Longmont Lights

Last Friday, Kate and I volunteered to man a fire pit at Longmont Lights - an annual celebration of the holidays hosted by the city of Longmont and the various businesses downtown. I originally offered up my help because it looked good to be helping out in the workplace...but it actually turned out to be quite a bit of fun! :-)

I took the bus down to Longmont and worked a 3/4 day. Kate and Tessa drove down and met me at the library. After doing the usual rounds so my co-workers could appreciate the adorableness that is my daughter, we walked around downtown Longmont for a bit, stopping at Abbondanza Pizzeria for dinner. This was awesome because not only was the food (meat calzone and bbq sub sandwich with some garlic bread) but the place also has board games at each table for visitors! Kate and I played an incomplete game of Stratego over dinner. (Naturally, Kate was winning.)



We dashed through a light drizzle to make a quick stop at Butcher Frank's for a roasting chicken then made a circuit around Roosevelt Park to see the sights before our shift started. The ice rink was in operation for visitors and there was a cool 'candyville' themed collection of Christmas lights. We watched the ice sculptor work his canvas with a chainsaw for a little while. We stopped by one of the other fire pits and joined some of my co-workers in a round of Jingle Bells. Then it was off to our station.




The work mostly involved keeping the fire going with wood, handing out flyers with events, and answering directional questions. There was a free hot cocoa station right next to the fire pit that we (of course) took advantage of. Everyone was in a really good mood and enjoying themselves.




Tessa had dozed off after dinner and stayed napping in her stroller for a good half hour or so into our shift. When she woke up, she watched the surroundings for a short while before deciding that it was all too much and started to cry. Willis - one of my co-workers at another fire pit - ducked over to help cover our area while Kate took Tessa to the Memorial Building for a diaper change and a snack. They also visited with the reindeer in front of the building, which apparently made Tessa much happier.



The weather wasn't too bad all in all. It was rather pleasant early on, though the wind picked up a bit as the evening got later. Still, we were bundled up and by the fire so we did pretty well.

The crowning event of the evening were the pair of skydivers that made a nighttime drop at 8pm. The drop was in some doubt due to the rising wind, but apparently it eased enough for the skydivers to chance it. We watched the plane take several passes overhead, then the skydivers set off a streams of sparklers from their boots to mark where they were above us. They swooped and glided in...at one point looking like they were going to clip the flagpole nearby...but sailed in for two perfect landings in the center of the park. Fabulous! I wish I'd thought to have my camera out!

The festivities were pretty much done at that point. We doused the fire pit and gathered up the supplies to take back to the Senior Center. My buddy Ron had met us at the park and we headed out to his new apartment in Longmont for some hot chocolate and chatting.

We ended up getting home kind of late but we did have a good time. I think I'll see about getting involved again next year!

Here are some parting pictures of the Longmont Lights event in Roosevelt Park:








Thanks for reading! I hope you're having a happy Holiday season!

A Short Tessa Anecdote

Kate and I had left Tessa with a babysitter (actually our library friend Audrey) a week back. Audrey told us that she had started to wonder where Jasper was since that cat rarely misses a chance to make his presence known every few minutes or so. She was wondering this aloud, asking Tessa, "I wonder where Jasper is."

Tessa apparently crawled over to the coat closet door in the foyer and pointed at it, saying "Caa! Caa!"

Audrey opened up the closet door and sure enough there was Jasper! Our little girl is learning how to communicate!

By the way, wasn't it October just a couple days ago? :-/

Thanks for reading. I'll try to have more interesting stuff to post next time. Hope you're having a great day!

Road Trip Summary

Well now, that was rude of me. Not a peep for months on this blog. Who knows how many viewers I've lost at this point? There's been plenty of blog-worthy events in the past few months but I just hadn't gotten around to talking about them. Anyone want to take any bets as to whether or not I manage to change my ways? :-)

Kate and I just got back from a road trip through Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. Ostensibly, we were traveling to eastern Iowa for a wedding reception for one of Kate's college friends. But since we had many friends and family along the route, we decided to see how many would be interested and available to see us. Much to our surprise, a lot of them were!

Usually, I'd post a number of pictures with this post, but since we took over 500 of them, I decided just to suggest that readers pop over to our Shutterfly page where I'm uploading all the pictures from the trip. Fair warning - the pictures are being loaded pretty raw, without editing or review. I'll eventually clean up the album, but for a short while at least, the pictures may be a little off.

On to the summary then!

Day One: We had a little trouble getting ourselves out on time on the day we left. Since we weren't trying to catch a flight or train, we fell into our own pace and ended up leaving close to three hours later than we intended. We traveled down CO-14 until it joined up with I-76 around Sterling, which then connected with I-80 in Nebraska. We then just shot straight down I-80 (with a couple stops for gas or stretch breaks) until we reached Council Bluffs. Terry and Karl - friends of Kate's family - had opened their home to us for the night, even though between our late start and our forgetting about the time change, we arrived close to 10:30pm local time. Terry and Karl were still very welcoming, having saved some roast beef and sweet potatoes for us to have as dinner. Tessa had great fun exploring the house and finding breakable decorations.

Day Two: Terry made us some breakfast and we sat around chatting for most of the morning since we didn't get a chance to do so the previous night. In the late morning, we headed back into Omaha, which was just across the Missouri River. We paid a visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo, which both of us recall fondly from our childhoods. Even though we only spent a couple of hours there, it was still amazing, especially the Aquarium, Desert Dome, and Kingdoms of the Night. After the zoo, we made haste down I-80 in Des Moines and arced south to Norwalk. We met up with my uncle Dean and my aunt Rachel, who were letting us crash at their place for the night. In addition, my aunt Karen had organized a grand dinner gathering with all my relatives that still lived in the area. The gathering included: Dean and Rachel, Karen and my uncle Pat, my aunt Donna, my uncle Stan, my grandfather, my cousin Kristi with her husband Nick and their three kids, my cousin Kari with her husband Mike and their daughter Hailey, my cousin Sean, my cousin Dan (though he was mostly downstairs minding the dog), and my cousin Tanya. I hadn't seen my aunts Karen and Rachel since my wedding, and I hadn't seen the rest of the family in almost ten years. It was great seeing everyone, catching up, meeting spouses and kids, and so on. It was like I'd never been gone so long! Tessa had fun playing with my cousins' kids too! After everyone left, Kate and I stayed up a little longer to chat with Dean and Rachel.

Day Three: After some breakfast with Rachel, we headed out to the little town of Milo to visit my grandfather and see the old farmhouse. On the way, we stopped off at Indianola to pay our respects at my grandmother's resting place. That was a little emotional for me but I'm glad I stopped by. In Milo, we hung out with my grandfather for a little while. (I helped him copy some pictures of my cousin Erika's wedding onto his computer.) Then it was off on IA-92 to Muscatine, with a stopover in Oskaloosa for lunch. We checked in at the Strawberry Farm Bed and Breakfast, which was so casual and homey that it was very much like visiting someone's house and staying the night. After settling in, we popped over to the Moose Lodge for the wedding reception of Kate's college friend Ann. We managed to catch her early before she got swamped with other guests and festivities. We stayed around for dinner, cake cutting, dances and speeches before returning to Strawberry Farm to crash for the night.

Day Four: We spent a casual morning enjoying breakfast with Karl and Linda (the owners) then made a point of visiting the Mississippi River for a little bit. Tessa was not all that impressed. :-) Then it was skipping up to I-380 and US-63 to Rochester. There we met with Kate's college friends Dave and Gina (and their two boys Zach and Sam), who were giving us a room for the night. We had dinner, got introduced to a cool new game called Dominion (which Kate and I might have to buy for ourselves), and played some Lego Star Wars. Tessa had fun playing with the boys (and didn't want to go to bed) while we enjoyed chatting with Gina and Dave.

Day Five: We woke up early the next morning to walk over to the Holy Spirit Catholic Church that was less than a block away from Dave and Gina's house. When we got back, we hung out and chatted a while longer before cruising down US-14 to St. Peter. This was the home of Gustavus Adolphus College, Kate's alma mater. We rendezvoused with two more of Kate's friends Jill and Jen on campus and took a walk around to see what things had changed since their time there. Jill had to bail shortly before that but Jen joined us for dinner at Whiskey River. Kate's friend Dana met us there as well and we all gabbed well into the night. (Tessa dozed off early on to our surprise!) Then Jen headed back to the Twin Cities while Dana guided us down to Windom to stay the night at her place. We watched the Viking-Packers game and talked a while before retiring for the night.

Day Six: The next morning Dana made us omelets for breakfast and we departed around mid morning to start the trek back to Colorado. We took MN-60 down through Sioux City then bounced to US-75 and US-30 until we stopped in Grand Island, which I had determined would be a good midpoint stopover. We actually made most of the trip with minimal breaks, though we did stop in Columbus for lunch at Quizno's. (This represented our lone deviation from stopping at a Hy-Vee grocery store for meal breaks, as we did in Oskaloosa and Waterloo, though we did end up stopping at Hy-Vee for dinner in Grand Island.) We checked in at a local Days Inn and pretty much spent the night vegging out. Tessa was a little temperamental that evening but not too bad.

Day Seven: After partaking in the continental breakfast (which included biscuits and gravy and do-it-yourself waffles), we hopped back onto I-80 and blazed across Nebraska toward home. We had to fight strong winds the whole way, which made the trip sporting and gas-consuming. I decided to cut straight down I-80 into Wyoming (we made a stop in Pine Bluffs just inside the Wyoming-Nebraska border) and hooked up with I-25 around Cheyenne. We skipped lunch in preference of getting home and made it back to Fort Collins by late afternoon. We even had enough to time get unpacked, do a bunch of laundry, make a spaghetti dinner, and relax a bit before going to bed.

The trip was a great deal of fun and while it seemed rapid-fire at times (we wished we had more time to hang out with folks), it was still very relaxing. All the friends and family we met up with were so welcoming and gracious and it was fantastic to see all of them. We hope to make this a more regular vacation option, instead of waiting 5-10 years before another visit.

In the meantime, there's always Facebook. ;-)

Tessa did remarkably well on the trip. Most of the time, when the car was moving, she was dozing or quietly watching out the back window. The couple of times that she became particularly upset, Kate was able to placate her with Cheerios and peaches. And despite her stranger shyness, she still seemed to do well with all the strangers she met on the trip. What a good girl!

So that's the quick and dirty summary of our road trip through the Midwest. Like I said, it was a ton of fun and we hope to have the chance to do it again sometime.

As always, thanks very much for reading and I hope you're having a great day.

New Addition - Jasper the Cat

While our dear friend Chiral will always be missed and never be replaced, Kate and I decided that it was time we brought a new feline companion into the house. We knew that odds were against us being as lucky as we were with Chiral, but we hoped that we could find a moderately sociable and playful kitten to join the family.




We visited the Larimer County Humane Society on July 11th after church. Our intention was just to have a look at a few cats and see if any of them caught our eyes. But this skinny little gray stick wowed us with his affection and playfulness. We decided to take him home then and there.




(Incidentally, we did look at a couple other kittens. One was an adorable male named Kenny who was friendly enough but very skittish, especially with Tessa. He would have been great for a single person or an older couple without kids, I think. The third was a cute female named Banshee, which I thought was a great name. She was very affectionate but also a little more nervous than we wanted with Tessa. Too bad - I loved her coloration.)

This gray kitten with an overabundance of scrawn was extremely playful when we were in the visiting room. He purred easily when petted or picked up. But best of all, when Tessa gave out one of her cries (I think she was frustrated that I was holding her and not letting her run around), this kitten came running over to greet her, rubbing up against her! He was not the least bit intimidated by the 7-month old and we knew we had a winner.



The Humane Society had dubbed the kitten Baby Gray...but that wasn't going to fly with us. We knocked around names like Tempest and Pewter...but we finally settled on Jasper - after the gemstone.

At this posting, Jasper has been with us for a little over two weeks and he seems to be adapting very well. He comes across as attention starved, always looking for a pet or a snuggle. He loves to play, especially chasing toys, though he is a bit clumsy as yet. He even knows how to fetch (!) and will retrieve thrown toys for us to throw again.

Jasper has quite a range of volume in his meows. Most of the time, all he does is open his mouth to make a mew noise that's barely audible. Other times, especially when he's hungry or trapped in the closet, he'll make an impressive yowl that can probably be heard by the neighbors!

He doesn't seem to know any fear either. He's not scared of the vacuum cleaner nor about the prospect of going outside. He especially not afraid of Tessa. This unfortunately means that he finds himself grabbed by the ears, tails and paws and dragged by the kid. But is he clever enough to get out of her way? No! He just keeps wandering back over to her, plopping down in front of her, and getting grabbed again.






Jasper has the usual bad habits that we're trying to cure him of, namely chewing on things he shouldn't (like electrical cords) and climbing onto the tables and counters. Fortunately, he doesn't like getting sprayed with water so it should only be a matter of time before he realizes what he's allowed and not allowed to do.



Rune is adjusting slowly. She obviously was not happy with the new addition when he arrived, but after a couple weeks, she starting to tolerate him. Jasper tries to play with her by pouncing, but that only results in an angry growl and hiss from Rune. Jasper does seem smart enough to know that maybe he'd better leave the older (and grouchier) cat alone. But still, whereas in the first few days, Rune didn't want to be in the same room as Jasper, nowadays she'll even nap or eat her meals with him nearby.

So we think Jasper's going to work out with us. He's a lot of fun and very affectionate. He's already managed to win the hearts of anyone who's visited with us.




As always, thanks for reading...and I hope you're having a great day!

Oh, and Jasper hopes so too!

Welcome to the World - Fletcher Atticus

Kate and I got to meet our newborn nephew down in Denver last night. Jason and Emily's son Fletcher Atticus Anderson was born at 11:24pm on July 5th. He weighed in a tiny 6lbs .04oz and measured 19.25" long. Parents and baby returned home yesterday afternoon and are doing quite well.












Kate and Emily's Dad Brendan was also able to visit for the week and got to spend some time with both his grandchildren.






For her part Tessa was alternately dubious...



...and overjoyed...



...at the prospect of a new cousin nearby.

Congratulations to Emily and Jason on the new arrival. And welcome to the world, Fletcher!

Thanks for reading...I hope you're having a good day!

In Memorium - Chiral

This is dedicated to Chiral - a beloved member of our family - who has had to leave us far too soon.



After much soul-searching, Kate and I made the decision to let Chiral go rather than see her suffer any longer. She had not been interested in food or water for almost a week. She was lethargic and weak, spending the weekend lying very still and rarely moving more than a couple feet at a time. She was virtually unresponsive when we said her name or even touched her - we got at most a twitch of the tail or a flick of her ears.

When we took her in to our vet yesterday, she told us that Chiral was holding herself very tensely and her breathing was unnaturally heavy. These were indications that Chiral was in far more pain than the vet had expected. And if she was hurting too much to eat or drink or use the litter box, than it was looking like a short, painful few days left to her.

Anyone who knew Chiral would know that she was a fantastically energetic and socializing cat. She was quick to greet people and always talked back when you spoke her name or just talked in her general direction. So to see her like this broke our hearts. We didn't want to let her go, but we couldn't let her suffer like she was.

After it was done, we buried Chiral in a shady spot at a nearby natural area called Prospect Ponds. Though we kept her an exclusively indoor cat, Chiral loved the outdoors. So we thought she might enjoy resting in a beautiful setting like this, under the trees, beneath the overgrowth, and next to a burbling stream. It felt right to us.

This loss has been very, very hard on both me and Kate. Little things trigger memories and I find myself breaking into tears. Even looking through the pictures I'm posting below are enough to make me have to fight against falling apart. Chiral was just a loving, lively animal - it hurts to think that she won't be a part of our lives anymore.

I want very much to hold her once more. I want to hear her whine for her dinner and pounce on the bed in the morning for breakfast. I want her to try chewing on my shirt buttons and thrust her nose into my face. I want her to jump on my shoulders or clonk her knees as she chases Rune up the stairs. I want to see her curled up on her scratching tower or on the rocking chair. I want to see her share her boundless love with our friends and family...and I wanted to see Tessa grow up with Chiral as a companion.

But I know that we made the right decision. With the pain that Chiral was in, she wouldn't have been the same cat even if we had kept her with us. It would have just led to a long, agonizing ordeal as we watched her fade away by degrees. Sometimes I feel like I was selfish, wanting to spare myself the pain of seeing her in that state, but she must be happier now, her spirit free to play wherever she wishes.

And God willing, she'll be standing on the shoulders of St. Peter when we arrive in Heaven.

I'd like to share some memories of our friend Chiral...
























I want to thank all the friends and family who have given us their heartfelt sympathies and prayers during this time of loss. It's your love and support that helps us keep going.

Good bye, sweet girl. Thank you for all the years of joy and affection and companionship that you gave us. We love you so much and we are going to miss you forever. Rest in peace.