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.