We had some very nice beets from the garden for dinner Sunday evening.

---

The South side of the house - this bed has summer and winter squash, bush and pole beans, tomatoes, and onions in it. See below why this and other edible planting around the house this year was not such a bad idea after all.

Today Pat and I bicycled to Old Town to check out the Saturday central farmers market. It was lovely, with fresh local flowers, and gorgeous abundant local produce and other food products, but....

OMG - the prices! Is a pound of green beans REALLY worth $7? A pound of local cheese $18? A bunch of radishes $2.50? Four or five peaches $6.00? I ended up buying one red onion ($1), four ears of very fresh corn ($3), and a little basket of cherry tomatoes ($4), and a focaccia bread ($6). And I felt like a rube with that modest sack of stuff.

We have a nice local super mercado (five minute walk) that has pretty good produce (most of the stuff most of the time - it varies), including some organic, at the best prices in town. On-the-vine tomatoes for a buck and a half, peaches for under a dollar a pound, vine-ripe cantalopes and avacados for a buck each... With the supplement of what I can grow in various nooks and crannies of our often-shaded yard, how can I justify going to the farmers market again?


In the raised beds I put in this year; tomatoes, summer squash, carrots, lettuce, chard, pole beans, herbs...

I want to support local agriculture, and love the atmosphere of the farmers market and the interaction with the local producers, but this seems like some sort of chi-chi uber-precious luxury market in today's economy. Bless their hearts, if this is what they have to charge to stay in business, I hope there are enough people who still have high-paying jobs or credit cards that aren't maxed out to pay these stratospheric prices for a while longer.


Cucumbers climb the trellis I put up for them on an old post.


Peas, cilantro, tomato, beets, dill, and chard along the North fence.

As Pat pointed out, ALL Mexican markets are a farmers market, and the prices are but a small fraction of what we saw today. Here it some sort of abberant extravagance to buy fresh local produce from the producer.

---

Randy Pausch died this morning. He became well known following a lecture he gave last year at the university where he taught, during which he delivered a life-affirming message that he chose to construct and deliver following his diagnosis with an aggressive and incurable disease.

He would have been 48 years old this October.

If you don't want to watch the entire hour and a quarter video at the Youtube link above, just imagine for a while what might be said in such a talk. Mull over where you have come from, how you live your life today, what you still want to accomplish, and the style in which you might wish to get there.

---

I mentioned in the previous post that we were continuing a process of investigating the possibility of building a small (probably straw-bale) house on a corner of Mona and Clark's Double MD ranch in Wyoming. Above is an aerial view of the forty acre square ranch, with the five-acre portion outlined in red in the Northeast corner.

Below are some views from various perspectives on that parcel.


From Sybille Creek Road at the Northeast corner looking Southwest (toward Mona and Clark's house - roof is visible on the left horizon, directly above Pat's head).


View from the Southwest corner, looking Northeast.


Pat stands in the middle of a rise where the front of the house would likely be. This is about a third of the way in from the road, middle of the North-South dimension. Sybille Creek Road in the background, facing East.


Here, I have linked together two views from the house site looking West - and in the process have cloned Mdog (...ah, but were it possible, as she ages visibly these recent months...). Mona and Clark's house roof visible on horizon at left edge.

There are no trees currently located on the five acres, but there are nurseries in the area with large trees and the means to move and plant them. Next step, as mentioned in a previous post, is to meet with the straw bale guys and get a handle on the scope of the project. Pat has a strong interest in sustainable building and energy sources, so there is a possibility for wind and solar power, grey water systems, passive solar construction, etc. We've discussed joining forces with Mona for larger-scale gardening. I have a strong interest in permaculture, but question whether the harsh climate of Southern Wyoming will allow much opportunity for this concept to be implemented.


Sunset view 'from the front door'...

---

The garden is yielding some nice cut flowers for the house these days. That was one of my objectives in improving the landscape around here over the past year.

Speaking of gardens, last night I rode my bicycle a mile and a half to the monthly Green Drinks gathering at the Gardens at Spring Creek. A beautiful evening, free local craft beer and catered food, nice interesting people, and a lovely garden setting. Times like this make me wonder how much we would miss Fort Collins if we move on - even though I will never be the rock-climbing, kayak-paddling, Subaru-driving, mountain-bike-riding-in-the-snow-while-wearing-shorts, craft beer guzzling (oh, wait - I kinda like that...), tri-level-dwelling, type that fits in so gracefully here.



Between visits to the beer tap and food spread I enjoyed chatting with various regular participants. The realtors I know are looking a little haggard these days when I inquire about the local market, but they offer reassurance that things are still at least 'flat', and not in a serious state of decline like so many markets. I ran across a guy who does straw bale construction projects with his brother around the state. We have talked before about what would be involved in putting a small house on a corner of the ranch in Wyoming. I think we are going to try to meet with them both more formally to make notes about how such a project would actually play out and what it would cost.

Just another in a large number of wildly different possibilities.

---

Another of the garden beds I set up this year - peas, cilantro, chard, dill, a few flowers, and a tomato.



Mdog has a new favorite spot, between the kitchen and office. She can keep an eye on us, and monitor any promising activity near the biscuit jar on the nearby counter. I think since she has lost nearly all her hearing she especially likes to see where we are when possible.

---

I went up to the ranch on my own last week for several days, to get away from the tedious routine here at the house in Fort Collins, to help Mona set up a new computer and transfer her old data, and to enjoy her cooking and her and Clark's company. Hilda watered a few things for me during the hot spell that would have wilted things until I got home.


Some nice squash plants spill out of one of a bunch of raised beds and garden areas tuck away around the house.

I thought Mona's garden would be struggling, since she got things in a little late this year and had some less-than favorable conditions (including genuine golf-ball size hail a while back). But everything looked as robust and happy as I ever remember seeing, and we enjoyed some of it while I was there, and brought home some nice kale too, along with a dozen and a half eggs.


Her abundant and diverse flowers were no less dazzling this year.





One of the new calves this year was born with some sort of defect or injury to his front legs. His front feet, especially the right, kind of fold under at the first joint, so it's sorta like he's walking on the back of his wrists. Mona fashioned a sort of brace for him and got it strapped on, and he got around on that a little better. They're hoping he will develop adequately to enjoy life with the herd - until market time.

We went into town one afternoon, and did a bunch of errands that covered one end of Wheatland to the other. Couple of banks, kidney dialysis thriftstore, the Rural Electric office, Food Pride and Safeway, Drube Supply hardware, and a cafe for a little lunch and visit with the owner.


This odd igloo sorta hut is for sale, just across the interstate from downtown, is for sale. Mona says it used to house the local Wyoming DMV.



The flies aren't bad this year so far at the ranch, but in town they seem to be a little more of a problem. I noticed when Mona and I stopped into to one of the nicer cafes in town that the serving staff mostly wielded fly swatters, along with some of the customers, who seemed pleased to take time out from their meals to whack the occasional buzzing intruder. Mona assured me that this was standard practice at other equally respectable dining establishments in town. Lotta feed lots in the area.



The day I had to return to Colorado, I went back into town to visit the Wheatland airport out on Antelope Gap Road by the Platte County fairgorounds to visit with an acquaintance on Mona's who she said had some airplanes in a hanger. He did indeed have a bunch of airplanes - and parts of airplanes - scattered about. We sat and chatted for quite a while, and after hearing the call of an arriving Cessna Conquest we watched him enter the pattern, pand, and taxi up right next to us. A beautiful aircraft, owned by a local rancher who had been off to Tucumcare, New Mexico for the day to look after some business there.

It wasn't until after I had returned home that I really began to get nostalgic for the days when I flew comparable airplanes through gorgeous skies, into little out of the way places like Wheatland. I regretted not asking the rancher if he might consider taking me along on one of his day trips in the future - it would be well worth the drive up and back for it. I even fantasized about him wanting me to get current again and back him up on his flights into bad weather or busier destinations - maybe even take care of the airplane and hanger. As I thought of this, I reflected ruefully on my appearance that afternoon - sandles with white socks, shorts, my cloth safari hat - not standard Wyoming garb (jeans, boots, western shirt, western hat).



I resolved to find out how to contact him soon anyway, probably by phone, and try to snag at least one ride. Not much to lose by asking.

---

Recently, we had a few CD's mature from IndyMac Bank in Southern California. Just in time, it seems, to avoid finding out how FDIC insurance works. These days, if you have bank deposits or CD's, do not take warnings about FDIC limits lightly.

---

I recently posted some comments about the difference between lack of liquidity and insolvency. Yesterday, as the two primary government sponsored mortgage consolidators Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reeled with instability, a former Federal Reserve regional President was quoted as saying, "...Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent..." .

Just to put this in context, the national debt is around 9 trillion dollars. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae own or guarantee about 5 trillion dollars worth of mortgages. Keep those numbers in mind if you hear talk about a taxpayer bailout of these companies.

---

On the Fourth, we rode our bicycles through the city's dedicated bike paths to City Park where the big fireworks show was to take place. We arrived just as the Fort Collins Symphony began their program of patriotic and Western music. They concluded with the 1812 Overture, leading into a surprisingly long and impressive display of fuegos artificiales.



The next day, we went to Old Town for coffee with some friends, then planned a swim in the river that runs through the North end of town at a swimming hole we read about. However, when we asked some tubing folks how the water was, they all said it was REALLY cold, and after we confirmed this by sticking our hands in it we decided to wait for a hotter day.



Nice walk, anyway.

---

---

A couple of days ago, I was looking out the kitchen window, and saw an enormous butterfly hangiong around my native perrenial garden out by the shed.

I grabbed my camera and went out to watch and try to capture an image or two. It turned out to be a Western Tiger Swallowtail, not commonly recognized as a Colorado native. Just passing through?



I watched in amazement as it went from blossom to blossom on a blue penstemon, sampling the nectar methodically, with seemingly no fear of my proximity as I photographed from only a couple of feet away.

---