Back Home Again in Colorado

In early May, Alan and I packed up the critters and a whole bunch of stuff and headed north, back to our home in Colorado. Sadly, we left our Arizona residence in complete disarray…

We moved into our Arizona property in mid-February. Immediately, we ordered cabinets for a kitchen re-do. Thanks to Covid, the cabinets did not arrive until mid-April. We knew we were pushing the envelope for getting it done before we left.

Kitchen remodel disaster

We had been trying for two months to get an electrician to our place. Finally, we called another guy, and amazingly enough, he was able to come the same day we called! However, our kitchen remodel contractors pitched a fit about having to work around someone else. The electrician made it very clear that he would stay out of their way. Besides, how were the kitchen guys going to install a microwave when there was no power available for said microwave…?

It was a week and a half before the kitchen remodel guys returned. A week and a half with no kitchen. We were leaving the week they decided to resume work. They said they would be there at 9 am. When I called at 10:30 to find out if they were coming, they accused me of “micromanaging”. Things deteriorated from there, and ultimately, we fired them.

So now, we have cabinets but no contractor. We had met with another contractor for a bathroom remodel, and he is willing to take on the kitchen as well as the bathrooms. We have decided to get all of the remodeling done while we are gone this summer. The kitchen appliances are ancient, but I am hoping they die soon so our homeowner’s warranty will kick in!

A new barn

We also had contracted to have a barn of sorts erected. It is really more of a glorified carport. It is unbelievable what even a barn shell costs these days! That, too, was built after we left. At least we have photos! I guess both horses and people will have new digs when we return…

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Finally heading home

With all of the construction drama behind us, we had a thankfully uneventful trip north for 900 miles. For our overnight, we stayed in Tijeras, New Mexico. We stayed at a private residence that is 15 minutes east of Albuquerque on I-40. Initially, I thought I had messed up and taken us out of our way. However, it probably didn’t add more than 5 miles to our total mileage and was a much prettier drive.

The owners, Janet and Bain Cochran, are general contractors and are just setting up the horse motel facility. They don’t have hook-ups yet, but they are working on it. We didn’t need a place for us to stay, just the horses. We weren’t pulling our LQ and we stayed five miles away in a hotel. The Cochrans are very nice and very accomodating. They can be contacted through their contractor website.

The horse facilities were perfect for our two beasties. They want to be together but the gelding beats up on the mare if he gets a chance. They were able to be in large, adjacent pens, each with its own shelter.

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Our elk and deer visitors

The feature photo for this blog shows our frequent guests enjoying something we saw very little of last year… green grass! The horses don’t seem to mind, as they have feeders full of hay. It is about time for the elk calves to hit the ground… those elk mamas are definitely a force to be reckoned with! We also see a lot of deer and the occasional coyote.

We had only been home for two weeks when we headed east to Kansas. We finally got to have our friends and family wedding celebration. For the third time, we recited wedding vows. I will write about that next week… our horse-themed wedding!

Lastly, I am super excited about our new tag version that is launching this summer. The prototypes arrived while we were in Kansas. These tags are smaller, lighter, and have two stripes of reflective material on each side. Stay tuned about their future availability!

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