Denver Trip Pictures

I've posted some pictures from our recent trip to Denver, Colorado. We had a good time while visiting the mile high city. Our morning outing was to the Botanic Gardens (featuring a very interesting enclosed rain forest), followed by a tour of the Colorado Rockies Stadium (Coors Field). That evening we had an excellent steak dinner at the Denver Chophouse. Denver is known for having exceptionally good beef, at reasonable prices, and the Chophouse did not disappoint.

The next day we visited the Denver Zoo and captured some intriguing pictures of the animals. While at the zoo we experienced a rather dramatic change in the weather (heavy rain, thunder and lightening) that suddenly shifted into a full fledged tornado alert. We almost got locked behind the zoo gates, but we escaped to the parking lot in time to make it to the airport for our return flight. We drove to the airport with the tornado sirens blaring in our ears. Fortunately the weather calmed down by the time we arrived at the rental return location and our flight home was only slightly delayed from the scheduled departure (about twenty minutes).

Chili was sure happy to see us later that night when we picked her up from the vet. It's always exciting to reunite with our canine companion. We were also excited to see how far along the exterior painting of our house had progressed.

You can see our Denver trip pictures and our freshly painted house pictures posted to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Gimme Shelter!

If you happen to think that the "Stones" are the only band which should ever sing the iconic song "Shelter", as I once did, then have a listen to Ashley Cleveland's performance of said song. Ashley and Mick are from different planets - he's the devil and she embraces Jesus - but there is no denying the power that both singers bring to the vocals. The polarity just makes it that much more interesting to analyze the nuances in each version of Gimme Shelter. Maybe it's because both Ashley Cleveland and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards experienced the torment brought on by drugs and alcohol to the point that they share a common language - or not - but to my way of thinking she does a credible job of singing a song that few singers have the pipes to pull off. Also, her band has enough talent to excel when it comes to hitting the notes just right on the powerful guitar riffs. Have a listen and see if you agree. Oh, incidentally... this tune sounds fabulous while driving my Crossfire, with the top down, of course - and particularly after hitting sixth gear when heading to Napa on Interstate 80. It's a real rush!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74qWOdNYjLc

Uodate - House Projects!

The house projects have caused us to alter some of our normal activities during the last few weeks. The major projects have been the installation of a new patio door and a kitchen picture window. This happened while we concurrently had the old (twenty years) shake roof removed, so that it could be replaced with a lightweight tile roof. That made things a little more hectic than usual. Fortunately, it looks like the projects will be completed on schedule. Since we will be leaving for Denver next week, and we want to return to a house that is a lot less chaotic than the one we have been living in the last few weeks, we feel lucky that the projects are being completed in a timely manner.

Chili will stay at the Bradshaw Veterinarian Clinic while we are visiting Denver. The clinic is not too far from where we live. We'll miss her, but she did well during her last stay, when we went to Las Vegas, so we fill comfortable leaving her with the canine caretakers at the Bradshaw Clinic.

I've posted a couple new pictures to the blog. One shows the tile that will be installed on the roof tomorrow (bright and early, if things go as planed). The other pic captured a recent Friday Night meal - burgers from the grill - one of my favorite dinners. The burgers, for some reason, always taste better when eaten outside on the patio and fortunately our weather has been quite mild for mid June - perfect for grilling and for enjoying a scrumptious hamburger meal.

Lots Going On!

I've not had much time to do any blog postings lately. We have several home projects going on at this time and it seems that the normal twenty four hour day has shrunk to more like twenty. At least that's how it feels in regards to the amount of sleep that I have been getting. Nancy says she feels the same way. The only one oblivious to all this is - you guessed it - Chili Dog. As long as she gets three squares and a dozen different places to lay her head, she's tuned out to most anything else going on. I guess that is why "dog's rule"! They just don't seem to get too worked up about anything. Another good lesson to learn from your dog.

I'll have some pictures to post shortly. The dust should stop swirling in a week or so and then it is off to Denver for a short expedition to the mile high city. More about that later...

Dan Sofia's Retirement Party

Tomorrow we will be attending my friend Dan Sofia's retirement party at Calvine High School. Dan concludes his long career (nearly forty years) in education in just a few short weeks. Many of those years he has served as an administrator for the Elk Grove School District, but he began his vocation as a business teacher at Hiram Johnson High School (that was the year we met) immediately after completing his business education degree from Fresno State University. Dan also worked a short time for the Sacramento County Office of Education, my place of employment for thirty years, both as a teacher and as an administrator. Forty years is a long time, but Dan started his work in education at a very young age, so he has a lot of years left to enjoy retirement.

Nancy and I wish Dan the best as he embarks on his new journey as a retiree. It should be interesting to follow his next life as an untethered educator, with plenty of time on his hands and lots of energy to channel towards some new endeavor. Welcome to the club, Dan!

Visit To Old Sacramento

We took a short mid-week drive to a location that we had not visited for quite some time - Old Sacramento. Old Sac is still being developed, after some forty or so years, and I suspect the recession has curbed a few of the more recent projects that were under consideration to make the area a more desirable attraction to both tourist and locals alike. Nevertheless, Old Sacramento will always have a certain charm even if it does have a few shortcomings compared to other cities that have an enticing river front to build on (for instance - Louisville, Kentucky or Portland, Oregon)

We enjoyed our walk along the river front and as we walked we discovered some establishments that have been a part of Old Sacramento from day one, and a few that that have been recently added, primarily it seems, to draw a younger demographic to the area (some tattoo parlors and several casual eating places). All and all, it still felt pretty much like the Old Sac that I recall from the eighties and nineties. That's not a criticism, I liked the Old Sac from that era and I use to visit the area frequently, back in the day. We spent time shopping at a couple of the smaller stores and then had a foot long hot dog and a caramel apple as we took in the sights.

The Crossfire is a neat way to travel to places like Old Sacramento, West Sacramento, the Delta, or any number of small towns that aren't all that far from the heart of the city. We plan to do more outings to such places, as the summer progresses. You can see some pictures of Old Sac to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Viva Las Vegas - Car Max Email - Chili Dog Rules

Contrary to most media reports, Vegas continues to attract a rather large number of tourists for certain events. At least, if our recent visit is any indication, the strip is still a big draw for those tourists seeking top notch entertainment at lower rates than what was being offered before the recession. Nancy and I have visited Las Vegas many times over the past few years, so I can't say that the city was as crowded as it was a year or two ago, but the streets were far from barren, even though it was mid-week and there was no hundred thousand plus conference going on at the time.

We really enjoyed the shows on this visit. The first night we went to see Donny and Marie Osmond at the Flamingo Show Room. A decade of experience has made this duo a stellar act. Entertaining is in the Osmond blood and Donny and Marie made good use of their family history. The sister and brother act mixed songs from their past, including music from the Donny and Marie show, along with some new material. Yes, one is still a little bit country and the other a little bit rock and roll, but Marie has evolved her sound to include Opera as well. I must add, her Operetta was truly mesmerizing. She performed flawlessly. Her goal is to ultimately sing opera with The Metropolitan Opera.

The next night we saw another fabulous show, a Cirque du Soleil, the Beatles - Love show. The "Cirque" shows are always unique and this is one of their best. Beatles music never sounded better and the visual depiction of the songs was stunning. Quite a contrast from the more traditional Donny and Marie show, but equally enjoyable.

As always, the food was great. We had an especially memorable meal at one of the South Point Hotel (where we stayed) restaurants, Don Vito's Italian Restaurant, and we had a great burger at the Mirage and another delicious meal at the Flamingo Buffet.

On a different note, I received a nice email from CarMax shortly after posting some pictures of our Chrysler Crossfire Limited Roadster which was purchased from the Roseville CarMax store. The details of this purchase is still posted on one of my previous blogs from a couple of weeks ago, if you are interested. We have purchased four vehicles from Car Max over the last five years and every vehicle has met our expectations - in terms of the quality and condition of the automobile. CarMax is very selective of the vehicles they choose to sell. Their extended warranty plans provide an extra measure of protection from potentially costly repairs and the owner has the option to have the car repaired at a CarMax store or by a dealer. In my opinion, CarMax makes a lot of sense if you are tired of the haggling and negotiating usually associated with the purchase of a new or used vehicle. Many vehicles from Car Max are low mileage and in like new condition. I feel that the bottom line is that you pay a fair price for the peace of mind which comes with buying a CarMax vehicle.

I've posted a couple new pics of our dog, Chili. We adopted her a couple of months ago and since that time she has not had any problems transitioning from her previous life to her current head of our household status. We want her to have a good life, and as a result we have made our home more dog friendly. For instance, Chili needed a way to access the backyard on her own, so we recently added a dog door for her convenience. The design sort of snowballed so that it not only included the dog door, but a complete covered dog run as well. The run leads to a grassy area in our back yard. Chili has easily mastered the dog door entry and exit and now she can "sun bath" in our backyard at her discretion. As they say, "Dog's Rule". I will post a photo of the dog run along with some more pictures of Chili, later in the week.