Author: Steve

Thursday. Breakfast in New Orleans, dinner in Timbuktu. Okay, we skipped breakfast at
the edge of the eastern plains. Crossed the Continental Divide in
spectacular blue-sky weather. Another perfect day. Lunch at the Dillon
Lake Overlook. Across Vail Pass, through Glenwood Canyon and DeBeque
Canyon. Out through the Western Colorado Mesas, and into the Utah desert.
Utah. For all the traveling we’ve done, this is the first time we’ve been
out of Colorado in months. Stopped for the night at Green River State Park.
This used to be a regular stop with the kids on Spring Break trips. It’s
shadier than we remember. It’s a very birdy place. Lots of birds we recognize, and then…. A New
Bird. A new bird. I know it’s a new bird, because I have no idea what it
was. I saw it perched. From the back. The bottom half looked like a
sparrow. The top half looked gray. From behind. What is solid gray from
behind? It could have been a Lawrence’s Goldfinch, but I don’t know if
they’re here or not. I went to get Judy and it was gone when we got back.
Never saw it again. We don’t know what it is, but we know there is a new
bird here. It would help if the park had a bird list, but they don’t. That’s a great
help, when you’re trying to identify a bird, and you can check a local bird
list and eliminate the birds that have never been sighted where you are.
Sometimes the bird lists indicate the relative abundance in each season.
That really helps. We can use all the help we can get. I thought the Jake Brake would be proportional, but it’s not. You can’t
feather it with the throttle and drive it smoothly. It is tied to the
transmission. It is purely incremental. It downshifts. Let off the gas
enough, and the exhaust brake kicks on in an appropriate gear for that
speed. Step down on the throttle, and it switches back off. At 65 mph, it
downshifts and provides a slight braking assist. We can handle a long 5%
grade at that speed. The first big assist pops in at 45 mph. That’s the
one we ride down the hill if it’s not too steep. It will handle a long 6%
grade on the freeway. There is a more serious hook at 35 mph if we need it.
That will ride the 7% grade down the continental divide without resorting to
the foot pedal brake at all. Cruise control. I’ve already declared that I like the way cruise control
works on this thing. What else I like about it is that it keeps the speed
you last selected in memory: even when you turn the key off. Start it up
again the next day, get it rolling, and hit resume. You’re right back to
where you were the day before. Green River, Utah. A three hundred fifty mile day. Tomorrow, the badlands and beyond.

Wednesday Our last day at work. Our office neighbor and friend Gary Kring bought a
celebratory, “end of busy season” lunch, for his office and our office
combined. It’s an annual tradition. Judy and I planned to leave right
after lunch. We’re heading for the Las Vegas conference, Arizona,
California, and….. condors in the Grand Canyon. I worked till eight. All ready for an early start tomorrow morning. The weather started earlier today than yesterday: right after lunch. Dark
dark skies. Wind. Rain. Tornado warnings. Quarter size hail. Wave after
wave of weather came through, clear into the evening.

Monday. I love that drive home from the eastern plains, watching the shadow of the
Rockies rise in the distance. But now we’re back in the office. It’s a
nice return. The work doesn’t pile up and wait for me while I’m gone now.
It just gets done. Ohmigod! I think I’m dispensable. We had quite a busy season of December year-end clients. It takes through
June to get them cleared out. After that, though, we’ll have some excess
capacity. It’s nice to have time to relax and breathe, but we don’t want
too much of that. We don’t want anyone to get bored. We’re putting
together a list of nonprofit organizations that have year-ends that are not
December. We’ll send some information to them to see if we can get a little
more work in the second half of the year. I’ve wanted to do this list for
years. Two thirds of our clients are December year-ends. It would be nice
to balance out the work. I’ve always wanted to do this list, but couldn’t
figure out how. How do you find nonprofit organizations that don’t have a
December year-end? Thank you internet. Now we have access to information
about nonprofit organizations we can accumulate and sort. Jamie is taking
care of it. A list of potential clients in Denver that are not December
year-ends. Thank you Jamie. I caught myself referring to our time in Denver as “the trip”. I was
describing to Jamie what I could get done in a short amount of time, and
explained: “I don’t have time to do everything this trip. Maybe I can
finish it next time.” Interesting transposition of perspective. Got the financial statements finished up for the Silverton job. It’ll be
ready to go out in a couple days.

Tuesday Funny thing about the Honda. It doesn’t have a thermometer or compass. Why
would they build a car without an outside thermometer and compass? Last full day to get my Denver work done. The Durango job is my only
remaining project from the Western Colorado trip. I stayed home and worked
at the house all day to get it done. And done it is. Finally. We won’t
look at the realization on that job. We’ll consider it an investment in the
future. Sue, the bookkeeper, promises me a 20 minute audit next year. Sat on the porch swing tonight and admired the lightning show. Annie sat
between us and shivered. It was a good show, even if Annie didn’t think so.
We heard reports of golf ball size hail to the north of us, and three foot
drifts to the south of us. We just got a light show and heavy rain.

Saturday. The Wedding Day. The morning was a blur. Flowers. Film. Errands. When we go to Fort Morgan to Larry and Lolly’s, it isn’t really Fort Morgan.
They’re at exit 73. Fort Morgan doesn’t really start to happen until exit
80. The Wal-Mart is at exit 82. You have to go all the way to exit 90 to
get to Brush. You can go down Highway 34 to get to the middle of Fort
Morgan from Larry and Lolly’s if you want. It doesn’t involve the
Interstate, but it is more direct. We made that drive back and forth quite
a few times this visit. And, like always happens when we hang around
somewhere for a few days, we’re really getting to like this place. We
particularly like the home base, parked out next to the hog barn. The afternoon was a blur. The pre-wedding dressing and conversation. Got
it on tape. Pre-wedding pictures. Got some of that. The ceremony. Got it
all. The post-ceremony photos. Skipped that part. Then, back to the ranch
for the party. And what a party it was. A barn dance. The bride and groom
arrived. Jodee and Todd. The DJ got the party started with his
introductions. The barn got packed with two hundred fifty happy people. We
all got food. As the evening progressed, everyone got happier. And louder.
The DJ was engaged till ten. He went into overtime. Larry and Lolly don’t
have any close neighbors. It’s a good thing. And I got it on tape. I wanted to go see some purple martins this trip. We’ve never seen purple
martins. Our bird count is still at 296. I want 300. I know exactly where
a colony of purple martins lives in Kansas. I have a map. And we have an
invitation to come see them. Nine hundred purple martins living in hanging
white gourds. We’re already in Eastern Colorado, so it couldn’t be much
farther to pop over to Kansas. Except that it’s on the other side of
Kansas. Six hundred miles each way. I counted the number of days between
now and when we leave Louisville for the conference in Las Vegas. It just
doesn’t work. No purple martins this trip. There is some good purple martin news, though. I found a name on the
internet to contact. She wrote me back. There are purple martins in
Colorado. You just have to know where to look. She knows where to look.
And she told me. Sunlight ski area. It’s outside Glenwood Springs. All we
have to do is get back to Glenwood Springs in the summertime and I know
exactly where to go to find them. I checked the internet for a bird list for Southern Nevada. It looks
promising. If we can get to some canyons outside Las Vegas while we’re
there, we should get to see some interesting birds. Tomorrow, the last of the wedding events. The opening of the presents.