Monday 4/30/07
It seems I missed last week's entry. Sorry about that. Zach is doing great and is learning to talk more every day. I have heard about four words strung together. They were "see you in morning". He is now consistently counting to ten and beyond and also can do most of the ABC's. Some days he nails it and on others it is like he cannot get by the number 3 or letter C. He is really starting to show his independence and his temper tantrums are getting a little more frequent. He is starting to learn he is not the boss, but it seems to be a painful learning curve. I cannot believe his second birthday is coming in a little more than a month. Wow how time flies.
I am sure everyone is aware we got a huge winter/spring storm last week. Here is a picture of the front of the house taken in the late afternoon. Here is another. I have driven in pretty nasty weather and have not thought twice about it. Growing up in Minnesota you basically learn to drive on ice and snow. So I went to work in the morning thinking it might take me a little bit to get home in the afternoon but nothing more. I monitored the weather from work and talked with Linda a couple times (she wisely stayed home). Things were getting pretty nasty so I decided to head home about 2:30pm.
Knowing the interstate was going to be super slow my strategy was to get to Castle Rock and then take the frontage road to Larkspur exit and then take the two lane to Palmer Lake and then Monument. The plan did work as I got around the I25 backup that now extended from Monument hill (where I live) north (in the Southbound lane) about 15 miles. Yes, that's right, cars backed up for 15 miles. Once I got on the two lane I was going pretty good but as I got farther south and into higher elevation the snow started really going and the road kept getting narrower and narrower. Pretty soon I was in a slow moving line of trucks and the road was only wide enough for one lane of traffic.
Now this would not have been a problem if the snow was light and fluffy as my truck would just plow through it. This snow was incredibly heavy and wet. So the truck would just push it and I would high-center and be stuck for sure. So when we met cars going the other way, every one would just about stop and I would just about rub mirrors with the person going the other way. This lasted for several miles and I was thankful we met only about three cars going the other way. I say cars, but there were mostly large four-wheel drive trucks out. Most of the cars I saw were stuck but there were a couple cars that were making it through -- one of them was behind me. Whenever we hit a really bad spot were a drift was pretty large I always moved over a little to take down the center of the now two-track so the car behind me would not take out his/her exhaust. Hope they appreciated that.
Well it was getting really bad but the line of truck/cars I was in was still moving so that was good. It as bad enough that I actually started to take mental inventory of the items in my truck in case I was going to spend the night out on the road. First item was warmth: jacket - check, boots - check sort of, as I did throw in my hiking boots in that morning, hat - check, gloves - two pair check; second was food/water: water - I have a lighter in my truck so, check, I could melt snow, food - no food, but you really do not need food for one to two days; I had an almost full tank of gas so I was good there as I could keep cab warm with engine. This was the first time I actually thought through these items and was glad I had some of the gear I had in the truck. You can never be prepared enough.
After a little bit we came out into Palmer Lake and I knew I would make it home then because there would be enough traffic on the road between Palmer Lake and Monument to keep it open. I only had one more real obstacle to get through and that was the hill up to my house. I called Linda to see if anybody was making it through and she said a couple of large four-wheel drive trucks had laid some tracks so I decided to go for it. My other option was to plow off the road at the bottom of the hill and hike up to the house. Well I made it through with the snow scraping the underside of the truck and all four wheels spinning the whole time. I dropped into my drive way and just before entering the garage I got stuck!! Only two feet from the garage!! Stuck!! Well after a little back forth I got enough momentum to break through and into the garage. It was a very interesting drive home. It only took me 1.5 hours but it was the first time I actually thought to my self I should not be on the road. Like I said before I can usually drive through anything but this storm humbled me a little bit. We ended up getting about a foot and half at the house. They closed I25 just south of Denver about 20 minutes after I went through. It was a heck of a storm and you got to love Colorado. It sure keeps life exciting!
The snow was so wet and heavy Linda had to go out to clear the satellite dish. Here is a picture of Linda braving the elements so we could watch the news!! I spent the next morning cleaning the drive way out and the cul-de-sac. Two days later the snow was almost good as gone and today there is only a couple of little patches left. Unbelievable that much snow can melt that fast. I would also like to reiterate that purchasing the snow blower this year was a very good thing. Here is one last photo, taken the next day after the storm. Very beautiful day.
I got in a few bicycle rides in over the last couple of weeks. Felt good. Linda has also been riding with Zach in a bike seat. He seems to like it and Linda seems to enjoy it was well. This Saturday we headed over to the park with Zach. It was so nice this weekend you felt very guilty staying inside. Here is a picture and movie from my mobile phone of the fun we had in the park. Yesterday Rick and I headed to the motocross track for the first time this year. It was a blast. No real huge jumps so the track suited me perfectly. I am really sore today but cannot wait for the next ride. While we did that Linda and Zach went for a bicycle ride.
I sold my KTM motorcycle last week as well. Here is the goodbye picture. It was mostly just sitting in my garage with Andy riding it when he came out once a year. I have my eye on a new lens for my camera so in order to pay for it I told my self I needed to sell the KTM. I put it on Craigslist on Saturday and it was sold by Friday. I still have my Honda so I can still ride just will not have the extra bike for visitors. Rick plans to get a new battery for his bike so people can ride his and use the electric start. Mine is only kick start and for people that have never ridden before, electric start is the way to go.
That's it for this one. Here is the weekly photo of Zach.
Until next time...Mike
Wednesday 4/18/07
Hello everyone. Linda, Zach and I had an exciting weekend as we headed into the mountains for a few days. I have a few days off and Linda's schedule is flexible so we decided to head up to the mountains for a couple of days. We left Sunday morning and headed to Boulder. We spent a few hours there walking on the Pearl street mall. We grabbed a bite to eat at a local sandwich shop and then headed up into the mountains -- specifically to Frisco where Linda reserved us a room at the Holiday Inn. Along the way we stopped at Boulder falls. Here is a picture of Zach and I after the climb up. Here is a picture of us in front of the falls. After hanging out there for a while we headed to Frisco. Once we arrived there we found a nice bike path and decided to take a little hike. Here is a picture of Linda and Zach heading up the path. After our hike we headed to the hotel to rest a little bit. At this point Zach had not slept at all so we thought he would for sure take a nap. We were very wrong. After about an hour or so we gave up and headed down to the pool. Linda and Zach played in the pool for a while. I did not go swimming as after a bit I headed out to lake Dillon to take a few photos. It was a beautiful evening and I wanted to catch the low sun the peaks that were near by. Here is a picture of one of the peaks with the frozen lake Dillon in the foreground. When I returned to the room Zach had already eaten and was in his PJs. Linda and I decided to get room service instead of heading out. Just seemed easier with Zach and also he still hadn't slept all day. I might note that he was doing very well in spite of not sleeping at all. Well about 9pm he finally fell asleep and Linda and I were right behind him. On Sunday we headed to Breckinridge for some shopping. We strolled up and down main street a while but ended up not buying anything. About mid day we loaded up and headed back home. We took the scenic route and ended up home around 2pm. It was a very enjoyable two days and very nice to get away even if it was only a few hours away. After arriving home, Zach went to take a nap and I went for a mountain bike ride. The trails were perfect and it was good to get out and stretch the legs after sitting in the truck for a few hours. When I got home Zach still had not slept so we got him up and decided to feed him and put him to bed early. About 7pm we put him down and he went right to sleep. Hopefully he gets back into his nap routine now that we are home again.
During my other days off I spent a lot of time taking pictures and learning a new software application called PhotoShop CS3. There is so much to learn to make the picture print exactly how you would like it. Profiles, ICC's, sizing, DPI, PPI, etc. etc. I am currently uploading some pictures to West Coast Imaging to have them print some prints for me. I did the best I could using their printer profiles so it will be interesting next week when I receive the pictures. I am hoping they are close to what I saw on the screen. My monitor is calibrated and I used their printer profile so we will see. It is so much fun learning new things and photography is a ton of fun and also gets me into the mountains. I also got a new lens. The picture above of the peaks was taken with the new lens. I am really happy with the results. Linda's first comments when she saw a photo with the new lens was how much sharper it was than my other photos with a similar lens but of lesser quality. The lens is a EF 70-200mm f/2.8. It is a little heavy and I should be receiving a plate for it on Friday so I can mount the lens directly to my tripod. Will keep you all posted on how the prints turn out.
In-between shooting photos and learning Photoshop I got a good bike ride on Gold Camp road and also did a two mile run. I also found time to catch two movies -- Shooter and Pathfinder. Shooter was actually pretty good and I enjoyed it. Pathfinder was a good story but the movie in my opinion was not put together very well. I can only think maybe it was the director's first movie or something. So thumbs up on Shooter and thumbs down on Pathfinder.
That's it for this week. Here is the weekly picture of Zach.
Until next time...Mike
Sunday 4/8/07
Hello everyone and Happy Easter! We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. It is just gorgeous out there but it is a little cold. Zach is having a great Easter because the Easter bunny showed up last night and brought candy, a new big truck picture book and a new racing car!! That Easter Bunny sure is nice and generous. So Zach has been going between Linda and I all morning showing us all his neat stuff. He really enjoys books with large diggers and trucks in them. He can look at them for hours. I hope Easter finds everyone else well.
With the weather being so cold and foggy the trees are just white as you saw in the picture above. That being the case I went down to the garden of the gods late yesterday afternoon to see how things were looking. It was beautiful down there with the fog and frost. I hiked around for an hour or so and took a couple of pictures with the 35mm. This one is a little hike up a ridge and is the same vantage point I have used before but with the weather so different I wanted to check it out. It is one of my favorite spots. On the way back to the truck I was walking through this field and spied this view. Linda really liked this one. It was just nice to get out and hike around a little bit even though the weather was cold and gloomy.
Earlier in the week, I actually got a mountain bike ride in after work. It was nice to get out on some single track and really get the heart and lungs working. It is so painful early season and I cannot wait to get through the "bad" getting into shape pain into the fun "good" pain once your body acclimates to punishment. Another fun activity this weekend was doing taxes. Just so much fun spending hours in the front of the computer getting them ready. I accomplished this task Saturday morning and everything is electronically sent off. Glad to be done for another year. I should not complain as it was easier this year since I did not sell any stock, so that saved a little time.
Rick came down yesterday and played with Zach. Zach can now pronounce Rick rather well I might add. Rick did a good job of wearing him out and he took a good long nap. While Zach was sleeping Rick and discussed revamping iSchmitz to a more updated look and including some better content. We have a rough plan and you all should be seeing something in a month or so. We both agreed the content was getting rather stale and we needed something to spice it up a little. So we will be working on that over the next several weeks.
That's it for this week. Here is the weekly picture of Zach.
Until next time...Mike
Tuesday 4/3/07
Hello everyone.
Both Zach and I had really bad colds this last week. Mine started while I was in San Francisco last week and is still hanging around but bearable at this point. I say I am around 85%. Nothing is more fun than traveling with a serious head cold. Zach is pretty much over his bout with the bug but still has a little cough as do I. We should both be 100% in a few days. It is never any fun being sick but I think it was worse for Linda as she had two sick boys in the house. Hopefully she does not come down with what we had. Even though I was under the weather I worked full time -- though Friday was from home. The cold broke Thursday night and by Friday afternoon I was starting to feel a little better.
On Saturday, Rick and I took the snowmobiles out for the last ride of the season. Since I knew we were running out time to get our last ride in, I decided to go even though I was feeling pretty tired and still rather sick. The riding was definitely late season riding with the snow being rather icy and packed. Higher elevations were pretty good though and it snowed the whole time we rode. We stuck to the trails and took it easy. It is hard to ride when you cannot breath through your nose. It was nice to stop and get the helmet off so I could clean things out a little. :^) It was definitely good to get out and ride again. Now we just need to get the snowmobiles ready for the summer. Will do that in a couple of weeks or so. Now it is time to start focusing in on mountain bikes and motocross.
Last weekend, Zach and I spent some time in the garage getting a couple of things hung on the walls and replacing the seal at the bottom of the garage door. Here are two pictures of our handy work (pic1, pic2). Dad has built me a work bench and that should be coming out to CO from MN in a few months I hope. Here is a picture of the bench that I scanned in from a photo that Dad sent me. It will be so nice to have a work area where I can set things on and not have to use the floor or the tailgate of my truck. I also took some time to get the Honda started and rode it around the block to make sure everything was running good. Felt and sounded like everything was running fine after sitting for several months. We also got Zach's big wheel out and made sure that was running ok as well. Everything checked out and Zach was satisfied so we parked it next to Honda per Zach's request.
As a bonus. Here are a couple pictures (pic1, pic2) of Zach asleep in the back of Linda's car. Not sure when these were taken but were on the camera when I downloaded the pictures.
Until next time...Mike.