Cousin Brett

We recently took a trip out west to visit our family in Washington and Oregon. We got to see my cousin Brett at her new house in Beaver Creek, outside Portland. She has a beautiful spot with 5 acres of farmland and orchards in the middle of one of those ancient Oregon forests full of towering mossy trees and a view of Mt. Hood. We had a great time exploring her property, cooking (well, she cooked, I ate), and catching up. She made us all sorts of good stuff, including blackberry peach crisp. I had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That’s one of my favorite parts of being an adult, I can eat dessert all day long if I want. Logan’s not old enough for dessert yet, but he did enjoy gnawing on Brett’s arm for a while:

Logan & Brett:

The view from Brett's house:

Boxing a Bike Is Far From Easy

Kate and I are departing for our big summer vacation tomorrow. While Kate graciously babysits and visits some relatives in Washington, I will be riding my bike down the Oregon coast with my 3 brothers, Christina's husband Eric, and our Dad. This promises to be quite the adventure.
We have been planning this for literally a year, though the genesis goes back a bit further.

My parents visited us in Colorado during the summer of '09, and I convinced my Dad to go on a short bike ride with me. He seemed to do alright despite the altitude, so we started casually talking about how it would be fun to do some type of bike trip as a family. The following summer we were in Wisconsin for a family reunion at Uncle Denny's cottage on Lake Chetek. One day we pulled out a map and started talking more seriously, aiming for Summer 2011 for the inaugural trip. A few emails were exchanged throughout the fall, but things really got going during my parents visit to meet Logan in January 2011. We got all the guys together thanks to Skype to start planning the details. Thereafter we held a telecon every month (plus a second one in July) to hammer out the details.

We settled on the Oregon Coast for our route, since its in Oregon its a relatively convenient location for half the riders, and its more or less in the middle for those of us that have to fly. The coast is known for its beauty and convenience and is a destination for cyclists all over the country. Its also supposed to have a prevailing tailwind if you ride from North to South, so I'll be sure to let you all know if that panned out. Mike designed a kickass jersey for our trip, and here's a pic of Dan modeling it for us:

Anyway, before I can start riding I need to get my bike to Oregon. Mike and Eric are the others that have to fly to get to Oregon, and Mike decided to rent a bike in Portland to avoid the hassle of shipping or checking his bike. Eric will be borrowing a bike in Oregon, so I'm the lone sucker trying to fit his bike into a cardboard box. The following details my struggles to achieve this feat.
I scrounged a used box from a local bike shop, and I got some copper pipe insulators and zip ties from Home Depot. Here is my bike before I started; hopefully it will look similar when I get back from Oregon:

The first step is to remove the pedals and cover all the frame tubes with foam. Easy to do with zip ties and scissors. I got two different diameters of foam for the various thicknesses of tubes. I should have gotten two of the skinnier tubes, as I was about 18 inches short, but I made do with what I had.

Next step is to remove the handlebars and front wheel, and rotate the fork so its facing backwards. Lots of folks recommend remvoing the front brake calipers to do this, but it seemed unncessary in my case. At some point you need to remove the seat and seat post too:

Next I strapped a small cardboard box around my chain ring to protect it a bit more:

Then I made a pair of dropout spacers form some scrap wood and some screws. This prevents the fork and the chain stays from getting bent during transport. It seems pretty unlikely that would happen, but I had the time and materials at hand so figured what the heck:

Once the rear wheel is removed the rear derailer is just sticking out, so I decided something needed to be done. I wasn't totally sure what to do, so I just unbolted it and zip-tied it to the chain stay. Seemed to work fine. Hopefully I can get it back together without much trouble. You can also see the rear dropout spacer in this view:

Now comes the hard part, and I wish I had some pics, but I just wasn't in the mood at that time. The really trick is fitting all that stuff into the box. I've seen photos online of people boxing their bike with the rear wheel still mounted to the frame, but my box was a good 10 " to small for that. Removing the rear wheel is no problem, except that now you have to fit it into the box along side the frame. The box is 8" wide, and that is no easy trick. I had to put the bike in and take it back out about 8 times before I figured out how to do it. The trick is to remove the quick release axles from both wheels, then intertwine the rear casette with the front wheel's spokes and the left crank arm, such that its all a tangled mess that is surely not good for the long-term future of your machine. Once you have a twinsted lump of aluminum, place your foot on the top tube, grasp the sides of the box firmly, and shove that bastard into the box, trying to prevent all the exposed bits of sharp metal from tearing the box to shreds. When finished it should look something like a transformer smashed by a junkyard car crusher:

After that I just wrapped up clothes and such in plastic bags and tried to shove them into all of the empty crevices around the bike. A little bit of duct tape to seal her up and I'm good to go. I can't wait to see what happens at the airport; I can't see checkin going smoothly!

Laughter

Logan doesn't straight up laugh very often, so when he does its very exciting. Not to say he isn't happy, he coos all the time. But full on belly laughing is pretty uncommon. I figured out a way to get him to do it yesterday:

I can't tell if he actually likes it. There's a fine line between shouting for joy and screaming in terror. In this video, he gets swo serious between swings, it makes me wonder if he's enjoying himself, or if he's struglling to hold back the vomit:

Da Bears

Football is back! Hurray! The lockout is over, a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place, and Training Camps are now in full swing. The Bears were scheduled to play in the Hall of Fame Game next Sunday, to commemorate the induction of the great Bears Defensive End Richard Dent.

Dent was named the MVP of Super Bowl XX. Its an extremely rare feat for a defensive player to be named the MVP of anything, what with our fascination with scoring, but to be named MVP of the Super Bowl is extremely rare, and gives an indication of the team's focus on defense. This of course was the year of the legendary '85 Bears. Many still consider Buddy Ryan's "46" defense to be the greatest defense in the history of the NFL. They shut out both of their opponents on the way to the Super Bowl and then crushed the Patriots to claim their first (and still only) Lombardi Trophy.

I would not be a Bears fan if not for the '85 Bears. I was about 8 years old during this season, quite impressionable, and being from Oregon, without a home team. With characters like Mike Ditka (the Head Coach), Jim McMahon ("The Punky QB") and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, stunts like "The Super Bowlk Shuffle", and legendary players like Walter Payton (probably the greatest player in NFL history, and certainly the greatest Running Back) and Mike "Samurai" Singletary, I was easily seduced. I'v been a fan ever since.

Unfortunately while football in 2011 has been resurrected, it came too late to save the Hall of Fame Game. Bummer. That's about the only chance to see your team play in the preseason live, but NFL network re-plays all the games, so I can evaluate the undrafted free agents and provide my input to Bears management via the Chicagobears.com message boards. I'm sure they take my input very seriously. I've just been reminded while I type that I'm not the only Bears fan in the house. I have a neighborhood friend that almost always shows up to watch Bears games with me, and he's staring at me right now. Here he is watching Devin Hester (23) chat up Julius Peppers
(90):



Anyway, this post is about real bears. The kind Stephen Colbert is afraid of. Our local neighborhood bear paid us a visit yesterday. We go way back (let's just assume its the same bear that visits every year). One night during our first summer in Evergreen, we were lying in bed when we started hearing noises. I could swear they were footsteps, but that would be crazy since we live in the middle of nowhere and have nothing worth stealing. But then we heard a loud crash and we knew we weren't just imagining things. Like brave former soldiers we snuck out the back door and cowered behind the barn, barefoot and virtually naked, waiting for the intruder to depart. Eventually I heard footsteps heading up the driveway, so I figured it was safe for me to scope things out while Kate waited for the "all-clear". I went into the house and immediately noticed my wallet, which usually resides on the kitchen counter, was still there. Then I saw the garbage can knocked over, and some garbage strewn across the door. We had had pizza that night, and I noticed the leftover pizza was gone, and at that moment I knew our intruder was furry and had four legs. I looked around outside, and sure enough, there were scratches on our door and bear prints in the mud at the end of the driveway! In addition to the pizza, he also took a bag of Kate's oatmeal, apparently he didn't care for it too much as it was left at the end of the driveway. The door leading into the garage doesn't latch very well, so he must have been sniffing around and pushed it open.

I was lying in bed early yesterday morning, trying to use the Force to turn back the clock so I could get a little more sleep when I heard Kate hollering about the bear. We all raced out to see him frolicking through our meadow. He pretty much circled our house, first appearing near the southeast corner, heading north, then west between the house and the barn, then turning back south towards the driveway. He laid down for a short bit near the driveway, but he must have heard Buddy's whining, beacuse he quickly got up and scampered away up the driveway. Its my life goal to get a decent photo of him, but I guess I'll have to wait till next year, as this is the best shot I got yesterday:

It seems like whenever there's a bear around, the camera is lost, the battery is dead, the flash won't turn off and for some reason its set on "wide angle" so the digital zoom won't engage. Oh well, maybe next year. I included the washed out view of the barn since this blog is named after it. I got a pretty good shot last summer though. That year we saw him stand up on his hind legs, but of course, no photo of that!

Looks like he's gained weight.

Logan Sits!

Logan didn’t seem too interested in sitting until last weekend when we went to a party with some other babies his age. Ayla was sitting up no problem. Logan studied her for a little while and seemed to decide that he wasn’t going to have a girl—and a younger one at that (by 11 days)—show him up. Ever since, he’s been sitting.

Mom, Logan's touching me!

Jack, over on the right, is also the same age and his mother tells me he was about the same weight and height as Logan at their recent doctor’s appointments. I think he looks like a giant. Here he is doing pushups to impress Ayla. Logan didn’t even try to compete with that.

Logan and Buddy- Not Quite Buddies Yet

Logan is showing more interest in Buddy these days, but Buddy is not reciprocating. Logan rolled under the coffee table the other day and Buddy was clearly annoyed at the invasion of his space. He got up and turned his back on him.

I can remember having to hang out with younger kids when I was little and thinking they were so annoying. I think Buddy feels the same way.

Redneck days

Some days you just feel like wearing your Wuz Up Dawg tank top and cowboy hat.

Raspberries

We've been blowing raspberries at Logan since he was born and he just learned to do it himself. He even tries to do it on my arm, just like I do it to him on his belly. We're so impressed.

First Sleepover

Logan had his first sleepover last night, when Mark & I went to a concert in Boulder with Kendall and Jessie. Logan stayed with our friend Abbey and her 8 month old daughter Arbor. It was the first time we'd left him with anyone besides family or Tammy (our daycare provider), so it was a big deal. Logan took right to Abbey though, and it was very comforting knowing she knew exactly what to do. I did check my cell phones- both of them- every 10 minutes for the rest of the night, but they did just fine. Here's Logan & Arbor:


The concert was nice-- it was in a big park at the base of the Flatirons, and the weather was beautiful. After a couple hours though, we were ready to go. These days sleep is the most fun thing.

Entertaining

I have not mastered the multitasking art of entertaining/cooking/taking care of a baby. My old friends Amy (and her family) & Katie recently came through town. They happened to be here on the same day, so we had everyone over for dinner. By chance, Kendall was also arriving back from Europe that evening, along with her friend Jesse. I had not managed to do any shopping or prepare anything the day before, but I was pretty sure we could barbeque and everything would turn out fine. Unfortunately, we had massive thunderstorms. Not the usual 5 minute summer afternoon ones, but dumping, pouring, crashing thunderstorms. We tried to grill from inside through the patio doors as the rain pelted down. We got soaked and served raw chicken. The power kept flashing, which turned the oven off, and we ended up with a pan of batter instead of bread. The watermelon and ice cream were the only edible parts of the meal. Next time we’ll order pizza.

Despite all that, it was still so great to see Katie and Amy and her family. Here's Logan with Katie:


And Amy:

In all the chaos I didn't manage to get a picture of Daniel, David, or Sarah. They're talking about moving here, so hopefully there will be many more opportunities.

Half Birthday

Its the second biggest birthday of the year! We celebrated with cupcakes for mom & dad and rice cereal for Logan. Mark also gave him a little frosting... he wasn't too fond of it.

Big Head

We had Logan’s six month checkup today. The doctor confirmed what I’d suspected—he has a big head. He is 50th percentile for height, 55th for weight, and 85th for head size. He grows out of shirts because his head no longer fits through the neck, not because the body is too small. This isn’t surprising, because I have a big head too. In fact, all through our pregnancy classes the only question Mark ever asked (repeatedly) was what if his head is too big to come out?

Having a big head has never been an issue for me—except for that one birthday party when I couldn’t ride the pony because the helmet would not fit on my head. I’m still upset about that. I guess we’ll have to send Logan with an extra large helmet if he ever goes to any pony-riding parties.

Hanging Around

We have actually been home for the past 2 weekends-- a rare occurence (due to overuse of German ping pong cream, but that's another story). We've been hanging out in the hammock:




Testing out our new backpack. This sure seemed a lot lighter in the store-- I guess Logan was a lot smaller when we bought it.




The elk came to visit. There were a lot of babies-- I'd never seen so many. They're spotted, just like baby deer.


Logan loves jumping. He's growing into the Johnny Jumpup. Its a little big still-- we have to stuff blankets around him. He still loves his rainforest jumperoo best, but he jumps so hard I feel like he's going to break it one of these days, so we need to have the backup ready.

Six Months

At six months, Logan reaches and grabs for everything. His favorite is to grab a chunk of my hair and yank. Hard. He also likes to grab your mouth as you’re talking to him, your nose, and anything in reach on the changing table. He loves playing peekaboo. He can be entertained for half an hour (maybe more… but Mark & I get sick of it) by someone throwing a blanket on him and yanking it off. He loves it when you turn his jumperoo into a tent by putting a blanket over it. He’s starting to blow bubbles.

Logan has also developed an aversion to strangers—pretty typical for this age, I guess. We were out for a stroller ride the other day, and stopped to talk to a neighbor-- he burst into tears at the sight of her. He did the same thing to the nurse and doctor at his checkup. I think this just means he's getting smarter. Stranger Danger!

Logan's Harem

Logan is well loved by the ladies at day care. Tori (4) considers him her own, and asks every day if he could just live there with her. When we arrive in the morning, Logan lays down on his blanket and the girls (2, 4, and 7) all cluster around him, singing to him and presenting him with various toys--the only thing missing is a fan and some grapes. I find this funny, because in the beginning Tammy used to scold me and say I was coddling him too much on the weekends and it was making him difficult on Mondays. Now she says she tries to get the girls to leave him alone on Fridays so he won’t expect constant attention over the weekend.

First Food

Logan's been looking very interested in food for a few weeks, so we decided to try out some rice cereal. He pretty much immediately spilled most of it-- but he enjoyed what was left.

Hurray for Summer

Hurray for summer!