Julia's first real climb and weekend in the San Luis Valley

Julia,4, always liked swinging on the rope and climbing a bit. Usually the climbs were too hard for her though. Last weekend at Penitente Canyon, she did a climb from top to bottom. Yee-Haa!

We were there with Tom and Karen Cooper and stayed at our Crestone place. The picture here was taken by Tom. They brought their daughter Jessica, 3. Our agenda was hiking in the Sand Dunes NP, the Sand Dunes Hot Spring pool at Hooper, bike riding and putting furniture together while the kids played. .. and play they did. They were exhausted from playing by the end of the weekend. It didn't matter when it was time to sleep though. Check this picture.

The Crestone House

As we drove away from our Crestone place, Monday, both Mia & I were depressed. We wanted to stay down here not drive home. (Actually, we were heading across the valley to Penitente Canyon to climb, then driving home.) We were more or less done w/ furnishing it for rental and for us. We love it.

Mia put up a quickie web site today for the rental. Check it: Crestone Rental.

Click on the picture to get a better view of the Prow of Kit Carson soaring above our house.

I put together a quick & easy viewer for house pics. Check it here.

Moose on the Loose

What's going on around Boulder County? Besides the mountain lion problems, now we have a few Moose in the area. Crazy. Yesterday, Lyn Lammert sent out a picture of a Moose in her driveway. Lyn lives just down the hill from us.

Today's Daily Camera had another picture and an article (sign in required, use bob@bob.com with password bob) about a moose sighting in the Pine Brook Hills area. The picture here was taken by Kalina Grabb. Here's a quote from the article by Vanessa Miller.

It was a good thing Kalina Grabb, 13, had a camera with her Saturday, because what she and her parents saw while driving in north Boulder was rare for the area: two young moose, wandering near the road.

First waterfight of the year

I have a miserly, pitiful little grass patch out back. I planted native gamma & fescue last year. For the soil, I mixed in imported flatlander soil with the natural rock, granite gravel and clay. The non-native cheat grass was working it's way back into my loved 60 sq. ft. patch.

While pulling the cheat grass, Mia was watering the deck plants. BAM! She hit me full bore w/ the high pressure nozzle. I was caught fully off guard and pissed. I circled around and turned the water off, grabbed the hose, turned it on and went on the offensive. Retaliation is good, eh? Of course, the living room got plastered as I soaked Mia sliding thru the doors.

I went back to pulling the cheat grass when Julia came out and sprayed me with the remaining pressure. The pressure was short lived so I went back to the pulling. After a bit, I sensed it was too quiet. I looked up and into the barrel of the hose. Julia had quietly turned the valve back on. BAM! She nailed me! Then it was my turn. I wasn't too tough on her but she was dripping and laughing after I was done.

She'll be a worthy adversary when she gets a bit larger and quicker. What fun!

A second home in Crestone

Whew! It really happened. Many times it looked like it wasn't going to. Shivani Kitson, our realtor from Crestone Realty was excellent. She worked hard to make this happen.

The closing was in Saguache. She told us on the drive over that there's no stop lights in Saguache County and the population density is 1 person per sq. kilometer.

Mia & I feel a close attachment to the San Luis Valley and will give it our love. I wish we could move down permanently. While I can work anywhere, Mia's still growing her web design business, Web Yodel. In the meantime, we'll stay in Crestone, actually Baca Grande, between renters .. yeah, we can't afford a our second home outright even if it's only a 1000 sq. ft.

Here's a pic of Bump and the Battle Wagon blocking the front of the house. You can still see a bit of the house ... More pics to come.

Rainbow over the house

Ouch! Truck shell hatch fights garage

I drove the truck into the garage slowly as usual. Boxes were sticking out the back of the bed. I heard a really bad sound. My shell hatch was up and did not win the fight with the garage. The damage is estimated at $300. It's time to talk about a higher garage. Both Mia (Margit) & I have done this before but not like this.

Battle wagon trailer

Bought this pickup bed trailer up recently. It looks like the body is from a '50s era pickup. I have no idea what brand. It's a real red neck special. Plenty of rust but the bed is diamond plate steel, 6-1/2 feet long. It has 35x12.5" tires with 11" of clearance under the diff. Here's a rear view. It drives straight with no vibration.

Maybe I'll have a bunch of Julia's friends over to paint it whatever color they want ... I'll help!

A little bear action

Guess we put the hummingbird feeder up too early. I walked into the bathroom and saw the seed feeder swinging on the tree. The hummingbird feeder was gone. I've been scaring fox squirrels off the seed feeder all week, with my slingshot. I leaned over for a look. It was NOT a squirrel but a bear. As usual click on the pic for the full bear effect. The bear was having a great time persuading the feeder to purge it's sugar water contents. The feeder even survived.

Based on the size of the yearling I saw 3 years ago, I'd guess it was a 2 year old bear.

GirlZ San Rafael Swell Canyoneering Trip

Dianne Dallin, Deb Piranian & Mia Mestdagh had a great weekend canyoneering in the San Rafael Swell. They did Quandary Direct featuring a pack toss and jumaring out of keeper potholes. A headstand was crucial for escaping a keeper pothole. Big bonus points here.

Saturday, they had to abort an attempt on the Lower Squeeze due to dubious weather conditions.

The last day, they did top secret Zero Gravity canyon with four other parties that thought it was secret also!

Check the photo album here.

Julia gets married

When I picked Julia up from daycare today, she told me she had married Ben. Ben, 3, is one of the boys at daycare. Some of the girls dressed Ben up in girls clothes and he married my daughter. Of course I asked her how it feels to be married. She said good! :-)

Later, while we were having dinner, Julia said: I'm really glad I'm married because now I'm going to have a baby. I smiled thinking what's it's going to be like when she's older. Then I stopped smiling.

Living in the clouds

Here's a picture of the front yard, this morning. Nice, high humidity morning! The house is in the background although it's hard to see due to the clouds.

April BoyZrUs Canyon Trip

A good BoyZrUs trip was had! Canyoneering, cigars and guns. Hip boots were needed when it got deep in the evening. Bill, Bob, Chuck & I did another UD (undocumented) canyon in Utah's Robber's Roost region as well as the Lost Springs Fork of the South Fork of Robber's Roost canyon (documented).

UD canyons are always exciting after first rappel when the rope is pulled ... leaving no retreat. It was a 5 mile approach slog though so it better be exciting. Although it was good, I (we) have done better.

The next day was better, even though we'd know we'd live through it. Lost Springs Fork was great. We returned via the fork to the the South. We did some of this return canyon, with the young 'uns, a few weeks ago, as described here.

The pic to the left is Bob looking as grim as possible in Lost Springs. After all, canyoneering is serious stuff when there's a 1000 ft drop below your feet. Yah, right ;-) As usual, click on the image for the full Bob effect.

The album of trip pics is here.