BRRRR 32 degrees!

It is 32 this morning. Can you believe it? It is August 19th and 32 degrees. That does not bode well for winter. I am sure all my central Texas buddies are snickering. It has been something like 55 straight days of 100 plus degrees there. What you guys would not do for a couple of 32 degree mornings! We will talk again when it has been 50 plus days of below zero weather!

The hummers are up this morning. They are cold and eating ravenously. I refilled the feeders yesterday morning, which aggravated a few of the more aggressive friends. I do a pretty good hummer mix and they just love it! Honestly, I probably am the only one with this many feeders set out - so by default they love it. As I was rehanging the big feeder, several of my little friends landed on the feeder. It was like having hummers in my hands! Loved it!

I love to sing. LOVE to sing. Never been very good singing in public, but always had a silly dream of one day being in a band - you know Michelle Pfeifer in the Baker Boys. Ok - we can all dream... I have been listening to Johnny Mathis. What a voice. So I am belting out one of the fabulous songs - chances are - and Bogart comes and sits at (on) my feet and looks so adoringly up at me. Made me feel like I could belt them out just like Johnny!

I am running up to Crested Butte this morning. I can't wait. It is really one of the most fabulous drives. It is a bowl of majestic mountains with a quaint little town in the middle. I will let you know if there is new snow on the peaks - I will let you know if the leaves are starting to turn. It is God's paint brush at that point. He has such an amazing eye! I did see a herd of 30ish Elk on Monday. So huge! It was all the girlfriends and their babies. Totally unconcerned with me or the other cars zipping by. They are getting ready for bow season. I think they must laugh at us at times. What other mammal puts urine from it's prey all over it's body to hunt? And is this supposed to be some sort of perfume? Surely these animals see through this ploy. If they don't I sure hope at some point they do. My friends that elk hunt absolutely love it. It is a religious moment for them. I could compare it to a really good antique hunt and it is almost as expensive!

My antiquing buddy and I are heading to the big city later today. Montrose. Target. Really there are not words to describe how nice it is to find Target after a few weeks to a couple of months without a fix. We are going to a movie, have a nice lunch/dinner and antique. I am looking for an old garden gate. It is to put between my bedrooms and the living room. You would just have to see it to appreciate it. My monsters love to go into the bedrooms and reek havoc. I have been very surprised how difficult these gates are to find. Almost like an elk hunt, I have been on this trek for a bit. Also like an elk hunt, it could take years to find the exact perfect fit.

I have not really described my cabin. I know I have told you it was built in 1930. It was annexed in the late 1800's. I have found small apothecary bottles, pieces of purple - y/blue glass, treasures.

I redid the inside a couple of years ago. It started with the kitchen and it grew like the "BLOB". Almost as frightening. My old kitchen cabinets were interesting. The oven was over the stove with a foot clearance. Besides the fact you had to stand on a chair to put things in and out of the oven, I always had a fear that my stove would catch fire, moving to the grease under the oven and whoosh, my cabin would be gone!

n Gone gone gone are those cabinets. The plan was to level the floor in the kitchen (remember the can can roll from one end of the rooms to the other after they have been fixed) and put in new cabinets. Then I added a bit of wall moving/tearing down, new floors from kitchen to back bedroom. Then all the electrical had to be replaced. Just an FYI, should you start to replace some electrical, you have to do it all - by code. That was a bit of a shocker! Loved the old wires and porcelain insulators! At this point why not pull the ceiling down? It was low and a bit claustrophobic so down it came. Being incredibly creative, I had old doors used as the wood for the vault in the ceiling.

The bedrooms need a bit of love. I had already pulled all the carpeting out, pulled out the tiles underneath the carpet (which no doubt had to be asbestos!) and painted the floors. I had the walls stripped of the plywood covers and it exposed the wonderful logs. We sanded and stained them. I had found wonderful old ceiling tin. The guys scraped that and sealed it and it is in the bedrooms and bathroom. I added antique crystal chandeliers over the beds and fabulous linens. Next I get a call about the bathroom. Amazing that I had not fallen through the floor while bathing. (That's a picture, huh?) as the floor was rotten. A bathroom update was now added! Rusty corrugated metal is the tub/shower surround, an old medicine cabinet is above the old pedestal sink, drawers are fashioned for mid 30's drawers I had found with bak lite nobs. An old green outside enameled light fixture is above the sink. My hallway is wall papered with a book - the Great Alone. Page by page I placed these on my walls. Love it! I have used barn door hinges in most of my rooms. It is so much less space needed. Of course the only one that I hung fell down this summer. We do not need to discuss my carpentry skills other than to say I have them. We used barn wood as trim. Also, in case you wanted to know, old barn wood is like gold. Precious and expensive! I also hung a wonderful old crystal chandelier over the pine farmers table for my kitchen/dinning. The floors that have been replaced are heated. It is really one of the best features of a Colorado home. Nothing better than to put your piggies on a heated floor on a cold morning!

So now that I have bored you with my house updates, I will let you go. More about the weather and foliage tomorrow!