Springtime Summit Stuff ~ IoT, Movies, Old Folks' Event, On The Blue: New Cutthroats, Pizza, & Spring Corn 23Mar26-26Mar26

Kala & I are up in Summit checking the Nest, attending events, and doing some sporting stuff. I first observed the lack of snow, weird year for sure. Then I added a temp sensor to the new boiler when it went over pressure and we didn't have hot water or heating on arrival. Zooz sensor was integrated with alerts on my SmartThings.

We saw Mercy on the NestMT, decent SciFi actually ~ cautionary tale regarding AI.

We went to a Longevity Project panel guided by the Summit Daily editor. It was packed but we got good seats and chatchkis and met some cool people and panelists. It's a good reminder that aging is Summit is really only for the healthy ~ there are precious few services here for the elderly.

I fished the Blue in town on Wed and caught a number of 14" cutthroats (must've been a stocking session) on the red/black PopTop emerger midge in low afternoon flows, but gorgeous weather. I used the Rodfather True Five today but sure didn't need it for landing. Where are all the big cutbows? It was kindof crowded and while I stopped at the "cop hole," it was occupied so I just left.

Closing the day was a nice stop 'out' at our fav pizza spot, Last Chance, and their taphouse spot, Cove & Craft, in Keystone.

Of course I closed the stop in the Rockies with a ski day at Keystone. So barren, so warm, likely so long for this year as closing day is Apr 5th.

Adding Height Speakers To Blodgett Theater ~ 5.1.2 'Dome Of Sound' With Titans And New KB & Mouse For Linux 19Feb26

Height Speakers For Blodgett Theater... Formerly 5.1 THX system was updated to 5.1.2. With the addition of modern decodes like Dolby Atmos and others available in the 'new' Integra DHC-80.6, listening to modern soundtracks is often improved with some overhead speakers. I re-rigged the main L/R speakers from bi-amp to single to free up a couple of channels in the RDA-7 for the left & right height speakers, and adjusted the speaker layout setup in the Integra controller to the appropriate 5.1.2. The new height speakers are Paradigm brand like the rest of the theater's array...  but they are one click down from 'Reference' to 'Performance.' They are unused Paradigm Titans retired from the Blodgett Fam Rm when I built custom Onkens for that room. I bought some decent & small speaker brackets from 'Mount It' for the install to the ceiling and I did just rudimentary cabling to start, but will find a way to hide them ultimately. Once the speakers were up and connected I reran Integra's AccuEQ for balance and as a check for proper settings. All's good. I'll isolate and measure the L&R height speakers from listening position when I have my measurement mic in town.

I Run Fore/Aft Dipoles... For surrounds (on stands) so that spreads the sound out forwards and back against the wall already. That's why they are not 'behind' the listening position.

Paradigm Titan V1s Updated & Relocated... These 'bookshelf' speakers needed to be updated before installing them, as one of the speaker binding spring things was busted. I updated to more modern, and my preferred, banana jack style terminals. Fortunately the old terminal cups weren't glued and I popped them out easily. The holes needed were about the same as my replacement banana jack cups and made sufficient with a Dremel tool. Titans are two-way bass reflex speakers in 10L cabinets. All the drivers still work and the speakers sound decent. While I was in there I measured and noted the driver compliment as well as the crossover and cabinet and port dimensions in case something ever blows. Mid-Woofer is a 3.6 Ω 6" Paradigm custom driver and the tweeter is a 3/4" dome. The bass port is just 1.5" diameter and 3.25" long ~ if things were appropriately designed, that puts the port capable of ~55Hz (I don't know the fs of the driver... probably no one does) in this cabinet. The last pic in this series has the terminal update and the placement of the ceiling mount.

Listening To Full Soundtracks... Discrete decodes, most often from movie soundtracks, but also Blu-Ray discs of concerts when so recorded, is awesome with the height speakers installed. Helicopters coming from behind (in surrounds), then overhead (in heights), and then forward to the front array (in L/R & CC) is pretty cool. Even signaling derived from 2 channel PCM is compelling and immersive ~ though when I do listen to music  on this system it is often in 'straight' stereo.

Measuring Height & Surrounds... I got the new Umik-2 and measured the Blodgett Theater again. The new height speakers behave similarly to the surrounds actually and make a compelling 'rear' field of the 5.1.2. Here's a sweep of all four of the surrounds & heights together... modestly well behaved with modest bass but full spectrum.

New Keyboard & Mouse For Streamer Control In EleFrugalKit... I also replaced the rickety wired keyboard (with some missing keys) and bluetooth mouse for the streamer, used sometimes when controlling Linux running JRiver MC in the EleFrugalKit. I most often use my Harmony remote via Flirc for navigation but it's easier to do Linux maintenance, etc with a real KB. As prior noted, I've moved the whole EleFrugalKit to the lower level to be more house friendly. I acquired a Logitech Pop keyboard and associated Pop mouse. These are supposedly meant for youngsters with Insta & Tik Tok penchants but I found the pair perfect for my HAPC (home audio PC). Logitech has updated their USB dongle to 'Bolt' for security and I bought the USB dongle as it's compatible with my my new Pop purchases. The KB is surprisingly stout and heavy and clean for a Chicklet, and the 75% footprint is desired in this application... I really like it compared to other HAPC KBs I use. The only issue was that I had to pre-associate the USB dongle with the KB & mouse on macOS before moving the interfaces to my mele Linux streamer... weird.

Karla Visits Summit ~ Into The Wild & Colorful 24Sep25

Kala grabbed Karla at COS and came to Summit for a quick hike in the wilderness with aspens ablaze. We dined at Sauce, watched some TaylorT, heard some tunes on the NestMT, took a hike, had a soak, and enjoyed the quick stop. The women are now off to Denver to have Korean BBQ with Matt and Letha. Nice start to a week together for the sisters as they wend to Kansas for an update with the cousins, the farmer, and else.

Ultimately the women peeled off at 3.3mi and headed back on Kala's favored route. I was determined to get there more directly but the trail over the next ridge north was closed. I had to climb toward Lily Pad on a "trail" (yeah, there was stuff in the way) high enough to cross the ridge. I texted Kala that she'd chosen wisely; not marrying me, just not following me.

Update 30Sep25... Karla & Kala returned from KS for a day in COS and I joined them for most of the day out. The women hiked the 'hood in the AM while I did some work and then we hit Sushi Row downtown for a nice juice box of Sake and some tasty raw fish. 

I am a Paul Thomas Anderson fan and he recently dropped his latest movie, 'One Battle After Another,' so I recommended we hit the theaters. The women were a bit dubious on some aspects but I was completely agog. This is PTA's best movie I think and there are awards to be had. Every minute, and there were 170 of 'em, was excellent. It's an anti-fascist film completed prior to the current administration, but very relevant and timely. 

Brantleys Visit Summit 02Oct23-06Oct23

After returning from their family trip to Tanzania, Scott & Peg joined us in Summit Co for some days of stuff & things in the mountains. Kala scored us a great meal of rubbed salmon and arugula salad on Mon night, and then we rested. Tue was a much wetter and colder day than recent, including snowfall. Despite the conditions we did view the colors from the deck. But then, we watched the keen mini-series Drops Of God on Apple+. It was a good story of enologists vying for inheriting the most valuable wine cellar in the world... it was in French, Japanese, and English so subtitles are vital but hearing the dialogue in original languages is a plus. Good characters, good screenplay, good acting. Dave made Dave's egg and a round of appetizers and "we" cracked a nice bottle of Edgar's 2014 barrel-age tempranillo. 

I made French toast and we finished the series binge ~ then pursued a travel day. We went up past Montezuma along the Snake River and then back down to Peru Ck and up toward Argentine Pass. Nice.

I'd read of the chef Robbie Reyes @ Breckenridge Distillery Restaurant winning best of CO for a corn uchepo dish, we booked a dinner and it was excellent. Not just the uchepo but the entire meal of Peruvian-slanted dishes. Wow.

Thursday we arose to improved weather and headed to Leadville to ride the mining loop there... it's the Mineral Belt Trail and we had a great time on the 12 mile and 750' gain & decent through Leadville and surrounding mining remnants. We caught plenty of views and color on this fun track. Of course we had great tacos at the food truck too but were unfortunately turned away from Two Mile Brewing at 2:30pm (due to their opening @ 3).

After a nice ride and tacos, Kala led us to a new monument to the many Irish who died in harsh conditions in Lake Co; they had come to Leadville to mine silver when the famine hit their island. We found all 3 Irish names in Kala's close heritage: Ryan, Murphy, and Halloran.

Peg liked the ride yesterday so much she wanted to go again; she can't walk but she sure can ride. We headed over to Frisco to do the ride to Copper Mtn on the rec path. It was chilly in the shade but we were pumping up the 10 Mile Ck grade so were going aerobic. The aspen colors are waning but there's still a smidge present. At the turn to head back down I checked out the creek and saw a couple of decent browns sunning themselves and looking for nosh... no gear on board though.

Once down and back at the cars we said our "good byes" and vowed to do it again ~ maybe with snow on the ground. Good week with our friends.