Snappy Decisions

Do you know how many people have told Lynn and I, during this house-building process, about how building a house leads to divorce? Well, I don’t have an exact head-count either, but it’s been a lot. A lot. No, I don’t have any startling announcement to make, but I would say the tension is at […]

Ghost Stories

When we were little, pre-school, Terri and I got our first lunchboxes. The choices must have been limited, because our parents came home with Casper the Friendly Ghost and — this is true — Soupy Sales. As the oldest, I thoughtfully and considerately reviewed the choices — yeah right. I went straight for Casper. I […]

All Hands On Deck

Nothing — and I mean nothing — about having a house built is simple. Even things that sound and seem innocuous. Don’t believe me? (Or maybe you do. Play along anyway.) Examples abound. Flooring. When I spoke with Cynthia from Green Building Supply, the oak hardwood she assured me was sustainable was supposed to be […]

Weathered

I got early photojournalistic evidence, because I knew it wouldn’t last, but the snow disregarded the 9,000-foot edict overnight to come creeping down to us here at 7,703 feet. It is May 28, one day past Memorial Day, a mere handful of days away from June, and we are still getting snowed on. I am […]

War and Remembrance

It’s Memorial Day, and I should make at least some attempt to discuss something other than myself, but here is the problem: there is a large disconnect between my life and what Memorial Day stands for. Because we — and by we, I pretty much mean “every person on the planet” — argue over everything […]

Math is Hard

Math is what I am all about these days, only I can’t get most of it to work out. It could be that I’m math-impaired — or it could be that it’s a less precise science than we were all led to believe. There’s square footage math, which we’ve covered (and probably will again, just […]

Tipping Up

Yesterday, at very long last, the Giro d’Italia “tipped up,” which in cycling parlance means the route started getting vertical. In practical terms, it means the race, two weeks long at this point, finally started getting interesting. I got serious about watching bicycle racing about the same time as a lot of Americans, and for […]

Left Out

I used to go rafting a lot, usually starting just about this time every year. In a typical year, as much as there is such a thing, the Gunnison River starts gathering speed and volume in May, crests the first weekend in June, and by early July is running so much lower that a raft […]

Cornered

I have had this on-going problem that isn’t really a problem yet but setting up to be in the All Things To All People Room in our new house. We keep calling it the “laundry room,” and it is where all the laundry action is scheduled to take place, but this is everything going in […]

Cats Get Fatter

Recently, Ben at work learned Amazon doesn’t pay taxes, and he seemed surprised by this. Some of us at this point are just cynical, although I do recall several years ago when I learned that GE (now apparently with woes of its own) paid $0 in taxes, and I was as indignant — probably more […]