Summerfest and Gonzales’s Zoo

The day after we returned from North Carolina we were able to attend the last day of Summerfest on the Rio, which is our local celebration of the start of summer.

There had been a huge wind storm the day before so many of the vendors had packed up and gone, but the concert that Sunday night was fabulous, Pedro and the Pistols.  Well, maybe I’m prejudice cause we knew the lead musician as a young teen living next door to us.  I remember trying to drown out the “noise” when Nick’s and his band were learning to play together in their garage.  Fast forward 22 years Nick is a very accomplished musician, married with two kids.

    

Here is Nick’s parents, Fred and Laurie Gonzales, who were both teachers, now retired.

    

Our two families have many ties that bind us together:  next door neighbors; we got Poncho from Fred and Laurie; we bought their fifth-wheel as our first rig on the road; we traded our two-wheel drive Chevy for Fred’s four-wheel Chevy dually,the one we drive now, and Fred is still using our old truck on his farm.

We had a grand time getting reacquainted and they invited us to their house the next day for a barbecue and music jam session. Oh, yah, we could do that!!!

Here is their picturesque farm house

and look at the beautiful columbines Laurie is growing
    

 

Glad to see they still have their large teepee

 

 

Fred is a “gentleman farmer”.  He loves having animals around him and he has had all kinds of animals at one time or another.  At one time he had all kinds of miniatures from mini goats to a mini cow, yes a mature cow that came up to your knee.  He’s also had llamas, alpacas and fancy top hat chickens.  Couldn’t wait to see what he has now….take a look.

They have two males and three female peacocks

A couple of tom turkeys

Oh, yes, and a reindeer

 

We listen to Fred and a few of his cronies play their guitars

     

 

 

 

And look what we found – yup Jim’s old Chevy still going strong.

 

 

 

 

Soon it was time to eat and, of course, Jim happily volunteered to do the grilling, although that face doesn’t show it.

 

All the fixins were delicious, especially the green chili as we know it here in Colorado.

Conversations and music continued and we left when the mosquitoes invaded.  Nice evening remembering earlier days together. 

Remember, you are loved.