5/17/12 - April/May Update
And there goes another 2 months. Whew.
- The pajama-wearing centurian spiderman circus guy
- Preparing with a purchase of railing, shelving, and staircase materials
- Rigel and Andi love a trike that was given to us
- In March Rigel had a couple Fridays off from school. He and Preston went
on the zoo's Safari Trail for the first time.
- In March, Rigel not only did his first double-blacks, but Andi also did her
first blacks.
- We don't know HOW the toilet was missed, but after a while the scent wafted
into the kitchen, causing Preston to go find the source....
- Rigel continued his love of Double Blacks with Preston's favorite slope name
in Colorado
- Preston and Rigel also spent a day over at Keystone. This is Rigel in
the foreground with Breck in the background.
- A marvelous view of Lake Dillon
- Keystone always builds a snow fort at the top of the mountain for kids to play
on. This year it included a dragon entryway
- "I love mom and dad"
- Rigel on perhaps his first run off the Imperial Lift. The highest
lift-served terrain in North America
- Rigel skiing Contest Bowl (double black) with Ellie and Lee
- Before snowblower
- after snowblower
- Any questions? This happened sometime in February or so. I found
the big black pieces immediately. I didn't see the red handle and figured
that it was fiberglass or something and had been thrown out into the yard.
A couple weeks later I saw something red wrapped around the driveshaft for the
auger and mangled it even more getting it out. The missing piece of black
handle was found about a month ago out in the yard (30-40 feet away).
- Towards the end of March Albert and Hannah joined us. Here Andi is
displaying the Dorfman tongue concentration thing
- Rigel never really free skated, but seemed happy enough inside a walker.
- Rigel and Hannah reading
- playing with the snow
- This was the town's easter egg hunt
- the next day the ski area did one too. The kids found few eggs until
Preston figured out a good place to look. There they found about 200 eggs
that nobody had violated yet (teens were doing smash and grabs all over the
green slopes looking for the paper prize certificates; they left broken eggs and
candy littering the sides of the slopes). Those 200 eggs represented about
2% of the 10,000 eggs that were reportedly put out that morning.
- Andi & bunny
- Looking longingly at their haul from the egg hunt
- April showers bring....
- Aurora was put up for adoption about a year ago. We talked the adoption
folks to kennel her starting in April. Wouldn't you know it but she looks
to be placed after only a month in their care. With Aurora no longer being
a passenger in the truck, Andi helped clean out the dog hair & dirt and such.
- Spring Tulips
- On another day off, Rigel and Preston did some things in the barn, including
BB gun shooting
- and trying out our new bows
- While Diane went to California for our reunion, Rigel, Andi, and Preston got
some skiing in for closing weekend.
- waiting for ice cream
- This year was NOT like the winter of 1898-9. This is one of the driest
years on record, with the least water content on record.
- Closing day itself. This year the family (to include a couple days with
Preston's dad) finished only 15,000 feet shy of 1 million vertical feet.
Preston skied on 44 different days and put in over 450,000 vertical feet.
The most in almost 30 years. Perhaps the most ever, though the early 80's
might have seen more days and more vertical feet.
- In early May, Preston's dad drove his VW bus up to road test it prior to
taking it out through Utah and other such places. He spent a weekend in
the barn with Preston cutting the old workbench down to kid size
- and putting up posts, shelves, railings and balusters.
- the finished product
- the shelves / supplemental stair supports. Pounding these posts into
place really stiffened up the loft and eliminated an annoying rattle.
- On his way back to New Mexico, Preston's Dad had a mishap. Fortunately
he was just south of Colorado Springs when the wheel assembly (not rim, not
tire) fell OFF the VW. He rented a car and left it to be fixed, returning
the following Thursday to fetch it. He spent another weekend and worked in
the barn again with Preston to put OSB up on the walls, build a new workbench,
and install peg board.
- Meanwhile, Rigel continued shooting his bow. He now takes out the worst
shot and shoots again until they're all in the yellow. Then he moves back.
- For Mother's Day we went to an expensive brunch at the Craftwood Inn.
This picture was done in the HDR mode so that the outside wasn't over exposed
- taken by our server
- Group hug! This has quickly become one of my favorite pix. It's in
the top 20 for sure.
- Rigel, in the "finished" workshop, showing off a deer jaw bone that he found
out in the yard. The deer are being seen in the yard, now that we have no
dogs around.
- Finally, our Tiger Cub Den Meeting in the backyard, practicing tent setup.
3/18/12 - March Update
Wow. What a busy 6 weeks since the last update. Here we go!
We've done a LOT of skiing this year. This weekend is the first one
we've spent in Colorado Springs since mid-December. While the snow hasn't
been the best, the skiing has still been a lot of fun. Next weekend
Preston will hit 30 "days" of skiing and the area just announced that it'll be
open another 2 weekends.
- Diane and Rigel
- Again, but check out the look on Rigel's face
- Rigel saw some people posing like this and has been doing it ever since
- unfortunately, he's not COMPLETELY stable...
- Andi in her Bomber's class.
- Andi waiting for her Bomber's class to head up the mountain.
- We almost used this as our New Years Card photo, but didn't download it in
time. They lock the high res versions of the photos after 30 days to
encourage you to buy (creating an artificial time pressure). But a couple
days ago they unlocked all the old photos AND offered a photo package. 20
downloads for $20 (as opposed to the regular price of $20 per photo). Some
of the photos have been very good, so we're pleased to be able to go back and
download a lot of good stuff.
- The kids went to a birthday party this past month, and here's the cabal of
little girls that love spending time together.
- Meanwhile, here's Rigel playing at that party.
- Grandpa came up to Breck for some skiing over President's Day.
- That same weekend, Andi wanted to learn how to make pancakes. She mixed,
poured, and flipped. Here Grandpa is explaining how the bubbling on top of
the pancake indicates its readiness to be flipped.
- Grandpa came up with a couple of friends, whose vehicle couldn't make it up
the driveway due to the season's worth of snow that had been packed down.
So, the 70-somethings both got out there and shoveled and scraped their way down
to the pavement. They cleared the top half of the driveway and by that
afternoon it was bone dry.
- The next week was warm. Andi and Preston came up on Friday to clear away
any snowfall and spent some time popping up and shoveling the rest of the
driveway. By the next day, it was completely clear.
- Last Fall Rigel's eye doc decided that Rigel might want to start wearing
glasses in class. One eye is slightly worse than the other and she's
concerned that his brain might start ignoring the bad eye. He resisted
initially, but at a follow up visit we decided that it was time to act.
Rigel got these glasses and doesn't seem to mind wearing them now (though he
denies that he sees any better with them).
- Bombers ended in March. During the second-to-last class we were a bit
rushed in the morning. If you look closely, you'll notice that Rigels
boots are on the wrong feet. This picture was taken at the end of the day
and Rigel's instructor was amazed because they'd spent the day running moguls
and Rigel did great.
- Diane and Preston during Bombers.
- Andromeda made great progress this year. She started out needing a leash
on green runs. By the end of the classes she's now doing blues without any
issues AND is starting to ask if she can try the moguls.
- Another beautiful blue-sky day in Colorado
- Last day of Bombers. They ran a little slalom race for the class and
Andi was the fastest of her group (because she didn't fall)
- Andi's class with Ripperoo
- That weekend we had friends up and enjoyed a quick snack at One Ski Hill Place
- Andi deep in coversation with Uncle Lee
- The little girls loved getting dressed up
- Everyone waiting to run the Dragon Trail
- March 4th was Rigel's first time down a Double Black. He was excited and
handled it well.
- Here he is on Mach 1 - by the time he got to the bottom he was in good shape
and excited to do it again (which we did).
- After skiing came swimming and some reading at the Grand Lodge
- The next day Preston stayed over and went for his annual trip to Vail with his
81 year old Scoutmaster, Mr Mader. Preston realized that he's been chasing
him down the mountains on skis for about 35 years now.
- Preston getting off of Earl's lift. Mr Mader took one run off in the
morning and another in the afternoon. While he's been skiing 8,000-12,000
vertical feet per day, this day was Mr Mader's all time high in EpicMix with
24,000 vertical feet. (it was also Preston's EpicMix high with 27,000
vertical feet).
- We had lunch at Vail's newest restaurant: The 10th. This provides a nice
new sit-down venue for dining at Mid-Vail and is surprisingly affordable by ski
area standards (the Epic Burger might cost $15 at a nearby cafeteria, but a very
tasty french dip "only" cost $18 in a very nice establishment).
- The following weekend we went skiing again with guests and Rigel wanted to try
another double-black that Uncle Lee had mentioned. Here's Rigel at the top
of Inferno.
- And again, panoramically. Rigel enjoyed this run also and wanted to do
it again as soon as we got to the bottom (we didn't, due to the lateness of the
hour).
- We took Sunday off from skiing and went snowshoeing out to the picnic table
withour guests.
- When we got back to the house, Rigel went over to say hi to Aurora.
We're still amazed that the dog hasn't just walked over the fence.
- The following Monday, Preston and John Wilson again went skiing with Mr Mader
on what was definitely his last ski day of the 11/12 season. It MAY also
be his last day of skiing after 55 years of doing it. This was one of
those particularly good EpicMix photos that may just get printed to canvas and
hung on a wall somewhere.
- There are still a couple of old lifts at Beaver Creek. On these lift
rides, Mr Mader prefers to ride alone so that he can put his feet up.
- Mid-morning break (after John and Preston did a bump run called Screech Owl on
Grouse Mountain)
- A late lunch at the Arrowhead base
- Emma Jean and Charles Mader - rather than skiing another 24,000 vertical feet,
Mr. Mader called it quits at lunch after 18,000 feet (putting him over 450,000
vertical feet for the year and 750,000 vertical feet for the past 2 seasons).
Preston his another EpicMix high of 32,000 vertical on this day and went over
300,000 for the season. (given the extended season Preston may very well
hit 400,000 vertical this season; now that the kids are skiing more stongly,
450,000 or 500,000 are theoretically possible, but not very likely unless
Preston has a couple more solo ski days).
- Yesterday was the Pack 85 Pinewood Derby. It was Rigel's first, and the
first one Preston had participated in since 1974 or so. Here are the 2
Tiger Cub dens.
- The Pack is only a couple years old and just bought a nice shiny new aluminum
track with timer system and software. All of these worked quite well.
- Here are the pack's derby cars. Rigel's is in the front row, 2nd from
front. It's a police car that's painted somewhat like the General Lee.
Uncle Stephen sent Preston a Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets book for Christmas and
it proved invaluable. Preston didn't remember anything of the derby, so
having a book to walk you through the steps in building a car was great.
One of the best hints in the book is to build 2 cars. Dad builds his
car and shows son how to do each step to the son's car. So, Rigel actually
built most of his car, with assistance and guidance from Preston.
Preston's car was raced in a parents & siblings race afterwards.
- Preston warned Rigel not to get too upset if he didn't win. Some parents
will build the kid's car and put in a LOT of time, so he shouldn't expect to be
the fasted. Preston was actually hoping that Rigel would come in a close
2nd so that he'd do well but not actually win, because this is a lesson that
Rigel needs to learn (how not to pout and scream and cry and get upset).
Unfortunately, Rigel took first place for the combined Tiger dens, which
means that his car can go on to District races. He is excited though!
His car did NOT place in the top 3 in the pack, so he's not likely to go from
District to Council. But the important thing is that we got to spend a lot
of time together and he got exposed to woodworking (band saw, belt sander, drill
press, sandpaper, priming, painting, lubrication, etc.)
- Pack 85 (before the awards ceremony).
2/7/12 - More skiing
- This weekend we had Lee and the kids over. While the kids were in ski
school, the three adults went on a tear, skiing blacks and double-blacks all
day. The morning started out below 10 degrees, but there was NO wind
(which is quite unusual) so it was a very pleasant morning.
We
got high up on the mountain via the T-Bar, Lift 6, and the newly opened Imperial
Express lift which goes to nearly 13,000 feet. The snow and views were
fabulous up there. We went over towards Peak 7 and skied down Vertigo /
Whales Tail, where the snow was soft with good coverage. But additional
snow is definitely needed to cover all the rock outcroppings.
- We had lunch at the Vista Haus with Rigel's ski school; after picking Rigel
up, we finished up the scavenger hunt that his class worked on. His
instructor had buried a ziploc baggie with a handful of Jolly Ranchers under
this sign. In the end, Preston wound up with a season high day of nearly
22,000 vertical feet.
- On Sunday, Diane and Rigel went back to Colorado Springs for the Phineas &
Ferb show while Preston and Andi went skiing. We hooked up with Lee and
Laena for a few runs on the Dragon Trail, then did a few more runs before
heading over to Peak 9 for a series of runs on Ripperoo's Enchanted Forest and
Ripperoo's Haunted Forest. Aside from a quick lunch break, Andi skied for
5-6 hours, then went home to play on the computer, ignore her dinner, and fall
asleep on Preston while watching the Super Bowl.
So, while Rigel had his father-son day skiing blacks on MLK day, Andi had
just as exciting a daddy-daughter day making her first runs down all these kids
adventure zone trails. She skied almost 7000 vertical feet and
approximately 10 miles.
- At the beginning of the Dragon Trail. Unfortunately, Preston's big
mittens obscured the lens. He took a long video (freezing his hand) that
mysteriously failed to appear on the phone afterwards.
2/1/12 - January Update
- Preston updating the Pack on the activities of the Tiger Cub dens
- Cubmaster Bruce presenting Rigel and some of his fellows with their Tiger Cub
rank
- Andi engrossed in watching a Blues Clues video on mommy's tablet
- Andi decided that she wanted to go outside and shovel, so she and daddy went
out and cleared the snow off the patio
- grin
- meanwhile, Rigel was making paper airplanes from his airplane-a-day calendar
- On January 16th (MLK Day) the snow was finally good enough that Preston was
ready to try Rigel out on his first black diamond run. Preston picked a
groomed black so that Rigel could try out something steeper, but he really
wanted to do the bumps and sought them out on each of the 4 blacks we skied that
day. At his age (7 1/2) Preston hadn't even started skiing.
- Rigel's Bombers class tried out a small terrain park
- Meanwhile Andi has learned to snowplow and link turns without her edgie-wedgie.
- Diane and Rigel having fun
- Preston and Rigel having fun too, but the tongue threw Rigel off balance
and...
- ... this was the result
- Preston's been staying up in Breck an extra day or two to get some work done.
Returning home one day he left Breck in the snow, came across Park county in
sunshine, and then hit a fogbank at Wilkerson Pass.
- This past weekend Rigel collided with a snowboarder, cutting up his goggles
and banging up his face. The day of the accident it looked a bit puffy
but...
- ... the next day it didn't look so good.
- this was the same day and didn't look so bad
- We went down to the International Snow Sculpture Championships again this
year. This was Andi looking through an ice castle
- the actual snow sculptures were cool again this year. Having seen
nighttime pictures of them, I think it's probably better to go at night.
With multiple sources of light, I can see the relief a lot better
1/9/12 - Barn Work & a Ski Weekend
After we all returned to Colorado Springs on New Year's Day, Greg & Preston
spent Monday, 1/2/12 installing the barn stairs that Preston had built in 2007.
Note that we've started a new page because the hundreds of pictures on the
old page took a long time to load. The old page is now under the "Rigel
and Andi through 2011" page.
- Upstairs in the barn, checking out the project area
- Greg starting out with a cut to remove the decking. Note the nice
sunshine & snow.
- minus the decking
- testing the lift system
- with the joists cut (the cut ends are supported by the plywood decking above)
- and by the time we cut out the decking and joist (and doubled up the outside
joist) it was now dark.
- by the time we started boxing in the ends and supporting the joist ends, the
temp has dropped enough to warrant sweatshirts.
- the completed framing
- the lift system. A 2:1 block & tackle hung from a roof truss, with a 4x4
providing additional support between the roof truss and new floor joists.
- The nylon rope stretched and wrapping it around Preston to make the lift
implied that the stairs were well over 500#.
- using 4x4 bracing to provide supplemental support while fine tuning
- using Preston, a fixed post, and a 4x4 to provide almost another 2:1
mechanical advantage. It's now about 9 pm and the patio heater in the
background helped keep working temps pleasant.
- the finished stair install. Posts will come "soon" (perhaps this winter;
maybe not until summer when Jack visits in August?).
- despite having designed the implementation and purchased the components 3-4
years ago, the design was sound and all the needed parts were available.
Not THAT is quality planning. Thank goodness for finally
- Andi, Aunt Barb, & Rigel
- plus Uncle Greg
On 1/7/12 we went up for our first dedicated ski weekend of the season.
Rigel and Andromeda started their 2012 Bombers class and over Saturday night we
got a half foot of snow that made for nice skiing on Sunday, though we still
have exposed rocks on runs without manmade snow (and the expert runs are still
not open).
- Rigel's class (Rigel in red). His instructor said he's doing really well
and is bringing up the rear, hollering out when anybody in front of him crashes.
He did get lost once during the first day (he didn't stop and wait for everybody
else), but his instructor called in a lost student, he was found at a chairlift
nearby, and met by somebody else from the ski school who escorted him to his
class.
- Andi and Diane at her class dropoff. She got a new instructor by the end
of the day, and that's who she'll stay with for the remainder of the time.
- this is about one third of one half of the parents, kids, and instructors who
are involved with the Breckenridge Bombers program.
- Enjoying some runs without the kiddies
- We did take a run looking for the kids' classes. While on a green run,
we found that the EpicMix photo guys also do Action Shots. It was pretty
chilly and a couple runs later Preston wound up catching an edge on something a
lot steeper and wound up landing harder than he has in years. The shoulder
is pretty painful right now.
- After a day of ski class, Andi came home, curled up on the couch, and slept
for the next 12 hours.
- With Ripperoo on Sunday afternoon.
