Murphy was up with the chickens again this morning. Sadly he had to leave the party before sunrise to make his 11:30 flight out of Denver, a three hour drive. He was headed home to celebrate his fourth anniversary. Admittedly a worthy reason.

Cyd, Mother, and I had breakfast at the B&B and then spent a wonderful morning at Kimberly’s. I got to play kitchen with Kamryn outside and visit her chickens and then went inside to a drowsy Brennan who let me cuddle him to sleep. I couldn’t lay him down, for Pete’s sake, so I held him for the whole nap. I’m every parent’s nightmare.

It’s a four hour drive north and west to Meeker, so we thought we’d better shove off at noon. We drove through Leadville where one of Mother’s half-brothers fell down a mine shaft and was hurt so badly he had to have a leg amputated. Yikes. We were surprised going around one turn to find four mountain sheep standing right by the road. Otherwise the drive was beautiful but uneventful unless you count a little road construction and licorice whips.

We are in Meeker to spend a couple days with our brother, Si, and his wife, Susan; to connect with a few old friends of Mother’s from her days of living here; and above all to meet great grand #9, Emilee Mae, 18 months, the second child of grandchild #6, Chad, Kimberly’s younger brother.