Archive for July, 2015

Yet Another Weekend?

Friday, July 31st, 2015

And on to Ye Olde Larkspur…

And the Colo Ren Faire

Where we saw our favorite group The Celtic Legacy perform at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. So, in the town of Larkspur with a population about 200, the Summer weekends bring thousands from the surrounding area for the chance to walk along on an irregular jagged hillside, eating various delicacies such as turkey drumsticks, Pork Tails and Sausage on a stick. Located 30 minutes South of Denver (more like an hour due to traffic) and  Voted Best Family Day Trip…Gazette Telegraph it’s the kind of thing we might go to every other year. The Gazette Telegraph was responsible for the NORAD Santa Claus Tracking program in Colorado Springs. See Link Here.

Dinner at Crave Burgers in Castle Rock, overnight near THE ROCK (Sorry , no pictures) and then lunch in City Park, Denver. It’s there we saw a Google employee (volunteer?) using the street view trekker backpack on a trail near us as we ate lunch. We will be looking for our picture on Google Maps in the next weeks to see if we made it in.

From City Park, it was on to Coors Field to see the Rockies hit SEVENTEEN RUNS IN ONE GAME! Great weekend it was.

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Shark, Weak

Wednesday, July 29th, 2015

Shark week, or month was…

Time to utilize one of my test heads from last Halloween

It was a a sphere made of paper, an experiment really. I still had it in the basement so I made some mods to it. Tried to make a shark head, I guess.

Teeth make the difference

Although it could be a dinosaur rather than a shark. Maybe it’s a dual purpose head…

Yes, weird it is.

But good enough for the screening of Sharknado 3: Oh hell no! Will I keep it? Who can tell?

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SWETSVILLE ZOO BACKLOT!

Friday, July 24th, 2015

Can you remember back in 2008 when I visited the Swetsville Zoo? The early reports were such as: Why We Have A Homeowners Association, More of Bills Backyard, and A Few More… .I’ve been there several times since, but today was special. Today we got to go onto the back of the farm– what’s left of it anyway, to view some items up for auction. No, the ‘Zoo Animals’ are not being sold, but it seems Bill Swets collected farm implements and other things are taking up valuable space. Yes, developers are looking to buy acreage east of I25 because people can’t get enough of Northern Colorado. Too bad it’s not in Fort Collins.

Antique Tractors in this lot

Well, this is the week of the great feast of the RAGBRAI and if I was in Iowa I would have seen plenty of antique tractors that the local farmers would drag out to show. Yep, looked just like the above. Oh, there’s more of the  Swets’ Junk to be seen. Stay tuned.

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Drag On, Boats

Monday, July 20th, 2015

It’s the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival

A 2000 year tradition

But only in it’s 15th year in Colorado, the dragon boat race is a tribute to Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet born around 339 BCE. The dragon boat crew is comprised of  16 paddlers,  a drummer, a steersperson and a team captain.

Dancing to the Kendhang

Can you tell the guy on the left is faking it? The weather was great and the crowd was wonderful. The lines to the food booths were long and the line to the shuttle bus way too long.

Closing ceremonies?

The dragon dance is traditional at the opening of the boat race. Here, near the end of the last day, the dragon costumes are placed on the ground as performers dance around them.

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RAGBRAI & The Banjo that went that way

Sunday, July 19th, 2015

Banjo heads over the Ragbrai years: 2005 through 2014. I couldn’t find a picture from 2006 .

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Fun House

Wednesday, July 15th, 2015

On a fairly deserted path I came upon this structure:

A Tiny House?

Damn small and weathered, but well constructed with a concrete base and shingled roof. What was really cool was that it was well hidden by trees and bushes.  It was somewhat difficult to get around all the brush and the small creek that ran near its east side in order to take these photographs. Why was this little house here? What was it for?

Inside the fun house

I expected to find the skeleton of a missing person or perhaps a bee hive. The door had been torn out some time ago, but the windows and screens were still intact. Odd that there were no bees or spider webs inside. You would expect some graffiti or broken windows, maybe some trash thrown about. Nothing. I didn’t hang around there– too weird. …and I was wearing sandals– not the best kind of footwear for this kind of trekking. Maybe I’ll come back on halloween.

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Hippies out West

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Yep, at any given time day or night–  DRUM CIRCLE!

This time at Jack’s Gulch

Drums mostly, but some brought flutes, guitars, and some guy brought his banjo. There was dancing too, but the high elevation kept the dance moves to a minimum. Nice weather however, and no bears.

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On Kirchner Road

Thursday, July 9th, 2015

A Ghost Bike:

Yet another Memorial

Here a cyclist was run over by a dump truck and killed on Kirchner Road. The accident is marked by the bike painted white, a ‘Ghost Bike’. We’ve seen them closer to home as shown here back in November of 2013.  Kirchner road is one of those overpass roads that lets you cross the I25 highway avoiding the high traffic volume that’s typical on the Harmony road interchange about a mile north from this spot. Still, it’s the safest way to Swetsville Zoo. There is a short section over the bridge that provides very little shoulder and care must be taken when riding here. Just watch out, and please be safe.

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The Drone Club

Wednesday, July 8th, 2015

Or Northern Colorado Drone Enthusiasts

Kids love drones!

… and quad copters and anything that flies under your control. Here these kids are watching the camera feed from a flying drone quad copter. Lots of fun, and a cheap dizzying thrill too!

Older kids love drones

The drone enthusiasts or NCDE meet in the back of Lincoln Middle School on Monday evenings for fun. Apparently anyone can come and watch them fly their RC planes and drone copters.

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Java Time

Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

At Lincoln Center

Outside, before the rain

It looked like it was going to rain. Maybe I forgot about that trip on September 13, 2013. You know, the great flood. “You call that rain?” they might say. I say “Might the instruments get wet?” Anyhow, upper left are the floor gongs ‘bonang’ ; upper right, kids play bamboo tube instruments called ‘angklung’; lower left, the crowd; lower right, the orchestra during the sound check.

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