Marc and I enjoyed what turned out to be a great day! Snow was expected and temps were supposed to be in the single digits, but it was in the twenties and the sky was blue, it was beautiful. We went out behind our house, the usual trails, but found some new places to make some turns.

Breaking trail, almost as deep as the dogs are tall! They have there new winter coats on to help keep them warm.
We found a great little place to take some turns in the woods. Marc's were much prettier than mine and he didn't crash a burn at the end like I am about to do in this last picture.

Early Christmas for Loki

This morning, as Marc and I were getting ready to go for a cross-country ski, Loki decided he couldn't wait for Christmas and wanted to open his present. He came into the bedroom with a mouth full of wrapping paper and I could not figure out what it was. I then walked into the living room to this sight. How he figured out which one was his I will never know, but it was the only present he opened! Thanks Uncle Rich and Aunt Jen.

Toilet Training 101

I am sure Sam does not appreciate being photographed while doing his business, but I just had to get this. He has officially started using the toitlet training kit we got him this fall. We had to wait until there was a decent amount of snow on the ground before starting this. He prefers to do his business outside, but not in 2 feet of snow. I just took away the litter box and he now has this tray that sits inside the toilet with flushable litter. About every week we will cut a small circle out of the middle, until eventually he just sits on the toilet seat with no litter! He is such a smart cat I know he can do this. There is nothing I hate more than cleaning a litter box, so he had better learn-or else!!

Lunch in Vail 9-30-08

My friend Kaileen and I rode our bikes to Vail for lunch on a beautiful fall tuesday. These pics are all out of order again, but I am getting over it.




Lake Dillon our start. The ride was 80 miles round trip and we took a whole 8 hours. We had no weather threatening and we enjoyed a nice lunch in downtown Vail and took a gazillion pictures. 

Kaileen and  I. Kaileens husband Dave met up with us on the Vail side of Vail Pass and he became the designated photographer. He also tried to get us to not stop so much, but we told him it was our ride and we will take as many breaks as we wanted!!
Cool house in the back with grass roofs.

I just love riding thru the dropped aspen leaves and hearing the crunching.

Kenosha Pass Ride 9-28-08

So just to start out, these pictures are all out of order and anybody that knows me knows I just hate things out of order. This is a picture of the parking lot, which is way over loaded. We almost turned around because there is nothing more irritating to Marc than a packed trail. We escaped the crowds after about 3 miles. Overall this mtn bike ride was 30 miles and just over 5 hours. We literally rode home and had to drive back to get the car. 
This is Marc (who justs loves to get his picture taken)at the halfway point of Georgia Pass, which in the picture below is just to the right of the peak farthest to the right.

The reds are just beautiful this year. Of all the years I have lived here I don't think I have ever seen the aspens get so red. "They" say (whoever they are) that it has to do with all the moisture we got this spring and the long warm fall we have had.
The picture below is the near the start and the peak farthest right is the halfway point, Georgia Pass. Similar to the one above, just a little farther away.
This picture below is from the other side of Georgia Pass. The mountain is called Mt. Guyot and we can see it from our backyard, which is where we ultimately are headed.

My skinny husband!
I couldn't take enough pics of the ground cover and it being so red.
Again, above is Mt. Guyot and below is the top of Georgia Pass. It's just killing me these are out of order, but maybe my sister-in-law can help me with this when we visit in November.

I love my pink bike. I have pink and white tassles for the handlebars, but I haven't put them on yet, maybe next year.

Francie's Hut Trip

Friday September 26th

My friend Jaye invited me on an all girls hut trip this fall to Francie's Cabin. It's a cabin just outside of Breckenridge that you can rent. It comes with most of the ammenities, dishes, beds and wood for a fire. We did have to get our water from a stream near by and boil or filter it to drink. We brought in our own food and beverages as well. Jaye needed ice in her cocktails so she dragged in a cooler! She didn't have to go to far with it since you could drive practically to the hut in summer time. Winter is a different story, but again you don't need ice, since you are surrounded by it in winter.
We decided to go for a hike when we got to the hut. Crystal Lake is just at the bottom of the big peak. The skies were a bit dark, but we didn't really think too much about it until the lightning started. A few of the girls turned back, but Jaye and I decided to tough it out and get there. Kinda dumb, but we are still alive to talk about it. We got a bit of hail and snow mix (see last picture) I can't arrange these correctly yet. The next day,of course was just beautiful and we almost made it to the upper lake, but had to turn around to clean the hut and be out by 1. All in all it was a great time, but next time I will make sure not to bring so much food and alcohol. I had to carry a lot out the next day!

FALL ACTIVITIES

Dodger is not much of a poser, I was lucky to get this. Loki  loves getting his picture taken and will pose just about anywhere for as long as I need him to, unless a squirrel calls out to him.

Just a few pictures of the boys by some beautiful Aspens behind our house. We have had a wonderfully long fall this year which is nice since our spring was more of a winter. We have been out playing in it all so I haven't had much time to keep up on the blog, so today as it is snowing I will be adding alot!

Marc's Latest Project

Marc found this old mini BMX bike in someone's trash and decided it needed a new home. He loves working on bikes, so he decided to rebuild the bike for our nephew Lucas. He tore it apart and is getting all the spray paint off of the wheels and small parts and will take it to the powdercoaters to get it painted Lucas' favorite color. We got new wheels, hand grips and a blue bell for it today. Hopefully it will all be done by November when we visit them. 

Harvest Time

Okay so maybe I had the zoom on a bit for this radish, but the flavor was as big as the picture. I didn't even think I liked radish's, but this was awesome. I planted them a bit too close together and am only getting a few to look this good, next year I will know better and have a huge radish garden.

Cooper Cabin 8/9/08

The Cooper Cabin is a cabin in the Gore Range near our friends Kristi and Wes' house. Marc has been to it numerous times but this was my first time (after 2 unsuccessful tries). Not far of a hike about an hour and a half, but not a very well marked trail. 
This is some old newspaper on the walls inside the cabin dated 1919!! I think you can double click on the photo to enlarge it and see an old pepsodent ad.
The outhouse.
Trees groing on top of the cabin.
Loki trying to climb the walls of a decaying cabin.
This field of flowers was a beautiful light blue, not showing up too well on the picture.
Some Indian Paintbrush.


Front door of the cabin. People still use the cabin to camp out in. Marc has tried to get me there for the winter. Now that I have seen it in the summer, I don't think I will be staying there with snow all over the place.

Snow in August

Marc and I went to Denver today to do our big box shopping and had an unfortunate surprise on Loveland Pass. 

This will of course all melt by Monday, but what a bummer, not quite ready for winter. We had our last snow fall on June 8th. Not much of a summer. Hope we get a great Indian Summer.

Garden

None of the transplants made it very well. In the front I have all the lettuce, spinach and some cilantro. Back right is experimental and left side is radishes beets and peas.
spinach and lettuce

This is the experimental box. I have nine things growing in a 5 x 5 box. Well 1 area is completely dead-the cucumbers didn't make it, 2 sections of squash that is barely surviving. Broccoli in the back left is doing good, but no veggie yet. Tomatoes, beets and cilantro are the others. The wood square along the fence was the cover Marc made to keep Sam out of them when they were seedlings. He thought it was his litter box-yuck! The line on the back of the fence is our new electric cat fence to keep Sam in our area. He has a problem with one of the neighbor cats, but more on that to come later with video of  Sam training with a shock collar!!These are sugar snap peas on the left and radishes in the middle and beets on the right.I think I need to give the radishes a bit more room next year.