Judith Sutton

Welcome to the Sutton Team's website. The picture you are seeing on my front page is a sunset from the deck of my home. The sunrises and sunsets are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and I have lived in 31 places, so I have seen a few. It's one of many reasons why I love Colorado. I am sure other places have pretty sunsets also, but I never get tired of looking at them here.

I would like to share with you some of the reasons why I love Woodland Park and Teller County. The first thing I noticed over 35 years ago were the people. My husband is retired military so we moved a lot. The people in Colorado seemed to be more friendly than any other place we had ever been. I am not saying that the people in other parts of the Country are unfriendly, but because most everyone in Colorado is from somewhere else, the people seem to go out of their way to be friendly to newcomers here. We were driving around in the rural parts of Teller County and we would be flagged down, just to see if we were lost and needed help.

Another reason I like it here is the weather. I grew up in Northern Illinois. When summer set in it was hot and humid. In winter it was cold. Colorado is different. Parts of Colorado do get hot and parts do get cold, but nowhere in Colorado do you have humidity like Illinois. In Teller County we don't even get that hot. In the summer time it cools off every night into the 40's, so we never need air conditioning. I sleep with a blanket year round. In the winter it is not unusual to get up to the 50's or even 60's. I walk on my deck barefoot and go many places without a coat in the middle of the day. At night, in the winter, it does get cold. When I walk outside at 6 am I will have my long underwear and wool cape on to go for my morning walk. By 10 am I don't need much, and by 1 pm I may be outside on my deck repotting a plant with nothing on but t-shirt and jeans. By 3 or 4 pm I am back to a light jacket and by evening I need my heavy capes again. I often tell clients that it is not unusual to get 2 or 3 seasons every day.

Then of course there is the scenery. I don't need to tell you what pretty sights we have here. Everyone has seen pictures of Colorado. It is one of the most popular places to visit on everyone's list. Unless you are in love with the ocean, you will find something to love here. There is a certain peacefulness to the mountains. People find it amazing that they can sit and stare at a mountain like Pikes Peak that does not move, and not get tired of the view.

Let's talk bugs. I don't know why, but as I have aged I have become allergic to bug bites of any kind. I went to Wisconsin to visit my sister, got three mosquito bites on a Thursday afternoon and my arm was swollen by Saturday when I got back to Colorado and my medicine. Fortunately for me Colorado does not have that many bugs. I occasionally get a deer fly bite, but I do not worry about mosquitoes. We have a few flys, but not in the amount I remember from my childhood. And termites don't like the altitude in Teller County. If you are looking for a more bug free enviroment; Teller County may be your place!

Then there is the people issue, or lack of people. Colorado has people and if you want to be around crowds you can always go to Denver. But if you crave peace and quiet, if you want to feel like you are the only car on the road, if you just want space. It still exists in Colorado.

Don't move here if you must be on the ocean and want to watch those hurricanes move in. Don't move to Teller County if you must have that huge typical garden that you find in the Midwest. You can garden here and I even grow tomatoes, but the gardening is a different kind of gardening here. You can grow sweet corn in Colorado Springs and Denver where it gets hot and the growing season is longer, but Teller County really isn't suited to sweet corn or other hot weather crops. On the other hand if watching w