WHA Indeed!

Saw this on US 287 and 46th street, Loveland:

Complete with risers, sissy bars and rear lighting panel

I didn't have much time to look at it closely; It is a plastic holstein cow outfitted with dual biker seats. There is some lettering on the side: "WHA"? Is there a biker bar missing it's kitsch?

Snow Day?

Didn't I say we love snow?

Last evening after the Foothills drum circle, it started to come down.

Real heavy wet snow at first

and today nice powdery snow; maybe a foot or so. The foothills look great!

Metal & Ceramic Work

Latest project update:

Figure 1: The Magic Agogo Belt

A member of Fort Collins' Premier Samba band 'Bloco em Foco' showing the proper method for playing the Magic Agogo Belt using claves. The bells may also be struck with brass rods or wooden drumsticks depending on the timbre one wants to produce.

Figure 2: Magic Agogo Belt without shaker

The belt is made from 2 strips of 1/4 inch thick steel welded together. The current model has 3 Agogo bells, a shaker loop, and a utility stand for additional bells (A standard hammered cowbell is shown).

Figure 3: Magic Agogo Belt with Shaker

Additional holes in the belt are to accommodate extra bells that can be welded to the frame. Not shown is the cloth belt and neck strap.

...and in the home:
The fireplace, with it's brass finish and light colored ceramic tile was just so '90's. It had to go, so the old tile was painstakingly removed and new tile was added.

The new Fireplace!

Luckily we had a few bad weather days in a row, so it wasn't so bad.

CIIPE #16

It's the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition

(Earthquake Japan by Takashi Akiyama)

Featuring the works by artists from 28 countries

(Healthcare Coverage, by Luba Lukova)

with perspectives on political, social and cultural issues

(Beach, by Yuri Gulitov)

hosted by the Colorado State University Department of Art

(Save, by Sungil Hong)

At the University Center for the Arts until December 22.

(Tree, by Shino Suefusa)

If you go, you will discover that the laminated paper guide for the exhibit at the front desk is useless; but you can browse the online resource catalog for the shows since 1991.

Yet another hall of fame:

Of course we are thinking SNOW as all us Coloradoans do this time of year!

Ski history from the late 1800's

At the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame in Vail. We can see from our kitchen window all that wonderful fluffy snow in the high country! We want it! We need it!

The Early Boards on display

The one at the top is from 1963. It looks similar to something I made when I was in high school! Man, I wish I know something about marketing back then! (Of course, I don't know much about it now either)

Bug a Boo!

At the Butterfly Pavilion:

Caterpillar beanbag toss

Mounted insect collections

Live butterflies

Live walking sticks

Roaches for sale in the gift shop!

... and tarantulas too!

They make great stocking stuffers!

Located in Westminster, Colorado, the Butterfly Pavilion's vision is to be the premier invertebrate education center in the nation. It's not as fancy as the Butterfly House near St. Louis, but it is a good place to get acquainted with a spider named Rosie! Also, their tropical plant collection is one of the best I've seen anywhere outside of the tropics!

Hart's Alley

is a "speakeasy' in Laramie Wyoming!

It was "Hot Brazilian Night" on Saturday!

With Fort Collin's World Class Samba Band "Bloco em Foco" in attendance. It was a real trip!

It's All About a Bridge Named BOB !

If you visit Avon Colorado:

They have a bridge named simply "Bob".

A 150 foot span over the Eagle river, the Bob bridge was the result of a "Name that Bridge" contest in Avon, Colorado. Not much to it, actually, but the idea has spawned all kinds of "Bob" related happenings, Bob-festivals, Bob-B-Q's as well as annual pilgrimages of Bobophiles from all over the world.

Under Bob

There is a laminated wooden arch holding an old aquaduct from an earlier time. Then of course, there is the Eagle River with it's white water!

There are whitewater runs under the Bob Bridge. As one might expect, there is an easy kayak run called "Baby Bob", an intermediate run called "Junior Bob" and a more advanced run called "Senior Bob".

The water under the bridge is called "Avon Whitewater Park"

where you might see kayaks bobing in the ice cold water. It won't cost you a shilling (bob). Women with bob haircuts get in free!. If the water is frozen bobsleds are used to slide down the river. Pembroke Welsh Corgi dogs with their bob tails can cross the bridge without fear (as Duncan Madog can attest).

Life Jackets are required by law!

Wear a helmet too!

Balloons over Timnath, Part 3

We've reported here and even here about this sort of thing...

It is balloon! And it may have drifted over Timnath, perhaps!

Not too far down the road from us is this 6 year old kid by the name of Falcon-- who wanted to fly! At least that's what the news reports seemed to say for about 3 hours as they followed this helium filled balloon.

Looks like there's a big party or something going on on Fossil Ridge Drive!

It was a nice day to bike to the health club and wow! There it was! News was happening only about a quarter mile from my house!

Yes, the crime lab was there!

The deputies searched the house twice, but didn't find Falcon, who was hiding in a cardboard box in the garage attic. (Boy, I bet Brig. Duncan Madog would have found him!) I know if I messed with my old man's helium balloon experiment, I'd have been in the next state by now!

I can't wait for Halloween to see if any of the local neighbor kids dress up as Falcon !

Fort Collins Police break up Brazilian party

News at 11. But for now, let's look at some art:

Featured this week at the Art Lab

there are works on display

by graphics artist Nikki Arnell

As part of the merging of various arts per the concept of the Art Lab, the premier Fort Collins Samba band 'Bloco em Foco' also appeared for a short performance, much to the dismay of some of the other tenants in the building. The Fort Collins Police were called and some sort of new arrangement was made so that 'Bloco em Foco' could continue into the night.

Police visiting the Art Lab on Saturday

The official Fort Collins Police blotter recorded this as incident # 092830258 on 10/10/09 at 15:29. Location: 150 W. Mountain. Disposition: Necessary Action Taken.

So, this is the second time in two weeks that someone called the cops on 'Bloco em Foco'. Hopefully we will try again tonight at 6:00 pm and see what happens!

Storming the Castle mit Wolf

If you are near Edwards, Colorado

you can get out on the trail with your jeep

and get a look at the remote Castle Peak volcano!

But before you go, make sure you take this guy.

Meet Wolfgang Uberbacher: mountain guide, horticulture expert, wilderness school instructor, mushroom expert and US ski instructor. The owner operator of Mountain Wolf Jeep Adventures, Inc., Wolf will make sure your adventure is an experience of a lifetime. He's no Eule Gibbins parody; He knows what plants are safe to eat, and which ones can be used for medicinal purposes. This guy is a real trip!

Oh, and he likes to yodel !

Duncan Madog and the Green Warriors

Sounds like some sort of rock band, but


Duncan Madog marched with the Green Warriors at this year's CSU Homecoming Parade! He met lots of students and was given all kinds of treats from the CSU Vet school. He even got to ride shotgun in the official CSU command vehicle!

Duncan walked the entire route behind a group dancing to a continuous music loop of Ray Steven's "Witch Doctor" so now I can't seem to get "Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang" out of my head. Help Me Please!

Bloco @ Art Lab!

We were playing at the Art Lab

in Fort Collins!

We used the location for practice on Wednesday night and we liked it. The Art Lab let "Bloco em Foco" play one evening in Old Town. People came in off the street to listen ( they could hear us on College Ave!) We are going to attempt to play maybe twice a month at this location if possible. More details to follow...

This was not cool

...because we got into some hot water

At the famous Glenwood Springs hot springs spa and pool!

Off season is the best time to go. The air temperature was about 60 degrees and the large pool was around 94. The smaller pool was around 104 degrees. As you can see from the above picture, there were few tourists today.

Near the back parking lot is the spring water source.

3.5 million gallons a day!

Here is the "drinking pool"

In the 1890's this was the place for "spring cocktails" that were guaranteed to cure any ailment. That's why this place was so popular back then.

Le Laboratoire d'art

Currently at 140 W. Mountain Ave., Fort Collins

The Art Lab is an experimental art space!

They take empty store fronts and convert them into temporary artists' space so all the artistic folk in the area can make use of the facility (for FREE! ) until somebody decides to rent the space again! No! I'm not making this up! See here for details!

Got a computer animation you want to show? Show it here!

Got pictures of cats and lizards you want to share? Now's your chance!

...or rabbit and hare paintings

It's on display today!

Also invited: Musicians and live performers! Yes, apparently they are equal opportunity art space giver-awayers in that they will even agree to have an Afro-Brazilian Samba band use the facility for practice space. Stay tuned for that event. We may never get invited back!

1st Hexter Graduation!

A graduation ceremony of hexters? Is this some kind of Harry Potter rip-off?

Students hanging around a staircase holding lit candles!

OK! A Student in cap and gown with microphone, not a wizard with a wand!

This was Fort Collins' Centennial High School having their 1st Hexter Stairway Graduation Ceremony. This sounded kind of spooky to me at first, but as an academic term has it's divisions of semesters, quarters, trimesters as the rest of the world knows it, here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it just makes sense to divide the year by 6 so to have 6 equal HEXTERS. The fact that the building is 102 years old is kind of neat too!

The Wind Here; It Blows!

Some gusts came in from the West:

The new fence blew down!

The older fence still stands...

It seemed like such a nice spring and summer. We forgot that we get gusts of wind from time to time, and as I have noted before, the high winds last a good 24 hours or more. It takes care of the leaf problem, but our shingles and fences don't like it one bit!

Note to self: Use real nice long screws instead of nails when fastening the fence panels to the posts!