Warzone

We have been battling the ferocious field mouse for the past few days. The body count is nearing 30. I think the technical term for this is “infestation”.

Yuck.

Dubious Distinction

We are the first confirmed family(read: Gus and Griffen) in Douglas County, CO to have the flu this year.  Griffen managed to contract both type A and B strains.

Huzzah!

What do we win?  Oh, just 4-5 days of high fever, vomiting, sleepless nights, probable infection of parents, ensuing aches, pains, and bitchiness!  And just in time for Thanksgiving.  Perfect.

Halloween

The toasted pumpkin seeds were a hit.

Dinner and guests.

We had our first visitors to our new house last night. To mark this occasion I put together a special menu, picked up some freshly baked bread, and purchased a few bottles of nice red wine.

About the guests: For three months this summer I lived away from my family in Parker, CO and stayed in the home of Kathy Jackson, a lady I found on http://www.craigslist.org. She was looking for a short-term roommate, and I needed a fully furnished place to stay for a short term. We became friends, and I invited Kathy and her sister over for dinner last night.

About the food: I started with fresh baked ciabatta, sliced thin and layered with fresh basil, smoked mozzarella, fresh tomato, olive oil, and aceto balsamico. The main course was grilled pork tenderoin (with a garlic/orange wet rub), oven roasted green beans (with walnuts, red onions, and basalmic vinegar), wild rice with mushroom risotto, and mushrooms sauteed with thyme, shallots, and marsala.

We washed this down with a few bottles of Argentinian Malbec. If you haven’t tried Argentinian malbecs you are missing out.

The best part? Leftovers.

What a difference a day makes.

Saturday’s high in Castle Rock was close to 75 F. We had a beautiful, sunny, breezy day.

This picture was taken this morning, Sunday the 21st. Almost six inches of pure white snow fell over night and early this morning. Just a prelude to the crazy weather we have been hearing that Colorado endures.

One of the great things about living at an elevation of just over 6000 feet is the abundance of sledding hills. We have a park a few blocks from our home with excellent sledding for young kids.

With highs of 65 F on both Wednesday and Thursday, this snow will not last long.

Mile High Dykstra’s

I cannot believe it has been 4 months already since my last post. A lot has happened in that time, and I have a built-in excuse. So, eff you.

Where to start……

Prior to the BWCA trip this spring I found out I was a serious candidate to take over the Denver Operations management position for my company. After 2 agonizing weeks of interviews and waiting I was chosen to take the job. Thus ensued the whirlwind that has been my life for the last 4 months.

In mid-July I moved to Denver without my family to take over Colorado operations. I found a place to stay on Craigslist, and rented a fully furnished room from a very cool lady named Kathy. Her townhouse was only 6 miles from my office, tantalizing after driving 90 miles each way for the last 4 + years. I grinned from ear to ear for the first 3 weeks of my commute. I was able to go “home” for lunch, which was nice.

I spent a total of 77 days away from my family.

That time was not spent idly(for the most part). I had to find a house that would suit Jessica and the boys. We had to decide on a town, then an area in that town, and finally a house itself. In the end Castle Rock, a mid-sized town 25 miles south of Denver was the choice. I found a place that is walking distance from the Downtown area restaurants, coffee shops, and stores.

Jess and the boys and I moved in on October 5th and are still unpacking. So far, so good. Gus starts school next week and Griffen and Jess will be looking for pre-schools soon.

I’ll post more about the move in the coming days, and hope to keep this blog a little more up to date than before. I still have to finish the BWCA trip report!

BWCA 07: Pre-trip

Derek and I hooked up after work in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 17th, and carpooled to my place to pack for the trip. Lyga was already on-site and had the grill fired up and ready for the burgers. We had a few beers and shot the breeze for a while. While shooting the breeze on the deck, a large heron flew over the house. I thought, “man, that bird is right in line with us. If he shits, he’ll nail all of us.” Without pause, the bird shat. My look of disgust and horror activated the flight reflex in the rest of the party (Jess, Greg, Derek, and my 4 year-old, Griffen). The loose, green movement dropped directly into the center of our group, missing the humans, but nailing the brand-new map I purchased for the trip. SPA-LAT. Green bird poop all over the place. The poop actually sort of whistled through the air in it’s descent.

Nice.

After that the packing progressed nicely and we were all set before midnight. Kiecker was set to arrive at 1 a.m., and we would finish packing the food that he was supplying at that time. Booze was transferred into platypus containers, and the necessity of various items were debated over beers.

After Kiecker arrived and the food was all packed, Derek and Greg thought it made the most sense to leave right then for Ely. We were all in agreement, so I kissed my confused, sleepy wife and boarded the Blazer. Derek was keyed up after brewing and drinking a pot of strong coffee and took the first shift.

The drive to Ely was uneventful, other than the expected slap-happiness. Kiecker and I argued numerous points, roundly criticized Penthouse for turning into Maxim with tits, and refreshed ourselves with truck-stop fare. Lyga took over driving once we left the interstate, and I rode shotgun as the sun slowly rose in the east. The temperature was in the low 50′s, but would climb into the 80′s later in the day.

We picked up our permits at Piragis Outfitter’s around 7:00 a.m. So far the decision to leave early is looking like a stroke of genius. Minnows were purchased, batteries were not purchased even though they should have been, and a nice place to eat breakfast was suggested by the owner of the bait shop. I should have written down the names of these places, but alas, I did not.

After waxing nostalgic numerous times about an evening I spent drinking in the Ely town park just over a decade ago, our tired but excited crew left Ely around 9:30 and headed toward the Echo Trail and Mudro Lake……….