SPRING 2 (?)

As I eluded to in my previous blog, spring has finally arrived; albeit much later than we had hoped. 

 We have had three snowstorms and very cold temperatures in the past few weeks.  But, the grass is getting a little bit greener, the bear is awake from hibernating, and I saw blooming crocus today!
We have been at Glen Eyrie for almost three weeks already, so I am again overdue for an update.

Initially I was going to write a bit more about our fall cruise to the middle east, but that can wait for a bit. I just want to share a littlet about the flood mitigation projects going on here in Glen Eyrie.  Because of the Waldo canyon fire, the soil above Queen’s Canyon is hydrophobic.  Any significant rain will cause flash-flooding in Camp creek.  Much debris is expected to come down the canyon and the strong current could damage the castle foundations. 

 So, two barriers have been erected in Queen’s Canyon and the creek bed has been reinforced, “armored” is the term, to protect the castle foundation and divert the stream from washing away the Carriage House.
 

Crews are in the process of replacing the rocks at the creek sides and reinforcing this with concrete as well.  The final activity will be to re-sod the sloping lawn with grass.   They have made a lot of progress this month.  We have been busy hosting and helping.  I have done some educational tours, primary school children get to come here as part of the heritage of Colorado Springs, which was after all, founded by General William Jackson Palmer.  The wild life is here as usual, the big horn sheep have reclaimed TheGlen for grazing and resting.

The bear is awake and had to be chased off, he tried to climb the tree in our back yard to get to the turkeys, who nest in these trees overnight.  

We continue to share the grounds with deer, turkeys, 

 

coyotes, squirrels, and rabbits. Of course all species of birds and then there are the human visitors as well.  Life is fun at The Glen, we are blessed to be able to serve here.

Spring is coming

If you would look at my blog from October 24, 2012; you would see my bride and I working on a patio - deck at the front of our son’s house in Saint James, Missouri.
I shared a few pictures of this event during this short blog. 

Well, just these past few weeks we have had similar events as I shared in that blog.  We visited with our oldest son and his family the week before Easter.  We were able to attend both our grandsons playing in the honor band at Austin high School. 
 
Yes, they were both selected to attend honor band this year, albeit in two different bands.  

After waiting for the snowstorm to clear out we went home and packed to go to Missouri.  Our son there was expecting us to help hime finish the deck we had started last fall.  He and his wife anted to cover part of the deck with a roof.  If you revisit the blog of October, you would notice some tall posts at the front of the deck.  These were designated to become roof supports.  

We finished the project in about three days, and then focused on celebrating Easter together.

Home for one week and now we are preparing for another trip to Glen Eyrie, in Colorado Springs.  Our help was needed for more than just the month of May, so we were asked to come earlier to help out.  We gladly obliged.