We had a family date night last Friday - we went to see the last Harry Potter installment at our local theater. Yes, we have a local theater but it only shows one movie per week on one day and at one time. You have to pay cash. On the last run of the movie you can't get popcorn because they are cleaning the machine, but you can get all the leftover candy for one dollar.
I'm not going to tell you anything about the movie just in case you are one of those culturally illiterate people who haven't seen it yet.
There's not much to do in this county, especially for kids. As you know, if you're a kid you can go to the Chip Dumpster (look at a previous blog) and you can skateboard and you can pick up free candy and pop at various businesses (again, look at a previous blog) but overall kids have a hard and boring time here. They hang out in the library a lot and if I'm here and they're being obnoxious I kick them out and then they really don't have anywhere to go.
I haven't minded this lack of entertainment until I think of moving to Redmond. I'm to the point in my sheltered Granby life, that I can't wait to visit a Target and not have to make it a full-day field trip. I can't wait to go to Dairy Queen and order a cookie dough milkshake. I can't wait for a grocery store where I don't know everyone, including the check out people, the bag boys and the woman who makes my life miserable by making me use the self-check. (One time I actually stole a gallon of milk because the self check kept practically screaming at me to PUT IN BAG and I didn't want to, so I got scared and walked out with the milk.)
Usually my days consist of subbing at the library, subbing at Winding River Ranch, subbing for the Recreation Department, keeping my house clean just in case anyone is foolish enough to want to move here and buy a house, taking Ian back and forth to the skate park (don't tell me to have him skate to the park - we live on dirt roads) and riding my horse.
Last week I rode out to Selak to get pictures. Selak was a stage stop between Grand Lake and Fraser and was only occupied during the summer. (Next time I'll post the pictures - my friend Kristin says that people don't read anymore and you have to keep them interested by pictures). Skip told me this story about Selak - it was owned by two brothers who were rumored to have gold hidden in the bottom of one of the houses. One or two or three desperate men, drinking in Grand Lake, decided to rob them of their gold and escape to Denver. They went to Selak where they killed the brothers, searched for the gold, found some then escaped to Denver. The sheriff got a posse together and rode to Denver, found the brothers (probably in another bar) arrested them, and here's where the story gets a little foggy. Either the sheriff brought the brothers back to hang them in the trees or the Selak brothers were hung in the trees. Either way, someone was hung in the stand of trees outside the town (I'll post a picture of that also) which is why, I'm convinced, my horse is so reluctant to go through them. Or that he's kind of a lazy horse and sees no reason to go up a hill when he can go around a hill.
Selak is my favorite place to ride to, besides out by Miniat's place (I'll tell you that legend next blog). It's beautiful and quiet and people have been killed there. Seriously, what more do you want from a ghost town?
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Out of Grand County
Last weekend we were in Parker watching Ian at a skate competition. No, he didn't win anything but I guess he's closer to becoming a pro...according to him. He says I'm not a supportive parent because I'm not on board for this "DROPPING OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL AND BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDER" goal. I told him to bring that up in therapy....
Afterwards we went to a mall in Parker which apparently is an expensive one because it doesn't have a Target which means I couldn't use my gift card. It did have a store which sold nothing but handbags (not purses, handbags) and the one I was admiring was $2,000. But it was faux leopard which technically means material, but don't tell the woman who was buying one that.
In Grand County I try to dress better than most of the people here, which means I don't wear pajamas to the post office. I thought I looked good - I had on khaki Capri's with these cute little brass buttons and a blue print shirt which is supposed to highlight the thinnest part of my body (which is really my hair, but they don't make clothes that highlight your hair) and a pair of darling turquoise sandals and...my toenails were painted purple. For shopping at City Market, which is usually the only shopping I do, I looked pretty damm good. But not for this mall.
Most of the women I observed while sipping a four dollar Orange Julius, had hair highlights that cost more than my monthly car payment. One woman had on turquoise sandals similar to mine, but hers were leather, not faux plastic, so I'm pretty sure they cost more than $9.99. I think one of the women was carrying the $2,000 handbag.
Feeling insecure, fat and poor, I wandered into a Sonoma Williams store; it's kind of like the kitchen section at Target, but more expensive and confusing. I stood for 45 minutes in front of the utensil section and realized that if I bought one of each I could spend $1,964. There were toast tongs with a magnet (why do you need a magnet for toast - is bread now magnetic and I missed that?) There was an olive wood cheese plane (where do Olive wood trees grow?) There was an ebelskiver, which I don't know what that is and I'm not looking it up because I'm pretty sure that in my kitchen I will never use it. There was a Tecnivora Moccamaster Coffee Maker for $392 - you can get a Mr. Coffee at the Goodwill for about five bucks. There were silicone spatulas, finishing salts in pink,black and white and various shaped Italian cheese knives. There was also a cheese board that looked suspiciously like the slate I find in my yard, but this was $40 so it's probably not the same.
This was what I deduced from my astute observations of people shopping in Parker. There is no recession. Many people have high paying jobs. There are thousands of high-maintenance women and my husband is very lucky.
And I should probably stay in Grand County...I should probably stick with Target.
Afterwards we went to a mall in Parker which apparently is an expensive one because it doesn't have a Target which means I couldn't use my gift card. It did have a store which sold nothing but handbags (not purses, handbags) and the one I was admiring was $2,000. But it was faux leopard which technically means material, but don't tell the woman who was buying one that.
In Grand County I try to dress better than most of the people here, which means I don't wear pajamas to the post office. I thought I looked good - I had on khaki Capri's with these cute little brass buttons and a blue print shirt which is supposed to highlight the thinnest part of my body (which is really my hair, but they don't make clothes that highlight your hair) and a pair of darling turquoise sandals and...my toenails were painted purple. For shopping at City Market, which is usually the only shopping I do, I looked pretty damm good. But not for this mall.
Most of the women I observed while sipping a four dollar Orange Julius, had hair highlights that cost more than my monthly car payment. One woman had on turquoise sandals similar to mine, but hers were leather, not faux plastic, so I'm pretty sure they cost more than $9.99. I think one of the women was carrying the $2,000 handbag.
Feeling insecure, fat and poor, I wandered into a Sonoma Williams store; it's kind of like the kitchen section at Target, but more expensive and confusing. I stood for 45 minutes in front of the utensil section and realized that if I bought one of each I could spend $1,964. There were toast tongs with a magnet (why do you need a magnet for toast - is bread now magnetic and I missed that?) There was an olive wood cheese plane (where do Olive wood trees grow?) There was an ebelskiver, which I don't know what that is and I'm not looking it up because I'm pretty sure that in my kitchen I will never use it. There was a Tecnivora Moccamaster Coffee Maker for $392 - you can get a Mr. Coffee at the Goodwill for about five bucks. There were silicone spatulas, finishing salts in pink,black and white and various shaped Italian cheese knives. There was also a cheese board that looked suspiciously like the slate I find in my yard, but this was $40 so it's probably not the same.
This was what I deduced from my astute observations of people shopping in Parker. There is no recession. Many people have high paying jobs. There are thousands of high-maintenance women and my husband is very lucky.
And I should probably stay in Grand County...I should probably stick with Target.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Ian's Career Plans
I talked to Ian yesterday, again, about what he wants to do next year. Does he want to be home schooled? Does he want to be half-home schooled and half at the public school? Does he want to be all at the public school? His response to all this is NO.
"What do you mean NO?"
"I don't want to go to school. I want to concentrate on my professional career as a skateboarder."
Now I've had plenty of experience working with high schoolers and if he wasn't my kid I'd go through all the facts about dropping out of school and the low numbers of people who end up being professional athletes, blah, blah, blah.
But with Ian I said, in a calm, sarcastic voice, "So you want to be stupid all your life." (Not a question, just a fact.z0
"You know how much money a professional skateboarder can make and all the skateboards and clothes they get...free?"
"So, you want to be stupid all your life?"
"Oh mom, you just don't get it," and with that he went downstairs to watch a skateboarding video with all the rich, professional skateboarders in it, although it's obvious they still aren't rich enough to buy a belt.
So I'm going to have to make a decision for him - he's going to public school because if he doesn't I will be forced to kill him.
On the "house for sale" note, no, the house still hasn't sold but I'm packing as if it has. I have a pile of garage sale items, mainly Mike's stuff, that will hopefully pay for our move to Oregon. I've been looking at rentals in case Ian and I have to rent before Mike sells the house. And no, I haven't found a job. I did try to get ahold of the Human Resource person at OSU but her number was disconnected. I thought this was a sign, a bad sign, until I realized I had written her number down wrong. Maybe that's a sign.
Here's my ideal situation - part -time at some library, one or two classes at OSU and then I start my tutoring business where within five years I'm in the six-digit income and I sell my business for a million and spend the rest of my life canning peaches and riding my horse. After all, I won't need much money since Ian will be making mega-bucks as a professional skate boarder.
"What do you mean NO?"
"I don't want to go to school. I want to concentrate on my professional career as a skateboarder."
Now I've had plenty of experience working with high schoolers and if he wasn't my kid I'd go through all the facts about dropping out of school and the low numbers of people who end up being professional athletes, blah, blah, blah.
But with Ian I said, in a calm, sarcastic voice, "So you want to be stupid all your life." (Not a question, just a fact.z0
"You know how much money a professional skateboarder can make and all the skateboards and clothes they get...free?"
"So, you want to be stupid all your life?"
"Oh mom, you just don't get it," and with that he went downstairs to watch a skateboarding video with all the rich, professional skateboarders in it, although it's obvious they still aren't rich enough to buy a belt.
So I'm going to have to make a decision for him - he's going to public school because if he doesn't I will be forced to kill him.
On the "house for sale" note, no, the house still hasn't sold but I'm packing as if it has. I have a pile of garage sale items, mainly Mike's stuff, that will hopefully pay for our move to Oregon. I've been looking at rentals in case Ian and I have to rent before Mike sells the house. And no, I haven't found a job. I did try to get ahold of the Human Resource person at OSU but her number was disconnected. I thought this was a sign, a bad sign, until I realized I had written her number down wrong. Maybe that's a sign.
Here's my ideal situation - part -time at some library, one or two classes at OSU and then I start my tutoring business where within five years I'm in the six-digit income and I sell my business for a million and spend the rest of my life canning peaches and riding my horse. After all, I won't need much money since Ian will be making mega-bucks as a professional skate boarder.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
I Should Probably Change the Title
Ian hasn't decided if he wants to be home schooled next year or not. I'm voting for NOT. Many parents talk about the joy of homeschooling or how they are in charge of their child's education or how it brings them close to their young children. Personally, I think these parents are crazy and probably drink too much or not enough.
Here's the truth about homeschooling. Most of the time it's okay, not great, but okay. I probably learned more about the Greek Parthenons than Ian and I now know more about time/sequence/rate of speed than I ever, ever needed to know. And I can see how a room full of Ians would drive any teacher to distraction. So I'm hoping that he votes for his education to be put back in the hands of the professionals.
Thus, I'll need to change the title of this. More along the lines of "A Day in the Life of an Overeducated, Non-Employed Woman." So no, I haven't found a job in Oregon. I get online every other day and check out all the sites that are in my little red book and I diligently mark "7/10/11 - Nothing." I don't even check at COCC anymore - as I've said before, they'll be sorry they didn't hire me when I'm rich and famous and own my own college and they come looking to me for a job and I don't even look at their resume - I just stick it in a file marked "LOSER."
The people who made me clean my house four times in two weeks and said they were going to put an offer in have now decided that they need to rent their current home before they make an offer on ours. I hate these people. I don't know them, but I hate them. They gave me hope and the possibility of a little bit of spending money and then just jerked the rug out from under me. Maybe they're really nice. Maybe the wife loves horses and reads the same exact books as I do and maybe the husband is dieing from some rare incurable disease and his last wish was to live in our house....it doesn't matter, I don't like them and never will. Unless they buy our house - then I'll think about it.
Ian went to his first skateboarding competition in Denver. He came in next to last in his age group. I'm a mom so I said, "Hey, that's great, you didn't come in last and look at this cool plastic water bottle they gave you." He was not impressed, but once again, the good thing about Ian (which I think he gets from me) is that nothing keeps him down for very long. So I don't have a job yet - I'll find one or make one...so we don't have the house sold yet-it'll sell or catch on fire. Something good will happen and soon I'll be in Redmond writing about it and not Granby and maybe missing a few things about Granby...maybe.
Here's the truth about homeschooling. Most of the time it's okay, not great, but okay. I probably learned more about the Greek Parthenons than Ian and I now know more about time/sequence/rate of speed than I ever, ever needed to know. And I can see how a room full of Ians would drive any teacher to distraction. So I'm hoping that he votes for his education to be put back in the hands of the professionals.
Thus, I'll need to change the title of this. More along the lines of "A Day in the Life of an Overeducated, Non-Employed Woman." So no, I haven't found a job in Oregon. I get online every other day and check out all the sites that are in my little red book and I diligently mark "7/10/11 - Nothing." I don't even check at COCC anymore - as I've said before, they'll be sorry they didn't hire me when I'm rich and famous and own my own college and they come looking to me for a job and I don't even look at their resume - I just stick it in a file marked "LOSER."
The people who made me clean my house four times in two weeks and said they were going to put an offer in have now decided that they need to rent their current home before they make an offer on ours. I hate these people. I don't know them, but I hate them. They gave me hope and the possibility of a little bit of spending money and then just jerked the rug out from under me. Maybe they're really nice. Maybe the wife loves horses and reads the same exact books as I do and maybe the husband is dieing from some rare incurable disease and his last wish was to live in our house....it doesn't matter, I don't like them and never will. Unless they buy our house - then I'll think about it.
Ian went to his first skateboarding competition in Denver. He came in next to last in his age group. I'm a mom so I said, "Hey, that's great, you didn't come in last and look at this cool plastic water bottle they gave you." He was not impressed, but once again, the good thing about Ian (which I think he gets from me) is that nothing keeps him down for very long. So I don't have a job yet - I'll find one or make one...so we don't have the house sold yet-it'll sell or catch on fire. Something good will happen and soon I'll be in Redmond writing about it and not Granby and maybe missing a few things about Granby...maybe.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Summer in Granby
For Ian, summer in Granby consists of hours and hours and hours spent at the skate park. As I've stated, Ian is planning on becoming a professional skateboarder and his method to attaining this lofty goal is to video himself and others and post them on YouTube. I guess Justin Beiber was discovered this way...which is too bad.
Ian always has a goal when he's dropped off. He works on his "tricks" for hours and then comes home and watches skateboarding videos. He uses Mike's tools (and doesn't put them back) and expensive pieces of lumber that Mike has purchased, to create jumps and rails and all kinds of cumbersome dangerous things. Then he spray paints them and leaves skeleton marks in various colors on the garage floor. I keep insisting to Mike that this is a selling point - not too many garages have neon orange, green, blue and black spray paint in various shapes on their floors.
We've had one couple come and look at our house four times in the past two weeks. You know how much cleaning that entails? Anyway, they're supposed to make an offer sometime this week after we tell them: when the roof was put on, where does the irrigation water come from, how do we plow the snow and what are those funny marks in the garage. I think that they should buy the house for the following reasons and not even worry about the above questions and answers: They are right next to Skip and they'll never have to buy a TV - he will keep them plenty entertained, for example, just yesterday his cows got out, trotted down the road, turned around when they reached the paved road and came back home. The second reason - we have elk that, for no cost at all, will destroy your fences every fall. Third reason - no one seems to know how to manage the irrigation water so you often get your yard and driveway watered without even asking and fourth reason - you can shoot fireworks off and build as big a bonfire as needed no matter what the fire bans say.
These people haven't asked us the important questions like - what do you do when Skip's horses/sheep/goats/cows get out and come over? What do you do when the county snow plow plows all the snow over your garbage cans that have blown out into the middle of the road? What happen when you accidentally knock down a neighbor's fence - do you fix it or pretend it never happened and blame the elk?
Last Thursday we had what are called "straight winds." This is a new term for me. If I had known these existed I really wouldn't have ever moved here. Apparently they are tornado force winds which do not touch down (they go straight) because of the mountains. These winds tore the roof off our loafing shed and sent it through our corral, our fence and our neighbor's fence. They collapsed our pig barn. They sent our metal water tank above the pond into the pond. They tore part of the high school roof off, overturned a semi parked at the new hospital and snapped the only living trees left at Skip's place.
We called our realtor the next morning to tell her of this news since this couple were planning on coming out again on Monday. She said, "Get if fixed or these people will not buy your house, they do not want to buy a house anywhere there is wind." Hm mm, why are they even in the state of Colorado? So we spent three days, way into the night, "fixing" things as best as we could considering our time frame. The pig barn was completed, the roof on the loafing shed, not so much. We ended up just setting the new metal roofing on top of the new joists without screwing it in since we ran out of time. Then we prayed it wouldn't get windy Monday morning. It didn't. Monday afternoon it did. The new metal roofing blew over next to the old roof at our neighbor's place. My job this afternoon is to go bring it home. I'm hoping they make an offer this afternoon and I won't have to - maybe they won't notice that there's no roof. We'll be a 1,000 miles away by then......
Ian always has a goal when he's dropped off. He works on his "tricks" for hours and then comes home and watches skateboarding videos. He uses Mike's tools (and doesn't put them back) and expensive pieces of lumber that Mike has purchased, to create jumps and rails and all kinds of cumbersome dangerous things. Then he spray paints them and leaves skeleton marks in various colors on the garage floor. I keep insisting to Mike that this is a selling point - not too many garages have neon orange, green, blue and black spray paint in various shapes on their floors.
We've had one couple come and look at our house four times in the past two weeks. You know how much cleaning that entails? Anyway, they're supposed to make an offer sometime this week after we tell them: when the roof was put on, where does the irrigation water come from, how do we plow the snow and what are those funny marks in the garage. I think that they should buy the house for the following reasons and not even worry about the above questions and answers: They are right next to Skip and they'll never have to buy a TV - he will keep them plenty entertained, for example, just yesterday his cows got out, trotted down the road, turned around when they reached the paved road and came back home. The second reason - we have elk that, for no cost at all, will destroy your fences every fall. Third reason - no one seems to know how to manage the irrigation water so you often get your yard and driveway watered without even asking and fourth reason - you can shoot fireworks off and build as big a bonfire as needed no matter what the fire bans say.
These people haven't asked us the important questions like - what do you do when Skip's horses/sheep/goats/cows get out and come over? What do you do when the county snow plow plows all the snow over your garbage cans that have blown out into the middle of the road? What happen when you accidentally knock down a neighbor's fence - do you fix it or pretend it never happened and blame the elk?
Last Thursday we had what are called "straight winds." This is a new term for me. If I had known these existed I really wouldn't have ever moved here. Apparently they are tornado force winds which do not touch down (they go straight) because of the mountains. These winds tore the roof off our loafing shed and sent it through our corral, our fence and our neighbor's fence. They collapsed our pig barn. They sent our metal water tank above the pond into the pond. They tore part of the high school roof off, overturned a semi parked at the new hospital and snapped the only living trees left at Skip's place.
We called our realtor the next morning to tell her of this news since this couple were planning on coming out again on Monday. She said, "Get if fixed or these people will not buy your house, they do not want to buy a house anywhere there is wind." Hm mm, why are they even in the state of Colorado? So we spent three days, way into the night, "fixing" things as best as we could considering our time frame. The pig barn was completed, the roof on the loafing shed, not so much. We ended up just setting the new metal roofing on top of the new joists without screwing it in since we ran out of time. Then we prayed it wouldn't get windy Monday morning. It didn't. Monday afternoon it did. The new metal roofing blew over next to the old roof at our neighbor's place. My job this afternoon is to go bring it home. I'm hoping they make an offer this afternoon and I won't have to - maybe they won't notice that there's no roof. We'll be a 1,000 miles away by then......
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