Category: Colorado

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The New Fence Is Here!

The fencing company installed the short fence between the house and garage to allow me to drive in and out of the garage with the truck without opening and closing the gates at the front of the driveway. The gates were necessary to keep the dogs in the yard… so life is great now! [Yes, it was a first world problem.]
The sprinkler controller would skip from zone 5 to 8 when cycling through the zones in manual mode and I discovered why when the contractors cut the holes in the driveway for the posts: zones 6 and 7 were apparently where the driveway is currently located as PVC lines and sprinkler heads were uncovered.

One of the next projects is to paint the ceiling of the covered patio in the back and install a gutter.

The posts had to be cut into the existing concrete.

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Sweetwater River Ranch

My friends Joanie and Dave recently purchased a campground in southern Colorado between Ca ñon City and Salida, the Sweetwater River Ranch. I had not been down for a visit yet so the Independence Day weekend seemed like a great time. Luckily, Dave was able to find a tent spot for me and the dogs across the river (the Arkansas river).
I wouldn’t normally stay at a campground when I can camp in a spot away from other people so this was a bit of a change for me: no climbing out of the tent at 3 am to have a pee, at least not close to the tent. I also couldn’t just open the tent flaps and let the dogs roam at 4:30 am — but that was not an issue as they were so tired from swimming in the river.

The tent spots across the river are accessed by a 100-yard suspension bridge. Once you have crossed a few times you’ve learned how to walk to prevent the bridge swaying from side-to-side. Lucy had no issues with the bridge but Fabi was hesitant to come back across the bridge to the office buildings so she swam instead. Multiple times, in a swift current of high melt-off water.

We visited some other friends that live in the area and hiked a bit but the majority of the weekend was spent next to the river, or in the river diving for rocks in Fabi’s case.

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A Doggie Door To Slightly Lower My Stress

Before
After

The doggie door was installed in the back security door on Saturday morning. I had to wait a little over a week since the special tempered glass panel had to be custom-ordered from out-of-state. Now that we have a doggie door you would think that all is wonderful at our house… but you would be wrong. I still have to use the old gates at the front of the driveway to keep the dogs in the yard. The fencing company called to reschedule the fence install to 10 July — two and a half weeks from now. While I have no issue stopping the truck to open the gates it does make the whole concept of a garage-door opener a little mute. Thankfully it is not winter now. With the gates closed I can let the dogs play in the backyard while I am working during the day without constantly letting them in and out of the door.