Racine's

After watching a half dozen sappy holiday movies yesterday and last night, we slept (way) in this morning. It's snowing again today, not much, but enough to set a cheery scene outside the windows, and leave a thin layer on the roads. Mandy wasn't very excited about going for a walk, after a minute of tromping about in the slush, so we stopped in at our neighbors and visited for a little while, before heading back home. After missing breakfast and lunch, we had a relaxed early dinner at Racine's. Nice strong hot coffee!

Snow!

Our day started off early, with shoveling a few inches of snow off the driveway, coaxing Mandy to venture out in the snow for her morning ritual, then an (invigorating) drive on slippery roads, to drop K at dialysis for the 6am slot. She couldn't make her regular time last night, having gotten really nauseous just when we were packing her up to leave. I stopped for a nice hot latte on the way home, and have been popping my head out of the front and back doors, snapping pictures of our first real snow accumulation this season.

Lights Up

Man, am I sore. I did a few sets of pull-down exercises at Buck Center on Thursday, and I guess I haven't used those muscles in too long. I can barely lift my arms above my head today.

John and Michelle headed off in their rental car for the airport at noon. They missed out on the forecast snow, which just never showed up, and got to enjoy some beautiful sunny days instead. Michelle said the security line was quick and easy, a welcome change from their past experiences at DIA.

The afternoon turned out really nice, and while walking Mandy, I noticed several neighbors putting up their Christmas lights. That was just the little incentive I needed, to steel myself for the task. I wasn't looking forward to hunting for our lights in the crawl space, after all the frantic shuffling of boxes that occurred, as the remodel was finishing up this year. Miracle of miracles, we had already pulled out the box of lights, and it was waiting for me on the shelf in the furnace room. I was very happy to find everything I needed in the one box, to put up all the outside lights. This year we're trying those new LED lights that aside from being pretty, should also save a little energy every season.

Oops, I guess I spoke too soon about the snow never showing up. We looked outside before going to bed, and the lights on the deck railing looked a little funny. That's because they were under a layer of soft fluffy snow.

Thanksgiving

We had a pretty full day! I was up early. The temperature was at 30, then 32, then hovering at 29, as the weather tried to decide whether or not to honor the forecast for snow. I took Mandy for a chilly but relatively short walk, maybe a mile. John and Michelle arrived at 10. While John relaxed around the house, Michelle and I went for a short workout and a dip in the pool at the Buck Center. The jacuzzi felt really good on my tweaky back. We made a quick stop at Starbucks on the way back to the house. Next, we were off to the Brown Palace, for the Thanksgiving buffet at Ellyngton's, with lots of choices of very delightful food. It was over almost before we knew it. Mandy spent the afternoon snuggled up all nice and warm in her bed on the back seat of the car. When we got home, I treated her to half a can of "Thanksgiving Dinner" dog food - the ingredients sounded healthy - with turkey and a bunch of vegetables. She (amazingly) scarfed it down in seconds, which is pretty rare for her. The funny thing is, she's the only one that will have Thanksgiving leftovers tomorrow morning! We settled into Big Red and watched a fairly dark Philip Seymour Hoffman movie called "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." We never did get any snow. During the one last walk around the neighborhood with Mandy this evening, I thought I felt a few bits of cold precipitation hit my face, but I never saw anything. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

Mandy and the Geese

This morning much was nicer at 47F than yesterday's 22F. Mandy and I walked to downtown Littleton. I let her chase a few geese off the grass in Sterne Park. This time I was ready with the camera, and caught this video to share. Too fun. K says, "No wonder she loves to go on walks with you!" I had a tasty Gyro and Latte lunch at Abe's Cafe. She was so good. I invited her up on one of their patio chairs to wait while I went inside, and for the first time, she laid down on command on the seat of the chair, and waited there quietly, the entire time I was inside ordering.

Twitter Buzz

Brr. A bit chilly at 22F this morning. Beautiful and sunny, though. I really enjoyed the honking of the flock of geese that went by awhile ago. I'm looking forward to a walk for hot coffee and breakfast with Ken in a few minutes

I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what Twitter.com is all about. It seems simple enough, but there's this big gap between how much buzz it's getting on the net, and how little I can see myself using it. I did find their public timeline very amusing, and (apparently!) a great way to lose some time on a quiet Saturday morning.

Snowy Flying Day

It was snowing pretty hard at the house this morning, coating our deck furniture in a fluffy layer of white. We've been struggling with the decision of whether or not to put the protective all-weather storage covers on the new furniture for the Winter, but our inclement weather is generally so short-lived, that it seems like it'll be more trouble than it's worth. So we got to see how our "water-resistant" cushions handle the snow. As it turns out, very well, thank you.

Coincidentally, after being away from airplanes all year, I went flying with JB in his Comanche today, as he got in his six IFR approaches while buzzing around Fort Collins airport. Once we got away from the snow at our house, it was sunny and awesome up in the Northern territories where we were flying.

We stopped at Pita Pit in Boulder for lunch, for a tidy (!) and tasty Gyro sandwich, then picked up some hot and sour soup for K at Yen King on the way home. I got home and met up with Jen, a person K is considering for a part time home companion type of role. Our neighbors Ken and Freddie were also there, and my hat's off to them - they did an awesome job of preparing for the interview, with a 3 page handout describing ways to help K stay off her feet.

Busy Week

It seems like I spent this entire week at work in some kind of training or meetings. The Error Prevention training was pretty interesting, especially because I had the instructor with the great flying stories. When it came to the "tell about one of your personal mistakes" part in the PIC training course, I decided to tell my infamous biplane story. That was cathartic, even if I found myself experiencing the adrenaline rush yet again. The award luncheon for my 30 years of service was tasty and fun. I was slightly embarrassed to have someone at my table bring up my story from the day before, although it was done in a friendly way.

Catching Up

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of updates. Our current routine has been in effect for a couple of months, but I apparently haven't figured out how to fit K&S Updates into it yet. Things are mostly the same here. We just completed Session 9 of 11, of the Littleton Police Citizen Academy, on Thursday night. The Academy classes have been very interesting. Two weeks ago, we had an exercise where we had to enter and check out a dark conference room, looking for a person who was reportedly hiding in there, possibly armed. It only lasted a few minutes, but I came out of it with a pretty big adrenaline rush. Too many (potentially life-threatening) unknowns in that job! Last week was particularly fun, as we drove police cruisers around a big parking lot, with lights and siren going, pretending to chase and pull over volunteer "speeders". Our neighbor Ken took particular pleasure in being "the rabbit", leading his chaser in circles around the light poles. K went on a real life police ride-along last night from 6-10.

In two more weeks, we'll get our Thursday nights back, and we'll be moving into yet another weekly routine. K goes to Dialysis MWF nights from 5:15-9:45. Sometimes she gets a ride over there from a neighbor, and sometimes I get home in time to take her. If I take her, then Mandy and I usually go for about a 2 mile walk from the dialysis parking lot, along a few nearby popular walking/biking trails. My walking isn't quite as fun lately, since my feet started hurting a bunch. I'm pretty sure, based on some research online, and emailing my doctor, that I've got Plantar Fasciitis, and am dealing with it by using prosthetic shoe inserts for now. Notwithstanding the discomfort, I still try to get out for a couple of 4-5 mile walks with Mandy and our neighbor Ken each weekend. Mandy has been doing better and better with her short off-leash sessions. We'll stop at a big grassy area, and let her run her legs off, which of course she completely loves.

Yesterday, I let her off leash as we walked through the little preserve along the Platte River, and she stayed within two feet of us most of the time. Very gratifying, that all my patient training and bonding seems to be showing results. This morning I let her off leash for a few minutes at Sterne Park, and with my encouragement, she took off across the grass, and delightedly flushed a flock of about 200 geese into the air, and then another flock of 50 a minute later. They all seemed content to settle onto the lake a few hundred feet away. We continued on to downtown Littleton, for breakfast at Cafe Terracotta. The food was yummy as usual, but it was a bit chilly (47 degrees), sitting at an outside table with Mandy. Almost everyone who walked past us stopped to say hi to Mandy, or to comment on how sweet she looks. I had to agree, of course.

The house remodel saga continues. The main floor powder bath toilet cracked and ruined the newly refinished wood floor. After some back and forth about exactly what broke and whose fault it was, we've finally got a new toilet on the way, and the floor may fix itself as it dries out, so we'll just have to wait and see. It would be good to have that done, before John and Michelle arrive for Thanksgiving! We're slowly shuffling things around in the house, as K tries to adapt to the new living space and furniture. The dining room furniture has moved to the kitchen nook, as the dining room is morphing into a reading room. We're loving our new living room sofa and reclining chairs.

K's left foot is still looking good. She's trying very hard to stay off her feet when possible, especially the right one, so she's using her crutches and wheelchair a lot. Because of that, it appears the two remaining wounds on her right foot are finally starting to get better.

Work has been crazy, with our new company's two year "IT Separation" deadline fast approaching, and the occasional launch in the midst of all that, to keep things interesting. The next Atlas V launches from both East and West coasts have slipped quite a bit, but somehow that doesn't make things any less busy for my group.

We're heading up to the Chart House for dinner tonight with our neighbors - no particular occasion, just wanted to do something nice for ourselves. It's up in the foothills, and there's a bit of a nice view of the Denver area lights at night.