Life is Short

We hear about the brevity of life and sometimes, when we've experienced the death of someone close and/or unexpected, we're more aware. But I think that in addition to human life, we can forget that even our surroundings might not always be the same. But we live like they will be.

I imagine that every day I'm blessed to wake up alive here on earth that Pike's Peak will still be a part of the Rocky Mountains and a part of my landscape toward the west. I don't concern myself whether or not the Rockies will be there each and every day. Even on a smaller scale, I assume that my yard will look the way it does (barring some landscape work on our part), that the neighborhood will look relatively the same, and that the roads will be intact.

Yet that's not always true. Yes, for them most part, that's how life works. Major thoroughfares typically don't just go away or become altered. But they can.

The fires burn uncontrollably.

The rains gush down relentlessly.

And the landscape changes.

I got an update today on my great uncle who lives on the Big Thompson River in the canyon between Loveland and Estes Park. I knew he had to have been evacuated given all the information on the news. I believe he's 86 years old and still lives alone in that house where he's been for over 30 years. He and his wife bought it in 1977-78. The Big Thompson Flood happened in 1976 - a "100 year flood" - so they figured they wouldn't live long enough to see another flood of such proportions. My great aunt didn't. Surprise, surprise - my great uncle is still alive and kicking. In the same house. And the next 100 year flood did not wait 100 years to arrive.

It's one of the most peaceful places I've ever had the opportunity to visit. It's only a few hours from here and I haven't been there all that often (though I wish I had been). But when my aunt and my cousin's kids came to visit this summer, we did get the chance - no, we made the time to go visit him. My boys came along, too, for which I'm now even more grateful. It was a perfect day. Of course, I had my camera and took numerous pictures. While my pictures always are valuable to me, they are an even great treasure to me now.

My great uncle is in red. Probably pretty easy to figure that out. That's the Big Thompson River behind us.


The river runs off to the right just outside the picture and you can see it a tiny bit in the center background. This place is just so wonderful. At least it was prior to last week.


Beautiful.


Zach, relaxing and enjoying the water flowing past.


My cousin's lovely daughter, taking in the fresh mountain air.

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My uncle was helicoptered out last week during the rain and flooding. They took him to a shelter and one of his kids drove in from Kansas to get him. I'm not sure if he'll be coming back. I'm not sure what he'll have to come back to. While his house is elevated from the river a bit, we've had a ridiculous amount of water in Colorado this past week.

My heart just breaks for him and the thousands of other people impacted by this devastating weather. My heart breaks even selfishly for myself, not knowing if I'll have the chance to go back to that amazing place. But I'm so grateful I was there this summer.

None of us knows what life will look like tomorrow. Appreciate and savor the life you have, the people in it, and the places that you go while you have the opportunity to do so.

Day Late, Dollar Short

I'm sure you've heard the saying, I was a day late and a dollar short. Since I don't choose to do anything terribly normal or at least not normally cliche, I was EIGHT DAYS LATE and who knows how much money I'm short.

Late for what? Well, THE book signing in Denver at the Tattered Cover (which, btw, is a totally rocking bookstore!) by Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman. I know, I know, many of you are thinking, "WHAT?!?! How could you NOT know? Don't you read her blog EVERY SINGLE DAY? Umm, no. I read it a lot of days. But clearly not on the day when she posted her nationwide booksigning tour itinerary. Cause I'm just not that together.

So instead of being a really cool blogger who gets to post pix of the trip to the Tattered Cover, shots of Ree, loads of excited women and babies, I just read about it at Ree's blog, Melissa's blog, and I'm sure plenty of other blogs.

Ironically, I was reading Melissa's blog this morning and thinking how great it was that she got to meet Ree and get her book signed. I was also thinking that it was because she lives in the south and Ree's a southern gal and chances of her making it to the beautiful state of Colorado would be somewhere between slim and none so don't even think about it. Wrong. Phooey.

So I leave you with dust.

A Week of Stuff

If you're planning to participate in the Heart of the Matter Online Virtual Homeschool Conference, today is the last day for early bird pricing of $19.95! It's happening July 31 - August 3; just in time to gain some insights, ideas, and encouragement before beginning your new school year.

Click on the above image to register and to check out the speakers and schedule. If you'll include my name (Dianne - Bunny Trails) in the special instructions when you register, I'll get credit. I don't know what the credit is for, but it sounds good, right?

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Disclaimer: In the below post, I will ramble and ramble on about last week. If you care to follow all the way through, kudos to you. If you chose not to read my meanderings, I won't know nor will I mind. Sometimes I just have to clear my head of all this information so I can make room for new stuff. Feel free to click away someplace else should I drone on too much. And if you come back on Wednesday, I'm sure to have some pix up for Wordless Wednesday.
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Without further ado, I present A Week of Stuff

I was hardly home last week, although that really wasn't my plan. What is it that God says (and often reminds me of)? Oh yeah, Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." That should really be my life's verse. Because it's definitely my life. I knew I'd be busy on Monday and Tuesday, but in my version of the story, that was it. Wednesday and Thursday, we'd spend the majority of our time at home. After all, we'd had a busy weekend and I wanted to stay home. And it's all about me, you know.

Crazy, Busy Stuff

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On Monday, we celebrated my neice's 9th birthday. In order for her (and my sister) to better enjoy some time at a local family fun center, my other neice, her four year old sister, came and hung out at our house for awhile. Most every time she comes over, she wants to draw. With markers. No crayons or pencils or anything else for this one. It has to be markers. While I did an incredible purge job on the instruments of writing recently, I did retain a couple sets of washable markers. Just for my neice.

She was happily playing with her teeny little toys, watching Tom & Jerry on the portable DVD player, and drawing pictures (with markers, of course) in our dining room. I stepped out to another room and when I returned, she was under the table. Looking a little, guilty, shall we say. I asked what she was doing and she didn't have a response. It was then that I noticed she had a blue marker in her hand. And on her hand. And her legs.

She was wearing the cutest little pink plaid outfit, and I didn't think my sister would be terribly thrilled with blue marker on it, so I had her come out from under the table. While at times she's a very loud and opinionated little girl, she was quite the humble child. She stood before me with her head hanging down and we had this conversation:

Me: M, where are you supposed to use markers?

M: (in a voice so soft, it was nearly inaudible) On paper.

Me: (holding out her very blue fingers) Is this paper?

M: (still using inaudible voice) No.

Me: (pointing to her lips) Is this paper?

M: (barely audible voice) No.

Me: Well, we need to put the markers away now. Since you've used them in the wrong place, you can't use markers here for awhile.

M: (head hung low, still inaudible) Okay.

So I went and got a washcloth (after taking pix, of course), said a quick "thank you" to the Crayola Company for having the brilliance to create washable markers, and cleaned up my neice's little blue act. BTW, when they say "washable" they really mean it. She cleaned up quite nicely. There was only a tiny mark on her top, which I didn't see until later. But the legs and hand? Almost entirely non-blue. Well, under the fingernails is another story, but we didn't have time for a manicure at that point.

The rest of the day was filled with house looking, lunch eating, family fun center playing, dinner out eating, and cake & present happenings at my sister and brother-in-law's house.

Fun Stuff

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Tuesday was the day to go to the park with the homeschool play group. I always feel so funny saying "play group" in relation to my 14 and 13 year old sons. But they do have friends there and they always find something to do, even if it's just hanging together. There's a big, man-made lake at our local park and on one side, you're allowed to swim. It's kind of fun being in the middle of land-locked Colorado and getting to hang out at a beach. Being in Colorado, you also have to be prepared for those afternoon lightening storms.

Since I was gone all of Monday, I had to act fast to get everything together for an 11:00 start time at the lake. Hadn't been grocery shopping and bringing the requisite lunch would be a little difficult, based upon what we had in the house. So I made a quick jaunt to the grocery store. Of course, I remembered that we still wanted another set of goggles (2 of ours are missing), and some of that spray-on sun block would be easier than the lotion (although not as effective, I discovered), and I should really consider dinner since we'll be gone much of the day. Turned out not to be such a "quick" jaunt after all.

Once I finally arrived home, I threw together some lunch and drinks in the cooler, had ClayGuy get an extra camp chair from the shed, loaded up the van, and we were off. I think we arrived nearly an hour late. UGH! I hate being late. Besides, I was kind of moody. All the more reason to go to the lake and let the boys have some fun whilst I vegged in my camp chair on the beach with my friends.

Naturally, the boys wanted to play with their friends even after it was time to leave the lake (yep - the typical storm rolled in with dark clouds and lightening and chased us all away). So the Comedian headed off with his friend to the far side of our fair city. ClayGuy and I joined another family and went to our friend's house. Much frivolity was had by all. Most of all by the moms, though. We played MadLibs. We love MadLibs. If you've never played MadLibs, you should. They're cheap, easy, and enormously hilarious! They've been around for 50 years! Is that wild, or what? Not only that, they can be educational as you have to come with interesting adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and verbs ending in "ing."

We've often taken them to the ladies' retreat (when I say "we" I'm referring to the girls who carpool for the 2 1/2 hour trip to the mountains) because they're nicely portable and can be played in the van. Of course, it's usually not a good idea for the driver to write down the words. So the driver is limited to giving responses only. That, and pulling over to the side of the road when the laughing exceeds the limits of safe driving.

That evening, I participated in a long-distance Bible study on my patio. What better way to study God's word than with Carrie out in the Land of Eternal Flatness, hanging out on the patio until it's so dark I have to get a lantern, and enjoying my Dr. Pepper?

Good Stuff

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Before Wednesday had arrived, I let the boys know that we were definitely staying home on Wednesday. Don't even ask about going anywhere, playing with friends, etc. Oh yeah, there's a verse about that . . . but I digress. On Tuesday, ClayGuy had wanted to go over to Big D's house. It wasn't to be, though, as D's dad needed some help from him with the deck-in-progress at their house. Well, one of ClayGuy's favorite things to do is play with D. So I let him know that I'd be happy to take him over there on Wednesday. I mean, that doesn't mean I'll be gone all day, right?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Best laid plans, yet again. Since ClayGuy was playing with a friend, the Comedian wanted to do the same. So I arranged for him to play with someone as well. We dropped of the Comedian and then I took ClayGuy to D's house. In the meantime, my sister had called to say that her best friend from back in the day was in town and they were planning to meet for lunch. Plus her dad, his gal, her aunt, and her son would be with her. I haven't seen her in 10 years and she was always a part of our family. So sure, I'll swing by Souper Salad for a nearly 2-hour lunch.

I don't quite remember what happened to the rest of my day, but I believe it involved running around, picking up kids, and getting home later than anticipated. Oh yeah, I think we looked at yet another house that we aren't going to buy.

Spontaneous Stuff

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Thursday rolled around and I probably gave up on the idea of actually staying home. I mean, what was I doing, living in some fantasy land like that? Of course, I can't even tell you what I did on Thursday because I don't remember. Cause I'm kind of forgetful like that. Especially without my day planner and no calendar*. All I know is that I wasn't home. At least not much, if at all.

Forgotten Stuff

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The rest was Weekend/Holiday Stuff since hubby was off and Friday was Independence Day. And here I am. Back to Monday. Stay-at-home Monday. Except for the library trip we need to make. Really. That's it.

Unless of course, the Lord directs my steps out the door and someplace else. Ha! Ha!



* No day planner pages nor calendar, you ask? How can this be? (Or maybe I'm the only one asking) I use a Franklin day planner, and have for many, many moons. Like since 1994-95 or something. When I dwelt in the land of Corporate America, we even had a Franklin-certified trainer. So I got the full-blown, day-long, very awesome Franklin training. I've been a fan ever since.

Last week, I went to put my July and August daily page into my lovely leather binder, but alas! They were nowhere to be found! All I have is a monthly calendar. Where on earth will I write my daily tasks, appointments, and notes?!?!? Here I am, one full week into July, and utterly disorganized and discombobulated. I've been feeling a little woozy.

Not only am I lacking daily planner pages, but my kitchen wall calendar is no more. I have a small space where my calendar goes, so I can't accommodate regular, full-sized calendars. But Office Depot has carried a really great one (with pockets) that has worked exceptionally well for our family the past few years. Problem is the company decided to discontinue that size. Dirty dogs!

So I promptly downloaded a handy calendar template from the Microsoft Office website. I printed a few pages at a time - mostly because I didn't want to use all the ink needed in printing the pretty, colorful scenery included with the calendar. That worked well, and in April, I printed the next three months. Of course, I didn't anticipate needing this calendar format beyond June, since surely we'd have moved by then. Ha! Ha!

When I went to pull up my calendar and print out the next batch of pages, the file wasn't there. Oh yeah, I moved a whole bunch of files off the desktop. It's probably on a CD somewhere. Oh well, I'll just re-download from the Microsoft site. That sounded good in theory. Problem is that my version of Word (which is what I used for those calendar templates in the past) is from 1997. The powers that be at Microsoft apparently decided not to continue supporting such OLD templates. The available files are all for newer versions of Word. UGH! Guess I need to find my back-up CDs and pull out my old file after all. Why can't things be simple? At least once in awhile?

Annoying Stuff

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Whew! I guess that maybe I should post more often. Maybe then I wouldn't be so wordy all at one time. They (whoever "they" are) say that this type of post in blogging is very taboo! But I'm not always real good at following the rules of "they." If you're still with me . . . we'll you should get some sort of an award or something. I'll let you know if I come up with anything. Otherwise, just consider that you've put in your reading time today. And followed an adventure of non-epic proportions. Ha! Ha!