Wander Life

And Just A Couple Links

I just couldn't resist these.  Check 'em out if you have some spare time.... 

Find art in what you do.  Whatever your skill.  

Amazing.  Hilarious.

"Freedom has a birthday!"?

That was the slogan for a neighboring town's Fourth of July celebration.  I couldn't decide whether to wince or smirk, so...instead, I will simply share.  I think a kid won with it in a slogan-creating contest, so I guess that's some excuse.  : )  Anyway, for my own sentiments, I hope all of you had a great Independence Day.  Time with family and friends, taking a moment to think about the past and the future; to reflect on the meaning, the price, the privilege and the responsibility of freedom; and, of course...to see stuff go BANG.  : )  

It has, indeed, been a difficult week.  My sister said it best with her latest post, and I won't re-say it.  I'll just say thanks to those who have been thinking of & praying for my family and ask that you continue to do so.  I've cried and not known what to say or do, but, as my sister said, somehow the days keep coming and you just keep going, I guess.  Happiness mixes with sadness; celebrations mix with mourning; and, yeah, you just keep going....  I have bought tickets to go home for a week in a half at the end of next month, and I'm very much looking forward to that....

So, in the meantime, another week has passed here in Ft. Collins.  One of my roommates left a few days ago to visit her family for a week and a half, and my other roommate has her mom and aunt visiting, so they have been gone for a few days up to the Rocky Mountain National Park area.  Thus, I've been on my own for a few days.  I've filled the time with a few long runs, a 40-mile bike ride with some friends from work, a couple bbqs, a soccer game (watching the Colorado Rapids play down in Denver) followed by, hands down, the worst firework show I have ever seen (but it was due to technical difficulties, so we get free tickets to the July 25th game & they're going to redo the firework show then...so it works out in our favor...plus, the horrible firework show makes a great story - maybe I'll share it after I see how the show was supposed to be when they redo it in a couple weeks : )), and, of course, plenty of sleeping.  All in all, it's been a much needed weekend, balanced with some rest, some fun, some fellowship, and just some time to myself.

And, of course, here's the week in pictures....

Last Monday, my roommates and I took in a double feature at Ft. Collin's drive-in.

 

And the Fourth of July morning bike ride.... 

And last night's fun game, followed by amazingly terrible firework show.  (I will have to go into further detail, but for now, I'll just let you imagine.  Here's a picture of everyone filing onto the field in anticipation of what had been billed as "Colorado's Biggest Firework Show."  It actually made the news today because of how bad it was.  Oh.  Man.)  : )

So, here's to the coming week, whatever it may hold.  Even if it doesn't go according to plan, I hope it's a blessed one.  Hug a loved one, celebrate the good times...and carry on.  See ya next week.  : )

Storms

This is my backyard.  This morning it was hot (mid-80's) and sunny, so I mowed the yard.  I then decided to reward myself with a run.  Hot and sunny for 30 minutes as I ran out.  When I hit the half-way point and turn around...I saw the infamous dark clouds.  Indeed, a storm was a'brewing.  I made it back to the car just in time - not a minute after arriving, an absolute down pour (with accompanying fierce wind, thunder and lightning, of course) began.  An hour later, I took the above picture - sunny & warm again.  

Thus describes the weather we've been having for the last month.  Almost daily, ominous-yet-brief, afternoon thunder storms.  As this is my first summer in Ft. Collins, I can't say if it's normal or not.  I can say, though...it's starting to remind me a little of the two summers I saw in Florida.  Not as muggy, thankfully, and tornado threats instead of hurricanes, and, well, mountains instead of beaches, but, yeah...other than that, there's a slight resemblance.  : )    

Anyway, so this week has been one of ups and downs.  My friends' baby that has been having some serious health issues had a good week and seems to be getting strong.  So, that's great news.  But another loved one has suddenly had some serious health issues come up, and that has been scary.  Scary is the best word I can think of for it because we just don't know what it means, yet.  A blog post doesn't seem...what?  Big enough?  Maybe intimate enough, for what I want to say.  Mostly, I just wish I was with my family right now.  But, for now, I will just say to my family: I love you guys and am praying for you.  (For my non-family readers of this blog, I don't want to go into more detail in this setting at this time, but if you could just be praying for my family, I would be very thankful.)

I know I usually try to keep this blog pretty light, but, you know, sometimes, little daily things just seem trivial.  I know our Father gives us the little things to help us give balance and experience different aspects of this life He has given us, with all its joys and sorrows, (and, honestly, they make for good distractions when heavy things are going on), but sometimes it's hard to have that perspective.  

I'll try to get back to reporting on the daily things with my next post, but right now, I'm just thankful that I have a Father who is never surprised by sudden storms and is always there to guide us through them and bring out the sun again.... 

The Great Outdoors

Pictures!  I have now gotten some off of B's camera, so I thought I'd share a few:

Me and one of my roommates, K, at Beaver Creek a couple of weekends ago.

The "BBQ" we had last weekend...on our fire pit.  : )  

B & I at the top of Arthur's Rock (in Lory State Park) yesterday.

Me & B's bro at Estes Park today.  

As you can see...Colorado's kinda pretty.  So, it's got that going for it.  : )

The Day of Father's

Well, I've got a new memory card for my camera, and I'm getting this weekend's picts from B, but until then...here's one that I got from the family farm (I believe it's sis-in-law S's work - nicely done).  

It seemed appropriate today, as this is a day for all those dads out there.  My grandpa, my dad and my older bro are all pops.  My little bro and my nephew, Meddy, are not.  : )

Anyway, hope everyone's having a great June day!  (I spent it in Estes Park - good times.)  : )

The Ft. Collins Tour (plus, shout out for bdays and Pop's Day!)

Let me just tell you up front: I don't have any pictures for this post.  And it's not because there hasn't been anything photo-worthy this week, either.  It's because my memory card is being weird.  So, until I get a new one (and until I get some picts off of B's camera), I'll just have to paint the events of this past week so well for you that it's almost like you're actually seeing them.  Almost.  : )

So, this week had some good stuff.  Well, actually, this weekend is where most of the action has been (other than my ultimate frisbee game on Wednesday, in which we lost the first one and the second one got lightning-stormed out).  B's bro is in town, visiting for the weekend, so we've been having fun giving him the proper FC tour.  It's really nice that we don't work weekends 'cause, really, you need a good three days to do it right.  

Yesterday, after helping a co-worker (again, in fact, he's my supervisor) unload some boxes as he and his wife are moving into their new house, B, her bro & I played some frisbee golf and then biked to the New Belgium brewery.  We met J there and did the tour (which is really pretty cool).  Then we got some lunch and biked back to that birds of prey sanctuary place that B & I had found a couple of months ago during a bike ride.  During the ride back, I deftly maneuvered a spill on a sharp turn (it was the crash that I deftly maneuvered so as not to get more seriously injured, I mean) and came away with nothing more than a scratched elbow and bruised hip.  It was a beautiful day (the first in several weeks without a thunder storm in the afternoon!), so it was nice to be out.  (And we ended the day with some stellar Rock Band playing.)

Today, was a little more overcast but still nice enough.  We went for a hike at one of my favorite places around here: Lory State Park.  Then BeauJo's famous (locally famous, anyway) Colorado-style Mountain Pie (pizza) for lunch.  A little more frisbee golf this afternoon and now, making up some salmon for dinner.

So, that's all the news that's fit to print this week.  Good times with B's bro here and good times with the weather shining up a bit.  Sun + three-day weekends = happiness.  : )  Of course, there is some stuff I need to get done, so maybe I'll try to do that tomorrow.  I do have to get a new memory card, after all....  

Oh, and, of course, happy Father's Day to all those fathers out there.  Especially my dad.  :)  He also had his birthday on Friday, so...double happiness to you, Pops!  (Also, happy b-day to sis-in-law S tomorrow!!)

One more thing...

I forgot that I also wanted to post this pict of my four nieces (nephew Med is the sole absentee) that my dad just sent me.  Preeeetty cute, if I do say so myself.  : )

Frisbee, BBQs & Stanley Cup

This week...

• My mom had her birthday - happy birthday, Mom!
• I started summer league ultimate frisbee.  The above picture is actually from spring league (which finished a few weeks ago), but I don't have any from summer, yet.  I'm on a different team now, but other than that, this picture is still pretty fitting - we've been having rain clouds like that pretty much every day for several weeks now.  Everyone says it's "really unusual for Colorado" (to have this much rain), but I don't know if I'm buying it.  Anyway, it's keeping things green, so it's not too bad.  And we won our first game of the season on Wednesday, so...go white team!  (We still need to come up with a name.)   
• We had a barbeque today, and other than a brief rain shower, it was a nice day for brats and ladderball.  Afterward, we watched the Pens take the Stanley Cup in game 7 (my friend JD is from Pittsburgh, so we were happy for him).     

Tomorrow, I'm joining a painting party to help a co-worker (my boss, actually) move in.  

And that's kind of the news around here.  Next Saturday, I plan on going to a Rapids game (Colorado's pro soccer team).  Should prove to be a good time.  And next Wednesday is my next ultimate game - I'll keep you posted on that.

As you can see, I'm trying to do better about keeping up with my blog, so...here's to a good start.  : )  Have a great weekend, all! 

Hail

Ok, so maybe I'm going overboard now with the posting.  But since the run that B & I were going to do got hailed out (just as we were pulling up to the trail head, quarter-size hail pellets trapped us in the car; now we're back in the house, listening to the thunder), I figured I'd continue on my picture albums.  So, I finished D's wedding picts (the complete set is on Facebook, but I put the highlights here) and the ones from this past weekend at Beaver Creek.  I kind of liked seeing ski runs without snow on them - good hiking, with several deer encounters along the way (and someone told us we just missed seeing a black bear with her two cubs...darn : )).  

So, you can check out those two albums if, like me, you're rained in for the day.  And as I begin to work on the Hawaii album, I'll try to point out some highlights.  

(And speaking of highlights, here are two from the Beaver Creek one - one of my roommates meeting a deer along a hike, and one of another event at the Teva Games, called Dock Dogs [which, aptly named] entails seeing how far dogs can jump off a dock.]

A Little More

Well, it was great seeing S & S this morning.  Caught up, ate breakfast burritos, scoffed tiny cups of coffee...good times.  : )  

And now it's a little rainy, but B & I will still try to go for a run.  Then, maybe I'll continue catching up on pictures.  The Hawaii album is a top priority - I just now am looking at some, and, yeah, looks like some keepers.  

Also, I realized that I forgot to mention another reunion I had recently.  N&K were in town over Memorial Day, so I got to hang out with them, having a cook out, playing with Shep, eating Beau Jo's Pizza.  Fun, fun.  Unfortunately, I somehow neglected taking a single picture.  Reunion documentation fail on my part.  I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that Shep is pretty doggone cute.  : )  (You can also see their blog - I have a link on my friends list.)

Ok, so that's a little more catch up for ya.  I also came across this picture that I took a few weeks ago on a bike ride - Ft. Collins is apparently home to many a groundhog.  I like them better than the Canadian geese....