High Park Fire

Two weeks ago a lightning strike during a thunder storm in the foothills some 25 miles west of us started a fire.  15 days on, it has burned over 81,000 acres and is still going strong.  Depending on the wind, we can wake up, as we did this morning, with the house full of smoke.  

We have been short of rain this spring and the ground is extremely dry.  Temperatures have been steady in the 90s and have exceeded 100 several days in the last week.

While looking online for the latest news on the fire this morning, I came across The chirpy headline:

"Colorado's High Park fire competes with blazes across the state" with this map:

And this after reading about the rain and floods Britain has been experiencing.  Nothing like a bit of contrast.

Shaggy Dogs

Such a long time since my last post.  One recent thing that has been keeping us busy is below:

Thing One and Thing Two

Or, as you can see, two things.  These are MacKenzie and Mabel.  Two Lhasa Apso dogs that Sally is fostering for the local Humane Society (I suppose this is the equivalent of the RSPCA).  These two little doggies are puppy mill refugees and probably not the best thing to initiate us dog virgins into the wonderful world of doggie care.  We were told that they were mother and daughter, Mabel being about two years old and MacKenzie about nine months.  Mabel is very protective of MacKenzie and will follow her around, which is useful, as neither of them will tolerate a lead.  If allowed, they would sit in their crate all day coming out only when no one is looking to eat or evacuate.

Mabel & MacKenzie

They are sweet and mild mannered in the extreme.  We are slowly, slowly acquainting them with the big outdoors, and have, after about a week of fostering, finally seen an upright tail.   We've had some small success in house training; I fear Sally in inclined to sleep too late to really knock this on the head.  No idea how long they will be with us.  But kinda fun for now.

Another year....

No one could accuse me of being a dynamo when it comes to housekeeping or decorating.  Self knowledge was one of the reasons that I was so reluctant to buy the house we now live in, for, although pristinely maintained, it is a true child of it's time.  1976 - the decade that taste forgot, as one of my acquaintance calls it.  Not having pots of money for remodeling, my own idleness (along with that of other unnamed members of the household) has me trapped in the tasteless.  So I am particularly pleased to have finally finished a truly green renovation of our family bathroom.  Green, for obvious reasons (see colour of bath and toilet) but green, because, rather than remove these perfectly working monstrosities, I was able to see past my prejudice and realise that this particular green is in decorating vogue at the moment.  I was able to choose from dozens of fabrics that matched the hue exactly.  Much less wasteful to add a bit of matching fabric and a lick of paint.  Substantially less expensive.  Finally livable.

After

 Before

After

Before

The real reason I'm posting these here is because although my bothersome brother can make it up from Colorado Springs to Loveland, he cannot manage to make it up my stairs to admire my handiwork.

So there you have it.  One room down, 11 more to go.  Sigh.  Actually I have just started removing the most bizarre wallpaper from my workroom.  It is a large plaid pattern of mustard yellow, pale green of the toilet colour variety, and ochre with minute flecks of gold string.  Oddly, there is something about it that I have come to rather like.  It is a heavy vinyl, easily removed, and I think I may just try to sell it on e-bay to some 70s enthusiast.  (I know you're out there.)  Although as I write, I realise that I have made the most colossal mistake of not having photographed it in situ first.

On the subject of bathrooms, before we bought this house, we referred to it as the Japanese basin house, as it has a fairly bizarre basin in the cloakroom.   Our little cat, princess decided recently that it was just the perfect size for her.  How silly is that?  (Maybe so, but you have to agree, that apart from anything else, doesn't it bring out the colour of my eyes?)