Mt. Falcon

I just climbed the East side of Mt. Falcon on my Mt. Bike. Most of you reading this blog do not know what that climb is like, but trust me, it is a challenging bike ride. Well, at least it is challenging for a 39 year old guy who until the past month or so has not really mountain biked for years and years. And truth-be-told, some of the rocks and erosion prevention logs were beyond my skill level (and / or fitness level), so there were spots I walked my bike.

Yes, I am an out-of-shape wimp.

Even so, I made it up in about an hour, which is not horrible for the terrain. I probably would not have been too disappointed 7 or 8 years ago when I actually did consider myself a mountain biker. If any of you out there do know the trail, you are probably saying "wow... That is pathetic!" I would not be too terribly shocked if my friend John can do the climb better on his hand-cycle. But, I have to accept the fact that for me, this was pretty good.

Now that I have made the climb, and rested, the top is much easier to ride over. I'll spend some time up here riding without my heart pounding and sucking air. Compared to what I just did, biking up here will be relaxing.

Rocks Win!

If you follow baseball, you probably know that the Colorado Rockies went to the world series in 2007 after an incredible winning streak to end up the regular series, which went right on into the NL playoffs.

The 2008 season brought Rockies fans back down to earth. The Rockies stunk again.

This year, it looked like another year like 2008 until the team fired the head coach. All of a sudden the Rockies are in a race again. They are winning the wild card race and not that far behind the Dodgers for the division. Let me tell you, it is pretty rare for that to be the case in August.

The giants (who were one game behind the Rockies for the wild card) came to town this past weekend. Saturday, we had a "Boys Night Out" at Coors field. So far, this year, we have had good luck going to baseball games. The Rockies have won every game we've been to in dramatic come-from-behind fashion. I think partially because of the great games that we have seen, the boys are really big Rockies fans this year. Tyler and Connor were really excited to get to go to the game.

We got there early enough to watch batting practice. We stood up on the left-field concourse and got to see some of the long bombs. Made me nervous and watchful because of the danger of flying baseballs. I think if I had the opportunity to catch a ball, I would have been busy shielding Connor rather than even making an attempt at the ball. But, it was pretty cool for the boys. It was the first time they have seen batting practice.

Eventually we got to our seats in section 205, which is the right field mezzanine. Not great seats because we could not see the entire outfield, but not really horrible seats either. And, boy did we get a show. The Rockies were down 6 to 1 in the 4th. We actually went for ice cream at the top of the 4th and got back to watch the Rockies score a couple of runs to get within 6 to 3. At this point, I was thinking that it would be great if they could come back, but maybe our great luck had worn off.

Nothing happened in the 5th. But, all of a sudden, the Rockies started hitting in the 6th. 7 runs later, including a grand-slam, the Rockies were winning 10 to 6. Even back in the days of the Blake-Street-Bombers, I do not think I've ever seen a 7 run inning by anyone, and let me tell you, Coors Field ROCKS when something like that is happening.

The game ended up 14 to 11, which made for a very late night for the boys, but going home they were pretty wired. I had no problems with a tired Connor walking back to the train at all, and Tyler just could not stop about how cool the game had been.

As I write this, the Rockies are 3 games up on the Giants for the wild card and only 3.5 games behind the Dodgers for the division lead. LA is coming to town this week, so now would be a great time to get hot. It would be awesome to see the Rockies leading the division in a few days.

It would be great to drink my Rocktoberfest Ale while watching the Rockies in the World Series this year. It could definitely happen.


note: when playing this video, you might want to turn down the sound on your computer. it is LOUD.

Mountain Biking

Yesterday, I went mountain biking. I have been a couple times this year, but before this summer, it has been years since I've actually ridden my mountain bike on anything remotely resembling a mountain biking trail.

I went up the old standard Waterton Canyon which after about 7 miles hooks up with the Colorado Trail. Yes, Waterton Canyon is the place we take Tyler quite a bit, but we just take him on the first part of the trail.


Surprisingly enough, even though I have not been mountain biking for so long, I got up to the spot pictured above in about the amount of time it took me years ago when I actually was in Mountain Biking shape. I was tired as heck with the climb, but I got there without having to stop. I did however just head back down the trail from that point rather than doing a loop that "real" mountain bikers would have done. I hope to do the loop next week sometime.

On the way back down the canyon, I "ran into" the herd of big-horn sheep that lives in that area. It has been a real long time since I've seen them, so it was pretty amazing to come so close (they were on the trail itself). It is downright amazing that I had decided to bring the camera, because usually my luck is not that great.

Actually, the only reason I brought the camera was that I wanted to take a picture of the valley on the other side of the switchbacks (the first photo in this blog). I think that spot ranks up there with some of the most beautiful views I have seen in Colorado, and I wanted the shot to put on one of my beer labels.

Anyway, it was nice to do some mountain biking again. I need to make sure I get out some more.

Lake Wellington

This past weekend, we went camping at Wellington Lake, which is a private lake (with private campsites) down in the Pike's Peak National forest. The reason we did a private campground is that I could not find any public campgrounds anywhere close to us that were not full of reservations for the weekend. One problem we have is that we do not plan far enough in advance to get reservations in. I do not know what weekends will be open until a week or before the weekend.

Anyway, on Thursday, the boys and I drove South 285, took a left at Pine Junction, traveled to FR550 and followed it to Wellington Lake. This gave Tracy a chick-flick night, and let us get an early pick (or so we thought) of the campsites.

The office at Wellington Lake was the most disorganized business setting I have ever seen. There was one lady checking people in where clearly, she needed one or two people helping out. She asked me if we wanted something by the lake (but without trees) or a mountain campsite (with trees but away from the lake). I decided to try a lake-side campsite, and she told me what campsites were available (or what campsites she thought were available) and had me go look at them to pick ours out. She gave me a choice of 5, but as it turned out, only two of them were actually available. Apparently, it she was so overwhelmed that she was unable to cross sites off in her little book as people claimed them.

Anyway, eventually, we claimed our site. The fee structure was sort of interesting to me. Rather than charge for the campsite, we paid per person per day. Apparently, you pay the same to go into the Wellington Lake area whether or not you camp there.

Thursday night, I was certain we had made the wrong decision (by the lake or in the mountains) because the wind by the lake was horrible from about 10pm until early in the morning.


But the next day, we ate our oatmeal, and got ourselves back in the minivan to go pick up Tracy. We got back to Wellington Lake around lunch time, so we ate lunch. The weather was rainy and windy and we spent time in the tent reading or playing games or whatever, but eventually all of a sudden, the sun came out BIG TIME. Very hot in the tent, so we went back to the office to rent a canoe. Yes, we (Tyler) fished, and no we did not catch anything. Connor was very nervous about sitting in the canoe. He was pretty convinced that we would tip over.

Luckily, Friday night was not windy, and Saturday was just gorgeous.


We went on a hike named "Waterfall Trail". It turned out to be a perfect length for Connor. Nice, since we had no idea going in. There were a lot of huge rocks and cave-like formations on the hike which was really cool. The waterfall was pretty neat too (we did not get a good picture actually by the waterfall, but the picture above is by the river as it goes down).


Our neighbors left during the day and left us some extra firewood, so we had a really good camp fire that night.


The picture above is our campsite on Sunday after we packed up. It is a really pretty spot, isn't it?

Tyler goes back to school next week. I do not know where the summer has gone. I am sort of hoping for a long Indian Summer so that we can get one or two more camping trips in this year. Next year I have to do a better job planning in advance.

Second Wind Fund

Well... Tracy signed up the Colorado Shepards for a run / walk / ride for the Second Wind Fund of Metro Denver. The event is in September.

The mission of the SWFMD is to decrease the incidence of teen suicide by removing financial and social barriers to treatment for all at-risk youth. SWFMD operates in the Denver metro area; nearly 1,400 metro Denver youth have been referred to them for ongoing counseling.

Apparently, they don't only want us to appear and walk / run / ride, but also want us to help them raise money. If you feel this is a worthy charity and wish to give, you can do so using the handy / dandy widget:



You can also check out my "Fund Raising Page" by going to http://www.firstgiving.com/sheppy



I realize my target is probably pretty high especially given my lack of wealthy friends. We'll have to see how the page actually does.

Breckenridge

Well, my wife's birthday is July 3rd, and our tradition is that we always (well usually anyway) go away to some mountain town for the 4th of July weekend. This year, like last year, I intended to get started making reservations earlier, but it always seems to sneak up on me. And, like last year, I panicked and reserved a condo in Breckenridge. Breckenridge always works well because I know how to find last-minute 2 bedroom condos in Breckenridge at pretty reasonable prices (at least during the non-snow-skiing months). We are also familiar enough with Breckenridge that I do not have to investigate activities before we go.


Anyway, we ended up in Breckenridge again this year for Tracy's birthday. We spent the 4th downtown playing on the inflatable playthings they always have for kids and then watching the independence day parade. Connor and I went back to the condo for a nap before the parade was done. Not sure if I will be able to survive these mountain mini-vacations when Connor no longer takes naps, because as it turned out, I really needed the nap too.


On the 5th, we drove our bikes down to Frisco (about 15 minutes from Breckenridge) and rode along Lake Dillon. The ride was a bit more hilly than I remembered, but Tyler really did a good job on the hills. There were a couple of places he had to stop and walk up the end of a hill, but he surprised me on a most of them, making it up by himself. He also did a good job staying over to the right and even navigated a stretch that goes right by the rode pretty well. It was a good ride to a playground in Dillon where we had lunch and played on the playground equipment.


And, on the way home on the 6th, we stopped by an overlook over Lake Dillon to take a family picture over the lake. Those of you who have been in our house might remember the poster-sized photo we have of the family before Connor was born. We (or at least I) keep telling people that we should update the picture now that we have Connor, and now we finally have done the first step towards that goal. Now we just have to order a poster-sized print and there we have it.

So, we had fun in Breckenridge. The weekend flew by as they always do, and I really did not want to wake up to go to work this week. But, it was worth it, I'm sure.

Talent

My 7 year old son drew and then colored this picture. He did not trace the Blackhawks logo. He did have a printed out copy that he looked at while drawing his version. I personally think he did an awesome job, and I do not think it is because I am his father and am proud of everything he does. He really did a great job. In fact, everyone who has seen the picture in person is extremely impressed, even our new neighbor across the street who tragically is another one of those Red-Wing fans.

Honestly, his drawing talent is somewhat of a mystery. It certainly is not genetic as neither I nor my wife would have been able to do this.

Mr. Root Beer Part 2

So, this past weekend, we tried the Mr. Root Beer that we mixed up the previous weekend.

It was good. It was really really good. If you like root beer, you would really like this stuff. I think even if you do not like the mass-produced-soda-company root beers, you may like this one. It is much more flavorful. It is just better than most root beers.

I cannot get Connor to try it. He tells me he does not like root beer. The boy has never tasted root beer. Connor quite frequently says he does not like various foods. Usually, this is before he tries the food. I sort of want him to try the root beer, but not enough to try real hard to convince him. Root beer is, after all, mostly sugar water.

Tyler says he like the Root Beer, really has no point of reference as to how good it is compared to other root beers. And, he is not nearly as excited about drinking the root beer as I thought he would be. He says he prefers Sprite (can you imagine that?)

But, we shared with some people we had over on Saturday for grilled brats and burgers. Everyone who tried it thought it was just awesome. So, the root beer was a success. Too bad the boys do not quite appreciate what good stuff they made. But, maybe that is a good thing. As I mentioned, root beer is mostly sugar water.

Mr. RootBeer

My boys and I mixed up some Mr. Root Beer this weekend. My dad sent us a Mr. Root Beer kit awhile back. We tried to make our first batch back then, but somehow one of the kids (Connor would be my guess) misplaced the actual Root Beer Flavoring bottle. We did not discover this until it was time to add it, and we ended up trying to make it without the root beer flavor. It turned out pretty bad. Basically, root beer without the extract is white sugar and brown sugar water. As it turns out, the extract is the worst part to lose, because the kit came with 2 of everything EXCEPT the extract bottle (one bottle of extract is good for 2 batches).

Since then, I ordered a refill, and we finally got around to "brewing" another root beer batch, this time with the actual Root Beer Flavoring. Carbonation involves a little wine yeast for a couple of days (which means our root beer will have a little alcohol in it, but not much I think). Today, we felt the plastic bottles and decided that they were hard enough to indicate a good amount of carbonation, so we put them in the fridge.

We will probably chill them until this weekend and see how home-made Root Beer (with actual Root Beer Flavoring) tastes.

I'll keep you informed.

RMNP Camping

I meant to go camping Memorial Day Weekend, but waited too long to get a decent reservation. Back before kids, that would not matter, but now-a-days, I do not trust being able to just find a first - come - first - serve campsite. So, we decided to wait until the weekend after Memorial Day Weekend to do our camping. As it turned out, my procrastination was a good thing. The weather was much better when we went than it was over the Memorial Day weekend. Just another example of my Semi-Charmed kind of life.
Our camping trip was to Rocky Mountain Nation Park. Again. We had alot of fun. I really liked the campsite we got this time, and will try to get this one or one of them real close next time we come here.
Isn't the picture of the hugging boys cute? It makes Daddy happy to see the boys get along.

Anyway, I hope you like the pictures. It was really pretty up there, and the pictures really don't do it justice. As I type this, I just finished watching the Pens beat the evil Red-Wings to force a game seven. As it turns out, I will not be able to watch game seven live, so don't tell me what happens. I'm sort of watching Magic vs. Lakers right now too. Hockey is so much more exciting to watch than basketball. I really don't understand why hockey is not a more popular T.V. sport here in America.

Anyway. Go Pens. Sorry I can't help them out Friday. I'll do what I can through the DVR on Sunday.

35 lbs

This has to be the best commercial I've ever seen. I wonder who had to go through and find all these pictures.

Crud

Well, I was right. I am in a bad mood today.

At least the Hawks were not embarrassed. Huet played an excellent game and the Hawks went to overtime with a chance to win. They didn't, though.

To make matters worse, my brother-in-law stopped by from Wisconsin last night. For some unknown reason, my sister married a Red Wings fan. Other than that little fact he is a good guy, and he was at least compassionate to keep the trash-talk down, but none-the-less, it was worse having to process the loss while he was sitting there with a big grin on his face.

Go Penguins.

2day

Today is Tyler's last day of 1st grade. Yesterday, he was real excited because I told him I would go to the 2nd grade picnic with him. Because his GT class is 1st and 2nd grade, his whole class got to go to a picnic for the 2nd grade of his school. But around 10:30, I got an email from his teacher letting me know that because of rain, the picnic was canceled, so I did not go.

I feel bad. Mondy night, Tyler told Mommy how excited it was that Daddy was coming. I feel sort of like I let him down. Shouldn't a Dad be able to control the weather? Not sure why I can't. I can fight wolves and saber tooth tigers and dinosaurs and dragons. My boys can fly when they are around me. I help them travel through time and space. I have untold super Dad powers. We fight evil together, but I cannot stop a little rain?

Weak.

Speaking of weak, the Blackhawks play tonight. After last game, my expectations are not real high. Huet apparently forgot how to stop pucks, and the kid that the Hawks picked up off the Chicago streets really cannot be expected to do much. The Bulin Wall has been out and even if he is back, he was pretty shaky last time he played.

Plus, the Redwings are just too good. Oops... Did I say that out loud? At home with questionable goal tending for the opposition, in an elimination game, the Evil Redwings are just too solid to not be favored.

Don't tell any Redwing fans that I said that.

I guess considering he recent past (and not so recent) of the Blackhawks playoffs (or lack thereof), I should be happy no matter what happens tonight. And if you look at the young talent on the team, the Hawks really should be good for a long time. Playing in the same division as they evil wings is a bummer, but those jerks cannot be great forever (I hope). Yes, I should be happy for a great season and a bright future, but if the Hawks lose 2nite, I will be unhappy. I will be in a bad mood after the game. I will yell at the poor announcers during the Nuggets game. I will probably be short with the wife and kids. I'll probably kick the dog. Ok I do not have a dog. But the point is: a Hawks defeat will put me in a bad mood. It will be even worse than my usual mood when the Redwings win. It will probably ruin my week. Do not cross me the next few days if the Hawks are defeated.

Anyway, the game is starting any second. I hope I remembered to set the DVR.

Bike Ride

We didn't have the best Memorial Day Weekend weather. It is always nice to get rain, but it really would have been nice to get more sun on the long weekend.

We did go for a bike ride up Waterton Canyon on Saturday. Waterton is about a 20 minute drive for us. It is basically the start of the Colorado Trail, so I guess we really could have biked 500 miles, but Tyler is not really ready for single tracks, so we stay on the first part of the trail.

Tracy really likes biking here because it is a really wide bike trail for about the first 7 miles (after which comes the single track up into the mountains), and although it is definitely a slight elevation gain, for the most part it feels pretty flat until you start to head back and realize it is a much easier ride heading back out.

Tyler really likes the trail, because it is the only place he has riden that has clearly visible mile markers to let him know how far he has gone. I think he also appreciates the wide trail and the mostly-flat ride. And, I think he really likes the way he can go faster back out of the Canyon.


Connor doesn't much care about any of that. He just rides in the trailer talking to his stuffed Gorilla, and enjoying himself when we stop.

Tyler's previous bike - riding record was to mile-marker 3, which means he did 6 miles. Saturday, he made it 5 miles in and 5 miles out to give him (are you ready for this?) 10 total miles. 10 miles is pretty good for a boy of 7.



That first picture was a shelter we stopped at for lunch. Tyler and Connor thought is was cool that its name was "Rattlesnake", but we did not see any snakes close by. The second picture is me and the boys on a little side trail we walked up after lunch.

And, here we all are on a bridge about 4 and a half miles from the start of the trail. The kids liked dropping rocks through a little drainage hole in the bridge and watching them drop to the water.

So, this was the only out-doorsy type thing we did this weekend. Usually we are camping Memorial Day weekend, but Daddy kept putting off making a reservation until nothing was left. Considering all the rain, I am glad we did not end up going camping. It should be nicer this coming weekend.

Here is a little picture of Mommy and Daddy snowshoeing up in Estes park a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't really go with this blog, but I meant to post it back around the time we went on our kidless weekend getaway, and just never got around to it.

Playoffs

It has been a long time since I've had a such an interest this far into both the basketball and hockey playoffs. Quite frankly, it is exhausting. I have to rearrange my schedule around both the Blackhawks and the Nuggets. When I was watching to see the Red Wings or LA lose, I did not have to watch every single game or even all of any of the games. If it was not a good game, or I had something else I had to do, the TV could just stay off. When the Blackhawks are on, I HAVE to watch every minute of the game. The Nuggets are not quite as important to me, but close, and ironically, my wife has suddenly become a Nuggets fan. Welcome to the bandwagon, dear.

If not for my two-tuner DVR, I would be in real trouble since the NBA and NHL have conspired together to show "my" teams at overlapping times more often than not.

Last year, I made fun of Dot Soup's playoff beard. I am pleased to note that apparently, he reads my blog, because this year he did not even bother with the facial hair. I am happy to provide such a service. Dot, next time leave a comment, OK?

I believe my buddy Patrick Kane also read my blog as he did not even try. Since he looks 15, I am pretty sure his beard would look even worse than Mr. Soup's did last year.

Unfortunately, my other buddy Jonny Toews either did not read the blog or does not realize that his playoff beard is almost as bad as Dot Soup's was last year. But, as long as he keeps playing well, I will not complain too much. Maybe if they lose tonight I'll get on him. Actually, I am not really sure what Toews is trying to do with his face. The mutton chops look like they are comming in fine, but his chin looks exactly like Dot Soup's from last year. It is like Jonny is shaving the chin every other day or something. Maybe he is saving the real beard for the Stanley Cup finals?

4 Gallons

I gave my 32nd pint to Bonfils Blood Center yesterday.

So, I know how to bleed... what do I want ... a medal? Well, actually I did get a medal. Well, not a medal exactly, but a nice pin that looks exactly like three others I've gotten over the years (except this one says 4 gallons instead of 1 2 or 3 gallons).

My wife asked me if eventually I get something bigger and fancier than a pin. I do not know. I guess I need to keep bleeding to find out.

Happy Beer Day

Today is the anniversary of the day that Germany passed its Beer Purity Law.

In Germany it is illegal to brew a beer with any ingredient other than malted grain, water, yeast, and hops. Apparently, April 23 is the day the law was enacted.

I do not know much about the law. Do you go to jail if you add honey to your wort? Does this law apply to home brewers or just commercial brewers? I do not know.

I do know that none of my home-brews pass muster with German Purity Law. All of my beers so far have a little something extra added for flavor or a boost in alcohol.

I will make sure my next beer is pure so that if any German guys come over I'll have something to serve them.

Happy Beer Day.

SUTA

Last night, I paid my quarterly State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) for all my employees. For those of you who are employees, unemployment tax (both state and federal) is one of those taxes that employers pay for you without you generally knowing it is being paid. Isn't that nice of us?

Considering I am the only employee of my S-Corp, I hate paying SUTA and FUTA (like I love paying the rest of my taxes ... right?) because I sort of suspect that it would be hard for me to ever actually collect unemployment back from the government. I am the owner of my company, so technically I always have a job unless I close down my S-Corp even if I cannot pay myself. I do not know if I am correct about how hard it will be for me to collect. God willing I will never find out. But, even though SUTA and FUTA are not big expenses (in comparison to the other taxes I pay), I get angry paying them. As the company bookkeeper / accountant / owner / etc... I have plenty of opportunity to pay lots of taxes and plenty of opportunity to get angry at the IRS.

Last night, I got a surprise. My SUTA payment was about 1/3 as much as it was last year. Of course, I was sure that I had made a calculation mistake, but I did verify that, yes, my SUTA rate went down this year. I'm sure I have Mr. Obama to thank, and I am a little embarrassed that it took me by surprise. If I had 1000 employees instead of just one, that would be quite a savings. I thought Obama hated rich jerks like me.

Today, it hit me. Most likely the fact that I pay significantly less on State Unemployment Tax might just mean the Feds are going to get me (I do not usually pay FUTA until the end of the year). But, I just looked it up and the FUTA rate is going down too (although not necessarily for me ... FUTA has weird rules around who pays what based partially on what you pay to your State).

It seems odd that at record levels of unemployment, I have to pay less into the unemployment pot, but I guess I'm not going to complain. Its just one more thing I'll just let Tyler's and Connor's grandchildren pay for as our nation's debt continues to rise.

T.V.

According to an article that came up on my iGoogle portal, the average American is watching 35 hours of T.V. a week. (here is the article). I do not know how the average American has so much time on their hands. Unless it is hockey playoffs or football season, getting in more than a couple hours of T.V. a week just does not happen at my house. And, even if it is one of those critical times of the year, I just do not have 5 extra hours a day. Basically to get in that much T.V. time, I would have to have the T.V. on from the time I get home until about an hour or two after I go to bed. The article does mention that the stats come from neilson, and that if someone has the T.V. on but is not watching, it would not be able to track that. It is a pet-peeve of mine people who have the T.V. on all the time even when they are not watching (and I know people like that).

I mentioned the article to a couple of guys I work with who both sort of mentally took stock of the shows they watch a week, and even though they both apparently have a lot more time to watch T.V. than I do, even so, they did not come close to 35 hours. So, that being the case, if 35 hours is an average, some people must be watching 40, 50, 60 hours of T.V. a week ... right?

I am shocked. Apparently, I need to talk to the average american to ask for tips on how to get so much free time.

Tax Day

Due to a somewhat complex situation with company K1s, I had to file an extension with the IRS this year. Of course, I still had to do all the tax prep work because even if you delay your filing, the government still wants its money. And since my goal is always to delay giving my money until I have to, I do not come close to getting a refund. So, I wrote a large check to the IRS to send in with the extension.

Of course, the reason I had to extend is because I do not have final numbers on one of my companies, so I have to make a guess. If I do not pay the government enough, I have to pay a fee and interest. But, if I overpay, is the IRS going to give me interest on my overpayment? No. Does not seem fair, does it?

Then, of course, being the small-business owner that I am, I need to pay estimated taxes for the first quarter of 2009 on top of my "final" payment of 2008.

And now, I am not even done. I still need to finish up the last of the return once I get my last K1.

I hate tax day.

At least I am not one of those suckers who lent the government significant interest free money to the IRS this year. (anyone who gets a refund)