Life TransPlanet

We rang in the New Year with friends and it was pretty fun. It started out later than we had planned and a lot of people canceled last minute for various reasons. It didn’t feel like much of a year to celebrate, but it was still fun and I am glad that we had a nice group of people to spend the first few hours before and after 2009 with. We played the game Catchphrase with everyone and that was fun, hung out, made Pina Coladas and other drinks, then we did the white elephant gift exchange and some of them were very funny and strange gifts. We ended up with a Kebob-It 1970-80’s infomercial cooking device. Other memorable items included a couple of ponchos, a 2007-2008 used planner, a lovely Snoopy belt thing, and much more! Britton had an even more memorable night (or not), but that’s another story for another time.

Table of New Year 2009 Party Food

We made 7-Layer Bean Dip, Guacamole, a cheese and cracker tray, cookies and had a little olive bar.

Me, Sandi and Chris

Britton with the New Kebob-It Food Thingy

G with A Poncho and a Clock

This was like a marathon Christmas weekend. Wednesday evening, Christmas Eve, Britton and I  went over to my parent’s house for dinner and we played poker and other card games. Then, Christmas morning we went to Johnson’s Corner, which is probably one of the most famous truck stops in the US for breakfast and it is just off of I-25 in Colorado! Britton thought this was hilarious…a greasy spoon for Christmas. It was actually quite busy! Johnson’s Corner was in the movie “Larger Than Life” with Bill Murray and Matthew McConahey (sp). We met our long-time family friends, the Fitzgeralds, there.

With my family

My Brother Justin and Dad

Playing Poker, Britton and Mom with a Neck massager

World Famous Cinnamon Roll -WAY TOO SWEET!

Sue, Mory, Dad and Mom at Johnson’s Corner

Magic Rings we won playing at the arcades in Johnson’s Corner

Later that afternoon we went over to Britton’s parent’s house and had Christmas dinner with everyone there. Our gift to our niece and nephew was an afternoon with us on Saturday. We took them out to lunch, to Target to pick out a present, went to a music shop down by the University of Northern Colorado, took a walk around UNC, went to the library, then hung out playing video games at our house.  Then, last night we went over to Matt and Jamie’s and hung out, played cards, used their new juicer and played Rockband. Fun and busy weekend!

Nikki, a Schnauzer and Schnoodle at Britton’s Parents for Christmas

Helping give a boost to my nephew up into a tree in front of UNC

I have two distinct feelings toward Christmas lights and decorations. On the one hand, I love how it lights up an otherwise ugly time of year and gives a festive and cheerful mood to the dark season. On the other hand, I think some people go WAY overboard with these decorations and lights. A while ago I used to work at an old folks assisted living center and I’d take the residents out to see some of the lights. I have definitely seen the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of decorations. Last night we took a few pictures and a video of the Christmas lights and decorations in Greeley, Colorado. Enjoy, (and cringe) like we did

The Extent of Our Christmas Lights (on our banana tree)

The Good: DownTown Greeley lit up

The City of Greeley is trying to revitalize the downtown area, and while it is certainly beautiful, still not many people are there to enjoy it.

The Bad: Just imagine how wasteful this is on energy (not to mention a  nuisance to neighbors)!

It is just ridiculous! It has over 70,000 lights and is programmed to be played -some are synchronized music and lights- to music that you can tune into in your car. There were like 30 cars just idling watching the lights and listening to music. This family calls themselves the “Greeley Grizwalds”.  I would have to agree that they are just about as silly as the family in that Chevy Chase movie. It’s kind of cool, but definitely WAY over the top. It won the award for best decorated house in the local light contest. They won’t tell anyone how much their electric (energy) bill is, but I am sure it is wastefully  high.

Here’s another video of it I found:

 The Ugly!

This one has got to take the cake for being the most crass. Not even a block from the last one, this one tried to out-do it only with inflatable Christmas decorations. Every inch of the yard was covered in this balloon-like toys.  (You may need to click on them to fully “appreciate” it.) It was crazy! Well, whatever floats your boat, or in their case, everything that floats. 

Happy Holidays everyone!

I was surprised to find a little gift from the black chicken today when I went to bring the chickens some water. She laid her first egg! It was much smaller than Ms. Henny Penny the Leghorn usually lays (like Extra Extra Jumbo size). Everything we read about the Sumatra breed of chicken says that they lay white eggs, but no, she definitely laid a brown egg. So now that our Leghorn champion layer is out of commission due to molting, the black one can take over. I don’t think she will lay as many as the Leghorn, but it is nice to know that we have a backup so we don’t have to buy more eggs. Thanks, Black One (no we still really don’t have names for them).

Small but pretty brown egg

Last Christmas, my mom and I went to Puerto Rico on Christmas day. It was pretty interesting to see how Christmas was spent on a tropical island, and it really was like having Christmas during the summer, something I had never experienced. Britton and I are getting excited about our trip- a vacation to Puerto Rico- on January 28…about a month from now.

A Few Days after Christmas 2007 in Hatillo, PR

At the LOUD Hatillo, PR Mask Festival Parade

At the Arecibo, Puerto Rico Radio Telescope Observatory

For those of you on a warm tropical island and those covered in snow, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Feliz Navidad a todos!

And in Jimmy Buffet’s own words:

Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum
Santa’s run off to the Caribbean
He thinks about boat drinks and fun in the sun
Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum

Click below for song:
Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

At a Beach in Rincon, PR

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After the sky cleared up it left frost on the trees against a blue sky

I noticed that our leghorn chicken (the white one) was looking a little sparse in the feathers around her neck the other day, but Britton just kind of dismissed it. Then,  I went into the greenhouse to fill up their water and it looked like someone had had a pillowfight in there. There were white feathers everywhere! She is looking pretty ragged and I am pretty certain that she is molting. Why in the world would a chicken molt when it is negative 15 degrees? Don’t ask me, but she is…She has also stopped laying eggs which is common in the winter anyway to conserve energy when it is cold and also because they don’t lay eggs when molting. (We actually had to buy eggs for the first time since August so I could make chocolate chip cookies.)

Now that she doesn’t have quite the same level of “down coat” that she did before, I am a little more worried about her in the cold. We might run an extension cord and a light bulb for heat. My dad says to put a box, even a cardboard box in there with hay and a blanket or towel over it so they can conserve heat. The problem is that they still like to get up high at night and roost on the board or roosting stick we put up there. If we can get through this cold part of winter, I think they will be tougher for it…

Here are a few more pictures around the yard and neighborhood.

Fog over the lake out back 

Kitty and Schnoodle follow the path we made in the snow from our house to the greenhouse

Kitty walking up the path to the house

Schnoodle with a snow beard

It is still cold and snowy here, but let’s focus on fun! We weren’t sure what to do for New Year’s Eve this year. I have to work during the day until 5pm, so that kind of limited our travel radius some.  When we went over to the boxing fight party the other weekend we decided we should all do something, but we didn’t know what. So, Sandi and I decided that we could just have it here in Greeley, and that our house would be a good location…So…We’re having another party.

Here’s the Invitation

Also…if you have any extra chairs, that would help. We are low on the seatage.

Then we’ll be Jammin’ like Bob Marley

It is about 8am and it is negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 26 Celsius)! That is arctic Colorado weather! Kitty usually sleeps outside, but we took him in to sleep in the laundry room last night because it was so cold. The people on the news kept saying to take pets in, that it is so cold it will freeze human skin within a few minutes, so we were pretty worried about the chickens.

I boiled some water this morning and took it out to them and they were just fine. They were not moving much to conserve energy and the black one had frost on her feathers. I think the leghorn has frostbite on her comb, but they were happy when they heard the ice crack as I poured the hot water into their dish. The high today is only supposed to reach about 10 degrees, so the water will freeze again soon!

When I was bringing water to the chickens, Schnoodle ran out with me to go to bathroom (our yard that is). As I was walking back to the house, she just stood there on three legs. I thought maybe she was standing awkwardly as she peed, but she wouldn’t move. I had to coax her back in, but she was slow and looked  like she was in super pain. I think she might have arthritis in one of her back legs, and they say arthritis is more painful when it’s cold (low pressure). 

As I was coming to work, my car started slowly and the road conditions weren’t too bad until I tried to get up onto “O” Street from 25th Ave. My car slid around and let out a bunch of steam/smoke as I gunned it up there. As I walked from my car into the building, the contents of my nose froze as well as my hair that was still slightly damp from showering. All of this is to describe that it is frickin’ cold!!! Puerto Rico, you are looking especially lovely today!

As I was trying to stay warm in our flannel sheets this morning, I just realized that we have quite a bit of tropical things in our house. This must be part of our subconscious desire to be in the tropics considering that Colorado is in the USDA plant hardiness zone 5 and Puerto Rico is in zone 11 (same as Hawaii). What this means is that the low temperature that can be expected  in most of Colorado is -10 to -25 degrees F and the lowest you should ever expect in Puerto Rico (or Hawaii since they don’t list Puerto Rico on the map for whatever reason) is +40 degress F. So the only tropical things you can grow here are houseplants. Last night the low at night was  about 0,  and we are not even half-way through the winter season. But in good Colorado fashion, Saturday’s weather was in the upper 50’s which confuses things even more unless you are from Colorado like us, and then it’s just normal.

USDA Hardiness Map

Here are a few tropical things we have in our house sheltered from the snowy, cold world outside.

Josh, Our African Grey Parrot eating a tortilla chip

Our Banana Tree in our Living Room looking out to a snowy scene

We got this drawf banana tree from a seed catalog in the houseplants or exotic plant section. When we first received it, it was only about an inch tall, but we kept watering it and now (after about 3 years) it is about 6 feet tall. It has never had bananas yet and I think that is because it is so dry and the varying amount of sunlight it receives. Still, it makes me smile and it gets a new huge leaf (like 2-3 feet!) every so often. Also from the seed catalog we got some coffee plants that have never born any fruit (coffee) either but have beautiful glossy dark green leaves.

Me with the Banana Christmas Tree

Because the banana tree and another tall houseplant in our living room are so big we decided to just put lights on the banana tree in front of the big picture window with a couple of ornaments and call it good.  We have had a real pine tree before from the mountains and we had a nine-foot fake tree for a while, but this is kind of fun for this year. It kind of reminds me of that Corona commercial where they light up one big palm tree…

Plus, while some holiday lights in this dark time of year are welcoming, I think too many lights and decorations are kind of corny (more on that later).

**CHICKEN UPDATE**
I was worried that the -10 degrees F might be harmful to the chickens. I checked some online references and apparently they’ll be fine as long as they are out of the wind and / or rain. Well the greenhouse is dry, but cold. It was 0 degrees a little bit ago.

I have to remember that they come with down jackets. 100 years ago nobody had a heated coop, they seemed to get by just fine.

I know, that is a weird combination -John Denver being the hippie folk singer and Hector LaVoe the rockin’ salsa singer, but there is a method to my madness. I would say that these two musicians really encapsulate what people think of when they think nostalgically about Colorado and Puerto Rico. And…I like them both.

Before my mom moved from California to Colorado to be with my dad who was from here, she would sit and listen to “Rocky Mountain High” over and over. I understand her longing because now, I sit around (or dance around) and listen to salsa music- Hector LaVoe in particular and think about Puerto Rico.

Rocky Mountain High

There are definitely plenty of other great musicians from Colorado (Big Head Todd and the Monsters, 303, Glenn Miller, Yonder Mountain String Band, India Arie etc) and from Puerto Rico (Daddy Yankee (or Yanqui-lol), Calle 13, Willie Colon, Ricky Martin, Tito Puente, Jose Feliciano), but John Denver and Hector LaVoe represent Colorado and Puerto Rico respectively, to me. -On a side note, Jose Feliciano (Feliz Navidad singer) was born in Lares, Puerto Rico!

It’s interesting that both Hector LaVoe and John Denver changed their last names. LaVoe is actually a French name that means “the voice” and he sings a song called “Soy La Voz” or “I am the voice” and of course John Denver’s last name is the capital city of Colorado. They both died untimely deaths with Denver flying and crashing his airplane while flying drunk and LaVoe from drug use that led to AIDS. I don’t know if there is a movie out about John Denver, but El Cantante starring JLo and Marc Anthony had a lot of great music in it.

Here’s a great Christmas salsa song:

Aires de Navidad

Other songs that remind me of Puerto Rico and Colorado at this time of year are: Esta Navidad by LaVoe and Colorado Christmas by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Click to hear more from Hector LaVoe with La Murga de Panama.