Mountain passes and crazy weather!

No lounging under the pergola to report this weekend (sorry Dave!), it was a 400 mile motorcycle ride weekend! Early Saturday morning, in a light drizzle, my friend Suzanne and I took off towards Breckenridge for the weekend. Most of the ride Saturday was rainy and pretty cold at times, but well worth the effort. We took backroads all through the mountains and got a lot of experience driving hairpin turns on wet roads. We were pretty excited when we went over our first mountain pass, Wilkerson Pass which is at an elevation of 9507 feet. When it was all said and done, we went over three passes that were over 11,000 feet (Hoosier Pass at 11,542 ft, Berthoud Pass at 11,307 ft, and Loveland Pass at 11,990 ft). The passes were all part of the Continental Divide. It's pretty cool that the Rockie Mountains are the border between two watersheds. Water that flows off the Rockie Mountains will either run towards the west to the Pacific Ocean or towards the east to the Mississippi River.

As you can see from the picture of Suzanne with our bikes on the side of the road, we were driving in the clouds for most of the day Saturday. As much as I hate the cold, it wasn't bad since we had enough clothes on. I had jeans and a long-sleeve shirt as a base layer, leather chaps and coat for the second layer, and rain gear on top of all that. A friend at work let me borrow a full-face helmet, so I actuallly stayed pretty warm and dry. The hot tub at the hotel we stayed in didn't hurt either. I sat in it and boiled myself at the end of the day!

This morning, we woke up to a clear sky with a chill in the air. I could see my breath as we were packing the bikes this morning, but then again, the city of Dillon is at an elevation of 9000 feet, so we expected it to be chilly. After going over Loveland Pass, we headed down to Cripple Creek where there was a rally for American Veterans going on. It was a salute to veterans and a rememberence for POW/MIAs. There were tons of bikes - some beautiful, some interesting, some just downright strange, but all were great to look at during a beautiful day in the mountains. Look behind me in the picture and you can see the bikes lining both sides of the old gold mining town of Cripple Creek.

Although we got off to a cold and wet start, Suzanne and I had a great time. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road as we made our way through some amazing scenery and wildlife. Early this morning, we scared three huge buck deer out of the road as we made our way up to Loveland Pass. On the way to Cripple Creek, we came across this field full of yellow wildflowers and llama! Never a dull moment!

This trip was a warm-up for a longer one we have planned. For Labor Day weekend, we're heading down to Taos, NM for what will probably be the last long ride for the year. Winter is just around the corner, which means ice and snow riding. I don't know if I'm up for that yet, so I'm gonna get as much riding in now as I can!

Pergola test drive

Today, I had a few friends over for a BBQ under the new pergola. Because I planned a BBQ and because I washed my motorcycle this morning, of course it rained. Not only did it rain, it poured! Somehow, I fit 9 adults and 3 kids into my little house. It rained pretty hard for about an hour, then left as abruptly as it rolled in. We were able to move the party back to under the pergola for dessert! I wish I would've gotten a few pics when the rain was coming down, but I didn't think about it since we were all busy eating!

This is Dave's last day in Colorado Springs, he will leave at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow morning to start the drive back to Oklahoma City. For his last night, I took him to Michelle's Ice Cream shop and he indulged in Philip's favorite- the volacano (ice cream with the flaming sugar cube on top!). In true Torino style, he ate the sugar cube while it was still on fire!

I can't believe a whole week has already passed. The pergola was a bonus by-product of our hours of visiting. Being one of the few from my Navy circle of friends that is not still in the military, I feel a bit left out of the loop sometimes. Quite a bit of my family have been making the journey northward to see me, but it's not so often my Navy buddies are able to break away from their lives for a visit. There are precious few friends that we make during our lives that stay for more than one semester or a duty station. When you do make those connections, I think it's important to invest time into keeping those bonds strong. I'm so glad that I'm still considered part of their families and worth a 10 hour drive- thanks Dave!

Finishing touches

Yesterday was the day we put on all the cosmetics. We added lattice work, hung the swing (yep, I'm Southern!) and put up the patio furniture. Today while I cut the grass (or as they say here in Colorado- I mowed the lawn!), Dave put down more sand on the portage stones after they had settled a bit. We headed up to Woodland Park so Dave could see the backside of Pikes Peak and have a Colorado famous buffalo burger. It was a pretty leisurly day- we grocery shopped for a BBQ tomorrow then headed back home to sit on the patio. Dave couldn't sit still looking at the scrap wood. He ended up making a side table for my swing! Oh, and he also stabalized my tool shed so it wasn't so shaky.

As you can see from the pictures, it's looking pretty finished at this point. The last picture is what the pergola looks like looking out my kitchen window. We picked up Dave's tools, so piddling is over, BBQ is on. They're not locked in the trunk yet though, so stand by. . .

A day off!

With the pergola pretty much done, we decided to take the day off and do a little sightseeing. I brought Dave to the Olympic Training Center to see where I work and he got a behind the scenes tour. We checked out Garden of the Gods, then had lunch in Manitou Springs and wandered around that town and Old Colorado City. We were going to take the whole day off, but we made the mistake of going to Lowe's for patio furniture and ended up getting the stuff we needed to finish up on Thursday. Once we had everything we needed, we came back to my house and were anxious to get started again. Even though we supposedly average over 300 sunny days a year, you'd never know if from the last month here. Once again, it rained in the afternoon and we had to postpone until tomorrow. As I'm typing this though, the rain has stopped and we are sitting out on my patio enjoying a cricket serenade. I'm gonna spend so much more time outside now!

It's done! (Just about!)

I had to go to a business dinner last night, so I didn't get the chance to post. Dave and I finished up the pergola yesterday. Actually, I'm a few portage stones short and there are a couple of finishing touches still left to do, but as you can see from the pictures, it's functional. Also notice my new BBQ pit (assembly required and performed by Dave while I was at dinner!). Thanks Dave!

Today, we're taking the day off to sightsee and pretty much just hang out and do nothing. Tomorrow we may dabble some more, we'll see what the weather does.

And let there be shade!

Wow, the construction of the pergola is pretty much done! Dave earned his keep for sure!!! I had to work most of the afternoon, but by the time I got home, all the 1X2s were up and Dave only had a couple of bruises and I think potentially electrocuted himself once (I warned him about that electrical wire!). Seriously though, he was OK when I got home from work and we sat under the pergola enjoying the grid as we gazed skyward. I kinda hope it's really hot tomorrow with the sun blazing so we can see how much shade it actually gives off. It's been overcast most of the day and now that it's night, we're getting some lightening and rain.

I can't believe how quickly this whole project came together. From a thought in my head and pictures on websites, Dave figured out what I wanted and put it all together (and without graph paper!). Thank God somebody is good at math!

Tomorrow will be the real test of our imagination. Those portage stones are supposed to fit like a puzzle. Let me just say, after a couple beers, we still couldn't figure it out! Dave's pretty content with food and tasty beverages, but I think I'm definetly getting the best end of this deal. As we were sitting under the pergola admiring our work, the wheels were already turning as for what we are gonna do with the scraps. Daddy, you'd be proud!

Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be some creativity to post tomorrow. . .

Looking like a pergola!

Wow, what a full day! I'm cranky hungry, so this will be a short post so we can go eat! You can see the progression from the picutres, we got quite a bit done. We framed up the bulk of the pergola, now we just have to put the 1X2s across the top and dress it up a bit.

As you can see, we took a couple of beer breaks while we were working. I'm holding a microbrew called "Sunshine." That's what a lot of the guys I used to fly with call me (it was my callsign on the plane when I was in the Navy).

We're short a few pieces of lumber (hey, we had some good ideas as we went along- gotta be fluid when it comes to construction!), so we'll start off tomorrow tracking down some more cedar. I have to go into work tomorrow afternoon for a while, so we'll see what we can accomplish tomorrow. Until then. . .

Dave Arrives!

The construction weekend has finally arrived! Dave took off from Oklahoma City Friday night and rolled up to my house around 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. He loves to drive at night and wanted to get started as soon as he got here. My friend Anita called at 7:30 a.m. to see what I was doing (how did she know I'd be up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning?!), so she came over and had breakfast with us.

So, without any sleep, Dave helped me skim about 2 inches of dirt out of the area where we are going to build the purgola so the portage stones will sit level with the sidewalk. We also had to level it out, which was quite a task. All those years of being under that landscaping fabric and rocks made the dirt super fine and fertile. I've got a pile of about 8-10 wheelbarrow loads that I might make a garden out of this fall!

As Dave and I had been discussing the plans for this construction project over the last few months, neither one of us were fond of sloping the whole thing away from the house to facilitate drainage, so we decided on a French drain. No, the French didn't invent it, some guy here in the States with the last name of French did! It's really just a moat around the house filled in with pipe and/or rocks to shunt the water away from the foundation. Up here in Colorado, we have crawl spaces under the house that you have to keep dry or else the concrete walls underground will start to crack. All that landscaping fabric under the rocks had been holding moisture against my house and the dirt was pretty wet underneath. No cracks in the crawlspace yet, but I didn't want to let it go on for too much longer.

After we got the French drain done, we dug the post holes and filled them with concrete and the anchors for the 4X4s that will hold the whole structure up. Yesterday was quite a lot of work- my back is feeling all that shoveling!

Today, we start cutting wood! Dave's here for a whole week, but we may get this thing done in a couple of days! Not to worry, lots more construction projects to do! We had to work around a light drizzle yesterday, so we'll see if the rain holds off today and let's us get the bulk of this project done. I hadn't seen Dave in three years, so we'll still have a lot of visiting to do even if it does rain. The last time I went to Oklahoma, I stayed with Suzanne and Chris (Dave's wife and son), but I didn't get to see Dave because he was deployed. Jim and Karla were also staying with them at that time while they were in the process of transferring to Great Lakes, IL. It's getting harder and harder as the years go on for all of us to get together on a regular basis. Dave retires from the Navy next year, so maybe we'll all get together again then.

Anyway, stay posted for more construction progress!