Colorado was scheduled for 3 'Bill' Store events this weekend. Of course, with the recent report of Bill's health scare the events had been reportedly revised to Rep events. Saturday was a beautiful Indian Summer day with highs in the low 80's. What a wonderful surprise for those who turned out anyway to find Kim and Legacy Coordinator & Writer Rachel Grabanski waiting for the 'faithful'!

At Colorado Stationers in Greenwood Village, a rather small group initially assembled, only other Connected Collectors seen were Mr & Mrs 'Sarge', but the crowd grew as the time grew close for the 'Gold' drawing. A last minute entry was the winner of the Gold - Elizabeth (sorry did not get her last name). Other giveaways included the Stratford Christmas pc. and the Boston 2nd order lens.

The afternoon event was held at Ashley Avery Collectibles in Westminster. A larger initial turnout, and I saw and spoke with several of the collectors that always seem to turn out, are avid collectors but are not 'connected'. The big winner Ashley's was Mary Hubbard. This collector is on a 'roll' as she won the St Clair gold when Nancy visited in the Spring, and also took away the Hannibal gold when Bill visited Nov 02! Unbelievable isn't it? 3 Golds in a row!
Other give aways included Christmas Stratford, a HL275 Old St Augustine, a Society membership and a HL logo polo shirt. Another enjoyable time, even though I didn't win anything I really enjoyed meeting and talking with Kim, turns out she use to work in Colorado!

The 3rd event was held today in Ft Collins, which is just too far a drive for me to attend.

Rumors?? I didn't hear much of anything discussed except someone ask if Ocracoke was going to be made again, and I felt from Kim's perhaps response that this light could be in the works. She did say that the first set of 04 releases would be in the 4th Qtr Legacy. Someone did ask me if I had heard that Bill planned on retiring next year?? but they did not ask Kim.

Kim said Bill must be feeling better because he was getting crotchety, which she said that if we knew him, then we knew he was getting back to normal. lol.

Sorry no pictures, I'd rather spend the $$ on HLs than a digital camera. lol.

Melody

Great report. Rachel is Kim & Blair's daughter who got married earlier this year.

Thanks for the report, Melody! It's always nice to have a connected-collector at events to report back about the event.

Was anyone wearing their Wacko Badges?

Bob

Cindy (the Mrs half of 'Sarge') and I had our badges on! Did not see any other badges or any other known Colorado Wackos, Dick Johnson, Randall Ronne(sp?), or Bob, (course Bob might have been there since I've never met him before), maybe because Bill wasn't going to be there or attending other events, there were several big things happening that weekend - Cape Hatteras 200th, the NJ Lighthouse challenge, etc. As mentioned, didn't know Kim was going to be there until I arrived.

Mary Hubbard who won the gold at Ashley Avery wanted to know how she could get a badge, but she doesn't have a PC. Hey Dave, I suspect this year is done, I searched old threads and found one near end of August that looked like it was the 'Last call'?

MelJB

A little slow in getting to this. Cindy and I made the trek up to Ft. Collins for the Sunday event at a place called Betty Blue's. As she did at both events on Saturday, Cindy went nuts, stuffing the ballot box in hopes of winning the gold. We thought we had a chance, as attendance was light - probably due to the Broncos game. Again, no such luck. The winner was a 'Reverend Dave.' His daughter drew him as the winner, so I suspect either collusion or divine intervention were responsible for us coming up on the short end again. However, all was not lost as Cindy did win South Bass Island.

The only dissapointment was when we got home and unpacked. All 5 HL's were packed in styrafoam peanuts! The store's storage area is small, so they apparently toss the innards and fold up the boxes. We weren't too happy about that, but such is life.

Anyway, both of us really enjoyed meeting Kim and her daughter. We spent so much time together (and so much money!) that we both got a hug at the end of it all. :p

(By the way, I have pictures if someone knows how to post them - I'm lost if it isn't click n' drag.)

Well, der Imagemeister sent me instructions - some of which was in English. Let's see how I do with it. If successful, this will be Elizabeth, the gold winner at Colorado Stationers.

Holy Guacamole - it worked! No one is more shocked than I. Anyway, this is Reverend Dave, Mrs. Reverend Dave, and their daughter Brittany at Betty Blue's.

Well, since I'm on a roll... Here's an 'I didn't warn 'em' photo of Kim and Rachel at the second Saturday event at Ashley Avery's. (I didn't get a photo of Mary winning the gold - sorry.)

Now that I have permission from Higher Authority, here's Cindy & Kim at Betty Blue's with the HL she won in the drawing. Not the gold, but darn nice anyway.

Thanks for sharing, Sarge. It seems as if I have created a monster! See, it wasn't all that hard to post pictures after all!

Dave

Good job, Sarge! It's nice to see you back posting. It's especially nice to have the photos from the Colorado events. Thank you!

Bob

Great pictures, Sarge. If your not careful the boss will have you doing crime scene photography.

Bert

Great pics Sarge. I really enjoyed meeting and talking with you and Cindy and your granddaughter.

Melody