My Built Environment: Good, Bad, and Really Ugly

Friday started out pretty warm, but again I didn’t get started until about 9. Mom, Lalie and the kids decided to go shopping for Hannah’s birthday, which left me to my own devices for awhile. Today was strictly assembly day. The next fence section had to have rails cut to length for it, but I decided to skip that one for now, as it provided convenient access. So I worked on a few other sections. Finally, it came to the point where I had to re-dig a post hole, moving it a couple of feet. I also worked on removing one of the existing posts. After that was done, I had no choice, but to start cutting rails I worked on that for a bit, then headed off to Lowe’s, partly for a break, and partly to get more bags of concrete. I got back around 2, and finished cutting the rails that I had to cut. After that, assembly went pretty quick. I wrapped up the garden area about 4. Since we still had supplies and posts, I worked on a few sections along the driveway, leaving out the sections right around the gates. We are going to have one of the fence companies build and install the gates for us. I wrapped this up about 6:30, and was very tired and sore. I also had to get ready for company coming over for an early birthday party for Hannah.

Saturday was scheduled for some mopping up, attaching the wire to the fence, and then heading home. All in all, it was a fun trip, with a lot of hard work. My muscles are sore!

The day started out a little cooler, with a bit of an overcast sky. This was our last morning at the condo. Mid morning, the kids and I went to a bakery downtown for some coffee and breakfast, and I could get some decent internet. Nice relaxing morning. Afterwards, we rode the bike trail again to the park, letting Ben play for a bit. Finally, we returned, and dropped off the bike trailer at the rental shop, before heading back to the condo. We packed up, and left around 1 pm. We came back the same way we went, stopping at the Castle Creek Winery to pick up some pretty good wine. We arrived back in Grand Junction around 3 pm. On the way back, we listened to another tape of our Desperation book. It is getting weirder and weirder.

After we got back to moms, we unloaded the Durango, then mom and I headed out to get supplies. First we went to Lowe’s to pick up some concrete and other misc. stuff. Then we headed to the opposite side of town to pick up the post hole digger. Finally we went back to Lowe’s to pick up the wire mesh for the fence that we forgot the first time around. We finally got back around 4:30, and we set to work. By 7:30, we had torn out the first section of fence, and had drilled the first 4 holes. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the digging was. I figured we would be hitting all kinds of rocks remembering the days I helped landscape this yard in the first place.

I was a little sore in the evening, having used my arm muscles that I haven’t really had to use for awhile. Lalie cooked a wonderful stir fry for us, and then we played Farkel. Finally, we passed out, and I actually slept through the night! The first time in several days.

Thursday started out a little chilly from the mini-storm that went through the night before, so I didn’t get started until around 9 a.m. I decided to just start drilling post holes and get as many done as we could before we had to return the machine. Of course this wasn’t all that easy, since I had to work around the grape vines and other obstacles. Lalie and Mom worked hard at tearing out as much of the existing fence as they could. The digging was surprisingly easy, hitting mostly sand. I was expecting a lot more in the way of rocks. The hardest part was actually getting the post digger into position which for being a one man post hole digger, it wasn’t all that maneuverable. All in all, it went faster than I was expecting. We stopped for lunch around 1:30. I only had to do a couple more holes around the garden, which was my goal to get finished. But since we still had time on the meter, I dug as many I could along the side of the back driveway. Finally at about 3, I was finished. We hitched it back up to the car, and returned it. Of course we were all pretty sore and tired by then. Mom and I picked up some KFC for dinner. After we got back, I worked on assembling the first few sections of fence, and cementing in the first posts.

Today started off as another gorgeous day. I didn’t sleep that well during the night, little Ben came in the middle of the night and pretty much snored away…or it could have been the Tequila keeping me up. Lalie, Robert, and his boys went for there hike at the Fiery Fireplace, leaving about 9, and not planning to be back till around 2. The kids and I hung around the condo for awhile, with me finding one of the internet spots and going through all my email. Finally we decided to go into town for some bike riding. Hannah fixed us a picnic lunch. Of course, I decided to tour around, and skipped taking the highway into town, electing for the back roads.

On this back road, we found a small park, and stopped there for a bit so the kids could play. It was pretty cool, and had a music park where there were some drum type things, and lots of bells the kids could bang on. They had a blast! After this we went downtown, and found a place to rent a bike trailer for Ben, then we hopped on the river trail, and followed it till we got back to the park. Ben played again, and then we all had our picnic lunch. Afterwards we found that the park was actually the end of the trail, and then we headed back. We found a little ice cream store that makes there own, and I even broke down and had an ice cream. We met up with Lalie and the gang there, before heading back to the condo. At the condo, I went for another bike ride up the road from the condo till I hit the end. It wasn’t all that long, maybe ½ mile, but the climb, OMG. Went up about 1,000 feet. There was a 4 wheel drive trail/ bike trail at the end, but it was too sandy to go far.

Later, Lalie and I went for a drive. We wound up getting on some road that took us up to the LaSalle Mountains in short order. Very pretty and still snow up there. When we got back, Robert and the kids were repelling down the rocks behind the condo. Hannah had a blast with that.

For dinner we all went to a little Mexican restaurant in town. Of course, I had another marg. The food was good; I ventured out some and had a steak fajita. Not much excitement for the evening, other than I got back into the hot tub after everyone went to bed so I could soothe my muscles.

The wireless internet we are supposed to have at this place is really sporadic. There are only 3 good places we can get wireless, in the upstairs front bedroom – by the window, in the upstairs bathroom, or on the front porch – but only if there are no cars in the driveway!

Today we started off kind of slow, not getting out of the house till about 11:30 am. But before that, Hannah and I went for a bike ride around the surrounding neighborhoods. That felt good, but I can tell I have lost some conditioning over the winter. Our first stop (and only one of the day) was the Arches National Park. I have only been there in my early days, and don’t remember it worth squat. First we stopped at the visitor center so we could register for one of the hikes to the Fiery Fireplace area. The only available hikes were for the next morning, and not recommended for kids under 5. I elect to stay with Ben and Hannah, so that we could go on a bike ride.

After this, we went into the park, which is an immediate 1,000, some odd foot vertical climb. This part itself was breathtaking, and then we motored through the park for a bit before our first stop. The scenery was amazing, and I was able to get several good photographs while cruising along, including some arches in the distance, and some in the formation stages. Our first stop was at the balanced rock. This in itself was gorgeous, with the rock formations, and the vegetation. Ben and Hannah were quite the troopers just hiking along and enjoying the scenery. After this, we went on a 4-wheel drive road back to a remote arch that we had to hike and climb to for a bit. This was about a 2 mile round trip hike and little Ben made it the entire way, climbing up rocks and everything. We stopped here for our picnic lunch. After this, we went to the Delicate Arch overlook, with another 1.5 mile hike, that also climbed quite a bit. Some more spectacular scenery, with Ben and Hannah making it the entire way!

Finally, we went to the end of the road, and hiked to the Landscape Arch, which is the world’s longest arch. This was the longest of the hikes at a little over 2 miles, with quite a bit of vertical change. The coolest part was at the beginning where the trail went between two huge vertical slabs of rock, each rising several hundred feet. Ben was getting tired by this point, so we started him out in the stroller, but he still walked over half the distance. Of course, wherever there was sand, he stopped to play in the dirt. The Landscape Arch itself was spectacular, gracefully arching through the sky. At its narrowest point, it is only about 6 feet thick. They used to let people under it, and to climb on it, but about 10 years ago, several tons of rock sheared off the bottom of the arch (which happened to be photographed by someone from Fort Collins). Since then they have had it closed off, in case more falls off, or the entire arch collapses. After this, we were pretty tired, so we came back to the condo and chilled out for a bit. We had Pizza for dinner.

In the later evening, Lalie, Robert, and I hung out in the hot tub, drinking margaritas and tequila shots, and just staring at the starts. Here in the dark night desert sky, the stars are absolutely amazing…billions of them. How I wish you could have been there to see those. The hot tub was so relaxing, at around 100 degrees. Finally, we all went to bed to get ready for the next day.