rural living
My Life in a Snow Globe!
I’ve only been in a few blizzards, but last night was fantastic! Snow was blowing every which way, circling around the house… When I looked outside I found my precipitation gauge was almost buried in snow!
Here’s what it looked like this morning! Do you see that little bump in the snow out there? That’s it! We got around a foot of snow!
It’s never easy to measure precipitation under these conditions, so I measured all around my gauge and came up with close to a foot.
And the best part? The sun came out this morning to let us know we have not been totally abandoned out here.
This is my idea of a GREAT holiday gift! We’re doing WHITE FRIDAY at our house today, with nothing to do but decorate for the holidays!
Our passions choose us. We do not choose our passions.
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!
Passive Solar Heat & the First SNOW!
Monday night was exciting up here! We saw first sleet and then snow falling, and it snowed all night.
As some of you may know, I’ve been recording precipitation data for the CoCoRAHS project since 1998, at the seven addresses I have lived at in that time. Yesterday’s reading was particularly difficult because of high winds and drifted snow, although I did record almost an inch of precip!
Let me put it this way, it was difficult getting out of the house on Tuesday morning. Some places there was almost no snow and it was a foot deep elsewhere. We live on a county road so they took care of the road plowing.
And our solar heating has been working great! For example, outside we got down to around 20 degrees last night and inside we were around 60 this morning, but as soon as the sun started coming in, we jumped up to 66 quickly. We do have supplemental electric heat, which we use sparingly, and I also have hot flashes, which help a lot!
The sunset was beautiful here last night, a constant reminder of why we choose to live up here!
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Boomers Share Their Lives & Thoughts
The devastating murders in Paris this week are an important reminder to all of us exactly how fragile our lives can be. Anything can happen to any of us at any time.
In my forties, my midlife crisis manifested as regrets for the lack of one crucial life experience. I fully acknowledged my mortality, and found that I would be quite disappointed with my life if I never found true love. I chose to focus all of my energy on believing in love again. I believed what you focus on grows, and in my case it did!
Finding the love of my life in 2005 led to me finally finding right livelihood. All of my dreams started coming true with the endless love and support of Mike.
Mike is a Vietnam era veteran. He was not honored when he came home. He was shamed. But today I care for him and honor him everyday for the sacrifices he made in service to our country.
Another blogger in our group, Linda Myers loves and cares for a Vietnam vet. This week she accompanied her husband to the monthly meeting of a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. He was their speaker.
On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about tips for veterans to avoid signing up for “for-profit” schools that charge veterans high tuition for courses that are worthless in getting them jobs. Many of these colleges aggressively target veterans.
Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting had a new birth to announce this week in her family! She and her hub welcomed a new addition to their family, grand baby number 5 entered the world. Of course she is the cutest baby ever. See for yourself over at Welcome New Baby Baer.
Tom over at Sightings Over Sixty has a simple little problem for you to solve today. Is it as easy as it looks, or is there a trick to it? Teleport your way over to Think About It and see if you know the answer.
We boomers are surviving and thriving by living life with no regrets!
Rebellion at age 60
Rebellion is difficult, freedom priceless!
It only occurred to me recently that I am going through at age 60, what most went through in their teenage years. I would say I have always been a good girl, to some extent, doing what was expected of me. Two husbands and three graduate degrees later, it seems I have changed.
When Mike and I hatched the plan in late 2013, of selling our lovely home in Fort Collins (suburbia), to build a passive solar home in rural Huerfano county, I had no idea how much my family didn’t want us to do this. I guess I figured it was our business, but apparently not.
Come to find out, I have somehow betrayed my family by making my own decision. This has brought up a lot of other types of rebellion for me, rebellion I never felt at age 18 or 19. I feel angry that I have always done what was expected of me instead of what I wanted to do.
I know, better late than never…
I now recognize so many old tapes in my head, telling me what to do and how to act. These go against my own needs and desires, and yet it seems strange to be finally telling them to shut up.
This is where my own inner wisdom comes in. I now have six decades of wisdom stored up from just living my life day-to-day. I know myself very well.
I finally believe in my own wisdom. I know how I wish to live. I only wish my family had more faith in my judgment.
Want to learn more about my mammoth move from suburbia to rural southern Colorado? Go see here!
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 
