23 Dec 2007 - Bald Eagle

Over the past several years on or near Christmas eve day, we have been fortunate enough to see a Bald Eagle flying over the Blue River next to our house. It happened again today. Helen was on the phone with her mother, when she spotted the large bird flying near the river. We both jumped up and sure enough it was a Bald Eagle looking for fish on the river. I did not take this photo but it looked just like this only further away and flying the opposite direction. The Bald Eagle loves to fly about 40' over the river looking for fish.

Hopefully, we will see it again on Christmas Eve day.

17 Dec 2007 - Snowblower

Last week when it snow storm last week, Helen took a video of me using the snowblower. I had planned to upload the short video clip but then found out that I did not have the proper firewire cable to connect to our new laptop. I called our local Radio Shack but they wanted $19.00 for the cable. I found a place on the internet that I purchase the same cable for $2.00 + $2.50 for shipping and received it within 3 days. Today, I decided to upload the video and then put it out the web.

14 Dec 2007 - A Little Holiday Spirit

13 Dec 2007 - Movie review: Water

It is 3:30AM and I could not sleep. Last night, we watched Deepa Mehta's movie "Water" which is set in 1930s India, during Gandhi's rise in prominence and before the country's independence. In the lushly shot film, eight-year-old Chuyia (an astonishingly mature Sarala) is woken by her father's words: "Do you remember getting married?"

"No," she sleepily replies.

"Your husband died. You're a widow now."

"For how long?" she asks, as we see her father's stricken face.

Both Helen and I woke up at 2PM thinking about this eight-year-old girl's life and the Hindu religion.

If you would like see an exceptional movie, I recommend Water but suggest you watch it earlier in the day.

We just signed up for a 2-week trial of "Netflix" which in addition to the DVDs you get in the mail you can watch movies over the Internet. Water was our first experience with on-demand Internet movie. I connected our laptop with our 37" LCD TV and it worked like playing a DVD. Give it a try.

09 Dec 2007 - Winter Storm Day 4

Storm must be coming to an end since the animals are out today. I watched this bunny emerge from the willows and wonder all around our property looking for food. Also the deer made a straight path up the side of our hill behind us. I have not yet seen the fox but expect he will be out soon.

We had about another 4-5" last night but today it is clear blue sky and hopefully the end of the storm.

8 Dec 2007 - Winter Storm Day 3

Another 5-6" of snow last night. At about 9AM, I used the snow blower on the driveway and shoveled the decks and steps. It stopped snowing about 11AM and then started again about 1PM. By 3:30PM, it was time to shovel snow again as 4-5" had fallen. I could have done the drive way again but decided to wait until tomorrow when Helen can take a video of me using the snow blower. I plan to post that on the website.

Helen and our friend Janet went skiing at Vail today. Almost the total mountain was open including the back bowls. It took them 30 minutes to get from I-70 turn off at Vail to the parking lot because of traffic. They had a great time skiing and said there was a lot of powder.

When they were driving back there was an accident at the Copper off ramp and they had to sit in the car for almost 1.5 hrs before it was cleared. They were about 10 cars from the accident.

7 Dec 2007 - Winter Storm Day 2

It started snowing again yesterday afternoon and we woke up to another 12+" of new powder. Helen and Melody headed to Copper for a couple hours. I used the snow blower to clear the driveway and a path to our deck with hot tub. Now I need a small snow blower for our outside deck. I don't mind shoveling snow when it is less than 6" but a foot + gets old really fast and especially since I did it yesterday. Hopefully, we won't have to shovel again today.

06 Dec 2007 - Winter Storm

Last evening we went to the Summit High School Music Concert. Our neighbor's son Tyler and Don and Linda Coleman's son Kevin play trombones in the bands. Summit High School has an excellent music program with nearly 100 students and put a wonderful holiday concert each year.

Last year as we left the concert, a winter storm hit and we could hardly see to drive home. This year was basically the same. It started to snow as we arrived at the HS and by the time we left it was a full winter storm although not as blinding as last year. We woke up this morning to over 9.5" of snow on our deck.

After an early morning conference call (1.5hrs) with Helen's UK customer, she excused herself and told them that she was going skiing. Helen went with our friends, Dave and Marilyn, to Copper. This was her first time out this season and the fresh powder was really great although Copper had only reported 4" at 5:30AM.

Weather predictions are for it to continue to snow for the next couple days and we could get an additional 1-1.5' of snow before Sunday.

Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement

Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement

03 Dec 2007 - Sunset over Lake Dillon

I had to drive over to Frisco around sunset last night and stopped at the scenic overlook on I-70 to take a couple photos of the sunset over Lake Dillon.

02 Dec 2007 - Wolrd Cup Beaver Creek

My friend Dave Raymond and I drove over to Beaver Creek to watch the Bird's of Prey World Cup GS race. Beaver Creek received 15" of snow on Saturday and had to work through out the night to prepare the race cource. After snowing on Saturday, Sunday was a clear warm Colorado blue sky day and outstanding racers from all around the world. We arrived at the race and missed the first 6 racers, including Bode Miller (who missed a gate DNQ for a 2nd run). We did watch over 60 other racers from mainly Europe. After the first race they take the top 30 and start them in reverse order for a second run. The winner is the person with the lowest combined time for both runs. Daniel Albrecht from Switzerland took 1st. Matt Mario, Austria, was 2nd and Didier Cuche from Switzerland was 3rd. Cuche was the final skier and his finishing time pushed American skier Ted Ligety to 4th place.