4th of July in Silverton part 2

The next morning we got up ate breakfast then loaded up to go jeeping. We got a little ways up and it stated raing.Travis didn't have his top on. so he and the girls got a little damp.

 

There are so many old mines and shafts.

 

This one they are fixing up.

 

They have the mine closed up in the back . See how yellow the rocks are in the water, from all the minrals.

 

We had to get inside to get out of the hail strom.

Drove for a while more then we

 stopped for lunch.

The water in all the lakes is so clear, you can almost see the bottom. See the jeeps in teh bottom right hand that kind of shows how far up we were from the lake

 

This kind of shows how steep some of teh roads were. Although the two passes we went on last year were way worst in fact I got out and walked a coulple times last year.

 

It is so pretty up here.

 

we were almost 13,000 feet it was a little chilly there was snow in a few places.

Part of an old ghost town.

 

You can't see it very well in this picture but therse seveal old mins down there.

 

IT's almost like being on top of the world.

 

this is in pretty good shape.

 

And this would be the bathroom That I got locked in. Every one thought it was very funny (I didn't) I went in and locked the door well got ready to leave it would not unlock. It is a very unsettling feeling to be locked in the outhouse many miles away from anything.They finally got it unlocked and the first thing my dad asked me was why did you lock it. It is just habit to lock the out house lol  

 

Heaed back into town.

 

Almost every where you look there are old mines.

 

We got back to camp and we loaded up and went back home Andy wanted to go down to the river to play music. I will have more about that in part 3. 

4th of July in Silverton part 1

I am only 3 months late in posting this. It was such a good time I do want to share though.

This is a yearly event for my family. We take the jeeps and go camping at Silverton. Silverton is one of my favorite places It is a very old mining town. It has to close down in the winter because you  can't get to it because of the snow.

We left Wednesday afternoon and got camp set up. We all camp in the same spot. This year it was two of my brothers and their familys, my sister in laws Mom and Dad, Travis and us.

Thursday morning the 4th they have the parade.

Here are some pics of the parade

This guy was playing the bag pipes it sounded so good.

a float of the train.

Dressed up like old trappers. He was shooting the musket (just powder no ball) it was very loud.

 

unicyclist in cowboy hats.

 

This is a big Jeeping weekend so the parade is full of Jeeps the green one is one of my brothers, the middle and last jeep have their front tires on the next jeep, pretty cool to watch them do it.

 

An old timey band.

 

The fire truck comes last and sprays everone.

The girls right before they got wet. At the end of the parade they have a water fight at the fire station.

 

This is the train coming in. It starts in Durango goes to Silverton and stays a while then back to Durango. Many years ago when the train pulled in they would have a shoot out, it was way cool to watch but like a lot of things they had to stop because someone got hurt.

 You can even get a stage coach ride.

 

The girls got old time pictures done we had ours done when we went to the stock show

 

After the paade we went back to camp and got ready for the fireworks you have to get a spot early because it fills up fast. Silverton has the largest fireworks display on the western slope. People come from all around to see it. We take stuff to grill for supper while we are waiting.

 

The Fireworks are amazing and extra load, there are mountins on all sides so the booms have extra loud echos.

 

Afterwards we headed back to camp. I will do the next day in part two there is just to much to put in one post.

Homecoming 2013

Well Homecoming week is over now maybe the girls can slow down a little. I got Joleens dress done she was very happy with it.

The girls played powder puff football they were on opposite teams. I think by looking at the picture you can tell whose team won.

 They were tied at the end so they played sudden death ( I think that is what they called it. I am not a football person lol) I was wishing they would of ended it in a tie they they both could of been happy lol.

Then the next night they had the football game. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics of the game or the girls cheering.

Saturday night they had the dance.

 

 

Here they are with their dates.

 

 

 

 

 

 We took a picture of some of the girls and their shoes of course my two had to have the odd ball shoes lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 38 Food Storage Challenge

5 pounds of Honey/Apples

5 pounds of honey if you can not afford honey or do not have access then get 25 pounds of sugar. Honey will store indefinitely if it sugars up just put in a pan of boiling water and it will turn back to liquid.

Apples  now is the time of year to get apples. You can can them or dehydrate them. Make applesauce, pie filling, apple butter,  dried apples, apple juice, and vinegar. You can also buy these things if you can not can, or do not have access to apples.

Add more water.

Put a little ore in your money stash.

Where I have been.

Hi thought I would pop in right quick and let every one know I am still here and what I have been up to.

I have been working on all the stuff we have gotten from the garden, 900 pounds tomatoes 9 we covered some of the tomato plants before the freeze so hopefully we will have more), 110 pounds of bell peppers,107 pounds of zucchini, 200 pounds cucumbers,10 pounds cayenne peppers, 45 pounds of jalapenos, 40 pounds tomatillos, in addition to 100 pounds of green chili, 50 pounds of apples that we bought so I have been extra busy with canning. I am still working on some of this .

I am also making Joleens homecoming dress she couldn’t want just a simple dress, no this is what she wanted.

 








It was 250 dollars and another one we found that was similar was 350 so I told her I would make it. There is no pattern for a dress like this so I am having to use a pattern that is close and adjust it to be what she wants it also has to have straps (I won’t let the girls wear strapless dress.) Katie bought her dress but wants me to add some more tulle to it so it will be more puffy.

Been trying to get the yard ready for winter, had to move all my raspberry plants, Plant some trees and bushes I had. Also trying to clean up all the weeds in the yard and get it mowed.

In between all this I had a bad toothache that got infected. If I catch them in time I can take care of them so they don’t get to bad but I didn’t and I paid for it. I have never had so much pain before that silly thing knocked me down for a whole week. (I had Chemo 25 years ago and it ruined my teeth I have spent a ton of money on them but I still have issues.)

Got some of my herbs in and picked some Mullin.

We had a pig butchered, but we cured our own hams and bacon, we have the meat in the freezer to grind and make our sausage as soon as we get a chance. I was able to get the fat from it and a little more so I had about 50 pound to render down. I did over cook one batch of lard but went ahead and canned it to use when I make soap.

Andy has been busy trying to get all the hay in plus all the custom cutting he does. We did have a lot of hay down when we got the bad rains the hay was down for 21 days not to great, but at least we can feed it to the cows.

I need to be done with all this before the Friday after next as that is when we start hunting. We will go up this weekend and set up camp. Andy ,Joleen and I all have Elk and Deer tags so hopefully we will get some meat this year.Katie didn't draw this year so she will probably get an over the counter tag.

Joleen got a part time job as a waitress, she is loving it. Trying to figure out how to use her time wisely so she can get everything done, between school, work, cheer, and holding an officers position in FFA she is staying very busy.

So hopefully I can get a little more caught up and start posting
 again.

I have had some questions on a few things I will try to get them answered soon.