July 29, 2021 Canon City, Colorado

96 degrees and a beautiful blue sky. It is my birthday and I went with my friends Katy and Katie down to Canon City to raft with our good friend Dennis.

Our first stop in Canon City was at a friends of Katy's place. A bear had knocked over 4 bee hives and Katy being a bee keeper helped out setting them back up. The bees were very pissed off. I took this photo from a safe distance away with a tele photo. But they came after me too. They were in my hair and one was in my ear. I did a wild dance and got them off, dug the bee our of my ear and got into the car.  Then we chased all the bees that had followed me in out. I only had one sting, of course on my ear. Here is my normal left ear and my swollen right ear. It was very painful but now is red, swollen and extremely itchy down my neck and up into my scalp. Happy birthday from the bees.

Katy and Dennis rigging the raft. We went on a fabulous private trip, just the 4 of us. Ready for the river, Sue, Katy, Dennis and Katie.

Katy and Katie. We have been boating with Dennis every year for the last 10. And one or the other of us since 2006. I skied with Dennis starting in the mid 80's. He gave me a card then and told me he was starting a rafting company, I thought oh sure, but he did and it is wildly successful.  Raftmasters is the best in Canon City. He is an excellent guide and friend. We love our guide. 

 

 These  photos were taken by Whitewater Photography. We so wanted to see a big horn sheep along the river that I added one to this photo. We paddled through a number of great rapids.

Katie is having a ball. Well we all were. 

Powering through the rapid. Local wildlife along the highway back to town. 

Katie took us all out to a yummy dinner at  Da Ritos Italian restaurant in  Canon City. The three of us ladies bought matching Raft Masters t-shirts. Dennis started the company in 1989. Sue, Dennis, Katy and Katie. They surprised me with this beautiful Tres Leche cake. Here I am with the cake and our beef cake friend Dennis. 

Full and happy after dinner. Katie, Dennis , Sue and Katy. 

 

July 26-27, 2021 Fort Collins, Colorado

 99 today. 

Both of the special order tree plates are fused and painted with gold. They are now in plate molds, they will slump into the molds after their 2nd firing. Our thermometer read 99.9 outside, but dropped 0.6 while I got my camera. Too hot. Thankfully our AC works and it is only 77 inside. 

Cattails at McMurry pond on my bike ride. A guy fishing on the pond as the smoky sun sets. 

Sunset from the bike path. Plate number 1 of two orders. 

Plate number 2 of 2 orders. Smoky orange light on the bike path.

More smoky orange light on the bike path. As the sun set through the smoke on the horizon, it was huge. 

July 24,-25 2021 Fort Collins, Colorado

 A balmy 90 degrees and mostly cloudy. A wonderful day to make glass. 

I got the first commission tree put together and here it is , along with some pendants, in the kiln for it's first firing.  I started to assemble the second tree. 

A little orange, through smoke, sun seen on my bike ride this evening. 

Sunset tonight. We had a ton of left over smoked steak from the other night so we had steak sandwiches. We invited a few friends to dinner. Mandy, Jimjim, John and John. Nice to see them all. 

I got a little side tracked from working on my tree and make this tonight. My new 100 grit diamond disc for my flat lap makes a huge difference. The old one must only have a couple diamonds left since it took about 10 times longer to shape the piece. The new one cuts it like butter. 

The first tree plate after it's first firing. The second tree plate before it's first firing. I had orders for two of these.

Pre sunset with smoky orange sun, A mural downtown with the orange sun on it's left shoulder. 

An alley downtown. Actual sunset. 

The Exchange downtown. It has a huge round ice cream churn in the middle, little restaurants, a brewery, a distillery, sitting area and sometimes they have live music.  John thinks this store, the Golden Poppy,  is an opium dispensary

Jewels I beveled and polished tonight. 

July 21-23, 2021 Fort Collins, Colorado

 86 and cloudy.

I finished all 4 commission bears. Two are shipped already. They sure are cute. The clouds set up beautifully for sunset. But of course went away by sunset. 

Sunset. Only 95 degrees today. I entered the piece shown on the TV screen into the show in Cheyenne and it sold and I got two orders to make more. Here is the start. I have photos on a flash drive in the TV so I can make something similar. 

These are magnetic discs bonded with diamonds  that go on my flat lap, the equipment that I bevel and polish with. The one on the left is new today.  The one on the right is 2 years old, most of the diamonds have worn off. I want to start working with the beveled jewels now, but am going to finish these two commissions first. Well maybe I will make one or two. . . Our friends BJ, Betty and Bubba are visiting from California. They are traveling around Colorado in their trailer this month. John cooked us a huge, fabulous dinner of caprese, smoked steaks, roasted sweet potatoes, asparagus. Delicious and it was fun to visit with BJ, Betty and Bubba. 

BJ, Sierra and Betty at dinner. 94 , hot and sunny when I went to the Trial gardens at CSU with BJ and Betty. 

BJ and Betty under yellow and red trumpet vines. Betty and BJ under a series of arches with various vines on them. 

Andy Warhol Campbells soup can at CSU, dinosaur at the Swetsville Zoo with a birds nest in his mouth. Rubeckia at the trial gardens, 5 mph speed limit at the Swetsville Zoo, watch for dinosaurs, the tire cover on BJ and Bubba's trailer- Home is where we park it. Bill Swets originally built this mini Taj Mahal for his wife, then started making the animals for the zoo at Swetsville Zoo. 

The bird in the back is conducting the music at Swetsville zoo, BJ is playing Betty's head, Betty is playing the chimes and this unknown young man joined in. An unhappy man with a ball and chain on his leg is paddling the boat with a shovel and a happy man at the other end is fishing. 

Swetsville zoo dinosaur kit, some assembly required. I am working on a commisions similar to the one I had in the show in Cheyenne. The original is on the TV screen upper left, with the current is the two lower ones. I need to do a bit more work to make the new one similar, then I will cover it with a piece of clear and do the first firing. 

Tonight we had dinner with BJ, Betty and Bubba at their trailer in the local KOA. Dinner was yummy, the company was fun and I had never seen this RV park. Felt like home to be in an RV park. 

Sunset tonight.