I am finally taking a weekend to enjoy visitors....after 3 mos of upgrading this place and still with doors that need to be hanged, among numerous other unfinished projects. I call it the construction zone, but the friends are laid back and none of it bothers them. Without their visit I would stil be working on this stuff, so nice not to for a couple of days.

Our big trip is to Vail for the MINI rally tomorrow. Had one until recently and really miss the car, am looking forward to mass of 180 MINIs expected and option of 20 runs in the cars all over the mountains.

Temps aren't as bad as they could be, it is the humidity that's bugging me. I can't remember it "ever" in CO, or the amount of rain we continue to get. Shouldn't complain since we have been water poor for so many years and my new plants have tripled in size.

Do your evenings cool off enough to work outside?

It doesn't cool off until way after dark here. Lately we've been having afternoon and evening thunderstorms (I love to watch the lightning). Of course, the weeds have really loved that, lol! DH mowed and edged yesterday as the water grass was huge from all of the rain.

I have some plants to find homes for (I can't resist sales) and it's been too hot to set them out, so hopefully this weekend I can make some space. I also want to start some new lasagna beds (why is it starting to sound like I'm going to run out of time, lol?).

The kids are finishing their papers and are going to start asking me questions, so I'd better run. Beowulf anyone?

Sandy, it's humid here, too, in NW New Mexico. Usually we're not having near this rain but it's actually been a blessing. The 2 rivers are running...don't want to say full but they're fuller than most years.

Our weekend will probably be pretty uneventful. We went to the mountains weekend before last and drove almost to Telluride. You have to turn around and come back the way you came as it's pretty secluded up there. But I love it and the drive is so beautiful.
We got the yard work all done Wednesday and then we had that big rain on Wednesday night. Most of New Mexico has been flooding and frankly that was the first we had been warned of flooding here locally.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and wish I was up in the mountains this weekend, too.
Marilyn in NM

Thankfully the humidity has taken a 'time out' in our area. DH and I will be painting our rental cottage. The tenants moved out 1 1/2 weeks ago, and I've been cleaning. So now it's time for painting. I certainly can't complain, since it pays the mortgage and then some ;o) But I did tell DH that if I had had to paint during our unbearable hot spell last week, I would have said to heck with it, wait until September to rent the darn thing LOL!

I was hoping my friend who owns a nursery could come and visit this weekend and week, but sadly, she is afraid to leave. I understand. It's her first year owning...
So instead my hubby suprised me with tickets to Bombay Dreams.
We go out for dinner before hand.
Our other goal is to get to the gym 3 times before Monday AM.

Normally our weekends are very uneventful, so this should be a nice change from the "ordinary"!

GGG

Marilyn,
Humid in NM? That is different! We have had so much rain, but everything planted is growing like crazy, so the yard is getting a great start. Will be interesting to see how the rivers and waterfalls are running in the mountains.

Leave this morning for Vail, heading up back way through Fairplay/Leadville. The wild flowers must be beautiful now too. Finally found my battery charger for the camera....getting lots of photos on this trip and can start posting some of my changes in the little house.

Sounds like the heat is keeping a lot of you from gardening outside. I can't complain much, our heat has settled down, but make sure anything needing done outsid happens as soon as the sun comes up.

Enjoy your weekends...

Sandy

Well, no gardening for me. We're having a nice slow, steady rain. The good thing is the temperature is down to the mid 60's. We have all of the windows open (rare to be able to do that in August) and the freshest cool breeze is wafting through.

Ah, Sandy, I'm envious of your back roads trip up to Vail. It's going to be beautiful! Can't wait to see your pics. : )

Our temps have been below normal - only in the 70s - so I've gotten some new beds made out back. We have been redoing the area, took out the grass last year and are aiming for lower maintenance landscaping. We still need to get more compost - I can't make enough for all we need. Maybe tomorrow we can get it. But today I'm packing up stuff from a couple of cabs coming out of the kitchen. And DH will be ripping more old wood floors out, getting ready for the new. It's such a messy job - yuck. I'm also awaiting a bid from a custom cab builder - can't wait to see his rendition of my plans. : )

Angels and Cubs games are both on tv today so there will be some hootin' and hollerin' going on. ; ) We'll bar-b-cue later this evening and watch a movie on pay per view. Tomorrow we'll hopefully get in some hiking. Nothing real exciting but it makes us happy. : )

Have a great weekend everyone!
Diana

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

My son goes back to college this week, so he is making a trip there today (2 hours) to take his futon and tv, etc, back, and then we'll spend the day together tomorrow before he leaves Monday. My younger son rented "Inside Man" to watch tonight.

I cleaned out closets and took 3 bags of clothes/shoes to Goodwill today (that always feels great!). It is still too hot here to do much outside work.

Diana, I can't wait to see your floors....you are always so busy, and your place is beautiful.

Sandy, your trip sounds nice, and I can't wait to see your photos. I have a friend who lives in Leadville....such a beautiful area.

I am glad that everyone seems to be getting kinder weather---I hope that everybody has a great weekend!

Andrea

Well.....our trip to the mountains was a mess. It poured rain all day and roads are a mess from pot holes to wash outs. Plus it was so foggy that we had to turn around driving up to Mt. Evans. For you not familiar with CO, Mt. Evans is 14500 altitude. I had forgotten about that road and my slight fear of heights. The positive is the fog didn't allow me to see over the sides of a small two lane road, straight up without side rails.

Sorry, no pics....weather was just too bad and temps were 45-55 in shorts. I love cars, this meet had 180 MINIs, few could enjoy wandering around to look at them between the rain and cold. It didn't dampen spirits though....lots of great conversations and meeting MINI friends from all over the US.

My visitors leave today and will be in rain all the way home...NC. Here it will be raining all week.....can't remember a summer like this in CO, but time to quit complaining as the years of drought must be taken care of this year and lower water bill a blessing.

Heard NM (Albuquerque) got 4.5 inches of rain yesterday....that must be close to a record.

Sandy

Sandy, there has been so much rain in and around New Mexico. Here in the NW corner we get more of it right north of us in the mountains but last Wednesday evening we had a torrential downpour that caused alot of arroyo flooding. And Albuquerque has had lots more rain than usual. It builds up in the early afternoon and just drops buckets of rain then clears up.

My weekend ended up being a great one! My DH went to work with my son on Saturday, he works for an oil company as a compressor mechanic and was on call, so I got to spend 4 hours with my dil and grandbaby. Our little Emma will be 1 year old on the 26th and is such a joy to be around. I was so tired by the time I got home, not used to playing that hard I guess....LOL.
Sunday afternoon we had to work on our air conditioner. It's over 30 years old and still works great but the belt broke so had to run to Lowe's and of course that leads to "shopping" and DH and I planning our 3/4 bath makeover. I got lots of great ideas then came home and started some lists. A fall project I'm sure.

Then we just sat out on the porch for about 2 hours and watched the hummingbirds and had a nice glass of chardonnay with hummus & crackers for dinner. We ate such a big lunch before going to Lowe's that we just had a snack on the porch for dinner. It cooled off last night a bit, down to 60 degrees....lol. I like it alittle cooler than that but it was better than the 70's. Anyway, was a nice weekend, not too busy but very enjoyable.

You mentioned the temps in Vail and my sis in Erie, by Boulder, said it was cooler this weekend for them too. I think we may go up in a couple of weeks. Don't know yet. But we love it up there and enjoy visiting with them.

Marilyn in NM

Marilyn,

You sure keep busy gal. I was exhausted from the trip...along with being cold. Enjoyed company, they were great guests. No grandkids visiting, but the animals were exhausted too from playing with the visitors. We all took a long nap today.

Went to HP this morning and had to wear jeans and a sweatshirt, it cleared up but is back to the icky weather. I do know you live in the NW corner of NM, but was floored to hear their rainfall numbers. My guests are following storms all the way home to NC.

Am on a roll though to get some things done. My son lives with me but travels a great deal, is with airline security and was called out last Thursday during the upheaval to LAX for a month. He is a great help when here but also tends to divert me from getting projects finished. Good diversions like watching movies and eating too much, when home he just kicks back. So, I have 4 weeks to play all day if I decide to.

Bought tile at HP to finish the bath surround and have tile to do same with my fireplace. The kitchen had been remodeled about 5 years ago by previous owners, but they did a terrible job on the counter tile job. Tile was butted right next to each other, very little grout will stick in seams and I am constantly cleaning spills which seep in between tiels. Most likely this will be another tile job soon as I hate how it looks and the work.

Am also putting a cement resurfacer on the concrete patio. Paid some good money to have this done on the driveway and looks like I can do as well myself. Thinking of putting a terra cotta tint in it. The patio is so old I really don't care if I mess up..hopefully next year will build a deck. If it turns out well, may not have to build that deck.

Thunder and lightening....hot bath and snuggle in for the evening. Good grief, it is almost Sept. and we hardly had a summer....too early to talk about snuggling in.

Sandy