September Thoughts and a Trip to Colorado

The weather outside is frightful, and the fire inside is delightful!  Today it poured down rain, early on, the tapered off very slowly till afternoon, when it finally quit and the clods broke, revealing snow on the tops of the mountains around 8,000 feet.  Boy!  There was a reminder that I need to go get the rest of that firewood before winter!  Who wants to be chopping trees down in the snow. or worse yet, finding the fallen ones under the snow!  There we are then. 

The day before yesterday we had a new addition to our farm, from Mystique.  She gave birth to a new little baby girl that we lovingly call Flossy.  Well, it’s important to add this because I don’t have it written down anywhere else.  I need to know Flossy’s birthday!  September 14th, 2015, around 2 PM.  Or was it the day before that?

I cleaned the chimney yesterday for the first time.  I mean first time, as in the first time I have ever done a chimney sweep, myself.  It was not too easy, but with a little strategy, and a bit of work, it could be made to be easy in the future.  I just need a good place close to the chimney to build on a permanent ladder to climb that part of the roof. 

Everything got done just in time to put a fire in the fireplace and watch the weather turn to absolute crap.  It was great!  The only down sides are that the wood seems to burn pretty fast, and not too hot.  And that I still need to fund a woodstove for the dining room.  That will heat the house against the winter cold, and keep us warm, even upstairs. 

I am thinking I am going to try to get up into the mountains on Sunday and get another cord and a half of firewood.  We still have permits for five right now, and even if I do, it will still take more than two more trips to get the rest.  We have some good weather ahead, and I want to get the wood while it is here! 

Last week I went out to Denver to photograph my brother, Kerry, and his girlfriend, Nicole, get married.  It was a darling little wedding up Flagstaff Mountain, in Boulder, CO.  I have some work to do on the pictures though, thanks to a spot on one of the lenses that I didn’t notice till it was too late.  Typical!  Photoshop, here I come! 

I also got to visit with some old friends.  First up was Rusty Stewart.  First because he has always been one of my best friends, and I had no idea what his home address was.  I didn’t want to call him at work, because jobs can be funny about that, and he works for his dad, who is even funnier!  Russ is doing pretty good.  He gets time with his daughters, and has a house of his own.  He still lives in Broomfield, but that’s to be expected with a family business to run.  Tell you this, too, that business has grown since last I saw it.  The building space has doubled.  It is good to see he and his family doing well!  I spent the better part of an afternoon with him. 

The next day after the wedding I had a nice phone call with Adria.Ellerbrock.  I have known her and her twin sister since I was maybe ten?  They are both friendly and wonderful ladies, who apparently live on the same street now.  I admit, I always envy the people in their lives day to day.  They are the types that like to pay it forward, and who like to give a part of themselves to helping others.  Adria always arranges the communications and details for class reunions that I never attend, and even so, I appreciate so much the work she puts into keeping everyone close.  She also gets together with many of our class on different occasions and with her sparkling personality, she again, brings people together.  Andrea has done missionary work of the real kind, helping people in South America to improve their lives.  I have always admired her for taking the time out of her life to do that. 

As I hung up with Adria, Brad Magerfliesch and Lea Martin drove up.  They are married with children, and Brad said that the way Lea thinks, and the way I think, there was no way I was coming to town without meeting up with her.  I applauded his courage and thoughtfulness.  He is a great guy, and I a fun friend.  Lea is smart and dangerous in many ways. Brad used to say that Dynamite comes in small packages, and he found one and married her.  Well done sir!  They have two adorable children, who were understandably a bit impatient, but very good kids nonetheless.  I am glad to know them all now! 

That day had started out with someone of more than an honorable mention.  When my mom and step-dad married, I met Bev and Gene Hansen at the wedding in Oceanside, California.  They let me play with a movie camera they had, fooling around with the focus and zoom.  There was no film in it, but that didn’t stop me from documenting the reception in my mind.  In November of 1979, we loaded up a U-Haul trailer and hooked it to the back of the 1971 Chevrolet Caprice Classic the folks had bought off my great-grandpa Kelsey Raber, and headed off for Colorado.  We lived in Bev and Genes house for a couple of months, and I attended Emerald Elementary School just down the road, where I met Rusty, Adria, and Andrea, as well as lots of other people.  Bev and Gene were instant grandparents to me, and wonderful people in every way.  Many years passed by that they were always the same.  So, when I showed up at their front door, it was wonderful to relive a lot of nostalgia with them, Gene 90 years old now, and Bev 85, and both seemingly in good health and sound mind.  I loved spending the morning with them, and giving them the chance to meet my youngest, Khallarnie.  We caught up, and talked about many things, and I cannot for the life of me find a single bad thing to say of them, at all.   I am also thrilled I have no reason to try to. 

So, these are the wonderful people I got to catch up with in Colorado, in addition to my brother Kerry, and his beautiful and sweet wife, and my sister, Kristina, who is cute in every single picture I take of her.  Kerry is off to a start in building a little family, and with every hope and wish I can offer for a long and happy life doing so together, and Kristina is waiting patiently, even if she doesn’t think she is, for the right man to come along before she starts one of her own.  She said while I was there, all of her three brothers have been married twice now, and she not once yet.  That makes a lot of sense to me, because there is going to have to be one hell of a guy to come along and fill the spot of husband to her.  Not because of any standard her brothers set, but because she is smart enough not to settle for something less. 

Well, it is time for me to go make a lunch for my daughter for school tomorrow, and to stoke up the fire to keep the house nice and warm tonight.  By then, it should be time to go pick Dylan up from work. 

Kelsey J Bacon