Is this what’s really happening to us now?

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / Leave a comment

Bad ER behavior in small town USA!

June 6, 2015June 2, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 5 Comments

We have needed the services of the only ER in this rural Colorado county twice since we moved here almost one year ago.

The first was within a week of arriving here. Mike developed a nasty reaction, with extreme gut pain, nausea, etc. The doctor who assisted us that time was kind and seemed to want to be helpful, but could not figure out what to do.

Then this past Thursday morning, Mike was writhing in extreme pain from a recently diagnosed neck vertabra injury. Apparently he had turned his head the wrong way in his sleep even with a neck brace on. Even though he was on a very strong opioid for pain, it was still completely out of control.

The young doctor who came in to “help” us had the worst bedside manner I have ever witnessed. He seemed to immediately jump to the conclusion that we were drug shopping, and said he could not prescribe anything.

Come to find out, all Mike needed was a strong dose of anti-inflammatory (Aleve) and a muscle relaxant to go with his other pills. So that stupid young doctor pissed us off for no reason at all!

I for one did not know that you can take Aleve along with opioids. If I had we could have saved hundreds of dollars and all the shaming that doctor had to offer us!

Boomer Blogs: Springtime in the Rockies Edition

June 1, 2015June 15, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 6 Comments

Welcome to the longest running boomer blog carnival online! I have been involved in this activity for years now over at my old “midlife” site MidlifeCrisisQueen.com. Here we bloggers take turns hosting links to some great posts relevant to boomers.

First off we have Meryl Baer who was once again on the road, but in Seattle this week, where she had the opportunity to connect with a fellow blogger in person, Rita Robison of The Survive and Thrive Consumer Blog. Read her remarks in Connecting With an Internet Crony.

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, this week writes about how older adults can stay safe online.

If you’re retired is it still possible to skip a day at school, or take a “mental health” day from work? For one answer, take a side trip over to Playing Hooky, and see what happens when Tom Sightings’ mind begins to wander.

Right Tom, and especially if you’re going through the strains and stress of having a foothills home built in rural Colorado! Yesterday we took a vacation from our daily life by driving around the Highway of Legends loop southwest of here. There we found a couple of gorgeous high altitude lakes like the photo of North Lake at the top of this post, and some…

fantastic views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range! We stopped by Stonewall Lodge where they have a very nice set-up with cabins at 8,000 feet. Then we drove over to Cokedale, near Trinidad to see the coke ovens.

On the way back we found a few astounding views:

One was a delightful field full of Rocky Mountain Wild Iris and Golden Banner!

We found this to be a day well-spent, appreciating the benefits of this wonderful place we now call home… not bad for a three hour drive with almost no traffic, eh?

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Living and Learning in Southern Colorado

May 25, 2015June 20, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 2 Comments

On a walk around Walsenburg recently, I noticed how my attitude towards this small town has softened in the past year.

We came here last May to find a rental while we built our new home in the foothills west of here. I thought then that I only wanted to live in La Veta over the winter months. It has lots of boomers, a hip attitude, and is quite a stunner in natural beauty. Walsenburg is on the edge of the foothills, and sadly a little worse for wear.

But, as luck would have it, the ONLY decent rental available at that time was a one hundred-year-old home in west Walsenburg. After living in our own home in suburbia for the past few decades, this house and the town in general felt like quite a letdown to me.

We are still sometimes frustrated with all the things that don’t work properly in our rental house, but very pleased with our landlord Bob. He has been a good friend to us.

Then there is Walsenburg. As we have gotten to know a few of the hardworking citizens of this town, I have gained a new appreciation for the term ‘working class.’

I cannot think of one occasion when anyone here has been mean or unfriendly to us. We have made a few friends in our neighborhood, we help them and they help us. In contrast I have made no friends in La Veta besides Pat and Doug at Two Fox Cabins.

Yes, there are quite a few people here who live on very little money, but they are good, generous people just trying to get by like everybody else.

Back to our very special construction project!

May 19, 2015May 21, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 2 Comments

So in the past few weeks we got the drywall, taping, texturing and painting finished in our new house out west of here.

To give you some idea what it looks like now, check out the future living room:

And the kitchen:

From outside the island and inside:

And then we have the Master suite:

And of course the views outside from there!

It can’t be long before we move in now, can it?

Did I mention I am NOT a patient person? I probably should have mentioned that to our builder BEFORE we started… LOL!

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Business is Picking Up In Huerfano County Colorado!

May 15, 2015October 6, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 4 Comments

Ever since Mike and I “discovered” this rural section of southern Colorado in 2013, we’ve been wondering why others aren’t moving here. Come to find out, they are! The realtors in the La Veta area and here in Walsenburg are having record months lately. And why not? The beauty of this place in spring is astounding!

I asked Susie here at Acorn Realty about the local market when I saw that we had 12 home sales in the small town of Walsenburg in April, selling for everywhere from $20,000 to $200,000. She’s excited to see so much interest in our area, and attributes her improving sales figures to the baby boomers, who know a great deal when they see one!

Also, as the county has begun to allow more marijuana grow operations, business has certainly picked up. In fact, we should have quite a few more jobs here in the next few years, and they should pay well.

At present this county is such a mix of welfare cases and hard-working families, rundown and well-kept homes. But the homes west of Walsenburg have fantastic mountain views, and with land and home prices so reasonable at present, I cannot imagine that it won’t grow quickly.

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