Moving to the Building Permit Phase!!

HI!

Just a brief update to our home building project. We've been in constant plan reviews since ...... hmmmmm, don't even know how long! First the reviews by the Roxborough Foundation Design Review Committee, only to find out at the 11th hour that they wanted us to move the house (still only on the plans) 10 feet West and 3 feet North to accommodate our neighbor to the East. That prompted us to go through a "Building Envelope Adjustment" process with Douglas County (including a re-plat and a re-survey). After around 3 months, we've just been notified that we are permitted to submit plans to the Douglas County Building Department!!! Which means that hopefully within 3 weeks or so, we'll be digging dirt.

Cheers!!

Weather - A Big Surprise

Hi!

I promised myself that I wouldn't do the usual what I ate, what I watched on TV, what I ate for breakfast ...... what the weather was like today sort of blog. I'm breaking that promise just this one time.

The weather here is the biggest surprise so far! I've been warned by native Coloradans (Coloradians?) not to tell anyone about the weather. I just never could keep a secret though, so here goes.

We arrived in Denver in August and spent a week and the weather was beautiful, warm sunny days, cool nights and just a hint of breeze. Every now and then, a cooling shower that came and went in little more than minutes.

We moved to Denver in October and the days were warm, but not hot and the nights were cool bordering on cold. Throughout October there was sun every day, just a few clouds
now and then ...... but one could really sense that fall was here and winter wasn't far behind.

In November, I got my first taste of the weather I had expected. I researched the climate in Denver before we moved, found that the average daytime temperature is 45 and the average night time temperature is 19. Things freeze at night and thaw during the day ..... each day! And it got colder and colder. We had a storm come in from the Pacific Northwest and it snowed and the temperatures plunged .... down to a wind chill of -29 degrees at Denver International Airport one night! For almost two weeks, the temperatures never broke through the freezing point. We routinely saw temperatures anywhere from 0 degrees to 12 degrees ..... for the highs of the day. Luckily (for us) the storm moved on East and dumped a significant amount of snow from Chicago to the coast.

We bought new clothes, bundled up and ventured out. We has some grocery shopping to do one day and braved the 12 degree weather, but had to stop for coffee, a warm up and a "blow your nose" break part way through the walk. We went home and got more clothes.

That weather seems to be gone now. We count on waking up each morning to a cloudless sky with bright sunshine streaming through the windows. Granted, there's still a pond of ice on the roof of the apartment house across the street, but we are assured that we'll be comfortably warm in an hour or so. The days aren't long, but the warmest part of the day typically reaches 45 degrees, and if you are in the sunshine, you can walk around outside in a light coat or sweater! Almost like Spring!!

It's a good feeling to know that the winters here are not uncomfortable. I believe that I'm more comfortable here at 45 degrees than I was in the Bay Area at 60 degrees. One reason, in addition to the altitude, might be the low humidity. I'm not sure exactly how low humidity works to keep you warmer than a high humidity environment; we typically run humidity levels arouund 16% instead of the 70% we experienced before.

Yesterday and today the temperatures were in the 60s - in the Winter- in Colorado! (Shhhh don't tell anyone else!). We were out in the car buying some kitty litter (yes, the kitties are still alive and well and enjoying the new digs) and we had the window open and the air conditioner on!

So, summary, the weather here is better than I ever thought winter weather could be. It's likely to change and provide us with new experiences, but we're ready for the best kept secret Coloridians have.

Update on the New Home-Front

HI!

When last I updated the home building front, we were mired in governmental red tape trying to move the house 10 feet West from the point on the lot where we originally placed it. That realignment required a "Building Envelope Adjustment," a Douglas County process that should be relatively short and easy. Turns out, after week 6 or so, that the process is neither short nor easy. Hopefully, we'll be completed with that process and on to the "get the permits to build" process, again with Douglas County, this week. So, maybe we'll break ground by end of February.

Other things are moving along ..... we've engaged an architect friend who will take the construction drawings and develop perspective drawings and an animated "tour" of the house. We'll be able to walk through the house and see all of the things that a visitor would see. That'll help tremendously in ensuring that we are actually building our "vision." And, there are a couple of places in the house that are particularly difficult to "see" - like the see through fireplace that we're placing at the top of the spiral staircase. That wall remains "undesigned" at this point, but clarity will come as we see the perspective drawings.

Perhaps the nicest thing about building the new home is meeting and getting to know the new neighbors. At the invitation of our neighbors, we spent a very interesting and entertaining evening eating, drinking, and talking. Turns out that he is an artisan woodworker who has a shop in his basement where he creates works of art - furniture primarily - for his home. She has an eye for some of the most striking art work I've seen and she's beautifully integrated the pieces into her home. We look forward to spending many more pleasurable hours with them.

Almond Milk

HI!

I'm not a stickler for eating and I'm not tracking calories, but when I find myself getting to the point where I need to eat a little less I try something different. This round, I tried Almond Milk, something I never thought I'd do.

My usual breakfast is two pieces of whole wheat toast, two tablespoons of peanut butter, two tablespoons of strawberry jam, and two poached eggs. That breakfast pencils out at around 585 calories.

I made a switch to a "regular breakfast" of a cup of generic cheerios (100 cal) with 1-1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk (60 cal). Interesting stuff - made of almonds and water, fortified with vitamins, it's creamy and has a very light, almost unnoticeable almond flavor. My new favorite regular breakfast pencils out at around 160 calories. The difference of 425 calories represents, for me, around 53 minutes on the elliptical trainer! Somehow, I'd rather eat my new favorite breakfast than spend an extra 53 minutes grinding the elliptical trainer.

Cheers!!

A Winter Afternoon at Arrowhead Golf Course

A Winter Afternoon at Arrowhead Golf Course
Roxborough Park, CO
January 5, 2014

How Flyfishing and Snowshoeing Come Together

Hi!

I spent a very nice afternoon at the Flyfishing show at Denver Merchandise Mart with a good friend renewing our love of flyfishing. I haven't done any serious flyfishing for many years, since there was no good fishing water near our old home in Alameda. Not that California has a lack of quality water; it's just that quality water is so far away.

Colorado is different. There's so much great water that it's almost impossible to choose a place to go and there's no way that I could ever fish all of the places people recommend. That was especially apparent while touring the flyfishing show. Almost all of the booths offered advice in addition to their products. The South Platte River, especially in the areas around Colorado Springs and Pike's Peak, was mentioned the most.

That got me thinking. I've wanted to hike up Waterton Canyon since we arrived in Colorado. Just haven't had the chance. However, the South Platte River flows through Waterton Canyon, and I thought it might be worth a hike to see what the canyon and the river was like.

It's been snowing for the last two days after a Friday of bright sunshine and 60 degree weather. Today it wasn't snowing much, and with 7 inches or so of snow on the ground in the Roxborough Park area, Deb and I decided to head out on our brand new snow shoes.

We found the river partially frozen, but with a certain tranquility and serenity accompanying a lack of people on the road. I had some trouble figuring out how the snowshoes strap on, but soon got going pretty comfortably. We hiked about 1.3 miles one way to a diversion dam that channels water from the South Platte River into Chatfield Reservoir. There's a fire road that runs along side the river, so the walking was out of the deep stuff and pretty easy. Evidently, the road goes some 6 miles to Strontia Reservoir, the 6th of 7 dams on the lower South Platte.

The temperature today is around 9 degrees - a drop of some 50 degrees from Friday - and we had a chance to test new clothes and cold weather gear. I layered up as everyone suggests - poly 1st layer, cotton second, wool third, shell with down liner last; gloves, wool scarf, and backpack!! On my head (Thanks Jake!!) a Mountain Hardwear hat and ski goggles.

I felt like the Pilsbury Doughboy!

But, I was warm!

Deb and I may become regular snowshoers. The downhill ski areas around here are famous and special, no doubt. But, they have increased their lift ticket prices recently and Aspen is now asking $136 per day - yikes! We bought the snowshoes, put gas in the car, and ate breakfast for a third that or less. Thanks Costco!

So, now we have to decide if we want to fish the South Platte this winter or wait for warmer weather in the spring and summer!

Cheers!

The Way of Cooking Rice

HI!

Deb says that I cook rice extremely well, so I wrote down the recipe (more cooking instructions than a "recipe") so I wouldn't forget them. I have to admit, I have never spoiled rice. I have succeeded every time! At first, I documented my way of cooking rice using the Notes program on my iPhone. Something happened and I lost all my iPhone Notes, so I'll document the Way of Cooking Rice here.

Here's "The Way of Cooking Rice"

1. I use a blend of red and white rice (1/3 to 2/3). Get a thick bottom pot to cook the rice in. The thick bottom keeps the rice from burning to the bottom.

2. Add rice. I use 3 cups per batch.

3. Add water. Use 1-1/2 cups of water for every cup of rice (that's 4-1/2 cups of water for 3 cups of rice). That's important; measure correctly.

4. Bring the rice and water to a boil in the thick bottom pot. Look for a rolling boil - lots of bubbles. When that happens, stir gently to even the cooking of the rice. Allow the rice / water mixture to boil for exactly 3 minutes. Leave the pot lid on the pot!! Do not remove it!

5. Reduce the heat to simmer (low) and continue to cook for another 20 minutes with the top on. It's important that you DO NOT lift the lid to look at the rice. The rice is fine; you don't need to check on it!

6. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let the rice rest for 30 minutes. Don't take the lid off .... the rice is still there and won't benefit from having you peek in!

7. After 30 minutes, the rice is done. Package it any way you want. What I do is to use a metal 1/2 cup measure, scoop out a full measure and flop it down on a cookie sheet. That forms a little mound of rice. It helps in getting the rice out of the measuring cup to spray a little vegetable based lubricant like Pam on both the cookie sheet and the measuring cup. I usually get 14 to 15 1/2 cup mounds on the sheet when I'm done.

8. Pop the cookie sheet with the little mounds of rice into the freezer. Allow them to stay there until the mounds are frozen. Peel them off the cookie sheet and place them into a storage container, possibly a large Ziploc freezer bag. (Generic large freezer bags work OK too.)

9. We find that recipes usually call for rice in 1/2 cup or cup per person measures. Having a bag in the freezer makes it convenient and easy to use rice in meals. Just reheat the little mounds of rice in the microwave oven.

10. Start over at step 1 when there aren't any little mounds of rice left in your freezer bag.

11. Drink white wine while doing steps 1 through 8. It helps a lot when watching water boil; I know!

Cheers!

Nutritional Yeast

HI!

We signed up for the Douglas County Library system a couple of days ago and in browsing the stacks, found a book called "Knives Over Forks." I vaguely remember that it's sort of a vegan bible. Like most other cookbooks, it has a ton of recipes.

There's a new ingredient I've never run across before - nutritional yeast. We bought in bulk at Sprout's   and it's a tan colored flakey material. Their is considerable nutritional value, and is very low on the glycemic index.

Nutritional yeast is a kind of brewer's yeast; it's deactivated and won't ferment into alcohol and won't make anything rise. This deactivated yeast is a complete protein (it has all nine amino acids that the body cannot produce) and is particularly rich in B vitamins, naturally low in fat and sodium and is sugar-, dairy, and gluten-free.

A heaping tablespoon is like taking a high-potency multi-vitamin. That serving gives you more than one day's need for thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, selenium, potassium and is often fortified with B12.

Maybe best of all, people say that it's great on popcorn since it has a tasty, cheesy flavor. It's also used as a salad topping and in soups, dips, spreads, cereals, juices and smoothies for added flavor and nutrition.

Sounds like a wonder food. Tonight we're using it as an ingredient in a "cheesy topping" that'll go over a rice and broccoli casserole.

I'll keep you posted! If you've had success with nutritional yeast, bring on your favorite recipe!

Beginning the New Year

HI!

Today's in New Years Day, 2014. Can't imagine how 2013 got away so soon. Maybe it was selling two houses, moving 1200 miles, buying a home and starting into the process of building another. 

Maybe it was something else ......

Deb and I started the new year off with a bang, walking downtown to enjoy the fireworks and festivities on 16th Street Mall after having a great Alaskan King Crab dinner. 

Thousands of people; impromptu dancing venues; cool and brisk weather; no cars to fight with! We walked from our house to the end of 16th Street, turned left and went down Larimer to see the lights of Larimer Square, and then back home. Nice!



We've decided to take advantage of the exercise classes that are held daily at 24 Hour Fitness. They run regular Les Mills Pump (cardio weightlifting) and Les Mills Body Combat classes each day; Deb went to her first Combat (kickboxing, punching) class yesterday and today is just the tiniest bit creaky. We have the classes on a calendar on the refrigerator.

As much as we enjoy the holidays, I find that I'm prone to overeating and over-drinking. Surprised? So, I thought I'd try a new style of eating. I went to the library and got several cookbooks that focus on vegetables rather than raw meat. Not true veganism or vegetarianism, but closer to that than my current style of eating. Deb's a trooper; she loves to cook and will start looking through the books and picking out recipes we can cook at home and try out on people who visit. Should be a good experiment. 

We're making (Deb really) Crab Bisque for today's afternoon visit with friends. It's a favorite of mine, but it's hard to make since you need the crab and the shells to flavor the vegetable base. We're ensuring that the dish is gluten free, and will try to do that with most foods we cook, since that's becoming more of a challenge for folks we entertain. 

So, Happy New Year to all; prosperous 2014; and fulfillment of your needs! 

Cheers! 

Deb & Phil