One of the things about living in the suburbs is all the "winterizing" you have to do, like blowing out the lawn sprinkler system. We never had these issues when we lived in the city. Last weekend, I noticed that several of my neighbors were out wrapping their trees. I wondered if it was just because the trees are so new. But after a little Googling, it turns out that trees in sunny states (like Colorado) are highly susceptible to sun scald and tree bark splitting in the winter. So I headed to Home Depot and bought some tree wrap. Now all of our trees look like they have a giant ace bandage wrapped around them.
It's been snowing a lot in the mountains which has made the temperature in Denver pretty chilly. But we still went out on a bike ride on Wednesday. Luckily the sun was shining and the wind was down, so with several layers on, it didn't feel too bad. By the time we got to Panera's, it was even warm enough to sit outside (as long as we were in the sun).
I haven't been on a hike in ages, but Bruce and I went out this week to Castlewood Canyon State Park. Bruce goes out hiking every week, but I'm a little rusty. The muscles you use for hiking are basically the ones I'm sitting on while biking.
On the way to the park, we stopped at a garden center. I've driven past this one several times and always wanted to stop, because they have some interesting displays. Their specialty is building fountains, ponds, and other water features, but I think this water fountain spilling out of the passenger window of an old pickup truck is a bit too quirky for me. Plus, I seriously doubt it would get approved by the neighborhood landscape committee.
Courtney and I have been sticking with our Saturday Zoom sketching sessions. This week we "traveled" to the south of France and painted an old villa. I tried to post my picture on the Urban Sketchers Facebook page, but they took it down saying I didn't paint it "on location" (one of their hard rules). Hey if I had my way, I would be sitting in that villa doing my painting. But with COVID still going on, Zoom is as close as I'm going to get.
