did you know that elks bugle?

it's true! a rather unique sound, worth seeking out if you're ever in elk country around mating season.

grandma carolyn and grandpa john took us up to trail ridge road (highest continuously paved road in north america!) to listen to them and to drive through the clouds.




christina took some binocular-zoom pictures which came out surprisingly well!


fun huh? more soon, we're getting ready to post some before/after shots of the house we're demolishing and kinda putting back together.

til then-
xoxo
c+s

yesterbeer is in denver!

What is Yesterbeer you ask?

Well, mostly Yesterbeer is Rich (Christina's brother-in-law) and his brother Steven.


Last weekend, though, it also happened that Yesterbeer was this smiling couple.


Rich and Steven started out making t-shirts with logos and labels of old retired breweries, a venture which has since expanded into the Yesterbeer Empire. And yet, fame and success have not gone to the brothers' heads. Still a couple of regular guys, willing to take on some Eastern Colorado vagabonds looking for an excuse to head into the big big city.


That's pretty much how we ended up rubbing shoulders with some of the finest American microbrewers out there. And also with guys in foam-rubber beer bottle suits.


Step right up, ladies and gentlemen. We've got t-shirts to sell you, at damned reasonable prices too.



Sadly, the keg man did not opt to support Yesterbeer. This time.


Check out Christina's mad folding skills. She's a folding maniac! A machine!


The convention center was freaking enormous. And yet enough beer fans crowded in to make the place seem cramped. Something like 35000 across the whole weekend!


No rest for the t-shirt vendors!




This guy's name is Michael Jackson. For real. He was right next to our booth signing books, with a big sign with his name above him. People kept walking up, craning for a view, and muttering "I can't believe Michael Jackson is here..." and I kept expecting groans of disappointment once they caught a glimpse of this guy, but no! Beer fans love this particular M.Jackson as much as teenage girls c.1982-1988 loved that other Michael. Strange stuff.


And finally, time to retire to the hotel room, relax, hit the vending machine (literally, that sonofagun had a stuck drawer latch that almost kept us seperated from our snacks!) and rest up.


And, to be sure, a good time was had by all. A weekend away, some family-type visitation, delicious beer in totally unmanagable quantities, and Michael freaking Jackson. Thanks Rich and Steven, we had a fantastic time.

the pirates are coming!

i know its not halloween yet, but i got these photos and love them soooo much that i want to share them with all the lovely people who take the time to read our blog. these are my nephews anthony on the top and joseph on the bottom. they are going to be pirates for halloween, and most likely everyday until then. i know two small posts in one day doesnt make up for not posting for weeks, sorry.

christina + sean

yikes

so, our neighbor told us about the missile silos that are "around" and we definitely see humvees and black helicopters from time to time, but we weren't really prepared for this:


see those red dots? nukes, apparently. each is one of the 9,960 we've got. and, for those of you who have yet to visit, you could find our place on this map pretty much right under the big red "O" in northeastern colorado. crazy.

also crazy? what these nuns did:

http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/reports/3sistersplowsharesc.htm

(map from co peace dot org)
(for those interested here's the Council on Foreign Relations' assessment of our nuke program now)

PS pictures and tales of the beer-flooded weekend in denver on monday! we foolishly left behind the needed camera cables.