Soon after we got our first snowfall, it became plainly, and painfully, obvious that we would need to put up our fence immediately - the snow was making the puppies go hog wild! No longer did they stay in our yard (not that they always did but it was much worse now), but rather they ran like prison inmates on escape around the neighborhood, our neighbors standing in their doorways yelling and pointing, “this way”, “no, that way”, “coming your way now”, “no, headed back through that yard”, and so on and so on until we could finally lure them back home with puppy treats. Once in containment a few disciplinary words would roll off our tongues…until they would crack a smile on our faces with their puppy dog eyes and any sort of discipline was shot to hell.

So, several weeks ago we (”we” being Ben) began the gruelling task of digging post holes - the old-fashioned way, with a manual post hole digger. No easy task in these here parts of CO where the ground is like solid rock. Then, a couple weeks later, we (”we” includes me this time) recruited the help of our neighbors to pour the cement and set the posts. Finally came the time to start nailing it all together, and with ambitious determination Ben, myself and once again our obliging and generous neighbors got the thing done in 2 days, despite the snow on the ground and the freezing, finger-numbing temperatures. Now our backyard is complete…well, almost. It took several months but the yard has gone through a huge transformation - from nothing but dirt, to trenches for the sprinkler system, to mulch and rock beds, to grass, to working sprinklers, to trees, shrubs and flowers…and now, a fence. Good thing we only had to build one side of 3 to complete the fence - the contractors built one side (long story) for us and the back side was already there, which left us with just one side to do ourselves - otherwise Haka and Kohi might still be running hog wild through the neighborhood.

-Meredith

just cut and paste link and you can be an elf youself…

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9600751136

I never would have thought in a million years that just 2 days after I was riding in shorts and short sleeves there would be snow on the ground. And not just a mere dusting, but a full-blown blanket of snow. Yes, on Monday it was in the 70’s and I was lapping it up, taking full advantage of one of the last days my bare legs would see the sun in the coming months. And, then today, Wednesday, I woke up to blinding whiteness. Although it was expected, it was still unwelcome, by me at least. Kohi and Haka LOVED IT! At first they were a bit apprehensive about this powdery stuff on the ground covering all their pee and poop spots, but once they stepped foot in it they were hooked! They played and played and played and then played some more. They had a good run at the dog park playing with other dogs, fetching the ball, making snow balls out of the tennis ball, jumping into the frozen pond (which gave Kohi, and me, quite a scare when she was surrounded by chunks of ice) and on and on and on. Now we have two exhausted dogs at home - it’s sort of nice having a little peace and quiet for a change.

Can’t wait to eat some turkey tomorrow!! It’s been 3 or 4 years or even more since Ben and I have been in the US for Thanksgiving and I don’t plan on holding back - gobble, gobble!!

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll!!
-Meredith

Rather than drive to Boulder today to ride with a few other women friends, I opted instead to MTB with Ben and a few guys on the Bobcat Ridge Trail. Um, I think I might have made the wrong decision. While it’s been a blast to be on the MTB these last couple months, it kind of sucks to get completely schooled, which is 100% what happened today. Granted, it doesn’t help my situation when one of the guys on the ride went to Worlds a few years back for trials. Ok, it’s not MTB, I know, but this guy has mad, sick skills. If, for some unexpected reason, Matt didn’t clear the obstacle the first time, he would just go back a few feet and start all over clearing the section with ease…all without unclipping from his pedals. A little hop here, a little hop there, and he was turned around on the trail ready to attack the section again. And usually the obstacle he didn’t clear the first time wasn’t your typical rock but more like a BOULDER that we all thought, “sucks that that is in the way”, and then he would look at us with a goofy grin and ride up and over the top. I mean, he was riding over boulders that we would think of as more of a rock climbing challenge than a rock to RIDE OVER on a freakin’ bike! Matt would just ride his bike up one side, sit at the top perfectly poised and balanced, and then hop down the other side on his back wheel. What we all should have done today is packed up a cooler full of beer, hiked up the trail, and then let Matt put on a show for us. So many times today we were like little kids saying, “show us again, show us again”, “how in the hell did you do that”, “that was sick”, etc, etc. And really it didn’t matter if we were going up or down, Matt schooled us all. All of this from a low key, laid back, PhD student. Oh, I didn’t necessarily get to see all his wicked tricks as I was usually dusting myself off a couple k’s back from everyone else after I’d just totally ate shit for the 100th time of the day. The few brief times I got to see Matt in his element were when the guys had stopped at a tricky section and Matt was showing them for the 10th time how to clear it, allowing me enough time to catch up just as Matt bounded from the top of the boulder, landing softly and adeptly on his rear wheel, and then left me in his dust coughing and crying, “why can’t I do that?”. Well, I have to admit I knew what I was getting myself into when a few weeks ago during a city park grand opening, Matt and a teammate put on a show for an audience in the new trials area of the park. Foolishly I thought that maybe my fitness would allow me to keep up because how much fitness do you really need to jump up on 6 ft boxes, do a couple flips, and then land on 2 wheels (make that 1 wheel since he’d taken his front wheel completely off his bike)? Ha, I guess when you have more fitness than I daftly assumed AND you can ride through every technical section cleanly, without 1 single dab, you’ll probably make it much faster than myself who still dabs riding over the smallest rock. So, yes, I am still pouting as I clean my war wounds but I am still fizzing at what Matt put on display for us today. Next time, I am packing up the cooler.

-Meredith

A few places and things we’ve seen and done this fall…