Saturday, August 07, 1999

The Farmer’s Market is held Saturday mornings at the Boulder Fair Grounds. Besides fresh vegetables and fruits, they had potted plants, more specifically canna lilies for $1 each. You can’t even buy one bulb for $1. So I bought several and planted them at the end of the driveway so that the ugly area could be transformed into some instant beauty with these beautiful red flowers. In the spring we intend to build a 3ft woven fence and grow roses on the fence and have some floribundas in front of it. We have a garden consultant coming over this coming Tuesday to hear what we would like to do and to advise if the trees and plantings we want to place in specific areas would be advisable and if not, what species would be. This is different growing weather from New England and not everything will take the same as it did in Connecticut.

At the Boulder Fair Grounds they have some event going on at least once a month. The Boulder Fair just began August 6 and they have the animal judging, vegetable, crafts, entertainment, everything you would normally find at a fair. Friday night Ricky Scaggs will be playing and we have tickets for that performance.

The farmer’s market is really neat to frequent. It is open Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. The farmers bring in their fresh produce, there are bakery vendors, flower vendors, dried fruits. It is wonderful. Besides breads and vegetables, I picked up canna lilies for $1 each. You can’t buy the bulb for $1. We had cleared a section at the head for the driveway of weeds and had an instant display of lilies. Since these plants will have to be lifted in the fall after frost and wintered over in the basement, it will not interfere with our plans to build (Ken to build – this is on the “honey do list”) a 3 to 3 ½ ft fence to grow climbing roses on and plant a couple of trees.

Saturday on my way to the farmer’s market and driving along there was a fellow with a bandana and sunglasses on a Harley. This was not unusual, but what was unusual was the blonde shaggy haired dog seated up in front on the gas tank with a kerchief around his neck and sunglasses with his blonde shaggy hair blowing in the breeze. It was quite a picture and immediately brought a smile to your face.

Yesterday we were given tickets to the Loveland Sculpture Juried Exhibition. They claim it is the largest exhibition of sculpture in the United States. We went not knowing what we would find and WOW! It was awesome. What beautiful statues, fountains, horses, animals, western scenes from enormously large to small (desk top, or table top works). You had a chance to talk with the artists and walking from one exhibit to the next was just overwhelming. We of course did not see the entire collection. You would have to spend a couple of days to take it all in. There was an incredible amount of talent concentrated in Loveland. This city promotes the arts with proceeds from the results of the show.

One of the artists we spoke with said he took up sculpture 7 years ago and appreciates the qualities of people more. He looks more in depth at everyone. One fellow did reliefs for walls. I wish I had a large enough home to cover a wall with his work. This show will definitely be on our list for repeat visiting next year.

Tuesday a landscaping adviser came over and we walked through our property explaining what we would like to do and what shrubs and trees would be the hardiest to plant, etc. Gail was very knowledgeable and had some excellent recommendations. Collectively we have come up with some attractive improvements. Believe it or not, there is more to do here as far as outdoor gardening than back in Connecticut. We will have to put our plant into place and then find short cuts to keep things looking neat, etc. One of the areas in the front yard, ½ acre of wild flowers with weeds interspersed is something I do not want to weed. You could become a slave to this plot. The plan is to get the weed whacker and cut down the weeds. After the flowers have gone by, we can mow the entire area. (Ken sold the Kuboda Tractor because he did not think he would need this on a 2.2 acre plot.) Where is our Kuboda??? We need you.

A week ago, I went to my first Newcomer’s Luncheon. It was quite enjoyable, very social and very friendly people. There were several sign up sheets for a variety of events, one of which was a Gourmet Luncheon, which I volunteered to cook for. The hostess is Maybelle Cage – great name and we had our cook’s meeting this week.

Today, August 12, I met a couple of friends at 6:30 a.m. in El Dorado Canyon and we did about a 5 to 6 mile hike. What a beautiful area. However, these women really move out and you have to pay more attention to your footing than the beautiful area around you. Will I ever keep up with them? I don’t know, but I am getting stronger and the distance between us is not as great as our first hike together.

All of the window treatments are now up and in place. It looks great!

Couldn’t E-Mail last week because the computer had some glitch in it which prevented many uses. You could type something in Microsoft Word, but that was limited too.

I’ll be travelling to Connecticut August 27 and returning August 30. I intend to meet with personnel at Woodlake regarding my mother. Spending some time with mother, relatives and friends. I’m sure the time will pass be quickly.

One more thing, the saga of “As the World Turns” and the need to get water to our pond. Well, Sarah called us and gave us the name of her attorney. Ken called and spoke to him and in the conversation, the attorney brought up the fact that Kate owned ½ of the pond (there is a feud over land between Kate and Sarah). Ken said yes, but Kate does not live here and we are using the water for irrigation and for our fish. Lawyer next said you know after the last court session over the pond, it was discussed that the water drain would be moved to the Miller property. Ken said we do not know anything about this. Nor is there anything in writing to this effect. Also lawyer said, you know Kate’s sister owns the adjacent land to Sarah and Ken replied, yes we know that. Well in conversation Ken mentioned that he had a detailed drawing of the location of the piping and the fact that it was old (old meaning that water rights have been existence for many, many years). Lawyer asked for a copy of the drawing and Ken faxed this to him. The next morning early at 6:30 a.m. Sarah with Sophie, the dog, was out walking around where she is having a pond dug. This pond and machinery is very close to the drain. In a few minutes two men joined her. It is so open that you can take out your binoculars and check out what is happening. The two men were not neighbors, or the people who have been working on this project. We believe they were Sarah’s lawyer plus one other.

A couple days later Ken received a letter from the lawyer stating we could not have access to Sarah’s property. Well, we discussed this and my suggestion was to call the Water Judge who issued the last decree in this matter and ask for advice. We do not want to hire a lawyer because that would be an enormous expense. What we do want is the right to our water, which we have a several page document attesting to this fact. So, again, we are stymied on the progress of getting water to our pond.

We think that the machinery and digging of the new pond has damaged the existing drain pipe and the lawyer has recommended not to let anyone on the property. So we must approach the Water Judge. (Remember Laugh-In and “Here Come the Judge- Here Come the Judge”)?

Perhaps we should find someone with a divining rod to find a nearby source of water which could be piped into easily. However, nothing to do with water out here is easy. This is considered desert and water is a precious commodity.

So we are embroiled in a land feud which we do not want anything to do with.

We are here to make friends and live peacefully. All we have to do is work around the Sarah/Kate “As the World Turns” situation.

Well, that’s all for now.

Love, Diane and Ken