Another Week Has Flown By

The days zoom along and we are now only 2 weeks away from rolling the Castle on down the road.  This past week has been a little difficult for me, but also very gratifying.  We had the opportunity on Wednesday to make a trip to Denver for another ceremony, this time to send twin grandsons, Calib and Cameron, from middle school to high school.  Cameron received 2 awards, a Citizenship Award and a President’s Academic Excellence Award.  Congratulations, Cameron!  Calib was recognized with a President’s Award for Academic Achievement in Math.  Way to go, Calib!  Granddaughters Elyse and Kellie also did very well – both had 4.0 GPA’s, and Kellie received several awards too!  We are so proud of all of you!

Elyse, Kellie, Calib and Cameron:

The difficult part of the week was last Sunday and Monday.  I was scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday, but the doctor was not able to do the procedure because the prep did not work well enough.  It’s bad enough to get sick from a bug or bad food, but to actually make oneself ill for naught seems just wrong!  It has taken most of the rest of the week for me to get to feeling close to “normal” with my whole system out of whack.  I’m certainly not looking forward to putting myself through that ordeal again any time soon.

Another high point to the week was getting to entertain Jim’s former supervisor Ken, and his wife, Anne, at our place for dinner last night.  Jim had to show off his new toy by making a peach cobbler in his Dutch oven.  We spent hours during the evening discussing this nomadic lifestyle of ours, with Ken and Anne periodically sighing about the years they still have to work before they are able to do the kind of traveling they would like to do.  Hang in there, guys, the time will pass faster than you think!

I’ve also been able to spend some time with my sister, Ann.  She is living in the midst of a major home remodeling project and needed to have some time away from the construction, so we made time to run around and do some errands and shopping this week.  She took me out for a late birthday celebration and we got to enjoy our favorite Chinese restaurant.

This morning, Jim and I made a run up to the cabin to see Robin and Jacob:

They are spending the weekend at the cabin, which is located off Highway 24 between Manitou Springs and Woodland Park.  The cabin is a wonderful little retreat from the hustle and bustle of life.  It is located on Pike National Forest land, and is leased on a recreational permit.  My grandmother purchased the cabin and took over the lease back in the early 1940’s.  She would spend several weeks there during the summer, and all of my cousins would take turns spending a week or so at a time there with her.  There was no running water or electricity.  The “facilities” consisted of an outhouse.  Water was obtained by walking a few tenths of a mile to the spring and filling jugs with the fresh water, then carrying said jugs back up the hill.  Cooking was accomplished on a wood-burning cook stove, and dishes were washed in metal dishpans placed on the stove, one for washing and one for rinsing.  Then we’d wash our faces and hands with the rinse water.

Now, more than sixty years later, we’ve passed the ownership of the cabin on to our children.  There is still no electricity or running water, and there’s still an outhouse, although now it’s been updated to include a water-tight concrete vault that requires periodic pumping out.  Cooking is still done on a wood-burning cook stove, although it’s not the same stove that I grew up around.  That one was stolen during a break-in many years ago.  The “new” stove is much fancier, but still takes a bunch of wood to cook a meal.  The spring is no longer running, so water is brought from home now.

I’m sure my summers with Grandmother at the cabin had a big influence on my love for the outdoors, as those times taught me so much about self-reliance and adventure!  Not to mention it was really my introduction to boondocking. 

This evening we are meeting another former co-worker for dinner and discussion of our lifestyle.  Pat is getting closer to retirement, and she and her husband are hoping to sell their home and hit the road.  We’re looking forward to this visit, too.

The weather has finally turned warm, now if the wind would just die down…am I never satisfied with the weather?? No matter, we are still enjoying and treasuring each day!