Cripple Creek Ice Festival 2018~ pt.3

The second weekend of the Ice Festival saw record crowds fill the streets of Cripple Creek. And the additional sculptures added to the magic. 

The sculptures stay up for an additional week for visitors and residents to enjoy. Can't wait to see what's in store for next year!

Cripple Creek Ice Festival 2018 ~ pt.2

While the first day of the event brought a snowstorm to the area, the second day was gorgeous! The beautiful sunshine allowed people to fully enjoy the frosty creations.

In Cripple Creek, no event is complete unless there are DONKEYS!

The City had another shipment of ice brought in before the second weekend because in the past, the ice has melted in the warm temperatures, causing the sculptures to look a bit sad. But this year was different. The cold stuck around all week and the new ice allowed the sculpting teams to create more beautiful-ness. 

Next time we'll take a look at the second batch of sculptures and some night-time views.

Cripple Creek Ice Festival 2018 ~ pt. 1

The Cripple Creek Ice Festival takes place every February for two weekends. What a great way to break up the winter doldrums. Only thing is, it really hasn't been much like winter around here. We have had such extreme temperature swings! Almost Spring-like for a few days, then a storm blows in and brings us a small amount of snow and some frigid temperatures. The last couple years has seen warm temperatures for the Ice Fest and the ice begins melting not long after the first day. But this year was a little different. We had snow arrive on the first day and moderately chilly temperatures continued throughout the first weekend.

The Ice Festival is an interactive ice sculpture event with a different theme every year. The public is encouraged to touch, sit, and enjoy the sculptures carved by the sculpting teams. This year's theme was Renaissance in Ice with five professional ice sculpting teams who turned the downtown area into a medieval wonderland complete with an ice castle, dragon ice slide, carnival games in ice and for the adults a martini ice luge.

The ice was brought in on two semi-trailers over the course of two days- about 180,000 pounds of ice from the Great Lake region of Ohio. That would be 600 blocks of ice each weighing 300 pounds. It was fun watching the process. 

The ice is shrink wrapped for its protection

All manner of items were used to sculpt the ice - axes, chainsaws, blow dryers, kitchen utensils. Whatever gave the carvers the ability to shape the ice.

Next time, we'll take a walk down the street as another storm moves in and we'll view the finished sculptures. 

Happy Halloween!

Elm Tree's Revenge

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A couple of Life's crazy stories .....

Wait, What??????     I was at the grocery store walking down the pet food aisle. There was another person, a man, at the other end of the aisle. As I made my way down the aisle towards the bird seed, I glanced at the man who made eye contact with me and smiled. I briefly smiled back - I always try to smile at people I see or meet in public. There just aren't enough smiles in this world! I decided on a 25lb bag of sunflower seeds and bent over to lift the bag into my cart. The man appeared behind me and offered to help me with the bag. I replied, "Thanks. But I got it. I frequently lift 45lb sacks of cement." The guy gave me a funny look and walked off. Later, when I told Hubby about it, he pointed out that the guy was hitting on me. Sheesh! And I missed it!

Pony Possessed     After having various grandkids visit over the summer, the bathroom has had an assortment of little ponies, dinosaurs and barbies cohabitating. Most of them have found their way back to the toy box. But one single pony has stayed behind standing guard on a low shelf in the tub area. One evening Hubby comes out of the bathroom after showering and tells me that the pony in the shower is possessed. He said that it had been watching him in the shower. That the pony had 'those eyes'. You know, the kind of eyes that follow you around the room......  Hhhhmmmm....maybe I need to 'exorcise' the bathroom.

Revenge of the Elm Tree     I have a wonderful neighbor who has a passion for gardening. She wants to turn her whole yard into a garden so she can feed her family off the garden's bounty for a good part of the winter. The only glitch in that plan is that her back yard is shaded by two elm trees which live in the backyard of her neighbor behind her. My neighbor told me that she has often stood in her back yard, stared at the elm trees and pondered how to get rid of them. About a month after she told me this, our internet went out unexpectedly. A cable tech came out. Upon digging up the ground - in my gardening neighbor's backyard - where the problem was detected, the cable tech discovered that an elm tree root had severed the cable which provided both our houses with internet. Never underestimate the ability of a living being from understanding the spoken (or unspoken!) word.

The HotDog Fairy

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This elusive Fairy came to life during the PAX event (Penny Arcade Expo) in Seattle. PAX is a gaming convention of sorts. PAX events are now being held in other cities in the U.S. 

Early drawing of a Hotdog Fairy
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And what does the Hotdog Fairy do, you ask? Good question! No one knows for sure. Some say that if you place a piece of hot dog in the dirty laundry on a new moon that the Hotdog Fairy will come to visit. Others say the hotdog must be placed under one's pillow. Regardless, I think the little guy needs some mustard.....

Fun with S*N*O*W

Dinovember

Just had to share this with all of you! I love what these parents have come up with to keep the magic and enchantment alive for their kids! {{Thanx Tracy!}} Click Here to read more!

Random Roadtrip ~ America the Beautiful Park

Today's Random Roadtrip is to America the Beautiful Park.
Daughter and The Grands came down for a visit over the long holiday weekend. Instead of a big activity, we decided to "Park Hop". 
And one of the area parks we decided to visit was America the Beautiful Park. It is so named because a nice view of Pikes Peak (which inspired the song America the Beautiful) can be seen from the park.

America the Beautiful Park is a main gathering point for many of the activities that take place in Colorado Springs. It is located next to the downtown area and encompasses 20+ acres.

The main attraction of the park is the rotating sculpture. Looks kinda like a Stargate, huh?
Water falls from the top of the sculpture and falls into a shallow wading area which is extremely popular during the hot months. I know we had fun!

Don't forget to enter my September Give-Away!

Click Here to Enter!

Little Free Library

I ran across an article about "Little Free Libraries" in the newspaper recently and just had to share this wonderful idea! 

Todd Bol has a dream - to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide, to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations, and to build 2,510 Libraries - as many as Andrew Carnegie - and maybe even surpass that number. His vision became the "Little Free Library" project.

Lovely small houses have been erected worldwide. Each little library is given a number and an official sign and then stocked with a variety of books. Readers are encouraged to leave a book for every book that they take. People are encouraged to leave a message inside the books which they trade. What better way to meet people and share a love of reading? 

Click Here to Find Out More!

Snow Humor

For those out there who are a bit winter weary.....