Category: General (Page 50 of 61)

I had mentioned, a few posts back, that I would not be out snowmobiling this year. I am, however, still on our club’s e-mail list. When I received a note that Arctic Cat would be hosting a spring demo event featuring their 2015 models I signed up for a 12:00 noon ride.

Arctic Cat and Yamaha are the two major players in this area that put on these demo sessions every few years. It is a good time to see (and ride) the factory-fresh models. This years’ demo was held at a lodge overlooking Vega Reservoir, part of Vega State Park, about an hour drive for me.

I am not in the market for a new sled but thought I would get out for at least one ride this season. In addition the demo rides were to be lead by Amber Holt who is well-known through the snowmobile industry as a premier back-country rider and instructor. Amber’s web page is  http://www.backcountrybasics.com and she offers classes to individuals and groups with the aim of improving rider skills.

I arrived a bit early and found the rides were running a few minutes behind schedule. That was OK as it gave me a chance to talk to the AC folks about their new sleds, and particularly the models that are using a Yamaha engine. From these discussions I decided to demo ride a M 7000 Sno Pro. This upper-end unit (not top of the line) is designed for a combination of on and off-trail riding. It features a fuel-injected, 135 hp,  Yamaha 3 cylinder 4-stroke engine.

Jerry on his demo-ride Arctic Cat (Photo by A. Holt)

The day was perfect, almost too warm as the snow was fairly packy. Due to some participants changing their ride times there was only myself and one other rider, along with the ride leader, on this particular run. (Each outing was scheduled to last about 2 hours.) This gave us some flexibility to ride to more remote  destinations that a larger group may not have visited. After a dealer-provided lunch of Sloppy Joes and home-made cookies we headed out.

It was good to be out on the trail again. After a 15 minute trail ride we arrived at a large meadow area with some interesting side trails to explore. Given the small size of this group I approached  Amber and asked if she could give me some tips on improving my cornering technique, allowing me to “carve” a corner instead of going around “flat.” She agreed to do so, and for the next half-hour she demonstrated her advanced cornering techniques. While I sort-of got the hang of it, trying to implement these tips on a new and unfamiliar sled proved difficult and I am a long way from being proficient. Still, it was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit.

After the training and playing in the snow for a couple hours we headed back to the staging area. I filled out a survey giving my impressions of the sled I rode, headed back to my truck, and drove home. It had been a very good day. I may have to renew my snowmobile registration for next winter.

Changing the subject, in a previous post I mentioned the “snow line” we often see as we commute to work. This is the point at which snow turns to rain. Here is a photo, taken near De Beque,  showing a snow line on  the Roan Plateau:

Snow LIne on Roan Plateau

It was raining in De Beque and snowing on the upper portions and top of the Roan. (Photo was taken on my way to work this past Friday.) It happens quite often that the weather conditions at home area quite different  than conditions at work due to the 700 – 800 feet change in elevation. We have acclimatized to these changes, they are now normal for us, but these elevation changes are not common to most of our friends and family. This is just one of the differences that characterize living in Colorado from living in the Midwest.

The last of the ice has disappeared from our lawn. Grass is greening up. Today we will take the mulch off the flower beds and rake up some leaves that hit the ground after last fall’s final raking. I guess Spring is really here even though it is still below freezing at night.

Taking mulch out of the front flower bed.( Photo by P. Fields.)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

While Spring may be “here” in the  high desert, it has not arrived in the high country.  We’re discussing when we can return food items, cosmetics, water etc. to The Box up at Sanderling without being concerned liquids will freeze in overnight temps when we’re not up there.  We can’t move forward on machine rental for the driveway extension until such time as it’s feasible for us to RV overnight.  Maybe late April is a target date this year?

Happy Trails.

Today we are enjoying (?) intermittent rain showers. Iris plants are poking up through the remaining snow and mulch. Birds are flying in and out of the hole in the Cottonwood tree. Snow is gone from the roof and nearly gone from the yard. (A layer of ice persists in the most shaded areas.) Grassy areas are turning green.

It looks like Spring is here. However, looks are deceptive. The high country is getting hit with snow and as we commute to and from work we can see the snow line [on the bluffs of the Mamm Range and Roan Plateau] only a few hundred feet higher in elevation than De Beque. This morning the deck was slick from the below-freezing temperatures we had last night. So, while we are enjoying the Spring-like conditions (forecast high for Thursday is 60 degrees), we know Winter isn’t over yet. The only question is when will we get hit again?

Yesterday (Saturday) was nice enough that I moved the cars and several of my toys out of the garage and did some cleaning. I swept and shop-vac’d dirt, old leaves, cat hair, and other assorted stuff along the edges of the garage and under the counters. This time was not a full Spring cleaning, but it was good to get the Winter’s accumulation of dirt cleaned out.

In other news, our good friends Hank and Elinor, who live in Casa Grande, Arizona, celebrated birthdays in the last couple weeks. Eli is in her early 90’s and Hank is in his late 80’s. They’ve been good friends since we bought our first house in Colorado in ’79 or so — they were the closest neighbors. Our kids’ middle names come from this couple. We hope Eli and Hank are around for many more years.

Since we don’t live particularly glamorous lives, there is not a lot of other news to comment on. This week we went through only 23.1 gallons of gasoline plus a couple gallons more for the ATV, one of the lower totals for an average week. This translates into about $90.00 for fuel; any time we are under $100.00 for the week we think we are doing pretty well. Regular gasoline is selling for about $3.60 per gallon at our usual station.

We have penciled out a couple of additional house plan ideas for Sanderling, but really need to get to the lot and pace off some distances to get a good feel for where a cabin will sit, measure the grade of the slope involved, and consider other factors (well and septic placement) that would affect the design of a place. Lately our rough ideas are for a 32 x 40 house-over-garage arrangement, but that is subject to change!  The Solargon and cabin from an earlier post are in the running too.

Although lot clean-up and projects ( driveway extension, well, tool shed) will take up most  of our spare time this Summer, we’re going to try to take a few trips and travel a bit more than we have in recent years. All this takes planning and a budget, which at this point includes putting a few charges on our (mostly) paid off credit cards. If we waited until we could pay everything in cash we would never go anywhere, so this may be the year we tap into that reserve.

The latest shower has passed over for now, so this is a good ending point for this post.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Of all the moving we’ve done in almost 40 years together ( 20+ addresses), keeping in touch with some of the friends we’ve made along the way is “the best.”

Happy Trails.

This week’s post will consist of a little of this and a little of that. No major theme.

Local weather has warmed into the mid 50 degree range the last few days, above our normal highs by 10 – 12 degrees. Snow on our lawn is almost gone except for a few piles that are in the shade all day. Robins have returned and we see some birds flying in and out of the nesting hole in the cottonwood tree in the front yard. Pam says she saw a couple of iris shoots coming up through the leaf mulch. Is spring really near?

I took the ATV out for a ride today. There’s still a lot of snow in elevations just a few hundred feet higher than De Beque. Chance of snow is in the Thursday night forecast with undoubtedly a lot of winter left, but it was very nice to get out today.

Yesterday I did some scraping of old paint on the back deck and repainted until I ran out of paint. Deck looks better from the road as I did get most of the front-facing wood covered. Also was able to hook up the hose and wash the Honda by hand, have not been able to do that for months. Even fired up the 8N Ford and ran it around the block. Pam opened the kitchen window and back door for a bit and we had fresh air in the house for a while. The dandelion plants are turning green.

I mentioned in my last post that we had cats under the trailer and had plans to remove them. That project appears to have worked and we have closed up the skirting. With the reinforcements we made we hope to avoid a repeat of the tunneling problem. Pam says she has seen all the cats she thought were under the trailer out and about at the garage and back deck feeders.

Those of you who know me well know my mother has never forgiven me for moving away from Wisconsin. In her last letter she reminded me – again – how great my brother is as a son as he stops by often and does maintenance projects around the house. I liked living in Wisconsin but the mountains are my home. Apparently my happiness is not all that important in my mother’s scheme of things…

We figured out our State and Federal taxes. We knew we would get whacked this year as I started getting a retirement annuity from the State of Wisconsin in 2013 (the annuity distribution takes out Federal but not State tax) and I had cashed in a small trust fund that wasn’t taxed. As a result we owe both Federal and Colorado state taxes this year. This was not unforeseen (Pam has been putting funds aside) but it’s irritating to see the final numbers. Since we owe money we won’t actually file until early April. This gives us a couple more months to get the money together before we write the checks.

That’s about it for this past week, and there doesn’t look to be much going on in the upcoming week. Goodbye to the Olympics coverage – have been watching some of it most evenings –  although I’m not so thrilled to see all the X-Games events added to the Olympic venues. I still prefer the standards; downhill races, male/female/pairs ice skating events, and ski jumping. Half-pipe and slope-style are not my thing. I’m just a grumpy old man, I guess!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Love to see those robins.  Bless them. Time to plan the year’s getaways, now that we know our additional tax liability.  Potential trips could include: Jer’s cycle getaway in June/July (this year in central Canada, likely to include a Midwest swing), 40th Anniversary trip in August (thinking about Napa Valley, CA), possible road trip in November (to Florida?).  Plus all the travel to and from Sanderling during the summer (potential development plans there start in early spring).  Busy.

Happy Trails.

It has been warm for a change. All the snow on the roads has melted and small puddles of water dot our emerging lawn. It is a different story in the high country, though.

Yesterday (Saturday) I took the truck and drove up to our Sanderling lot to check on the trailer and check things out. Last March we were able to start putting in the driveway and we hoped to get an early start on the extension this year. It doesn’t look like that will happen this Spring!

Here is a through-the-windshield shot of me going up Red Hill Pass east of Fairplay:

Heading east up Red Hill Pass

The wind was blowing and snow was flying. I had no idea what I would find on the lot,which is about 20 miles from this point.

Elkhorn Road, the main road to the lot, was much better:

Elkhorn Road (Co Rd 15) south of Como

The gravel part of the road was mostly dry as well, but there were some muddy places. I still did not know what I would find at the lot.

I was relieved to find Sanderling Court fully plowed out. Our driveway was a different story, but after several tries (and some shoveling in the deepest snow) I made it up to the RV. Here is a shot of the driveway looking back toward Sanderling Court:

Looking back down driveway, 2-15-14.

Note the section in the middle of the photo where the undercarriage dragged. 4-wheel drive was required!

The trailer was OK, but the snow  deeper than I had anticipated. In fact there’s more snow than at any time we have visited up to this point. It looks like our hopes for beginning projects in March may be doomed as there is a lot of Winter left and more snow is certain to accumulate.

Pam asked me to bring home some of the small aspen we had set aside at Sanderling last year (we thought they might be used as posts for a dog run). Instead, the small tree trunks will now be used to reinforce the bottom edge of the skirting around the mobile, which has started to show signs of developing a few gaps. I had brought along my snowmobile boots but even so the snow, in places, was up to just below my knees. The snow melt later will be great for the alpine flowers and trees, but walking and dragging those aspen trees down to the truck was real work. 

After getting the wood in the truck I ate my lunch (it was about 46 degrees inside the RV) and took a short break before heading home. As in my previous trip I had the generator going to charge the batteries and had been on the roof to clear the snow off the solar panels. I could see a snow storm coming in over the Mosquito Range and wanted to get back on the road home before 3:00 PM.

Storm from the Mosquito Range heading for South Park

There were no real problems getting home, though the north side of Hoosier Pass was fairly slippery:

Light snow on Hoosier Pass made for slow travel

I made it home by around 7:00 PM, pretty much as I had planned. I was glad I had made the trip – it has been nearly 2 months since the last visit – and it was good to be on the lot again.

Today we tackled a problem that will need a more permanent fix later this spring. A gap in the skirting  allowed cats to get under the trailer this Winter. We removed a couple panels and reinforced the skirting base inside with some of the wood I brought from the lot. We also spread three bales of cedar shavings under the trailer after spraying a couple containers of Out pet deodorizer under the dark, grungy space. We replaced all panels but one and just outside of that panel Pam has set up one of her cat cages. The idea is to make sure all the cats are out from underneath the trailer before sealing the skirting up again. Sure hope this works!

So it was a long and busy weekend, as there were the “normal” chores of grocery shopping, a Walmart run, and getting fuel for the cars. It was warm enough to warrant taking both the truck and the Honda to a local U-Spray car wash to try to get the layers of road dirt and road grime off them. Weather outlook for the next week is seasonable but no major rain or snow predicted so the cars should stay clean for a week or two.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

No good deed goes unpunished.  Rescuing De Beque cats frequently causes problems, this time it’s the skirting needing repair after the little beasts clawed their way under.  Gr-r-r-r-r.

Happy Trails.

Well. The Super Bowl was last Sunday and the Broncos were embarrassed 43 to 8. I had predicted a Seahawk win but the margin was greater than I ever imagined.  Oh well…time to move on.

We are watching the Olympics today and rooting for US athletes when we can, but so far the US has not had a lot of success. It’s early in the games — there have been some excellent performances already.  Pam likes to watch figure skating, both the individuals and pairs. Some competitors have great style and elegance and others have fantastic jumps. It’s interesting to contrast the performances. We tend to go more for the grace and elegance rather than spectacular  jumps, particularly in the pairs events, but the singles tend to score higher with the more athletic programs.

Following are updates on topics mentioned in  previous posts.

First, Pam has completed the cushion for the glider and it turned out very well.

Pam sewed a pad for the glider.

It’s a nice feeling to sit on the glider and gently move to and fro. The padding makes it even more comfortable. I think we’ll get much use from this piece of furniture.

Second, the weather. The snow I mentioned in the last post did arrive as predicted. We didn’t get huge amounts but it snowed for about four days in a row, meaning I had to clear snow when we arrived home and again in the mornings before we left. Each time it seemed like we had 2 – 3 inches of snow to clear. Today it is well above freezing and the snow is melting but there is still a bank on the side of the road that seems melt-resistant. Night time temps, although moderating, are still well below freezing.  Snow melts during the day and freezes at night, creating  slippery conditions for driving to work.  We  are ready for spring, or at least a break between snow storms.

What else…

January is done, and the month saw hectic work schedules for us both. CMC, the community college where Pam works, has several new managers including one for the Registrar’s Office. While this manager occupies a spot a few levels higher than Pam’s position, office politics always come to the fore, something  Pam dislikes after all these working years (creating drama she would rather avoid).

As for me, one of my vendors discovered a problem in their hardware that necessitated swapping out two of my network storage units. Although we were able to make the swap in one day I can’t say it was very much fun. That is, however, life in the IT world.

Our daughter Felicity has a new job with a Canadian-based on-line marketing company named Fire Pole. Felicity is writing web page content and answering on-line questions from the client base. She’s quite good with social media, an area of expertise Felic developed while running her own small business these past years. So far the only problem encountered is Felicity has to be up and functioning for a  daily 7:00 AM staff meeting phone call (the company is in Montreal, she’s in Oregon), and Felicity is not a morning person. I guess she’ll learn to cope.

Our son Toby was disappointed at the Bronco loss but otherwise seems to be doing OK. The carpet cleaning business he works for in Indiana shut down a couple times due to bad weather, which cut his hours a bit.  He’s looking forward to spring so he can pick up his refereeing work again.

That really is about it for now. Next weekend I hope to drive into the mountains to the Sanderling lot, to check on snow conditions and make sure the trailer is OK. We also need to get started on tax preparation. Not looking forward to it; I suspect we will owe federal taxes this year.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Due to delicate sensibilities, I will not be discussing “Amateur Night at the Super Bowl.”

Happy Trails.

First, thanks for the comments. I am feeling better this week and am back to eating 3 regular meals a day. Looks like this particular health episode is over.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and the game starts at about 4:30 PM our time.  Locally this has caused quite a buzz with parties, sales, and media coverage of even the most inconsequential details of the Broncos football team. Seattle is picked to win by 3 points by many of the odds-makers, though, and that indicates it should be a close game. We will see.

Pam has been looking at house interiors for ideas. This living room, from a house for sale near Lake Tahoe, caught her eye:

Comfy living room. (Realtor photo.)

This place features stone walls, windows and open areas,  ideas we find attractive. Leather furniture is definitely not in our future, but there may be a way to replicate the feeling on a smaller scale and with other cabin furnishings. At this point we’re starting to put together things we like — we’ll eventually  try to incorporate as many of these ideas as we can into a floor plan and design for a house on the lot.

Locally, last Friday the area set a snow-fall-for-the-date record. The past record was 2.3 inches and the new one was 5.7 inches. Not a huge amount, but it was a heavy, wet snow that was difficult to shovel. I fired up the old Gilson lawn tractor and used it’s blade to clear our driveway and sidewalks, then did the same for our neighbors up and down the block.  (At which point the local “plow” came by with it’s blade to clean the streets and pushed the snow  up onto the sidewalks again.)  Yesterday and today the high temps were above freezing so some of the snow is already beginning to melt. More snow is forecast for this week, though. February and March are the biggest snow months for Colorado so I expect to be using the Gilson again in the near future.  At least the ski areas are doing a thriving business, and the snow pack in the mountains is above average, so the Spring melt should bring this area some much-needed water.  (Unlike California’s water situation.)

There really is not much going on at the moment that is noteworthy. Pam and I are very busy at our jobs as is normal for the beginning of a new year. We haven’t been out much and I have not been touring on my ATV for a while, so no trip reports to write up. It is a slow time of the year!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Jer is feeling better.  However, I’m thinkin’ a colonoscopy may be in his [near] future.

More snow on the way is depressing, but hey, it’s not getting dark till almost 5:30 p.m. —  that’s progress.  We arrive home from work in the twilight instead of full dark.

I’m going to try to work on a cushion for the glider, maybe Jer will sneak in another picture at some point.  Watch this space.

Happy trails.

Well. The Broncos won their AFC title game last Sunday and are off to the Super Bowl. Our son Toby called us to see how excited we were at this development and was somewhat chagrined to learn we are not that excited. It would be nice if the Broncos win but it won’t crush us if they don’t. We just hope for a good, close game that is well played by both teams. I will, however, dig out my Broncos sweatshirt and wear it for the game.

This last week has been a bad one for me. I was off work all week with a medical problem. I was experiencing stomach cramps and abdominal pain. Turns out there was an adhesion problem in my abdomen which caused a partial blockage of my small intestine. Part of the intestine was stuck to the wall of the abdomen.

My first visit to the doctor, last Monday, resulted in a prescription and X-rays. By Wednesday the X-rays were back but the doctor wanted a CT scan as it would show more soft tissue detail. It was that or a colonoscopy, so I opted for the CT scan. Results of the scan showed there was no mass inside the intestine, good news for me. By now I was on a regime of anti-gas medication, stool softeners, and orders to pump liquid into my diet. By Friday I was able to eat three smallish meals, the first time I was able to do so all week. Today I am feeling OK but not 100%.

If the intestine does not come unstuck by itself I may need surgery to separate the intestine from the abdominal wall. The doctor thinks the intestine may be stuck to the scar tissue of my appendectomy, done when I was in grade school.

Good Lord. One thing I don’t want  is hospital gowns, poking and prodding, and stool softeners. This could impact our plans for the summer, not to mention the severe discomfort that would result from abdomen surgery. Hopefully the intestine will un-stick itself and any more intervention will be unnecessary. Odds of that happening are not in my favor, though, so we will have to see what the next few weeks bring. The doctor did clear me to go back to work tomorrow.

Once again, our sympathies to family and friends in the Midwest who are putting up with below-normal temperatures. We had the coldest December on record, but January has been near (and sometimes above) normal. As I look outside my window I can see some of the ice on the edge of the road starting to melt, indicating today will be above freezing as it has been for the last week or so. Average daytime temperatures for this time of year are in the mid to upper 30’s.

Thanks for the comments regarding the cabin dreams. Our biggest decision concerns what we intend to do with the house; use it as a weekend getaway or would we use it in retirement as a full-time house, even for part of the year?  The answer to that will influence our choice of house plans and we are continuing the debate.

There has not been a lot else going on this past week. We did put up a few more framed photos  and Pam bought some foam to make cushions for the glider bench. Maybe this week will be more interesting!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Our oldest cat, Mira, visited the vet for several overnighters with intestinal problems Tuesday and Wednesday.  Intestines seem to be the topic of the week.

Men are not good patients.  Cats are better patients.

Happy Trails

I am writing this on Sunday morning; the Broncos play their AFC championship game against the Patriots later today. Otherwise there is not a lot going on in mid-January folks!

We’re cabin dreaming this winter, and we’d welcome some feedback on possible floor plans for a cabin on the lot. I have advocated a fairly traditional cabin and Pam has come up with a somewhat unconventional structure. First, here are some details of Pam’s Solargon house, which is supposedly based on a yurt:

Solargon octagonal cabin (Mfg. photo)

Here is a typical floor plan for the Solargon 30-foot model:

Typical floor plan (Mfg. photo)

We would put such a structure over a walk-out basement giving us more storage space and square footage to put the utilities such as  a hot water boiler, furnace, solar system “stuff”and pressure tank for the well.

The kit is available with either 8-foot or 10-foot walls; we would opt for the 10-foot model. Square footage is 700 square feet, which would about double over a walk-out basement.

Advantages of the Solargon include: lower purchase cost, easier assembly,  soaring interior spaces, and more economic in terms of heating and cooling. Manufacturer is in Fort Collins so shipping would not be very expensive. Disadvantages include: no covered deck (who wants to shovel snow off a deck?) and the garage would need to be an octagon as well to visually blend with the structure. More information can be found at: http://www.solargon-structures.com

My selection is more traditional, with a rectangular cabin and a covered porch:

“Hunter” model cabin (Mfg. photo)

Suggested floor plan looks like this:

Hunter floor plan (Mfg. photo)

My thought would be to add a garage to the left-hand side of this plan. This cabin would also be put over a walk-out basement doubling the over-all square footage. This floor plan is 1,460 square foot of space. We couldn’t  afford log construction so would go with a standard timber-framed structure.

Let us know what you think about either of these two approaches. Construction is a couple of years away but it’s nice to dream in the middle of Winter.

In any case, we found out we have to put in a well before we put in a septic system. We’d hoped to put in the septic first as this would mean I would not have to pull the RV over to the dump station to empty the holding tanks.  Ah, no.  Well first.  Septic and well will cost around $20K according to a local contractor. We are looking into ways to finance these improvements this year as our (ambitious) goal is to complete the driveway, get a tool storage shed, and get the well and septic in place. Big order…the septic may have to wait until 2015.  After that we need to install an off-grid solar system for power — although we could run the well pump from a generator if we had to for a couple years. At a minimum we need to complete the drive, purchase a storage shed, and get the well drilled. It will be a busy and expensive year. Once this work is done (and paid for) we can start getting serious about putting up a cabin.

In other odds and ends, mom cat Ebony was taken to the shelter this last Wednesday. We found out  all 4 of her kittens had been adopted within a week of being dropped off. That is good news to us, particularly Pam who puts so much time and effort into the fostering process.  They were all black kittens, a challenge to adopt during busy kitten season (Summer).

It’s been a while since I put some pet photos in a post so here is a recent photo of the dogs Blondie, “Sassy” Bru, and “Auburn” Jo.  All three dogs have been through their winter groomings, Bru also successfully came through lumpectomy surgery in December:

Blondie, Bru, and Jo

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

A guiding parameter when considering development of the Sanderling lot is something our realtor mentioned while we were on the land search.  The development where we’ve purchased the lot doesn’t really support resale in the quarter-million-dollars-and-up range.  So, when putting in improvements and buildings, one must proceed with as much economy as possible to keep the overall costs in line. Difficult to do when well and septic alone are half the cost of the lot.  And driveway installation costs are horrendous.

I’m also concerned about who will actually build the proposed cabin, when that time comes.  The best economy is to purchase a home kit, but let’s face it – neither Jer nor I are capable of assembling a kit at 9,000+ feet any more.  My thought was to contact the local shop teacher and see if he could foreman a small crew of capable Fairplay industrial arts students for a long summer weekend.  Lots of food, a porta-potty, and cash payment —  voile — an erected cabin shell.  (?)

Happy Trails.

I have been watching more TV than normal as the football season is winding down. All the college games have been played and the NFL playoffs are on-going. Coupled with the winter weather this means more inside time and more TV watching.

I wish Auburn had held on to defeat Florida, but otherwise the college games were pretty good. Imagine…36 bowl games. Some I have never heard of, along with the teams that played in them. I guess I don’t pay enough attention during the season. I didn’t watch them all, by the way, just the majors like the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and  a couple others.

My sympathies to all our Midwest friends and family about the Packer loss. I thought sure the Pack would be moving into more playoff games. On the other hand, I never thought the Broncos would make it this far. They beat San Diego today and will be playing the Patriots next week. Winner of that game goes to the Super Bowl. We will have to see what happens next week!

Last week at this time the Midwest was suffering from a polar vortex that dropped temps to record lows and forced school closings. Record temps were not only found in the Midwest; our Florida friends, Mary and Jeff, reported a low of 34 around their place in central Florida. (Of course it rebounded into the low ’80s a few days later.)  We remember those cold Wisconsin days. In ’91 we had just moved back to Wisconsin from Oregon and the Christmas Day temp was -22. The steering wheel in the Toyota cracked from being so cold. I had to outfit both cars with freeze plugs and tank heaters so they would start. Bundling up the kids was always a chore. Yes, we remember those days well and extend our sympathies to everyone who is dealing with this weather.

Out here it finally warmed up enough to begin melting the snow and ice on the roads. A light snow this morning covered everything with a thin layer of white, but it was short-lived as the temps got near or above freezing this afternoon. The yard still has a heavy layer of snow, but the white stuff is receding around the edges of the sidewalks and driveway. Our two snowiest months are ahead (February and March) but for now there is a lull.

Pam ordered a glider bench and it arrived a couple of days ago. Here are the components sitting in the living room:

Glider parts waiting for tung oil

Pam lightly sanded the surfaces then put a coat of tung oil on all the wooden parts. After letting it dry and doing the assembly work the glider looks like this:

Assembled glider

Initially we will use it in the house, then on the deck when the weather warms up. Pam has wanted  a glider for a couple years and it is sort of a late Christmas gift. It is quite comfortable to sit on but Pam will fix up some cushions to make it even more comfy.

Speaking of furniture, here is a photo of Pam’s “antique” drop-leaf table, now serving as our printer stand and extra work space.  Pam says this table may actually be someone’s shop project from the 1950s, but time has qualified it to be considered “antique:”

Pam’s drop-leaf table

The printer, an Epson R1900, is a large unit and takes up a lot of space. (The basket under the table holds dog toys.) Having the table near the computer has worked out very well, giving Pam more space around the computer to spread out papers and eliminating a lot of clutter. The table has a built-in drawer on the left side that makes a good place to store extra paper and ink cartridges.  Table came from a local Re-Store shop,  a division of Habitat for Humanity. Cost was $100.00 but the best part is the table fits the spot where Pam wanted it. Still need a few small items on the walls (a few of my photos), still need a console table/sideboard. Then the “spruce up” project will be done.

In cat news, Ebony (mother of litter #24) had her spay operation and will be surrendered to the shelter this coming Wednesday. Ebony is  young and petite and black — we think her chances of getting adopted this time of year are pretty good. Right now she is bored with no other cats or her kittens to keep her company. Must be tough with nothing to do but eat and sleep all day.  (Sounds like a pretty good life, actually.)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Jer humors me with the mention and photos of “my” glider.  Truth is, I’ve been looking at that glider for almost two years now in the catalog and finally ordered it.  I envision it someday up at Sanderling, inviting us to actually sit down and enjoy the mountains rather than work ourselves till we drop.  For me to sit in it, I will need a pillow behind my back to fit in the glider; Jer’s size is perfect for the seat depth.  When it arrived, and we unbundled the glider from packing material, I was distressed to find I needed to hand sand all cut and curved edges.  I thought the Amish had made this item, apparently Amish folks don’t sand rough edges?  Goes to show nothing is quite as you think it will be.

Happy Trails.

Just in case you missed it, here is a great flash mob Christmas video:

http://www.military.com/video/forces/air-force/usaf-band-does-holiday-flash-mob/2893304289001/

The US Air Force Band does a flash mob at the Air and Space Museum. “Joy To The World.” Really neat if you like both Christmas music and military bands.

So  — Welcome to 2014.

First, I want to to thank several people:
Larry and Tabitha for being my most consistent comment posters. I appreciate your comments!
Judy and Willis Volden for sending us a gift of fudge every year. Great stuff!
Mary Hayes, Jon Bjornson, and Tom and Patti Hamilton for being good friends who visited us in Colorado during 2013.
XS 11 club members Ray,  Ed, Scott, Tkat, and Brant for time shared together during motorcycle rallies.
And, not least, Pam for putting up with me for another year.

Last year was sort of a watershed year for us. We started improving the mountain lot we bought late in 2012. By Pam’s count we made  23 visits to the lot in 2013. Most trips were overnighters but a few were one day events. Buying the lot was a big deal for us; we had spent almost 2 years looking for a lot that was within our budget and had some of the basic requirements we had set out including: a view, few neighbors, and a mix of evergreen and aspen trees. Although we worked  hard and probably didn’t spend enough time just enjoying our days at Sanderling, we did get much enjoyment from being in the high country. 2014 should be easier in many ways as we now have the RV, truck, and a plan of attack for cleaning up the lot and further development of the land.

No family members died in 2013, a good thing at our age. However, our Christmas card list keeps shrinking, down this year to about 50 cards from a high of over 120+ a couple decades ago. I get the feeling people just don’t send as many cards as they did in the past (maybe because first class postage is so high?). It is also true that we keep losing older aunts and uncles as well as older co-workers from previous places we have worked.  That’s one of the sad parts of Christmas, remembering the friends who are no longer with us (miss your sense of humor, Harry Recker and Bob Krueger).

So what else is ahead for us in 2014? I’ve already touched a bit on the lot. This year we hope to extend the driveway up to the saddle where we will put in a pad for the RV. This will get us into a more secluded area with trees around us and get us better access to the middle part of the lot. An equipment shed would be nice for storage of tools like the chain saw, generator,  and cart.  All it takes is money….:)

We plan to travel a bit more in 2014. It’s been a while since we took an extended trip together. While we did get to Boise last year to meet Felicity at her Sweet Adelines convention, that was basically a weekend trip. Pam would like to get together with her high school friends Mary and Julie for a “Wenches Weekend” sometime this spring (plans are in the works for that), and we are talking about a trip into California’s Napa Valley for our 40th anniversary.  More on both of these in future posts.

This year’s motorcycle group rally, on the east coast, will be in Canada above the state of New York. I am toying with the idea of attending this one, but there are other rallies planned in other parts of the country that also sound interesting. Decisions, desicions… At my age there are not a lot of years left to get out and ride so I plan to make the most of it while I can.  (Pam also appreciates the break from having me in the house – a mini vacation for her too.)

Along with the regular New Year’s resolutions ( lose weight, excercise more) I have made a new one: Be more courteous. I think as a society we have become less civil over the years and simply don’t appreciate the other people in our daily lives as much as we should. So I plan to say “Thank you” and “I appreciate that” more than I have in the past.

I also resolve to get all my dental work done. Been putting it off far too long. (TMI?) I also need to look into treatment for my sleep apnea. There is a place in Grand Junction that specializes in treating apnea and I need to get in and be evaluated. My brother Jon got treatment a few years ago and reports it changed his life a lot; he has more energy and sleeps much better at night. Hopefully I would see similar results.

In other news, I mentioned working on the Honda’s brakes in my last post. I put new rotors on the front and new pads in the rear calipers. The old front rotors were too thin to “get turned” (resurfaced) so I had to replace them. The Honda has now received a new battery, tires, and brakes in the last few months. Hope it is now good for another 50K miles with just routine maintenance (currently 315,000 miles on the odometer).

Honda gets new front brake rotors

Rear pads (left) were getting pretty thin compared to new pads (right)

We took Christmas down on New Year’s Day. All the lights, ornaments, garlands, and other stuff are now back in boxes and up in the garage attic, waiting for Thanksgiving week next year to again be brought out. Seems like such a short time ago  we decorated the place. This Christmas season just seemed to fly past.

Christmas tree 2013

Mesa County issued a burning ban because of the weather inversion, so we didn’t have an opportunity to use the fire pit at all during the holidays. This December went into the books as the coldest on record; we did not get up to our seasonal avereage of 37 degrees the entire month. Our heating bill for the month went up almost $70.00.  It was even too cold to go snowmobiling.

Speaking of snowmobiling, I won’t be out on my sled this winter. I did not renew my registration and may sell the Mountain Max. Pam gets concerned when I go out alone and I find I enjoy riding the ATV a bit more, so my snowmobiling days may be over. I was out on the ATV on Christmas Day; the snow was not so deep on Wild Horse Mesa and I could get around OK. The heated grips and thumb warmer, my Christmas present, worked well and I had fun getting out.

I think “getting out” is the key, I am not happy just staying around the house. Pam has questioned why this is so, and I guess it’s because I was raised in rural Wisconsin and had access to rivers, streams, and forests all on our own (60 acre) property. With a small house and 4 kids my parents encouraged a lot of outside time, even in the winter. I had a snowmobile during my high school years, and before that we had a variety of winter activities.

One of these involved being pulled on a tobaggan behind a horse. Later on we substituted Dad’s 8N Ford for the horse and a hood from a ’53 Chevy – it had a curved up nose – for the toboggan. A foam pad made the hood a bit more comfortable to ride on. I can still remember doing donuts on that hood while the tractor swung us around in an empty hay field. (Crack the whip with the tractor pulling us.) Fun times. Dangerous, but we never considered that. In any event, I spent a lot of time outside, even in the winter. Old habits die hard.

Pam took the four black kittens to the shelter this last Friday. Ebony, the Mom cat, will follow shortly after she gets a spay operation. We will be “kittenless” for the first time in about 7 months.  I’ll be glad to get the master bathroom back and not have to guard the door to the hallway when I go in and out of the master  bedroom. (The kittens spent their days in the master bedroom/bathroom.)  We should have a few months off, but undoubtedly Pam will foster kittens during 2014.

Time to wrap up this post. I hope all who read this have a healthy and satisfying 2014.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Resolutions:

To begin altering my “wardrobe” so my clothes are as comfortable as pajamas and my shoes are as comfortable as slippers.  (Hopefully I won’t have to go as far as Hugh Heffner and actually walk around all day in pajamas and slippers to accomplish this.)

To find a reason to renew my long-expired passport.

To actually go on some of those trips we talk about.

As for that being nicer concept of Jer’s, I think I’m going to stick with grumpy old person.  It’s workin’ for me.

Dreams:

A lottery win.  This doesn’t have to be the ginormous half a billion jackpot, $750,000 on up would be quite acceptable.  I promise to help others as well as animal rescue organizations if a big lotto win comes our way.

A part-time job (again).  My mother died when she was 65, life speeds by so rapidly, time is precious.

Happy Trails in 2014.