Naturalist report from Spanish Peaks Colorado

July 10, 2017July 13, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 2 Comments

IMGP6141

In a summer of many terrible wildfires in the West, we are fortunate to have received over 12 inches of precipitation from March through June in our area. How do I know? I measured every inch of it myself for COCORAHS. We are also fortunate to have such vigilant volunteer fire fighters patrolling our area at all times.

IMGP6131

Our temperatures are not too bad at 7,000 foot elevation, and our solar home is keeping us nice and cool this summer. The highest temperatures here have been in the low 90s and our well-insulated stucco home hasn’t gone up past 76 degrees inside yet, with no need for AC. Every room has a ceiling fan when more air flow is needed.

IMGP6218

Our greatest surprise has been the plethora of different birds stopping by our bird feeders this spring and enjoying our bird bath. Mike also built a bird house to Blue Bird specs this spring, and we did have a few Mountain Blue Birds check it out…

baby birds

but in the end a pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers laid eggs inside. We were thrilled to watch them so close to our home, bringing bugs back for the babies to consume. Mike looked inside the nest a few times while the parents were away.

Then we were so disappointed to find they had all flown the coop while we were up in Fort Collins this past week! In fact so many of the birds we’ve come to expect at our feeders are not around anymore…

I had another surprise in my garden recently. I LOVE to see so many lovely cacti (common name Cane Cholla) around this region. This photo was taken along I-25 on July 2nd on our way up to Fort Collins. I read that if you cut off a small section and stick it in the ground, it will begin to grow immediately, so I tried that this past May.

The other day I was messing around in my native plants garden, and was shocked to find that my tiny seedling was already flowering! You go girl!

Keep your eye out for a major bloom along I-25 north and south of Pueblo soon!

All in all, I am quite pleased with the turn out in our new native plants garden in the southern Colorado foothills. Note the Mirabilis Multiflora that volunteered to bloom right in front of Buddha… Life is good!

My 4th of July Trip Down Memory Lane

July 6, 2017July 20, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 3 Comments

I lived in Fort Collins and Loveland Colorado from 1995 until Mike and I moved south in 2014. I moved to Fort Collins with one husband and left with another. The divorce in 2001 was brutal for me, not because I lost a love, but because I felt like a loser afterwards for a few years. Of course, it did not help that I lost over 75% of my income, but loneliness was my major issue.

I felt certain that I would spend the rest of my life alone.

horsetooth in summer

We went up to Fort Collins this past holiday to visit old friends. I got up early my first day there and visited some of the places where I lived, like Horsetooth Reservoir.

My first husband and I purchased a log home overlooking Horsetooth Reservoir, Lory State Park and the Bellvue Dome in 1995. Early in the morning the air is so cool up there, and the reservoir looks fantastic! I was surprised to see how the hillside leading up to our log home has been transformed into a bevy of large, luxury homes. When we lived there most of the houses were old and rundown.

Everyone says home prices in Fort Collins are through the roof now, and I can see why. It really is beautiful…for a city. It felt a lot like Boulder did decades ago with all the hip, outdoor-types moving in. I enjoyed how green it was with flowers everywhere.

The next day I drove down to Loveland to see a friend, and had a look at our past home on Morning Drive. I’m sure glad we didn’t stay there long! It looked so crowded in, and it’s only a block or so from a major highway leading up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Overall, I enjoyed visiting my old haunts. I felt somehow stuck in my past for a day or two. Then I returned to our fantastic new home in the foothills of southern Colorado, and knew I was home. The cool, quiet of nature suits me just fine!

My theme song now!

Hello and welcome to my world. I’m new to southern Colorado, and recently compiled a book about the ups and downs of moving from Fort Collins Colorado to west of Walsenburg to build a passive solar retirement home: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado. Please contact me directly to order your own signed copies of any of my other books… Cheers, Laura Lee (email: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)

Three Years Later in Rural Colorado…

June 15, 2017June 16, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 9 Comments

Today we celebrate three years of living in this magnificent part of Colorado. Granted, this was not all a pleasant experience. In fact the first year and a half, from the time we decided to leave suburbia in Fort Collins until our home was completed here, were grueling. Some synonyms for grueling that describe my experience best: backbreaking, challenging, demanding, formidable, and sometimes hellacious. Building in rural areas is not for the meek, and building in mid-winter has its own challenges, but we lived through it and now we are happy as clams!

(Exactly how happy are clams anyway?)

We moved here for a number of reasons. To live close to nature, to try passive solar living, to build the kind of home we chose to live in for the rest of our lives, and to find a far more peaceful, healthy and less expensive lifestyle than cities can offer us. We received so much more!

The greatest gift for me is a sense of freedom and natural silence that I have never come close to in my previous life. I now live in the present, choosing each hour how I want to spend my day. I awaken to the birds singing with the sun pouring in, and go out to work in my fledgling garden of mostly native plants, most of which will be sunflowers blooming very soon!

Then, if I feel like visiting friends, I drive into La Veta on county roads with wildflowers popping up everywhere. Yes, the dining choices are slim here, just one of the “conveniences” you have to give up to live in the country. Luckily I’m a great cook and prefer to eat at home most of the time.

The hardest part for me was taking the original risk. Letting go of our nice home in suburbia was not easy, especially after seeing the one hundred year old miner’s house we would have to move into in Walsenburg for over a year.

Then there were the challenges of working with the local contractors and our builder here. Just getting them to come to work was often the biggest challenge! Here’s where we were one year into the build. But somehow it all came together and everything works today, so we have no complaints.

I know we will face many more difficulties and much stormy weather up here, but at least we finally know where home is. For now, this is certainly where we belong…

Would you like to read the whole story of how we ended up here enjoying country living? Check it out: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado.

Number 500 of the Best of Boomer Blogs!

June 4, 2017June 6, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 3 Comments

Freedom of the press is only available to those who own one, and now, we do!

Ten years ago I decided to become a writer. Fifty seemed like the perfect age to start something brand NEW. Ah, was one 50-year-old ever so naive? At first I found some success as a freelance writer. Then I met a young (compared to me…) blogger who got me excited about the idea of instant self-publishing.

Since then I have created a number of blogs, but my first was called the “Midlife Crisis Queen.” I put six years of my life into that creative product, then I scrapped it for this one. But the whole time I participated in the “Best of Boomer Blogs.” Why? Because I love interacting with other bloggers, seeing what they are thinking about, and reading their posts.

BBB participants have changed many times throughout this past decade. Today we have some tremendously talented bloggers. Let’s get to it!

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about cell phone etiquette this week. Staying 10 feet away from others when you talk, avoiding use of your cell phone when you’re driving, and putting your phone’s ringer on silent mode in theaters and restaurants are among the recommendations. See Robison’s article, “Please: Use Cell Phone Etiquette,” for more tips on the polite use of cell phones in public.

Problems with a device – specifically a computer and iPad – started Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting thinking about issues those of us of a certain age often encounter when using computers, iPhones and other electronic gadgets. Read all about it in Reflections on Being Electronically Connected, Bewildered and Befuddled.

Writer Carol Cassara just returned from 16 wonderful days in France, where the culinary delights are many. French food is known for its liberal use of butter, sugar and bread, all forbidden on her present diet. Here’s how she mastered the challenges of superior French cuisine!

In A Weekend to Remember, Tom Sightings reports from Washington, DC. In his post he shares some of the sights, as well as a few things he has realized about politics and our country.

As for me, I am astonished at how much my writing and my life have changed since my simple beginnings as a writer back in 2006. Lesson #1: Write for the love of it.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from our drive up to Cuchara yesterday…

We had the bubbling Cucharas River on one side…

and this view of the West Peak off to our left!

This following your heart stuff really works!

I’m new to southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a book about the ups and downs of moving from Fort Collins, Colorado to just west of Walsenburg to build a passive solar retirement home: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado

Please contact me directly to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)

Rent-a-Friend, Slow TV & Country Living

May 8, 2017May 11, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 1 Comment

What an interesting array of new ideas this past week! From Japan we have “Rent-a Friend” or family member… Apparently some Japanese can be so obsessed with appearances that they actually rent human stand-ins for various get-togethers. But don’t scoff too soon at this idea, because apparently it is also taking off in our own country! Hell, it may be a great idea for those new to foreign countries…like NYC. For the Japanese, who feel uncomfortable borrowing things, rentals seem more honest. They even have substitute therapists, untrained people who will listen to you complain about your life for only $10/hour!

In contrast, Norway has recently discovered the popularity of slow television, or “slow TV” (Norwegian: Sakte-TV), popularized in the 2000s by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), beginning with the broadcast of a 7-hour train journey in 2009. This live “marathon” television coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length, generally last many hours or even days.

OK now I have a unique and perhaps revolutionary idea. Why don’t you spend the time and energy to make your own hand-picked friend. Imagine how much more satisfying that might be. Or, if you prefer a slower paced life, go find it! Since moving to the country I completely understand the appeal of slow TV, except mine is called ‘slow scenery’ and I stare at it all day long.

From daybreak…

to sunset, it changes constantly, and sometimes offers up the most amazing images!

And I have even collected over the decades some of the most perfect music to go along with this tremendous lifestyle. This morning I had to listen to Jesse Colin Young’s song “Ridgetop.” A great description of where we live now. That and “Country Home” work for me!

I’m new here in rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar retirement home: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado

Let’s work around Amazon (the evil empire!) and make certain authors get paid for their books! Please contact me directly to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)

In Praise of Natural Sounds and Night Skies

April 27, 2017May 8, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / Leave a comment

“The joy of listening to the quiet symphony of nature and the wonderment of seeing the Milky Way stretching overhead are unique experiences that can still be found in many of our national parks.” — Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, NPS

IMGP5820

I was so pleased to discover this week that our National Park Service maintains a Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division. These are a few of the joys I have discovered and begun to fully appreciate only by moving away from cities. By living rural I can finally hear the great animal orchestra composed by nature, and look up to find some of the last remaining harbors of natural darkness in our country.

Now that I know, I wish to preserve and provide opportunities for everyone to experience this critical resource.

To learn more, go view this CBS video: Recording the Sounds of Nature’s Quietest Places