threeringedmoon

During winter, Rion spends a lot of time wrapped in his blue blankie. Occasionally, I will be doing something and look down and see Rion standing quietly beside me. Sometimes that means he has to go out. And sometimes that means that Bandit has stolen the blue blankie or Rion’s crate and Rion is waiting for me to fix the situation.

You may think, why not get Bandit his own blankie? However, Bandit is not interested in having his own blankie. If Bandit has his own blankie, he will try to steal Rion’s blankie and pile them together. Bandit also has his own crate but never goes in it during the day. He would much rather sleep in Rion’s crate.

I happened to stumble across a photo that my sister took of the place my paternal grandmother lived. I spent many happy weekends there with her in my childhood. I married Jack in the backyard over forty years ago.

I don’t know if this is a replacement house or an extensive renovation. The windows match up to my memories but it was a small two bedroom ranch house when it was sold by her estate.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

This is our front door, which is actually on a sheltered porch on the leeward side of the house. All of our windows are plastered with snow. I took this photo when we dragged the dogs out through the garage to do their business. They were not pleased and have decided to wait until the blizzard passes. The drifts make it impossible to tell how much snow has fallen.

The National Guard has been called out to rescue 500 motorists who took to the roads despite being warned. The snow plows can’t operate because of stuck vehicles. The local Interstate is closed from Colorado Springs to Denver. All flights have been cancelled and all school systems are closed. There are multiple reports of accidents, downed power lines, and fallen trees, including some that have fallen on houses.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

On Friday, Jack said farewell to his PT Cruiser. It was leaking oil and the garage said it needed to have its engine rebuilt. We decided it wasn’t worth it so donated it to the Pikes Peak Humane Society. It was probably my least favorite of all the vehicles we have owned but at least it was easy to find in the parking lot.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

On August 1st, we closed on our new house, which had been in the process of being built since the end of March. Two days later our furniture was delivered.

We are mostly moved in at this point and the house is quite livable. We still have items in storage at a friend’s that we are working on getting placed in the house and garage, though a lot of the stuff will probably get donated to thrift stores. Downsizing from a 2300 square foot house with multiple outbuildings to a 1600 square foot with a three car garage is a challenge. We specifically did not have a basement built so everything has to go in the house or in the third garage.

I love the floor plan. The kitchen, dining area, and great room are all open so there is a roomy feeling. The master bedroom suite is also quite roomy which is one of the reasons we chose this layout. Also contributing to the feeling of spaciousness is the nine-foot ceilings. The nine-foot ceilings allowed us to hang some suspended platforms in the garage which helps with storing little-used items like holiday decorations.

The house has a lot of accessibility options which we hope that we don’t need for many years. I am not missing have steps at all, though.

The first ten days were a challenge since we moved in before the fence was built. The dogs required walking four or five times a day. We also didn’t get our refrigerator until we had been here for several days so we had to make due with ice chests.

Jack has the smallest of the three bedrooms for his office, and I have a slightly larger room for my craft room and office.

A few days ago I noticed a sign in front of a neighbor’s house that said Private Residence as I left to run errands. When I returned home, the same sign was in front of our house. Since we are still in a construction zone, I assume the signs are there to let tradesmen know which houses are occupied.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

This is one of my favorite photos of Rags, taken about ten years ago. When we left in May for a six-week road trip, he was in fair condition: not too bad for a thirty-three-year-old horse. A few weeks before we got back, the friend who was taking care of him said he was losing condition. Even worse, he was losing his appetite. When I got back, I realized he had lost at least a grade of condition. Jack and I decided it was time.

A little while ago, his vet came out and agreed that he looked far worse than the last time she saw him. She said it probably cancer. She administered the injections, and he was gone in an instant.

We had Rags since he was an eight-year-old: over twenty-five years.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

Bandit and Rion both went to the Bad Place on Saturday. Bandit’s white areas are no longer dingy and Rion’s coat is no longer a magnet for burrs and other debris.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.

Although we see them fairly frequently in another part of our valley, it is rare to see elk across the road from our house.

Mirrored from Five Acres with a View.