October 6, 2003

We took a trip to Leadville in early August to hike up Mt. Elbert. This is Colorado’s highest mountain at 14,466 ft. We had made reservations at the Ores and Mine B&B. This B&B is run by a couple of friendly hospitable folks and when Donna knew we were hiking up Elbert, she asked when we would like breakfast. Ken said we should be out of the inn by 6:00 a.m. Donna asked what we would like for breakfast and I said cereal, fruit and coffee. But she said wouldn’t you like some eggs, you will be doing a strenuous hike, and plus that you’ll need some meat, etc. Well, she and her husband got up real early and cooked us a fully breakfast complete with fruit and freshly baked muffins. We could not finish it all.

We started up Elbert. The trail is a steep ascent - straight up. The trail has good footing and of course wonderful scenery. We were probably ¼ mile from the summit and the altitude really had its affect and you must proceed at your own rate. I felt like the little engine that could. I think, I can, I know I could – huff, puff and gasp. We reached the summit and, of course, had out photo taken and tanked up on some food and water. We found camaraderie between folks we met on the top of this mountain.

When we were approaching the summit we noticed a yellow lab dog wandering back and forth without any owner. On our descent he would run down and back looking, looking. We heard from other hikers that his owner had left him and had hiked back down. We tried to call the dog, but he was not about to come to us and just kept wandering back and forth. There was no water along this route except for a patch of snow at the summit, so the dog was thirsty, tired and confused. A couple of fellows lured him over with beef jerky and leashed him with a piece of rope they had with them.

At that point, (I will use a phrase from the Blues Brothers) I was furious and on “a mission from God” to get down the mountain and give the owner a piece of my mind. Our descent was unlike the ascent, very fast with Ken calling out “Don’t go so fast, my knees can’t take this pace on a down hill.”

At the trailhead there were several people along with the owner and I really lectured him on his treatment of his dog. I won’t go through all of what I said, but believe me he got an earful together will all the people at the trailhead. He was just cruel and irresponsible and didn’t deserve the dog. (Ken’s comment: Diane was fire and brimstone; I was sure glad I wasn’t that guy. He won’t forget that lecture.)

While in Leadville they were celebrating their mining Boom Days. Many of the townsfolk dress up in Victorian outfits and it is quite colorful and fun. Some men dressed as sheriffs. Many women wore gaudy and provocative Victorian dresses. We were having dinner in Quincy’s and the waitress was dressed in a colorful outfit complete with feathers in her hair. Ken asked what period of dress it was and her comment was “We’re supposed to look like whores”. He got quite a chuckle out of that.

One of our trips was to the Crystal Mine. A couple from Indiana owned the property and the fellow would mine for gold four months out of the year and then return home. Ken asked the wife how successful the mine was and the answer was a carefully guarded one. You don’t tell people about any success with gold.

The long, steep and washed out jeep road to the mine is the 50-mile turn-around point for the famous and brutal Leadville 100, a running and bicycle endurance race. The flowers along side of the road and the little stream were beautiful. High on that exposed mountain top we found the abandoned Columbine Mine, just a hole in the ground and an old cabin is all that remains.

Back home, Ken finished installing his new Suzuki engine and has been 4-wheeling in Montrose on the Western slope of the Rockies. The new engine is from a 1997 Geo Tracker and has modern electronic fuel injection and a lot more than the original’s 64 horsepower. Ken keeps getting better at the rock crawling sport and is doing more extreme (impossible?) trails.

I have been doing all sorts of art demos at Wells Fargo Bank, the Longmont Recreation Center, YMCA, Café Luna and the Farmers Market. Many people stop to talk and watch and you have to get over any comments made, or shyness when doing this. It really is good for concentration and focusing. I demoed at August Morning Coffee Shop on Main Street for the July Longmont Art Walk. It was great fun, tiring but fun, and I got to hang my art in August Morning for two months.

All artists who were in the Studio Tour got to put a representative piece of their artwork into the Longmont Museum for a month’s period of time. The reception was a huge success and the display of art was very fine. An older lady, from Russia, found me at the reception and came up and said “You have Reflections”. (That was the name of my artwork.) I said yes and we talked for a while. She had a very thick Russian accent and told me I painted like a Russian, so I thanked her for that. She went on to say her son was still in Russia and was a artist. She has tried out oils and said, “it is so good, you squeeze the tube – just like SEX!” We had a good time with her. It was quite entertaining.

We opened our home for Open Studios on September 22 and 22 and had at least 150 people visit. Three other artists participated in this event at our home. Visitors were enthusiastic about the gardens and the location of our home. One elderly lady kept saying what beautiful windows at the sink and you could wash dishes while looking out the window. She asked where Hwy. 36 was and I pointed to it. She said she wanted to orient herself so that when traveling she could look across the miles in the vicinity of our home and I said “I’ll wave to you while I’m doing dishes”. All in all we had a successful day. Many interesting people stopped by, quite a few from Boulder and we will do it again next year.

Wells Fargo Bank is the largest benefactor in our art community. They asked for artists connected with the Longmont Council for the Arts to become more actively involved in the community and write up requests for grants with their proposed involvement. Well I thought about it for a while and decided I could give a program that begins with the local art community, the wonderful artists we have here and where you could see artists and their art. The second half would include a hands-on introduction to pastels. I had to come up with titles for these programs. The first half of the program is “Discovering the Roots of Longmont’s Art Community” and the second part of the program is “Discover Your Hidden Talents – An Introduction to Pastels”.

I received the grant. My first program is scheduled for January 16, 2004 at the Longmont Senior Center. The Library is also going to book my program.

It is October 14^th and we just had a hard frost. The gardens are grateful for this as they have been producing beautifully and have been getting a little tired. The weather for this weekend is predicted to be in the lower 80’s.

A few weeks ago on a Sunday, Ken and I were sitting on our dock enjoying the afternoon and having a Coke when we heard shotgun fire. The shots were coming from our access road where we saw a truck with two young men in the open bed firing at prairie dogs near our pond. Ken yelled out but the truck picked up speed and drove to our neighbor’s home. Ken hopped in his truck and pursued them. It was neighbor Mary’s business partner, Dusty driving the two boys. Ken told him he was upset and that Dusty needed permission if he is going to do that again. Dusty’s eyes were wide open and he was very apologetic. When Ken is angry and has something to say, watch out!

Ken has bought a Cyclocross bicycle and is taking up this form of cycling. Cyclocross is an odd form of bicycle racing done in the cold and wet winter months. Since we don’t have that kind of weather here the sport is a little out of place. Riders are forced to jump off their bike, run over obstacles and then jump back on while running. They do this for an hour; crazy. Ken doesn’t know if he’ll race or just use the bike for local dirt roads and smoother trails.

Ken traveled to Moab, Utah, at the end of September with some members of the Boulder cycling club Swift Cycling. They spent three days mountain biking the challenging trails in Moab. Ken had fun but came home with bruised ribs and a lot of missing skin. Boys will be boys.

On our third attempt this year Ken and I finally got to the continental divide at Pawnee Pass. We had attempted this hike the latter part of June but were turned back by deep snow. In August a friend and I tried again and still could not make it because of the snow. When we finally completed this hike recently, we could see most of the path but it had just recently snowed. Winter will close the trail very soon. It is a beautiful trail and one I can very highly recommend doing in late summer.

The Longmont Artist Guild just completed an art show at the Pumpkin Pie Days event at Boulder County fairgrounds. This is put on by the St. Vrain Historical Society and pulls in over three thousand people. This was great exposure for the artists who exhibited and when we approached visitors and asked if they would vote for “People’s Choice Award” and that the winner received $50 prize money, they got very interested and spent considerable time looking over the exhibit. This is the first art show the Guild has had in many years. I really feel great about this, because I approached Dale Bernard of the Historical Society and kind of kicked around what we might be able to do jointly and it really did happen. Hopefully, we will be able to collaborate with each other in the future.

Got to go. There are things on my list that have not been done yet.

Love, Diane and Ken