Life is Precious

Jim and I have been dealing with some devastating health news from friends lately.
Our dear friends from Telluride, Melanie and Bill recently learned that Bill has an advanced stage of Multiple Myeloma. We have nothing but the greatest memories of hiking, skiing, wining and dining with them over the last seven years and will miss being with them this summer as was previously planned. Bill is now undergoing chemo and treatments at Duke with Melanie and their adult children there supporting him. These are the closest friends anything like this has happened to, and it is hitting us very hard. We just can't imagine what they are going through on all levels and feel so terribly sad that we can't do anything to make it better.

Also, Jim's former associate just lost his rwo-year-old son, suddenly and unexpectedly. Again, the unimaginable pain he and his wife must be going through, well my words can't even come close to describing.

Ever present is our hope for pain to be lifted from these dear people, and for sweet Bill to have his health return.

Life is indeed precious.

Canyon of the Ancients

Spectacular hike Friday in historical desert land in the SW corner of Colorado, near the 4-corners.


Pueblo Indians in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries built these brick. fort-like structures and occupied these canyons in what's now called the Canyon of the Ancients.

Wonderful time with friends, even when we got seriously lost on dirt roads in the middle of no-where Utah. Absoultely no sign of civilization, let alone road signs. Somehow made our way back to a highway and flagged a UPS guy who showed us the way. See what brown can do for you?

No Photo, Please

My birthday got off to a rather precarious start. Boomer, the dog that never cries to go out unless he REALLY needs to go NOW, woke me up with one little "Boom Squeak" at 630am. I jumped out of bed and as I went to the door, I stepped squarely in his pile of diarrhea. Frozen only for a moment, I promptly grossed out, then freaked out a bit, then quickly realized I had no choice but to clean up. I looked outside at the unusual morning rain. No birthday hike today I thought, and then I laughed to myself at what an bizarre start to any day, let alone my birthday. I had to stop laughing though when ten seconds later I stepped in a pile of Boomer's vomit.

After clean up, I turned on the coffee maker, realizing that I had zero chance of falling back to sleep, despite my comfy bed in this cool weather. So now I sit, coffee, Facebook & blog, listening to the rain slap off our metal roof and the cars from our little morning rush hour slosh through the puddles on our street.

More home improvement

You have now been into our bedroom. Oh my, and all via a blog! Anyway, we finally got our bedding set, a Christmas present from Jim last year. It's super comfortable, affordable, and mountain and dog friendly. Yea! Note the wood platform bed frame with drawers -- custom built by Michael, a friend and local artist using local poplar/aspen wood. I have more storage space! Double Yea!
Jim also got this custom chest of drawers made of aged beach wood by Michael. His old set of drawers collapsed and is only partially alive, now to be used by guests in the Igloo (basement)

This chest of drawers fits so snuggly into our hallway closet that it's hard to appreciate the detailed and unique craftsmanship that went into it. But it's the only place it can go, and we continue to enjoy maximizing our space and living the simple life.

Unrelated, I just completed my volunteer stint for the Telluride Jazz Festival. It was cold-cold-cold. I was wearing my winter gear in multiple layers! Anyway, I worked in the merchandise tent adjacent to the stage. Next to us, the bar, and well, I knew many of their volunteer staff, so I got to have a couple of cocktails, gratis. Jazz is not my thing, but there were a couple of notable guests. One was Ozomatli -- a must check out. They played Friday night and totally rocked the canyon. The other was a little 8 year-old singer-songwriter who was just playing during the break between bands. I must say, she was the highlight of the weekend, a true rising talent. Don't know her first name, but if you ever see a little jazz prodigy with the last name of Carlson, it's probably her. What poise, and she played a guitar almost as big as her, and even wrote her own songs. Wow.

Introducing Our New and Improved Mud Room

After three long days of cleaning, taping, painting, repeat, our mud room has a new look. This small space is used several times daily -- it's where we keep everything sports, shoes, skis, and everything dog. And it's actually the main and only entry we use for the house. So I decided it needed a makeover.
This is what it looked like before--

Three different tints of white or grey, dirty, paint stained and plain boring and ugly.

It took one coat of a strange sort of pumpkin brown, then using a special brush and technique, I applied the second coat using a darker brown. It is supposed to look rusty, or at least rustIC. Once I was done with that, I realized that I had to do the trim (red), and then I realized I needed to do the ceiling. Oh, and if you are wondering, no Jim was not participating in this project.

Now I am sore, but pleased.

Tequila-Lime Grilled Flank Steak Recipe

At the request of several friends, the following is the recipe I used to make grilled flank steak last night. I made a few tweaks to what I found in an online recipe.

TEQUILA-LIME-GARLIC GRILLED FLANK STEAK

Ingredients
1 cup roughly chopped garlic (approximately 3 bulbs)
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (approximately 8 large limes)
1/2 cup clear tequila
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 bunch roughly chopped cilantro, leaves and upper stems
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak

(Optional garnish w/sliced tomatoes & avocados)

Directions
Combine the garlic, lime juice, tequila, soy sauce, cilantro, peppers, cumin, and black pepper in a resealable plastic gallon bag. Add the steak and let marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator, let marinate at room temperature another 30 to 45 minutes.

Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Remove steak from marinade, reserving marinade. Put marinade in small sauce pot and bring to a boil, then strain and reserve. Put tortillas on the corner of the grill and flip package a few times to heat through while steak is cooking

Place steak on the grill, cook for 4 minutes, turn 180 degrees, and cook for 3 minutes more (to create cross grill marks). Flip over and finish cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on desired doneness. Remove from grill to a cutting board, and let rest, lightly covered, for 5 minutes. Slice against grain and serve.

We had ours this way, online they suggest serving in corn tortillas for a fajita style dish.
ENJOY -- and if you make it, let me know how you liked it!

The Bears are back!

This is our garbage bin after a bear attack in the middle of the night, last night. We have a "bear proof" garbage bin, and it was locked when we last used it. However, all evidence suggests someone decided he/she had to use our garbage last night and did not re-lock it. Thus the mess in the mornin'. Jim was really happy cleaning it up, but at the same time realized it could have been much worse.
Welcome back bears!