Estes is the best-es

It's a rare weekend when Todd and I get to go anywhere together.  His work schedule in the summer and fall requires him to be in the field pretty much every weekend.

We had an opportunity to get out of town a couple weekends ago to Estes Park, Colo., for my friend Molly's wedding reception and Todd was able to actually make it happen!

I think the last time I was in Estes I was maybe in junior high and Todd had never been there.  I made reservations at a cute little cabin and we loaded up the dogs and took off!

Truthfully, we didn't walk around downtown as much as I was hoping, but it's only because we were having too much fun at the reception.

And after the reception...

The next morning we had a little photo shoot with the dogs at the cabin before getting on with our day...

Me with the dogs...

Todd with the dogs...

Next...breakfast downtown Estes then the famed Stanley Hotel...!

It is absolutely stunning inside the Stanley.  Here's Todd in the hotel lobby...

Todd and I outside the Stanley with the Rockies behind us...

Game warden Todd with elk just roamin' the hotel grounds...

I asked Todd if it sort of made him crazy that he has to put so much effort into hunting an elk in fall and here they are, lounging at a glitzy old hotel right out in the open.  He said yes...

Come on, now...you know you shouldn't chase wildlife! haha...Doesn't Todd's pose look kind of like he's playing air guitar...?

On to Rocky Mountain National Park!  We had to wait only a little bit at the entrance...

Another elk! This guy and a partner actually stopped traffic as they lollygagged across the road...

About 35 miles out there is Wyoming...

More wildlife!  A young moose...

Another young moose closer to the road.  Unlike his elk buddies above, this one didn't care so much for the cars pulled over to watch him...

On the other side of the park we stopped in the town of Grand Lake for lunch...

And stopped again in Walden, Colo., for a snack.  The funniest thing...that store behind Todd is called Island something or other and was pumping Hawaiian sounding music out on to the street...

After this it was a straight shot home.

Mountains, scenery, fun with friends...  what a great weekend, huh?

BEAR!

Until last October I'd never seen a bear in the wild.  After years of waiting, it finally happened as I was coming out of Yellowstone with my coworkers.  There, on the side of the road, was a mama and its cub.

Amazing!

I had a second siting last weekend in Teton National Forest as I was coming home after a weekend in Jackson, Wyo.  

A car was pulled off to the side of the road which generally means there's wildlife of some sorts about.  I noticed the guy had a video camera pointing across the road so I slowed down to take a look.

And there they were...another mama and her cub!

This was the distance they started out at, which looks farther than it really was...

They ate, the baby played, then dug, then played some more....

A pretty lil' picture of the mama foraging...

Eating and playing...

A bit of video I took on the fly...

Rigby & Lulu - an average morning in the yard

Here's Rigby.  Handsome lil' puppy, isn't he...?

Here's Lulu.  Cute lil' girl who really seems to love herself some water.  Here she's wallowing in the wet grass as the sprinklers run...

She hadn't seen the sprinklers on before and thought they were her drinking fountain, popping up just to bring her water...

She couldn't get enough.  She's been that way since we've had her: a water drinking addict...

Still drinking.  Actually, I think she tried to bite it here...

Check out that tongue!  Slurp, slurp...

Rigby doesn't understand this behavior.  He'll immerse himself in a river past his armpits just to get a drink of water, but he doesn't like sprinklers, or hoses, or showers...

Lulu is fascinated with water...

More Rigby...

Lulu joining her big brother.  She likes to be next to him all. the. time...

What's that...?

And that...?

Ah, typical.  Mr. Calm and Steady and Miss All Over the Place...

Out of control?

There's something I've gradually become rather obsessed with over the last couple of years...

Magazines.

I've always carried a few subscriptions - Cooking Light, Shape, InStyle, and Lucky, but lately, I've been picking up all kinds of new magazines, reconsidering my long-time subscriptions to some, and considering new subscriptions to others.

Todd recognizes the growing, um, interest.  When I casually mentioned last week that I need to start going through some of the old piles I have, he smiled and said, "Yes.  You do."  

It's not like I'm a hoarder and have a million back issues stashed in towers around the house.  But I do have several small piles, neatly kept, that I need to go through.  

I can't help it!  There are so many interesting magazines out there on every subject imaginable.  I like thumbing through a lot of different ones, some for the photos, some for the articles.  Usually, my interests are in fashion, cooking, and health.  Lately, it's grown to include gardening, farming and raising chickens.  Yes, seriously.

The pile by the bed.  This includes a tourism guide to Casper, Wyo., two Cook's Illustrated cooking magazines (a subscription I am seriously considering), Flea Market Style, Rachael Ray (she will be arriving in my mailbox soon), Marie Claire (one I'm going to drop), and a Mother Earth News...

I picked up a ton of bridal magazines right after we got engaged and still have a couple.  This pile also includes some True West copies, a National Geographic, a Wyoming Wildlife issue, Cottages and Cabins, Where Women Cook, and a High Roads and some History Channel issues I picked up two years ago from the Governor's Tourism Conference...

Ah, yes, a 5280.  There are a few of those in here, along with a Washingtonian left by Linds C. after her visit in March, a couple old Cooking Lights and a copy of Mary Janes Farm (one I considered but decided I was annoyed with after a while.  The title also bugs me.  What's up with no apostrophe anywhere in "Janes"?  It just doesn't make sense.)

For the record, not all magazines around here are mine!  Note the Game Warden International issue at front.  There's also a Fine Homebuilding copy in here as well as Consumer Reports,  Handloader, Quartermaster and Bugle - none of which are mine.  There are also a few National Geographics, a Wyoming Library Roundup, more True Wests and MORE 5280s(!), a New Yorker, a couple Backpackers, and an Audubon issue...

Oh my, what do we have here?  History Channel, 5280 (I didn't realize how many of these I still had lying around!), The Atlantic, Country Decorating Flea Market Style, Via, High Roads, Encompass (the last three are from the Governor's Tourism Conference), Good Housekeeping, and Journey Western, Westways, Budget Travel, Coastal Living and a Yellowstone Journal - all from that darn conference...

And don't forget the collection by the toilet: Lucky (one I think I'm going to drop), Fine Homebuilding, Shape, Cooking Light, Hobby Farms (the chicken issue), The Family Handyman, Wood, Bugle, American Cowboy, Woodwork, Wyoming Wildlife, and IHEA (International Hunter Education Association, and Wisconsin Natural Resources).  Obviously many of these are not mine...

What does this boil down to?

A. I need to get rid of all the magazines from the Governor's Tourism Conference.

B. Todd needs to whittle down a few issues himself.

C. I need to FINALLY flip through the remaining 5280s and get them out the door.

D. I need to firm up the magazine subscriptions I want (Cooking Light, InStyle, Rachael Ray, Cook's Illustrated, and Shape) and those I don't (Lucky and Marie Claire).

And maybe I should throw some books in there periodically...just a thought.  

Kitchen renovations continued

When you last saw our kitchen the floors had been redone.  We didn't have the Fabulous 400 stove anymore, and our fridge was in the living room.

All of that is still the case - and so much more!  

Here is Todd working on our breakfast nook.  We decided to take the wood floors out of here because they were damaged in places, and because there was a weird section of board that ran across the floor boards creating a cut out line that couldn't have been fixed.  So, we are instead going to lay brick veneer in this part of the kitchen.  We think it will look really cool...!

This is where I've been cooking.  We've cooked a lot on the grill and also this Coleman camp stove of Todd's! Thank heavens we have it...

We had to take all of our cabinets down so they could be rearranged to accommodate the new sizes of appliances we bought last Saturday.  The Fabulous 400 was a 40 inch stove and we did not want to drop the money on replacing it at that size.  So, we got a smaller stove.  But we also got a larger fridge. Todd will still have to build in a bit more cabinet space, but it will be an easier job than replacing several cabinet faces like we were afraid was going to happen...

Down came the old cracked plaster walls!  They were in poor condition so Todd and his friend Mike worked to take down the plaster and replace it with drywall.  The guys also ran a water line for the fridge (since our old one didn't have an ice maker), and a gas line for the stove (our old one was electric)...

We also decided to take down the soffit above the cabinets to let us move them up a bit, and to also give us more storage space above...

Todd and Mike removing the crappy dishwasher that didn't wash to make way for our new awesome one...

Mike is a master electrician and he's done a lot of work fixing the ridiculous electrical we have...

Todd chipping away at the old chimney to expose the brick.  I worked at it too (a little) - it's a bugger!

Ta da!  The fully exposed chimney!  In this picture it still needs smoothed down and a wet rag taken to it...

Drywall up!  And Mike taping and mudding.  Todd is taking a wire brush to the chimney to get all the last bits of plaster off...

Looking the other direction toward the breakfast nook...

I had washed several dishes which never got moved from the room before the guys started sanding the drywall.  Grrrrr...

Yesterday, a blessed, blessed day - our new appliances arrived!  Lulu is overseeing the job...

Our new fridge is the stainless one on the right and our stove is on the left in front of that black fridge...

Our appliances are inside...but they are all in our living room.

I think tomorrow is our magic day to get them all hooked up!