Denver Museum of Art

Saturday was museum day for us. We drove to Denver and found the Denver Art Museum campus. Street parking was limited to two house and we ended up in a public lot for a flat $10. The museum is quite nice but also quite different from the Art Institute in Chicago. They have an amazing Pre-Colombian South American collection and an extensive Western art collection. We ate a very nice lunch at their restaurant and highly recommend it. Tasty food with a lovely presentation and very good service.

Driving to and from Denver and Longmont was easy and took us about an hour. A bit further than Glen Ellyn to Chicago but about the same time. Downtown Denver traffic on Saturday was  heavier than we expected but not as bad as Chicago.

Downtown Denver seems to be filled with very modern buildings - not much of a mix as we are used to in Chicago. But then, Chicago is home to the beginnings of the first modern skyscrapers in the 1890s. We will spend more time exploring Denver.

On our way home we were treated to some spectacular clouds coming over the mountains. We were sure Tom Skilling could tell us all about them, but he wasn't in the car with us!

Changes

While trying to sleep last night I was pondering our potential move to Longmont. We don't have to move from Glen Ellyn, at least not right now, but I think we eventually might. Should we move now and where do we move? We've been in Longmont for two weeks and certainly like the weather, the people, and the proximity to the mountains. But should we make the move? Can we afford the move? How do we swing buying a house while ours might still be for sale? How do we handle the logistics of a move? So many questions.

The hardest part of the move is the move. And, for me, it is getting rid of all my accumulated "stuff", most of which has no meaning, it is just accumulated things.

Watching Clouds

Last night the wind picked up and it is still windy today. I can see snow over the mountains, but it seems to be staying there. Longs Peak is not visible today. I can see the front range but nothing beyond. It is still darn pretty though! I learned on the Denver weather this evening tghat there is a name for this bank of clouds and associated downslope winds over the front range - a foehn wind or a chinook. There were high winds in Longmont last night, and over 30 mph today. There were reported winds over 60 mph in Lyons.

 

I visted a Longmont fly shop today - Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop. I talked with the owner, Mike, and he said tghis was the heart of great fishing country. Locally it is small waters, and I am more used to bigger waters, but I can adapt. I don't think I'll have a problem finding good fishing here. By March all the ice will be gone and fishing will be good. Lyons, where forks of the Saint Vrain river meet is just a few miles from here and Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park are less than 30 miles from here. I drove up through Lyons today and then a few miles beyond on Highway 36 toward Estes PArk. Pretty. I'll have to get my fly fishing gear from John because I left it in Redmond when I was there last.

 

On the real estate front, I have come to the conclusion that there are no bargains in Longmont, nor most of Boulder County. For example, I just told Zillow to show me everything for sale in Boulder County from $100,000 to $225,000. I got eight results. If I go from $300,000 to $400,000 threre are 102 results. Go up to $500,000 and there are 201 results. When we sell our house in Glen Ellyn, we are going to have to put all of our proceeds in to a house here.

 

We won a whopping $8 with Powerball last night. Not a very good return. We spent $40 to make $8.

 

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.

 

Longmont

We are settled into our seven week rental in Longmont Colorado after a long but uneventful drive from Glen Ellyn.

We left Friday morning January 1 and headed west. The cats were not pleased with their fate and let us know for about 2 1/2 hours until we stopped in Davenport for a short visit with the Knox crew. Sharon got a couple of kitchen towels from Kathy and we put them in the kennel with the cats. For some reason the towels in the kennel allowed the cats to settle in with them and quiet down. They were fine until we dragged them out of the car in Kearney where we stayed at the pet friendly New Victorian Inn. it was clean and the staff was friendly. Not a fancy place by any means but they only charged us an additional $25 for two cats. It was a long day for us at about 630 miles over about 10 hours, but splitting the driving made it bearable. A few years ago I would have tackled a 12 hour driving day; no more. The good side of doing 630 miles on Friday was that it left only about 5+ hours to drive on Saturday. After Friday, this was easy.

We arrived at our rental house, unloaded the car, and then took stock of what we had and what we needed plus considered what we would fix for dinner. We were hungry so went to Cyclhops Bike Cantina. We've been there before and it did not disappoint this time. A trip to Target, Lucky's Market, and Safeway took care of our shopping needs and we were soon back home to unpack and relax and enjoy an easy dinner at home.

Bed felt wonderful but I was able to rest more than Sharon. I was a bit cold and Sharon was hot and she did not have her favorite pillow. A trip to Macy's in Boulder on Sunday supplied a pillow and a light cotton blanket which should help with the sleep. We also picked up some kitchen essentials which were lacking in the rental - mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, and wineglasses. We then walked around downtown Longmont and had a nice lunch at Pumphouse Brewery. The place was packed which told us it was a popular local spot. After walking back to the car we went to check out the new mall, Village at the Peaks, which has a Whole Foods built but not finished. They now plan to open in November of 2016 darn. There was a new liquor store, Wyatt's Wet Goods, and I have declared it a go to! Prices comparable to Binny's and a good selection of everything. Next was a stop at King Soopers which beats Safeway. We picked up a few more needed items and chicken and bread for dinner.

Tomorrow Sharon is scheduled to work all day - from the house and I plan on house cleaning and exploring, and shopping for dinner. Welcome to Longmont!