The Savior Family

"Duuuude. There is no way off this cliff. I've been looking for an hour."

The 28 yr old had no idea he was speaking to Nicolas Cofman, cliff negotiator extraordinaire. We'd also picked up another couple in their late 20s who had no idea where they were. And over the next few hours Nick would help each of them off the cliff and to the summit of Longs Peak, 14,292 ft.



"If it normally takes people 12 hours to do Longs, what is it about our route that is going to take at least 12 hours?" I'd asked that morning as we set off from our trailhead, which had suspiciously few people at it. Like none.

"Umm..."

Turns out it was because our route went via the summit of Mt Meeker, 13,911 ft. (above pic) - whose trailhead begins 1000 ft lower than the Longs Peak one. Of course.

Descending from the top of Meeker into a saddle between the two mountains called The Loft, we could see some people who were not making much progress up the side of Longs. 

"So you know how I didn't mention climbing Meeker to get to Longs? Well, there's a second thing. The Notch. You won't like the notch."

The Notch is where we ran into BJ, Brittany and Russell, the young people who could see no way down. 

There are no photos of this section because we needed all hands and feet on the rock as we shimmied our way down a three sided chimney to the first ledge of the cliff.

"Well that wasn't bad!"

"We haven't done the hard part yet." And then he disappeared into a hole that led to a cave. 

We passed him all our backpacks and then, one by one, squeezed through the opening into the small rock room, and then it got kind of crazy.

Nick first down the chute, then the backpacks, then Acacia and Cayenne, who then moved all the packs out of the way, while the rest of us adults used Nick's shoulders and knees to balance on as we down-climbed through a tunnel which spit us out onto a sloping, loose rock shelf. Russell slipped, but Nick caught him.

Only as I sat on the shelf, watching the last legs emerge from the tunnel did I remember Nick was doing all this with one eye. He's so capable, I forget. I can't tell you how proud I was. Am.

Once we all made it out of the tunnel, we shuffled along the cliff on 6" ledges which switch-backed to a spot where we could walk, and we were once again heading up Longs.

(Once we were on the other side of the rock couloir, I asked Nick to take a photo of the tunnel, but the sun was in his eye and the photo was taken a bit too far to the left. Tunnel is just outside the right side of this photo, but you get the picture. On the left side, in the middle, is Russell, so you can get an idea of scale.)

"That was epic! Oh man, no one's going to believe me!" 

"You kidding? None of my friends want to hike with me anyway. They'll never come when I tell them about this! ha!"

BJ and Russell were pretty excited.

We all high-fived at the summit and took photos and laughed a lot, especially when they said, "We need a photo of the Savior Family!" (Well, really, only Savior Dad, but who's counting.)

 This was Cayenne's 44th 14er.

And Acacia's 40th.

On the way down Nick asked BJ if we could hitch a ride in his car back to the trailhead where we started, which happened to be 10 miles past the Longs Pk start. After our 13-hour day, a ride sounded pretty good.

"Sure! You got me up the mountain. Least I can do is get you off it!"


So... hitchhiking was part of the plan?

"Yeah. That would be the third thing I didn't want to tell you."

 
 

Roof Repair 101

Thump... thump... thump...

The wind was howling, screaming through open windows; the trees bowing in supplication. All the stuff we'd moved outside to clean red dust off was blowing around the garden. And it was loud.

Yet through all the sudden mayhem, that one regular thumping noise sounded wrong. By the time I noticed it, Acacia and Nick were on it. The roof had a few loose screws and now was as good a time as any to repair it:

First, grab a drill and rope up. You on one end, your 11 yr old on the other.

Then, make like a monkey.

Call down to make sure your 85 lb 11 yr old has tied herself to a tree.

Finally, while on the opposite side of the house, yell all instructions to Cayenne, reading in the hammock between two ponderosas, who then relays the messages to Acacia, tied to an aspen.

And this, my friends, is how you repair a roof when you have a few screws loose.

:)

   

 

Be Careful What You Wish For!

Holy guacamole!

Since we bought this house I've wanted to do something about the saltillo floors. I love them and they fit in perfectly, but after 25 years they begin to look tired. And by tired I mean gross. I appreciate them in old Mexican restaurants and feel they add to the history and ambiance, but in a private home not so much.

When you can't even find a blueberry you know just fell on the floor because it blends in so well with all the "history," it's time. Time to tear it all out (too expensive) or have it professionally cleaned (spent $800 doing that and it looked exactly the same) or sand down 1/16" of it and start over.

I've wanted it for years and yesterday out of the blue Nick started sanding. Well, out of the blue for me. Apparently he's been thinking about how to attack the job for ages - but the first I heard of it was when he broke out the sander. Everything still on the counters and so much dust that last night, even with all the doors closed, upstairs in our bathroom I could write my name in the red dirt coating our bathtub.

He's sanded until 10pm for three days

Not easy on the back

This morning I got up early and washed all the dishes that were on the counter when he started.

It all pretty much turned to clay.

Of course if he had told me what he was planning on doing, I could have mentioned that I'm hosting book club this week. Or was, anyway. But I guess it's better to postpone book club than to put a damper on his enthusiasm,
because I really do want this.

I think.

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Thirteen Years with our Sweet Little Chile Pepper

I always assumed the universe was smirking at me, just waiting for the day my child turned 13. 

"Payback time!"

And here it is, and here she is, and how did I get so lucky? 

(I won't thank the universe for sparing me until Acacia is done with her teens however, because the smirk is still there and I think I know why...) 

Happy Birthday Cayenne. We celebrate your birth - and the beautiful soul you are.

June 24, 2001


    

Flying Fledglings

Magpies would be startlingly beautiful birds if they weren't such asses. I was attacked by a few in New Zealand once. Just walking down a country lane minding my own business, when three magpies swooped down and dive-bombed my head à la Alfred Hitchcock.

So initially I was worried about our little robins, because other birds were the main threat I couldn't protect them from. But then Acacia and Nicolas noticed a huge nest way up in the Ponderosa pine and we knew that the magpies were going to be busy with their own newbies.

All four hatched and very swiftly the parents cleared out all the blue shells.
(Photo: June 1st)

(Photo June 2nd: Hints of feathers appearing)

But while they were housekeeping, I think they may have thinned the brood. The babies weren't moving enough to fall out of the nest yet, nor kick each other out. So I'm assuming the parents could sense something was wrong with this little one and hastened her fate:

:(

The feathers grew so fast we could almost watch them sprout.
(June 3rd)

 This is exactly what our kitchen looks like about 5:30pm every day... "Mama! Feed Me!!"
(June 4th)

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Growing Super Hero capes is hard work.
(June 5th)

It's getting a little cozy in here.
(June 10th)

Pick me! Pick me!

Such pretty feathers

"Oi! You're sitting on my head!"

"I'm a teenager. I don't need to stick around this dinky nest. I'm outta here!"
(June 14th)

(And off he went. Acacia and I watched him go. SO COOL!)

"Hmmmm.... so now what do I do?? Mom!!?"

And Mom was there, not holding his hand, but putting herself in between her fledgling and the magpie who'd flown in and perched at the top of the tree.

"Omigosh I can't believe he did it."

"Okay. I'll go if you go."  

"You first."

(And he did, hovering over the white fur branch like a helicopter, unsure how to land. We were all laughing, poor guy. But he did great.)

"Just kidding!!! WooHoo! I have the nest to myself! Ahhhhhh...."

But eventually (a couple of hours later), he flew the coop, too. We missed that flight, but what a treat to watch the rest of the show, pre-eggs to first take-offs! 

  Thankfully the magpies, pretty-looking but ugly-squawking head attackers that they are, would still be preoccupied with their own hungry mouths for nearly another week.

  

Parenthood

Sometimes parenting feels like this...

... but mostly it's like this:

Robinhood

At first I thought he might be a little retarded. He spent a month attacking his own reflection, after all. But by the time two months had passed, I decided that our local robin just had a narcissistic personality disorder, wanting to procreate only with himself. Peck peck peck peck peck peck on our glass doors all day. 

Then Acacia noticed the nest on top of one of our lights. 

(Not much of a housekeeper this bird...)

Hmmm... Maybe he's a female, protecting her eggs, so I checked, and nada. But still, maybe he's a she, and she's a little bit intellectually challenged. 

She was usually hopping on the ground when she attacked her reflection, so I tried hiding it from her by blocking the first 18" with chair cushions.

Silence.

For five minutes. 

Then she jumped up on to the chair so she could see her reflection...

... and then she attacked that vicious threat to her empty nest.

(I think I'll wait until this is all over to clean the glass...)

Clearly, this was a bad idea. (Note she's an indiscriminate pooper.)

Then one day two weeks ago, our robin screeched and I knew there were eggs. Because that's how robins protect their eggs: They scream and let every creature within earshot know, "Get your fresh eggs here!"

Gorgeous!!

I removed the table below the nest to keep the neighborhood cats away, and we've gone out of our way not to use the dining room door too much, as it freaks out Miss Robin and her Baby Daddy, who, by the way, is back in the picture.

Yup. He sho' is!

See the nest? It's in a good spot.

So he/she turned out to be he and she, and they are taking turns protecting the territory and attacking our windows...

Three days ago I reached up and snuck another photo...

Two down, two to go!