After School Soccer Club and Mt. Lions

The kids in the after school club, do homework after school on Monday and Wednesday, and then on Friday they get to play soccer. I first played with them a couple of weeks ago and we played outdoors on the school field. Tonight I played with them again but we played indoor in the gym. The social studies teacher (who is also new this year from Cali) and I were on the same team. We had 4 teams, all pretty evenly matched. It was a blast. I always forget how much I enjoy playing soccer. It is really fun playing with the Jr. High kids and seeing them learn more everytime we play. I think all but 1 or 2 of the kids are of hispanic heritage. It reminds me of the couple of times that I played soccer with the Mexicans that worked in Effingham. It's really cool to see their passion for the game.

In other news, there was a reverse 911 call last night to some of our neighbors, alerting them to a Mt. Lion being in town and to keep their pets inside. WOW! A mt. lion right in town just down the street from the house.... Wrigley woulda tore him up is probably why he didn't stop by for Sophie's birthday party..... (more on that to come). As we get more snow up in the high country the animals are starting to move down into town. We have seen mule deer in town the past 2 days, 6 of them this morning. In a couple more weeks we have been told the Elk will begin to move into town as well.

A Day of Firsts!!!

Hi! My name is Nicholas Joseph Brummer and yesterday on the 3rd of November, at the ripe old age of 27, I voted in a United States of America election for the very first time! I know, I know, you ask why did I vote so soon after turning 18..... Seriously though, for some reason I really got into this election. I believe it was because there are so many issues facing our great country that I have a personal interest in. Whatever the reasons, I am kind of ashamed that I haven't voted before this, yet at the same time excited that I finally have voted.

We are also witnessing a piece of history, it is the first time in the history of the U.S.A., that we have had an African American President. I pray that he leads our country in a good direction and fights for the issues which I find so important.

Side Note: I had a cool encounter tonight with one of the horned kind. The District Office is a block from our house and I had a meeting with the powers that be to learn about a couple of new intensive reading programs that we are implementing at school. Training was from 4:30-6:00. I got done about 6:30 and was walking home and all of a sudden I see this shadow walk out in front of me on the sidewalk.... (Eyes were still adjusting....) Then all of a sudden I was seeing clearly. About 3 sidewalk cracks in front of me stood a buck mule deer. A small rack of about 8 points or so, and I was like WOW! COOL! Then all of a sudden, I was thinking this thing could freak and decide to attack me, so I started waving my arms and yelling like a madman. The deer just stood and stared at me, like I was some sort of weirdo! (debatable...) Then he kind of trotted back the direction he had come to stand on the street to wait until after the strange thing (me) had passed. After reflecting on this special encounter, I realize how cool it really was, the thing was about 5-6 feet away from me and I didn't even see it until the last second.

Truly a night of firsts.

FRUITA!!!!!

One day earlier this week when Natalie and I were riding in the car I suggested we take an end of the season camping trip down I-70 to Fruita, CO. She was all about it, so Friday night I loaded up the car while we waited for Trick-or-Treaters (we had 0 :( We had gotten a camp and trail map and suggestions from James, one of the teachers at work. Fruita is really known as a high desert Mt. Biking paradise! It's known for how smooth it's trails are. We had Saturday school on Saturday morning from 7-10 and then headed down. It's about 2 hours west toward Utah, only about 20 miles from the Utah border.

The camping is free and we were able to get a great site. We were in the North Fruita Desert area, a.k.a 18 road Book Cliffs recreation area. The site is down over a ledge off the road and set back among the juniper trees. You can't see, but right behind the tent is about a 20 foot drop down into a gulley. After we arrived we got the tent and camp set up and went for a ride. When we returned I found creative ways to hang the bikes...
These are pictures of Natalie and I at the bottom of Prime Cut. We rode up Kesslers Run and down Prime Cut for about 7 miles of riding on sweet smooth singletrack that was rated Blue and Green. You shoulda seen Natalie, she was rippin it up. She was really doing good and it was fun being able to ride with her for a bit. As you can see the terrain is rather dry and barren, yet it was still very beautiful!

Thanks to Chef Natalie we had two amazing meals, pork chops and potatoes with red peppers and Coors Light for dinner, and hash browns and egg and sausage links for breakfast! Here is the Chef herself slaving away over the fire that I had built. I also did the dishes after dinner, although she did them after breakfast so I could go for a ride.
After breakfast we were talking about going for another ride, but unfortunately Natalie had an extremely swollen toe and her back was a little sore (due to the sleeping on rocks...), so she said she would stay with the dogs and clean up camp so that I could still go for a ride and hit some of the more difficult terrain. I ended up getting about 10 miles and rode some black diamond and double black trails. The picture above is on Joe's ridge, taken by Natalie down at camp about 1/4 mile away. This morning was an amazing ride! I did Joe's Ridge down to V7 road and over to Western Zippety. I took this trail up and then took a connector over to Zippety Do Dah and from there had an about 3 mile downhill/rolling section down Zippety Do Dah! These two ride were all along the top of spines and had some good steep drops, some rocks and jumps, and a few breathtaking climbs.

Will we go back? You betcha, next spring I think we will head back. There was good riding for the both of us and the camping was excellent! It was a great short trip with Natalie and the dogs.

Today, and Pumpkin Ale

So today it was 60 degrees and very sunny! Beautiful weather indeed. After two stressful days of school work and curriculum maps, I was ready to get out for a ride. Natalie went to tutor a high school student in Algebra 2, so I went out for a short ride on Boneyard. This trail is so cool being only about a 1/2 mile from the house. It's hard enough that it still presents a good workout and a chance to work on handling skills, yet easy and short enough that it only takes about 35 minutes tops to get up it. Then about another 5-10 minutes to get down via the Ice Rink trail. Shown are some pictures of Mr. Lister riding on the Boneyard trail. Up boneyard, and down ice rink. Resting at the top of boneyard, not for sure what he is trying to explain... prolly something about the amount of chocolate he ate in the past week or so......











When I got home, I popped open a Pumpkin Ale. I have had quite a few different brands of this beer, but this one is quite good. It is brewed by Buffalo Bills Brewery in California. Tastes a lot like pumpkin pie. I would recommend this if you can find it, and have a taste for pumpkin beers. And no I didn't ride and drink at the same time, that was only for the foto!

A Simple Day

Saturday was forecast to be beautiful, sunny and 67 degrees. So we decided it would be a great day for a hike. Nick had the perfect place in mind - Two Elk trail, where his mountain bike ride had ended a few weekends ago. That trail turned out to be a bit of a bust given the fact that the trail begins at a shooting range and many hunters were out for the 2nd week of rifle season. So, we moved on to a different place...the top of Vail pass. We found a nice trail:





There wasn't anything uber-special about this trail - no waterfall, or great view at the summit, nothing like that. But it was in the middle of a meadow, with a little pond, some snow hidden in the shady areas, and just lots of peacefulness. We took Wrigley with us and he loved exploring. Enjoy the pics below :-)

What a Drive!

Glenwood Canyon. The picture to the left shows the drive down I-70 through the canyon. It is so narrow that the only road that can fit through there is I-70, and also a bike path that runs alongside and underneath the interstate. (oh yeah, also a train track) I had to drive down to Glenwood Springs today to get the car looked at. (airbag light was on) It is about 30 minutes from Eagle, and has to be one of the most beautiful drives around. Everytime I drive through there (which isn't often) I am just amazed by the sheer size and beauty of the canyon. It just amazes me to think about how they were able to blast out the walls of the canyon to be able to build the road through there. In two of the spots, they had to tunnel through the rock because it was so narrow. The Colorado river runs right next to it, and the canyon wall climbs straight up on either side.

I/We have yet to ride the Glenwood Canyon Trail from Dotsero (or as my kids call it... Dotghetto for the trailer park there...) to Glenwood Springs, but will be sure to do it sometime in the future, if not yet this fall, then for sure next spring or summer. It is not a steep trail by any means, but is slightly downhill for the 16 mile length of it, then a slight uphill for the ride back, so I think it would be a nice ride for us to do together.

will you be my HONEY???

As I've aged... I have really developed a taste for some of the finer things in life. For example, good wine, crispy fresh veggies, fine micro brew and European beers, and HONEY! Yes, I said it honey is one of the finer things in life. We use it for many things, but three of my favorites have to be: pnut butta and honey on waffles, pnut butta and honey on pancakes, and my special honey and sweet dijon mustard glaze on porkchops. A true mountain man recently came into school to find out if anyone wanted and fresh high country honey. At 8 bucks for a 2 pound jar, I wasn't about to pass it up.

You can see the differences in the colors. That comes from different varieties of flowers. Pretty cool hey? The guy that brought in the one on the left informed me that the lighter the color is, the sweeter the honey tastes. Let me tell you what, I poured a little on my finger and it was phenomenal!!!! This stuff is AWESOME!!

Try some honey on your favorite snacks, it's an awesome source of natural sugars!!