What a great week! And wasn’t that rain absolutely wonderful? Moisture, which actually soaks into the ground, is so much appreciated. Beyond us getting rain, is Wolf Creek Ski Area getting an additional 7 inches! Year-to-date snowfall is 40 inches, which is so awesome. They are now open on weekends, so dig out the skis and get up there—before the crowds arrive for Thanksgiving.

I didn’t get my rocks moved last Sunday, so hoping for this weekend. Every once in a while I get this little kink in my back that is a killer. Doesn’t hurt all the time, but if I move wrong, it takes my breath away.  So…I worked in the flower beds by the Visitor’s Center instead. I was able to trim some of the shrubs, rake out some of the rocks, and cut down those d__n elm seedlings.

After I cut the elms down as low as I could, I poured some Stump & Vine Killer into the open wound. I pour the killer into a ketchup/mustard bottle that I buy from one of the grocery stores. Doing this makes it much easier to get the liquid carefully onto the open cuts. I poured the Triclopyr numerous times onto the little trunks, hoping for the seedling to absorb it into their cells and ultimately die.

Moral of the story is to pull those seedlings up when you first see them! It only takes a couple of years for the little tree to take hold and become impossible to pull. If you keep cutting it back, pretty soon it will be a small tree with a bushy top, and uglier than all get out. 

There are some Spirea shrubs in the same flower beds. I trimmed them back more than I normally would, because there was so much debris in the middle of them. The shrubs did not look their best this year, so I’m hoping by cleaning them out in the middle and giving them a haircut they will put on some new energy next year. I trimmed the Potentillas back about 6 inches, also hoping for more flowers next spring. The Russian Sage were cut back to about 6” tall and I am hoping I have time to dig some of the suckers this weekend and move them to Mom’s Garden.

When I think of lilacs and how sometimes they stop blooming, I think of all the leaves that have fallen in the middle and covered the root system. If you can, get in there with a hand rake or a high pressure hose, or a blower and see if you can let that shrub breathe again. It just seems like the lilac might appreciate getting some fresh air.

I do not recommend trimming like what has been done at my neighbor’s business, Alta Fuels. I cry every time I see the trim job there. I cry for the Barberries, and the Ninebarks, and the Viburnums and the Sumacs, and the Lilacs and the Roses, and the Sages, and the Indigo Bush, etc. I long for the days when Alta Fuels was a locally owned business. I miss Danny Mortensen and his dad, Corky. I miss the days when almost all businesses, restaurants, hotels, etc. were owned by people who lived here. People who supported 4H and Science Fair, and the SLV Cancer Relief Fund, and even Society Hall. Some say it is progress…. but I must be too old fashioned, I guess.

I am a dork, right? A few weeks ago I went to get new glasses. I wanted different colors, like Landon Sanchez has. I found some with a little bit of color and got them ordered. Picked them up and wore them for a couple of days, when I noticed a design on the side. Having just returned from the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and having seen a balloon from Wells Fargo, I thought it was their Stagecoach logo. Here comes Sheila Sanchez to make fun of me, accusing me of getting ‘Coach’ glasses on purpose. I had no idea, and I am honestly trying not to be a trendsetter…but sometimes ______happens. Go ahead and make fun of me—I’m too old and set in my ways to care. And hopefully I laugh along with you.

Isn’t it sad (kindest word I can use) that we are losing a couple of Assistant District Attorneys? I am appalled! I don’t know where all the money comes from to fund that office. I know it is different than the Public Defender’s Office. I believe that all counties are supposed to pay their share. I know that the system is MESSED UP! How can we have 5 DA’s (soon to be 3) and 11 Public Defenders? We need to find the money—those of you who are in charge—and we need to find it sooner over later! Either we find the money, or we won’t need to expand the jail, nor will we need all the courtrooms at the new Judicial Center.

You have to wonder… why should criminals have more representation than victims?