Life Transplanet

By Cassie
Saturday was a pretty fun day. We had to run a few errands, but then Britton and I went to an event sponsored by the local library district that was promoting Science Fiction in general and the book Fahrenheit 451 in particular. They invited Connie Willis, a local author who has written many sci-fi books and won lots and lots of awards including the Nebula and Hugo Awards, to come and talk about Ray Bradbury’s book as well as science fiction and writing in general. Afterward, they had a book signing and Britton took a few pictures of us.

Connie Willis signing Bellwether

Connie Willis and Me

Later that evening we went out with Melissa and Alan to the new independent movie theatre that just opened downtown. It was pretty fun. We saw the new Woody Allen movie, Vicki and Christina in Barcelona, I think it’s called. They serve alcoholic drinks and dinner, and you can eat dinner during the movie. The movie was so-so, and half the food order took FOREVER to come (I think Melissa’s food finally came about half-way through the movie), but it was still a good time. I hope it is able to stay in business. Small, local businesses have a hard time thriving in downtown Greeley.

All four of us, after

Afterward, we went back over to Melissa and Alan’s place, chatted, drank more beer and watched the new Chris Rock show on HBO. It was a great night.

The party was great last night. We had a fun time early on with the kids chasing chickens around the yard, we had lots of food and music, and a couple of games. Midway through the night, we gave out the raffle prizes: 2 bouquets of flowers from our yard in mason jars, a mojito pack that included cane sugar, club soda, fresh mint from our yard, a lime and shooter of bacardi, a salsa pack with some ingredients also from our garden: tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno and garlic. Britton’s deviled eggs from our chickens’ eggs and cucumber California rolls with cucumbers from my mom’s garden were gone within 2 hours after making them.

We launched potatoes into the empty field behind our house while it was still light, and again later, had an interesting garlic eating contest, and in general had a great time. We drank cherry wine and dark chocolate and everyone enjoyed the cheese and olive tray downstairs. The food and drinks that everyone brought and made were excellent!! Thanks everyone for coming out and for all you brought to the party (in both senses of the word)!
Here are a few memorable moments:

After the kids chased the chickens till they were breathless, I picked up “Pepa” so they could touch her

Then I did the “trick” and put the chicken to sleep. All you have to do is gently stick the head under her wing and rock up and down. She woke up about 10 seconds later.

A lot of people wanted to see and hold Josh, the parrot

We used a whole bag of potatoes and a few other items throughout the night

Hanging out in the basement (Jody, Melissa and Lorena)

Cassie and Erin Ready with Garlic and the Bait (quarters)

Setting up the bet

Shortly after this video, one of the kiddos also ate a whole clove of garlic and ended up throwing up. But he was a champ!

The Morning After

If you came to the party, we would love for you to let us know how you liked it (click on add comments below this post). If you didn’t come, you missed out, and we missed you!

- Make sushi rolls
- Make fruit salad
- Make deviled eggs
- Tomato and Cucumber Salad
- Make gift raffle pack (mohito, salsa, flower boquet, fruit basket, beer or wine pack)- Buy food
- Buy ammo (potatos for launching)
- Buy glow in the dark paint (for potato launching at night) *None Available at Lowes*
- 6 feet of sub
- go to whole foods for chocolate, olives and cheeses and boulder chips
- new belgium brewery for ‘giddy up’ and ‘old cherry ale’ *COULDN’T COMPLETE DUE TO TOUR DE FAT*
- make sun tea
- pick up tiki torches from craigslist contact *DID NOT COMPLETE*
- pick up chairs and missing piece for potato launcher from Lowes *LOWES DOESN’T HAVE ANY CHAIRS!!*
- mow lawn
- put down red mulch
- clean Josh’s cage and room (Parrot)- vacuum whole house
- Get Keg/beer and drinks

You are invited to a

Harvest LOCAvore Party

at Our House

on Saturday, September 6, 2008, 6pm-??

If you had a garden this year, bring some of your LOCAl bounty to share with others either in the raw or prepared as a side. If not, bring a favorite dish or drink (maybe from ingredients from the LOCAl farmers’ market). This is not required, but a fun way to share and try new things. We will have plenty of drinks and lots of food. Maybe deviled eggs from our chickens? Britton’s famous sushi rolls made with local cucumbers? Our scrumptious chile rellenos from fresh chiles? You’ll have to wait and see.

For Entertainment, we will hold a tasting of the various beers and wines that people bring, listen to music, eat, play cards, launch potatoes, maybe play rockband, chase chickens (?), have a garlic or habanero pepper eating challenge, toss around a frisbee, play hack and other fun, strange and interesting things. Our neighbors have a hot tub too, so if you are a good persuader…who knows? 

Playing Rockband!

Feel free to bring the kids if you’d like. We’ll try to have kid-friendly things going on too.

For more info including directions, email or call us:

bckauffman -at- comcast.net (please put the @ sign in between, I just don’t want to get spammed), or any of our other emails if you know them. If you don’t have our phone number, I’ll send it to you via email.

Todays Lunch!

In addition to chasing clucking chickens all around our backyard this weekend, we also went out with Matt and Jamie to celebrate our 3 year anniversary and their 10 year anniversary.

Loaded up the bikes

Rode our bikes to some breweries -New Belgium and O’dells

At New Belgium

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Went out to dinner at Bisettis YUM

Hung out Downtown and listened to some musicians

Went to a couple bars including the Drunken Monkey

And swung like Tarzan

It was a great night!