Fall in the Air

This morning was marked by a variety of obvious seasonal changes. Dempsey and I were greeted by cold, gray, and damp as we stepped out the door to hit the park for an early round of fetch. It is getting close to the time when leaves crunch under foot and the smell of snow hangs heavy in the early morning hours.

There is something indescribably striking about a cold, gray, quiet day where the only sounds are those of your footsteps and the occasional crow, whose caws both echo in the silence and yet are muffled at the same time. Between the smell of snow that is about to fall and faint wisps of woodsmoke, you can smell the earthy scents of spring and summer decaying. Those kinds of days are perfect for a walk in the woods.


One of my other favorite fall scents is the smell of sycamore trees. It is a very hard one to describe and probably even more difficult to capture or replicate. Next time you are near a stand of sycamores, take a big whiff and you'll know what I mean.

Speaking of falling . . . how about that world economy? While both alarming and disturbing, I still find it amusing the number of people who thought that the $700 billion bailout package would suffice to stabilize the global scene. Do people understand that our economy is sitting on trillions and trillions in debt based on money borrowed on money that was borrowed many times over? The bailout is the equivalent of filling a grocery bag full of pebbles, tossing it in a crater, and calling it good.

There was an interesting article in the WSJ last week about the "alternative" investments people turn to when the market goes south. Tonight I am headed to the public opening of the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art. I might scrape together a couple million and get myself an animal suspended in formaldehyde or a diamond crusted, platinum skull.


I am sure all animals were treated humanely in the pickling process, but I'm sure PETA has plenty to say about Mr. Hirst . . .

Barbershop

This isn't the first time haircuts have hit these pages. I have lamented the lack of real barbershops in this part of the world. Call me old fashioned, but stylists for dudes is a trend that is out of town. My hair is not an aspect of my appearance that I really feel like spending much time on to make it look perfectly messy or whatever. In the quest for a respectable haircut, I've been through a couple barbershops in town that have closed or changed ownership. I have also been to some places that were a little more "fussy" but really weren't anything beyond SuperGreatClipsCuts with a metro kick.

Enter Plaza Barbers . . . I knew I had passed this place a number of times on my shopping adventures in University Hills Plaza Shopping Center (home of the giant mountain of plowed snow in the winter). It is discretely tucked in behind some long ignored storefronts on the north end of the shopping center. There is a barber's pole spinning away which is what caught my eye in the first place, but otherwise, you might never know it was there. They don't have a website, they don't advertise, they do have senior day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and they do use a straight razor to shave the back of your neck.

I have my own checklist for what qualifies as a real barbershop, feel free to add on as you see fit:

• barbers are older and have cut hair more than once
• programming of choice on the TV (20" or below and cheap) is either hunting shows or westerns or ball games when available
• magazine selection is manly, but has the token Ladies Home Journal for the stray wife that wanders in
• the only furniture of consequence are the barber chairs, if money was spent anywhere else, you are paying too much for your haircut
• a haircut does not cost more than $13
• there is a wall display that is at least 30 years old of pocket combs for purchase
• the cash register is old, low tech, and should not really work
• there are no blow dryers, just blowers or maybe a vacuum attachment for getting stray clippings off your neck, face, ears, etc.

Supposedly there are four barbers at the shop. I do not believe that two of them exist. I have never seen Ray, the owner. I have only heard the other two talk about him, saying "oh, he'll be right back" or "he's usually back just before lunch so he can leave again". Nor have I ever heard anybody mention or ask for Jim. So far as I can tell, it is just Steve and Pete. Pete answers the phone as part what has to be a comedy routine. I kid you not, somebody called looking for the office manager. He ran out to the parking lot, asked if anybody was an office manager, came back to the phone and said, "Nope, we don't got one here."

Some poor schlub walked into the inner sanctum of the barbershop wearing a hat that said, "Ignorant in the ways". Said feller asked how long the wait was. The response was a quick glance and "there are four people ahead of you." "Can I come back?" inquired Mr. Schlub. Insert glib reply here, followed by mass ridiculing once the guy was out of earshot, primary target of mocking was the dude's long hair. "Ha, 'I need a haircut' . . . maybe he was talking about his beard," quipped Pete.

I paid my $11 for a cut and some entertainment, kept my mouth shut and stayed out of harms way. There was talk of politics, sports, the occasional bit of home garden harvest news, and a lot of joking around. This is why I seek out a real barber for my hair cutting needs. Usually the cut is respectable, but in the end, the difference between a good haircut and a bad one is about three to five days. It is all about the experience.

Foxy . . .

On our morning constitutional today, Dempsey and I ran into some wildlife in the hood. There was a curious fox hanging out in the intersection of Florida and Grant, taking in the morning sights. As we got closer, a car came past and the fox dove into the depths of the storm sewer faster than the DJIA went below 10,000 yesterday.


Mr. Fox did pretty much the same thing as the graph, made the plunge and then poked his head up out of the sewer for a look . . . before disappearing all together.

In these turbulent times, we find ourselves having to scrimp and save, making the most of what we have while trying to maintain lifestyle expectations. Even in Colorado, a state with one of the highest rates of SUV ownership, change is becoming evident.



Some might say this guy is a maverick . . . given the other SMART in the foreground, I'm confident it is a case of some good, old fashioned, tongue in cheek tomfoolery. Upon more research, the car above has some serious equipment under the . . . uh, the whole thing. It has an engine and transmission from a Mercedes Benz Unimog. It still would have been nice to see some car smashing action though.

Autumn in the Hills

I spent some quality time this weekend taking in autumnal sights, taking part in seasonal activities, and cooking some fall foods.

Friday night, a few of us hit the First Friday art walk on Santa Fe and then Tennyson with some dinner at the Santa Fe Tequila Company with the obvious margarita accompaniment in between. Santa Fe as a street has some pretty incredible people watching on an art walk evening. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to make the most of it, but I'll always have the memories. There was some interesting art on Tennyson, but even more interesting was the curator who hit us with a barrage of drunken interpretive dance in her efforts to make a sale. I don't think the artist who was standing near by was very impressed. Despite the curator's insistence that the artist didn't have business cards, he readily produced one and told us to deal with him directly.

I managed to get out for a nice ride in the hills on Saturday, heading out to Golden, up Lookout, over to Mount Vernon Country Club, and back through Grapevine Road, Morrison and home. You can check out the route if you'd like, but it wasn't anything terrible exciting. I wanted to hit Shadow Mountain but it looked cold, dark and windy further west and up.

My post ride hunger inspired me to do some cooking Saturday evening. I had some pumpkin left from last year that I figured I might as well make use of. It has been a while since I had a good pumpkin muffin, so I got to baking. While I was at it, I made a loaf of European Peasant Bread which was a nice, hearty, crusty bread. It would have been prettier had it not exploded in the oven due to hyperactive oven spring, but it still tasted good with the Spicy Pumpkin Soup that was the first course . . . followed by a Walnut-Sage Chicken. Like I said . . . inspired to cook.

On Sunday, the activity of the day was heading up to Frisco for some hiking and cross race watching, ignoring the forecast calling for 70% chance of snow. When are weather forecasters ever right? The colors and views from Mt. Royal were pretty spectacular early in the afternoon.

There was some evidence of earlier rain showers, but the sun was shining during the hike for the most part. I didn't have any horrible flashbacks to my ride to Vail while walking down the bike path, in fact it was quite lovely.


I even managed to get a couple accidental artsy shots of droplets on leaves. The lighting ended up being pretty cool if I do say so myself. It was nice to be operating with the dedicated camera instead of the camera/phone.

At the tail end of the hike, it was evident that the weather was rolling in. The clouds didn't have the friendly, puffy look anymore, but the contrast of colors was still pretty to look at.

We got to the cross race in time to catch the end of the SM Open race, nothing too terribly exciting. By the end, the wind was picking up significantly and the temperature was dropping. I had spent the day hiking in a t-shirt, but had to bundle up quickly as the rain and sleet started coming down.

After some snacks and general warming back up, it was time to hit the road and brave the elements. Surprise surprise . . . not much traffic this weekend, even at prime traffic time. All in all, it was another lovely weekend making it that much more difficult to return to the daily grind. Now where's my coffee!?!?

Debateable

Being the concerned, civic minded individual that I am, like many of my fellow Americans I watched the Vice Presidential Debate last night. Like many of my fellow Americans, I was hoping for fireworks; a display of Sarah Palin choking in a self created miasma of grassroots, folksy drivel. Unfortunately she didn't completely embarrass herself and the Republican ticket, but she was guilty of many a gaffe.

I particularly like the thought of it actually being Obama/"Obiden" running on the Democratic side. I think General McClellan could get things going in Afghanistan, although he was quite the foot dragger in the Peninsula Campaign, and he died in 1885. This one I just cooked up, but it is the only thing that makes sense. 'Nu-cu-lar' is to the Republican Party as Castilian is to Spanish . . . why is it that no Republican seems to be able to pronounce the word correctly? Feel free to chime in on the foreign policy/diplomacy comments Palin made (regarding Israel in particular), I don't even want to get started.

Although I don't sugar coat things often, baked goods excepted, I want to defer to the professionals for the Sarah Palin report card. Hilary Rosen of CNN said, "She wasn't horrible. But she wasn't good. And she isn't ready to be president." Andrew Romano of Newsweek had a good perspective saying, "In one ring was Sarah Palin battling comedian Tina Fey's TV impression of Sarah Palin. In the other was Joe Biden battling John McCain. They both delivered somewhat uneven performances - but both "won" their individual bouts."

I agree with Ms. Rosen. John McCain could die at anytime in office if elected. I'd rather not have a Presidential stand in who might wink at the general public regularly and/or give "shout outs" to third graders. Mr. Romano's perspective is sad but true. Sarah Palin was not there primarily to debate the issues. She was there to prove that she is not a complete embarrassment to the Republican party, nor an affront to professional women everywhere. I'd say she was only partially successful. Her ham-handed, countrified, cutesy-poo persona was so practiced and annoying that it was hard to take seriously.

Although Biden had to mind his P's and Q's and not attack Palin or act patronizing in any way, I was glad to see him take his jabs at the overused maverick comments.

It reminded me of the Princess Bride when Inigo suggests to Vizzini because of his frequent use of the word "inconceivable" that it might not mean what he thinks it means.

In summary, a friend of mine stated he had never given money to a political campaign in his life . . . that is until McCain announced Palin as his running mate. A contribution was made immediately to the Obama campaign . . .

Photo Editing Fun

Sadly, I have not even begun to explore the possibilities of uses for my computer. The iMac can do far more than I usually use it for and even the simple software that Apple provides has some pretty neat tools. The images below were stitched together in the clunkiest method I could think of. Not really, but who'd a thought to use Excel as the canvas for dragging pictures around? I couldn't come up with anything else quickly that would let me position each individual shot. Even better, I can print straight to my iPhoto album, go me.


Once the image is in iPhoto, there are all sorts of adjustments and tweaks possible through color, tones, hues, exposures, and effects. I kept it somewhat simple, but there were somethings that could be done even in this basic environment that results in some pretty cool looking images.


Since I don't have anything beyond a point and shoot camera on the digital side of things, I might go old school and break out the SLR that uses real film, requiring a development process to make the images show up . . . weird.

Permitted

It is official, I have a building permit. Since I paid for it (really should be them since there are two) and gave $100 to Denver Waste Water, I suppose I might as well build the garage as planned. I am not going to lie an say the permit process is seamless, smooth, or even easy, but it isn't really that bad. What is done is done, the rest is now up to me . . .

There were a few minor issues that needed adjustment, first being that the maximum height for an accessory building is 15' and my garage plan called for a 16' roof peak. That is nothing major in the grand scheme of things, a quick truss redesign later and I'm good to go with a few inches to spare.


The other issue was position on the lot. I initially thought about putting it closer to the lot line, but because of bulk plane restrictions, I had to shift things more to the center. All in all, not a bad thing, it gives me some options for the strip to the north of the garage. I think Dempsey will have his dog run there.

I am waiting on a few more numbers to come in, but it is getting close to the time I will have to start thinking about taking the back fence down so everything can happen. It is a bit of a frightening prospect having full alley exposure for a while, but such is life and having a garage will be good.