A-Basin Breakfast ...... A Couple of Days Near Frisco, CO

HI!

We had a mini-vacation, spent an hour of drive time and made the base at Frisco, CO. My flyfishing buddy and I have wanted to go to Hartsel, CO and fish the Dream Stream - the stretch of the South Platte River between 11 Mile and Spinney Reservoirs that has probably the highest concentration of BIG Rainbow, Cutthroat, Brook and Kokanee in the WORLD in it. I'm not overstating that, either.

Here's a pic of one of the fish from that stretch of the river ..... not mine, but whets my appetite to return!

We spent a day on the water, 70 degrees or so air temp, but 20+ mph winds (not great conditions for a flyfisherman), and crystal clear water. I did not expect the stream that we fished. I am used to wider streams with much more flow (around 1,500 cfs), but the South Platte here is a shallow, narrow stream running at about 150 cfs. I am also used to fly fishing with flys that are size 10 to 12 ..... and here the flies are sized anywhere from 18 to 26.

26??? Are you kidding? If you take a sharpened lead pencil and press it against a piece of paper fairly heavily, the dot you'll make is nearly the size of a 26 fly! Yea gads! And we were fishing with a 6x tippet ...... smaller in diameter than a human hair; almost the same size as a spoke in the web of a spider!

So much for the day fishing. We caught and released a bunch of "small" trout from 10" to 12" but missed the brood stock that hangs out in the lake. I found out later that we were fishing at the wrong time of the year.


Next day, an adventure to brunch at A-Basin. A-Basin is really Arapahoe Basin, but nobody who lives here actually calls it that - we Coloradans call it A-Basin. From Frisco, one can reach ski resorts at A-Basin, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, and Loveland within a 30 minute drive. All these are prime ski areas at the 11,000 to 12,000 foot elevation, with lots of ski-able acres and powder snow. This past season, A-Basin didn't close until the last week of June and there are still pockets of unmelted snow in some of the upper valleys. We rode the chairlift up from the parking area to the first off-point and enjoyed a sumptuous meal that lasted a couple of hours and was accompanied by a special soft jazz band.

The scenery is spectacular! The tree line as at about 10,000 - 11,000 feet, so behind us you'll see that we are right at the tree line. There's a trail starting here that leads down and back to the parking are; I really enjoyed this two-mile downhill walk. Another trail leading up from here is particularly suited to walking your mountain bike up and returning down completely out-of-control!

Hopefully, this winter being as good as last winter in terms of snow, we'll ski down instead of walking down.

Stuffed full of antipasto, seafood platter, stuffed chicken breast, roast Bison, turkey breast, breads, salads, and desert trays, we enjoyed the Mimosa cocktails and dark, rich coffee while lounging on the decks that surround the restaurant.

Doesn't that description tempt you to come and visit us?

One last thing that continually blows my flat-lander mind. As we move about in Colorado, we continually cross and re-cross the Continental Divide. Last year, our dear friends, S & A, invited us to their celebrations and we spent a week near the Divide deciding that Denver would be a great place to live. This year we are actively exploring the rich diversity of the high mountains, the high desert, the plains, and the transition zones that are Colorado. I'm amazed, awestruck, and blessed to be here!


Go Broncos!

Does a Bear S_ _ t in the woods ........evidently not!

HI!

I'm guessing you may find this gross.

We were at the home this morning to meet with the flat work Supervisor. Flat work is concrete for driveways, patios, and concrete staining for the main floor of the home. We were in the backyard, inside the courtyard wall and found this pile of scat (polite for s_ _ t) and our friend, Steve the Builder, says "That's Bear poop!"

I'm not keen on having a bear or Mama Bear and her cubs, traipsing around in our backyard.

We know there are bears around Roxborough Park. They've been photographed walking along the roads - an estimated 300 pounder was photoed last year. And, our next door neighbor chased one away after it had gotten half-way into their house through the kitchen window.

This is a good time and a tough time for the bears. They know that winter's coming and they'll have to stock up on food. But, they aren't supposed to be searching through rubbish and food scraps left out by us humans. So, they need to be protected ....... that's why the Association here discourages composting and promotes bear proof containers for food waste and trash.

Hmmmmmmmm ...... didn't think about having bears in our backyard. Guess I will have to get those gates up in the courtyard wall!

Cheers!

Stucco is nearly finished!

HI!

A small update on the home front .......

The stucco - both coats - is nearly finished. The only part left is the low courtyard wall to the North.

We got back early this morning to find out that WE are the holdup ..... Steve the Builder had a list of to-do items for us as long as your arm.

In the next two weeks, the wallboard will be textured, the window and baseboard trim will be installed, the hardwood floors will be installed, the painting will be completed, and the tiling will be underway. So, we had to pick the wall colors today ...... or more likely, in a couple of days, walk through the house with the trim installer, and decide on the balusters and handrail configurations for the entry staircase.

Pretty hectic time and we're right in the middle picking out the final details for the finishing rush.

Just FYI, here's our original vision for the home as drawn by our architect friend ........

Hmmmmmmm ......... looks pretty close!

Cheers!

Whitewater Rafting on the Cache la Poudre River

HI!

Kelli, Claire, Evan (my Daughter and my Grandkids) and Deb and I spent the day yesterday in Fort Collins, CO area with the idea of rafting the Poudre River Canyon.

This trip was the first whitewater rafting trip for Evan and Claire, and I sense they both liked it immensely! Claire and our guide, John, got along famously, but Claire kept asking him questions (which he didn't mind at all) about the water, were we half way there yet? how deep is the water?, how cold is the water?, ..... but the funniest moment was when she asked after going through one of the Class IV rapids ........ "Is that all you got?"

The Cache la Poudre (means "cache of powder" in French) is regulated by the water needs of the ag business in Eastern Colorado. As the water needs go up, the river level rises to meet the needs and the river drops when the ag needs drop (which seems to me counter intuitive). The lower the water level, the more the boulders and large rocks are exposed; as the water level reaches its lowest, the rubber boats not only need to go a large number of boulders, but often get stuck on the river bottom. Today, the water level is up about 6" from yesterday and the river is running pretty full. That makes for a more exciting ride with fewer boulders to dodge. Here's a shot of the final Class IV rapid with most of us underwater! Even Kelli, who managed to stay pretty dry the whole way, got wet!

Fun day and a highly recommended activity if you come to the Fort Collins area in the late Spring and Summer!

Cheers!

The Home Front - Scratch Coat Goes ON

HI!

Things are moving pretty rapidly now - or maybe it's just an illusion of speed! We left town and knew that the stucco would be going on the house while we were gone. They estimated that the whole process - which includes wrapping the house in paper, putting on the chicken wire, applying the scratch coat, adding the forms around the windows, and finally applying the final coat - would take about 21 days. We returned from the trip to find that the papering and wire application was complete, and now, 4 days later, the scratch coat is almost done. Here's a view toward the dining room doors and the great room windows. Also, the framers have started putting up the framing for the courtyard walls and the electricians will install the lighting so that the stucco guys can complete their work on the wall before they pull out. After the scratch coat (the grey colored application) comes the finish coat which is going to be a wheat colored fairly smooth finish top coat. One thing we did was to put the pigment into the stucco ..... so hopefully we won't have to paint in the future!

More pics of the scratch coat and the house ........

Next, there's a top coat that goes over the scratch coat. It's the final color of the house ..... a sort of wheat color ..... and the top coat seals the stucco and weather proofs it. I've never seen it before (which doesn't mean much), but it's rubber-like and will stretch as the building expands in Summer and contract as the building contracts in the Winter. It's virtually maintenance free - never needs paint. Maybe just a bit of cleaning / washing every now and again, and possibly some patching if it ever gets nicked or torn.

Here's the color going on above the garage doors.

Cheers!

The Glass Bottle Wall is Complete

HI!

UPDATE: The glass bottle wall is complete ......

A couple of days ago we spent 7 hours or so building the glass bottle wall. Going in, we were pretty sure we had enough bottle bricks made; we had nearly 150. We started by mixing up Type S mortar - the stuff used to glue bricks together in a wall. It was a pretty dry mix because we wanted to be able to build a vertical wall without all the mortar oozing out as the wall rises. The mortar was hand mixed in small batches so that it wouldn't dry before we got it into the wall. Dirty job!

I wish I had a picture of Deb working at installing the bricks. She is a wonder! She chooses a brick (to randomize the pattern), applies mud to the lower layer of bottles, styles the new bottle in place and places mud around it. Over and over again, until the batch of mud is gone. While I'm mixing the mud, she's cleaning the surface by patting it with a sponge to fill the cracks, remove excess mud, and smooth the surface. I managed to get in about 20 glass bottle blocks in place before she recognized that her talent at installation was much, much greater than mine!

Up and up and up, 3 bags of mortar mix and we're at the top of the wall space. Here's the final product ....... it's at the base of the stairs near the entry door on the main level. We'll backlight it with floods hidden in the mechanical room, and it should look great. It'll switch on when the front porch light and hall light switches are on.

We were right when we estimated the number of bottles needed for the wall ...... when we got done, we had two bottle bricks left over!

Deb is soooooo good at making the walls, we may get into the business of helping people who want them .......

Cheers!

Maple Vanity for Upstairs Powder Room

HI!

I've always had a fascination for fine woods and Deb appreciates the qualities of fine woods, too. We had planned to put cabinets in the powder room upstairs that our guests will use, but we happened on CS Hardwoods one afternoon last winter and fell in love with the various exotic hardwoods they have in their warehouse. So, we decided to use a slab of fine wood as the vanity top in the powder room.

We toured the showroom of the plumbing supply company at about the same time and fell in like with a hammered copper sink. I say fell in like because the price for the sink was somewhere South of $1,000 ....... too much for one sink!

We walked the CS Hardwoods warehouse and found two absolutely perfect pieces of mesquite, either of which would have worked perfectly for the vanity top. However, both of the pieces were already spoken for by the same person, a woodworker who is evidently using CS Hardwoods as his own personal warehouse. The only odd thing I experienced with all the dealings with CS Hardwoods revolved around pieces in the warehouse that were already spoken for. The woodworker I mentioned has several pieces on hold in CS Hardwoods'  warehouse; he calls for them when he makes a sale and has a commission for a piece. The pieces he has on hold can stay in the CS Hardwoods warehouse for as long as it takes fro him to get a commission .... sometimes many, many months. And, as long as the pieces are on hold, people like Deb and I can look, but without the woodworker's permission, we cannot purchase. Frustrating!

We didn't find THE piece of Mesquite, but we did find a really nice piece of figured Maple. It has what's called a "live edge" which means the the tree bark is still attached to the piece of slab. We try to keep the contours of the live edge, but with this piece being one that will serve a function, we had to remove the bark.

Deb is a Master at using the web to find unique and interesting items for the home. Since the sink we saw and liked so much was soooooo expensive, we decided to search for a more suitable one. Deb found what we were looking for and we ordered and received it soon enough to use it in laying out the table - deciding where to cut and where to place the sink.

Here's the finished product.

Next ..... installation! We'll update this blog when that happens. 

Cheers! 

Deb & Phil