My Own Colorado Winter Wonderland

 Welcome to my Winter Wonderland!

Come on over through the gate and take a look around!

The trees are covered with a beautiful snow!

I have been whisked up into a postcard of White!

On heavy cloudy days it almost appears in shades of black and white! 

The pine trees are so heavy in their strong branches as the weight from the snow weights them down.

 

 Even the birds are staying in, no picnic today!  

 Planting a yardstick in the white powder is a fun way to measure how much snow we got on this particular day.

 The trees and fence never fail to give my camera a pretty picture. I feel like a grand photographer!

 

It seems so silent and still. A quiet moment in this cold beautiful weather.

But life has not stood still. Yes, I have to adventure out in this weather. The fog was very thick!

 But when the sun comes out, all the snow crystals are divine!

 God has painted a wonderful blanket in white!

 

Even the barbed wire and phone lines are frosted. This is my view of Pikes Peak with the fog! 

Then this is my view another snowy day with no fog. The Colorado Rocky Mountains.

I am so blessed to be surrounded with all this winter beauty.

Hope you enjoyed your visit. I am really happy that you came by!

God bless you,

Little Susie Home Maker

Colorado is on Fire Again

Hello Dear Friends,

I hope you are all safe and well. I am doing good, but it is not a good time for Colorado. You may remember that last year about this time, I blogged about the Waldo Canyon Fire. That was a terrible ordeal. But we have had wonderful support in our community and the rebuilding and planting had begun.

My daughter and her classmates helped with planting new trees in the Waldo Canyon burn zone. May 2013.

But terrible news is that our dry state is in terrible need for rain. We have several wild fires burning out of control. The three major ones started yesterday and from most serious to least of these three in that order are the Black Forest Fire, The Royal Gorge Fire, and the La Veta Fire.

You can see the Royal Gorge fire to the left and the Black Forest Fire to the right of us. We took this panoramic picture last night view toward Pikes Peak. June 11, 2013.

Unfortunately, I am right in between the two largest fires, and by in between I mean that the Black Forest Fire is only a few miles away. It has grown a lot closer since this picture yesterday. It is affecting approximately 8,000 to 12,000 acres. This is a very populated and heavily forested area. Homes are about every 2 to 5 acres apart. The latest I heard Update on Black Forest fire: Preliminary reports show 92 homes a total loss, 315 homes still standing, 5 homes partially affected. This is the fire that I am most impacted with and I have the most news on.

Home burning in Black Forest Colorado, June 11, 2013. Picture courtesy of denver.cbslocal.com

As of today at at 5:30 pm there are around 9000 people directly affected by this fire. This means about 3400 residents or thousand of evacuees. 

School June 12, 2013 approx 4:30 pm

 Even my sons school was being fought to save over night by this furious fire. The fire is at present 0% contained.

Picture of huge fire plumes from my yard of Black Forest fire.

The air quality is not good for anyone. With record high teperatures in the 90's and 100's across the state and windy dry weather. No chance of rain until atleast Monday.

A pronghorn runs across a field Wednesday, June 12, 2013, while a helicopter from Fort Carson helps fight the Black Forest Fire. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

So if you could, please include the state of Colorado, the Firefighters and all the people and animals affected by these fires. Yes, there are a lot of horses and other farm animals as well as pets affected by this as well.

As far as the Royal Gorge Bridge, it has not been burned down but 3400 acres have been destroyed.

I don't mean to sound like a news cast, but this is impacting me and my State, and some of you I am sure. My prayers go out to all of us. I am so grateful that the Fire Fighters are working so hard, and that almost everyone is evacuating when asked. Yes there were some that didn't we will learn more about that later. I pray all are safe.

Bless you all, and I hope to have a much happier post nest time.

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

Stop for the View

It is March which brings our minds to Spring. I am sure looking forward to warmer weather. But March doesn't really mean warm weather just yet! Here in Colorado you can never predict the weather and we get a lot of snow this time of year. Are you still getting snow? It is great for pretty picture taking! I love to stop along the side of the road and take pretty pictures when I have time.

 

I can never complain about the view! This is Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountain Range. I have to admit I think it is about the most beautiful mountain ranges ever. When covered with snow it just highlights every little nook and valley! I love to stop and take pictures like this one. I have this view every day and am so thankful for being blessed to live in such a beautiful area! 

No, these are not my horses, but I had to take a pretty picture of them to share with you, too. 

Do you like to stop along side the road and take pictures too?

I am trying to get ready for Spring, but this is what it is like for Springtime here!!

Blessings from Colorado,

Little Susie Home Maker

Preview to Farewell Leaves

I don't know about you, but I am feeling the crisp morning air and anticipating the wonderful Autumn weather. Just around the corner leaves will be changing colors and dropping soon after. I already have some doing this now. It is one of the prettiest times of year here in Colorado. So I decided to look back into my blog and last year when I had barely started my blog.. I had posted some beautiful pictures, that I am going to share again with you now. They were from my Cottonwoods in my yard, and I don't think a single person even looked at the post. So now I will do a little preview of my fall leaves in my yard from last year 11-26-2011.
Enjoy!

FAREWELL LEAVES

With Thanksgiving past, and what a wonderful time it was, I am now switching gears to prepare for Christmas. For me this means saying farewell to the gorgeous Autumn color pallet.

I will first take down all my Autumn leaf garlands and little pumpkins and gourds, etc. Out with the oranges, yellows, reds and browns. What a pretty pallet of colors.

This always makes me a little sad because I don't believe my Harvest theme gets enough time to be on display. Next year I must start right in September!

Just like my pretty trees, the leaves just start to glisten in gold and a cold snap hits and BOOM! They all drop to the ground! Don't blink or you will miss it.
So I decided to share a couple of pictures I took of my large Cottonwood tree that was in full golden beauty just a few week ago. I really believe that trees change to these fire colors in the Fall so we will look at them in awe. Not to mention, make us feel as if we are really the worlds greatest photographers.

It is really God that does all the work, but He gives us these beautiful views to photograph, paint, or just enjoy. We can feel good about it. Thank you Father for the beautiful Autum color pallet! I love it.

Hope you enjoy my trees pretty fall colored leaves!

Blessings,
Little Susie Home Maker

Good Eggs and Good Jam

Today both of my children are in school, hubby has gone to work and here is the beginning of this next little time in my life. The summer has been quick and I am not ready for it to start winding down. I am that mom that is so happy when her kids are on break, not the one that can't wait until they go back. I often wonder why moms feel that way?

The yard is dry and the allergens are kicking in again. Colorado is a beautiful area to live in when Fall comes. Hubby was helping get the Little Red Barn all cleaned out and ready for winter again. We needed to repaint the wooden floors. He will have to work on some new roosts that I want changed for making it easier to get in and out of this winter. Boy he is nice to do this for me! Here is a little of the mess that was inside that needs to find another place. Why did we put that in the coop?

Junk outside my little barn that needs put somewhere else!

I have a little nursery side I love to brood the chicks in. It is just perfect. Chicken wire is attached to the framed wall;  to see through to the other chickens that already are here. I decided to order some more chicks this fall, as soon as we get things ready for them.

 I wintered over the babies last year and I found that I love doing it in the fall instead of the traditional Spring. Mainly because Fall here is like Summer, and Spring is like Winter. It is so much easier to keep them warm those first few weeks of life! By the time Spring comes they are very acclimated to each other and they get along pretty well with out all the barnyard squabbling that can go on.

I let my chickens free-range most of the summer. Yes, that means that a few have mysteriously vanished. But they are so much happier and healthier. 

They also have a nice sized fenced in run that gives them plenty of well protected outdoor time.

The eggs that they produce are so rich and yummy! Nobody can ever get enough of them. I always have people that want these fresh eggs! I can't blame them, nothing like those sold at the grocery store!

My girls under the Choke Cherries. There favorite spot!

We had a bumper crop of Wild Choke Cherries on our property this year.

Choke Cherry fruit on my bushes.

 I went ahead and made two batches of jam, left the rest for the birds. I had enough to make 100 batches! I kinda wished I had made more than two batches , but there is always next year! Now my wild plums are doing great, and just turning ripe this week! I see some more Jam making on the horizon

. 

My Choke Cherries

Speaking of Jam. Donna at Donna's Lavender Nest and I decided it would be fun to trade a jar of jam. So she sent me this wonderful jar of Peach Jam and I sent her a jar of mine! Oh, gosh it is so good! She is such a sweety, do you know she even slipped in this amazing fabric. It has red on white polka dots and strawberry and cherry bunches printed on it!!!

Man she knows what I like! I still have to figure out the perfect thing to do with this! Thanks so much , Donna!

I tell you, fresh preserves and fresh eggs! Breakfast just couln't get any better!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and good wishes for my healing time. I do still have a ways to go, yet I can manage to get a little time on the computer every now and again. Love to visit you all when I can.  Please leave me comment and say hi!

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

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Ride Through the Country with Bear

Yippie! I get to ride in the car!

Would you like to tag along on a ride through our country side with, Bear and I?

He and I enjoy our ride to his groomer every month. Jumping in the front seat, Bear is ready to go sight seeing along the way! So, I thought that I would take along the camera this trip and share what a pretty little ride it is to her place from our house.Bear has really pretty soft long hair, and he has a very nice groomer. She bathes and cleans him up every four weeks. Bear loves to go for his grooming.

 We see lots of beautiful and interesting things along the way. It was foggy this morning. The horses in the mist looked so pretty, don't you think?

 A near by street corner, have to take this picture of the mailboxes.

After, I drop off Bear, I pass the General Store.

Okay, this is when I go home and wait for my call to pick Bear back up, usually about 2 hours. After I go to pick Bear up, the fog has burned off. 

Bear is so excited to stop and say, "Hello!" to some nearby friends in the field! 

His friend says, "Hi!" back.

 I get such a kick out of how my Little Bear is so happy!

There is no shortage of farm life along the way.

I stop to take a few more pictures. There is plenty of cattle.

Look at this trio, a Bull. a Cow, and a Calf!

Bear and I make it back to our home. Doesn't he look pretty and happy? We will do it all over again in a few weeks!

I feel so blessed to live in such a pretty place. God has so many beautiful creatures that He has given to us.

I am so thankful,

Especially for my Little Buddy Bear!

Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

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