Krates

B-  Howdy, Ranger!  You're looking pretty perky today.  Let's go around the neighborhood.

R-  Okay Beel.  First I must poop.             
R-  Good. 
R-  Now you can put my head rope on my head.

B-  Wow, buddy.  You are being very cooperative today.

B-  Let's go bareback this afternoon.  This is great!  You're walking very smoothly today.  No limping at all.

R-  It is a very good day Beel.

B-  Say, we have some guests in the back yard that I bet would like to meet you.  Let's cut through the lodge and...

R-  No.

B-  Aww, come on buddy.  We've gone through the lodge before and you were fine.  Why not this time?

R-  On the before time you were walking in front of me.  Now you are sitting on my back.

B-  What difference could that possibly make?

R-  When you are in front of me the monsters will get you because you are slow and not strong.  I can get away.  If you are sitting on me I will be slow.  It is all about monsters Beel.

B-  There ain't no monsters, Ranger.  Ah well,  It's not worth the battle.  We'll just go around the back through the side yard...

R-  MONSTERS BEEL!

B-  GAH!!  Whew.  No Ranger.  They are crates.  Wooden boxes.  You know that when you jump away from stuff like that you have to go up to it and touch it with your nose.  Let's do it.

R-  Okay Beel.   *touch*     But the krate monsters were not there in the before times.

B-  Nope, they're new.  Now let's go talk with the guests.
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B-  Very good, Ranger.  You were a perfect example of a good mustang.  Now, let's go around...

R-  MONSTERS BEEL!

B-  You moron!  That is the same set of crates that were there 10 minutes ago.  Touch 'em.

R-   *touch*

B-  Allrighty.  Now let's go around the... Oops some new guests just pulled up in the parking lot out front and are looking for the folks sitting out back.  Let's just walk with them back to meet the folks we were just talking with...

R-  MONSTERS BEEL!

B-  RANGER YOU ARE BEING A COMPLETE $#!T.  JUST STOP THAT!  NOW TOUCH THEM.

R-  *touch*
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B-  Okay, introductions are made, let's go out front and around the block.  Wait...Ranger...where...what are you doing...

R-  *touch*   You make me touch the krate monsters every time we go by so I just did.

B-  I only make you touch it because you jump and snort and...  never mind.  Let's go for a walk.

R-  Okay Beel.  It is a very good day.

B-  You're right buddy.  I couldn't agree more.  Let's ride!

Dan

It was about 16 years ago.  A semi load of hay had driven across our leach field and someone reported it to Boulder County.  Damn.  We have to replace our septic system.  Water table VERY high.  Must bring in many truckloads of sand to bring the ground level up. Remove all of the old dirt (hazardous waste, now).  Major undertaking.  Lodge only open on weekends during the construction.  Guy working the back hoe during the work... "Say, are you Bill, the guy that owns the lodge?  I just found a badly leaking city water pipe that runs under your leach field, and seems to have caused all of your high-water table problems."

I had just met Dan.

Since that time, Dan has become a major fixture in Allenspark. 

Dan had sold his family dairy farm, and was hit by HUGE bills from the IRS for his capital gains.  He started working for a local company to help pay off those bills.   Then he started his own excavation company shortly after our septic system was put in, and never really took a day off since.

Dan had a big 'ol German Shepard that would sit on the deck of his backhoe.  The pup would just sit there and duck whenever the bucket would pass over his head.  No big deal.  The dog would ride on the back of Dan's motorcycle whenever he went through town, sitting on his custom built platform on the back of the bike. I laughed every time I saw them, leaning into the turns.  That dog finally got too old to make the trips with Dan, and none of his later dogs seemed to have that skill.


Most of the folks here in Allenspark know Dan.  He was likely to come by in the winter and push the snow out of your driveway.  "I'll bill you later", he'd say.  And later would never come.  If you needed help, you could just ask him and he would do what ever he could to help.

I talked to Dan two or three days ago about a project we need done.  "No problem" he said.  "Pay me whenever you can."  That  was going to save us a HUGE amount of time and money and red tape in getting it done.  So great to have Dan in town.

Years ago, when Juanita and I didn't have a place to keep our mustangs, (Ranger and Shadow), he let us keep them on his property for a winter until we found another place to keep them.

When Juanita had to put Shadow down a year later, Dan was there to help move the body and get it to a resting place.

When our daughter had to put her horse Estes down, Dan was right there to load the horse's body (with compassion and great care) onto our truck's flatbed to get it to its' final destination.

During the flood of '13, he was driving around with his equipment rescuing people and horses and putting in long hours repairing roads and driveways.

Dan was everywhere.
 This morning, we found out Dan died.  Last night.   Motorcycle accident. Going for pizza.  Riding alone.  No witnesses.  He didn't come home in time, so his wife went looking for him and found him.

I just can not tell you how much it hurts.  Me.  Juanita.  Our children.  His family. The whole community.

Rest in peace, Dan.  I hope you knew how much you were loved.

Bill

Dinnertime Excitement

Yesterday we took the horses out for a picnic ride.  Ranger did quite well the whole way (whew).

As we were coming back and crossed the road by the horses' corral, we noticed that the choke cherries were fully ripe, and discussed coming back and picking some to make jam.  We marveled that nothing had eaten them yet...

Feeding last night was going along normally.  The horses had their feed; the hay bag was out.  It was quiet and I was enjoying listening to contented chomping sounds.  Then I noticed another sound; the llamas were clacking.  They quack kind of like ducks when something excites them.  I started walking over toward their pen at the opposite side of our corral, thinking they had spotted coyotes on the trail across the road.  That was holding their attention.  Standing there staring at the trail a motion caught my eye - much closer than the trail.  A bear was stripping the choke cherries off our bushes maybe 20 yards from the llama pen!

Washoe had quit eating and followed me over to the fence.  I pointed at the bear to show him and he was so excited he was running up and down the fence trying to get closer.  I think he thought it was a big dog that did not belong and had plans to run it off.  (He's my dog chaser.)

I finally went back up the hill to get Bill, hoping the bear would still be there when we got back.  We watched it until it was almost too dark to see it.  After Bill came over, Ranger stood near the feeder and snorted; Jesse wouldn't even raise her head out of the food.  Gotta love living in the mountains.

The llamas spent almost all of their time running back and forth at the fence line closest to the bear.   Quacking.


Bionic Cowgirl

A Great Day to be Outdoors

It's been a while since I have felt I had the time to blog; lots of blog worthy stuff but just no time to put it in the computer (maybe this winter).  Right now I have some great memories.

Today I grabbed one of our granddaughters to head out for a ride.  Autobot has been 'working' at the Livery next door on weekends this summer as a junior wrangler, so she has gotten to ride, but not with grandma.  Well, this weekend the kids got to stay longer to help out and being a Monday holiday thing, they were here on a Sunday (Livery closed on Sundays this year), so I took advantage of the situation to grab her for a ride.

We didn't waste any time on saddling; just grabbed the grays and headed up the mountain.

This is what it looked like on the mountain on August 9 when I rode with our neighbor.  We had a lot of rain this summer and you could hardly see the trails for all the trees and tall grasses.  Compass and I did get up higher and locate the Rocky Mt. Sheep herd that frequents this area.

I was hoping to get some good shots of the aspens starting to turn gold.  What we found were several that had their leaves blown off while still green.  We did have a freeze on the 19th of Aug., but I didn't think it was hard enough to cause that.

This is what it looks like so far on Sept. 6; just tinges of yellow.

This is Autobot informing Washoe that he CAN walk through grass without eating it!  She is becoming quite the horsewoman.  It was a lovely day in the forest.

Bionic Cowgirl