Colorado's Moose - Sean Ender 02Oct19

Kala & I headed to Highside Brewery in Frisco to see Sean Ender's film on "Colorado's Moose." It was a fine documentary describing the (possible) reintroduction of moose into N Park and then the Larimer and Illinois river basins. Since 1987's initial transplant of 24 moose the population has thrived and migrated all the way to Summit and other even further eastern counties. We have 300-500 moose in Summit now and 3,000 moose in Colorado. Pretty cool but I must say we are again dealing with possible unintended consequences of wildlife management as it is unclear if moose were ever even present previously in Colorado! Ender's film and Q&A were very good and worth seeing if you get the chance.

Color Pan From The Nest 30Sep19

We seem 10 days later as to full fall colors on the aspen and cottonwoods but out in Summit Co we are now in full swing. The high winds are really knocking it down quickly but it is beautiful and comfortable fall weather. Here's a color pan toward Copper Man from the Nest.

Leaf Peepin' In The Gore With Nehls 27Sep19-29Sep19

Carl & Gail Nehls visited the Nest for a WE of leaf peeping and partying. On Friday eve I prepared shrimp Fra Diavlo leaving most of the shells & tails on... whoops - it tasted great but we had to fight the food. We enjoyed introducing them to Code Names where Carl & I won the evening. Great game. ON Sat we headed out to Rock Ck TH in the Gore and hiked out toward Boulder Lk in the Eagles Nest Wild. We caught some great colors but ultimately hiked above most of the aspen so returned early for lunch at Baker's and a hike around the lake. I did challenge "Wingspan" Nehls to navigate a big aspen we encountered and he did.

We dined at our fav spot Aurum in Breck that evening and then brewery-hopped our way home. In so doing we attended LostOberFest at Broken Compass where we drank, listened to tunes, and "nailed it," amongst other fun.

Before we said goodbye, Kala took the team out into the backyard for more color. It wasn't full prep for Carl's trek in Nepal but it was fun and gorgeous. Till next time old friends.

PT Too Warm On Pizza Night But Golf & Tacos - Yeah 24Sep19-25Sep25

I hit the PT late on Tue given my stint in El Paso Co. The flows looked OK at ~400cfs and the daytime temp forecast at mid-70s. Neither told a sufficient story - I caught a number of smallish fish (no worthy pics) but viz was 6" and the water temp was hot - big fish were laying' low. I was the only one out there for a reason. Meh. The only redeeming aspect was that we were both in town for pizza night and to finish season 3 of GLOW. Yeah, low bar.

We followed up with a nice golf outing at King's Deer. Sure we could not hit the broad side of a barn but it was a nice day. I tried two drivers, neither of which worked, to replace my T7 being held hostage in the DTC. Kala & I hit the Brass Tap after though and the Korean pork tacos and brews were very good. Very fine outing with my lady.

Beyond Papilla, Beyond Dank & Beyond Alt-Punk 21Sep19

Papilla are the bumps on your tongue. You have fewer over time so strawberries are replaced by brussels sprouts as fav food. Fewer papilla mean more bitter foods  taste fine, even great. Hops in beer often creates some bitterness... but what can science tell us about how bitter? IBUs (International Bitterness Units) are one measure of how bitter a beers is... lagers may be 10 and IPAs 40, some much higher. This has all been reviewed prior; how do we know which hops though might contribute which flavors and levels of bitterness. The wait is over... such a great chart (who loves data viz?)... look for DDH brews to grab the most of the wicked weed (hops that is - when in ~1540 or so Henry VIII disdained the beer additive and differentiated his house's brew from Germans with underuse).

Some know I like La Cumbre brewery in NNMx. I stopped there prior and enjoy Project Dank from this brewer every spring & fall. Dank is an excellent dank experimental IPA which is rarely available, especially in COS. I bought all Coaltrain had on its release... so it is even rarer for others. Recently La Cumbre added Woodland Paradise (WCIPA) and Sun Fade (NEIPA) - all in pints. All are very good. ABV and IBUs are not marked on cans so who knows - others indicate the hazy is 6.5%/40IBUs and the west coast is 7.1%/65IBUs so as expected; Dank is 7.5%/100IBUs I think... so good.

Plus there's an Australian Alt-Punk lady workin' her way through to me... keen adopted cover versions, bel canto singing, great 1st offer (2017 - "I Love You Like A Brother"), and some angry songrwriting. Meet Alex Lahey if you haven't. For the uninitiated... beware  she's addicting but's been protected as an AUS multi-instrumental national treasure so not so exposed yet in the US.

Alex Lahey Covering My Chemical Romance

Alex Lahey "I Haven't Been Taking Care Of Myself"

Alex Lahey & Band Cover "Torn"

Alex Lahey "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself"

Alex Lahey "Everytyhing's A Weekend"

Romping In the RNMP 17Sep19-19Sep19

Kala & I camped again in Moraine Pk among the bugling elk rut. We were fortunate to have been joined for part of the outing by Jim & Mary and Tom & Leslie. Tuesday we caught the rut with the most chill big bull we've ever encountered. He and his harem were just lazing' in the tall grass for hours - nearish bulls never came to mess with this boy. On Wed we hiked out of Bear Lk to Loch Lk and then to Mill Lk (don't ask). Jim and I caught nice rainbows in Mill Lk and I hooked some fish hiking down Glacier Creek. Jim & Mary stayed for and made us a nice camp dinner joined by a fine BdEdgar Tempranillo. Thu Kala and I fished the Moraine, did some elk watching and headed into town for a nice lunch at Wapiti and cell phone coverage. Great several days in the park.

K2 Visit CO 13Sep19-15Sep19

Karla & Kevin Norsworthy visited us in CO for several days at the tail end of a trip Karla & Kala took to KS. We packed in a number of things like checking the Westfax Brewery, visiting with Matt & Alexa @ Casa Bonita and New Image Brewing, sailing Dillon Rez, partaking of the ABay Oktoberfest with bad polka tunes, hitting Sauce on the Blue and Aurum, checking out the awesome Leadville Natl Mining Museum, and checking fantasy football scoring.