Silver City

If you've never been to Silver City, New Mexico I don't recommend it. We had heard that is was a cool little mountain town with an interesting downtown similar to Flagstaff. Amy and I decided to go there for our anniversary. What we found was different than expected. We had planned to go to the Gila Cliff dwellings, but it snowed and the road was closed. Unfortunately that closed off some of the hiking we had also planned on doing. There was so much fog that we decided to stay in town and see the sights. Only some of the galleries downtown were open. Most of the owners seemed desperate for someone to talk to. We ate at some of the local restaurants, and even the Mexican food was bland. We even tried a little fancier place, but it too was nothing to brag about. If we ordered something it was always out. If we wanted to go somewhere, it was closed. Fortunately I had a good traveling companion so we had fun anyway. The background tells the tale of our first day. It was so foggy it was hard to drive.

This is a sign at the city park where we went trail running. Someone alerted them that we were coming.

There were some old mining claims at the park, and this one had tunnels.

After a fun trail run in the mud and snow..

The extent of exciting night life in Silver City.

Lunch time above the Cat Walk.

Mountains in the Gila Wilderness above the Cat Walk. City of Rocks.

One of the cool formations. I wish I could post more of them because there were so many, and even some petroglyphs.

Cochise Stronghold

Last Saturday Ryan, Brett, Mike and I headed over to Cochise Stronghold. We met up with Dave, Shannon and the rest of their gang. We had nine people all together in our group. What a fun day of climbing. Dave anchored himself halfway up the rock to take photos, and this is the view looking down.

Here is Mike pulling hard.

Dave leading. How do I know he is leading? He's wearing his helmet.

Shannon playing on the 10b.

Brett doing his turn as belay slave.

And that is me climbing a 5.10 on top rope to clean the anchors.

Gifts

I enjoy giving gifts. I like to see my friends and family excited about something I can give them, or do for them (not all gifts are material). It seems odd that if I like giving gifts that I don't generally enjoy receiving them. Amy gets mad at me because she says that I am not a good recipient. I try, but I'm just not good at it. I received a very generous gift for Christmas from one of my friends. It was the perfect gift, I was caught off guard, and it is something I will definitely use. That's when I realized why I am so bad at getting gifts. I tried to express my gratitude, but I'm not sure that it came across how I had hoped. I think I stuttered and stammered and didn't really say all I meant to. It's just awkward for me for some reason. Another psychosis I need to work on I guess. Kind of like marking my socks with a Sharpie so that I can keep them paired up. If I have ever seemed ungrateful to any of you when you have given me something or done something for me I apologize, and I promise to try to do better. Better yet you could just do like Amy and swear that you will never give me another gift because I am such a jerk.

An Open Letter.......

........to Ryan's doctor Dear Doctor, As you know Ryan's last Interfieron treatment is this Thursday. It has been a long year of that nasty stuff for him and we are glad that he is doing better. It usually keeps people in bed all day feeling terrible, but Ryan seemed to thrive even on his worst days. He is a tough kid. Although we are glad he is doing well and that he won't have deal with the poison that is called medicine, we are a little concerned. As one of his climbing partners I think I can speak for all of his climbing partners. We are afraid of what he might do to us at 100%. He already climbs laps around us in the gym. He is also eternally psyched to climb outside. What are we going to do with him? I propose that you could prescribe something to make him a little lethargic, or better yet, how about something to make him put on large amounts of weight. We are just asking for a little help in slowing him down so we can keep up with him. Thanks in advance, Ryan's climbing partner

Cobbler

Tonight we made apple cobbler in the Dutch oven in the backyard. Brett taught me how, and now it is one of our favorite deserts. It's really rich so it is impossible to eat very much of it. Instead of buying charcoal I found an Oak pallet, cut it up and made my own coals. Much cheaper.

Here's the finished product. I think making it is almost as fun as eating it.

The Obvious Answer

When I was a teenager I heard the the Broken, Beat & Scarred music pick of the week. "Dead, Jail or Rock and Roll". I used the title as an answer anytime an adult would look at me (usually in disgust) and ask "So............what are your plans for the future?" It was generally some girl's dad who was asking. They always looked a little confused when I would reply "Dead, Jail, or Rock and Roll." It was obviously lost on them how cool I was. Enjoy the song.

More Fun Run Results

Brett finished his fun run yesterday morning. He did it off the couch with a head cold in a time of 14:58 for 2.5K. Steve and his lovely wife Jennie ran their 5K in "about 30 minutes". They ran in Utah......in the snow. Now that's commitment. Check out their picture below. I think it's funny that I wore as many layers as they did, and I was only running in 40 degrees. If you have an update for your fun run e-mail it to me so I can update the results. Thanks to all who made a donation to one of the charities.