Stardate 2019.822

Brisk and Misty Morning

An invigorating morning walk along the South Platte River with an iPhone.




Today’s hot chocolate is going to be quite good!




I hope you enjoyed the pics.




Lizard: 15
Parkinson’s: 0

Adios!

Stardate 2019.814

On The Keyboard Again

Hmmm... I seem to have forgotten how to code. Nonetheless, we'll see if I can come up with something.




Fall has been warm, and we could use some precipitation, although it's been mountain bike heaven.






A change is in order; I wonder if these bighorn ewes could sense it?



Several days later, a handful of little Fahrenheits, sporting their finest smirks, set a new record low temperature of 8 degrees, beating the old record of 22 by 14 notches. Then, most leaves lost color and dropped.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...





That's it for now.

Adios

Stardate 2019.329

Sandstone Dreamin' On Such An April Day
Hang-on, I think there may be a song in the above.

Currently, I'm very spotty on my posting. I blame it all on being tied at the hip to Parkinson's. In short, I can't sit still long enough to write. I'm like a snake trying to shed its skin, but can't escape. So, I get frustrated and go harass Snowcatcher or take the bicycle out or something. But, rest assured, I'm working on my body's attention span. The following pics are of a small lemon-squeezer that provides a more sporting line-up through a favorite cliff band.



Today's post takes place at Colorado National Monument, just southwest of Grand Junction, Colorado, my home town. Numerous other sandstone cliffs and towers call out to the avid scrambler and climber. The red hatched line approximates the lemon squeezer. The hatched line also represents the route being behind stone.

Cliff Band


Route


Entrance


Not shown is another "cave" located after scrambling out of the terminus of the lemon-squeezer. The "cave" deposits you on top of a higher cliff band.

That's it for now. I think I'm going to take a brief hiatus from blogging until we can buy a new computer. This one is very overheated, tired and unpredictable. I hope to be back in about a month or so... Thanks for reading.

Lizard:11
Parkinson's:0


Adios

Stardate 2019.129

Is That Spring in the Air?
Not quite; albeit I was in shorts and long sleeves today. Not bad for February 13th. Our snowiest month, March, is still to come. We can get some cold temps, too. Nonetheless, a lot of melt was taking place. Locally, all but the northerly aspects are snow-free. The Denver Water access road up Waterton Canyon was mostly dry with a few icy and muddy spots.


Today may have been my best ride since being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease last August. I hate the word disease! Don't you? It is what it is. Better yet, I felt good and strong throughout the ride. Take that Parkinson's! Following are a few more pics from the ride. Enjoy!


Looking upstream at impounded water behind one of several diversions.



The diversion dam is downstream in the distance. Can you pick it out?



There is lots of shore ice.



Main channel ice development is ice buildup on large in-stream boulders.



That's it for now. Think spring!

Lizard: 6
Parkinson's: 0

Adios

Stardate 2019.093

Mary Carter Greenway and January's End
Hi all,

Our January ended with some snow. However, as the eastern half of country freezes to death, the west half has remained quite nice. Highs have been in the 40s along Colorado's Front Range. Nonetheless, following are pics from January 25th (ski track) and 28th.




The dying ski track was covered in new snow several days later.




Yes, many of our bike paths are plowed after a storm — we're spoiled.




The trees look to be huddled together for warmth.




That's it for now, short and sweet. Thanks for reading.

Lizard: 4
Parkinson's: 0

Adios

Stardate 2019.055

Calm Before The Storm
Hi folks! Here's a small post about a stroll Snowcatcher and I took yesterday afternoon. The day was springy with Fahrenheits dancing into the upper 40s. Better yet, we received several inches of overnight snow, making for a fabulous morning to run a snow shovel.

Mary Carter Greenway is a revitalized riparian area (urban and suburban reaches) along the South Platte River and surrounding gravel pits. The ecology gods were successful, and it's a very nice place to visit.

One of numerous hidden gravel ponds and floating residents.



A designed rock weir helps create slack water areas and possibly helps to mitigate minor flooding. Major flood control is several miles upstream in the form of Chatfield Reservoir.




Enhanced habitat, including less predation, may be several reasons why the Canada Goose winters here.




Thanks for reading!

Lizard: 3
Parkinson's: 0

Adios

Stardate 2019.030

Finally
Greetings!

We finally received some snow at lower elevations. It was the heavy wet stuff that falls at warmer temperatures; a good ground soaker. When said and done, we had a little under a foot of snow. Believe it or not, I was on dry rides in shorts and long sleeve jersey as recent as January 10th. We need some winter! However, north aspects are still dicey in spots and require some hike-a-biking.




There's still a fair amount of shore ice along the South Platte River.






How about some bighorn sheep skating?






Here's a little plug for Giant Bicycles. It's a fun 29er.



Lizard:2
Parkinson's:0

Thanks for reading!

Adios

Stardate 2019.022

Cambria Bluffs

2018... The Good The Bad And The Now What?
Lizardly greetings!

The Good...
A very brief 2018 summary follows. I wish I could blame the lack of blog posts on traveling the globe, but I can't. Now that I'm semi-retired — as of 11 days ago — I hope to do a better job posting. I certainly need the writing and grammar practice.

Off we go! January 2018 started with a lack of snow, allowing for mountain biking Front Range trails well into early winter.

Post fall rut and everyone was back to being friends.

April deposited us in California for a wedding. We visited two of our favorite coastal towns — Morro Bay and Cambria. Much of the coastal California Lupine was 3 feet in height, much taller than back in Colorado.


Cambria


Cambria


Mom eventually got junior out of the water.


Morro Rock dominates the view from the southern end of the bay.


Northern half of Morro Bay marina


Mid-July took us to 14,150-foot Mount Sneffels, my favorite 14er.

The Bad...
After a miserable summer progressing in body tremors and the "need" to crawl out of my own skin, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in early fall. A decent med coupled with my long-time existing, and active, lifestyle has brought me back to life, and I hope to chronicle "things" a bit via this blog.

September and available food-nuts brought out foraging bruins.


The boys are back in town and waiting for the girls to arrive...


Mountain snow arrived in October. Lower elevation mountain biking was sublime well into December.


An eerie harbinger of what came in November.

The Now What?
Take out Parkinson's Disease with extreme prejudice. I will make a great Parkinson's enemy!

Thanks for reading! I wish you all cheery and exciting 2019!

Adios