Tradition Part Two

Just as we plant amaryllis bulbs every Christmas, we have another tradition - about which the family begins to inquire around Thanksgiving. The question is simple:

"What are Jody's colors this year?"

The question really being asked is "what colors has Jody picked out to decorate the tree and house with for Christmas this year?"

We've had several combinations: white and silver, burgundy and gold, royal blue and silver, jewel tones... and this year it was Ivory and Gold with Cognac accents.

And it all starts with the tree. In years past, a White or Scotch Pine. But this year we opted for a Noble Fir. And anymore always topped with a Father Christmas, as Grace mentioned.

So here it the 2008 tree:





















Ah, but I did say topped with a Father Christmas:

I have other pictures that show very well some of the details - such as white reindeer circling the tree, a set of 6 ornaments that make up a nativity scene, some special ornaments including a house that is illuminated by a single bulb and cognac colored crystal oak leaves. Sorry, Karen - no maple leaves. And yes, this year's newest ornament - silver bells that we picked up at the Chriskindl Market in Chicago. Click on the first picture and you'll see the full sized image, in which you'll see a lot of those details.

So there you go - the 2008 Colorado Kole Christmas Tree.

I think it turned out rather well...

Tradition Part One

I was very tempted to name this post "Amaryllis By Morning" (with apologies to George Strait, of course) but it would be overdone and too easy. So I'll explain...

One of our Christmas traditions for at least the past 10 years has been growing amaryllis bulbs. Actually, the correct term is "forcing" them, but we needn't go into that. We started out just doing the single bulb in a special glass vase and water (no soil) - a kit for which you can find at K-Mart for around $7.99 starting near the first of November.

And in a couple of years it was a couple of bulbs.

Then it was a bulb in soil, watered with Miracle Gro food.

Then three bulbs from a nursery in one large pot. With Miracle Gro potting soil, Dutch bulb food, a place in the house where they got lots of sun (keeping the pots warm and giving the bulbs "warm feet").

The craziest we went was nine nursery bulbs treated as described in the last paragraph.

Well, here's ours from this year (only three bulbs):













These were the first four blossoms with four more ready to open. (Yes, I took this picture - we have a natural lighted backdrop which I can explain later.)
















Now you can see the three bulbs, now with 12 blosssoms and three buds that will produce 12 more...














And they get huge!










And there's no camera angle tricks - I'm sitting right next to them. The stalks are about 24" tall, and the largest blossom so far was 9" across. There's 8 more to come - 4 white and 4 red.


Here's a bunch from 4 years ago when I did all white bulbs:


















Somehow, it fell to me to do this over the years, though this year TLMK had agreed to do one bulb apiece. But when we got to the nursery and she saw these dark red bulbs, she couldn't resist and bought two.

Me? I always go with the "White Dazzler" bulbs. Absolutely beautiful.

They've become symbolic of Christmas and new life, as have many Dutch bulbs (crocus, narcissus, paperwhites, tulips). And for us, it's become tradition at Christmas. Well, at least one of them...

Snowstorm - The Big One

Woke up to a few inches of snow this morning, so I was up and out early to shovel a safe path for TLMK to get into her car, cleared Steve of snow and even warmed him up for her. Being part of the aware (read smart) driving public who lives in a state which is known to get snow, instead of being members of the mindless moron driving set who don't realize that there's ice under that 1" layer of snow, Her Loveliness got out of the house early. At 7:32 AM, to be precise. Normally she can leave at 10 minutes 'til and be just fine. But just to be safe, she left herself plenty of time to manage our "rush minutes" on a typical morning in Happy Valley.

I went back to warm up under the covers. The cold and exertion still bother me, so I had to let things settle down a mite. CNN put me back to sleep for a while. It seems to do that regularly. I can be restless from 3-4 AM, but CNN goes on at 6AM and within 5 or 10 minutes I'm out. My theory is that CNN is my perfect "white noise". Some folks like to hear a spring rain, or ocean waves, or a babbling stream (babbling meaning it has nothing worthwhile to say, I suppose)... I prefer CNN early morning anchors. Zzzzzz...

Anyway, checked things out this afternoon and we got a good one coming up this way over the Uncompaghre Plateau. Red Mountain Pass is closed (duh!), so is Molas, chain laws are in effect on Dallas Divide (one can only imagine the conditions on Last Dollar Ranch Road), and it's headed our way. It's probably going to be a good night to hunker down and let it do what it's going to do outside.

Quick update: I told you that my every few years or so annual physical showed I was in good shape. Today I got my blood work results. College athletes in their prime would be envious of a few numbers: total cholesterol 153. Total triglycerides - 155 (tres good!). All good stuff.

Watch your mailboxes, boys and girls! No packages from Battle Creek Michigan (that's gonna require some explaining to the younger generations reading this), but Christmas letters and a few packages were sent today. We received a card from Marshall and Sarah, complete with picture and a note from Marshall remarking what a gorgeous couple they are. I can attest that Sarah's folks are lovely people. Marsh - think genetics. Obviously you had a very handsome father!

With that little gig, I'll sign off. I never did send out my Christmas list for this year. So as not to diappoint Ma, I'll just list the first item:

A 2004 Mercury Marauder with the 4.6L 302 hp engine (318 ft lbs of torque), with the optional supercharger that posted 12.05 seconds at 113.5 mph for the quarter. 0-60 in under 7 seconds - but c'mon - it weighs more than 2 tons! 4,500 lbs actually. A cop car on steroids that's stock from the factory. Tweak the supercharger (i.e. add nitrous) and you can get under 12 second times. Also it needs to have the Police Interceptor independent 4 wheel suspension, all other bells and whistles, and the color must be black on black. You may wish to put a bit more effort into the search for this gift. I think there were less than 250 made with the factory supercharger.

Considering that Carroll Shelby put his one-off 1968 Shelby CRS.500 "Black Hornet" Mustang up for auction this year on Ebay for charity and the bidding started at $100K, the Marauder at $25K is a bargain!

Happy Advent, all!

The Football Rant

OK, in light of three games this weekend, the football rant is required.

First Game - University of Northern Iowa vs. Richmond. NCAA Division I semi-finals. UNI is ahead late in the 4th quarter (make that about 1:30 left in the game. Richmond completes a pass. The receiver jumps up and heads back to the huddle. Suddenly, and rather speciously after the receiver hears something from the sidelines, he falls down. The refs declare an injury time out - nothing charged against Richmond, though the coach and the quarterback are doing some serious talking while the "injured" player is being tended to. Injury time out over, three "hurry up" lineup plays, and Richmond scores the winning touchdown. UNI got a raw deal.

Game 2: San Diego and Kansas City. KC has a 21-3 lead going into the fourth quarter. This is a good thing for us fans of the Orange and Blue. If San Diego is defeated the Broncos clinch the AFC West division. And if the Broncos lose their game, they still win the division but don't have home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Well wouldn't you know it? KC snatches defeat from the jaws of victory, losing 22-21 in the final seconds. And we know KC doesn't particularly like Denver, but it being the holiday season and all one would think they'd be a bit more charitable. Oh well, there's still...

Game 3. Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers. In which the Broncos didn't show up with any kind of running game, and Carolina absolutely shredded our zone pass defense. I have to give credit to Carolina's Steve Smith - he was able to find every hole in our secondary. And happily so, since none of our defensive coordinators thought to maybe try a man to man defense. So we lost.

And this brings great drama to the AFC West. Not for the Raiders - they've been a lost cause since week 3. If both San Diego and Denver win next week, then the final game of regular season play will determine which team goes to the playoffs. Why? Because the final game of the regular season for these two teams is against each other. Yep - Broncos vs. Chargers in two weeks.

Oh what we'd give for an injury-proof 230 lb. concrete block of a running back that averages about 150 yards rushing per game right now!

Go Broncos!

The Birthday Blog

So here it is, December 11, 2008. The 53rd anniversary of my birth. The first day of my 54th year here. Actually, the day is one that sits on the cusp of past and future, which I suppose all days do. Birthdays just seem to be a bit more on the cusp. I was going to say “cuspish” but I didn’t think it was the proper adjectival form of the word. Turns out it is.

So it’s that time of year since I’m OVER 50 (that one got old after I turned 51, by the way) to treat myself like a vehicle, computer, home heating system or whatever comparison you choose and have a system check done. On the physical side: circulatory, respiratory, vision, ambulatory, digestive etc. systems are all fine. Except for this sinus/bronchial infection I’ve been suffering through for nearly a week. Three days of antibiotics and I’m doing much better now.

And though I may be described as being long in the tooth, you may rest assured that my teeth are also just fine according to my dentist yesterday. Though they would benefit from a more regular flossing regiment, but I’m guessing he says that to all his patients.

Mental status? Well, I thought about it, and figured out that if I could figure out that I could still figure things out, I decided I did not need a mental status check. Brain function normal – or at least as normal as can be defined for me.

And I ended the “No Shave November” or “Birthday Beard” phase by having Joe, my barber, clip it off when I got my haircut yesterday. Justin is chronicling the growth of his beard through the end of the year on his blog, and Marsh, well, I don’t know where he’s at with his, but mine’s gone. I’m pretty sure Grace is not intending to join the beard growing ranks. But I have pictures – one especially nice one that TLMK took while I was holding Eli up at Rochelle’s house the Sunday after Thanksgiving. See above...

We spent a quiet evening last night watching “Miracle on 34th Street” (the 1994 version, my favorite) and just relaxing. Her Loveliness has decided that going through life with perfect hair that is always beautifully backlit would not be such a bad thing.

We do not yet have a Christmas tree up to decorate. Colors and even some new ornaments have been chosen, yes, but no tree yet. That will probably be resolved this weekend.

I still have many thoughts and pictures to share from our “Thirty Thirty” road trip. One blog needs to be dedicated to the Great Nebraska Archway, which apparently is now closed and just looks like one more big stupid thing in Nebraska. More about that later.

For today, I just thought I’d let everyone know that I’m alive, well, and still enjoying life.

Chuck, you’re right. Everyday above ground is a good day.

Much love and Happy Advent to all,
Jay

The one about becoming a Basso Profundo

Which is what happened after we got home. After 13 days of traveling and probably not taking care of ourselves as well as we should have, we arrived home last Wednesday evening with voices approaching the deepest bass one could imagine. A voice that I was quite proud to share with others (ha! match this testosterone level!) yet I knew I had a seious sinus/pharyngeal infection. As luck would have it, I have my basic annual physical tomorrow that I go in for about once every three years and can get some anti-biotics to kill it. And Wednesday, I have my annual once every 3 or 4 years dental exam. And a haircut - though not by the same guy, regardless of the practices of the Old West. Gotta get myself all gussied up for my 53rd birthday. And our 21th anniversary the day after! And Chuck's b'day the day after as well!

We be good. Looking for some Christmas cookie suggestions to make for TLMK's annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. We'll accpet any suggestions, especially for cake-type cookies that will fill a new cookie pan nicely!

Love to all, and Happy Advent!

Much love,
Jay and Jody

The UNx's - It Gives One Pause

That would be the quarterfinal football game this evening with the University of Northern Iowa Panthers (Sarah's alma mater and her mother-in-law's employer) facing the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (Marshall's employer).

A conundrum. Marshall with his present employer but also with a large Iowa tattoo on his right bicep. Sarah loyal to the purple and gold Panthers. Marsh perhaps leaning to the blue and white Wildcats (blue and white also being the colors of his Dad's and Jody's high schools).

Tomorrow's score in the paper will reveal the victor, but it's up to our new New Hampshirites to reveal for whom they cheered.

One can feel the tension in the air! May the best species of cat win!

So... About The Deer

We had just finished a nice but all too short visit with Justin and Carrie, having tea and coffee and decadent sweets at a Panera in Waterloo. We hopped back onto Highway 20 by Crossroads Mall in W'loo and headed west. By the time we got to Dike, it was getting dark, misting rain and foggy. We drove on.

By the Aplington/Wellsburg exit, snow had accumulated on the side of the road and the rain had turned to snow. And it was still foggy (I hate fog and snow at the same time!). Time to drop the speed down by about 10 mph. And a couple miles east of Iowa Falls, in the fog and snow, we saw three silhouettes appear from the median. I was driving, and saw them at the same time that TLMK cried "Deer crossing!" It was not to warn me of a bright yellow warning road sign - it was to tell me that there were deer in the road. I pulled my foot off the gas, swerved a bit left to miss the first two, and then heard a very loud thump from the back of Steve. It was very clear that deer and vehicle had met, and not in a good way.

Well, crap.

Pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so. I was worried about the damage Steve might have incurred. Got out a flashlight and inspected the driver's side rear corner. Barely a dent. The paint wasn't even scratched. Had the deer paused for half a second, he/she wouldn't have had this chance encounter at all.

But we met, literally with the deer running into the back corner of Steve. Hence the conclusion that the deer hit us.

So the scenario is this: you're on a dark stretch of road, it's snowing, it's foggy, it's clear that you've had a wildlife encounter of the fourth kind but you walk (or drive) away nearly unscathed. Do I call my insurance agent? No, not enough damage to worry about. Do we go back and try to find the deer? And if we find it alive, injured or dead, what then? Nothing we can do for it in any situation - I'm not going to field dress a deer and lash it to the roof of Steve to deliver fresh venison for our post-holiday meal.

In the end, we just drove away into the darkness, the snow and the fog (sounds like a Hemingway novel).

So that's the story of the deer. It sounds much worse when you first introduce the subject. But all in all, it was a relatively harmless encounter.

Then again, I'm not the animal that had a headache for the rest of the night.

Thirty Thirty

The name of this post comes not from the famous Winchester lever action rifle (yes, Harry, it's on my list of firearms I'd like to own, specifically a Winchester pre-1964 model which I recently found with a prohibitive price), but from the miles we traversed during our 13 day, seven state road trip. 3,030 miles. Most of the driving days were well over 500 miles. Such as Chicago to Sioux Falls, or Sioux Falls to Sterling, CO. We had adventures, from nearly being stomped on by a parade balloon to making a Thanksgiving feast in a hotel room to being struck by a deer on the highway just east of Iowa Falls. Yes, a deer hit us - we didn't hit the deer. Story to follow. We got to see family. We didn't get to spend near enough time as we would have liked to have spent with all the family that we saw. We saw every sort of weather immaginable. We saw just about every road condition imaginable. And with our usual accomplished traveller's aplomb, we survived, thrived, and made it home safely last night around 6:30 PM (MST) to tell the tale.

I didn't blog or even check email for 13 days, though I had planned to. I'm a super geek when it comes to techno gadgets. 2 digital cameras, one video cam, and two laptops and several hard drives accompanied us on the trip. I learned that I don't need to carry that much technoid stuff. With said stuff, I spent time on photos and video, since I got a new cheap videocam just before the trip. The vids actually came out pretty good. They look crappy on a 2.5" LCD screen, but pretty good in Windows Media Player. I'll select those I think are good enough for your perusal and inspection and either post them here or send in a broadcast email.

Today's Good Thing: I am home. I am in Western Colorado, Happy Valley, possibly the most wonderful place God created. South of the 49th parallel that is, Karen. And west of Nebraska. I am home.

Much more to follow later. You can check out Grace's blog for a few pictures and her account of our time in Chi-town. And yes, per her narrative, it was an attempted pick for my wallet. I've been through it enough times to know what it was. This one was very amateur. He made the mistake of looking back. And saw a camera in my hand. Bad form, Artful Dodger...

But as they say, no autopsy, no foul. I let it go and did my best to get that stupid "Dominic the Donkey" song out of my head. Grace, your place in the will is now in jeopardy for including a link to that song on your blog.

Much more later.
And Much Love.
Jay/Dad/whatever