having fun on the couch

  

dusty snow, and some tennis

he last couple of days we've had a few inches of snow, and a lot of wind. I was up snowboarding on the hill Thursday morning. I noticed some brown patches in the snow up high on 6-chair and Imperial. Didn't think much of it other than that it was probably residue from explosives for some avy blasting. But as I saw the brown patches lower down on the mtn where they never do any bombing, I soon realized this must be some sand or dust from the desert. Sure enough it was in the paper today and I heard from the CoCoRaHS leader that they had reported it too. there were 100+ mph winds in desert SW, and some dry dry ground in the 4-corners area was brought into the Rockies. weird stuff. I even saw these patches out behind the house beneath about an inch of windblown snow. i played tennis for about 1.5hrs today at the rec center. pretyy fun stuff. I'd like to try and play every week, at least until it gets nicer outside for some road riding. who know when that will be.

feeling the itch

again to start doing more cycling and less winter sports, when possible. The snow has been great this season, so it is hard not to go ride the mountain on a powder day. But I know I am going to want to do some races this spring and summer. So I need to get off of my arse and start getting some time in the saddle. The 3 hrs last wknd in Golden were tough, but a decent start. I am hoping to get out to Hall Ranch next Sunday...we'll see if it's dry.

house gone

just as quickly as we heard that my friend's house was for sale....it sold, at a higher price. the buyer supposably has financing already in place. bummer. maybe it wasn't meant to be. as unaffordable as some of the homes (yes, even deed-restricted homes in our neighborhood) seem, we need to somehow make the leap asap. They are only getting more expensive.

sunshine

we have a bit of sunshine today, though as I look out my office now I see it is already clouding over again. oh well. it was nice while it lasted, and Helen got a nice chance to go out and run with Alina and Montana. first bit if sun we've seen in about 5 days.
in the pic below, we were walking down the street to go take a look at Kevin's house.

 
 

bike, or ride?

not sure what's going to happen tomorrow, but i know for sure it won't involve work, so i can't lose. we've had a good 2-3' of snow this past week. small break in systems today, but 4-7" expected tonight/tomorrow. if there's a bunch of snow, we'll just hang out here. that works, the mtn was sweet yesterday. just a bit of snow, and we'll go visit Diana in Golden. she's dying to see Alina. and I'd like to get a road ride in too. out of nowhere we are suddenly thinking about upgarding to a larger house. kevin is thinking about moving down to Woodland Park. he's got a 4bd in our 'hood, with an oversized 2-car garage. it is a bunch, esp. after paying for Alina's childcare. but the interest rates are rising again. and the real estate mkt. here in Breck is going to go through the roof very soon. and the banner snow year we're having is only going to add more pressure. although it seems far-fetched now, so did our current home when we first got into it. I think we'll need to carefully look at it. but kevin's place is too much of an opportunity to pass up on.

daycare, and tons of snow

it sucks I can't update/write here more often. But it's that time of year, Alina has started daycare, and we're down to 1-car for now. So we have lots of logistics to work out each day. We've received 15" since yesterday, with another 8-12" in the forecast for tonight/tomorrow. I can't wait to get up on the hill! Our driveway is quite the challenge to clear snow from now. The 5 days without snow gave me and my back a chance to chip away about 400lb of compacted snow and ice. Just in time for this week's storm cycle. The HOA had a front end loader come in and scrape the alley down to the asphalt. That is good, since now we don't have to drive off the 8" ledge onto our driveway. So last night I shoveled the 4" that fell in about 2hrs! Biggest problem is the snowstack is 6-8' high. So shoveling the snow is much more work now. That too isn't a huge deal, as it's probably the best exercise I have been getting lately. I will have to get some pics today and tomorrow.
Alina had her 1st full day of daycare yesterday. She was a bit sick and didn't take the bottle in the am, but I hung out with her for about 1/2 hr at lunch, and in the afternoon she ate and was a happy kid. Hopefully Helen will just have to visit her once a day to nurse.
The Explorer's rear window spontaneously shattered last week when Helen went to close it. Although we have full glass coverage with no deductible, Novus did a half-ass job replacing it, as the latch doesn't close now, and the rear wiper also doesn't work. The State Farm adjustor said Novus is liable to repair what they didn't finish. I just hope we can do it soon, as our 1-car family is kinda challenging, with Helen working at 7 (and me at 8), and dropping off Alina and picking her up and all that stuff. Luckily she has a TOB car she can use for now.