A Care Package From Mr. Barbecue

The Bride returned from a trip to North Carolina, seeing family, with a Care Package for me! There will be good eats on my trip next week! My favorite Carolina Barbecue place! If I ration myself, this will last almost a year.

 

Thanks for visiting.

Bats, Bears And Burgers, Oh My

The post title is a take off on the famous line by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Hard to believe that this classic 1939 movie is still entertaining and being quoted some seventy years after it was released. I wonder how many of today’s crop of movies will have a similar stature in 2080?

Enough of that. On Saturday The Bride and I left early and headed to the Colorado Division of Wildlife Volunteer orientation. The orientation was in Colorado Springs about an hour drive from our home. About 15 people attended to find out what types of opportunities are available for volunteers.

It turns out that there are a lot of varied projects available to interested volunteers. I’ve mentioned previously that I participated in a waterfowl count last week and that it tame compared to some of the projects. One that interested me is the Bats/Inactive Mines Project. In this project, volunteers survey inactive mines to see if bats have taken up residence in them. First of all there a literally thousands of inactive mines in Colorado and they are extremely dangerous. These mines make perfect habitats for a number of species of bats and bats are of terrific importance to man. The dilemma is to allow the bats a place to live and to keep humans from entering these dangerous sites.

Volunteers go to the mines but not in them. They use electronic “bat detectors” to detect the ultra sonic signals the bats use. If bats are found the mine entrance can be closed with a grate that will allow access by the bats but prevent humans from entering. How cool is that??

Other projects range from helping clean up State Wildlife Areas to helping at fish hatcheries to collecting animal heads for chronic wasting disease testing. The collecting heads project gets the heads from hunter harvested animals. There is also a State Wildlife Area Host program where volunteers camp at the Wildlife Areas and help educate visitors about the area. Between volunteering for the Division of Wildlife and the Forest Service methinks that I’ll be pretty busy this year.

All of that information about opportunities made The Bride and I hungry and fortunately the DOW orientation broke up at noon. We had previously made arrangements with The Circle to meet them at Conway’s Red Top burger joint. I learned about this place from a Christmas present book given to me by Cajenn and Cajon and my curiosity took over.

As you can see by the picture above, the restaurant is a non-descript little place but it serves decidedly non-non-descript burgers. These behemoths are eighteen inches in diameter! Now they are not your typical two or three inch thick gourmet burgers but are relatively thin allowing that artery clogging grease to really flavor the burger. The burger is a bit thinner on the edges and their frying technique renders them crispy at the very edge. A great taste.

As hungry as I was I was not foolish enough to order a whole burger but settled for a half burger which was more than sufficient. I had mine without cheese most of the rest of The Circle ordered theirs with cheese. Guitar and Pic-E also sampled the chili while K had a hot dog and a bowl of bean soup. All pronounced their meals worthy of the trip.

After a leisurely lunch we all headed back towards the Denver area. On the way back we stopped at the little town of Monument, Colorado. Monument sit astride Interstate 25 and I’ve passed by it hundreds of times without taking the time to look past the ever present gas stations and fast food joints. It turns out that there is a quaint little historic town a few blocks off the Interstate. We did a little looking and following the ladies of The Circle and then Too Tall-Two Timing, Guitar and I retired to the local cantina to have a cold one and watch football while the ladies completed their exploration.

We were back in the Denver metro are by late afternoon. It was a great day. I had learned a lot and had an adventure or two. Life is good.

Thanks for visiting. 

Buffleheads, Goldeneyes, Mallards & Canadians

 

My first gig as a volunteer for the Division of Wildlife was a success and fun as well. My task was to complete a waterfowl count on a golf course on the Southeast side of the Denver metro area. I really had little instruction from the DOW other than to show up before sunrise and to count all the different types of waterfowl I saw so I arrived on scene at about 6:20 am with binoculars and a handy dandy bird identification book. The book was necessary because other than Canadian geese and mallards I really can’t tell a duck from a buck.

This past Saturday I drove out to the golf course to familiarize myself with the area and check out what kind of waterfowl were there. That day the only birds I saw were Canadian Geese….and there were probably 500 or 600 of them all over the course. When I arrived on Tuesday morning I was surprised to find only about 100 Canadians in the area and they were all in the water. (Now that I’m an expert, I know that they spend the night on the water and during the day move to the fields to feed.)

The golf course contains two different ponds and a creek that runs through the middle of the course so after I counted the geese at the main pond I walked around to the other pond and to the creek to see what might be there. When I got to the other pond I saw two other types of ducks/waterfowl that I hadn’t a clue as to what they were. I made some crude drawings on my notepad and headed back to my truck. After consulting the bird book I was still not sure about an identification and decided to go back to the pond and bring my camera as it was now light enough to get a picture and as they say “a picture is worth a thousand words for an old guy with CRS”

I got the pictures and on the way back to the truck again counted about 100 mallards along the creek. Fortunately between my drawings and the pictures…and the book I was able to identify the web footed flyers. In the picture above the smaller pair on the left are male and female Bufflehead and the larger pair on the right are male and female Common Goldeneye. I have never seen ducks like this before so I was thrilled at a new experience. By 8:30 am I had completed the count, drove home and completed my report which I faxed to the DOW office.

They must have liked my work because later that day I got an offer to help man the DOW booth at the International Sportsmen’s Exhibition this weekend in Denver. Unfortunately I can’t do that because on Saturday I’ll be driving down to Colorado Springs to attend another DOW orientation. At this meeting I’ll learn more about the opportunities to volunteer in Southeast Colorado. The orientation is two hours long and The Bride has agreed to come with me and then get some lunch in the Springs….which brings me to my next adventure.

Readers know that I like to investigate off beat places and down home food like BBQ and burgers. It just so happens that I recently heard about an unusual burger joint in Colorado Springs by the name of Conway’s Red Top. This burger joint has been written up in a number of national publications and is famous for it’s 18” hamburger….That is correct. Eighteen inches across. That’s way more than I could probably consume but the experience will be worth the trip as I see it. The soups and stews are supposed to be killer items too. So check back in a couple of days and see how this adventure goes.

Thanks for visiting.

Christmas Dinner With The Circle

Saturday the full Circle got together for our annual Christmas dinner. The six of us have been doing this for about five or six years now and it’s something we look forward to. Prior to the dinner itself we normally gather at one of our houses and exchange gifts. This year we gathered at K and Too Tall – Two Timing’s home. They provided atmosphere, hors d’oeuvres, and champagne….can’t have a Christmas get together without a little bubbly.

The gifts rely more on imagination than dollars spent and we usually have a fine old time in exchanging them. Some of the gifts are practical and some just plain silly. One year Too Tall gifted the guys with coonskin caps and playing on that theme this year I gifted the guys with some Rasta hats I found while on our cruise last month. I’m not sure when we will wear them but I’m working on a theme camp out for this summer.

Among other things the ladies of the group usually exchange Christmas tree ornaments. It’s fun looking at our tree and seeing these ornaments that represent some really good times.

For the past three years I have been giving everyone a calendar for the following year. Each month of the calendar contains a picture of The Circle or some of us on one of our past adventures. I have enjoyed doing it and I think the rest of the group looks forward to getting it. I never tell them which pictures I am going to use so everyone is anxious to make sure I haven’t used a particularly silly image of them. 

This year’s dinner was had at La Dolce Vita Restaurant in the small community of Castle Pines which is just a little north of Castle Rock, CO. It was a very nice restaurant and it’s hard to go wrong with Italian food. As we were dining a very talented young lady wandered around the restaurant singing to the different groups of diners. For our table she sang a wonderful rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” that was written by Willie Nelson in 1961…..I thought it fit the group pretty well!

Dessert, coffee and after dinner drinks completed the evening. It was another great get together and we’re already searching for that next Circle adventure.

Thanks for visiting.

A Visit To California

…And a great visit it was! The Bride and I arrived in Oakland just before noon on Thursday and was met by our daughter CaJenn. For the next three days CaJenn and her new hubby, CaJon, showed us some of the sights of the San Francisco area. Both The Bride and I had been to San Francisco before but we never really explored the area outside the city and that’s what was planned for this trip.

Friday morning we headed for Napa Valley and day of exploring the most famous wine region in the United States. The weather couldn’t have been better. Temps in the 70’s with a nice cool breeze. During the day we visited four different tasting rooms; Clos Du Val, Groth, Miner and Mumms. All I can say is that I’m glad CaJon was driving!

Napa has established a system that ensures that they profit even from the tasters. The deal is that it costs between $10-$15/person to taste from 3-5 different wines. If a taster then purchases some wine, the tasting fee is credited to the purchase. We ended up doing a little of both. We purchased several bottles at two of the wineries and none at the others. At lunch time we stopped at a great little general store/deli called the Oakville Grocery and got gourmet sandwiches. These we took to one of the wineries and ate them while looking at the endless rows of grape vines….life is pretty darned good!

Saturday we drove north through Bodega and Bodega Bay and then took Hwy 101 along the coast back to San Francisco. The Bride is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan and The Birds is one of her favorite movies. It just so happens that the school house used in the filming of The Birds is in Bodega. We couldn’t miss the opportunity so we drove into town and spent some time looking through the gift shop that now occupies part of the old school. In addition to the old school, the Catholic church next door was also used in the movie. Adding to the fame of Bodega, that same church was the subject of a great photograph by Ansel Adams. My photo is not in the same class as his but it was fun to try to get a similar shot...Mine on left, his on right.

The drive along the coast was breath taking. The wildflowers were all in bloom and that was just so much more eye candy. It was hard to process everything as every turn of the road gave us another great panorama. Then to add to the overload we drove back into San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge….see picture at top!

It was a long day but very much worth it. We ended the day with a great meal at a restaurant pretty close to where the kids live.

Our flight didn’t depart Oakland until the late afternoon so we had time for more adventure on Sunday. In late morning we drove down to Jack London Square in Oakland to visit the farmers market there. If I am jealous of California about anything, one would be their bountiful supply of beautiful vegetables all year around. I was entranced by every sort of vegetable including several I had never heard of before. The tomatoes in particular caught my eye. There is nothing better than a tomato sandwich on white bread slathered with mayonnaise on a hot summer afternoon and I saw lots of tomatoes that looked like they were destined for that.

To console myself at not being able to have a tomato sandwich, I decided that a shrimp salad sandwich at a nice restaurant right on the water was the next best thing. I was in luck! There just happened to be a very nice restaurant right there with outdoor seating right on the water. We ate a great lunch while watching the boats go by. In the distance was the skyline of San Francisco. Life is really good!

The trip ended all too soon and we arrived back in the Denver area about 8 pm. I’ve got about a week of “down” time before more adventures start, but more about that in the next post. CaJenn and CaJon, when you read this I want to thank you for you’re hospitality on our visit. We’ll be back to see more of your area. Your Mom and I are proud of you.

Here’s a few more pictures from the trip.

Thanks for visiting.

Bits and Pieces

Trying to get back to normal after the celebrations of this past weekend but the cold weather is definitely throwing "cold water" on things.

I didn't report that several weeks ago I had the carpeting replaced in my RV. I replaced the original carpet which was about 17 years old. Even though carpeting in an RV doesn't get the constant use that carpet in a home gets, 17 years is more than enough to have made it pretty nasty. The transformation is fantastic....looks like a completely new RV in some ways.

Yesterday the temps were above freezing for most of the day so I went down to the RV lot and ran the engine and gasoline generator for a while. Gasoline generators are supposed to be "exercised" at least once a month to keep the carburetor from gumming up. The previous owner did not do that and the generator shows it by surging pretty badly for a minute or two after starting up. If my exercising it doesn't clean it out by spring I guess I'll have to have it cleaned out by my mechanic.

Tomorrow and for a few days after that it is supposed to turn bitterly cold again. High tomorrow will be 15 degrees. The Bride and The Emmer have said that they're going to go shopping?....It's a woman thing I guess. First off, you won't find me anywhere near a store between now and Christmas, especially during the weekend. Secondly, to add obnoxious crowds on top of bitter cold is just too much for a retired guy!

So, with the weather heading south....no that's not right, if it were heading south wouldn't you think it would be getting warmer? Let me rephrase, with the weather taking a dive...taking a plunge...that doesn't sound right either. That makes me think of diving into warm water. Maybe I should skip the literary stuff....

Seeing as how the weather will be crappy tomorrow, maybe I should make some pasta puttanesca? This is perhaps my favorite pasta dish. I think I first tasted it many years ago on a business trip to Chicago. Over the years I made it a point to have it at least once every time I was in Chicago. When I retired I decided to learn to cook it so I wouldn't have to go to Chicago to get my "fix". I found that it is very easy to make and that says a lot coming from me. Be sure you read the description of the term puttanesca in the link above!

I also hope that I'll be able to tell you the conclusion to my earlier post "A Sad Story That Makes Me Proud" in a day or two so stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting.

Time for Adventure Time

There hasn't been a whole lot of blogging interest going on this past week. I have been preparing my gear for next weeks trip to Picture Canyon. The picture at the top of this post is a Google Earth snapshot of the area from 18,000 feet.

Now at 18,000 feet you can see a lot of country. Look at this picture and note the lack of...of...of anything. Only one structure is visible. That looks like a ranch barn in the upper left hand corner of the picture. The few roads/trails you can see are all dirt. Not a paved road to be seen. The thin yellow line at the very bottom of the picture is the Oklahoma panhandle border. Readers, this is the definition of, the representation of, "the sticks".

This afternoon Guitar and I will probably go get his camper from the storage lot and begin to load the gear. Tomorrow morning The Bride and I are going to spend a little time at the Tesoro Foundation's, Spanish Market and Mountain Man Rendezvous. This is a fun event with a lot of Spanish folk dancing, mountain man exhibits and contests and a juried show of Spanish Colonial artists.

After a couple of hours at this event I'll probably link up with Guitar again to finish preparations for Sundays trip down to Picture Canyon.

Last night The Bride and I were able to get together with Too Tall - Two Timing and K and a local restaurant called Rodney's. We all had a good time trading news and enjoying the food. Several of us chose the lobster enchiladas. They were very good and very spicy.

While we were dining K mentioned that in my last post, I was very general about where I learned about the Passport in Time program and it was actually she, that brought it to my attention. That is very true and I want everyone to know the truth. I took it from the way she reminded me of this that she would like a little "publicity" on this blog. Being the very good friend that I am I think I will oblige her. It will have to wait however until after my adventure next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Together Again and I've Got a Plan

I'm always striving to put a little musical history in my posts and this is no exception. The title of the post "Together Again" is the title of a 1964 Buck Owen's hit. A great little song that has been covered by many artists including Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yokam, Kenny Rogers and even The Flying Burrito Brothers.

We...The Bride and myself, CaJenn, and The Emmer, were together again not for burritos but to have a very nice Italian dinner at a great restaurant in the Denver metro area, called San Lorenzo. None of us had ever dined there before and we were all pleased with both the food and the ambiance. Both CaJenn and I had the lamb shank and it was outstanding! The Emmer had Braciola and The Bride had the veal and they both had a smile on their face at the end of dinner too.

Unusual for us, we all had desert too. Each of us chose something different so we could try a little bit of just about everything that was offered. In the picture above you can see the deserts on the table. The desert in the foreground is the one I chose. A chocolate covered pear with creme Anglais.....

There's a little story to pears. The Bride hates pears. Always has. Always will. I'm not sure why and she's not either. I'm thinking it's a childhood thing she probably doesn't remember, like maybe when she was two years old she had to sit in the back of her dad's station wagon with a basket of pears and somehow they tipped over and covered her up making her think that the pears were attacking her and she would never see her Barbie dolls again. And then again maybe she just doesn't like the taste. I don't know but I do know she hates pears and I had one less person to share my desert with!

All that said and knowing she is this way, a couple of years ago her Mom sent her a small painting of a pear as a joke. I thought it was a pretty good joke so last year at Christmas, I got her a small oil painting of another pear. Can you see this developing into a house full of pears?

Anyway dinner was great. CaJenn will be with us until Tuesday when she has business to attend to in town.....which leads to my plan.

If you remember from the last post I bought a float tube to fish with over a week ago and haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I do believe that I will head up to the mountains on Wednesday to give it a try.

I'm going to head for a little lake just north of Buena Vista called Clear Creek Reservoir and plan to spend two nights there. There is an area for free but without services, camping right next to the lake which fits my budget perfectly. Hopefully I'll have the whole lake to myself!

I'd prefer to stay a little longer but The Brides mother is arriving in the Denver area on Saturday and we are going to take her to Mesa Verde National Park for a few days....but that will be another post.

Thanks for visiting.

A Circle for The Circle

There hasn't been much to report about the activities of The Circle lately but this weekend we decided to get together for a picnic dinner and a hike in Roxborough State Park. I guess my post about Checking the Bloom had piqued their interest. Guitar and Pic-E had been there before but K and Too Tall, Two Timing had not and I was anxious to show them this little jewel

Sunday afternoon we all gathered at a picnic area a mile or so outside of the State Park. Strange as it seems this State Park has no facilities for picnicking? Chicken salad, quesadillas, pork and beans, layered green salad and margarita pie all washed down with a little bit of Framboise Lambic. My mouth is watering again from just thinking about it. A perfect dinner for the June afternoon of the year. If this is how the rest of June is going to go, I'm really excited.

After a very relaxing outdoor dinner where we all had the chance to catch up on the events of the last couple of weeks, we packed up and headed for Roxborough. I was about 6:30 by this time, cooling off with a nice little breeze....things are really going our way! The park is open until 9pm and I didn't expect that there would be many people there on a Sunday afternoon. I was correct and we pretty well had the place to ourselves.

We decided to take the Fountain Valley Trail. A 2.2 mile loop (hence the post title "Circle for The Circle") which I think gives a good overview of the park. It was also a perfect way to work off the daiquiri pie we has just eaten!

I was surprised at how many more wildflowers had bloomed since I was there just 3 days ago. It's still no where near bloom but things are beginning to "bust out"

About a third of the way into the loop, the ladies who were walking ahead of the men, stopped and pointed ahead. There on the trail was a black fox. Now I've seen a lot of red foxes before but had never seen a black fox. I tried to get a picture but he hopped into the brush before I could. Then as we were talking about how cool that was, he came back out of the brush and stared at us for a few seconds before disappearing again. Seems he was as curious about us as we were of him.

The rest of the hike was much less eventful....thank goodness. That's an odd statement you say? Well, in this case "discretion is the better part of valor". When we got back to the ranger station a little while later, the ranger said that a momma black bear and her cub had been spotted on the trail we were on, just a little bit before we finished the hike.

The ranger also said that he had seen the black fox only once and it is a rare sighting so we felt pretty lucky.

By about 8:30 we were headed home. A great gathering of The Circle with great food, great friends and a most enjoyable nature walk.

Thanks for visiting.

Just Another April in Colorado

Tuesday the temperature topped out at about 80 degrees...delightful. Yesterday morning was cooler but still springtime pleasant. At about noon everything went to hell in a handbasket and the picture above shows what it looked like about an hour ago on my deck.

True to form for Colorado, tomorrow will be in the 60's and the weekend will climb into the 70's. The really good news is that if you look at the picture above you will see that the sun is shining which means that the snow will be gone, completely gone, by this afternoon. This is a good thing because The Bride arrives back from her trip to visit her mom this afternoon and I have to drive to the airport to pick her up. This will be a much better trip than when I took her last week.

You will also notice that while The Bride was absent for a week, there were no "On Our Own" posts. After several months of "domestic" training, I'm fairly comfortable in the kitchen. I certainly won't make the Food Channel but we survived nicely. Dinners this week included Chicken Picata, BBQ pork chops, home-made pasta sauce and spicy baked salmon, pictured to the left.

I'm not sure what's on tap for this weekend but with temps being as nice as they are supposed to be there will have to be some outside activity.

Thanks for visiting.

Why Not Niwot?

I give up why not? Well, K. had suggested a couple of days ago that The Circle spend an afternoon in the quaint little town of Niwot, CO. K and Too Tall-Two Timing had discovered this little gem a few weeks ago. The official description of Niwot is below...

"A quiet, fairytale community hidden just outside Boulder, Niwot is home to a burgeoning art community. A quaint, cottonwood-shaded downtown features cafes, antique shops (including one of the Front Range's largest), gift stores, art galleries and more. From pubs to a fancy French restaurant, Niwot also houses its share of cozy and delicious eateries. Named after an Arapahoe chief, Niwot (which means Left Hand) was once an important hunting and fishing area for Native Americans. Gold miners arrived in 1875, followed by a railroad extension, which boosted the local economy by linking local farms with distant markets. Today, the depot is gone, but many of the original structures on the east side of the tracks make up the National Historic District known as Old Town. Near town is the Boulder Reservoir, a popular spot for swimming, boating, jogging, biking and bird watching. Of course, Boulder's stunning red-rock parks and extensive network of trails are also just miles from Niwot. "

We were all ready for a little adventure so at about 2 pm on Saturday afternoon we headed north to see what this town could show us. The road to Niwot took us through the college town of Boulder and both The Bride and I had flash backs to when our daughter CaJenn matriculated here.

A few more miles and we were in Niwot. It is for sure, an interesting little village. The old historic Second Avenue is now full of little antique stores, galleries and....would you believe an nice little wine store that was having tastings on this afternoon!

We couldn't pass up the wine tasting and we sampled three different Pinot Noirs. One was from Italy, one from Argentina and one from California. All were very good and the proprietor described the background of each. As it turns out the shop had sold out of the one most of us liked the most. That did not stop the ladies from finding something to buy, however. These "free" wine tastings are never totally "free".

We also spent some time browsing the other shops along Second Avenue. In one antique store I spotted a nice looking Bolo tie. Over the past couple of years I have been acquiring a few of these pieces of western "formal attire". This one was not fancy by any means but it had an "experienced" look that I really liked so it is now a part of my collection.

It had been planned to eat an early dinner at a little Italian restaurant in the commercial area of Niwot and by 5 pm we were ready. K and Too Tall-Two Timing had eaten lunch there several weeks ago but had not been into the main dining room. It turned out to be a great little place and a wonderful meal. There were some initial comments about eating "light" since it was early, but before long we had cast that idea aside. A great meal and a nice Primitivo wine that K particularly liked because it included her favorite number "29.

As we headed out of the restaurant and to the car for the return trip home, I couldn't help taking a number of pictures of the Niwot Feed Store. I could see it through the window of the restaurant and kept thinking all through dinner that there was a great picture there somewhere. I don't think I got the "great" part but it is interesting none the less.

We were home by about 9 pm with that warm feeling of a fun time, great fellowship and a great dinner. What more could we ask for a Saturday night in the middle of a Colorado February?

Thanks for visiting.

Circle Dinner and Other Stuff

The Circle has been broken for some time due to the fact that The Bride and I have been out of town. It was decided among the ladies of The Circle to have dinner Sunday night at Guitar and Pic-E's place. Since it was a Sunday, and most of the rest of The Circle had to be at work on Monday, we decided to make it a relatively early evening.

Early however, did not keep us from having a great time catching up on the goings on and talking about potential future adventures. The menu consisted of a stuffed pork loin as the main course and plenty of side dishes. It was great! K and Too Tall-Two Timing provided the desert pictured above. Very appropriate, the circle smiley face, don't you think?

One thing we did plan at this get together, was to book tickets to a show that I've been wanting to see for some time now, the Patsy Decline Show, which is a spoof on the life of Patsy Cline. The performer, Lannie Garrett, is local talent but she is definitely of national caliber. The venue should prove to be as interesting as the show itself. The Clocktower Cabaret is in the basement of the remains of one of the great old department stores in Denver's history. It was the first "skyscraper" in the Denver downtown and was built in 1910. I am really looking forward to this event.

The weather has been relatively decent for the past few days and I have been getting in some walks with Molly dog. Over the past few years I have noticed an increase in the number of hawks and kestrels in the area and during our walk yesterday I got a glimpse of what I believe is a red tailed hawk. It's not often you see them perched this close to the ground...

Two other items of interest for this post. First, I'm thinking seriously of doing a road trip to Moab, UT for the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. I had such a good time at the event here in the Denver area, I really want to do it again. The weather will be the ultimate decider....if it looks like I can get over the mountains, weather wise, I believe I'll give it a go. This is shaping up to be a winter of epic proportions in the mountains however so I'll just have to wait and see.

Item #2 is that I'm seriously considering buying a small Class A RV and selling my trailer, Bivouac. Bivouac is a great trailer but when I tow it, car and trailer are almost forty feet long. That limits me a lot on the places I can go and where I can stay at night. I have found what I think will be a suitable smaller Class A and am going to look at it on Sunday afternoon. The interior will actually be smaller than the interior of Bivouac but the "tow vehicle" is built in. Total length about twenty-five feet.

If everything works out, who knows, maybe this is how I'll get to the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting.

Back From North Carolina

It took two different flights but the entire family made it back from NC yesterday. The Emmer, CaJenn and I, were up and on our way to the airport at 4:30 am yesterday. All three of us flew to Cleveland where The Emmer and I continued on to Denver and CaJenn caught a different flight to San Francisco. The Bride was to follow on a flight from Greensboro/Atlanta/Denver later in the day.

It was the culmination of a sad week. One of those things that unfortunately seems to happen more often now that I am growing older. It was gratifying to see how many people came to the services and sent letters, cards and emails of condolences. Big Don touched an awful lot of lives and was a very respected member of the community.

I could not be in Winston-Salem, NC without visiting my most favorite culinary parlor...Mr. Barbecue. I wrote about Mr. Barbecue in a previous post and it is a ritual for me to eat lunch there whenever I am in the area. This time I brought The Bride, The Emmer, CaJenn, my brother #4 and The Bride's mother, Big Don's wife.

All of us except my brother #4 have eaten there on numerous occasions. I particularly wanted to see #4's reaction to the traditional meal, especially the red slaw which is a local variation on standard coleslaw. This slaw, which is circled in the picture to the right is made with a vinegar based sauce and quite honestly, it's an acquired taste. Like the locals, I have acquired it big time!

#4 heartily agreed that the barbecue was top notch but it would take him some time to get used to the slaw.....his loss....more for me!

CaJenn is quite fond of the hush puppies which she says are completely unknown on the left coast. Even with this fondness however, she couldn't eat her allotted portion...her loss...more for me!

The other ritual for me, when I am in the area, is a visit to Mrs. Hanes' cookie factory. Moravian cookies are one of nature's wonders and one of my gluttonous passions. All of Mrs. Hanes' cookies are hand made. A lot of food products claim that but I can tell you for sure that these cookies are HAND MADE. If you visit the factory, which is a relatively small building way out in the country between Clemmons, NC and Lexington, NC, you will see 10-15 women hand rolling these delectable delights to a thickness of about 1/16 of an inch! The miracle machinery in this factory is the wrists of the women who hand roll the dough. This is just a wonderful product and a fascinating small business success story.

I've been sending these cookies to my brothers as a Christmas present for over 25 years now. At one point I asked them if they were tired of cookies and would like something else for Christmas. I can't repeat their exact replies but they did threaten bodily harm if I stopped sending the cookies.

Anyway, after a fulfilling meal at Mr. Barbecue, I took #4 to Mrs. Hanes' factory. It was like the pilgrim going to Mecca... #4 purchased several different flavors to try and left there a very happy man!

Back here in Colorado, it's cold with a forecast of more cold and snow, turning to colder and snowier. I believe the dinner forecast will be for chili. Oh well, it is January after all.

Thanks for visiting.

Busy, Busy, Busy

This retirement stuff can keep you pretty busy. This is the first week since my retirement that I really considered myself "retired". In my former work a day life, I normally took whatever vacation time I had left for the year during the Christmas, New Years period. With a lot of other people on vacation too, I really didn't feel seriously retired till the beginning of this week.

I have managed to clear a few things off my "to do" list around the house but the list is long enough and dynamic enough that I cannot foresee my ever eliminating it completely. My daily routine once again includes exercise....and to top it all off I have been taking it upon myself to do a lot of cooking around the house.

I have been able to sleep about a half hour longer on some days, but most of the time my body clock still gets me up pretty early. The picture above was taken a few days ago on a particularly fine morning. The wind mill is from the original ranch on which my housing development sits. Makes for a nice picture...

Right now I am limiting my cooking adventure to crock pot dishes. I figure once I get comfortable with that I'll expand into other things. So far I've done some pretty decent hearty soups, a Basque style chicken stew and tonight I'm working on a lamb stew.

On Wednesday I needed to take my trailer, Bivouac to an RV dealer to take care of a safety recall related to the propane refrigerator. Driving it there to get the work done ignited a small bit of road fever. It felt darned good just to be towing it anywhere, although I wished the direction of the tow could have been south towards New Mexico. I have a trip all laid out that will take me from here to Carlsbad, NM over about a two week period as soon as the weather breaks a bit. More on that in a future post.

Last night Guitar, Pic-E, The Bride and I went to the RV show downtown. K and Too Tall-Two Timing were supposed to accompany us but Too Tall has come down with the very nasty cold that seems to be making the rounds. I have been to the event several times and I always enjoy seeing what's available, even if I can't afford most of it. In past years I have gone either on a Friday or Saturday afternoon and it was somewhat of a hassle because of the size of the crowds...It gets a little cramped when 15 people try to get into the same RV at one time, regardless of the size of the RV. I've gotta tell you that Thursday night is the time to visit this one if you don't like crowds! What a great time. Everything was fully open but there were very few people.

We spent about two hours looking and dreaming and then decided to get some dinner. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company has opened up just about across the street from the convention center so we decided to give it a try. For Denver...not bad. Guitar and I both had a bucket of peel your own shrimp. This is a favorite of mine from way back when I lived in Savannah, GA and would catch my own shrimp and eat them this way. A good time was had by all.

Today, Guitar and I are headed for the Cowboy Poetry Roundup. I'll post later about how that goes. Also tomorrow we are planning on going to the National Western Stock Show. If Too Tall-Two Timing is not feeling up to it we may just wait until next week but check back soon to see.

Because of the Stock Show, many buildings downtown have not taken down their holiday lights. I tried to get a picture of a few of the buildings with The Brides new digital camera but only one turned out ok...that the one above.

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Lucky Beans

Every year K and Too Tall-Two Timing hold a "Lucky Beans" party on New Year's Day and yesterday was that day. The name is a bit of a misnomer as the main dish served at the affair is actually black eyed peas. I guess Lucky Peas just doesn't have the same ring as Lucky Beans. It is a Southern tradition to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck and this way we could not only fulfill the tradition but all get together as well.

The Bride and I have been attending this party for about four years now and we always look forward to it. The members of The Circle have all been busy with family during the holiday season and this party gives us the opportunity to get together and compare notes on holiday "doins". There are also other friends that attend and all of us always have a good time.

This year we may have started another tradition....the champagne cork shoot. K and Too Tall's home backs up to an open space and from their back deck it's quite a ways to the next row of homes. Too Tall told us that he and K on occasion have tried to see how far they could get a champagne cork to fly off of their deck......Just so happens that I brought a bottle of champagne to the party!

We decided to see if my unshaken bottle's cork was up to their standards? I was torn between shaking the bottle for more distance or not shaking it for more champagne afterwards. I opted for the latter. I managed to get about 100 feet out of this first attempt...and unfortunately we only had one bottle so that was it for this year.

After toasting to the new year, I went to the back yard and found the cork in the snow and marked the spot with a driveway reflector. Hopefully, Too Tall will leave this marker in place and next year we can see if someone else can "best" my initial shot.

Black eyed peas and a host of other goodies were next and the entire group had a great time for the next couple of hours. I made sure I ate lots of black eyed peas because I want to be absolutely sure that I have good luck in this coming year......and besides they are mmmmmm good!

As I write this we are in the second day of 2008. It's my hope that the year will bring nothing but good things for The Circle and our families.......I ate an awful lot of black eyed peas.

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