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. 

Color Hikes In Summit With Kala & Letha ~ Augmented With ORB & AJs, Selling Mon Ami, And Visits With Browns 19Sep25-21Sep25

Kala came to meet me for some hiking among the aspen colors. It's on fire right now out in Summit. We first hiked out of the Nest into the Gore over Frisco. On the out I took a pan of our backyard as well as above Frisco; on the way back I caught a pan of Wildernest where we live. We're always looking for the orange aspens it seems; they are more rare and not displaying a state of their fall foliage but a particular strain of DNA in the aspens.

After hiking we hit Outer Range and Angry James for a beer and to grab some cans for guests. We also caught up with our friends the Browns at their place for a nice evening with them and their friends from Ohio.

On Friday we finalized the sale of Mon Ami and its trailer to Eric. We said 'bye bye' to our Beneteau First 235 for the last time. We were all excited for the transfer.

My sister came for the weekend. We took here out among the aspens and we saw some college football and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ~ crazy qualifying day with many crashes and red flags.

Sick & Silly September ~ Lost A Lot And, 'I Don't Care' 16Sep25

I arrived at 9:15am at the drop-in at West Vail for a fall run up the Gore Ck. I am pretty excited for a day as I've not fished in 6 wks since the heat descended on the western rivers & streams... I don't like the fish behavior in these times and stayed off 'em. When I open my rod vault, I find I've been ripped of all three primary summer Rodfather rigs completely!

Dang, some Colorado subhumans stole 3 Rodfather rigs from a top CO fly fisherman and rod-builder. That's just weird behavior.  I lost the Bomber series of Rodfather rods... the Ghost Bomber outfitted with a nice Ross Reel, the Cutthroat SB 2020 (Sage Buster '20) sporting a good matching orange Redington Rise reel,  and the Rodfather True 3 with a Lamson Guru II. Whatever, it's just property loss ~ I don't have to live daily with the sense of low-handed thievery that my pilferer does. That said, if Rodfather rods ever come up for sale, the seller is a simple thief... as I've sold none ever, and gifted just 6 to friends who'd never sell. On with the run.

I caught 20 'bows 14" - 17" and several browns on the Gore from West to bridge, plus Dawgs. Best catch was during the 10am baetis hatch. Good day on a reloaded True 5 with ICE green Chubby dropping fall baetis mayflies. I do miss the Bombers but you can't keep the Rodfather down.

Update 10Oct25 ~ New Latch & Lock... There are no lock core removal tools for the old Titan Rod Vault latch. I dove on forums and little was offered. I wrote to a current retailer of the current Thule rod vault of the same lineage; they had a $130 latch/lock that should fit. I dove on Amazon and found a dimensionally similar latch & lock for a tool box and bought one for just $10. I modded the non-compliant portion of the $10 one with a Dremmel tool but never got a good enough fit. I bought the expensive one from eTrailer.com and it was perfect. The Rodfather gear is again safe.

Karen & Jimmy Visit COS ~ Pikes Peak & Some Breweries And A Matt Sighting 10Sep25-12Sep25

Our good friend Karen and her mate Jimmy came through COS to visit for a couple days; we had a blast. We even caught MLC for an outing to 105 West & the Iron Mule on Thu and Karen caught a ride in the 911.

We played some tunes, had some totties, then rested well once back in COS. We started Fri with breakfast burros then headed up Pikes Peak for our timed entry on the PP Highway. The drive was keen and the peak was gorgeous with blue skies and 360° views; maybe it was a smidge cool for the desert dwellers but they came with appropriate layers. It did snow just after we left. Yeah that's a "Gamboa on the rocks."

Back down in COS we hit the Broadmor for a walk, cool buildings and grounds but pretty opulent. 

Of course then we were off on a brief brewery tour: Cerberus for tasty brews and killer bar food, Storybook for dark beers, and Red Leg for a rest. We actually got another MLC sighting when he brought down a limited release NZ-hopped hazy from Russian River. We also slapped up some fine IPAs K&J brought in from Bathtub Row Brewery in Los Alamos... including a Hoppenheimer. We solved some world problems and headed to bed. Thanks for coming out again Matt!

Great visit from great friends.

Nest Update ~ New Boiler & Hot H2O System 05Sep25

The H2O heater/tank failed at the Nest and a "simple" controller swap did not bring it back. Few plumbers liked the design anyway; it was unusual in that a hot water line flowed from the heater/tank through a heat exchanger, which heated the glycol flowing through the house for radiant heat. Here is that install, now 20 yrs on ~ this is the 'before' shot...

A somewhat new company in Summit, Mountain Goat Mech, got the job to replace the system. The tech on the job was Elijah, a young stud we liked for sure. Bully for Jason & Ali. Day one was demo and then boiler mounting; most of the radiant side was retained naturally...

Day 2 was boiler install and then tank install ~ we rarely were without water and by day 2 we were rolling some hot water.

Day 3 was all buttoned up, except for the glycol recharge which was done on day 4 AM. By mid-day we were fully back online. All my old controls and remote awareness still work as prior. Now I think any plumber can like the system, but why would I change from Mtn Goat? Hot showers were very nice.

MIpSO Concert @ Gothic Theater ~ Spectacular Show With Andy Thorn On Their Farewell Tour 30Aug25

I was really excited to see MIpSO again in CO, especially since for the '24 concert Libby wasn't present. Tonight's show at the Gothic in DEN was completely awesome; it had been announced that this is their farewell tour and as expected they dove deep in the catalog for a range of great music for this show. MIpSO is a NCarolina "alt-Americana" band with six great albums and more singles; named at a big bluegrass festival in Japan 14 years ago: a little 'p' in their miso. There wasn't a firm setlist and they played stuff from all across their history together. 2, 3, and even 4 part harmonies laid on top of great string musicianship. I'm sure there'll be follow on solo acts and other bands but I will really miss the tightness and excellence of these 4 together.

I arrived a smidge early to queue for doors after an excellent hot pot meal with family at Bronze Empire. I was only #100 and able to get my favored spot right in front of the sound man and above the mosh pit against the 1st rail in the center. Ultimately the Gothic filled but was not packed. The sound from position A was good... better than when I've come here prior... The Gothic is cool.

Andy Thorn, banjo-wiz of the great Leftover Salmon Colorado band opened the show... he had graduated from UNC and knew Joseph and others from 'back in the day.' He was excellent and brought 3 different banjos to the night, indicating that rarely with LS was he able to use them all. From classic bluegrass to originals, he ripped to open the show. Joseph joined for a duet to close his set.

MipSO played over 90min of their great music, penned by each of them for one song or another, but always tightly delivered. Each of Joseph/guitar, Libby/fiddle, and Jacob/mandolin took vocal lead on most of the songs, but they were always joined by each other and Wood/dubl bass for harmonies and call backs. Everything was beautiful and you knew, they knew, we knew, this was our last show. Many of us knew and sang along to the bigger hits... this was a MIpSO crowd. Of course too they unplugged for a set and gathered around the keen Ear Trumpet Labs Delphina condenser mic. And, of course, Andy came back for a set to join MIpSO around that mic as well as when all were jacked back into the mixing panel.

This was easily one of the best shows of '25 for me, and wow there have been many great ones this year. If interested everything is available on Bandcamp HERE; from the very first drop on Dark Holler Pop I knew it was gonna be special.

Farewell MIpSO, you will be greatly missed...