Busy Monday

We were to meet John and Pam at the Broken Tee Golf Course late Monday morning, so Dave felt he needed to do some serious stretching before playing 18 holes.   He usually does some stretching each day but since we've been helping Jesse tote some heavy totes from one place to another for a number of days, he really needed to limber up.

Lewis hasn't been doing much of anything lately so he decided to join the exercise session, you know, to limber up a bit for his long day of sleeping on the bed.

Monday was a picture perfect day.  The Broken Tee course was just around the corner from the Wright's campground.   We could see downtown Denver in the distance.   A bike path and the South Platt River split the course down the middle.

John brought along his favorite caddy.    She is dependable, knowledgeable, and doesn't complain about following the players at a respectable distance.

There seemed to be plenty of players on the course, but we rarely felt pushed to speed up.  

The South Platt River has over run its banks, creating new water hazards. Here  Dave and John discuss the best way to overcome these new handicaps.  

It was a challenging course, but we all enjoyed ourselves.   Afterward we went to Panera Bread Co. for a quick bite to eat before going our separate ways.
Dave and I went home, picked up the dogs and headed into Denver to help Jesse and Erin unpack some of the totes that had accumulated.

Can't I come in?

Lew and Sasha enjoyed rambling around in the fenced backyard, but Lewis really wanted to come inside and help.

We had Thai take-out and got most of those totes emptied and the kitchen fairly organized.

a private conversation between brothers.....

Monday was a busy day.   Tuesday was a busy day too.    Jesse had a U-haul truck scheduled to move the rest of the big items so we filled it, drove into Denver, emptied it and called it a day.    

It was pretty hot yesterday and the sky was filled with beautiful clouds.

Dave quietly reminded me that this type of cloud formation, however beautiful, portend precipitation.    Grrrr.....he's always right.     We were almost home when the rain came.  

At least it gave us a beautiful rainbow.

a faint double

Today, Wednesday, we stayed home and took care of some business, paid bills, bought tickets to Bandemere  Speedway's Mopar Mile High Nationals in July, sent a deposit for our wedding rental house, did laundry and just rested.    I've managed to take possession of Dave's cold so a nap was on my schedule.        As I sit here typing this blog, thunder is rumbling outside and the temperature has dropped considerably - here we go again!

Sunny and rainy weekend

Friday we continued to take a few loads of Jesse and Erin's belongings to the new house in Denver.    A little at a time, they have a few more weeks until they really need to vacate the apartment.

Saturday evening we had John and Pam over for dinner and a little planning session.    We tried to find a place that our paths could cross in the fall and perhaps join for a time.    I don't like to wish my life away, lots of fun things coming up this summer, but I'm looking forward to our fall trip down California's route 395 once again.  It doesn't take much arm twisting to convince us to visit that part of the country one more time.

The weather has been pretty much the same every day.   Warm, sunny and clear in the mornings with clouds beginning to show up early in the afternoon and then hefty storms arrive just about happy hour!    I'm glad we're nestled up against the foothills and not on the northeastern plains....that is where the tornadoes form and the hail stones are gargantuan.    We get our fair share of wind and small hail each day, more than enough excitement for me.   Our television beeps and pings alerts at us so often now that we've begun to ignore the warnings scrolling across the bottom of the screen.   bla bla bla bla

The silver lining of these evening storms is that they often bring rainbows (I can't seem to capture them in a photo) dramatic skies and pretty decent sunsets.

rain directly over us and sunlit hills backed by black rain clouds in front of us

Another load of belongings went into Jesse and Erin's house today before Dave and I went off in search of a few needed items for Beluga.    Friday morning I put my elbow through the shade on my desk's lamp (don't laugh, and definitely don't ask how I managed that maneuver...) so that was one of the things on our list.   Then we headed up to Boulder to check out a rental house we're interested in.  We'll move up there just before the wedding to be closer to the action and to spend more time with our friends.    We had the perfect house rented (deposit given) but it fell through late last week - owner's health problems.  Then another really beautiful one got away from us this morning.....grrr.     Its not easy to find places that allow dogs.     Oh well, I had a good conversation with the owner of yet another great sounding place so I'll have to jump on it.

Tomorrow we'll meet John and Pam at a local golf course for 18 holes and then into Denver for dinner and an unpacking party at Jesse and Erin's.   Never a dull moment!

Thursday - wild night

Yesterday started off sunny and warm.   We were able to sit outside for second cup, something we all enjoy.    Dave has a juicy cold and isn't feeling his best, so as soon as I went back inside Beluga he fell sound asleep in the sun.   Sasha joined him but Lewis took the role of "watch goose", keeping his eyes open for any danger to the sleeping beauties....

The weather reports were ominous as we prepared to drive up toward Jesse's house to help him start the process of moving into their new Denver rental house.

storm clouds beginning to peak out from behind the foothills

Ugh Oh....

We managed to get a couple carloads from the apartment to the house and put away.

The basement stairs are cleverly hidden behind the refrigerator, to maximize the space in the house's little kitchen!  The frig. sits on a roll-out pallet which allows it to be easily slid out of place when basement access is needed.   Pretty neat solution!


After our pizza dinner we headed back to Golden, hoping to arrive before the storm did.     The sky was black in our direction but the rain didn't start until we got home.  

Denver's skyline with its back to the black sky of an oncoming storm

 We managed to get the dogs out and settled before the most intense electrical storm we've ever seen moved over us.   Lightning flashed constantly in every direction.  It was really something to experience.  We kept a close eye on the radar, watching this storm move away, then move back over us.  Our county was one of the several that were under severe thunderstorm watches,  flash flood watches and even tornado watches.     It rained on and off, but the light show was incredible.  Hail started as we climbed into bed and I gave up on watching tv as the noise on Beluga's roof was just incredible.   Luckily it was short lived and we awoke this morning to tv news reports showing  tornadoes that struck north of us and plow able hail left on some Denver city streets!    It was a wild night...

Today (with the same weather forecast) we're going back to continue the move.  Stay tuned.

NCAR Wednesday

As I write this, the weather outside is wild.   We're in the middle of an intensely electrical storm, the sky is flashing constantly.    Our county is under a Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Watch.

Wednesday we met John and Pam and Steve and MonaLiza at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) in Boulder.   The buildings were designed by I.M.Pei in 1960 and were inspired by the Anasazi cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde.

NCAR's Mesa Laboratory is located atop Table Mesa at the foot of the Flat Irons sandstone cliffs, approached via a long road gently winding through gradually ascending grassy meadows.

NCAR is a federally funded facility dedicated to understanding  the behavior of the atmosphere and related physical, biological and social systems.    We took a one hour guided tour.   We will probably go back again on our own and just wander through the exhibits.   There were many interactive displays and we didn't really take enough time to read and understand them as we moved along on the tour.

Dave and John play in a cloud

architect I.M.Pei and some of his inspirations

Steve explains what he did in his "other life"

After the tour we all went into Boulder for lunch.    The Bohemiam Biergarten wasn't quite open when we arrived so we walked around on the Pearl Street Mall, some of us window shopping, some of us buying....

As usual, the lunch was delicious, the beer good and cold and the conversation lively.

John prepares to wolf down Bohemian Biergarten's
version of Rochester's Garbage Plate!

     Steve and MonaLiza will leave the area tomorrow, heading east.   We look forward to crossing paths with them again in the fall or winter.  

Another great time with good friends
Life is Good

Altitude

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went up to Boulder to take care of some business.

We stopped at BMOCA (Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art), a small but interesting little museum housed in a historic building in downtown Boulder.

this interesting installation seemed to pour off the wall
and puddle on the floor

looking closely we realized that it was made entirely
of cut out paper maps and charts

We walked along Boulder Creek, across the street from the BMOCA.   The water is still very high and energetic.   Part of the bike trail that goes under the bridge is closed because it continues to be under water.

 On the way back we took a little detour west, into the mountains.    We've been driving route 93 back and forth between Golden and Boulder for more than a month and the roads heading into the mountains have been calling us.   Most days, we've been to busy, had things to do either in Boulder or Golden but we always wonder..... where does that road go....oh look, it disappears into that canyon......White Ranch Park, I wonder what that is.....Lookout Mountain, what does it look out over.....where does that train track go, why does it look like its circular?

So, yesterday we turned off 93 and headed up a couple of those roads to see where they would lead us.     First we took the turn toward the White Ranch Park.    Golden Gate Canyon Road was beautiful as it gently rose into the foothills (what most people outside Colorado might call mountains!).  We parked and took a little hike into the picnic area to sit quietly and listen and just be.   We saw beautiful Mountain Bluebirds, Pygmy Nuthatches and Meadowlarks.    I took a few pictures, wondered why they were so fuzzy and then realized that I still had my little point and shoot on "close-up".....grrr.

bad picture of a beautiful
mountain bluebird

which path do we take?

buildings in downtown Denver far in the distance

White Ranch Park is a Jefferson County (the county we're staying in) that is home to abundant wildlife.  It's meadows, forests, pristine canyons and buttes are crisscrossed by 20 miles of multi use trails.

We retraced out steps down the canyon, back onto 93 heading south, towards home.    Just one more road into the mountains before we call it a day.   Lookout Mountain was our destination this time.   It was right on the way after all.    I don't know why I do this to myself.   Why do I route us up the side of mountains where I can't possibly look out the window.    I want to go for the view, then I can't bring myself to look at it!   The road was one sharp switchback after another and we shared the road with insane people pedaling their bikes up directly in front of us.  And motorcycles, crotch rockets as they say.   I'm sure they are attracted to those switchbacks, to roaring around them, leaning precariously as they zoom by.   The cyclists (motorized and manual) must surely be having a thrilling ride.   I vowed I'd enjoy the scenery on the way back down.

We pulled into a viewing area pretty much at the top of the road, next to all the cell and tv towers.     The panorama was breathtaking, as long as I stayed a decent distance from the edge.

I did not enjoy the views going down any more than I did going up.....but I know I'll continue to take us on these kinds of roads in the future.   Go figure.

view of the straighter sections of road

looking west at the continental divide

Dave looks down at the city of Golden.
The big bldgs. between north and south table top mesas house
the Coors Brewery on Clear Creek

The beautiful Strawberry moon
lit our way home

June 1

Yesterday was a very good day.   It was Dave's birthday and I'm so happy he was born those blank blank years ago.  

Jesse planned a golf day for the two of them in Evergreen.   He picked Dave up around 8:30 so I could have our jeep for the day.

preparations

I decided to do a bit of clothes shopping.   A very unpleasant task and I came home empty handed.    Pam and John and MonaLiza and Steve were having a post-hike lunch at the bar next door to Dakota Ridge, so I stopped by for a quick visit before they were finished.  A few laughs with friends lifted my spirits post haste.

Meanwhile, the boys were having a challenging round of golf at the soggy Evergreen Golf Club.    They were walking and the grass was long and deep and wet, the ball didn't go far, they covered a lot of ground.   They both had a great time together, but I think they felt it later.  

The gallery only watched the play at one hole before disappearing, very rude...

Dave returned home with a big grin on his face, he hasn't been able to play golf since last June at our home course, with John and Pam.  He hopes this was the first of many rounds this year!

After a brief nap, we met Jesse for dinner at Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder.  Erin was out of town so it was just the three of us.     Thanks Jess, it couldn't have been a nicer day.