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.

We're on the way to the 'Old Mill at Crystal', which is 8 miles east of Marble (via a 4 x 4 only road) is reputed to be the most photographed site in Colorado, and is practically an icon for Colorado. There are hundreds of abandoned mines, standing as reminders of the mining heritage.

Fly Fishing on the Roaring Fork. I was on the downstream side of the train tressel and getting all excited over the browns going after the terrestrials right in front of me. I faintly heard Ted (Donahue) yelling something, I just thought he had a fish on and if he was in trouble I'd snag him on the way by. I stepped further out into the river and looked up stream to see Ted's rod almost bent in half. I quickly ran back through the overgrown vegitation under the tressel to help him land this 18" monster.

Jolley Ranch Fire: On the way back home I saw my neighbors, Richard and Jana Sorensen, on their porch so I stopped in to chat about the fire. It turns out that he is arranging to get a buddy's huge semi water truck and head up to the fire. I went home and quickly changed and tagged along for the ride. We filled the truck up with water, 4000 gal (technically stolen), and made our way up to Jolley Mesa. It was my first time as a firefighter. The cool part was that I rode shotgun on the gas tank of the water truck up the mountain in a cloud of dust made by the semi's hauling big dozers. We got to put out a sting of fires along a cutline, very exciting.

Jolley Ranch Fire: The evening started out by driving to Grand Junction to drop off our Baldwin Park closing packet at FedEx, eating dinner, and sharing a turtle sundae at Coldstone, then we made our way back home - no biggie. Just as the Rifle Airport mesa came into view, I noticed what looked like a huge dust devil on the (Brett) Jolley mesa, east of the Airport. As we got closer we saw that it was a fire and it was getting big, and growing quickly. This was around 7:30p. At 10:30 I saw the glow of the fire over the Hogback and drove west with gema on 6&24 to get a better view and snapped this shot. The picture doesn't do the event justice.

Moon Stuff. Apogee is when the moon is furthest from the earth and Perigee is when the moon is the closest. If you print this pic and overlay the printouts, you will see that the Perigee moon is a bit bigger. I think the actual number is 6%.

Baldwin Park - Panorama from across the school yard.

Baldwin Park - back door man

Baldwin Park - 2nd level Kitchen view to the livingroom. I checked the stove on the walk through and it didn't work because it needed to be wired up. One thing is for sure, I prefer custom building over 'slam and jam' production construction.

Baldwin Park - Hal and I are neighbors once again, kinda.
Just a couple miles from downtown, the narrow streets with front porches set close to wide sidewalks make it a friendly, walk-about sort of place. We have two lakes, Lake Baldwin and Lake Susannah, are perfect for recreation or to be eaten by a 1200lb alligator. There are plenty of parks, playgrounds, ball fields and open spaces for everyone to enjoy. This is part of the top-rated WinterPark school district.
Floor Plan

Fun day on the Elbow River at Stanley Park.

The three sisters. No, I'm the pointy one...

Evening at Ron and Mimi's. Delle, Mike, Will, Tammy, Jim, Liz, Laura, Tony, Kiki, Mimi, Ron, Bryson, Hal, Ben.

Tour of Mike and Tammy's house, it should be ready by Oct.1, Hal, Delle, Laura, Mike.

To be a kid again, nothing but wind in your face and who cares if it's 55 degrees and overcast.
'You wake up late for school - man you don't wanna go
You ask you mom, "Please?" - but she still says, "No!"
You missed two classes - and no homework
But your teacher preaches class like you're some kind of jerk
You gotta fight for your right to party' - Beastie Boys

8 Seconds and a high score earns you $50k. Delle and I met a couple cowboys at the SLC airport and they were flying up to compete in the Steer Wrestling event. These guys were huge. They tour all summer to different rodeos in pursuit of the that all mighty purse, they could walk away with cash or a new pickup. They made it sound easy until we watched them both get their asses kicked and walk away with a fist full of dirt.

Whoa! West Jet was a major sponsor of this years Stampede and were treated to a private bull riding event. It reminded me of the the good old Nortel days when the money flowed freely through the gap fingered hands. This cowboy is an old timer at the rare age of 38.

Missing in action this trip was Tim and Julianne. They were expecting Harrison and he was born on July 22. Harry will have many years of Stampede to look forward to visiting. You may have noticed the long sleaves, well, it was fairly chilly in the mornings - Canada eh!

This may be Bryson's last Stampede for a while, he'll start playing extended baseball seasons with all-star play and tourneys. He really enjoyed his visit to see Nana Kiki.

This is the actual West Jet sponsored chuck wagon raced during the Stampede. At the starting line 4 teams of thoroughbreds per heat (9) are hitched to their light wagons, hearts racing, eyes wide open, breathing fire. The drivers know that they can run a horse to it's death, the drivers also remember that they have cheated death many times before and just maybe this will be their last race.

Calgary Alberta as seen from the Stampede grounds.

This is taken from a rock outcropping where my neighbor, Q-Ball (Quinten Gonzales) and I installed a solar light. I packed my hammer drill and 2 batteries to the top and drilled down as far as the batteries would last, then epoxyed the solar light into the hole.

Stairway to the lower level. 2 bedrooms, a full bath, mechanical room, family room, sun room, theater, and storage room. I made the aluminum gate in my welding class

This is looking south. We love the Amish table and chairs - and bar stools, it took 12 weeks from order to delivery. We rub the wood (maple) down with lemon oil/wax stuff every 3 months.

Welcome to the kitchen. The countertops are a blue denim laminate, gas stove on the island. We also have installed an icemaker in the island. The next project in here will be to install a valance above the window that looks like a small shelf made of crown moulding.

The Grass Diva. We have a lock, Gema loves the grass. I can even get her to rollover with ease when she is on the grass. Her favortite things are: going for a ride, going swimming, getting a kong full of treats, playing with her dog buddies, playing frisbee, duck hunting, and grass.

Mr. Brett Jolley, host of the 4th of July party on the Jolley Ranch.

My ride and Brett Jolleys ride.

Looks like I'l have to trim up some of the cedars around the yard. This was the first time cutting the new sod. I had the mower set to cut at 4", the highest setting. 12 bags later the lawn was done.

New toy. I'm not so happy about all the sunflower seeds that drop from our crummy feeders. You can see the light green patch of the thousands of sprouts. I may have to replace the sod and start over on that patch. I'll see if mowing will kill them off. I've also got rid of that feeder.

Gema sure enjoys her new front porch.

Just Add Water. It all started with the Irrigation or Irratation blog and $4500 later we can now be free to go on vacation!