Chicagoland

A trip to Chicago last week for a quick one day meeting left me catching this nice sunrise of the skyline. There was no time to go into town and see the sites, eat that special pizza, or take in a cubs game.

Our meeting ran from 8 to 5. I didn't even get a chance to go outside and smell the exhaust or feel the heat and humidity. Whew! I'm glad it wasn't worse. There are two sides to every trip!

Colorado Trail

Nancy and I went for a hike yesterday on a portion of the Colorado Trail. We hiked from Jefferson Lake campground up toward Georgia Pass. The mosquitoes were thick from all the recent rain but it was beautiful and we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Here, Nancy crosses Jefferson creek on the Colorado Trail. We saw a few other "through hikers" but we only hiked about 6 total miles and gained about 2500 ft. or so. When we decided it was time to turn around Nancy had prepared a lunch. The problem was, stopping to eat the food meant the mosquitoes stopped to eat us! We decided on a late lunch back at the car!

After our hike, we drove up to Jefferson Lake which is only a couple of miles up the drainage from the trail. Lots of people were fishing and enjoying the beautiful weather.

We hiked part way around the lake and found lots of snow still left from our heavy spring storms. Of course, we were up over 10,000 feet here and it shouldn't be surprising we'd find snow on July 3rd.

Crabbing

My friends from Whidbey Island invited me to go "crabbing" with them recently. I was unable to go because my summer is so busy and planned so far out. Looking at the photo they sent me, I wish I had made the arrangements. These dungeness crabs look pretty good to me. And, I guess they're fun to catch.

Politics

Reagan once talked about his family as being all Democrats. In fact, he said, "I had an uncle who won a medal once for never having missed voting in an election for fifteen years... and he's been dead for fourteen."

Without a doubt elections have been rigged and staged and cash has been exchanged. And, there is often personal motive behind every public action. Actually, it's kind of hard to criticize Iran given our poor history in voter fraud. Minnesotan's are feeling this jolt as Al Franken finds 300 or so votes coming from thin air! I think most people are a little suspicious of this. As I've said before, we should vote everyone in Washington out and start over. And now with Acorn behind the last election, new fears are right around the corner. I hate political jokes. Too many of them get in! So Mr. Obama, don't be quite so critical of Iran!

What's really needed in this country was best said by Louis L'Amour in his book Last of the Breed. "There are good men everywhere. I only wish they had louder voices."

Food

I think this is Nancy's favorite restaurant. Located in Bailey now, the hot dog you can eat inside of is truly unique. However, I was born a gourmet. Now I'm relegated to Cheerios Rockefeller!

Morning hike

Carpenter Peak is cool and quiet in the morning. Nancy and I hiked up to the summit this morning and brought hot coffee and biscotti. We enjoyed a beautiful view and lots of wildflowers on the hillside. We also saw a red fox scurrying away from us. What's to be afraid of? I would share my food with you for a closer look!

Riding with Joe

I went biking today with Joe at Chatfield Reservoir. I think I need to work a little harder to get in shape. Going up the hill over the dam was, well... challenging. And then to make matters worse, we rode back over to his house which meant a ride back over the dam and then up Jack Ass Hill. The good new is, if you want to call it that, Joe had a flat. This gave me ample opportunity to rest.

More rain than the plains

Rain, rain, rain. We continue to get it nearly everyday here in Colorado. Even the prairie dogs can't keep up with the tall growing grass! Ordinarily, they would eat it all and leave a barren wasteland. Rain is weird though - it makes the flowers emerge and taxis disappear!

My travels

I was in Washington and Oregon this week for work. I was in Eugene, Salem, Portland, and Tri-Cities. Below is a photo of Mt. Hood from The Dalles. This dam is quite unique. It has a fish ladder so the migrating salmon can get upriver to spawn. I guess I found a good spot to throw in a line! There are sport fishermen, and then there are those who catch fish. Still, there isn't much I can do if the worm ain't trying!

Family and more

We went to Prescott to visit my Dad and ended up spending time with his great granddaughter Daisy. Noelle drove up from Tucson to see us and visit. Nancy is the perfect grandmother. She gently takes over when needed and calms the storm. You see the day this child was born, she cried like a baby!

Noelle reads on the couch while Daisy sleeps. You gotta wonder if evolution really works. How come mothers only have two hands?

My Cousin Gary drove all the way up to Prescott to visit us. We were so pleased to see him and catch up on everything he's doing. He's a Professor of Finance at Thunderbird School of Business in Phoenix.

After lunch Gary took this photo of Noelle, me, Dad, Nancy and Daisy in front the restaurant. Everybody ate including the baby. We had a great time.

Free choice?

I haven't written on abortion or "free choice" before, partly because it's such a complicated issue and partly because I don't want to stimulate anger. I do think that as a nation it's time to "repent" of this thing. Clearly, shooting a doctor is wrong. But what about the children? S. Bulgakov has written, "Only suffering love gives one the right to chastise one's own nation." Who is suffering here? The teenage mother who forgot to take her pills? But, here is where it gets complicated. Talk with someone at an abortion clinic and you hear about mother's health issues, the baby's health issues, rape, etc. etc. No one seems to be irresponsible. We all know that's not true.

You would think it was impossible to take it upon oneself to "repent" on behalf of a nation to which one felt alien or even hostile. Nevertheless, there is a danger to the soul. Our vices and sins are lost in the blare of our freedoms and the importance of having a free choice. Perhaps we should get used to the idea that no people is eternally great or noble, not even here in America. I have more opinions on this and will write more when I feel brave enough.

Betrayed

I think most of our economic problems today were primarily caused by 100 or so greedy people on Wall Street, Fannie May, etc., not to mention 435 in one house and 100 in the other who did nothing to contain it. And now, to recapture an old saying, "keeping up with our newly elected officials' spending is like reading Playboy magazine while your wife turns the pages." It all looks really cool but that's about it.

But it's the words of Louis L'Amour that capture my feeling best in his book To The Far Blue Mountains; "It always seemed to me that a man who would betray the trust of his fellow citizens is the lowest of all..."

Rockies choke number 12

It did in fact rain last night, but before the game started. So much for my superstitions. 11 straight wins, 11 straight nights of rain. Hmmm. The rain didn't help. The Rocks went down hard last night along with the rain, 12-4. DeLaROSA was hammered in the first and second inning and Josh Fogg came in and saved what was left of their pride.

This was pretty much the story of the 12-4 loss to the Rays. Should be no problem getting this one over the fence! Our team just doesn't have the game down. One of our players slid into home plate last month, and he was just coming to bat!

Our friend Scott Bryan sat right behind us. He was pretty bored with it all I think, so he kept track of the stats on the bald spot on the back of my head. Actually, it's not too bad yet, at least I'm not slipping off the pillow when I go to bed.

11-0 Rockies!

Here was the scene at Coors Field Sunday afternoon. We've had 10 straight days of heavy thunderstorms and showers and the Rocks have won 11 straight games. Now I'm not superstitious but... it hasn't rained today! Yet...

The Rockies have been in the cellar so long it's damp! Now it's damp on the field and we're out of the cellar. Clint Hurdle was fired and since then Manager Jim Tracy has led the team to a 13 and 4 record. Rumor has it Hurdle made a call to the bullpen and got an answering service! And then he was accused of tampering with the pitching machine. Right before he left the machine threw a no-hitter! We sent the machine to the Diamondbacks. Figured they could use it. Tonight the Rocks begin a 3 game stand against the Rays.