Mi Casa es Su Casa

(karen)

I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! We made an offer on a house, and it was accepted! At last, after nine months of travelling and uncertainty we will once again be home owners. (With any luck we'll even be employed homeowners.) Steve and I have been house hunting ever since we arrived in Denver. We've spent many long nights at the computer, searching through suburban subdivisions and setting up spreadsheets to determine what we can/cannot afford. We've done virtual tours of countless homes and had fun making catty comments about the god-awful decorating styles. What we wanted was a big yard for the dogs, but a nice house for ourselves, and we didn't want to be too far from Lockheed Martin. The problem was that nice, new houses have virtually no yards and are way too huge (think Highlands Ranch). But just when all signs seemed to point to (shudder) compromise, we found "the one"! It's a lovely home in south-west Lakewood with magnificent views of the front range. It sits on .38 acres which is more than enough for our kids, Molly and Spencer. Plus it has a gas stove, so I'm set in the kitchen. What more do you need? Here are some photos of our lovely new home.

This is the view from the front. Nice curb appeal, eh? I'm so excited to have my very own porch. I'll sit out there in the late summer afternoons, whittling and yelling at kids to stay off the lawn.


Here's the view of the house from the back yard. I know it looks humongous, but that's because the unfinished basement is a walk-out. It's really not as cavernous as it seems.


We have a great deck off the family room that looks right into all the neighbor's yards. This way we can keep tabs on them while we are BBQ'ing.


I saved the best for last. Isn't this view fantastic? This is what we'll get to see from the master bedroom. I can't wait for winter to come and see the hills decked out in a mantle of snow. (In case you were wondering, yes, that is a matching playhouse.)


Sorry there are no pictures of the inside, but I think it would be prudent to wait until we move in. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with the current owners. So there you have it! Now everyone, please come visit. Especially you Aussies, I'm dying to show you to some real mountains.
:)

Autumn in the Rockies

(karen)
Steve and I have been getting a bit of cabin fever lately as we sit around waiting for the phone to ring with jobs for us on the other end of the line. We needed to get out of the house, and fast! With summer waning, we knew that we had dwindling opportunities to play in the mountains before snow comes. After perusing our many options we decided to first hike Devil's Causeway near Steamboat Springs, then head down toward Breckenridge to climb a trio of +14,000 ft peaks.


Devil's Causeway is an interesting piece of geology where the remnants of an old volcanic area have been weathered, and now what remains is a thin ribbon of rock that has a thousand foot drop on either side. We started in the high country and followed a steady, steep trail to the top of the Causeway which was nearly 12,000 ft. Notice how the trees are stunted from the altitude.


At the top we had fantastic views of the surrounding Table Top Wilderness area, and the valley below that we had climbed from. It was disturbing to see hundreds of dead trees which were killed by the ruthless bark beetles, however the golden colors of autumn were brilliant against the green forest.


At the narrowest section the Devil's Causeway is only three feet across. You stand at the top and look down a thousand feet on either side. Luckily it wasn't windy because this would have been far more treacherous. As it was I tried to look straight ahead until I got past the tricky part! Only when I was on the other side did I look down.


The rest of the trail was lovely and smooth. As I mentioned, this was the Table Top Wilderness so once we climbed to the top of the Causeway it was flat as could be. Toward the end the trail very gentlty sloped down, taking us past beautiful scenes of weathered rock and golden brush.


We were completely by ourselves until near the end where we encountered anglers in the stream. We also saw hunters in their bright orange vests, probably out hunting elk. I was so thankful Steve decided to wear his orange shirt today. I was in no mood to be mistaken for an animal and shot.



On the way back from the Devil's Causeway we stopped our car to take photos of the beautiful quivering Aspen in their golden glory. I didn't know that the colors changed so early, but I guess up here it's hastened by the altitude and colder weather. We felt very lucky to see the trees at their peak, especially against the dark, stormy skies.


Speaking of dark and stormy skies, our plan was to drive over to the Mosquito Ranges to camp at the base of a trio of 14'ers so we could get an early start in the morning. We reached the campsite near dusk and just as we set up our tent the skies opened up into a furious thunderstorm. Steve was worried about getting struck by lightening, and we nearly decided to leave. The storm passed quickly though, the rumbles of thunder growing further in the distance. In it's wake we found the ground covered with icy sleet. Things grew calm so we ate dinner and went to sleep. Just after midnight the wind picked up and began flapping the fly of our tent. Not only was it too noisy to sleep, but a couple of gusts were so strong that they nearly snapped the poles. Inside we watched as the walls leaned over and came close to collapse. We spent a sleepless night listening for the gusts coming off the mountains and then shooting our sleeping bag-wrapped legs into the air to keep the walls supported. Every hour or so we had to unzip the tent and reach outside to restake the fly since the wind kept ripping the pegs out of the ground. The campground was at 12,000 ft. and is the highest maintained campground in the country. Because of the altitude, everytime I sat up to fix the pegs or even rolled over I could feel my heart pounding for the next few minutes. Sounds weak, eh? You try it! What a wretched night.


In the morning we we worried about how much snow had fallen on the peak due to the storm yesterday. The wind had also not let up. We decided to not push our luck and just hike until it became too slick on the trail. But just as we were eating breakfast another dark cloud descended and fresh snow began to fall. Screw this! We give up! Lesson learned, mid-September is too late to start climbing 14ers. In face of snow and fierce wind, we turned tail and head back down the mountain to Dever where the skies we sunny and the day was warm. Despite having to turn back it was still a great trip and we are already looking forward to getting some snow shoe for the winter months!

Good News, Kids!

(karen)

As many of you know, Steve and I have been waiting, pacing, and chewing our fingernails in dreaded anticipation of NASA's announcement to award the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) contract. Click here for more information about this historic project that will be our next vehicle to the moon. We spent hours late at night scouring chat rooms for rumors of who would be victorious: the Northrop/Boeing team, or Lockheed Martin team? Steve even had a job offer in hand for Lockheed that was contingent upon contract win. Which brings us to Thursday, where we sat in front of our computer and watched the streaming NASA channel which, after an agonizing 15 minute overview of the project and explanation of their decision process, finally proclaimed the joyful news: Dewey...I mean, Lockheed wins!


This is NASA's official logo for the CEV project, now dubbed Orion. I think it's pretty snazzy.


So Steve has a job offer, a fantastic turn of events, however yours truly is still waiting for that special phone call where an HR rep whispers in my ear, "We'd love for you to come in for an interview..." Apparently within hours of the announcement the Lockheed Martin offices were flooded with resumes from people all over the country wanting to join the winning team. Doesn't it count that my resume has been in the system for weeks already? Apparently not. Next week will be crucial to see if my qualifications warrant a second look from the hiring managers. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

In other news, to celebrate the Lockheed win we decided to buy a new car! We intended to buy a used Outback, but there was such a deal with the 2006 models that it ended up making sense to buy one new. The fantastic sales rep at the Flatirons dealership even negotiated for us a lower price than we asked for. How's that for customer service?


This is going to be our official winter and mountain car since it is AWD, handles great in the snow, and has extra 7" ground clearance. I can't quote for you all the under the hood trivia like my buddy Russell, but since every third car in Colorado is a Subaru Outback, we can't be too far off the mark.

One last bit of news! My sister convinced me to join a cooking contest, so I entered two original recipes to the Mise En Place cooking school. For the entree I made Chorizo Apricot Sauce with Kale and Couscous, and for an appetizer I made Sweet Potato Purses with Romesco Sauce. Part of me wants to be chosen for the next round of competition because there are cool prizes, but part of me hopes I don't get it so I don't have to be judged by strangers. Anyway, I'll let you know if either Christine or I, or both, get chosen for the next round.

That's pretty much it for now. I have no idea if anyone still bothers to check this blog since we're not technically "fergs down under" anymore, but I figured we'd keep it going until we get jobs and a house and truly settle down from our trip. For now though we'll keep on living out of a suitcase and mooching free rent off my mother. Ciao, kids.