Our niece, Olivia, is the 2008 Iowa State Special Olympics Bowling Champion - age 8-11. Here she is with her mom (Andrea's sister) Adriene.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Big horn sheep sighting!
Okay, I'm back folks. A couple of weeks ago, my buddy from Grad school, Larry, and his wife Mary came out to Colorado for a quick weekend off. They needed a break and she was way way interested in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park (the hotel The Shining was filmed in), so they made arrangements and came out to stay a night. We picked them up the second day, and took them through Rocky Mountain National Park a bit. We did pretty well in RMNP, seeing some stray elk and one pretty big herd before leaving. We also took a nice walk around Bear Lake, where some industrious kid left us little tiny snowmen in pairs every so often along the trail, usually on the benches.
Now, I have to explain something about seeing wildlife up there. Usually, you will drive along, and you will notice 1 or more cars pulled over, their occupants apparently looking at trees on the side of the road; they're actually looking at deer or elk or whatever among the trees, and it's one of the best ways to spot wildlife. In the 4+ years we've been out here, we've stopped many times with the others, to see everything from deer and elk to voles (they're small rodents--think big mice--can't believe they stopped for them!). I've always thought it would be cool to be the one who actually was the first to spot the living animals myself.
So after we left RMNP, we were driving back down to Estes on a road that's on the side of a valley made by a creek flowing along down about 40 feet below and to the right, with houses interspersed on the hillside among the trees. I happened to see a bunch of white butts walking away along the edge of the creek. But the trees and houses kept anyone else from seeing them. Well, when I was growing up, the rule was that at least 2 people had to see the animals for them to be part of the 'official' count, so I demanded that we turn around and go back, as I needed verification. I didn't know what I'd seen exactly anyway, after all, there are a lot of animals with white butts out there. So we came back a ways, and stopped ahead of the way they had been headed, so as to meet them as they came. Larry and I got out and walked over on the side of the road to a driveway that went down to the creek. When we got there, we were face to face with a small herd of bighorn sheep coming up the drive! So I took a few pictures before any other cars came by, and some after. We tried to signal the first cars to slow down, and the very first one looked at me like I was an alien and had a sign "Will abduct you for food" or something. Well, he came pretty close to having a bighorn co-pilot after narrowly missing one in the road. I tried to tell him, didn't I?!!? I creeped closer, eventually getting within about 30 feet of them. The alpha male gave me a look and snorted at me, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and backed slowly away. The encounter lasted about 10 minutes, and they ended up climbing the hill on the side of the road away from the creek and slipped into the woods.
Now, I have to explain something about seeing wildlife up there. Usually, you will drive along, and you will notice 1 or more cars pulled over, their occupants apparently looking at trees on the side of the road; they're actually looking at deer or elk or whatever among the trees, and it's one of the best ways to spot wildlife. In the 4+ years we've been out here, we've stopped many times with the others, to see everything from deer and elk to voles (they're small rodents--think big mice--can't believe they stopped for them!). I've always thought it would be cool to be the one who actually was the first to spot the living animals myself.So after we left RMNP, we were driving back down to Estes on a road that's on the side of a valley made by a creek flowing along down about 40 feet below and to the right, with houses interspersed on the hillside among the trees. I happened to see a bunch of white butts walking away along the edge of the creek. But the trees and houses kept anyone else from seeing them. Well, when I was growing up, the rule was that at least 2 people had to see the animals for them to be part of the 'official' count, so I demanded that we turn around and go back, as I needed verification. I didn't know what I'd seen exactly anyway, after all, there are a lot of animals with white butts out there. So we came back a ways, and stopped ahead of the way they had been headed, so as to meet them as they came. Larry and I got out and walked over on the side of the road to a driveway that went down to the creek. When we got there, we were face to face with a small herd of bighorn sheep coming up the drive! So I took a few pictures before any other cars came by, and some after. We tried to signal the first cars to slow down, and the very first one looked at me like I was an alien and had a sign "Will abduct you for food" or something. Well, he came pretty close to having a bighorn co-pilot after narrowly missing one in the road. I tried to tell him, didn't I?!!? I creeped closer, eventually getting within about 30 feet of them. The alpha male gave me a look and snorted at me, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and backed slowly away. The encounter lasted about 10 minutes, and they ended up climbing the hill on the side of the road away from the creek and slipped into the woods.
I was first to see them!!! And the several other cars who saw them stopped after I got pictures myself!! Not that I'm excited about it or anything.......... ;-)
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Do you own a crockpot?
We own two - medium and large. Dan and I both love using them - especially in the fall and winter when a hot homemade meal is that much better. Well, my friends, have I got a blog for you to check out. Stephanie is the author of (and chief cook for) "A Year of CrockPotting" I haven't tried any of her recipes yet but they look and sound delicious. And she does a great job of tagging her recipes so you can search by crockpot size and by recipe type/ingredient - see the index on the left side of her page. Today she featured John McCain's Crockpot rib recipe - tomorrow she will post Barack Obama's chili recipe.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Take it easy on a first-timer?
I guess it's about time I (Dan) found out what all this blog hoo-hah is about eh? Ironic that I haven't been the major contributor, considering I'm the one with the most time on my hands!
Anyway, just thought folks might like to see what I've been occupying that time with (a little of it), rather than watching too many political attack ads and tearing my hair out because Mark Udall is apparently the anti-Christ. This is based on the number and ferocity of the attack ads of which he is a target; I think they account for better than half of all political ads here this season. Hitting the off button, like the guy recommended in Broadcast News, really is the only defense.
So you will see some pictures of the terraced beds I've been working on at the end of the landing strip (the long, two-car wide driveway that ends conspicuously at the yard without a garage). The backfill sloped down from the concrete into the yard, and I decided that I would plant some tomato plants there this year. When I w
atered them, it ran off really fast, so I had to water them very slowly and deliberately, which was also a giant pain in the @$$. So I considered terracing almost immediately, but it wasn't until I was over at cousin-in-law Dave's house that it finally all came together. He had removed a bunch of 4x6's of varying lengths from his own yard, and had thrown them over in a pile. I asked if he had any plans for them, and he said I could have 'em, and now they're the walls of my terraced beds!
atered them, it ran off really fast, so I had to water them very slowly and deliberately, which was also a giant pain in the @$$. So I considered terracing almost immediately, but it wasn't until I was over at cousin-in-law Dave's house that it finally all came together. He had removed a bunch of 4x6's of varying lengths from his own yard, and had thrown them over in a pile. I asked if he had any plans for them, and he said I could have 'em, and now they're the walls of my terraced beds! 
I worked with the varied levels of the existing hill, and made the beds two different levels. The one on the right (if I've used the right pix!) is only 6 inches above the main yard level, while the bed on the left is about 12 inches higher than the yard. Since the lower one is also a little hemmed in from above, I'm thinking that it'll make a good herb garden, while the larger bed is going to be pepper or tomato or something a bit bigger--I'm open to suggestions, but I'm boycotting vining plants like cukes and squash just because they're such bedhogs. Not to mention very very THIRSTY plants! All that's left now is to add in some compost and fertilizer (cousin-in-law Sara, Dave's wife, has an in with a llama poop source...it worked for her this year!), and turn it all back over.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 31
At my company Halloween is a BIG deal every year and even better that it falls on a Friday this year. In the morning there’s a costume contest (individual and group categories) and costume parade, at lunch most departments host a potluck and in the afternoon the company hosts trick or treating for the children and grandchildren of employees. I used to be in the Marketing department and we usually came up with a group costume – often travel destination related. Now I’m not in Marketing and I’m in a department that is very busy in the fall. So busy in fact that one third to one half of the team is on the road during October and we have a “skeleton” crew (Ba dum bum, kssshh) left to brainstorm and create our costume. This year I think our idea is rather clever and that’s mostly because we have someone in our department, Beth, who is obsessed by Halloween. I suspect she feels like she’s dragging the rest of us along, kicking and screaming.
The costume contest is very competitive – here’s an illustrative example. Two years ago Marketing decided to dress up as the members of “Guns N Roses” and their management team and roadies. It wasn’t good enough for them just to dress up – they created Ticketmaster tickets and gave a concert (lip synched) with instruments etc on the loading dock. They even convinced our COO to be their “manager” -- so he was dressed in a blazer and sunglasses with his backstage pass around his neck and a fake barbed wire tattoo on his neck. I realize you don’t know him but, trust me, he’s the LAST person you would expect to get into the spirit. OK, maybe the second to last person at GVI…Marketing had won the group costume contest for several years in a row so Product Development finally decided to give them a run for their money. The folks in Product Development decided to dress up as the characters from the Michael Jackson video “Thriller.” So we had a whole bunch of zombies with torn clothes, wild hair, zombie make up AND Michael Jackson. They somehow convinced the manager of their department to dress as Michael Jackson – face mask, red leather jacket, etc. AND they taught him the dance moves and recreated the music video. It was UNBELIEVABLE and they finally beat Marketing. Paul really was the LAST person you would expect to show up in costume demonstrating Michael Jackson’s dance moves. (I'm still sort of stunned when I think about it now.)
My department is having a potluck on Friday and I’m making some cute Halloween cupcakes (of course!). If they look as cute as I imagine they will, I will post some photos.
The costume contest is very competitive – here’s an illustrative example. Two years ago Marketing decided to dress up as the members of “Guns N Roses” and their management team and roadies. It wasn’t good enough for them just to dress up – they created Ticketmaster tickets and gave a concert (lip synched) with instruments etc on the loading dock. They even convinced our COO to be their “manager” -- so he was dressed in a blazer and sunglasses with his backstage pass around his neck and a fake barbed wire tattoo on his neck. I realize you don’t know him but, trust me, he’s the LAST person you would expect to get into the spirit. OK, maybe the second to last person at GVI…Marketing had won the group costume contest for several years in a row so Product Development finally decided to give them a run for their money. The folks in Product Development decided to dress up as the characters from the Michael Jackson video “Thriller.” So we had a whole bunch of zombies with torn clothes, wild hair, zombie make up AND Michael Jackson. They somehow convinced the manager of their department to dress as Michael Jackson – face mask, red leather jacket, etc. AND they taught him the dance moves and recreated the music video. It was UNBELIEVABLE and they finally beat Marketing. Paul really was the LAST person you would expect to show up in costume demonstrating Michael Jackson’s dance moves. (I'm still sort of stunned when I think about it now.)
My department is having a potluck on Friday and I’m making some cute Halloween cupcakes (of course!). If they look as cute as I imagine they will, I will post some photos.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Happy Aniversary to us!
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Wow! Time flies! Today is Dan's and my 5th wedding anniversary. We're celebrating by digging in the yard. How romantic! (And we're going out to dinner tonight.) I'm planting peony tulips in the front yard along the sidewalk and Da
n is making some terraced beds off the "landing strip." If you have seen the driveway on the east side of our house, you would understand why we refer to it as the landing strip. See the illustrative photo above. We used it as a party pad/driveway during the luau this summer.I've included a photo of how my tulips will look next spring - courtesy of the website where I bought the bulbs.
Photo Credit: Michigan Bulb Co.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)