Mosquitoes

Some of my fellow campers recently found themselves bothered by mosquitoes during the first day at the river camp. At night they saw some fireflies and said, "Now they're coming after us with flashlights!"

Camp kitchens

"Now you all stay out of my kitchen! There's plenty for everyone." These words are the first one's you hear when you get up in the morning. Not long after though, you hear, "All right, it's time to clean up, everyone in the kitchen!" Make up your mind will ya? On this river trip I did three kitchen duties and four clean up duties. I'll take the cooking anytime.

Sweep today or just win the series?

I could hear the discussion in the dugout after this 2 run walk off home run by Helton. The pitcher came back to the dugout and before sitting down, he kicked at the bat rack. Kirk Gibson said, "Don't do that. You'll break your leg and we'll never be able to trade you."

Go Rocks

We haven't won a series against the D'Backs since 2010. Stopped that one cold. And I mean cold. I can't believe this one went the full 9 innings last night, with all the rain delays. It sure iced a couple of pitchers, team momentum, and thankfully the D'Backs!

Today Drew Pomeranz is pitching and I'm eager to see how he does with his first big league start.

Lions gulch, lions paw, lion everything

We hiked up Lions Gulch today near Estes Park. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike. However, in the photo below I didn't quite get my self-timer set with enough time. You see, the problem was trying to balance the camera on this rock and I kept adjusting it so it wouldn't fall off, all the while my timer is ticking away and then... only 5 seconds left to get in the picture!

At the end of the hike are a bunch of old homestead ruins from over a hundred years ago, like the one below. One of the homesteads was owned by this lady who would take milk and eggs into Lions everyday, sell them, and then buy supplies for herself. She would carry them all the way up the trail (provided she got a ride to the trail head), and then walk up the trail we just hiked; Up and down and up and down with the eventual elevation gain of 1,300 ft. over the course of about 3 miles up to nearly 10,000 ft. Whew! It was a hard life if you ask me.

Easter morning

We were with the Grand kids on Easter and enjoyed watching them find Easter eggs hidden in the back yard. I was amazed that even Eli, only about 15 months old now, figured out pretty quickly what to do. I saw it, that one is mine!

My daughter Noelle always amazes me with her creativity. Below is a "resurrection" tomb. On Friday the kids put a figure of Jesus in the tomb with some linen and then covered it up with a rock. On Easter morning they found the rock pushed aside an Jesus was gone! Nice lesson, I thought.

Truth or Consequences

Nice little hotel on the way to Tucson eh? Looks like it came right off my Monopoly board. Actually, we stayed in a nice B&B in Truth or Consequences just down the street from this place. That evening we went to dinner at this little Italian place and sat at a table by the window. This was our view! Do you know where the name Truth or Consequences in New Mexico came from? It was named after the TV show when Ralph Edwards said he would air the program from the first town that renamed itself after his show. How about that bit of trivia?

Flowers and grasshoppers

We went to Tucson over a long weekend the other day. On the way, somewhere between Deming and Lordsburg I stopped to take this photo of the flowers in the desert. They were everywhere! The last time we drove through this area, we encountered millions and millions of large Lubber grasshoppers. They were all over the cars, the road, simply everywhere. The road actually became slick from them, because the dead one's were smeared all over it. The flowers were much nicer. Who knows? Maybe this is what they eat?

Christ the Lord is risen today

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!

Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious king, Alleluia!

Where, Oh death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Economic stimulus

You gotta love a good comic that tries to illustrate what's happening. Unfortunately, this one breaks down because in our economy, the little girl really provides all the income to big daddy. Her future is bleak, and so is his. Big daddy can't keep borrowing from treasury to pay the little girl to not work.

A pessimist is an optimist on the way back

Just a couple of days ago we were standing on top of Carpenter Peak in 80 degree weather looking down on Roxborough Country Club. What a beautiful day it was. Now it's all covered in snow and about 32 degrees. How things change fast in Colorado. I knew it would get worse! A pessimist is an optimist on the way back.

Snowing and no power

Got up this morning and there was no power and a couple of inches of new snow on the ground. Nancy sent me to Starbucks for coffee but it was closed and without power too. UH OH, NO COFFEE! The radio in the car worked and they said there were 18,000 homes without power. Now she wants to go to work but can't get the garage door open... No Power! So I go out and unhook it from the cable and open it. Off she goes. My guess is, she was actually searching for an open Starbucks.

Then I was reminded of this guy I knew at work. He's not a genius. When the power went out, he was stuck on the escalator for nearly two hours! Hooray for innovation.

Whoopeee! Power is on now at 8:14a nearly four hours later.

Carpenter Peak

Yesterday, Nancy and I hiked to the summit of Carpenter Peak. It was a beautiful day and just a little breezy. At the top, we ate our energy bars and drank lots of cold water.

At the summit I looked around for signs of the recent fire and could just see a little strip of blackened timber in the photo below. The snowy mountain in the background is Mt. Evans. It appeared as if the fire is completely out now and there was no visible smoke. Between us and the nearest ridge is Waterton Canyon.

Big Horn Sheep

Nancy and I went mountain biking yesterday up Waterton Canyon, now open briefly for about a week or so. We rode up to Strontia Springs Dam and on the way back we stopped for this! Big Horn sheep all over the road.

This is not an uncommon sight in the canyon, seeing wildlife up close. We've missed riding our bikes up the canyon. It's been over a year since we've been here due to the closure of the canyon park. As usual these wild sheep were tame and unafraid of people.

This little one was enjoying a meal on some Johnsongrass. Yuck. If I wanted Surghum I'd at least go to Whole Foods and mix it with Cellulose Gum and raisins! Would that make me gluten free?