Category Archives: Colorado Daily Life

The House Husband

Due to my recent medical emergency, I have been directed by my doctor to take off two months (FMLA) from work in order to rest, recover and do tests and treatments.  I am also supposed to avoid driving, if possible.  I have just started my second week and while I have gotten a lot better with more sleep and less stress, I still feel compelled to do something, anything! with my day besides watch daytime TV. So I have become a house-husband.

I have always been the tidier of the two of us and I don’t mind doing the dishes, mopping the floors, and cleaning the counters as well as taking on the “traditional” male activities of mowing the lawn and fixing stuff around the house. Yes, I know, Cassie is very lucky to have such a helpful husband! 🙂

So even though so far it’s only been a short time off, I have been able to get into some “deep cleaning” projects that we were planning on hiring a cleaning company to do when it came time to move to Puerto Rico. Things like cleaning behind the stove and the fridge. Washing the curtains. Cleaning out the cabinets. Washing the outside and inside of the windows. Some of these were LONG past due. I have also started to sort through  more of our stuff and look at what should be sold, given away or trashed.


Nastiness Hidden Behind the Wall

Nastiness Gone

Even got new drip pans

I have begun to have a routine where I read a Spanish-language instruction booklet in the morning, take a walk and start on a cleaning project or two. Cassie meets me for lunch at home when she can. If I need something Cassie can drive me there or I can walk or ride my bike to the store that is about 2 miles away.   It has been refreshingly simpler with more time to think and rest and no rush except for tasks that I choose for myself.


My new friend Perico

We are normally DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) and so our first priority is on work and second on our after work goals like our rentals and third on everything else, including housework and health. So this has been a nice shift to reshuffle priorities a little and get healthy, ready for Puerto Rico and back up to speed.


Moving out furniture.  The living room was packed!

It has also been a good experiment for what it will be like when we live in Puerto Rico. We will be in charge of the activities of our day, which is both exciting and intimidating.  Overall, I think it has taught us that we are just naturally “productive” and will feel compelled to do something with some sort of tangible result/improvement for our having been there. While lying on the beach is great, we crave that feeling of accomplishment and achievement. So, no matter what our “titles” or spheres of influence, this break has shown me that we are sure to stay busy.

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (2)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

Gasland Weld County Colorado

Some of our friends had recently encouraged us to watch the documentary Gasland and so we decided to check it out. It really opened our eyes to how much oil and gas drilling and production really goes on in our community, especially in Weld County which is our county. Of course, we had seen the industry as a part of the background that you don’t really notice, but after watching the movie, we began seeing all the pads and rigs everywhere!


Local Drilling Rig a mile from our house

The most controversial part of this drilling is the hydrofracturing process also known as “fracking” where they shoot millions of gallons of our precious water and various chemicals into the ground as deep as 8000 feet or more until it creates a mini earthquake that releases the natural gas that is trapped below. The toxic water sludge that comes back and is unfit for anything is called “produced water”. The chemicals are then vented from this water mixture and results in major air emissions as well.  

This industry brings in a ton of money to our county and we just sort of assumed that everything about it was well-regulated and watched. However, what we learned from the movie was that this industry is exempted from the Clean Air and Water Acts and could be much less safe than we had ever imagined. This is especially a concern for people in rural areas who have water wells as we saw in 2009 when people in Fort Lupton were actually able to light their drinking water on fire! The movie even highlighted some of the local people.


The sheer number of drill permits in Weld County (the saturated northeast section) is astounding as of June 2012!

Then just this week we heard news that Josh Fox, the creator of Gasland was coming to the University of Northern Colorado to give a presentation about the movie, so we thought it would be really interesting to hear him speak. We learned that Greeley is one of the last oases in Weld County not to be hydrofractured but that was soon about to change as well. UNC and the school district both signed on to allow for directional drilling and fracking under their properties. About 500 people turned out and want to see fracking banned or at least better regulated. Recently Longmont has completely disallowed fracking and other areas are implementing moritoriums. But not in Weld County. Weld County is a free for all and it is concerning to us because we live right near many of the wells and pads.


Director Josh Fox at UNC


With friends and a pretty full crowd!


Josh Fox even played some banjo!

So we decided to go out near our house and see what we could find nearby. Within less than a mile this is what we found:

Houses in the Background are in our Neighborhood

Cassie at a pad site (“produced water sign” click to enlarge)


Venting / Flare


Diagram of Fracking Footprint

So while the movie Gasland definitely had an anti-fracking bent to it, it does make you wonder just how much is being done to make sure it is safe and with the health and wellbeing of the community in mind first and foremost. We would definitely support more regulation and transparency in this industry that is literally in our backyard.

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (1)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (4)
  • Useful (1)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (2)

Cold November Updates

We took off about a week from blogging! I think that may be the new record! Anyhow, we have been staying busy, but we also caught some sort of weird bug that put us out for a while. Britton and I both had a fever of about 102 for two or three days in a row. Britton had it first and shared it with me (thanks honey 🙂 ) We had headache, body aches and the general fatigue made it so that neither of us wanted to do much more than sleep and watch movies. (On the positive side, I’ve lost another 4 lbs thanks to no appetite!)

We also got hit with another pretty fast snowstorm and cold weather in general that also made us just want to stay inside and do nothing interesting.


Brrr

We do still continue on with some of our goals to clean out the house and prepare to move. We gave our nice big extra HD TV that had been in the basement guest bedroom to Britton’s sister and we are preparing to install a new sink in one of the bathrooms because the enamel coating has worn off and it is starting to leak a little.

We’ve also looked into the details of taking Kitty with us to Puerto Rico and found out that it will cost $125 (one way) to take him with in the airplane cabin. He requires a really small kennel that can go under the seat, so we will will have to find one. A hard shelled kennel must measure no more than 17.5″ long, 12″ wide and 7.5″ high (doesn’t that seem super short?!). For a soft sided carrier it can be 18″ long, 11″ wide and 11″ high. Anyone know of an airline approved one? We also found out there is no vaccination or vet check requirements, which surprised us.

Another medical student is living with us for the month which has been fun. And we are looking forward to the holidays. This cold weather has us thinking a LOT about PR.
That’s about it in terms of updates. Hope to post again soon!

 

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (1)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

Rocky Mountain Oysters at Bruce’s Bar in Severance

As we finish up our time here in Colorado, we have come up with a few other “Bucket List” items we have to do in Colorado before leaving. One of them is right in our backyard: eat Rocky Mountain Oysters. For those of you who don’t live in Colorado, you may not know what this infamous food is. It is most definitely NOT seafood (or even Colorado Lobsters). Rocky Mountain Oysters are …drumroll…bull testicles!

The most famous place to try Rocky Mountain Oysters is Bruce’s Bar in Severance.
Bruce’s Bar Severance, Colorado


Very Unfair! Murals

We went there with our nephew and my mom and her boyfriend Anthony.


At Bruce’s Bar


Bruce’s Menu includes Cow, Buffalo and Turkey “oysters”

Bruce’s would make a good place for a bar scene in a movie. Very simple cafeteria layout, lots of bar food and filled with cowboys and small-town folk. Because this was our first time ever trying Rocky Mountain Oysters, we asked if we could see what they looked like before they were breaded and fried…


They come whole and frozen (but skinned and somewhat processed)


Then they are sliced and thawed before being breaded and fried


They come out looking like chicken strips and are served with cocktail sauce


A long strip


Chewy!


Must not have been too bad!


They even had a live 3-piece band that night!

Overall, we had a great time and suggest everyone add “eat bull testicles” to their adventurous bucket list! 🙂

 

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (1)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (3)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)