Count Down - #2

On the south side of Delta, there sits an old home, once someone's dream I suspect, but no more. It now it sits, waiting for what will surly come. I drive by it often, and this past April I captured this shot as spring embraced the home one more time.

Count Down - #3

On January first, the theme is your favorite picture of the year, so I thought I would do a top three, and here is #3. It was originally posted on 10/14, and shows the first snow up in Imogene Basin, which is about 50 miles to the South of Delta. The place has a special meaning for me as one year earlier we scattered some of my Mom's ashes there, near a waterfall that was one of her favorite places to visit.

Getting That Time of the Year Again

Well, it's getting that time of year again, time to figure out just how long we are going to keep the tree up, and what what do you do with used trees in Delta.......

How long do you keep your tree up after Christmas?

Yes There Is!

An Jilly, you were right, it was a ball. Somehow she knew!

Is There Anything for Me?

Our dog Abby waited patiently for her presents on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

We have six kids, and remarkably, we have not spent all that many days in the hospital with them. Christmas Eve was only the second time I have found myself in the hospital with one of the kids on a holiday, and the last time was about 16 years ago with Tim. Well, this year Rose got the honor. She did well at Angel Tree all day and seemed ok, but then she got a 104 fever, had trouble breathing, could not stand, then said something that really got us moving, "My arms and legs are going numb". Off to the hospital we went. It turns out that she has the flu (the real thing), and once we got her settled down and and the fever broke, she started to get back to normal.

Once we understood that that was not going to be a major illness, I found myself sitting in the room with her for a couple of hours as the completed all the tests, and naturally my thoughts went to this blog. :) So, using my camera of last resort, a.k.a my cell phone, I too this shot of the rather interesting light they have over the beds.

When all is said and done, we are thankful that Rose will come through all of this fine, and hope your Christmas was less eventful!

Merry Christmas!

Delta feels somewhat idyllic this Christmas morning, almost as much as in this scene found in a local business. I pray that you will allow God to touch and guide you this next year, and that His blessings will flow through you to make a difference in your community. There is no better place to be than in His will.

Angel Tree

Sorry for the late post today, but not really, as we were involved in something very cool. Our church took on 34 families with more than 100 kids in an Angel Tree program put on by the local elementary school. Basically it is a program for struggling parents to assist them in providing Christmas presents to their kids, and in some cases, what this program provides will be all the kids will get for Christmas. Our church is involved in many outreach programs throughout the year, and is VERY generous as a rule, and this program was no exception. It came together rather late when one person found out about the need, and felt called to get us involved, but the names were snapped up quickly, and a small mountain of presents was collected in 1-2 weeks. There had to be something between 40 and 50 bicycles of all types and sizes, and lots more. We spent the entire morning and afternoon delivering the gifts, and I was the logistics person for the delivery operation. There were a few moments of confusion, and we had to get creative tracking down families who moved, parental custody changes, or in one case where a single mom had died since signing up her kids, but I am fairly certain that we got all the gifts to all the kids. Small towns have their advantages. :)

Delivery did present one rather funny episode where the packages were being delivered. The delivery crew went to the door, and explained that they were from Angel Tree and had presents to deliver. The response was “I’m sorry, we don’t have any”, and the door was quickly shut. Sometimes we need to listen better, or we won’t know what we are missing! They called me, wondering what to do, and in the end, we got those gifts delivered as well.

The picture above is from one corner of the gym where we staged the operation. Hopefully it will give you an idea of what we were up to. Next year, if you hear about an Angel Tree program, embrace it, and help make it fly. I know that the people who were involved on both sides were blessed a great deal, and we want to make the opportunity available to as many as possible again next year. Thanks to all who participated, we could not have done it with out you!

Solar Power

Sunshine is a welcome friend on a cold winter day.

Health Food

There is nothing like a "Health Food" sign to great you after a nice piece of Pecan Pie & Ice Cream.

Lights

Delta has lights everywhere this Christmas season. Many streets are like this one, with a majority of the houses showing their spirit. Do you light up your house this time of year? Sorry for the bluring, the wind must have hit the tripod.

Rip In The Sky

Delta has had a rather unusual number of cloud covered days lately. Typically we get 300+ days of sunshine per year, so I guess we are working on the 65 days right now. Yesterday afternoon however, a large rip in the clouds appeared reminding us that the sun was not far off.

Jack Frost Attack

Delta hit single digit temperatures this past week, and Jack Frost was hard at work attacking car windows.

He Ain't Heavy

He's my brother...

Also, thanks Dan for moderating yesterday's comments. You can expect some DDP swag in the mail soon :)

(For those not sure of what swag is, click on the link, and read #3)

No Water

Sorry, I could not help myself. :)

Metal Art Store

I have never been inside of the Metal Art Store, but I like their sign!

View From The Past

I wonder what those in the past would think of the future we have created......

The Edge of Town No More

Back on 10/4/06, I posted a shot of the old building on the right as the edge of town, for now. Well, that time has passed, and "progress" (In the form of a Taco Bell) has started the march east.

Bike Storage

This old bike looks to have been here for some time.

Clouds Win

As the clouds pull back, you can see that they won the fight....for now.

Breakthrough

The sun and storm clouds battle it out up on Grand Mesa.

No Admittance

No room at the Inn, no admittance, same result.

Another Day Closer

The sun rises once again, and we get another day closer to Christmas. You don’t need to look hard around Delta to see that Christmas is coming. Decorations abound, and I don’t recall seeing so many lights up so soon after Thanksgiving. I will try to show you some of the holiday spirit that is around town as we get closer.

Parade of Lights

Last night was the annual Parade of Lights, and one of my favorite floats honored the veterans from years gone by. With all the political talk going on these days, it is easy to forget about the individuals who willingly sacrifice their lives for the freedom we enjoy in this country. Last night, we got a chance to say thank you men and women for your service!

Valley Heartbeat

If you don’t get enough to read in your mail, each of these boxes outside the post office promise to inform you even more.

Round and Round We Go

Exactly where are we going again?

Going and Going and Going

I recall a movie once where a person tied some rope to his steering wheel, and climbed out the sunroof to drive from up there. This worked since there was a distinct lack of roads curves on the road. While I would not recommend this, it just may work here.

Don't Fence Me In

Open land abounds in western Colorado.

Lazy Day

We had a lazy day last week, watching the ducks do the same.

Opening The Shades

I opened the shades on my office window this morning, expecting to see some snow on the ground since it was blowing last night. Alas, next to none on the ground here, but the Grand Mesa got hit, and that view was worth opening up the shades for.

Deep Thought

A penny for your thoughts.......