Thank You for the Music!

A few years ago, my relationship with my husband was simply "being". No relationship. We were like two strangers living under one roof.  Until one day, God spoke directly to me through a very good friend.  He said, "Come to me child, I will do the rest." I began to seek Him. I wanted a relationship with Him to help fill the void of relationship I felt from my husband. I began listening to online messages and diving into His word. One day, I happened across a Red Rocks Church podcast. As with most people, I was thoroughly entertained yet enlightened by the words. I could NOT stop listening.  Before long, I had listened to every message offered and craved more. I kept telling my husband about the church and that I thought we should go check it out. Then one Sunday, while driving, he asked if we should go to Red Rocks Church and check it out. We pull into the lot at Heritage Square, walk up the huge hill through a creepy theme park, and enter a big red barn to worship. To say we were both skeptical is an understand end. Then the music began...we were hooked!!  Brinnae had the voice of an angel and Tyler let the worship with such conviction that when the music stopped, I was sad and longing for more!  The message was (of course) exactly what we needed to hear and helped to put us on the path we needed to be on (it was of course the relationship series and it was about raising your white flag in surrender) but then the music began again and we knew we were HOME! We both walked out that day feeling refreshed and renewed. As time has passed and the church has grown, we have kept following Brinnae. God has put a calling on your heart and we cannot follow you to Brussels so we are going to say THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC!  Your music kept us attending and growing in our relationship with God and each other (the messages of course helped, but because of you, we always kept going back for more) always leaving feeling refreshed and renewed.  I really hope that Red Rocks does some LIVE from Brussels so we can have our cups refilled every once in a while.

Good Luck to you both & Thank You for the music!

Is there a doctor in the house??

Why do us humans insist on being tough? Why is it that when we fall down, we get up looking around to see if anyone was watching and actually saw us hit the ground? Is it fear? If so, what are we afraid of? We are so caught up in the comparison game, that I think we are afraid another human will judge us as less than perfect if they see we have fallen. We get up and brush it off saying we are okay and then we limp away to go lick our wounds in private. Trouble with that is that if we are really hurt, the reality of our injuries isn't known until we are alone and can't get help. We then suffer in silence.  WELL STOP IT!! Who cares that you fell? You are hurt and bleeding so speak up! What if that other person who saw you fall is a nurse or a doctor who can help heal you? Isn't that worth swallowing your pride and saying something?

The Rising River

**At the Forever conference last week, I was given a beautiful journal to wrote 'my story' in so this is the first entry in my journal after all of the conference notes #rrcforeverconf15 :

Normally a stream...

Yesterday morning on my way to church, I watched all along the river; the water rising. A week's worth of rain and a Winter's worth of snow melt has brought the level up to raging from a slow and steady flow. It is a part of Spring living along the South Platte River. South of our house, the South Platte and the North Fork of the South Platte converge together. As I pass the confluence, I see a group of Search and Rescue folks fully geared up practicing rescues in the rising water. 

Suddenly, it hit me; there is a correlation between what I am witnessing and how God works in our lives. Sometimes, we need flood waters to rise so WE can learn how to save a life! Those Search and Rescue people cannot just jump into a raging river and hope to save someone from being swept away. They must learn how to do it through classroom teaching and then simulations. However, the BEST way to practice is by putting their skills to the test in real life scenarios; the kind that can only be tested when the waters are fully raging! So it is as well with God. Sometimes we have to go through things in this life that are just plain scary! Yet, it is in those really rough waters of life where we learn to lean on Him and build up our skills so that in the future, we might save a life. Just like a Search and Rescue team, we never know when our learning will be put to the test so we must practice to prepare but without real-life situations, we might not know what needs to be done.

Thank you God for the 'rising rivers' in life that prepare me to be a 'warrior chick' for your army to build your eternal kingdom!

The Path from an Angel

Long Scraggy Peak from the West

Yesterday morning was just absolutely beautiful so I definitely didn't want to hang out on the sofa missing out. Ever since we moved to the foothills along the South Platte river, I have wanted to climb the closest peak to our house Long Scraggy Peak. Standing at a mere 8500 feet in elevation, this one isn't much to write home about.  However, the location is just shy of 6 miles just to the base and then straight up from about 7000 feet so it can be a pretty good work out.  Well I decided to head out on a gated road that I know to go at least around the base in hopes of finding at least some way up.  The initial walk along the road can be lonely and really quite boring alone.  However, as I crested a hill, I was met by the sweetest 80-year-old lady just out what I would assume to be her daily walk.  As often is done on the trail, we traded pleasantries and I started to pass her by when she stopped me and asked if I was planning on summiting Scraggy. I was surprised by the question but was trying to move along so I gave her a short answer of "not planning on it". She smiled and said, "Well if you ever decide to do so, here is the way..." and proceeded on describing in detail the path to the summit.  Wait, what?  I was hoping to find some sort of trail, trail head, or at the very least, an animal path and here was this sweetheart giving me all of the details to the summit. We parted ways and I headed further down the road in search of the hidden path she had just shared with me.  Now just to be clear, when I am out hiking alone, I have given every single detail of the plan to my husband so that he knows exactly where I am and when I am going to be back. There was no way I was going to summit Scraggy yesterday because it was not part of that descriptive plan to him. However, I did veer off the path slightly by hiking about 1/2 mile up the trail to the summit.  I stopped for a lovely lunch with a view and wrote the following in my journal:

View at lunch from Long Scraggy

"Hello World - from the lower backside of Long Scraggy Peak! I tell ya - I would summit this bad boy if it weren't for the fact that there is still tons of snow on the trail and that I told Mike I wouldn't ;) It's funny though, because I set out on this walk to find a road or a trail up the back side and wouldn't you know that a local stopped me on her (probably) daily walk and gave me the ins and outs of summiting Scraggy Peak.  That's God sending an angel right down to Earth and providing a path.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, huh? I have been praying lately that he provide a path that he wants me to follow!  Thank you God that you are always with me and that you continue to show me the way! Thank you for the peace that comes with that knowledge!"

The Missing Link

Start of the trail

The other day I posted and said how 'blah' my hike was on Section 3 of the Colorado Trail.  Today, I discovered what the missing ingredient was; PEOPLE!

I decided today to spend some time back on Section 1 of the Colorado Trail through Waterton Canyon so I could catch the 1.1 miles of trail that I missed every time I've done it. It was a beautiful day so that should have been clue number 1 that the trail was going to be busy!  Hikers, bikers, fisherman, and lots of Denver Water trucks really took the peacefulness out of hiking.  However, those same things made for an entertaining day!

Sheep running along the road

My first encounter was with a couple who were obviously geocaching (he was down below the edge of a bridge with GPS in hand and she was leaning over the edge of the bridge searching all over for something).   I stopped and talked to them for a few minutes to discover the couple had been caching since 2006 and love everything about it (just like we do).  As I was getting ready to head down the trail, she mentioned to me that there was a bighorn sheep on the left side of the trail and he seemed to be a bit 'grumpy' so I should be careful. About 1 mile down the trail, I see said sheep walking along the middle of the road so I hung back so as not to disturb his hike through the canyon.  It was really quite majestic.  He would stop and turn around and look at me as if to say "thank you for leaving me be."  About 10 minutes into this walk with the bighorn, a biker comes flying by me.  I warn him about the sheep but he either didn't hear me or didn't care.  He barrels on down the road causing the poor sheep into running instead of meandering.  The two disappear around a corner and I figure my adventure is over.  However, I round the corner and there in the middle of the road is the sheep.  It's like he waited for me.  He began to climb up the canyon wall and stopped every so often so I could take his photo.  Honestly, it was amazing!  After a few moments, I allowed him to carry on with his day and I with mine. 

He just kept posing

Trail switchback

I reached the end of the canyon and headed up the hill toward my final destination; Lenny's Rest on the Colorado Trail. Mind you, Waterton Canyon is a road and it is a VERY gradual incline.  Once you hit the Colorado Trail though, you begin a quick elevation gain.  The entire thing reminded me of coming out of the Grand Canyon; almost like you pigtail over the trail at points so you are climbing but you don't really feel like you are getting anywhere.  Don't get me wrong; the hike is breathtaking.  Just wears a girl out after 7 miles of just hiking full backpack gear. I reached Lenny's Rest and was all alone as I enjoyed lunch and a nice rest.  However, with snow in the forecast tonight, I figured I better get headed home.  This is where things started to get quite entertaining...

As I was coming off of the Colorado Trail back onto the Waterton Canyon trail, a young guy in shorts and a t-shirt pushing a stroller flagged me down and asked how he could get to the lake.  Folks, at the end of Waterton Canyon is a huge dam that holds back Strontia Springs.  As you enter the canyon and pretty much every 1/2 mile, there are signs stating that the lake is closed to public use.  So when I told the kid there is no way tot he lake, let's just say that he was a little less than happy that he had climbed all the way up to where he had and couldn't get to the lake.  I would have liked to have felt bad for him but seriously...here's your sign...I leave him and the kid to figure out how to ice skate back down the hill and I carry on.  When I reached the flat part of the trail again, I stopped to take off a layer and remove my traction.  I guess I must have been wearing an invisible information sign because I had a couple stop and ask me how far back the trail goes.  When I told them they could take it to Durango if they wanted, that sparked quite the conversation on how they could bike it and get over the mountains and...you get the idea.  When they left, another guy came to me and asked me where the hot springs were.  I will tell you that my sarcastic mind came up with several witty responses immediately.  However, the guy was slightly creepy so I just told him that the 'springs' is actually the private lake and that it was a bummer that there weren't hot springs right there because I sure could use them!  I decided I better start hiking again before someone else decided to use me as an information board.

Mirror on the corner

As I continued down the trail, I ran into a young couple hiking who asked if I had seen a guy with a stroller pass me.  I told them yes and that he was probably about a mile ahead of them, they started jogging to catch up to him.  I didn't think anything more of it and carried on my way.  I stopped at a nice picnic spot for a snack when the 'kids' as I like to call them caught back up to me and stopped as well.  One of my favorite things about hiking is the silence that goes along with it.  These kids were anything but silent.  The one pushing the stroller was wearing head phones and I will tell you he was listening to something along the lines of 50 Cent.  The other two just kept on talking.  I decided to go ahead and leave my perch and hike on so that I could avoid the bustle.  Barely 100 yards away, I hear the kids and the stroller come barreling up behind me.  The one who SHOULD have been in the stroller was being carried while the others were taking turns pushing each other and enjoying a bit of the Colorado 'wacky' weed.  That was when I decided I would take an extended break right where I was and wait until they were well on their way to the car...

Babies!

The entire group

With them out of my ear shot, I could once again enjoy the peacefulness of the hike.  Occasionally a runner or a bike would pass me but we would nod and carry on our way.  Near the end of the hike, I was treated to a herd (?) of bighorn sheep.  So as not to disturb them, I took my time going by and snapping photos; up until daddy bighorn got a little anxious and started to come down the hill toward me.  I decided I was done and would leave them be.  However, I heard runners footsteps behind me so I turned to warn them when the daddy bighorn came barreling down the hill.  I really think this girl could have won the Olympic gold medal in sprinting! Luckily no one was hurt but a word to the wise; watch those bighorn sheep!

Daddy was a bit annoyed

I arrive at the car and decide that I am going to treat myself after my 18-mile hike with a malt.  I was on the phone with Mike when we decided that neither of us felt like cooking so I ran to Subway to grab sandwiches and make it easy on us.  In line right in front of me were the toking kids I was trying to get away from...  *SMH*

Shy Bird

Pair of ducks

 It was a great hike though and I am excited to hit another portion of Section 3 now that I am done with 1 and 2.  However, I think I had enough adventure to last at least a week!

C'ya!
  

A Piece of the Colorado Trail

I haven't blogged in so long...so much has happened since the last post so just know that life has been hectic and crazy and it hasn't slowed down. 

Enough of that!  Let's get on with what I really wanted to post about!

Sign along the Colorado Trail

Great tracks to follow!

Beautiful day in Colorado so no way I was staying inside!!  Don't mind hiking alone but always want to be sure that someone knows where I am so that should the need arise, they have a search radius.  I did all of the research and decided to hit a little more of Section 3 of the trail.  It has been so nice the past few days that I really didn't think I would need much more than my spikes...and for the first 3 miles, the spikes were almost perfect.  Luckily, a snowshoer had hit the trail some time since the last snow fall and had blazed a trail.  Otherwise, I think I really would have wanted snowshoes on this one!  Section 3 of the Colorado trail (the section between Highway 126 and Wellington Lake) is fairly flat and just a TON of trees so not much for views.  It is a great mountain bike trail but I wouldn't recommend it in the snow!  The nice thing about today is that I was the sole person on the trail so it was truly peaceful! 

Lunch spot

Buffalo Creek Trail head

 I always try when I am hiking to find a beautiful lunch spot with an amazing view.  Unfortunately for me, I got way too hungry long before the views started to show themselves so I just picked a spot and enjoyed a bite to eat.  Funny thing is, if I would have gone about 1/2 mile farther down the trail, I would have had the most breathtaking view on this section of the trail.  Oh well...better to stop and eat when hungry rather than trying to find the perfect spot, right?

Colorado Trail Sign

To be honest, this has to be one of the most uneventful hikes I have ever been on.  I made it back to the road and crossed over to continue on the trail.  However, the snowshoe tracks went right when the trail went left.  Not one track was to be seen on the path ahead and I don't like to trail blaze unless I have my snowshoes with me and I'm ready for whatever might appear.  So I turned around and followed the tracks back to the Buffalo Creek Road trail through the Hayman Burn area (2002).  The most exciting thing at that point was the three Golden Retrievers that met me along the trail, said hi, and then ran back to their owner.  I have high hopes that my next adventure in the mountains will be a little more exciting.  But hey, at least you get some cool photos to look at!

   

The last photo on my camera before I got back to the car...

The Voice of God

Read Numbers 7:89 and then read this:

The question in my study this morning is "Has God ever spoken to you?" ABSOLUTELY!! Almost every day it seems He is saying SOMETHING to me. As I go forward with my business, He is always giving me advice - online especially as He leads me to others who have been successful or need some of His guidance. I hear His voice in everything that surrounds me and it is truly AMAZING! His insights into myself have shown how much I strive to please everyone else when in reality, I need only to please Him through my thoughts, words, and deeds. God has often used other people to guide me. Most recently, Mike was his avenue as the two of us look toward a very different future. God spoke to Mike and let him know we would be just fine. Mike shared that with me but I don't think I heard God's voice at that moment. As I look back, I do now. WOW! God has also spoken to me through dreams and visions. I have never really thought about them as God speaking to me but now, it makes perfect sense. Again I have to say WOW! God is trying hard to have a personal relationship with me and sometimes I really miss the mark. I hear Him speaking but I don't communicate back with Him. I often question. So, here is my new guide to building my relationship and determining exactly who is speaking to me: A word from God will 1) ALWAYS agree with the Bible, 2) be consistent with Christ's character, and 3) provide a sense that the message is from God. I am fixing my eyes on Jesus rather than my own wishes and desires. This will help me to hear the voice of God. My hope is to build my relationship with God and move to a place of faith, awe, peace, praise, and healing that no other can touch!

Want more? Read the following Bible verses and see how God speaks to you:

Hebrews 1:1-3

1 Chronicles 28:12, 19

John 14:26

1 John 2:27

Hebrews 4:12

Acts 21:10-11

Acts 10:9-20

John 1:14

Jeremiah 32:6-9

1 John 4:1-3

I am going to go out and enjoy this beautiful Easter day now. He is Risen!!

C'ya!

Pennies from Heaven

Think about this the next time you pass a penny in the parking lot:

I found a penny today

Laying on the ground.

But it's not just a penny,

This little coin I've found.

Found pennies come from heaven,

that's what my Grandpa told me.

He said Angels toss them down.

Oh, how I loved that story.

He said when an Angel misses you,

They toss a penny down;

Sometimes just to cheer you up,

To make a smile out of your frown.

So, don't pass by that penny

When you're feeling blue.

It may be a penny from heaven

That an Angel's tossed to you.

C'ya!

Daniel's Gloves

A friend of mine sent this story to me and I feel it is worthy of sharing! Enjoy!!

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response.. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. 'Where you headed?'

'St.. Louis'

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida...'

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. 'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see' I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining.. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

'A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them; a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said.

Yes, Daniel, I know I will.....

'I shall pass this way but once.. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.'

C'ya!

A funny thing happened on the way to...

Yo! So check this out:

I'm driving home this evening on my normal route. I'm pretty use to driving the mountain road now and can drive a little more than the speed limit part of the time (not when anyone is around; especially the Douglas County Deputy Sheriff). About halfway home, I happen upon a line of cars moving along at a snails pace (so less than 20 mph). I notice in the line of cars that the second one in IS the Douglas County Deputy Sheriff. I think he must have gotten annoyed because he pulled over the slow-moving front car and let the rest of us pass. When I reached the 15% grade, I let the car in the back pass me. It is the only area of the drive that I go in 1st gear and usually don't go over 5 mph. In doing so though, I noticed that the car I let pass me had a familiar looking sticker in the back window. Not sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing, I stuck right with the car as he wove through the valley. I had every intention of following him to his final destination as long as it didn't involve me taking the Grand Am through any 3-foot-high snow drifts or down a steep hill. Just before reaching where I would normally turn for my house, the driver decided he had had enough of me following and pulled over. "DANG IT!" I said to myself. Deciding that I was still going to 'follow' this guy, I kept going toward Deckers. He, however, didn't make it that far. At some point before reaching the store, he must have pulled off (or drove off into the river). It was then (based on the sticker I believe that I have seen in his window) that I realize what he is doing; he is caching! The sticker I thought I saw was indeed a travel bug. I pulled up next to him as he was walking toward a cache just outside of the Deckers' store. I rolled down my window and say "That was just wrong." He kind of looked at me funny so I proceed to tell him that I was following his bug. He started to laugh. He proceeded to tell me that he had intended on stopping at one of the caches that was between the turn and where we were parked but he was worried that the crazy driver behind him would run into him. We chatted for a while and it turns out he was heading to the Lost Valley Ranch just up the road for a Men's weekend retreat. It is always so great to meet other cachers; especially out on the trail. This one though, has to seriously top the cake when it comes to the story behind meeting another cacher.

Here is part of the sticker I saw:

I can't post the entire photos because then it would give away the number!

I am now wanting to go caching tomorrow...

C'ya!

Funniest email EVER!

I got this email from my sister-in-law this morning and I would say it ranks right up there with one of the funniest emails EVER:

For the last company picnic, management had decided that, due to liability issues, we could have alcohol, but only one (1) drink per person.

I was fired for ordering the cups:

Thanks for the hearty laugh Jeri!!

C'ya!

20 Easy Ways to Be Happier

Hi all!

So check out this article from Inside Tech with the 20 Easy Ways to Be Happier.

I like #11 so I want to share with you the photographs that I like to gaze at for my mid- morning/day moment of Zen:

Ah....now I am relaxed...

C'ya!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love to all!

So don't tell my husband, but I think this was the BEST Valentine's Day EVER (yeah - even tops the horse)!!

Last evening, I had rented a hotel room for us in Colorado Springs. When we arrived in the middle of the afternoon, while he parked the car, I ran in and set up his gifts:

A bear and a bottle of wine that I custom-labeled.

The label I created for it.

Chilling the wine in the sink.

It wouldn't be time for us to spend together if we didn't go to a pool hall!

We went to dinner at a German restaurant in The Springs. Best EVER!!

When we got back to the room, I was welcomed by a handmade card by my husband; fantastic!! Unfortunately, I crashed and burned at about 10:00 PM and that was how the night ended...sad, I know!

This morning we were up a little early and decided that we would go down and sit in the hot tub and enjoy the pool (since the night before the pool was crawling with hockey kids). After, we had a HUGE breakfast and then headed up the mountain. After stopping for Starbucks and gas, we were heading home when Mike turned off the road. That was it; we were going 4-wheeling!

We saw elk...

We saw mule deer...

We crossed the creek over and over again!

It was a great time! We enjoyed a nice dinner at home this evening and now we are going to find a 'chick flick' to watch!

Love you all but my husband I love the most!!

C'ya!

Triangle of Life

A friend of mine emailed this to me and I thought it was interesting. Being from the Midwest, this is definitely not something we practice but we hear all the time that you should go to a doorway. I guess that is not true. Read on:

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE 'TRIANGLE OF LIFE'

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries.

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world sinc e 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't at the time know that the children were told to hide under something. I am amazed that even today schools are still using the "Duck and Cover" instructions- telling the children to squat under their desks with their heads bowed and covered with their hands. This was the technique used in the Mexico City school.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the 'triangle of life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the 'triangles' you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Almost everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' when buildings collapse ARE CRUSHED TO DEATH. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. That position helps you survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexib le and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs. Concrete slab buildings are the most dangerous during an earthquake.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Almost everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse i s kill ed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different 'moment of frequency (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads ? horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.


8) Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible - It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and lying in the fetal position next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offi ces wi th a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul , University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside.. Ten mannequins did 'duck and cover,' and ten mannequins I used in my 'triangle of life' survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results.

The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the 'triangle of life.' This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television inTurkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

Spread the word and save someone's life... The entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

The Colorado Trail

I woke up this morning and decided that Mike and I had not been out Geocaching for quite some time and that today would be a great day to head down the road in the valley to do just that. We decided we would head to the Colorado Trail and hike a small portion of the trail and pick up the caches along the way. The photos will tell the story:

After our second cache, Mike suddenly stops and points to the eagle in the top of the tree. He stayed there just long enough for Mike to get out of the Exterra for this photo.

While at one of the caches sites, we happened upon a frozen stream. Well, at least the surface was frozen; under, you could hear the gurgle of the creek as it continued to move along underneath. Not sure if you can hear it in this video or not:

The water is running down in between two ice 'walls'.

The elevation gain was really not that much but it sure seemed like it as we hiked up and up and up the series of switchbacks. If you look, you should be able to see the road way down below!

I have names this mountain you see here, "Kitty Ears Mountain". Need I say more?

We were hiking to an old quartz quarry. The area was used at one time as a dumping ground for all sorts of items (including this old mattress frame).

Mike was climbing around on the quartz. He made it up to the top somehow.

There was an old truck in the quarry and Sedona was standing above while I was below taking pictures.

The door handle on the truck.

A large quartz boulder in front of the crusher.

Mike at the top...

"Seriously Mom - can we go?"

"I'm very tired"

We climbed to the summit of Pt. Cloud - this marker was at the top.

A nice leaf piece...

You can see the road in the background.

We left when it started to get dark and headed for home. When we arrived, I sat down to upload the photos and realized the camera was missing. The last I remember is it being on the back of the Exterra. I got in the car and drove back to the trailhead. Luckily, I found the camera just down the road and unharmed. If I hadn't found it, there would be NO photos!! I better be careful...

C'ya!