View from yurt

I was the second person up in the morning, when we stayed at the yurt. I had to go to that little house with a half moon on it pretty early in the morning. On the way there, I got this shot of our view "from the yurt" the long slopes of Mt. Massive (behind the tree on the right).

Then, a little later when there was more light I got this shot of Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. Both Massive and Elbert are 14rs in the Collegiate range. 

If you were driving between Vail and Leadville, you would go over Tennessee Pass and you could stop at the 10th Mountain Division Memorial. It's worth the stop. The drive however, is not recommended for people from California. That's because in California, very few people walk. I once saw four cars chasing one pedestrian there!

Real friends walk in when others walk out

The other day we snowshoed about a mile and a half at Tennessee Pass and spent the night in this one room yurt with two other couples. The weather was nice with just a few flakes coming down and about 25 degrees. It would clear up for a few minutes and snow lightly for a while.

Inside the yurt there was a double bunk bed and another double bed, a small kitchen area, a table pictured below, and a wood stove. We had electricity but not much, it was from solar. And, we had about seven gallons of water.

We had reservations for dinner at the Cookhouse at 6:00p. So, we we walked a quarter mile down to this yurt using our headlamps (Dan and Tammi pictured below) and had one of the best meals ever! Dan, Mark and I had Elk, and wow was it ever good. You could literally cut it with your fork, it was so tender.

Mark and Teena woke up in the morning on the top bunk dressed in their full length red jammies! How cute!

I know some of you may be wondering, why would you all sleep together like this? Well, real friends are people who walk in when everybody else walks out!

I'm just glad no one walked out on me in the middle of the night! They commented that while I might be low on horsepower, I was long on exhaust!

Fun with an AR15

Nancy and I went to the gun club last night and enjoyed shooting with our friends. Joel asked Nancy if she wanted to shoot his AR15, pictured below. She really enjoyed it but struggled with the scope and weight of the gun. Then I shot it for a bit and loved the low recoil and accuracy. I brought my targets with little rabbits on them to use with our own guns. We both burned through a whole box of ammo each decimating the rabbits. THAT's for eating our foliage in the back yard!

Personally, we don't see guns as the cause of mayhem and murder any more than spoons are the cause of obesity. People make decisions and they are sometimes terribly wrong. I got an email from my friend Barry McGuire right after the Newtown, CT shooting. He said the problem is lack of help for the mentally ill, they have no place to go and no help for their disease. He is so right!

How to start a revolution

Here is what Solzhenitsyn wrote in his book Lenin in Zurich. Unless we forget history, we should understand that this has happened before in Russia, turning it into the USSR.

Knots were Solzhenitsyn's style of writing a fictional/historical novel. In the book, a little of the "how to" start a revolution are listed below as though Switzerland was next on the list. I inserted my comments in red below. Unfortunately, I didn't really have to use my imagination.

"Take executive control of all working-class associations immediately (unions)! Insist that the party's parliamentary representatives publicly preach socialist revolution (Congress)! The compulsory take-over of factories, mills, and agricultural landholdings (bail them out when you ruined the economy)!

What? Go and take people's property away from them, just like that (your retirement accounts, IRA's)? Without enacting a law? The Swiss dunces couldn't blink fast enough.

To reinforce the revolutionary elements in the country, all foreigners should be naturalized without charge (Mexican immigrants and others). If the government makes the slightest move toward war-create underground workers' organizations! And in the event of war...

In no circumstances must you refuse. What can you be thinking of?! In Switzerland, especially! When they give you arms, take them (current gun control legislation)! Demand demobilization - yes, but don't give up your arms (HA! they can keep theirs). Keep your arms and get out into the streets! Not a single hour of civic peace! Strikes! Demonstrations! Form squads of armed workers! And then an armed uprising!"

Sound familiar?

About to start my travel again...

I'm about to begin travelling again this year. Ugh! I know the kinds of things which will be running through my head as I approach on the first day of travel this year. I'll be driving up to the airport and see a sign that says, "terminal!"

Of course if the Lord had wanted people to fly, he would have made it easier to get to the airport.

The most confusing part of travel is understanding all the air-fares. But they have sped things up lately. Each airline has an express line for flights with six ticket prices or less! Then, I was sitting next to a little old lady on my last flight and she asked me, "How often do these big jets crash?" I replied, "Once, I imagine!"

Our son Tyler just traveled to Sri Lanka for vacation. He sent us an email yesterday and said he was staying in a tree house! Yes, that's right a tree house. Then, he is going to ride an elephant. I told him if he gets a chance to go to New Delhi because there is a good restaurant there, the New Delhi-catessen! Now, don't grown too much.

I just hope he doesn't follow the example of the Beatles who visited the region in the 1960's. They spent twelve hundred dollars each to get there, checked into a hotel at two hundred per day, hired a cab to take them a hundred and twenty miles at a cost of three hundred each to an ashram, and then meditated on the simple life!

What Christian doctrine can we prove?

G.K. Chesterton, the British novelist, once said that human depravity is the one Christian doctrine that can be proved. One would think so. Evidence of sin is everywhere. You see crime, violence, wars, fraud, pornography, and all sorts of evil, and you see it every day. Just watch TV. Even the denial of sin from unbelieving men and women is itself an evidence of the human tragedy. What is the antidote? I believe the antidote is Christ, and so does Lancelot Andrewes who lived from 1555 to 1626. Here is an excerpt from his Confession:

Confession

Lord,

as we add day to day

so sin to sin.

The just falleth seven times a day;

and I, an exceeding sinner,

seventy times seven;

wonderful, a horrible thing, O Lord.

But turn with groans

from my evil ways,

and I return into my heart,

and with all my heart I turn to Thee.

Chimney Gulch Hike

Today we hiked up Lookout Mountain via Chimney Gulch with eight of our good hiking friends. Starting out at 9:00a was a little cold but we were bundled up and once we got moving things were great. We saw lots of deer and one lone coyote on the way up.

The views from Windy Saddle (pictured here) on Lookout Mountain were excellent. You can see up Coal Creek Canyon to  the West and Golden along with much of Denver to East. We had to put on our cleats because the trail was pretty icy and snow packed in many places. When we hiked in the sun, we were hot. In the shade it was downright cold! We hiked a little over six miles in total, and then went to Capital Grill in Golden for lunch. Yummm! Did you know that the Capital Grill brick building once housed some of the first Colorado Legislative sessions as early as 1866! I wonder what those guys would think of us now?

I took the photo below with my new Blackberry Curve. That's about the only thing this phone does well. Of course it helps to have good subject matter.

My advice for 2013

We drove to Pagosa Springs after Christmas and enjoyed some fresh snowfall in the mountains (Pagosa Peak pictured below). This was my view on the morning of New Year's Day. Not bad huh! Wolf Creek got about 15 inches. And, of course we had to drive home over Wolf Creek Pass. We also spent a considerable amount of time in front of the TV waiting to see if we'd go over the fiscal cliff.

Our time in Pagosa was enjoyable in spite of the cliff, since Dee was there and she invited friends over for a little party on New Year's Eve. This was loads of fun until we all started to yawn a lot and fall asleep. I was in bed by 10:05p! I had to stay up until the ball came down at Times Square.

So anyway, I was trying to come up with a word of advice for you for 2013, you know, something that would make sense and be really wise and full of insight. Evidently, dealing with the government will be at the top of everyone's mind (and pocketbook) this year. So, here is my bit of advice: Never trust a dog to watch your food!