Thanksgiving with the Ferris clan

Another great Thanksgiving at Barb and Rich's house!

Their cats look exactly like my parent's, and I think almost as equally spoiled!  Life is good if you are a Ferris, Morrow, Kriz cat, that is for sure!

Arizona Vist

Still having trouble with creating blogs, especially from home.

Pictures just do not load up, but that is a story for a different time. 

I went down to Arizona before Thanksgiving to visit my family, and enjoy the warm weather.

Marla and Kev have remodeled the front of their house, and it was fun to sit in front of a fire, drink beers and visit.

I love what they have done to the front and now are ready to start tackling the backyard.  It will be fun to watch it progress.   

Jordy is growing like a weed and is turning into a teenager!  It is amazing how much she changes each year. 

Mom and Dad have a new boss of their house!  He is one spoiled hombre!  Get's enough loving for about 10 cats!

Joanne always says that when she comes back in her next life that she want's to be one of her sister's cats.  I now know what she means...

 

Fishing on the Madison

My boss decided to take a group of guys fishing on the Madison River that passes by his ranch South of Three Forks, MT.

We had beautiful weather for October!

 

I lucked out and probably caught the biggest one of the day!

 

As they say... it is better to be lucky than good!

 

 



Mtn Bike Rides to see the Aspen

Due to the drought in Colorado this was a rare year with two spectacular weekends to go riding with frields to see the aspen turning.

Perfect weather to share a day of beautiful sights and beers afterwards with good friends!

The Crystal Mill with Jeffrey

On Saturday of our Bogan Flats camping trip, Jeffrey and I rode our mountain bikes to the Crystal Mill.  

The aspen were turning, the weather was fantastic, and I had the BEST time riding and visiting with Jeffrey!

REI Tents are the BEST!

During our camp out at Bogan Flats, I saw that our friends and neighbors are big supporters of REI.  Especially REI tents!   That's Joey in front of our 6 person - spread it all out and walk around inside model.

 I think almost every REI model was represented.

Smaller ones...Brant and Laurie setting up their two person - still young lover's - get cozy model.

Medium size ones...Bryon, Crystal, Brenna, and Kormac's bring the whole family model.

Brian, Julia, Griffin & Lilly's palace - room to put 2 air mattresses - why rough it model.
 
Our nephew - Tom works for REI and all we can say is, keep up the great work!!!

Oh, and Tom - everyone with an older model envied the new tent duffle bag with the built in tent peg holder pockets.  Nice touch!

Camping at Bogan Flats

Joanne came up with the awesome idea of renting the Bogan Flats group campground, and inviting friends and neighbors to join us.

The campground is nestled in a beautiful valley with the Crystal River running through it.  Located about 3 hours West of Denver, or about an hour South and West of Glenwood Springs.

The weather was fantastic and the aspen were beginning to turn. 

The site is spread out and will let you have up to fifty people and has a nice central fire-pit area for gathering for meals and...

 

visiting - lots of visiting!

Riding with Kev

Joanne and I loaded up the car for a 4 day weekend and headed west. 

First stop was for a guided mtn bike tour with our nephew Kev on a favorite trail of his called the Bone Yard.

Kev was kind enough to wait up for us and we had an excellent ride!!!

 

What a great way to start a vacation!

PIG Party 2012 – the 10th Annual Edition

My first birthday after I moved to Golden, Phil was surprised and a little a baffled when I told him I wanted a basketball hoop as my birthday gift. You have to understand – we have the best driveway in the neighborhood. Maybe the best driveway in all of Golden, and it was just begging for a basketball hoop. Phil gave me that look that men give women they think are daft but are hoping to appease, and went across the street to talk to our neighbor Jack, who works for a sporting goods company. Instead of getting the simple hoop and backboard I had in mind, we ended up with a competition quality adjustable backboard – it’s awesome!!

Then, of course, I had to justify the investment, so I suggested having a block party, with a “PIG” basketball tournament as the entertainment. [Most you are familiar with playing HORSE: The first player with possession of the ball attempts to make a basket. If that player is successful, every subsequent player must attempt to make a basket while using identical technique, stance, and physical location as the first player. If a player fails to make the specified shot, that player is assessed one of five penalty letters. The five letters are H, O, R, S, and E, in that order; the player receives the first letter that he has not already received from a previous round. The round then continues, as every other player needs to attempt the original shot. When a round is complete, the ball passes to the next player in turn, who is allowed to try a new technique, stance, or physical location to begin a new round. When a player has been assessed all five penalty letters, thus spelling the word "horse," that player is eliminated from the game. Rounds are played until all but one player has been eliminated. The remaining player is the winner.] With anywhere from 30 to 70 people, a HORSE tournament would take far too long, so we play PIG instead.

The party is slowly evolving into a neighborhood tradition, held every year the first Saturday after Labor Day.   The pot luck enables everyone to contribute and some neighbors have a certain dish that everyone expects them to bring, like Linda's beans!  This year my sister Barb once again showed us her creative side with cupcakes made special for our party. 

Over time, we have created some “PIG Party” traditions – for instance, the Grand Prize has always been a piggy bank. We also award a piggy bank (filled with the pennies and nickels from our change cups that Phil and I save all year) to the winner of the kid’s category. Lately I’ve also started seeding the banks with some dollar coins, and the adults win gift cards to Golden Sweets, the ice cream shop owned by our across-the-rear-alley neighbors.

Some years the level of play is fiercely competitive; some years the beer drinking is where the competition is focused. But all in all, everyone seems to have a pretty good time. Our trash talking is definitely of a higher caliber than our shot-making, but that is kind of the point. Anyone can play PIG. In fact, when Phil and I got married, his mom was on a hot streak and beat every guy at the wedding party – at least once!

This year our neighbor Michael won not only the kid’s division, but the overall Grand Prize, too! Phil was the 1^st Runner Up, and now is the proud owner of his own piggy bank.

So, if you find yourself in Golden the first Saturday after Labor Day, c’mon over. We’ve got brats, beer, and b-ball – it’s an all American party and everyone is invited (just ask our mailman, who wandered in by accident one year and now adjusts his vacation schedule to be available for the games).

Lookout Mtn early AM ride

Sunrise from on top of Lookout Mtn!

Great way to start the day!

Apple Sauce and Apple Butter

Labor Day weekend was all about preserving part of our bumper apple crop into apple sauce and butter.  Yum!

The truth of the matter is that Joanne did all of the planning, preparing, and almost all of the work!

She tolerated me in the kitchen to help peal several, but I only lasted about 30 minutes on the food mill!   Man that sucked!  

I quickly volunteered to go purchase a 11 cup food processor, and let electrical power do it's magic!!

Tenth Wedding Aniversary

A nice casual walk downtown Golden to celbrate our 10th wedding anniversary with a beer and a great meal!

Ten years and I am still madly in love with this girl!  

Life is Great!

US Pro-Challenge Bike Race goes through Golden

The United States biggest stage race started in Golden for the 6th stage out of 7.   Golden was packed by the 11am start Saturday morning.

It was great to be able to walk 1 block and see them all go by, but I have to admit it is not a great spectator sport.  In ten seconds they had passed by and they were just at cruising speed for a parade lap.

A Trip to South Dakota

I went for a long weekend to South Dakota for my Aunt Betty and Uncle Babe's 60th wedding anniversary. 

I got to stay with my Aunt Pat and Uncle Tim on my father's family homestead now owned by them.  They have done a marvelous job of keeping the place up and the stay brought back a ton of memories for me.

A Summer with Claire

My friend Mitch's daughter Claire spent part of the summer with us while she attended a summer class at CSM. 
I will remember it as a summer of early 9 hole golf rounds on weekend mornings.  

and the summer that the cats abandoned us for a newer, better deal. 

They are now totally spoiled and feel they need to be let out, let in, let out, let in at a moment's notice.  

Drilling, Snooping, and Farming in Nebraska

It has been a tough start to the summer drilling in Nebraska. 

Hot and too dry for the farmers, and all dry holes so far on the exploratory side of things...

The last well we drilled was next to an abandoned home site and I blew off some steam by hiking over and snooping around.

On the trip home I made a side trip to Chappell, NE to watch wheat harvest at one of my boss's farms. 

Reminded me of when I was a kid when we still lived in South Dakota.  

Although, I was floored by the changes in technology.  The combine, tractor, sprayer, and planter all have computers linked to GPS, and the operation was all set up for no-till farming.

The size of equipment was simply amazing.  Combine held 345 bushells and off loaded in less than 2 minutes.  The pull wagon held 1,200 bushells. 

Frustration

My break from publishing the blog has stemed from frustation in downloading pictures into the blog.

A simple blog with a couple of pictures can sometimes be over an hour to accomplish if the system is running slow, and it usually seems to be.

Flowers - while they last

It has been a hot dry late spring, but my flower pots are holding up so far.

I figured I had better get some pictures before the heat gets to them.

Memorial Day Staycation

Stayed home for Memorial Day to get some yard work done, but still manged to get some drinking beer in with the neighbors, hiking, and golfing!    Perfect weather!

Kansas City Visitors

Matt and Rachel stopped by on their way to attend a wedding on the the west slope of Colorado.

We walked to a micro-brewery in Golden to sample beers other than Coors.  Then hung out on the back deck and enjoyed a home cooked meal by Joey ( and more beers )!

Seeing Matt brought back memories of my grandparents and my Aunt Lois.  It was a very fun evening!

Going the Distance

The 4" PVC quit going into the old sewer line after only one foot of progress.  After a while I began to get a little nervous.  

Then I went in the basement to watch the pulling machine and to ask a lot of questions on why no pipe was being pulled.
The machine acted like it was putting a huge pull on cable with the stuck wedge and the new sewer pipe behind it.

I asked "do you ever snap your cable". 
Answer " sometimes". 
me -"What happens then?"
Answer "We trench"
I studied the operation a little more and finally noticed that the bottom hydraulic actuated cable clamp was not holding.  So, although it acted like it was really pulling hard on the line, it was just pulling the same amount and sliping back.

I pointed out the problem, phone calls were made, parts were sent over with a supervisor, and an hour latter pipe was moving again.

It started going in at 3" a pull, and eventually was going in about a foot each pull.

Soon, the line had gone the distance.  The new sewer line was cut off to length and tied into the street.

The pulling machine was disconnected after a lot of jostling around and swearing.  Then the new line was tied in to the old sewer line and other drains.

The street hole was filled, and then the basement hole was filled and recemented.  

By 9:30pm the crew had packed up, cleaned up and heading home after a very long day.

Our wallett is now a little lighter, but it is a relief to have that behind us and taken care of.