~The world's shortest blog post and we laughed until we nearly cried~

Ok, ok...this is probably going to be a "way too much information" kind of moment here as well as the world's shortest blog post by me (oh yeah, let's see if THAT happens).  Last night we decided to take a photo of our left hands and wedding rings~not exactly sure why but we did.  The photo above shows the finished product but the REAL picture, a thing that made us laugh until we nearly cried was cropped out at the last minute.  I wasn't going to share what was really happening but when I woke up this morning I thought "What the heck?"  But to tell the story, we gotta backtrack a little bit by say, oh I don't know, 2 years or so.

After my "infamous" curb jumping incident back in 2011, poor "old lefty" was left in a rather messed up sort of state.  Nine months of having a broken left arm/wrist and well over 200 days of having my arm enclosed in a heavy 25 pound exoskeleton (ok, that's an exaggeration) took its toll on the overall health of that busted up limb of mine.  By the time it was all over and the last cast removed it was apparent that my left arm and hand would never match the right arm and hand again.  Once in a while, I still get an occasional extra glance from people who notice it for the first time but mostly I'm used to it by now.  And I guess I should be remembering the comment that my son Grahame always gave to me when I would complain about having a left hand that was smaller and all shriveled up now~"Mom", he would say to me, "at least you have a hand left to use, remember that, ok?"  

It took about 6 times of trying to take the photo last night before we could come up with one that suited me.  Each time I took a picture and then stopped to check to see what the image looked like, "vanity" reared its ugly head and I would cringe to think that it looked so bad.  "Not good!" I would repeatedly tell Mike, not once but 5 times in a row.  On the sixth time though, something special, something very loving happened.  Sensing my dismay of having plenty of extra skin with no muscle to keep it in place any longer, Mike reached over and with his free hand pulled back the skin of my left hand to keep it out of the photo giving it a more normal, 57-year old appearance.  It was one of the most touching things I believe has ever been done for me since "old lefty" and I have made the long and arduous journey of post-recovery time together.  It will now rank right up there with my son Grahame's "faster than the speed of light" race with me to the emergency room and Dr. Chan's miracle surgery to put all of the busted and "smashed to smithereens" bones back together again.  Hey, and so my hands will never win the most beautiful hands in the world contest again~how important is that in the scheme of things of this life any ways?  Somewhere out there in the universe is someone who needs that special honour a whole lot more than I do.

Everything happens for a reason in this life and I guess the Lord must have decided that Mike and I needed to laugh last evening.  And laugh we did, so hard that it was difficult to even finish taking the photo that we finally came up with.  His simple gesture was a wonderful reminder to me as I was a witness to such a genuine act of kindness and love.  It was an example of the gift of the "human touch" at its finest and I'm glad that my eyes and heart were open to accept it.  My dear friends and family, may you be the recipient of that "gift" yourself this day.  Material things will come and go, money lasts only a short while to begin with but the people we love and cherish, well those are things that really count in the end.  

Have a great day everyone~love you guys all out there.  Have I told you lately how glad I am that we are friends?  Well, I am!  

The end result of taking the world's most expensive bike ride EVER~August 4th, 2011.  It changed me forever and made me a much stronger person despite the fact that it broke just about every bone imaginable in that arm.  :)  Me and "old lefty" together through thick and thin and everything else in between.

~R.I.P. dear "homesick" and upon becoming my own mother~

Greetings everyone from very windy and extremely dry Montrose, Colorado.  Mike and I are having a garage sale this morning and as we set everything up outside last night, the wind came.  And it blew and blew all night long and continues to blow as I write this blog entry.  All around us last night we noticed dark clouds that might at any moment signal the beginning of the arrival of much needed moisture here, yet we received none.  Now the San Juan Mountains and the Uncompahgre Range are nearly obscured from our view, mostly because of the wildfires that are burning not all that far away from us here in Montrose.  This land, just like the land everywhere else in our country, is dependent upon the good graces of Mother Nature.  For all the things that we haven't had to endure in the ravages of weather, we should give thanks always and we do.

It's been over a month now that I have lived here and I do believe that I have never said, thought or written the word homesick as much as I have as of late.  Shoot, if I were to have been paid a dollar for every time I uttered that eight letter word, I'd be able to buy drinks at Bogey's back home in Hutch for most all of you reading this right now for the rest of the year.  You know, I was talking the other day with my oldest son, Ricky, who lives for the time being in Jenks, Oklahoma.  We visit often, that boy and I, about life and how the other is doing.  He has sensed my sadness and I have been truthful with him as well as my other two children about how life is going for me.  He told me something on the phone the other day that made sense to me and although it kind of "smarted" for a moment to hear his words, I knew that he was right and oh how I hate it when my kids are right and I am not.  (LOL, love him any ways).  "Mom," he told me, "I know you are homesick but I also know that you have the chance to have a good life with Mike in Colorado.  It just seems like the more you say that you are homesick, the less chance you will have to be happy there."  He was right and it made me stop to realize just how our own "mental attitude" about something can make all the difference, bad or good, in the way that we look at things.  

I have continued to think about that conversation in the days that have followed since and the longer I thought about it, the more I realized just how right that 32-year "kid" of mine was. He had made a great point.  Although he didn't come out and say it, because he knew that I'd probably not like to hear his advice (LOL), what Ricky was really telling me was that I had become my own worst enemy and that I was actually defeating myself in the long run and that it was time to start looking at things in a different light.  So to honour my son, who I love very much and always will, I'm making the attempt this morning to officially put to rest the term homesick at least for 99 percent of the time.  Doesn't mean that I won't feel that way of course, only means that I'm not going to allow it to influence my chances of a having a good life here.  Does that makes any sense?  It kinda does to me now.

As I close this post this morning, I guess I am thinking about my mom and how finally at long last I understand her so much better and the things that she had to go through later on in the last part of her life.  Now keep in mind, I said I was going to retire using that thought of "homesickness" but could I share just one last memory that has helped me so much in the days that have passed?  Having seemingly plenty of time now to finally reflect on things has been a real blessing to me and I saw myself in my own mother, just the other day.

When my mom was 84 years old her health had become fragile enough that she had to enter into long-term care at a nursing home back in Hutchinson.  It was a "not so much fun" kind of moment for her and she made it clear to all of us that it wasn't what she wanted to have happen.  It was a sad moment in time, not only for her but for all of her children and grandchildren as well.  But what could any of us do?  We knew there was no other option and thus, her life was forever changed.  Perhaps some of you reading this have gone through similar experiences with your own parents or grandparents.  It ends up being a "not so much kind of fun" moment for everyone.  

We tried our best to make her new room at the nursing home look pretty, figuring that if all else failed at least she would have a nice place to live.  Several of us kids tried to convince her to let us bring some things from her old house on 14th Street to make it look like "home" to her, but she would have nothing of it.  We tried several ideas like her family photos, a special lamp, a side table, a magazine stand and even her prized possession~a record player/CD/radio combination that she had always enjoyed listening to.  Nothing seemed to work.  As time went on, I began to realize that in my mother's mind, allowing us to bring a lot of stuff from home to provide a more amenable nursing home decor would signify her acceptance of giving up her own home and moving into a long-term care setting. That was never going to happen for her and when she passed away, nearly four years later, all of her personal things, including that wonderful record player were given away to family members.  She never enjoyed having them again.  

Now I tell you that story about my own mom because her daughter, that'd be me, has been the same way about my move here.  When we originally moved my belongings out in late May, there were several things that I had to leave behind simply because we didn't have the room to bring them.  When I went back to visit Kansas last weekend, I knew that there were items that I would try to bring out when I came back to Montrose.  Homesick as I was and "ouch" there's THAT word again, there were several things that I hesitated putting into my car.  Guess I was just like my mom in that respect...I knew that I had a wonderfully kind and loving husband waiting for me to return home but the problem was that "home" wasn't where I always knew it to be.  I was balking about returning and leaving some special things back in my home on East 14th Street meant that I could hang on to ties in both places.  And one of those things that I was having trouble bringing out was a record player/CD/radio combination, much like the one that she had.  At the very last moment, right before I left last Monday morning I had one of those "whacks upside the head" from God and believe me the message He delivered was understood loud and clear.  It was time to take the record player to Montrose as well.  It would be "ok" and so with the help of my son Grahame, it was loaded at the last minute into the front seat of the car.  Any of the rest of you have trouble listening sometimes to the "still small voice"?

Until my dying day my heart will always reside in two places~Hutchinson, Kansas and Montrose, Colorado.  I will learn, given enough time, that it will get easier here.  I will continue to work on becoming more accustomed to life in Colorado and the "blessing" promises to be right here beside me all along the way.  Not sure what more to ask for and just like I always promised my dear little friend NaDonna as we suffered through our time in the "broken arm club" together, IT GETS BETTER~So on today, June 29th, 2013 it would seem fitting and right to give the phrase "I'm homesick!" a proper rest and thus, it shall be.  Have a great weekend friends and take care of yourself and one another.  Peggy Miller Renfro is alive and well in the mountains of Colorado.  I miss you guys all and love you more than you can imagine.  Thanks for being my friends, always!

There's something about these two guys and their little sister~makes a mom really proud.  They know me better than I know myself some days.  Love all three of them so very much.

She would have a fit if she knew I'd posted this one...right before Mom left for the nursing home back in 2003.  It was a hard thing for her to do and an even harder one for us.  My sisters Sherry and Cindy and a brother, Mike, are shown with me.  I think Mom would have been really glad that I told her story and that I learned from it as well.  Hey and so what that I have became my own mother?  :)  Worse things in this life I suppose!

The infamous "record player" has found its new home here on the old buffet at Montrose, Colorado.  I kinda like it there and am really glad that I brought it.  My dear friends Michael, his sister Amy and their mother Jan gave it to me last Christmas time as a gift.  I have enjoyed it ever since.  Dear friends, if this blog post had "audio" it would sound like either Harry Chapin, Three Dog Night, The Moody Blues, or John Denver.  Take your pick and listen to your heart's content.  

~Upon the time when life has to be divided into more manageable chunks~

Hello dear friends and family~sending greetings and best wishes from Montrose County, Colorado where for now in the early morning hours, the temperature sits at a cool 61 degrees with a forecast high of 100 for the next two days.  It's so dry here and we are desperate for moisture just like many other parts of this country are.  There is a chance for thunderstorms this weekend that have the possibility to bring us some much needed rain.  Yet with the "good" comes the "bad" as the lightning that could well accompany the storms  has the potential to spark yet another fire somewhere along the tree line.  Back home in Kansas, I used to keep my "eyes to the skies" for the threat of a tornado in the summertime.  Here in Colorado, the folks look for a different kind of menace, wildfires.  It's been an eye opener for me to experience this and I cannot even begin to fathom what it would be like to be completely burned out of your home and neighbourhood.  Please continue to keep the good people of the western states in your thoughts and prayers.  Much help is needed before the fire season comes to a close and whenever that might be, it surely won't be a moment too soon.

It's been a while since I worked on my bucket list and after living here in Colorado since the 24th day of May, I finally decided yesterday that it was time to do something.  After much thinking and reflecting over what it might be, I came up with only one thing and I know that if I can do this one thing, then life will be so much easier out here for me.  That sole item is this.....

Miller-Renfro Colorado Bucket List Item #1-
To make peace with life here in Colorado, to make friends and put down roots here.  To become familiar with the land that lies between Hutchinson, Kansas and Montrose, Colorado as you travel along Highway 50 and to know that I can go safely to and from the two places where my heart resides at the very same time.

The issue of being homesick and settling into a new life has been one of the most difficult things that I've ever done.  It's been a struggle, ok?  I mean a real struggle, one that I have wondered if I've had the courage to endure.  Kansas and Colorado may be "first cousins" on the topographical map of the United States but those two states might as well be "fourth cousins, a gazillion times removed on my great-great grandfather's side of the family" in the way that I've looked at it as of late.  Those 611 miles between my old home in Kansas and my new home in Colorado seem so massive, so forbidding at times.  Being lonely for what I always had known as "home", even though now I have the wonderful chance of having a beautiful life here with my dear and loving husband Mike, has really impacted my ability to move on and start life anew here on the western slopes.  Yesterday, I guess I just got tired enough of giving up happiness here because I was "missing"  home, and I decided that it was time to do something about it.  The right moment had come to take back control over those sad feelings and to devise a plan that would help me begin to better settle in.  The bucket list item above is that plan.  

Hey, you know that it's not something that will come to fruition over night and I dare to say that it's not going to be completed in even a month.  Maybe, just maybe, by Christmas this year I will feel as if I have made progress and I can only hope that perhaps by next year at this time, I'll be laughing about how silly it was to be so very homesick.  It's a small step but you gotta start somewhere I guess.

The "plan" actually has two parts~make some friends here, put down a few roots and settle in as well as to look at the miles between here and back home in a more "user friendly" kind of way.  My dear friends and family if you are reading this now, then I have a favour to ask of you.  I have always hated to ask favours of folks but you know sometimes, you just have to.  This is one of them and here's how the favour goes.....

After an exceptionally yucky and trying experience of returning to Montrose this past weekend, via the lovely city of Denver and I70 traffic, I realized that I would be much better suited to always travel Highway 50 whenever I make the journey between Kansas and Colorado.  I don't know why I chose to all of a sudden change the route this past weekend....ok, ok I really DO know why but I'll tell you about that a little later along the line.  Sitting in a traffic jam for over an hour and the additional 100+miles that the northern route adds were two very good reasons to NOT come back that way again.  So Highway 50, with it's infamous crossing over Monarch Pass, is really my only viable option while travelling and thus, Highway 50 it shall be always.  

In my mind (dim-witted as I might be sometimes) I need to start looking at that 611 mile route, not as the world's worst road to traverse, but rather as a life-line for me between the two places where for now my heart resides.  Here's where you guys come in~the favour part....  Between Hutchinson and Montrose are mountains, small cities and towns, a moderate amount of traffic, a random deer or moose, some beautiful rivers and lakes, and a whole lot of people who are strangers to me.  When I have travelled, I have sometimes worried that if I were to have trouble that there would be no one I knew who could help me along the way home.  Sure, I have a cell phone, a well running car with good tires and a pretty decent sense of adventure but I also have one thing I wish I didn't and that would be the underlying fear of being in big trouble if something were to happen to me as I drove back and forth.  If ONLY I were to know someone who lived in each of the towns along the way, it might be easier for me and put my worries to rest.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, hey does anyone reading this know someone that lives in Salida, Canon City or Pueblo, Colorado that could be my "phone a friend" if I need help?  Maybe someone out there has an acquaintance in Garden City or Kinsley, Kansas?  I know it seems a strange request, but gaining some knowledge and knowing that there is someone out there along the way who might help me if I need it, will go a long ways towards curing my bout of homesickness, now being experienced.  Hey, I'd be grateful if you have any "connections" with people along the route who would be willing to help me should I ever have any trouble to let me know about them.  I pray that I would never need to call them, for anything.  But just knowing they were there somewhere along the way would provide a lot of piece of mind for me.  I thank you in advance for even considering this and please don't feel obliged.  I have to start somewhere and I figure that breaking down that long stretch of miles into about ten, 60-mile segments each is as good a way to begin as any.

The day is nearly ending here and it's been a pretty good one, all things considered.  Somewhere out there today are thousands of people, probably more, who haven't had as good a day as I have had.  Homesick or not, I have been blessed hundreds of times over and in the least of these things I will always give thanks.  Have a good evening my friends, take care of yourselves and one another.  I will always remember you and think of you in my heart~thank you that you would remember me.  Good night everyone!

Monarch Pass, the very first time I crossed over on my own, mid-January of 2013.  

Monarch Pass, the day that Mike and I crossed over on May 24th to begin our life together in Montrose.  What a difference that six months can make :)

My Colorado Bucket List Journey~sometimes I wish

Hello to you, my dear friends and family on this beautiful 26th day of June, 2013.  The sky here in south western Colorado is still a nice shade of blue and the windsocks are blowing rather lazily towards the western horizon.  The leaves of the old cottonwood tree next to the clothesline are shimmering as they sway in the easterly breeze.  The deer parade has ceased to come through the front yard now for over 5 days, mostly because the alfalfa has been cut and baled.  With a field barren of luscious green protection, those beautiful animals have chosen a different route to travel through each day.  I miss them and the distraction from being homesick that they provided me for my first month here.  Mike says, "just wait", because they will surely as shooting return here sometime soon.  I hope so~

Soon, as the weeks of summer continue to pass by, the alfalfa field will grow once again into a lush carpet of green.  I've gotten used to this idea of flood irrigation here, a new experience for me.  The hay was baled Monday evening and by early yesterday morning it was being loaded onto the back of a flatbed semi and taken away to be sold.  By the early evening hours, our landlord Bill and Mike were setting up the irrigation system to once again flood the earth with badly needed moisture.  All night long the water ran and from just outside our bedroom window we could hear it~the last  sound I heard as I went to sleep and the first sound I heard upon awakening this morning.  I told Mike that the rushing water's noise, while very peaceful, can also be a lonely one for some reason.  Not sure I could explain that notion to you if I tried.  Maybe some of you will yet understand.

Everywhere you go around here in this area, this is the sight you see.  I honestly was never aware of it back home in Kansas but for farmers as well as anyone who wishes to keep a lawn looking at least half-ways green, flood irrigation is the route that is taken.  Without the water that is pumped in regularly from the reservoir near here, Montrose could not survive.  I thought it was dry in Kansas but in the month's time that I have been here, virtually no rain has fallen.  Makes you consider even more so how much water you could potentially waste each day without even really trying.  Still waiting for what Mike promises will be the "monsoon season" here in Montrose, come sometime during the month of July.  For every drop of water here, just like back home in south central Kansas, we should surely give thanks for whatever might fall from the sky.

I have been working on ideas for a continuation of my Kansas bucket list in finding a way to make a new one for my life here now in Colorado.  You know, I've been working on a bucket list for the better part of two years now and I've done some mighty fun and interesting things.  At the urging of one of the truest friends I ever had in this life, I took swimming lessons back at the YMCA in Hutchinson.  The ability to give up my life long phobia of getting into the water was a real blessing for me.  I've ridden the Bike Across Kansas, power parachuted and saw the most beautiful sunrise and sunset in the world, TWICE!  Right before leaving Kansas back in May, I accomplished my lifelong goal of learning how to sew something for the very first time in life.  I did it thanks to the kind and loving heart of my dear young friend, Stephanie Wilson.  I reconnected with Facebook friends and bought them something to drink while talking about life for a while and made a 4,000 mile round trip to see a lighthouse in Maine for the first time.  So many things that I had made my mind up to do before I died and the weird thing was that even after going through 3 complete bucket lists, I still wanted to do more.  And that desire to do more was really a wish to continue living life to its fullest each day that was afforded to me by God above.  That's why I've always maintained the idea that a bucket list was not a "death wish" but a wish for life, and life full!  I still hold to that thought, perhaps even more today that when it was first thought of by me back in 2010.  

At this point in time, on the bucket list formerly known as the "Miller Bucket List of 2010", I have only one thing that I need to do and you know, if I can do THIS then my life will be a whole lot more the way I wish for it to be.  Perhaps if you have ever been homesick for a place that you used to live in, then you will understand why this one is so important to me.  Here it is~

"Miller-Renfro Bucket List Item #1"
To make peace with life here in Colorado, to make friends and put down roots here.  To become familiar with the land that lies between Hutchinson, Kansas and Montrose, Colorado as you travel on Highway 50 and to know that I can travel safely to and from the two places where my heart resides at the same time.

If I can do THIS, then I can do anything.  I will never give up trying.  Have a great day everyone out there and know that I am fine and being well cared for and loved by a most wonderful man, Mike Renfro.  Thankful for the gift of the "blessing".  Take care everyone of yourselves and each other.  In the end, that's all we really have anyways~each other.

While I was back home in Kansas this past weekend, Mike figured out a way (thanks in part to our good friend in Grand Junction, Mel Southam) to help me hang up my bike.  There were a couple of times, after my infamous curb jumping incident back in 2011, that this would probably been the best position for my bike to be in forever :)  Thankfully I didn't let that happen and even though I haven't ridden much out here, in the future I am sure that I will.  Me and "old lefty" might have been out of commission for a few months, but we came back strong as ever.  

~for it's time to cross over the mountain~

Good morning everyone out there and I send greetings to each of you from the dining room table of my home on East 14th Street here in Hutchinson, Kansas.  Once again, seems so weird to be typing a blog post from the place where so many (537 of them in all) blog posts have been written.  But here I am, at least for the next 45 minutes.  It's 4:30 in the a.m. and I am up early so that I can get a good start on the road back to Montrose.  There's this guy I know and he's waiting on me to get back there.  I think he kinda misses me~I know I miss him.  

I'm so glad that I had the chance to come home here to Kansas, even if it was only for the weekend.  How wonderful it was to be able to see my home again and everything that this town means to me.  It touched this "mother's" heart to be able to see my son Grahame and my daughter Ursela once again.  I had a great phone conversation with my oldest son Ricky from his home in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.  I love those 3 children with all of my heart and  THEN some!  Old Obie, well she was glad to see me too and how thankful I was that she had not forgotten me, even after a month's absence.  I'm sorry that the time went so quickly and I wasn't able to get around to see everyone.  Just went way too fast~

I thought this morning that I would reprint the blog post that I made right after I returned from my very first visit to Montrose, back in January of this year.  It was the time that I "reconnected" with Mike after a 4-decade span of time had passed.  Seems strange to reread the words I wrote.  I'm heading back to that place in just a moment and to the man that I fell in love with and married now over a month ago.  

The good folks at Merriam-Webster define the word blessing as a "thing conducive to happiness or welfare".  That definition pretty much fits the way I feel about the wonderful man who is now my husband, Mike Renfro.  He IS my blessing.  Today I am leaving Kansas once again, exactly one month from the date that Mike and I moved my things to Colorado  in May.  I love this state of Kansas, my home forever, with all of my heart and even though I feel sadness upon leaving in just a moment, one thing is for sure.  For as much as I have loved my life here, I love Michael Duane Renfro a million times more and it's time to cross over the big mountain once more.  He's waiting there for me on the other side of it~

Have a great day my friends and family.  Know that I love you all and I will miss you as I leave today.  I promise to return very soon~this is Monday, the 24th day of June in the year 2013.  It's a great day to be alive in and I am going to rejoice and be ever so glad in it.  

the view from a different window~

Greetings everyone to you this evening, not from my home on 14th Street in Hutchinson, but rather from Montrose, Colorado along the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains.  Never in my wildest of dreams would I have imagined finding myself in Colorado during the coldest time of the year here, but nonetheless here I have been since late Friday evening.  At the kind invitation of a dear friend from the "land of long ago, and far, far away", Mike Renfro, I came to see what his part of the earth looked like.  And now as night time has quickly fallen and my car is mostly packed for the journey back home to Kansas in the morning, I am so very glad that I have come here.  I would have to admit, it's with a bit of sadness that I will have to leave because I have had a great time and of course, as the age old saying goes, "time flies when you are having fun".  But hey, what the heck?  I know the way  here now and I will be back.  

This was a gigantic "leap of faith" for me to take out from the certainty of life at home in Hutchinson, Kansas and travel to a place over 650 miles away from me.  I had never driven alone in Colorado and I knew that traversing the mountains would be a formidable undertaking.  But I figured, "OK Peggy Miller~you drove 4,000 miles to and from Maine not even 8 months ago.  You did it then, you can do it now!" and so off I went just as soon as I could finish up a few things after school on Friday.

The journey on Highway 50 out of Hutchinson and all the way to the far western Kansas town of Syracuse was pretty much a slice of that "proverbial piece of cake".  Mike had told me, shoot Mapquest had even "seconded" it that Montrose was a mere 650 miles, give or take a mile or two, west of Hutchinson on Highway 50.  So all I would need to do is just "follow the yellow brick road" and by the way, if any of the heirs of L. Frank Baum are reading this, my apologies for borrowing a line from one of the scariest movies I have ever YET to finish.  So off I went.

About LaJunta, Colorado I began to get a little tired and I realized that my body had been awake and going for well over 16 hours.  But since I was yet to become overwhelmingly drowsy I continued on.  The traffic was pretty light and I thought just as long as I kept plodding along, all would be well.  On to Pueblo, then Canon City and all of a sudden I began to wonder what the heck I was doing continuing to drive.  I knew that I'd never make it all the way to Montrose in one fell swoop as planned.  It would have been crazy to do that so I began to formulate "plan B"~just get to Salida and find a place to sleep for the night.

If I were going to choose the worst part of the drive for me, it would have to be that seemingly never ending journey from Canon City to Salida...on the map a journey of 57 miles that should have only taken an hour and fifteen minutes.  But as "Miller luck" would have it, the journey took twice that long.  I should not have been surprised since "Miller's luck" and "Murphy's Law" are second cousins twice removed on my mother's side of the family.  It was bound to happen.  The rise in elevation of over 1,800 feet got my attention really quick.  My ears began to pop even worse than they already had and thank goodness I'd remembered (thanks to my son Grahame) to have some gum along to chew.  The Honda Civic did its best and carried me up the road, slow but sure. 

 In a way, I was glad that it was pitch dark outside.  I figured it was better to NOT see where I'd end up landing if I left the road and went down into a canyon.  About an hour into the journey I saw a sign that said, "Royal Gorge, 1/2 mile" and I was determined not to visit it the hard way.    I jokingly told a few of my friends at school that if I didn't happen to make it back, that hey I'd lived a pretty good life for 57 years.  But actually I kind of DO like living. Once in a sad moment of time, when I felt like maybe I was an "idiot" for trying this all alone in the dark of the night, I thought about my late father.  I remember actually saying out loud at one point in time, "Daddy are you there?  It's me Peggy and I need you!"  Crazy wasn't it?  But I got this peace of mind almost instantly that everything would be ok....and I'll give you the cleaned up version of the message my dad sent me...  "Peggy Ann get your head where it belongs and you will be fine."  And he was right, I was.

After a good night's sleep in the town of Salida, I took out once more.  In the early morning hours, I arrived in Montrose and met up with my friend, Mike.  He has been a wonderful host, a terrific tour guide and wonderful friend to visit with for the past two days.  I have seen more marvelous and wonderful things in the past 48 hours than I have seen in most years of my life.  And I surely do thank Mike for his kindness in showing me around.  

You know friends I could have stayed home this weekend...hey, with the load of work that I have 
waiting for me when I get home tomorrow night, I'm gonna be up for quite awhile before bed time.  I should have done laundry, cleaned house, taken care of school work, done some preparatory work for our school 4H meeting this week and on and on and on and on.  But I say to you, FOR WHAT?  Every single thing I would have done by staying home would just have needed to be done once again in another couple of days, so when I got the "invite" to visit Colorado, I decided that for once in my life, I'd choose to do something more meaningful and long lasting than folding up my towels and wash cloths.  

I have experienced so very much here during this Colorado weekend and I'm sure that those around me must have recognized quickly that I was indeed a "flatlander".  If I had a dollar for every time I've said the word "WOW" since I got here on Saturday morning, well then I could take us all down to Bogey's and the drinks would be on me.  The scenery is absolutely breathtaking here and although I love the plains of Kansas, I'm sure that I could easily get used to Colorado's "purple mountains' majesty."  Take a peek below at what the road to Ouray looked like earlier this afternoon.

  I saw "ice climbers" by the score in Ouray who come there from all over the world to participate in their sport.  I could have watched them forever and listen to their voices echoing all over the canyon.  Their comraderie was inspiring to me and just watching them fearlessly attempting to scale some pretty wicked looking ice lifted my spirits even more than they already were.  I'm not quite crazy enough to try it, even though I'm sure my good friends Craig and Dennis might disagree, but it sure did look fun.  And if I cannot do it, then I sure did enjoy watching the many others there try to.  Here's a picture of a couple of guys getting ready to rappel down earlier today.

I ate Mexican food in a place whose ceiling was festooned with dollar bills, all inscribed with some message from the person who left them there.  Normally I would not have done something like that, but with the encouragement of my friend Mike, here's mine.  I shall always be a "legend" in there now...  LOL.

I learned how to play "Cribbage", watched the movie "The Book of Eli" and even "Avatar".  I enjoyed myself tremendously and I say "it's about time."  I only got lost twice and have managed to hang on to my checkbook, cell phone, car keys, and money for the entire time.  And friends, that's gotta be some kind of record for me and in that I do rejoice.

Since this was the last day I was going to be here, I was determined to squeeze in as much I could between the sun's rise and the sun's fall at the end of the day.  I woke up early to wait on the sun to come up so I could snap a photo.  I learned that the sun seems to come up a little differently here in Colorado~but it was beautiful just the same.  

                                     "morning has broken" Montrose, Colorado

And although I nearly missed taking the photo, I was able to capture the sun's quick departure in the western sky a couple of hours ago.  It was beautiful as well.

 Come tomorrow morning, I'll be heading out towards the wide open prairies of my home state of Kansas and I will leave with a grateful heart for the chance to come to Colorado and see the beautiful sights here.  I'm sure thankful that I made the decision to make the journey and know that I will return again someday to this place.  Friends, may I ask you something?  When was the last time that you made a decision to do something good for yourselves?  How long has it been since you went to Colorado, or went fishing and canoeing at the Boundary Waters?  Been a while since you visited your mom or your grandmother?  Been meaning to go back to school and get that degree?  And if not THOSE things, then what about a thousand other ones?  Please dear friends of mine, do not wait until tomorrow, or next week, or even next month to do it for we all surely do know that those "tomorrows" aren't even promised to us any way.  You will NEVER regret having done so but you WILL regret having never tried.  

Well, bedtime for me as I need to be on the road tomorrow early.  It will be a long drive back home to the Sunflower state and even though I'll thankfully be making most of the journey in broad daylight, I'd sure be thankful for prayers of safety on my behalf.  No need to worry about me, I'm going back in pretty good hands.  "His" hands know the way home.  Good night everyone...love to you all my dear friends and family.  See you at home!

~but the greatest is love~

Good morning my dear friends and family~

It sure seems strange to say this but I am writing this post from the dining room table at "home" on East 14th Street in Hutchinson, Kansas, something that hasn't been done in now over a month.  I made the long journey back to Reno County yesterday in the early morning hours.  The "old" moon was shining brightly as I pulled out of the driveway at our home in Montrose.  Driving along the route that I have begun to know all too well in now, 7 times of driving it, there was sure a lot of time to think about life and everything that is a part of it.  

When I pulled into the driveway at home here, I was greeted at the door by the tall and lanky young man who now lives here~my son, Grahame Hemman.  How wonderful it was to see him and to put my arms around him for the first time in a month.  Has it only been a month?  Wow, surely seems forever.  And then, of course can't forget, the four-legged friend that lives here.  I was so happy that even after so very many days of being gone, that she remembered me too!  

                                                Our cat-Oblio the Roundhead

Last night as I slept back in my old bed here at home, old Obie was right there beside me.  I must have been worn out because it didn't take long to get to sleep and listening to that cat's "motor" purring all night long was a peaceful and nice remembrance.  When I woke up this morning, it was as if I had never been gone at all.  As I plugged in the computer and began to write this blogpost, she did what she has done every single other time that we have been together.  Used to be times that it was annoying to me yet this morning I was so happy to see her do it, that I could have cried.

                                                Oblio~the roundhead~Miller
                                             Blogger assistant, extraordinaire

The day will go quickly here and much I want to do before heading back tomorrow.  I just wanted to say "good morning" to you all and to let you know that I am alive and well here in the Heartland of the world once again.  Heading out to Haven soon to go to church there and then on to Valley Center to catch up with my dear mother-in-law and other family members there for a short while today.  Back to Hutch in the early afternoon hours to begin packing up the last of the things to take back tomorrow.  Please dear friends, have a wonderful day wherever it is that you find yourself on this planet of ours.  Life is good~

Through it all, please remember that in all things the verse from the "Good Book", 1:Corinthians 13, verse 7 is a good one to remember for any of us, for ALL of us.  

"Faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love."~

~with one month's passage~

A good afternoon to everyone from here along the western slopes of Colorado.  It's mid-day here and the noise of the hay swather is making a steady hum as the alfalfa field just outside the front door is being cut for the first time this season.  Oh how wonderful it smells as it is freshly mown down and if for some strange reason you have never smelled it, I am sorry for you.  To me, it smells of the earth, of life and for farmers around these parts of Colorado, it represents one of the main crops grown.  Come this winter time as the snow falls deep along the mountainside, animals will be enjoying a meal that was harvested right in our own front yard.

Wish you could smell the fresh cut hay~it was a treat for the senses to be able to witness it being done this afternoon.  Sure brought back some lovely memories of growing up on a farm in south central Kansas.

Today marks the one month anniversary of being married for Mike and I.  Without a doubt, the last 30 days have been whirlwind of change for us.  Not everything has run smoothly, the plan didn't always play out as we thought it would.  There have been a few road blocks, more than a pot hole or two to cross over, and even an occasional complete u-turn from the original plan of the day.  Yet through it all, we have made it and we are STILL married :)  

I have learned a lot about life, about myself and about changes since May 21st, now exactly one month ago today.  Learning how hard change is, even if it is done because of a wonderful reason, has been a real eye opener for me.  I have fought the battle of homesickness for many days and actually I think I am gaining somewhat of an upper hand on it.  I used to gauge how I was doing on that front by keeping track of how many hours it had been since I cried LOL.  Now, most of the time I have to try to remember how many days it has been.  As for me, I call that progress and for the "record", it's been six.

In a month's time, I've changed my social security card and driver's license, got a library card, sent off my fingerprints to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (for my teaching license), visited the Grand Mesa and the Blue Mesa Dam/Reservoir.  I've been with Mike as he did some of his various jobs and learned the fine art of product merchandising and thus will never take for granted again all of the stuff that can be seen in the aisles of Wal Mart.  I have renewed my CPR certification, photographed about a gazillion deer, buried two dead baby raccoons, learned about flood irrigation, and became friends with Pat who owns the Southside Laundry facility here in Montrose.  A thousand things have happened to me here, all of them brand new experiences.  Not all of them have been the best but in the very least of things I still have given thanks.  What will the next 30 days bring?  Only God knows but I am in it for the duration and will soon find out.

It's been 30 days since I was back home in Hutchinson, Kansas.  A long time has passed since I saw my children, old Oblio the round head, my friends and family, or drank a diet-vanilla Pepsi from Bogey's.  I have wondered what it would look like again to see nothing but flat land ahead of me and to all sides of me. ( I know what it would be like~it'd be great!)  I have missed it tremendously, even being called "crazy" by others out here who cannot understand the beauty of my home state.  Tomorrow morning, I get to go back to Kansas for a couple of days.  I'll make the journey on my own but I am not afraid.  I've done it 6 times before with most of them being in the dead of winter.  Old "Monarch Pass" will still be there to cross, doubt it's gone anywhere since mid-May.  Heck, I might even see some of the awful wild fires that are burning here in this state.  The distance between Montrose and Hutchinson still stands at 611 miles and one thing else for certain will not have changed~I'll miss Mike terribly when I have to drive away from here.

So on this the longest day of the year in daylight hours, this summer's solstice that we observe today, I wish you all the very best in life.  I have thought of you, each of you, so very often and even though I am so very far away, have continued to hold you close to my heart.  Friends please remember this~ There is a reason for all of this stuff we endure in life, a really good plan that most of us are unaware of.  It was no accident that you and I should have become friends with one another, no coincidence in the least.  It was supposed to happen in this way.  No matter what happens to us out there, we are all in this together.  Thanks for being there to pick up my part of the "slack" in life and I hope someday to be one of the folks who picks up the "slack" for you too.  Have a great evening friends and family and to all of the people back in Reno County~who knows, maybe I'll see at least a couple of you this weekend.

May 21, 2013~we turned the gymnasium at school into an impromptu wedding chapel.  It was a mixture of a lot of different things and it couldn't have been any better!  We had the best behaved crowd of 200+ little kids that there ever was.  It was our desire to have the students be with us and we wouldn't have asked for it to be different in any way.

     It was no accident that after 40 years, Mike Renfro and Peggy Miller would meet one another again. God knew just what He was doing, imagine that!  Marrying "the blessing".



  

~Upon opening just the right door~

It's the beginning of a new day for us all, friends and family~welcome to it!  Good morning from Colorado where the wind is blowing off of the mountains to the east of us at a "clip" strong enough to push the windsocks in the yard straight out at times.  The view of the San Juan Mountains and the Uncompahgre Range is covered with a haze, most likely made up of smoke residue from the fire in the Black Forest.  From the kitchen window there is a great view of Highway 50 and I sit here sometimes and wonder just how many of those cars might be  heading to my home state of  Kansas.  

I have thought about that wonderful place where I was born, grew up and spent all of my days in so very many times since I arrived here in Montrose.  It's amazing, at least to me, about the  connections to Kansas I have found while I've been here on the western slopes.  That, "geesch, the world gets smaller all of the time" idea has been very true for me in the past recent days and yesterday was a pretty dang good example of that.

I had made my weekly journey to the Southside Laundromat yesterday morning when I noticed a gentleman standing behind my car, looking at my license plate.  As I went out to retrieve some things from the back seat, he asked me "Hey, Reno County Kansas plates~is this you?" I'm sure that my eyes lit up at the thought of someone standing right there beside me who knew of where I was from and without even thinking, I extended my right hand to him.  As we shook hands with one another and introduced ourselves, it was amazing to learn that he too was a "Kansan".  His name was LaVern and he was from Montezuma, in Gray County, the south west part of the state.  He and his wife, Wilma, had been staying in Montrose for a month as they visited one of their children who lives here.  They were taking care of doing their laundry before leaving in the morning to return home.  We stood there and talked, LaVern and I, for the better part of 20 minutes. He was surprised to learn that I was newly married and had been away from Kansas for less than a month.  I told him of my trouble with homesickness and he understood exactly what I was saying. His advice to me was the same as I always hear ~"Just give it some time."  Once again I truly believe it was not an accident that we should just run into one another yesterday.  It was in the "plan" and I'm grateful for the gift from God above.  My old home doesn't seem so far away when I run into folks like Wilma and LaVern.

I'd been meaning to apply to receive a new license to teach here in Colorado and yesterday was a day to start that process.  I know, I know, I already retired~twice already but I wanted to be able to at least have it in hand if I ever needed it.  Yesterday was a good day for me to get things rolling and the first order of business was to get my fingerprints taken and sent on to the FBI offices in Denver.  Never had my "prints" taken before and thus it was quite an experience to go through.  I learned something about our fingerprints yesterday and that was as we get older and use our hands more and more, sometimes parts of our fingerprints kind of disappear.  Well at least that's the explanation Alice, a sheriff's deputy, gave to me.  We tried the new and modern way of getting them through digital imagery and when that didn't work out so much, we went back to the old way of fingers on an ink pad.  $49.50 later, I was done and now, for better or worse, my fingerprint card is on the way to Denver.  The next step will be to finish up the rest of the application process and about $100 later, I'll be "good to go" if I should ever wish to teach here.  Oh yeah, I guess it was "meet someone from Kansas" day as Alice told me that she too was born in Kansas.  Her hometown is Salina and just to hear the word "Salina, Kansas" uttered as I was having my fingerprints taken brought a huge smile to my face.  God's gift was of good people yesterday and for the least of things I do so give thanks.

Life goes on here and truly I am grateful for all of the good things that have been sent our way so far.  Mike and I will have been married for one month come the day after tomorrow.  This first 30 days of married life together has been a whirlwind of extreme change for us both  and although it hasn't been as smooth a road as we thought it might be, we are "ok".  Wait a minute, I want to say that differently...we are BETTER than "ok".  Slowly, sometime's at a snail's pace, I am getting more used to life here.  Finding my niche in a brand new place so far away from home takes a little bit of time.  I know that I was brought here for two reasons~one of which was to become the wife of the most wonderful man in the whole world.  The other?  Well, I'm not sure what the other is yet~but when I turn the knob to the right door that is opening, I'll be the first to know.  And rest assured, when I know then YOU will too :)  Take care everyone and best wishes for this good day from me to all of you.  May peace be your journey today and always, for that matter.  I love you guys, all!

Sometimes I have to remember, especially when the journey of life gets a little tough, just how much I went through with "old lefty".  Most all of us, me included, are much stronger than we give ourselves the credit for.  Dr. Prince Chan...what a great doctor!

Of course, I am prejudiced in this manner but these are the 3 greatest kids that I know of.  I miss them and the unique personality that they each have.  So proud of them and love them so very much.

If a person could be in love with a state, then I would say that I am in love with Kansas.

Try as I might, I STILL cannot even come close to beating this man in a game of bowling.  He's good :)  "The Blessing"

~As I remember my father~

Sending you greetings, dear friends and family, from far away in south western Colorado where the winds continue to blow and the conditions outside remain so very dry.  It's 88 degrees here with only 5% humidity and except for the very brief instance of a quick and blowing rain storm that lasted all of two minutes last evening, I have not seen any precipitation fall from the sky since I have been here.  Without all of the flood irrigation that happens around Montrose, the area around here  would soon dry up and blow away.  In the state of  Colorado, just like so many other places across the U.S., we are desperate for some moisture.  Really very desperate~

I hung out 3 lines full of clothes after lunch today and had a dickens of a time just keeping them on the clothesline where I placed them.  It seems no matter which way the wind blows here, there has never been a time that it didn't blow at least several pieces of laundry off onto the ground.  Today, well it was no exception.  Kind of takes the fun away from hanging out clothes but when you look at it in a different way, the folks that live in the Black Forest area of this state would be glad to trade their problems for mine.  It's all in the perspective friends, all in the perspective.

Alfalfa season is in full swing here and each day swathers go by the house followed in short order by trailers full of baled hay.  Our landlord, Bill, is getting ready to do his very first cutting and as I watch him out the window working on his machinery to get things ready, I am reminded of my own father who loved the land equally as well.  I miss my dad and with the arrival of Father's Day this weekend, I am ever aware of the fact of what a good and kind man he was.

It's been 31 "Father's Days" since I was able to send a card, call on the phone, or give a hug and a kiss to the man I always called my "daddy".  When he died, just two weeks before Christmas Day back in 1982, he was only 59 years old.  As his daughter fast approaches her 58th birthday this October, it's a somber "wake up call" to the fragility of this life.  I thought of my father as "old" back in those days yet now I realize just how young he truly was still. Lung cancer took him from us after only 18 months of being ill with it.  Although I'd love to have him here this Father's Day weekend, I would never call him back to the life that he had to live during those last few months. No one should ever have to sleep, sitting up on the side of their bed so that they can breathe.  I often wonder how he did it and now that I stop to think about it, I never heard him complain about being sick.  He just wanted to fight cancer so he could take care of his family and see his grandchildren grow up.  It was a battle that my father couldn't win, no matter how hard he tried.  When he took his last breaths there in the hospital in Hutchinson, my dad had fought a pretty hard fight and in the early morning hours that Saturday morning, he left us.

Sometimes I think about him and wonder what he would say about my leaving Kansas and moving west to Colorado.  Neither of my parents had ever gone here, even for a visit.  We were "flatlander people" and although they loved the Great Plains states, Kansas was always their home.  They might travel up to the Dakotas to check on the wheat or even go down to Texas to see how the milo harvest was going, but their permanent home was in south central Kansas.  I will always and forever be grateful that they chose to raise their children there.  No matter where I live on this earth, I will be just like them~a flatlander forever.

This will be a different kind of Father's Day weekend for me.  Always before now, I was in Kansas for this time that honours the men who have been our dads, grandfathers, uncles and much more.  Even though I missed seeing my own dad, I was at least around my 2 sons and daughter who are his "living legacies".  Many times those 3 kids of mine would sense that something was wrong, that I was missing my dad.  They'd always get me to talking about their Grandpa Scott and it seemed like if I could just talk about him and the good things that he did for us, then it wasn't so bad that he wasn't there any more.  This year is not the same and I guess that's why I'm telling you all.  He was a fine man but then you can probably say the very same thing about your own dad.  Our dads are like that, you know?

This Sunday, as we celebrate the day of "the dad", I hope that you have the chance to be with your father.  If you can't see them in person, for crying out loud be sure to pick up the phone and call.  Talk to them, find out how things are going with them, just let them know you think of them.  Most dads, like most moms, don't want you to go and buy some fancy gift online for them.  They pretty much have what they need already~what they could use MORE of is the gift of your time.  Coming from someone whose father has been gone for more than 3 decades, do not miss out on the chance to celebrate in some fashion with your father.  You will not regret it if you do but you WILL regret it if you don't.  Trust me on this one~having been there and done that already.

Well, the day has passed quickly by and soon darkness will return to our part of this earth.  I hope and pray that this day has been well for you and that life has treated you "ok".  Despite being far away from home as I once knew it, I know how richly I have been blessed in this life.  Because there once was a man named Barry Renfro, who became a father to a little baby boy named Michael Duane, there will be a reason to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday.  I told Mike when we decided to get married, that if he married me  that he would not only marry me and 3 children of my own but 235 other little kids (my students) as well.  He must have loved me, because he said "Yes, I do!"

Have a great evening friends with a peaceful night's rest for us all.  For those still in the fire's path, no matter here in Colorado or any other of the western states, we are thinking about you and praying for your safety.  May they soon be under control.

Dad and Mom with some of my siblings and myself-The wheat harvest of 1976 in Kinsley, Kansas.  Dang, we sure looked young then :)

The last harvest for him~These photos were taken up in Balfour, North Dakota.  Dad always wanted to move us up there to live but the winters were much too cold for his "flatlander" taste.  I love North Dakota too but I am sure glad that I was born, raised, and lived 57 years in the Sunflower State of Kansas.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Good evening everyone, friends and family~Greetings from south western Colorado where, so far so good, on any forest fires.  We are thinking of all the folks on the eastern side, the Front Range, who are now enduring what may be a long-spell of fire danger.  Praying for everyone to be safe and that no lives must be lost in this.  It is my first experience with things of this nature and it is easy for me to see now, how one careless spark, one little flame can cause so much damage and wreak such a great amount of havoc.

This morning when I got up, I realized almost immediately that there were some things that I needed to do, some "fears" that I needed to face this day.  I knew that if I could do so, that I'd probably stand a much better chance of being less homesick and also feeling like I would fit in here just a little bit easier in my new home of Montrose, Colorado.  Now that the day has come and gone, I'm very glad that I did.  I have a ways to go yet but hey, don't we all?  I kinda/sorta conquered these 3 today and who knows?  Maybe another day I shall conquer a few more :)  They, like most fears that we all have, can "rob us" of much happiness.  I got tired of allowing them to rob me of mine.  I went "3 for 3" and in my books, that's a pretty good record.  Here they are.  Perhaps you shall see yourself in one of them.  I'm not perfect and not sure that I ever will wish to be.


Unfounded Fear #1

"I cannot ride my bike here unless Mike is around just in case I have trouble."

7:48 a.m.~I saw my bike sitting in the mud room area of the house looking about as lonely and lost as I have been sometimes here.  I thought to myself, "What's the use of having a good bike if you never get on it to ride?"  I've only ridden it once since I've been here and that was one evening after Mike had gotten home from work in Grand Junction.  The altitude took its toll on my lungs that evening as I struggled to even do 5 miles around the section where we live.  An overwhelmingly steep hill just to the east of our house was a hard "cross to bear" as I finished up my ride.  Huffing and puffing with lungs that felt as if they could explode any moment, I parked the bike on the porch and never got back on it again.  That was a week and a half ago.  Today I determined it to be a different story and with or without Mike here, I was going to get on that bike to try once again.  If I had a flat tire, if I got altitude sickness, if I got lost...well I would just have to figure it out on my own.  Guess what?  None of that happened.  I made the journey east to the stop sign, coasted downhill to Highway 50, turned west towards town and never pedalled once until I got to the stoplight on Hillcrest.  Then the REAL ride began as I struggled uphill to the four-way stop to Locust Road and turned back east towards home.  That same hill that nearly did me in not even two weeks back was there waiting for me.  It hadn't gone anywhere and although I was determined that I would make it to the top of it without stopping, I unfortunately got off and walked it the last 15 yards.  No sin in doing so I guess~seen a lot of cyclists around these parts doing the very same thing.  Back home, alive and well.  I am more determined to get back on that bike out here than I would ever be afraid of getting lost, having a flat tire, or even breaking an arm or two.

I actually got to conquer two fears at once here.  When I went to set the automatic timer on the camera to go off, the dreaded message "Internal Memory Full" came up.  Dang~that's what I'd been having trouble figuring out right before I left Kansas. I said to my kids that morning, "Hey, what does this mean?  How do I get rid of it?"   My daughter Ursela (who can do all of this kind of stuff in her sleep) said to me, "Mom, what do YOU think you should do?"  Oh how I hate it when  my kids talk to me like that.  I know exactly what that means...it means that they believe I should try to figure it out on my own.  Well, this morning I did and after pushing a zillion different buttons, sometimes with one eye open and the other one shut, I did figure it out.  It was an accident, that's for sure, but I DID manage to take care of the problem.

Unfounded fear #2-
"The mountains that surround me have trapped me here~I wouldn't be able to get out if I want/need to."

10:38 a.m.~ok, ok...so I admit this one right up front.  I'm a slight claustrophobic under normal circumstances.  I'm an even greater one in the state of Colorado.  At times in the last 3 weeks, I've kind of felt the presence of the mountains as a "trap" and that I couldn't get over them  if I wanted to or needed to return to Kansas for anything.  For "flatlanders" like me, the mountains might be beautiful the first time or two that you see them but after that, you're soon to be thinking that they would look a whole lot better if someone would just blast a hole through them so you can see what is on the other side (unfortunately, that's probably going to be a whole lot more mountains LOL).

When you stop to think about it, if anyone should have felt as if the mountains were impossible to traverse and that you wouldn't make it back over to the "other side" once again, it would have to have been the pioneers who settled this area in the late 1800's.  For crying out loud, if THEY could do it without a GPS, AC in their automobiles (that they didn't have), or cell phones to stay in touch with one another, then surely I could do it if I had to.  Having done it six times before now, some of those times in the dead of winter, then I know that I can as well.

I wanted to learn more about the area that I now live in and Mike suggested that I stop by the Bureau of Land Management Office located in the south part of Montrose.  He told me about the maps and other resources available there that I could pick up in order to perhaps find some fun things to do.  So today was the day and I'm really glad that I did.  A wonderful woman name Helen greeted me at the door. She's a volunteer there and although I don't know this for a fact, she appeared to be in her late-80's and still one spry gal :)  We spoke at length about the area and when she learned that I was from Kansas she proceeded to tell me that her grandparents were buried in the Butler County town of El Dorado, Kansas.  Helen was a wonderful ambassador, a unique one-person "Welcome Wagon" for our city.  She showed me a variety of brochures and maps, free for the taking, and encouraged me to get out and explore the immediate area.  One brochure I picked up instantly gave me some ideas for my upcoming "Bucket List" here in Colorado.  Another pamphlet told of the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, a place that Mike has said would be very fun and interesting to visit.  Another one showed 10 interesting day hikes around the Montrose area.  Perhaps those will be ones that we take some day in the future.  As I get more familiar with my geographical surroundings, my hope is that the mountains will not be so foreboding to me.  There are much worse mountain ranges to cross over than the ones we live by.  For the least of these things, I give thanks.

My first time to see something like this.  I know, I don't get out a lot.

A great facility in Montrose that provides a lot of educational information and material for residents and visitors alike.

Glad to have made the trip there this morning.  Still am not completely over that feeling of being closed in but at least I understand a bit more of my surroundings.  Understanding the terrain in this "neck of the woods" helps tremendously.

Unfounded fear #3-
I cannot go to the bowling alley on my own.  It would be way too embarrassing to have no one to bowl with.  Everyone would stare at me and say, "Wow, I wonder why that woman is bowling (so poorly I might add) all by herself?"

Straight up 1:00 p.m.~One of the things I first learned about Mike was that he not only enjoyed bowling on a league once a week, but also that he was a pretty dang good bowler.  Since I've been here, now going on 3 weeks, we've gone down to the Rose Bowl together a couple of times and actually had some fun.  I'm not such a good bowler, in fact over 35 years had passed since I last picked up a bowling ball.  I am not the world's worst bowler but I did want to be able to bowl a little better than a 100 pin average.  Mike has been so kind about it all, encouraging me to keep at it, congratulating me when I rolled the ball well and even gave me some pointers on how to pick up spares, even when the pins that remained were miles apart from each other.  Yet, I STILL wanted to do better.  I knew that I would need some practice and today seemed like the perfect day to just suck it up and walk into that bowling alley all alone and tell them I was there to rent a lane.  And so I did.

Here's the crazy thing...there wasn't one person there who cared that I was going to be bowling alone. That didn't  matter to them, not even in the least.  I made some remark about wanting to get better at bowling and that I was there all by myself and what did I need to do?  Shoot, they just asked me if I was old enough to qualify for free shoe rental as a "senior".  With a shocked look on my face I asked them, "Well that depends.  How old do you have to be here to be a senior?"  When they said "50", I replied, "Heck ya, by 7 years already."  And off I went.  I ended up bowling 4 games, adding in that extra 4th one since I didn't have to pay for the shoe rental because my parents had chosen to have a baby in 1955.  I can tell you this right now and would probably be able to say the same thing as I took my final breath in this life, "I will NEVER be good enough to join the Professional Bowler Association Circuit and never will I bowl a perfect game nor would I attempt to.  Yet despite all of that being said, I still have found it to be a fun pastime, one that I can enjoy with Mike in the months and years to come.  It just took a little bit of courage to walk into  that bowling alley on my own this afternoon.  My scores from my lowest of the four games and the highest of the four games are shown below.  Please don't die laughing any of you, ok?  For some of you, your "low" score is the same as my "high" score.  My bowling prowess is still "in the works".

Day's end is drawing nigh and soon the darkness will fall upon this side of the earth again. I've had a good day today because I made myself get out and do something different.  When I begin working next week, I won't have the luxury of just dropping everything and doing things totally on the spur of the moment, on a whim.  But today I did and friends I must tell you, I am so very glad.

Good night everyone and have a great evening wherever you are this day.  Love you guys all!

Sometimes I need a "kick in the seat of the pants" to remind me just where I have come from and that I'm really a whole lot tougher than I admit to at times.  I made it then, I will make it now.