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.

BoyZrUs canyoneering trip this weekend

Pretty much ready to go. The GO box is filled with Utah topo maps hosting cryptic markings. Primed the GPS with new opportunities. Picked up some cigars. Will pick up some ammo on the way out of town tomorrow. Time for adrenlin packed adventures. Bob & I head out tomorrow afternoon. Bill flew in last weekend from France. We'll meet him in Grand Junction. Chuck will fly up from Ridgway. We'll pick him up in Green River. Wish I had more than a weekend ...

Nice weekend at home

After the last few hectic, adventure filled weekends, we had a fun weekend at home. Well sort of ...

The daffodils are in full bloom ... (as usual, click the image for full effect)

... and we have a heck of a lot of wood to split. I've always split logs with my maul but I have way too much too split this year (.. and yeah, I'm getting older). Here's a picture of one pile. Like I said, way too much. It'd take me all summer in my spare time.

I rented a 22 ton hydraulic gas powered splitter for $85. It took us over a day to do most but not all of it. Margit did all the splitting on Sunday while I stacked the wood in the shed. It's pretty interesting. The splitting ram moves very slow with much force. I guess 22 tons to be exact. Dry ponderosa splits excellent. Green ponderosa is a bit messier. Either way, it's beats splitting by man power.

Sunday night, just before dinner, we saw a fox. Nothing unusual there but this time I had a camera handy.

Rocky Flats Mountain Group canyons trip

Although everyone in the Rocky Flats Mountaineering Group (RFMG) were invited, not many joined us. The King family (Charlie, Kathy & Jaimie), Lance Masoner & our family met in the Robber's Roost area of Utah for a canyon trip. My niece, Sarah from Illinois, joined us also. For Sarah, 15, it was her first time sleeping in a tent, driving a truck, canyoneering and furthest West she has ever been. Big stuff!

The camping was great. We slept like pigs! How could you not sleep well surrounded by this kind of scenery?

The first day we did a family oriented variation of the Lost Spring Fork of the South Fork of Robber's Roost Canyon. This is one fork South of the normal route. Julia, 4, loved it. This variation is perfect for kids. It's short, has some downclimbing, squeezing and a short roped section. Nothing scary. The adults had fun too. It was Kathy's first canyon as well as Jaimie's and Sarah's. Watching Julia work her way through was amazing.

The girls drove the trucks for a bit on the way to camp. Sarah has the luck to drive my truck with it's 6 gear manual transmission. She did well and had fun after she relaxed a bit.

The next day, Sarah and Jaimie babysat while the big kids did Bull Pasture canyon. I did an early descent of this canyon but it has been years. The first time was during December with lots of water and no anchors in place. What was thought provoking was now just plain fun. A few good drops, some rope work and ending with a mostly free hanging 100 ft rappel. Lance's eyes were the size of silver dollars as he started down the drop.

We celebrated Julia's 4th birthday when we got back. She had to try out her new clothes in the desert. Pretty funny. They didn't stay clean long.

The last day we did a hike in Horseshoe Canyon, the adjunct district of Canyonlands National Park. Lot's of pictographs but we had some mutinees on the way down. So only Margit, Lance and Charlie were able to see them. Nice flowers too.

Good trip. Charlie wrote up a good blog entry also. My flickr album has many more pics.

Sarah, my niece, cooks us a meal

My niece, Sarah, is in town for Spring Break. She cooks a mean chicken parmesan. We are happy to oblige her. It was excellent. Another picture here.

Mountain Lion attack in Boulder

Last weekend, a mountain lion attacked a 7 year old boy on Flagstaff Mountain. The boy was holding hands with his father. Read about it here and here.

The Daily Camera seems to think "it is not cause for alarm" per this editorial. (The full editorial is password protected - use mail address: bob@bob.com / password: bob, courtesy of BugMeNot). Here's the first paragraph of today's editorial:

The fact that a 7-year-old boy was attacked by a mountain lion in the Boulder foothills is saddening and distressing. But it is not cause for alarm. Nor is it a reason to slaughter these animals. Unfortunately, some local residents seem unable to draw such distinctions.

I believe people don't want to slaughter the lions. People just want the lions to go away. The issue is reducing the lion's need to dwell in the human/ animal interface. I've been thinking about a couple of points.

1. Deer are a lion's natural food.
2. Lions are equal opportunity predators. If easy prey, like pets or kids, are available, the lions will kill and eat those too.

My thoughts on these ...

1. Boulder has way too many deer. They are protected. Deer have no natural predators except the lions. The lions are drawn in to feed on the deer. Everyone thinks they, and their kids, are safe in town but this video of a lion in Boulder proves this thought wrong.
Pretty obvious stuff but what to do about it?
I think culling the deer drastically to their natural population density would help dramatically. Easy enough said but people love deer. I see them all the time on my property in the low foothills. I enjoy watching them but I'd rather see less of them ... and not worry so much about my daughter being under constant supervision outside.

2. In addition to above, another idea is to push people to keep their pets inside in the mornings, late afternoons and night. Foothill dwellers are accustomed to pets disappearing due to lions. Town folk probably don't attribute pet disappearance to lions but I expect it's pretty common. A friend in Fort Collins said they did a study there. Lions were tagged and tracked. At night the lions would come down into the 'burbs. I'd guess pets were a good portion of the lion's diet.

What are my credentials to talk about the above? I'm a concerned citizen but by no means an expert. I have close contact with lions at my home. See this and this. I've been face to face with a lion at 15 feet. The lion killed our cat. It was the most savage thing I've ever seen. (I'll write this incident up later this week.)

Margit's GirlZ Canyon Trip

Margit, Diane Dallin, Deb Piranian and Margie McCloy recently did a girlZ canyon trip. Margit took some great pics. I'm hoping she'll add some trip details. If not, here's a teaser picture of Deb rappeling.

The rest of the pictures in this Flickr album.

Desperate Father cooks a quick meal

Margit was on a girls Utah canyon trip for the weekend. I picked up Julia from daycare and ran some errands. It was getting late.

Julia, what do you want to eat? Mashed potatoes said she. I thought about the dried potatoes that my friend, Mary Wallace, alway raved about. Quick, easy and good said Mary. She gave me a couple packages awhile back.

I cooked it up in a few minutes. Julia suggested we add some ham and cheese. Incredible! Almost as good as Margits. Paradise Valley Creamy Mashed Potatoes from Nevada. All natural. No kidding.

Free Educational Software for Kids

Tux Paint and Tux Typing are open source and available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Julia, our almost 4 year old, has really been having fun with Tux Paint. We haven't tried Tux Typing yet but it looks good.

From the Tux Paint site:

Tux Paint is a free drawing program designed for young children (kids ages 3 and up). It has a simple, easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who helps guide children as they use the program.

I'm amazed how intuitive and how well designed this is for the child.


From the Tux Typing site:

"Tux Typing" is an educational typing tutor for children. It features several different types of gameplay, at a variety of difficulty levels.

A weekend in the San Luis Valley

The features of this high valley include the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the Alligator/Fish Farm near Mosca and the Sand Dunes hot springs Pool at Hooper and of course driving through the valley with the mighty Sangre de Cristo mountains to the East and rock climbing in Penitente Canyon to the West, near La Garita.

Julia had been to Penitente, of course, but none of us had been to the gator farm or the pool warmed by hot springs. My hand was on the rebound but it was too early to climb. I found that out last weekend. Julia was another excuse to visit the sand dunes. It's been a few decades since I've roamed that area.

It was windy at the dunes but it was a riot watching Julia run and run and run - barefoot.

Did I say it was windy? Julia would have hiked us to the top of the highest dune before understanding she was freezing. We headed back after sliding down some steep slopes.

We camped in the park campground. Julia got bored of us and carried her folding chair to the neighboring camp and proceeded to entertain them ... I think. The night held the joys of the campfire and roasted marshmellows. She invited the neighbors over for marshmellows too!

The next day was big fun. We went to the alligator / fish farm between Mosca and Hooper. Hot springs make it a good place to raise tropical Tilapia fish. They ship 1 ton / week to the Asian market in Denver. What to do with the fish innards and bones after cleaning the fish though? That's when they brought the gators in to clean up the fish remains. Alligators like the warm water too.

At this point, it appears the place is basically a zoo for rescued animals + a fish farm + a gator display. Snakes, tortoises, ostriches ... Great place for kids and big kids! I'd like to try the gator wrestling but it costs $50.

When you enter, they force a little gator in your hands. I had NO idea they were going to do this! Then they give you a certificate of bravery stamped by the same gator's jaws you were just holding. This place is definitely a must see. We'll be back.

Then we hit the Sand Dunes hot springs pool in Hooper. (I couldn't find a web site for this, sorry.) There's a small kids pool, a small pool for the big kids and a large pool for everyone. Very clean and supposedly the best concessionaire in Colorado. The food smelled good but we brought our own lunch. It was fun! Especially for Julia. Margit did a passable dive on the low diving board and a non-passable job on the high one. At least she tried. I wish I had brought the camera in to show the view of the Sangres from the pool ...

We met some nice folks at the pool, Leslie & Julie Lewis. They were from Red River, New Mexico and run the Timberline Lodge. Check them out if you're down there.

More photos at this Flickr album.

Chipping slash

The slash finally poked throught the melting snow enough so the Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District could chip the branches. It took me probably 12 hours to cut down the trees, haul the logs and drag the branches to the drive. It took them about half an hour to chip the slash. I wish it was the other way around. They were hustling!

I took a look at the tires on their truck - Toyo Open Country M/T. Looks good. I need a set of those for my Dodge!

First camping trip of the year

I forgot the camera so I couldn't photodocument Julia and I playing tortoises in a burrow (under the sleeping bag) in the back of the truck. We've done this on every camping trip for a year now. Julia was really excited to go camping and climbing at Shelf Road. We met up with Christie Jespersen and Deb Piranian. Good weather and many trips to come in 2006.

Climbing? Eveyone is doing good. Deb's leading the 11's. The rest of us are leading 10s. My wrist is hurting but I'm climbing pretty good w/ a wrist brace and 1-1/2 legs.

I think ski season is over for us.

Under contruction - Bob's Dam

I looked at the Pine Brook Water District site webcam, last week. The dam is really coming along. In dry years, the reservoir will be really good for the Pine Brook Hills community. Here's an image from last friday (Mar 17).

Can't wait to do some illicit skinny dipping. Let's hope the webcam isn't redirected at the reservoir on nights of the full moon. :-)

Spring in the Rockies

Dang, I just shoveled the deck! As always, click on the image to see the full effect.

Tracking a Mountain Lion

This morning, I walked down to get the paper. Sound familiar? See this post. I crossed ANOTHER set of lion tracks. I rounded up my posse of lion trackers, Margit & Julia, from inside the house ... and grabbed a ruler this time.

We followed the tracks back. They came from Timber Lane and walked up the property line next to 67 Wild Horse Circle, crossed our property, 69 Wild Horse, and continued uphill to the west onto the neigboring property. The picture shows Steve and Julia measuring a track.

I measured a number of tracks. They measured from 2-1/2" long x 2-1/4" wide to 3-1/4" long x 3" wide. I've added the track pictures to a Flickr album here. You can decide yourself how large they are. Also here's a very clear shot of a lion's 3 lobed pad.

Margit made a very obvious but also an astute observation. "These lions are not just walking here because of the snow. They're here all the time."

By the way, I know the correct common name for mountain lion is cougar .. :-)

A quick ski up Butler's Gulch

Charlie's daughter, Jaimie, was willing to babysit Julia while Charlie, Margit and I skied. A quick trip to Butler Gulch was in order. The snow was great, even if a bit heavy. It was snowing a bit and best of all, little wind. At timberline, we switched into downhill mode. Skins were stripped off and I put my brace on. (The brace connects my prosthetic lower leg with my thigh.) Then we cut our own tracks through knee deep snow coming down.

I was a bit hesitant on my new ski gear. The boards turned well on powder, though. I just need to control my speed and build my confidence in modern gear. Here another shot of Charlie and I. No he's not really that tall. He just standing uphill from me. Hah!

Mountain Lion tracks

This morning, I walked down to get the paper. We had a few inches of snow yesterday and overnight. A line of tracks headed down the drive. Backtracking, I saw they came from the property below, 1981 Timber Lane. I suspected a mountain lion because the tracks were round and large. I walked back to the drive and picked up the paper. The tracks continued down Wild Horse Circle.

Back in the house, I found a site comparing mountain lion tracks to dog tracks. Definitely a lion. Here's another picture from the drive.

Update:
I've add another mountain lion post, so I put all the track pics in one photo album here.

How to get a child into her pajamas quick

Abstract: This is about how to get a Rug Rat into her/his jammies quick-like.

Background:
The subject under study is my daughter, Julia. Julia is almost 4. She sometimes will take 10 minutes to get into her jammies. She is unfocused in the process of putting on her jammies. She is a master of delaying tactics. Frequently, I need to help.

Goal: Improve the process time of clothing removal and putting on jammies

Current Best Result: 95 seconds improved from an average time of 7 minutes. This assumes normal initial conditions.

Initial Conditions: No more than 1 pullover, 1 shirt, 1 pair pants and 1 pair undies. Note that socks do not count. Jammies are right side out before initializing stopwatch.

Operations resulting in this miracle: Kids are interested in mechanical things and games. The stopwatch was really cool in both categories. It is a big game to beat the stopwatch. Improvements in clothing removal and putting on jammies occurred immediately. Last night was 2 minutes. Tonight was 95 seconds.

Ending Comments: With practice, the child will improve more and more. The limit is, of course, asymptotic to a specific, much improved, time. The child will, of course, lose interest much before this. In the meantime, enjoy it.

Julia's modeling career begins

King Soopers should be paying us for this modeling action. Hah!

Julia and her cough

Julia coughed a few times this morning. I asked her where that came from. In all earnestness, Julia (almost 4 years old) sighed, and said: I've been coughing every day for a number of years now.

Trying not to smile, Margit said: Yeah, at least 5 or 6.

Smoke pouring over the ridge - forest fire

Julia came into my office and reported with a resigned voice: "Papa, there's a fire ... ". Margit & Julia had seen it from town before driving home. I took a look. It didn't look good. Smoke was pouring over the ridge to the South. A call to our neighbors, the Hendricks, confirmed it was over in Sunshine Canyon. Jan said Bristlecone Way, at the top of the ridge, was being evacuated. I wouldn't have been so worried except the wind was gusting 50-60mph in our direction.

Margit & I talked about what to pack .. a couple changes of clothes, official documents, camera, checkbook, computers (at the last second only). I pulled the truck out and loaded up skiis, climbing gear, sleeping bags and the camp setup. We were pretty much ready. Everything else would be toast if it came to that.

We tuned the TV to the Boulder Station. Usually not worth much, it had some solid information this time. The fire was 3.3 miles up Sunshine Canyon and only 5 acres. It had potential to grow fast since the winds were out of control. South and West of Linden had mandatory evacuation notices (a new change from the voluntary evac notice). We were west of Linden. The Boulder station also displayed the Boulder City and County Emergency Hotline: 303.441.4300.

We weren't ready to leave until we saw the fire crest the ridge. We waited and watched the smoke and ... the helicopters who were waiting for a story to unfold.

The wind started to die and the smoke stopped pouring over the ridge. My neighbor, Kirk and I, drove up to Bristlecone Way to take a look. Only a smoky haze was left.

This evening, I pulled up the google mapping tools and estimated the fire was about 2/3rds of a mile away. The image, to the right, shows our house (red call-out) and the fire (black call-out). Close enough for me. I thank Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District and the other fire departments responding to this fire.

The die hard finally gets plastic boots and skiis

Margit had been pushing for plastic boots for years. I was old school though. I skied fine in leather boots - backcountry and ski area. Before my accident, I skied moguls in them just fine. I didn't need plastic boots. Plastic was for people that didn't know how to telemark. Plastic was for wimps. End of discussion.

A few years ago, Margit just bought plastic boots. End of discussion. I was fine though. My friends all had plastic boots. They were wimps even though a couple of them, but not many, skied better than me. I could always fall back on the "I only have one leg" card if they skied too much better. Hah!

This year I was skiing really well. Every time we were at Boulder Ski Deals, Margit would aim me toward the plastic ski boots and new skiis. (Yeah I really needed new skiis but I'd rather spend the money on my truck.) She pleaded but I'd just walk out. I didn't need plastic boots.


Well, this weekend, Boulder Ski Deals was having a blowout telemark ski & boot sale. We both needed new poles so we stopped by. Margit told the salesman I needed new boots and skiis. I was tricked !! I knew the gig was up ... so I broke down.

They set me up and mounted my skiis in an hour. Next day, we skied Winter Park. The new boots & skiis sucked. The snow was very icy though and I had to admit, the new skiis held their edges well. I couldn't help but overturn though. They sucked ... but I knew it took awhile to re-learn how to ski with modern equipment. The last run of the day, I finally skied a decent run. Almost as good as my old equipment anyway. I'll probably like the new gear after a few more days skiing. Sure is heavy though ...

Here's a pic of 3 generations of skiis and boots, oldest on left. The skiis are Chouinard Tua (1985), Kneissel Tour Star (1995) and K2 Super Stinx. The boots (close up here) are Asolo Summit double boots (1984), Asolo Extreme Pros (1995) and Scarpa T2X.

Bob & Steve go ice climbing

At 6am, Bob Wood came in the kitchen door without knocking. It's -15F he said. I said OUCH. We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a little ice climbing. We had to stop at an elk roadblock for a minute (picture to right). Here's another picture of 23 elk.

Luckily the temps had warmed up a bit. It was now a balmy -2F. The two mile hike to Loch Vale warmed us up. We found a nice 50' section to practice on. Bob hadn't ice climbed for awhile and neither had I. In fact, I hadn't climbed ice since before my accident in 1997. Except for times when we swung our tools like our grandmothers (Bob's phrase), it went well ... except it was a wee nip cold. Thanks Bob for dragging me out!!

The best Colorado webcam

Check this out in the daytime - the Ouray webcam. It's situated about 10,000 ft and views Ouray and the surrounding San Juan mountains.

Jessica's 3rd Birthday Party

Jessica's parents, Tom & Karen, set up a great party at the Frederick rec center. The kids tired themselves out at in the gymnastics room first. Then food and cake and balloons and animal noses ...

More pictures here.

Ford Hydraulic Hybrid & Dodge Hornet

A couple of interesting articles hit my RSS feeds recently.

Ford has developed a hydraulic hybrid. Instead of recharging batteries, a hydraulic hybrid stores excess energy in hydraulic cylinders. Supposedly this is 3 times more efficient. Read more at NewTechSpy.

The Dodge Hornet was unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show. This is one cool looking little car. Read more, and see the pics at allpar. With a 6 speed manual trans and 170 hp, I'd trade my Ford Focus in for it in a heartbeat ... if it ever makes it to the US.

Where's winter?

New York's Central Park gets a record 2 feet of snow and we get nichts. This has been a dry, windy winter. Scary dry ... and the wind is getting on my nerves. I can count the decent snows, in the foothills, on one hand. Luckily the North and Central Colorado mountains have been getting hammered. The reservoirs should be fine come spring. Hopefully the foothills don't burn!

Here's the bad news from the last month, courtesy on NCAR Mesa Lab weather station:

All dressed up and going somewhere

Too good a picture not to share!
Julia posing in front of the house.

Click on the pic for the full Julia effect :-)

Bye Bye 1994 Ford Escort

Since Margit and I both work from home, we decided to dump one of the vehicles. In order of new-ness, we have a 2005 Dodge 2500 Cummins, 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 and a 1994 Ford Escort wagon. The Escort's time was done ... in our household anyway.

We used Craig's List - Denver/ Boulder to sell it. This is a free listing service that's gained a huge following. The first responder to my ad bought the car at asking price. The couple had just lost a '86 Escort in an accident. Paul was a mechanic and knew the Escort inside and out. It always good when both buyer and seller think they got a good deal.

It served us well. 145K miles is pretty good for a car used mostly for in-town driving. Here's a farewell picture.

Mountain Lion bait

One of the chores, related to my fire mitigation work, is dragging the Ponderosa branches into piles so they can be chipped. This is my least favorite tree work chore. The deer really appreciate it though. For some reason, fresh cut Ponderosa needles is gourmet food .. at least this time of year when everything else is dead. Piling the branches is essentially baiting the mountain lions ...

This morning, walking down to get the paper, I took a shot of the action.

Another great meal !

Margit is such a great cook! Here's typical weekday meal. Pork, kale, mushrooms, rice with a creamy sauce and a decent bottle of table wine. I can only describe it as great! I keep telling Margit she should start a cooking blog. It'd get a lot more attention than this blog would get.