Life on the High Plains

I almost had a zucchini disaster the other day.  Jillian sent me a recipe for enchilada stuffed zucchinis.  I came home from work one night, assembled the stuffing, and then went out to pick the zucchinis. The zucchinis have been growing like weeds so I never expected to have a shortage of zucchinis, at least not for awhile.  When I got out to my garden I went in search of three zucchinis.  Hmmm...who has been eating my zucchinis? After searching through leaves I finally found a couple small zucchinis and a large summer squash.  I guess that will have to do.  I even found a couple red tomatoes to garnish the enchiladas with.  Apparently, those cooler nights we've been having are affecting the growth of my garden.  You know what that means, don't you--winter is right around the corner.  Yuck! Anyway, my enchilada stuffed zucchinis were quite fabulous.  Even Irv liked them.  And, if you're doing Weight Watchers, each half is onl...

Last weekend I took a little break from homework and went to Denver with Jillian and a friend for lunch and a show. We started at BD's, our favorite Mongolian BBQ.  This year it has been a tradition to go to BD's for a Blue Moon and lunch.  We've had fun trying the different combinations of sauces.  After lunch we had some time to spare so we walked around for a little while. We found these bicycle racks where you can rent bikes.  I first saw this on my brother's blog a couple weeks ago in a city where he visited.  You can rent a bike for $8 per day and just drop it wherever you find a kiosk.  This one was right outside the theatre district light rail stop.  While we were there checking it out, a guy came to pick a bunch of them up to move to other stops. I've seen the Denver Convention Center from a distance, but I've never taken the time to go inside and check it out.  It has this blue bear sculpture on the outside.  ...

I haven't posted a new building update in quite a while.  As you may recall, FC started construction of a new building a few months ago. This is what is started out as. This is what it looks like now.  The wooden beams over the entry way are really impressive. It's hard to believe that in December it will be finished and ready for us to move in.  I get to drive past it every day on my way to and from work and it's been fun watching the progress. I'm very excited--I'll be moving out of cubicle world and into my own office on the second floor.  In our current building we are packed in like sardines.  Our CCO's office is in the lobby so I feel fortunate to have my little cubicle, but it will be nice to have a little more space. Very exciting times!

I made Irv go see Hope Springs with me on Saturday.  The movie is definitely funny especially if you've been married forever like some of us. Then we came out of the movie and there was a note on the windshield.  It was from the police--see the scratch on the hood of Irv's car?  (Actually I just noticed it's easier to see the reflection of the clouds on the hood than the scratch, that's kind of cool.) Anyway we went to the police station about a block away.  Apparently some guy had gone along and keyed a bunch of car.  The "kids" who work at the theatre called the police.  (Thanks kids...I'm proud of you for doing that.) The police had already caught and booked the guy on several felony charges.  Was it teenager?  No, it was some 40 year old guy.  The police officer asked if I minded being the victim instead of Irv.  It seems I'm in the CSPD's computer system, but Irv isn't (probably from the accident I had 6 years a...

Irv and I decided to go for a little hike this morning.  Our "little hike" turned in a four hour battle of wills.  My muscles will to stop and go back down, and my head's will to keep going. This was our destination. This is the trail we chose to accomplish this task.  It started out nice and leisurely.  We read on the internet that this trail has an 800 foot elevation rise. Not true. It started out nice and slow and then got steeper and steeper. There were some beautiful sites along the way (a good reason to stop and catch our breath). There were several times that I wanted to turn back, but I kept telling myself that I could do it. We finally made it to the top after about two hours.  (Yes, I am dirty, stinky, and sweaty.) Yeah!  I did it! Beautiful! We could see the Broadmoor Hotel off in the distance.  (Yes, I did make Irv carry my zoom lens all the way up that mountain.) Here's...

My goodness...look what was issued to Mr. Beans at registration last night. Every student gets one. All their assignments are done electronically. Does that ever sound like a technical support nightmare? I wonder how many are lost, broken or stolen during the year. I wonder if they teach kids to type or is that a lost art? Hmmm..should be interesting.

For some reason this year I planted about 30 zucchini plants.  They have grown like weeds and now we have zucchini coming out of our ears. How many ways can one eat zucchini?  Irv's favorite way is zucchini bread.  Anything that has 2 1/2 cups of sugar in it has to be good.  When I made a batch earlier this week I didn't have enough sugar so I substituted one cup of sugar with 2/3 cup of agave nectar.  It was still as good as ever and maybe a little healthier.  I've been faithfully sticking to the Weight Watchers plan and one slice of zucchini bread is 6 points.  Since my daily limit is 29 points, I had just one slice this week.  (I've lost 12 pounds in three weeks!!!) Another of my favorite ways to eat zucchini is grilled.  I slice it up and put it in a basket on the grill.  Yum! A couple ladies at work suggested stuffed zucchini. I found a recipe online that I used as a guideline, but as I went along I modified it to m...