Graduating #2

Graduate Number 2!

Nicole graduated from Conifer High School last weekend.  She finished as a Distinguished Scholar in the top 10% of her class, and in August she's heading for Chapman University in Orange, CA to pursue a degree in digital animation. Chapman is a private university that costs around $50K per year.  This is significant because we've told all our girls that they're free to attend any school in the country - or out of the country - that they choose, as long as they figure out a way to pay for it.  When Nicole first mentioned her desire to attend Chapman I was concerned that she was shooting too high due to the cost, but she was determined and her grades landed her almost $45K a year in grants and scholarships.  Not bad for a girl who spent her first 10 years of school in France!  We are very proud of all that Nicole has achieved through her determination.

Country Store Update

I've grown to develop a love-hate relationship with all State and county building inspectors.  Well, actually it's a hate-hate relationship with most of them. Tomorrow we have the third inspection by one of the inspectors - I won't say who, but he deals with water and pipes and toilets.  We dug the hole for the sump pump last week, then he added a whole list of stuff we had to do for the ADA toilet.  I'm all for trying to be in compliance with state and county building codes, but this is a 130 year old building for pete's sake, and it should by anyone's standards be razed to the ground.  We've vastly improved the whole place in the last nine months, so all we need is a little grace here so we can get open before Bailey Day on June 16th.

Mountain Lion Kill

My neighbor Brian called me a few days ago and said, "Hey, we just noticed a fresh Mountain Lion kill on our road, just below your house.  You should probably keep a close eye on your dogs for a few days."  Yes, we do live in the Colorado mountains!  Sure enough, a large female cougar had taken a deer virtually on our doorstep, and Brian managed to get a short video of her with a trailcam before she finished her kill and took off.