Windy!

One thing that always amazes me about Colorado is how windy it can get. Here's some wind data from the NCAR lab in northeast Boulder:


There are about 2.2 mph per m/s, so the gusts got above 60 mph throughout the night. In fact, the wind woke me up 5 am and kept me up for half an hour. This morning, I noticed this big branch had blown onto my deck:

Winter Travel

Just as I was getting on the plane in Denver, it started snowing. Apparently the same thing was happening in Seattle, too. At first, we were told our takeoff would be delayed 2.5 hrs. Then we were told the delay would only be 2 hours. Fortunately, it turned out to be only one hour!

My parents picked me up at the airport in Seattle, and our drive back to Ellensburg was delayed for a half hour by avalanche control along I-90.

My new car

I traded in my black Subaru for a 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX. It's the same body style as my old car, but it has 2" more headroom. I also went with the premium package: sunroof, navigation, heated seats, etc.

Thanksgiving

Last Tuesday, I left these Colorado mountains



for these in Washington



for my Thanksgiving vacation at my parents' place. Notice the pollution in Colorado, and the rare glimpse of Mt. Stuart in Washington.

On Thursday my Dad prepared a nice Thanksgiving feast:



And of course, I saw all the dogs!

Weekend Update

I went for a hike Saturday with Rich and Sara. Here are a couple of pictures they each took with their new cameras.





And here's a picture I took of them with my old camera:



Saturday night I went over to Harald's for dinner with some other coworkers, where we ate homemade pasta. It was delicious!

Sunday, Rich, Sara, and I went to Celestial Seasonings for tea tasting and a tour of the facilities. I especially enjoyed the mint room, where they stored hundreds of pounds of spearmint and peppermint.

First Snowfall

We finally had our first snowfall this year, albeit only a dusting.



Not to worry, though. It should get back up into the 60s by Sunday, and maybe even the 70s on Tuesday!

UPDATE 11/24:

I took this picture of the Flatirons from NOAA's parking lot on my way in to work that morning.

Pet sitting

I'm pet sitting Sara's cat Karli this week while Sara is off at a conference. Sara's roommate's ex-wife's current-cat paid a surprise visit this week, and apparently the two didn't get along. So instead of leaving Karli to fend for herself, I took her in this week.



Karli's been a breeze to care for. Then again, most cats are. I'm frequently reminded of what it was like living with Batman.

Halloween

I went out to dinner with John, Roya, Donna, Tara and Jason, Julie and David, and Rich last night in downtown Boulder. Harald joined us at the end of dinner, and we bumped into some more people we knew on Pearl Street. I dressed up as Howard Stern (my hair picked the costume for me).



Today was yet another day in the 70s, so I went for a walk to some Louisville open space near my place.

Phillies

Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooo!

UPDATE
Thursday, Oct. 30

This morning on my way into work, I bought a cake at Safeway and some red decorating gel. This afternoon I invited my co-workers to help me eat my Phillies Victory Cake!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night, Rich and I carved pumpkins with Sara at her place. I was in charge of cooking (!), so I didn't spend as much time on mine, which was very obvious by the end of the night.







Rich's is on the left and Sara's is in the middle:




Thanks to Sara for all the pictures

Home Improvements II

I bought two new light switch plates at Home Depot this evening. I replaced the cheap, white plastic ones


with ones that I guessed would look good, and which turned out to be almost perfect!


It's like having camouflage light switch plates!

Home Improvements

With the help of my Mom and Terri, the living room looks a lot different than before.



Terri also picked out the new curtain-y things above the door to the deck and in the guest bedroom, and my Dad and I replaced the dining room light.





Due to unforeseen complications, my Dad and I weren't able to replace the kitchen light. Fortunately, Sara helped me install it today:



Now I'm almost ready to invite people over!

My Family Departs

I met my family for brunch at Panera this morning while the RV was getting an oil change.



The oil change took longer than expected, so Terri had time to give Jackson a bath at a do-it-yourself pet grooming store.



Then it was back to the RV, where I said goodbye to my family and the dogs. There goes the RV!



It was a fun week. Terri flew in from Seattle on Wednesday, and the four of us spent much of the time sprucing up my place. Pictures of that to come!

Tag der Deutschen Einheit

To celebrate German Reunification Day, Harald organized a trip to the Westfalen Hof. Here we are sitting around the table after dinner:

My Parents' Arrival

My Mom and Dad arrived in Colorado yesterday. Today my Dad and I went golfing at a course in Longmont:





Both pictures have Longs Peak in the background. I'm sure a golf pro could say something about my Dad's backswing, but I can't!

After golf I went back to their RV for dinner and to spend time with them and the dogs. Here is my Mom with (L to R) Kelby, Tasha, Suzy, and Terri's dog Jackson (not pictured, Emy).



And finally, a picture of a frog taken on the 18th hole:

Needles Eye Tunnel

Sunday morning, Rich, Sara, and I went up to the Needles Eye Tunnel near Rollins Pass.



A rocky, dirt road took us most of the way up, but we hiked the last 1.6 miles ourselves. James Peak is the tall peak in the background; the road we walked up is in the middle-right of the picture:



Here's a picture that Sara took of me with South Arapahoe Peak in the background:



And in case you're wondering, according to the signs up there the tunnel is called "Needles Eye", not "Needle's Eye".

Living Room

With the arrival of a load of furniture from Washington State, my living room finally looks like a living room! Thanks to my parents for the piano, and Terri for her couch:

Angle-wing Katydid

More bugs at NOAA! This time, it's the angle-wing katydid:



Unfortunately, with all the effort that must go into making the wing look like a leaf, it doesn't fly very well. I say unfortunately, because with a group of us looking at it on the edge of the air intake vent, it got scared and jumped onto the grating above the air shaft.



Before we could save it (but not before I took a picture of it next to a quarter), the katydid fell/fluttered about 20 ft. down to the bottom of the shaft (actually, I didn't think it would fall, so I wasn't exactly hurrying to save it). It pretty much has no chance of flying out now. To make matters worse, they aren't even supposed to be living in Eastern Colorado according to this map. Oops.

Mushroom hunting

Saturday morning I went mushroom hunting up in the mountains with Shuka, Sara, Rebecca, and Julie. We spent a few hours looking, found plenty of exotic mushrooms, but none were suitable for eating.

Here, our resident expert Shuka, explains the basics of mushroom hunting to Rebecca (left) and Julie (right):



Photo courtesy of Sara Lance.

My two favorite exotic mushrooms were the Amanita:



and the Strawberries and Cream mushroom:



Shuka was surprised at how many mushrooms there were this late in the season, so we may go again next weekend.

Caribou Ranch

This morning I volunteered with the Boulder County Parks and Open Spaces. We removed barbed wire fence from Caribou Ranch. Here's a picture of some of the team at work:



And some of the wire we removed:



Back in the days when Caribou Ranch was used as a ranch, the fence kept horses in. Now, the fence can only injure unsuspecting deer and elk.

Speaking of elk, we saw four of them on our way to the site, but I wasn't able to get my camera out in time.

Caribou Ranch was owned by James William Guercio and his family. He's best known as the producer of Chicago's albums in the '70s. He had a recording studio on his property, where many Chicago albums were recorded, as well as Elton John's Caribou album, and Supertramp's Even in the Quietest Moments. Unfortunately, the studio burned down in the '80s and was never rebuilt.



For dinner, I actually cooked something myself: enchilada casserole! And it's 100% vegan, thanks to Sara giving me all the ingredients (and the recipe) before she left for France. (OK, so it took me a week to finally make it, but that's not the point!)