Thanks to Chris for the space here and the oportunity to haver a blog, I realized when Chris moved us to the Wordpress site that I could create my own blogs using Wordpress, so I did. I hope those of you who have read my psots will continue to do so at my new blogs. There a several, all of them different and all of them by me.

My Primary/Personal Blog  http://webblahgarza.johngarza.com/

My Political Blog http://freedpeople.coloradofreeradio.com/

My Internet Radio Staion Blogs

Colorado Free Radio http://cfrdblog.coloradofreeradio.com/

Colorado Free Radio Old Time Radio http://cfrotrblog.coloradofreeradio.com/

as we ll as my Old Time Radio Podcast Blog http://coloradofreeradiooldtimeradio.mypodcasts.net/

Thanks again to Chris for the educaion in blogging and the space to learn about. So I will bid farwell and hope to see you at one of my blogs.

John Garza

The first signs of winter are here, the snow is getting more obvious on the Mountains and the birds are starting to fly south in large flocks. Just got a new toy a 1969 John Deere 1520, I drove it home the other evening and man what a rush...! I've all but given up on the state of affairs, the system is grinding down on our Country. As the infrastructure is falling apart in the cities and health care has become a pawn in the political game at the expense of the people, and truth has taken a back seat to the propaganda of fear, we are still pumping billions of dollars in to a part of the world that is so remote from the real problems here at home. The shepherds are failing in their duty, the flocks are lost and the wolves are on the perimeter edging closer.

 

Snow on the La Platas Last week

 

The New Toy

Fall colors

 

We had a pretty good rain the last two days, it finally cleared enough to see the snow on the 14er's. These are the peaks to the north of us between here and Silverton, the highest ones are Windham, Eolus, and Sunlight with Engineeer to the left of the ridge.

 

Here's a closer view

 

 

Temperatures are dropping fast and time is running out to get things winterized. Still have to dig up the yard hydrant to reset it in gravel. When the contractors put it in they didn't do that so now the water is weeping up the rod, a sure way for it to freeze in the winter. Just need to dig it up and clean the weep hole repack it in gravel and bury it again. I definetly paid those guys too much money for the crap work they did. Oh well I should count my blessings. The house is comming along, I put in some trim and baseboards this weekend, we are using cedar coated with a clear urathane. Looks nice and  matches the hickory cabinets, pictures of those soon.

The Red Tail has returned with her young, she always shows up at the beginning of fall to teach her young to hunt the field before they move on, it's always a sign that fall is on her heels. A faint bit of color on the mountains, soon the change. I have been floundering on the music side of things but the house has taken much of my energy. I'm starting to feel the strain of the work and the stress of the burden. Tomorrow many tasks.

As of late the birds have been very active and gathering in larger groups, I counted 25 Band Tailed Pigeons on the chicken pen the other afternoon and there has been a mother Kestrel and her 2 youngsters hunting the pastures around my house the past few days. Quite often I have seen raptors training their young to hunt from our rather large corttonwoods. The kestrels being a smaller bird are content to use my TV antenna on my studio deck and the nearby trees. I was fortunate to capture some shots of them.

Here is one of the three perched almost at eye level near my deck.

When I came out on the deck to take the photographs I startled them so they dispersed. I was fortunate to be fast enough to catch this shot of one of them flying right at eye level in front of me. It's a bit of a blur as this is a detail of the shot and she was at full speed flying by.

And the third went directly overhead:

I hope to catch some shots of the Pigeons as they are becoming quite comfortable here. I hope they return, I know that the Band Tailed Pigeon mates for life and since there are so many of them here this year I hope to give them a sanctuary. It's worth the bit of chicken feed they eat to have them around. I also have have had quite a lot of Hummingbirds about, and I haven't even put any feeders out this year. Perhaps that's why the Kestrels have been hanging around a lot. They are a small bird eater and Hummers are a delicacy for them. Soon they will all be gone for the winter and the fall/winter birds will arrive. I vicariously relive my days of wandering through them, the birds. Thank God for those moments of rememberance. Today is my Fathers Birthday, he turned 79, how odd to be aging, I feel so much the same as I always have, maybe just a little bit more cynical and more contemplative ( and stiff and sore). Life isn't short it's our bodies that don't last, the vessel wears out but the soul is eternal. Just as the seasons and the cycles of life come and go our souls are like the birds migrating for the winter but returning in the spring to bear it's offspring.

 

A couple of the trees in the yard are already turnning yellow and the nights are cooling off considerably. The kitchen cabinets are being installed today as I write this. Got the washer and dryer hooked up in the laundry room, no more laundramats.

http://jumano.com/blogs/johngarza/gallery/249.aspx

As promised here is the picture of Jamaica kissing a Chimp through the glass cage, not a great picture but a sweet one.

 

The bachelor herd is growing and the does are starting to come around in greater numbers, I'm noticing some of the Bucks moving closer to the does and some of the does gathering nearer the Bucks, soon the winter herds will form and move on to the winter lands. Here is one of the bucks just in front of the house.

 

The afternoon storms have been pretty regular for the last month and occasionally they happen late enough to get some nice rainbows, here is one from last week.

The state of affairs in our country and the world have been quite frustrating for me and most of the time I already know the consequences of our actions as a whole. It seems most people don't get it, so I just focus on the building of the house, my kids and the beauty of nature all around us. It's all I can do to not let the rest of it cause me pain.

 

It was only a matter of time before Jeff Foxworthy took a couple of shots at Colorado.

 You are a Coloradoan if ...........

1. You switch from "Heat" to "A/C" in one day.

 2. You know what the "Peoples Republic of Boulder" means.

 3. Your sense of direction is: towards the mountains and away from  the mountains.

 4. You're a meat-eating vegetarian.
 
5. The bike on your car is worth more than your car and you have  your own special bike lane.

6. You're able to drive 65 miles per hour through 13 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without even flinching.

7. You take your out-of-town guests to Casa Bonita even though you  would never go there otherwise.

8. You think your major food groups are granola bars, tofu and Fat Tire Beer.

9. You design your kid's Halloween costumes to fit over a snow suit.

10. You think that sexy lingerie is wool socks and flannel PJs.
 
11. You know all 4 seasons "almost winter, winter, still winter and spring blizzards

12. You've been tear gassed in a riot to celebrate a CU/CSU victory.
 
13. You can never figure out why your out-of-town guests faint from altitude sickness on a picnic to the mountains

14. You can drive over a 12,000-foot pass in 4 feet of snow, but can't get to work if there are 4 inches of snow.

15. You know the 'correct' pronunciation of Buena Vista.

16. When you visit friends at sea level, you can drink a case of beer and not get a buzz.

17. Your car insurance costs more than your car.

18. You have surge protectors on every outlet.

19. April showers bring May blizzards. 

20. 'Timberline' is someplace you have actually been.

21. You know what a 'Chinook' is

22. You know what a 'Rocky Mountain Oyster' is. 

23. You know what a "fourteener" is.

 24. ...But you don't know what a "turn signal" is.

25. A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you nearly as much as a Democrat in Congress does.

26. Your golf bag has a 9-iron, a 3-wood and a lightning rod.

27. People from out of state breathe 5 times as often as you do. 

28. Having a Senator named Nighthorse doesn't seem strange.

29. Thunder has set off your car alarm.

30. You have an $800 stereo in your $300 truck. 

31. You think a red light means 3 more cars can go.

32. Where we're going, we don't need roads!!

33. You know where the real "South Park" is. 

34. You can recognize the license plates of all 50 states on sight.

35. Driving directions usually include 'Go over _________ Pass.'

36. You've 'checked for ticks' 

37. You've dressed in shorts, sandals, and a parka with a hood.

38. You've gone snow skiing in July and.........

39. You've played golf in January and....... 

40. They were in the same year!

41. You've urinated on the Continental Divide just so it could run into both oceans

42. You know what a down slope and an up slope weather pattern is 

43. And the most important: You get a certain feeling of satisfaction from knowing that California and Texas are both
downstream.

44. You actually understand these jokes and send them to your Colorado friends,

Well we finally have a bathroom and we start moving in the appliances this weekend. Cabinets should arrive next week and then we have a kitchen. The deer are coming in close to eat the fallen apples from our trees and we've been seeing a large Bachelor Herd hanging around. Most of them are pretty young but there's one Buck that looks like Bambi's Father, very large and Chesty. He's quite impressive, he stands apart from the young ones most of the time, keeping the watch no doubt. Here is a photo of a Doe and her baby, it's a as close as I could get.

 

 

 

Here are some shots of the tile work. The bath is pre fixture install and the slate hadn't been cleaned yet. It took me two solid days of scrubing to get the slate clean of grout residual.

The bathroom floor:

 

The doorway between the bathroom and utility room:

The Utility room looking in to the  Kitchen/Dining Room

I still have the Living room to finish, and then the Downstairs will be somewhat complete. Just some trim work and details to do. There's a slight tinge of Fall in the air so I'm hard pressed to get some other stuff done. Soon we'll have to winterize!

I've pretty much completed the tile work downstairs and sart grouting tommorrow (starts in 6 min's). I finally blew down the partition between the old and the new structures WOW, what a difference that makes. It's nice to walk right in to the addon without having to go outside to another door, and the feeling of the cabin is entirely different with the doorway open. I tiled the 4 inch stepup today, looks pretty cool, pictures of the tile will follow soon. I'm pretty much working at all hours since Rox and the kids are in Santa Monica visiting Great Grandma, Athan and She went boogie boarding today and went to the zoo yesterday Mookie (Jamaica) kissed a chimp and it kissed her back through the glass, people were quite amazed at the interaction between the chimp and a 2 year old child. I'll post the pictures when they get back.

 I'll be wiring receps and lights and hooking up shut off valves for the sinks and water heater this week end, whew lots to do.  I just finished sealing the slate tonight while watching South Park , I worked during commercials. Yesterday I walked out to the yard hydrant as I have done every day since I've been tiling and looked down to see, bear tracks. The tracks are only 8 feet from the house and right in the yard. It must have walked through during the rain night before last. I think it was foraging apples that have fallen to the ground from the orchard. There was a huge 7 point buck in velvet in the yard today eating apples. Guess I should pick them up and feed them to the goats and sheep. Here's some pics of the tracks.

 

Here are more shots of the house with the stucco on and painted! Interior colors are coming along almost ready to start tile this week, 400+ sq ft of tile downstairs. Yikes.

Stucco on the east side showing southeast doors.

East wall showing north east Main entrance.

Colors Kitchen/Dinning Room to Living Room

Living room to dinning room showing 110 year old  log wall.

Full gallery link http://jumano.com/blogs/johngarza/gallery/249.aspx