For Becky

From someone whose middle name used to be "Creativity," it may not seem like such a big deal. But I felt inspired this evening, and did a little art. This is for Michael's beautiful sister Becky, who is dying after a long struggle with ovarian cancer, and now lymphoma, a result of the long periods with chemotherapy. Becky always did read my blog, and I am sure that she will continue, along with her brother. I love you, Becky! Today we drove down to Highland Ranch to visit with John and Marian, friends of Jack's from many years ago. They are really nice people, and we both enjoyed the visit. The drive was pleasant, as well, down 470. Pretty scenery and gorgeous weather.

But I am feeling sad tonight and wishing I were with Becky, Angie, and George..

Fun day in Arvada

Today we worked for just a bit, getting the wood scraps taken out to the trash, bringing the deck furniture out, and helping to clean it up. After we got the deck looking pretty spiffy, we all went off in search of cushions for the deck chairs. A cushion specialty place on Broadway wanted $99 *each* for chair cushions. We laughed. We left. We ended up finding some nice ones at Lowe's, for $25 each.

We ran some other errands, went for lunch at a forgettable Mexican restaurant, and then came back here to enjoy a beer on the new deck with the neighbors.

Oh, and I talked on the phone to several people, in regards to the estate stuff. The lawyer is now wanting me to sign onto 8-9K worth of service, which I don't believe that I even need, now that I have my letters testamentary.

Deck is finished!

Cactus in bloom in Tucson, just before we left: The deck in Arvada is finished! :) Today the last of the balusters went up onto the railings. We did the posts and railing for the steps. And we built an 8' bench. Of course, this was Jack's project. He designed the thing and created it. I was basically Stepp'n' Fetchit, although I did screw deckboards on, cut and drilled all the balusters, and did lots of measuring, leveling, and plumbing of boards. It's good to have it done, and I'm eager to get on to other pursuits, including creative ones of my own.

One thing that I'm trying to do is to fix my own website, myjanee.com. I have been unable to upload to the server, and I can't figure out why. That's the really basic thing. I'm working in Dreamweaver, which is not the software in which I've built the site. (GoLive by Adobe disappeared, and was replaced by Dreamweaver.) And I've never troubled myself to learn Dreamweaver. But I want to. I want to update all the stuff on my site, make it in CSS (whatever that is), and give it all some new art.

Additionally, I want to update my tutorials, to add some new ones, do some exciting new art that's been playing in my head, and just update the feeling of my site.

But first I have to figure out just how to upload simple changes, like... getting my banner to show up again on my tutorial pages. :/

Feeling better

Today I'm starting to feel better. It still hurts some when I swallow, particularly drinks (water's the worst!), but I can tell that I'm doing better now. I am never going to go off that antacid again. The pain is just that horrible, and I don't want to risk it again.

The deck is coming along very well. Today, we put in the vertical posts for the railings. Yesterday, we finished screwing in all the deck boards. Steps are done. It looks great and it should be done in a few days.

We went to the same church today, and it was good. They had a performance of the bell choir, and it was fun.

Arvada, Colorado weather has been splendid, and we've been having fun, actually, putting John and MaryAnn's deck together. :)

Feeling punk

Here's a beauteous prickly pear I shot in Tucson. This one towered way over our heads!
Today I feel puny. I think that it's the same thing that I had in Tucson, when I felt like I was being strangled. The doc put me on antacid medicine (Prevacid) and told me to take it for a number of weeks. I counted out the pills and took it till they were gone. And now, about 2 weeks after I stopped it, here I am with the same thing. I guess I stopped too soon! I started taking the pills again 3 days ago, 5/16, so we'll see. If it's like before, it took 2 weeks for them to take hold. I am resting today, though, letting Jack handle the gas installation (for a firepit!) under the deck by himself.

Weather has actually held out pretty well. It did storm a bit last evening, but we had already put the work away by then. Today, it's looking rainified, and I hear thunder, but I see no rain yet. We should have some deck boards in by the end of the day, I'm thinking.

Progress on the Deck

But first... here's a yucca plant from Tucson: Today and yesterday we worked hard on the deck project here in Arvada, Colorado. The joists are all in place and nailed down. Pockets are built for the railing posts. The real challenge has been designing a deck to cover up the "backyard retreat" that the previous homeowners had built. Between a tiny patio, flower boxes, crumbling retaining walls, and a small deck, it's not been an easy project.

But the food's good! Weather has been fine, but it's thundering and cloudy right now. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow.

Summer Day

Today Jack and I attended services at the Arvada United Church. It was a fine service. We came back here and changed clothes and went to work on the deck for a bit.

MaryAnn, Lynn, Sarah and I went for a massage next. I had Kate to do mine, and it was really good. She somehow knew exactly where I hurt, and those areas got extra rubbing.

Dinner was pork roast, asparagus, potatoes, and salad. Deeeelish!

Giant Lizard

This lizard seems to be in charge of the train exhibit at Tucson Botanical Gardens. It made me laugh to take this picture:
Today was good. We went and rented a posthole digger and then a big gas-powered 2-man auger-type digger. I cut the concrete blocks into neat little octagons, to go down into the bottom of the holes. The 4x6" posts will sit on the concrete blocks down into the holes.

Dinner tonight was at Luke's Steakhouse, here in Arvada, and it was delicious! Then we went to Coldstone Creamery for a well-earned treat. Good time, good day. Now I'm exhausted.

Arrived in Arvada

This photo was from the Tucson Botanical Garden. I love shooting photos overhead. :) Jack and I had a good day with his Mom on Mother's Day in Tucson. We went to her church, took her to Claim Jumper, and then went shopping at Dillards. We enjoyed the service, good food, and lots of laughs. What a blessing it's been, to have her back in our lives!

Monday we'd planned to leave Tucson, and we worked all day with me getting my cottage ready for the summer, Jack getting his cottage ready, and us each getting our respective things set to go into the RV. We got it all loaded up at my place, and then hooked the car on and got over to Jack's. And the hour got later and later, till we finally decided that it was just too late to go. So we just parked in a site at Far Horizons, spent the night in the RV, and then headed out early Tuesday morning.

We drove as far as Albuquerque, spending the night at American RV Park, across from Camping World. We enjoyed unhooking the car and then taking it out for a romp in the city. We went to Camping World for some tire valve extenders, and then went to find food.

Furr's in Las Cruces, NM was soooo fabulous that, when we saw a Furr's, we drove right in. Well... here's a truth you can write down to pass on to future generations:

The only thing that's worse than bad food is "all you can eat" bad food.

Furr's in Albuquerque is BAD. The food selection was limited, the food was either dried out, tasteless, cold, or all of the above, the service was not good, and the restaurant, while a pretty building, was loud. Urgh.

We did enjoy our night at the campground, and we were off early on Wednesday. We drove, drove, drove, through wind, warm, cool, cooler, and then a bit of rain, and a bit of *snow*, till we arrived last evening at Arvada, Colorado.

We're going to be here for at least a week, working on building a deck for our friends John and MaryAnn. Today Jack is working on measuring and planning. We are having a great time so far! The weather is cool today, but it's not raining or snowing now. It's supposed to get warm and lovely later in the week!

Chilly inside

... but hot outside! I guess I could turn my AC down a bit. I'm such a brat!
Today I tried Wii Fitness Coach, and I like it. I think that I'll have some sore muscles to show for it tomorrow. A bit later, I'll do some DDR. Have I said yet today how much I LOVE DDR? (That's a Wii thing -- the one the kid was doing on the YouTube video I posted a couple of days ago.)

Jack came over and I cleaned and dressed his surgical wound. It's looking great, and so is HE. Then we were off to get Mary, and she took us out to lunch. Then we were off for the real goal of the day -- the Mini-Time Machine Museum. You cannot tell from this site how cool this place was! Our friends Bob and Claire had turned us on to this, and they KNOW cool places. Anyway, we had a great time, exploring all of the miniature houses, furnished in various styles, collections of ... all things miniature. It's a really neat experience.

Afterwards, we drove her to run a couple of errands and then I dropped Jack off so that he could have a nap!