Brrrr

As much as I enjoy the sun here on cool days, I dread the evenings when the sun is gone. It gets chilly in this house once the sun is not streaming in the windows.

I drove west today, out Nelson Road and ran into Foothills Highway. I headed south and loved the view along the foothills toward Boulder. The late afternoon light and a bit of fog in the foothills made for a beautiful sight. I wanted to stop for photos but had no opportunities to pull over.

I was able to pull over when I was heading back down Nelson Road toward Longmont. This is Table Mesa and there is a U.S. Commerce Department radio testing facility on 1800 acres here. This is the most visible and obvious evidence!

I continue to seek houses and town houses on Zillow. I have come to realize that Longmont is expensive. No, not nearly as expensive as Boulder, but not cheap. We are going out with our Realtor again this Friday and we have a few properties to see and a trip back to Silver Meadows to learn more about the actual costs. One question I have for Kevin is why does it seem that Westminster seems to have lower prices. Now I want to know what is wrong with Westminster?

My days are filled with housework and laundry and kitty cleanup and shopping and cooking. I ordered a small vacumn today because the one we have here while working on carpet does nothing for wood floors of furniture. I need the right tools!

 

One Week In Longmont

Today marks one week since we arrived in Longmont. We rolled into town las Saturday shortly after noon. Weather wise we had sun each day until yesterday - though it tried to poke through the clouds over by Denver International Airport while we were there. We had snow Tursday night inbto Friday - per our local retired weather man we had 4.5" here. He also said we unusually got more snow than Boulder. This morning I woke up to heavy fog but the weather forcast says we should have sun by mid day. It is also cold this morning at 18º. I have enjoyed uppper 40º days until Friday. I have to say that for the past week, weather wise Longmont has been good to us.

On my part I have figured out my grocery shopping spots and my house cleaning chores and my cooking. Thursday night we had five guests joiun ujs for dinner. These arfe friends who Sharon met while she was consulting for the Boulder Valley School District. We had a great evening of good convefrsation and food. I made Tamal Azteca, which turned out great, and sangria, and in honor of the Yew Year - black eyed peas. Sharon made a jicima and orange salad and chocolate bread pudding. Our dinner was all vegetarian. The kitties both took to our guests and enjoyed the attention.

Friday afternoon Larry and Dave came in and we picked them up at Denver International Airfport. This was our first drive from Longmont to DIA and even though the roads were a little snowy in Longmont they we pretty clear on the expressway. It took us just under an hour to get there. With clear weather it should be around 45 minutes. If the ExpressToll web site will ever load I will know how much that trip cost. After we dropped the boys luggae off at the house we tried a Longmont Institution for lunch - Cheese Importers. Kind of a funky place but the sandwichs were good.

We went together to look at the townhouse that we saw in October and liked. We still like the plan and the location. The price though has gone up 5% to $420,000. I am not happy with that. If we move to Longmont I think I could be happy with it. Lots of space, a super master bedroom and deck, and a very functional kitchen and living area. Plus a 1,000 square foor basement for my workshop.

For dinner I made my first take on Colorado green chili and pork plus we had left over Tamal Azteca and jicima and orange salad. I think I did a pretty good job on the green chili. I used a recipe I found on The Food Lab. In placed of the traditional Hatch peppers I used a combination of poblano, anaheim, and jalapeno peppers plus some tomatillos.

Today Sharon and Larry are working out at Orange Theory in Boulder and Dave and I are reading and watching TV and blogging while we keep the cats company. The sun is trying to break through the fog. This is going to be a nice day.

 

Longmont After a Couple of Days

Sharon is a working machine. She is helping several clients with ACA reporting and I think in the process is becoming an ACA reporting expert. She has been working with clients in Alaska, Ohio, and Illinois all day yesterday and since 7:00am this morning. I wish we had a better working set up for her. She has got her laptop on an end table and has a dining room chair pulled up next to it. Shelby is on a chair next to her keeping her company.

 

 

I have got my laptop on the dining room table. The dining room chair didn't work for me and I am using an outdoor chair which is more comfortable. The keyboard height is a bit too high but I don't have a need to type nearly as much as Sharon. I am occupied doing other things - sweeping, vacuuming, grocery shopping, fixing meals, cleaning the kitchen, and doing laundry. I have been out on my bike - a little treacherous on the parts of the roads covered with snow and ice. I can navigate if I go slow and make smooth turns and brake carefully; much like driving on snow and ice in a car. I also started reading a book I bought us for Christmas (our only present); Twelve Recipes by Cal Peternell. I am enjoying it and getting a few cooking tips.

 

I have grocery shopped at Safeway, Lucky's, King Soopers, and Sprouts. I think King Soopers is going to be my go to but don't go there on a Sunday afternoon - crowded and picked over. Today it was well stocked, not crowded, and calm. I was able to explore and check out their meat and seafood departments, produce, and general grocery. They even make fresh sushi! Sprouts is good for bulk and organic items plus if you are into supplements, vitamins, aroma therapy etc. they are the place to go.

 

For wine and spirits in Longmont it looks like Wyatt's is the spot, though they are just now opened and the staff is young and inexperienced. In two visits no one was in the wine department, the guys in spirits did not seem to know their stuff, but the male staff all look like beer guys! They do have a well stocked wine department.

 

Last night after getting frustrated on Sunday looking for news on the TV, I found a source of streaming PBS Newshour. It as easier than trying to find it on TV. I hope this is a problem with the setup in this rental house and not indicative of antenna TV in the Denver area. I suppose I am a news junkie, especially for the News Hour.

 

Today has been sunny all day and we got up to 49°. I went outside on the deck and fired up the gas grill to check it out. I am only getting a consistent burn on one side. Research. While out there I had a beer and a cigar and did some reading. Pretty nice for January 5th.

 

Sharon just took a break and got outside for the first time since Sunday. We walked just a short ways to the little shopping center close by. It was my favorite restaurant so far - Cyclhops and also an upscale women's consignment shop - Fabulous Finds Consignment. Sharon got an LL Bean fleece vest and a sweet Cuplo sweater for a total of $34.09. I got a 10% discount because it is Senior Tuesday. Life is good.

 

Random Thoughts

Older homes have a narrative of the families who have lived in them and around them. Ours have a narritive going back to the 1920s when it was built. We know little of that narrative other tha. the 21 years we have lived here we know the Halquist family came before us and the Anderson family before them. Our 21 years here have been comfortable and the house has been filled with friends and family. We are still comfortable and content here.

Which brings me to thoughts on moving to Colorado. The cold last couple of winters here and my body's issues with that cold are what has prompted our looking into moving to Colorado. This is why we are renting a house for seven weeks in Longmont. If the weather is milder during those months and the sun is shining I may be more comfortable with my neuropathy. Sharon pointed out this week that we shouldn't make a move based on change for the sake of change and she is right. I have been excited about the possibility of change - a new modern home, a new city to explore, mountains to see, trout streams to stand in. But, we should look at what we might give up. Leaving friends behind, being 600 more miles from Kathy, Kevin, and Brady. For me that is somewhat offset by being 800 miles closer to John, Kristie, Avery, and Anika.

Today I used J&R Automotive in Glen Ellyn to replace sway bar links on Red. They have been in Glen Ellyn longer than we have and I have never used them for automobile service. I drove over there at about 7:15 this morning, dropped off the car, and walked home. They called shortly with an estimate and I had them replace all four sway bar links, front and back. Total cost $340. The same service from the Mazda dealer which I will no longer go to, $322 for the front and $522 for the rear. J&R was done by 9:30 and I walked back over there to get the car. Easy.

As I walked back and forth from J&R and our house I looked at all of the houses along the way. Some are in fantastic condition, some are not but, back to the first paragraph here, they all have a narrative. We will start a new narrative if we purchase a new home in Colorado.

Sunshine and Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome

 

I woke up this morning to sunshine after a few dreary days. It does change and improve my attitude to see sun. This really is one of my issues with Chicago in the winter time - clouds. I can deal with cold better if there is sun to go along with it. I just looked up the stats. On average Chicago gets 189 days a year that are sunny or partly sunny. The numbers are the worst from October through April where Chicago sees sun less than 50% of the time and some months about 30%. Looking at Denver for comparison, it sees the sun 245 days a year. Their worst month is February but even then they have sun over 50% of the month. We are planning two months in Denver in 2016, I'll compare the sun and temperatures and snowfall and report back!

Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome is closely related to Guitar Acquisition Syndrome or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. According to Wikipedia:

Gear Acquisition Syndrome (sometimes Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, both abbreviated to GAS) is a term used to describe an urge to acquire and accumulate lots of gear. This term commonly associated with:

Guitarists (tend to acquire guitars, guitar amplifiers, pedals, effects processors)

Keyboard / synth players (tend to acquire keyboards, synthesizers, samplers, effects units, etc)

Drummers(various drums, percussion, drumsticks)

Audiophiles (amplifiers, headphones, speakers, etc)

Photographers (cameras and its parts - bodies, lens, mounts, filters, flash, etc.)

Bike accessories (racks, lights, fenders, etc.)

The term "GAS" was coined by Walter Becker in 1996 in his article G.A.S. in Guitar Player[1] as "Guitar Acquisition Syndrome". The term started to be frequently used by guitarists and spread out to other musicians who were familiar with similar tendencies. As it no longer concerns guitars only, GAS is now commonly backronym

GAS shouldn't be confused with collection.

I must be serially afflicted because I see in this definition my behavior as it relates to photography, biking, and ukuleles. I also realize I suffer from Information Acquisition Syndrome.

My basement is full of photo equipment dating back to about 1972 and I promise I will wade through it and only keep what I need. My bike has everything it needs, but I can always use new bike shorts or shoes and why not a mountain bike while I am at it? Ukuleles? I've got five and I think I am satisfied. Two sopranos, one koa from Ko'aloha and one plastic from Outdoor Ukulele. Two concerts, a travel Kala and one for home a beautiful Ohana. One tenor from Mainland Ukuleles with a big sound and a low G. Related is the kazoo and the keyboard and a few gadgets and lots of books!

I admit I have a problem. But, the next ukulele is always beautiful or sounds wonderful or.... I can justify all of them, except probably the first one I bought and the last one I bought. My only disappointment is the plastic one from Outdoor Ukulele with a buzzing C string that won't go away.

I suppose this syndrome applies to wine, and cookbooks, and travel, and power tools, and bourbon. I am in trouble.