Gema's thinking, 'I love ducks'

Indy's first day at the pond. She got to watch Gema leap into the water over and over again. I'll let her get into the water when she wants. I can't wait to go swimming with her and Gema this summer in the Colorado River.

I think Gema had enough today looking after Indy, Cassie, and Jackson.

My kind of girl. Here's a snowy fact. Lets say that a guest picks up her plate and licks it clean to the dismay and emabarrasment of other guests, it is good manners and the hosts duty to deflect by picking up his plate and giving it a good lick. I once read something like that, I think it was sipping soup out of a bowl. Although this wasn't really considered a fauxpaux with our guests, I licked the plate anyway.

Riverside 6th Grade team dinner. Joel, Eddie, Terri with an i, Ryan, Cami, Neil, Lindsey, Mike, Dianne, and Delle.

Colorado Rope Tow

We had quite a dump on Sunday, Jan 29. Enough to get out the rock skiis and make some turns down our road. So many times in the summer as I was running or walking up the road in 100 degree weather, I would think that I would ski the road given the chance.

It's a shame puppies have to grow up. I guess the part I won't miss is that Indy had a tough time with Coccidia and got me up 5 times a night for the first month.

These two sisters have been having so much fun in the snow. I would dig a deep hole and bury a tennis ball, Gema would dig, dig, dig, to get it out. Indy finally had to get into it and mostly got covered with snow.

When we went for our first walk around the loop, Indy made it about 3/4 of the way. She got a little cold so I tucked her into my jacket and carried her home.

Cutie Pie

My, what big paws you have little girl!

Little Indy at 6wks

Here's Sickum - Indy's and Gema's dad - with Delle and Kiki.

Here's Bailey with all the rug rats. Bailey is also Gema's mom.

We spent some time with all the pups and decided on this one. Her initial name was Innie and her sisters name was Outie.

Delle's 29th birthday

Christmas dinner soiree at Judy's.

Ah, winter in the Rockies. Makes me think of how many days til summer...

Little Harrison

Tim's 38th birthday with Julianne and Harry.

Bryson and Hal

Hal's 39th birthday with Marie.

This is THE MAN! Smokey JoeQuinton of Nowata Oklahoma (918-273-3125). He and one of his boys builds custom smokers and ships them around the world. This one he custom built for me weighs in at 650lbs and is simply amazing. Hard to tell it was a scorching 105 degrees in the shade. I had loaded up the smoker and Smokey Joe gave mee all the Pecan I could haul. I filled up 9 gunny sacks and got on the road by noon. I think I got home at midnight, that was a long day driving from OK to KS to CO. Let me know if you want to swap BBQ recipies.

From Delle's Flower Garden

From Delle's Flower Garden. Cosmos

From Delle's Flower Garden

So I found this 1968 convertible Mustang in a field and to my surprise the owner thinks it's made of gold. The door says it's an export and the owner says it's a T-5, but it has none of the badging. Anyway, he wanted $20k for it, says it's worth $50k - and that's just crazy. You Mustang nuts out there may be as skeptical as I am even after researching this VIN. If you think it's heisse scheiss, let me know.

Fun day for Gema, she baby sat 4 month old Dakota (godzilla). These girls played non stop all day then collapsed for a well needed monster knap.

Packing some fun into a business trip to DC with Amy and Stephanie. We attended a WNBA game and had dinner in the VIP dining room. Yes, that is a pink hat I am wearing, it was breast cancer awareness day.

A tradition that goes back to grade school days, the official 2005 First Day of School pic.

This is the infamous Punch Bowl Cut. The jeeps are at 'Slab Turn'. Built in 1883 as a wagon route between mining towns Marble and Crested Butte, much of the road through this section is blasted into the solid rock. Before the path was blasted, coaches, wagons, horses, and supplies were lowered/hoisted and reassembled for the next leg of the journey. I must admit that the night before the upcoming journey through Schofield Pass, my mind wanders to the uneasiness of my gut feelings.

Joel Snider was the first one up. We did some road maintenance stacking some large rocks. Joel builds custom 4x4 rigs out of his Glenwood Springs 4x4 shop - Stagewest

Under Gema's supervision and teh girls yelling 'Go Tony, Go Tony'... This is what you call stuffing the rear wheel. The RE long arm suspension got exercised and the 33" BFG AT KO's at 15psi did just fine.

Look Mom, no winch. I took a line that had the drivers side tires on the muddy hill hoping not to have to use the winch. The right side tires were on the slippery snow. I had both axles locked and I didn't spare the RPM. I eneded up not having to winch at all, I was surprised. Joel pointed out the risks of my manouver that I didn't know. If I would have caught traction with all 4 tires, the jeep may have flipped over and rolled down to the bottom. Joel is an ARCA Pro driver, so that scared me a bit.

Here's the downhill perspective from the previous pic. The glacier is littered with tones of rock and trees from the slides and avalanches.

Check the camber. Experienced drivers with a well outfitted jeep required. Lockers, winch, lift, tools - don't forget your huevos! The road has been only traveled by quads up to now.

I was wondering if the snow was going to give way so close to the edge. I was more concerned of getting too far left because I didn't know where the hollow section of the glacier started.

Gema had a buddy on this trip, Magnus, in Ron and Janelle's jeep.

What's left of that snow cave. We knew there was a lot of recent rain in the area as we drove through the mud slides over the highway near Redstone. The amount of snow and ice that had melted during the week is staggering, almost unbelievable - definitely indescribable.

Back to Schofield Pass, this time with some friends - Joel & Jackie, Ron & Janelle, Gema and Magnus. I called Joel at Stagewest to share the news on the amount of snow remaining at the pass and he said that they were making the trip over the weekend and invited us along. I want to point out that this glacier has retreated 100 yards since the previous weekend. The snow cave is gone.

The white and lavender Columbine, Aquilegia caerules, Colorado's state flower. We found bunches by the thousands as we drove through the Lead King Basin. We viewed magnificent fields of all kinds of spectacular wildflowers with backdrops of waterfalls that washed down the mountain sides as we slowly drove up the endless switchbacks.

July 4, 2001 at Schofield Pass. We were the tail end of a winching party sponsored by Pull-Pal. The first jeep winched up the steep snow field using a Pull-Pal, then the rest of the jeeps winched up to each other. Thank goodness we were doing this for fun on a warm sunny day.

This snow cave at Schofield Pass is where rivers come from. Delle and I slid down a steep bank to take this pic of me under thousands of tons of snow (and rock) deposited from last winters avalanches and slides in the the narrow Schofield pass.

It's July 31 and I'm STANDING on the Schofield Pass Road that leads to Crested Butte. Do NOT attempt to take the road past Crystal up to Schofield Park, unless you know what you're doing (i.e. pack a pull-pal), and you are also crazy. The second portion of the road after Schofield Pass is known as the 'Devils Punch Bowl'. There have been deaths (17 at last count) and very serious accidents every year. If you need Jeep parts, there are two Jeeps, one on top of the other, about a mile east of Crystal, and about 100 feet straight down from the road.

The Crystal River is clear, ice cold, water spawned from the melting snow from the peaks and valleys of the Elk Range. From Crystal Falls to the top of Crystal Gorge is a picture postcard run of whitewater that is well suited for expert kayakers - class III to V. Swimming with Gema was out of the question, I could barely stand in the water for not more than 2 minutes before my toes turned blue. Gema's curiosity took her into the whitewash of the falls, she really loves the water.

Another picture postcard! Gema was a good girl and didn't shake all over Delle.

'The Crystal Mill' was known as the Sheep Mountain Power House, and was located on the Lost Horse Millsite. Constructed in 1893, it harnessed the river adjacent to the mill to power the air compressor housed inside. Early engineers had built a dam across the river, which funneled water down the vertical penstock (the ladder-like structure) onto a horizontal wheel, which drove an axle in the penstock. The penstock powered the air compressor. In turn, the enormous compressor ran drills in the nearby Sheep Mountain and Bear Mountain mines. The drills were used to bore holes in the mine walls for the placement of dynamite. Once the dynamite was detonated, the miners removed the ore. The mill closed its operations in 1917.

Marble, Colorado is basically a ghost town about 17 miles southwest of Aspen, as the crow flies. At one time it was home to thousands of people, many of them Italian immigrants, working the marble obtained from the Yule Quarry in a finishing mill, which was the world's largest. The marble for the Lincoln Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and hundreds of other buildings, was quarried and finished here.

Coke Ovens near Redstone
The ovens, which date back from the 1890's, utilized slow-burning, controlled-oxygen process to convert charcoal to coke, which is a longer-lasting fuel than coal.