October 26, 2021 – Happy Halloween!

Hey, it’s good to be back home again!!!

We arrived back in Fort Collins the first of October.  Since we consider it home, I’d been waiting until we got back and settled before handling some general fall organizing activities.  After spending 6 months “vacationing”, I was actually ready for some of these mundane day-to-day goings on!  First on my list of things to do was to organize my stash – which is actually pretty small since our housing space is limited.  Since we moved into our “tiny home” I’ve had a long low tub to keep my yarny supplies which we stored in the space under our bed.  Over these last three years, I discovered that getting to my stash and looking through it was difficult.  I found a solution.  I would get a large deeper tub that could stay under the rig or eventually on an attached tray hooked to the hitch on the back of our rig. (Ed. Note – If you have to start using external storage you’ve got too much stuff!!!!)  I explained this several times to the hubs but he kept insisting that would mean adding more stuff to our home.  I finally got him to understand (or wore him down) that it would help with organization in general and open up some storage room for other items in our living space. (Ed. Note – The beatings will continue until morale improves!!!!)  I pulled my long tub out from under the bed and put it and my brand new tub on the picnic table and started going through everything.  Honestly, it took quite a while – I didn’t realize how much I had 😄. (Ed. Note – I been saying!!!!) I put each skein, ball or hank into it’s own baggie and organized them by weight so all my sock/shawl yarn was together, etc.  Luckily (for me) it all fit into the deeper container and will be much easier to pull from in the future.  I guess the smart thing to say is I won’t buy any more yarn until the stash is all used up but let’s be real – that’s NOT going to happen 😆! (Ed. Note – OMG – you are literally killing me!!!) It has opened up room under the bed to store other items we’ve been keeping under the table, so our living area is definitely more spacious.

Elk!!!!!!!

In between cleaning and organizing, we’ve been enjoying being home.  The hubs and I spent our first weekend back at the Elk Festival in Estes Park.  We went last year and saw a TON of elk but this year there were informative booths and crafts, along with live music and food trucks.  We didn’t see the numbers of elk this year but a few showed up.

My favorite part was the informative booths run by different parks and wildlife organizations.  I got to feel fur from fox to bobcat to mountain lion.  I learned that a red fox can be any color but has a white tip on its tale and that mountain lions cache their prey so they can come back and feed on it throughout the week.  My second favorite booth was the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program where they had a Great Horned Owl and a Swainson’s Hawk.  They were beautiful!

  

Support your local businesses, folks!!!!!

We’ve also spent every Saturday morning visiting the Farmer’s Market in Fort Collins.  The hubs has developed an apple obsession, so we have tried several apple varieties and had apple pie, apple turnovers and apple crumbles.  Can you tell he LOVES apples???  (Ed. Note – I can stop if it’s too much!!!!) We’ve also tried several different types of squash – I have to admit they’ve been good!  I know I’ve mentioned before how fascinated I am with the painted utility boxes in Colorado.  In our travels, I’ve noticed other western states do this also and I love them!  They are so interesting and I take pictures of them whenever I can without disturbing traffic.  Here is one outside the farmer’s market.

  

And another one near Old Town Square –

  

In between, I’ve really enjoyed knitting some smaller projects –

The hub’s hat

Some fingerless mitts

  

Baby bibs

  

Washcloths

and enjoying the walks around the lake!  Happy Fall!