Sight to the Blind

Do you believe in fate? Kismet? I am never really sure where I stand on the issue but I'm leaning towards the affirmative lately. Why did we end up here in Colorado...does there have to be a reason? Not really...but one may have just emerged.

We've found a treatment for Heather's vision. Yes, really. This is the Doctor who pioneered the treatment, the Doctor who is presenting this method the world over, the Doctor who is less than four hours away! They are so confident in the treatment that if at least one line of vision is not gained then a full refund is provided. We've been researching this for some time and have decided several things...

There is no better use of vacation/leave time from work. Sorry family and friends…we’d love to visit this year but this is a chance to restore vision.

Santa Fe, NM is so close that travel expenses will be minimal; we’ve found lodging that offers fantastic rates for patients.

We’re going to fully document the process and post day by day…so early next year the blog will be buzzing.

Where In the World Have We Been?

Life has been moving along at a fairly quick pace lately...I've not written/posted a blog for over month now. I write them but I've been in a writing slump, dissatisfied with everything and therefore not posting anything. That's the way it goes...we did celebrate our 10th anniversary so that was a nice milestone.

We have been busy, however. The Pueblo Chili Festival is always a fun time. Pueblo chilies are nice and warm, they make fantastic wraps, rellenos, green chili, and so much more. They are good on eggs, hamburgers, and any kind of -ito or -chalada. We ended up going both days... Saturday was hot as Hell and almost shoulder to shoulder. Sunday we were supposed to meet friends at the festival but never found each other...in the day and age of cell phones it may be inexcusable to some but to us it's just commonplace...however, thanks a freaking lot, Tommy for the phone call. Hours after we're supposed to meet up we get a call with a rather gruff voice... "We're still by the bridge waiting on you guys." How we missed each other initially we'll never know...a very blonde family by the bridge...but, alas, Tommy made us pay.

At some point we also trekked up to Denver for a concert, a sort of belated birthday present or annivarsary outing. We went up to the Gothic to see Buckethead. Now, for those unfamiliar with this guitar genius, you've got to have a high tolerance for WTF? Yeah, he wears a bucket on his head. Yeah, he wears an expressionless white mask. Yes, he wears a blue jumpsuit. Yes, his hands are freakishly large and he was listed at the #8 guitar player of all time. Just him on stage. He has all background music on an iPod, setlist ready to go. He is a machine. Here's a clip of moderate quality...worth the watch.



Work has been quite busy...my work days have been shuffled and now am off Tuesday & Sunday. That's ok, I have steady work, decent pay, and a weekday off to go do things when no one else is out and about...it's a nice day to go to the grocery and run errands. I will be thankful for what I have and not complain.

Otherwise, left has been good. Autumn is certainly here, the sunflowers are gone as are the orioles and hummingbirds. The greens of summer along with the multitude of colors are replaced by a brief burst of autumn and then...snowboarding! snowshoeing! winter hiking! atv trips to closed mountain passes! nights spent watching silent snow fall... bring it on!

Stop Motion Movies

I am working on several stop motion movies at this time. Scroll down to see some of the odd short films I've posted...

Hummingbird aerial attack! The lower left is zooming up to attack and the top center hummer is in retreat...












It's been too long since I've been by... the new job is going well and even though I am back working at home, I seem to be busier than ever. We've been on a planting spree... 15 trees this year and we're beginning to take on the looks of a yard. It is such a gorgeous day, 80 degrees and light breeze, nice sunny September afternoon... I do believe I am going to ditch this task and go sit on the front porch with a glass of scotch and watch the hummingbirds.

I promise I will keep in better contact...

The Week of 8/10/09

Heather, near Cripple Creek, CO.... feeling small in the world.

The previous post dealing with some of this has been removed, formatting problems that I could not control were really bugging me, so a fresh go is in order...

It's a cloudy/rainy morning and the urge to write is not upon me, so we'll go with a bullet point rundown of events...

• We went hiking near Cripple Creek, 10,500ft+
• Won money in Roulette (B) and slots (H)
• I hit 8, 11, and 35 direct, made $1 bet on each and pays 35:1.
• Why those numbers? I turned 35 on 8/11
• B started a new job after passing MSCE & MCITP, IT for a financial services firm

Thus concludes the update section of the blog. We now turn you to the future plans desk...

Nothing to report. I think our plans this weekend include yard work, eating veggies from our garden, and taking a nap.

The Benefits of Good Credit

We tried to use our credit card the other day and were denied. We hadn't used the card in a while and since we recently re-negotiated interest rates (upon threat of cancellation) we decided to put a power lawn implement on the card (Ryobi brush trimmer is an amazing tool.)

We work on the cash system. If we don't have the money budgeted for it, we don't get it/do it. We've become quite disciplined about this. For this reason we keep forgetting the negative impact that having a card and not using it can have (how stupid is that?) so we used to have dinner once a month and pay it off...we'd forgotten about that. We want to retire someday and so being fiscally responsible is a necessity, not an option.

So, after a long discussion with the Fraud team our purchase was approved. We came home and immediately signed on to http://www.ftc.gov/credit where you can find the link to your government mandated free yearly credit report. No gimmicks, nothing to sign up for... it's real and it's your free report from the three main credit reporting agencies.

After a thorough look through our vitals we discovered something. There was nothing. Not one speck of negative for either of us, not a late payment, not a ding, nothing but a few inquiries. All those pre-approval letters you get in the mail, well...they check your credit report and numerous inquires can have a negative affect. You can opt-out of this by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)

So, why were we declined? Turns out we hadn't used the card in a while. Since we lived in another state, in fact. So I can see why they wondered why someone from the E Coast was buying a weed eater in the mountain states on a card that had not been used in a year. To our point, we did change our address when we moved...but...there are some odd side effects from not incurring debt.

The Continuing Story of Bob Travis

Somewhere west of Rye, CO...













We enjoy visitors and it seems we have a lot of friends who come visit us in our various locales. One of the more regular/loyal is Davey who we met quite by accident.

Several years ago while living in Sarasota, FL another friend was coming to visit...we got a call
"We're at the border."
"Good to hear. Did you say 'we'?"
"Yeah, I brought two friends."
"Cool."
And so it turned out that Davey was one of them. While on that trip he spent bits of free time on the computer messaging some chick. Not long after the initial visit, Davey comes to visit once again, with Rachael. They visit us onboard our sailboat, Davey has crewed with us for several days, we've thrown him from a waverunner/tube and given black eye/concussion, and this time he came to visit for a three day week-day weekend. His wife Rachael and son Griffin stayed behind, travel with a 1-year old must be rough. But, we've seen the evolution from the initial awkward IM's to the marriage and birth...and all from thousands of miles away. The great thing about good friends and family is that distance does not matter, a good relationship is good regardless of the miles.

By this point you may be asking yourself "If Davey visits then who the hell is Bob Travis?" This is where the good old-fashioned weirdness comes in. After a good night's sleep sans 1-year old, Davey gets up...
"I feel like a new man."
"Who are you then?" asks Heather
After a brief pause... "I'm Bob Travis."

Hence, our Adventures With boB...palindromes are cool.

Bishop's Castle is one of our favorite places to take company. It is a one man project in the mountains and if you're lucky you'll run into Jim Bishop himself working on some feature of the castle, moat, or such and he'll give you a full blown, full volume rant on some news of interest or politics. I won't direct you to a particular website but if you Google Bishop's Castle you'll find a bevy of conflicting information and some fantastic pictures. Oh, look, here's a couple of them now...












































While in the area we also hiked part of Mt. St. Charles. We had no intention of making it to the peak but hiked for about an hour and made it to probably 10,500' or so and headed back to the vehicle for lunch. It was a gorgeous hike and we'll head back soon and shoot for the peak. It's about a 5-hour hike so we have to plan and prepare well. While in town, we also took Davey & the atv up to Penrose Commons and spent some time buzzing around the trails.

Three days and a few brain cells later, Bob returned home (safe and sound, no injury or seasick...) to his wife and child rested and relaxed and ready to take on a 1-year old who is learning to walk and talk. He'll (they'll) be back. And it will be fun.

Pink and Blue

Rainy Afternoon...









We got into a discussion this weekend with unhappy friends. We got caught in the middle of a "he doesn't/she won't" discussion and it didn't take us long to remember how thankful we are for each other. I guess that's a positive about being around negative people once in a while...it can be a real eye-opener.


Who does what is one of the biggest problems in almost any relationship...the responsibility for chores and such. We both got lucky. We don't really have any of the 'gender-based' chores, "pink and blue" we call them. We both participate in yard work. Heather likes putting things together and helping install/fix things which is great for me. I enjoy running the vacuum and she doesn't complain. Laundry is about 50-50. The only real place that we have "regular chores" is just serendipity, it just happened that way...Heather likes listening to books on tape while she handwashes the dishes and I just got into doing the cat litter at the same time every morning and it became habit. So the only two chores that we really split regularly are for no real prejudice for the chore. And hey, I almost always load/unload the dishwasher so I get some credit...


So after hearing another couple whine and bitch about the shortcomings of the other, we spent our drive home listing the things we liked and appreciated about the other. 45 minutes later we hadn't run out. Life is good.

How Salad Is Really Made

My next attempt at stop motion... a little longer and a little more c omplex with some synched music. I hope you enjoy a little.

Mouse Attack! A Stop Motion Experiment

It's always fun to learn something new. After a couple years of owning our Nikon Coolpix digital camera, we're still finding new things to do with it. Stop motion photography is the latest. Thanks to a very patient cat, it worked out well for a first attempt. I give myself a B.



How I Did It...

The camera was set on the lowest setting so that the memory chip did not fill up. A tripod was used for stability. Each picture was taken x3 and then JPGVIDEO was used to string the pictures into video. You have to tweak the frames per second as well as the duplicate deletion rate. It helps to play around with the codec to find out which gives you the desired effect.

What I Would Change Next Time...

I would like to add music
Make the view switch a little less jumpy
Expand each scene/frame, make them a little tighter together

But all in all I am happy with the first attempt at stop motion video. Thanks again to the very patient cat.

No mice were harmed in the filming...

What's New In Our World

One of our Bullock's Orioles with an identity crisis...










Life continues on and I just don't know where the days go. Summer is just fantastic...warm days and cool nights for sleeping. Although we've been in the 90's on a regular basis, almost every afternoon the black clouds come tearing down from the mountains and with them come a fantastic breeze and occasionally rain. Somewhere to the north of us gets rain on a regular basis but almost daily for us the winds ramp up and the clouds drop the temps from 90's down anywhere from the 60's to the 80's...it is fantastic to feel thirty degrees shaved off in a half an hour. That is when we retire to the front porch after grilling dinner for a little sit down.

Speaking of that...

The front porch is where our 'feeding station' resides. The birds love it and the word is out. Multiple hummingbirds visit the feeder as do the orioles, as can be seen above. The suet feeder is attractive to most everyone else including sparrows, finches, quail, and so on. The quail now have babies, little two inch critters running about. The birds are becoming accustomed to us sitting on the porch and are beginning to visit the feeders regardless of our presence.
Thankfully, we've found that the rattlesnakes are not that bold. While doing some landscaping today, a small (18") rattlesnake came out of the bushes and promptly turned around and went another direction. That was a much appreciated gesture. But it's a good reminder for us to be vigilant.

Farmer's Market

Pueblo holds its Farmer's Market on Thusday from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm from late June to late August. Along the Arkansas river, vendors set up and we enjoy. The riverwalk is lined with watermelon, tomatoes, squash, corn on the cob...all fresh and local. Other vendors sell homemade jellies and jams, local honey, and some fabulous tamales. There's nothing like heading downtown to the Riverwalk after work and grabbing a few tamales, sitting on a bench and eating one hot and fresh, then shopping for the week's produce. There's not much better.



Historic Arkansas Riverwalk, downtown Pueblo, CO








Technology Plays Hide & Seek

We got a weird kick in the pants from technology... after a long period of resisting valiantly, we gave in and signed up for Facebook. Not long after, we were flooded with people we hadn't been in contact with for ages...one of them being B's old roommate from about 13 years ago. He and his family just so happened to be vacationing about half an hour away and so we got together for a cookout. It was fantastic to catch up and after such a long time of not seeing one another, it was like old times...easy conversation and lots of laughs.

What's Next???

Next week, weather permitting, we plan another trip up into the wilderness. Somewhere east of Salida there is lots of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where we can park and hike with no one else, pure wild. I'm sure we'll get lots of photo and video... to be posted soon

For now, I'll leave you with a very short clip of lightning from a storm a few nights ago...

Chicken Two Ways, A Time Saving Recipe

Ingredients:
Panko
Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Thyme
Kosher Salt
Smoked Paprika
Pepper
Honey
Chicken breast and/or strips
Olive oil
Egg


The butcher has a wonderful sale on chicken breasts this week. They were big enough that we could butterfly them and make two meals from one breast, hence two equals four meals. A roulade is one of our favorite "fancy" ways to make chicken (fancy means not on the grill or in the smoker...) As usual when I have an idea for a recipe, I do a Google search to see if anything similar comes up for guidelines. I came across the blog of Knees & Bees and liked their spicing suggestions and so added a few ingredients to the original idea of a Honey-Panko Chicken Roulade and with the leftovers, Honey-Panko Chicken Tenders.

So take the Panko/Spice recipe and split it in half, use one portion for each meal, I guarantee you'll enjoy.

Panko Spicing Mix
2 cups Panko
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. sugar
Mix together and divide in half. Save one portion for another meal, or just make half...

Meal #1 - Panko-Honey Chicken Roulade
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a casserole pan with olive oil and set aside. While oven is heating, loosely wrap chicken in plastic wrap and either lightly pound to 1/4" thickness or use a rolling pin. (Consistency is the key, make sure your chicken is even in thickness.) In a separate dish, combine 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Brush honey onto one side of chicken and sprinkle/fill with Parmesan mixture. Roll and tie chicken or secure with toothpicks.
Prepare an egg wash and heat a small sautee pan to med-med/high with a small bit of oil. Dredge the chicken-roll in the egg, then in the Panko mixture. Sear chicken on all sides, turning with tongs until lightly browned. Move chicken to casserole pan, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 additional minutes, until panko is nicely browned.
Remove, slice into portions, and enjoy!

Meal #2 - Panko-Honey Chicken Tenders
Hopefully you have some of that wonderful panko spice mix still left, if not, make more. Cut chicken into strips and brush with honey, refrigerate for one hour. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare egg wash and dredge as before, place breaded tenders on a covered baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Both meals are surprisingly sweet and smoky and make for a nice treat.

June 22 Outing

We love outings. So, Sunday found us and a friend loading into the Escape Pod and heading West. About 20 minutes later, we made a turn north in Canon City (Canyon city is the way to pronounce it but I can't find the Mexican squiggly n...) about 10 minutes later, we turned off onto a steep incline of a BLM (Bureau of Land Management, read public lands) road.
For the next few hours we took the 4wd up and down, in and out, got out and hiked, drove further back into wilderness, got out and hiked some more... the entire day (once pulled off on BLM roads) we did not see another soul.
We saw the chimney rock (pictured above) off in the distance, unfortunately there was a rugged canyon between us and it, so this is about as close as we got. What a great day!
For unbroken wilderness like this to be less than half an hour away is wonderful. Colorado has 8.3 MILLION ACRES of public lands... free to hike, camp, fish, swim... they are there for us to enjoy...we do and will, for sure.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018999&id=1603875079&l=457a74e0a1 is a link to our photo album from the trip.

It was extraordinarily hot (near 100) but that really didn't phase us. The air conditioning in the Escape Pod (Ford Escape) kept us satisfied between stops. The rose quartz in this region is spectacular but nothing compared to the views that round every bend. The sounds coming from our vehicle must have been comparable to Fourth of July fireworks with all the sounds of "oooh" and "ahhhh" emanating quite frequently. We've learned to carry a cooler with water bottles and lots and lots of sunscreen. At 5,000 to 10,000+ ft of elevation it is easy to burn and especially the reflection from snow and water is deceptive.
We hiked, scrambled up and down rocks, and took tons of photos. Who could ask for a better day?

Ways to Save a Buck

Who doesn't like to get a good deal? Whom among us likes to pay too much for something (ok, put your hand down because you're nuts...) We like to save as much as we can here and there. The small things add up. If you don't believe it, do what we do, keep a logbook or a jar and everything you figure as savings during one month just religiously log or put in the bank. $1.50 done several times plus .75 saved here and there plus $5 tossed in makes a pretty little chunk of savings at the end of the month.
So, here is the first of many blogs to sporadically come on little ways to put back a little bit of change that accumulates into fluffy greenbacks...

1. Coupons
We love coupons. We subscribe to the Sunday paper because what we spend on the subscription we save very quickly in coupons but there are many other great ways to accumulate coupon savings. We also get to see the ads and deals to comparison shop.
List your favorite products, the things you buy most frequently. Now go Google "Pop Tart coupon" and you've got a good start...but who makes them? Kellogg's. Go to Kellogg's website and you'll find coupons for many products, more than likely the one you're looking for, too. Next, find their 1-800 number and give them a ring, ask for some coupons. Wishbone Dressing loves to send out FREE promotional coupons, Kraft, Kellogg's, Oil of Olay, you name it and we've had a 95% success rate when calling and asking for coupons and discounts.
There are tons of coupons online but NEVER pay for them. Our favorite website is www.couponmom.com and even though their registration is a pain, we've gotten no spam from them and lots of savings.

2. Ask
It never hurts to ask. Call up the 1-800 number for your grocery, for your home repair center and ask for 10% off coupons. When we know we will be making a purchase from Lowes or Home Depot we give them a jingle and ask. Within a few days we've got a coupon in the mailbox. Along the same lines, we've found a Manager in every store from the aforementioned home repair black-hole-for-my-money-mart's to Wal, K, and department stores and explained to them that we'd like to purchase this item, we usually price check around town, but are you willing to give us a discount for store loyalty? A majority of the time we win...and the 10-25% we've had them knock off has always been greater than any price match or better sale we could have found elsewhere. Now, as for that price match thing...

3. Price Match Whenever Possible
Always look at the sales and prices around town before you buy anything. A computer at Best Buy, Staples, and Office Max may be $50-100+ difference before a sale, depending on the location, store, etc. It always helps to know your prices and when a tremendous sale goes on then use that 10% off coupon you called for earlier, most stores will price match any advertised price and you've just saved the sale price + 10%. The computer I'm writing from was purchased by price matching an incredible sale from Staples at Best Buy, using accumulated Reward Points and a 12% coupon off any electronics purchase. The price, after match and coupons, ended up being almost $115 below the very low sale price offered at Staples. all because of price match, asking for coupons, watching sales, and...participating in those stupid Rewards things...

4. Rewards Crap
They are a pain, those key fobs, discount cards, barcoded things that more resemble a Mark of the Beast than something you want to like...but I have gone to the Darkside. We have a keychain devoted to these plastic nuisances but they save us money. Every grocery store, electronics, etc. that we can, we do. Why? Junk mail is much less than it used to be, for one...but mainly it is because they really do save you money and send you things. We don't rely on them and we certainly don't believe it when it says a "Card Price" is better than anything else, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But, when we make a purchase our barcode is scanned and now and then, because of making purchases we would have anyway, we get discount coupons.

These are in no way fail-safe but they are a few little things we've tried successfully and liked. Now, take that money and save it for one month. What you do with it at the end is up to you...put it towards a debt to lower the burden next month, put it in the bank to draw interest, or go out for a nice dinner...

BOP and POP aka A (Mis)Adventure

I'm a little slow today so forgive me if I pause or seem a bit dazed. Concussions will do that to you. What a way to begin our second time together...here we are, meeting like this again and I look like hell.
It was innocent enough, I tell you. I just went upstairs to put on a different shirt. That's all. I wanted a long sleeve shirt. The wind was ripping 25-35 and we were both really enjoying the fresh, 63 degree air blowing through the house and didn't want to close things up. I just went up to get another shirt. When I walked in the door I vaguely remember kicking the doorstop but it did not really register as something important...I will not make that mistake again. I snagged the shirt, turned to leave the room just as a gust caught the bedroom door and closed it on my face.
Now, when I say closed I mean slammed with Force Almighty. The upper bridge of my nose is broken, black forehead, puffy eyes, can't breathe right. You know that feeling after a sunburn when your skin is red and stretched tight, that's the general sensation. I hit the floor, broke the register vent, passed out briefly, and awoke to Heather asking me "What the hell?" She hand-sews these wonderful rice packs that can be used for hot or cold and thankfully we keep two in the freezer.
For better or worse, my original face is intact, no real damage other than swelling and my brain hurts. Thinking is fairly slow and work is quite entertaining in a fisheye lens, disjointed Leaving Las Vegas sort of way.
I just thought I would share...I was going to edit another blog on Frugality and Saving Money while I ate lunch but you know it just didn't go as planned. I was going to give this a good proofing but I've decided not...I've only uploaded a picture of last night's Champion. grumble, grumble, dammit.

And so then, Our Hero, beaten, bruised, and bloodied by a Simple Peasant Door did slink back off to from whence he came.

Formalities

We've missed our blog...it is amazing how therapeutic this thing can be. Silly enough, but true. For about four years we maintained postings on Yotblog.com www.yotblog.com/holdingpattern but now that we're no longer living on a sailboat it's sort of a moot point. After a few false starts on other sites, we've settled on blogger.com. But, I suppose the question begs to be answered "Who is this 'we'?" I'll cover the who, what, where, when, & why of it all...just be patient.
The we is Brian & Heather. We're both about as mid-30's as possible and fairly average in many ways...but we enjoy looking at life from a different angle (not necessarily the same angle every day, but just different angles than most.) We try to be happy and jolly but life tends to have a say in that; we try to be positive but will say critical things...we're human. As far as telling who is who, Heather is the pretty one and I am the wordy one. From time to time she will blog and it will be so noted in the title. There are two other members of our collective, both are cats with identity issues. Vevela (Samoan for Sunshine) and Takara (Japanese for Treasure) round out our little clan. They don't blog much but get referenced often.
We absolutely love the outdoors. From hiking and camping to sailing, snowboarding, skiing, off-road & ATV, and rock climbing to gardening and photography, we seem to like it all. Heather has not been sky diving but it is on the list. Thus abruptly concludes the "who" section of our presentation.
I suppose that leads to where...well, we're in Colorado. We live along the Front Range where the high plains prairie meets the mountains. Out the front window we can see 70+ miles on a good day across the prairie all the way to the Spanish Peaks (TaTa's de la Mundo) and out the back door we can see Pike's Peak and the fabulous spring/summer storms that roll across. I'm not going to be more specific than that on location, we don't want visitors. I will tell you that our house is right around 2,000 sq ft, open floor plan, we painted the east-facing bathroom flame orange to reflect the morning colors, and it absolutely glows. We have a therapist-style chair on our upstairs landing...there is no better therapy after a long day than sitting there and staring out across space and time, often it is nap inducing, for better or worse. We started a straw-bale garden but had some extreme issues with pH being way off...the peppers, herbs, and tomatoes are basically swimming in acid and languishing but the beans, peas, and lettuce seem to be thrilled with it. It's our first and last year with straw bales. Our plan is to accumulate supplies slowly and throughout the winter, build raised beds to go where the bales now sit. In an arid environment such as ours, the straw bales just do not condition properly and it is a real challenge to keep proper hydration...and a soaker hose will be much more useful in a raised bed design. You'll hear more and see pictures as things progress.
Last but not least, we enjoy comments and feedback...however, please keep it civil and at least moderately literate. If you don't like something said, don't flame us...comment, sure but please keep it decent enough so as not to be deleted. Guest blogs are also welcome, I have done multiple ( most recently on an abstract painting blog, the link is escaping me not, may post if I find) and we welcome any guest submissions. Contact for more info.

I need to be getting on to work... many more blogs will follow, lots of pictures, plenty of laughs, and maybe some tears...that remains to be seen.