It is Saturday, June 26, 1999. What a beautiful day! Meeker Mt. And Long’s Peak are truly beautiful to take in and the surrounding mountain range add to the spectacular scenery. Yesterday it was 90 degrees and yet when the sun goes down you can instantly feel a difference in the temperature. Last night we had to use a blanket, as we have most nights. The people in the house before us never opened a window and by contrast, we prefer to have the windows open and choose not to use the air conditioning.

I have put in a vegetable garden, planted an herb garden and the perennials I brought with me. The vegetable seeds are germinating and the herb garden is taking shape. It is all diamond and triangular shapes. Ken laid this out for me. Dill reseeds and comes up very strong here. Larkspur reseed and are also very strong. Also, the dreaded thistle is very strong and hardy and prickly. You cannot pull weeds, you must dig them out with a shovel. Some roots are a foot long or longer.

Our pond is down 2 feet. One of the local farmers told us that in a week or so when farmers have finished there haying and begin irrigating again, we will have water run off from their irrigation which will feed the pond. Our concern is for the fish we have in the pond. We also have muskrats and a heron that fishes in the pond.

Tuesday morning when I came downstairs (before 6 am) two great horned owls were on the deck and they took off suddenly at my disturbance. What a wing spread. One of their perching places at night is our rooftop where they sometimes have their dinner. (We found a prairie dog head on our deck. They evidently don’t enjoy eating the heads.) We have a multitude of birds and a couple of feeders. When I have the house in order, I will identify the birds and the wild flowers with some reference books.

They house if getting in order. There are only some boxes of books in one of the closets downstairs and no boxes at all on the second floor. There are probably only 10 boxes, which I will have to unpack in the basement. The arts/crafts/dog room in the basement needs order, but that will come. We put the television in the basement so I can be with the dogs for about an hour of television viewing.

The hot tub is wonderful. Not only is it soothing to aching bones and relaxing, but you enjoy a wonderful view. I’m so glad we have it.

We had a fellow out measuring our back deck for a motorized awning. Ken is enthusiastic about this because it is a mechanically sturdy well built piece of machinery. One thing they cautioned us about was not to leave it opened if we were not home because of the winds. Being here for three weeks we have become well aware of the strong winds that suddenly come up and come up wickedly fast.

It is good to become familiar with the area. Why the other day I ventured out without maps. The neighboring town of Hygiene (just 2 miles away) is a really neat town. The major intersection is a 3-way stop with a small café opened for breakfast and lunch and frequented by the local townsfolk, a small grocery store, owned and operated by Sam Clark, a post office and a little gift shop which reminds me of Caprilands.

Our dining room chairs needed repair (some of the bottoms were falling out) and needed reupholstering. We brought them to one of the local shops. I picked out a fabric while I was there and asked when they might be ready for pick up. The owner advised 1 to 2 weeks. Well 9 days later, they were all repaired and recovered. Done very well. Quick turn around time.

We have ordered some trick high tech window blind coverings, a process, which has been patented. They are Silhouettes (brand name) and when they cover the window, you can still see through them while they filter out the strong sunrays. The sun is much stronger than back east – very intense.

I’m typing on Ken’s computer. US West still have not strung the cable necessary to hook up our additional three lines. Since we only have one line and that is Ken’s link to business, weekends are the only time I can take for using the telephone lines to send E-mail. But hopefully in time this will be corrected.

All in all, it is lovely here. Take care. Hope to see you soon.

Love,

Diane and Ken