Rockies win! Three in a row!

Rockies win three in a row! At first glance, I thought the umpires were feeling sorry for them. Nah...the players make too much. In fact, they make so much money this year, when the coach calls the bullpen he gets an answering service! Anyway, it's great to have a good outing on the mound (even though we gave up 14 hits) and swing big bats too. The problem is, I look at the standings and we're only 11.5 games behind the Dodgers! How do you make that up?

Rockies lose so much they party when it rains

This time last year, the Rockies were starting to falter after a great start and then the season was really over. This year they never really got the engine started.  Now, I've been a good and faithful fan through thick and thin, but enough is enough!

The team is in real trouble. Let's start with the bats. Yesterday afternoon, the pitching machine threw a no-hitter!  But it's the pitching that really worries me. Esmil Rogers is working on a new pitch. When he has it down pat, it'll reach the plate! And Jaime Moyer (bless his heart) is nearly 50 years old! For crying out loud! Now, the team has been in the cellar so long, it's damp.  And we call this "good management?"  C'mon Monfort's, what do you do when the steaks go bad?  Sell them to the public anyway?

Estes Park and horses

We drove up to Estes Park yesterday and stayed at this small one room cabin at the Elkhorn Lodge. This is the time of year they have the art show in town, so we toured all the exhibits and had a pretty good time until we ate the ice cream cones! Then we had a really good time. We met three other couples here (Wendell had a birthday), and we all went out for Italian.

Below is a photo of the lodge. Notice the beautiful blue sky! We stayed up late last night talking and carrying on inside the lodge by the big roaring fire. They brought out those extra large marsh mellows for us and we roasted them over the fire.

Today we went on a horseback ride up near the border of Rocky Mountain National Park. Pictured below is Long's Peak. I took this photo from the back of my horse, so it's a wonder it turned out at all.

We stopped on a high ridge to get more photos and I got this one decent shot of Nancy (green windbreaker) on her horse.  Then, all of a sudden... it seemed like we were having a race back to the stables. My horse would have won the race, but she kept looking back for her plow!

Jokes about horses and racing just seem to come naturally to me. I can never remember other kinds of jokes. It just goes to show you, a pessimist is an optimist on the way home from the track!

Nancy and I hiked up at Meyers Ranch yesterday with our friends from Church. We opted to take the Old Ski Run Trail which is a loop and runs by some pretty rocks looking out over Conifer.

It was very hazy on the hike due to a fire in Southern New Mexico! It even smelled like a campfire it was so thick. As you can see from the photo below, they views weren't as nice as expected. Today it's cleared up a little.

Jim took our picture sitting on these rocks at the top of the hill. We hung out here for a while and enjoyed the views and a granola bar.

Stimulus money - is it working?

I was reflecting on the U.S. economy the other day and wondering if all that stimulus money spent by the government had created any jobs or actually stimulated the economy. It reminded me of a real world situation in my own life, which may enlighten your understanding.

I bought a nice looking Italian suit last week. The tailor made money on it. The guy who sold him the fabric made money. The guy who raised the silkworms made money. Isn't it great - so many people make a living from a suit I haven't paid for!

My neigborhood

I have nice neighbors. I often go over to my neighbor's house and borrow a leg of lamb, a ten-pound sack of lawn seed, five pounds of flour, $200 - things like that. My neighbor comes over to me and borrows a stamp, en egg, a bar of soap - things like that. He's a great neighbor. He knows a lot about friendliness. He doesn't know a thing about borrowing, but he does know friendliness!

The developer who put up houses in our neighborhood was a genius. He bulldozed all the trees, then named the streets after them!

No snow anymore (this is an old photo), but last week it rained twice. Once for three days and once for four!

Cusco

Before our trip to Peru, I was concerned that Cusco would be a bad place, with thieves and pickpockets, and old and dirty. While much of the city was poor and run down, and filled with a million people, the city center itself turned out to be a great place to spend a few days.

Daryl, Ed, Scott, and Steve were great friends to share the scenery, museums, and tours in the mountains together. I enjoyed Cusco more each day I was there.

The city is at 11,200 feet in elevation and was the historic capital of the Inca Empire. There was plenty of history to learn and places to see. The people were friendly and happy.

Taquile Island and Lake Titicaca

When we were on Taquile Island on Lake Titicaca, I saw this scene of a "father daughter" talk. I couldn't hear or even understand what was being said, but it was obvious that he had her respect and she was pretty interested in what he had to say. Everywhere you go, even in different cultures you see similarities, order, and love being spoken. Some things are truly universal.

Taquile Island is on Lake Titicaca which is the world's highest navigable lake at 4,050 meters above sea level. Let's see, that's about 13,284 feet in elevation! Wait a minute, I hiked up here from that lake down there!!??  No wonder I'm out of breath. We stayed in Puno for two nights in order to visit the lake and its islands. On this island we enjoyed a very nice lunch provided by a local family.

Health food, Peru style

During our stay in Cusco, Peru we visited the outdoor market. One of the first things I saw was this bucket of frogs, all alive. I would imagine that fresh frogs legs are probably really appreciated. I've eaten them before and they were pretty tasty, once you forget about cute eyes, Kermit, and all.

A few tables later and we encountered these delicacies. You know, in the U.S. the waiters in most restaurants wear gloves. What's in the food they're afraid to come into contact with?  Not one person in Peru wore gloves. No fear, if you ask me. I couldn't wait to get back home and eat all that health food. You know, the kind that gives you natural gas!

Bargaining for a deal in Peru

I bought one of those woven bracelets from this lady. Some of the guys on the trip thought I paid too much for it, but I kept looking at her little child and thought, "I didn't give her enough."  I only gave her a couple Soles or something and it probably took her all day to make it.

According to my friends, you never pay what they're asking for something. And I understand that thinking when you're in big market and they're selling stuff they didn't even make. It was clear to me this lady made everything she was selling. I think my friends just wanted her hat!

Machu Picchu water featurese

I think I was most fascinated by the water features of Machu Picchu. On this one you can see where a groove has been carved to channel the water into a small basin below. Then, the water must leave that basin and go to another. You can then see the channel leaving the basin and flowing out someplace else. It's obvious that everything was well planned out long before they started construction.

The water arrives here where it falls to another basin. Notice the rocks are not as nicely hewn and well fitted as the one above. Well, it turns out the royalty get the nice one above and the soldiers and farmers get the leftovers.

Beautiful site

The views from Machu Picchu were fantastic. It's no wonder they picked this site.

During our visit it rained for about an hour during lunch time. We were safely tucked away at a restaurant below the site.

After the rain we returned to the site and found it shrouded in clouds with diffused light here and there coming through the openings in the clouds. It made for some fantastic scenes.

Sayacmarca, The Temple of the Sun

Sayacmarca or the Temple of the Sun was originally built by Colla the enemy of the Inca. The site had one major weakness, there was no area set aside for farming for food. There was a farm nearby for food production which supported the 200 or so people at this site, but it was a half mile or so away.

Just below this site the Inca trail crosses the Aobamba River at about 3600 meters in elevation. The trail then began to gently rise to several tunnels built by the Inca which were carved right through fissures in the rock.

Another flower on a tough trail

I stopped many times on the Inca trail to take photos, mostly of flowers and mountains. This flower was on a plant that looked like a yucca but I don't think it was. I thought it was very unique.

Behind it, Craig is carefully negotiating some of the thousands of steps we used to go up and down. The one's going down were the hardest for me and my knees!  I'd rather go up any day.