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Personal

Hot tub delivery

Because of the inconvenience (and instability of the flight of stairs), we needed to get a crane to come and deliver our hot tub onto our new deck (it’s recessed on a sub-deck, so that it’s even with the deck.

Those with sharp eyes will notice the butchering of a stainjob I did on the brand new deck, which Cassie is in the process of cleaning up.

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Fire

I happened to be at the firestation when a wildland fire broke out. Captain asked if I had a red card, and we went off to fight that fire. It turned out to be a small fire (1 acre), so we had it contained and mopped up in under 6 hours.

Me near some fire.

I was real lucky, because I don’t yet carry a pager, so I wouldn’t have known about the fire except for the fact I was at the fire station (doing truck maintenance).

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Pet fox

The neighbor’s been feeding the fox again… She says she’s been feeding the foxes for three generations, with a sheepish look on her face, so I didn’t feel a lot of guilt about corrupting this fox by feeding it. All we had in the house was sushi.

Go figure, foxes don’t like sushi.

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Personal

Feeder overrun by vicious hummingbirds

Well, seeing another neighbor across the hill’s success (in Sunshine), we put up a hummingbird feeder of our own. It was a resounding success, with up to 8 of the birds around the feeder at a time, of 3-4 different species (Rufous, ruby, and another few).

They go through an entire feeder every day, and will hover in front of your face if their feeder is not promptly refilled. The rufous hummingbirds (female, male is less aggressive) do not tolerate any other species on the feeder at the same time.

The cats are quite annoyed, and are hoping the window develops a hole sometime soon.

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Personal Technology & Gadgets

Melted access point

So this is what happens to a wireless access point sitting on someone’s deck in a baggie in the sun at 104 degrees Fahrenheit for a month.

Believe it or not, this was still working fine when I disconnected it

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Personal

House is ours

We took possession of our house today. It’s on 2 acres, near the summit of Lee Hill in unincorporated Boulder (Boulder County). See here for a picture of the house itself. The view is fantastic, with great North-facing views from the deck of Lefthand Canyon, Jamestown and some of the burn area of the Overland fire of 2003.

View south over one of many piles of rocks

View down northwest into Lefthand Canyon

View south

View north

View northwest towards back range

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Personal

Pack test and fires in Colorado

Looks like I may get to fight a fire this week. The chief called me up to ask me if I could go fight the fire, and if I could take the pack test (you need to be red-carded to fight a federal fire).

DK after pack test

So I took the pack test yesterday (45 lb pack, 3 miles in less than 45 minutes, with a couple of minutes allowance on top of that for 7200′ altitude). I measured the distance using a GPS, so I would be absolutely sure I did the required distance. For the record, my time was 42m42s. (I think I was just over 38m when I took it in 2002, but that was 40 lbs, and I did it at 5600′)

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Knee progress

Doctor said I had to wait another two weeks to run, because I still had tender spots on my knee.

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Personal

Permanent US resident

As of today, I’m a green card holder! The interview process was NOTHING like the movie with Gerard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell. 15 minutes in and out.

The interviewer did note that green cards hadn’t been green in 50 years (they’re beige or off-white).

We were worried that they would a) want to transfer our case to Colorado since we’re living here and b) ask for our original marriage certificate, which we accidentally packed in our household goods, which are still in storage.

In any event, all turned out well, and it was quite pleasant actually. I don’t actually have the card itself, but rather a stamp in my passport saying it’s coming…

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Personal

Boulder housing

A week after closing on our house in California, we put in an offer on a house in Boulder that was accepted. We’re going to be living in the pretentiously named covenant community called “Boulder Heights”, up in the front range (around 8000 ft) off of Lee Hill Road. Our house has tremendous mountain views, and 1.9 acres of nearly flat land on the ridgeline over Lefthand Canyon. It’s all been redone on the inside too, with a nice kitchen, bedroom, etc. Unfortunately, I’ll have to join the neighbouring fire department, as this house will be in the BMFA (Boulder Mountain Fire Authority) district, rather than Sunshine (SFPD).

Shopping for a house in California (Kellyfawnia) is like deciding on which is better, airline food or hospital food. No house that we could afford (especially now!) had all the elements we were looking for, and everything was a compromise. And EVERYONE offered huge deposits and an offer over asking price.

Shopping for a house in Boulder is a real pleasure, with a ton of inventory that’s not moving, and many completely new, redone and great houses to choose from. Putting in an offer at asking is unheard of, but since we really liked the house, that’s what we did.

For the techies out there, this house has DSL AND cable modem service, unlike Sunshine. It’s nice to have choices.

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