Yesterday afternoon, we had three things to paticipate in. First, we went to a pub in Old Town for an event called Drinking Liberally that brings together socially progressive people in a happy-hour environment to comisurate about the horrific state of national politics and government (and what might be done about it). Then we were off to Soup Night at the Fort Collins Shambhala Buddhist center.


A bigger than normal turnout for Soup Night on the Shambhala Center patio. The soups this week were a great corn chowder made a little more exotic with chipolte, shrimp, and cilantro, and a nice cold gespacho full of crunchy raw vegetables.

On the way home from Soup Night we stopped at a picnic with a mens' club at a nearby park. We didn't get there until around dark, but there still a few folks at the volleyball net. Unfortunately, there were no good desserts left from the picnic, so after a few greetings we continued on our way home...

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We've been interested in going to check out Frontier Days in Cheyenne Wyoming since before we moved here. Every time we have headed up I-25 to the ranch, just past the ICBM missile base in Cheyenne, we have passed the rodeo grandstands and fairgrounds where this giant event takes place every July.

Last week, I filled out a local newspaper survey online, which entered me in a drawing for free tickets to the rodeo - and I won four tickets. We tried but failed to find some local friends with an interest in attending with us, but I ended up giving them to a happy (tickets were worth about $30) daughter-and-mom in the ticket purchase queue at the CFD site this afternoon. Daughter offered to pay me, but as I received them for free I wanted to pass along the good fortune.

We ended up in our assigned seats about one minute before the rodeo events commenced for the day. There followed six events (bull riding, steer wrestling, bareback riding, tie-down roping, saddle bronc riding, and steer roping) interspersed with some trick riders, a parade of rodeo queens, and an exhibition of a team of six draft horses hitched to a big wagon.


A bull rider gets "..the hooey yanked out of him...(announcer)" as he runs out the 8-second clock before getting the hell off the satanic beast.

This being our first rodeo, it was all pretty interesting. We were happy that no one suffered any gruesome or life-threatening injuries while we watched, and both were a little disturbed by the calf-roping events where the poor critters were jerked to a stop and slammed to the ground with such violence, but they all seemed to recover without visible trauma.

Later, after we left the grandstands, we enjoyed a lot of people watching as we toured the grounds, looking at all the commercial exhibits and the Indian village. There were a lot of old leather-faced ranchers and cowboys with the lean bodies of teenagers, and quite a few buckskin-clad frontiersmen who looked disturbingly authentic. A lot of folks looking like they just animated off old tintypes from the 19th century.


I cut off the top of this poster we saw on the wall of a commercial space - it says "No matter how goodlooking...". You can read the rest for yourself.



Really a fun day. It's nice to feel a part of what remains of the authentic West.

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Ten days since the last post - you'd think nothing was happening here. Actually, there has been too much going on.

There seems to be a relentless succession of projects to do around the house - landscape, garden, home theatre, deck, garage workshop...


These used to be throw-away newspaper inserts when we were in the rental. Now they are Home Improvement Porn, worthy of close scrutiny, and pawing at ones...credit card.


Builder Andrew does some final sanding on the deck handrail - the last major component. Andrew is a Green builder - no, he has not been drinking nettle tea for years - he tries to build in a way that respects finite natural resources.


The deck is finished! Since I photographed it here, I have stained and sealed the chairs (I built them from a cheap kit) and they look great. Next will be landscaping work around the deck, and eventually a walk across the middle of the lawn (less grass!) to the street.

Today, Pat and I went out for the morning on a Green Homes bike tour, to see some interesting projects around town that are employing Green building practices. There was a $768,000 (!!!) straw bale house North of town, and several other new or remodel projects to check out by the about 30 bicyclists who joined in and enjoyed the nice breakfast and lunch that some of the builders offered.


A stop on the Green Builders tour today.


About a week ago I went on another garden tour, this one sponsored by (and for the benefitof) the Audobon Society. The gardens on these tours are quite an inspiration, and offer lots of educational opportunities if you're willing to ask questions.

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Well, it won't win a Pullet Surprise, but at least I got some stuff published. I'll try ot get stuff up here a bit more often - there's lots of backlog to draw from...

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Well, life here is a little different than the routine I used to have in California. Yesterday, I helped work on the deck a bit, tried to come up with a workable design for the home theatre screen, and went to a sustainable gardening workshop, complete with Celebrity Composter and his "Wormbulance" - a genuine ambulance converted for advancing his vermiculture mission. I didn't win the workshop door prize, but John (the Worm Man and a very nice fellow) sold me a 5-gllon bucket of worms to start my worm composting pile.


Master Gardener/Composter John shows off some worm compost

The Wormbulance and Master Composter/Gardener John

Today I perfected the projection screen design, completed that project, painted part of the basement, and met a friend at a University theatre for what I thought was a vary bad play (we left at intermission). Tomorrow I am going to pick up some free landscape rock I heard about at the gardening workshop, clean up the theatre project a bit, go to a tour of a local TV station, and participate in a men's group evening.

Boredom is not a problem around here...I still have a mess of landscape and a lot of exrternal painting to do. My desire to paint full time (the artsy kind) has not subsided, but it has been pushed off the calendar by so much to do for now.


A couple of days ago I dug out for the expanded walk to match up with the bottom step of the new front deck.



Today, most of the structural components of the deck were complete. Tomorrow we should finish it...it's turning into a very nice outdoor room I think we'll use a lot.

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We spent the Fourth at the ranch, as planned. It was a great getaway from all the pressures of getting the house in shape now that we are moved in, and my first overnight away from here in a couple of months.

Mona and Clark put on a really fun barbeque, with lots of family and friends. There was ample food and drink, and a fine afternoon provided a very pleasant backdrop in the always-memorable ranch setting.


Clark and one of his sisters


Pat occupies one of the tables in the yard


Mdog peers over the venerable Porch Buddha.


Wade, son of one of Mona's close friends. A visiting New Yorker with quick wit always ready for any shift in conversation, he has dubbed Wheatland "Wheatersville". He kept us smiling or laughing much of the time.


Afternoon cumulonimbus - it gave us a wide berth.


Home made ice cream is dispensed


The day winds down.


Wade checks his email on the front porch using Mona and Clark's WiFi and a handy overhead outlet in the porch light. Rustic and Hi-Tech...Rus-tech?

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Stuff is happening so fast I'm having trouble documenting it...for those who might have an interest. The pace is fast enough to be a bit disorienting for me too, and I fear I must slow things down to get some stability back in life. My current aspiration is to get things under control so I cen break out the paints and get to work in that area. The house projects have sort of taken over, and they need to be tamed for a while.

Our dear friend Arlene was just here for a few days. It was fun to show her the house and spend some time together without the constraints of a phone connection.


Arlene and Spanish language group friend Felix prepare for our garden tour yesterday.


A typical Fort Collins corner garden spot, seen on our tour.

We took Arlene to meet a couple of new friends who live nearby, and have turned their typical suburban home into a gigantic garden project. The front has had its lawn replaced by native flowers, and the back is an enormous vegetable garden.


Our suburban farmer friends by their backyard solar oven.


The backyard vegetable garden

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Typical of all my projects here so far, the front deck construction hit a big snag today when I double checked the grade of the ramp we wanted to include for disability accomodation, and found it to be too steep to move forward with confidently. So we will revert to a conventional system of steps, requiring some additional work and compromises.


The construction guy who is working with me on the deck, as we prepare to unload a half ton of gravel for the project.


The deck takes shape - the notched-out part in front would have been the ramp, but will now be a couple of conventional steps down. Too bad, as we would have liked to make the place more disabled-friendly.

I mentioned before that I would show the 'after' picture of my garden corner by the back yard shed. Below are the before and after images. This kind of work takes a LOT longer than I anticipated. Also a lot of $$$. Going away to the ranch tomorrow makes me pretty nervous, with the 100deg + days recently my poor newly transplanted landscape needs water at least once, sometimes twice a day. Hopefully, I can get a reliable neighbor to check on things and do some watering.


The shed corner before



The shed corner after lanscape efforts

Tomorrow we head up to the ranch for a 4th of July barbeque and brief overnight visit. Then its back to the grind around here...

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Two weeks since the last post, and so much backlog I don't know where to start. This is kind of rambling, but it's late and I'm tired, and if I don't get something out I'll never get caught up...

Lots of work has been done in the garden - new shrubs, a lot of perrenial flowers. Pictures of that tomorrow night. A couple of tubular skylights have brightened the office in the middle of the house.


The first hole is opened up in the ceiling.

A gas leak was repaired by the local utility, who sent the customary coffee-drinking #2 guy to observe the guy wrenching.



The deck project is underway, with some sod cut away, and the perimeter of the deck visible where the lawn now ends - and crudely outlined with a hose in the photo below.



Major electrical work was done earlier in the week, with a new panel in the garage to replace the one we learned was a potential fire hazard, and some interior circuits added where they were needed, and corrected where they were flawed. No photos here...not much to see for the $2,000 or so of expense. Still great to have that done.


Roses are blooming in my yard again. Roses!

Last weekend, Pat and I went to a Shambhala Buddhist group picnic at a nearby lake. Tonight, I went to Soup Night at the Buddhist center before checking out Bike to the Movies (see below).


At the picnic. This very nice fellow is one of the creators of the weekly Soup Night meals.


Soup! Two great soups every week for anyone who drops by.

I went to a Bike Week event yesterday in Old Town. They were judging bikes in various categories, mid way through a week or bike activities, like Bike to Work day, and tonight the Bike to the Movies event, where hundreds of riders pedal to the New Belgium Brewery to watch films on a giant inflatable outdoor screen.





Walking away from the bike event, I enjoyed a couple of Fort Collins sights...there is a large marble sculpture being created in Old Town Square - no one knows what it will be when finished, as the sculptor works in view of the public every day.



Then I passed by the food co-op, a member-owned organic grocery.



What a great town.

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