2:18 p.m. - 2008-11-11
Send in the Clowns
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Hold back your excitement....I am going to tell you more about my vacation!
So....we left on October 13th for the WEST! It was a couple of days before we got close to where we wanted to be.......
COLORADO - blue skies, mountains, high altitude, shortness of breath, high altitude, hard breathing, HIGH ALTITUDE........you get the picture.
Our intention was to help our BIL pack up his 3000 s.f. home. Since he had lived there alone now for 2 years; there is lots of STUFF. After RH's sister passed away nearly 2 years ago; BIL did donate a lot of her things...clothing, books and etc. to the shelters and charities in the area. Her two daughters and her granddaughters took some of her more personal effects to treasure. But, there was still a lot of STUFF left,... including cookbooks, pots and pans and cake pans, casserole dishes and all the things that a woman collects over the years and uses on a regular basis when cooking is done in the home.
We tried to prod BIL to go through all these STUFF before the move. We packed the entire lower level which was filled with boxes for all the holidays, photographs, cards, letters and all the things that she had kept for memories. It also included mementos from all of their parents and all the STUFF one keeps for "just in case" needs. We also packed most of the dining room and living room areas and part of BIL's immense book collection. He is an adjunct instructor at a community college and has many, many books on his interests that he uses in his classes...not to mention his career in the Navy with all the awards and special items he has picked up in his travels. Needless to say, it was quite the undertaking.
As I told BIL on numerous occasions.....you are trying to put 5 lbs of crap into a 3 lb bag and it just isn't going to work.. Y ou can now understand why my Tombstone buddies claim I am the QUEEN of the one-liners!
We left on the following Monday to continue our journey. The move had been planned for October 17th but was postponed due to a problem with the appraisal on the home BIL was buying (which happened to be the home of the new buyers of his place in the mountains)..... Yes, they were going to switch houses. They were using the sale of their house as the down payment on the home in the mountains. Yes, it put a delay on the move.
So, we went on to Colorado Springs and toured the Leanin' Tree Art Museum.
. Not only was the Museum filled with beautiful and original paintings...some of which are used as illustrations for their cards ....
but there is a magnificent bronze sculpture garden.....
Aren't the trees gorgeous behind the sculpture?
This horse was entirely created from used gears and wheels and parts and tools...It was more than life-size.
Of course, there were plenty of cowboys and indians in the garden.
*****
And I forgot to mention that there was actually a sixth blogsite represented in Tombstone....Biggershoes...
It's the clown shoes (tranported by Poolie....) Note the shoes are also wearing all the Javelina Cantina Hunt of 2008 apparel.
and I would be remiss if I didn't post my picture with the Clown Shoes....after all, they were a guest of honor!
I bet their tongues were hanging out...when I was so close to them. Ok, Ok. it was probably due to the high altitude......because they really live in California.
and the fun continues......
*****
We went to Bil's new home on October 31st.
and began unpacking all the boxes we had packed 2 weeks before and then some. By the time we left
Colorado, we were exhausted.
There's still more of our vacation to tell and that will be another story.
