Colorado Discoveries 13: Mount Evans

28. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 13: Mount Evans · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
I wish I had gotten a picture when I was further away, and this isn't even the peak. The peak is just to the right of this, and we were probably at about 12,900' here so you aren't looking all that high up.

I wish I had gotten a picture when I was further away, and this isn’t even the peak. The peak is just to the right of this, and we were probably at about 12,900′ here so you aren’t looking all that high up.

Click here for a picture from Flickr user Kevin Bauman, which is a lovely view from Denver.

Mount Evans is one of Colorado’s 50+ Fourteeners and is one of the ones nearest to Denver. Mount Bierstadt is also nearby, and we could easily see it as we were ascending the mountain.

Last weekend my old college roommate Megan came into town from New England for my birthday. I invited our friend Adam down from Denver to spend some time with us. I had originally planned to drive Megan up Pike’s Peak via the auto road, but Adam had talked us into Mount Evans. He said the drive is much more scenic, and is free of charge. The Pike’s Peak road is a toll road.

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Colorado Discoveries 12: The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

27. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 12: The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,
The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is in the old city hall. This museum reminded me of the Old Florida State Capitol.

The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is in the old El Paso County Courthouse. This museum reminded me of the Old Florida State Capitol.

For a Cub Scout field trip, in mid-September our family visited the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum in the heart of downtown. The museum is free of charge (donations are always welcome), and has numerous artifacts from Colorado Springs’ past and current histories.

The interior of the museum is beautifully maintained, and most of the courthouse rooms have been repurposed into individual exhibit spaces. A couple of the rooms are still in tact as courtrooms and are used as multi-purpose auditoriums. During our visit we saw exhibits about the Waldo Canyon Fire of June 2012, the city’s Native American heritage, the history of the Colorado Springs area being used as a popular location for sanatoria, as well as a history of the city as told through photographs taken at the time.

The museum is located at 215 South Tejon St. in downtown Colorado Springs. Museum admission is free, but you have to pay to park either at the parking meters immediately surrounding the property, or else at the public parking garages nearby. Enjoy a few pictures from our visit.

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Walking to School

27. September 2013 · Comments Off on Walking to School · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I’m about to embark on a topic and present an opinion that might make me very unpopular.

When the weather cooperates, I have my sons walk to and from school. It’s about 1/2 mile, gently uphill towards the school, gently downhill all the way home.

We are surrounded by houses with families who drive their kids to the same school every day. We walk past several houses where we see the kids loading up in the cars — to go to the same destination.

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A New Job! In the Local Area!!!

26. September 2013 · Comments Off on A New Job! In the Local Area!!! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,
I learned this in middle school.

I learned this in middle school. Didn’t you?

About two years ago I had written this soul-baring post about going back to school for a secondary math/science teacher certification. I’ve done no such thing. But last week I was hired to become a math instructor!

I had been in communication with the US Air Force Academy math department since about January. I took a plunge and “auditioned” for an IMA position (individual reserve augmentee, the type of position I currently have in Nebraska). I was given a Calculus 1 lesson to prepare and present to a panel of faculty members who pretended to be cadets of assorted skills. I had the underprepared cadet…and the over-prepared cadet who kept jumping ahead.

After the audition lesson, I was tickled to learn that day that I was hired!

Like my other reserve positions, this one is also part time. Unlike my other reserve positions, here I’m expected to pool together my duty days into one clump: summer session. I will be expected to teach either Calculus 1, Calculus 2, or basic statistics.

I’m thrilled to once again be working in the local area. That hasn’t happened since 2009. While the STRATCOM gig was fun and all, the travel resulted in 10-12 additional days away from my family, not to mention the added expense for airfare, lodging, gas, and rental cars.

I have one more trip to Nebraska to sign out of my old unit in mid-October, then I get to figure out taking my next physical fitness test here, at 7200 feet!!!

This week I’ll be getting back to writing about some of our adventures: the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, and my 40th birthday weekend!

My New Gizmo ————–>>>>>>

17. September 2013 · Comments Off on My New Gizmo ————–>>>>>> · Categories: Uncategorized

Numbers

You folks know I’m a statistics girl. I have this horrible addiction to numbers, particularly when it comes to this blog.

I use both Google Analytics and StatCounter to track and analyze behavior on the blog. But I wanted to share with you the trends we see here.

To the right of this post you’ll see a “Popular Post” block. I’ll need to give it a couple days to populate (the counter was at ZERO when I installed this widget), but I think over time you’ll see the two most popular posts appear.

Canning Homemade Salsa

Homemade Soda Stream Syrup

Some of my other popular posts due to being linked on Pinterest and otherwise good SEO from getting linked and referenced on Google over time.

Bovril Beef Gravy

The Vollmer PCS Binder

And this one, which is consistently top 5, completely bewilders me.

The Black Velvet Featherleaf Slug

Death of a Birthday Cake

16. September 2013 · Comments Off on Death of a Birthday Cake · Categories: Uncategorized
I was okay with the tiling of the fondant at this point. Read on and watch the de-evolution of the Creeper.

I was okay with the tiling of the fondant at this point. Read on and watch the de-evolution of the Creeper.

Good morning everyone! It’s the Monday after “Jacob Birthday Weekend” and I’m enjoying a relatively relaxing morning as a carpet installer is taking care of Dave’s train room. Jacob seemed like he had a nice weekend, and for that I’m glad. As the boys get older, I’m convinced that their birthday parties are getting easier and easier.

I have Cake playing right now on Pandora radio through the TV, and it’s apropos today because I’m going to be talking about CAKE!

As I’ve discussed before, I enjoy making my sons’ birthday cakes. I’m not a professional by any stretch, but it’s a fun hobby I’ve had since the boys were toddlers (2006) and we had bought an awful tasting cake for Timmy’s 1st birthday in North Carolina.

I have a public album on Facebook where I drop pictures of my finished cakes. For the most part, I’m happy with my work. They’re never perfect, but folks tell me that the cakes taste at least as good as store-bought, and that’s enough for me.

Jacob requested a Minecraft-themed birthday party this year. I did my usual Pinterest spree, quickly dropping brainstormed ideas onto the “board”. This pin was the inspiration for the cake I would attempt. Jacob was thrilled with the prospect of a Creeper cake. In this post I will discuss the de-evolution of the Creeper cake.

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Colorado Discoveries 11: Air Force Academy Falcons Football

11. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 11: Air Force Academy Falcons Football · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,
Air Force football is an experience like no other. From singing the Air Force song to the Wings of Blue jumping onto the field, it's probably one of the more inexpensive NCAA football experiences.

Air Force football is an experience like no other. From singing the Air Force song to the Wings of Blue jumping onto the field, it’s one of the more inexpensive NCAA football experiences.

We couldn’t help ourselves. The family got season tickets for Air Force Academy football. It was hard not to. We were interested in just one or two of the games this season, but when we saw the prices for single game tickets vs. season tickets, it was more cost effective to just get the season tickets. Especially when those season tickets include games against Notre Dame and Army.

Dave took the boys to their first USAFA game over Labor Day weekend while I was in Nebraska, but this past Saturday I had my own first experience.

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Colorado Discoveries 10: Cumbres & Toltec Railroad

09. September 2013 · Comments Off on Colorado Discoveries 10: Cumbres & Toltec Railroad · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad takes you through otherwise-uninhabited parts of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.

The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad takes you behind a steam locomotive through otherwise-uninhabited parts of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.

For Dave’s birthday, our family took an overnight trip to the quiet town of Antonito, Colorado for a trip on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

More Americans will have heard of other Rocky Mountain tourist railroads, such as the Rio Grande Scenic, the Royal Gorge, or the very-well-known Durango & Silverton. I personally haven’t been to any of those other tourist railroads, but they’re all located in bigger cities/towns/communities than the two endpoints of the C&T: Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. The Cumbres & Toltec is a narrow gauge railroad and is absolutely spectacular and takes you through some VERY uninhabited parts of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.

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Where Have You Been, Major Mom?

09. September 2013 · Comments Off on Where Have You Been, Major Mom? · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,
The endless fields of wild sunflowers helped keep me company on my drive to Nebraska in August.

The endless fields of wild sunflowers helped keep me company on my drive to Nebraska in August. The profuse rains in eastern CO this summer have really made the area bloom. As you can see, otherwise I have nothing to look at.

Yep, we’ve been busy! For most of the month of August, I’ve been playing hostess to a litany of contractors as we are aggressively trying to complete our basement. At the end of the month I went to Nebraska for 1 1/2 weeks of work. While I was there I completed (and passed!) one of my numerous Air War College essay tests.

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First Day of School Pictures

09. September 2013 · Comments Off on First Day of School Pictures · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,
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Jacob AND Timmy!

Okay, so I’m a little behind. A couple days after the boys’ started school, I had to go for a 10-day trip to Nebraska (more about that later).

In an ideal world I’d have loved for the boys to dress up some for the first day of school, but (a) I have sons, not daughters who are more likely to dress up and (b) kids simply don’t dress up for the first day of school the way they used to. I feel like a won a battle (not the war) with their at least wearing “nice” shorts.

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