August 29, 2017 Getting High and eating

August 29, 2017

It is a fresh morning.  I want to run!  I want fly!  I see my human’s paw… I must attack it!  Is that a movement???  I must get it.  I must fly because I am THUNDERPAWS, king of the morning!

I hate this laptop…  argh….  Ok, got that off my chest.

This morning we walked into Old Colorado City and had breakfast at the Bon Ton on their beautiful patio.  I walked ahead to get some exercise.  When Spouse showed up, he told me he bought some Egg Mcmuffins for a homeless guy.  Soft heart…  When he didn’t finish his food, he had it boxed up and gave that to a homeless guy too.   All through town, we see homeless, and people begging on the streets.  Looks like quite the problem in this neck of the woods.

After breakfast, we headed up to Pike’s Peak.  Once you enter through the kiosk, it is roughly a 20 mile drive… up.  The road is windy and we are surrounded by woods; pines and aspens.  As we climb, the vistas are quite stunning.  Then we start to climb.  Did I mention that the road goes up?  It gets windier, and there are few guardrails, mainly for the downhill travelers at the hairpin turns.  At about 11,000 feet, there is a kiosk where, on your way down, they check your breaks.  If they are too hot, you have to stop at the store there and let them cool.  It is steep.  We climb.  At 12,000 feet, we leave the treeline behind.  It is a rocky landscape with what looks like tundra as a ground cover.  The road gets smaller and even windier.  The drop-offs are steep and there are no guardrails.  If you are afraid of heights, this is not the road for you.  Ultimately, we reach the summit at 14,115 feet.  It was nearly 80 degrees when we started.  At the summit, it is 46 degrees.  We are in shorts and tee shirts.  I have a long sleeve shirt and a jacket.  Spouse does not.  There is a breeze making it feel even colder.  The views are incredible as we wander the top.  If this is too much, there is always the train that comes up from Manitou Springs.  How bad can that be… the railroad is only 120 years old and hugs the side of cliffs.  What could possibly go wrong?

On the way down, we stopped to climb some rocks.  It is slow going as the air is so thin.  I guess we didn’t feel we got high enough…  Our breaks checked out cool and we slowly descended.  I thought it would be scary coming down, but it wasn’t… thankfully!

We decided to drive by the Broadmoor Hotel.  It is similar to the Banff Springs Hotel.  Beautiful homes surround the area, but we didn’t go in.  It was amazing how our GPS sent us a real stupid way there, and a more sane way back.  Go figure…

Dinner tonite was with Tom and Sandy Yukman.   I worked with Tom back in the 1980’s.  We had so much in common.  We went skiing in Banff, water skiing at Lake Powell, and we golfed here and there.  We have kept in touch through the years and here we were again.  Fabulous dinner of Greek food.  Sandy retired 3 years ago, and Tom is just about there too.  They are selling it all and going on the road, hoping to spend half the year in Alaska, then do time in Kauai and Colorado.  Life is good for them.  And for us for that matter.  Another splendid evening.  Tom deposited salmon, halibut, elk and caribou in our freezer…  We gave them some of Spouse’s yellowtail.  We got the better end of the deal!

We have GOT to stop eating…

August 28,2017 Bugs and Homies

August 28, 2017

MEOWT!  MEOWT!  I see another feline over there.  MRRROOOOOOWWWWW!  These humans are mine!   MRRRRROOOOOOWWWWW!  Stay away or I will claw your eyes out!

My morning walk took me on the trail behind the park.  It runs several miles in both directions.  Here, it follows a creek.  I get a few whiffs of marijuana, and pass a few homeless people.  They have thrown lots of trash into the creek.  Pity.  The trail winds into Old Colorado City which is a historic district.  No time to check it out now, but later…

Back to Hannah for a bite.  Today, we are going to the May Natural History Museum.  Spouse saw this on the TV show ‘Strange Inheritances’.  This is a bug/insect museum.  It is right outside of town below the mountains and above some lakes.  It has an RV park that is old, but quite nice.  In the museum, there are a gazillion impeccable displays of butterflies, beetles, stick insects, spiders and all stuff in between.  The earliest collection that I saw was in 1906.  This went on into the 40’s.  Each critter is identified by date and location.  Australia, Africa, South and Central America, New Guinea, and even the US and Canada made contributions.

Some of the beetles were so brightly colored, they would make beautiful pieces of jewelery.  And the variety of butterflies was incredible.  Who knew that locusts could be so pretty (as long as they aren’t crawling on you…).  Some are very rare.  It had to be challenging to capture them without breaking pieces of them off.  Many of the butterflies were displayed upside down, as the inside of their wings are what captures your attention.  It was well worth the time to visit this collection.

After a Thai lunch, we walked around Old Colorado City.  What a cute little historic district.  No chain stores here and lots of cutesy clothes and trinkets.  I watched a glass blower for a while when Spouse was getting a haircut.  Good thing I don’t smoke pot because I was in a trance as it was watching the glass blower.  Give me pot and I might be stuck to him like glue!

Dinner is to be with my work buddies Jackie Hjelm and Becky Espinoza.  Jackie is going to save us some angst by picking us up.  Hmmm… where is she.  I called, she is looking for us at the Elks Club…  Jackie, you didn’t listen to my voicemail yesterday…  Ok, she has the address… her GPS can’t find it…  where is she?  I call… Are you lost?  Let me look up a map…  Ok, here she comes!

First stop is her house.  She is way on the north side of town.  She has a beautiful home with views of Pike’s Peak off in the distance.  Her driveway is steep and she is nestled in the woods.  Her balcony opens onto a killer pathway across rocky spires.  What a playground!  She moved here last year and is loving it.

Then on to Castle Rock for dinner at Piati’s.  Jackie loves this place… but isn’t it on that corner?  No, maybe it is this corner…  GPS time… Oh wait… It is Siena’s...  Ok, we are there.  Wonderful food, terrific company.  Eventually, we had to leave, after all, Becky has to work in the morning.

Jackie got us home without incident.  We said our goodbyes.  What a great evening!

August 27, 2017 On to Colorado

August 27, 2017

Sometimes, I am sleeping and my human turns me on my back and pets me.  I know I am supposed to squirm, but she pets me and it feels so good so I just stay.  But not for too long.  And I am sure my purr box gives me away.

We woke up to a lake shrouded in fog.  It was cool, and there was nobody on the water.  Wimps…  We took a walk around the lake.  Sure didn’t take long.  If I had been waterskiing, I would barely get up before we would have to turn.  But lots of people have fun tubing and such.  And there are parts of the lake that look like they are just for fishing.  It is good fun for the locals.

Back on the road, we head south through the to the town of Sidney.  I would tell you what it looked like, but we were in a fog for 30 miles.  The fog lifted as we neared Sidney.  I suspect it was farmland.  Continuing south, we head through prairie land into Colorado through the towns of Brush, Last Chance and Limon.  It starts out flat, flat, FLAT.  Then the rolling prairie land, green hills and canyon sunflowers chime in.  The signs of ‘the west’… a cowboy on his horse working cattle… a colt frolicking with its mother…  corn….  Sunflowers….  There are also historical markers along the way telling of our battles with the Indians.  We were so mean…

Then, we see them… the Rocky Mountains come into view way on the horizon as we near Colorado Springs.  I didn’t want to go through Denver, so we took the roundabout way.  Here in the springs, we have a few friends to visit.  We were going to stay at the Elks club, but it was full.  The spaces were real close together on a blacktop surface.  We know not to expect exceptional camping experiences at the elks clubs, but they often have great locations and good hookups and they are inexpensive, so it is worth a try – at least in the cities.  In this case, someone might be leaving tomorrow so we can hang around and try and see if….  Forget that!  Let’s find another, and let’s not stay at the one we stayed at last time where we were shoehorned into a spot so small we could smell our neighbors breath!

 Let’s try Fountain Creek.  Hmmmm… there is room to move Hannah around, but it there is street noise overpowering the creek that runs behind the park.  Oh well…  I guess this is what you do if you want to stay close to town here. 

Getting set up, Spouse pegged the grump-o-meter…  throw some money at him… it will make him feel better…

August 26, 2017 On the road again

 August 26, 2017

I had to be in the little house that moves a lot today.  I can totally fit between my humans, but I like to stretch out, then play with stuff my humans have near me.  And then I fall asleep.  My humans pet me so all is good.

I did my normal walk today, then it was back to the road.  We readied Hannah, then said goodbye to Mystery Mountain Campground.  It was actually a good location for us.  It cannot handle a whole lot of large RVs, but it worked perfectly for us.  I loved the woodsy character.  Other RV parks we saw had few trees and were quite crowded. 

Our GPS (Samantha) and I have had some disagreements on things.  I have had to slap her around some, but she is good in a pinch.  But, I always have a map on my lap.  Today we are headed to Wounded Knee where we massacred a whole lot of Indians for basically no reason.  Boy, we were cruel. 

The roads switch from rolling hills and woods, to rolling plains.  We cut through some of the Badlands and its rocky formations and prairie dog towns.  Then back to beautiful rolling hills.  An occasional canyon sunflower springs on the side of the road, as does a cottonwood tree here and there.  There really isn’t much to the site but a sign that tells the story.   

Here’s where things get fuzzy…. The map says the rte is 27, but the signs on the road say something different.  Really?  We had to trust Samantha as she took us out of South Dakota and into Nebraska towards the town of Gordon.  The rolling hills are green with swaths of canyon sunflowers swirling through.  It is gorgeous. 

The town of Gordon is about to dry up and blow away.  Rows of tiny houses are in desperate need of a lawn mower and weed whacker.  There is not much in the town.  We turn west on 20 and head to Chadron.  Rolling plains and farms line the road.  Here is the heartland of our country.  These farms feed us.  These are some real heroes in our country.  Corn and beautiful rows of sunflowers with the sunny smiley faces line the road. 

Chadron is a decent size town, big enough for a Walmart.  We take 385 south through Alliance, settling in Bridgeport for the night.  We found a state recreational area… a lake, with all sorts of boats and we didn’t see one skier.  Tons of inner tubes and jet skis…  Way too many things on the water.  I guess that is a good thing so I won’t spazz out wanting to ski!

This is an interesting place.  The campsites are ill defined; you pretty much park where you like as long as there is a picnic table.  It is warm, but we found a shaded spot on the lake on a Saturday night.  Lots to watch.  Rudy liked it.  I didn’t like the flies though…  And I am not sure if the trains will be a problem…  we shall see…

August 25, 2017 WE WON! not....

August 25, 2017

My humans took me for a walk.  Then I had to go in and use my potty box, so I ran to the door.  Then I used my potty box, and I buried it well.  Then I wanted to go out again and my humans didn’t let me go outside.  Why is that?

I started my walk looking for a trail out of the campground that I thought would take me to the back road I was on the other day.  I didn’t find a trail, but did find a flock of wild turkeys in our campground.  Pretty cool.  Oh well, back on the highway then the backroad.

Our banquet doesn’t start till 7:00, so today was free.  We decided to go to the Reptile Gardens right down the street.  Based on how many seats were open for the shows, I would say that it was not crowded in the least.  HOWEVER, there were so many little kids.  I finally yelled at a couple at one of the shows because they kept running up and down the bleachers using my shoulder as a launching pad.  I scared the bejesus out of them!  But their parents weren’t doing anything, so tough titties!  The guy next to me thanked me…

Anyhow, we saw gators the size of Texas, lots of snakes, prairie dogs and all sorts of frogs, toads, lizards, turtles and spiders.  The displays were beautiful.  Some had beautiful geodes and other types of collector rocks.  There were stellar mini trees snakes could crawl up, and pretty water features.  Under the dome, there were orchids… lots of orchids.  Exotic birds were free to fly and there were exotic lizards; iguana types.  The entire grounds were landscaped with showy flowers and lush foliage.  It was my type of botanical fun.

 As we were leaving, it was cloudy and cold.  As we got in the truck, the thunder started and so did the rain.   Bwwahhhhhaaahhh!  Four great weather days for golf, then it rains after we get back indoors!

As predicted, we did not win anything for our golf antics.  We did win some skin money and we won a couple of door prizes, so we were happy with that.  All in all, it was a great tournament.  And after the torture of the Club at Red Rock, there is talk that guys with high handicaps may hit from a more forward set of tees.  I think that would make a world of difference since there are quite a few guys in the club that are in that category.  

August 24, 2017 The Club (over the head) at Red Rock

August 24, 2017

My maternal human sometimes uses this big thing and runs it over the floor and it makes a big noise.  I don’t like it.  When she uses it, I run.  This time I went and jumped on my paternal human.  He will keep me safe.  I don’t wanna get eaten.

Today we played a scramble at The Club at Red Rock.  Let me say this about that… I am REALLY glad we didn’t have to play our own game!  This course is a BEAST! 

First, let me say that from the ladies’ tees, there wasn’t a shot that I couldn’t do.  They were all reasonable.  Some were intimidating as all getout, but they were doable.  Let’s not talk about when my spazzy evil twin came out…

From the men’s tees;  here are some, but not all,  of my reactions to seeing them…

Really?  REALLY?  REALLY?

You have got to be kidding.

Which way is the fairway?

There is a lot of native grass on the course.  It is about 1-2 feet tall, maybe taller in places.  The sole purpose of this grass is to eat balls, and it does a fine job of it!  The one good thing about the grass, while you might not find your ball, you will most likely find someone else’s, so there is no net loss!  Oh… watch for snakes.

While the women have to hit over the grass in places, the men have to hit over vast expanses of the grass.  If they hit the ball straight, they have to carry it at least 150 yards, probably more.  IF they are not exactly straight, kiss it goodbye.  Long hitters can do this ok.  Shorter hitters, not so.  Especially when they try to swing out of their shoes to get some distance.  What usually happens is they duff it into the grass. 

On one par 3, it was 178 yards to the pin.  Ok, the guys could hit it that far.  But where is the pin?  There is about 120 yards of the grass, and there are two huge pine trees that somewhat block the green.  You have to thread the needle between the trees on this one.  I had to walk to the ladies’ tees to get a view of where the flag was then come back to the mens.   Crouch down below the left tree and look below the branches.  Now, look one hair to the right and that is the pin.  Really?  Two of our guys made it… poor Spouse…

Oh, and let’s not forget some of the chasms they got to hit over… I mean into.   It was very uphill.  There were a few downhill shots, but it sure seemed there was far more uphill than downhill.

Ok, I think you get the idea!

This was by far, the most difficult course we played.  And to make things worse, my 7 iron was not in my bag.  I left it (my favorite club) at Hart Ranch yesterday.  ARGGGGG!   I still enjoyed the day, but I didn’t enjoy watching my Spouse suffer so.  At least he enjoyed the whitetail deer bounding around the course.

The day was long, good lunch afterwards, then home (via Hart Ranch) and a really nice shower…  yes!  My 7 iron is clean and resting comfortably after its experience…

August 23, 2017 Have a Hart

August 23, 2017

My maternal human is laying down.  My humans have been gone so much and I have been so lonely.  I must lay on her and curl my paws.  My purr box is on high.  Human, it feels good to curl my paws on you.  Don’t move.

Today, we played Hart Ranch.  It was only a 5 mile drive for us.  The course looks benign at first sight…  HAH!!  It chewed us up and spit us out!  The greens are as fast as I have even seen!  There are creeks, and barrancas.  It was diabolical!  We played as a 5 some, which is never good for me.  It messes with my concentration.  Plus, I had to ride in a cart.  Sure, I walk quite a bit, but it was aggravating not having the right club and having to yell for it.  That messed with my concentration big time.  One of the guys withdrew after about 14 holes.  The course was just too much for him.   

It was actually quite a beautiful course, loaded with deer and wild turkey.  The Hart Ranch Cattle Choir serenaded as we started, moooooving us along quite nicely.   I would play it again, but now I know a little about it so I can play it differently.  All except the one par 4 hole that I actually birdied with my 25 foot miraculous putt…  I am sure you had to have heard my scream…

Another dinner with the brothers Weingartner.  Hey, I saw that Rich Hill pitched 9 no hit innings for the Dodgers but they didn’t score and he lost the game in the 10^th.  OUCH!

August 22, 2017 A free day

August 22, 2017

My humans have been leaving me all alone.  I don’t like that.  I haven’t seen any mousies lately.  I am all alone.  I guess I will nap.  I will listen for them though.  I am all alone.

Today is a free day for us, which is good since my poor back needs a rest.  Yesterday, it killed me to swing my driver for the last 4 holes or so, which was represented in my score.  But a day off ought to help.

The brothers Weingartner joined us for another day at Custer Park.  We drove by Mt. Rushmore again, and wouldn’t you know it, the same cars that were waiting in line the other day were still there!  On we drove, through the beautiful Needles Highway.  No mountain goats this time, go figure. 

We stopped for a hike at Cathedral Spires.  It is nearly a 3 mile roundtrip hike.  The trail is lined with wild raspberries (a few of them landed in my mouth) and ferns and other undergrowth.  It starts getting steeper and we have to climb up rocks, but it eventually levels out to meadow surrounded by cathedral like spires.  There are needle eyes, and other jagged formations.  So many of them look like penises!  At the beginning, the trail looked wet, but it was only the way the mica covered the trail.  We all had to touch it to see if it was wet.  Quite an illusion.

After the hike, we did another wildlife drive.  This time the buffalos were in different places.  We also got to see the donkeys.  They are friendly and they are mega cute!  And of course, the prairie dogs sang for us.  It is a fabulous place worth two days of visits.

Back to Hannah, the boys left and we visited with our neighbors, Doyle and Judy for some wine, then headed to old town Rapid City.   There are lots of little shops and some bars and some restaurants.  There are bronze statues of presidents on every corner.  If you know what you are doing, you can turn left at Clinton, and right at George Washington, then left at Pierce to get to wherever you are going!  Lots of charm, but limited food options for us California types.  We are definitely in a meat eating part of the country…  Plenty of alcohol tho…

Painters Alley

August 21, 2017 Our game was eclipsed

August 21, 2017

My humans walked me around and I got to sniff all sorts of things and eat grass.  I saw birdies… I wanted them.  My humans brought me back.  Darn.

Today we played golf at Arrowhead Country Club.  Of course, the wind started blowing on the first hole.  I was able to walk the course and it is in excellent condition; beautiful dark green grass like carpeting.  There are lots of hills, and lots of hidden hazards.  The greens are treacherous.  And best of all, in the middle of the day, it got kind of dark and cold…

Ok, we had about 98% of the eclipse.  I was able to use someone’s eclipse glasses to view the event about half way through.  Then we poked a hole in a scorecard and watch the shadow through the hole on the cart path.  It was very effective.  The temperature dropped at least 10 degrees, and I did not need sunglasses for about two holes.  Dogs started barking.  It was great fun…  Almost as entertaining as the golf game!  I took some pictures at the optimal time, but they didn’t really capture the event.  Oh well…

I don’t think anybody in the club played very well.  It’s not that I didn’t hit the ball well most of the time, but the wind wreaked havoc on my game.  And when I didn’t hit the ball well, I paid big time.  And not having course knowledge proved to be costly.  Who knew there was a creek on the other side of that hill?  Really?  It may have been a tough day, but I actually loved the course and would play it again if given the opportunity. 

We had a visitor on one of the greeens:

On the way back from the course, we had our tire repaired, so we are good to go now.  The tire guy said ‘you had a stone in your tire’.  Duh…  no flies on him!

A nice dinner with the brothers Weingartner topped off the day.

I am totally frustrated with Spouse’s laptop.  It deleted my original writings of the day somehow.  I hate this thing.  The cursor has a mind of its own, Word gets cranky if it cannot load to the cloud.  Internet access here is very sketchy and I DON’T want to have to rely on that to use word.  I have to fight to avoid it.  ARRRRGGGH!

August 20, 2017 Let the games begin

August 20, 2017

Where are my humans?  They have been gone, like forever…  I am hungry… not really, I still have a little food in my bowl, but they are supposed to give me more!  I look outside and I don’t see them… where are my humans?  Oh!  Here they are!  Let me run to the door!  MEOWWWW!  MEOOWWWW!  My humans are here!  Feed me!

Today is an 8:30 tee time at Elkhorn Ridge.  It is about an hour from Hannah so we were on the road by 7 am to get there early enough to hit some balls.  The course is a little north of Sturgis – motorcycle haven.  It is a little breezy and too cool for being sleeveless and in shorts.  On with a long sleeved shirt AND a jacket.  At least for now.  I usually try and walk courses if they let me, but because we had a team thing going, I rode in the cart.  I actually still walk a whole lot, but when I need to, I can use the cart – Spouse is my driver.  For this course, if I had walked, I would probably still be making my way to the tenth hole…

The course is challenging.  On the first two holes, you have no idea where you are hitting, just aim for that marker up there.  Having no knowledge of the course cost everybody some strokes, as you think you are hitting in the middle of the fairway, then when you head for your ball, you see some type of hazard; a barranca, tall grass, water.  I think I lost 3 balls and found 3 balls!  I was actually hitting the ball pretty good.  On the back nine, the winds came.  WINDS!  It was even difficult putting.  All in all, the course was fun and had great views.  The food was awful, and the bar was minimal, but, oh well.

Since we were in this area, we decided to go over to Deadwood.  You know, home of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickcock.  It was a mining town with gaming and saloons.  Don’t know about the mining, but there is still gaming and saloons.  And there are souvenir shops, and restaurants and stately hotels.  We ate, we browsed, then we thought we would cruise some of the back streets.  We like to go on off streets because you see how the locals actually live.  We rode up this tiny street, then we saw a sign pointing to Mt. Roosevelt, whatever that is.  It is a dirt road but up we went.  After about a mile and a half, we realized we don’t know how far this road goes, it is getting late and we should start heading home.  It has been a long day… and now it is about to get longer…

Loved this train set...

Why is my tire down to 39 lbs?  It should be 70.  Its 35 now, 33…  Oh oh…  At 20, we pulled over and Spouse pulled out this little pump.  Could we put in more than was coming out?  We are still a mile back on this dirt road…  We moved a little to see where the problem was.  SSSSSSS…..  When we got the tire back up to 32, we made a run for the paved road. 

At this point, it was like a Star Trek Episode.

‘Captain, we only have 32 lbs of pressure.  The ship can’t operate like that.’

‘Scotty, we are going to have to make a run to the pavement.’

‘But Captain, we can lose a tire.’

‘We will have to chance it.  We will go fast, we will take the 10 mph curves at 11mph.  We must get to pavement so the rescue ship AAA can get to us’.

‘Ok, Captain… we are 32… 30… 27…  Faster Captain… we are at 24… 22…  I see the ‘slow dogs playing’ sign.  We can’t stop for slow dogs.  Keep going!  We are down to 20!  I see pavement!  Yes!  We made it and we still have 18 lbs of pressure!  The rescue ship AAA is on the way!’.

While we were waiting for AAA, Spouse worked on getting the spare out – that was an event.  We are now both dirty and tired.  AAA finished the job.  And at 7:30 pm, we were on our way… prime deer time…

We didn’t get home till almost 8:30 and poor Rudy was crying at the door.  He was so lovey…