Anniversary Outing To The Beast & Brew 31May19

Question: Where's the only place I've seen in COS to get an ORB beer? Answer: The Beast & Brew. Kala and I hit this new taproom and eatery today for our 39th. Interesting concept and a little expensive - probably a 3.5/5 stars. There are 99 beers on tap which are SELF SERVE by the ounce - you can taste a lot but at $.50 - $.75/oz you will earn it. There were ~20 IPAs with many CO versions including two ORB offers! - cool. There's a master butcher and chef with age drying done on site and a cabinet for purchase up front. We did not go full in for the steaks at lunch but the street tacos and Cuban were tasty... the Brussels sprouts were undercooked and they comped us those. Kala heard of this new space and we hit it the day before grand opening tomorrow. The space is good with nice outdoor area featuring awesome views of the AFA and Pike's Peak - plus there's a rainbow painting. Greg should beware of its proximity to FedEx. All things considered we agreed we'd come back.

Yesterday we caught some of the AFA graduation flyovers. Unexpectedly there were no close runs over the house as usual - maybe Trump was late or maybe there was cloud cover. This is all I got from our house really.

Unseasonably Low Flows & Woes On The PT 29May19

Being in El Paso County and noting the uncharacteristically low flows of ~280cfs on the Pueblo Tailwater, I headed down despite a dreary day in COS. It was partly sunny and warm enough for no coat on the PT today. I field trialed my self-repaired old waders and they worked fine. I caught a gaggle of fish today on a black mini-leech and mayfly nymphs (Mercury head RS2 and mercury head FBPT) but only 15"-18" like those shown, but nothing longer. My VestCam ran out of battery so I needed to wield the camera. I tasted Brantley's gift of 4 Noses Whimsy NEIPA @ lunch - very good. It was an fine outing on both the Nature Center and Valco sections, but I swam @ ~2pm and that cut the day short. The real woe is that I lost my mini-leech... and everything that was attached to it including line, Sage One rod and Hardy reel! I chased it but could not keep up and even yelled to a downstream guy to watch for it but no joy. Sheesh that's a bummer - but it will make someone else pretty lucky - can I say I am paying it forward?

Memorial Weekend, The Kids, The Snowpack And More 24May19-27May19

It is whacky but skiing conditions are great in Summit right now... on Memorial Day weekend which normally marks the start of "summer" events. I'm getting the sailboat ready and last night I took in the Summit Concert Band at the Pavilion - they were good.

I headed to Breck today and skied all morning above treeline off Kensho, Imperial and the TBar. Sure the base was warm and slushy but the rest of the day was stellar on recently deposited snow which'd softened from glorious sunshine. I arrived pretty early and fortunately timed my traverse across the peaks with rope drops all the way so I got to make early tracks on each new drop from Peak 6, top of T-Bar and top of Imperial - wow.

Snowpack for the state is >200% of average for end May so this is great for skiing and we are fully out of drought conditions and it will be great for whitewater rafting, but I do expect runoff to last much longer than normal and impact summer fishing.  

Snowpack Update - 04Jun19 - We are now 2000% of last year's snowpack! Sure it's just a game with the math but still. Rivers and streams will rage in June this year as we finally have warming, and PM thunderstorms.

We are empty nesters! Matt & Alexa have moved out into a nice place in Denver with fine materials, a cool vibe, fiber to the desk, and ready access to trains. Great for them. We went out after dropping off some hand-me-downs this weekend.

Kala and had a great ride downtown with superb weather right up to the point it hailed on us. We hid in a garage briefly and got home safely to share ORB Outskirts on the deck.

We went for a great hike today with Scott & Peg before the NCAA lax championship game, on the AFA under awesome skies.

Kala & I capped the MDWE with a visit to Cerberus to taste the new hazies and enjoy lamb sliders and brisket grilled cheese. Ymmm.

Finally, congrats to the Cardiac Cavaliers of UVA for their return to NCAA D1 lacrosse championship form under 3rd year coach Lars Tiffany. Except for their domination of Yale in the championship, the Wahoos needed to overcome multiple 4th quarter deficits in many games to reach the final game of 2019. Wow - they are fun - draw comparisons to the awesome UVA basketball team of this same season as you will; there are cool things afoot in Charlottesville in both revenue and non-revenue sports.

May Powder Days 21May19

Summit Co got hammered with about a foot of snow Monday night. I headed over to Breck for some springtime skiing and it was very good but not spring corn condition is warm weather - more like Sierra cement. Still, so cool to be feeling pow' this late in the season. I skied mainly off Peak 6 and Kensho. Awesome despite the thickness, clouds, flat light and a bit of wind. Too, Dillon Dam released a nice NEIPA.

The Wild Reeds @ The Bluebird ~ Awesome 19May19

Kala & I, attended by the Brantleys, the Wilkes and Yoho, enjoyed a very fine concert from The Wild Reeds @ The Bluebird in Denver last night. We preceded the show with a great dinner at the nearby Q-House and a beer at nearby Cerebral Brewing. We arrived at 7:40 and secured prime real estate then Jenny O kicked off the show at 8 pm and was decent, but the real treat was The Wild Reeds headlining. You know I've been infatuated with this LA-based, lady trio-led band for some time and they did not disappoint. ~100 minutes with just one encore (we tried for Fruition but the lights came up) and a decent mix at the Bluebird. The crowd was good, and small, and mixed among fans and new-to-WR. Our team universally liked the show while I loved the show. I would easily do it again. I've included a movie of some of the main Silva-led songs in the show: Everything Looks Better In Hindsight, Capable, and the newer Cheers. Access the video with a click on the thumbnail and password: GR8F1sh.

Better Oblivion - Cool Collaboration - I Think This Is Big For Them 18May19

I've known of Phoebe Bridgers (Boy Genius, etc.) and Colin Oberst (Bright Eyes and more) for some time. Yet, here we have a fairly unique LA collaboration which transcends star duets and delivers a new band sound which, to me, is better than stuff they've done separately. The band is new this year an all material is new, though I bet they cover Bright Eyes ultimately. Recently they played TinyDesk. They have a cool alt sound I'd hope to see live in CO. Plus, not many play Danelectro or alway have weird hairs...

Better Oblivion CC - NPR Tiny Desk

Better Oblivion CC - Colbert

Update - Here's Phoebe earlier: Phoebe doing a cover of Wheatus and BoyGenius of The Killers, and Phoebe from Stranger and... On her own in the studio of course there's Stranger In The Alps full album... really good.

Phoebe Bridgers Sings Wheatus

Phoebe Sings Her "Scott Street"

BoyGenius Sing The Killers

Travel Tying Update & Real Wader Repair 18May19

While traveling and fishing I was a bit frustrated by my need to pack some of my home tying desk gear on the trip. I have a travel tying kit but I needed a real vise, a real magnifier, and some materials I knew were not already in that kit. Further, an older whip finisher was on board and I was so lame with it, given my regular use of a Materelli-style finisher that I bought another for the road... I did buy the $2.50 one from China, but I can wield it well. The kit now includes a real DynaKing vise, a small but effective gooseneck 3x magnifier, the Materelli whip finisher, more materials & hooks, etc. It all still fits in the Fishond travel system (~10"/side cube) Kala got me years ago. I will now not need to wreck my home setup for the road.

Too, I was recently very frustrated with a response from Simms regarding a pair of G3 Guide Wading Pants. I submitted them for repair (paying $12 shipping in) willing to pay ~$70 to stop their leaks. I received an unsatisfactory response that they could not repair them to integrity "with the quality they demand." I responded vehemently disappointed and disapprovingly to their post-"unservice" survey. $500 pants, repaired once for $70, represent a significant investment for me that should last more that 3 seasons (~150 outings) or ~$5/day. I disagreed with their assessment and knew the wader's real condition and decided to acquire materials needed to affect repairs myself - sheesh inconvenient, I may need to switch wader brands in the future. I bought 8oz of Aquaseal and five 3"x20" sheets of Tenacious Tape (both from Gear Aid) and invested several hours. First I trimmed the tape which'd pealed away from the waders and cleaned the surfaces; next I Aquasealed the seams and stress areas, and let the waders dry for a full day; then I cut, trimmed, and applied Tenacious Tape to the wader-bootie boundary and to the front and rear stress seams near the bootie. These areas are almost always where these waders fail - I also provided Simms design/material improvements from my field use (and fail) knowledge but not all companies act on righteous VOC. The repairs are effective but the real test is whether they will stand the test of wear and tear as that's what really wrecks the stress points. Onward.