Kermit the Ferg

Ride 'em Cowboy

2012-02-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have so many stories I want to share on this scrappy little blog, but in a way it's like trying to rekindle a relationship with an old friend. You'd really love to call them up and say hello, but you know that it's going to be a loooong conversation because you haven't spoken in forever. So you put it off, waiting for the evening when you can fully commit yourself to deep session of Friendship Rekindling. But for various reasons (30 Rock reruns, facebook trolling) you run out of time and you put it off. Again and again. And then it becomes that "thing" that haunts and daunts you, when all you really wish you could do is pop in for a quick chat and then go on your merry way again. That's how I feel about blog updates. I just want to say hey, and instead I feel pressured to write a witty dissertation on life and family. I've seen this panic in the writings of others, however, and after going bleary eyed from fine print I've come to the following realizations: people mostly just want to see pictures. With some cute captions. So, as I do every 6 weeks or so, here's my attempt to rekindle our friendship without making a big deal out of it.

National Western Stock Show! Have you been? I never had, and like a lot of local events I've never been to, having a kid is a perfect excuse to go check them out.

Denver. We're literally a cow town.

First stop on the list was the petting zoo. The attendant turned in alarm when Holly screamed at the top of her lungs, but I assured him that she hadn't been bit, it was her "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it" sound.

This was hands down THE cleanest petting zoo I've even encountered. The animals were freshly laundered and any stray poop was deftly whisked away by shiny faced 4H members.

Llama llama big as mama

I'm one hot donkey

After the petting zoo we moved on to the arena where pretty young heifers were being paraded around and judged by old men. Best part: telling Holly, "Did you hear that? That's what the cow says!"

I pretend like I don't care but I so totally do.

It's like a dog show...but with cows.

We left the arena and then explored the sheep and cattle holding areas. Staging areas? I don't know what it's called, but I tell you it was like toddlers in tiaras. I've never seen so many people lovingly scrubbing down their cows and then fawning over soft cow fur with blow dryers and brushes until they are just the cuddliest, cleanest little bovine this side of Oklahoma.

Moo.

My favorite!

The kiddos definitely started to tire out after a couple hours of walking around even though we never got to see the good stuff like mutton busting or mexican rodeo. That's just the carrot to get us in the door for next year. I can't wait!

snerk

2011-12-11T14:03:00.001-08:00

I guess I knew that kids get sick a lot, but I always assumed they were just colds and the kids got over them. Which they do, of course, but there's some other weirdness mixed in that no one ever warns you about. Anyone who has ever had to google "rash" knows what I mean. It's crash course in all kinds of infectious diseases that you never knew were even possible. This summer Holly got a light pattern of red, raised bumps all over her skin which I thought at first might be a heat rash but it didn't go away. After sorting though reams of ungodly photos, trying to match the angry red welts on the screen to the ones on my little girl's back, I deduced that she likely had roseola. The crazy thing is, did you know that almost every single kid gets this by the time they are 2? Yeah neither did I. Consider this my PSA to all other new parents out there. Of course, she also had a blister on her tongue which *might* have been due to teething her 1-year molars, or *might* have been hand, foot and mouth disease. Did you know this is a fairly common infection in preschool age kids? Seriously, wtf. The best part was having to call my sister and tell her, "Hey! It was so much fun having you, Matt and the twins up at our mountain house for the weekend! By the way Holly may have a highly contagious disease. Kbye."

But kids are resilient, and within days she was back to normal. Luckily the twins never caught the roseola-hoof-and-mouth bug. We were all set to have Thanksgiving at Christine's house but a couple of days beforehand Holly got a touch of a runny nose, hereto known as the harbinger of doom and misery. She was not her normal self.

Hi mama, I'm going to sneeze in your mouth now.

How could you let this happen to me?

Roll me for bed sores in an hour.

She was obviously miserable and absolutely refused to be put down, or not snuggled exclusively by the mama. The same mama who had her mouth sneezed in and was now a puddle of crud.

Wheee. Hiking is fun.

We spent Thanksgiving at home, passed out on the couch, and later managed to pick at some of the side dish I had prepared for the big family dinner. Holly was still acting very pathetic and we realized that something else may be going on, perhaps an ear infection. We took her to the pediatrician the next day and had our suspicions confirmed, leaving with a prescription for amoxicillin.

Yum yum, pink medicine and a bedtime story!

The drug did its trick and she was feeling MUCH better within a day or two. Me, I was fighting the crud for 2 weeks before I finally stopped coughing up terrible things into the sink. Steve claims he came down with something as well but I don't believe him.

So on her last day of antibiotics I saw her scratching at her tummy and said, "That's cute! Let's scratch our tummies together!" When she did it again a few minutes later I lifted her shirt and saw a continent of red, angry welts on her skin. Gaaaaaah! What now?

It's tough being little.

After five minutes of total mommy brain fade and a deep reluctance to go trolling through horrific "rash" pictures again, a little voice peeped up that she may have hives (that picture doesn't do it justice). I called her daycare but she had not had any new foods during the day that may have caused the reaction. Long story short, her pediatrician diagnosed that she has a penicillin allergy. I was surprised that it would show up on the last day of her treatment, but apparently that's not that uncommon. So that will be a thing forever more, but it's not the end of the world. We're all of us healthy once again and will enjoy it until the next plague comes down the pike.

Feeling much better!

Moab Madness

2011-11-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

(steve)

Moab seems like the center of the outdoor universe in May and October. Not to be left out, we joined the mountain biking masses for a fun-filled long weekend playing in red dirt. We rented half a duplex on the south side of town and convinced our good friends the Allens and Delneros (including munchkins) to come keep us company (it wasn't hard).

To begin, the ride out went extremely well given that Holly hadn't done a car ride (5.5 hrs) that long before. Once we got there, Karen and I had to decide who was going to go biking and who would play with the kids. After I lost, Matt and I decided to go ride Slickrock with one of his college buddies who happened to be in town.

Although this one photo shows an example of the stuff one rides one, the pictures I took of the ride do not generally do it justice. It's absolutely amazing what you can ride up and down without losing traction. If you want to see what is possible, just search "Slickrock" on YouTube and be amazed. It was a great afternoon and I would absolutely do it again.

The second day there, we decided to do a family trip into Arches National Park. The photo montage tells it all. Late in the afternoon, Karen, Chris and Matt went back out to Slickrock so she could experience it too.

The third day was the big boys ride day. We tackled the Porcupine Ridge trial. Unfortunately, I was too stupid to realize my memory card was full so NONE of my pictures and cool videos snips of us going up and down crazy stuff is available. Guess we'll have to go back. During the 14 miles we also had one casualty. Chris took a spill and ended up with a broken finger for his trouble.

While the boys were not having fun, the girls had the kids and went to see Slickrock for themselves.

Holly seemed to like the rocks so Karen and I are thinking we'll get some company out there riding someday. While Chris went to urgent care for an x-ray, the rest of us went for a hike out to Corona arch.

Our last day out in Moab, Karen got to decide what she wanted to do. After careful consideration, we went out to Barlett Wash for a final biking experience. While similar to Slickrock, Barlett Wash was a slightly less sticky, but super fun playground with lots of interesting features to ride and no real trail to follow. Matt and Karen went out for a nice ride and found it to be very entertaining.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we all really look forward to going out again. Moab truly is a great place to have fun outside and everyone who says "I like to mountain bike" ought to give it a try.

Happy Camper

2011-09-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Recently Holly ditched the army crawl and started crawling on her hands and knees. She also gotten SO much better at pulling herself up to standing and cruising the furniture. It's been a fascinating process to see the positive feedback loop of ability --> desire and desire --> ability. Suddenly the world is her oyster, listeria be damned! A while back we bought Holly a cheap little tent on a whim. She was mildly entertained during her "sit there and look cute" phase, but these last couple of days she's gone bananas for it. It's probably only meant to last for 10 uses before the stitching dissolves and it crumples into a heap of "Made in Vietnam" nylon, but I say money well spent:

Right this way everyone.

Welcome to my hobbit hole!

Please feel free to pounce on the furniture.

Hurl yourself backwards and blow your mind with awesomeness.

Like a gerbil in a ball!

A bit of a pickle, but I've been thru worse.

Rock the static, my friends.

What a gregarious little monkey.

Nom nom

2011-08-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Witness a summer rite of passage.

Ok guys here we go!

Spiral is my favorite flavor.

Zomg this is getting intense.

I can feeeeel purple!

Phew, I need a breather.

Mama I think you forgot to take out all the bones.

For my first popsicle, I think I'm doing a pretty darn good job.

Yep, I'm a rock star!

"You talkin' to me?!"

Back off she-devil!

I sense the end is near.

There's a few more drops of melted fudge, I can get them!

Hot damn guys that was awesome.

(No word yet on an encore performance, we're still recovering)

My baby girl is one year old!

2011-07-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, my little monkey! This year has gone so fast but at the same time it seems so long ago when you were a floppy newborn. You are 13-lb heavier and almost 9" taller and your noggin has got to be 5x bigger! How is it that 12 month clothes don't fit you anymore because I can't get them over your huge melon? I mean that in an adorable way.

You're not walking on your own yet, though you get better every day. You're not really "crawling" either, although you have figured out an odd sort of free-style carpet swimming to get across the floor. I've noticed that you get frustrated easily, just like me, and have a tendency to give up when you shouldn't worry so much about failing, just like me. I really hope you don't inherit my nose too.

Your cheeks are still infinitely pinch-able and but I hate the comments. "Storing nuts for winter!" Yes, haha shut up. Look at my hat!

Your hair is getting longer but thank goodness we don't have to worry about hair brushing tangle battles yet. When I try to comb your hair you get very excited, grab it from my hand and try to do it yourself. You comb my hair too, and if you are feeling generous, the carpet as well.

You love your Dada more than anything and get so excited when he walks in the room. You whisper "da da da da da da" under your breath when I walk you around the house. It's your favorite word.

When the chips are down, though, you want Mama.

You used to eat anything and everything that I put in front of you, but lately you've gotten a lot pickier. You have quite the sweet tooth, just like me. A total fruitosaur with a penchant for yogurt. I was really hoping you'd go full-on-face-cake-smashing for your birthday, but instead you politely nibbled your piece.

Everyone comments how easy going you are, so unfussy for a baby. How lucky we are. We are incredibly lucky! We love you so much bootsa-do.

Biker Chick

2011-05-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Finally, I've discovered a way to handicap Steve on a bike: hitch him up to a chariot! Now look, I don't really want to to handicap him, I just want to have a fighting chance at keeping up. Ever since he trained for the Triple Bypass and I spent the next season knocked up he's been way out of my league. I realize that this will only make him stronger in the end. Guess I better start my own training for the Copper Triangle

We took advantage of some mild weather to test out Chariot with the bike attachment. What a blast! We strapped Holly into the 5-point harness and gave her her crazy-atom-toy to play with, and she merrily sang the whole way.

(Pretend that's a helmet.)

It was a great success and Steve and I got so fired up for the fun we're going to have this summer riding around on Denver's miles of bike trails.

DIY

2011-04-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's always been my secret shame that I make my living as a structural design engineer yet I have very little expertise for fix-it projects around the house. Luckily Steve knows this about me and always asks if I'd like to take the reins when something comes up. A month ago I replaced our toilet flush mechanism with a dual-flusher. (It should have only taken a screw driver at most but somehow the original handle was all jacked and I ended up using pliers, wire cutters, and a hacksaw. Tools!!) Then during the last ferocious Front Range wind storm our fence gate was torn from it's hinges, and after closer inspection we realized it would be best to just replace the entire gate. Steve asked if I wanted to be project lead and I agreed...but I didn't know where to start.

So like any good project, we started at Home Depot.

I marked all the planks to length to match the curved pattern of the original gate and then started cutting them with our sweet compound miter saw. Yes I know these are straight cuts.

I laid out the top of the "Z" support structure...

...and scared myself cutting the center diagonal member with a circular saw. It doesn't help that I personally know someone who swiped back with one of these guys and right into his thigh. I made Steve supervise the whole process.

Somehow it actually fit together.

Once all the pieces were cut it was really easy to just lay them out and screw them in place.

I was going to measure the exact spacing between the planks but finally I just said screw it and eyeballed the whole thing. I think it came out fine.

Slap a coat of paint on that puppy and you got yourself a gate!

And DIY self esteem.

Weekend Warriors

2011-04-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

(steve)

Holly has decided that it's just too much trouble to stay in town every single weekend. To appease her wishes, Karen and I have decided to buy a 25% share of a mountain retreat in the Keystone area. While not a 100% ownership, it made sense to us to avoid the pressure of finding renters and expense of a nicer place we probably won't be able to enjoy more than once a month anyways.

The house (yes, it's truly a house) is fully furnished, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a 2 car garage. There are comfortable places to relax and play inside, and a deck with a gas grill for the lazy summer days. Holly will be accepting invitations to the "Bunkhouse" for her friends to come for a visit.

It's a good thing there are extra mountain bikes in the garage, cause you never know when you'll need one. We also have access (from the driveway) to local trails for hiking and biking in the summer, and snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the summer. The hardest part may be choosing what to do.

And after a hard day playing, the full kitchen will provide for some great eating, we can relax in front of the fireplace, or we can settle in the den for some games. The only down side seems to be that we can't fit all of our friends at the same time. Guess we'll just have to rotate.

Don't Fence me In

2011-03-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

We've embarked on the great adventure known as baby-proofing, also known as "keep the geriatric pooch from going upstairs".

The wee little'un isn't exactly mobile yet, but it's just a matter of time. We figured it would be better to be prepared than to be caught off-guard and forced to create an impromptu Les Mis-style barricade at the top of the stairs.

Already I am wistful for the days when I could walk up and down without needing a free hand to open the gates. With a baby in one hand it makes it near impossible to carry anything else. Too bad she can't cling to my monkey fur while I swing through the branches. Humans, I tell ya. We got soft.

Holly hasn't shown much interest in standing yet but she's a kick-ass sitter and has started doing barrel rolls on the floor to reach tantalizing objects, like Daddy's phone. We've been encouraging her to practice crawling and she's much more tolerant of spending time on her tummy than she used to be. It's amazing to watch her brain try new tactics and to see her muscles get stronger every day. Everyone says life as you know it gets a lot harder once they are mobile, but who can help wanting to see their kids learn to crawl? It's so damned exciting, I can't wait!

Ain't nothing hotter than a New England gangsta

2011-02-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is a Tea Party I could get on board with!

Who knew blenders made more than margaritas?

2011-02-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

If I actually committed to paper all the blog posts I composed in my head there would be a lot more interesting things to read here, but somehow the evenings always dissolve into the standard routine: Pick Holly up from daycare, play for 20 minutes, dinner in the high chair, change into jammies, peek-a-boo and tummy zerbets, final evening nurse, Dr. Seuss, aaaaaaaand lights out. Then I go downstairs to make grownup dinner, which of course is a multi-hour affair because I like to try things like mushroom bourguignon which have a bazillion pearl onions that need peeling and two pounds of mushrooms that need slicing, not to mention all the fine dicing of onions, carrots, garlic, etc. Ah mise en place; such a cruel mistress.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, FOOD! So Holly eats solid food now, and truly it's been a blast. She certainly didn't take to it right away. Exhibit A:

But one day something clicked in that cute little head of hers that FOOD = FULL TUMMY and now she opens her mouth wide like a baby bird anytime there's a spoon within a 3-foot radius. If there's no spoon that's no problem, she'll just have-at the tray.

We've worked our way up from the early days of thin rice cereal with pureed peas to things like ginger carrots, hummus, and buffalo. Well, technically she gagged on the buffalo but we'll try it again tomorrow mixed in with something more palatable like butternut squash.

I've had a lot of fun making homemade baby food. I don't know why it gets a bad rap as being so labor intensive because really it's about the easiest thing you can do in the kitchen. Simmer peaches, blend, put in an ice cube tray. BAM! Baby food.

I'm having so much fun that I've got quite a backlog in the freezer. Right now we've got our choice of:
peas
spinach
broccoli
cauliflower
butternut squash
sweet potato
oatmeal
peaches
ginger carrots
chicken
buffalo
And the latest addition, blueberry-oatmeal-applesauce

Yes, it has occurred to me that my 7 month old is eating healthier than I am but never fear, I'm sure she'll be on a strict hot-dog-and-ketchup diet before the last cauliflower cube gets defrosted.

Well my bourguignon is nearing completion and I may actually get to eat dinner by 9:00. It doesn't look quite like the photos, but then I did have to substitute a "full-bodied red wine" with whatever white wine we had lying around. 'S'ok, I'm sure we'll manage. Bon appetite!

Interim cuteness to tide you over

2011-02-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

New post is coming soon, I promise! In the meantime here's a little sweetness to get you thru your day. Discuss.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

2011-01-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

Recently I was reading an article in Wired Magazine about Crowd Accelerated Innovation, written by the curator of the TED. It was a very interesting article, but what the heck were these TED videos? I googled it and found their website at www.ted.com and...have you heard of this? It's awesome! Short lectures on "ideas worth spreading", and this runs the gambit from Technology to Entertainment to Development (TED). Ok, so it's been around since the 80's and I'm just getting on board, but still, I watched 3 videos and I was hooked.

Then my arch nemesis website had to go and ruin everything.

No no, not my arch nemesis. It's something that entertains me to no end but also cuts me deep every time I read it. That's right, I'm talking about Stuff White People Like. It's like this damned blog follows me around, taking notes on my life, and then proceeds to satirize my very existence in front of God and everyone. Yes! I like camping! I drive a Prius! I want to learn a foreign language! I like picking my own fruit! And, so help me, I like the TED Conference.

"...Due to the broad audience watching the talks, TED speakers generally take very complex ideas and boil them down into a simple engaging presentation. So when a white person finds out that you have a PhD and visits and attempts to engage you in a conversation about String Theory, you should know that all of their understanding comes from a twenty-minute talk they listened to while running on a treadmill..."

I wasn't on a treadmill. But still.

Journey to the Center of Chaos

2011-01-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

My sister has a new blog! And did I mention she's pregnant? With TWINS?!?
http://cmdkennedy.blogspot.com/

At least she's got a little niece to practice on, but . . . I'm trying to figure out how this works with two.

Hot Tub Time Machine

2011-01-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

It's like Holly woke up one morning and realized, "OMG. There's stuff you guys! Stuff everywhere! I want to look at all the stuff rightnowontheceilingbehindmeIdon't haveenougheeeeyes!". Her day to day development is so fascinating to watch. It seems like just yesterday she was a bobble-head and now she's sitting up on her own and bending over to pick up toys off the ground. I know all kids progress at their own pace and you're not supposed to take the month-to-month development books very seriously, but still it's fun to go down the list of "should/may be able to's" and check things off. Yes, she's passing toys from hand to hand! She's raking for objects with her fingers! And check this out: until this morning she had very minimal interested in putting weight on her feet. That was, until our neighbor dropped off their out-grown bouncy chair thing. Some kind of light bulb went off in that cute little head of hers when she realized that bouncing is its own reward.

To add to the fun, since yesterday was such a nice, crisp calm day we decided to take advantage of a little family hot tub time. We've done this once or twice before but Holly was too young (floppy) to appreciate the awesomeness. Geared with splashy arms and kicky feet this time around we had a much better adventure.

She was tentative at first but really started to enjoy the feeling of buoyancy and the water moving against her skin.

We decided to have some fun with the recent grabby-grabby-shove-in-my-mouth obsession too.

Every day keeps getting better and better with our little monkey child. Pray for snow so we can all go sledding!

Jingle Bells!

2010-12-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Did you notice how I went back to work and promptly stopped blogging? It might be that way from now on. But I'll try to do better. So to catch you up on the last 6 weeks, things have been going really really well. Holly has adjusted well to daycare and they love her there. She's taking up to 4 hrs of naptime during the day and her appetite is insatiable. She's also sleeping incredibly well at night, so much so that it's hard to believe we had such problems a few months back. The eye-rubbing and yawning starts around 5:30 (!) and we try to keep her going until around 6:00 when we then change into jammies, nurse, read stories, and then lay her down in her crib. She'll typically sleep until around 3:30am when she wakes up to top off the milk tank, but then she's back asleep until morning. And I'm not kidding you when I say we have to wake her up at 6:30 to get ready for daycare. This morning we didn't have work so we let her sleep as long as she wanted, and she woke up cooing and talking to herself at 7:45. Thirteen hours! We we up for an hour and a half before she started yawning again, and now she's taking her morning nap. Kids, I tell ya. Let's hope she's this darling on the plane ride to CA tomorrow.

In other news, we spent a wonderful day a couple of weeks ago participating in the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Walk around Wash Park. Our Denver winter has been mild, to say the least, so it was a beautifully crisp day in the park to take a stroll.

The Ickler, Allen, and Fergason families teamed together to show our jingle bell cheer as we donned santa hats and decorated the strollers with glittery garland. Here's part of our starting line up for our championship girls basketball team:

Addi had just turned 5 years old so she was enjoying her status as Big Girl. She loves to play with her Uncle Steve so was more than delighted to have him pop wheelies with her stroller

As if the day couldn't get better, we celebrated Addi's birthday at the Denver Zoo that evening. I couldn't believe the throngs of folks lining up front to go see the zoo lights! It looked like the entrance to Disneyland. It was still incredibly mild for a winter's night so I think all the local families were taking advantage of the weather to go see this holiday treat.

We had a cute little party room where the kids got to see and touch a lizard, a snake, and a precious little hedgehog. Cuuuuute!

After the animal show-and-tell we wandered around the zoo lights and even took a ride on the merry-go-round. It's hard to describe how exciting this all becomes once you are able to share the experience with your wee little'un. It's going to be so much fun watching our girls grow up together!

One Week Perspective as a Working Mom

2010-11-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling much better after my boo-hoo kitty post from Monday. Holly does indeed remember who I am and is once again giving me smiles and coos. It's been an adjustment, no doubt, but we're slowly working our way into a new routine. She's attending an at-home daycare with 4 other kids, ages 3-7. The older kids are in school during the day so mornings are just her and one other boy who thinks she is AWESOME! He talks to her all day long, and once Steve walked in to find him doing somersaults in front of her. Four months old and already she's got herself boyfriend. The other kids are enamored of her as well, tickling her feet and generally making her the center of attention. She's obviously loving it; even after one week she's already trying to make new sounds we've never heard before. The only downfall is that with all the activity she's not napping well in the afternoon and by the time we get her home she's pretty cranky. Hopefully that will get better as our routines get more established.

As for work, it's surprising how everything is almost exactly the same but then it's completely different. The status of the program seems to have been swirling for the past four months such that I was able to step right in pretty much at the same point I left off. Of course there has been progress, but I was in a meeting on Thursday where I swear we were having the exact same broken-record discussion from before I left. That was pretty depressing. Even more depressing, however, is how empty the parking lot is these days. We've lost a lot of good people from this program over the past year. There's a dejected atmosphere in the hallways, a lot of gallows humor. Hopefully we can stop dicking around and start building something that isn't powerpoint charts.

Before having Holly I used to come in early, leave late, and dedicate my energy to my job. I knew that I wouldn't be able to devote that kind of commitment after having a baby but I didn't really realize what that meant. I thought it mostly meant leaving work at a consistent hour, which is true, but more than that. I have to pump twice during the day to keep my milk supply up and that takes about an hour all told. Steve and I are alternating drop-off/pick-up at daycare but because we are going to a lady's house the hours aren't as generous as for a standard daycare center. To top it all off she starts her bedtime routine at 6:30 so there's very little time to play with each other after I get home. In other words, it's very difficult to get my 9 hours in and still be a good mom. I was feeling pretty dejected about the new reality until I made the decision to apply to work part time. I figure that a 7hr work day will still allow me to get the bulk of my job done and be a good mom to boot. I asked my (new) boss about this and he was on board with the idea. I submitted the paperwork on Friday and haven't received it back yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be approved. I'm already mentally committed to being a part-time employee so I really really really hope everything goes ok.

Hey - the monkey's got something to say to you:

Back to the Salt Mines

2010-11-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I went back to work today. I didn't know if I would be like a lot of moms who cry in the car after they drop their kids of at daycare for the first time, and it turns out I wasn't. I felt ok leaving Holly in the hands of the care provider we selected, and gave her a big hug and lots of kisses on my way out the door. We had done a trial run for a few hours last week and everything went fine so I wasn't worried about a major meltdown. I think I was also excited to go back to work and see all of my old coworkers again, if nothing else than for the novelty of the first real grownup day in the past four months. It was nice, in a way, to be back at work. I couldn't log into my computer so I spent most of the day visiting with old friends and catching up on the latest work status/gossip. It touched my heart to be welcomed back so warmly by everyone from teammates to janitors to the lunch lady.

Since I did the drop off this morning, Steve picked our little girl up from daycare just before five; I joined the family at home an hour later. I was so full of anticipation to have her crack that huge grin of hers when she saw me after the long day. I ran upstairs to our bedroom, threw down my things, leaned over her where she was laying on the bed and.....

...I swear to god she didn't even know who I was. She didn't look at me. She was smiling at daddy but I couldn't get her to make eye contact with me. I picked her up and cuddled her and she seemed wholly ambivalent. I even took her to the mirror which always earns a huge smile and a squeal when she sees my reflection, but this time she looked at the poster on the wall, the light fixture; anywhere but at me. And in that moment I understood the motive of every parent with a guilt complex who tried to buy their child's love. I felt a panicky desperation at having been unseated as "#1 coolest person in the universe" and I wanted to do anything to go back to the way things were.

In other words it broke my heart. After a full day of having our baby in daycare I finally felt the tears welling up in my eyes. Then after only being home for 45 minutes it was already time to put her to bed. Not to mention the fact that she reeks of nasty formula. This fucking sucks.

I'm going to chalk her behavior up a bewildering first day in a strange new place with strange new people and just hope that things will get better as it becomes routine. Mom's get paid in smiles. I can't loose that.

Sleep Training Success!

2010-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to bite the bullet and try to let Miss Holly cry herself to sleep to see if that improved the constant waking situation. It was very hard to stand at the doorway and listen to her wailing, but OMFG you guys it totally worked. It was obvious that every time she was waking up in the middle of the night she was miserable because she wanted to still be asleep but didn't know how to go back down on her own. We've been doing a closely monitored cry-it-out for about 4 nights now and it's like night and day from where we started. The first couple of nights were tough but she has finally figured out how to suck on her fingers to soothe herself back to sleep on her own. We can actually hear her on the monitor wake up, shift around, suck her fingers and go back to sleep. If she does wake up and start crying (and she's not due for a feeding) she will settle herself down in 10-15 minutes. The last couple of nights she's only had to do this one time. It's still hard to listen to her crying but knowing that in 10 minutes she will fall asleep and stay asleep is wonderful. I think I agree with the opinion of the pediatrician-author of Baby 411 who said that months/years of sleep deprivation is more harmful to your baby than a week of sleep training. If nothing else it worked for us and for that I'm grateful.

Here's our progress:
Before: slept 8.5hr, woke 6 times
Day 1: slept 9.5hr, woke 4 times
Day 2: slept 10hr, woke 5 times
Day 3: slept 12hr, woke 3 times
Day 4: slept 12hr, woke 3 times*

*might I add during one of the most intense windstorms I have ever witnessed. It was howling and shaking our room so severely that Steve and I had to sleep in the guest room. All I can guess is maybe she thought she was on a car ride??

Sleep little darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

2010-10-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sleep has become an issue as of late. Our little girl used to sleep almost all the way through the night with one waking to feed, and we smugly bragged about our wonderfully easy baby. Some time around month 3 she started waking up every three hours. Within a week it was every 2 hours. Then it became every hour, and last night we were going to soothe her back to sleep every 30-45 minutes. To be fair, though, last night was the first night Holly slept in her own room instead of in the bassinet next to our bed so we were expecting a rough night (we weren't disappointed).

I've learned so much about infant sleep patterns and needs since this all began. The issues isn't so much that she's waking up than it is teaching her how to go back to sleep on her own without needing mom or dad there to soothe her. I know there are a lot of "sleep solutions" out there and we're just starting to try some options. I'm not a militant opponent of crying-it-out although I'd like to see if we can accomplish our goal with some gentler methods first. First off I really want to get her on a schedule in preparation for me going back to work. Although that sounds fantastic on paper, it's a different story at 6:00 AM after a particularly rough night and all I care about is making sure she can catch up on a bit more sleep. I have tried getting her up anyway and all that leads to is a cycle of cranky, overtired baby who can't nap, then cranky overtired baby who can't stay asleep later and has a rough night, then the decision again the next morning: do I get her up at 6:00AM or just let her catch up on some sleep? Repeat as necessary.

Naps aren't going so well either. Try as I might I can't seems to get her to sleep longer than 30-40 mins at a time in her crib. She's a champion napper in her carseat, however. If I do errands or go on a long walk she will sleep for hours but that's not really going to be an option at daycare. I've tried full swaddle, partial swaddle, no swaddle, dark room, light room, white noise, no white noise, and the result is the same: a 30-40 min catnap and then ready to play again.

I really shouldn't complain. Hell, it's not like I'm the first person in the world to have a baby with sleeping problems. There's a whole book industry about this issue. She's still a very good baby and for the most part while she's awake she's smiling and cooing at everyone around her. Even in the middle of the night she just whines a little bit and it's pretty easy to get her back down again (unless she really looses her sh!t and then oh lordy better break out the boob because ain't no amount of rocking will break through that wailing wall). I mostly just wanted to say hey, this is what's going on with us.

Gah, has it been 40 minutes already?

Milestone

2010-10-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah ok, she doesn't sleep. Like ever. But she's got mad skillz, yo!

I guess this means I can't leave her on the couch while I make a sandwich anymore.

3 Month Update

2010-10-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

On my birthday Holly turned 3 months old. Wow! Is it bad that my first reaction is not "I can't believe she's getting so big" and instead is "I can't believe my maternity leave is almost over"? Seriously, I'm digging the leave. I've got lots of little updates but nothing that warrants a dedicated blog entry so I'll just do this stream of consciousness-style with lots of cute pictures interspersed.

I just bought two kid albums and I love them both. If you're geeky like me I highly recommend going out and getting them. Honestly I think the parents will get more out of them than the kids! "Here Comes Science" is a catchy album with hard core science lessons, everything from DNA to photosynthesis. And who doesn't like BNL with lyrics like, "Raisins come from grapes, humans come from apes. I come from Canada!"
They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science
Barenaked Ladies - Snacktime

I've gotten a lot of support about the elimination diet I've been on and I wanted to thank you all for the well wishes. We were in San Diego last weekend and I was worried because we hadn't definitively pinpointed what the other allergen(s) is apart from dairy. For the week prior I cut out wheat, soy, nuts, and eggs things looked really good: no blood, diaper rash cleared up, and she even started having fewer poopy diapers each day. On the trip I tried to be as good as possible while eating out and luckily we had no issues. I started to think that maybe her allergy wasn't very severe and that she might be tolerant of small amounts in my diet, but then today she was right back to obviously blood streaked stool. *sigh* The good thing is that she's not loosing weight and is otherwise healthy/happy so it's not a serious medical issue we're dealing with. Still, I'm determined to get to the bottom of this.

We can't tell if Holly looks more like mom or more like dad. Right now she looks like herself and that is perfectly wonderful. I did do a comparison shot to my baby picture at the same age and I think there are some resemblances....

She just keeps getting more and more fun! Gone are the days of sleepy infancy. We are solidly into wide-eyed, stick-things-in-my-mouth-and-drool-all-over-them territory. We're been reading lots of stories and she loves the rhymes and pretty colors on the pages. Buy mostly she loves her daddy.

Head control is a wonderful thing.

I've been Netflix'ing this awesome show called Lost; maybe you've heard of it? This plane crashes on a tropical island and all this weird stuff starts happening and....

...well better late than never, right?

Why has our monkey turned into a terrible sleeper? She used to be the baby we couldn't seem to wake up when it was chow time and now it's impossible to get her to nap unless she's in the car or on a walk. Now that I've only got a month left before my maternity leave it up we're trying to be better about enforcing naptimes in her crib but it's been very challenging. 30 minutes is about as much as we can ask for before she wakes up, usually whiny and gassy. At night she used to sleep 6-7 hours at a stretch but lately she seems to wake up every 2-3 hours, and it's much more difficult to get her to settle down. We're hoping it's a phase but maybe it's just our payback for having such an easy time when she was first born.

Viva la crazy atom looking toy thingy!

A Tale of Woe (as told by my sister)

2010-09-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have a guest writer today, my esteemed younger sister. Had I been available to help her in her food preparation then likely none of this would have happened. I was, alas, in San Diego for the weekend and did not help, therefore it did happen. Abject humiliation for the author but hilarity for the rest of us. Enjoy!

Scene: A "Slider Showdown" cooking contest and fundraiser for the MS Society.

"Sigh. The showdown. So I was all set to use the Animal Style knock-off, mustard mixed into the ground beef and a bacon/onion jam on top. It was going to be awesome. Then Annie, a work and cooking friend, wanted to get in on the action, and suggested these: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/16-minute-meal-3-mini-meatball-sandwiches/
I was just happy to have help since I'd already regretted saying yes, so we planned on those. I asked the head dude if meatball sliders were okay, and he said Diversity is good." Okay! Then layoffs happened, and Annie asked if she could back out, and I said of course. But I wasn't excited about making a hundred meatballs alone, so her officemate suggested this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/sloppy-bombay-joes-recipe/index.html
I could just make a huge pot and be done with it. Sure! It would be easy and different, and if there was a selection of twenty different sliders, then people would appreciate something unique.

Okay, can you see where this went terribly wrong? Because I didn't.
A) It is NOT that easy to make a giant pot of sloppy Joe. For 100+ servings, it ended up being FOUR GALLONS!! The mess... unbelievable. Why did I think that would be easier than mixing mustard into beef and spooning into lumps? Because I'm an idiot.
B) There were not twentyish other slider chefs. There were THREE. So instead of being a refreshing change of pace, I was the "wow, you clearly didn't get it, did you?" Slider, slider, slider, slop in a hot dog bun. I was SO embarrassed!! Here are some choice comments I got:

Mom: Do you want a burger or do you want... this?
Kid: BAH!
Mom: Okay, let's get you a burger.

Dude 1: So... is this one of the entries?

Dude2: How's your chili coming along?
Me: Fine. [It's not chili!!!]

Dude 3: Ooh, you have chili dogs.
Me: [weeps on the inside]

Dude 4: What is this?
Me: Sloppy Sliders.
Dude 4: [skeptically] Boy, you went really different, didn't you?
Me: [I will eat your goddamn face right off your skull.]

And you know what burns me up? If I had stuck to my original animal style recipe, I would have totally won. Hands down. God damn it. Now all I have is a lesson learned and 3.95 gallons of Sloppy Joe left." :(

The Good and Bad of the Business End

2010-09-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

(click on any photo to access the entire album on flickr)

The Bad
I'm one of those people who will pretty much eat anything. Food allergies? Pickiness? Veganism? Hell no. All that changed when our poor monkey started getting (TMI...) dark green, almost sea-weedy stools streaked with blood. We went to the doctor who confirmed what the books say, which is a likely allergy to milk proteins from my diet. This means I have to cut out all dairy: no milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream etc. Except that the etcetera is what gets you. The less obvious foods like bread, chicken stock, sausages, and flavored chips to name a few. Halloween candy! (*sob*) I've been off dairy for about 3 weeks now and things do seem to be getting better, but they still aren't fixed. The last couple of days of diapers have actually been pretty bad again, coupled with Holly having fits of inconsolable screaming and gas. All of which lead me to believe that maybe milk isn't the only issues we've got going on. Sooooo...time for super fun food elimination week! I'm cutting out dairy, wheat, soy, and nuts for the rest of the week in the hopes that the diapers start looking more normal again and the fussiness abates. Providing that all goes well then I'll start reintroducing those foods back one by one to see if we can't pinpoint the problem. Anyone want to take bets on the allergen? Winner gets a banana!

The Good
Cloth diapers! I heart! I knew that I wanted to use cloth diapers even before the munchkin was born but I didn't want to go hog wild on a particular brand until I had a chance to field test a few different ones (I bought 6 to start). At about 5 weeks old I started putting Holly in the cloth and I haven't looked back since. They are SO easy and SO cute. There are enough rabid die-hard moms on the internet who will tell you every single last reason why cloth diapers are the cure to all the world's ills, so let me avoid that and just share some cute pictures:

(yes, in that last one she has discovered TV and his name is Roger Federer)

Bundt Pans are Satan's Bakeware

2010-09-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Every. Mother. Effing. Time.

Because That's What We Do In Colorado

2010-08-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

(click on any photo to access the entire album on Flickr)
I wasn't willing to let go of summer just because we have a wee little'un in tow so I planned a family camping trip up in the mountains. Normally Ferg style camping is rather rustic as we can never seem to embrace the beauty of car-camping. We are all decked out with backpacking gear which is great on the shoulders after many miles on the trail, but it does lack certain creature comforts. Namely a tent large enough to fit our growing family. We have on more than one occasion squished two people and a dog into a 2-man tent and it is NOT comfortable. Not at all. I'm through sleeping curled up in the fetal position to give Molly a small patch of floor to call her own for the night (as if she actually slept instead of walking her head into every wall of the tent like a drunken mime, shaking with terror because OMFG did you guys hear that? That sound outside the tent??!?). Yes, we needed a bigger tent. And bigger we got! We finally settled on an REI Basecamp 4 model which perfectly fits 2 adults, one infant, one dog, and a crap-load of their stuff. Seriously, I can never go back. There's so much room! And you can kinda stand up and stuff!

Of course we needed a good ol' fashioned Coleman camp stove to go with our new tent. And it's really easy to setup! And it cooks food evenly! I'm getting spoiled here. Next thing you know I'll be wanting a blow-up queen sized mattress and a bug zapper. So off we go to Lost Park, near the Lost Creek Wilderness area. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon so luckily we had most of the campground to ourselves. It really is a beautiful area and the sites were well separated so you got a feeling of isolation often missing when car camping. Steve setup the tent while I nursed Holly in the car (to get away from the mosquitoes...why do I always forget about the bugs?) and then we moved all our gear into the new tent-palace.

We hung out here and took ridiculously cute pictures of Holly all bundled up before heading out for a pre-dinner hike.

The valley we hiked along was just gorgeous, but we did find it odd that there were cow pies all over the trail. We didn't think that cattle grazing was allowed in Wilderness Areas, but I guess we were wrong. It was quite wistful to think that this is how cattle ranching used to be before feed lots and factory farms. This doesn't seem to be a bad life for a cow.

Surrounded by the sounds of mooing echoing off the valley walls, we head back to our campsite and ate some dinner. A thunderstorm had rolled in so poor Steve stood out in the rain cooking while I snuggled with Holly in the tent. By this time everything was damp from the humid air and the temperature was dropping rapidly. We put as many layers as we could on Holly to keep her warm.

Even still, this was a REALLY cold night. When I checked the car thermometer the next morning it read 38-deg, so I have the feeling it was pushing freezing during the middle of the night. Coupled with the damp air, it just gets inside your bones. No one got much sleep but I have to give Holly kudos for taking the whole experience in stride. She was such a champ and never complained about being cold. It sounds ridiculous now, sitting in my 80-deg house, but I had her in footed-jammies, baby leg warmers, a hat, a swaddling blanket, anotherswaddling blanket, a fleece blanket, and even that didn't seem like enough so I wrapped the whole burrito in my down jacket. I think she had the equivalent of my +10deg sleeping bags at that point so I relaxed enough to get some intermittent sleep of my own, up to my eyeballs in my mummy bag. Steve says it was the coldest night he's ever spent in his sleeping bag. And Molly, oh Molly. She kept getting up and trying to walk on top of us all night. I purposefully put her in the opposite corner from Holly but still we didn't get more than an hour at a stretch of continuous sleep. I only had to nurse once and managed to stay mostly in my sleeping bag, though my arm got very cold. There was no way I wanted to change Holly's diaper in the middle of the night so I just left her dirty until morning. Even then I wore my fleece gloves because my hands were so cold! All can say is if it was me, I would have screamed from having that freezing cold wipe on my bare bum, but Holly just silently scowled.

It warmed up quickly once the sun came up and promised to be much warmer than the day before, but even still we agreed that we would end our trip short and not stay another night. I didn't want to push our luck and Holly's good temperament, and besides we were all pretty tired. After breakfast we loaded Holly into the baby carrier and she instantly passed out. In fact, I don't think she was conscious for more than about 3 hours all day. (Secret to getting your baby to sleep: keep them in a meat locker all night).

This really is such a beautiful area and I hope to do a lot more exploring here. If I ever get brave enough for mushroom hunting I'll be spoiled by the bounty. Until then I'm content to take pictures:

All in all it was still a successful trip and I think we've shown ourselves that we can continue having fun adventures as a family. Already we're thinking about going to Moab this fall...it should be a lot warmer! Hopefully Molly won't fall into the ash-filled fire pit next time:

Don't you hate it when....

2010-08-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

...when you're having the best dream about getting some nummy milk, and then you wake up to find it was only your car seat.

Welcome home, dear!

2010-08-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Those who know me know I love to cook. I really love it. Cooking is a creative outlet for me; it is challenging and immediately rewarding, and so totally different from my work life at the end of the day (even though there is a lot of science to be learned). I used to furtively look up recipes at work in between making charts, but hey! now I can do it all day long! Well, that is when I actually have a free hand for hunting/pecking at the keyboard. It's very hard to disrupt such moments of beautiful innocence for the sake of a recipe.

My latest obsession is a blog called Smitten Kitchen, which apparently everyone already knew about except for me. I love her writing style and her fantastic photographs...and of course the food! I've probably made close to 20 recipes so far off her website, and while not everything I've made has been a winner, there have been plenty of meals I know I'll be eating for years to come. I've fallen in love with cooking all over again after discovering this blog.

I'm no food blogger but I wanted to share some of the delicious meals I've made in the past few weeks. First up was a divine breakfast pizza. Seriously, bacon and eggs on a pizza! I can't get over the genius of it all. It was so damned tasty.

Pair that up with some green beans sauteed in the bacon drippings and a fresh peach-blueberry cobbler and you've got yourself a perfect summer menu.

Later in the week I made a tasty zucchini and ricotta galette. The dough was a little tricky to work with, but in the end it made a beautiful presentation.

For those of you who have one of those zucchini plants that is trying to take over the world, here is something easy and delicious to make with those gorgeous yellow blossoms. Steve and I had these tapas-style in Venice and absolutely loved them. It's important to pick the blossoms early in the morning while they are fresh and fully open. If you wait until the day gets warm they will have closed up and be impossible to work with. Also, make sure there are no pollenating insect stuck inside before you start cooking!

You can keep the blossoms for a few hours in a plastic bag in the fridge with the stems wrapped in a damp paper towel, but they must be used the same day. We stuffed the blossoms with a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella and herbs, but you can also just use them plain.

After stuffing the flowers we battered them in a tempura-style batter and then deep fried them in vegetable oil.

Once they are golden brown set them to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy them immediately; they're delicious!

I want to give a shout out to a couple more recipes that I had great success with. I hope you enjoy them too:

Thai-style chicken legs (Holy wow, I didn't know chicken could be so juicy)
Mango slaw with cashews and mint(A great fresh summertime slaw)
Tomato and corn pie (OMFG yum! Make this tonight)
Raspberry vanilla smoothie (like heaven in a glass. I recommend using lemonade instead of cider)

BTW Holly is still wonderful and adorable. I know you're probably all thinking, enough of the food! We want baybee pictures!!! Well, here's a video of the wee one we've dubbed "Thrashy McThrasherson":

The Cry Legend

2010-07-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's true what they say, that you can decipher the subtle differences in your child's crying to understand what they are trying to tell you long before they learn to talk. Here is what I have learned so far.

The "I just gashed my face because mommy sharpened my talons instead of trimming them" Cry. Recognized by an ear splitting wail out of the blue and a bloody scratch on the cheek.
The "Soundless Puppy Dog Eyes that proceed a complete stomach purge". No actual crying involved, but a pathetic, plaintive look just as an ungodly amount of curdled milk comes pouring out of you baby's mouth and nose..all over her...all over you...all over the kitchen floor. Seriously, how did that all fit in her stomach?
The "I don't care that you're driving FEED ME NOOOOOOOOOW!!1!" Cry. Recognized by frantic, inconsolable wailing from the back seat that makes you feel like the worst freaking mother ever. Because oh, you just had to get bagels from across town, didn't you.
The "omg....omg I'm alone why am I alone OMFG!" Cry. Starts out with a hesitant whimper and gradually becomes more and more desperate. Usually heard while you are in the bathroom or while you are up to your elbows in pie dough.
The "My intestines are inflated like balloon animals" Cry. This starts out as a frantic flailing of all four limbs in every imaginable direction while grunting out "Eh.....Eh.....Eh....WHAAAA!!!". Internal accompaniment is a sound like percolating coffee and then wicked man-toots.
Lastly my personal favorite, The "Ow ow ow something is hurting me, mommy make it stop" Cry. Dude. Figure it out.

Date Night

2010-07-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

God I missed wine while I was pregnant. Sometime all I wanted in the world was to snuggle up on the couch with a nice shiraz, some raw-egg pasta carbonara and an episode (or three) of Mad Men. Sushi I was doing ok without; I do love a nice melt-in-your-mouth piece of salmon sashimi but I wasn't actively craving it. Well, that is, until we went to sushi with some friends and I had to content myself with a bowl of noodles as an endless stream of dragon rolls and spicy yellowtail disappeared down their greedy gullets. Yes, I was jonesing for the fish that night, let me tell you. And the wine.

Cut to last weekend when my darling husband treated me to a date night and all my long-suffering culinary dreams came true! I got my glass of wine and I got my salmon sashimi and I was one happy camper. Sure, the waitstaff took one look at Holly and seated us by ourselves in the back of the restaurant but she was an angel and never made a peep. She was actually a pretty good sport; I think we have a future connoisseur on our hands:

We even jaunted over to Cold Stone to share a cup of chocolate-peanut butter ice cream for dessert. That man 'o mine sure knows how to treat a recently un-pregnantized lady. Prost!

Flying Solo

2010-07-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

(karen)
I have officially survived my first week of solo, SAHM maternity leave. Being at home with the munchkin is more challenging than I had anticipated. I'm sure I'm like a lot of first time moms who think that they are going to get all kinds of things done while they are at home all day. I have a to-do list a mile long and I'd be lucky if I've started maybe two things so far. Every day (well...except for today of course) Holly seems to be more alert and have longer stretches of awake-time. Last Thursday she was up from 9:00am to 5:30pm with only a 2 hour nap during the day. I love my little girl best when she's got those beautiful eyes wide open but at the same time it makes it nearly impossible to do anything. She loves to be held constantly and will cry when I put her down even for a few minutes, like when I'm trying to pour myself a bowl of cereal or start a load of laundry. It's not even enough to be in my arms, she wants to be in my arms with me walking and bouncing her around the house, room to room, to get different views. Oh my gawd my upper back and shoulder muscles are starting to seize and burn. My posture is just shot to hell these days.

There are still a few simple tasks I want to accomplish everyday, however, and as corny as it sounds I have a checklist to make sure I at least stay on top of some basics. For example:
1) Take prenatal vitamin
2) Get the mail
3) Read to Holly
4) 5 min of tummy time
5) Check my e-mail
6) Go on a walk
....etc.

It sounds dumb but it's been working so far. Plus it gives me that incomparable feeling of accomplishment by putting a big X in the box.

New to the baby-taking-care-of repertoire was testing out the "Working Muthah" breast pump (it goes to eleven!). It was pretty intimidating at first but I think I've got a hang of all the nozzles and bottles and hoses and whatnot. We just introduced the bottle for the first time today and our little milk monster had no problems figuring out what to do. We're going to try to make it part of our routine to make sure Daddy gets to give a daily feeding.

It's been ferociously hot for the past 10 days or so, and our bedroom turns into a right furnace in the mid-afternoon. Even with a fan running it got up to 91-deg, way too hot for our monkey to nap. I had a clever idea to make a portable bassinet so I could bring Holly downstairs where it was cooler (technically, 84-deg is cooler). Voila!

Maternity leave has been more challenging than the initial honeymoon phase when Holly slept all the time and never fussed, but we're getting to know each other better and I love the little person she is. I love that she gets hiccups every time I change her diaper. I love the huge variety of faces she gives me, everything from squinky pirate eye to wry smiles to classic stink-eye. I love that she sneezes when the light changes. Yep, just a big bundle of snugglable cuteness.

Of course, the best part is when daddy gets home and we're a whole family again.

And now, your moment of zen.

Out and About

2010-07-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

(karen)
I think I'm getting the hang of this baby-thing. I went from changing exactly ONE diaper in my life to something like 10 every single day and I've realized it ain't no thang. I can pick Holly up without feeling like I'm going to snap her wobbly little neck. I can look into her eyes when she starts to go into fuss-overload and she will (usually) stop crying and just stare at my face. It melts my heart and makes me love this little chunk-a-monk so much.

I've been following some simple but great advice from our friend Laura which is this: Leave the house every day. Even if that means just getting the mail. With Steve being off on paternity leave for the last 2 weeks, we've tried to take advantage of this time together as a family to have some mini-adventures. The first major outing was to Target and the post office where we lauded ourselves for getting out of the house under 10 min and figuring out how to prop the carseat in a grocery cart...kinda. Important safety tip: Did you know that once you have a kid you can't just leave your cart at the end of an aisle and wander off to the other side of the store to grab something? It's true.

Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves after The Errand Experiment, the next day the Ferg Fam went to my work to enjoy a little picnic lunch in the grass with some co-workers. It was great to see everyone and show off our baby girl. I'm going to try to come back and visit during the summer when I can. After lunch Steve, Holly and I drove up to Lair O' the Bear Park for a little "hike" along Bear Creek. It was a beautiful, cool summer day and the wildflowers were out in force. We have to keep reminding ourselves how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area.

On Friday we loaded Holly in her stroller and took a walk along the Cherry Creek path. Did I mention that she didn't wake up for 4th of July fireworks? Well apparently she doesn't wake up for coal trains either.

But the best part of the outing was baby's first trip to REI!!!! (Also first public breastfeeding experience...I gotta work on making sure that nursing cover is well in place before waving the girls around). We contemplated the purchase of a new tent for our growing family, and of course got Holly an early start on the climbing wall.

The glorious outing was topped off with lunch at Proto's, an awesome pizzeria; yes my friends, we're living the good life.

Saturday was a family trip to Wash Park, one of the local Denver gems. It's funny how now I'm one of those people I used to be annoyed by while riding my bike, for walking slowly with a stroller. Ah, suck on it bikers. It was a pretty warm day but the fam enjoyed a lovely little picnic in the shade. Holly too; I'm getting the hang of the nursing cover.

Sunday we head to the local farmers market because isn't that what you're supposed to do on the weekends once you pop out a kid? Unfortunately as with so many Colorado "farmers markets" it was really more of a craft fair, but I did manage to score a bag of OMG YUUUUUM apricots. Steve left with a prize loaf of ciabatta and was equally sated. It does make me wistful for the markets in California, though. I'm sorry I squandered your amazingness, Santa Monica! Maybe next weekend we'll head up to Boulder for a taste of the good stuff.

Until then -- stay classy, San Diego:

Reflections on the First Week

2010-07-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

(karen)

I literally cannot believe it's been a whole week since our little girl was born. Everyone said we'd enter a time warp but it's hard to appreciate what that means until it happens to you. (Case in point; I've been trying to finish this post for the last 3 days). Fortunately the week has gone by blissfully. I wanted to write a nice coherent post about our time at home but that kinda fell apart so instead you get brief vignettes of the activities in between time spent staring at Frau Cheeks. Here are some excerpts from the latest batch of ridiculous cuteness. You can see more photos here on our Flickr album.

We had a very surreal experience on the morning of our discharge day. Our nurse came into the room, rather embarrassed, and asked if we would be willing to participate in a national breast cancer video that was being filmed that day. There were film crews at 12 hospitals around the country to record us performing the "Pink Glove Dance". I'm not kidding, it was choreographed and everything. I sat in a rocking chair with Holly next to another proud father with his new daughter, and the nurses danced all around us. They said it will be up on YouTube in September and that they'll give us a DVD of the performance as well. I'll let you know when the link is available.

A lot of people have been asking how Molly is handling the new addition to the family. I think she's vaguely aware that there is something new in the house and that it's not going away, but really she's been rather disinterested in the squirming bundle. Honestly I think that's the best possible situation.

Steve's parents came out from California to visit with their newest granddaughter. It was great to have them here helping out around the house, cooking fantastic meals, and providing advice to the newbie parents.

On Saturday night Bandimere speedway held their annual fireworks show. Normally the speedway is a noisy nuisance, but once a year it's fun to enjoy fireworks from the comfort of our deck. The show was great and Holly slept through the whole thing with barely a twitch at the large BOOMS.

Holly got her first bath a couple of nights ago. I realized very quickly I know NOTHING about bathing an infant. I literally had to run upstairs to consult our Baby 411 book for the "How to Bathe Your Infant" sidebar. Luckily grandma was there to help out and give me encouragement through the process; also a shout out to the Allens for the bath water thermometer! Somehow mom and baby made it through the ordeal but not without a lot of tears.

Viva los cheeks!

She's Here, and She's Perfect!

2010-07-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

(Karen)
Sorry we haven't updated in a while. Steve found it easier to do quick updates on Facebook than the blog so I know a lot of anti-FB folks were waiting for info. I'll try to update you on our life over the past couple of days.

Like Steve said my contractions started to get pretty painful so I got the epidural and was so glad I did. It really helped me relax and save my strength for the pushing at the end. Something was a little wonky with the drugs, though, because my right side was totally numb but my left side pretty much still had most of its feeling. This meant I could move my left leg all around, but it also meant I had a "window" of nerve feeling in my pelvis where I was still feeling the contractions very strongly. I was actually just fine with this though because it took the edge off but I was still very aware of what was going on in my body. Once things progressed to full dilation my doctor showed up and we started pushing. Everyone was so encouraging and I felt really awake and strong. It was actually pretty social in between contractions and I sometimes had to interrupt the conversation to say, "Um, I think I feel another one, should I start pushing again?".

It took about an hour, making steady progress with each contraction, and with one last big push our little girl was out and being put on my chest. It was so strange to hold this little gooey purple bundle and realize that she was the one who has been squirming around inside me for the past 9 months. I felt awe but also like I had no idea who this little person was. I knew it was going to take some time for us to get to know each other but I was so excited to start. Little Holly got taken to the nursery to get cleaned up while I got some stitches (and also got cleaned up!), and soon we were being wheeled to our recovery room. With all that long black hair to wash the nurse said Holly was the messiest baby she's ever had to clean! Apparently it took two changes of water to finish her bath.

The rest of the first evening was pretty much a blur of nurses coming in and out to check my vitals, checking Holly's progress, trying to breastfeed, changing gooey black diapers, and even having our friends Kara, Matt, and Laura over for a visit. I was luckily feeling very awake and social after labor, and Holly dazzled everyone with her intensely alert but very quiet demeanor.

She has been SUCH a good baby for us, we're really wondering what the catch it. It's taken a little practice but she's latching on like a pro; we haven't really needed to see a lactation specialist, even though we've asked to just to be safe (day 2 still waiting for her to show up....). Holly has made a few little fussy noises at night but has not once woken up crying. In fact the most difficult time we've had has been trying to wake her up to feed her. When she's awake she's very awake and ready to nurse, but she's not been happy when we've tried to rouse her for a feeding when she's super tired. We've tried taking her clothes off, rubbing her head and chest, squeezing her legs, tickling her chin and feet, but when she's tired there's just no keeping those beautiful eyes open. I'm learning that the nurses have the best intentions when they pester us to feed every 3 hours, but I think our little girl is doing a good job telling us when she's hungry.

That's pretty much what has been going on these last couple of days for the Ferg Family. We're going home from the hospital around noon today and Steve and I are very excited to try this whole parenting thing at home. Steve parents, Sam and Jane, arrived last night and will be staying with us for the next week or so, so we should have some good company and help around the house. In the meantime we're just floating thru our time warp, wondering where the hours keep disappearing to, and just loving our little girl to pieces. Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful notes and e-mails! It's been so great to hear from all of you and to know how loved we are. We're really on cloud 9 and can't wait to start sharing little Holly with you all.

(Here is the link to our photo album on Flickr)

Flying High

2010-06-29T10:32:00.001-07:00

(steve)

The epidural was inserted and Karen was catnapping within 10 minutes. Can I have an epidural too? The day is sliding by but she's making great progress and everything is going smoothly.

Of course, now the prospect of caring for a new life is much closer than it seemed yesterday. I can't say I know what to expect, but I am strangely unconcerned about what lies ahead. I don't have any real experience to draw from, but how hard can it really be when you want so earnestly to succeed and enjoy the ride?

The day is shaping up wonderfully and we might get a peak at Baby Ferg within the next few hours.

Status: 8 cm dilated, +1 position, contractions ~ 3 minutes apart

All Systems a Go on this Juicy Adventure

2010-06-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

(karen) Good morning! We've had quite an exciting time since yesterday. Monday was my first day of maternity leave and I spent the time being productive: taking Molly to the vet, taking Child/Infant CPR courses online, buying ingredients for lasagna to stick in the freezer. I was feeling just a touch "funny" and wondered if something might happen soon, but as the day went on everything seemed normal again. I had my non-stress test at 2:30 and Steve came with me for the enthralling 30 minute monitoring session. One monitor tracked fetal heart rate and the other monitored my contractions to see how she responded to the squeezing (she didn't even notice). The doc complained that she was sleeping so I started poking and prodding Baby Ferg a bit, and then the mongoose came to life! There were nice healthy heart rates all over the monitor and everyone was pleased. At the end of the appt I asked about getting my membranes swept as a more natural way to help things along, rather than perhaps waiting for a full-on induction at the end of the week. I'd heard it was a painful procedure but I barely noticed it and it was over in about 6 seconds. With that we were wished luck and sent on our way back home.

I decided I wanted to take advantage of some free movie tickets we've been hanging on to so I told Steve I was taking him to see Toy Story 3 that night. We got our movie candy and head to the theater in the car that doesn't have the car seat or hospital bags, because we were in a fate-tempting mood and this seemed the most appropriate irresponsible short-term decision. During the movie I was squeezing Steve's should every time I felt a minor contraction, and he told me they were consistently about 8 min apart. I wasn't too worried because I've been having these Braxton Hicks for weeks now. I thought if anything we were practicing how to do the timing for when the real ones come. I gave a little throat clearing cough and instantly I felt a gush of warm fluid. I stared at Steve for a couple of seconds before announcing in a theater whisper , "My water just broke!" The docs say this only happens about 10% of the time so I guess I'm one of the dramatic few that likes to make a scene. It was a loooong walk back to the car, pants stuffed with paper towels but still actively leaking in view of the couples and families we passed on the way to the parking lot.

We called the doc in the car and were asked to gather our things and come into the hospital when we were ready. Since it was nearly 10:00 pm we had to use the Emergency Entrance and let me tell you people, I left a dripping trail the whole way. In the movies the lead lady gets a gush and says "Oh, my water broke!" then cut to screaming contractions and then cuddling an 8-month old covered in goo. My experience has been more like an unstoppable gush of amniotic fluid. Followed 10 min later by another unstoppable gush (thanks goodness Steve put two towels and a trash bag in the front seat). Just when you think you can't possibly have any more fluid, gush again and make an absolute mess of your hospital bed. Then for good measure leak a little more every time you have a contraction. (Sorry, TMI?) The benefit of this experience is I got to skip the whole triage step and go straight into the labor/delivery room. I guess they figured I wasn't faking it.

I wasn't really feeling painful contractions up to the point so they encouraged me to get some sleep overnight. I got an IV access placed in my wrist and was given a couple of sleeping pills t0 help mask the back labor I'd begun to feel. I was nervous about taking the pills but they worked beautifully and I slept soundly from 2:00-6:30am. It's about 9:00 now and I've been on a pitocin drip to help speed things along. The contractions are certainly more painful but so far manageable. I'm up to about 4 cm dilated and 80-90% effaced. Sorry about the long post, but writing it has been a welcome distraction from these labor pains. We'll update again soon when we have more news.

Ugh, they just uped my pitocin another couple of clicks. Again. This aught to be fun.

Here we go

2010-06-29T05:43:00.001-07:00

(steve)

Two Ambien pills later and all the sudden it's almost 7 am. Karen was able to sleep for a good 4 hours last night. Even got rolled over and didn't notice a thing. During that time the contractions slowed down some, but a little Pitocin goes a long way.

When we arrived last night, the ER desk asked if Karen's water had broken. I asked if they wanted me to get the soaked towel out of the car. While filling out papers another woman arrived and said "my water broke." I guess it's contagious after all.

Once we were wheeled up to the delivery floor our nurse informed us that they would be switching the computer monitoring system this morning. So we get hand checks every 15-20 minutes. At least they are bringing in more nurses and delayed all the scheduled inducements for today.

Status: haven't checked since we originally arrived, but one very ruptured sac, one strong baby heart beat, one somewhat rested Momma, and about 11 hours down. Contractions are back to every ~ 3-4 minutes.

Who knew date night could be so eventful

2010-06-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

(steve)

So we went to a movie this evening. Toy Story 3. We even went to the trouble to sneak in some movie candy. Guess the little monkey didn't want to see it, cause half way through, Karen leaned over and said, "I think my water just broke." We crept out of the theater grinning sheepishly. I would not recommend sitting in theater nine for a few days.

Two hours later we're in the labor room, Karen's hooked up to a fetal monitor and she's started working her way up the dilation scale. Looks like we're here for the haul, so sit back and enjoy the ride. At least she got a good nights sleep last night.

Status: 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, contractions ~ 6 minutes apart.

T-2 Days

2010-06-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting doctor appt this morning, our last scheduled one before our due date on the 27th. I've heard that first babies are typically late but the doctor and nurses were making it seem like it was amazing that I've gone as long as I have.

"Wow, you're still going?"
"Do we need to have a talk?"
"She's got a hold of your hip bones with both hands and is holding on for dear life!"

I got my exam and have progressed to 3cm dilated, up from 2cm the week before, up from 1 cm the week before that, so at least I know things are moving in the right direction. I have a "favorable cervix", go me! My doctor asked what I wanted to do at this point, and when I told her I didn't really understand the question, she explained she meant did I want to go straight for an induction. (To which I'm thinking, aren't I still technically 2 DAYS EARLY??) I declined again to do anything today and to instead see how it goes over the weekend. She did say that she does not recommend going past a week since it can start to get unsafe, meaning a bigger baby and great chance of needing a C-section. Another interesting bit of info is that both she and the other doctor I've been seeing are going to be out of town next weekend for the 4th of July so that pretty much means that if this kid doesn't start the great journey toward the light on her own we'll be inducing by next Friday, July 2. Steve and I then shared an "OFMG this just got all kinds of real" moment.

I made an appointment for next Monday to have a non-stress test performed which is where they'll monitor contractions and the baby's heart rate to see how well she handles the squishing. From there, who know? My doc said feel free to call any time this weekend and say "I'm done! I've had enough! Let's get this kid out!". I'm not really feeling that way though, and it seems too strange to just walk in and say "Ok I'd like to give birth now." I'm going to at least wait things out a few more days and then reevaluate on Monday. So there internet, you are all caught up.

What else has been going on? Let me bulletize:

I had my last day of work!! I'm going to miss everyone but honestly this leave came at the best possible moment. I won't go into the gory details, suffice it to say that my extended maternity leave should in some small way help the program budget woes.
I feel like I'm in school again and I just started summer vacation. What confuses me is that everyone else has to go back in on Monday. How lame is that?
It's like walking on the flipping surface of the sun these days. But it's a dry heat, right?
Before the thermostat got cranked up to a billion degrees we had a rockin' storm that spawned egg sized hail and multiple funnel clouds over Denver. Not for the Fergs, though, we got some pretty pictures and a bunch of wind. Darned North Denver gets all the fun.

I'm practically healthy again! I can breathe thru my nose!! This is tres exciting, folks. It almost makes me feel like nesting...but I'll leave that to the pros:

Steve and I went on a 4 mile walk this afternoon to help things out if at all possible. I was also directed to order the spicy sauce with my lunch, so you can't say I ain't trying. Until then we wait. And maybe turn on the AC, because dear god people it's hot out there.

Lyons Outdoor Games

2010-06-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Before you start asking questions, yes I'm still pregnant. T-7 days until D-Day, but my money says this little stinker is going to be late. Would you like to hear about something else for a while? How about the Lyons Outdoor games! This is a yearly event in a little town called Lyons, north of Boulder and about halfway to Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a 3 day event but we were only able to catch the last day. I think that was probably a good thing because we had a strange bout of very cold, wet rainy weather all weekend and Fri/Sat sounded pretty miserable for spectators.

We were invited by our friends Amanda and Steve to come watch the action and I'm so glad we went! It was a long but very fun day watching the folks on the river. Below are some pics of our friends showing off their moves.

Steve lining himself up for the next gate:

Alex doing a wonderful advertisement for his kayaking gear:

The beautiful Hella watches the action upstream after finishing her run:

Scott tears thru his run and humbles the field:

One of the more entertaining competitions for the day was the Canine Cannonball, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Pooches big and small are judged for their style and distance for leaping recklessly into a pond after all manners of balls and toys. It was pretty amazing how crazed these dogs were to jump in the water again and again:

Back to the human based competitions, we spent quite a lot of time enjoying the free-style kayak competitions. This is a competition where kayakers in playboats do insane tricks in a standing feature on the river. I learned about fun moves like the "space godzilla", "phonics monkey", and "McNasty". Please don't ask me what they look like; all I know is these dudes do all manner of cartwheel-ish acrobatics in the water and I am perfectly content to stay on the shore and watch:

All in all, it was a great day! Many thanks to our friends for including us landlubbers in the festivities.

(click on any photo to access more pics in my online album)

The Two Week Wait

2010-06-14T12:42:00.001-07:00

I don’t think I’ve quite wrapped my head around the fact OMFG in two weeks there’s going to be an new human being we’re going to take home and have to take care of and pretend like we know what the heck to do with it. Seriously, I can almost see what the weather forecast will be on my due date. We’re buying dairy product with expiration dates well past 6/27. It’s that close. I’m trying to take solace in that this *seems* like a pretty standard reaction for a first time parent, and somehow all those little babies out there stay alive and grow up to be decent human beings, so…yeah. There’s hope for us. Still, in my free time I’ve been playing in my garden and reading sci-fi novels and generally cruising along under the assumption that because we have a box of huggies in the nursery that means we’re “ready”. Then I get mini-panic attacks that I should be using this time more wisely, either by living every remaining baby-free moment to the fullest, or by scouring the internet to do last minute research on cloth diapering or infant CPR. (I really do need to do that last one). It doesn’t help though that I’ve had a really nasty chest cold for the last 2 weeks, and the second I started to recover I came down with a brand new cold. In other words, forget nesting: my motivation and energy level is about right for sitting on the couch and watching the last season of Mad Men on Netflix

So what’s new with the bump? Still having frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions but no real ones yet. At my last appt. I was 1-2 cm dilated, up very slightly from last week. They offered to do a procedure called “stripping the membranes” which separates the lower part of the amniotic sac from the uterine wall to help things along, but I declined at this point. I figured there’s no rush just yet and we’d let nature do her thing for a while longer. Beyond that, just the usual insomnia and discomfort of late stage pregnancy. It’s going to be strange to no longer have this mysterious alien in my belly thrashing all around and poking out her elbows and feet; I think I’m going to miss it. I love this pregnant belly far more than I thought I would. By now I’ve totally forgotten what my body used to look like, though I am excited to wear my normal clothes again! So on with the 2 week wait. I should really try to muster up some energy to remain a productive(ish) employee during this time.

Return to Blogging, and Baby Ferg's Nursery

2010-06-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

(3 weeks to D-Day)

It's been well over a year since my last post but with Baby Ferg's arrival predicted by the end of the month, we thought it would be a good idea to dust off our little blog and get back out in the ether. As those of you who would ever bother reading this already know, Steve and I are expecting our bundle of squirming joy somewhere around June 27th, although technically I believe as of today I am full-term. People keep asking if we're ready, and I wonder how we'd ever know if we really are. We've bought or been given all the major necessities so materially we're prepared; we picked out a pediatrician, we have our hospital paperwork all filled out and our little bags packed, so yeah, I guess we're "ready". Not much to do now but wait and start second guessing all those little twinges.

We've had a great time putting together our nursery for Baby Ferg and I wanted to share some pictures of the finished product. For those of you who have visited us before, this is the old "Madeline Room". Not that the old decorations weren't wonderful and all, but I think we did a pretty good job in making the nursery our own.

The glider was our major splurge but I think we spent our money in the right place. We actually refinished the changing table from an old computer table we found in my mother's garage, as well as the dresser which was Steve's from when he was a kid. We painted them the same color white and voila! A matching furniture set.

The mobile may look a little squinky but I made it with love. I used some of the cards from our baby shower to make the dangly decorations so we'll think of our friends and family when we see it.

The sheets are washed and the toys are ready. All we need now is to add a baby! I'll be sure to post periodic updates before and of course after her arrival to stay in touch as best as I electronically can. And now, the Happy Marshmallow Dance (i.e. how she treats me after I eat more than my fair share of leftover marshmallows. This kid is going to have a sweet tooth just like her mama):

The glorious hive unveiled at last

2009-03-30T21:42:00.001-07:00

The glorious hive unveiled at last
Originally uploaded by ladotyk

We finally got our bee hive removed from the column support of our deck, on St. Patrick's day of all days. It's surprising how fond I've grown of our bee friends, and how I've come to admire their tireless work-ethic. We were good neighbors, and we never got in each other's ways. Well, that is until I learned about how wild hives will mature a new queen each spring and send out thousands of bees to form a new colony, which is exactly what prompted us to have them removed early this season. We didn't want to be *those* neighbors. Paul the Bee Boy did an excellent job of dismantling the support to expose the hive within, then using a converted vacuum carefully sucked the bees into a series of wire cages which were used to transport them to a new home. I know this is "all for the best" and yadda yadda, but my backyard is a lonelier place now. I miss seeing the bees fly in and out of their tiny hive hole, coming in for a landing on a set glide path, saddlebags laden with pollen pockets. I miss listening against the column to hear the powerful humming within, a sound which never failed to widen the eyes of friends when they finally deciphered the low-tones of the hive. Good-bye bees, it was lovely while it lasted. Thanks for the honey.

Costa Rican Thanksgiving

2009-03-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

(steve)

Ok, we've been really remiss about posting from our last vacation, over Thanksgiving. 4 months isn't too long is it? Anyways, here you go...

We left for San Jose a few days before Thanksgiving with the goal of enjoying not being at home for a whole nine days. Costa Rica was kind of a last minute decision, a place we wanted to visit, but wasn't on the top of the destination list. Based on our available time we decided to visit only three locations, Corcovado, Monteverde, and Arenal.

Our first stop was Corcovado via Drake Bay. We took a 10 person plane to the Oso Peninsula where we landed on what seemed like the only patch of asphalt on the peninsula. From here we took a 20 minute 4WD taxi ride over a very rough road to the beach where we were met by a boat that took us to our ultimate destination, the Corcovado Tent Lodge. That's right, only easily accesible by boat! Our accomodation at the lodge was for 3 all inclusive nights in an A-frame tent about 20 feet from the sand, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. No air conditioning (or electricity in the tent), but that's exactly what we were looking for. To welcome us, a pair of scarlet macaws soared overhead as we walked up to check in.

Our first day at the lodge, we went to Cano Island for a day long snorkel/hike adventure. Highlights included an encounter with a mother and baby whale, lots of colorful fish, and a host of unseen, but painful jellyfish. The afternoon was spent hiking around the island in a torrential downpour without shoes. It was a true tropical storm, with the most captivating part, listening to the warm rain pelt the rain forest canopy.

After returning to the lodge, we decided to go explore further down the coast along the local foot path. We passed a number of local houses and beaches before coming across a troop of white faced monkeys foraging at the edge of the forest. It was amazing to see the monkeys moving through the trees, behaving exactly like a human family. The Ma and Pa monkeys herded the kids along, turning over big leaves and tasting whatever fit in their mouthes. We watched them for about an hour, sometimes within a few feet, until they turned deeper into the forest and we could continue on. Later on, we came upon another set of white faced monkeys in the path. This time they were not quite as good natured as the first set. As we turned to head back, we apparently got too close cause the monkeys immediately showed their wild side.

Our second day in Corcovado was what I was really looking forward to, a guided tour through a portion of Corcovado National Park. Corcovado National Park was our main draw to this part of Costa Rica, as National Geographic named it one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. After a 30 minute boat ride further down the coast, we stepped into the forest with visions of jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws in our heads. Very excited, Corcovado did not disappoint, as we had encounters with a coatimundi and a large kingfisher within the first ten minutes of our walk. Further on in the forest, we came upon bats, leaf cutter ants, some howler monkeys (a long way off), a large group of coatimundi, and several beautiful birds (like a yellow juvenile trogon).

When we got back to the beach for our lunch, we found a group of folks looking further down the beach at a crocodile that was lounging on the sand. Closer examination showed that the croc had a sea turtle in his mouth that he was desparately trying to crack open. I have to give him kudos for effort, but by the time we left, he was still carrying around an intact, but dead, sea turtle. Other fun sights/activities in the National Park include a pair of scarlet macaws foraging in the trees overhead and a short hike to a nice waterfall where Karen and I stopped for a quick dip. Later that afternoon we went on a nice mud walk up a local mule trail that ended up providing some entertainment.

Day 3 at Drake Bay was one of confusion and embarassment (at least for me). We began by packing up and heading to the airport. Here's where the embarassment comes in. We weren't supposed to leave until the next day. Two hours, two boat rides, and two 4WD taxi rides later, we were back to the lodge where I was wondering what happened while Karen was just mad. To salvage the day, we ended up booking a half day zip line tour. The company came to pick us up and we rambled off deeper into the forest to our destination. Once there, we strapped in for 14 zip line rides through the majestic trees. To help make it up to Karen we were shown a sleepy looking three toed sloth about 15 feet into the first ride (unfortunately no picture since we were dangling from a cable 50 feet up).

The next day we treked back to the airport (correct day this time) and made our way to Santa Elena for our visit to Monteverde National Park. The trip included another small plane, taxi, and mini-bus ride. We stayed in the beautiful Monteverde Cloud Forest Lodge. Similar to our visit to Ecuador, this lodge was situated in a cloud forest reserve, where the hummingbirds like to flock. Lucky for us, other animals liked to visit this area as well. For instance, we woke up to find an armadillo nosing around the grass outside our door the first day.

Our main event for the first day was a big walk through the local countryside to the Skywalk. Along the way we spotted a small group of toucanettes as well as a couple of guans and some more white faced monkeys. The Skywalk was a park with a collection of elevated trails and suspension bridges that allowed a self tour of the canopy at near tree top elevation. For us this was absolutely fantastic as we could take our time and look to our hearts content. As an added bonus, it seemed like we were the only visitors there as we only came across one group of three walking the opposite direction. The cloud forest revealed lots of epiphites and stunning views, but surprisingly few birds and animals. All told, we managed to find a few coatimundi, a hooded jay, and some howler monkeys after a few hours of searching.

Day two was set to be a guided walk through the Monteverde National Park. After breakfast, we made our way to the park when the weather decided not to cooperate. As we joined our tour, the rain really started to come down, to the point where we were dripping wet. As one can imagine, the animals/birds do not like to make themselves seen during bad weather. I kept imaging them all nice and toasty in the trees wondering why all the silly humans were walking around getting wet. After the decidedly dissatisfying tour, Karen and I took the rest of the afternoon to walk around the park on our own. In a way, this hike was better than the morning, in that we got to see the forest in it's natural state (rainy and misty) without the crowds. We pushed our way through a neglected trail and ended up content to walk in the rain by ourselves.

Once we made our way back to town, we decided to visit a local ranaria (frog sanctuary). Here we were shown all manor of local amphibians, some tiny, some large, some poisonous, some really hard to see. It was very interesting to see the frogs since one rarely finds them when out in the wild (even if you can hear them and diligently look).

I should note that here in Monteverde, we made our best effort at speaking spanish with the locals. They were generally receptive to our attemps and I like to think that we were able to get what we needed without undue difficulty. I'm sure we were just gringos to them, but we did try.

Our last stop on the trip was to visit a volcanic zone near the town of Arenal. Our transit was very fun as we took another 4WD taxi to meet a boat to cross a lake to reach the town (it beat the 6 hour mini-bus alternive). Along the route, we drove through beautful mountains with local homes and ranches. Lucky for us, the weather had cleared so we were able to enjoy the vistas.

After arriving at Arenal, we found another guided tour of the active volcano and it's surrounding forest. What was unique to this tour was that it began in the late afternoon. The tour started at a near overlook of the volcano where we found a group of howler monkeys and a set of gorgeous toucans sitting in the trees nearby. From the overlook, we tramped back down through the forest, looking at the birds and sunset, and listening to our guide tell amusing stories about the local people and wildlife, arriving back after dark. Once back on the bus, we drove to a different overlook to watch the fury of the volcano in the twilight. The Arenal volcano has been continuously errupting since the 1960's, similar to the big island of Hawaii. The lava flow was clearly visible, collapsing into showers of sparks that illuminated the night. It was an awesome display of natural fury. To cap off the night, we were dropped off at one of the nearby thermal hot springs resorts for a nice meal and a soak in the warm water.

All in all, Costa Rica was an enjoyable place to visit, with well established ammenities and plenty to do and see. Our wildlife encounters were very accessible, yet still wild enough to suit most tourists. The local people were very nice and the food was good. Overall, the trip was a good way to escape for a few days and recharge the batteries. Costa Rica has solidified our opinion that South and Central America are wonderful places to spend your spare time.

Backpacking in Indian Peaks Wilderness Area

2009-01-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

Ok....I've been negligent with my blog for about a year now and I have no excuses. Instead I will just dive right back in and try to catch up on the going's on down in Ferg-Town.

For the first installment of this come back tour, we jump back to July 2008 when the Fergs and Icklers (plus their two trail puppies) took 3 days to go backpacking in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, just west of Boulder. After we got the permitting all sorted out we found the trailhead and began hiking steadily upward through some of the most gorgeous landscape this side of heaven. I've been avoiding this wilderness area just because I've heard how crowded the trails get, being so close to Boulder and all, but now I see why everyone swarms here. It's abso-freaking-amazing! The mountains got a ton of snow last winter, and we were rewarded with miles of vivid wildflowers. It kicked off a new obsession of mine, which is to document and identify wildflowers. I must have taken over 50 pictures of different wild flower species, despite the eye-rolling and knowing sighs of my party.

Our first night we camped at Bob and Betty Lakes near tree line. I laid in the tent feeling a bit nauseous due to altitude sickness, but luckily it wore off around 9:00 and I managed to eat some cold leftovers. The next morning we set off to cross over the continental divide which formed the backdrop for our lovely lake the night before. There were fewer wildflowers up here in the alpine environment, but still the scenery was out of this world.

Across the divide and still above tree line, we had great views of the Winter Park ski area. Unfortunately we also were able to survery the vast damage inflicted by the bark beetle, which is slowing killing the pine trees in the Rockies.

We hiked along the divide for most of the day, then crossed back over again to begin our secent to our next campsite. It was a calm, sunny day and in the distance we heard a male elk bugle his eerie cry into the wild, looking for a mate.

We had only one snow field to cross, but it was a doozy since it was incredibly steep and emptied into a scree field. We got some cuts on our hands from trying to slow our slide down the ice, but in the end everyone made it through safely, even the doggies.

Our next campsite was still beautiful but since it was now a Saturday night we had to share with a lot more campers, as well as a storm of mosquitoes which made things pretty miserable for a while.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, napping, and of course playing chicks vs. dudes pinochle out of range of mosquito proboscices. If I remember it was a disgaceful thumpin' of the chicks. (ouch)

I made biscuits in the morning and they surprising turned out pretty good. I'm always trying to do some kind of gourmet cooking the in backcountry which more often than not ends up as fish food in whatever lake we happen to be camping near, so having this recipe work was nice for both the belly and the ego. After breakfast we broke camp and started out hike down the mountain, back towards the car. We were considerably more dirty and our hips and shoulders bruised, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And if the puppies are tired at the end of the day, you know it was a good trip.

Trampoline Dodgeball

2008-08-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, new best thing ever: trampoline dodgeball! You will be drenched with sweat in about five minutes, but it's so awesome, how can you stop bouncing? Check out this video on YouTube.

I'm sure someone is bound to get horribly mangled and the place will be shut down in due time, but until then I'll keep working on my flips.

Bienvenidos a Ecuador!!

2008-02-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

(steve)

Who wants to go visit South America? We do, we do!! To satisfy the itch, Karen and I convinced two of our LA friends to join us on a two week tour of the beautiful South American country of Ecuador. After an agonizing decision process, we chose an action packed adventure tour sure to keep us moving and needing a week of recovery time back at work.

Since we just couldn't wait, Karen and I flew down a couple of days early to visit the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve. Situated two hours northwest (by car) from the capital city of Quito, Bellavista is a privately owned bird sanctuary in a country known for its biodiversity. (In fact, only Brazil and Columbia have more identified bird species in the world.) Located within the cloud forest region of the Andes at about 7,000 ft altitude, Bellavista is home to a dazzling array of hummingbirds. Each day, the staff at the Reserve fill a series of large feeders to coax the hummingbirds out of the forest for all to see. The result is a hectic frenzy of whirring birds pushing past each other to get a choice spot (males being territorial buggers). At any one time there may be over twenty birds flitting between nearby branches and feeders. In addition, the hummingbirds are not particularly afraid of people and willing to let you get in really close for a good look.

While staying at the Reserve, we managed to get out and explore the surrounding sub-tropical forest looking for other critters and plants. There were a multitude of trails to choose from, most requiring hiking up and down steep, muddy hills (out favorites). There is a vitality about tropical forests that is amazing to see, with plants battling for supremacy. The distinguishing feature of a cloud forest is the constant presence of misty clouds that move over and through the trees, sometimes a large bank, sometimes a single puff. The cloud forest is also home to a large array of interesting flowers like the Birds of Paradise and beautiful orchids. And what tropical forest would be complete without epiphites?

Not to be outdone, we also encountered a few of the bigger bird species, notably trogans, mountain tanagers, and a gorgeous mountain toucan.

After two days of bird watching, we returned to Quito to meet up with our friends Suzanne and Mindy, and join our tour group for the rest of the trip. A joyful reunion was celebrated on the streets of Quito. We wandered around the city, visiting the Centro Historico to see the Presidential Palace, Grand Plaza, City Cathedral, and Ejido market. There was a little consternation about the local water, but Karen decided to buck the trend and eat local fruit (looked similar to cherry tomatoes, but orange) bought from an open air market and eat it straight away. Luckily, there was no Ecuadorian revenge experienced, so the rest of us tried the fruit the next day. Since we live in next to the Rocky Mountains, the 9,500 ft altitude didn't bother us much, but our LA compatriots were definitely winded climbing the steep streets.

That first day in Quito was made more interesting by the complete lack of English around us. It must have been amusing (or annoying) for the locals to watch the four of us huddle together to come up with simple phrases dredged up from Spanish classes a decade ago. I must admit, it was amazing how fast vocabulary returned when confronted with no other means of communication besides pointing. (I would say by the end of the two weeks, we were minimally functional in Spanish again and inspired to relearn for the next trip.) I have to thank the locals for their patience and good humor.

The next morning we embarked, with the rest of our tour, on a series of adventure sports that showcased the amazing Andes mountains with its range of volcanoes and rivers. First up, mountain biking. To warm up, we drove to 14,500 ft to ride down the Cotapoxi volcano. From the parking lot near the beginning of a snow field, we braved a fierce wind to sail down the mountain on a dirt road, passing some free range llamas along the way.

From Cotapoxi, we drove to the town of Urbina for a stay at a converted train station. Along the way, we received a great view of the nearby erupting volcano, Tungurahua. The "station house" was a quaint house in the countryside, complete with local livestock to play with. Here, we were provided with the first extended conversations with our fellow travelers. We got along all right with most everyone, but didn't find any instant buddies among the throng.

The second day of biking was more serene, past rolling hills and farms in the countryside south of Quito. At first the ride was a bit bumpy over cobblestones, but a downpour quickly converted the ensuing dirt roads to mud. We ended up quite covered (not readily apparent from the photo), but no worse for wear. During the second half of the day, Karen and I managed to get separated from the group, and were surprised to find ourselves behind the chase van after a somewhat frantic bit of peddling. They were a bit surprised to see us go flying by and waving. It's a good thing there were local school children around to tell us which way the rest of the gringos went.

After drying out, we had a rest day in town of Riobamba. What better way to rest than a nice hike to 17,000 ft (starting from 15,000 ft) on the country's tallest volcano, Chimborazo. Here we joined hiking guide, Rodrigo, to go higher than our feet have ever taken us before. We followed a trail that led to the summit (over 20,000 ft), but ended up turning back when a snow storm began and the rocks got slippery. We were completely bundled up while Rodrigo wore jeans and sneakers.

Feeling refreshed, we hopped a bus to the Guamote market. Here we visited a truly local market with little evidence of tourist infiltration. The locals flocked from nearby villages and farms to trade wares, including animals, food, and all manner of necessities. In this area, the local dress was highlighted with vibrant colors, particularly for the women. The signature fedora-style hat was worn by many. Rodrigo led us around like little ducklings (which were for sale next to the pigs), pointing out interesting items. We ended up buying a few bananas (peeled fruit is usually ok) for the road and they were really good.

Our next adventure commenced in the town of Achepullas (12000 ft) for a three day hike along the Ecuadorian Inca trail to the ruins of Ingapirca. For the entire hike, we followed a little visited trail along the Andean high country where our only company was a handful of hardy farmers and shepherds (with flocks), and our train of trusty mules. All three days were filled with dramatic vistas of high peaks and deep valleys, with swirling clouds forming in valleys below. To keep us on our toes, occasional bogs appeared with little warning (see photo of Suzanne). Coming from the arid Rocky Mountains, the lush green of the Ecuadorian highlands felt a little strange, but the beauty of the hills was definitely worth the lack of oxygen and windy afternoons. (We spent the entire hike above 12,000 ft altitude, with almost a full day above 14,000.) The first night, Karen and I followed Rodrigo up a nearby peak after dark. We summited over 14,000 ft with our headlamps on after 90 minutes of steady climbing. (One of our other guides chased after us for fun and made the same climb in 41 minutes.) Coming down was more challenging as a light rain started and the rocks and thatch got a little slippery. Our final arrival time to camp was close to midnight. While brushing my teeth after arrival, I strolled just outside the camp and encountered a big glowing set of eyes about 50 ft away. As I stopped to look, the unmistakable profile of a mountain lion appeared from the darkness. After a long glance, the cat sauntered off towards the hills, and I raced back to the tents. No one else ended up seeing the beast. Rodrigo told me the next morning it must have been a goat or a donkey, but I know what I saw and it wasn't no goat.

Our second day of hiking followed a dramatic ridge line that allowed great views into valleys on either side. Here we spied a group of bulls roaming free on a lower hillside, awaiting their turn to face off with matadors in the ring. This day ended up being a long, hard walk, leaving most of the group ready to be done and off to bed early. Although, Rodrigo convinced Karen and I to go on another walk after dinner to find birds at a lake near the camp.

The hiking ended in the ruins of Ingapirca, an important Incan religious site. Here we toured the perfectly constructed walls of the Temple of the Sun, with joints so smooth you couldn't put a coin between the blocks. There were numerous outlines of rooms, walls, and storage areas, indicating that this area was considered important to the Incas over 400 years ago. It was interesting to learn more about the Inca and how they influenced the local culture despite only governing Ecuador for 60 years before the arrival of the Spaniards.

Sore of feet, we all climbed on the bus for a ride to the town of Banos at the foot of Tungurahua (that's right, the erupting one). Along the way, we traveled along part of the Pan American highway, the road connecting Alaska with the southern tip of Chile. This particular section of road was a bit hairy, as landslides had covered both lanes recently, and the local government was a bit slow to respond. The comment from Rodrigo, "this is more like a trail than a road right now." We were informed that even simple construction jobs in Ecuador can take years to complete due to lack of funding.

Upon arrival in Banos we were instructed to keep a bag of valuables and clothes at the ready, in the event of serious eruption. The evacuation instruction was less than encouraging: "follow the townspeople, they know where to go." To keep our minds off of eruptions, Karen and I went on an optional canyoning trip. In case you're wondering, canyoning involves rappelling down flowing waterfalls surrounded by canyon walls. In this case, we descended down four consecutive waterfalls, the highest about 60 feet. (Unfortunately no pics since cameras don't like water). Our guides were both about 18 years old and spoke broken English, but seemed to know their stuff, despite using the van as the first anchor (I made sure to check the emergency brake was on). After drying out (again), Karen and I hiked up another trail to a great overlook of the city. Along the way, we saw a very funny sign informing us of our need to buy a beer.

From Banos, we boarded yet another bus for the ride to Tena. This bus ride was different from others so far, since we were descending to the edge of the Amazon rain forest at 2,000 ft altitude. The town of Tena was the starting point for three days of whitewater rafting. Day 1 was on the Tena river (class 3 rapids), with lots of lazy paddling and fun raft games in between the rapids. Our boat contained me, Karen, Mindy, Suzanne, and Susanna (another American), with our hulking guide Santiago (aka Tigre). Tigre turned out to be a really good guy and we ended up using his call "Ok, my team, forward, hard, hard, hard" (imagine spanish accent) for the rest of the trip. At the end of the day, we gathered in one of the three decent restaurants in Tena for a celebratory dinner followed by ice cream. Once again, Karen tested her luck by playing with a local stray dog. He was really cute, but cute dogs get rabies too.

After ice cream, the head rafting guide, Tarquino, led us to a local bar where we enjoyed the atmosphere and forced Karen to take a tequila shot. The night turned interesting when Tarquino decided to try his luck at wooing Mindy, inviting her to salsa dance. The special treatment continued the following day when he sat next to her for a long bus ride and they giggled while trading stories. Unfortunately, Tarquino was spurned, despite the 7 marriage proposals (but I digress).

The second rafting day was on a different river to the north of Tena (I forget the name, but class 3+ rapids). Before entering the boats we slogged through a mile of shin deep mud (being passed by horses toting bananas the other direction). The rafting this day was much more technical for the first half, dodging rocks and getting snagged multiple times. Karen and I spent the calm times gazing a waterfalls and searching the trees for oropendolas with their distinctive teardrop shaped nests hanging from high tree limbs. (These were favorite birds from our Belize trip). We found quite a few nests, and saw a group of oropendolas pass overhead.

Our final day of rafting was on the Quijos river (class 4/5 rapids). Here our skills were put to the test on a section of river used for the World Cup rafting championship in 2006 (Ecuador placed 20th out of 25). To begin, we were all forced to float a set of class 3 rapids in our life jackets so we could feel the power of the river (and convince the guides we wouldn't panic when we fell overboard). From then on, Tigre guided us through one exciting rapid after the other, with little time to rest and look around in between. One fun episode for us was watching the "boy boat", filled with four cocky guys, flip in a rapid because they were messing around. The climax to the day came in the form of the big rapid named "El Toro". We got out of the boats to scout the river and get instructions from Tigre. El Toro was so named due to the enormous rock sitting in the middle of the current. The goal was to aim for the rock and just miss, while not getting stuck in the huge eddy just behind it.

Once back on board, our boat was chosen to shoot the rapid first. We began with the desired line, following encouraging yells from Tigre. Unfortunately, at a critical moment, our boat hit something and spun 180 degrees, leaving us tail first toward the enormous rock. Tigre fought valiantly and managed to get us to miss the rock, but we couldn't avoid the eddy and were immediately sucked in. At this point we were at the mercy of the water, waiting to flip and get pulled under water. This condition lasted for a few seconds, where I might add I ended up laying on the side of the boat, but didn't fall in the river by some miracle, since I wasn't holding anything except a paddle and my feet were up in the air. The next moment, our boat was ejected from the eddy by some masterful paddling from Tigre and we spun off down the river. After catching our breaths, we were left to wonder exactly what had happened, but were exhilarated nonetheless. Our effort was validated when the "boy boat" promptly dumped all its passengers into the river during their transit of the rapid (for a total of three dumps in three days).

Following our adrenalin adventure, a rest was prescribed in the hot springs of Papallacta where we spent the afternoon bathing in deliciously warm water. The evening was spent relaxing with a glass of wine and enjoying a good meal. The next morning we strolled around outside the resort and found some more local livestock to harass.

The final day of the tour ended with the market in Otavalo. This market is known as the largest indigenous market in South America, taking up over 8 square blocks of city streets. For most of us, this was a chance to wander the booths and purchase souvenirs, testing our haggling skills. It turns out, this was Mindy's day to shine. We knew she liked to shop for goods in foreign countries, but my goodness, did she shop. I've never met a more relentless haggler. To her credit, she never paid more than she wanted and she came home with just about everything on her list and more.

Back to the market. Otavalo market was divided into two sections, a local food/animal market, and the tourist section. We were struck immediately by the different local dress in Otavalo. Here, the women wore black skirts and shawls and white blouses, with a turban sort of hat and gold necklaces. Very different from further south.

While perusing the goods, Karen, Mindy, and I decided to have lunch from a local vendor. We were served two heaping plates of rice, chicken, pasta, and potato fritters for a whopping $2.30. The food was great and we sat next to an extremely cute older couple who smiled at us as they ate their soup.

With our bags heavier and wallets lighter, we journeyed back to Quito to finish up our trip. The final night ended with a group dinner and Mindy, Suzanne, Karen, and me back in the hotel room to reminisce over all we had done. This trip was definitely one to remember, full of action, culture, and beautiful scenery. It's safe to say we were smitten with South America and intend to return in the not-so-distant future.

ps. I hope the length and content of this post makes up for the lack of writing for the past months :)

pps. I can see I left out hordes of details so here a few last tidbits: Ecuador uses the US dollar for currency, we ate enough fried eggs for breakfast to last a lifetime, the drivers in Ecuador are absolutely crazy (imagine passing three wide on a two lane road on a blind curve in the mountains), there weren't too many leafy vegetables to be had but loads of potatoes and pork, I was much taller than most of the locals, Quechua (indigenous language) is extremely different from spanish so most rural Indians can't understand city dwellers, fried pork skin soup is actually pretty good...

Overheard in New York

2007-11-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

You have to check out this website, Overheard in New York. It's freaking hilarious! I must warn you that you will get sucked in for the next hour of your life. Thanks Mom for the great link!

Hipster girl: You know, you really should try reading something with more substance... Like War and Peace.
Queer, flipping through fashion mag: 'Warm Piece'? Is that, like, porn?
Hipster girl: I said, War. And. Peace.
Queer: Okay, I'm not reading any magazine I've never even heard of.

Bimbette #1: So then I got a text from him this morning [shows friend text message]. I mean, who forgets if they have sex?
Bimbette #2: Haha... There's not even a 'hello' or punctuation... Just 'Did we have sex.'
Bimbette #1: I know!
Bimbette #2: Well, did you?
Bimbette #1: I'm not sure...

Student: So, I was wondering if I could know how I did on that presentation last week.
Professor: Oh, yes, yes -- you did wonderful!
Student: No, I mean, like, how did I do?
Professor: Wonderful. You did wonderful.
Student: So... Is that my grade?
Professor: Yes.
Student: Great, now I have all zero's and a 'Wonderful.' I wonder what that averages out to.

Skinny model girl #1: Why is that line to the bathroom so long when no one is on that other line? Is the bathroom out of order?
Skinny model girl #2: Oh... Well, this bathroom has a table... So it's easier to do coke. But if you just have to pee, use the other one.
Skinny model girl #1: Oh, no, I'll just wait, then. Thanks.

Mother: Don't you ever do that again! [slaps child hard]
Child, calmly: Well, are you happy with yourself?

Gimme Gimme

2007-10-27T09:37:00.001-07:00

Proof that sex sells. Even pumpernickel.

You talkin' to me?!

2007-09-26T06:29:00.001-07:00

It's been years in the making but my aggressive lobbying has finally paid off. They named a storm after me! Sure, it's just a tropical storm now but she's getting stronger and may make it to the big leagues before long. That's my girl!

What I did over my summer vacation

2007-09-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well technically I didn't have a summer vacation but I've done a lot of fun and interesting things lately and haven't taken much time to write about them. In true engineer fashion I will recount much of the goings-on over the last several moths as a bulletized status report:

* I changed the title of my blog per a nickname I recently acquired from a co-worker

* We got a hot tub! It seats 5 people and has a gorgeous view of the hogback from our side deck. We're looking forward to using it when it's actually cold outside instead of 90 deg (though I'm not looking to getting out in the snow!)

* Steve and I hiked four 14'ers: Quandry Peak (+14,265), Mt Democrat (+14,148), Mt Lincoln (+14,286), and Mt. Bross (+14,172). Additionally we hiked one 13'er: Rosalie Peak (+13,575). Later in the summer Steve’s dad came to visit and we drove to the top of Mt. Evans (+14,264). On my 14’er list I’m 9 down and 41 to go…

* Went white water rafting on the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge with a group of co-workers. Yes, Ferg stayed in the boat this time. Man I love riding up front!

* Steve and I took our dogs to Wyoming to go capming over the 4th of July weekend. Highlights were when the dogs took a nice mud bath in a shallow stream, and a close range thunderstorm that sent our fur-beasts into a frenzied panic (with mom and dad more than a little on edge).

* Went backpacking in the Mt. Evan Wilderness Area. This is a gorgeous spot just east of Denver, so close that you can actually see downtown as you roast marshmallows near a glacial cirque at tree-line. I love living here!!

* Rode over 430 miles on our new bikes. We have a map of all the bike paths in the Denver Metro area and have been highlighting our various routes. Since Denver has the most bike trails of any US city (something like 800 miles) we’ve seen a lot of the town we have a lot yet to explore!

* Volunteered at joint Lockheed-NASA booth at the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival.

* Attended our friend’s wedding in Palo Alto. We rejoiced at the reunion with all our LA friends.

* Went to Steve’s cousin’s wedding in South Shore Tahoe, luckily a couple of weeks before the big fires hit.

* I had a photo selected for publication in a book on New Zealand National Parks. No money involved, but now I can say I’ve been published!

*We were lucky to receive visits from both of Steve’s parents while they were on separate business trips, as well as my grandparents as they took a scenic road trip.

I think that’s most of the highlights from the summer. Now the seasons are changing and although it may still be warm it certainly doesn’t feel like summer anymore. Today is the autumnal equinox and for the next six months the nights will be longer than the days. The afternoon thunderstorms have ceased and been replaced with howling winds, the harbinger of fall. Up in the mountains, seemingly overnight, the apens have turned to pure gold interwoven in the pine forest. It’s the swan song before the quivering leaves turn dull brown and carpet the forest floor. Outside people are hurriedly trying to get in the last bike rides of the season, and the last peak bagging, before the first snow of the year. It may be 80 degrees outside but I know we are only weeks away from the storms that will herald in ski season for the hordes of powder junkies. So farewell summer! It’s time to put the bike in the basement and tune up the skis; mama’s got to learn to do moguls.

New State Quarter

2007-09-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

The new Colorado state quarter is out! I don't think any design could have captured the spirit of our state more elegantly.

It's Here!!!

2007-08-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

I just found out that our Orion CEV-606 has its very own scaled plastic model, available from Fantastic Plastic! For only $65 you can assemble 56 resin pieces with shiny decals to create a 1:72 scale version of this shuttle replacement. (Oh, by the way, the 606 configuration will be outdated by the time you receive the package in the mail.)

Here’s a blurb from Fantastic Plastic on the design:

In August 2006, NASA officially announced that Lockheed-Martin would be the prime contractor for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), code-named "Orion." As space-watchers had long expected, the Orion vehicle would be "Apollo on steroids," a capsule- based system with mostly disposable components, save for the Command Module, which could be used on multiple missions. The craft was intended to carry four to six crew members and serve as the primary vehicle for a variety of manned missions ranging from low-earth shuttle flights to the International Space Station to eventual trips to the Moon and, ultimately, to Mars.

Hey wait a sec, where's the spacecraft adapter? Man, those guys get no glory.

Danskin Triathlon

2007-07-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Every so often I get to cross something off of my "Life's To-Do List". My most recent acomplishment was completing the Danskin Triathlon on Sunday, July 15, at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. I have been training off and on for most of the year, though I didn't get a bike until the end of May. She's a beauty though! A brand new Trek Pilot 5.2 WSD with carbon fiber frame, ultegra components, and Bontrager racing wheels. I spent way more than I intended to but it only weighs 18.6-lbs and it rides like buttah'. Mmmm, new bike!

On race day I intended to be there an hour early but the traffic was such a nightmare that by the time we arrived I jumped out of the car and into the water without any warm up. My sister missed her wave by about half an hour, but so had many others so they added at least 10 new wave times. The swim wasn't too bad but I did worse than I expected. I thought the water would be a lot colder so we got lucky there, but I didn't swim very efficiently with all the other people around me. It was certainly my worst segment of the race so I'll have to work on that for next time.

The bike segment was awesome! Maybe I have strong legs, or a strong will, or maybe I just bought an amazing bike...either way I put my head down and charged up and over the rolling hills, passing everyone I could. I think got a little cocky by the end because I pushed myself so hard that I didn't have much left in me for the run! It's a triathlon, Ferg, not a bike-a-thon.

I dismounted at the transition and traded my bike shoes for running shoes and then head back out into the heat for the 5-km run. It was in the low 90's by now and I was pretty dehydrated. My legs were bricks after the bike and I had trouble jogging much faster than a brisk walk, but I told my self that I'd much rather run slowly the whole way instead of burning out and having to walk like so many of the other athletes. Seeing the finish line in the distance breathed new life into me, and I managed to sprint the last stretch to put my foot proudly over that line. A short while later we got to cheer Christine on as well.

Many thanks to Steve for coming out to support me and taking all these great pictures. He's jazzed about doing a triathlon now too, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Now if I could only get cracking on that swim.

My Results:
Overall Rank: 742 of 2228
Swim: 00:23:21, Rank 1391
Bike: 00:43:20, Rank 441
Run: 00:31:53, Rank 759
Final Time: 1:46:13

Bad news Moons

2007-07-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was recruited for the Orion softball team in the Lockheed league for my mad skillz at being female, despite the fact that I’ve never played softball before. Funny enough though, not many other people on our team have played softball either…and it shows. We’ve been having a lot of fun but we are by far the worst team in the league. You know it’s bad when 16 minutes into the game you are down by 16 points, and you know it’s REALLY bad when that happens two games in a row. We’ve been good about swapping people around to try different positions, though, so I’ve gotten to play 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, and right field. I think I like 2nd base best (decent action) and 3rd base least (those balls come scary fast!). I’ve even made some decent outs! The good thing is that it’s a very friendly league and I’ve gotten to meet a lot of other people on our program whom I don’t get to interact with at work. We celebrate each loss with a parking lot BBQ and cold beer, and spend the next day at work talking about all the “if only’s” from the night before. We’ve talked about wearing our jerseys to work one day but it seems a little pathetic if we haven’t even won a game yet. Provided that congress doesn’t cancel our program, there’s always next year!

~Fergalicious, #6
Team Mooners

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

2007-06-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

My current job is taking me on far more business trips than my last job, which took me on none. Already in six months I've been to Houston, Windsor Locks (CT), and twice to New Orleans, the latter from which I've just returned. I am fast developing a soft spot in my heart for this jewel on the tip of the Mississippi even though for years I harbored an irrational mistrust of the South. I was awed by the deep history, though truthfully I know little of it, and charmed by the creole townhouses down in the French Quarter with their balconies and iron lacework. I was also taken aback by the lingering damage from Hurricane Katrina two years ago. Along a stretch of I-10 just east of downtown were miles of houses, apartments, and shops in various states of disrepair. Wooden fences were torn to pieces and brick walls lay in unnoticed heaps. Tall signs that once advertised restaurants to freeway drivers were nothing but empty frames on posts. A shopping mall that once spanned a city block was now a concrete slab that spanned a city block. One co-worker told me it looked like the apocalypse; another told me it was a modern day ghost-town.

I went looking for a quick breakfast the first morning but had no luck. I tried a few exits off the freeway but invariably once I found anything that looked remotely like it might have food, a Winn Dixie, even a McDonalds, the parking lot was choked with weeds and the windows were boarded up. That afternoon I brought my camera and sought to document the state of these areas since "it was a mess" doesn't really capture the essence to the folks back home. I don't mean to imply that all of New Orelans is a disaster area, but there are certainly areas that have yet to recover. How can they recover when the peeople have left?

This is a picture I grabbed off of Google Maps which shows an arial view of the apartment complex I visited. Even from space you can see the destructive power of the hurricane.

The shattered ceiling, the broken door, the matress all bring the horror of the storm into focus. I dearly hope no one was around when this happened.

Nothing seemed more personal to me than this chair, sitting just where it did when the storm hit nearly two years ago. It was as though the owner would drive up at any moment and say "Hey!!! What the hell happened to my apartment??"

Already nature is reclaiming what the property owners haven't.

Once I got my fix of destruction I head downtown for a taste of what most people come to New Orleans to see: the French Quarter. I wasn't a big fan of Bourbon Street with the seedy bars and sex shops, but the rest of the Quarter was picture perfect. It feels like being at Disneyland, which I know is a perversion because in Disneyland you are supposed to feel like you are in New Orleans... What can I say? I have the same problem with the Alps and Fantasy Land.

We were wandering the narrow streets looking for a good place to eat dinner when we stumbled across a hip and bustling restaurant with an inviting menu. When I looked closer I saw that it was NOLA, Emeril Lagasse's signature restaurant. How awesome! We sat at the counter where we had a great view of the kitchen, but sadly no Emeril tonight. I highly recommend the Shrimp and Grits - wow.

I went back to my hotel, the ornate Le Pavillon, for which I found a really good deal online. Great deal for the room, at least, not so much for the parking. Breakfast is not included either, which is why I was wandering around abandonded shopping centers looking for food.

It was fun to stay in this swanky joint but in the end I decided that frou-frou French isn't really my style. You can't beat the pool-with-a-view, however. Or the crystal chandeliers in the lobby. Or the late night PB&J and hot chocolate.

I'm glad to be back in Colorado but already I'm looking forward to my next trip to Louisiana, despite the fact that June 1st officially kicked off the 2007 hurricane season. There's a whole lot of history to learn and many more places to explore. Mmm, not to mention all the fine restaurants and jazz to sample.

Bees!

2007-05-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

I stepped outside this morning to admire the growing thunderhead over yonder mountains, and instead found myself in a buzzing swarm of honeybees. Apparently Scout reported back to Queen Bee that our deck would be a beautiful location for their new hive. I've never seen anything like this before, where the hive literally flew as one unit in a mass migration to a new home. I feel honored that they chose our deck, given the recent mysterious honey bee die offs that are afflicting beekeepers nationwide. Ultimately we'll probably need to call a bee relocation company, but for now I'm happy to share our deck with our new insect friends.

Janet's Hut

2007-05-20T10:54:00.001-07:00

You know how we all go through phases with ways to spend our free time? I've been through several recently. During the winter I was hitting the slopes every weekend. For a time I enjoyed poring over cookbooks to find delicious, complicated recipes. My most recent obsession has been clearing out a 20'x20' plot for setting up a vegetable garden. In all this time, however, I haven't had the blogger urge. I've had blogger guilt of course, but I always told myself I would do it later, later, later. My guilt has finally caught up with me so I'm going to do my best over the next few weeks to catch you up on the goings-on in Fergtown.

Jumping back to March, Steve and I had another overnight hut trip, this time to Janet's Hut. We enjoyed Janet's immensely as it was nowhere near any snowmobile trails and we were very much secluded from the rest of the world. Also, it took a bit more effort to get to this hut (compared to Shrine Mountain) so it cut down on the - how shall I say - the whinning inclined.

The trek in was much warmer compared to our last hut trip. It was nearly 50 degF and I walked most of the way without my jacket on. The downside to the warmer weather was that the top snow layer was quite soft and we found ourselves punching through up to our knees, or even our hips. Imagine this: you are walking along a picnic table and WHAM! Suddenly your foot falls through a hole to the ground below. It's so hard to keep your balance when the floor gives way, especially with a backpack on. Sometimes it was even harder to get out of the hole, since every time you'd try to step up onto the top you'd just fall through again and make the hole wider. This was more annoying than dangerous, except when we had to cross a small creek. Lucky for us the snow held!

Just as we arrived at the hut the dark clouds that had been threatening us all day broke loose and unleashed a healthy dose of heavy, spring snow. The skiers in the cabin were all a-twitter since there promised to be a lots of powder the next day to play in. We had again snowshoed so couldn't really participate in the powderfest, however this pretty much convinced us that next year we need to get the proper gear to do it up right.

Some of our cabin mates were a group of 10 on a "Guy's Trip". They were a lot of fun and that evening built a luge outside the hut. They brought a tube, but it sprang a leak. Then they found an old Twister game and tried to use the plastic mat as a makeshift sled, but that was an ill fated experiment. Finally they used one of their snowboards: the sane ones sitting, and the lunatics standing. As we sat inside eating dinner and drinking hot chocolate we would see a head lamp go screaming by in the drakness down the run. As they say, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and the evening came to an end when one gentleman's flip didn't go quite as planned. I'm sure chicks will dig the scar across the bridge of his nose where his headlamp dug in.

I love this picture of the old wood burning stove because it embodies the romatic feel of these back country huts. Everyone hangs up their clothes around the fire to dry off overnight, and there was a large pot that we filled with snow to get water. Many people boiled it to be safe, but it was so fresh that I didn't bother. I'm sure I'll get burned one of these days but so far I've been just fine. Hmm, except for that time in Belize...

The snow died overnight but picked up again as we head back down the trail the next morning. There were several inches carpeting the river valley which meant I got to leave fresh tracks on the pristine landscape. I don't know why that's so exciting to me, but I just love having the first go on smooth snow. Toward the end of the hike I got a bit cold because the snow was melting into my clothes as we walked, but it wasn't too bad. We actually walked down a ski run at Copper Mountain to get back to the car which was most unusual. I can't imagine what people must have thought of us: two snowshoers with large backpacks just walking down the run on a powder day!

..and the Wind Cries "Ferg"

2007-04-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

It gets quite windy where we live, so close to the foothills. It’s kind of fun to watch the water in the toilet bowl bob up and down as the pressure changes. There have been nights where the whole house shakes and I’ve been afraid that the windows would break. This isn’t an idle worry as I’ve known people who’ve had their windows broken. One night was particularly bad and I barely slept as the wind screamed outside, hurling its fury in gust after gust after gust. I felt like a zombie at work the next day and found that many of my coworkers had suffered the same fate. One guy told me the wind speed topped out at 89-mph at his house, which he measured on his home wind anemometer. I was intrigued by this…and decided to buy one for myself.

It was easy enough to order the parts online from Inspeed and before long there was a lovely little package delivered with my name on it. I mounted this baby to my deck and hooked it up to some data logging software. What fun! Already I’ve logged many days of wind data and made corresponding plots like the one below. I’ve learned that there is a steady gentle breeze off the foothills that picks up slightly most days in the afternoon. The real wind storms, however, seem to prefer the cover of darkness .

With spring ramping up there will be some awesome wind to look forward to. So far it’s only reached 46 mph, but I’m hoping to beat that record. Eventually I’d like to see if I can set this up further out in the yard since in its current configuration the house blocks wind from the north – but that means I’ll have to get a wireless transmitter. Ah, what an expensive project this is turning into!

We have a niece!

2007-03-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

We flew out to NJ in March to make up for the trip that was cancelled due to the blizzard last Christmas. While we missed seeing Ma and Pa Ferg and all the New York decorations the first go around, it was ok because now we got to meet our brand new niece Ella for the first time.

Ella was only three weeks old but she's already a big, healthy young lady. We spent most of our time hanging out with Mom and Dad and marvelling at this cute as a button and incredibly needy little creature. It was interesting to witness first time parents learning how read the different cries of their child and trying different soothing tactics. I should've taken notes!

Steve and I left the new family to stretch our legs in New York for a day. It was so nice to walk around this great city without an agenda and just enjoy being a part of the scene. We ate brunch at a lovely French cafe and then explored the myriad of neighborhoods on foot. Along the way I heard gun shots and turned to Steve with wide-eyed panic. Are you kidding me? I thought this only happened in the movies! Turns out I was right, as they had closed down 7th Ave to film part of the next Bourne movie (Borne Ultimatum, perhaps?). We watched as a stunt drive peeled out in a little sports car and again shots fired in the distance. Ah, it makes me nostalgic for LA. But of course, not wanting to look like tourists, we walked on.

We passed through Grand Central Station, then tried to go into the Crysler Building but it wasn't open to the general public. That's too bad; I like it far better than the Empire State Building. As we walked on the swarm of tourists became thicker and thicker, and soon we found ourselves at Rockefeller Center. It really is a beautiful center, and I love the art deco flavor. On a whim we tried to go on the NBC Studio tour but it was completely full. That's too bad, I really would love to see the set of The Office.

Apparently Ella missed us while we were gone, because she was screaming for her Aunt and Uncle. Or maybe she was just screaming...she's got a great set of pipes.

Oh, the humanity! You're a great kid, Ella, we can't wait to see you again soon.

Roughing It

2007-03-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Ahoy kiddos, welcome to another edition of Weekend Warrior. Last fall we decided to book three spots in one of the popular 10th Mountain Division huts for an overnight trip in the Colorado high country. My mom was slated to join us, but it didn't quite work out so she passed the torch on to one of our co-workers who happily obliged.

It was a nice, gentle snowshoe into the hut in the Vail Valley, and oh what a hut! After tramping around New Zealand we had geared our expectations toward a solid shelter with a table and benchs, a steel counter for setting up a camp stove, and a wood burning stove for warmth. At Jay's Hut we found a plush mountain cabin complete with electricity, private rooms with beds, hot and cold running water, an oven, flush toilets, and a shower.

Not exactly a hard core winter experience, but I do have to say that it was nice to enjoy grilled pork tenderloin with pan fried potatoes for dinner. Then we sipped hot chocolate and Baileys after a brief steam in the sauna.

Since it was such a brief trip to the hut, we wisely brought a plastic sled and an inflatable tube for afternoon merry-making. It was a great time, but since we had removed our snowshoes for the sledding it was exhausting trying to get back up the hill to the start of the run. The snow was so deep in spots that our feet would punch through seemingly bottomless drifts, leaving us struggling to free our engulfed limbs. Not only that but our sled had a death wish in the form of trees and stumps, and would bend its will until we veered into the path of danger. The next day we found a longer hill with no trees and left our snowshoes on our feet to maximize our childish glee.

We all got faces full of snow, but only Jeremy continued to wear his proudly. Good on ya mate.

In the end, a fun first trip to one of the back country huts, and certainly more pampered that we were expecting. We have another trip planned to a different hut in a couple of weeks that's sure to be a bit more challenging on all levels. Stay tuned for the next edition of...

Reindeer Games

2007-02-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the long gap between posts. I received mild criticism for talking too much about the weather (Lep) so I've been refraining from waxing poetic on the wind, the snow, the cold of winter. Yet I realized most of the recent news in my life is weather related so you'll just have to deal with it.

I was bubbly all last week in anticipation of a ski day at Winter Park with my sister and her husband. I checked the weather reports religiously and rubbed my hands as I saw a big storm sitting over the mountains for days, ready to break into sunshine on Saturday. Fresh powder was everywhere, just begging to be played in! Yet unfortunately high winds followed the storm and made the mountains dangerous with whiteout conditions and severe risk of avalanche. Recall the massive avalanche that knocked some cars off the road near Berthoud Pass a month ago under similar conditions; this was our route to Winter Park. So in the end the transportation officials closed the pass and we had to postpone our super-fun ski day. Steve and I tried to go to a different resort by ourselves so as not to waste the day, but more avalanches closed the main mountain road and we spent two painful hours parked in a 10-mile long traffic jam. Crikey, where are we? LA??

We weren't to be detered, however, not with so much fresh snow, so we head back up the hill on Sunday to A-Basin, which was boasting 14 new inches. On the way up over Loveland Pass I witnessed a counter-culture of punkish youths out skiing the backcountry. They would start near the top of the pass (12,000 ft) and ski or ride down until they met up with the lower switch backs of the road, where they'd then hitch a ride back up to the top. I wonder, are they in it for the thrill of a new challenge or are they too cheap to pay for lift tickets? Regardless, it was very entertaining watching them carve insane jumps into the hillside and making videos for proof of their ballsy adventures.

On to A-Basin. By this point I've been skiing a grand total of seven days in my life and, if I may say, I'm not too shabby. I'd done my first black run with great success at Breckenridge a couple of week previous so I was feeling confident about my abilities. Everyone goes nuts for powder, so I figured I'd have an amazing time today. My first clue that something was amiss was riding the lift and watching skier after skier wipe out below me. Then it was my turn. Where once I felt confident, cocky even, I was now terrifyingly unstable and out of control. Skiers before me had carved my favorite run into a sea of powder-soft moguls, creating a formidable landscape. All my skillz for a nicely groomed trail failed me as I came up with really interesting new ways to fall. My least favorite was a kind of cartwheel when my ski twisted into the snow; luckily my boot popped out of the binding before I did any real damage to my knee. (Yes, I'm ok, please just pretend you didn't see anything.) It was a humbling and frustrating experience that made me realize that I still have a long way to go in my skiing education. But then to put a happy note on the end of the day, Steve and I head over to the terrain park to play on the jumps. For the first time ever I caught air as I sailed over a roller and a set of two small jumps. And by small I mean they were about three feet, but I don't care! I did it and it was exhilerating. X-Games, here I come.

We are really making the most of our first winter back in Colorado. We are planning at least three more skiing trips to Vail, Breckenridge, and Winter Park before the season is out. Additionally, this weekend we are going on the first of two backcountry snowshoeing hut trips I've planned. I miss all the folks in LA but I'm really glad we made the move because Colorado suits our lifestyle so well. Already I'm dreaming of fun summer adventures in the months to come!

Ski Bunny in Training

2007-01-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

When I tell people that I went to college at CU Boulder I get the same response. "Lucky punk. You were hitting the slopes every weekend, eh?" They are uniformly aghast when I inform them that I was instead at the library finishing mounds of engineering homework, projects, lab reports, etc. Apparently getting an engineering degree is no excuse for skipping out on champagne powder. Shameful, in fact, that I should turn my back on the plethora of world class resorts a stone's throw from my front yard. Well to all those who chastised me for the choices of my youth, I have this news: I got my degree, I have free weekends and disposable income, I moved back to Colorado, and I've finally learned to ski.

I took a day lesson at Copper Mountain where I didn't get to see much more than the bunny hill, but by the end of the day I was able to make smooth turns without a complete yard sale. I was energized, empowered by my success and hungry for more. When we got home Steve and I managed to find last minute season passes at Arapahoe Basin which also includes five bonus days usable at the other Vail resorts: Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail and Beaver Creek. We then treated ourselves to a merry christmas indeed with new skis, bindings, boots, helmets, and goggles. We could have found much better deals during last August's Sniagrab sales, but in the end we still managed to get about half off of last year's models.

So! One blizzard later we found ourselves out of a trip to New York and wondering how to pass the time until the New Year. Sounded like a perfect excuse to hone my new skills. We went to A-Basin on Christmas Eve and I found the park extremely challenging. A-Basin has a reputation for being quite advanced, with a higher than average ratio of double black runs. There are only a couple of short green runs on which I spent the entire day practicing. Even these greens are wicked steep and would likely qualify as blues at other parks. The day was quite cold, only about 15 degF and miserable winds that froze my lips. It was snowing a bit too, which made it hard to see but at least I got to experience what it's like to swoosh through fresh powder (awesome). All in all it felt like I was running drills all day, but by the end I was starting to get the knack. I also got a great bruise when I fell on the edge of my ski, check it out:

The day after Christmas we head back to the mountains but this time went to Keystone. I found this mountain a lot more forgiving to a newbie like me and before long I was confidently carving my way down the runs. I gathered my courage to try a blue run and never looked back! Steve was delighted by my progress and we had fun tackling different blues all over the park. We went back to Keystone one more time on New Year's Eve where we found hoardes of people, but still had a blast. I even managed to stay vertical, that is, until I got cocky and tried my hand at some moguls. Ugh, what a stupid idea. Steve almost convinced me to go down a black (on my 4th day!) but I was getting tired, the hill was getting icy, and I wanted to end my day on a happy note. Next time. In all, not a bad way to spend the holidays. Also not a bad way to milk our money's worth out of some pricey season passes.

Blizzard Update: The Aftermath

2006-12-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, this has been incredible! We woke up to find another foot of snow had fallen overnight, bringing the total depth (as measured on our relatively drift-free deck) to 29 inches. According to the Denver Post this is the 8th biggest Denver blizzard on record. As happy as I am, I'm afraid I'm ruined for all other snow storms. Here's a little before and after comparison:

Below is a photo montage, a day in the blizzardy life of Ferg if you will. Click on any photo to go to my flickr photo album. I've got nearly 50 pics from the last two days.

This is what we found when we opened our front door. Yes, those are garbage cans buried up to their necks!

Spencer bravely blazed a trail across the yard. Good luck finding the ball, buddy.

It was a social event as all the neighborhood came out for en mass driveway shoveling.

Makes me want to throw a BBQ party.

Most people that tried to go anywhere found their cars stuck after a few feet. We didn't bother driving today, and instead explored the neighborhood on snow shoes. I learned that even with snow shoes you will still sink up to your knees in fresh powder. Freakin' exhausting.

Once the sun came out the landscape was breathtaking.

We spent the afternoon sledding with some neighbor girls. It was a blast!

As a bonus, if you'd like to experience our Colorado blizzard just click on this link for a brief video I found on youtube. The wind wasn't quite this bad at our house, but it's close enough.

Bittersweet Holiday Blizzard of '06

2006-12-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to Deep Thoughts by Fergie! Hard to believe it's been almost a year to the day since my last post. Well anyone who's not living in cave has probably heard about the aptly named "Holiday Blizzard" dumping massive amounts of snow on the entire square state of Colorado. It never ceases to amaze me how these things start off so benignly, showing up as a solitary "40% chance of snow" blip a week out on the weather channel forecast. Who'd have known that it would turn into such a beast? I threw a minor hissy fit when the meteorologists forecast snow to start on Tuesday, yet repeated checks yielded only a bright sunny sky. Not a single cloud! Who are they kidding? But like magic, when I woke Wednesday morning there was a heavy dusting of snow and the skies showed no sign of relenting. In fact, once at work we watched it continue to fall furiously thick outside our office window. So much snow was due to fall that management ordered every Denver based Lockheed Martin facility to be shutdown by 1:00. Salaried employees were given a special "Natural Disaster" charge number; we contractors were not so lucky. (Except that we were mandated a day off, so I can't really complain!)

While the boys at work frantically tried to plan out which roads were still open so they could get in prime position to hit the slopes first thing tomorrow, Steve and I concentrated on just getting home. Luckily the plows were out in force so the commute wasn't terrible. I know it seems like all my posts lately have been pictures of our snowy yard, but I can't resist. It's so exciting to have the ordinary world transformed into a wonderland with just a sprinkle of precipitation. And WOW, what a doozy was this one!

I got my wish which was snow beyond my wildest dreams. It came at a cost, though, because the Denver Airport is shut down until Thursday evening, dashing our plans of flying out to New York to see Steve's parents, and brother and sister-in-law for the holidays. We tried to reschedule but were too late, and in the end we opted to cancel this trip instead of arriving at midnight on Christmas Day for a severely truncated visit. We'll be sure to make it up to them later in the year. Guess we'll have to put this new snow to some good use in the meantime.

Fergs Down Under!

2005-12-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

Although I'm sure this move was ultimately unnecessary, superfluous some might say, I've decided to setup a new blog entirely dedicated to our upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand. I wanted to make something for Steve and me to use together, and to give it a name that would be more memorable than ladotyk, which is an utter mystery to everyone but me. So with that, laddies and lassies, I give you:

* Fergs Down Under: Memoirs of a Fergason *
fergsdownunder.blogspot.com

I've even added a link on the sidebar to facilitate work-related procrastination. So check it out! Enjoy! And please write to me to let me know the goings of the real-world (be that MTV or NPR, I leave the choice to you)

Walk About in Middle Earth

2005-12-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

As nearly every one of you know now, Steve and I are taking 7 months to travel the wilds of New Zealand and Australia before settling down in the great square state of Colorado. We aren't going to go totally bare-bones backpacker style where we sleep in dirt and live off ramen until we loose our teeth from scurvy; we do, however, want to find a fair balance between roughing it and enjoying ourselves. Some people have wondered just what I will be bringing on my trip down under, so here is a breakdown of my pack contents. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions:

Clothing
Hiking boots
Sandals
Fleece jacket
Rain pants
Rain jacket
Long underwear
Gloves
Wool Hat
Visor
Short sleeve shirts (3)
Long sleeve shirts (2)
Shorts (2)
Pants (1)

Camp Gear
Sleeping bag
Thermorest
Pack rain cover
Travel towel
Camp stove
Water filter

Miscellaneous
Binoculars
Head lamp
Mosquito net
Guide book
Reading book
Journal
Camera
Battery charger
First Aid Kit
Toiletries

And of course…
Food
Water

Addison Lane

2005-12-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Brian and Kara, proud parents of little Addison Lane Ickler! She's 4 lb, 5 oz, and 16" from tip to tail. In what is surely a taste of teenage rebellion to come, Addison decided that she couldn't wait until Uncle Steve and Aunt Karen came back from their trip down under so she popped out of the oven seven weeks early. She tried to shimmy out backward, cord first, but the nice doctors thought that wasn't such a good idea and took her out by means of emergency C-section. I went to visit mom and baby in the hospital today at lunch. Kara and I scrubbed up and then went into the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to say hello. Addison is pinkish yellow with blonde hair, a pink cap and the littlest fingernails I've ever seen. She squeaks and wriggles and makes adorable sneers. And if you're lucky, she'll flutter her eyes open for a second and flash you her baby blues. Welcome to the world little girl! I can't wait to watch you grow up!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2005-12-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, I know, it's December 13th but better late than never. Here are some photos from my Halloween party! The theme was "Things from Childhood" and everyone came up with some fantastic costumes.

Kara and Brian came as Country Club Ken and Barbie, with little Bean along for the ride. Poor kid doesn't know what she's getting into!

I hate when that happens.

Here's my Rainbow Brite costume that I slaved over for many days (and many glue sticks). I think I had the best moon boots at the party!

Nick resurrected a classic with his Karate Kid costume.

Ken and Barbie share the couch with everyone's favorite Garbage Pail Kid...Cleavin' Stephen!

I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Jeff had the creepiest costume by far. Too bad I can't remember the name of the obscure comic book character. Oh well, just stay tuned for the upcoming movie from Sony Pictures!

And nothing like a little Grandpa's Game to polish off an outstanding evening.

Vote Dole for Pineapple!

2005-12-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

Today I put a banana sticker on Russell's computer and he questioned the significance of the four numbers. I realized that fruit sticker codes are mysterious to many people, so I will use this forum to enlighten you.

All fruits have a number code on a sticker. These codes are unique to the type of fruit, regardless of the grower, and are what the cashiers type into the register when ringing up your purchase. There are three different type of codes for conventionally grown, organically grown, and genetically engineered fruits. Conventionally grown fruits have the standard four digit code, whereas organically grown fruits have the same code with a '9' prefix. Genetically engineered fruits have a '8' prefix. For example, here are the codes for bananas:

4011 - Conventionally grown banana
94011 - Organically grown banana
84011 - Genetically engineered banana

If you are truly curious (Russell) then go to this website to see the complete list of fruit/veggie codes.

Dinosaurs are now called "Jesus Horses"

2005-11-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

Well folks, they've done it again. Let give Kansans a laurel and hearty handshake for bowing to the well funded agenda of the religious right. Their school board has just voted to change science standards to allow Intelligent Design (silkier pseudonym for Creationism) alongside evolution. It's so important to understand here that evolution is (*gasp*) a theory. A SCIENTIFIC theory! It is not a religion. Scientific theories are formulated based on the evidence at hand, a la Occam's Razor. Scientific theories are refined in the light of contradictory evidence. Religion skews newly acquired knowledge to fit within the binds of their sacred texts. I do not believe the Earth is flat. I do not believe man was molded from clay and awakened with divine breath. I do not believe the Earth is 6,000 years old. I do not believe these things because they are without scientific merit.

The Kansas school board was wrong to "redefine the definition of science so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena."* Have we returned to the dark ages when we say, "man cannot possibly fathom the mysteries of the world, let's instead just bask in the glory of god's creation"? I have more faith in humanity than that.

* http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9967813/

2005 San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

2005-11-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

DAY 0:
After months of preparation, fundraising, and training I finally complete the 3-Day walk on October 14-16 with my team: The Brentwood Babes and Beaus for the Preservation of Boobies. We all met in downtown LA the Thursday before to take the train down to Solana Beach where the walk was to begin at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. After an uneventful trip in our private car we checked into our hotel and later headed for the local drug store to stock up on some pink flair. Megan, Erin and I (the three "N's") got some sparkly pink nail polish, fake flower tattoos, and pink curly ribbons for our hair. Not the usual Fergie attire, but sometimes it's fun to be a girl! We had dinner that night with the team at CPK where they presented us with awesome shirts to wear for the last day.

DAY 1:
We got up bright and early, ready to walk 20 miles. No sweat. After a minor fiasco when I realized I forgot to bring my registration card, I was set up with a temporary and we headed over to opening ceremonies. Here are the three of us ready to hit the road.

It was amazing the number of walkers present, everyone in some shade of pink. There were 4,200 people gathered at the largest 3-Day ever, and together we raised over $10.3M!! Absolutely outstanding.

After a brief and inspirational ceremony we were off on the trail. Day 1 was the hottest day, but not too bad. There were some amazing views like this one as we slowly meandered from Solana Beach down past Torrey Pines and La Jolla, on our way to Mission Beach for camp.

We entered camp late and everyone was exhausted from the long day and the heat. We peeled our shoes off our sore feet and met up in the mess tent for spaghetti dinner and hot chocolate. One of the Motrin sponsors led everyone in a group stretch that felt great. No one in our group stuck around for karaoke though, and we all headed off to sleep in our little blue tents.

DAY 2:
Even after all the training we were all a bit creaky, blistered, and sore. I think this was because even though the mileage was not so much greater than we had practiced, we were on our feet for much longer than expected. I awoke with a painfully sore hip which the medics diagnosed as "snapping hip syndrome". Luckily I learned some key stretches that helped keep everything limber for the next 20 miles. Lori (pictured) found out she has tears in her hamstring, and poor Megan was nearly derailed by painful shin splints. What a bunch!

Everyone remained in good spirits as the weather cooled off and we walked through some beautiful areas next to the beach. At one of the pit stops I caught this group of ladies taking silly pictures with the San Jose Bike Cops, our heroes on two wheels. They rode up and down our route making sure everything was safe and enjoyed the catcalls from the walkers!

All in all, Day 2 was much easier than Day 1 and I think this was mostly due to the weather. We had a welcome surprise of fellow walkers who had finished earlier cheering us on to the two big blue inflatables marking the entrance to the camp.

In the afternoon light Tent City was truly a sight to behold. From end to end it was about a 1/2 mile long, with thousands of tents, hundreds of porta-potties, and 18-wheelers converted into showers and kitchens. And all of this right on ocean front property!

Erin's husband Joel and Megan's boyfriend Zach came to have dinner with us and hear about the walk. Later they headed off as it was time for us to go to bed. The wind picked up and it rained all night, but luckily in the morning it was only slightly breezy and overcast. The boys came by after breakfast to help us tear down the campsite and take our stuff back to the cars. We girls bandaged ourselves up and headed out for the last day of our walk.

DAY 3:

Day 3 was very much like before, with frequent cheering stations and pit stops. They encourage you to hydrate constantly, so you can imagine the lines at the porta-potties at every stop. You can see Erin in the back, waving. The crew was really thoughtful and put trivia questions on the doors with the answers on the inside. Just a nice touch while you're waiting in line.

On Day 3 all the bike cops put on their pink shirts and "BREAST MAN" pins. Anxious not to be forgotten, we all signed their shirts with the nicknames we'd acquired. I was Boot: don't ask.

Toward the end of the walk some people really felt the miles and had to take the sweeper vans to the final holding area. Luckily the sweeper crews had great senses of humor and every van was decorated with a different theme. There was the Itty Bitty Titty Taxi, the Pimp-mobile, the Martini Lounge, and the Dolly Parton to name a few.

The gathered all the walkers to a final holding area and gave us matching t-shirts. We then walked as one big unified group the last mile to the finish line where our friends and families were cheering us on. It was an amazing sight to see the thousands of walkers taking over the city.

Everyone was so joyous and overwhelmed that I don't think anyone felt the last mile. We all walked in to the Closing Ceremonies and the Survivors followed us in pink shirts to the very center of the circle. Everyone else knelt down and raised their shoes in the air to honor the survivors and those who weren't as lucky. It was very emotional and we were all crying.

We made it, and I'm so proud of my friends and the people I met. It was a great experience and I would love to do it again...but maybe I'll wait a year or two :)

I've posted many more pictures on my online photo album. Just go to picturetrail.com and type "ladotyk" as the member name. Enjoy!

Book Worm!

2005-09-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to a fun game on Yahoo Games called Book Worm. This ranks high on the Ferg-o-meter for mental stimulation. In fact, I've added it to the "Stuff to Keep Your Mind Sharp and/or Drive You Crazy" links. It's kind of like Boggle meets Tetris. Give it a whirl! I just spelled "E-S-C-H-E-W-S" and I'm spectacularly proud of myself.

18 days until the big Walk

2005-09-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well kiddos, I just finished my last training walk this weekend. Between Saturday and Sunday I walked a grand total of 40 miles and I think I'm ready for the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in San Diego. I've joined with a team called the Brentwood Babes and Beaus for the Preservation of Boobies. This is a fantastic group of women and men who have really helped me get through the training as well as organized a lot of the logistics in terms of the trains, hotel, registration, etc. I'm confident that I will be able to do the walk: no (new) blisters and my legs feels good. I'm definitely stiff after 40 miles, but nothing I can't handle.

Thanks again to EVERYONE who donated money for my walk. It means a great deal to me to know that I have your support. With your help I've raised $2,450.01 for breast cancer research! I'll let you know how everything goes when I finish the walk on October 14-16.

Backpacking the Bridge to Nowhere

2005-09-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

In an effort to put the dwindling days of summer to good use, Steve, Cindy and I decided to spend the weekend backpacking locally in the Angeles Forest. After pouring over the limited information available on the internet we decided to go to Bear Creek Trail. Our guide book said that the trail was at mile marker 32.2 on the road, however at marker 28.7 we hit a barricade with a big "ROAD CLOSED" sign. Ignoring all warning signs, we decided that we were tough and would hike the remaining 3.5 miles on the road to the trail head. We packed up all our gear and headed up the deserted road only to at least reach mile marker 32.2 and find another surprise.

I guess we should have seen it coming, but no one ever accused 3 rocket scientists of being smart. So we at a quick lunch and headed back down the road to the car. Seven miles down and not sure yet where to go! Luckily my guide book showed plenty of trails in the adjacent in the Big Sheep Mountain Wilderness area. We took a quick drive over there (through what appeared to be a Confederate Jamboree) and found a lovely trail headed toward the Bridge to Nowhere along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. Back in the '30s they built a road along the river and had a bridge spanning a particularly narrow section of the canyon. The Great Flood 1938 washed out the road but left the bridge all by its lonesome.

We were trying so hard not to get our boots wet in the river but it was inevitable and soon we were sloshing across knee-deep water. It was pretty slow going navigating all the rocks and chaparral so when we found a nice sandy spot we decided to setup camp instead of going all the way to the bridge that day. It felt good to get the boots off and let our feet dry!

It was a lovely evening with cool air and no bugs so we decided to sleep out under the stars. It's hard to believe beautiful places like this are so close to LA! (Shhh, don't tell anyone)

This is a picture looking at the river from our campsite. When we woke in the morning the mountains were shrouded in low clouds, which is far better than the alternative of 100+ temps.

Here is another shot of our camp. I was testing out my new down sleeping bag which was feather light and toasty warm, but unfortunately poor Steve had a bad allergic reaction so I had to return it and get a synthetic one.

The next morning we decided to pack up camp but leave our bags and day hike out to the Bridge. On the way we came across a group of big horned sheep getting water at the river. Those suckers can move!

Even though our boots dried out pretty well overnight, we had to get them wet again to continue on the trail. I love this picture of Steve trying to engineer the exact best possible crossing spot…..

….'cause in the end you're just going to getting wet anyway!

The further we went, the rockier the path got until we were scrambling along the river boulders. I'm glad that we left our packs at the campsite because otherwise this would have been very challenging. I can only imagine how much the river must swell in the spring after heavy rains!

Just when we thought we should be at the bridge we came to a watery dead end. The canyon got very narrow with absolutely no shore to walk on, and the water was about chest deep. But where the heck is the bridge??? This was the question we pondered as we stopped to wade around in the water and take a quick lunch. Cindy was braver than I and did a flying canon ball into the frigid water!

It wasn't until heading back that we realized we were never on the trail while we sploshed along the river. The real trail was a hundred feet above us, cut into the canyon wall. Ah-ha, this explains why we never found the bridge. Once we found the real trail we were able to go much faster. This is looking down on the river where we had walked earlier in the morning.

We went back to pick up our packs and headed back down the trail to the car. All in all a very pleasant and soggy weekend adventure. I highly recommend this hike!

Support your Sparks!

2005-08-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an exciting women's basketball game between the LA Sparks and the Sac-town Monarchs, tickets courtesy of our Lakers/Sparks bean-counter friend Nick. The seats were awesome -- we were in section 101, row 12 (click here for a picture of the Staples Center seating chart). Our girls were out-played in the first half, but made a strong comeback in the last 10 minutes and lost by only 3 points. So kids, the lesson we take home today is "great basketball + close seats + cheap tickets = excellent evening". Go Sparks!

Delivery from Hogwarts

2005-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

When Steve and I got home from work yesterday we saw a few of our neighbors looking up into a tree. What a surprise to see a great horned owl perched in the branches! Isn't he beautiful? It's too bad I didn't have a telephoto lens to get a closer picture, but through the binoculars this fella has bright yellow eyes and enormous talons that wrapped around the tree branch. (Glad I'm not a squirrel!) The crows were going absolutely nuts, squawking and circling, but my owl friend was just chillin'.

Backpacking in Sequoia NP

2005-08-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

Steve and I recently completed a four day backpacking adventure in the Mineral King region of Sequoia National Park. We thought this was going to be a nice leisurely trip, however we found ourselves to be challenged in a healthy, limit-finding sort of way. Backpacking is an interesting sport. It's wonderful to leave everything behind and just sweat through the same shirt for a week. It's not always comfortable but the views are amazing. And when you take your boots off your swollen, blistered feet at the end of the day, you can truly appreciate just how amazing it is to return to feeling "normal". I guess you could say backpacking realigns your priorities.

[I have all my pictures posted on my online photo album. Just type in "LADOTYK" for the member name.]

DAY 1
We had driven to the park the night before and car camped to make sure that we were able to get our back country permit when the ranger station opened at 8:00. Luckily we got our spots, a couple of bear canisters, and we were off up the trail.

The first three miles were straight up over Timber Gap. Unfortunately by this point the new boots decided it was time to wreak havoc with my heels. Alas. To quote Jackaroo, "What're you gonna do." We hiked another six miles to Pinto Lake through pretty meadows of intense wild flowers. Too bad I bonked a half-mile from the campsite and Steve had to help me up over the last hill.

DAY 2
After some rearranging of the gear (i.e. lightened my pack by about 10-lb) we headed straight for Black Rock Pass, part of the Great Western Divide, which was a good 3,000 ft. above our campsite. Numerous people coming down the other side that gave us kudos for picking what they thought was clearly the more difficult direction. One guy said crossing the pass from our direction was on his list of trails never to attempt. I didn't think it was too bad as long as you went slow and steady, but crikey it's like three hours on a stair master at 11,600 ft. altitude.

At last we reached the top of the Divide and then descended into a beautiful alpine region called Little Five Lakes. We pushed a little farther to the Big Five Lakes where we setup our second camp. The mosquitoes were intense so we broke out the netting we got in Visalia just before the trip. Let me tell you, best damn things we ever bought.

DAY 3
The third morning we lingered around camp a little later than usual because we knew we had a shorter, less strenuous day planned. Finally we packed up our gear and headed back out into the wild. Most of this day was spent in Lost Canyon, following the babbling creek back to its source in the mountain snow runoff. When we broke out of the trees on the canyon floor we had breathtaking views of Sawtooth Peak and the Great Western Divide looming over a pristine alpine meadow. It was spectacular.

We eventually climbed out of the canyon and onto the shores of Columbine Lake, nestled at 10,800 ft. right below Sawtooth Peak. This was a very exposed lake with no trees -- just some grass, fat yellow bumblebees, and trout jumping out of the lake to feast on mosquitoes. Not too concerned about bears this evening.

We had a beautiful sunset but shortly after zipping up the tent the heavens opened up and a thunderstorm struck. This must have been a huge storm because my friend said she saw lightning in the mountains from the La Canada Flintridge area. The rain poured and the wind howled against our little tent. Out little tent with metal poles. On the top of an exposed mountain with no trees, next to a huge body of water. Freakin' brilliant.

DAY 4
Fortunately we lived but that has got to be the worst night's sleep of my life. I was freaked out because I knew we had to cross Sawtooth Peak in the morning and I thought the wind and slippery rocks would wipe us clean off the mountain. We waited for morning to dry up the storm but it kept on raining, so we packed up our things and headed up the last mountain. The rain and wind seemed less severe outside the tent and in fact we had little trouble cossing the pass. It even snowed on us at the top! From there it was straight down 5 miles and 4,000 ft. back to our car, blessed car. As we left the park the fog of the storm lifted and it was just another 100 degree day in the central valley. We stewed in our juices until we reached LA at last and got to take a long, hot, liberating shower. The end!

Episode II: Revenge of the Syrah

2005-08-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a little delinquent in reporting, but I thought I'd share our fun evening a couple of weeks ago when we hosted a fondue and wine tasting party. There were about 13 friends who came bearing things to drink, things to melt, and things to dip. Shown here are frisbee friends Anne, Jack, Jason, Monica, Nick, and Steve.

We had two cheese pots and an oil pot for making tempura. Jay was quite impressed that I had panko for the tempura, but then he should know that when it comes to cooking I don't mess around. Only the best, baby.

Balancing out the cholesterol was our other goal of the evening to be total posers for a wine taste test. There were 8 bottles to taste. We covered the labels and let people rank the wines based on their tannins, oakiness, long finish, hints of cherries, pepper, whiff of edam cheese, etc.

Naturally, in a moment of intoxicated silliness I knocked a bottle all over my clothes and on the carpet (sorry no picture). Thank goodness for Resolve carpet cleaner! Anne and Steve, several glasses in, have decided that the wine is unquestionably a deep red.

In the end Brian and Kara won first place for a charming syrah they bought during a recent Sideways-style wine tasting trip they took in the Santa Barbara region. Congrats, kids!

Luck 'o the Irish

2005-08-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

It's official! Our officemate Michael Steven Buchko (no, not the child molestor from Vegas) has a new blog. Check out all his majesty at Lucky's Pot 'o' Gold. Like any good leprechaun he's a little hard to track down, so be sure to check for updates often to catch any breaking news.

Fergie Trivia

2005-08-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

I apologize, I know it's been some time since my last post. Even though much has happened since my tennis excursion, I haven't had the gumption to put pen to paper (so to speak). Instead I will delight you with a piece of Fergie trivia.

I keep my television in the fireplace. Yes, it's true. I get the assortment of odd stares when people come to visit, but I have to say that I think the fireplace is the best place for my television. For one, I live near the beach and it never gets cold enough to necessitate lighting fires in the winter. Additionally my television is about as far from flat as you can get, so the huge cavity fits nicely in the fireplace nook. We even bought a little swivel base to spruce up the arrangement. We tried other areas of the room but this was truly the most ergonomic and spatially economic solution. So there you have it! Until next time, my friends.

Anyone for tennis?

2005-07-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

This evening I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of three tickets to the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup held at UCLA. Steve, Nick and I went expecting to meet up with the work-folks who provided the tickets, but somehow that never quite meshed. I'll remember to bring the cell phone next time. In fact, I'll remember to bring the camera too.

I had a great time, but first let me start with the disclaimer that I'm by no means a knowledgeable sports fan. Luckily I had two charming gentlemen to explain the finer philosophy of the second serve, court positioning, top spin, and of course mental warfare. I have now witnessed how a killer serve and ruthless domination can break a man's spirit. What power!

The first match was a blowout between Andre Agassi and Jean-Rene Lisnard. Agassi dominated, giving up only one set to Lisnard. You could tell that he was playing a pretty reserved game, too. He's scary-good. Both contestants withdrew from the next match for health reasons (Mardy Fish/Taylor Dent) so it instead ended up being between "lucky losers" Noam Okum from Israel and Dmitry Tursunov from Russia. There was a lot more passion in this match from these guys who were all ready to get on the plane back home. I found it to be much more exciting, although it helps also that we moved over to some empty seats a few rows up from center. Great view, I highly recommend it! Tursunov played a great and very powerful game. He had a wicked serve that hit 130-mph at one point. Poor Okum was no match and was quickly defeated (i.e. mentally destroyed). The buzz is that our young Russian friend is an up-and-comer, so keep your eyes peeled.

Wicked

2005-07-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I went to see Wicked The Musical at the Pantages Theater. I love this theater. It's one of the Hollywood golden oldies, built in 1930, and for many years was home to both the Oscars and the Emmys.

Wicked was a very entertaining and flashy show: lots of cool costumes and sets. It's more light and fluffy than the book (where all the cool people die) but I actually liked the ending better in the play. I would recommend seeing it if you have the chance because the two main actresses really stole the show. Glinda is a riot as the popular and rich bubble-head, and Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) was so powerful. Quite an amazing voice.

That's all for now kids, so be good. Ciao!

It's here!!

2005-07-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived! I can hardly believe it. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the 6th book in the series, has been unleashed on the public. This is a bittersweet moment, for while I'm desperate to know what happens next it just means that we are this much closer to the end. Whatever. Give me the book!

Ensuring that we got our copy as quickly as possible was an elaborate affair. First, we had to go to our local Barnes and Noble a week ahead of time to put our names on the reserve list. Then, at 6:00pm on Friday night, we waited in line to get special wristbands which indicated the number book we would get at midnight. Brian and Kara were #44, Steve and I were #45. While waiting for the midnight unveiling Steve and I enjoyed a lovely dinner of gazpacho at Brian and Kara's apartment.

Just for fun I decided to decorate myself with a lightning bolt scar and the Harry Potter glasses I got with my wristband. But then I got chicken and took it all off. I prefer to be a closet, fringe-fanatic, and did not want to be associated with the sluty crazies who wore tight t-shirts reading "Half Blood-Princess".

So at 11:30 we headed down to the bookstore in Manhattan Beach and waited with several hundred other fans for the stroke of midnight. (For those of you who know the store I'm talking about, the line stretched almost to the REI at the other end of the mall. Yeah, I know. We're all insane.)

This is the scene awaiting us when we showed up. Literally hundreds of people! Sometimes it's nice to know you aren't alone.

I didn't have to wait long until I got my very own copy in my greedy hands. I promised myself that I wouldn't rush through this one like I did two years ago with #5, The Order of the Phoenix.

But in the end the temptation was too great. I had a marathon day on Saturday, reading on and off (but mostly on) for about 12 hours in which time I finished the first 480 pages. And although Steve knew that I would be completely out of commission for reading the book, I think that came as little consolation when he instead spent a marathon day fixing the busted hot water heater.

What a great guy I've got. He fixes the heater, and I get Harry Potter and hot showers.

So now it's Monday and I've long since finished the book and am contemplating a second go (after Steve gets his turn, naturally). If you share my secret passion then write to me! We have much to discuss!

Ugliest Dog in the World

2005-07-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the results of the World's Ugliest Dog contest are in. I know what you are thinking. Dogs are dogs! Sure, you have big ones and small ones, fluffy ones and horribly shorn ones. There are flea bitten mongrels and disgusting droolers. But nothing, I repeat NOTHING, will prepare you for the horror that is Sam. The world's ugliest dog. If you feel brave then click this link.

This dog has been rated R, for mature audiences only. Oh, the humanity!

Thank you sir! May I have another?

2005-07-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

While I was perusing the headlines at lunch I came across yet another quote about how Katie (excuse me, I mean 'Kate') Holmes thinks that "Tom is just the best-est man in the whole wide world", and how he is coaching her in the ways of Scientology. Just for fun I decided to go to the Church of Scientology website and see just what exactly they do to these otherwise normal people. What are the bizarre rituals? What are their philosophies? What's the point? According to the website, Scientology is just the best-est religion in the whole wide world and it will make you happy and bring world peace. I guess you have to go to the church to find out exactly how to obtain these wonderful ideals. Lucky for me I found something just as good and even closer than Malibu: an on-line personality evaluation test! First they want every scrap of personal information they can squeeze out of you (hello, my name is Q from Alaska) and then you have to answer 200 multiple choice questions. Here are some of my favorites:

* Are you a slow eater? (yes)

* Would you use corporal punishment on a child aged ten if it refused to obey you? (sure, if "it" was my kid)

* Do you get muscle twitches for no logical reason? (sometimes, but I'm sure there is a logical reason)

* Do you ever get disturbed by the noise of the wind or a “house settling down”? (if I'm home alone)

* Provided the distance were not too great, would you still prefer to ride rather than walk? (no)

* Do you chew your fingernails? (yes)

* When recounting some amusing incident can you easily imitate the mannerisms or the dialect in the original incident? (Does this mean, would I fit in with all the other actors?)

* Are you opposed to the “probation system” for criminals? (I guess not)

According to the personality test I am in serious need of some therapy, Scientology-style.

Good news: I'm stable, certain, active, and aggressive (I guess agressive is a good thing)

Bad news: I'm nervous, irresponsible, critical, withdrawn, and have a lack of accord. Save me L. Ron Hubbard!!

Beach Ultimate

2005-07-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

This evening I will be partaking in a new twist in the Ultimate Frisbee game: shoes off at the beach. It's very possible that I will end up vomiting all over myself since I haven't played for a few weeks.

If these guys are in, I'm toast. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up enough not to embarrass myself. I've been told that everyone goes for a swim after the game; I haven't had a chemical peel for a while so that should be fun.

White Water Rafting

2005-07-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I picked up my pictures from the underwater camera I used on my two recent whitewater rafting trips. If you want to see all the photos, go to my online photo album at picturetrail.com and type LADOTYK as the member name. There are two albums, one from my trip to Colorado and the other from our trip to Diamond Springs for the 4th of July. Here are a few of my favorites:

I took this picture in the car on the way to the raft site. We drove through a huge alpine valley that was bordered by some of the Rocky Mountain 14ers (14,000+ ft mountain peaks). This was the first time I'd been in this area and it was absolutely spectacular. And the best part is, Steve and I got to put another pin in our travel map!

This is looking down on the Arkansas river right before the trip. It was a little bit stormy but nothing too bad. The thunder sounds great booming through the canyon.

Isn't this a great picture of Christine? I'd love to have some pictures from the actual rapids but for some reason they want you to paddle at those key moments.

Now we jump to the next trip on the South Fork of the American River. Here is Brian and me during the lunch break. This is after I got tossed out of the raft on a particularly nasty rapid called "The Meat Grinder". Luckily I bobbed right back to the surface in my child-size life jacket and was hauled back into the raft. And most importantly, I didn't loose my paddle! I'm very proud of that fact.

At the end of the trip we shouldered the raft back to the bus and headed back to the homestead for some more croquet and leftover sausages.

Croquet and Sausages

2005-07-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my latest vacation up to Gold Country to visit with friends and family for the 4th of July holiday. Steve, Brian, Kara and I flew to Sacramento last Thursday where we were picked up by Steve's parents, and his brother Russell and wife Angela. It was a tight squeeze with eight of us in a 7-seater SUV (and if you count Kara's fetus (Bean), it was really 8.05 of us!) Thus ensued a lovely weekend of gluttony, sloth, and heated croquet tournaments.

FRIDAY
Although it had slipped my mind after living near the temperate coast for the last four years, I was quickly reminded that the central valley and it's environs are F'ING HOT in the summer! Oye. Russ and Angela headed down to the bay area to visit some friends, so Brian, Kara, Steve and I headed up to Boa Vista Orchards on Apple Hill for some fresh fruit.

This is a great farmers market area that is open all year round. A few pounds of cherries and apricots later and I was quite content. On the drive back down the hill we saw a wine tasting sign for the Boeger Winery so we stopped in for a swig. There was a moment's hesitation as we walked past a limo in our dirty play clothes but in the end they love your money, regardless of your attire. One bottle of petite syrah later we were back down the hill and off to escape the heat and see War of the Worlds. It's entertaining enough if you don't have any expectations beyond: aliens blow us up, we freak out. I guess it's a tribute to Tom Cruise's acting that you can watch the movie and not think "There's that freaky dude Tom Cruise". One interesting side note, there was a scene with a plane crash that we saw being assembled during a recent trip to Universal Studios. Cool.

SATURDAY
A trip to the local hill-billy Walmart yielded the greatest treasure of our weekend adventure: a brand new croquet set. (We reluctantly bypassed the enormous titanium deer huntin' arrowheads.) There's just something great about getting a group of friends together, kicking back cold beers and whacking plastic balls with stubby mallets.

Kara and her Bean kicked back in the hammock while the rest of us navigated tree roots, deceivingly thick grass clumps, flower beds, and the treacherous vigilante opponent.

This was my most wicked shot of the weekend. How the hell was I supposed to hit my red ball in this four car pileup??

Brian entertained us with his seal tricks.

In between croquet games we did some more wine tasting at Madrona Vineyards (delicious port)and the Lava Cap Winery (tasty syrah). For the first time in my life I can say I've been tipsy before noon.

We capped the evening with a family BBQ that included more meat than you can possible imagine. Luckily we were up for the challenge. After the crowds departed the six of us kids went back for seconds, sitting around the table snacking on sausages and playing pinochle. Man, what a great day!

I should be getting my rafting pictures back tonight so stay tuned for more exciting tales from El Dorado!

Garden Update

2005-06-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

While I'm battling the head cold from hell I thought I'd give you an update on the status of my vegetable garden. The interest should be great after the rousing response I got regarding my compost pile (...crickets...) If you'll remember I posted a picture about 3 weeks ago showing the emergence of a new squash seedling.

Apparently there's something good in the dirt because it (and all it's friends) are going crazy! The back row is corn, the big middle section is the squash, and the fuzzy stuff in the lower right are baby tomato plants.

And for those who are more into the Fear Factor aspect of gardening, here are some pictures of the various creepie-crawlies I have found over the years. You can either bask in their horrid-ness or click the picture to see what they eventually transform into.

The terrifying Tomato Worm!

The spiky minions from hell!

The ghastly white grub!

The freaky ladybug larvae!

Well that's all for now kids. Keep your noses clean and have a great 4th of July. I'll be sure to share all my adventures from Ol' Hangtown when I get back next Tuesday. Ciao!

They're dropping like flies!

2005-06-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Russell and I finally broke down our co-worker Jackaroo Chucky von Ordner (aka Jack) and he now has a blog of his very own. He's not too sure what to write about, so I'm sure he would appreciate any suggestions. Everybody come on down and check out The House That Jack Built!

More Tales from the Wild West

2005-06-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

I've posted most of my pictures from last weekend, so if want to check them out click here and type ladotyk for the member name. The only ones missing are from our whitewater rafting trip. Hopefully I'll be able to post those when I finish the roll after our rafting trip on the American River next weekend.

So to continue our story, Friday was a lazy day for Christine, Steve, and myself. We had a picnic in Denver's City Park and had to fend off voracious squirrels by shaking scary plastic bags. They were not fooled. We played a bit of frisbee after that and Christine improved remarkably on her forehand. Then we headed over to the Denver Mint, but it was completely booked. Apparently it is so popular you need to make reservations several days in advance. Who knew? Instead we strolled down the hip streets of LoDo and stopped for a while in the Tattered Cover Bookstore, which is a Denver landmark. Later we met up with Kara's family (mom, dad, sister, and grandparents) for dinner at the White Fence Farm Restaurant. It was definitely geared for kids but the fried chicken and fixin's were out of the world.

Saturday we headed to the mountains for whitewater rafting through Brown's Canyon on the Arkansas River (Class III). This was my first time rafting and I was a little nervous. To put me at ease the guide made me the lead paddler at the front of the boat (read: wet). Luckily I got the hang of it and had a great time. It was jam packed with hundereds of other rafters but they were pretty good about keeping us spaced apart. We sailed through without incidence, however the drunked bachelor party boys having water fights with their paddles managed to flip their raft. (Can you say shrinkage?)

Sunday the five of us (me, Steve, Christine, Matt, and Mom) headed south of Denver for a day hike in the beautiful Roxborough State Park. Classic schizophrenic Colorado weather, it first rained on us and then turned very hot and humid. And then cool again. The red rocks in this area are spectacular. It was refreshing to be so close to the city yet in such a beautiful, remote place. After five years living in Colorado I still have a lot of exploring to do!

Back in the Saddle Again

2005-06-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm now back at work after a fun weekend visiting my family out in Colorado. I'll make a better post tonight after I get my pictures uploaded, but here's a few snippets in the meantime:

THURSDAY

Time sure flies when you're doing Sudoku on the plane. Steve-O is so good he even used a pen.

FRIDAY

Christine got to open her birthday present early. Looks like I picked a winner! (You bought 1350 lbs of this shirt but you can only carry 200 back to the wagon.)

We had dinner at the White Fence Farm restaurant in Lakewood. It's a cool Disneyland-esque experience, complete with a petting zoo and the best fried chicken you'll ever eat. No joke.

...to be continued

Denver Bound

2005-06-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm all packed and ready for my trip out to Denver this weekend. Off to the land where they call it 'pop' instead of 'soda' and the liquor stores are closed on Sunday. I'm excited for several reasons:
* Colorado is beautiful this time of year
* I get to see my mom's new house for the first time
* Afternoon thunderstorms
* I haven't been on a vacation in 8 months
* Most importantly, I get to see my mom and sister!!!

That's right, I'll be reunited with my two best girlfriends in the whole world for a fun-filled weekend (yes I said fun Russell, and you might even agree with me on the terms of said 'fun'). I anticipate a trip to the Denver Mint, whitewater rafting, possibly punting on the South Platte, and a nice hike and picnic in the Rockies. I'll take lots of pictures to share with y'all when I get back. Butch, be sure to get my drawings released on Friday. Thanks kid.

Mommy where did I come from?

2005-06-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Recently IBM partnered with National Geographic to create the Genographic Project, whose purpose is to map humanity's migration from out of Africa by studying the genes from people all over the world. Over thousands of years, small mutations occur in the genetic sequencing and these changes are passed down to future generations. The scientists are able to seek out these DNA markers and determine where certain groups of people split to end up where they are today. My sister, as an employee of IBM, was fortunate enough to participate in this study by donating a cheek swab for the greater good. For women the maternal line is traced through mitochondrial DNA so my mother, sister and I have the exact same ancestral trace. (For men the paternal line is traced through the Y chromosome). The results are in, and although not entirely surprising, are fascinating nonetheless. Check it out:

My path, as well as yours, starts out in East Africa with the "mitochondrial eve": the common ancestor of all living humans. From there we journey north and east to the fertile crescent region, and then on into South Russia. The genetic line (haplogroup H) stays in the Europe region and in fact today is shared by roughly half of all Europeans, as well as many in the Middle East and North Africa.

If you are interested in participating then follow this link to find out how to order your own kit.

So, do anything fun this weekend?

2005-06-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Since the Monday office routine dictates that one shares one's weekend experiences, I thought I would make a forum to do precisely that. I personally don't have any exciting adventures to tell of, but here's my story all the same.

FRIDAY EVENING
I went with Steve and friends Brian and Kara to go see Batman Begins. It was a lot of fun and everyone liked it. Definitely the best Batman so far. However, I agree with Russell. Katie Holmes bugs. Go see her in Pieces of April instead.

SATURDAY
Saturday was one of those days where you sit at home and think to yourself "I should really get up. I should do something. I'm too young to spend the rest of today waiting for it to be tomorrow!" Steve and I got up late and eventually headed down to the farmer's market in Santa Monica to get some veggies for dinner. There was a crazy lady literally freaking out over a slug on a piece of lettuce. Seriously! If slugs give you the shakes, get your ass out of the organic market and head to Albertsons. When we got home I finished reading the Pulitzer Prize winning Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffery Eugenides, which has absolutely consumed me for the past two weeks. I highly recommend this book. Later still I washed my little Prius and then performed a similar service for the front windows of the house. And then I had to stop because for pete's sake who the hell washes windows on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Instead Steve and I took the dogs to the Dog Park in El Segundo, and then I made dinner: Summer Steak Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing. I give it a 'B+'.

SUNDAY
Ah Sunday, when we throw ourselves upon the alter of the Ultimate Frisbee Gods. Today we had four on four with a sub and no one was injured. A record! For a non-contact sport, we seem to have a high incidence of people breaking themselves. After loosing the first game and winning the next two, Steve and I headed home and prepared for an impromptu BBQ. Nothing like expecting company to make you finally clean up your crap (like you've been meaning to for weeks). For dinner we made those delightful burgers with the hidden pockets of cheese and bacon in the middle. Whoever thought of that is a genius. Nick also made grilled peaches a la mode with a butter-rum sauce for dessert. Mmmmmmmm. The seven of us discussed everything from acupuncture to long-lost Austrian girl-friends, but as it was a school-night, the party ended sooner rather than later. And that's what I did this weekend.
THE END