Save The Spa! 15Feb21-17Apr21

Yep, Kala and I raced home from Summit Co in mid-Feb hoping to be in time to assure our Blodgett spa was going to survive the deep freeze. We got home in time to still see liquid but the water was cold and I could not get it to flow. We tried hot water and I installed a heater under the cowling (sketchy) but ultimately there was little we could do as the temps dropped to -22° and the pump would not turn over. I wasn't alerted in time as I didn't have instrumentation on the Blodgett spa as I do in Summit... a lesson.

The spa went into a very hard freeze and we began the search for a super-freak spa tech who would take on a likely massive rebuild. We found one, Chris Sawyer! We hired Chris by the hour hoping for a $2K rebuild. Ultimately though, massive PVC removal & replacement, including all manifolds, a pump replacement, the heater/controller replacement (went with Gecko), some jets and other parts yielded a $4.5K job. Don't get me wrong - this is so much better than having to buy new and we can't imagine there are many people capable of doing what Chris did. It did take 4+ full days to demo everything, rebuild everything and test, the rest was waiting for parts;  Chris even stayed over night in his camper on the street to complete some of the work. It was amazing and rarely was it as "nice" a day as the one shown here.

Wow, it took 2 months but we are completely back online! Chris said it was the most extensive freeze damage he's ever seen (and I believe it). I dialed in the chemicals and installed a wireless instrumentation system that can control the spa remotely as well as alert me on issues. This option plugged directly into the Gecko controller and uses an iOS app. Now both spas are part of my IoT networks.

Spa time for COS is back, and that's great as we are experiencing another 10 days of snowfall and cold temps here in mid-April and Kala's elliptical workouts deserve some back soothing and my arm is sore from hauling in pigs.

 

UPDATE 26Apr21 - No warranties were ever expressed or implied by Chris and Gecko tech support responded negatively to my request to be alerted/notified on a low temperature condition via their app - I though it had the capability when purchased, but it didn't; it's mainly a control app. Anyway, these led me to crack open the spa again on this gorgeous 72° Saturday and check for leaks and make some final hookups. I installed a separate temp sensor by taping it to the filter section. I modified it to run off of a 110v transformer and ran an extension cord to it. Noticing wetness inside I ran the jets and found some leaks - I fixed them on one of the manifolds by tightening and adding more hose clamps. Finally, I traced down air supply issues to some of the jets and got them going again. The spa is now running great and leakless and my Accurite sensor is alerting me to any temperature issues. It's buttoned up tight and true.

UPDATE 25May21 - The temp/humidity sensor connected to my Accurite wireless network was unreliable as to regular reporting - I couldn't effectively count on it to monitor and alert on low temperature in my spa really. I upgraded to an Aeotec Water Sensor 7 Pro for ~$45 today. This is a modern generation (700 chip) ZWave sensor which reports on temperature, humidity, and wet/dry state. I directly replaced my Accurite sensor; I velcroed it right to my filter area. It's connected directly into my SmartThings IoT network and there's automation there to alert me on wetness or low temps. A little more expensive but reliable and effective.

Sorry Rob - Fishing Was Pretty Good 13Apr21

While RobH & I called off the CoWW FR Tailwater trip this week due to inclement weather - the badness is still just pending and I hit the PT again today. We are mostly post-spawn at this point on the PT and the cutbows  are moving out of the deep lies and off the redds into the full river and shallower feeding lanes. The weather was 42° on arrival and 52° at departure and mostly overcast all day with scattered occasional sun. Flows were dropped again (probably due to the thinish snowpack and desire to fill the Pueblo Rez before summer) to just 90cfs! This made fishing a smidge more technical than typical in mid-Apr. I was target shooting all day and could see plenty of good fish - sometimes feeding on my bugs, sometimes not. I didn't try the mayfly spinner fall here but some medium-sized fish were exclusively on it at 1:30pm. I caught a passel of medium sized fish with more 18" ladies today (must be hungry after  the spawn) and the biggest a flying 20"er male (jumped during the profile obviously) on the weight. Everything from black ice (BWO nymph) weight to #22 RS2 to #24 MHFB zebra to #22 green and #22 grey vinyl KF midges worked today. BWOs are definitely a front row ticket now with mid-day being hatch time - we'll see what the next 3 days of snow do to the fishing in Pueblo. Just a few pics closing with "what not to do fighting a big fish" - I lost a number of fish today too, despite the awesome Rodfather Cutty action, as I became impatient and wanted to "land now" and held the line/reel... I'm a dumb ass.

The spring '21 edition of Project Dank has arrived... Yeah, I bought what they had; it'll last a week or more. :)

Wandering Around 713, Lehigh Lax & Inside Dining For Leslie 10Apr21

Kala and I hiked Tr 713 from home out to the tiny reservoirs on West Monument where the alternative north ridgeline approach to Blodgett Pk starts. We didn't go up another 500m and 1.5 mi passed the downed aircraft just scoped out the distance for a possible ascent later. It was a blast in great weather but the drop back onto the utilities maintenance road is washed out and sketchy on the way out - it's a little better on the way back.

We took the risk and had a great dinner inside at Le French restaurant to celebrate Leslie Wilke's birthday. This relatively new spot in the DTC served Senegalese-inspired French food and was excellent. Of course it's always a blast to be with our Boulder buddies especially when Leslie calls for air cover at an expensive spot. Woohoo.

I had to see how Lehigh's day on the lacrosse field bore out against their in south conference rivals, the Navy midshipmen. They won 12-7 against this #19 tough opponent and remain one of few teams undefeated in D1 this year. Lehigh has beat Loyola, #7 Army and Navy this year to this point. Looking good in the Patriot league.

Pueblo Tailwater In Wind & Cold 09Apr21

I hit the PT again and surprisingly was 2nd to arrive at 9:30am armed with my 10' Rodfather All Blacks. Kala declined the invite when discovering there'd be wind and just 50° temps - and there was. Wind knots & tree trimming galore, but also plenty of fish. Mostly caught smaller ones today like these 18" males and the 17" female. All were decently stout and strong but not 20"ers. The action was pretty continuous from the cool AM to the nice PM. In the morning they hit the ObiJuan squirmy worm or the #22 Awesome Midge or the #22 MHFB zebra. Mid-day I experienced a minute BWO hatch but that was enough to trigger some takes on #20 MH RS2. Then the midge entered the target list later in the PM. Flows were dropped a smidge and are still great at 222cfs. A nice outing that might've even been better had Kala joined or I landed the nicest fish of the day. After an 8 minute fight I was about to net a ~22"er but he got under the net and through my legs and broke off when the top fly caught my waders - total fail ending on my part - the pic is the closest I got to him.

Dry Fly Time In 11 Mile 08Apr21

It was a pretty nice day in 11 Mile canyon - today held "only" 56 cars. Nonetheless I was there too, stopping on the way home from Summit. Again I had few holes in which to work but did plenty of catching today, but can't provide too many pics. I again installed the camera backwards and didn't discover that till later in the outing - for the early part I therefore just captured sunshine over my shoulder. I caught a couple of Snake River cutthroats ~17" like the one shown. I also caught some rainbows & cutbows but the nicest was a fat 18"er lady as shown. The small brown midges worked as before here but a modest BWO hatch occurred and while I tried with RS2s and FBPTs, I couldn't get them with that technique. I switched to dries (re-rigging tasks are never taken lightly) when I saw one sipping spinners. My parachute BWO didn't work so I switched to a seemingly deadly CDC wing with sparkle thorax and caught two from the same area, including the fat lady which I knowingly targeted. I like it when a plan works.

Last Runs? Who Knows? 07Apr21

Were these my last runs of 20/21 ski season? I don't know for sure but despite 2-4 inches of fresh, recent prior high temps and a more recent chill and storm made some runs treacherous. What a dichotomy - if the cat had groomed, it was nice; without a grooming, mostly hidden ice under the dust made everything sketchy. I perhaps was a bit wide in my ski choice today at 120mm as I either didn't have sharp enough edges or didn't turn them over far enough as I did slip out several times. I wasn't really slow while I was at Keystone, which will close this weekend, and down mountain opportunities won't allow me to close it so today may be it for this Summit fun zone. And, while there's a great inbound storm next week - I plan to fish prime time hard on the Front Range tailwaters then and may miss skiing. Sure, Breck is open till late May but I'm unsure of likely conditions at this lower spot. Today in overcast conditions I did switch to red chroma-pop lenses recently acquired on eBay from a Phenom abandoneer - awesome. And, I hereby continue to laud the fit and performance of the Solomon S/Max 100s - superb.

11 Mile Of SPlatte Is Super-Popular 05Apr21

I hit 11 Mile Canyon again today looking for fish. I caught several 17"er cutbows like this one on #24 Top Secret and #22 Ramirez Money. I was fortunate to find the one hole I fished as this day was super-popular in So Park... there were 62 cars parked in the canyon! It's an oft overlooked spot at which I've succeeded prior as well. I looked up and down but found no more openings, and the wind rolled in early PM so I headed to Summit for the next storm.