Well, it didn’t really qualify for a ride in my mind, but it was an important ride. My friend Walter cleaned out his garage in order to make room for my motorcycle. He is really nice, but doesn’t seem to take my thanks to heart. I hope he hears me, since I thank him very much. He is one of those people who doesn’t say your welcome, so I’m hoping he hears me. Shelby and I are funny about that. If I say thank you or she says thank you to me, our way of making sure the other person is hearing you is for us to hear the thank you in return, otherwise we say it again. So, Walter if you are reading this blog, thanks buddy! It means a lot to me to have you take care of my sweet bike in these cold months.

I didn’t do a ton today. I was pretty tired after working and then going out. The ride was so nice on the bike though. There were lots of bikes out. This is the weekend for the Toy for Tots. Lots of bikers participate. I couldn’t believe how warm it was today. Tomorrow it’s going to be snowing. I hope it snows really well. We really need the snow. We need some intense freezes to kill some of the nasty pine beetles too.

I’m making Cowboy some cookies tomorrow. He will enjoy that. I am also replacing lots of the CD’s I had burned him that seemed to have disappeared. He has good taste in music and mine is so wide and varied that I’m sure there will be some he won’t like. His soon to be ex wife moved out this weekend.

I am so tired, but I promise to write more tomorrow.

I swear I have ESPN…..I could tell something was up with Jeffrey and sure enough I was right. I just wrote yesterday about what I felt and I was right. He met someone else. It was nice that he told me after I wondered what happened. I guess I will give him credit there. I really don’t take things personally. I know I’m a great catch, but if it doesn’t work for someone…….I can’t make someone love me. They can’t make me love them. Well, maybe I’m wrong there! I sort of enjoy the alpha male stuff. I have no problem with men being men, for the most part anyway. I guess he gets the erase from contacts from my cell phone. Onward! It creates space for somenone who will love me the way I should be loved. His loss. : ) No more blogs about him.

I’m so excited today. My website has made some changes, not that you will really notice much that is different yet, but maybe in the future you might. I get to see some cool stuff going on in the back end of things. My web guy, Michael is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has helped me so much and I can’t thank him enough. He has great ideas and if I ever have any questions or ideas, he is right there to guide me through the whole process. I have never met him, but he holds a spot in my heart. I have felt lost a few times in this whole process of having a website and what it takes to be successful with one. He is the one who got me to Blog! I never ever thought I would be blogging like I am now. Thank you so much Michael. He lives in California and I hope to one day take him out to dinner when he visits Denver. His wonderful daughter Courtney, lives in Denver so I know he has to travel here sometimes. You better contact me when you do Michael!

I might go out on a motorcycle ride or bicycle ride today. It’s really cloudy and chilly, so I might just take a day off. I really haven’t had a day off like this in a long time. It feels so good! Shelby is in Texas and here I am writing.

I just had a call for a book that will come out with lots of info about my high school and my friends that I knew. They wanted me to pick one job, out of the two I have to put in there, so I picked the rock star one….being a ranch and cowboy photographer. It’s such a cool job to have.

Tomorrow I will be making some money taking photos. Love that!!! Rare! I need to sell some photos. I am sending out a few for Christmas presents. I really am going to focus the next two years trying to get this book about San Luis going. We shall see how that goes. I really hope to make that happen. I think “J” will be a great help, in fact I don’t think I could do it without him. I love that guy!

I’ll write more tonight maybe. I have a lot on my mind. Cheers and keep reading……

My daughter is just taking off in a plane headed for Texas. It will be taking off as I type this. What will I be doing with myself this week???? I’m sure I’ll have lots of things to keep my busy as usual! I’m taking off tomorrow, which is my volunteer day with the birds to pick up my Dad from a doctors appointment. He will have some eye surgery. His bottom eyelashes in one eye turn totally inward, so I can’t imagine how good that will feel to get fixed up. Poor guy!

When I woke up this morning I was ready for back surgery. Today is not the best day, but as I have been up for awhile and taken a pain pill, it feels pretty good now. I’m actually looking forward to surgery in the future. It won’t be for quite some time though, I need lots of things to fall into place before that happens. I will need someone to help me, and since I won’t be able to work for a week of more, I will need to be able to figure all that out. What a pain literally!

I just finished a sort of chic book called “The Lucky One” Great love story about a Marine who went to Iraq, and what happened to him. It’s fiction and written my Nicholas Sparks. I would recommend the book. I cried of course, but it’s really not a sad book, maybe just because some of the things are sort of heavy and I’m a chic….sooooo, I squirted a couple of tears.

I talked to my friend Kevin yesterday. Kevin was my first boyfriend. I met him when I was 17 I believe and we still remain friends to this day. Kevin will be going through some intense medical treatment next week, but he was supposed to start last week. Since I thought it was last week, I called him yesterday to see how things went and to wish him a belated birthday, which was the 15th.

One thing about Kevin that makes me so irritated is….in an hour long conversation, or any conversation with Kevin he does all the talking and never asks one question about me. It’s always about him. Always!!!! He did ask one question about Shelby, and how school was going for her. That was it…..the whole rest of the conversation was totally about him. I know this about Kevin and it does make it difficult to listen to for an hour, but that is the way he is.

What is weird is he is dating one of my very first room mates I ever had when I moved out of home. She is a singer and Kevin is a musician and now they have hooked up and they seem to be crazy about each other from what he says. Cool!

My house is quiet, but Shelby will be having so much fun on her trip to visit her boyfriend of 3 years in Texas. I believe he will be coming out here around New Years??? I’m not quite sure. He is such a great guy! I just love him!

So there you have it! Quiet down time? Or party time? It’s all right here now for me.

I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. I’m at work and sort of busy, sort of not busy. I am just wanting something to take photos of. I was hoping to be back on a ranch this weekend, but I don’t see that happening. William had asked me to come down, he was going to brand and wanted some more photos, since his girls are in town. I can’t make it though. I HAVE to work tomorrow. I’ve got a busy day.

I wish I could just live my life on a ranch so that way I don’t have to have that constant want inside of me. I crave the space. I loved being on “J” ranch and on William’s ranch. It only fuels my fire though. I can’t get enough of it. I want to breathe that life daily. I am so meant for that life. It has been so elusive to me. WHY?

I guess most ranchers don’t come to Denver for haircuts. We do have a few people that come in that own ranches, but I think they are all married women, and I “like a the dickie”. I just wish dick wouldn’t come with dickie.

I talked to my friend Juan for quite awhile last night. I thought we were going to MMA fights tonight. He has asked me to go down to San Luis to his place next weekend. I think that would be pretty dang fun. I find Juan very interesting. That’s all I’ll say, since he reads my blog pretty regularly it seems. Nice guy, Hispanic, etc. I love those Hispanic men. Ok, I love men in general.

I haven’t heard much from Jeffrey. He is playing war with Army boys in Texas. Mostly shooting guns it sounds like. He was getting a bit bolder last night with his texts. Hmm???

I’m getting ready to do some cool photo stuff at the old Gates Rubber Company. I got a connection today. I have been trying to figure out how to get on the property without getting arrested. I also got some good leads on getting down in the rail yards for some shots of graffiti on the rail cars. I was a great week for my photo work.

My daughter will be going to Texas on Monday. She is so excited! I’m excited for her. Greg is such a great guy and they get along so well. I need to call his mom and talk to her too. I just can’t get off the phone when I call her. She is quite the talker, but very nice and sweet as can be. Shelby has been talking about making some dessert with her for Thanksgiving.

I might write more tonight. I have a client coming in, so I must stop writing. I know it makes you sad, but you’ll get more of me later.

Geez, I post a blog about a guy (Jeffery) and he texts me to tell me what I have wrong in my blog about him. Lordy Jeff, maybe you should just write your own blog about you and I’ll just post it on my popular blog site so you can be somebody????

Jeffrey’s Westcliffe photo

The weekend he took this photo I was on the other side of this mountain range, the Sange de Cristo’s. Very pretty range, and one I could look at all my life if I ever have the pleasure to live in Westcliffe.

I just got off the phone with Jeffrey. I had an inside joke with him this evening about Frijoles and that is why I had to title this blog Frijoles. He corrected me on my previous blog. I guess he doesn’t know fiction when he reads it. Ok, seriously he had to text me that he was in the Army much longer than the Navy….not scoring points in my family there Jeff! Then he added that he was a custom boot maker for longer than he was in the Army. He is a military analyst now. It sounds like a pretty cool job. He is in Texass right now as I type this.

We actually might have a date on Monday night. Shelby will be leaving town for Texass and he will be coming back. That is sort of weird. Jeffrey and I get along pretty well over the phone. He seems really fun, and he loves hunting, so two good things. He even told me communication is the most important thing in a relationship. WOW! An evolved man! He is younger than me which is good, so maybe I can find one that can keep up with me. : )

The other big news, besides Jeffrey being a boot maker is that my daughter got her license today. Crap, now this whole worry about the kid thing hits a whole new level. I don’t worry about her driving, she is an awesome motorist, but it’s all the bad drivers and drunks that might be headed her way. Nobody better crash into my kid!!!! It was a big milestone for all of us involved. My heart is happy and sad all the same. It is so cool to see your kid happy, healthy, and able to live a great life. The killer is that you have to let them grow and be whoever they want to be in life. I love her so much, it is beauty and sadness to see her grow. I’m having anxiety already about when she will leave for college, but driving, this is another stress, that I don’t need but happily signed up for. My baby is getting so big! I love her to the moon and back!

Jeffrey is waiting in his hotel room for this blog, I’m sure he will have more to add. Maybe I should get him to write my first “guest” blog, about what ever is on his mind, besides me anyway.

See you soon Jeff.

I haven’t posted a blog about my daughter. As her mother, I try to keep her life private.

I must say though, I believe I have the most awesome child in the world. Even as a little kid she was so fun! Now as a junior in high school she is starting her journey of searching for colleges. I’m not quite sure where she will end up……but I know she will be looking forward to spreading her wings. We get along well. She is so sensitive, and feels bad when she hurts my feelings, or anyone’s feelings.

She has talked about going to a college in Texas to be near Greg (her boyfriend) and his family.

It will be a trip to not have her around the house in less than two years now. WoW! Where will my life take me after she leaves? Adventure? Loneliness? Marriage? Hmmm??? One never knows until it happens.

Saturday is ahead of me and I hope I have a busy day at work. Cory is coming in. It’s always nice to see him.

I had actually started this blog a couple of weeks ago and now I’m getting around to publishing it.

She just got back from her Kairos retreat and it seems like she had a good time. That is all I could ask for. She was so tired and slept well last night. I was glad to hear the main thing she got was that her and I really do have a great relationship. I know we do, but it’s nice to hear it from her. My little Bug!

She has a ton of homework to work on, but she’ll get it all done. I really do have the best child ever!!! Sorry to all of you who have the 2nd, 3rd, and so on. I got the best one! I feel sorry for the kids who have bad parents or the parents who have terrible kids. It just shouldn’t be that way. Life is great and to have a great child means so much to me. I love you Shelby…..Bug!

Please read my Contest a la Frankie Blog below.

Let’s see…….sometimes I get a title for a blog just from what comes to my mind for the day.

This one is a bit odd but as you read on maybe it will make more sense.

I started my day, by dropping my daughter off at school. Today is her day to go to her retreat where she will have many self discoveries and surprises. I already miss her. She will have a great time though, and I gathered 20…..yes, 20 letters in a matter of a few days to surprise her with on Wednesday evening when they are on her bed as she comes back to her room from a heavy session or talking about her life issues. It was very fun to gather them for her. I can honestly say, her Dad was sort of a butt head about this. He didn’t want to participate at all, but I told him he had to. Of all times, he needed to step up to the plate for her. I had talked to a woman at her school yesterday and she made me aware that 20 letters was incredible. Most kids don’t get that many, but I wanted Shelby to know that she is so loved, by so many. She is truly blessed and I am blessed to be her momma.

I look forward to her return and to reading her letters.

Then I came home and jumped in the shower to get ready to go play with the big birds. I arrived there and started out to the loafing shed. A long row of smaller cages for the birds that need help recovering before they are set free. I get out there and start cleaning the cages. The first cage I can’t go in. There is a nasty Golden Eagle in there. The second has Cooper’s Hawks. Very cool bird. They have some very vocal moments. From little tiny chirps to load vocal squawks when they are unhappy with another Cooper Hawk. The next cage has a Goshawk. My favorite hunter of all the birds. Flying through the forest at incredible speeds and I mean incredible speeds. I have seen a film of it and was blown away. Totally cool. Can you imagine flying super fast through the pine trees here? The next cage has a Red Tail Hawk that just doesn’t want to fly yet. I’m not sure what is wrong with it, and I don’t think anyone really knows what it’s deal is. It seems totally healthy until it tries to fly. Then there was a new little Sharp-shinned hawk. It’s a smart one……goes for an open door if given the opportunity. It looks like a small version of a Cooper’s Hawk.

A really cool guy, Brett, came to visit. He had done some community service out there and came back to visit today. He is one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. Total gentleman. Very helpful, attentive, nice, etc. He bought my lunch today which was shocking. I think he likes my sick humor. I still have had no luck getting the gutter out of my mind. Maybe someday! I tell them all sorts of stories. You would think I would be the one blushing the way I talk, but I made Heidi so red hearing my sick stories. I have too many stories. Heidi and I are going to go the his bar this week. He works at the Electric Cowboy. Never been there.

We had a tour from Buckley Air Force Base. They bring us many rabbits for the birds to eat. Very nice people. There was even a wild Bald Eagle that decided to visit the site today. It landed in a tree and then flew around for photos.

After the tour people left, the 3 of us Heidi, Brett, and myself went to the ICU about a mile away and picked up a HUGE Golden Eagle. Before Heidi caught the Golden, Brett put a tiny little Swift on me. It is such a cute little bird. It loves people. It missed migration and will live there until next Spring.

Back to the Golden. I have never seem one this big. So many golden lined feathers. I love watching Heidi work. She is a master at her job. You would not catch me doing half the stuff she does. I wish I could post photos on here, but it goes against their wishes there. We checked it’s wings to make sure there were no breaks and Brett marked the wing with a Sharpie Pen to identify it later. The talons were vicious. I can’t imagine being in it’s grip. Then I drove back to the Farm while Heidi held the Eagle in her lap. Believe it or not, these birds love looking out the window. They seem fascinated by moving without flying. We got it back and let it go in the big Eagle flight cage there.

Bees……..well, I can’t say I have a Bee story to go along with my title other than me being in love with bees and the Birds and the Bees.

That was about my day. I am now home alone, hoping Shelby is having a great time on her retreat. I miss her.

No luck on my Contest a la Frankie

I’m a loser……….I’m already back on Match.com God, I don’t know why I do that to myself, but I do.

Please read my Contest a la Frankie Blog Contest. You could be a winner!

Almost time to vote too!!!!!!!!!! Sweet!

I’ve known the Ritter family for about 12 years now. My daughter, Shelby went to school with the 4 Ritter children. Bill Ritter and his wife Jeannie have the best family. I love their kids!

August the oldest will graduate this coming year. Abe (the dark one) is going to Gonzaga and is in his second year there. Samuel, who has my favorite is a Senior at the same school as my daughter right now. Then Talley, being the lone girl in the family besides Jeannie, of course. August, is very personable. Always there with the hug and big smile. My daughter was so infatuated by him when she was 6. She would wait with all her little friends at school and wait until he came out to the playground after lunch, and scream his name. He would nicely wave. Abe, is the one who looks like his Daddy. Very smart, maybe the smartest one in the bunch. They are all gorgeous!!!! Then Sam…..I love this kid. I spent the most time around him at school since he is only one year older than Shelby. He doesn’t have a shy bone in his body. I remember him at school one day when I had to pick up Shelby early for a dentist appointment. I walked into the Computer class and there was Sam singing and dancing some TV commercial I had heard a million times, heading back to his seat. He’s my kind of kid. I guess he’s been in a bit of trouble at school, but he will be fine in the long run. Talley, is so beautiful and loving. She reminds me of Shelby actually. I ggo them confused a couple of times. She is more reserved then her brothers.

Jeannie was in my work today after I had called her to have her write a letter to my daughter to receive on a retreat she will be going on next week with school. It’s a secret deal. The kids have no idea what is going to happen. I do…….sort of. The family and friends of the student write the kids letters, and the kids will get them after some intense discussions. I had called Jeannie to write Shelby a note to surprise her. Sam, was home and also wrote Shelby a note. She will be soooooooooo happy to receive those two. I even called her boyfriend Gregg, in Texas, to have him write her a note. This should turn out pretty cool.

Since Bill Ritter became governor of Colorado, I don’t get to hang out with them or see them as much. They are the best people and I believe Bill is doing a great job as governor. He is very much into the environment, ranching, fishing, drinking, etc. They are just the most regular family as family in the governors mansion.

I was thrilled that Jeannie did this for me, but more importantly that she did this for Shelby at such an important time for her on this retreat. Jeannie even cried as she was telling me how great this will be for Shelby. I guess her kids did this and loved it!

Thanks Jeannie! You are a good friend, and fun to be around.

Other than having the Ritter family as friends, my day was nice. I was okay busy at work and tomorrow is busy. I love that ! I had great clients today, good conversations, and over all a good day.

The one sad part of the day though, was my boss Frank, got a phone call that a long time friend, whom I know died today. He literally ran out the door after about 2 calls. Penny and Vicki were a very loving gay couple. I think they had been together for 30 or so. Vicki had invited me up to Steamboat to a ranch up there for branding day, but it just never happened. Penny, who died, was funny, sweet, a kick in the butt to be around. I will go to her funeral in sadness and in to celebrate her wonderful life she had. She had been so sick with some super rare form of icky stuff, and it finally killed her today.

I’m glad Frank is their friend. He is so incredible in these moments with his friends. Awesome guy, awesome friends too.

I’ve been thinking about Match.com again. I hate sitting around and not getting out. Not that I was dating that much…..I guess it was more the job it gave me when I was bored. I had some weird sort of attention from men I didn’t know. You kind of get used to that and when that is gone, it’s sort of quite.

i’m not going to get on until January though. I have told myself this over and over. I don’t need stupid Match.com……..right????

I haven’t had a vacation in the last 2 summers. Waaaa! The last one was in Mexico. I had picked a very cool little village named Sayulita. Very Frankie like. It was way too hot though. I don’t really see a vacation in my future, but it would be nice.

I need a trip to Wyoming to some hot springs or something like that. I need a good soak. Maybe when Shelby is on her Christmas break, we could both go. I’ll need a good C. J. Box book though. I can burn though one of those on a nice relaxing weekend. Sit by a fire for a while then go soak for a while. It’s a great place to hike around too. Last time I was there was so awesome. There was a Great Horned Owl outside the place I was staying and I had a cool nature moment.

My dream vacation this Winter would be with a guy. We would head to Yellowstone. Ride snowmobiles during the day and relax, snowshoe at night, check out Old Faithful, soak in more hot springs somewhere. I’d be in charge of finding the Hippy Dip somewhere.

Mmm…..I need a nice romantic vacation.

Shelby would be, and is a great vacation buddy to have though. We get along well, and she is old enough now to do what she wants, and I don’t have to worry. She is such a good kid!

Any takers……yellowstone? : )

I tend not to get really worked up about a ton of things, but geez! My life is crazy. This year has been such a challenge for me. It’s still be a fun year, but the stress level of things is much higher than usual. I’m already looking forward to 2009. I hate rushing anything, especially time.

For the first time in my life I have had health issues. I had biopsy’s on both of the twins a few months ago. Sure, I’m happy that everything turned out well for me, but the cost of such a procedure is soooo expensive. I’ll be paying off that for awhile. Then I have had some back issues for the first time also.

My doctor sucks and really didn’t want to help me. She told me I should go to a chiropractor. I did and he freaked me out thinking I had some sort of cancer tumor in my back. Well after many months of pain, I finally told my doctor I wanted an MRI. I got one and they found I have two buldging disks. It’s been putting pressure on a nerve that heads into my right hip. I have some good days and some bad days. Advil has become a necessary evil. I don’t know if it’s from some crazy motocross accident I had or just standing on my feet for 26 years cutting hair?? Not sure!

I also have some legal issues going on with my daughters Dad. We were never married, he wasn’t on the birth certificate, and for 16 years we never went to court. Now we are. He served me with papers, trying to get 50-50 custody. That is about all I can say now before the court date……not knowing if he will be reading my blog looking for something that will help him in court. I will write more next Friday about what happened.

There are a few other things going on too, that I can’t write about. I’m actually a pretty private person. Believe it or not! I didn’t think I would ever write a blog. My web guy told me it will get me much more traffic to my website, so that is the reason I blog.

It’s been raining so much here in Denver. I think we are closing in on 2 inches. The mountains in some areas have received more than 6 inches of snow. Geez! I find that crazy since it should be baking hot still here.

My little neighbor lady who is near 90 told me a little story about how to tell if it is going to be a early winter or not. It’s all about the crickets and when they start to make their noise. She told me the story years ago and I didn’t pay that much attention to it. I have asked her several times if she remembers the dates and she doesn’t remember. Dang! I did notice however that the crickets started sooo early this year. It just might be an early Winter.

Not much going on in the guy category. It’s a bit frustrating. I think much of my stress level would go down if I had a boyfriend. I’d say something funny about that, but most, if not all of us know how to relieve stress huh?

Match.com is busy, but it’s mostly city guys. I’ve been talking to a man up in Montana who is a small time rancher and oil man. He is a single Dad. He smokes though…….yucky! I have never ever dated a smoker, but even dating a guy who lives that far away would be tough, ya know?

Something is going to change for me soon I hope. I need some company, someone to hang with, someone to lean on in hard times.

I got to play with all the Birds of Prey this week. That was fun! Sadly a yearling Golden Eagle got West Nile. It might not make it. It didn’t seem to care that I was in the cage with it. I cleaned the cage and took some photos of it. Birds of Prey doesn’t allow me to post any photos though. It’s a HUGE bird!!! What I like about it, was being able to get that close to it and the way it legs looked. From it’s body down to its feet, it looks like it has some cowboy chaps on. Fuzzy ones! I loved how beautiful it is and how large those really are.

My daughter and I went to an art class last night. I saw these 2 guys on TV and was very interested. They call themselves the “Magnet Mafia” They and others create art on magnets and then put them up around Denver. They don’t mind if people take the magnets. I wish I could even find one to take home. I do better in my own home creating art. When under pressure, I’m not so creative. I am a pretty good artist, but not last night. The subject was change, and Shelby made a really cool peace sign in the Earth on one the outside are flower petals. I hope to make some more soon. We had our photos taken for the Rocky Mountain News. I’m not sure if the photos will make it in, but it was very fun.