My dad was big into birds and birdwatching. It seems he was always standing at the kitchen window watching the birds at the feeders just at the edge of the woods. I enjoyed seeing them too, but I appreciate the concept more now that I am older.
We recently hung a bird feeder just outside our kitchen window. For the first 5 days, not a single bird, I mean not one. In fact, the running joke had become, "Hey look honey, no birds at the feeder." Then one morning I was having my coffee and I saw a low flying bird by the back window. I thought could she be going to my feeder. Sure enough I glanced out and there she was...our very first customer. And just like that the flood gates opened. After the first bird, a black-capped chickadee we had another 5 to 10 birds in 20 minutes. It was pretty amazing.
I think that is what makes birdwatching so much fun, the complete lack of control. You hang up a feeder and whoever shows up, shows up. Sure, you can buy seed blends that favor certain species, but ultimately, the birds decide. We have no control. It's not like an aquarium where you get to choose the fish you want. No fish "just shows up" in an aquarium. Birds at the feeder are a whole different game. There are the typical birds one expects to see, the nuthatches, chickadees, wrens and finches, oh and the occassional flicker, but there is always the unexpected. Best part...you have no control. Now that I think about, a bird feeder is a lot like life. You fill it up with education, friends, family, experiences and hang it out there and that is about where your control ends. After that, who knows....
Oh, I did build a birdhouse yesterday and I didn't get to bikes, but I have been riding.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
J-O-B Hunt....
The saga continues....do you ever feel like you are stuck in the middle of a three book trilogy when you only meant to commit to a one book story? Welcome to the world of job hunting in the biggest recession of my short lifetime. Lets be clear, this is not whining, just a way to vent, or exponge excess energy from the mental coffers I call the treasure trove of my mind.
So, here is the irony. I am sitting in a coffee shop doing a bit of job hunting when I overhear the following snippet of conversation from the table just next to me. The table is occupied by two woman, one of whom is trying to recruit the other into some sort of a startup business venture. This conversation has progressed for 45 minutes, and while I am not intentionally listening, one does hear bits here and there without intention. Now, the interesting bit. One woman is apparently married to a person that I recently interviewed with for a job that I would have really liked to have gotten. How small can the world be?
Other than the like of immediate employment, life is progressing smashingly. Family- great, Health-great, Friends-great, Job-well, I am sure it will be great soon.
So, here is the irony. I am sitting in a coffee shop doing a bit of job hunting when I overhear the following snippet of conversation from the table just next to me. The table is occupied by two woman, one of whom is trying to recruit the other into some sort of a startup business venture. This conversation has progressed for 45 minutes, and while I am not intentionally listening, one does hear bits here and there without intention. Now, the interesting bit. One woman is apparently married to a person that I recently interviewed with for a job that I would have really liked to have gotten. How small can the world be?
Other than the like of immediate employment, life is progressing smashingly. Family- great, Health-great, Friends-great, Job-well, I am sure it will be great soon.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Dr. Seuss
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple" Dr. Seuss.
These are indeed profound words of wisdom. I would also add that the simplest answers are often the most difficult to implement. There is an old adage about taking the easy road versus the road less traveled and lets not forget the high road. On these roads one may find the bridge over troubled waters or the infamous bridge to no where, but I digress.
Life often seems full of complex problems, but most have a simple, albeit difficult answer. The one exception in my mind often involves the classic no win problem. Where your actions are going to cause pain for the parties involved in the problem no matter which solution one chooses. These, are the truly difficult problems.
Ultimately, if we have our health and our family everything else is small potatoes.
These are indeed profound words of wisdom. I would also add that the simplest answers are often the most difficult to implement. There is an old adage about taking the easy road versus the road less traveled and lets not forget the high road. On these roads one may find the bridge over troubled waters or the infamous bridge to no where, but I digress.
Life often seems full of complex problems, but most have a simple, albeit difficult answer. The one exception in my mind often involves the classic no win problem. Where your actions are going to cause pain for the parties involved in the problem no matter which solution one chooses. These, are the truly difficult problems.
Ultimately, if we have our health and our family everything else is small potatoes.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
On Firewood...
The new house we have has a perfectly quaint wood burning fire place. It is about 35 inches wide by 33 inches tall and has an earthy, greenish brown tiled surround. The tiles are about 4 inches square and looked to be hand cut and glazed. Centered above the firebox are three griffin heads, with two above and one below forming a triangle on a large center tile. They add a very distinctive look and I find myself staring at those giffins quite frequently. The fire grate fits the firebox quite nicely, and the back of the grate is taller than the front. This extra height is adorned with a sun motif, similar to many I have seen above doorways or windows on homes close to the water. Actually, a house down the street, not close to water at all, has a sun above their entrance, so what do I know?
I have built maybe 10 fires in the fireplace thus far, mostly with wood that was already stacked in the back yard. I believe it is wood from a large cottonwood tree that was removed from the back yard a few years ago. The large hole from the stump is still visible just off our patio. The wood seems to be seasoned well, and after splitting, it has burned well. The fires are fairly hot and the wood does not create much popping or cracking. However, I am about out of the cottonwood so I am searching for a new source and recently bought some pine from a local "earthcycling" business. I was planning to go with my neighbor and cut some beetle kill pine, but we just haven't made it yet and I am not sure we will. I will cut some wood soon, but in the meantime you use what you can. Now, this pine I purchased was already split, but it did not seem very seasoned to me. Sure enough, it has not been the best burning wood thus far. It pops and hisses, reminding me of a cat at a fourth of july fireworks display. Every time you are starting to relax and close your eyes, CRACK, BIFF, POW, like the old Batman tv shows. I have come up with a bit of a solution. I use a piece or two of my remaining cottonwood to get some good coals and then throw on a piece or two of pine. This seems to be working and keeps the pine from slowly burning out.
This whole experience really got me thinking about firewood. A hundred years ago I would bet that every man, woman and child had an opinion on what kind of wood to burn for different purposes. They knew the merits of each species, from quick lighting, to steady heating, to good, low burning for cooking. In fact, I bet every person could build a respectable fire and keep it going throughout the evening. Probably also knew how to properly stoke a fire so there would be embers for relighting the next morning.
I grew up burning wood for heat in the winter, but we did have an oil furnace for backup to keep the pipes from freezing. There were numerous occasions though when the furnace pilot light went out and we had to rely on that old wood stove to keep us warm throughout the night until Mr. Price could come and relight the furnace. I also remember sleeping by the wood stove on really cold nights because our upstairs would be too cold for comfort. It was fun to drag out a mattress and throw it on the floor by the fire. We would pile the stove up with slabs of white oak and shut the stove vents down so it would burn low and slow all through the night.
It is hard to get oak out here in Colorado unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Plus, buying local wood is the right thing to do, especially when we have millions of acres of beetle kill pine. It just means I will have to hone my fire management skills just like the old timers. I am sure I will come up with the right combination and method for keeping a good pine fire burning.
Woodburners have a special place in my heart, and if you spend some time in front of one, you will never look at a gas fireplace again without lust in your heart for a wood fire. Heck, a wood fire is the reason the fire truck came to my sixth birthday party, but that is another story....
I have built maybe 10 fires in the fireplace thus far, mostly with wood that was already stacked in the back yard. I believe it is wood from a large cottonwood tree that was removed from the back yard a few years ago. The large hole from the stump is still visible just off our patio. The wood seems to be seasoned well, and after splitting, it has burned well. The fires are fairly hot and the wood does not create much popping or cracking. However, I am about out of the cottonwood so I am searching for a new source and recently bought some pine from a local "earthcycling" business. I was planning to go with my neighbor and cut some beetle kill pine, but we just haven't made it yet and I am not sure we will. I will cut some wood soon, but in the meantime you use what you can. Now, this pine I purchased was already split, but it did not seem very seasoned to me. Sure enough, it has not been the best burning wood thus far. It pops and hisses, reminding me of a cat at a fourth of july fireworks display. Every time you are starting to relax and close your eyes, CRACK, BIFF, POW, like the old Batman tv shows. I have come up with a bit of a solution. I use a piece or two of my remaining cottonwood to get some good coals and then throw on a piece or two of pine. This seems to be working and keeps the pine from slowly burning out.
This whole experience really got me thinking about firewood. A hundred years ago I would bet that every man, woman and child had an opinion on what kind of wood to burn for different purposes. They knew the merits of each species, from quick lighting, to steady heating, to good, low burning for cooking. In fact, I bet every person could build a respectable fire and keep it going throughout the evening. Probably also knew how to properly stoke a fire so there would be embers for relighting the next morning.
I grew up burning wood for heat in the winter, but we did have an oil furnace for backup to keep the pipes from freezing. There were numerous occasions though when the furnace pilot light went out and we had to rely on that old wood stove to keep us warm throughout the night until Mr. Price could come and relight the furnace. I also remember sleeping by the wood stove on really cold nights because our upstairs would be too cold for comfort. It was fun to drag out a mattress and throw it on the floor by the fire. We would pile the stove up with slabs of white oak and shut the stove vents down so it would burn low and slow all through the night.
It is hard to get oak out here in Colorado unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Plus, buying local wood is the right thing to do, especially when we have millions of acres of beetle kill pine. It just means I will have to hone my fire management skills just like the old timers. I am sure I will come up with the right combination and method for keeping a good pine fire burning.
Woodburners have a special place in my heart, and if you spend some time in front of one, you will never look at a gas fireplace again without lust in your heart for a wood fire. Heck, a wood fire is the reason the fire truck came to my sixth birthday party, but that is another story....
Friday, November 20, 2009
Coffee...
Coffee is one of those beverages that no little kid seems to like, or at least it used to be that way. When I was little, I did not have a single friend that even thought about drinking coffee. Coffee was bad stuff. But now, I see little people toddling up to Starbucks and sucking down a double venti machiatto crapbucket all the time. I just don't get it. But I also did not know a single kid that was allergic to gluten.
I digress though. Coffee is a fantastic beverage. It wakes you up, keeps you focused and provides the occassional stomach ulcer. Much like beer, there really is a wide discrepancy in flavor and quality and you sometimes get what you pay for. Some brands are hyped a little high, while other great ones seem really happy to stay right below the radar. I don't really know the ins and outs of coffee roasting and how important the whole process is, but I bet someone who really knows there craft is the difference between good and great. My current favorite coffee is the Bean Cycle Blend by Bean Cycle Coffee here in Fort Collins. I like a strong coffee and this fits the bill. The coffee is great, but I also like their packaging, the fact they are big into bikes, and I can buy the coffee at Beavers Market just around the corner. It costs me $4.95 for 1/2lb and that seems pretty fair.
I digress though. Coffee is a fantastic beverage. It wakes you up, keeps you focused and provides the occassional stomach ulcer. Much like beer, there really is a wide discrepancy in flavor and quality and you sometimes get what you pay for. Some brands are hyped a little high, while other great ones seem really happy to stay right below the radar. I don't really know the ins and outs of coffee roasting and how important the whole process is, but I bet someone who really knows there craft is the difference between good and great. My current favorite coffee is the Bean Cycle Blend by Bean Cycle Coffee here in Fort Collins. I like a strong coffee and this fits the bill. The coffee is great, but I also like their packaging, the fact they are big into bikes, and I can buy the coffee at Beavers Market just around the corner. It costs me $4.95 for 1/2lb and that seems pretty fair.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Job Hunting
What a mix of anxiety and frustration. I sit searching the internet job sites every day for possible jobs only to feel like I have wasted time with nothing to show for it. You would think that two Masters degrees, one in Ecology and a second in Business Administration would make me a pretty marketable commodity. Well, no such luck. I think I am doing something wrong. Maybe I am being a little picky about jobs, but I really am at a point in life where I want to be doing something I feel good about and not just pushing a pencil in middle management.
Thanks for letting me vent. Now, if you know of anyone who needs a highly skilled, very creative and energetic employee to build and grow a company let me know.
Happy Monday!
Thanks for letting me vent. Now, if you know of anyone who needs a highly skilled, very creative and energetic employee to build and grow a company let me know.
Happy Monday!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Blob
I went for a run this morning. It was a nice run, except for the feeling that I was wearing a fat suit. I have been working on my MBA these past two years and I am finally in the home stretch. Lots of hard work and extra hours are about to come to an end (9 ½ weeks left, but who is counting). The downside of all of this hard mental work is that my physical work has gone by the wayside. I seem to be in that perpetual state of just trying to get started. One week I will get in two runs and a bike ride and start to feel better, only to be followed by a week of no exercise at all and a return to sloth. Getting started back to working out is always the hardest part and I feel like I have been just getting started for the last 19 months….
The weather has been amazing here in Colorado the last week. Highs in the 60’s and 70’s. This is made all the better by the fact that the eastern seaboard is mired in a snow storm with lots of white wetness on the ground. Oh, I am sure we will get another big snow this year, but for now I have to gloat a little.
The weather has been amazing here in Colorado the last week. Highs in the 60’s and 70’s. This is made all the better by the fact that the eastern seaboard is mired in a snow storm with lots of white wetness on the ground. Oh, I am sure we will get another big snow this year, but for now I have to gloat a little.
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