Building in southern Colorado
A Good Morning in Retirement
Honestly, I cannot believe what a shutter-bug I have become since moving away from the city!
First thing I noticed this morning, as soon as I woke up, was the beautiful sunrise to the east of our home. We can thank the fires out west for the brilliant red hue, but this truly is a beauty!
Then I took a walk down below our home through a Pinyon-Juniper forest. Below is a large horse ranch. Those horses have no idea how good they have it! Or maybe they do….
Looking back up the hill I got a great view of our new home. Did you notice the wires running above the roof? That’s our new lightning protection system. Can’t be too careful up here!
Did you notice the snow up on the West Spanish Peak? Yesterday we had our first good snow storm up on the Sangre de Cristos…
And when the clouds cleared, we saw this!
How did I end up here, feeling so fortunate?
It’s a long story, one I can now share with you in my new memoir!
and please follow us on TWITTER!
Sub-contractors we can recommend south of Pueblo, Colorado
Now that our home is finished, I thought I might share the names of the best companies we have worked with down here.
My first caution is to not just go with the companies the local builders use in Huerfano county. We had to remove contracting responsibilities from our builder eventually, when it became clear that he had absolutely no incentive to save us money. He just went with the good old boys down here to line his and their pockets, since he got 15% on top of the subs he brought in to do the dirt work, etc.
It seems they like to convince you that the companies in Pueblo won’t come down here to work. We have found this to be absolutely false. In fact the best companies we worked with were located in Pueblo. Companies like Pueblo Electrics, who did all of our wiring, Prutch’s Garage Door and J & J Stucco. These companies worked with us for a reasonable price on a much more professional level than the locals who don’t necessarily want to work.
We cannot recommend Cornerstone Roofing, who put on our steel roof. Parts of it blew off a year later and they would NOT even come out and take a look at it! Don’t believe their “integrity” crap!
One local man we did enjoy working with is Ron Pino, for his excellent drywall work.
As expensive and inconvenient as it was for us to move here before starting construction, we highly recommend it while having your home constructed. If we had not been here checking in each and every day, our builder would have made a few MAJOR mistakes in our passive solar construction project.
We weren’t able to find a satisfactory contractor/builder in Huerfano county, and in the end were disappointed with ours. GOOD LUCK!
October in Southern Colorado
This morning we woke up to heavy fog and 44 degrees outside.
But, per usual, the fog burned off to reveal a great view of the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.
Up high the leaves are changing quickly and falling down, but at 7,000 feet it is still cool and beautiful.
In the small town of La Veta, the first Saturday in October is reserved for Octoberfest! The whole town shuts down with Main Street closed to cars, so vendors from everywhere can sell their wares…
….to the tune of a German band, the smell of freshly roasted bratwurst…
….and a darn good antique car show!
What’s not to like about that?
Looking forward to another amazing light show tonight, like the sunset we had here a few nights ago.
To learn more about how we ended up here, living in a solar home in the Colorado outback, check out: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado… Also, please follow me on Twitter!
The Aspens are Golden This Time of Year!
I had just been up to Cripple Creek on Friday, so I knew the aspens would be perfect up at Cordova Pass yesterday. It’s south of here, off the Highway of Legends.
At 11,248 feet (3,428 m)), Cordova Pass lies on the western shoulder of the West Spanish Peak. The drive up there was gorgeous and made so much better with the fact that so few people are ever on that road.
And when we got there… WOW!
I didn’t know this is also a wonderful place to view wildflowers in mid-June. We also stopped off in the tiny town of Cucharas (altitude 8,468 feet), and made a reservation at the Timbers for Mike’s upcoming birthday.
Then we came home to see the Broncos win again, observe another gorgeous sunset over the Spanish Peaks, and then a beauty of a lunar eclipse!
“I just want to live happily ever after every now and then…” — Jimmy Buffet
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 
