Weak!

So my sister killed it with the pumpkin carving this year. We totally went the other way. We bought blinking eyes and taped them to the pumpkins. WEAK!!!! Next year, we are really going to do it right.

Happy Halloween!!!!

BOO!



pumpkin carved, photo taken and submitted by deborah e.

Too Bad, So Sad

The Rockies lost in four. We got swept. It would have been nice to at least win one game. Guess they lost their momentum. Hope it doesn't take 80 years for them to make another World Series appearance. Maybe the Broncos can do better tonight.

Corn & Pumpkins

My sister Debbie and I went to the Chatfield Corn Maze Saturday afternoon.


We went last year and it took us close to two hours to get through it. This year - 19 minutes! Last year the corn was alive and tall and we went at dusk. This year the corn was dead and short and we went when it was light out. But still, only 19 minutes????


It was fun nonetheless.


Debbie got hungry during our trek. Thank goodness we were in a corn maze!


Afterwards we went to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were actually grown there, not shipped in. It's the real deal out here.


We were supposed to carve the pumpkins later that night but we got distracted on the way home and went furniture shopping instead. And then we watched the Rockies lose - again!

Not the Golden Arches

Went on another hike with Bethie on Thursday. We went to Royal Arch in Chautauqua Park. Chautauqua Park is my favorite spot in Boulder, so if you ever come out to visit us, be prepared to hike here. I couldn't believe Beth had never hiked Royal Arch, she's lived here forever. I've hiked this trail four times now in 1.5 years. Just an interesting fact. Hike was good, nothing interesting until we stumbled upon this.

Beth said it was from a bear. I thought cool, my first bear-like sighting! Luckily Beth brought Pepper Power. But then I found it was expired. What was that going to do, tickle the bear???? Beth seems to like her expired products because she also ate a year old Luna bar that gave her problems. Poor Bethie. The hike was fun and we went up at a pretty good speed, for me at least. One thing I did notice was the number of people on the trial in the middle of the afternoon. I asked Beth if people worked around here (because she lives in Boulder) and she said,"No, this is Boulder." Hmmm. Cool. And yes, I work, but just part-time which is why I was able to hike in the middle of the afternoon. Here are some lovely pictures from our hike.

Beth nervously standing on top of a rock in front of the arch. I think I made Beth nervous climbing on the rocks with my big Nalgene bottle getting in the way. I need to find a cool water bottle holder/pack like she has.

The Royal Arch.

Fire Update

All is well on all family home fronts. Yeah!!! Fred's house survived, Jenny finally was able to shower yesterday (double yeah), cousin Scott's property was safe (in 2003 he lost 80% of it to the Julian fires) and my parents never had to evacuate. As far as we know all of our friends in the OC are safe as well. And finally, Pepperdine made it through another fire. Whew, what a week.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their homes. These pics were part of a mass email.

Ramona, CA Fire Picture

This picture is looking out from the supermarket in Ramona towards Escondido. That is the back of someones house right before it went up. Photo taken and submitted by Jennifer B. Thanks Jenn!

OC Fire Pictures

Here are some pictures from my parents place in Trabuco Canyon/Portola Hills, Orange County.

1. Map of Portola Hills & Palermo


2. Smoke from front door


3. Beginning Smoke from Palermo Fence


4. Heavy Smoke Behind Ridge


5. Less Smoke


6. Fire Gone


7. Small Fire


8. Palermo With Henry


9. Palermo Smoke in Far Background

Fires in SoCal

I can't stop watching and reading about the fires in SoCal because our families and friends are all being affected by it. On Sunday I was worried about Pepperdine, my Alma mater and where we got married.

I remember the fires in 1993 (Beth has some pics and a link) and it was crazy scary. I went to Santa Monica to hang out. No hanging out now.

Here are some pictures from my parents place in Trabuco Canyon, right next to Foothill Ranch (Orange County). They haven't evacuated yet, but I wish they would. The last picture is the most recent one.

Dan's family lives in the San Diego area. So far they haven't evacuated but his sister and nephews are in Ramona, very close to the fires. His Dad's house is in Ramona as well but we don't know the status of it because he's vacationing in Mexico right now. And his mom is sitting tight in San Marcos.

Here is a great link (thanks DS and GS) to a map of all the fires. Under the picture, in red, click on "Interactive Google Map."

It's hard to sit out here in CO seeing all this happening to our family. We also have many friends who are in the line of all these fires. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Broncos Country

The Broncos finally won and finally played a good game against a good team. Broncos 31 - Steelers 28! Big Ben is about to get sacked, AGAIN! Sorry Geoff.

Maybe it was the two week layoff or the momentum of the Rockies. Whatever it was, it worked. Since my first experience at a Broncos game was pathetic, they were pathetic, I had no idea what the reaction would be when they won. The cheering never stopped, even as we made our way out of the stadium. It was exhilarating. It was Broncos Country! It was also very cold, in the 20's.

My first swim meet in 12.5 years!

I did my first swim meet in 12.5 years yesterday morning. I'm part of the Broomfield Masters swim team. Our team is the Bee Gees and our suits are yellow with black polka dots. Lovely, uh? I choose to wear all black, it's much more slimming. Luckily my body wasn't hurting too bad after Saturday's "psychocross" event but I still decided to ease my way back into the sport with all 50's - 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast and 50 free. I even got to do 2 relays, they were coed. That was new. I felt like I was 8 years old at my first swim meet. When they blew the whistle at the start of your heat, does that mean you can get on the blocks? I just looked around to see what everyone was doing. And apparently I wasn't the only one with questions because the starter pretty much always had to say, get on the blocks. But yes, when the whistle blows, you are to get on the blocks. I placed well in all my events and my times were fine. I figured after a 12.5 year layoff all previous times are null and void and I can start all over. The best race was the 50 breast. I got to swim against a former Olympian, Susan Rapp. She kicked my butt but it was still cool. At age 40 she qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 100 breaststroke. Guess it's never to late to try.

Yesterday it was 81 degrees...

guess what it was today.

Saturday Night

After a long day at the races, we went to a Halloween party. Guess what we were.

Former big wheeler takes on cyclocross and...

crashes. I did my first cyclocross race today. And yes, I did crash, pretty hard. Ankle is swollen and I have bruises and knots on my shins, legs and elbow. Overall I had a great time. What did I learn? Better get on my bike and practice! I knew I wasn't in the greatest shape but didn't realize how much until the start of the race. All the girls took off, I just started peddling. I felt like I should have had a bell on my bike and just wave to people or something because at my speed it would have been more appropriate. Not sure if everyone will get that. Let's just say Becky needs to work on her speed and endurance and bike handling skills. One of the best parts of the race, if not the best, was the cheering section from my team, Blue Sky Velo. They were out in full force with cow bells and water bottles for support. The race would have been a lot harder without them. Props to my Dan as well who was there for me all day and rode my bike back to the car because I had nothing left in me the minute I crossed the finish line.

Beth and me. I think Beth had at least a top 10 finish if not top 5. She's really, really fast!

She's so fast, her picture is blurry!

More race pics.

Jenna, a teammate, crossing the creek. Then we got to climb up a muddy hill. This is one of the best shots of the day. The creek was at my shins when I crossed it.

Brrrrr!

It was a little cold this morning, had to break out the ice scraper.

This is major motivation to get our garage cleaned out so we can park our cars in there. Maybe I should invite bfisk1 over so we can organize and label stuff together.

BTW, this afternoon was shorts and t-shirt weather. I love Colorado!

Happy Boss Day!

Happy Boss Day, Lara!

World Series Bound!!!

The Rockies won in 4 straight against Arizona. Now if only the Broncos could get their act together.

GO ROCKIES!!!!

Our baseball team made the playoffs and are now leading the final series before the World Series!!! They play again tonight at 8:37 pm ET. Interesting little fact about two of the players, they used to be backup quarterbacks in college to the Manning brothers.

Owie!!!

I went on a hike today with an old college swimming friend, bfisk1. We decided to tackle Mt. Sanitas, a tame hike according to Beth but a moderately strenuous hike according to these people. Here we are at the summit. Notice my face is red and Beth's isn't. She cycles for a living, so she is in incredible shape. And btw, she also ran 18 blocks to the trailhead to meet me.


The real fun or should I say adventure began on the trail on the way down. That is if you want to call it a trail. Do you see an actual trail in this picture?


Yeah, neither did we but we went down this stuff anyways. We did hook up with a trail that was a bit slippery. (My right arm looks abnormally long.)


The funny part is that I was pretending to fall. I really fell about three steps after this. Thank goodness there was a cactus plant to my right that I grabbed to break my fall. (The brown stuff are the thorns, and some dirt.)


After trying to pick out all one hundred thorns (yes, I counted), we started down again. Then I heard a rock slide. I thought it might be a bear because they have been sited in these here parts over the last week. I picked up my pace and Beth had no idea why as she supposedly didn't hear the rock slide. Well, we finally made it down through the canyon to the main trail. It was a fun adventure and we plan to do a different hike next week. Can't wait to see what happens then! And in case you are wondering, I still have a few thorns embeded in my hand. Owie!!!