Now that the front yard is finished, Bruce just can't sit still. We've been having a real problem with birds roosting on top of our light fixture, so he bought some of those wire guards to try to keep them away. I'd hate to have a visitor come up to our front door and get pooped on by a bird. Yuk!
Actually, our next big project is finishing off the fence in the back yard. The builder installed a fence along the back and our next-door neighbor fenced off their yard, so we only have a couple pieces left to totally enclose our yard. But our neighborhood has very strict rules about what type of fencing material you can use (aka, not cheap stuff you can get at Home Depot), so Bruce headed off to a local lumber store to find the right boards - big cedar 4" x 6" posts and 2" x 6" cross rails. He also got some pickets to make 2 gates.
It hasn't been all work and no play around here though. Bruce and I went on a geology hike with the Adventure Club. For a change, we had a warm, dry day, though the trail was wet and muddy in a few spots.
The leader of this hike was a former geo-engineer, so he knew a lot about the geologic formations in the area. There's a place in Denver called, Dinosaur Ridge - so-named for all the dinosaur fossils embedded in the soil.
There was also a lot of wildlife along the trail, including this nesting owl and her babies up on a cliff. I thought I was in pretty good shape after logging so many steps with Janet on our virtual Colorado Trail walk, but walking around the neighborhood isn't nearly as rigorous as walking up and down red rock cliffs.
I finally managed to go out on a bike ride (our 2nd of 2 non-rainy days this week). I was searching for a connector between 2 gulch trails our bike group has been on and finally found a way to get from one to another on side streets. In the middle of one neighborhood, I found a really nice coffee shop next to a water park.
Since it was a gorgeous view, I sat out on the patio and did a little sketching while sipping my iced chai latte. I know it seems like cheating to sketch the coffee shop sign rather than the view, but it wasn't quite warm enough to sit in the shade (which is where the table with a view was located).
Courtney and I have been practicing our landscape painting on Google Meet. It always seems to be so much easier when we're painting from a tutorial video than from real life, though I much prefer the ambiance of being outside.
One of the bad things about living in Denver is the wind. It is so strong that it broke off a couple of the clips on my headlight trim. I can't believe how expensive a little piece of plastic is! Imagine what it would cost if I got into a car wreck and bashed in the whole front panel.
It hasn't been all work and no play around here though. Bruce and I went on a geology hike with the Adventure Club. For a change, we had a warm, dry day, though the trail was wet and muddy in a few spots.
The leader of this hike was a former geo-engineer, so he knew a lot about the geologic formations in the area. There's a place in Denver called, Dinosaur Ridge - so-named for all the dinosaur fossils embedded in the soil.
There was also a lot of wildlife along the trail, including this nesting owl and her babies up on a cliff. I thought I was in pretty good shape after logging so many steps with Janet on our virtual Colorado Trail walk, but walking around the neighborhood isn't nearly as rigorous as walking up and down red rock cliffs.
I finally managed to go out on a bike ride (our 2nd of 2 non-rainy days this week). I was searching for a connector between 2 gulch trails our bike group has been on and finally found a way to get from one to another on side streets. In the middle of one neighborhood, I found a really nice coffee shop next to a water park.
Since it was a gorgeous view, I sat out on the patio and did a little sketching while sipping my iced chai latte. I know it seems like cheating to sketch the coffee shop sign rather than the view, but it wasn't quite warm enough to sit in the shade (which is where the table with a view was located).
Courtney and I have been practicing our landscape painting on Google Meet. It always seems to be so much easier when we're painting from a tutorial video than from real life, though I much prefer the ambiance of being outside.
One of the bad things about living in Denver is the wind. It is so strong that it broke off a couple of the clips on my headlight trim. I can't believe how expensive a little piece of plastic is! Imagine what it would cost if I got into a car wreck and bashed in the whole front panel.
And speaking of projects, Brian finished the shelf unit above his closet. I can't believe he went to so much trouble building those triangular pieces. I think I just would have built the rectangular ones and shoved them up against the ceiling to make the triangle spaces. But the end result really looks nice. You can't see it here, but Brian said the stain matches his bedroom furniture.
He had a little help with the initial fit. He said his cat wanted to see if it would carry his weight.
