Visitor from Switzerland

We were visited on Tuesday and Wednesday by my friend Peter, who went to high school with me, so many years ago. He has been living in Switzerland for some time. He’s here in Denver for the wedding of his niece. We invited him to stay with us for his first night here, before he headed off to visit another friend. 

It was nice to catch up a little, and take Peter for a short walk along the river yesterday, before he headed out to stay with another friend in the area. Here's a view of some of the Fall yellow color we saw along the river.

And here's just a little of the red Fall color in the Staghorn Sumac plants we saw on our walk.

 

Chilly Monday

We woke up to a beautiful chilly 47° morning in Littleton, and now it’s warmed up to a lovely 77° and sunny. I’m thinking it might be safe to go for a bike ride, two days after getting double vaccinations, and having the usual sore arms and mild fever spike yesterday. We’re still enjoying the occasional hummingbird visit, although we expect they’ll be heading south sometime soon. Here's a Hummingbird on initial approach this morning, checking out the feeder. We’re seeing a little Fall color around the neighborhood, and especially out on the trails when walking and riding. Hoping hurricane Ian blows itself out, before making landfall, and that it doesn’t cause much damage in northwest Florida and lower Georgia.

 

Update: I saw a few reddish hints of Fall, along with many clumps of yellow foliage, on my Monday afternoon bike ride…

Cool moist Wednesday

We enjoyed a cool, moist Wednesday, with the temperature starting at 59 degrees, and falling all day. It felt like a good day, to hang out indoors. I took advantage of the indoor time, to help my long-time friend with his computer. 

Our hummingbird visitors are tapering off for the season. While I was trying to catch a pic of a rare visit to their feeder, I accidentally caught this Magpie in flight, after leaving the top of the conifer tree in the background. Their wings are down as they launched themselves.

It's fun to see a Flicker on the bird feeder, as they're such a large bird, compared to the usual Finches, Nuthatches, and Chickadees we see out there. 

Jennefer hasn't been feeling well for the past few weeks. I was sitting on the couch watching TV this evening, while trying to let her sleep, when her kitty Cleo came over and laid down on my hand. Aww...

Mandy's holding her own these days. She was sleeping comfortably on the other side of me, in her usual position on the couch.

Tuesday ride

I saw some pretty little rays of sunshine (the word "sprites" came to mind) over the foothills, during my late Tuesday afternoon bike ride.

Fall in the air

When we went to pick up breakfast this morning, and passed in front of Whole Foods, we noticed they had their pumpkins out already! 

It was 49° this morning, so I deferred my bike ride until after breakfast, to see if it might warm up. Now it looks like a perfect 75°, and I’m heading out for a late afternoon Saturday ride!

Pleasant walk

Here's a view of the South Platte River Friday afternoon, when I took Mandy out for a three mile walk to the river and back. She did great, considering her strong drive to sniff everything along the way. We ran into Jennefer, who was on her way back from a much longer and faster walk. I felt bad that we slowed her down, as she decided to join us for the rest of her walk back home, but she didn't seem bothered.

Thursday ride

On my late afternoon Thursday bike ride, I enjoyed a pleasant view of the sun peeking through some clouds, and reflecting off Chatfield lake. 

I enjoyed the view at Chatfield lake so much, that I stopped again later, to snap another pic of the afternoon sun over McClellan Reservoir, from where the Highline Canal Trail passes nearby.

Tech stuff on a rainy day

Cool rainy day in Littleton. Nice opportunity to update my Linux boot disk. Turns out, I had to jump the OS up four versions, starting at Fedora version 32, which required two separate installs, and only one hiccup with an unrecognized Wi-Fi card, when v34 booted. Luckily, that was resolved by simply rebooting again. Feels good to have it up to the latest rev for now…

New bivalent vaccine

I recently learned that there's a new "bivalent" anti-COVID-19 booster vaccination available, that is tailored to be more effective against the more recent variants of the virus, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5. This vaccine contains less mRNA, which only makes it effective as a booster. 

 

I realize that "effective" means that, even though there's no use data out there yet, to show if it prevents infection or re-infection, it's even more likely than the original vaccine, to suppress any symptoms, and keep vaccinated people out of the hospital, considering the current mix of variants out in the wild. Everybody (and their metabolism) is different - no guarantees of course - but I'm planning on getting this one too, when it makes sense for me.

And yeah, we're still wearing our masks in close quarters in public, in case we do pick it up, so we don't give it to anyone else, and also because doing that, and being careful in other ways, we haven't caught COVID-19 so far. With thousands around the world still dying every day from this thing, I don't see any good reason to let down our guard. 

 

So... this feels more like what they've been doing with the Flu vaccine seemingly forever (since the 1930s) - tailoring the vaccine for the current threat, one or more times a year. Welcome to the new freakin' normal... Y'all stay healthy and safe out there!

Tuesday bike ride

 Perfect Tuesday morning bike riding weather - sunny and 67° with dry trails and a cool breeze. There's just a hint of Fall in the air, although not a lot of colors to see yet. This is the third of perhaps five bike path tunnels along my route, with a short but steep climb on the other side. Descending into the shadows...

 

We finally received the Palisade peaches that I ordered from my neighbor’s son, back in early July. Yum! These huge peaches are as sweet and delicious as always. I suppose I must have been ordering peaches from coworkers' and neighbors' kids for a few decades now, and they never disappoint.

 

I’ve been using the new MarineTraffic tracking app that I found this week, to follow my brother-in-law Bob and his sister Janet on their cruise to Alaska. They invited me along, but I had to decline, in consideration of Jennefer's compromised immune system, wanting to spend time with her, and especially not wanting to leave her alone for a couple of weeks. Fun technology in this app, as it will let me search for a vessel by name, or just browse an area, and pick it out from the collection of little icons in the water. Bob had posted a photo of the Space Needle from their ship, as they were leaving Seattle, so I found this app, then went and looked in Elliott Bay and found what I think is the ship they must be on, and started tracking it. Looks like they're heading for Juneau.

Friday ride

Beautiful cool 64° Friday morning in Littleton. After sleeping in a little, I was hurrying to get in a shorter bike ride, so we would still have time to go grab a takeout breakfast, and not be running up against lunchtime. 

 

I just had to enjoy a quick stop, to photograph this Cormorant sunning itself on their usual rock by the rapids in the South Platte River. 

 

Here’s a wider view of the river, rapids, clouds, and the Cormorant drying off.

 

 After I got home, this rascally squirrel was staring in at us, while we were eating breakfast, to remind Jennefer that the seed bowls were running low, out on the deck.

Clay mine

Nice chilly bike ride on this 57° Monday morning in Littleton. I broke out my long sleeved biking shirt, which helped take the chill off. 

Below the hot air balloon at the right side of the picture, is a large slash in the hillside. As the balloon was rising past that artifact, I had a sudden memory of driving my visiting Dad and Uncle out to see my workplace near Waterton Canyon, quite a few years ago. Uncle Bill asked about that big slash on the Hogback, and I hadn’t a clue, even though I’d been commuting past it for years. He and Dad proceeded to theorize that it must be some kind of mine. Today, thanks to my Topo Maps and Maps.Me apps, and some Google searches, I could tell them it’s the New Hedley mine, and according to MinDat.org and AnyplaceAmerica.com, the mineral commodity it produces is clay.

New bike computer

I received a spiffy new gadget from Garmin last night - an “Edge 1040 Solar” bike computer. It’s a surprisingly big upgrade from the device they asked me to beta-test for them in the Spring. This one’s got a bigger screen, and is a little more solid and heavier - and it’s got built-in solar cells that let it charge the 

battery a little, while I’m riding. 

 

I was excited to try it out this afternoon, so I hurried to get all my data transferred over, after our late breakfast. The solar feature worked pretty well, even on this overcast day - it started out with a 99% charge, and after riding for two hours, it finished with a 96% charge. I was impressed. I don’t remember the last time I was asked to participate in a beta test program, but it feels pretty fun to get this little prize for my effort.

New feeder

One more try at a hummingbird feeder - our third one this year, after breaking the last two. The new feeder has a cool stained glass look to it. The most recent one broke the same night we got it. Not the feeder’s fault... my clever hanging technique had a fundamental flaw. Those plastic Christmas light gutter hooks deteriorate in sunlight, and they’re not strong enough for hummingbird feeders full of nectar, especially big glass ones. 

The latest failure was pretty spectacular, as the new large glass hummingbird feeder fell to the rocks below. We completely lost the ant moat hanger extension, the plastic reservoir dish broke, the reservoir cover with the pretty flowers with holes in the middle got dented, and a chunk broke off the main glass tank. It only took a few hours for the weight to bend the plastic gutter hook open and cause it to drop. So now I'm trying something new, a metal gutter hook, that I found online, as my local hardware store had nothing like what I wanted. I hope it will work much better… hopefully it will never break.

Scammer warning

Yet another scammer warning: Scammers are piggybacking on the Walmart and Target names in a fake giveaway scam - don’t fall for it!

Here’s a quote from Snopes: “In summary, no, Target and Walmart weren’t giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans. We strongly advise readers to never click any links in offers that seem too good to be true. Also, we recommend sharing our article with family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this kind of a Target or Walmart Facebook scam.”

 

Of course... this is just one of an overwhelming number of ways that scammers try to get to you and your bank account. Don't fall for any of them! 

 

Y’all be careful out there!

Lightning!

I'm sitting at the table on my deck, enjoying a tasty burrito for lunch, while some big thunderstorms blow through. It’s a bit moist out here, as the wind is blowing mist across the deck, but so worth it… I caught this lightning bolt flashing across the sky, with a minute-long video, then took a screenshot of that particular frame, and it came out pretty well. Cleo and Mandy wanted to join me on the deck at first, but they changed their story, as soon as they experienced the cold mist and noisy thunder.

CR-V off to a new home

Sad and happy at the same time… We said goodbye to Jennefer’s 1998 Honda CR-V, thanks to a friendly older guy cruising our neighborhood, who made an acceptable offer. She wasn't feeling well this week, so it was a surprise when he came up and rang the doorbell while we were sitting down to breakfast, to ask if she was ready to let it go. He had stopped by several times over the past few years, to make offers to fix a bump in the back of my car, or to buy hers, so he felt a little familiar. We even helped him deliver it to his grandson, and apparently there were tears involved, as Jennefer got a little sentimental during her drive over there. So many adventures and fond memories. We are now just a two car household! The driveway and curb seem so weirdly empty…

Legend off to a new home

Here’s my last photo of Kristan’s awesome traveling car, her 1991 Acura Legend LS, which went to a new home this evening. So many fun memories of adventures we had, driving this rock solid and powerful road car more than a hundred thousand miles over three decades… and it’s still in pristine condition. I’ll miss it, but I’m glad to have the garage space back. Good luck in your new life, old buddy…

Balloons

I caught this fun photo of three hot air balloons sorta lined up, on my Sunday morning bike ride.

We were surprised ("Shocked! I tell you…") to find our usual Sunday morning breakfast venue (the Original Pancake House) wasn’t taking orders this morning... but our other favorite venue (Snooze) filled in the gap seamlessly for us. 

Butterflies

We had a delightful visit at the Westminster Butterfly Pavilion this afternoon - so many butterflies, fluttering all around us! I had difficulty identifying any of them. Taking photos helped me label a few of them after the fact.

We followed up with a stop at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Westminster, to pick up a delicious take home dinner - all in all, a great post-birthday fun day!

Storms

We had a mass of severe thunderstorms passing through - it almost felt like they were gathering themselves together, for an attack on my neighborhood. I caught this photo of a nearby lightning strike (one of many), using the iLightning photo app.

Here's a series of screen snapshots from the MyRadar app, showing the isolated thunderstorm cells gathering together into one big mass around the house.  

Paring down

Something I’ve been working up to for awhile: Years and years of my work shirts - and not even close to all of them - now donated to charity. It shouldn't be difficult to do, but Kristan bought them all, so there's more of an emotional attachment. Even though I don't wear them any more, they represent such a huge piece of my life. Someone mentioned that this must mean I'm committing to not go back to work... Haha! I actually had that commitment before I left, but it’s taken me years, to let go of those perfectly good shirts that I used to wear every day, in my previous life as a "rocket scientist." It's sad to say, but as I look in my closet, I can’t even see the space that I made… I had so many shirts jammed in there, that taking out 50 of them didn’t make much of a difference in the way it looks. They're a little more loosely spaced now, which is great. But I need to do several more rounds of paring down. It’s getting harder, as what remains, are my favorites...

Morning ride

Beautiful 61° blue sky morning in Littleton - a little chilly for another early bike ride, but once I got going, I warmed up enough to barely notice the goose bumps. 

Morning ride

Delightful 75° Tuesday morning in Littleton. I hurried out for another relatively early morning bike ride, and found the conditions just perfect.

James Webb Space Telescope

It took a lot, to replace the aging Hubble Space Telescope with the James Webb Space Telescope. The increased resolution is significant. Here’s a link to a tool by John Christensen, that allows us to compare the resolutions in images of a few different areas of space. Wow! 

Morning ride

Delightful earlier morning bike ride. I under-dressed, thinking it was going to be warmer later, and found myself shivering my way around my usual route. It’s been awhile, since I’ve been out riding this early - kind of nice to get a jump on the day.

I love the view from the Chatfield Dam overlook, especially this morning, with the fluffy clouds over the mountains.

The birds were busily visiting their feeders on the deck, when I got home, and we were happy to enjoy watching them, while we were eating our breakfast.
 

Pretty sunset

Beautiful and surreal sunset clouds tonight - especially with the moon peeking through the clouds. 

Longish ride

I kept doing that “I can go a little farther” thing during my bike ride, and ended up completing my second longest ride in recent years. Nothing to brag about, at 32 miles, but it sure did tire me out. I got caught under a few of those cumulus clouds that were building earlier, but saw nothing more than a little light rain, which I welcomed, as I was getting a little warm. Glad to be home, and working to reduce a fairly large calorie deficit, which, although it’s not all that healthy, seems to be adequately resolved with a couple of pieces of Entenmann's Crumb Coffee Cake, knowing that a healthy well-balanced dinner is right around the corner…

Yummy Entenmanns's

Happy post-Independence Day morning from Littleton! It’s a beautiful day out there - currently 81° and heading for 90 this afternoon. As I’m finishing off my delicious homemade breakfast with a slice of Entenmann’s cinnamon crumb coffee cake, we’re discussing how this particular cake has “been around” -- starting at Shaw's Grocery in Bath, Maine, then driving out to Birch Point for a week in the freezer, then to Portsmouth, Melrose, Boston, San Francisco, and Denver, then a circuitous route by van around the Denver and Colorado Springs areas, almost South as far as Pueblo, before it finally arrived here in Littleton. And my first bite was still fresh and yummy, hooray!

Independence

Wishing you a happy and safe Independence Day! We’re having a quiet "barbecue" on the deck this afternoon, with my visiting niece - and enjoying watching the local wildlife and weather.

As usual, we enjoyed standing on the deck after it got dark, and watching a few of the colorful fireworks that were being launched from nearby venues.