Monthly Archives: November 2008

Flying South for the Winter

 


Here’s an extra pic so you can see how close the geese are to our house


Click for Larger View

I took a few pictures in the backyard today. The geese are pretty smart. When it gets cold they leave town and go south to stay warm! Today’s high will be ~40* F. Low about 22. They are just stopping by on their way from Canada / Northern US. They fly in huge V formations.

Oh and here was a gang fight I got a picture of. I think Kittah might be able to take them both.

They usually get along just fine but lately the chickens have been taking the cat food. Kittah disapproves!

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Thanksgiving in Colorado


The Bird

Well, we had two Thanksgiving dinners yesterday which amounted to an extra bloated but happy feeling. We brought the rolls 🙂 It was fun hanging out with our families (the first dinner was at my grandma’s house, the second at Britton’s sisters’ house). It was also Britton’s dad’s birthday. The weather cooperated and while it was pretty cold out, it was sunny and still.

Britton has taken off the whole week, playing video games and hanging out, so leaving the house was a big deal :-). It’s cool to pretend like you are retired I suppose. We also have a new roommate for the basement bedroom who moved in this week. He is a young lawyer -about our age- who is a prosecutor for the City of Greeley and needed a place to stay during the week when he wasn’t at his home in Denver.  Overall, it’s been a pretty fun, low-key week. I wish all of the holiday season were this mellow. Britton and I will probably observe Buy Nothing Day and boycott Black Friday today unless we feel like getting some groceries possibly.


Three generations of girls


Me and Britton


The Family around the dinner table minus Britton

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The Unofficial Drink of Colorado and The Official Drink of Puerto Rico

One thing we will definitely miss about living in Colorado when we move to Puerto Rico are the quality micro-breweries here. It is almost like a passtime for some people. While we have some moderately strict alcohol laws (no sales after 12 at liquor stores, separate liquor stores and the former blue law of no sales on Sundays), we do have a lot of microbreweries (and some that I wouldn’t call micro anymore). Some of the good ones include: New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins (this is probably the most well-known), Left Hand Brewery in Longmont, O’dells in Fort Collins and even Crabtree Brewery right  here in Greeley.

I would have to say, if there is an unofficial drink of Colorado, I would give it to New Belgium even though Coors is from the Rocky Mountain water. They definitely have a lot of Coors in Puerto Rico, whereas we don’t have any Medalla Light here. I also like New Belgium because, while it is a growing company, it is not a huge conglomerate Corporation like Budweiser (also in Fort Collins) or Coors. They are also into sustainable energy supplies, bicycling and generate all of their electricity from wind power. They also come up with seasonal drinks like Frambozen in the winter which is one of my favorites. Frambozen is a sweet, dark beer made with raspberries. They have other specialities as you can see in the picture, but they are probably best known outside of Colorado for Fat Tire.


2 Below, Mothership Wit (Organic), Frambozen, Cherry Ale, 1554, and Fat Tire

I never really used to like beer until I met Britton, and now I can handle the occasional beer if it is sweet or light. Britton really likes it, so we have limits on how much we buy. One thing I always liked, however, are pina coladas! And guess what? Pina Coladas are Puerto Rico’s official drink! I didn’t realize this, but I guess it makes sense. Colorado has lots of micro-breweries and Puerto Rico has lots of rum (or Ron) distilleries. I definitely think Puerto Rico is much prouder of its rum history -Bacardi, Don Q, Malibu (is Malibu from there?), etc- than they are of their beer (Medalla is just a party beer like Bud Light or something).

Apparently, as the story goes, some bartender in San Juan, Puerto Rico experimented with pineapple juice, coconut juice, and ice and called it Pina Colada. Then, of course, he added some rum and a cherry on top and it has become the drink that it is. If you are in Puerto Rico you will notice that when you order a Pina Colada that they will ask if you would like it con o sin ron (with or without rum). This goes back to that history! Puerto Rico is so proud of the Pina Colada that apparently they have rum festivals featuring it and they play that cheesy 80’s Pina Colada song over and over.

Anyway, so while I’ll miss the occassional beer here, I would gladly trade it in for a few pina coladas, sin o con ron. For Britton, it may be a little harder to give up his great beers for Medalla Light (and an aside- there is no Medalla, only Medalla Light, is that weird or what?), but I’m sure he’ll manage.

Pina Colada Receta (Recipe)

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LaShaun’s Birthday Party

We went out Saturday night to one of Britton’s co-worker’s house for her birthday party in Frederick. We hung out, ate and talked for awhile. Then we played Texas hold ’em for fun, and then they played one for money, but we forgot to bring cash so we sat that one out. In the for-fun one, Britton was out of the tournament right away; I made it to high-stakes, but didn’t have many chips left and got kicked out on the blinds.

Then I tried out the Wii for awhile. I think the game is called Wii Fit. I did balance games and step aerobics. Some of them were pretty lame (think: going up and down on a plastic board to a basic rhythm beat for 10 minutes), but some were cute like the boxing and bubble burst one. Overall, it was a pretty laid back and nice evening.

Britton LaShaun and Angela

Britton LaShaun and Angela

 (That’s an ab-lounger behind her head -oops)

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