First Fish Of 2022 11Jan22

I guess a number of us had the same idea: "with a nice 60° day in Pueblo, let's go fishing." Yeah, pretty crowded, I was only able to hit 33% of the spots as I headed upstream from Nature Center parking on the PT. I did catch quite a few fish (7) but all small rainbows & cutbows. The best was the 14"er. I targeted the two larger fish I spied but didn't hook up. Most fish took the blood midge (with white gills) though one took a black MHFB Miracle midge. The RFT5 overpowered the catch today but was nice when the wind blew. Very nice being on the water despite the folks and smaller sized catches... I guess it's back to the slopes and the tying bench.

Last Vestige Of Flourescence And New Reel Case 09Jan22

With a smidge of time in COS I decided to finally order and install LED fixtures in the laundry, where the last vestige of fluorescent lighting exists @ Blodgett. Mainly I am tired of replacing those tubes and throwing away those tubes; upon investigation the easiest and least expensive upgrade is to just replace the entire fixture and junk the old, much larger, magnetic ballast systems. Seeing those old heavy magnetic ballasts reminded me again of an EE summer job at Sylvania in Muncy, PA where we were researching replacement of those things with electronic (transistor) versions ~ it must not have worked, at least not cheaply enough (and it hadn't either on my watch in the summer of 1977), as fluorescent fixtures are still driven by magnetic ballasts. Anyway I ordered the LED lights with fixtures ($110 for 4), tore out the old fixtures, and discovered that they were so much smaller I'd have to paint the ceiling to have a finished look. Grrr... I executed the creeping elegance, which seriously extended the job time, but did result in a nicer room. I had to paint the entire ceiling as I could not locate the matching paint for the ceiling in this room. I installed the new fixtures and they fired up nicely and light the room well. I don't think we'll save electricity, but will limit bulb replacement frustration, with the new system.

The afternoon was energized not only with big Ben winning a final season game but with arrival of an Amazon purchase for fly fishing - an Aventik reel case. With The Rodfather's prolific fly rod building my reel/line inventory had become unmanageable "in a bag." My chosen solution was to organize reels and lines in a separate case. Previously I'd used "a bag o' reels" which I needed to sort through regularly to find the reel/line setup I wanted ~ when the setup wasn't already staged in the Titan rod vault. The Aventik pro case (just ~$50) allows 12 reels and its' multiple other pockets for line, spare leaders, spare backup line, extra tippet, (and there's another layer of these same pockets), and so on to present a reasonable array for field use. Loaded it fits perfectly in the Crusher Too fly fishing storage. There are many more expensive solutions ~ you can pay more but can't get more effective. Highly recommended.

Celebration beer for a job well done include a pineapple overture collaboration release from WeldWorks & Pontoon called Hoptical Refraction. Worthy.

Cold Days, Hot Skiing, Warm Nights Partying With The Browns 01DDec22-02Dec22

We finished our recent holiday stay at the Nest with a fine visit from our friends and neighbors, Steve & Donna Brown. With other parts of Colorado on fire whipped by winds - we experienced the windy day too. Our huge sentinel was buffeted and I hope recovers well.

Steve & I first caught some fresh snow the next day, NYE, on a very cold outing to Keystone. We even got out to the Outback, but we had to ride the Outback gondola to get there initially, as none of the access trails (south-facing) had opened yet. Good soft snow finally. We ended early ~noon as holiday crowds caught up with us.

We spent many great meals together with Steve & Donna. The first night was a progressive beginning at the Nest with French 75s and Asian appetizers, then on to the Lodge for pasta extraordinaire and some schooling in the card game 500 while we awaited Miley & Pete to call it New Years. Not a first, but not exactly regular, we made it to midnight!

Saturday was spent around the TV a bit watching the myriad of CFB bowl games before loading up with chili at the Nest, enjoying a fine ORB collaboration and Herman Story Syrah, and sharing yet another card game, this time from Dave's youth, Setback.

We capped the weekend with Colorado quiche and a nice ski tour around the 'hood. It was a crisp but sunny day and we had a nice outing around the tarn below the Nest. The laddies crushed it on their fairly new BC ski gear and Steve skied the snow pile in our driveway. I thought it was a nice day so headed out below Buffalo Mtn in shorts.

We dined fine at the Lodge including stellar pasta, mulled wine and nice '14 Vosne Romanee. The ladies crushed us at 500... grrr.

Postscript... Steve & Donna hit Beaver Ck today. Gorgeous day & cute couple.

Soft Snow But Crowds & Cool - Skiing With Dave & Bill 29Dec21

Dave Sheldon and I met at Valdoro (his condo club spot) for indoor parking @ Breck and then met up with Bill Alexander at the bottom of Beaver Run. We skied many spots on good snow @ Breck but the lines got pretty long pretty fast. Bill left for afternoon work but Dave & I headed over to try the new Freedom lift off Pk 7, only to find it's line wasn't 0 minutes (probably just not integrated into the system yet), it was more like 15 mins in the singles line itself. Good day with young friends on a rare Coffin outing during holiday week but often crowded, cold and windy too.

Christmas @ The Nest 26Dec21

Matt & Alexa came to the Nest for Christmas. We had a great time with a Dave dinner, Christmas Catan, gifts (including installing Alexa's crossbars and ski rack), spa, Zoom call with Letha, and more. Christmas day was nice weather for driving but the return trip was in snow again. Merry Christmas.

Real Snow On Christmas Eve 24Dec21

We are up in Summit to have Christmas and catch some runs - the plan sure worked as it's snow continuously since yesterday PM and today we awoke to over a foot of fresh! Good too because there have been precious few storms this season thus far. I hit Keystone and donned the low light Native goggles for a day, finally, in soft, and real, snow. I got some rope drops with deep stuff but the KS early trail system is such that to get them one needed to take the 2nd half via a road. Oh well. Heading home was a nightmare through Dillon as I70E closed and Dillon Ridge shopping center was mobbed with shoppers on the day before Christmas ~ CO 6 down the hill and into Silverthorne was mobbed and slow go. I got gas and probably improved my time being able to go through the shopping center. I got there finally and was thankful that the plow guy we use was just finishing up. Finally some good snow, though heavy and pretty crowded for CO.

It's still snowing pretty hard but before lightfall I cleared 14" off the deck and cleaned off the spa cover. I just bought an all plastic shovel to do the spa in hopes of not damaging the cover. The good news is that this is a solid test of the "snow melting" feature of my spa cover and it works. In a dumper like this it does not melt it all but the surface is warmed enough to clear some and keep the immediate contact layer water-like so clearing the rest doesn't require working ice. I'm pleased; it's recommended

Blodgett Pk Is On Fire 22Dec21-23Dec21

Sheesh. We head for the mountains and the "fun" begins. On the 22nd a fire broke out on Blodgett Pk right near our house. We received pre-evacuation notices. We've already been rejected for home insurance and this won't help. It is being slurry-bombed and water bombed and contained to <1 acre so we are probably fine, but yeah. Our neighbors and freinds in Peregrine 'hood were all planning to come to Summit for an "our houses burned down" party but so for it isn't so.