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Kittens! 

This last week we adopted two adorable male kittens. We brought them home to our household of two males and five females. Our few days of kittenhood have involved countless hours of cuddly, playing, cajoling, and carting around the brothers. They came litter box trained, though they’ve missed getting to it a couple times. We think they are between six and eight weeks old. It’s hard to be certain since they were abandoned in a parking lot. Left in a crate with their young momma and two other siblings…  This part of their story sucked us in to wanting to provide a home for them.

Mind you, we had come up to this crossroads at a couple different instances in the last several years, but said no, and kept walking our previously chosen path of owning one cat. This time, however, we made the fatal mistake of playing with the kittens. We saw how cuddly, playful, and down right adorable these little guys were, and we found it impossible to turn back…. Now you can see why!  IMG_0628

Aren’t they cuties?!?! 🙂 Our sixteen year old cat doesn’t think so, but we are working with her. The bunnies and kittens have seen and sniffed each other, but have yet to play at the same time. The kittens, Toby and Freddy, seemed interested in Charlie, our boy bunny, but a bit terrified of Mazel, our female bunny, though for good reason. She’s twice their size!

IMG_0629IMG_0630Charlie (right side photo) is a small black and white dwarf bunny. He loves to run in this cage, and hop like a mad bunny when given the opportunity to roam free.

Mazel is a golden large bunny. We aren’t sure of either bunny’s age as like the kittens, the bunnies were also rescued from the streets. While difficult to discern from this pictures, trust me when I say Mazel is twice the size of the kittens, and Charlie for that matter.

Many adventures lay before us, and we look forward to sharing more of them here with you!

All for a Peach

Posted on by under Discovery, New places, Time

As the apple season draws to a close with the holidays, and I contemplate how far I will have to drive to get one more delicious apple pie and box of apples, I am reminded of the side trip we took as we left Colorado this summer.… all for a couple boxes of freshly harvested, organic peaches from Morton’s Orchards (#MortonsOrchards).

Palisade, Colorado boasts, for good reason, of their peach harvest each July and August. My family and I make nearly annual road trips to Colorado to visit family each summer, so as we journey home along I-70 we drive right through Palisade.  A couple summers ago as our trip drew to a close, I started looking in Boulder, my hometown, for some Colorado peaches to take home with me. Unfortunately, it seemed I had waited too long to buy them. Several of the local grocers didn’t have anymore, and weren’t expecting more for a few days. This missed opportunity resulted in our first stop in Palisade for peaches. So began our nearly annual stops in Palisade for peaches.

This past summer, I again first looked in Boulder for organic Palisade peaches. I saw them one day at Lucky’s(small local grocer), but then the day I went to buy them they were sold out… again. This stop in Palisade had to be at an organic farm stand. It turns out there aren’t that many in the area. Morton’s Orchards won our business that day after some concerted effort on our part. MortonsOrchards

First of all, to our knowledge they did not have a farm stand just off the highway – like our first trip. So we journeyed about five miles off the interstate to their farm. We found the orchards, but then wondered where to go to buy some peaches. Thankfully, as we pulled into the drive next to this building, an individual pointed us further down the road to a residence.

 

Once we arrived at the first residence and spoke to the farmer/owneMortonsDriver, he asked us to follow him to another part of the property so he could get us fresh peaches out of the cooler. They had picked them earlier that morning. He grabbed two boxes out of his cooler, and explained the importance of keeping them cool. He said if kept refrigerated he said they’d keep for a couple weeks. I didn’t have a cooler large enough for the peaches, but we placed them in a cool part of our car, kept them covered, and out of the sun. Of course, before we left the property, I had to pull one out of the box to sample the deliciousness we purchased. The peach lived up to, actually, it exceeded all my expectations for it. The juicy, succulent tender flesh dazzled my taste buds, and left me filled with joy from the discovery of this new place, Morton’s Orchard. It will be a regular stop for us each time we find ourselves traveling through Palisade on I-70.

You can find Morton’s Orchards at http://www.mortonsorchards.com/. They have their market locations listed there as well as the harvest dates for cherries, apricots, peaches and nectarines. You can also contact them at:

Morton’s OrchardMortonsStreets
3651  E 1/2 Road
Palisade, Colorado 81526
Phone: 720-371-1727
Fax: 970-464-5893
Email: hburtness1@msn.com

© all images and writing by Cindy Albrecht 2014

Camping

Posted on by under Discovery, Time

Camping adventures began at a very young age in my life. My dad loved camping, and while my mom wasn’t much of one before meeting my dad, they found ways to make it work. It meant we had a very rustic (aka no running water or electricity)cabin in the mountains in South Park, Colorado. I expanded my horizons in high school through a backpacking class. I remember my first trip. It snowed nearly two feet the night before we left. I froze that night.

Despite that bitter cold experience, I still kept backpacking. In my twenties, I hiked a lot of trails, and even backpacked to summit some of the famous Colorado fourteeners. I haven’t done much backpacking since having kids, but we have taken numerous tent camping trips to the beaches to Lake Tahoe to Yosemite. I enjoy the opportunity to explore so many different locales that we don’t have just one favorite camping spot!! Stay tuned here for reviews of places we enjoyed exploring!!

© all images and writing by Cindy Albrecht 2014

Adventures

Posted on by under Discovery, Time

Who doesn’t love a great adventure!?! I enjoy traveling, finding new fun things to do as well as visiting old favorite spots. It often takes time to plan and execute, but it’s always worth the effort! I find I feel more rejuvenated about the monotony of everyday life when I make the time for these fun adventures for me and/or my family.
I remember one spring feeling particularly guilty for not getting up to the snow to go sledding with my kids. I thought the window of opportunity had past for that year; however I discovered snow still covered enough of the Sierra Nevadas that all hope for that year was not lost. On the last weekend of March, we packed our car up and headed up the hill to find some snow!! We eventually found a small sledding hill mostly in the shade that provided us with an afternoon of snowy delight in a North Tahoe Recreation and Park area. The snow was too crunchy for snow angels, but still good for making a snowman and sledding. Snow sprayed us as we laughed, played, and climbed in the snow all day!!

© all images and writing by Cindy Albrecht 2014

Carve Out Time

Posted on by under Discovery, Necessity, Survival, Time

Carve Out Time: A Necessity

In a world of instant messaging, virtual games and worlds, online shopping, streaming entertainment, and portable cellular technology, it’s easy to remain plugged in 24/7/365. However it’s important. No it’s imperative that we carve out time in our lives for things apart from this constant technology connectedness. We need this time to be more present with those we love. We need this time to let our creative juices flow. We need this time to settle, calm, and quiet our souls. We need this time to enjoy and hear what the silence has to teach us. We need this time to rest. To restore. To find stillness in a world of perpetual motion.

Carve Out Time: clockfaceA Survival Tactic

As an introvert, I need to carve out time to survive, to recharge, and to keep balance in my life. When I lived alone, prior to marriage, prior to kids, making time for those necessities in my life came without too much effort. If I wanted time alone, I didn’t make plans. I simply didn’t answer the phone. Or I walked out for a run after work when I wanted. If I wanted to read a favorite book or take a nap, I snuggled up under the covers in my bed and read or slept. I enjoyed meeting up with friends without concern for a sitter.

Now if I want to run, or rather take a yoga class, it takes considerably more effort to do so because when I arrive home late in the afternoon I have kids in two with needs to finish homework, to go to soccer practice, or to piano lessons. But I find the time for yoga (or my other necessities) because I need it. When I don’t, I don’t sleep well. When I don’t sleep well, I feel more stressed and tense, which all makes me more crabby and cranky. Crabby and cranky is not great way to make it through life, so I prefer to carve out time for my necessities to avoid grumpville.

Carve Out Time: A New Discovery

New post coming soon!