Thursday, January 17, 2013

Two Weeks in Denver!

As many of you may know I, Sharon, have just spent 2 weeks in Denver with our daughter, Kristin, and her husband, Paul, helping with our new granddaughter, Madeline Grace.  The precious little bundle arrived January 6th at about 5:30 p.m. at 8# and 21".  She's perfect, no bias here, and Mother and daughter are doing well.

This post is light on pictures, sorry, but we still have lots to share.  My trip went well and I returned with a number of items we were craving--peanut butter, chocolate, etc., and a few things for friends.  Shopping was a treat and both Kristin and I had a great time on New Year's Day at the local Thrift Store's 1/2 price sale!  Madeline was very happy inside so Kristin and I were successful getting all the items on our list while we waited for her birth!

While I was gone things really happened here!  Don bought our "New Old" vehicle and has had a window and a minor oil leak in the diesel somewhere repaired!  The vehicle is a  "95 Hyundai Galloper, standard, diesel, 4 wheel drive. 7 passenger, silver and blue and, although not glamorous by any stretch,  the interior is in good condition for the age and we are thrilled to have wheels!
Since the arrival of our "New Old" vehicle, Don has had a few scary moments with the local fog that resembles pea soup at times.  It seems fog lights are soon to be added to our "New Old" vehicle.

Don and Roberto were very busy in my absence and both ended up with minor injuries!!  Roberto fell off an edge while raking and got some nasty bruises and a sore ankle.  Don ended up with cut up hands and one hand that is quite swollen after a slight mishap! Paul and Kristin sent home a number of gloves as a Christmas gift for Don!  Hopefully these small incidents will make us all a little more careful working in the Coffee fields that are full of hills and things to trip over not to mention the critters Mother Nature provides.  In spite of their injuries, Roberto and Don pulled many weeds and vines and managed to do some much needed spraying of the coffee plants.  Remember the weeds??  They have been gathered and burned but there are always more to tackle and eliminate!  The hillsides around our homesite look great and I promise photos on the next blog.  So much of the area around the Coffee plants is overgrown and the Cana Plants that are used for natural fencing and wind break are all in need of cutting back.  Plenty of work for all of us and once I'm done catching up here, I'll be pitching in.

We have been told that work has started on the roads near our property!  There are rumors that the road to our property is possibly going to be improved as well.  Believe me, it can use a little improvement!

As for electricity, we are hopeful that things are moving forward, although we have seen no activity in that area.  ICE has been out to check our property and advised us that they are willing and able to give us electricity, however, there are some hoops we need to jump through including hiring an authorized electrician to do the work.  Hopefully, our next post will have something more definite to report.

Tomorrow will be our first private Spanish lesson.  Jorge, the mechanic who has helped us with our  vehicle, has a sweet wife named Gretel who teaches Spanish and has agreed to take us on as students.  She must really enjoy a challenge, because we seem to be pretty slow at picking up the language here!!  We are hopeful, however, and look forward to working with her.

There is probably lots more to report but my brain feels empty at the moment so I will end here until next time!


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