May 18th, 2012 the day that Facebook died.  Your user experience has now been compromised. Your profile has now been sold.  Enjoy the downslope. 

That's right my friends, we are going to share with you the steps to build a fence in only 3 days!!!  Well, actually, I should say - the steps to almost finish building a fence in only 3 days.  Ok ok ok. The steps to almost finish building a gate and one small section of fence in only 3 days

You see, our fence gate and the small section (4 ft max) of fence next to the gate has been broken for months now.  Our temporary band aid was to position our garbage can just right so that it would keep the gate closed and block the hole so the animals couldn't escape. We decided it was time to fix it. After a number of failed attempts with fence companies and handymen for hire we decided to do it ourselves.  Our step by step instructions...just for you all...

 

Friday night:

Home Depot Run to purchase wood, posts, cement etc.

Leave all supplies on the trailer overnight because sleep is more important than unloading.

Sat:

Talk a bit about the fence plan.

Heather leaves for a mountain bike ride.

Colin does a bit of fence demolition.

Colin leaves for a road bike ride (see previous post for his adventure).

Heather returns home, looks at the progress, goes inside to eat and shower.

Colin returns home. 

More talk about the fence plan.

All this strenuous fence planning is too much for Heather. She NEEDS FroYo. Tip to Bliss Yogurt Shop

Post holes are dug, posts are set and cement is poured.

Admire the progress. High fives on a good solid hour of work. Go to bed.

Sun:

Sleep in, coffee, breakfast, walk the dog, look at fence posts as walking by.

Pack the car up with mountain bikes and head to Apex.

Ride bikes, talk to friends, discuss our need to go work on the fence....go out to lunch.

Late afternoon, head back out to fence project. 

Work on fence, 2 Ace hardware runs, rain starts, continue building in rain.

Decide it's too cold and wet to continue to work. High fives on our work so far. Pack up. 

THE END!  sorta. You will notice that the latch/handle are still not on the fence, the posts are not cut down to size yet and it is secured shut with a landscape brick but it's soooo close we are going to go ahead and call it a success! WOO HOOO!  (does it look like it is sloping downwards?  and yes, I'm SURE the hardware will get installed within a month or two.) 

SO if you need a handy'couple' to repair your fence, give us a call.  We charge by the hour!!  (and if anyone knows how to get that stupid bush to grow back green drop me a line!)

 

"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never escape it alive anyway."

Cinco De Mayo.  Cool I suppose but not a heavy outlined date on my calendar.  Today was a day for work to get done.  Or for me to get worked.

Charlie had disc brake issues so he called a common variable in his playbook.  An epic road ride.  He can find rides with lots and lots of climbing.  I just hoped to be able to walk and have the strength to ride the mountain bike the next day with the Wonder Twins.

All of two seconds into the first climb up Golden Gate I was popped.  Charlie is addicted to Strava and he wanted to be on the leaderboard.  I wanted to not get hit by a car.  I hate road rides up canyons in Colorado.  Unless you go at the oddest hours you run the risk of getting pushed off the road by rednecks in pickups, moms in SUVs, squids on crotchrockets, and white boys in Subarus.  I wanted a nice slow pace.  Rather my abused body and mind wanted a nice slow pace.  I pedaled squares and looked the part of the local roadie

 

I suffered to the top of the climb and the boys were gone or so I thought.  They came back from around the corner full of energy.  I waved them off.  The epic road ride would not happen for me.  Again so I thought.

I agreed to do the following downhill and then I would turn right at the fork and head to the closer Golden Gate Park rather than the distant Idaho Springs route.  That way I could suffer alone.  I did.  Before I could even make it to the Park I was called by nature into her sweet embrace.  The asphalt was killing me and I needed some dirt.  I found an entrance to the forest and left the road.

The shoes aren't right but the surface is
After taking some time to wander in the woods I gathered the willpower to soldier on.  I'm glad I did as this was the view at the next summit in the road.

Now that is better than Kool Aid.  I traveled down the road about a mile and planned to turn around at the Park.  Again the forest spoke to me and I detoured at the nature preserve.  I found it to be rather empty.  Mostly just me, some hikers, and the fish.  Big healty rainbow trout!

From here I was at a crossroads.  Literally.  Do I climb back out from Golden Gate and hope to latch on to some other roadies?  The cars?  The motorcycles?  Ugh.  The other direction I knew would be tough.  Not just tough but stupid hard.  Drew Hill Road is a riot going down but I've never attempted to go up.  Time to kill and pain to feel.  I headed up.  It was awesome.  The road approaching the climb was serene and peaceful.  Mountain stream, no cars, and trailheads like Black Bear and Mountain Lion inviting hikers to spend time in the woods.  My kind of place.  Once the road kicked up (10% +) I felt energized.  The choice of 25c tires and 12-25 gearing wasn't the greatest but I made no exuses.

I took my sweet time going up the gravel and aspalt climb but stayed consistent enough to make the leaderboard on Strava.  My first Strava ride and the summit of the climb looked out onto Denver from a new perspective for me.

After today's ride I felt that road riding wasn't too bad....if you chose the right roads.

Two Years.

Two fun filled years since our first date :)  I could write a big long post telling you all the things we have been up to in the past year but that would take a while.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words....and you know how much I like pictures...

Last year I made Colin a video of our first year together so I decided to do it again. And here it is. A recap of the second year of the duo of red-n-roach:

And if you are missed last years installment - here it is!

We spent our anniversay day the same way we spent the first day we met.  We both played with our friends for the day!!  

I went on an all day adventure with I Ling and Ashlee starting in Evergreen at Elk Meadow Park.  We had a big mountain bike route planned for the day and none of us really realized just how big of a plan it was.  After a killer climb up to Bergen Peak we hopped on the bike path and followed it to Three Sisters Park.  We did a loop through/around the park, got lost, got frustrated, got giddy, got in some high fives....and then hitched a CAR ride back to our car cuz we were DONE!  We climbed about 3,800 feet and the thought of biking back to our car (uphill) made us whimper.  

Colin packed up his bike too and went to Buffalo Creek to meet up with his friends.  After some singletrack throughout the park they went to play on the Blackjack Trail section which always makes Colin grin from ear to ear.  He put on his elbow pads and knee pads and started to play, taking one line down, hiking up and trying a different line till it was time to call it a day.

C and I made it home around 6, I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers and then we went out for our anniversary dinner. Same restaurant and same table that we ate at 2 years ago, 1 year ago and many more years to come. 

 

I don't know what my life would be like right now if I hadn't met Colin. What I do know is that I wouldn't be as happy and content as I am right now, with him by my side. I love you Colin. Thank you for being the peanut butter to my jelly. The leather to my lace. The "red" to my "roach". xox 

 

"Be glad of  life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."  Henry Van Dyke

A beautiful, inspiring, energetic young woman was taken from the earth yesterday.  I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to have met Marisa Muscarella and am blessed to be able call her my friend. 

Marisa was one of the girls I met when I moved to Pittsburgh in 2003. As you may know, it is not easy to make friends as an adult.  Well, I was lucky enough to make some friends pretty quickly.  But the amazing thing is how good of friends we all became in such a short period of time.  And boy did we have fun!!!  We packed in some great memories in the 2 yr timeframe that we were all in the 'burgh. Road trips, dinners, dancing, book clubs, cosmos and classics movie nights, game nights, superbowl parties, girls nights out, Saturday trips to the farmers market.....the memories are endless and cherished. 

In April 2006 Marisa was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.  That is when Marisa's true spirit and faith started to shine.  A diagnosis that would have driven many to depression and negativity instead drove her to embracing life and her faith.  Marisa fought with all of her heart and soul and inspired me beyond words.  She had such a positive attitude, zest for life and love of all things during the past 6 years.  Sadly, her time here spreading joy has ended and it breaks my heart to know that such a vibrant soul was taken from us all. 

Thank you for such great memories. Thank you for always making me smile with your blog posts. Thank you for reminding me how precious life is.  Thank you for putting life and the little things in perspective. And most of all, thank you for being my friend.  

Rest in peace my friend. I take comfort in knowing that you are free of pain and suffering and are enjoying all the fabulous foods and wine that you can. xox

I love you Marisa. 

Memories last forever, never do they die, Friends stick together and never really say Goodbye - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

Last spring 10 friends booked a hut for march 2012.  Fastforward to march 2012 - only 3 of those 10 folks are still in for the hut trip plus one new addition.  Although the numbers were low, the snow pack was even lower and the temps were high - we forged on and made Hut Trip 2012 a success!!

I have been insanely crazy at work lately so unfortunatly I had to join in on the trip a day late and miss out on Friday's activity.  Due to the reduced snow in the mountains the plans were slightly adjusted and some mountain bikes were thrown in to the mix. Red, Brian and Lora headed out Friday morning hauling bikes, snowboards, skis, snowmobile, food, beer, etc. They stopped at Buffalo Creek on the way out of town for some fun on the rocks.

After a few hours of mountain biking they made their way to Monarch Pass.  Apparently the snowmobile trip(s) up to the hut were full of excitement.  I heard stories of lost items, flipped sleds, passengers gripping for dear life and fearing for their lives. But all 3 individuals made it up to the hut in one piece...and more importantly so did the food and beer :)  

Saturday morning the hut crew got a late start and I got an early start. I made it to the trailhead around noon after finding a fantastic bike shop to fix my bike (thanks Trailhead in Buena Vista!).  I got all my gear together, my splitboard out and headed up the road for a 2 hour skin to the hut. 

Meanwhile at the hut - Red and Brian decided to tackle Clover Mountain. They were able to skin up about 1/4 of the way after which they took their boards off and started climbing/scrambling. The summit was their goal...and they reached it!  Now the fun part....

I made it to the hut just as Lora was coming back from some exploring and the guys were just finishing up their run.  Perfect timing!  We enjoyed the beautiful weather for a bit then went inside for dinner.  With full bellies and plenty of time to kill we decided to do something that would last well in to the evening. What could we do that could take up HOURS of our time????  Monopoly of course!!!  And take up time it did!  About 6 hours, 1 bucket of cookies (which had to be eaten with each community chest/chance card pulled), some laps around the hut (we made up some original chance cards), 2 shotgunned beers (using an ice axe to make the hole), penalty shots, 3,589 mortgages/purchases of property (99% of which belonged to Brian) and one absolutely-hilarious-hands-down-the funniest picture i have EVER taken later...Lora won the game!  or did Red win? that is still up for debate.

 

Sunday started with Brian's challenge for the crew to eat everything we had left so we didn't have to haul it out of the hut.  We stuffed out faces, packed up our gear and headed out of the hut.  

With a whole day left to play we couldn't come back to Denver! So we hit up Salida for some super fun singletrack!  What cool trails they have accessable right from town!  A few hours of fun on the mountain bikes were followed by pizza and beers at Amica's in Salida.  

And we still couldn't bear to see the weekend end. One last stop. Mount Princeton Hot Springs!  where we could soak our sore muscles right in the river which was fed by the hot springs.  What a fantastic way to end a fantastic weekend with some fantastic people!!

 

We kicked off the 2012 season this weekend with a little dirt bike time.  I was rusty to say the least but Scott has a lot of days so far this year and it shows.  Dude has skills and they are only getting better as he keeps racing EnduroCross.

And what better way to enjoy nature but with your family!

We had some VIP guests this past weekend all the way from Nashville TN.  Well, actually, all the way from South Korea! My mom and Youji came to visit for a few days.  Youji is an international student from Seoul Korea studying English at Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN. And Youji is my cousin!

We have a new member of the family today.  The bEaster Egg (or something like that I don't name cars).

Took me over a year to find one of these.  At almost 200,000 miles it still runs and functions like a champ.

No, wait, wrong photo.  That is Heather's dad's car.  They look so alike except for the color.  Ooops ;)

 

This image popped up on http://thisisnthappiness.com/ and I've been amused by the same thing ever since I saw the images of the newest cell phones at CES this winter.

 

The phones on the top of the image are from before the IPhone came out.  The bottom, those are the beauties from today.

I have a Motorola Droid 2.  I hate it.  I hate your Iphone also even though the buttons and switches on it work way better.  Give me back my Nokia from 10 years ago.  Poor thing got run over by a car but I was able to replace it for free from T-Mobile.  Now people get their IPhone for free, if they sign their soul and join glee club.  ha.

So, we as consumers seem to be just accepting a clone of the original Droid.   I guess the only answer is to get a colorful case for the phone to personalize it.  Wow, how unique.  In these cases I think I'll give extra credit to someone who uses a Bedazzler to get that bling look on their phone.  No, wait bling is out.  Damn.  I guess boring is in.  I miss the days of cell phones as accessories.

(Note:  That is not me.  I did have that phone, and yes it took photos.  No it did not upload them to Facebook)