Hiking Thursday - Dawson Butte

Dawson Butte is an open space located in southern Douglas County between the towns of Castle Rock and Larkspur. This is not a well known open space area that sees a lot of visitors. When Zack and I visited this open space back in September we literal had the entire place to ourselves. When we arrived there was not one car in the entire parking lot. However, when we left there were two other cars there but we didn't see anyone. So if you are looking for solitude it seems likely that this open space can provide it to you.

Dawson Butte open space was formed when Douglas county bought out a ranch in the early 2000's. The center piece of the open space is the aptly named "Dawson Butte". The Butte is a sensitive area for wildlife and is closed to people. However, there is a 5 mile long trail that loops round the entire perimeter of the open space.

(Zack with Dawson Butte in the background.)

The trail winds through a variety of habitat from open meadows that provide excellent forage for elk and mule deer to forest made up of thick stands of pine trees. There is not much elevation gain or loss along the entire trail so it is a relatively easy hike. There are a few areas of elevation change but nothing is significant.

(Zack standing in one of the meadows.)

Zack and I hiked this open space when Zack was in the midst of in anxiety meltdown at the beginning of the school year. It was a great hike for us as it gave us a lot of time to talk. At several points throughout the hike we just sat down in the middle of the trail and talked. I don't know if it did a lot to ease Zack's anxiety but it at least helped me to talk to him about what was going on. Given the solitude of the area, it offered us a perfect opportunity to spend time talking with one another with out interruption from anyone else.

For a quick and easy get away hike from Denver, Dawson Butte is an excellent option that provides lots of good scenery and a not too hard hike.

On a totally different note.... I thought I would acknowledge in this blog that I am seeing someone. I feel it is important to put it out there so she knows the depth of my feelings. I am not going to start naming names as I besides myself, Zack and Nancy I really don't like to put a lot names into this blog. Anyway... it was something that was important and had to be said. Much of what I have accomplished with Zack in recent weeks has been inspired by this wonderful woman's words and thoughts.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

An Interesting Change for Me

One of the key challenges I have faced with Zack has been getting him to sleep in his own bed. When he was younger and Patty was healthy, I was often on the road for work and Patty would let him sleep in our bed. As a result, Zack developed a distinct preference toward sleeping in my bed.

After Patty got sick I went through several phases in which I did the work and got Zack to sleep in his own bed. It was never perfect as he would wake up and come into my bedroom very early in the morning - usually around 3AM. When his anxiety issues would flair up I would back slide and left him resume sleeping in my bedroom.

About a month ago I decided that was it! I was going to get him out of my bed permanently and have him sleep through the night in his own bedroom. This began a classic battle of wills! We fought it out night after night. We would duke it out through argument after argument. Gradually, eventually he began to accept what I was telling him and would sleep in his room. The number of times he got up went from 15 or so to 1 or 2. On Monday night I finally was able to declare victory when I had to go into his room on Tuesday morning and actually wake him to get ready for school. That has NEVER happened before. I don't expect that it will occur every day as it didn't occur this morning. He was up at 6:10AM wanting to come into my room. I refused and he went down stairs to watch TV until I got up.

(My bed...)

The interesting thing about all of this is it's impact on me! For the first time in years - except for when I was travelling I am totally sleeping on my own. Given that Zack sleeps better with the dogs in his room, I am even giving him both dogs to sleep with him. It has been kind of weird adjusting to not having him sleep with me, but in the end run it is really good. I have gotten over the adjustment and I am sleeping very soundly. In fact I think I am probably sleeping better than I have slept in years. So all-in-all it has been a bit of challenge but it has been really good for me!

Not a whole lot to say about our day. A lot of work, a lot of managing issues with Zack and that is about it. We continue to make progress in "Operation Zackie Grow Up". The weather here in Colorado is still cool and we have a blanket of snow on the ground. It will be nice when some of the snow melts off.

Happy "Hump Day" to everyone as the week is now over half over - yippee!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

A Milestone!

Yes - I have reached another blogging milestone! I have now been blogging on this blog for over 1 entire year. Wow! It seems like it was just yesterday when I started this thing. During this past year I have logged over 225 blog posts! I don't know about you, but given all the other stuff that I have going on, I think it is a pretty good to have been able to write over 225 blog posts.

I know I haven't been blogging a lot recently, but it is still something that I really enjoy doing. I love to be able to write and put my thoughts and ideas in a place that they are subject to the critical thinking of the entire world. I am so very thankful for all the readers that I have who diligently write all the stuff that I put out there. I love receiving the comments and thoughts of others. So really - thank you for making my blog what it is!

What else is going on with us?? Umm... A lot! Work for me is difficult for a lot of different reasons. I am doing my best to stay on top of all that is going on, but at times it does seem to spin out of control. Regardless I will succeed at my job and get done what is necessary to get done.

Zack is doing OK with all his issues. We have made some gigantic strides in addressing some of his issues - I will actually write an entry about that later this week. His first trimester report card came in a little over a week ago. It wasn't too bad, it wasn't too good. Given his intelligence level I tend to say that anything less than an A isn't good, but given the situation with his anxiety this trimester, I was OK with B's. He got one C though which did not make me extremely happy!

(Zack doing his homework this afternoon at the kitchen table.)

The weather has been pretty snowy and cold here in Colorado recently. So it has definitely limited our ability to get out and hike. We could head to the mountains and do some snowshoeing I suppose but it seems like every weekend we have something going on. Regardless I think this weekend we will get out an at least do one hike/snowshoe. The leading candidate hike is the Blue Spruce Mountain in Douglas county. With the snow, it should be an excellent hike.

We hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.