Thursday, October 10, 2002
Shady Acres Mobile Home Park, Lafayette, CO - Aug 8-Oct 10
Did you notice there was a gap between nights in Salida and Lafayette? That was when we left the trailer at Casey's in Wheat Ridge (Denver suburb) & stayed in a house in Longmont for 3 nights. What an unusual but pleasant experience! Mickey Andreine, mother of our friend Pat, graciously opened her large downstairs suite to us & the 4 cats for as long as we needed, without even knowing us. It was a lovely space, though it felt strange to be out of our home for the first time in almost 3 years. The cats adapted quite well, and Rainbow was especially crabby about being taken from this nice place when we left. Trixie, however, was a little frightened by all the space. We think she was afraid she would end up "on her own" again!
We were VERY UNHAPPY with Casey's. With a lot of unpleasant complaining, we were able to get our major problem resolved to our satisfaction. We can only hope they packed the wheel bearings correctly. Most everything else we eliminated because they were so very expensive. They charge $89 minimum for each separate job, even though they are working on the same unit. Plus their interface is very unsatisfactory. We will not take our trailer back there again.
We are now parked in the same MH park in Lafayette where we have stayed twice before. It is a bit on the seedy side but shows signs of being here for several more years before "urban renewal" strikes. We plan to be here until at least 9/15 and maybe as long as 10/13. It is pleasant to be back visiting with our friends, playing bridge & going to concerts. We enjoy the Boulder area a lot.
The city of Longmont is having a "Wild Goose Chase", featuring whimsical geese sculptures on display all over the town. We have seen most of them, & they are quite cute. Boulder is having the same thing next year with 2-ft tall prairie dog sculptures to decorate. We are hoping to be back to see them.
We have ushered at a couple of Colorado Music Festival concerts & attended a chamber concert. We went to an evening of Contra Dancing on the plaza outside the Dushanbe Teahouse. We have had several get-togethers with old friends & have many more planned. Our bridge games start this weekend, which we are looking forward to greatly. We were also lucky enough to arrive just in time for the 25th anniversary celebration events for the Boulder Pearl Street Mall. This was especially fun for Willie, who was here in Boulder when the mall was built. There were a lot of pleasant reminiscences, along with a film about the history of the mall & old episodes of "Mork & Mindy".
Our stay here was a bit longer than we had originally planned, due to a number of medical issues that required follow-up care, plus just enjoying being with friends so much. We had many good bridge games and were able to eat at all of our favorite restaurants.
We did more birdwatching than we had ever done in this area before. We enjoyed weekly walks with the Boulder Birding Club, plus we went several times with our friends Bill & Becky Eeds. The highlight of these outings was when we got the opportunity to go with them to the Birds of Prey raptor rehabilitation facility. We got to assist in releasing 19 Swainson's Hawks and 15 American Kestrels. We each personally released one hawk and two kestrels. 
It was magnificent and a memory to be treasured. Since we hadn't been birding in the Boulder area before, we added quite a few new ones to our life list: Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Wilson's Phalarope, Baird's Sandpiper, Franklin's Gull, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Pygmy Nuthatch, Sage Thrasher, Virginia's Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee.
All the medical appts are over, and we are looking forward to heading south soon. We will miss our friends very much, but we hope to be back here in about a year.
We were VERY UNHAPPY with Casey's. With a lot of unpleasant complaining, we were able to get our major problem resolved to our satisfaction. We can only hope they packed the wheel bearings correctly. Most everything else we eliminated because they were so very expensive. They charge $89 minimum for each separate job, even though they are working on the same unit. Plus their interface is very unsatisfactory. We will not take our trailer back there again.
We are now parked in the same MH park in Lafayette where we have stayed twice before. It is a bit on the seedy side but shows signs of being here for several more years before "urban renewal" strikes. We plan to be here until at least 9/15 and maybe as long as 10/13. It is pleasant to be back visiting with our friends, playing bridge & going to concerts. We enjoy the Boulder area a lot.
The city of Longmont is having a "Wild Goose Chase", featuring whimsical geese sculptures on display all over the town. We have seen most of them, & they are quite cute. Boulder is having the same thing next year with 2-ft tall prairie dog sculptures to decorate. We are hoping to be back to see them.We have ushered at a couple of Colorado Music Festival concerts & attended a chamber concert. We went to an evening of Contra Dancing on the plaza outside the Dushanbe Teahouse. We have had several get-togethers with old friends & have many more planned. Our bridge games start this weekend, which we are looking forward to greatly. We were also lucky enough to arrive just in time for the 25th anniversary celebration events for the Boulder Pearl Street Mall. This was especially fun for Willie, who was here in Boulder when the mall was built. There were a lot of pleasant reminiscences, along with a film about the history of the mall & old episodes of "Mork & Mindy".
Our stay here was a bit longer than we had originally planned, due to a number of medical issues that required follow-up care, plus just enjoying being with friends so much. We had many good bridge games and were able to eat at all of our favorite restaurants.
We did more birdwatching than we had ever done in this area before. We enjoyed weekly walks with the Boulder Birding Club, plus we went several times with our friends Bill & Becky Eeds. The highlight of these outings was when we got the opportunity to go with them to the Birds of Prey raptor rehabilitation facility. We got to assist in releasing 19 Swainson's Hawks and 15 American Kestrels. We each personally released one hawk and two kestrels. 
It was magnificent and a memory to be treasured. Since we hadn't been birding in the Boulder area before, we added quite a few new ones to our life list: Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Wilson's Phalarope, Baird's Sandpiper, Franklin's Gull, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Pygmy Nuthatch, Sage Thrasher, Virginia's Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee.
All the medical appts are over, and we are looking forward to heading south soon. We will miss our friends very much, but we hope to be back here in about a year.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:58 AM 
