain continued right into the evening. I took more Advil and it did help a bit. Believe it or not, my hands still hurt this morning, though nothing like yesterday thank goodness. They still burn when I am near heat (like the toaster, coffee maker or hot water) and when I bend my fingers. That capsaicin is powerful stuff, I would say my skin actually was burned by it.

IF and that is a big IF, I ever work with any kind of peppers again, I will make sure to use gloves. I would have done that yesterday had I known that those peppers were that hot! Well, live and learn as they always say... lol

On a good note, the cheesecake was yummy and as I mentioned, the corn ice cream was interesting. I really like the ice cream maker we have and will be making use of it again soon.