What's Up With Those Houses?

When Cripple Creek was built, the original part of the town was built on the hillsides so as not to disturb the valuable pasture land along the creek bottom. That was just in case the gold strike didn't 'pan out' .  
And just like developers today, the land planners of yesterday wanted to get as many homes and people into as little space as possible. So homes were built extremely close to each other. So close, that sometimes the roofs would hang over each other.  Making it very difficult to paint between the houses (probably a chore for the children).

Building houses this close together was fairly common in old mountain mining towns. And created a unique set of problems, besides the painting and maintenance, you can hear the neighbors. Their alarm clock. Their phone. Their...well...you get the idea. The picture below is between my house and the neighbor's. I'm just glad I have nice neighbors. Hope they say the same about us! There is enough room between our homes that a grown person can walk. 

Of course, that means any windows that face this space could potentially open onto the neighbor's window. Like our bedroom which opens onto our neighbor's bedroom window. The green seen through the window is my neighbor's house.

And while we do have some breathing room on the west side of our house, this wasn't always the case. There used to be a boarding house next door - situated on what is now my side lawn. I can't even begin to imagine .....

Altitude Cooking

With the onset of the Holiday Season, baking is many folks' minds. I love to bake. And cook. But living at a high elevation can prove to be challenging when it comes to something as ordinary as cooking or baking.
The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure. And at an elevation of 9500ft. the air pressure here is L*O*W! This low air pressure means lower boiling points, things will rise more rapidly, and faster evaporation because of the lower humidity. The more common ways to adjust a recipe are to increase the liquid, reduce sugar, reduce leavening agent. 
I learned to cook at elevation. And when we lived at 9000ft, I had gotten fairly adept at baking. It has been almost 20 years since that time and I have forgotten a few things since then. So now I am re-learning what I once knew.

To begin this process, I decided to do what the old prospectors used to do, use a sourdough starter. I try to use my starter about every 2 wks, though using it once a week is better. I store my starter in a crock jar in the fridge when it is not being fed or used.



The batter has a strong yeasty smell which is what sourdough is known for. I have read and been told that the yeast in sourdough is very healthy for a person. 

The first batch I tried earlier this month, I made into bread. It was bit dense but quite tasty. The second batch, which I made into rolls, was not as dense but less moist.

I have been keeping notes on any adjustments I make so that I know what works and what doesn't work. I will soon be attempting cookies. Wish me luck!

Read more about high altitude cooking with hints and tips HERE! and HERE!

Wild @$$ Guesses Welcome!

These are some odd photos we found on the trail camera. I am showing the before and after shots along with the actual odd photos. Your guesses are welcome. Hubby & I have our suspicions as to the culprit but we're open to other Wild A$$ suggestions!

The date and time is on the photos so please keep that in mind when making the guesses.

The trail camera we use is activated by motion. There were no branches low enough to produce the shadow.

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Cat Tales ~ REALLY?

*** This is a reprint of a Guest post Gomez wrote for my other blog, Embracing the Elements. Gomez always has something to say... ***

Mommy has been talking to Us Kitties about the changes that will happen next year. She said Wes are going to move back to the country (well, actually she said to the mountains but that's like the country in my book!) but we weren't going to be living in a conventional house. She said that Wes going to lives in something called a TIPI. Then Mommy showed Mes this picture.

Mommy said that the tipi Wes would be living in would be much, much larger than this. Mes wondering why Me can't have Mes own Tipi....

She said that there would be a wood stove in  the winter to curl up next to. And sunny rocks to bask on in the summer sun. And Catnip growing in the Aspen Grove. 

Sounded like Heaven to Me until Mommy said that We would have a job to do. REALLY?

Me? A job? Me thought Mes job was to curl up next to the wood stove and soak up the heat or to bask in the sun or to monitor the growth of the Catnip.

Mommy said that We Kitties would have to catch the Vermin that would sneak into the Tipi. REALLY?

Me catch bugs and mice? REALLY? 

Does Mommy not realize that Me cannot catch "Vermin"? That is a project for the younger Kitties. Mes job is to SUPERVISE the catching of the Vermin! 

Me thinks Me needs to have a talk with Mommy!

Purz and Catnip Dreams.......Gomez

Sanitized History

A conservative school board in a suburb of Denver has recently proposed new text books in all their schools. These text books would promote "positive aspects of United States history and heritage and avoid material that would condone or encourage civil disobedience, social strife or disregard of the law."

These new text books would only cover the positive in American history.  I don't see how that can happen, considering this country was founded by the civil disobedience of the Colonists! 

Protests and Walk-outs by students and teachers alike were staged. Closing many schools. And these protests were organized by the students themselves!

The school board has decided to delay the decision on the use of these new text books until community opinions can be heard.

Click Here to read about the Student Walkout!

Click Here to Read The New Yorker Article!

((I could rant on and on about this! A nation's history should NOT be sanitized! We need to hear both the good and the bad so that we might learn from our past mistakes and applaud those moments of valor and bravery. Our Children should not be taught a one-sided version of anything, but be allowed to make their own informed judgments and opinions. ))

Weird Wednesday~Hyper Dimensional Resonator

Would you like to travel in time? Self proclaimed time traveler Steven Gibbs claims to have created a time machine able to allow people to travel through time.

While working on his farm in Nebraska, Steven Gibbs states that he was approached by two aliens that gave him the secret to time travel. He built his first time machine and then later improved on it to create the Hyper Dimensional Resonator.

What makes the HDR work?

1. The HDR uses a Tensor Coil or Caduceus Coil. This Tensor Coil creates a time warp when in presence of a high magnetic field.

2. HDR uses a strong pulsed magnetic field. HDR uses this pulsed magnetic as well as the caduceus coil to generate its "effect". According to the inventor, a person must be over a grid point magnetic vortex in order to time travel. A vortex is a magnetic anomaly, a dimensional doorway where strange paranormal events often take place. The HDR uses the vortex to punch a hole to the other realm.

3. Grid point vortexes can be located by using an EMF Detector.

Many users of the HDR claim to have strange experiences. Users have noticed that quite often small details may be altered - something may be missing and something new may be in its place. Other Users have claimed to have brought back objects from the past but these items appear to have a short 'shelf-life'. Items more then 30 years old appear to disintegrate. The HDR also seems to increase a person's psychic abilities and makes a person feel more spiritual. The device tunes the human body to a frequency where strange things happen.

To learn more, Click Here!

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