Heil Ranch

Jo and I have had picnics on the mind lately.  We decided to head over to a place called Heil Ranch, which is a popular destination for hikers and mountain bikers, to get our picnic on as well as do some hiking.

Jo was going to go straight from Heil Ranch to playing soccer with a group of guys he plays with every week, so he wore his soccer shoes to hike in.  Before we left, I kindly pointed out his mismatched socks.  Jo doesn't believe in pairing socks, so he keeps all of his socks jumbled together in one white sock pile.  This wasn't a problem when he had socks that were all one length.  Ankle socks with crew cut socks, however, well that's a different story:-)

The drive to Heil Ranch took about 35 minutes.  On the way, we saw this moo cow.  Jo and I have a hard time just passing cows when they are this close to us.  We always end up stopping so we can look at the cows and talk to them.  Don't ask me why.  We just like it, okay?

Heil Ranch was hoppin' when we got there; tons of people had come out to enjoy the awesome weather and either hike or mountain bike.  Jo and I were going to hike later, but first we had some chowing down to attend to:

Changing socks?  Check

Talking to a random cow on the side of the road? Check

Munching on some awesome eats? Check

Now it was time to hike:

A fork in the road.  Hmmm...which to take?  We ended up going right.  We were on the 1.5 mile Lichen Loop trail.  We didn't have time to do anything longer because Jo had a soccer game to get to after we were done at Heil.

Cheesy senior yearbook photo time!

Here's Jo, looking much more normal and much less posed.

Couple shot.  I was rockin' my favorite hat.

Lichen on rocks, something that we both have a strange attraction to.

My man.

This deer was making the wierdest noise I've ever heard a deer make.  Actually, come to think of it, I've never heard a deer make a noise at all before.

A busy bee.

We found this old lime kiln and stopped to take a look.

This lime kiln dated back to the late 1800s.  Lime was mined from the surrounding hillsides and was a common ingredient in mortar and cement and was also used to whitewash houses.

It was still brown, for the most part.  This spiny cactus hadn't quite gotten to experience the hot weather it thrives in.

We did the loop in no time.  Since we had some time to kill, we decided to take some more cheesy senior photos.  Jo is a little too good at these, if you ask me.

Cheeseball.

Ridiculous.

We hit the road soon after the last round of cheesy yearbook photos.  On the way, we saw this flock of wild turkeys doin' their thang.

We had passed this little rundown shack on the way to Heil, and I wanted to stop and take some pics.

And then, there were more turkeys.  Since we had eaten Tofurky for lunch, we couldn't resist pulling over to capture the irony of the situation on camera.  Observe:

Chatauqua Picnic

Since Jo took Jesus's place as my personal savior after he liberated me from the god-awful job of delivering pizzas, I had a day that was free and clear.  Since Jo didn't have anything going on either, we decided to have a nice picnic, since the weather has been so nice lately.

We decided to head into Boulder to Chatauqua, since we could go on a little hike after our food.  First we stopped at Marshalls because we needed to buy a pot for our newest addition.  Jo also went ahead and picked up a sweet new pair of shades, since his old ones were falling apart.

Smoking pot.  Get it?

And then, our picnic.  We had packed a variety of foods: salad, leftover pizza, bread pudding, oranges, apples, and root beer.  It was a sunny day, but there was a chilly wind blowing.  We braved the breeze because we were bound and determined to have a picnic, damn it!

Turns out that the wind got the best of us.  We ate fast, then retreated to the car.  You know when the inside of the car gets all warm and toasty from the sun, and it's the perfect temperature to lay back and enjoy?  Yeah, well that's how the Jetta felt after being in the wind.  We were in warm car heaven.  Our original plan had been to walk off our picnic on a short hike, but the inside of the car was just too perfect, so we did what anyone would do and hung out in the parked car instead.  By "hung out" I mean we tallked, drank root beer, took silly pics, and then reclined the seats and took a nap.

You know, cuz that's how we roll.

 

We did, eventually, lug ourselves out of the car and go on a short hike.  Nothing too long at all, just a jaunt up the hill and back.  We heard chicks from a falcon's nest calling for food, although we never could find the nest.  We also saw a puppy Rottweiler that looked like a bear cub, but we didn't get a picture.

After leaving Chatauqua, we headed over to Whole Foods to get some almond butter.  In the parking lot, Jo scraped a car as he was pulling into the space.  Here's the evidence from the scene of the crash, just in case any private investigators show up at our house later claiming that the damage was anything but minor:

Turns out that Jo scraped that car for nothing, since that Whole Foods was out of almond butter.  I have a persistent and annoying issue with obtaining almond butter.  I like the kind that is ground fresh by pushing the little button.  There's always either something wrong with the machine, or I don't have my container with me, or, like today, the store's out of almonds.  Jo suggested we go to another Whole Foods that was close by.

This one did have almond butter, which made Jo happy.

Really, really happy.

Saint Patty's Day Gargamerle

 Doesn't Gargamerle look so pretty dressed up like a sneaky little St. Patty's Day leprechaun?  We especially love the bow tie. 

We didn't have any green beer to give him, but we did give Gargamerle some pretty clover to make him feel even more festive.

Stay tuned for Garagmerle the Easter Bunny!  It should be good.

Another Random Act of Kindness

I adore you more, babe.  I really do.

Valentines Day

True to tradition, Jo and I ordered pizza and watched a scary movie for Valentine's Day.  We refuse to go out to a fancy schmancy, expensive schminsive restaruant and be all lovey dovey.   Actually, that's not fair.  We are still lovey dovey, only not in a conventional setting.  We always eat in and watch (what else?) a scary movie.

Because, you know, that's how we roll.

I was extra brave this year and watched "Paranormal Activity," which I thought was terrifying, although Jo didn't think there was anything too scary about it until the very end.

Jo did break the rules and get me not one but two Valentines Day cards.  I couldn't help but smile, because he picked out two of the most perfect cards ever.

This card cracked me up because of the squirrels on the front of it.  Jo and I have history with squirrels, so it was perfect.

Jo liked this card a lot too, so I ended up with two lovely cards for V-day.  What a man!

Here's my pizza.  I ordered it without cheese, then added my own goat cheese and avocado.

Jo's unusual pizza, which included spinach, green peppers, and tater tots.

And then there's Gargamerle, our gargoyle.  We never took him down after Halloween, and he's become something of a mascot.  He was feeling festive, so he got to be all decked out in Valentines Day gear.  I think he looks like a dashing young gargoyle, and if I wasn't with Jo, I know who I'd be spending Valentines Day with...

Our new series obsession

Actually, this is more my obsession that Jo's.  Prison Break.  And Michael Scofield.

That is all.