Around Here

Around here....

It is unexpectedly chilly today with only a high of 71 degrees predicted.  Cool enough to have all the windows closed, which is just as well since road crews are replacing the sidewalk outside our house and it is noisy!

 I'm typing this wearing long pants which feel weird on my legs after all these weeks of wearing shorts.  Warmer weather is forecast but today's crisp coolness is a reminder that fall will soon be here and to treasure these last few weeks of summer.

Summer means cooking and eating outside and we enjoyed doing just that on Saturday night when Raymond made paella on his special propane fueled paella cooker.  That Handsome Dog Gus was an excellent floor cleaner.

Surely one of the pleasures of life is a delicious dinner on a beautiful summer night on the patio.

Raymond's Cocktailpunk business has been growing like crazy lately and Ben and I and Paul occasionally help get orders ready to ship out.  When a big order was unexpectedly doubled the other day we helped for a few hours which was fun.  I always smile when I see Cocktailpunk bitters in stores and bars.   

We've been hiking most days, also a great pleasure in the summer since there is so little humidity and so much beauty here.   I took this photo on the Homestead Trail which we hiked with our friend Lori the other day.

The one vegetable we planted, a cherry tomato plant, has gone to town and is giving us tasty red fruits which I like to pick and eat while standing in the garden.
 

Fetcher's summer activity has been to steadily rid the neighborhood of mice.  We know because he brings the bodies back to our yard to show off his prowess.  Today Ben found two out along the sidewalk.  

Ben had a big day of rock climbing yesterday, going up the Third Flatiron.   Aren't the views from up there amazing? Ben took this photo of another climber on the rock (not in Ben's climbing party).

To give you some size context, here's an old photo of the Third Flatiron showing the CU (Colorado University) painted in white on the formation.   It was later painted over in red by the city to make it less visible.  The climber in Ben's photo is on the left side of the U.

Here's how they get down.  Yikes!  Glad I didn't see this photo until they were about off the climb.

Before the climb Ben and his climbing partner made the ritual check through all Ben's gear to select what they'd need on the climb.  I always enjoy seeing the variety of climbing devices and the colorful ropes and slings.  

On a less exciting note, we've spent the past couple of days playing "musical chairs" with our furniture.  In preparation for Ben's family visiting for a week earlier this month Paul had suggested moving the second red leather chair from the TV/Guest room to the Living Room so both John and Ben could sit in a recliner.

That turned out so well that I wanted to sit in a recliner this winter and we decided to leave the second chair where it was.  But it looked wrong with the small dining room table that we had under the big window.  After a bit of shopping around I realized we already owned the perfect piece of furniture, the credenza that we had originally put in the TV/Guest room.  It looked great in its new spot in the living room between the two recliners.

We moved the table that used to be in front of the living room window over to the other wall to hold Spikey's cage...

....and moved the white table that had held Spikey's cage to my studio so I have a "right return" by my main sewing machine and a spot for my second machine.  I had originally bought it to use in my room but gave it to Spikey when he needed it.  I was glad to have it back.

That was all good but it meant we needed something in the TV/Guest room to hold the media equipment.

Yesterday while Ben was climbing I found this cool red chest in a local second hand shop and Paul helped me move it home.  

 From that same shop I bought a steel desk to use as a "right return" for Paul's room.  We had a busy day buying and moving and rearranging but we all love the results.  Ben was pleasantly surprised to see what had happened at home while he was climbing, especially since he didn't have to help with any of the moving!      

Paul now has his computers set up for efficient gaming and, I hope, efficient homework completion.  School starts Friday, and that to me always signals the end of summer.