Laura Lee Carter
A day in the life of small town USA
This morning was glorious here in Walsenburg. It was around 60 degrees with a nice cool breeze blowing, so I took a walk. I found a lovely set of hollyhocks a few blocks away…
so nice I had to share them with you. There’s lots of hollyhocks here! They remind me of growing up in a small town in Kansas. Walsenburg is basically very small town and traffic-free except for Main Street and Highway 160 headed west. Most people never get off the main drag and see what a friendly town this can be.
Then we took a drive over to La Veta to visit our friends at Two Fox Cabins. Pat and Doug beautifully maintain this best place in the area to stay! They have a way with wildflowers, and they are constantly improving their place for visitors, so much so that they’re full for most of the rest of the summer.
On the way back from La Veta we stopped off at our almost finished new home in the foothills.
I just had to share the view from our new front door! We now have the first layer of stucco on and on Monday they will finish it with an adobe-colored finish. Can’t wait!
It was looking so glorious up there that I had to take another photo of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the distance.
Inside, my custom bathroom is looking wonderful! I chose white marble tile with mint green walls, with green and purple glass highlights in the shower and on the backsplash. What do you think? This is the first time in my life I got to choose everything myself… What FUN!
Click on photos for full-size views, and follow us on TWITTER!
Best of Boomer Blogs, Monsoon Edition
“Some are weather-wise, most are otherwise…” — Benjamin Franklin
A fun fact that few of you may know, July is monsoon season in Colorado. Last July we got almost seven inches of rain here in southern Colorado, an all-time record!
Yes, spring is moist here, but July can be even more rainy. I am so aware of this because I’ve been working as a volunteer for CoCoRahs for the past sixteen years, measuring precipitation everywhere I’ve lived since then. Come to think of it, that’s six different locations!
Oh well, on to the Best of Boomer Blogs for this week:
Are you ready for a little game of who is this person? Tom Sightings wants to know if you can place the white-haired woman from the 1980s, who for better or worse, brought a matter-of-fact style and cutting wit to the national scene. Go check out Remember Her? to see if you can identify her before Sightings gives you the answer.
Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting spent a relaxing weekend at home over the Fourth of July weekend, although her usually quiet island paradise was invaded by hordes of holiday revelers. A reunion of old friends highlighted her holiday weekend. Check out her post Two Decades and Counting.
On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about the fact that millennials, born between 1982 and 2000, now outnumber baby boomers, 83.1 million to 75.4 million. Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. The U.S. Census Bureau also said millennials are a more diverse group than boomers and Gen X, with 44.2 percent being part of a minority race or ethnic group.
Marriage and Home Building!
Mike and I have experienced the lowest lows and the highest highs together, especially in the past few years as we changed lifestyles. We moved from a “safe” suburban neighborhood in Fort Collins, and built a rural foothills solar home in southern Colorado.
Learn more about the total building experience from my memoir:
A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado.
What’s been happening up at our new home?
Big improvements! First we got the first layer of stucco applied and then all the lights and ceiling fans went in! Do you know how stucco is made?
Well, I didn’t until I saw the men applying a special mix of concrete, sand, and who knows what else to the outside of our house.
Then they slap this mixture onto every surface of the house. This is only the first layer. After this dries and cures they’ll come back to add the second coat with the color in it. We have chosen a terra cotta color for the outside of our house. Can’t wait to see it! And speaking of color…
the wildflowers are at their best up there right now! I cannot get over how much of a difference six inches of rain can make!
We have millions of these yellow flowers plus native Lupines, and Indian Paintbrush!
And this mystery flower is a lovely purple, my favorite! Thanks to my botanist friend Jan we now know this is the Showy Four O’Clock, (Mirabilis multiflora). It only blooms in the late afternoon and then all night. I’ll try to get a better photo of the flowers in bloom soon.
In the meantime, here is a great photo of it! Isn’t it amazingly PURPLE?
In the disturbed land around our new home we already have hundreds of volunteers. Lots of sunflowers that will bloom a bit later, etc.
Inside we have most of the tiling done…
Then it’s time to finish the kitchen and baths, and we FINALLY have a move-in date!
The end of July we are out of our rental and into a whole new world up in the foothills. I’m already fantasizing where everything will go in each room.
Now comes the FUN part!
Click on photos for full-size views, and follow us on TWITTER!
A New Way Of Cleaning Your Clothes
Please note: I have chosen to participate in a campaign for Proctor and Gamble. I received free samples and will receive a fee for posting here, however the opinions expressed are my own. I am in no way affiliated with P&G, and do not earn a commission or percent of sales.
Great innovation means more than just creating something new – it means improving our lives. Our latest adventure is building a passive solar home in a rural area. We plan to use a natural source of energy, thus we plan to reinvent the way we warm and cool our home.
Procter & Gamble has recently reinvented the process of cleaning our clothes with Tide Pods and Gain Slings. These revolutionary new laundry pacs provide excellent cleaning and freshness, with minimal time and effort.
Tide Pods deliver maximum laundry cleaning with great design, performance and convenience. Their cleaning power delivers the stain fighting clean I need to look my best. Having one product that cleans, brightens and fights stains makes doing laundry so much easier.
I have always loved the fragrance of GAIN. Now there are Gain flings! These offer a great long-lasting scent experience, thanks to a 3-in-1 benefit; Gain detergent with the added cleaning power of OxiBoost and the odor fighting power of Febreze in a convenient, pre-measured pac.
Gain Flings come in three different scents. Not only are the pacs easy to use, but thanks to their great smell, I know I can fill my world with an awesome scent, so important especially in the summer!
Like any household cleaning products, it is essential that you keep these laundry pacs away from children. Be sure to seal the pacs up and then store them far from pets and kids.
As a member of The bLink Marketing Network, I participated in this sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Proctor & Gamble. The opinions and text are all mine.
//
