January comes to a close in Longmont with a little snow, but they are promising a lot more for tonight and tomorrow. Last night we got about ½ inch and it is pretty this morning. The various weather forecasts threaten us with much more snow tonight - perhaps as much as a foot. We are enjoying the sun today while we can and will be heading up toward north from Longmont to check it out. Speaking of weather, it has been wonderful here. Yesterday as many other days Sharon and I were wearing sweatshirts and feeling very comfortable. It did cool off quite a bit yesterday before the snow, but you've got to take a little bad with the wonderful! Right now as I write this the sun is shining on the snow and it is in the upper 30s out there. I have been bike riding in sunny upper 50° splendor and sitting in the sun on the deck in 60°.
Yesterday we drove down to Littleton to visit Jason Bell's Living The Dream Brewing Company. I took a bottle of giardiniera for Vince because he says that is the main thing he misses being in Colorado. Funny, I bought the giardiniera at a butcher shop in Longmont! Vince pulled samples of all the beers they had on tap and I tasted through them. They are making some wonderful beers and doing a lot of experimenting. Jason gave us a tour of the brewery and explained all the steps in the brewing process. It is quite a blend of art and science. Judging from the number of people in the taproom, Living The Dream has caught on in Littleton. If you are out this way drop in! And once, we have moved here, stay with us!
We drove back through Golden and it was a beautiful drive along the foothills. We had lunch in Golden at Old Capitol Grill. If you are in Golden this looks like a good spot - but avoid it! Very average food, or perhaps below average!
Friday evening found us at Post Brewing in Lafayette. We met friends there and drank some tasty beer and ate great fried chicken and pretty good fried fish! The chicken was better. These are the people who opened Good Bird Kitchen in Longmont where we had chicken a week or so ago. They have my fried chicken business!
On Sunday we got out of the house around noon (after Sharon shoveled the snow in the driveway) and headed to our soon to be home. We are scheduled to close on February 17th. Vonn's built the pergola which looks better than I hoped, and added the access door at the rear of the garage. We wandered around the house and measured windows, talked about towel bars and an "exit" bar for the tub, talked about how and where furniture would be placed and planned our wine cellar. Each time we visit we are more convinced that this was a good choice and we will be happy, not only in this house but in Longmont. Though the overall room in the new house isn't too much different from what we have now, we are used to smaller rooms, so we will be spreading out more and have more useable space. The basement here will be used for a workshop and wine cellar. Each will take come time to put together. I am hoping to make a number of new furniture pieces. We feel our living area is the simplest. Our living and dining furniture will fit right in and we are almost done. The rest of the house is going to take some work. But we have a lot more time than money!
The South and West sides of the house have many windows and let in tons of light. Of the windows you see here only one on the second floor will get a window covering and perhaps the large one on the first floor. We discovered today that our side yeard is bigger than we thought, in fact is deeper than the back yard. A few trees and a spot for the pond will fill it in. Next week I will be getting started with bids from landscapers. No grass. Rock, Trees. Evergreen shrubs. Sharon calls it Zeroscape.
After our house visit we drove north to Berthoud where we had a very late breakfast at Grandpa's and then continued on to Loveland. Basically we are just seeing the sights and getting the lay of the land. Driving north from Longmont you really get a feel of being out in the country, then you run across new home developments. Is everyone moving to Colorado?
