ZorroTM Satchel

What we could have purchased:

Instead we bough a new washer and dryer (Boring!)

It's interesting. Whenever we have a song in our head we can't get rid of, we turn to the lyrics of the Zorro^TM theme song:

Out of the night,
When the full moon is bright,
Comes the horseman known as Zorro.
This bold renegade
Carves a "Z" with his blade,
A "Z" that stands for Zorro.

Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free,
Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z.

He is polite,
But the wicked take flight
When they catch the sight of Zorro.
He’s friend of the weak,
And the poor and the meek,
This very unique senor Zorro.

Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free,
Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z.

Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro.

It works every time!

Beef! It's what's for Dinner

A great place for steaks:

The 'S' in the sign is larger? Why is that?

When we see this sign from the road, we think it says "Moose House". Just weird!

Surveillance Video Part I

In the town of Lyons one evening:

Mouse in a box mystery

It's a box with a spinning drum on the bottom and something at the top that looks like a rat or mouse running around in circles.  There appears to be some electronics (tube amplifier) and a large loudspeaker facing downward over the spinning drum.  Does the mouse (rat) generate electricity or is it there just for show?  After a few drinks, who cares!

The art of snow

In Breckenridge at the 19th International Snow Sculpture Championships!

Here's a Bulgarian team member chipping away.

Team Spain's entry (An angry owl pissed off because beavers are gnawing his tree)

Team Canada - the dance of the ancestors

In our opinion, Canada was the best entry.

In all there were 16 entries at Breckenridge, but we were not sure it was worth the 3 hour drive just to see the sculptures. Hey, that reminds me...

Back in Chicago, we made this dragon out of snow

... and one year we made this panda bear.

We could do the same in Fort Collins if it would snow. Maybe there's hope. One year FoCo had 3 feet of snow. It could happen!

Note also: Our old neighbor from Arlington Heights, Fran Volz is hosting a snow sculpture contest in Grant Park, Chicago.  Check it out this February 12 -15, 2009!

The Road to Masonville

It's a good day to take a little journey into the foothills:

The folks in Masonville are down-homey types. 'Course they all play banjars !

The forecast calls for cooler temperatures tomorrow, like around 45 for the high (instead of 68 like today!)

What a spectacular day!

A heatwave!

Jeanne VW Drivin' in the Foot Hills!

This server had some security issues just the other day! I think I reset all the passwords I need to update this blog in the future, but you never know! If I don't update tomorrow, then there were problems I haven't figured out yet. For now, I'm gonna ride my bike and not worry about it!

MLK March & Celebration

At 11a.m. the community march started at Old Town Square and finished at the CSU Lory Student Center

It was a nice day. The temp was 61 degrees, but a little windy.

The  celebration continued in Lory Student Center. The guest speaker was Dr. Denise Hall, intern minister of Foothills Unitarian Church (Hey! We know her!)

Doubt?

Tonight at Lincoln Center's Open Stage:

By John Patrick Shanley

This was an outing with the Newcomers Club.  Afterwards we went out to dinner at the Moot House!

Amen to the Blues!

It's bluesman Mr. Jeff Strahan

Somehow we got front row seats. The place was packed!

Jeff plays what he calls "Texas Red Dirt Blues"

Jeff's electric guitar is wireless and he likes to walk into the audience as he plays. He jumped onto our table and gave us a little taste of close-up blues guitar!

Oskar Blues

This place in Lyons is a lot of fun:

It's sort of a 'Cajun' restaurant with live music, but not Cajun music typically!

... and even though most of the live acts are blues bands, every Tuesday they have an open Bluegrass Jam ! 

Wednesday Stair Jam

At Avo's

Musicians blocking the way to the basement again! 

I've never hung around long enough to get thrown out of Avo's, but there may be an opportunity to find out just how long the jam goes on next week.  

Jeanne in the Tree with Dumpsters

Took the tree in for recycling...

It lasted a long time. Someone said that the local trees dried out too fast, but this one did not loose any needles!

Weather report:
Finally some snow fell, but only about an inch. With the high temperatures, it should be gone by tomorrow afternoon. But it does get windy around here. A few days ago there was a 24 hour period of high winds like nothing we experienced in Illinois. In the town, there were reported gusts near 60 mph and over 100 mph in the foothills!

Ritter & Bennet

Answering our questions:

Governor Bill Ritter, Jr and U.S. Senate appointee Michael F. Bennet

Wow! We've been here only six months and we saw president elects, mayors, senators and governors!

Save Your Poudre !

They say it: Poo - Der

Some of the locals out in the Poudre

..and more at a local meeting.

We gotta STOP the GLADE Reservoir!

Join the club?

Today we joined a health club! No, we didn't make any kind of resolution!

Jeanne loves the indoor and outdoor pool

And I will go to spin classes!

We SAY we are going to go AT LEAST 5 times a week! Where do we find the time?

FoCo weather:

When we came back on Jan 1, the high was about 37 degrees. It got a little cooler by Jan 3rd, but today it reached 50 degrees and it is expected to get close to 60 tomorrow.  There is snow in the foothills, but not in town. 

Jacob's Escalator: Looking Back, Part 2

In memory of Surrational Images

Scott Mutter 1944 - 2008

I remember Scott Mutter. Back in the late 60's he would show his collection of movies at the Red Herring Coffeehouse. We were both into cinematography and liked to talk about the current technology; Those days it was non-digital !
He was a good friend and I would always try to find him and talk to him whenever I was in town.
He later became famous for his "Surrational Images"; I remember reading about him in the Chicago Tribune Magazine in the late 70's, and I was happy to see that he was finally being rewarded for his work. In 2006, while consulting at BP Amaco in Naperville, Illinois, I came across copies of his work on the walls in second floor of the research center. I hadn't thought of him for some time, so it was really neat to see his pictures on view in corporate America. Scott would have had a laugh over that!

New old windows in 2009!

The first project for 2009:

When we left our house in Illinois, I removed all the custom stained glass that I made for the front windows.

I removed the zinc frames and soldered 12 gauge copper wire around the window adding screw loops to each corner.

Here they are!

Looking Back, Part One

Way back...

41 S. Chestnut

We bought this place 25 years ago. We lived there for 7 years with our cats; First Tallulah and then Harold. It has seen better days. It will probably be torn down for new condos in Arlington Heights.

Happy New Year!

WE MISS THIS PLACE!!!

Ain't no Dondi's in Fort Collins!