Colorado: Chipmunks on the Sapphire Trail - July 31

Today was not a particular good day for me. I'm still feeling the effects of being at an elevation of 9000 ft. I still find it hard to breathe at times and feeling nauseated with a lack of energy. So, L&S and I took it easy today. Cliff and Whitney went for another bike ride of 12 miles before she had to go home.

After Whitney left, we went for a ride in the car around the lake. Cliff wanted to show us a hiking trail near the bike path. This particular spot is called the Sapphire Trail. We will do the hike later in the week, but while there, we saw Uinta Chipmunks and Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels everywhere. The difference in the chipmunks and squirrels is that the chipmunks have stripes on their faces; squirrels do not. People were feeding them sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The critters are so used to being around people that they will feed right out of your hand. Lidia and Sawyer started feeding them and coaxed a couple to eat out of their hands, too. This became Lidia and Sawyer's favorite spot. They can't wait to go back for the hike and to feed the critters, again.

This afternoon, we took L&S to the pool. Lidia swam 21 freestyle laps and still had energy left to play with Sawyer. Sawyer wanted to swim in the 10 ft. pool, but there is a height requirement. If you don't meet that requirement, the lifeguard requires them to swim one length of the lap pool without touching bottom. Sawyer swam it and the lifeguard put a wrist band on him to signify that he passed the swim test. Sawyer was so proud of himself for passing.

Uinta Chipmunk

Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel

 Eating from Sawyer's hand.

Rain was threating....

....so, we headed home.

Come back for the next post. The scenery is unreal!

Laurie

PS: Sawyer keeps us in stitches with the things he says.  Today, I saw him looking in a mirror and touching his eye. When I asked if his eye was bothering him, he said, "No, I just realized I had eyelashes on the bottom of my eyes."  LOL!!

Colorado: Farmers Market and Walkabout - July 29-30

Fridays are Farmers Market days in Dillon. I love to go to farmers markets and couldn't pass up the chance to visit the one here in Dillon. I didn't think to take any pictures, though. I bought our vegetables for the week and a few other goodies. The Dillon Farmers Market has lots of arts and craft vendors, as well as food tents. Sawyer bought Matt a surprise for his man cave. Lidia and I bought wrap around skirts from Li'l Skirts. They are so cute and versatile. Later, we went back for lunch. There was a wild game tent where Cliff and I had antelope and elk brats. Delish! And then there was a wild, fresh salmon tent where Sawyer and Lidia had salmon tacos. Whitney came in Friday night for a weekend visit and to ride bikes with her daddy.

Saturday, while Cliff and Whitney were riding bikes 19 miles around the lake, Lidia, Sawyer and I went on a walkabout. We walked around the bend of the lake and back to the condo....refilled our water bottles and left for the playground. L&S have been very active while here, riding bikes, hiking, swimming at the Silverthorne Recreation Center's indoor pool, etc. So, by the time we got to the playground, they were tired and only played just a few minutes. We walked to the water's edge, so they could throw rocks. Sawyer was crashing fast, so we wrapped up our walkabout and headed back to meet Cliff and Whitney and go for lunch. After lunch, Cliff took L&S swimming at the Rec. Lidia is a natural swimmer. She swims freestyle and her strokes are so smooth. After swimming 12 laps in the pool, today, she is making goals for herself to swim more and more laps. I wonder how many she will be swimming by the time she has to go back home.

Total miles walked: 2.53 miles   Total time: 55 minutes

Lidia's total laps: 12

This Eagle statue is on the bike path, just around the bend of the lake.

It was about a mile's walk from the condo.

Sawyer and me.

Lidia and me.

Lidia

Sawyer

L&S more or less just hung out at the park instead of playing.

They were tired.

Looking for the perfect rock to throw into the lake.

Sawyer started crashing, so he pulled out a snack from his backpack.

And, while they threw rocks and ate beef jerky, I took in the gorgeous views.

 Lake Dillon

 More to come,

Laurie

Freeze Frame Flips, Baby Darling and a Sad Heart

Friday was a whirlwind. On the way to the lake, I had several stops. Some planned and some not.

My first stop was not planned. I definitely got a little distracted, when I saw it. I couldn't just ride by!

 

 

Salem Black River Presbyterian Church

(near Sumter, SC)

Founded by Scotch-Irish settlers in 1759.

They originally met in a log cabin, then later the wood framed building and then this brick one.

As a matter of fact, it is commonly know as The Brick Church.

 

Next, I had lunch with Pam in Camden. Left there and drove to Greenwood to buy more paint to continue painting the lake house. After leaving Greenwood, I had just enough time to drive to Laurens to meet Patti to pick up Lidia and Sawyer. On the way to pick them up, I got a text from Lidia.

 

 

What in the world? So, I called her immediately. 

 

Me: What's up baby?

Lidia: We don't want to come to the lake because Baby Darling had her kittens and Sawyer is sad because he doesn't want to leave his teacher and move up to third grade.

 

He had just realized at a school celebration for promotion to the next grade that he wouldn't have the same teacher next year and that this school year was quickly coming to an end. That was a powerful realization for him.

 

Phew!

 

For a minute there, I was scared.

 

For Lidia and Sawyer not to want to go to the lake, something major had to have happened. Well, turns out...it had.  I mean, who could leave Baby Darling and her three new baby kitties? And, when going through something as traumatic as leaving second grade and your most favorite teacher and not being able to ever see her again is just so, so SAD. And who feels like swimming and fishing, when your heart is breaking?

 

But, both Lidia and Sawyer were brave and came to the lake anyway. And then, things cranked up!

 

 

Saturday, they fished. They caught something like 15 fish. And then Saturday night, six of them were fried up in a pan. We chowed down on fried fish, hushpuppies, corn on the cob, coleslaw and fresh strawberries.

 

I spent Friday evening and Saturday afternoon weeding my flower beds. I found two more flowers that I didn't know was planted there. Lavender and a peony. I was happy about the lavender, but nearly jumped for joy over the peony. And I forgot to take pictures of both. Although, the peony just had a bud, no bloom yet. So maybe next time.

 

Sunday, Lidia and Sawyer swam practically all morning....then it was lunch on the porch.....and more swimming in the afternoon. Sawyer had been practicing his flips. I wasn't successful in snapping the shutter at the right time. Here's what I got....Sawyer in his freeze frame flips.

 

Well...ok... some of them weren't flips. He improvised. Ha!

 

Cliff's mama spent the weekend with us at the lake. She would probably die, if she knew I posted a picture of her on my blog. So, shhhhh!

 

I parked myself on the lounge chair and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, sipping sweet tea and looking at Pottery Barn catalogs.

 



Epilator legs. Ha!

 

And just then, it was over. I had to take Lidia and Sawyer home. Lidia was ready....she had Baby Darling and kitties waiting on her. Oh, in case you were wondering.....their names are Bold Blackie, Baby Darling, Jr. and Logan. All gender neutral names because Lidia didn't know if they were boys or girls. Ha! She thinks of everything.

 

And in case you were, also, wondering.........NO, I did not get any painting done this weekend.  Maybe next time.

 

Til then,

Laurie

 

 

P.S. On the way home today, I took several more pictures of old churches. Post that later. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Right Place at the Right Time

Brookgreen Gardens' Flora

Two weeks from tomorrow, I am running a 5K in Brookgreen Gardens and I can't wait. The folks there do a spectacular job in the gardens. It is sure to be the prettiest 5K I've ever done.

Not much happening on the home front this week. I've been exercising like crazy, went catfishing with Cliff and saved a toddler's life today and his mama doesn't even know it. Well, maybe she does now. I hope her friend reamed her out about it. I should have. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Tell you the whole story in a sec.

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Exercise:

Next Sunday, Cliff and I are running this 10K on Caper's Island. It's a barrier island near Charleston and we have to take a ferry to get there. We'll run through the bone yard. That's what the stretch of downed trees is called. Doesn't that sound like fun? Yeah, I thought so too. But get this, I ran 2 miles on the beach this week to train for it and y'all, it is harder than I thought. I'm convinced that running 2 miles on the beach is the equivalent of running 4 miles on pavement. I may be in trouble. For real!

The week in review:

Sunday - Ran 7 miles (was planning on half of that being run on the beach, but the tide was way too high)

Monday - Much needed rest and recovery day

Tuesday - Biked 5.05 miles

Wednesday - Ran 2 miles on the beach (OMG!) and ran 2 more on the road...total 4 miles

Thursday - Biked 15 miles (can we say 'sore sit bones')

Friday - Ran 3.05 miles, hydrated and then biked 11.88 miles (this was a 2-hour exercise day, in case you were wondering)

Saturday - Rest day (because I have another long run planned for Mother's Day)

Fishing:

I nearly forgot.....I went fishing with Cliff. I don't do this often, like almost never. I find it extremely boring. However, he's been wanting me to go, so I caved. We put the boat in the river and rode down to a favorite little riverside restaurant for dinner. We couldn't start fishing until sunset. I don't know what you call it, but it's the kind of fishing where you tie strings on a branch hanging over the water with a hook and bait.  It might be called putting out trot lines.?.?. Ever heard of that? Cliff uses strings that glow in the dark when a light hits it. He uses his flashlight to locate them after dark. So here we go, slowly working our way down a creek off the main river, tying the strings onto branches. It was a lovely night. We saw osprey in their nests and a couple of hawks flying by. After dark, you could see the stars so clearly. They were absolutely gorgeous. This may be Cliff's idea of a romantic evening. Ha! It was, kind of. But then I remembered.....I was missing American Idol! Lawd, I nearly panicked. I let out a squeal and he thought something had me. It's a good thing I had my iPhone with me. I remembered that I could watch TV on it and heck; I even had ear phones in my bag so Cliff didn't have to listen. He's just not crazy about American Idol. And for that reason, I think he has a screw loose. Anyway, watching American Idol on my iPhone worked perfectly. I didn't have to miss a thing...not Idol and certainly not my romantic night catfishing with Cliff.

The Toddler:

I took Lidia and Sawyer to the indoor pool today. They are pretty good swimmers for their age and I don't have to constantly watch them. I am able to read a book, while still being vigilant, too. But, I would never leave them alone or even leave their care up to a life guard. I sit right beside the pool in the area where they are playing.  I noticed the life guard had stepped out of the building and thought that odd because there were children in the pool. I'm sure the kid's parents were there as well, but still...no life guard is not a good thing. All I can say is thank the Lord I was there. A family arrived with several small children and the two smallest ones came in and proceeded to walk down the steps into the pool. I saw a woman come in and then turn around and walk back out again. Apparently, she was rinsing her feet off and I guess she thought they would be okay for the few seconds it took to do this. Then I noticed the youngest child had drifted off the steps. At first, he was keeping his head above water, but then it became clear he was in over his head. In a split second, I saw him go under and struggle to get back up while at the same time looking and reaching for the other child, who was still on the step. The woman, whom I assumed was his mother, was back inside, but had her back turned to them. I looked at her to see if she was at all alarmed and still she had her back turned. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I yelled, "He needs help". I kicked off my flip flops and ran down into the pool. He saw me coming and reached his little hand out to me and I grabbed him up. I stayed with him holding his hand until I could get the woman's attention. I said, "He just went under and couldn't get back up". A man that had seen it, also, said, "He just paid the bottom of the pool a visit".  She just looked at us and smiled. I was like, woman!...your child just nearly drowned and you are acting so nonchalant about it. I was dumbfounded. I went back to my chair and in just a minute she came over and thanked me. She then told me that her friend, the child's mother, just let him go in without her. And then she walked away. I should have gone to talk to the mother myself, but really I thought I had. Now that the whole thing is over, I can think of many things I should have done and wished I had. But in the moment, I was completely dumbfounded. I hope the friend scared the c-word out of that child's mother. She doesn't know how lucky she is this Mother's Day!

To be in the right place at the right time is certainly humbling. Thank the Lord, He was able to use me today.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Laurie