Hiking Colorado

SQL Server Saturday

2012-01-06T23:25:00.002-07:00

Ah, the weekend! I was hoping to get out on the trail tomorrow but I am headed to the SQL Server Saturday meeting up at Mr. Biggs. A team member that I work with Mr. Mark Halstead is presenting and several others are attending.

Mark is presenting on PowerShell and VBScript for the DBA: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/viewsession.aspx?sat=104&sessionid=6106

XTIVIA is proud to be Bronze sponsor and congratulations to Mark for being selected to present. Maybe I’ll se you there!

Walking to work and back

2012-01-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

I got of my ass and walked to and from work today. Took the longer route both ways and managed to get six miles in. I left the house at 6:30am and got home tonight at 6:30pm. Got to walk in the dark for most of the trip home.

Colorado Birds

2012-01-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of years I have been taking pictures of birds when I come across them on the trail or around the house, mostly in the back yard. I took some of the pictures and made an attempt of making a video montage. Some of the pictures are better than others. I hope you enjoy!

Party's Over

2012-01-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Holidays are over and tomorrow it is back to work. Going to be a busy year and looking forward to it. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you the best for the New Year!

Let’s see I was planning on doing the Mt. Rosa loop on Sunday but my hiking partner slept in. Then I thought I would do it today but I didn’t want to spend my last day off gone for 6 hours.

It was a great day to be outside so I headed over the shop to see what work I could get done.

I got a new blast cabinet a week of so back and today seemed like the day to get it all put together and ready for operation. It went together pretty easy doing it by myself. I need to get some sand and then I can look forward to blasting something. This one is larger than my old one so I should be able to blast bigger pieces.

Once the blaster was all setup I spent a little time working on the west wall. I have most of the insulation up and am just about ready for sheetrock but that will have to wait until spring/summer, just too darn cold in the shop without any heat. Heat is on the list but it is going to be a while.

I loaded up a new back pack and will be trying it out this week for when I walk to work. I am planning to try to walk everyday this week. I started a new spreadsheet for 2012 to start tracking my mileage and diet. I have a lot of travel planned for the month of January so I am going to have to get used to the treadmill when on the road.

Happy Hiking

2011-12-31T09:45:00.002-07:00

I didn’t make it out on the trails yesterday but I did end up doing just a little over 4/miles on the treadmill. This week hasn’t been too bad for getting miles in, I am now just over 20 for this week. It doesn’t look like I am going to make it out today. The wind is really blowing and we have wind advisory warnings. I'll try to get on the treadmill later today.

Happy Hiking

Seven Bridges Loop

2011-12-29T17:56:00.010-07:00

This morning I drove up to the GCR parking lot. I expected to see a few more cars in the parking lot at 10AM, there were only three other cars. I headed up GCR and figured I would either do Seven Bridges of go up to St. Mary’s Falls. Well Seven Bridges won as it was the first trail that I came across.

On my way up GCR I came across two guys who were just coming back from doing St. Mary’s and said that the trail was decent, it had seen a lot of action since the snow. So I caught trail 622 which is also known as Seven Bridges. Hiked up to the Jones Park area and there is still plenty of snow and once again I could have used my snow shoes but didn’t have them with me.

I managed to find trail 668 and then over to 666 for about mile before catching trail 667 aka Captain Jacks. I then worked my way down the Mt. Buckhorn trail back to GCR. I moved a little quicker today. Hiking time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes with a total distance of 6.83 Miles. Once again another great work out with an elevation gain of 2155 ft.

I managed to get a few pictures today and have included or you can view all the pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111229?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWi18LHj-3vlQE

Not sure where I am headed tomorrow but you can rest assured I will let you know.

Happy Hiking

Paint Mines Interpretive Park

2011-12-28T15:41:00.002-07:00

Today I headed out to do one of my favorite hikes, the Paint Mines. I drove out highway 24 to Calhan, CO. It’s about 35/Miles from Colorado Springs. This isn’t a long hike, today I managed to get 3/miles in. What makes this hike so much fun is that the scenery is so different that what you find in the mountain areas.

You will find it hard to believe that such great rock formations exist just outside in the Colorado plains. The mines have evidence of human life as far back as 9,000 years ago. The colorful clays were used by American Indians. The park features fantastic geological formations including spires and hoodoos that were formed through erosive action that created incised gullies and exposed layers of seienite clay and jasper.

All of today’s pictures can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111228?authkey=Gv1sRgCMvwlJuEzNOYBg

I had to trek through some deep snow in the canyon areas. It was pretty slick climbing on some of the rocks. I actually fell a couple times today and need to clean up my camera. It was cold in the shade and the wind was blowing. In the sun wasn’t to bad.

If you like hiking and are looking for something different I would recommend this hike. You better get to it soon as I am sure that at some point they will begin limiting the trails and you may not have access any longer.

Happy Hiking

Trail 666

2011-12-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I headed out to get some miles in. Drove up to GCR and parked in the parking lot at the bottom of High Drive. Threw on my gear and headed up the road. I got a chance to use just about everything today. I had my stableicers on and wore them for the entire hike. Had my nano on and my tunes going and was trying my new GPS for the first time on the trail.

I hiked up High Drive to the trail head for trail 666. This isn’t one of my favorite hikes but it has a decent incline and it is a great work out. I wish I had taken my snow shoes as I could have used them today. I figured the trail would have seen a lot more activity than it had. For about the first 2 miles up I was hiking up in someone else’s snowshoe tracks. But then they stopped and I was now walking through a good 8 to 12 inches of snow. I did about another mile up to the junction of trails 666 and 667. That deep snow was a real work out trying to get through.

All pictures can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111227?authkey=Gv1sRgCNCt9IbOjIjahQE

I was on the look out for any bird photo opportunities. I was only able to get two pictures and neither of them was all that decent. I have several different bird whistles on my phone. I would stop and play them along the trail to see if I could get any birds to come fly my way. I need to get a Finch song as that is what I saw today.

All together I was able to get 6.44/miles in. I hiked 3.22/miles up with an elevation gain of 2221/ft. The average slope was 12% incline on the way up and -12% on the way down. I moved pretty slow today as up and back it took me just over 4 hours. I contribute the slowness to the deep snow.

I have to admit it was beautiful up there today. Snow everywhere and in the sunlit area’s the snow just glistened like diamonds. I had some great views of the stream in between the snow. It was just great to be out.

Didn’t come across anyone on the trail today and until I was just about back to the truck. A guy and girl came past me on cross country skis.

I am going to try to get out again tomorrow, not sure where yet.

Happy Hiking

IPod Nano

2011-12-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to receive a IPod Nano recently at a holiday party that I attended. Thank you Xtivia! At first I didn’t get that thrilled about it as I have an older classic IPod that I have carried with me for the last couple of years. But after getting it home and adding my favorite playlist it was all setup and ready to go. Being so small I was concerned that I would loose it or leave it in my pant pocket and run it through the washer.

Well guess what they make really cool watch band that will turn you nano into a really nice wrist watch, with your favorite music and photo’s all there on you wrist. I asked Santa for one and she gave me one for Christmas. It’s great! I have been wearing this for the last couple of days. Today I used it for a hike up trail 666. It worked great and with it on your wrist you can run your earphones inside your sleeve and up your back. So you don’t have a wire hanging in the front that gets tangled with you back pack strap or camera strap. Being on your wrist it is easy to get to so you can check the time or change up your playlist.

Garmin Foretrex 401

2011-12-27T19:50:00.003-07:00

For Christmas Candy got me a new GPS. It is a Garmin Foretrex 401 and it fits nicely on the wrist. Much smaller than my Map 60 that I carry. I plan on getting out and testing it to see how it works.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=30026&ra=true

2011-12-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

Wow what a week. I got home from Austin Texas last night it was a full day of travel. Candy picked me up at the airport at around 4:30 and we stopped and grabbed a sub on the way home. I then spent most of the evening working on email from the week that I was tardy on replying to.

The week in Austin went well. We had one of our Business Partners in the office to do training with our team. Had our client visit us from Angola and spent time with our AWESOME team in the evenings as well as having a big holiday party.

I had planned on going out on a hike this morning and it was a great day for one. I was exhausted and didn’t get out of bed until 10AM. Guess I needed the rest. I did spend an hour on the treadmill and managed to get 4/miles in. I feel better and hope to get our tomorrow.

I was out in the backyard this afternoon and the squirrels were going crazy. I counted eight

of them all together. They were jumping from tree to tree and chasing each other all over the place. I grabbed the camera and snapped up a few pictures. I guess the nice weather brought them out of their nests.

I put some food the in feeder and they spent most of the day fighting over the food and taking turns eating.

Happy Hiking

2011-12-10T21:08:00.001-07:00

I managed to get a lot of work done today. Headed into the office in the morning to catch up on overdue work items as I had been on the road this week and was a little behind in email, etc. Made a trip up to Milwaukee for client meetings this week and that went very well.

Made it back to the house about 1:30pm and did some house work. We decided to head out for a little walk in Bear Creek Park. Left from the house and did a 4.5/mile loop. We were a little over dressed or so I thought as we got started. In the sun it was nice, but in the shade and once the sun set over the mountain it cooled off quick.

Tried several times to get a few bird pictures, but they just wouldn’t hold still. We saw magpie, finches and a few others. I did manage to snap off a few pictures and I included them below.

Headed out again in the morning to see if I can do double what I did today.

Happy Hiking

2011-11-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin. I guess first here is wishing you a belated Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you had a great day and enjoyed time with friends and family and you were able to take count of all the things you are thankful for.

Around our house for Thanksgiving Day it was Candy, Eric, Clark and I here for dinner. Candy did all the cooking and she did an awesome job! We had turkey and all the fixings. We just finished off the turkey this evening with turkey noodle soup.

With this being a short week, I took the first three days of it off for vacation. More like a working vacation but I did manage to get a few things completed this week. I guess let’s start at the beginning.

I spent most of the week working on Clark’s room trying to get it completed before I leave town next week. I am happy to report that the room is finished and tomorrow we can move Clark back in.

I pretty much replaced everything. I put in new doors and door frames. All new flooring, paint and oak trim. I started out by painting the ceiling and walls first and then laid the floor. A lot of time was spent on the staining of the doors and door frames. I had already stained the trim so that was out of the way. All together this project took me eight days to complete. This looks a whole lot better than what we had down there before. Clark should be pretty jazzed once we get hit settled back in.

So a quick mileage update for the month of November. To date I have managed to get 40.5/miles logged. Not bad but not great! I need to get out tomorrow and get a few extra miles in. Especially after all the eating I have been doing this week.

On Tuesday I headed out and did a 7/mile loop. I took a little different route this time than I normally do when I cross the mountain. Hiked up to GCR and then headed up the side of the mountain. This new trail was pretty much all incline and I could feel it. I hope to be able to do it again tomorrow. I need to do it again tomorrow.

I did manage to snag a few nice pictures while I was out. I came across two pretty cool looking nests. The first one pictured is an old wasp’s nest. Luckily the tenants had moved on. This second picture, I am not sure what type of nest it is, but I am guessing a squirrel nest. Also found a nice Magpie posing as well as a couple of deer grazing.

Even had time to get the Christmas decorations out and up both inside and out. Looks like the Christmas holiday is on it's way.

Happy Hiking

2011-11-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

No work on the basement tonight but I did get a couple miles in on the treadmill, 2.5/miles to be exact. Tomorrow I am headed up to Cheyenne WY. to meet with two of our clients. So trying to figure out when I am going to get my walking in. Guess I will try in the morning before I leave, so looks like an other early morning.

As of today I am now up to 27.2/miles for the month.

2011-11-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a little more done on the basement this evening. Finished up all the trim removal and have the truck loaded and ready to make a run to the dump. I had a gallon of primer so I went ahead and rolled it over the blue walls. Didn’t have enough to cut in around the corners and ceiling. One evening this week I will need to make a trip to HD, need to get the door frames and doors and pick up some more primer and the paint.

If I can get my butt up early enough I am going to try to make a dump run in the morning. They open as 7am so I should be good. I have to do it tomorrow as I need to drive up to Cheyenne WY for meetings on Thursday.

I only got 1.5/miles in today and did that on the treadmill after work. That brings me up to 24.5/miles for this month.

2011-11-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

I wouldn’t normally say this but man I am glad the weekend is over. It has been crazy busy around here this weekend and I don’t see it slowing down. Of course it is my own fault so I guess I can’t really complain.

Saturday morning a friend of mine showed up and we started tearing out the windows in the basement bathroom and the bedroom. They came out easy and the new ones went in just as easy. We started at 9am and were done by noon.

Once that was done my buddy left and I started the demolition on the basement bedroom. Managed to get all the carpet, pad and trim removed. It went pretty quick except for removing the carpet tack strips.

I am also replacing all the interior doors and frames in the basement. This should be fun as I haven’t done this before, but doesn’t look to tuff.

It was crazy windy here in the springs yesterday and through the night. Over at the Bott house we had two sections of fence blow down. This morning candy I ran over there and got everything nailed back up.

From there we headed over to Red Rock Canyon and did a quick two mile loop. Saw a coyote down in the valley. I snapped this picture but it is not great. Had some great views of Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods.

We got all the carpet, pad and trim loaded up in the back of the truck. The dump is closed on Sunday’s and it won’t be until Tuesday that I can get over there and unload. That’s ok as I still have a few more trim pieces to remove from the hallway.

2011-11-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that with today being National Metal Day, I setup a new playlist on the IPod and was jamming on my way to work and back. Here is a sampling of the tunes I was listing to.

2011-11-11T20:02:00.001-07:00

We had a great day here in Colorado. It actually warmed up a little and was great weather for walking. I managed to log 5.2/miles in by walking to work and back. I hope this nice weather holds for a few days. Tomorrow a friend is coming over to help me replace two basement windows.

Need more time

2011-11-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

I had meetings yesterday so didn’t walk to work and then when I got home I started clearing out the boy’s bedroom. Moving him into the family room that we just finished and now starting on his room. I ordered new windows for his room and the down stairs bathroom. They showed up yesterday so time to get to work on the next remodel effort.

I have the trim work already stained. On the last room that took the longest to get done as it took two coats of stain and then polyurethane. Then had to wait for it to dry. I’ll start adding some pictures as we get going.

National Metal Day 11.11.11

2011-11-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

For all you headbangers out there and even those of you who won't admit that you love that headbanging, hard slamming Rock N Roll, get ready. VH1 has dubbed November 11th 2011 as National Metal Day. Be sure to tune in to VH1 Classic to see all your favorite head banging bands.

Here are a couple of my favorites to get you ready!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oobDQ0vdm8M - GnR Sweet Child O Mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU&ob=av2e - Judas Priest Breaking the Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aIhh9nFYv4 - Black Sabbath Paranoid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d57WGkhi-M&feature=related - Motley Crue Shout at the Devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_3TlrZLpQ0 - Accept Balls To The Wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h45WnW0ASFY - Motorhead Eat the Rich

More goats

2011-11-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Seeing the goats last night on the way home, I thought I would walk to work that way this morning and see if I could get some better pictures with the morning light. I left the house at 6:45am and headed down the street. First thing I came across with this big buck eating grass in someone’s yard.

I am guessing there are close to 150 goats grazing in the park. They have a makeshift fence that they move from to area once the goats have eaten all the grass in the fenced in area.

Only 2.5/miles today as I didn’t get through with work until late and didn’t have my headlamp with me for the walk home in the dark. Called the wife and she came and picked me up and gave me a ride home.

My top 10 played songs on the IPod

2011-11-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

When you are trying to make it up the hill, you need some good tunes with a snappy beat to keep you moving. Here are the top 10 played songs on my IPod.

Colorado Weed is the Best!

2011-11-08T20:02:00.001-07:00

Got off my ass and walked to and from work today. It was a little cold this morning, I think 19 degrees. I was dressed for it so it wasn’t an issue. Back and forth to work was an easy 5/miles to add to the log.

On my way home I came through the south Bear Creek Park area. Once a year they bring in the goats to eat the weeds. I snapped the pictures below of the goats. I was trying to come up with a catchy caption to add and and this was the best that I could come up with "Colorado Weed is the Best".

2011-11-03T16:17:00.002-06:00

For lunch today I headed back over to the gym. It’s nice that it is about a mile from the office. Managed to get 4/miles on the treadmill then some lifting. Need to keep after it!

2011-11-03T10:08:00.001-06:00