The Adventures of Melvin

Weekend at Deer Camp

2009-02-15T17:15:00.001-08:00

Just got back from an extraordinarily relaxing weekend up in Vermont at Deer Camp. We took off from Haverhill as soon as we could on Friday evening and met Matt and Monica outside of Montpelier. We packed up the sled and took the snowmobiles up to camp. The weekend reminds me of the Office Space quote: "Michael, I did absolutely nothing. And it was everything I thought it could be." Actually, we did some fun stuff like rip around on the snowmobiles, read educational magazines, played darts, stoked lots of fires and it was great.

Though we only won one out of three, Melissa brought it home with a brilliant bull's eye under pressure. If we were to play more than once every 14 months, we might actually be good!

I only tipped it a couple of times, but that's what helmets are for, right? Actually, it wasn't that bad, but Matt did take me up a trail that wasn't so great for a beginner :)

Jr. was there.

We even had our own personal barista! Camp food was great. Bacon and eggs in the morning, chili in the evening and lots of snacks in between.

We're back to city life now, but so far we can't stop talking about someday building our own camp. It's good to have goals :)

What do you get when...

2009-01-19T18:49:00.001-08:00

What do you get when you Google "happy people with food"?

Us of course!

Finally a workshop!

2009-01-11T18:01:00.001-08:00

Apartments aren't the best places to be doing woodworking. This weekend was a little frustrating trying to construct a garment rack for the spare room. We've been keeping all of our tools in bins, so it takes forever unpack them and to get set up. So, after digging out all of the tools, using a mitre box in the bathroom and gluing wood on a tarp over the carpet, we decided to save the headache and splurge a bit. Behold, our new apartment workshop! This afternoon, we ventured out in the snow and picked up a little workbench kit from Home Depot and a sweeeet Craftsman tool cabinet from Sears. Voila - instant workshop. Just need to get some type of mat for the floor and we'll be all set. The only bummer is that 'vin is on the road this week in Cleveland and won't get to enjoy it until next weekend. I think the Melvin factory will be very productive this winter :)

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow can stop the Drupal consultant!

2009-01-08T16:22:00.001-08:00

3:00 AM: Wake up to snow
3:15 AM: The best fiancee in the whole world makes me a sandwich and sends me on my way
4:00 AM: Snow turns into sleet and freezing rain on 93S heading to Logan airport
6:00 AM: Airplane de-icing turns into a 2 hour delay
8:45 AM: Arrive at Laguardia to 38 degrees and rain
9:30 AM: Arrive at client office in Manhattan after a five-block walk in the rain
5:15 PM: Back to Laguardia in more cold rain
9:30 PM: After more delays, finally arrive back in Boston to more freezing rain
10:30 PM: After avoiding 495 because of a huge accident, arrive safely in Haverhill
10:45 PM: Eat a warm meal prepared by the best fiancee in the whole world
12:00 AM: Wind down and hit the hay after my first successful consulting trip!

Licensed to Wed

2009-01-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, we stopped by the ol' Cherokee County Court House today to see if Iowa would let us get married this spring. Sure enough, they approved :)

Looks like we're aiming for May 22nd, which is also the birthday of a certain father of the groom. The Iowa party is going to be at a place called "The Grainery" on the following day including a hog roast and hopefully a big bonfire! Then we'll be taking a short break and reconvening the party in Cumberland Center, Maine on the 4th of July.

Best Christmas Ever!

2008-12-25T08:07:00.001-08:00

Behold our Belgian beer cork Santa! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Old rhymes with mold

2008-11-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

On our respective birthdays when we were growing up, my brother and I could choose what we wanted to eat for dinner and we got to kick the Cheerios to the curb and pick out one box of sugar cereal for breakfast on our special day. For me it was cheese fondue and Golden Grahams.

Well, yesterday was my birthday. As you can tell here, I am now old enough to have an adult beverage, though just how old isn't really important. Let's just say that I bring the average age of Melvin up a bit.

So to celebrate my birthday, I decided to do one of my favorite things - cook! I am a total sucker for a bowl of buttery noodles with cheese. So out came the pasta maker, and shortly thereafter we had some homemade noodles which we generously slathered with butter and Manchego cheese. On a side note, your standard clothes drying rack makes an excellent noodle drying rack.

Slightly more complicated was dessert. This is a concoction called Gooey Chocolate Stack from Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess cookbook. Basically it's three layers of cocoa meringue layered with chocolate creme patissiere. There really isn't a word to describe this.

So not related to the birthday at all is this alternative to your standard Thanksgiving Day pumpkin pie that I whipped up last week. Pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese filling. Recipe here. Mine aren't as pretty as Martha's, but dang were they good. Do you think I used enough cream cheese filling?

And just because he's so nice to look at, here's my sweetheart at the Sod House Museum in Gothenburg, Nebraska.

Long Live Melvin

2008-11-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

The adventures have only just begun. Looks like you'll be hearing a lot more from Melvin for years to come!

Big day!

2008-11-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

We're glued to the boob tube right now. I made a special apple pie to celebrate this historic evening. Hooray for voting!

We made it!

2008-10-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

14 months and 4000 miles later, we are back on the East Coast... wow, so that happened.

After some torrential rains and a few near disasters we pulled into our new home in Haverhill, Mass.

With no real furniture yet, Mel made the most of our hee-uuuge windowsills. I can see a window seat project in the near horizon.

Besides what we could fit into the car, everything we own is still en route. For now, we've got just enough stuff to get dressed and to eat.

Hopefully Kickapoo will take a break from running around like crazy to help us unload. Man, you should see her tear around on the carpet!

More reports and pics to come as we explore our new home :)

Going, going...

2008-10-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

The packers packed...

...and packed some more.

And then the movers took it all away.

Well, almost all of it.

With Kickapoo's bunny house on the truck and headed east, she wasted no time settling right in, and leaving me an offering of little round doodies. Special.

Four days to go!

2008-10-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I am happy to report that we officially have a place to stay once we get to Massachusetts! Day one at Acquia went off without a hitch, though it's daunting with so much change. I spent the day in new clothes in a new office with new people, and now I'm having dinner in a new apartment. I can't wait until my better-half, partner in crime and best friend rejoins me. For now it is the adventures of -vin. Here's a quick look at my first day at Acquia:

Can't complain too much about the location of the office - especially in the Fall!

Our new front door.

A quick stop at Market Basket for necessities. Note the sweet convertible that Thrifty Rental gave me - perfect for cruising around... in October.

When in New England...

Dinner and a movie... for one :(

Though, I do have to give a big thanks to Peggy who put together the world's best care package :)

Only four days to go until Melvin is whole again. Mel is doing all of the hard work back in Colorado to get ready for the move - bless her soul! Soon, the movers will arrive to pack up all of our stuff and before you know it we'll all be sharing this new stuff together!

Saturday without My Love

2008-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well My Love, we have been very busy since we brought you to the airport this morning. I did a bit of rearranging trying to clear a space for our things-to-take-on-the-roadtrip pile. Kickapoo discovered herself in the mirror...

...and then thought she'd help with the packing.

Betty came over and helped me pack the looms. I think it took all of ten minutes, a small miracle as far as I'm concerned. I fed her some sneaky snacks and we yucked it up a bit. I will miss her hilariousness. She was impressed with your magazine rack, by the way.

Stinker managed to incorporate a nice little nap in the sun into his day. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to love our new windowsills.

Here's crazy for you. Izzy the hater of the kitty carry thing crawled into the bunny carry thing, curled herself up into a ball, and is still sleeping soundly as I type.

Me, well I'm making a bit of dinner trying to use up a bit of this and that before our cupboards are packed up. I'd hazard a guess that you're at the Hampton Toll right about now. Halfway home. My parents are watching the Sox and awaiting your knock at the door. They made you fish chowder, Lucky. The thought of fresh fish and mussels and oysters and lobster is making me dizzy. Yum! You can take the girl out of the ocean...

In closing, My Love, I miss you so much I'm blurry...or maybe that's the gin I'm trying to use up before we move...either way I am missing you.

And just like that...

2008-10-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

...we're heading back east. Home. We hit the road three weeks from today. Check out the details of why here. The nice thing about moving so often is that you frequently get to evaluate what you really need to be hauling around and what just doesn't matter. Oh boy. Lots to do. Hooray!!

Elegant dining

2008-09-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

With Kickapoo getting smarter by the minute, we needed a foolproof way to keep her and her growing bunny appetite away from the kitty food. Kevin set to work planning an elevated feeding station. What he created was something we almost kept for ourselves. It would have made such a lovely side table.

Now the kitties can eat next to the big kids table. They even have shiny new bowls. Hmm...I think we look like crazy kitty people.

Wait...we are crazy kitty people. At least I haven't gone so far as to weave them a placemat...hmm...

Evening rituals

2008-09-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I taught Kevin how to play backgammon. I picked it up in my early 20's, and didn't realize how much I missed playing until I dusted off my case and set up the board. I will openly admit to a Nomar-esque ritual when setting up my pieces. It's disturbing, but I swear it helps me win. Of course at bat rituals didn't get Nomar very far, but still. Anyhow, if you're ever wondering what we're doing around 7:00pm mountain time, on any given day it looks something like this (insert me on the right).

Kevin has been playing around with updating his website, and it's looking very cool. Check it out. He's so smart. He's also helping me build a website for an idea I'm evolving. More on that at some point in the next couple of months. I have been weaving up a storm. It still amazes me how drawn I am to this craft. I just finished making this big long piece of fabric for my latest project. I'll be chopping it up and sewing it into something else this week.

My brain is now focused on the smell of yummy soup coming from the stove, so I will leave you rather abruptly as I have a date with a very handsome backgammon player.

In Vino Veritas

2008-09-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Melvin hit the road to take advantage of the last weekend of their National Parks pass. This time we decided to take the Old Fall River Road - a nine mile, one way, dirt road that offered some pretty tremendous views. We hiked most of the way up to Ypsilon, but the sky was looking a bit nasty, and we decided to turn back when the sprinkles started.

The marmots were out in full force, preparing for winter.

Not ready for the day to be over, we decided to hit the crater at Specimen Mountain again. You may recall that we sat there for what seemed like ages last summer waiting to see the big horn sheep. We are now 0 for 2. Darn sheep.

At least we could console ourselves with BLTs. Our tomatoes. Our lettuce. Very, very tasty. Mmm...bacon.

This past Friday was uncharacteristically dreary for Boulder, and I loved every minute of it. This 300+ days of sun thing is a lot to take. I used to love the sun. Now I mainly try and hide from it.

Well a rainy, 60 degree Friday night calls for some comfort food. Cheesy potatoes, to be exact. And summer squash. These days we eat summer squash every night. We broke out the mandoline, and Kevin started slicing away. It was going so well. Warning, the image after the following image may be disturbing. If you have a weak stomach, you may want to scroll quickly by.

Yes, this is a piece of Kevin's finger. It was a very clean cut, and the patient is recovering well. His pinkie may never be the same, but we've decided that it will be a forever reminder of a very fun night.

Cheese sauce and bread crumbs toasting in butter. We don't mess around.

Mmmm...cheesy potatoes.

Bellies full, we had a bit of wine.

And the kitties watched us get silly.

This bottle of "wine" got tossed. There is most definitely a reason it was on sale at the liquor store over the past few months. Bad wine. Bad finger.

Fun night.

Melvin has been busy

2008-08-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here at Melvin HQ, we have been busy, busy, busy. We won't bore you with the details, but here is a quick snapshot of the past 30 days.

I whipped up a strawberry rhubarb pie with rhubarb from the garden.

We have been grilling pizza with some regularity, the best one yet just this past week. With squash, onions, tomatoes and herbs from the garden, how can you go wrong?

We chilled out in Lyons for two days at Rocky Grass, and now we can't stop listening to Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet. Aside from their performance, the other highlight was catching a jam session in the Wildflower Pavilion with Casey Driessen, Ben Sollee, Chris Thile and Noam Pikelny.

Kevin's corn plants are making corn. I think we're up to about eight ears as of yesterday - enough for dinner for two.

The red zebra tomato seeds that I saved last year are making tomatoes, and darn are they tasty. We just hit that turning point where we can pick tomatoes every day.

The bouquet of flower seeds that Kevin gave me last fall, are generating fresh flowers every day, my favorite being the sweet peas.

Kevin also built Kickapoo new digs. She loves being able to come and go as she pleases.

Stinker wasn't such a fan of the heatwave.

My cousin Chris came to visit for a bit. We took him up to RMNP for a bit of a preview hike before we sent him off for a week of camping. He managed to climb Long's Peak without getting sick. No mean feat for a guy who had just days before flown in from upstate New York.

The work and home gardens are both pretty much out of control. These photos are from a month ago - they look even crazier now. If anyone ever tells you that you need a lot of space between plants, I say phooey. Aside from having to move with caution when weeding or harvesting, we managed to pack a whole lot of garden into a fairly small space. That's the tofu factory in the background of the work garden. It makes for an interesting olfactory experience at times.

I've come up with a little ditty about Kickapoo sung to the tune of "The Greatest American Hero" theme song.

Believe it or not, there's a bunny in there
She never thought she could eat such good parsleeeeey
Believe it or not she's alive under therrrrre
Ooooh could it beeee, believe it or not it's Bunnyyyyyy.....

Did I mention that we're knee deep in squash season? We blanched and froze about 20 pounds of squash the other night, and I picked this two days later. See our little soybeans in the right front corner?

In case you didn't think this could get any longer, last weekend, we spent three days camping in the mostly pouring rain. It did clear up Sunday morning, and it turned out to be a lovely day. I should have known when I mentioned the potential rain to my mother, and she said something about hoping it wasn't as muddy as Woodstock, and I said that there was no way it would be as muddy as Woodstock, that we'd be in for a dousing. Mind you, since moving to Boulder we have only had one really rainy day, and by late afternoon on that particular day the sun was out. That was about a year ago. So of course when we have been planning for months to camp out in Lyons for Folks Fest, we were due for a soaking. It's a true test of a relationship when you can spend about 48 hours together in a two man tent and actually come out liking each other more. Aside from the fact that rain is generally a good thing around here, I credit it for helping me sleep through the night. When you're camping in such close proximity to others, a little white noise is a tremendous help at drowning out the snoring and farting going on around you.

Here's Dar Williams singing in the rain. By the time Patty Griffin made it on stage, there was so much rain, I didn't dare take the camera out. Her set was the best of the weekend though, and she played a few of my very favorite songs. Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey drove the rain away for a bit on Saturday night, and were just fantastic and hilarious.

We boiled lots of water for tea to keep warm. Thank goodness for the crappy tarp shelter we erected over the tent. We were actually able to move around outside a bit without getting too wet.

To quote our friend Peter, "Thank you, good bye.".

Bunny gets a name

2008-07-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Bunny has been hopping about for 14 weeks now, most of those without an official name. She tried on all different sorts, but none seemed to fit juuuuust right. Well last weekend it finally happened. She found a name that fit.

I give you...Kickapoo.

Aside from devouring fresh parsley, sorrel and carrot tops from the garden, Kickapoo's favorite activity, also aside from chasing the other four-legged members of the household around and trying to steal their food, is to sit with her front legs immersed in a cool bowl of water from which she simultaneously drinks. Needless to say, there is frequent changing of water going on because dirty foot water isn't exactly tops on the menu.

Here is Kickapoo's favorite place to lounge. With just the slightest bit of effort she can find herself once again immersed in a cool bath of footy drinking water. Mmm...

Little bits

2008-07-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's 99 balmy degrees here in Boulder, and while the humidity level is only 5% it still feels gross. It's so very nice to get out early on Fridays. I was a rolling farm stand on my way home today. I hauled home a bag of cat food, two carrots, a yellow zucchini, some Rainier cherries and the fleeces from two llamas named Fuzzy and Marzipan. And myself, of course.

All is well on the home front. Kevin is working his tush off as it's Tour de France time. He has officially been on the job at VeloNews for a year as of today.

Bunny has taken over the house and is getting bigger every day. We have our own little comedy show here when she starts chasing after the cats in hopes that they'll play. No takers so far.

A crime, but at least my hair doesn't frizz

2008-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

So here in the high dessert clime of Boulder, I am a fish out of water. I won't bore you with the family history, but there is a longstanding association with the sea. I have never seen someone pick a lobster clean like my great, great Aunt Hazel. I'm fairly certain that any number of my relatives, if entered in a fried clam eating contest, would whip the pants off of the competition, and then ask for a plate of oysters to wash it all down.

Well, the sun sure is nice, and the low humidity means that my wavy hair actually looks wavy, not frizzy, but I remain many miles from fresh seafood. Sure, they can fly it in on a daily basis, but I do miss leaving work, walking a block to the pier, and taking home a couple of lobster at $4.48 a lb or mussels for far less.

Well to celebrate the long weekend, and the fact that at this time last year, Kevin and I were 2/3 of the way through our road trip out here to Colorado, we spent $5 a pound on four pounds of mussels. Now this was not a big expense, but it just seemed downright criminal to pay that much per pound. This doesn't mean I enjoyed them any less, mind you.

Check it out. No phoo phoo cooking here. We simply steamed them in butter, beer, garlic, and onions.

Endangered species, a lesson learned

2008-07-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on an abbreviated hike near the Sourdough Trail. On the way up we tend to focus simply on the ascent, periodically checking the GPS to see how our elevation has changed, and checking the sky to see if anything looks squirrelly.

The way down is another hike altogether. Our pace is a bit more leisurely, and I'm looking left and right trying to identify plants and spot something new and different. Kevin awaits patiently as I snap photos of my discoveries, quizzing him on the quality of my shots, and speculating which plants are related to those with which I'm familiar back home.

Well lo and behold, my first discovery, Calypso Bulbosa, more commonly known as Fairy Slipper. This particular flower holds a bit of significance for me. Apparently, when I was somewhere in the neighborhood of four, I picked a stunning bouquet of Lady Slipper orchids for my mother from the woods behind our house that would have looked very much like this, but a bit bigger. Little did I know they were an endangered species. Turns out the Fairy Slipper is also an endangered species, but don't worry, Mom. This one stayed put.

Next up was the Woodland Strawberry...

...the Green Gentian...

...what I believe are Pine Drops...

...a wild rose...

...and the best discovery of all, Iowus Handsomus. I know, I know. But it's true.

More vegetables

2008-06-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

The garden here at home is growing like crazy. The spinach just started to bolt, but thankfully we have lots of peas and chard to take it's place.

Our first tiny cucumbers have started to show, the tomato plants are taking off, and we have our first zucchini blossom. The thought of all of the tasty food we'll have to eat soon is enough to make me swoon.

The shallots are busting out, and we'll likely be pulling garlic shortly. Every time I think of our garlic, my fingers are crossed that it comes out of the ground tasting as good as I'm dreaming it will.

Estes Park Wool Market

2008-06-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Our local fiber festival is up at Estes Park every June, and seeing as how we were still living in Portland this time last year, this was our inaugural visit. Each tent/barn was divided by fiber animal - goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas and sharing a bit of space with the sheep were the angora bunnies.

While we were mingling with with the animals, Stinker was trying desperately to break out and join us. Little did he know we had a surprise in store for him.

This isn't exactly the most graceful of poses, but considering that it was well over 80 degrees, I don't think this ewe minded losing her winter sweater.

Check out the locks on these guys. Curls for the girls, as my old friend Susan used to say.

...and did I mention we added another four barely discernible legs to the family? We're officially outnumbered.

Too busy to blog

2008-06-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. We've been hiking and camping and gardening and even got to entertain my parents for a few days.

One exciting bit of news is that I'm beekeeping again! My friend Kayla captured a beautiful swarm of bees, and we introduced them to a new home two weeks ago. They were amazingly docile. Pouring them out of a box and into the hive was a bit surreal. The mass of bees stayed together forming sort of a thick river that flowed slowly down and into the brood chamber. We have been feeding them honey water from their Maine bee cousins, and they seem to have taken to their new home just fine.

Kevin and I have been hiking up a storm recently. The crazier the terrain, the better.

Splendid views in Rocky Mountain National Park.

We stumbled upon the remnants of an old home along a trail near Heil Valley Ranch.

We did a bit of camping with Traci and Cris over Memorial Day weekend in a secluded area between Lyons and Estes Park. The odd and slightly inappropriate looking thing on the left is our new favorite camping treat, "Biscuit on a Stick". In case that isn't clear enough, here are some directions. Place biscuit dough on the end of your favorite campfire roasting stick. Be sure to secure the dough around the end of the stick. Cook over the fire - preferably in an area of indirect heat. Remove biscuit from stick, slather with butter, jam, honey, or whatever you like, and eat.

Kevin's roasting stick has two points for double the s'more fun!

Yay for camping!

Mmm...salad

2008-05-22T18:18:00.001-07:00

Spinach. We have lots of it. Lots. But this is all about our first salad of the season. In the process of thinning the spinach, chard and peas a couple of weekends back, we found ourselves with a colander full of young greens.

We gave them a good rinse, removed the roots and towel dried them in our finest linen.

They were then dressed in just a bit of super special olive oil, brought back from Spain by my other mom Barbara, and a dash of Himalayan pink sea salt. Kevin declared it the best salad he'd ever had, and I had to agree. We may just start growing extra peas for their greens. Yum!

Busy weekend

2008-04-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

What can I say? My kitty is very talented.

We took our first trip down to the Boulder Farmer's Market on Saturday. Lucky for us, the weather was a bit grim, so it wasn't the shoulder to shoulder traffic I've heard is the norm. Everyone there seemed to be in good spirits despite the snow.

Kevin and I caught up with Amy and Wyatt, the owners of Red Wagon Organic Farm, and my former bosses. They take serious pride in their produce, believe me, and the greens they had on sale were gorgeous. Aside from some Red Wagon spinach, we also picked up some fabulous bread from Udi's and some exceptional cheese from Windsor Dairy.

For as long as I can remember, lilacs have been my very favorite flowery item. When May rolled around and it was finally warm enough to sleep with the windows open, the lilacs were blooming just outside in all of their perfume-y glory. We have a few lilacs in our backyard here in Boulder. They are a bit on the small side, which is to be expected in this climate, but I think they should be in full bloom by the end of the week.

And in today's gardening news, we have baby spinach!

And baby Swiss chard!

Making things

2008-04-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Check out Kevin's latest handiwork. I would like to point out the hand sewn magazine slings. Brilliant!

Snowy Spinach

2008-04-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

With the spirit of spring in its step, our spinach stood strong against the few inches of snow that fell yesterday. Boulder is green, perhaps the only time of year it's green without silly people trying to have the greenest grass on the block in a climate that just isn't suited for it.

This weekend marks three weeks before the generally accepted last frost date, so we'll be planting all sorts of goodies - sunflowers, nasturtium, corn, crookneck squash, yellow zucchini, delicata squash, beets and carrots. All of this waiting is killing me. I can't wait for fresh veggies!

Growing things

2008-04-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

Spring fever has officially hit! We're growing things like crazy here at Melvin HQ. We have two small gardens going. One at my place of employment and one at home. Perhaps you're puzzled by the idea of growing things at one's place of employment, but the super fabulous owners of Schacht Spindle Co., Barry and Jane, decided to turn a strip of land previously covered in grass into a series of employee garden plots. They painted little radishes on the edge of the curb surrounding the land to demarcate plots, and each spring employees are given the option of signing up for a plot. There are two rules. You have to weed your plot, and you have to garden organically. They provide us with compost, garden tools, and irrigation. Water is conserved by limiting the watering times to early and late in the day when the sun is a bit less apt to evaporate the water intended to irrigate your plants. I'm working for a couple of very cool people.

So far we have peas, lettuce, spinach and stir fry mix all starting to grow. The garlic and shallots from last fall are up and doing well, and with a stretch of 70+ degree days on the horizon, I suspect there will be more to report.

We're sharing the apartment with lots of little seedlings: tomatoes of various sorts (including plants from the seeds I saved last fall), peppers of various colors, beets, lettuce, thyme, dill, basil and lavender. April 20th marks the date when I'll plant a few more things in the ground, with Mother's Day being our generally recognized last frost date after which we can really go crazy.

Last night the first of the tomatoes were transplanted. We're growing black krim, red zebra, a mystery heirloom and some cherry tomatoes. After a long stretch of saving our yogurt containers, all that was needed was my trusty dusty awl and a bit of soil, and we had the perfect first step transplant containers.

Next step will be transplanting them into poo pots (dried, compressed cow manure) which can be planted directly into the ground when ready.

We also spent a good deal of time last weekend giving the worm bin a once over. The net result was happier worms and a nice little bucket of castings to use in the garden. There will be lots more to report in the very near future. Yay spring!

Lights Out for Earth Hour!

2008-03-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

We love a good excuse to turn out the lights and luckily Earth Hour was this past Saturday night. The idea started in Sydney, Australia a year ago, and this year was celebrated globally. Not necessarily intended to conserve energy, but a nice side effect nonetheless, Earth Hour is meant to raise awareness about global warming.

We timed our dinner to be ready just before 8pm, the official start regardless of your time zone, set the table, readied the candles, put some beer on ice, and unplugged everything aside from the refrigerator (which remained closed for the duration of the evening - spoiled food is bad).

With seconds to go, we served up our grub, lit the candles, killed the lights, and unplugged the last remaining clock. Who knows what time we finally went to bed. We had such a great time just being with each other that Earth Hour turned into Earth Night. We left everything unplugged, brushed our teeth by candlelight, and hit the hay. With no Sunday obligations, we slept in, waking up to a still house and still having no idea what time it was. Perhaps this should be a monthly event.

Moosewood scores again

2008-03-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Mollie Katzen's "Moosewood Cookbook" gets a good deal of use here. One of our favorite dinners is a spin off of the Moosewood Polenta Pie recipe. We follow the directions as far as the polenta crust goes, and once the crust is baked, we toss on any number of raw veggies we might have on hand as well as a healthy dose of cheese and bake it all until it looks done.

In the not-too-distant future, hopefully we'll have our own veggies. The seeds have been purchased, we're in the midst of fertilizing and tilling, and next week we'll plant peas and spinach. In another week or two we'll start some other seeds indoors to be transplanted after Mother's Day (the generally accepted OK to plant now day here in Boulder).

Spring-ish

2008-03-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

Saturday March 1st. Boulder, Colorado. 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Ahhhh...... Just got back from a lovely walk and discovered this:

Garlic!

and chives!

Snow scheduled for tomorrow... Only in Boulder.

New Wheels!

2008-02-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

As several of you [read: parents] have noticed, we haven't been doing a very good service to our readers lately :) So we thought that we would drop some fun news on you as a special little treat.

The big news is that we've got new wheels! Working hard for cool companies has benefits. Now, although we both got new wheels, they are slightly different types of wheels. Although different, they share this one concept. They both use new technologies to improve upon the spirit of an old tradition. Of what wheels do we speak? Spinning wheels and bike wheels, of course!

Melissa just unveiled her brand new Schacht Matchless wheel, which could easily be mistaken for a piece of artwork. It was so new in fact, that you could still smell the danish oil from the finish. Melissa promptly spun a few yards and confirmed that it was truly matchless in performance as well as beauty.

And, just today Kevin got to assemble his new wheel(s). A brand spanking new Giant TCR Advanced Team road bike. This 16 pound piece of monocoque carbon bears more resemblance to a stealth bomber than a bicycle of old. Yet, it still coaxes a smile otherwise only found on small children riding a bike for the first time.

What's grosser than gross?

2008-02-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

The other night Kevin and I went to see "There Will be Blood". Definitely a flick to see on the big screen - it is visually stunning. Well, if you have seen the movie, you know that there is no music for about the first fifteen minutes. The relative silence is disconcerting, but appropriately raw. Unfortunately for me, this meant that I heard the lady next to me when she decided it was a good time to whip out her nail clippers and take care of business. Yes. She clipped her nails in the movie theater. Clip. Clip. Clip. And she let her nail clippings fall on the floor. Should I be grateful it wasn't her toes?

Snowshoeing the Flatirons

2008-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Post-Christmas in Kansas, Jeff and Sarah stayed with us here in Boulder for an extra day of fun.

It was super cold and snowy, but that didn't stop us from layering on the gear, strapping ourselves into snowshoes, and heading up the road to the Flatirons. Using our cool new GPS, Kevin and Jeff decided to track our route and elevation gain.

Up, up, up we went...

...until we reached the Flatirons.

But of course we weren't really ON the Flatirons, we were just NEXT TO the Flatirons, so Kevin and Jeff pressed on, or rather up.

Kevin IN the Flatirons.

Our destination from the bottom of the trail looking back up.

Time for some cocoa.

Christmas in Kansas: Part Two

2008-01-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Kansas! A very small contingent of Millers and Hankens converged on Paul and Jill's in Lawrence Kansas... and there was much rejoicing.

After a very aggressive yankee-swap-type dice game, everyone ended up with a joke gift or two including: David Beckham "Inspire" cologne, a fart machine a burp machine and an inexplicable ceramic cat mug.

Jeff and Sarah were there.

Kevin did great in the first round of the dice game snagging four presents, but lost them very quickly in round two. Things got ugly.

Though, Emily was the big winner of the night and soaked up all of the attention. What a cutie.

Though, the best present of all is getting to set aside the worries of the day and spend time with loved ones. Wow, the holidays go by far too quickly.

Christmas in Kansas, Part One

2007-12-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our drive to and from Lawrence was full of both the expected as well as the unexpected. A few things we expected:

Kevin and Jeff geeking out in the back seat:

A bit of prairie here and there:

Oz:

And a bit of the unexpected:

An unfortunate typo:

We tried to go and see the six legged steer,

and figured that if the six legged steer wasn't around, we'd be fine seeing the world's largest prairie dog,

but we only got as far as the fence around Prairie Dog Town. Apparently they aren't open for business this time of year.

More later.

Kitties in Boxes

2007-12-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Stinker and Izzy are making the most of the holiday season and enjoying the extra boxes we've got strewn about the house.

We're looking forward to the arrival of Jeff and Sarah, our first overnight guests, on Saturday night, and then it's off to Kansas on Sunday! Hoorah!

Just when you thought you were rid of us

2007-12-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Goodness we've been busy since our trip to Maine. Seems that most of our time has been spent crafting prezzies for Christmas, so for obvious reasons we won't be posting photos related to that activity. Kevin has also been working tirelessly on his new site design for work, and it looks brilliant.

We did get a bit of snow over the course of the past few days.

Nice, eh? This is about a mile up the road past our house. It's not like we've never seen snow before, but it was just so pretty we couldn't resist taking a few photos.

The trees were all covered in several inches of the lightest, fluffiest little snowflakes. The snow was so light, even wispy plants like this seemed unburdened by the weight.

This super hot guy shoveled off the front steps and made a pathway to the laundry room. I've been doing a snow dance all day in hopes of seeing him in action again soon.

Stinker and Izzy have been doing their best to stay busy. Stinker's favorite new haunt is this brown paper bag. He likes to sit in the bag. He likes to sit on the bag.

Not sure what they talk about when we're not around, but it probably has something to do with chicken. I picked the yarn in the background up at the Handweaver's Guild of Boulder annual sale a week ago. Handspun and dyed by a guild member. At some point I hope to turn it into a neck warming device, but I have no idea when I'll be able to fit that into the schedule.

Sarah and Jeff should be swinging into town in about two weeks, and then we're all off to Lawrence, Kansas for Christmas. We can't wait!

Birds, Bees and and bit of Screech

2007-11-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Well this past week had a bit of everything.

Friends (baby due in January 19th!!)

A birthday (yes, the head wear says 'Party Girl' - the present opening was followed shortly after by a round of mimosas...or two)

Some turkey

A new addition to the family (not the guy on the right - he's been around for a while)

A bit of cheer (note the lobster stirry item on the left - Go Maine!)

The most stupendous turn at darts ever witnessed (M+M 2, Melvin 2 - the tie breaker to be played at a time and location to be announced)

A bit of family beekeeping

But not enough family time

Home Sweet Home

2007-11-20T13:46:00.000-08:00

Try as we might, we couldn't avoid the paparazzi. Here they are greeting us at the Portland International Jetport on Sunday afternoon as we tried to sneak home for a quick visit. Where's Leslinka when you need her. That gal can spot the photogs from a mile away.

Bye, Bye Farm

2007-11-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Had my last day at the farm just over a week ago. Contrary to what we were expecting, it was a fairly mellow day - we were even finished before sundown. Perhaps not surprisingly, four months of farm work afforded me plenty of time to ponder my priorities. What I found most revealing is that even my longest 14+ hour days at the farm felt shorter than pretty much any 8ish hour work day I've had in the recent past, even at a fraction of my former paycheck. I have this realization, along with love and encouragement from Kevin, to thank for the fact that I now find myself a week into a new job that I'm loving. I'm working for great people. I'm biking to and from work, about 5 1/2 miles each way. I get to spend time talking and reading and learning about my craft. I'm finally relaxed and happy. Funny how things work out.

I leave you with my favorite view from the upper field.

Planting the Garlic and Shallots

2007-11-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Our Garden Plot began to take shape today. We planted three, four foot rows of garlic and three, three foot rows of shallots.

The wish list of what we'd like to plant come next year is a bit larger than the garden can hold, but so far looks something like this:

Garlic - check
Shallots - check
Spinach
Lettuce
Cucumbers - probably little leaf and lemon
Heirloom tomatoes - various
Cherry tomatoes
Green beans of some sort
Yellow and green zucchini
Scallions
Red torpedo onions
Leeks
Beets - red and golden
Fingerling potatoes
Carrots
Genovese basil
Corn
Sunflowers
Hakurai turnips
Sunchokes
Sorrel
Dill
Rosemary
Mustard
Parsley
Chives - check
Oregano - check
Thyme - maybe check

We plan to install a drip irrigation system in the spring to minimize our use of water. Our soil seems to have a bit of clay as it holds water well considering how little water falls around here.

What Happened to Halloween?

2007-11-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Did someone cancel Halloween? I mean seriously, we live in a big neighborhood, blocks from an elementary school, and we had not one trick-or-treater wander down our street. This, of course, means lots of leftovers for us, but it was a bit of a downer. At least the weather was nice (and the company even nicer).

The night started out well enough, though perhaps not from the pumpkin's point of view.

But soon our jack-o-lantern began to take shape.

We headed out to our front stoop to set up camp, bucket full of candy, mugs full of hot chai. Kevin did an excellent impersonation of the jack-o-lantern.

I spent a bit of time explaining the whole caterpillar to butterfly thing to the jack-o-lantern, who was still lamenting the loss of his innards, and soon we were fast friends. I decided that it was best not to mention that we roasted his brains and sprinkled them with a bit of salt for a tasty treat.

A Room with a View

2007-10-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, so I thought I'd share the view from our shower. Yes, our shower. We have a nice little window overlooking the Flatirons. And how high is the sill, you might ask? Well you'll just have to visit to find out.

First race in VeloNews colors

2007-10-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend was the second race in the Boulder series, and the first one with my new VeloNews kit. It was as good of a day as any to jump in with the big boys in the elite race. With about six hours a week of training it probably wasn't the smartest idea. Go hard or go home, right? It wasn't exactly a breakthrough race, but I didn't come in last!

The course was one of the best I've ever ridden. There was an awesome mix of pavement, mucky grass, creek-crossing run ups, dry run ups, sand... you name it, they had it. The best part was that I had my own personal cheerleader running around the course shouting things like: "You're the hottest thing on two wheels!" Can't ask for much more than that.

My days of being a bike racer may be over, but it's still fun to get out there and suffer. The Boulder race scene is a perfect place to enjoy the sport. There were over 500 racers out there taking a beating and getting dirty on a Saturday. There were lots of cowbells and heckling fans cheering me around the last lap. I coasted across the line into the arms of my number one fan and just smiled. It was a good day.

Sunrise at the Office - View East, Naturally

2007-10-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Not a bad sight to behold at the start of the work day. Of course what you don't see here are the seven layers of clothing I'm wearing to keep warm. Yes, it's a bit chilly at the farm these days, but by mid-morning the temps will work their way up to the high 70s, low 80s, and the layers will have been gradually retired, aside, of course, from the socially acceptable layers.

Once the sun is up, the view from the west is also lovely. The mountains look quite impressive now that they're dusted with a bit of snow. This view reminds me of the view of Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range I had from my bedroom while growing up in the western foothills of Maine, though I wasn't quite this close to the mountains and the open space was a lake, not a field.

Slightly off subject. I like lakes, and somehow this reminds me of a ditch just down the road from the house I grew up in, that my brother and I found fascinating for reasons I'm sure any six or eight year old could easily explain. We loved the idea of wading barefoot in the water that would collect there, but didn't like the fact that the bottom of the ditch was lined with leaves and such and might contain creatures unknown.

So one day, we scrounged up two plastic bread bags, removed our shoes and took turns wading in the water wearing the bread bags on our feet. The feeling of the water slowly pressing the plastic against my legs as I walked into the water, is a feeling that I can still remember. The nice thing is that I think we'd both be inclined to such behavior to this day.

Fall Hikes, Yummy Food and Happy People

2007-10-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

The cool fall weather is finally hitting us in Colorado changing the east side of the Rockies from a dull brown and green to a dull brown and green with spots of brilliant yellow :) The forest around here is mostly comprised of pine and fir, but there are a few pockets of aspens, so we set out last weekend to see if we could find some. It's a far cry from the diverse rainbow of leaves back in Maine, but beautiful nonetheless.

We set out last Sunday over the Flatirons to Walker Ranch, about ten miles from town. Walker Ranch is a public park, bordering BLM land that used to be a very large ranch neighboring a gold mine. Though mostly exposed, the trail offered occasional protection from the sun.

And dipped down to a creek where took a break and enjoy the cool shade along with some more peak fall colors.

We had to pause and just savor the moment.

The trail undulated up and down until we got to the western edge of the park, treating us to a great view of the new snow on the continental divide.

Besides hiking, we've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen eating Melissa's delicious food. Delicata squash, homemade pumpkin pie from organic pumpkins, zucchini vichyssoise... you get spoiled having someone like her around :)

All in all, things are going really well out here. Lot's of projects to keep us busy. Stay tuned for pix of our new craft-closet-hutch-thing, racing, cold press coffee and lots more. With the winter weather approaching, we'll have plenty of time for fun projects. In the meantime enjoy life... we certainly do!

Single Speed Cyclocross Boulder Style

2007-09-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin had his first cyclocross race of the season here in Boulder. He's riding for the Ridley team, and was suited up in the requisite flashy kit acquired just that morning and customized with his Ride Clean socks. Boulder is one of the few places where you can find a single speed category in a cyclocross race, and for a local race there was an impressive turnout with around 60+ people in most categories.

We had a leisurely ride over to the course from our apartment and got a chance to cheer on a few of Kevin's buddies from work. The course was held at the CU Research Park and consisted of a collection of dirt hills, rocks and single track trails. Not perfect cyclocross, but still fun (and very dusty). The single speeds started behind the cat 3 men, and when I say started behind I mean they took off about 20 seconds after, so what ensued was a mass cluster of single speeders swarming the straggling cat 3 riders.

Here is Kevin focused just before his start.

And catching the cat 3s.

And screaming through the dusty trails.

And wheeling in for what I consider an impressive third place finish.

Looking good post race.

Taking a step back from serious racing is a tough transition to make, but races like this should make it a lot easier. Kevin was all smiles both on the course and afterwards, and bikes are supposed to make you smile so I think he's on the right track.

Next Boulder Series race is October 20th. Stay tuned.

We Love The Resource Center

2007-09-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you cross two do-it-yourselfers with a yard full of reclaimed building materials?

Voila!

This is phase one of the construction of our craft cubby, total cost of materials to date $12.00. Stay tuned for more.

The Rattlesnake Ramble (Rumble)

2007-09-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, no rattlesnakes were harmed, or even involved for that matter, at this past weekend's Rattlesnake Ramble. The 4.1 mile "ramble" through the woods was anything but that. Ups, downs, twists, turns, 850 feet of elevation gain mostly in one fell swoop, the Ramble had it all, and Kevin, who trained two days a week over the course of two weeks, bested all but 13 of the impressive array of athletes in attendance.

Looking fresh at the half-way point.

I have been forbidden to post the shirtless photo of Kevin streaking across the finish line (not streaking in the 70's sense mind you) so this fully clothed, post-race (note the very large smile) photo will have to do.

Please note that while Kevin's head appears abnormally large in this photograph, it was only a temporary effect caused by rapid elevation gain. His head has since returned to its normal size.

My Chef Extraordinaire

2007-09-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

After fourteen hours and fifteen minutes at the farm this past Friday, I was feeling rather tired. I made my way home, wearily climbed the stairs, opened the door and found a very handsome chef breading and pan frying up some squash which he artfully combined with pasta and tapenade. Did I mention that I'm the luckiest girl in the world?

Garden Plot's Makeover

2007-09-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

The place we're renting has a fairly large back yard with an old garden plot that has languished over the past several years covered in a thin layer of wood chips, the weeds taking over in a slow progression. Several weeks after we moved in, the garden plot came to us with a proposition.

Garden Plot: "Please. I need your help. I'm feeling tired, neglected and unattractive, and I think with just a bit of help I could be restored to my formerly vivacious veggie-bearing self."

Melvin: "Hmm... Not to be rude, but you're looking pretty beat."

Garden Plot: Looks dejected

Melvin: "We kid, we kid! We'd love to give you a makeover. You'll need a pretty serious sloughing to bring back that natural glow, but I think we're up to the task."

Garden Plot: (With enthusiasm) "Oh thank you! I promise you won't be disappointed. We'll be making sweeeet salsa together by this time next year."

And so we present to you, Garden Plot's Makeover, Phase Autumn.

Before:

Exfoliation underway:

Edges slightly more manicured, deep cleansing begun:

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Garden Plot's Makeover".

Ouzel Falls

2007-09-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

After a bit of a lazy Sunday morning (No we were not at a party in Denver last night. No we did not scale scaffolding to a rooftop slip-and-slide party. No people were not using baby oil to make themselves slip and slide faster. Yes the punch was strong.) we decided that an easy hike was in order. So we headed off to Rocky Mountain National Park yet again to explore a bit of the Wild Basin area in the southeast section of the park. Destination: Ouzel Falls.

After a lovely drive along the Peak to Peak Highway, we arrived at the trailhead to falling rain, flashing lightning and booming thunder. Conveniently parked next to a lighting scarred tree and preferring not to get crispy fried in a similar manner, we decided to wait it out in the car for a bit to see if the storm would pass. Weather out here changes so quickly - I love it.

Thirty minutes later we set out in a steady drizzle. An easy 2.7 miles from the trailhead to the falls, the weather was a perfect accompaniment to our wooded surroundings. I had become accustomed to a generally brownish and dry landscape, so the deluge of green we encountered was a complete thrill.

There were also head scratchers like this.

On the way up, we were treated to periodic glimpses of minor falls, and the sound of rushing water was a constant. On both the way up and the way down, Kevin was determined to get a shot of the trout attempting to jump up the falls. Greenback cutthroat trout, the state fish of Colorado and also listed as threatened on the endangered species list, are trying to make a comeback in this area. While you can catch and keep non-native brook trout, you must release any greenback cutthroat trout you may catch, and signs identifying this fish are posted periodically along the river. Thankfully on the way back down, Kevin was rewarded with a few shots of the jumping fish. Look closely and you can see the little fishy smack dab in the middle of the shot.

We climbed up above the falls to see a bit of the area destroyed by a fire (started by lightning) back in 1978. They say it may take more than a century for recovery to be complete, and clearly the area still appears significantly damaged.

We had noticed the many varieties of mushrooms growing in this area on our way up the trail, and somehow, fifty-some-odd photos later, we're determined to identify at least one edible variety. Here are two of our favorite shots.

Rattlesnake Gulch

2007-09-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

Continuing on our pursuit to explore every trail in Colorado, we opted to look a little closer to home. The Eldorado Springs state park is only eight miles from Boulder and offers as much splendor and altitude as anything we've seen in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It took a bit of work to get where we were going, including some full-on rock climbing. Though, it was nothing compared to the climbers we saw on the way in - lead climbing a 1,000' vertical rock face takes a bit more work, but our adventure was equally as exciting.

And once again, Colorado did not disappoint with its wide array of wildlife.

The trail rose sharply up to the ruins of the luxurious Crags Hotel, which only survived for four years, burning down in 1912. The only thing that remained was a bit of foundation and the stones from a large oven where people had placed found artifacts like broken glass, metal pots and rusty nails.

Melissa was so excited, she did a little dance.

After seeing the ruin, we continued our hike up the trail towards a very high railroad pass complete with long, dark tunnels... which Melissa had to explore.

After checking out the train tunnels, we continued around a loop atop the trail to a beautiful view of the continental divide where Kevin levitated 2,000' above the canyon floor.

After exploring the heights of the park, we decided to head back down to the creek to cool our feet. The creek, fed by the Eldorado Springs, offered us a beautifully serene way to end our adventure.

We'll be heading back this way on the 15th so that Kevin can try his hand at trail running. On the way out of the park we saw a poster for the "Rattlesnake Ramble" at Eldorado Springs, which is a 4.1 mile meandering trail run. Should be fun!

New Bike!

2007-09-01T10:52:00.001-07:00

I'd call it a success. A few cobbled together bike parts + some elbow grease = smiles all around!

2007-08-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, Fridays at the farm have been rather long. We arrive at the fields before the sun has risen and head home as it sets in the West. I cut my sandwich in pieces before leaving home as often I am eating while moving from station to station, and I simply don't have time to eat the whole thing at once. I don't mind the hard work, but it does tire a girl out by the end of the day.

Two Fridays ago, I wearily climbed the stairs up to our apartment, opened the door, and found this...

and this...

I'd like to point out that the first image is a pared down version of what I actually saw, but in my eagerness, I removed the ribbon and wrapping before I thought to take the photo. This was not assembled by some flower shop employee people. Kevin went to some impressive lengths here. He taped the seed packets to wooden sticks and made an arrangement by poking them into a Styrofoam cone. He then placed the whole lot in the metal vase and finished it off with a bit of wrapping and a ribbon. A bouquet of flower seeds. Perfection. It makes me smile just thinking about the thought that went into this. And if that wasn't enough, he also bought me bamboo stakes and twine so that we can mark off our garden in the backyard. I'm the luckiest gal on the planet.

2007-08-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed out to Lyons, CO with new friends Traci and Chris for Folks Fest.

I'm a big fan of Lyons. I like the vibe there and the area is simply beautiful. The Planet Bluegrass HQ did not disappoint. The venue is intimate and the acoustics are amazing thanks to Mother Nature. One edge of the grounds is a beautiful crescent of red rock while the other is bordered by a thick area of trees and the St. Vrain River. The stage is unimposing allowing the audience to focus on the music and the artists, and its smaller size limits the crowd so you really feel like you're part of a special experience. Folks Fest also has a heavy dose of new artists, likely the future lineup of larger festivals.

Maine was well represented on Saturday thanks to Catie Curtis and Ray LaMontagne, and Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch were a highlight as well.

Our personal favorite performance of the day was Arthur Lee Land. The guy is a whiz and is made even better thanks to songwriting help from his wife Carol Lee. His sound is Afrograss, and he pieces together songs on stage overlaying loops of percussion, bass and guitar.

I had been looking forward to seeing Judy Collins as she had a lot of play time in our house growing up. She reminds me of Saturday nights in front of the fireplace, my dad playing his guitar and my brother and me singing along. Dad, have you been practicing? I think she was excited to be playing back on her home turf as there were equal parts reminiscing and singing. I would have recognized that hair anywhere.

The rain was intermittent throughout the afternoon, but started to come down fairly heavily as Ray LaMontagne was closing out the day. Walking back to the parking lot, we could hear his voice cutting through the rain. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Two and counting

2007-08-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

Provided with a second consecutive Saturday of no obligations, we decided to not waste a moment and headed back North to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were a bit more ambitious this time around opting to park the car as soon as possible and hike up to the clouds instead of driving. The trailhead at Bear Lake was teeming with touristas, and with us being 'locals,' we hightailed it up the trail and felt relief as the voices trailed off behind us. We basically found the hike by picking a random spot on the map, figuring that the odds of seeing wildlife and beautiful nature were in our favor regardless of where we went. This hike was marked as 'difficult,' so the odds were good that we would get to see these things without dealing with much traffic.

The first half of the hike up to Flattop Mountain was well maintained, meandering through the woods. There were many beautiful trees including some which seemed to have been struck by lightning.

The second half of the trail was very steep, rocky and exposed, but revealed some great vistas. As we climbed the trail it was obvious that we were gaining altitude quickly. The sun was hot and the air was thin. While pondering the inhospitable climate met some interesting furry critters that prefer this altitude, like this:

We saw quite a few of these pikas, including one that ran right up the trail next to us with a huge mouth-full of grass.

There were no shortage of marmots near the trail.

Once we summited Flattop, we could see our destination: Hallett Peak. From this point the trail basically turned into a pile of rocks and our only guide was the occasional cairn. The final mile up to the peak was straight up, and once you get over 12,000 feet, the going gets slow.

However, once we got to the top at 12,725 feet, the view was more breathtaking than the lack of oxygen.

We took some time to appreciate the achievement and soak in some sun (which is apparently pretty potent at that altitude as we would find out upon returning).

On our descent back to Flattop, we happened upon some magnificent elk, which capped off a day of some great wildlife encounters. All told, we gained almost 3,250 feet in our six-hour, 11.8 mile hike. Despite some sunburn, blisters and sore muscles we're very excited to keep exploring. Longs Peak, at 16 miles round trip with over 4,500 feet of gain, topping out at 14,259 feet sounds like a worthy goal. It might take a few more day hikes to prepare, but it seems like a feasible goal to hike our first 14er before the end of the year!

2007-08-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

One month and counting. We've been out here in Boulder for a month now, and here's a brief recap - starting with the weather of course, because that's something we Mainers love to discuss . According to the Daily Camera, our local newspaper, we are three inches behind our annual, cumulative-to-date rainfall. The first, third and fourth weeks of the month were 3.5, 5 and 3 degrees above normal, respectively. The metro area "easily violated" EPA clean air standards, and we had record power usage on July 25th. Did I mention that there were also flash flood warnings? One bright spot was week two, the week we arrived (and I foolishly proclaimed aloud that the weather out here was just lovely). Apparently the second week of July is usually the hottest of the year, but temps were two degrees below normal. For the record, it really was perfect weather.

I am not a big fan of extreme temperatures - spring and fall do it for me. That said, the farm job seems to be improving my tolerance, or rendering me a bit less tolerant, depending on whether you focus on the hots or the colds. I showed up at work at 6am yesterday, and it was about 65 F. Most everyone was sporting fleece and jeans and there was even a wool hat in the mix. Now a month ago, 65 degrees wouldn't have bothered me so much, so I had a very light layer on over my tank top. Well darn it all if I didn't find myself cold (it was well into the 90s by mid-morning, so the goosebumps were short lived). On the flip side, I seem to be able to withstand working under the blazing 90 some-odd degree sun in long pants for hours on end. Yes Mom, I am wearing my sunscreen - I love you.

I think that overall, I have been struggling a bit with the fact that I will change and adapt to my new environment. Very odd, though perhaps not. I have always, foolishly and narrow-mindedly, stated that I could never be landlocked, that I could never live more than a short drive from the ocean, the beautiful, haunting, far as the eye can see ocean. Nothing like a bit of drastic change to bring the immature aspects of the human psyche to the surface.

When we arrived here in Boulder, I found myself feeling defensive of my New England roots, and I realized that I was focusing on what I viewed as the negatives - most swimming seems to take place in pools, the "historic" district is younger than most of the buildings I have called home in the recent past, that every block seemed to have its own mall, that most locals say the city just ain't what it used to be, that I can't buy fresh seafood straight from the dock. Ick. What an ignorant snob.

Now I am generally a glass half full type of gal, and feeling this way was a huge drag and something that preoccupied me on a daily basis. Thankfully, I hit a turning point this past weekend. As Kevin and I were heading out of town, off on our mountain adventure, I began to feel this enormous sense of relief and openness. As I stood at almost 12,000 feet of elevation, surrounded by traces of the elusive longhorn sheep and alpine tundra plants that grow a mere 1/4" each year thanks to a harsh and brief 40 day growing season, looking out at mountains that would dwarf most everything, life just seemed right. I don't have to become this place, I can call myself a New Englander for as long as I like, I can always love the ocean more than the mountains if that's how I feel, but for goodness sake, if or when I leave Boulder, I will have no regrets about my experience.

2007-08-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Tour de France over and farm job exhaustion becoming a bit less, well exhausting, Kevin and I decided to get out of town for the day and see what Rocky Mountain National Park had to offer.

Kevin had done a bit of research, and we decided that Specimen Mountain off of Milner Pass would be our destination for the day. With an elevation of 12,489 feet, this would involve climbing about 1,700 feet over the course of about a mile into the heart of bighorn sheep territory. Coffee and homemade muffins in hand, we hit the road.

We were about ten minutes into the park, when we realized that we were rather low on gas. My bad. We reckoned we could coast down and out of the park without gas, but weren't sure we could actually make it all the way to the trail head at Milner Pass, so back to Estes Park we went to fuel up. Good thing too because we saw our first bit of wildlife on the way down.

What you don't see here are her two babies that ran across the road to join her. Hooray for wildlife! Boo for my not-so-quick camera skills.

We stopped briefly at Rainbow Curve to get directions from this guy...

...but he fancied himself quite the dapper fellow and couldn't be bothered as there was posing to be done. So we pressed on, stopping at Forest Canyon to see what the locals were up to. Matthew, if you are reading this, please avert your eyes. I know how much it would pain you to be this close to a glorious, seven-point elk, well, actually he was starting to develop an eighth point.

Did I mention the breathtaking view?

Ahem, I mean, view?

And speaking of views... there were plenty.

After cresting the highest paved road in the country, 12,180' above sea level (more than two miles above Maine), we dropped down to just over 11,000' and parked on the continental divide at Milner Pass. From there, we set out on foot to locate "the crater" near Specimen Mountain and what proved to be the elusive Longhorn Sheep. We were treated to a beautiful, albeit steep, trail up to the crater where we found a marvelous view of the western Rockies.

We sat for an hour soaking in the view and hoping to catch a glimpse of the Longhorn. At one point, we spotted a moving flash of white among the rocks, giving us a ray of hope that we'd see at least one, but to no avail. This is a close as we got.

Just as we decided to start moving again, the weather took a turn. We felt a few sprinkles and heard rolling thunder off in the distance echoing ominously through the mountains. After numerous warnings of deadly lightning strikes, we thought it would be a good time to head back to the car.

Safe and sound, we pointed the car back down the mountain pass towards Estes Park. While this was only an eight-hour adventure, oddly it felt like a week-long vacation. It was an awe inspiring place and a welcome change from the city. We're looking forward to spending many weekends exploring what the mountains have to offer.

2007-08-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Kevin is like Norm Abram, but really good looking and witty. Sorry Norm. You're an excellent woodworker and way cooler than Bob "Benedict Arnold" Vila. Plus, you have your own drinking game. Not that I condone this behavior, but it would be funny to count the number of times you say the word "biscuit". I miss you, Dad.

On to business. Our Boulder kitchen is a bit, shall we say, on the small side, so Kevin the Magnificent decided that he'd build us a storage solution. Sadly Dad's fabulous wood shop is back in Maine, so he made due in the living room.

Nice pipes, Baby!

And the brilliant finished product.

2007-08-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of having little bits of home with you when you're far away. On our recent visit to Cherokee, Kevin's dad, Steve, gave us this crock. Being that Steve's popcorn making skills are known far and wide, it seemed fitting to use the crock to store our popcorn. Thanks Steve!

2007-07-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Boulder has been hot, hot, hot, and this makes us cranky, as demonstrated by Izzy the Cat.

Up until this morning, it has been so miserably hot, that even I, hater of all things air conditioned, had begun to crack and consider sealing myself up in a bubble of mechanically cooled air. At the farm yesterday morning, a co-worker commented that it felt as though the sun had been pulled closer to the earth. Indeed, by 8am, I could feel the sun burning through the back of my pants in an attempt to slow cook my legs. Apparently it is unusual for Boulder to have so many consecutive days of 90+ degree weather, but they really rolled out the welcome mat for us.

Stinker discovered just how deadly the heat can be after investigating Kevin's freshly shorn cycling shoes.

Yesterday afternoon brought the beginning of a welcome change, and this morning I am happy to report that it's supposed to be lovely over the next few days with a sprinkling of thundershowers. Off to set up the creativity room!

2007-07-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well... where do we start? First off, many apologies for not regaling you with our many adventures with greater urgency. We've been some combination of so-busy and so-tired every day that we haven't had the energy to do much of anything aside from weeding through our boxes of essentials. Speaking of weeding, the "Mel" half has been working tirelessly at the Red Wagon Organic Farm, just East of Boulder. Meanwhile, "vin" has been working hard at ruining his eyesight by putting in loooong hours on the computer reporting the news from the Tour de France... from his exotic desk in Boulder.

After a frenzied weekend of packing that wouldn't have happened without the help of Dave, Peg, Matt and Monica, we said tearful goodbyes to the family and set off on our way at 5:08 a.m. to a glorious sunrise.

After 37 hours of driving, four gallons of hot coffee and one root canal, we arrived in Boulder, Colorado with the same number of passengers that we left with. Miraculously, the cats settled in and "enjoyed" the ride (READ: they didn't pee all over and yowl the whole trip). We did successfully smuggle them into the Super 8 motel in Howe, Indiana, which was oddly exhilarating after 15 hours of driving.

After two days of driving, we desperately needed R&R. We stopped in the corn-laden lands of Cherokee, Iowa and were greeted with the customary Hankens 21 bottle rocket salute... we were forced to stay in the car because, as is customary, the bottle rockets were pointed directly at us. The parents Hankens offered us a comfortable place for our bums to return to their normal shapes after 25 hours of being squished into car seats.

Cherokee was a fun place to enjoy cookouts, be lazy and entertain ourselves by watching the felling of trees which were tied to a rope and attached to a car... nobody was injured... at least not injured seriously. We were also treated to Deb's cheddar cheese soup with hard-boiled eggs on toast, monster cookies and glorified rice.

After four days in Iowa, we were ready to hit the road for the final leg of our journey. We were delayed slightly as Kevin decided at the last minute to have an emergency root canal on Sunday morning. Not to be deterred, we were on the road by noon, pointed West. Ten hours later as we crossed the border into Colorado, we found ourselves in an extraordinary electrical storm complete with driving rain. Slightly delirious, we almost drove off the road trying to take photos of the lightning bolts.

As luck would have it, our landlord was telling the truth about our sight-unseen apartment. We wearily climbed the stairs toting tired kitties and quickly fell asleep on our makeshift moving pad bed, safe and sound, ready to begin our next adventure.

2007-07-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

5:08am, Monday July 2nd, Cumberland Center, Maine.

Cats - two
People - two
Varieties of plant life - eight
Worms - not really interested in counting, so 'lots' will have to do
Miles to Boulder - 2,097