Wind River Range Part II

 So, I decided to wrap this up with a collage. I'm the guy in the red shirt with the green backpack. You can easily see the size of the boulders we had to traverse.  It was all worth the effort. The country and the views were incredible.

The dog with us struggled mightily, especially at the upper altitudes and the ruggedness of the terrain. It was probably not the best decision to bring him.

It took longer to get to the summit than we expected, almost four full days. We were going to make a loop but ended up thinking better of it. After spending a night sleeping on the large rocks near the peak, we added back to the base. The canoeing and steepness of the climb took were both challenges. We fished some of the little pools in the stream as we descended. I caught one of the nicest trout in a pool that wasn't much more than four feet in diameter. We ended up canoeing the final three lakes on the last day of the trip. We celebrated our adventure around a campfire on the last night of our trip. It is a trip I will always look back on with great joy. 

Living in Colorado

Snow Coming

Bright sun setting,

The eagle roosts..

Living in Colorado one can't help but learn to commune with nature. It is almost automatic and often breathtakingly beautiful. The weather can change in an instant. I've seen sunshine, rain, hail, and snow all in one day! The picture is one looking West from Deer Creek Canyon Road. I used to work up there - what a beautiful and peaceful morning drive (once I left C470)!

I think Carolyn is secretly trying to sway me to vegetarianism -- I get these not so subtle and sometimes subtle hints. I don't eat a lot of red meat anymore - but I do like a good steak from time to time. I also love fish! Poultry, well yes, chicken, turkey, duck... I don't think I'll ever be a vegetarian - but I will probably eat less and less red meat. I am definitely not a big fan flavored tofu of any kind. (How did I get from the beauty of Colorado to this subject?) Oh, yah, Carolyn walked into the room!

Oh well, the train of thought has been completely derailed for the evening. The present moment has popped me back to reality. Have a great week!

Getting Ready for Canada

Well, two golf lessons under my belt. Shot the worst two games I've ever shot -- 117, 126 - well maybe it was a bit worse a few times at Myrtle Beach. But on Tuesday I had an 89 at Fitzsimmons - Wahooo - I celebrated by buying a Nike hybrid 2 iron. I still can't hit a driver to save my life, but who cares if you are scaring well and don't need the damn thing.

Now to Canada - totally cleaned up the boat today, got all my gold jigs in order, rod storage cleaned out, made sure we had the life vests, all the safety things, smoke extinguishers and such. So looking forward to this trip.

I spent a lot of timing killing weeds today - maybe it is time to xeriscape part of the back yard and get started on the "fairy garden" - (Yes, "fairy garden" - one of Carolyn's dreams.)

April 2009 - Just Things

It has been awhile. We have two dogs at the house, its snowing (April 5), I called and left George a message - I haven't talked to him in 25 years. Sometimes, you just miss friends that you have not been in contact with for a long time. George is one of those folks. Why do we lose contact, what happens, what causes that spell where you lose contact. Could be kids and grandkids? Who knows, but, what brings the desire to be in touch back again.

Well, because your gut tells you to I think. We just brought the dogs in and had to bathe them. What a mess. they do so like to play together.

We cleaned the freezer out and gave about 40lbs of great food to Megan, she was very appreciative. She went back to school with a good friend.

Life is good. I'm so looking forward to our trip to Canada. Maybe George will go. That would be so great.

Fishing, Golfing, and carpentry

yes, well - don't buy those cheapy doors at home depot. Nuff said. We live in an old houese with metal door jams. Nothing is square, they are all different sizes.. argg. Well, bottom line, if igured out how to geth the darn things out -- hack saw and hammer, 2 cuts, and yank. Now i can replace with a door that is pre-hung.

golf - I hit the heck out of a 4 iron at Myrtle beach this year. I ordered a matching 3 iron today. Look out guys. I passed on the 2 iron to make sure i can hit the 3 iron first. I'm playing golf in the morning with my sons-in-law. It should be fun.

Fishing - Carolyn has basically said I can get a "bigger boat" - I need to cure that Canada boat and motor envy. I'm shopping. I did promise I'd get the kitchen cabinets done first. So - I got lots to do - lots. Carolyn and I went fishing at Chatfield Sunday. it was a bust - 1 tiny something or other i didn't even recognize. We were fishing fake stuff. I'll have to try some live bait next trip - other folks said they were catching some walleyes. Must be too many in the lake because the limit is 5, not 4, like the rest of the state. I'll be going back out soon.

Life is soooooo good. I'm enjoying it likeeach and every moment is absolutely special - try it. You'll like it!

Back in Colorado

No interenet out there. Well, extremely limited. So I just waited for home. What a great trip to Canada -- despite all the driving and high gas prices, the trip was worth it. Funny that I find myself a bit speechless at the moment. I did feel it necessary to at least post something - habit you know.

Pickup, boat, trailer, new motor, all worked extremely well. One minor problem with the motor, but being a good "McGyver" I took care of that - I'll have to plead a bit with the dealer so the warranty isn't violated, but I've got all the good reasons in the world.

Wolfgang caught his first walleyes and northerns. We got some excellent pictures, and, can perhaps share some of those.

And who said Lanny can't drive for more than an hour. We drove 2850 miles on this trip. I drove all but 3.5 hours. Carolyn actually enjoyed driving the pickup truck though. It didn't seem to be as tiring - maybe it is the comfort - as driving a car that far.

We had all the weather - sun, sleet, snow, rain, sun. On the second morning, our boats were all a mess -- the back end of mine (stern) was sunk and half the boat flooded. Wolfgang and i got it bailed out and by midday, the weather was great and we were fishing again.

I learned a lot on this trip, made every mistake imaginable - and I mean every mistake one would think I could make with boats, ropes, motors, anchors - all of them.

Well, more to come! have a great day. I think one of the big lessons we all learned on this trip, is that almost everything we take so serious when it comes to problems, are really pretty trivial things...

Just Another Day?

There really isn't such a thing as "just another day". Every day is unique in its context, beauty, moments, realities, and parallel places. Well, just a clue to what is real and what is not real. Maybe it is all real.

Went shopping for a bigger motor for the boat, the timeline is going to be real tight - but, I think it well make it. Grandson Trenton called and asked if the boat was ready. We are going fishing Saturday if the weather gets a bit better.

Kindle is our daughter, she has a couple of great websites. What a neat kid - vegproject.org and veggietrip.com . Check em out if you get a chance.

Back to fishing (I do tend to wander a bit, so if anyone is reading, just hang in there!) I got my fishfinder, boat roaps (docking rope), anchor rope, a couple of cleats, some rod holders - stow and fish, some Cajun line - my sister highly recommends it - and it isn't expensive! I also got some of those new fake marinated minnows.. could save me some money this year. Minnows are very expensive - at least they were last year. We had contests to see who could catch the most fish on one minnow - if I recall one of the guys caught like 12 on one minnow -- seems impossible to me, but when the fish are biting. even when there is only a fin left, it works.

I am so excited that I can hardly stand it -- just like the Pointer Sisters song.

Please take care, enjoy each moment - share them when you can - smile at someone you haven't smiled at for awhile - keeps you young and brightens their day!