Our Bold Adventure Continues

Funnydad and I have been married seven years today. And, I counted. Since we started living together we've lived in seven places. (More if you count my apartment in grad school when we had a commuter marriage.) One a year, essentially. No wonder I'm anxious to put down roots. We've been in our new Boulder house for two nights now, and it feels very comfortable. It's a good layout, easy to live in, easy to live in with kids. The girls like it. There are, as expected, idiosyncrasies. The kitchen doesn't have as much storage space as we'd like. The box spring for the guest bed couldn't fit down the stairs to the guest room. The girls' room is quite warm for this time of year. Our bedroom door sticks and is loud to open. But there are unexpected cool things as well. Turns out I love our freezer-on-the-bottom fridge. Our dishwasher is super silent. Who knew two sinks in the master bath would be so wonderful? Our garden is beautiful, really lovely. Having a mu...

"I'd rather be upside down in my kayak than sitting upright at my desk" "Frodo failed. Bush got the ring" "Republicans for Voldemort" "My karma ran over your dogma" and, though it was a sign in a coffee shop (not a bumper sticker) "unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy" -- that one had me laughing for ten minutes.

We go exploring a lot. On weekdays we sometimes try a new playground, stay close to home. But on weekends we try something bigger, like yesterday's hike through El Dorado Canyon just south of Boulder. El Dorado Canyon is the site of the first settlers in the area, a history explained on a battered wooden sign and park brochures, and a history completely overlooked by visitors who are almost exclusively there for one reason: rock climbing. Our hike was an on-foot affair, but it involved a lot of climbing on rocks, which the girls adore. Seriously, we chose a trail with a split personality. Half crushed rock suitable for wheelchairs, and half directly uphill on a "path" of large rocks with hardly any dirt between them. The girls were great, using their hands to climb and holding our hands when we insisted (grandparents: do not fear, your grandchildren are safe). We saw a small chipmunk and the funnybunnies spent the rest of the day calling themselves baby chipmunks and maki...

I was talking to a friend on the phone today when I interrupted the conversation to say to my daughter, "Look, a baby horse and a mommy horse." The friend on the phone said, "Where are you? at the zoo, or are you watching TV?" I laughed and said, "I'm driving and we're two blocks from our apartment." She laughed back and replied, "I really don't get where you're living now." This is the west. I drive past horses, cows and sheep between this suburb and Boulder every day. There are mountains in sight pretty much every moment, and it never seems to rain. The clouds are out of control beautiful -- you can totally see what Albert Beirstadt saw in the landscape. No one wears cowboy hats or boots (perhaps that's for people further out) but this is the west, replete with mommy horses and their babies. Mommy cows, too. I'll try to post some pictures soon to explain what 1000 words can't. (Our camera has been on the fritz.)

hey, i went to NIST the other day. ever heard of it? national institute for standards and technology. it's where the atomic clock is based. and it's here in boulder. (as is NOAA - national something of atmospheric research.) anyway, someone who works with me has a husband who's a scientist there. took us on a tour just for fun. pretty cool, the shit they're doing. didn't even understand most of it, even after he explained, but still cool. all these lasers and optics and measurement shit. stuff that hasn't been done before. (working on a new way of measuring laser light that might in the end be the new system for measuring time, replace the atomic clock). one machine - a scanner they were trying to develop that detects weapons made of ceramic, undetectable by conventional metal detectors, for use in airports, etc - was essentially a big camera that looked like a hub cab. that hub cap camera spun around on wheels. i noticed the wheels were "Rol...