Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

New Mattress at RV

October 4, 2021 The RV came with a memory foam mattress. The mattress was great for about 5 to 6 months. Then we noticed it was not bouncing back. The mattress had developed dips where we slept. These dips were causing back pain. We switched the mattress from top to bottom and that helped while […]

Grapes and More Grapes

October 1, 2021 This year, the grape vines at the house produced prodigiously. We had two types of seeded grapes, Concord and a green variety. I no longer remember what the green variety is supposed to be. Since we are in the process of downsizing and getting everything out of the house for the upcoming […]

Dandelion Wishes By Nox

September 30, 2021 I noticed Nox wishing on a dandelion and took some pictures to share.

Things to Do to Get Ready for the Retirement RV Dream

Re-posted on September 27, 2021 with updates. Re-posted on April 29, 2021 with updates Re-posted on April 6, 2021 with updates. Re-posted on February 16, 2021 with updates. Re-posted on October 27, 2020 with updates. Re-posted on July 27, 2020 with updates. Re-posted on January 24, 2020 with updates. First posted in December of 2019. […]

More Packing Up the House

September 26, 2021 This weekend, Bruce and I have been going through our list of things to dispose, store, and take with us. Bruce sold our bedroom set and the guest bed is on Facebook Marketplace. We started packing up our art. I am going to really miss our art. I set up a table […]

Update on House Selling

September 23, 2021 The inspection resolution has been resolved today. The selling process is moving forward! The lender isn’t requiring an appraisal, so there should not be any more dates to worry about until closing. I am going to take some vacation at the beginning of October to finish packing up the house. Right now, […]

Steak Fajita Recipe

This is my recipe for steak fajitas that I made on my new little grill at my RV. I served these for dinner to Jeanne and Larry. Jeanne took some great pictures while I cooked and she was gracious enough to let me use them for this post. See the post from Jeanne at this […]

West Side of Sand Creek Park

September 18, 2021 Last weekend, Bruce wanted to see where the trail went from the west end of Sand Creek Park, in Aurora, Colorado. From the parking lot, there is a walkway that provides a great overlook for the ponds. I took some pictures of the playground. We hiked on the north side of the […]

Triple Creek Area in Aurora, CO

September 11, 2021 Bruce and I have been hiking the various trails in Aurora, CO. We picked up a map of the trails from the Aurora History Museum and between it and Google Maps, I selected the Triple Creek hiking area. It looked nice, with trees and open meadows. It also had a very nice […]

Fingers Crossed – House Is Under Contract Again

September 12, 2021 We had two good offers this weekend! Our house is now under contract again. If all goes well, it will be sold in October.