June 2nd weekend – Saturday morning began a bit
early as brunch with Jeff was in the plans.
I got Susan out of bed around 8:00 for coffee after which we met Jeff at
Great Beginnings. We were a little late
as coffee-time went on a little long.
The food was pleasant as was the conversation. Once back home Susan and I proceeded to have
a busy day. We swapped wheels on the evo
and RS, mowed, sprayed for weeds, weed whacked, trimmed the hedges for the
first time, changed the oil in the RS, washed and applied Hoosier stickers on
the evo, loaded up and moved the tow rig down to the lower 40, and were
unsuccessful in starting the rallybus.
Not sure at the moment what the issue is but it stopped cranking with
the key after a whole lot of trying.
Bella spent much of the day hanging out in the garage as we did this and
that and generally was well-behaved. The
weather was just about perfect. Warm
enough for shorts but cool enough to be able to work outside without becoming
drenched in sweat. Late in the day Susan
made chicken and I supplemented dinner with a salad. The remainder of the evening was spent with
Bella on the couch.
Sunday began later as our only firm plan was to buy a 2002
Subaru Impreza RS. Ah, you might be
thinking this a little weird as we already own a 2001 Subaru Impreza RS. Well, between 2001 and 2002 a massive
generation change occurred in the Impreza model. Plus it was a really good deal from fellow-rallycrossing
friends of ours, Neil and Carol Rickli.
They were selling off all their cars before moving to Florida. The Impreza was the last car left and, after
it languishing on craigslist for a while, I messaged Neil a low-ball offer
which he accepted. When word spread they
were leaving I had inquired about the vehicle but his asking price was a bit
high. So Sunday morning we drove over to
the Ricki’s home to purchase the car. As
is often our nature, we left early as we found ourselves ready to go ahead of
time. To burn some of the excess minutes
we stopped at Tipsy’s to look at the various boozy things they sell. Once at the Ricki’s house we went inside to
chat and fill out the necessary paperwork.
We really will miss them as Neil and Carol have been active in the
racing community and we consider them pretty good friends. We stayed for over an hour talking before
finally heading out.
It might be noted that this is the first car we’ve bought
without a test drive. Hilariously I
received a face-full of dust when I turned on the air. Yes, this was their rallycross car for the
past five years. I also found that the
air conditioning wasn’t working and the alignment felt off. No biggie as after we got home and unloaded
the wheels and tires (it came with three sets: summer tires, winter tires, and
rally tires) we fixed what we could. I
charged the air conditioning twice (the first time I forgot to run the car at
the same time) and installed a cabin air filter. We washed Bug (its new name) but found a lot
of pesky tree sap that resisted cleaning.
We bought some cleaner that said it could deal with sap but discovered
using our finger nails to pick it off was much more effective. At some point soon I’ll have the air
conditioning checked for leaks and will have Bug aligned.
Lunch was Qdoba which we ate outside as the restaurant’s air
conditioning wasn’t working and it was a pleasant day. We picked up groceries for the next week and
other odds and ends at Walmart.
Eventually we got a picture of Bug next to the RS which really shows how
much things changed in one year. After
chilling on the couch for a time I fired up the grill and BBQ’d some brauts for
dinner. Bella joined us outside while
the meat cooked and Susan and I indulged on some Mike’s and talked about this
and that. Once through with the meal we
finished the weekend on the couch with Bella.
The next day (Monday) we met with some friends at Mt Fuji
hibachi for dinner to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. His personal odometer ticked over 32 this
year. For Susan and me the restaurant is
in the perfect place as it is only a couple of minutes away from our home. Thus we were 10 minutes early and waiting
outside for the others to arrive. We
were lucky that the staff would seat us early and before too long everyone was
at the table. It was a nice time as
everyone pretty much knew everyone and conversations abounded. The food was good, we sang a couple of “happy
birthdays”, and we ended up staying awhile after all the other tables were
cleared. I felt the strong vibe that the
employees were ready for us to go so I invited everyone to our house for a
nightcap. Most came and we hung out in
the garage until 10:30 talking about his and that. Twas a nice evening.
June 9 weekend – Saturday was an earlyish day for us. We awoke with an alarm around 8:00 for
coffee-time before loading up the Suburban with rally tires, wheels, and some
coolers. First we went to Costco for
some early wine shopping before heading up to rally.build to drop off the rally
tires and wheels for mounting. It was
around this time that our stomachs began protesting their lack of
sustenance. We settled on eating at the
old Denny’s we used to frequent often when we lived in Lakewood. As is the Denny’s-way the food was ok and the
service terrible. We still enjoyed
ourselves. We had one more stop to make
at Walmart where we bought food stuffs for the next week before finally heading
home to unload. It was brutally hot and
we were happy that the Suburban’s air conditioning was working so well on our
journeys. The final plan for the day was
a trip to Alamo Drafthouse to see Deadpool 2 in a few hours so we filled the
time exchanging our weed whacker (I believe it died of exhaustion) at Home
Depot and then whacking some plants with the new weed whacker. Eventually we hopped in Flo-Bug (the name changed
when the license plate I got had “FLO” spelled out on it) and made our way to
Alamo Drafthouse.
I’ve wanted to see Deadpool 2 since it came out but we
abstained to let the super-fans get their kicks in first. Our viewing of the first Deadpool was tarnished
by the over-the-top reactions of many such fans sitting around us. This time our experience was much improved as
the theatre was largely empty and those in attendance were better behaved. We enjoyed the movie, bottle of wine,
popcorn, and Susan - her fish and chips.
It’s not cheap to go to Alamo Drafthouse to see a movie but we generally
have a great time. Once home we spent
the rest of the evening with Bella on the couch.
Sunday was one of those glorious days where the only plan
for the day was to sleep in. Because
it’s how I roll I was up at 6:00 but Susan made up for my wakefulness by
staying in bed past 10:00. Coffee was
had and before long Susan was showering and went out to purchase clothes. I was content to play with our newest action
camera and accessories. It’s a tiny
GoPro and one of the many mounting things was a headband. Thus I decided to spend some time recording
my point of view while playing guitar. I
was finished before Susan was back and she ordered Jimmy Johns for lunch. I was feeling particularly lazy and didn’t
venture far from the couch for the remainder of the day. I rationalize that I just needed a day to do
not a whole lot. Bella was happy about
the whole affair and alternated licking my arms and feet and snoozing on
Susan’s lap for much of the day and evening.
Another great weekend!
June 16th weekend – Saturday began around 9:30
when we got up to drink our coffee and then go shopping at Walmart for
food. The plan was to host a
make-your-own-hamburger BBQ in the late afternoon so we bought a bunch of
ground beef and a few other things we thought might be good in a
hamburger. It was our only outing for
the day so we also got rotisserie chicken to eat for lunch when we got
home. We cleaned up the house and garage
a bit in preparation and set up some folding tables and chairs. We had time to burn so I spent a little of it
whacking plants about with the new and functioning weed whacker. Todd Briley came by to diagnose the rally
bus’ woes and determined the starter was bad.
It was around this time that our guests arrived.
Ken (+2 dogs), Greg and Sandra Tiedeman, Kari and Alvin (+1
dog), and Jeff graced us with their company.
We chatted and consumed adult beverages before finally getting out all
the burger accessories. We had diced
onion, fresh garlic, green chilies, un-cooked bacon bits, shredded cheese,
eggs, salt, pepper, and worstershire sauce.
Most everyone put most everything in each burger which worked out for
the most part. We pressed all but Greg’s
meatballs using the hamburger press I bought last year which yielded relatively
even patties. Grilling them was a bit of
a challenge for some of the moister burgers as they didn’t want to stay in one
piece. Eventually all were cooked and it
seemed the experiment was a success. We
learned a few lessons and will try again at some point in the future as it was
fun to do.
We hung out for a time longer before folks started peeling
off. Eventually we were left with just
Alvin and Kari and we chatted about this and that late into the evening. I believe they stayed until after 10:00
before they took their leave. Susan and
I somehow felt the urge to stay up past midnight ourselves. Something about winding down. Bella was incredibly tired. She was outside in the garage with us almost
the entire time and is not used to so much excitement.
We probably should have slept in longer on Sunday but I was
up at 6:00 and Susan around 8:00. She
made coffee and I rustled up some omelet thingies for breakfast using leftover
ingredients from Saturday. Not long
after and Todd was back to install a new starter on the rally bus which seemed
to work alright. Susan and I then jumped
in Scrappy for a drive up to Karen and John’s home to celebrate Father’s
Day. Susan did the driving this time
which was great for me as I almost always am behind the wheel. I spent much of the journey just looking
around at the scenery and alternating between minor bouts of car-sickness and
wonder. There was an accident on C470
that caused us to be late and we stopped to put up the soft-top as the clouds
were threatening but otherwise the trip was pleasant enough.
Upon arrival it was boys in the living room and girls in the
kitchen. Not that a lot of cooking
happening in the kitchen or riveting conversation occurring in the living
room. It just seems that’s how we
arrange ourselves to chat. Eventually we
sat down to eat BBQ procured from a local establishment which was
delightful. Before, during, and after
the meal the clouds unloaded great torrents of rain upon Conifer Mountain. Much lightning and subsequent thunder
accompanied the deluge. A lot of our
time was spent watching Alvin and Kari’s new doggies act up with Karen and
John’s doggo. Eventually a dessert of
moose pie and ice cream was available for dessert which we all enjoyed. Around 4:30 and we were driving back
home. It was as soon as my derriere
established firm contact with the wet driver’s seat that I came to the
conclusion perhaps Scrappy was the wrong car to drive on a rainy day. Such is!
Susan and I stopped at Costco for wine and whatnot before finally
arriving home to a happy, but still tired, Bella. There was one minor traffic issue related to
a huge puddle across both lanes of C470.
Fortunately Scrappy had the clearance to get by without sucking up any water. We settled on leftover rotisserie for dinner
and spent the remainder of the weekend on the couch with Bella.
On Tuesday June 19th we adopted a Chihuahua from
Denver Animal Shelter. Susan had been
looking online for a pug or pug mix for a few weeks and we decided we could
handle a non-pug breed. Susan found this
little dog on Sunday and we met her at the shelter Monday night. Tuesday Susan brought Bella to work and we
all converged in the afternoon for a doggie introduction. It went much as we’d expected as they largely
ignored each other. As of this moment
she has no name but is already fitting into our lives.
Thursday night we settled on a name for our new dog –
Pebbles. Pebbles is a bit snappy at
Bella on occasion but has few teeth so can’t really follow through on her
threats.
June 23 weekend – Saturday began at 4:30 with Susan’s
alarm. In short order we were out the
door and on our way to FRA to put on an Intermediate RallyCross School. Susan drove Flo and I the rallybus. We arrived earlier than normal which was a
good thing as the entire site was covered in fairly mature winter wheat. This was something I didn’t think about too
much at previous events but now presented an issue. I immediately set about to cutting paths for
the day’s features using the bus and Flo which was incredibly effective. I was just about finished when the guys from
the airport came by and asked that we try to minimize the wheat destruction
where possible. As this really wasn’t
something that we could do much about and the contracts stated we could use the
entire site I didn’t give this a whole lot of thought. I put on a drivers meeting and then had the
students gather around to listen to me babble on about what I think would help
them improve as drivers. Not sure I was
very effective but I talked a lot. We
then split into three groups and struck out to attack the features. I was the lone instructor for my group and
jumped between all the cars dolling out what instruction I could. It was fun but exhausting. I also breathed a lot of dust and forgot to
bring water or wear sunblock.
Whoops!
By lunch I was pretty spent and drank enough water to upset
my stomach and thus could barely eat anything.
Such is though and I felt better soon enough. The afternoon had us setting up the timing
equipment on the Test & Tune course the Test & Tuners had established
during the morning. We then unleashed
the students and instructors to drive the course until 4:00. I even took a few laps in Flo and found the
car enjoyable to fling about. We were
more than ready to leave by the time we finally drove home. I do believe the school had value as the
students seemed to enjoy themselves and make real progress throughout the
day. As filthy as I was we still had
ourselves a sit-down meal at the Jimmy Johns near our house. We unloaded and hung out with Bella and
Pebbles for the rest of the evening.
The alarm was still set for 4:30 Sunday morning though we
did snooze it a couple of times before getting out of bed for the fifth
rallycross event of the season. Again we
arrived earlier than normal to find the gate to the site still locked. This didn’t exactly put me into a good mood
and after a few minutes I drove to the airport proper to ask that they send
someone out to remedy the situation. As
luck would have it someone came by right as I was pressing the buzzer at the
terminal and finally unlocked the gate.
After speeding back to the site entrance we finally made our way to
where we had left the bus the previous night.
The plan was for me to drive Flo and Susan the evo during the event so
Susan had driven Flo to the site and me the Suburban towing the evo. After unloading the evo I once again set to
plowing wheat for the day’s course. I
did have some aid in setting up cones and whatnot which helped get the course
finished faster than I expected. As I
knew I wouldn’t have time to swap the wheels out on Flo we scheduled the run
order so I would drive second and would take care of prepping while Susan drove
the evo. After the event was moving
along I stole a ride on Susan’s first run and finally swapped out Flo’s
wheels. It took much longer than
necessary as I was talking to a fellow rallycrosser for much of the time which
was fine. The morning runs went smooth
enough and lunch was called just before 12:30 which is around the time the
clouds started looking ominous.
Right when the event was set to begin the rain began to fall
in earnest. I decided to wait a half an
hour to see if the weather would blow through but then lightning started to
make an appearance which meant we had to delay further. Eventually I called off the afternoon runs as
everyone was just getting soaked while waiting around. I really hated to do it and honestly making
these kinds of decisions is the toughest part about running these events. As the event was done several volunteers
helped pick up load cones and equipment on the bus which was amazing. If they hadn’t stepped up it is likely we
would have left the cones for another day as the rain caused the whole field to
turn to slippery mud. There was a real
risk the bus would get stuck but underneath was still dry and, with a bit of
luck and drifting through the muck, I was able to pilot the thing to drier
terrain. We followed the last competitor
out and locked the gate a hair after 4:00.
Of course the storm had passed and the sky clear at this point. We went straight home and, after some
unloading, ordered pizza for dinner. It
was strange being home so early on a race day but we were glad the day was
through.
We took Monday off to recover from the race weekend and take
Pebbles to her required post-adoption vet visit. We woke around 9:30 and went to her
appointment at 10:30. The vet upsold us
on various vaccinations and whatnot but we were ok with it. She was in good health which is what we most
cared about. Afterwards we stopped by
Qdoba for lunch which we ate outside (I swear that location doesn’t utilize
a/c). Then we swung by Pets Mart to look
at dog toys. We left empty-handed but it
was fun walking Pebbles around looking at stuff. We really didn’t have any defined plans for
the remainder of the day but ended up doing some lawn work. Susan helped me mow, pull stakes, and
dismantle some fencing left from the previous owners. It was hot out but a light breeze made the
experience pleasant enough. After our
work on the lower 40 Susan brought out the pups and looked on as I sprayed
Groundclear on the driveway. Susan
suggested we BBQ for dinner so I cooked up burgers on the grill which we ate
outside. We absolutely LOVE hanging
outside on the east side of the garage in the afternoon. We’re shaded and the open garage doors allow
a breeze to keep us cool. Pebbles and
Bella were so cute and enjoyed being outside too. Eventually we cleaned up and headed for the
couch to finish out the weekend. All in
all it was a great one.
The last weekend in June – Saturday our slumber ended early
and abruptly when Susan received a message from her dad warning us of possible
hail in the afternoon. This sort of
message probably could have waited for later in the morning but once we were
awake we were up. After taking care of
the pups we drank our yummy coffee.
Susan’s phone again notified her of a message, this time from Sandra
asking if we wanted to come over later in the day for BBQ. Of course we accepted the invitation. Those were almost the only plans of the day
but we decided to head to Lowes instead.
There we bought a small window, a reciprocating saw, wood, and
caulking. After unpacking our goodies in
the garage we measured and cut a hole in the wall of our shed. It took a few cuts to make the hole big
enough for the window and it wasn’t perfect but soon enough we had the window
installed and the edges sealed with caulking.
We’ve been talking about getting a barn cat almost since we moved to the
Dogwood Estate and a windowed shed/barn was required. Step 1 complete!
With the memory of John’s message of inclement weather in
the afternoon we packed another car in the garage just in case. As I’m trying to sell Pitt and it has full
coverage it was the lone car left without shelter. The arrangement of our vehicles mattered not
though as, in the end, no hail fell on our homestead.
Around 4:30 and after Susan took a quick nap we left to the
Tiedemans for BBQ chicken wings. We
spent much of our time before eating sitting outside and chatting about this
and that and watching their dogs and cats doing their thing. They currently have two dogs and two cats of
their own plus a foster puppy they’d picked up the Thursday before. He was quite the cutie and there’s a good
chance he’ll be adopted soon. We saw
Tristan on occasion in between bouts of Fortnite which is the latest craze in
video games right now. Greg had
pre-cooked the wings in the oven, doused them in Buffalo Wild Wings sauce, and
then reheated them on the grill. They
were mighty tasty and there were scant few left after we ate our fill. We
stayed until just after dark before driving home. As we didn’t get our normal time on the couch
to wind down we proceeded to stay up later than normal hanging with the pups on
the couch before finally heading to bed.
Sunday we were up with the alarm at 7:45 for coffee before
we met Jeff for breakfast. The food was
good and made exactly how we wanted it which was nice. We mostly chatted about car stuff before
going our separate ways. Susan and I
went home to check on Flo’s tail lights (Jeff told us they were out; they
weren’t) and to drop off her leftovers.
We ended up pulling apart Scrappy’s tail light instead as it had one
which was indeed burned out. Once we
figured out we didn’t have a replacement bulb we added it to our list of things
to buy and went out. We found the bulbs
at AutoZone and then stopped by Pets Mart to buy cat accessories. Walmart then came next to buy more cat things
and groceries for the upcoming week. We
were excited when we unpacked and laid out our kitty goodies at home and soon
had them in the shed like we wanted them.
Susan wanted to start our barn cat search with Foothills
Animal Shelter so we loaded in our new pet carrier and drove that way. They were busy but eventually we were given
two barn cat options: one girl named Avalanche who liked to chew on cables and
a boy stray they named Ezra. As the shed
space would be shared with various cabled items we saw only Ezra. He was cute in his cat way and we agreed to
take him home.
The barn cat application process was short and we were soon
on our way with said kitty in tow. He
meowed basically the entire drive back but didn’t flail about. Per the instructions given by the shelter
staff we left him in his crate inside the shed for an hour and I BBQ’d
lunch. Susan and the pups hung outside
while I cooked and we ate in the shade of the garage.
Once the hour was up we apprehensively opened up the kitty
kennel and out strode the sweetest cat you could imagine. He came out stretching for pets and
scritches. He never tried to bite or
scratch Susan or myself. This was far
from the rough-and-tumble barn cat we were prepared for. As he was a stray and his given name
meaningless I dubbed him “Slayer” in the hope that he will slay many
rabbits. Almost unbelievably, Susan went
along with it and his name is now Slayer.
Later in the evening we visited him again and he was still happy to see
us. Slayer the friendliest cat.
The rest of the weekend was spent on the couch with Bella
and Pebbles. Susan had them most of the
time but that was alright as they were both so cute and happy to be with
her. Dinner was yummy Jimmy Johns. Bella got a little bit of this and that which
is the way of ordering Jimmy Johns anymore.
June was a crazy month of change for us. We added a Chihuahua and a barn cat to our
household. We have such good luck as
they are both wonderful pets. Pebbles is
still skittish but we think she’ll loosen up over time. Slayer is learning the shed is his home and
we’re looking forwards to fewer rabbits and various vermin around the house and
property. I admit I don’t think I’ll
mind if he fails in his hunting duties though as he’s such a sweetheart. The instructions we received for our barn cat
include keeping him locked in our shed for two weeks first before allowing him
free reign during the day.
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