New Year's Eve

We are at a party in the Chicago area. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!
-Jim & Jeanne

Open Road Trolling

He didn't invent the internet, but did did invent the BLOG:

Guess who?

In other news:

Transfiguration is the next new event at the 2012 Olympic games in London!

Blog Dogs!

Everybody we visit has dogs!

Here's Oreo!

And Buddy


Duke and Laya

... and Riley

Mysteries In Illinois...

Smith & Northwest Highway, Palatine, IL:

Brown's Fried Chicken Massacre

We would pass this way on the way to church! No building remains on this spot!

The Little Jewel in Arlington Heights:

Tylenol Terrorist !

We just moved to Arlington Heights when some neighbors accross the street started getting real sick!

What? More dogs?

Rasta and Joe together again!

Been real busy and it's just gonna get worse!

We are staying at Natalie's this week!

Christmas 2008

Hey, It's little Joe...

Ain't it the cutest little thing!

Ah, but it's NOT a Corgi !

We got to Denver airport and in our plane, taxied over to the runway and then broke the rudder! Had to change planes, took six hours longer to travel, but we made it into Chicago eventually!

Winter Solstice '08

Today in Wiltshire, UK:

About 1,900 Druids and others gathered at Stonehenge for the sunrise.

Also overlooking Dixon Reservoir near Fort Collins!

Somewhat less than 1,900 Druids braving the low temps in the foothills. Note: I am trying to beat on the Old Goblet Drum. Maybe 10 degrees F ? Brrrrrr!

Kiln Update!

Stuff has cooled down enough to take all the goodies out!

The last few items on the bottom...

Here's all the stuff from various classes. This was the last of this year's pottery cookout. On the bottom left is my banjo pot.

Jude Varnum's dog. They likes dogs in Fort Collins!

The locals bring their dogs everywhere. Even we are thinking of getting a dog next year. If we do, it will be a Pembroke Welsh Corgi!

Pinus contorta

It's a local tree variety...

It seemed like a goofy tree at first, but it grew on us after a time.

FoCo weather forecast:
40's today & tomorrow, then 17 and 9 for the weekend. Then back to 40's by Monday. Maybe some snow on Saturday.

CSU Football! GO RAMS!!! Wah-hoo!

What the hell do we know about football!?

Sonny Lubick

Not much, but we did go to Sonny Lubick's Steakhouse tonight. The food was very good. A lot of CSU football memorabilia all over the place... seems this Sonny fella is a big deal around town.
Afterwards we stopped in at Avo's bluegrass jam for the last jam of the year (for me) as we are heading for Chicago next week.

Again with the signs!

As we have seen, the signs are everywhere. They have been here, there, and even this place.

I don't remember. Did I vote YES on 1A?

You can't see this sign very well, but it is a cardboard pizza! A CARDBOARD PIZZA! I bet it tastes just as good as the real thing!

Sorry, sometimes I can't stop in the middle of traffic to get a good shot!

With Fresh Burrito you get 25 cent coffee!

This could be a good deal, maybe.

More than 70 remaining retail locations of the parent company of Corral West Ranchwear are being liquidated.

Not too hairy potter

At the pottery studio:

 We  were supposed to make Christmas related pottery.

What I've got on the wheel is a clay banjo rim.  As of today it has not yet been baked out, but if it is round and can be headed, it will be used for making music! (possibly?)

I guess I made a few other things. WARNING! Those of you who I might see this season may get some kind of ceramic crap that I made at the pottery class! Just remember: It could be worse!

FoCo Weather update:

It's damn cold outside! We had a record temperature of -8 degrees F. last night! The rest of the week looks like maybe 36 for the highs and zero for the lows.

Opera Colorado

We were at a Madrigal dinner featuring the Opera Colorado!

J&J being medieval again...

The going of ye olde pudding!

Ceramic Circles

On the roadside we see some ceramic circles (I warned you!):

Hey, these are near the train/bus station! They are all about traveling!

Getting there is half the fun?

Via the motor car

The locomotive

train (They likes trains)

Streetcar

It IS Balloon!

Biplane

Rickshaw?

Bike Fort Collins!

Erethey isa onay zee-e-a ayway ootay eethey ars-sa?

and finally, the BUS!

Throw some pot!

At the Pottery Studio!

They have 12 kick wheels and 12 electric wheels!

Lots of glaze varieties

3 gas fired kilns and 1 Raku

2 Electric kilns

A Slab roller!

Lots of work areas!

I think I'm gonna try this place out!

Swing again

Ah, the old VW gets a full tank of gas! Compare with this price!

On the way to The Swing Station...

For a short bit o' jam!

They play honky tonk there. More hard drinkin' than Avo's. It's on the way North side of the county.

University Center for the Arts

Last night we saw 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle', by Bertolt Brecht and directed by Eric Prince at the new(old) University Center for the Arts. We purchased season tickets via the auction last month!
An epic play with universal and humanistic appeal with music by Chris Nucci: lead vocals & guitar; Bruce Burbank: accordion, bass, banjo; Heather Fjare: guitar, mandolin & dobro. Yes! Dobos, accordions and Banjos in the orchestra!

It was our first time at CSU's UCA! The building was originally the FoCo High School. Nicely renovated; it does not seem like a high school inside! It opened in October of this year and is billed as a state of the art facility providing the opportunity for dynamic community-university collaborations and programs.

Snow Traffic

A snowman directing traffic

There's still some snow on some streets. The sun is out today, so most of it will be melted by the end of the day.  The forecast says 60 degrees on Sunday, then 32 and snow by Tuesday. 

Our first snow!!!

We love snow! And so, yesterday's high being 69 degrees, it just didn't look or feel right.

We had 5 inches last night with a possible 3 more later today.

Here's my chance to document the winter weather conditions in FoCo!
As far as we can tell:
1) We didn't see any plows out on College or Harmony until noon.
2) Our street probably won't get plowed; The snow WILL melt by Friday.
3) We thought the HOA would shovel the walks; maybe not!
4) I have a snowblower and I know how to use it!

With a name like Schmickles

Ate some wild elk and buffalo today...

The local Home Depot has a lunch stand where you can buy the 'Wild Game of the Day'.

I had heard earlier about being able to get a 'Road Kill' license from the ranger station so I went down to the station to pick one up. It turns out you have to hit an animal with your car/truck/snow mobile BEFORE you can get a license! And then only after you have a ranger come down to the accident site and determine if the road kill is OK to eat. I'm not sure my little VW can take another hit, so I guess I should be content with eating a Schmickle sausage whenever I have to go out and buy hardware.

The Tree Farm

There are two things in Greeley that are worth the drive:

1) They have great Mexican restaurants
2) They have a nice Christmas tree farm

We are looking for a fresh tree to put up in our new home. Now that we have 14+ foot ceilings, we can put up a larger tree for the first time ever! Lets do it!

On the way back, we stopped in at Windsor to see how the rebuilding was going. You could still see workmen fixing roofs and cleaning up after the damage. Some of the larger trees were removed from the area since the last time I visited, but none of the businesses have been restored.