Ranchero Update

Today I drove out to Falcon to visit with my paint and body guy.   He has made progress and looks like we will be in primer in a couple of weeks.  He is finishing up replacing the rocker panels and will remount the front fenders and align the hood.   I am guessing it will be another couple months before we are in paint.   Being that his full time job is a driver for UPS, he keeps pretty busy.

Oh boy, you betcha, yay

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I spent this week up in Toronto. Had to expedite my passport renewal in order to be able to make the trip.   Other than going through customs I really didn't notice a difference other than everything was in English and French, metric system in use and the currency.  I Rented a car from Avis, came out of the airport and drove past a Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Starbucks and stayed at a Hilton.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

Had good meetings and got to meet some very nice people.  The travel did get into my walking schedule and for the days I was gone I didn't get as many steps in as I should have.  Back home for a bit, so hopefully I will catch up.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

We did a nice hike this morning.   We drove down to Penrose and hiked in the Beaver Creek Wilderness area.   We were the only car in the parking lot, and had the place to ourselves.  This area doesn't get much use that I can tell.  It is tricky to get to.  It was a beautiful day and we had Pebbles with us.   We hiked about 4 miles and I am ready to go back. Afterwards we stopped in Penrose and got a smoothie and shared a sandwich. 

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I have our summer vacation all planned out.  Already got the airline tickets and house rented.   Pretty excited as we are going to be spending a week hiking up in Olympic National Park. I can hardly wait.

Vacation House

I went on to VRBO and rented a house on the Sol Duc River between Fork and Port Angeles.   This should be a great base camp for all the beach and forest activities we have planned.   One maybe two day's we will make a run over to Victoria, BC.   From my research, it looks awesome and has some great hiking and lots of waterfalls.

We have been watching Mick Dodge on NatGeo.  Mick hangs in the Hoh forest in Olympic National Park.  Yes I have also read up on the truth about Mick Dodge.  Either way, he most likely know's all the good spots, that most people don't get to and that's what I am looking for.  So to you NatGeo, if you are looking for a show, let me know.

Here is my walking chart for the last 28 days.   I need to step it up since I am home next week.   For the month of January, I am currently ranked #14 in the Colorado Springs fitbit group, and ranked #85 in the state fitbit groups that I belong to.

Wood box

I didn't get out of bed this morning until 10AM.   Felt great to sleep in and catch up on sum needed ZZZ's.  I took Pebbles out for our walk, we went through the park and then a quick loop through the dog park.  Pebbles did great and we didn't have any issues with others.

It was nice out today, so I washed the truck and filled it with gas.  then headed over to Hobby Lobby to pick up some urethane.  With it being so warm out, this was the time to finish my plywood box.  I wiped it all down and cleaned off the sanding dust.  Then shot it with two coats for urethane allowing it to dry between each coat.

This piece definitely has an aged look to it.   I need to get some handles that match the other hardware color.   I think Candy is going to keep it at the foot of the bed.   She plans to fill it with yarn and it works great to sit on and put on your shoes.

Keep on trucking

Checking to weather forecast it looks like we have good weather on the way.  High 40's tomorrow and then into the 50's through the weekend.   Oh boy, I can hardly wait.

Today was a good day all around.  Candy and Pebbles walked me half way to work today.  It was nice to have them with me.   I took the long way home this evening and got some extra distance in.

According to my Fitbit tracking I have walked 97.94/Miles so far this month.  I have to say that is a decent number of miles.

Keeping after it

So far so good, I have been getting my distance in.  Today was tough but I got out anyway. 

Afternoon Hike

I left the house this morning at 7AM and drove up to Denver.   I had meetings and had to get my passport renewed for an up coming trip.   I arrived back home at 4PM and as soon as I walked in the door I changed into my hiking clothes and hit the trail.   I really wanted to take some pictures as we had fresh snow and it was beautiful out.  Here are a couple of pics from my outing.

More wood

So since Sunday I have been working on my little trunk project in the evenings.   I am just about done.   First I stained it, inside and out and then painted it, using the same accent paint we used in our bedroom.  This piece is going in the bedroom so it should all tie together.

I did a little sanding on it this evening and still have more to do. Trying to give this an aged look, so we will see how it comes out.

More wood

I took Pebbles out today before the weather changes.   Yesterday it was in the 50's and this morning it was in the 40's when we headed out about 9:30 AM.   It is supposed to get cold and possibly snow again tonight.  We got some distance in this morning and did just over 6 miles.  I needed the distance because I didn't get out yesterday.

Saturday was beautiful here so I decided I better get over to the shop and do something.  I cleaned for a while and then started working on building a small trunk for Candy to keep her yarn in.   I had some old 2ft x 2ft plywood panels that were left overs from my shelving project.

Candy had sent me a picture of what she was looking for and I did what I could to replicate it,   It came out great and today I have put a coat of stain on it and will paint it later this week.   Once the paint dries I will do a little sanding to give the piece and aged look.   More to come once I get it done.

Sitting here watching the Broncos and Colts game, Denver is going to screw around and lose.   I can see it coming, maybe I will be wrong.

I am getting some pretty good distance in this month as you can see from my chart below.   I can't say that I have lost any weight yet, but I do feel better.   If I want to lose the weight I have going to have to give up the Dogfish head beer I have been drinking.

I joined a Colorado Springs Fitbit club online through my Fitbit dashboard.   Low and behold for the month of January, I am in 9th place out of 135 people.  I am not that far behind the leader and I might be able to catch up this week if I can get my ass up early and get out the door.

Still at it

I have been working hard to get my 10K steps in everyday.   So far so good, just need to keep after it.  Everyday I come up with excuses on why I can't, but I push them aside and move on.  The following chart represents my distance.

On Wednesday it was cold and slick out, I got out and walked anyway.   Took Pebbles with me, actually I have been walking with her to work all week.   When I got home that evening I just happened to be watching the news and there is Pebbles and me walking down the street.   I had no idea that the news crew was across the street filming. I guess that was my 3 seconds of fame.

Pebbles does great at the office, everybody seems to like her.   I keep her in my office most of the time and have a doggy bed stashed under my desk where she sleeps.   Today was BBQ day and she hung out in the conference room with everyone while we ate.   She just laid by the door and didn't beg or try to steal any food.

It's nice that we have an open area behind our office, so I can take her out back and let her run around.   Today it was in the 50's so I took her out back and had my phone and headset with me and did my call from out back while she did her business.

We are supposed to have another cold day tomorrow.  I have to leave early so I can drop off the Avalanche for an oil change and then walk to work.

I finished my cup and saucer shelf.   It came out pretty decent and we got it hung on the wall in the entry way.

Wood Working

I spent a good portion of my day working over at the Shop.    I needed to build something and was running out of time before I returned to work.   I dug through the scraps of wood I had to see what I could come up with.

I had some old ceder fencing that I had picked up and some other scraps.   I sanded and cleaned the old fencing and built a shelf to put cups and saucers in for display.   I cut grooves in the wood so the saucers won't slip out.   Used dowels and glue to put it all together.  I had a couple of coat hooks from another project and used them as well.  Not sure what purpose the coat hooks will serve, but it looks cool.  I used two different types of stain for this project, darker for the shelves and a lighter for the back, this way it gives the appearance of being deeper than it is. 

Candy is really happy with the completed project and once it cures overnight I will hang it tomorrow and we can load it up with the cups and saucers that we have.

The last days

Well the party is just about over.   I have been off work for almost two weeks and have tried to enjoy every minute of it.   But honestly I am looking forward to getting back after it.  The weather has sucked and I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but oh well, I wasn't at work.

Now a quick break for music appreciate:

Yesterday we got out with Pebbles and did some walking.  I took the camera with me and got a few good shots.   Once again, Pebbles got me off my butt and out the door walking.   We had fresh snow to hike in and Pebbles loved it.   We left Mable at home as it was to cold for her.   She let us hear about it when we got home, she wasn't happy.  Here is a collage of the pictures from yesterday's hike. Candy is sporting her Colorado Heart hat that she made.

We headed out again today and got some distance in.   Today we took Mable and to be safe a I took a backpack with me in case we had to carry her home, and I knew we would.   Both the dogs had a great time and it was good for me to be out,  I need the miles.   Once again I took the camera and got the pics below.  You will see that I am sporting the Ninja Turtle hat that Candy made me.

I have been doing pretty good at logging 10K + steps a day.   Below is the distance it has tracked for me over the last two weeks.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Wow what a year 2014 was and I am looking forward to 2015.   We are going to ROCK!  In life, work, love, it is going to be a great year.  (Dennis: "Party on, Candy." Candy: "Party on, Dennis.")

So I shook things up this year for New Years.   Instead of sitting at home and most likely going to bed at 10 PM,  I booked us a room at the Broadmoor and got us tickets to the New Years Eve Gala.  

We had a great time, danced most of the night, had a great meal and drank enough for eight people.  Yeah we rocked it.   It was a great party, most likely 3K+ people in attendance, a full orchestra and rock band and they played music from the 1920's to current.    We got to meet some very nice people and what I found most surprising is that everyone we met was NOT from Colorado Springs. This was a great way to close out the year and start anew.   

We had an awesome room.  I upgraded us to a suite and we had a large room, with a fire place and balcony over looking the lake and the west building.   It was a great evening and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.

I have to say the Pebbles has been good for me.   With my fitbit and Pebbles I have been trying to get out and walk everyday.   I have been doing great, except for one day and that is because it never got over 5 degrees.

Here is an image from my fitbit dashboard showing my distance.

We got snow today, if I had to guess I would say at least four inches.   I shoveled our driveway and then did our neighbors 
down the street.  When I finished we took Pebbles out on a hike.   It was great to be out, a little cold but we were making fresh tracks on the freshly fallen snow.  A light snow was falling as we were walking.   Candy got a great picture of Pebbles while she was checking our her surroundings.