Go La Junta Football

Oh boy what a great weekend here in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Yesterday it was in the 50's and today it got up to 68.  I spent most of the days outside soaking up the sun.   Hope it was as nice where you are.

Congratulations to all the players on the La Junta Football Team, The High School, and all the nice people in La Junta.  Way to go beating Bayfeild 14-13 in the Class 2A state semifinals.  Sorry I missed it and thank you for making all the Alumni so Proud!  Wishing you all the best for the State Championship against Kent Denver.

Making us Proud

So let's see, somewhat busy weekend around here.   I had plans to get up at 5:30 AM on Saturday, but that turned into getting out of bed at 8:30.  Yeah I slept it.  So what!

I gathered up all the ingredients for my pot roast.  I dug the roast out of the fridge and salted, peppered and put garlic on it.  Heated up the cast iron skillet and then seared the roast on both sides and on the edges where I could.

Placed it in the crock pot on low and then turned my attention to the vegetables.   Pealed several carrots and potato's.  Sliced up and onion and place them all on top of the meat.  Left the crock pot on low and left it cooking for the rest of the day.

Candy had a craft show she was working at the Church and had to be there at noon to start setting up.   That left me with some time to fill.   I got dressed and headed out for a hike, left about 11:00 AM.  I got back just after 1:30 PM and oh man the house was smelling great with the roast and vegetables cooking.

On Saturday I got just a little over 6 miles in.   I walked up Orion and then worked my way back home.  It is a pretty decent incline from our house, up Orion to Gold Camp Road.   Felt pretty good and I need to do more.

After I got home I hooked up the PS2 to the bedroom TV.   Clark brought it over and left me some games.  Now I have a couple of old Spyro the Dragon games and Ratchet and Clank that I can play.

Candy got home just about 6:00 PM and oh man I was ready to eat.  Hadn't eaten all day and had to smell the roast cooking.  I was ready.   We made some toast with butter and then had a great dinner.  Oh man the roast and all the vegetables were awesome.

I was feeling the incline from yesterday when I got up this morning.  Moving a little slow, I still got out and did 2.5 Miles.  I should have done more.

With Saturday and Sunday, that gets me just over 65/Miles.  I need to work hard as I would love to break a 100 this month.

The Grass is Always Greener

How many times have we heard the cliche, “The grass is always greener on the other side?” But as I looked again at the picture I took yesterday, the grass is actually greener on the other side.

So let's see I did walk to work again today, but wussed out and caught a ride home again this evening.  When I left this morning Pebbles was giving me the look.  I was going solo and didn't want to take her to work.  She was bummed.  

So with the walk this morning that gets me up to 52.5 Miles.   Will try to do the round trip tomorrow.

When I got home this evening it was time to cook dinner.  I needed to get into the mood so put some tunes on. This evening it was Quarterflash and Aldo Nova.  We rocked out to both of these bands in the 80's.  Yep we are old.   I mean who do you know that shows up in a helicopter and jumps out wearing a leopard jumpsuit and then blow the doors open with his guitar.  I mean that is just awesome.  I wish I could get away with it.  

For dinner I cooked a steak, baked potato and a bag of salad.   Candy and I split the steak and each had a potato and salad.   I cooked the steak in an iron skillet with some butter.  We use our iron skillet all the time, everything just seems to taste great.  I cooked the potatoes in the microwave and pretty much dumped the bag of salad in a bowl.


On the way to work this morning I stopped and took a picture of the creek I walk along everyday.   As I was crossing the bridge and thought this was a great photo opp.

Once again we had a beautiful day.  It was in the 70's and we should have all been outside playing.  Hard to believe that tomorrow we are supposed to have snow and the temperature is going to drop down to 26.  That's Colorado!

I am ready for some snow.  It is very dry as we haven't had any moisture in several weeks and the fire danger is high.

Going Solo

Today it was just me out on the trail.   Candy and Pebbles were ready to take a break for the day.   I logged 5.3/Miles on my hike this morning.   I left early and it was a great day/morning to be out.  Didn't see to many other people and pretty much had the trail to myself.  Up to 39/Miles, ready to step it up this next week.

This is my route that I took today.  Hope the weather continues to hold.

You've Got Mail

We had to go to the post office today as Candy had a small package she needed to mail.   So for our hike today we decided we walk to the post office and back.  We ended up with a little over 4.5/Miles.  Most of it was trail, but we covered a lot of sidewalk today as well.  We had a great time and Pebbles was excited to be out.  With today's distance I logged 33.7/Miles for the week.  Hopefully I can step it up next week.

I may have said this already, but I can't believe the weather we are having.   Today it was in the 60's and looks like it will be all next week as well.  

More time on the trail

This week I have been trying to make a real effort to walk to work.   I did great on Monday, walked to work and got a ride home because we had lighting and showers.  Tuesday was a no go because I had a 7 AM face to face meeting and had to be in early.  Today I managed to walk to work and back home.  This helped me to get a little more distance, bringing me up to 9.79 for the week.

Candy and Pebbles both walked half way with me on Monday and Wednesday.   We have been able to get Pebbles off the leash a little and she loves that.  We have had a bumper crop of grasshoppers so Pebble is bouncing all over trying to catch them.  It's actually pretty funny.

My wrist band on my fitbit blew craps so I started using my GPS again.   The above are the routes that I have taken the last couple of days.

This evening I put the sprinkler on the garden and let it run for about an hour.   For about two weeks we were picking a bowl of raspberries everyday.   Well the first round of raspberries are done and now the black berries are starting to ripen.  I have two plants and they are both exploding.  The picture below is a close up and you can see how big they are getting and they are just starting to turn from red to black.

We picked one this evening and oh man it was good.   Going to be having some of these on my ice cream and cereal.

Last night I made plum icee's.  We bought some plums at the flea market and they were huge and ready to eat and they were awesome.   Several of them had really started to ripen and were getting soft.   I cut the core out and threw them in the blender and then added ice and a little honey.  Oh they were good.

While I was in the yard this evening I snapped a few other pictures of some of the plants we have growing.

Tiger Lilly

Yarrow

Daisy

I had some help in the yard this evening.  Pebbles was following me around and keeping and eye out for any wildlife.   I have to say this picture of her, looks like she may have gotten into some brownies.

Log Update

Pushing rocks up-hill

I was up early, or at least early for me.  Was out the door by 7am and managed to get three miles in to the office.  During the day for lunch and between a call, I did three laps around the office complex.  I had plans to walk home, but it started raining around 4pm and is currently raining with lightning and thunder,  I am pretty sure we are getting close to setting a record for the most rainfall in May.

8:49PM, it is raining and the pictures are rattling on the walls from the thunder. Looks like they are getting hit pretty hard out east.

I purchased the items below on ebay.  I plan on making flowered yard art with them, not sure if I want the natural rustic look or paint them up.  Currently the natural rusted look seems like it would be best. I need to figure out what the base will be as these disks are pretty heavy,  More to come, but this is going to be really cooool!!!

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. 

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.

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.

Hello October

Well we ended up September with a little over 75/miles.   This has probably been one of my better months in the last several.   I feel pretty good and get pissed at myself on the days I don't get out and log miles.

Friday Night

I can't believe it, but I have a fire going in the fire place this evening.   It was snowing when I left the house this morning to walk to work.   It was cold all day and overcast, supposed to be in the low 30's tonight.   Once again another Colorado weather story.  We seem to have a lot of them.  Candy took a picture this morning of her Tiger Lillie's with snow on them.

I have been walking just about every day.   I have a couple of goose eggs but as of today I am up to 46/miles.  That doesn't seem to bad to me.    It's going to get tough as I will be traveling next week and then again during the first part of October.    It was nice this morning to walk in the falling snow on my way to work.   It was peaceful and very pretty, even though I am not ready for winter.   We didn't event really have a summer.  I guess we are in a El Nino year so we are expecting above average snowfall this winter.

Sunday

I got off my ass and did some real hiking this weekend.  Candy and I did a big hike on Saturday and this morning I took Eric and one of his friends out.  Saturday we did the 7 Bridges loop and Sunday we did Twilight Canyon.  It actually turned out to be pretty good week for me.   I manged to log 34.6 miles.  I have a bunch of projects I am looking to get done, but the will have to go on hold for the next couple of weeks.   I have pretty heavy travel schedule coming up.  I hope to be able to keep up my walking while on the road.  We shall see.

For the last couple of days we have been watching the aerial ballet that the Humming Birds have been performing.  Not sure what changed but we only one or two for a while and I counted eight of them this evening.  They are fun to watch and don't seem to be too afraid of us.  More so each other as they are chasing each other around the yard.

3.33

Well I am off to a decent start for the year.  As of today I am up to 30.42/Miles.   I have two days with goose eggs.  It has been a mix of hiking on the trails and doing the treadmill, I prefer the trails. Even with the cold weather I have managed to get out, and it has been cold.

This is the routes that I have taken when I walk the trails and below that is my distance tracker.

Seven Bridges Loop

This morning I drove up to the GCR parking lot.  I expected to see a few more cars in the parking lot at 10AM, there were only three other cars.  I headed up GCR and figured I would either do Seven Bridges or go up to St. Mary’s Falls.  Well Seven Bridges won as it was the first trail that I came across.

On my way up GCR I came across two guys who were just coming back from doing St. Mary’s and said that the trail was decent, it had seen a lot of action since the snow.   So I caught trail 622 which is also known as Seven Bridges.   Hiked up to the Jones Park area and there is still plenty of snow and once again I could have used my snow shoes but didn’t have them with me.

I managed to find trail 668 and then over to 666 for about mile before catching trail 667 aka Captain Jacks.   I then worked my way down the Mt. Buckhorn trail back to GCR.   I moved a little quicker today.  Hiking time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes with a total distance of 6.83 Miles.  Once again another great work out with an elevation gain of 2155 ft.

I managed to get a few pictures today and have included or you can view all the pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111229?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWi18LHj-3vlQE

Not sure where I am headed tomorrow but you can rest assured I will let you know.

Happy Hiking

Paint Mines Interpretive Park

Today I headed out to do one of my favorite hikes, the Paint Mines.   I drove out highway 24 to Calhan, CO.  It’s about 35/Miles from Colorado Springs.   This isn’t a long hike, today I managed to get 3/miles in.   What makes this hike so much fun is that the scenery is so different that what you find in the mountain areas.

You will find it hard to believe that such great rock formations exist just outside in the Colorado plains.   The mines have evidence of human life as far back as 9,000 years ago. The colorful clays were used by American Indians. The park features fantastic geological formations including spires and hoodoos that were formed through erosive action that created incised gullies and exposed layers of seienite clay and jasper.

All of today’s pictures can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111228?authkey=Gv1sRgCMvwlJuEzNOYBg

I had to trek through some deep snow in the canyon areas.   It was pretty slick climbing on some of the rocks.  I actually fell a couple times today and need to clean up my camera.  It was cold in the shade and the wind was blowing.  In the sun wasn’t to bad.

If you like hiking and are looking for something different I would recommend this hike.   You better get to it soon as I am sure that at some point they will begin limiting the trails and you may not have access any longer. 

Happy Hiking