Crooked Creek Pass

Woke up this morning and headed back up to Sylvan Lake (ya... if you jump in it makes you a better reader.....) for a 5 mile climb up a rocky dirt road to the top of crooked creek pass from the Sylvan Lake Campground. We drove up to the campground which is 15 miles from Eagle. It was a nice steady climb that required some good power output. Natalie did an awesome job. Not sure how long it took us, but I would guess a little over an hour. Prolly about 10 minutes to get back down. While we were up there we saw lots of wild flowers and a couple of mule deer.

Things I Learned

I did my first Wednesday night mountain bike group ride tonight. There were five of us. We rode for about 3 hours leaving at 6 and ended up with 19 miles. I learned several important lessons:

1. When they say there is only like one more short hill...... it means that there is more like 5-6 hills that each are going to make your lungs burn (from trying to breathe at 10,000 ft) and are going to make your legs hurt so bad you think they just may actually fall off.....

2. When they say that something is steep, uphill or downhill, they really do mean it. So steep in fact that you may have to walk, although on the downhills if you are willing to risk life or limb they may be rideable.

3. Mt. Biking in Illinois is not even close to the same as it is at altitude in the mountains with guys that have been doing it for many years. We have hills in IL and even have a few steep hills, but there are no steep hills that go up for 2 hours at a time. There is just no way to replicate that other than by actually doing it and it freaking hurts.

4. Anytime you go downhill, don't take it for granted, cause you will have to go back up at some point.

5. Mt. Biking really is a blast! and Don't forget to bring food!

6. Always be aware of the guy that shows up for the ride with hairy legs and baggy shorts! He is prolly stronger than you can ever dream to be!

7. It takes 3-4 years of living here in order to memorize all the trails and where they go to and come out at.

8. There are parallel trails called itch and scratch! Go figure!

Ok then, we started out climbing for about 2 hours, then we stopped to regroup. I kept up good for the most part, at times I struggled, and at times I was faster than the others. Each time we stopped for a breather they explained to me where we were and where we had been and where we were going. This is going to take me a while. They talk like this "We are going to climb for 50 more minutes up to that saddle, from there we will climb another 20 minutes up to that nipple sticking out over there, then we will go around the back side and come up that ridge over there. From there we will have 20 minutes of downhill, then a couple more short easy climbs to connect with the star wars trail and the death star downhill. From there it will be a mere 10 minutes back into town." No joke, this is what they told me and I was like yah, uh huh, good one, sounds like a plan to me..... We did end up going up abrams coming down star wars and death star (I walked my bike down this descent since I was more than a little scared of it) along with some other really cool trails. My legs and arms are fairly scratched up (that was the trail we were on) and I did go over the bars twice, although both times i was moving slow and almost able to catch myself.

In the end I am super worn out. Excellent training! Awesome guys to ride with! and I had an absolute blast!

Juiciest Burgers Ever

It's funny Nick didn't tell this part of yesterday...
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com a while back for the "juiciest hamburgers ever." We don't eat red meat often, so these burgers are a huge treat for us to have them and last night was one of those special nights. So, there's corn on the cob that was grilled in foil and then the beautiful, juicy burgers, some nice wheat buns and all the fixins - onion, tomato, lettuce, pickle, ketchup,mustard...all ready to go, sitting on the table, waiting for me to get off the phone with Tina. It wasn't exactly a phone call I wanted to rush - she had just finished a job interview and I wanted all the details - plus we hadn't talked in a few days. So we talked a bit, blah blah, then Nick starts going ballistic. We all know Nick doesn't get upset very often, so he must be mad...like, super mad. Apparently, Wrigley had struck again. (Marc knows what that means!) So Wrigley ate one whole burger and part of another...which is quite a bit considering I only made four to start with! He's quite sneaky, that Wrigley is...neither of us saw him take the first or second burger off the serving plate. But once he was caught, Wrigley comes all crawling up to mommy...like I can protect him from the wrath of daddy??? Tina made a comment...it does not sound like daddy is very happy. I said no, relayed the events to her and quickly got off the phone. Needless to say, Wrigley and Rusty high-tailed it to their cages where they spent the rest of dinner. Sophie hid under our bed once Nick got to yelling at Wrigley and she only came out after dinner was done. Of course, that didn't take long when half the dinner went to the dogs :-)

New rule: keep food on the counter until we are ready to eat, to prevent against unruly weiner dogs taking our dinner!

I thought Marc would especially love this entry...think pot roast on the table at his house, waiting for him after a long day at work, and little, innocent, angelic Wrigley comes along, gets on the table, and eats the pot roast right out of the dish!

Here's the link to the recipe for those burgers...seriously, they're awesome!
JUICIEST BURGERS EVER

Hiking, Flies, Fridge Decorations, and $5.00 Bargains.

We drove up to the ski resort of Beaver Creek this morning for a hike to a high mountain lake with sandy beaches. 6 miles round trip. Then we found out no dogs allowed (we had wrigley and rusty) and it was a six mile hike from the trail head, the parking lot was another 2 steep miles from the trail head, so we just decided to nix that idea. We then headed up to Sylvan Lake about 17 miles south of Eagle up in the mountains. After some good four wheel drive rode that had Natalie gripping the car door with all her strength for fear of slipping off the mountain, and me holding the steering wheel with both hands just to be safe
we ended up at Sneve Gulch Trail. We decided to give it a whirl. It was a steep ascent for about a mile. Then we had an issue.... The dogs were pooped and the FLIES were terrible. Since the dogs wanted to sit in the shade about every ten feet or so and the flies were so bad we just decided to turn around and call it a day. As you can see the scenery was beautiful, as was the company (Natalie) :) From the pics you can see the lake down below. That is where the trail started and how much we climbed in that hike of a mile. It was freakin steep I tell ya! It reminded me of climbing mt. rainier.... one foot in front of the other foooorrr eeevvveeerrrr......... well it wasn't really that bad.

When we got home it was time for some yard work. We bought this weed eater yesterday at the Thrifty Shoppe for 5 bucks. Natalie wanted to give it a whirl and chop down some weeds. She made a Valiant effort, but there were some ferocious weeds to be chopped down, so I ended up finishing the job for her. Although she had already done most of it. Doesn't she look good handling power tools???? She's a natural. Talk about a steal, that was a good deal. Not the best one ever, but it works and definitely does the job.

Yesterday we got a letter in the mail from Mom. My little cousin Hannah had drawn/colored us a picture of our new house... as described by mom most likely. It is a picture of a house on top of the mountain. It became the first decoration on our refrigerator. Also with the letter came pictures of Hannah, Dylan, and Tyler. All cousins of mine. You may recognize them from the wedding. Dylan was the ring bearer. Cute pics! Thanks guys! Go Twins! and Cardinals!!!! ....................................................... ok, ok, i guess it is ok if the cubbies do ok as well.. ..........................................................................................wait what am I saying, BOO CUBBIES!

Abrams Creek/Worlds Greatest

So I printed off this trail map for the Abrahams Creek/Worlds Greatest Trail and headed out for a good mt. bike ride this morning. Ended up 2 hours later back at where I had started with 15 miles of riding gone by and not a darn clue if I had followed the map correctly or not. Every time the map said to go one way, there were 2 other possible ways to go that were not on the trail description so I just kinda had to guess. About 7 miles in there was a 0.5 mile doubletrack that it said was steep. Oh man! was it ever steep I ended up after 0.2 mile spinning out on some loose rock and had to walk my bike for a bit. I hate walking my bike... The whole point of having a bike is so you dont have to walk/run! Made it up that, crossed a cattle gate and enjoyed the 2 miles of downhill that is the Worlds Greatest Trail. As steep as the uphill was before, this downhill was crazy. I was rubbing the back tire with my ass cause I was hanging off the back of my bike so I wouldnt go over the handlebars! (yes Andy I do not enjoy going over the bars when there is no snow to land in.)
One time in Springpatch we had about 12 in. of snow. Andy and I went out for a ride of course... had to cause we never get that much snow, and riding mt. bikes is still fun... Well we came up to a snowbank that was about 3 ft. high with about 1 foot of powder on the other side. In my normal showboating way I said check this out. I got going about 15-20 mph toward the snowbank... just thinking I would go right through it and into the snow on the other side. Well the snowbank was a little harder than I had bargained for and my bike stopped immediately but I unfortunately didnt! Fortunately the snow on the other side was really nice and soft. After I had unburied myself I turn around to see this woman walking just cracking up and Andy has also lost it. He says, "That was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen, that was AWESOME! Let's go have some chocolate to celebrate this wonderful feat!" The woman says, "WOW! my son would have loved that, you just made my day! That was so cool!" Well.... what can I say, Glad to be of service!!!

Anyway, I ended up back about where I had started. Turns out I hadn't made a wrong turn until about 2 miles left to go. Ended up with 15 miles in 2 hours of riding. Not bad, not good either, but it was hard, and I got some sun and a good workout.

Hoping to do a couple crits this month, but its hard getting motivated to go out and train on the road bike when the mt. biking is so awesome. I am going to do a group ride on the mt. bikes on wednesday, so hopefully I will get to meet some of the locals and figure out some of the local trails. Tomorrow is a hike with Natalie and the dogs up by Beaver Creek Ski resort, then yard work and road bike time.

The Boneyard

Natalie and I both tried out a new mt. bike trail today called the boneyard. It is about 1/2 mile from the house and goes uphill about 3 miles, then has a fast 3 mile downhill. It climbs about 800 feet in those 3 miles. Lots o'fun. Natalie is getting ready for her Mt. Bike camp this weekend in Breckenridge. I will be camping with the dogs while she is learning mt. bike skills and having fun.

Thank You

As we were driving home from the airport last night, I was already thinking ahead to what I would write on the blog. The first thing that came to mind was just a big ol' "man, that was fun and I am so lucky." What a fun time we had in Vegas! Thank you to everyone who made it so much fun. I'm thankful for the safe travel, the relaxing times by the pool, the good conversation with friends, the "exercise" dancing the night away at the piano bar, the new things I learned about Hoover Dam...I could go on and on...and I think I will. It was so nice to meet such friendly people in Perry, Emily, Greg, Susan and Kathy. Although they were new to our group, they fit right in and were so much fun! Melissa & Jennifer, I appreciate you for your independent spirits...and man girls, you both look good! Kyle, thank you for coordinating the Dam trip (mom do you see the Dam word???) and for driving us even if we were a bit annoying as passengers. Sue, thanks for being fun and I look forward to your retirement trip to Hawaii :-) Marc, thank you for being my big brother and I can't wait until we go to Wrigleyville for the World Series. Tammi, thank you for being the person we were all jealous of with your big winnings! Meghan, thanks for all of your witty comments...they are never-ending! Darren, thank you for entertaining us with your administrative education...it was so good you could join us! Tina, thanks for being you and being crazy! Kira, thanks for being as type-A and driven as I am...it really helped on the scavenger hunt. Paul, thank you for being such a good dancer and teaching Nick all of your moves. Ron, thank you for dinner and your wealth of information about Vegas. Sally, thank you for being the guest of honor...I can only hope you had half as much fun as I did! Nicky, thanks for being my friend and husband and for having such a good time living life. All of you...Thank you for being my friends. It was hard saying good-bye yesterday, but I know I will see you again...soon :-)

P.S. I have lots of funny pictures and videos that I"ll get emailed and snail-mailed ASAP!

Empty Nest :-(

Been kind of a bummer day. We leave tomorrow for Vegas - really very excited about that - but the dogs can't go with us. So for the first time in their lives, they are being boarded at the kennel at the vet. We have always been so blessed to be able to leave the dogs with Lindsey or the Kuhns or even have Jordan or Sarah or Mel come stay with them any time we have been out of town. Since we don't really know anyone out here yet, that wasn't an option for this trip. I did as best research as I could before I selected a vet. I was happy to hear the three of them could stay in the same kennel together (as my mom says - at least they have each other), and I took their favorite blankets, rawhides and chew toys, along with the food they're used to. We paid a little extra so they could have extra walks during the day. I know they'll be fine...but I miss them terribly. I cried when we dropped them off, and I'm sure Nick was wondering what his life has come to...he's having to hold my hand and tell me it will be ok because we've just dropped the dogs off - they're dogs Natalie! When I told my sister I was sad, she told me where to go. Those of you who know her are not shocked by her lack of empathy, I'm sure. Anyway, it's really quiet around here without them. I didn't have Rusty to go on my run with me this afternoon...which I'm sure he was actually glad about. I know he detests running with me, but if you saw how plump he was getting, you'd think the running was a good idea! I miss the boys barking at stupid little noises and Sophie howling when one of the boys gets attention and she doesn't. There were no little doggies to beg for the dinner leftovers and no worries tonight if one of them needs to be let out to go potty. It's especially hard being here at home knowing they are about a mile across town...why can't they stay here with me until the exact moment I have to leave town??? Darn the vet for not having 24-hour drop-off service! Kidding on that one :-) We get back late Thursday night from Vegas. Before I left the vet today, I asked what time we could pick them up on Friday and was told before 6 p.m. I said no, how early in the morning is what I meant? You can be sure I'll be there at the exact moment they open those doors at 8 a.m. Friday morning :-)

40 miles

Just got my longest ride since we have been out here, still exploring things and finding out the road riding routes. Everything is up or down, nothing flat which is a big contrast from Illinois. Me legs are hurting and throbbing, the kind of hurt you get after a race or a hard training race, where you just feel dead and beat and dont want to move! I must be getting weak...

The Tour de Corn was today in Chatham, IL hosted by Wheelfast Bicycle. I have yet to hear how many showed up, but usually they get a lot of people and have really good support at the rest stops with lots of good food and snacks. Natalie and I did it together last year, a metric century. It was a good bonding experience and was a lot of fun for both of us.

The Shop

Soon after I move to Chatham, I was trying to find people to ride my bike with. I checked out several of the bike shops looking for group rides and good service and was turned off for one reason or another, just didn't quite have what I was looking for. One day after school I was driving my convertible, top down, shades on, and was on my way to Wheelfast Bicycle in Chatham. I had already made my rounds of the Springfield stores on previous days. I pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. Unbeknownst to me, Matt, the owner of the shop, had seen me pull up and turned to his employee at the time and said, "Look at this guy, he is too cool for school!" The funny part of that is that he didn't even know I was a teacher. I ended up talking to him for a while, set up a time to meet at the shop for a group ride and the rest is history (he didn't even judge me when I showed up for the first rides wearing a camelbak and had reflectors on my bike). We started riding bicycles together a couple days a week. He introduced me to people that also rode bikes. Took me to a World Series game to see the St. Louis Cardinals (who won the World Series in 2006!), was an usher in Natalie and I's wedding (the most sober and responsible one), and he and his wife Shannon and baby Cooper are close friends of ours.

The Bike Shop........ A place where people go to get bikes worked on. A place where people go to buy stuff for bicycles. A place where people go to ask for advice. A place that people use as an excuse to stop at and talk cycling or other life issues while on a bike ride. A place where one would go to see friends. A place where people go to rant and complain about things. A place that people go to brag about how fast they are. A place where people can go and feel comfortable and know that the service they receive will be the best possible!

Wheelfast Bicycle Co.
A place that for the past 3 years that I have been in Springfield IL, has been kind of like a 2nd home for Natalie and I. From the first day I walked into this place I knew that it was different from the other stores. There was no pushiness, I felt very comfortable, and Matt was very easy to talk to. It was obvious that I was a newbie to cycling, yet that made no difference to him and he still treated me the same that day as he does now that I ride about 7000+ miles a year. He treats everyone that walks in the doors to the shop like they are the most important person at that given moment. This is a necessity I believe to run a successful business, and Matt does an excellent job at making everyone feel important. I have been to bigger shops, been to more famous shops, been to shops that also double as cafe's, but nothing compares.
Service: Wheelfast has the best service of any bike store I have ever been to. Not only will they get it done as quickly as possible, but it will be done right. I like a shop that has same day service, or one day service. This is how you keep customers happy. It is awesome for the racers and competitive cyclists because I could say, "hey, Friday is my off day could you work on my bike that day?" and it was never an issue. But any regular Joe off the street could bring a bike in and it will be done that day or the next as long as parts are available. I have never been in another shop where service is the biggest priority and is done as well as it is here. It's the kind of place where people go to when they have issues with their current shops that they are going to and after one visit to Wheelfast they will never want to buy or shop or frequent another shop for their bicycling needs!

Now.... We have moved to Colorado. Yeah, it was hard to leave our friends, yeah it was hard to leave our families, yeah it was difficult to leave what we were familiar with. But this was our dream and now was the right time to follow it. The one thing that we didn't even think about when leaving was how much we were going to miss OUR bike store! Yeah, after so long it began to feel like it really was our store. Anything we needed, Matt could and would provide, good service, good prices, good suggestions! Now that we have a new bike shop down the street, how do we balance building new relationships with them and maintaining our loyalties to the other shop? We will obviously have issues with our bikes, (bikes always have issues) and we can't just run down to chatham to have them fixed. So we will have to go down to Mountain Pedaler. Well when issues arise it is nice to know that you have a relationship built with that shop so you can be confident that they will get your bike done ASAP and ready for you to ride again. Charlie is the guy that runs the shop here in Eagle, and he is a super nice guy and super friendly, and has let us use his tools already when we have needed them. But it will be hard for him to provide for us what Matt has done for us.

Now looking at it, building a new working relationship with our new bike shop may be one of the most difficult things we will have to do here, since we have such a high standard for this new shop to meet. Friends we will go visit, they will come visit. Family will come visit, we will go visit. Matt may even come visit and we will keep in touch. But even if he comes he cannot bring the shop with him.......

Thank you Matt and Jake! We are very appreciative!

Long day

We woke up this morning and headed out for a ride on the mountain bikes. About 1/2 mile from the house is Belly Ache road. It starts with a 3 mile climb up the mountain on a dirt 4x4 road, then you take a right turn and it is nice single track all the way back down. So it takes about 40 minutes or so to get up and about 10-15 minutes to get back down. Funny how that works....

Then we headed down to Glenwood Springs to run some errands, get Natalie a new cell phone and switch her over to Verizon so that we are both on the same plan, and stop by social security so Natalie can pick up the wonderful and powerful Brummer name as recognized by the Feds. While we were there we also had Qdoba for lunch. We love that place, the Fajita Ranchera w/ black beans and guacamole is the way I roll, and Natalie usually get the same minus the guac. Love It!

New members of the Family!

Yesterday Natalie and I got a few gifts from the good folk of Wheelfast Bicycle in Chatham, IL. Two new members of the family if you will. We were instructed to be available at the house all day because Fed-Ex didn't know when they would be dropped off. We waited, waited some more, and waited some more with anticipation and excitement! Around 3:30 Natalie checked the tracking page at Fed-Ex and it said that our packages had already been delivered and as proof there was a signature saying that they had been signed for. This frightened us a bit as we had no packages to speak of and the new members of the family had been stolen or lost somewhere along the road. We called and they said they had been delivered, so I set off on foot to track my new family members and low and behold, whatdya know, I found them on the porch of a house two blocks away. The driver had forged the signature and just left them on a random porch at the mercy of any one who wanted them. Luckily they guy that lived there let me take them off of his porch, and just as we were doing so, Fed-Ex shows up ready to take them back. We let them have a piece of our minds and then proceeded to take them back to their rightful home..(the packages of course).


This is Natalie's new commuter, the bike she will ride to school and back. It is a Masi Speciale Commuter that can handle big tires so she can ride it on a wide variety of terrain. Root Beer color, single speed, tan bar tape and a sweet saddle and seatpost (it has a tail light built in)! This thing is sweet! I think it was love at first sight... Ya, I guess I'm OK with that. The attention to detail on this thing is incredible, it really is one sweet machine. I think she was pretty excited as you can see by the large smile on her face. I have to say, good luck to her getting up the hill outside the house with only one gear. She is going to be one in shape chicka!



And now here we have the BIG KAHUNA! My new super sweet mountain bike. It has LARGE wheels, and when sitting on it I feel kinda like I am driving a tractor. Have to ride one to know what I am talking about. I think Dad knows what this feeling is like. After riding it today I am totally converted to the BIG wheels after riding small wheels for the last couple of years. It is a Van Dessel Jersey Devil FS, in a Forest Green color with the sweet white on the down tube! I brought it into the bike shop this morning to get some air in the rear shock and when I walked in the door the owner said, "WOW! nice rig!" Appropriate I think, nice rig he says, like a BIG RIG truck, and thats what it feels like.

Natalie and I and Wrigley, Rusty, and Sophie are super excited to welcome these new members of our family to our humble abode here in Colorado. We will let you know how they fit in.

H2O up high...

Last week, I asked Nick if we could go hiking, so we decided Monday would be good. He said he'd pick the trail and take care of everything, so I was looking forward to what he might find for us. We ended up at Piney Lake Trail up near Vail. Vail is only 30 miles from us...give or take?? So it wasn't far. We decided Wrigley and Rusty would be good hiking weiner dogs, so Nick packed us some snacks, warm clothes, dog treats and off we went...ummm, nobody mentioned to me that we would need to drive 11 miles on dirt roads to get to the head of this trail. But it was cool...it was fun...nobody fell off the side of the mountain! Turned out to be really pretty up there. There was a lake, of course...Piney Lake...apparently some people stay in the cabins they have by the lake, kind of like a summer retreat. It was 2.5 miles to our destination...a waterfall. The boys had a great time (or maybe I just like to pretend they did!) and really enjoyed the rest they got at the waterfall. We didn't see any bears :-( but we did get some great views and a great afternoon of exercise. Of course, we had to follow up all of that hard work with a great meal...$5 all-you-can-eat wings...who can beat that? Did I mention I was the one who drove the car down the mountain :-)

Butta BING

The great and wonderful BING Cherry! I remember a vacation with the fam and grandparents, (one of my most memorable vacations) to Oregon and Washington. Along the Columbia River Gorge lies the town of Mt. Hood where we stayed for a while in a house on the top of a cliff overlooking the river. We went for the scenery and windsurfing and fishing and yes I also remember all of those things, but one of the things I remember the most is how many BING Cherries we must have eaten. Cherries are a big thing in that area of the country, and every few miles or so there would be a roadside stand selling them. I don't know if we stopped at every single stand or not, but I fondly remember mom saying that we needed to stop for cherries. It was always mom pushing for more cherries to be eaten while driving (thanks mom). We even got so that we knew which stands had the best cherries and what to look for in a good cherry. Not that I was complaining or anything, they are awesome! and the pits are awesome for having spitting contests! Speaking of which: Brian Krause, 30, currently holds the Guinness World Record after spitting a pit 93 feet, 6 1/2 inches in 2003. "Guinness Book of World Records" That is just downright amazing and I never even came close to that unless you count spitting it off of a cliff and falling that far to the water.....

What made me think of this is when Natalie and I went down to the farmers market in Edwards, CO, last saturday and again this morning. We always go on Saturday to get our fresh veggies and few goodies. Really a good bonding time for us and a chance for some excellent fresh produce. Rusty even got to go this morning. Well the goodies last week was an excellent garlic pesto, and a pound of bing cherries. The goodies this morning were once again bing cherries. ONE POUND! Which got me thinking about how many pounds of cherries we must have eaten in Oregon. If I had to take a guess, I would say we easily ate over 4-5 pounds A DAY. Mind you between 4-5 people, but still we really ate a lot of cherries, and I can promise you that we enjoyed every single one of them.

Maybe this time

I never won as a Cat 5, got 2nd several times and lots of top 10's. As a Cat 4, several 2nds a couple 3rds and so on, still never won a race. Maybe it will happen as a Cat 3? Definitely had a few crashes in those other categories. So what should my goal be for the 3's? Lots of wins (well maybe just A win) and no crashes.

I got my fingers crossed!!!!

Did some hill work today. Lets just say the hill work at 6600 ft. is a little different than hill work in central IL and I'll leave it at that.

Nick

Going Green.....

Air-Drying is Easier on your clothes.
Air-Drying can reduce wrinkles. - "TIDE Detergents"

You can save up to $150.00 a year by line drying. "www.idealbite.com"
After the fridge, the electric dryer uses the most electricity of all household appliances. "www.searchwarp.com"

I remember the days, had to be around the time I was in grade school I would have to help my mom hang the clothes out to dry on the line. Not for sure when that stopped, but I don't think the clothes lines behind the house have been used in a long time. Looking back on it, I actually have fond memories of the clothes blowing in the breeze and when it was time to hang the clothes and remove them from the lines, I remember having contests with myself to see how many clothes pins I could get on each ear, lips, nose, etc..... you get the point.

In the past two years we have been trying to do our part to protect the environment and save ourselves some money. We have been trying to ride our bikes to work and on errands when possible to save on gas money and reduce our dependency on oil. We have been using cloth grocery bags at the grocery store.... plastic bags are also made from oil. (In Colorado they take 5 cents per bag off your total bill) We have been trying to be careful with our energy usage by trying to keep lights and appliances turned off when not in use. Today we took another step in the direction of becoming more "green" by hanging our laundry out to dry on a clothes line. Yep. I said it a CLOTHES LINE. We did 3 loads of laundry today and all of them dried on the clothes line. I was amazed that when we went to get the clothes off the line, they were all wrinkle free. Seeing that we live in the mountains, our clothes also smelled "mountain fresh".... As our friend Sue said "some people pay extra for mountain scent detergent, you guys will get it for free!" How right you are Sue. Thank you for that bit of insight! :)

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2008/06/03/news/03dry0603.txt

N.& N.

Paradigm.......

par·a·digm: One that serves as a pattern or model.

ex. Their company is a paradigm of the small high-tech firms that have recently sprung up in this area.




PARADIGMS: the name of the restaurant where we just had dinner. A place about 2 1/2 blocks from the house. Rode our bikes of course. Sat on the patio under some nice shade trees. Just went for a beer (or two) and an appetizer (happy hour).....ended up staying for dinner as well. This place was started a month ago by two friends who remodeled an old house and had a thing for good fresh local food. All ingredients are purchased from local farmers. This is the first nice place we have eaten out at since being here, but I believe that it is fair to say that this restaurant is a paradigm of the other restaurants that have recently sprung up in this area...... :) To drink I had a dark local beer, my lovely wife had a hefewiezen. Make that 2 for each of us.... Then crab cakes, then fried asparagus with goat cheese and a tomato salsa. For dinner I had a watermelon salad which was delicious, she had a spicy pad thai with chicken. Desert for her was chocolate with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and caramel. I had three different cheeses with wine and mustard seed. UMMMM...... It was delicious.

On another note, we have driven the car once since we arrived in Eagle.


Quote of the Day: From the local bike shop owner "sorry that you had to get out here when it was so humid, I just walk outside and I have trouble breathing, plus it makes things so much hotter"....... umm, it has only hit 87 one time since we arrived, and I usually wear a hoody till noon. Humidity?????

N. & N.

In the Library.......

What to do when you have no internet connection in your home??? Well I guess now we can head down to the library (which is very nice by the way) that is about 1/2 mile down the hill from our new house. Wow! I dont have much time, but we have been super busy unpacking and organizing and taking pics of course. The house is coming together well and is starting to look really good. The weather is fabulous, as are the views. I will get more out later, hopefully with some pics. We both get new bikes this week, so we are super excited about that!!!!

Gotta go, miss ya'll (a little bit).....