Under Construction

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Katie and I are still in a holding pattern with the new place, but we are getting closer. We drop by almost every day either to pick something out of our stash of boxes there, or to poke around and watch the development. Its all very exciting. Every little piece that gets finished ads to the thrill. My friend Pogs is going to help me build a custom desk for the office - it is going to be sweet - using both finished and raw Hickory to match the trim and wood floors. The tile is almost done as is most of the trim. They are installing door hardware and finishing off the stairs. The garage door opener was put in on friday - it is nice and quite.

So, here is a picture looking north. That is Gothic Mountain on the right.

Sprung

We are out of the Riverbend condo. A new place in life. Now we are house sitting and waiting for the new place to be finished. It is a nice time to have a lightened load as far as financial burdens go. The grass is getting greener every day. The snow recedes up-valley as the temperatures climb and the warm sun shines. It has snowed a couple times in the past week, but nothing more than flurries. Springtime in the rockies is a waiting game. There are buds starting to form on the aspen trees and some bulbs have pushed their way free of the dirt, but vegetation around here knows better than to jump up too soon. There is still frost on the ground in the mornings.

The rivers are up and Katie and I are anxious to put our boat together and get out on the river to test 'er out. We haven't raised the Jolly Roger yet and time is wastin'. Unfortunately, I am on duty this weekend, so I may not get after the Gunnison River until Sunday. That might be just fine as Katie turns 31 on that fine day. The forecast looks good - so we could be floating under clear springtime skies. Or snow, it is the Rockies after all.

The photo above was taken last week in Carlsbad, CA in my friends Kurt and Becca's backyard. I have had a lot of fun over the years that they have owned the house dropping in for visits and helping them with various projects around the house. The lates was knocking out a wall to turn a two car garaged turned bedroom/utility room back into a two car garage. The sledge hammer is one of my favorite tools of all time! Anyhow, I got to surf, hang with friends, enjoy some warm weather, see flowers, and watch dolphins play in the surf. Good times in sunny California. I returned to CO and drove straight up to Summit County to chaperone a leg of the spring break trip a few of the kids were doing. It was fun shredding again, but I am ready for mountain bikes and boats.

Katie is healthy and happy, and our cat has been able to adjust to the move into house sitting for Rusty and Mandy without freaking out too much. It's my brother's birthday today. The shallow end of the skatepark is almost clear. And that is all the random info I have to lay out right now.

Almost Homeless

Boxes, bags, and crates have been stuffed to capacity and hauled over to the new River Neighborhood duplex where Katie and I are under contract. The owners/builders of the new place are super-nice people and they have allowed us to put our belongings into the garage and crawlspace. Big Bryan Shea helped us haul the heavy stuff all day. So we are pretty far along. Katie and I just finished a quick dinner and are sitting on the floor of our bedroom. There is no furniture left, just clothes and kitchen stuff. There is debris all over the place. All the hard to reach places to vacuum were a mess, especially since we haven't vacuumed in a week because we knew we were going to make a mess moving out. Loads of cob webs as well. Kind of gross, but it will be cool to get all our stuff out and buff it out for the new owners, Knox and Cinnamon.

Every time Katie and I go to the new place with a load of stuff, we wander around trying to picture where everything will go. Daydreaming about becoming parents and raising kids in our new home. The neighborhood is so cool. Loads of nice people and the oldest house is not even four years old yet. I am excited because we have some friends that are going to be building there very soon. There is so much to consider - primarily hoping the sales of both our current place, which closes on Tuesday, and the purchase of the new crib take place. We can't move in to the new place for at least a couple weeks. The owner of the duplex, Derek, got into a car accident in Arizona just over a week ago, so construction has slowed. Derek will be ok, but it is going to take several months for him to heal up. Steve and mainly Tyler will continue to build and the place looks really nice. The Oak trim is going up as is the tile in the kitchen. It is very cool watching the place come together.

In the meantime, Katie and I will be staying at our neighbor's condo while they are on vacation in Mexico. Rusty and Mandy will be in Mex for three weeks, so hopefully we'll get to move in before they roll back into town. I am a little jealous that those two will be adventuring down the Baja Peninsula and getting some surf sessions, but it is very fortunate for Katie and I. Kindness is beautiful.

Drained

The first step in a long and painful process has begun. Two of the three drains in Crank's Tank - our beloved skatepark - have been dug out and are syphoning H2O from the bowls. Hearing the sucking sound slurping from the rusted and dirty drain is music to my ears. Every drop of water that goes out the bottom of the bowl is less weight that needs to be either shovelled or snowblowered out. Check the April 2005 archive for a bigger shot of the Tank.

I have been disconcerted about the softness of my hands. No calouses. Usually I hang on to somewhat tough skin through the gym, but I have not hefted weights in months. I'm gonna suffer, no doubt.

Yesterday Justin Hawkins got me out for a road bike ride. It was a beautiful evening, cool but not cold, with clouds lingering in the south with tendrils of rain or snow whisping from their underbellies. Justin flatted after about seven miles and we were sidelined for a while as he realised the seals on his pump were fried and he could get only minimal air into his tube. I was glad to be out of town and standing below Round Mountain pondering spring. There was green grass poking up through the road dirt melting snow banks had deposited on the ground. Soaking in life on the side of highway 135 through my persimon lenses. We spun around and rode gently back to CB South and Christian Robertson's house. Hawkins has been pushing me to ride my road bike off-road and this was the first time I have taken him up on it - the dirt road to C.R.'s. Christian and I walked his property while Justin snapped off the stem to his replacement tube and began again filling my spare. Christian has a BMX track looping through his yard and he was showing me his ideas for improvements. There is minimal snow in his yard just five miles south of here. It is cool that an adult, and a serious one like C.R., is building a playful existence.

Justin led the charge north towards home. The first ride of the season is always an eye opener. I stay active all winter, but the nature of driving into a headwind, uphill, is always challenging. Justin went easy on me as I pushed to stay with him.

Switching gears from winter to spring. On a sad note, there is a rumor floating around that Hartman Rocks in Gunnison may not open for biking until May 15 - almost a month later than usual. This is the loss of a great, and close, getaway. Hartman's offers some super-sweet mountain biking, moto-xing, and rock climbing for those of us in the north end of the valley who have at least two more months until the trails start opening up in the high country. D'oh!

The End...Again

Crested Butte Mountain Resort will close tomorrow. Snow is plentiful and the conditions are excellent, but the resort has a lease with the U.S. Forest Service that mandates its closure. As I sit in my recliner pecking away at this laptop I can see it is going to be a sunny and warm day today. The radio said it might get up to 50 degrees today. The struggle for spring to overtake winter is in full swing. Car windows were frosted over this morning, but the solar heat has cooked it off of the south and east facing windows.

This is the end of my sixteenth season here. This winter has blown through with the quickness. Working with the kids and pouring a lot of energy into finding a new home have helped this time warp. I am ready for the warmth of spring and feel grateful for the longer days post-daylight savings.

Having had a lot of struggles with the snowboard team this winter, I have been enormously pleased with the end of the season. We had an excellent showing at the USASA Nationals and brought home two snowboarding and one ski national title. We have stepped it up every year for the past three and that is very gratifying from a coaches perspective. The kids who did not qualify for nationals stayed here in Crested Butte (and a quick trip to Copper) with me and worked their asses off to get as much video footage as they could. Video footage is like money to these guys. Each of the more serious riders will put their clips together and burn it onto a dvd and send it to potential product sponsors.

So, a successful end to the 2005/2006 season fills me with swirling memories and thoughts of the future. Katie and I cleared a couple more hurdles towards getting into the duplex in Skyland yesterday. We have to move out of our Riverbend home in less than two weeks. Katie is going to visit Grandma Hanson in Mt. Angel, OR and I am going to visit the Hoys and some other friends in Carlsbad, CA for next weekend. When we return we will have to move all our belongings into the garage of 19 Arctic Court, then find a place to stay until the county gives the Pitt family a Certificate of Occupancy. We are cautiously optomistic.

8:06 AM. Second cup of coffee going down fast

Contract

So Katie and I are under a written contract for this duplex. It is just across the river from our Riverbend condo, located in a locals-only neighborhood. The place is still under construction and will be surrounded by places under construction for the near future, but it is a very cool spot. We have looked at a bunch of properties in our quest to find the right home for a growing family and have only found one other place we both felt really good about (see Down Valley post). It was a relief to walk into an unfinished home and get a really strong feeling for the place. The place has three bedrooms and an office area, two bathrooms, laundry room, and a one car garage. There is an attic and a basement as well. Having ample storage instead of stacking every nook and cranny will be such a treat.

We like the family that is building the duplex. The father is the GC, one son, Derek, is the owner and the other son, Tyler, is doing most of the building. Mom, Linda, is the real estate agent. They are all very nice and intent on providing a great finished product. Derek and Tyler will be living in the other side of the duplex along with Tyler's puppy Emma.

There are a bunch of hoops to jump through because it is a locals-only, affordable housing unit. There are a lot of affordable housing units with appreciation caps of 3% per year, but this one only has a provision that we need to put it on the market for locals-only. If it doesn't sell in one year, we can put it on the open market. We are excited and hope to close in early May.

It is mud season again. We lose more of our town's snowpack daily, but it still seems to snow each day as well. We even got some rain yesterday. Soggy and cold.