West of Walsenburg CO
Living and Learning in Southern Colorado
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.
Business is Picking Up In Huerfano County Colorado!
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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Are You Willing to Fight For Your Dreams?
One of the most important lessons I have learned from my midlife struggles, is the need to be willing to fight for my dreams. This journey began for me back in 2004, when I lost my job and then spent months in introspection.
I focused on this question: What do I need to happen before I die?
I concluded that for myself I needed to find ways to believe in love again. I so wanted to find one genuine love in this lifetime. This book is a summary of what I learned in this process. I fought through a lifetime of tragedy and disappointment to change my perspective and find new faith in the power of love. Then I found a great new partner within a few months.
With Mike I found true partnership where we are able to work successfully together towards shared goals. One of his lifetime goals was to build his own solar custom home with an incredible view. This is the goal we have been working on for over a year now.
So many obstacles have arisen in this process. Leaving behind our life of 20+ years in Fort Collins was our first challenge. I wrote about that extensively in my memoir of this entire experience. Suffice to say this kind of change is never easy.
We moved into a 100-year-old little house in Walsenburg and put much into storage last June. It took five months just to get a proper slab completed in this rural Colorado county.
We noticed every step of the construction process was costing much more than we had budgeted. We found that our contractor was not taking bids for work, but simply using his regular sub-contractors. At that point Mike decided to take over the contracting part of the process. He took bids from both local and Pueblo companies and cut over 30% off the cost of the electrical and stucco work. Our builder was not happy.
This week, after almost a year of struggle, we were finally ready to complete the inside of our home. We have collected everything we need to complete the kitchen, baths, trim, etc. The response from our builder? I may be able to get to that in a few weeks. I went ballistic! In response he hung up on me.
Luckily Mike apologized profusely, and so we’re back on track again. It will all get done, and we will move in sometime in July, more than a year after we moved here.
I tell you this NOT to discourage you from pursuing your own unique goals, but to warn you that pursuing dreams can get ugly sometimes.
You must be willing to fight for your dreams…
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!
Remember: WHATEVER YOU’RE NOT CHANGING, YOU’RE CHOOSING.
Terrible hail and May snow!
We have an adage here in Colorado. We say it is safe to plant outside after Mother’s Day, but this year is obviously different!
Last Thursday we got stuck in the WORST HAIL STORM I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED! Driving on I-25 south of Pueblo we got hit with a deluge, that cracked our windshield and trashed our van.
This is the scene outside of our rental this morning:
On a recent clear day, I could just catch a glimpse of the Spanish Peaks from our front yard in Walsenburg.
This is what I saw this morning! Poor trees! They were just getting into blooming mode and certainly weren’t ready for this! I guess that’s what happens when you bring in trees that aren’t adapted to this area of the country.
Up at Navajo we will be living in a native Pinon-juniper woodland. Those trees have adapted over the centuries to handle snow in any season.
Can you tell I was raised by native plants Nazi Jack L. Carter, author of Trees and Shrubs of Colorado and Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico!
Paradise is Personal
“Paradise is where I want to wake up every morning… where I can be the way I want to be.” — Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 