"Irish Road Bowling"

The course this year took us through an industrial developement. About 2 miles of up and down hills with lots of corners and curves. It was great. The first picture is me "Rolling" the bullet. The sky was overcast but dry and beautiful. Bobbe,Karolynn & Jim, their daughter Sarah , along with Kevin Collier and myself composed the Bottleneck team.

Above Karolynn lets the 28oz cannon ball (bullet) go....Rolling is shouted before each throw so no one gets in the way. You don't want to try and stop a cannon ball...believe me.

This is Jimmy rolling and John chasing. You have a spotter (Bobbe) way ahead, We aim at her...she lines up the roll... and let it rip. The other team members jog along the side of the road and find the bullet when it goes off.

We had almost 30 people show up this year, including the president of the Steamboat Springs City Council. Myself and the Bullet

Bobbe and Kevin with a reward beer. Beers are GOOD after a 2 mile run.....oh... my arm still hurts Guinness is a local favorite and really hits the spot. Of course I forgot the Guinness and we settled for a Fat Tire. Ummmmmm good. and only 125 calories.




The Team Bottleneck official picture......We finished second again. I don't trust those winners, I think they could be English.

The "Official Winners" They can't be real...they didn't have a beer or a whisky

Winter Carnival 2009

New York Buddies- Jesse's move

Well, Well the Blogster is back to work. Lets just start by saying this trip was fun, not as much as Italy but still FUN. Jesse my beautiful, smart and sometime dopey daughter decided to move to NY City in the middle of the largest recession in the last 70 years. Old Dad was enlisted to help with the move. Jess made all the arrangements and I only had to drive. On Saturday Jan.17 She and friends packed the Budget rent a truck below. Is "packed" the right word?


On Tuesday the 22nd I took a Alpine taxi to Denver and Jess met me and off we went to ?? Kansas. Our goal the first day was Cawker City and the "Worlds Largest Ball of Twine" It was only 120 miles out of the way but Ha, it is the biggest. Kansas is corn and wheat fields and wind. The pic above is just before we left Colorado. Jess had a conference call from the truck with Houston and Denver and then we stopped to see these tumble weeds.

Got to Cawker City about 5;30 p.m. nothing open, not even the one gas station. But the "Ball" was all light up just like a Christmas tree. It is Cawker City!!! I was impressed......that we actually found it.

That night we stayed in Abilene Kansas. Great people....Bad motel. Real bad. We hit the road on Weds. a.m. at about 8:00 We always had to find Buddy, the cat, he would hide each morning, I don't think he liked the travelling. He was good, just didn't like it. We had to move a dresser, he was up underneath behind and over a drawer. ................ good boy...........

We crossed Kansas that morning and about noon we spotted the 'Negro Leagues Baseball Museum" of course I had to stop. I grew up a Milwaukee Braves fan and Hank Aaron fan, Hank had played part of one year for the Kansas City Monarchs before he was called up to the Braves. You easily forget what a major event it was when Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers in early '47. It changed the face of America. Truman integrated the Armed Services but that was in '48 so Jackie really was a pioneer. The people at the museum knew their baseball and their civil rights.

This is Jess at a roadside walking the cat. We would pull into a trucker lane at the roadsides and get out and walk our cat next to some big rig. "Do you feel manly? Jess would say.

We tried to get a picture as we entered each state. No chance!! At 65 MPH it's hard to shoot photo's. The bridge between Mo. and Ill. we crossed at night and there was just a little 2X2 sign. You notice snow here as we entered Ohio. They had a lot. thought I was back home again. This is Marshall and Paris, someplace USA

Found Cleveland, it's not that hard. This is Jess at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Fun place. I enjoyed the history and John Lennon's 5th grade report card. He wasn't the best student. Loved to 'goof off' oh really. Jim Morrison's cub scout uniform, didn't seem the type. Lots of fun.

Made NY a day early and coordinated with Cody to get moved in. Crossed the George Washington bridge, got lost in traffic, I think it was Jesse's fault. NO!! Really not that hard to find her place on 78th and 2nd Ave.

Nice place if you like 85 stairs up and 85 down every load. She does have windows and Buddy was very happy. I watched the truck and let the 'kids' do the up and down. Thanks guys and girls.

The 5A gee an elevator would have been nice.

Molly in the truck with an empty cooler. Gerrrrrrr!! And why didn't we fill it with 'something'?

This is Cody walking Bailey, he's the one with the brown ears. We walked every night and every morning. I really enjoyed the walks. The streets aren't crowded and the people that are out usually have their dog. So they actually , almost...... come ....close to... looking... at you ... and one lady even spoke to us..... not just to the dog.

These are the wonderful group that helped Jess move in. Amber, Brian, Molly, Cody and what's her name. Jess 'lost' her Ipod during the move in but Buddy found it under junk a week later,

Molly worked like a trooper getting everything organized and put away the best she could. No wonder MSNBC pays you the big bucks to organize. We did a lot of walking and saw what we could. This is a walk we took though Central Park on our way to the USS Intrepid. CP was like a breath of fresh air. A large open space in the middle of the city. this bear just happen to catch Coders.

We met Jimmy in NY. He was there for meetings and took time to have lunch with us one day at a Cuban-Asian fusion restaurant, it was "restaurant week in NY" so instead of spending $75.00 for lunch we only spent $25 and we were SEEN. It was that type of place. We also went to the Intrepid. Fun. The ship is looking over the Hudson River at the spot where flight 1549 landed. the volunteers on the ship said they had seen the landing. Amazing

The French consulate of course, three blocks over from Cody's place

Jimmy and I aboard the Intrepid That's the stealth fighter behind us, you just can't see it.

Here's a better picture of the stealth bomber and the old man.

Summer with the Marshalls

Summer began with a trip to Middleton and a stay at Walter's. We were to put in the pier but luckily the neighbors, Dr. Crummy, and his friends had already done the work.

We simply had to run the electrical line 85 feet to the boat hoist. That 'only' took us the better part of a day. We also moved 2 yards of rock in Walter's Lincoln to trim the yard by the pier. Lincoln's aren't made for hauling rock. Four buckets at a time. The guy at Bruce's just looked at me and shook his head. But I did the shoveling so he became my newest best buddy. The rock cost $40.00 and the gas to get it ......$39.98.

Fortunately, Beth our niece, had us over for dinner. The food was wonderfully prepared by a Italian trained cook, not chef, cook. The wines were great and just as we left, Gary, showed up. He had been stuck in weather and had driven up. Hi... Good bye, wish we could stay, see you next time.

On Wednesday Terry called and I told him I was in Wisconsin and he said so was Noel, to receive a prestigious Alumni award, and he was coming Thursday. Noel had won the award for all the years and all the help she had given the UW Dance and Theatre dept. So we all got together in Middleton. We don't see each other for 6 month in Colorado but meet for lunch in a Middleton diner. How fun. Terry's sister, Jackie had bought a house in Paoli and was starting a "Arts Retreat Camp" A big job but it was happening, slowly. Good luck, lots of work

Terry and Bobbe, Noel above. I took the pics, I look better that way... Just think Marcello in "Under the Tuscan Sun".

A few weeks after we got back Cody flew in to visit for the weekend. He and Jess drove up from Denver. We hadn't seen 'the boy' since '07 Winter Carnival. We sure have missed him and Molly. She was in New Orleans for some NBC meetings. We drank and she worked. Sorry Molly we'll see you soon also. The flowers hadn't started yet and the trees weren't in bloom. When will winter end is all we could say. Above we bore the kids with the "Italy Trip Pics". Just 406 more to see!!!

A picture of Jess. She is traveling a lot and seems to be doing well. A few weeks after this we helped her move into a "cool" new studio apartment near Coors field and the Platte river. Her Cat, Buddy, still hasn't totally accepted the move. He'll get used to that early morning sun and not always wake Jess at 3 a.m. Maybe

This is just one of four pictures Cody took of himself. One from each direction. Strange boy. but good.

A few weeks later, the last week in May, Lyssie Walter graduated SSHS. Time flys way to fast. I know Pat and maybe Beth remember Lyssie when she was so little. She and her brother Casey and Abe are moving to California in a few weeks, near Santa Barbara, on the beach. We'll miss them all.

Finally, in June, the house has blossoms and flowers and green grass. I even enjoy cutting it this early in the year. Bobbe does yard patrol, dandelions and weeds fear for your lives. She hunts them down and 'Extracts' them from the ground. I just mow right over everything. Slash and burn is my motto. She's a surgeon and I'm Gangis Kahn.

The back yard flowers. We just love the summers in Steamboat. Our yard is great and easy to maintain. Plus we can pat our backs over a couple of beers or glasses of 'Les Clos', aha Cody can you bring some next time. Without the "Neck" I have to pay for wine. What a bad concept.

Bobbe at the Wipperfurth Cottage sign " since 1922" And every single tool and scrap of wood is still behind those garage doors. Walter's father built the original cottage in '31 or something like that. Bobbe would come out from Madison in the summer. No running water and no toilets. Things have changed alot in 70+ years.