Sand Dunes/Santa Fe/Albuquerque Trip Report Day 1

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Highlights of the Day: Eating at Broadway Hot Dog in Bailey, seeing the South Park  valley for the 1st time, seeing the Great Sand Dunes for the 1st time

Warning: Long entry and picture-heavy.

Despite having arrived home from a work trip at 12:20 the night before, I was awake at 4:30 a.m., managed to go back to sleep until 6:00, and finally gave up and got up at 6:30. I caught up on Facebook, going through the feed from the day before because there were several articles/links I wanted to bookmark, and I had them all open on my phone, but then I had to turn my phone off because it wasn’t receiving emails in the middle of Eastern Colorado, and it lost them all. So I think I found most of them again.

I tried to pack quietly and let Ken sleep. MaryAnne was not helpful, she had come to bed at about 5:30 to snuggle in crook of my arm and then gave me a chirp meow in rebuke every time I moved. She was very chatty all morning, I think she knew something was up. They know when they see the big black boxes on the bed, they are going to get cat-sat for a few days.

After Ken got up and ready, we had a debate on which way we were going to go to the Great Sand Dunes. He had been intending on going down I-25, which would probably have been faster, not because of the road necessarily, but because there were less distractions to cause me to want to stop. But I thought we should go down 285 through the mountains so I could see some scenery I had never seen before. I always believe in traveling the road I haven’t traveled before.

So off we went, after a stop at the library to get fresh library books for me and Walgreens to get Sudafed since my allergies have been going nuts. I had originally hoped to get out of town by 8:00, but that was before I knew I would be getting home at midnight the night before.  So my new plan was 10:00, and we were pretty close to that.

Off we went into the mountains, with Ken providing narration about all the reasons he had been to these small towns in the mountains for news stories when he still worked for the news station, pointing out the gas stations they had eaten at and the restaurants they would have eaten at if they would have had more time.

I knew that Colorado had a hot-dog shaped restaurant at one time. It was once on Colfax Avenue in Denver, and then it got moved to Aspen Park, and I had heard on a news story that they had lost their location there and were moving again, but I thought the last thing I heard was that it was no longer open. Well, imagine my surprise when we drove by it! I made Ken turn around. If I have a chance to eat in a giant hot dog-shaped restaurant, I am going to take it.


We both had brats but I had onions and peppers and mustard on mine. They were good but I wish they would have cooked them a little longer, we like a little snap to the skin. We got there just in time at 11:30 because then people started streaming in.

They also had a hummingbird feeder outside, and two hummingbirds cheeping angrily at each other as they fought for position. They apparently don’t know how to share. I did not get a picture of the flashy blue one, which was probably the male. They get really upset and territorial – Hummingbirds: The Original Angry Birds.


There was still snow on some of the mountain peaks. It was a pretty cool and cloudy day, although it got sunnier as we got away from Denver. The drive into the South Park Valley was pretty incredible, just like the NY times writer says in this article, it is mind blowing to come out of the mountains over Kenosha pass, and see this huge valley as far as the eye can see,  surrounded by mountains.


Saw a coyote run across the road while were were in the valley, also goats and alpacas (not wild) and many hawks.

As we got further south in the valley, there were lots of farms under circle irrigation, and the wind kept blowing harder and harder. Saw at least four giant dust devils form and some of them stayed intact for quite a while. Saw Colorado Gators attraction but decided to save that for another trip.

We got to the Great Sand Dunes around 3:30 in the afternoon, and  the wind was blowing like crazy. I think the lady said they had a 42 mile an hour gust. That is something when you are surrounded by sand. We looked around the visitor center, and then did venture out onto the flats before the dunes, but we were just getting sand blasted, and discussed that it might be a good option to come back in the morning when it was still. There were some people up hiking on the dunes, but I am pretty sure they weren’t having a fabulous time.

And no one is up on the very tops.


Ken had sand in his ears, hair and shoes. I had it mostly in my shoes, but still some in my hair and ears. We were really hoping that it would be nicer in the morning. The weather was really strange, cloudy but not rain clouds, and hazy, which we found out was probably caused by fires in NM and/or AZ. We didn’t even get to see the sunset, it was too cloudy.
We got to the Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista at around 5:30 or so and checked in. This hotel was a little bit out of our way but when you have a chance to stay at the Movie Manor, you better take it. We were in the Jodie Foster room. This is an older hotel but has been updated throughout the years.

Except for the fan/light switches in the bathroom which they have kept intact, which I find quite charming.

The rooms and the whole place are decorated in a movie theme (pictures, wallpaper border), because the rooms look out on the drive-in movie theatre next door. We emptied most of the sand out of our shoes and went to the Mountain View Restaurant for dinner – we asked the front desk clerk for a steak recommendation and that was her recommendation – OR the restaurant next door owned by the same family that owns the hotel. We thought we would spread our tourism dollars around and went to the one across town.

Kenny ordered the 8 oz sirloin and I got the sirloin steak sandwich, because I knew I would get the smallest piece of meat with that and I didn’t want a huge steak. We also ordered the chips and salsa. The chips were not real fresh but the salsa was good.

We both liked our steaks. I went with the add-on onions and mushrooms, of course. They came with a dollop of seasoned butter on top and Ken frowned and scooped his off.

We both had dinner salads, not bad, mostly iceberg. Ken also got vegetables with his, of course he didn’t eat the zucchini and I got that. Was thinking about pie for dessert but when the waitress said it wasn’t homemade I decided to pass.

Of course, being the Nosy Parker that I am, I overheard our waitress describing Shock Top beer to the table next to us, and she didn’t mention that it was a wheat beer, so I had to throw my two cents worth in on that. We then visited with the two guys at the table on our way out, one of the was wearing a CSU hat so I asked if he had gone to school there. Nice guys. They did ask if we had gone to Gatorland and said it was worthwhile, so I will have to check that out for next time.

Got back to the hotel in plenty of time to watch “The Lorax” on the drive-in screen, but neither one of us had any desire to actually watch it, so we did for long enough to say we did it, and closed the curtains and turned on the TV.

Their beds are very, very soft.  Some people might like that, but I was glad we only had sleep on that bed for one night.

Did not get any embroidery or knitting done as we drove today. Way too much to look at, almost all areas I have never been to before. Great day.

Another Tour of Eastern Colorado

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Part of my job that I really love is going to the small towns of Eastern Colorado.

Monday we got on the road for Burlington. We always stay at the Comfort Inn in Burlington. The staff is very nice there. I left my phone cord somewhere between my house where I unplugged it and my office when we left for the trip. So I went to the front desk, and she dug through the lost and found phone cords, and loaned me one for my phone for the night.

Just across from the Comfort Inn is The Route steakhouse. I had pretty much decided to get a steak, but when they had fried chicken for a special, I was tempted. But the waitress said the steak was better, so I went with that. I meant to order it with the goat cheese but forgot.

I had the baked sweet potato and a salad as my sides. This was excellent, maybe not the most prime filet I have ever had, but worth the cost and very tasty. The sweet potato was good too. I was in a beer mood (rare) and had New Belgium Brewery’s seasonal special Somersault Ale, which I quite liked. I will have to try it in a bottle to see if I like it that way, or just on tap.

Then I went back to the hotel and fished around in my FreedomBag (awesome product, I am on my 2nd one, would not travel without it, great gift to give people who travel) and accidentally found my razor, which you should put in one of the clear pockets, not one of the dark side pockets. So then I played “stop the bleeding” for a while.

Tuesday morning was a breakfast meeting at the American Legion Post  – aka The Post Bar and Grille. They have quite a good restaurant there. They also have calf fries occasionally for a lunch special, if you are interested in those. (See also: Rocky Mountain Oysters.) I was going to try them for the sake of trying new things, but they did not have them available for breakfast.

Our next meeting was in Yuma. It must be a good year for yucca plants, as we saw more of them than usual on the drive from Burlington to Yuma. There was one hillside that was totally covered with plants, all in bloom. Yucca, also known as Soap Root, is a big spiny plant that grows in poor rocky soil. I have tried to dig one up at the ranch, but it was hard to get much of the tap root, which can be quite long, and it didn’t survive being transplanted. This year I have five or six of them that I started from seed. They are just little spikes right now. I need to do more research on how long I should raise them in pots and when they can be planted outside. I have a spot planned for one, but not for five, so it will be OK if they don’t all make it, I am not sure what the attrition rate will be.

We stopped in Wray for lunch. Wray is a pretty little town, full of trees. This sign amused me:

I did not know that self-serve dog wash was an alternate use for car wash. Value added opportunity!

I like the older signs that are still in place. They have more character.

What do you order in a cafe like this? You order the hot beef sandwich, of course.

As my friend Cathy said, “Needs more gravy.”

My recommendation on how to choose a restaurant in a small town (or almost anywhere for that matter) – if the parking lot is full of pickups and Buicks, that is a good sign.

Also a good sign: personalized placemats with local advertising.

I was embroidering on the bunny block as we drove along, and so I missed the turkey buzzards on the side of the road. Sad. I always like to see the local turkey buzzards.

I am very excited to go on vacation to the Great Sand Dunes, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, but I feel woefully underplanned. Usually I like to have vacations planned down to the minute. Apparently I will have to hang loose and relax on this one. Or plan in the car which Ken is driving…..

Multi-tasking Sunday

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Sunday dawned clear and warm this past weekend. I wrapped up some work on the computer and then suited up to get out in the yard, since I had told myself all of the baby plants that had been sprouted, rooted and potted needed to be planted before I left on vacation. Since I was going to be gone Monday night and get home at about midnight on Tuesday, it had to be done on Sunday. Friday night I got out and planted some sunflowers and pumpkins, and they were looking kind of peaked after the cool weather on Saturday.

I invented a potting table out of two sawhorses and a door from the closet in the craft room. The sliding doors don’t work when you have the closet crammed full of fabric and yarn, so they are living in the shed.

Yeah, that door is going to need to be re-painted before we put it back on. But that is going to be a while, unless we win the lottery and move out of the house. And if we win the lottery, I will hire someone to paint the door.

I potted all of the climbing things – morning glories, cypress vines, and some sweet peas that I somehow missed when I planted earlier in the week. I pointed out to Ken that I was going to be putting the climbing plants in place, and that meant they needed lattice to climb, and we had torn down one segment of the old lattice with the aim of replacing it, and hadn’t done the replacing yet.

He went off to Home Depot to get lattice, and worked on that while I planted, alternating with weeding, finding a few volunteer cilantro plants, which made me happy. I started converting at least part of the garden to an herb garden, moving the horse radish from the railroad tie planter where it was not thriving, and moving some chives over as well. I am gradually reducing the area that has to be planted every year, hopefully creating a lower maintenance garden. I did plant a row of lettuce, basil, and cilantro, mixed together, that could be quite interesting. I tried basil in a hanging pot last year and that just didn’t work very well, it dried out too quickly. I also thinned out the onions that returned from last year. I noted that the mint plant, known for spreading and trying to take over, was doing just that, and so I put it in its place. And smelled like mint all afternoon.

I returned to the house around 11:00 a.m. and changed out of the dirty (literally, dirt-y) garden clothes. I had been planning on pizza on the grill for lunch but forgot that the dough needs to raise. So I made the dough anyway and then made hamburgers on the grill for lunch, with baked oven fries. I cut these like french fries instead of wedges, they cook a little faster and they are excellent.

Then back out into the yard – more planting, moving things around, weeding (there is ALWAYS weeding), mulling over what to do in the weed garden. Wrapped up about 3:00 and headed inside to clean up and get some more things done, such get the package ready to mail to my nieces and pack for business travel. And put away all of the summer clothes that I got out of the cedar chest that Ken had washed. I packed for my work trip, and made the grilled pizza for dinner.

I can’t find the link for the grilled pizza, but I will tell you, that is the way to go. Excellent crust. But next time I will remember that the crust only needs 3 minutes on LOW for the initial bake, not 3 minutes on HIGH. That first one was a little crispy. You stretch out the dough, and grill it on one side, and then bring it inside, and put the toppings on that side, and return it to the grill so the other side gets done and the toppings get melted together. I am considering trying grilling the first side, then putting the toppings on, and finishing it in the oven on my pizza stone under the broiler, because the grill doesn’t really brown the top. Another idea to try.

I was totally wiped out at the end of the day and I still forgot about three things I needed to do, had to get up out of bed and email a list of things to myself so I would remember to do them later.

If I got as much done every weekend as I did this weekend, I would get a lot done. I also would be crabby and exhausted, I am sure. Can’t wait for vacation.

 

A Busy Weekend

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I took an impromptu day off from blogging on Monday, primarily because I was running around like crazy all weekend and had not time to write a post in advance. I literally had a list of goals to get done this weekend, since we are going on vacation on Weds., and I was going to be out of town for work Monday evening, and get back very late Tuesday.

Saturday was cool and rainy outside, so I tried to get things done inside. I finished up the September block of the 12-block bunny quilt for my 2nd youngest niece. I want to enter this in the county fair this summer, so I have to get the blocks done, some sort of borders put on, and sewn together and quilted, by the end of July. I decided this would not happen unless I put myself on deadline of finishing one block a week. So I wrapped up September (bunny going to school) and have started on October (bunny with jack ‘o lanterns) for this week. I am not allowed to work on knitting projects until I am done with my embroidery block for the week.

I made this much progress as my boss drove us across the state on Monday:

My goal is to have it finished tomorrow, so I can take knitting projects on vacation I finished making my mom’s socks smaller at the toe, but I think I will wait and see if I need to re-do the cast-on (too tight on my calves) until after she tries them on. So then I started casting on the Silpalu Bag from Knitpicks, which I bought as a kit, oh, years ago, and then realized I needed to focus on my mom’s sock featured in “Can this Sock Be Saved?” So I worked on unravelling the top of that sock, unfortunately I was interrupted by remembering that I hadn’t boxed up and prepared for mailing the birthday presents for my nieces E. and A., and after I did that, I discovered several other things I didn’t have on my official list but still needed to be done.

Also on Saturday, I put away all the sweaters in the cedar chest (who else still has a cedar chest? Dad got mine at an auction. I think I have had it since my 1st apartment after college. It is good for storage as well as providing seating when needed.) I surprised Ken, who was doing laundry, with all the summer clothes from the chest. So now we are ready for summer, except we still have flannel sheets on the bed. We may be ready for regular sheets by June 1.

We went to our usual Pho 78 for some soup for lunch (good day for it) and had Cheeseburger Macaroni for dinner with leftover smoked sausage instead of hamburger, that was good. The cats napped all day, that was what they thought of the rain.

TAG Restaurant Report

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Late again, I can see blogging is going to be more difficult in the spring/summer but I will get it figured out.

Wednesday night I had the opportunity to eat at TAG Restaurant in Denver, with a group of agriculture supporters who are board members or advisers for an ag-based TV program. They also invited Denver area folks who work in ag. It was great to be in a room full of like-minded individuals, all of whom are interested in spreading the word of how agriculture works to consumers who are interested in food but often quite disconnected from the farm. AND I got to eat at an amazing restaurant.

The salad, main course, and dessert were good, but the appetizers were amazing. I would put some of them in the top two things I have eaten so far this year.

We had some of the TACO SUSHI / charred ahi, sushi rice, guacamole, li-hing mango salsa  – these were awesome. The 2nd best appetizer.

That is the only app we had that is actually on their current menu. The next one was small soft tacos, with beef and shredded cabbage, and quite a spicy salsa. Also excellent.

Potstickers, steamed and then crisped. Pork, I think, but could have maybe been duck. Very good.They have seafood potstickers on their menu, but these were not seafood, I bet those are good too.

And the BEST appetizer, tuna tartare on a wonton crisp with sunflower seeds, and a little balsamic drizzle. Of course it was the best appetizer, and I got the worst picture of them. I could eat these all day long, they were sooooo good. Amazing sushi quality tuna.

They had a nice spring greens and balsamic salad, and a choice of fish, beef, or chicken for the entree – I had the fish (Hawaiian Ono) and it was very good – everyone seemed to like their entrees. Red velvet cake for dessert. It was all good, but I will dream about those wonton chips for a while. Hoping I can get them if we just go to the restaurant.

It is lovely this time of spring, driving to work on I-25, as there are usually 2-3 hot air balloons visible somewhere along my route every morning. This morning, there were about 15 of them rising together at one point, they kind of took me by surprise. Unfortunately it was not a great picture opportunity, since it is very, very smoky here right now because of a fire burning near Fort Collins. The beautiful hot air balloons kind of balanced out the beginning of my morning.

That story starts last night, with Ken asking me how it felt if you had a broken toe. I said that I wasn’t sure, I had never had an xray to make sure, but I was sure I had broken my little toes at least once each by walking into door frames with them. (My mother always said I walked like a duck.) So apparently my subconscious was thinking about this over night, I slammed my right little toe into the door frame on the way out of the bathroom. I was AWAKE after that. Unfortunately my reaction also woke Ken up and scared the cats. So my toe hurts and it is smoky, I have my asthma inhaler handy. Glad it is Friday, and I go on vacation (after a few days of work) next week!

This One Time, at Knitting Camp…

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I came home from work and announced to Ken I was going to knitting camp this summer. He was only slightly confused. And, I suspect, not at all surprised. Well, knitting camp (yarn camp?) is a virtual camp where you work on a project for a month with other knitters around the world. The interaction (if you want it) comes from message boards, etc., online. I have had many friends who have done knit-a-longs or quilt-a-longs but I am usually up against a deadline for something, and have never done one.This camp is sponsored by the Loopy Ewe, which is both an online and regular knitting store, and they just moved to Fort Collins this spring, so I am lucky enough to shop there in person! Here are the details of the camp.

The theme for this 3-segment camp is the Olympics, and so for the 1st project, you are to knit or crochet something that is designed by someone from a country other than the one you live in. When I checked on Ravelry and saw that the “Color Affection” shawl was made by Veera Välimäki, who is from Finland, I knew I was going to participate.

You are eligible for special bonuses if you buy your yarn at Loopy for the project (and I didn’t have any yarn that I liked for this project), so I went in and bought some lovely yarn. I looked at about a million pictures of the project on Ravelry (fiber arts website where knitters and crocheters plot to take over the world) and decided the ones I liked best had two pretty light colors for the first colors, and then a very highly contrasting color for the last colors. So that is what I went with.

AND my camp badge. The bad thing is that you have to wait until May 27 to cast on, so of course I want to cast on Now Now Now but this will give me time to work on some other projects and hopefully finish them up.

Speaking of other projects. I finally finished my youngest niece’s Christmas present. She doesn’t care, because she is only one. I don’t have to start being on time with her for another couple of years. It is a good thing, because she doesn’t have all of her baby quilts yet I make for each niece/nephew either.

Yo-yo button pillow. All I can say is that it is very cute, but never again! Those yo-yos and sewing them down, and the buttons, oy vey. My sister-in-law has a great talent for finding really cool projects that I will make one of and they say EEEEEEEEE! :  ) The colors are a little wonky in the picture, those oranges and pinks and greens are not quite that bright.

Then, my niece also had her 1st birthday last Sunday, so I just wrapped up that project. I would actually make this one again, it wasn’t too difficult.

Another one that my sis in law found and sent to me. Tutorial here. I don’t even have to supply the hoop for hanging, as she already has one!

Now I just need to get them in the mail…..

The other project I am currently telling myself I need to finish before starting anything new is a pair of socks for my mom. I thought I had them finished, and then when I blocked them, they seemed to grow. And if they were huge on me, I was pretty sure they would be huge on her. So I pulled the toe back out of one, and took about about 10 rows of pattern, and re-knit the toe. I think it is much better now.

Both socks. They are actually a little browner than this.

So, those are my recent crafting adventures. Sorry this post is later than usual this morning, I was out late at an event that I will write about tomorrow! (Pictures of food!)

Comfort Cooking for Warmth

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Again, going backwards through the weekend, Saturday was even colder and rainier than Sunday. I brought all my little baby plants in Friday night, and I was glad I did when the low got down to 36 degrees. Of course, some of them needed water, so I watered them (perked the dead-looking ones right up! SUCH a green thumb!). Of course a little got on the floor but I thought it was only a drop or two, but MaryAnne was sure interested in it.

Saturday morning I made breakfast, and Ken came upstairs to have some, and apparently it was more of a puddle than a drop, because he did not appreciate stepping in it. He should know with his wife it is just one adventure after another.

Since it was so cold and rainy, I made Tuna Tater Chowder for lunch. Not everyone thinks this recipe sounds good, but it is surprisingly good. Even Ken will eat it! Our go-to recipe for cold days. And it is tradition to make crescent rolls and then dip them in the soup. Recipe here. I usually don’t bother with the onion, I just throw in some dried minced and call it good. That way, I can cook the bacon in a different pan at the same time I am starting the rest of the soup. If you have a bacon-snitcher in the house, you may need to cook extra.

For dinner, I put a roast in the crock pot early in the morning. This recipe must have come from an expired website – I can find no trace of it on the internet. So I scanned it in for your enjoyment. This was also really good. I wondered about the red pepper flakes, but Ken was OK with them, and I strained them out before I made the gravy. Made mashed potatoes. Half of the butter I was using shot out of the mixer and onto the floor. I decided these mashed potatoes were meant to be “light.” And asked Ken to sweep the floor the next morning.

I had come across the roast recipe while I was doing something with my recipe “file” earlier in the week, and remembered it, and was actually able to find it again to make it, and then, doubling the miracle, was able to find the other recipe I had also made a note of in my head. Usually I would use my Aunt Connie’s Scalloped Corn recipe, but I couldn’t resist a recipe called “Bertha’s Corn Pudding.” It WAS good, and made a large batch. We will be eating those leftovers for a while. I didn’t have crackers so I used dry bread crumbs, seemed to work fine.

Leo thinks maybe he will get some attention if he lays on the shelf by the computer.

MaryAnne KNOWS how to get attention.

Tomorrow: Knitting camp!

A Monday of Epic Proportions

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I think I will just work my way backwards through this weekend, including Monday, since it was SUCH a Monday that I didn’t even post.  Monday got a head start on Sunday night with a headache that wouldn’t go away (hence no post written in advance Sunday night for Monday morning posting.) It continued with a disturbing dream about being back in my very first apartment after college with scruffy mice and weird cats, and started out bright and early with me remembering that I hadn’t sent out some slides for a conference call that morning at 9:00 that I was supposed to have sent out on Friday. So I got up several minutes before I usually do, and logged onto my work computer, and sent those out. I don’t remember what else went wrong between then and leaving the house, except that MaryAnne was annoying and wanted to run into the closet and not leave. Then I got to my car, which wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even turn over. I looked up at the dome light, which I sometimes turn on when it is dark, and the switch was on. So the battery was dead. Back into the house I go, to wake Ken, who is still sleeping. He gets dressed, come outside, pushes my car out of the garage, pulls his car up next to it, and gets the jumper cables, which are fortunately nice and handy on the garage wall. After I manage to put the negative cable on a piece of metal which does NOT work as a ground, apparently, because the car won’t start, he hooks things up correctly and Mimi the Matrix does indeed start. So off I go to work, only 15 minutes late.

They day continued to be a Monday: misunderstandings, miscommunications, no cupcakes, etc.

Looking back on Sunday, it was a better day. Still grey and cloudy, but quite a bit warmer than Saturday. We had a picnic to go to at 1:00 with some of Ken’s former co-workers, and I had made the famous Coughlin dip (recipe below) and cole slaw (which I won’t post the recipe to, because I am looking for “The One” in coleslaw recipes, and I don’t think this one was it. Plus, I am mad at it, for reasons you will hear shortly.) I made them both the day before, because they are both better if they sit overnight. Also: I don’t make coleslaw very often and I was not aware that it doesn’t require as much dressing as you would think, so I didn’t add the 2nd bag of shredded cabbage, and I should have. That has been duly noted for next time.

We had fun at the picnic, even though it was a little cool. Watched other people’s children run around and kick their soccer balls into the (cold, cold) lake. Ate good food, visited and caught up with some old friends and met some new ones.

We came home and I discovered the lid wasn’t QUITE closed on the cole slaw and cole slaw juice had leaked out and filled the bottom of the reusable bag I was using as well as dripped in a trail behind me all through the house. There may have been muttering and cursing. That bag went straight into the trash.

Then we decided to go to Kohl’s because we had a 30 percent off coupon, I was looking for clothes and so was Ken. We bought: socks, a rug, and shoes for me, so we didn’t quite meet those objectives, but we saved money.

Then we came home and I made enchilada casserole for dinner (recipe here). Always a favorite and makes good leftovers.

Some of the baby plants spent the day in the house, since it was still pretty cool in the sun room. Some of them got a little wilty on Saturday morning when I put them out there, so they got to spend the day in the bathtub. Monday night I did finally plant the sweet peas outside, they were getting a little crazy and attempting to strangle some of the other babies, so they were the first to go outside.

And I just knocked over a picture of my niece, which fortunately didn’t break, while answering the phone, so the MONDAY continues.

Coughlin Dip (named after my sister-in-law, we were introduced to this dip at their wedding rehearsal dinner)

1 pint mayo
12 oz cottage cheese
12 oz sour cream
1 pkg ranch dressing

Blend well and refrigerate overnight. Serve with potato chips and vegetables.

This dip sounds kind of gross but it is delicious. I don’t even like cottage cheese and I like it. It makes a huge batch so I only make it if we are going to a picnic or a pot luck.

MaryAnne being unladylike again.

What?

Leo would like you to know he would never do such a thing.

He does, however, say: Don’t hate me because I am so beautiful.

Wicked and the Corner Office

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Lucky enough to have a date night last night with my husband. I got out of work a little early and drove to downtown Denver, and we enjoyed Happy Hour at The Corner Office close to the theatre, and then went to Wicked. At The Corner Office, I had the Sonoron dog (bacon wrapped hot dog with baked beans, guacamole, salsa, crema, cojita) (the baked beans kind of overpowered everything else, but it was good) and Ken had a burger, and we shared the poutine (I don’t think I have had poutine before, it was excellent.)

I had to have a Dark and Stormy, in honor of my friend who always has one when they are on the menu, even though they were not on the happy hour specials. Tasty. Gingery.

Then we walked down to Crave, a dessert bar. Ken had a cookie from there that afternoon. Well, they had macarons! Not macaroons, those have coconut, and they are easier to find, but French Macarons, which are meringue based, difficult to make, and difficult to find. So I did a happy dance and ordered one of each flavor.

I was so excited about the macarons I left my phone there and we walked all the way to the theatre and then had to go back and get it.

Wicked was wonderful. However, I was not going into the evening expecting a show that would remind me so much of my college room mate and best friend, who was killed in a winter/ice car accident our senior year. We didn’t originally start out as room mates, but hers moved out and I wanted to get away from mine. Our dorm director was a little reluctant to do this, because I think he thought we were going to be trouble, and he was sooooo right. We were a force to be reckoned with when we were together, mostly be being crazy and nutty and off the wall. So when Glinda and Elphaba became friends, and then they were saying goodbye and singing “Changed for Good,” I lost it. Especially since I had been at a funeral that afternoon for someone else who had died too young. Oh, it wasn’t good. I can’t watch the movie Beaches, and I don’t know if I can ever see Wicked again. Maybe now that I know what is coming I will be ok, but it could also be worse. Which is too bad, because it is an amazing show and an wonderful, innovative story. It was totally a Rebecca and Glenderella show.

Spring at the Ranch

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Well, I lost out on a trip to the homeplace when my Dad decided that he needed to get branding done last weekend because the calves were getting pretty big. So I didn’t get enough notice to go up there and help my Mom with feeding the cowboys (and if you are one of my relatives and you didn’t hear about it either, please don’t be offended if you didn’t get word, it was kind of a last minute thing, and then they didn’t know if the weather was going to work out or not.) And they had enough calf wrestlers, etc., I just wish I could have been there to keep my mom off her feet a little more, but I appreciate all the neighbors who popped into the house and helped her stir up lemonade, make sloppy joes from scratch, etc. (Thanks to MM in particular for giving my mom directions on how SHE makes sloppy joes without the seasoning packet).

Sloppy joes, manwiches, taverns, bbqs, what do you call ‘loose meat sandwiches’ in YOUR neck of the woods?

Anyway, I am lonely for the ranch and now I probably won’t get to go up there until June, so I was looking at pictures from last May when I was there. And since I am going to be out late Wednesday night going to the musical “Wicked,” I thought this would be a good blog to get written up in advance so I don’t have to do it at 11:00 at night when we get home from the show. Hopefully I will have a good review of the show and maybe a write up on a good meal as well. We will see!

Bunny on the haybale pile. See him?

Checking on the cows out north. They haven’t always had that much green grass in the last 10 years.

More happy cows and green grass.

The ranch extends a bit over the Pennington County line. This is one of the county line markers.

Prickly pear cactus flowers. (I don’t have any yucca pictures here, but I did get some yucca to sprout in my seed sprouting adventure, hopefully to be planted in my new rock garden.)

Purple prairie flower.

White prairie flower.

Big dam, green grass, blue sky. Sigh.