Category Archives: Colorado

Colorado, Weather +Climate

Slowly, slowly

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Winter                                                                                 Settling Moon

IMAG0902The wall space necessary for rebuilding the IKEA bookshelves is free. Almost all of the books are deboxed. (well. deplane, detrain) Slowly, slowly. But steadily.

(the loft before any unpacking had begun)

The temperature here, right now, is 56. 56! Apparently not unusual for this period of January it collides directly with my pulling inward as the third week of January approaches. That’s the coldest week of the year on average in Minnesota and often means well below zero readings. And here we are with even the ice preserved by the shade of a lodgepole pine grove melting. In spite of the Minnesota we-will-not-be-stopped-by-the-cold attitude, forty years of fortitude lifted to a civic virtue, this feels pretty good.

from another point of view
from another point of view

Less than 10 book boxes remain, but they will wait until the ones I’ve emptied have been flattened and the bookshelves are up. Then, only then, can I begin the process of creating a library especially for my current projects. The classics and their supporting literature will get their own area, so will all of my art books, poetry, books related to Colorado and the West. Once those areas are in place, then the remainder of the books will find homes: Asia, Islam, travel, depth psychology, the Renaissance, Modernism, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, history, Celtic studies, Scandinavian studies, Lake Superior, environmental matters and others.

Colorado

A Pile of Cardboard Measures Progress

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Winter                                                                             Settling Moon

IMAG0927_BURST002The changes keep coming. Today the Colorado plates go on the Rav4. They complement the Colorado Driver’s license already in my wallet. The boxes have begun to diminish in number as the pile outside, Kate’s measure of our progress grows. We use the window as a cardboard portal, opening it and shoving emptied, flattened boxes through it.

In the loft perhaps 80% of the book boxes are empty, flattened and downstairs. They are not on the pile shown here.

Certain rhythms have reasserted themselves. The dogs are in their crates now over night. With the exception, usually, of Kepler. Kate and I watch an episode of Midsomer Murders before she goes to bed. We’re in the 14th of 15 seasons. Our business meetings continue, before they were at Key’s on University in Spring Lake Park, now they’re at the Wildwood Cafe in Evergreen.

Others have not. My treadmill and weights and pull-up bar are in the loft, but not yet ready because the most important component of my work-outs, the television, remains in the house. It’s too heavy for even Jon and me to move, a 50″ plasma, and will require some outside help to get up the stairs and into place on its stand. I know this seems like an odd reason, but I find weights and treadmill work boring. The TV distracts me while I do them. Of course, right now, during the acclimatizing process, a lot of the work we’ve been doing unpacking is also aerobic.

Kate’s not sewing yet. I’m not writing or doing Latin. Those rhythms will probably be the last to reassert themselves, evidence that settling in has moved beyond unpacking and shuffling stuff around. In their time.

Colorado, Mountains

Goin’ Down the Mountain

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Winter                                                                         Settling Moon

As we pulled out of our still early morning driveway, Black Mountain had already picked up the rising sun. Its trees, rocks and snow were lit with the onrushing day. We were off to Evergreen, back to the Wildflower Cafe whose cozy warmth and interesting menu charmed us a week ago.

We wound down Black Mountain Drive, through the Arapaho National Forest, past the trail-head for Upper Maxwell Falls and a trail head for Cub Creek. About two miles from home Black Mountain Drive changes names, becoming Brook Forest Drive. In the mountains after that change in name the homes become much more numerous and their asking prices much higher.

The road into Evergreen, like Black Mountain Drive/Brook Forest Drive, has rocky outcroppings that lean forward almost to the asphalt, pines growing out of narrow crevices and a small brook that shows up just before the beginning of the commercial district.

This is our regular business meeting day where we discuss finances, schedule, feelings. Right now we’re in another liminal space, not unlike the original move time. This one is between purchasing Black Mountain Drive and selling 153rd Ave in Andover. It comes with its own struggles, financial and emotional, as we pay two mortgages, two sets of utility bills and the various costs associated with moving in and with preparing a house for sale. The business meetings allow us to have conversations about all this before any one issue becomes a big deal. Very valuable.

 

Colorado, GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Sun As Snow Remover

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Winter                                                  Settling Moon

Rug down. Chair in place. Many boxes yet to open. But I’m over half done with the initial phase, the unpacking. Putting up bookshelves, then reordering my library still to come.

Colorado plates came today. I’ll put them on tomorrow.

Hunting for the box in which I put many of my usb cables, my webcam, the microphone and headset. Unfortunately no way to distinguish it from all the other boxes.

Coming from Minnesota, I didn’t believe this, but it happened today. The temperature rose and melted the snow off our driveway with no intervention by me at all. Amazing.

Meanwhile in Minnesota it’s been very cold and the flu season has taken a heavy toll, especially among the Woollies.

The painter called today and said he’d finished. This is the repainting of the Andover house. The new carpet goes in tomorrow. Then, a clean-up, staging and the house will go on the market when the weather cooperates. Exciting from our vantage point.

 

 

Aging, Colorado, Family, Feelings, Health

Yikes

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Winter                                                                            Settling Moon

Both Kate and I feel like we’re ahead of what we’d expected in terms of getting stuff liberated, sorted and placed. We’re maybe 60% unpacked in the house, somewhere between 40 and 50% in the loft and very little in the garage, which will probably wait until spring.

Had a bit of a scare last night when the dogs rushed inside ahead of us after we returned from the science fair. The dogs’ feet carried in snow which quickly melted and Kate slipped right at the door and fell. Scared me for her, with two metal hips. Fortunately, she has strong bones, no osteoporosis, and walked away with a skinned shin. Yikes.

This morning I got up and put a new indoor/outdoor rug down in the front of the door. We’ll do that at the other two entrances as well. All tile makes sense with the snowy weather here, part of the charm, but it also makes slipperiness an issue. Part of getting used to a new space, a new climate.

A light snow last night covered the driveway and our small deck. With the temps forecast into the high 40’s or low 50’s tomorrow and the next day, I’m going to see whether it will melt without shoveling. An experiment. Getting used to a new place.

Colorado, Family, GeekWorld

Fair Science

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Winter                                                  Settling Moon

We pulled into the Swigert Elementary School parking lot at around 6:25 pm, parking by coincidence just ahead of Jen, Gabe and Barb. Jen gave me a hug, said she was glad to see me. A bit of a thaw.

The science fair idea seemed tired to me. Some kids obviously put a lot of thought into their entries, others less. One of my favorites in this latter category discovered “how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop.” After dogged experiment, the conclusion: 360, not the 334 hypothesized.

There were more serious entries. One investigated barriers to wifi reception. Another bacteria in meat purchased at King Sooper. The most were in some organic turkey. One kid created a homemade tornado using dry ice and a small exhaust fan.

Perhaps it’s time for a new way to engage children around science projects. Not sure what it would be, but perhaps one limited to children who really wanted to put some time and thought and effort into their work. It was obvious there were kids at Swigert who could have done something more substantial and even more who couldn’t be bothered. Both strike me as ok. Just different.

Colorado, Family

A Rest More Day

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Winter                                                                   Settling Moon

Snow falls softly here among the pines, falling faster now than around 2, an hour and a half ago. Instead of borne on the west wind snow here tends to fall straight down, like snowglobe snow.

A rhythm of work harder one day, rest more the next seems to be emerging. Today was a rest more day.

My current goal here in the loft is to clear enough space to unfurl the big rug, put my chair on it, sit back and stare at Black Mountain or watch the snow. Maybe another day and I’ll be there.

An hour or so from now we’ll head into Denver, to the Stapleton area, where Ruth will stand beside her poster board explaining glucose levels in various fruits and the guesses her classmates had about them. Eight years old. Being there, present. A gift we can give and keep on giving to both Ruth and Gabe.

Colorado, Dogs, GeekWorld

Cardboard and Dogs

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Winter                                                                                        Settling Moon

One real marker of being here: driver’s license, my Colorado driver’s license, came today. A new state identifier. The license plates will follow. Then, we’ll be indistinguishable, at least at first glance, from other folks who live here.

More: boxes, opened. The ledge over the fireplace, a long one, is clear now. The small oriental is down in the living room with the coffee table on it for the first time in years. The coffee table was our television stand for the last 6 or 7. Found the amplifier and the dvd player, though playing dvds seems anachronistic. The little Roku hockey puck has replaced coaxial cable, receiving our television over a wireless connection to the internet.

Closing in, today, on freeing up space in the loft, especially around the window that overlooks Black Mountain. Working first to podcasts, then to youtube videos of the Band.

Kate takes Gertie in to the vet tomorrow. Gertie has an arthritic knee and needs pain pills to be her usual happy self. On the human medicine front we’ve located a Medicare specialist here to discuss our options. We have until February 20th to shift plans, but this is something I don’t want to do too near the deadline.

Still working on energy cranked up last month. Pack. Load. Unload. Unpack. Get this done. Get that done. As more and more gets done, I can feel relief waiting to break free. But, too, I can feel a sag, a slump coming after so much push. Time to collect myself, be non-productive, non-task focused. Not yet though. Not yet.

Colorado, Sport

Regional ldentity

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Winter                                               Settling Moon

There is no joy in Broncoville this morning for the mighty Manning has struck out. Seems familiar to me. Aging quarterback, once a legitimate star, leads team to playoffs, then has a less than starring role in a frustrating defeat. Can anyone say Favre? Or, Randall Cunningham? Or any of the other used-to-be’s who have been behind the center for the Vikings?

This, too, is a settling in issue. Local sports teams have a distinctive regional role, unifying disparate groups like stepson Jon, the Apache/Comanche/Spanish guy who helped unload our stuff and the customers at the Brook Forest Inn pub. When in a new region then, the newspaper, the jerseys worn, the conversations about sports, all reinforce outsider status. I’m not a Bronco fan, nor a Nuggets fan, or a Rockies fan.

My point here is not so much about sports because I am not much of a sports fan, though I’ve had my fling with the Vikings; rather, it’s about the nature of regional identity and its markers. I find the Western ethos of the Stock Show easier to assimilate, but that might be due to my Midwestern rural roots.

 

 

Colorado, Family, Weather +Climate

Location Relevant Weather

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Winter                                                               Settling Moon

As Bill Schmidt said, the weather was still set to Andover, Minnesota. I changed it. The weather now reflects a personal weather station (not mine, not yet) located in my small neighborhood here on Shadow Mountain.

Jon came up and put the bed together. We’re not sleeping college anymore. Felt awful high off the floor though. Jon and I got the downstairs TV on its stand and into the cabinet area built for a T.V. The doors close over it now and it’s off the furniture pad. Jon had to get back and watch the Broncos play the Colts. I’m agnostic as to football teams for the moment.

Tuesday night is the science fair and Ruth has an exhibit that features the glucose levels of various fruits. We’ll be there. She recently tested into highly gifted (not a surprise) and Jon and Jen are considering sending her to a gifted and talented school. Good idea, from my vantage point.

More time unpacking books. Jon and I swung the treadmill around where I want it. Next is getting the tv up here and installed.

Snowing now. More snow due Tuesday.