Day 12-Travel Day

We got up early today to begin a full day of travel. We stopped at Bread for coffee and pastries before our journey to Albuquerque. Our flight left ABQ in the afternoon. We arrived in Chicago in time for dinner. Luis baked up about 8 lbs of chicken breasts and handed me a box of Stove Top to cook up! It was delicious, but 2 lbs of chicken per person was a gross over-estimation.

Days 10 & 11-Colorado

We did a lot of relaxing these two days. Went shopping, ate at Gazpachos again and tried a new place called Kennebec Cafe. Juliano helped our friends Bev & Bob install a new Macintosh at their house. It was nice to rest and sit around talking!

Day 9-Colorado

For breakfast, Jules and I discovered Jean-Pierre's, a fantastic French pastry shop in Durango. The croissants were buttery delicious. Afterwards, we strolled the streets and did some shopping. In the afternoon we drove towards Silverton and went off at an old Forest Service road called the Old Lime Creek Road. The drive on Old Lime Creek Road was fun, very bumpy and rugged. We parked the car and hiked up the Spud Hill Trail about a mile. The wetland and mountains were beautiful. We got super muddy on the trail. Got back to Bev's and Bob's and went to dinner at Seasons. Another yummy restaurant in Durango.

Day 8-Colorado

Today we did the 200-mile San Juan Skyway loop. It took us from Durango, north to Silverton and Ouray and west to Telluride. We had a late lunch in Telluride, a cute little town nestled in the mountains. From Telluride, we traveled south to Dolores and then back over to Durango. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped often along the way to take in the spectacular mountain scenery.

Day 7-Travel Day

Today Jim, Juliano and I drove from Flagstaff to Durango. It was a 320 mile journey that took us from Hopi to Navajo to Ute lands, or from the Colorado Plateau to the San Jaun Mountains, in about 7 hours. We arrived in Durango in time for dinner at Gazpachos, Juliano's favorite New Mexican-style Mexican restaurant. Very, very hot food. Jules was in heaven eating his tamales and sopapillas.

Days 4, 5 & 6-Southwest Trip

I attended the Natural Areas Conference on these days. On Wednesday night, we all went up to the Lowell Observatory-the site where Pluto was discovered. Flagstaff is a "Dark Skies" city and stargazing was outstanding. On Friday, I rafted down the Colorado River from the Lake Powell dam to Lee's Ferry. It's a very calm portion of the river, no white water. I also spoke at their banquet on Friday night and rallied the troops to attend next year's Conference in Cleveland!

All in all, we ate at two good restaurants and enjoyed the company of Museum friends. But Flagstaff is a very congested city. Old town Flagstaff was cute, but the roads are extremely busy and not pedestrian friendly at all. We couldn't wait to head north to Colorado...

Days 2 & 3-Southwest Trip

WOW! No other words can explain the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon. It is the most magnificent place I've ever seen. On Monday, we stopped at every vista along the 25-mile south rim tour. It was incredible. On Tuesday, we picked up sandwiches at Canyon Village and made our way back to our favorite spot on the Grandview Trail to eat lunch. We hiked down 4 switchbacks to a secluded rock. It was so peaceful. The ravens and vultures fly by and you can actually hear the wind in their wings. We took our time hiking back out of the Canyon, stopping at every switchback due to the elevation. After lunch, we headed to our second favorite spot, Lipan Point. We crawled down the rocks and sat here for an hour, taking in the view. Click on Juliano's Photography on the right to see some of his photos of the Canyon.

We made our way back to Flagstaff for dinner at the Flagstaff Brewery. Our two days at the Grand Canyon could never do it justice. We hope to get back sometime for a full week of hiking and exploring.

Juliano at Grandview Point:

Day 1-Southwest Trip

We arrived in Phoenix on Sunday morning and rented ourselves a red Chevy Cobalt. We started our journey to northern Arizona immediately. We stopped along the way for some Del Tacos and took a nap at a roadside pull off. I awoke to Jules screaming that he was being burned. Apparently the sun came around on him while we were sleeping. He jumped out of the Cobalt like he had ants in his pants. Below is a picture taken along the road to Flagstaff. We made it to Williams, AZ around dinner time. Williams in located along historic Rt 66. We ate at Pancho McGillicuddy's. Yep, a Mexican Irish joint. Food was pretty good. Went to sleep around 7pm. Tomorrow we're heading to the Grand Canyon, bright and early...

Yard Work

In preparation for Fall, we worked on the yard today. Our oak tree in the back yard is prolific this year. Jules raked and swept 1,000s of acorns. Muffin helped up by rolling in the acorn piles.

Storm Windows

Theresa can attest to the jankiness of our two storm windows on the back of the house. They didn't slide up/down and the one window had a homemade screen. On Saturday, Juliano & Michael "Meyers" Greco removed the two windows and installed new ones. They look fabulous and the view of our backyard from Juliano's office is pleasant.

New Appliances at 7005

We finally made a decision and purchased our appliances tonight!!

Whirlpool Range

Whirlpool Refrigerator

Frigidaire Affinity iWash

Frigidaire Affinity iDry

New Germany, PA

Despite the gloomy weather and occasional rain, Carl, Judy and I had a good time in Cambria County, PA. On Thursday, we took our time driving along the Lilly Mountain Road through Game Land 198, a whopping 7,000 acre game land. The amount of striped maple trees was astounding. We saw quite a few warblers, no dragons! The forest was thick and lush. We passed several open meadow areas that would be great for bugging on a sunny day.

From there we headed towards SGL 26, through Blue Knob State Park. It was a pretty drive, we stopped to see the Lost Children of the Alleghenies Memorial along the way. Along the road to the memorial, we checked out Bob's Creek. It was stocked with brookies. We saw a couple hummingbirds on the jewelweed and a spicebush swallowtail. The Memorial was freaky. Apparently in 1856, two boys wandered from home and were lost in the woods for 2 weeks. A man in town had the same dream three times showing the location of the boys under a birch tree. He lead a group to the spot in his dreams and the boys were found, dead, at the base of the tree. Seems shady to me. They never mentioned cause of death. I wonder if the dreamer didn't have something to do with it?

SGL 26 didn't have much to offer. We stopped again at the Beaverdam Reservoir. Judy and I watched as a newly hatched damsel fly weakly above the water. A cedar waxwing made a swooping attempt to eat it and missed. Knocking the poor damsel on top of the lake. Moments later, the damsel met its demise when a fish gobbled it up. The day wasn't a complete bust for dragons, we did see ONE white faced meadowhawk.

From here we jumped on the highway and head to Off the Rak for spirits and dinner!

On Friday, we visited the Wilmore Dam Reservoir - Willow Beach area (Conemaugh River). We weren't seeing much and then Carl and I heard Judy screaming, "Carl, Renee, Carl, Renee". We headed over to see what she had. Judy had found a long-tailed salamander! I had never seen one and it was way cool looking. The tail was at least 4-5 inches long. At the same time, we spotted a rather large dragon along the stream, either a shadow darner or Boyeria sp. It was flying low and close to the bank, near the roots of the bank. We never captured it. From here we hiked along the edge of the reservoir. Found many cavelike openings, a chrysalis of an eastern comma, a cool orange fly w/a monster-sized ovipositor and rain. It began to rain and we had to head out. We grabbed a late lunch and called it a day. Ernesto had finally reached us, it rained for the rest of the night and all day Saturday.

Wallpaper Cronicles

Many of you know that we purchased 200+ rolls of wallpaper when we bought this palace in April. The wallpaper is in our basement and on Friday I started to pull it out from under the basement stairs. It was out of control. We couldn't believe how much paper was under there.

On Sunday, I put a posting on Craig's List-Cleveland. Today we had 2 people come take wallpaper off our hands and we still have tons of it left. Tomorrow we'll have more people coming over for a Wallpaper Open House! HELP.

Multi-family Yard Sale

Today was the big day for what I hope becomes an annual event, the 7005 Yard Sale! Mama, TK, Mike, Klunky, Mom Schrift and I set up for a money maker at 9 a.m. Theresa brought the bagels, Jules made the coffee, Klunky brought the donuts, Mom Schrift and Mama baked cookies, I grill the lunch time burgers and Mike brought out the wallpaper! (He also brought over Chance who ruined the whole yard sale).

We did good!! Between us all, I'd say we made over $150! Kudos to TK for making the most at $50. I managed to sell 2 cassette walkmans and 4 VHS tapes. Mike sold the most of what he brought, he only took home about 3 things and brought over at least 20. Klunky sold the lamps right out from under Mama's and TK's nose. Bye Bye to Comet's crate. It now belongs to a pitbull.

Muffin guarded the yard all day from her favorite perch.

Demolition Derby

On August 13, my friend Peggy was in the Demolition Derby at the Cuyahoga County Fair! Surprise, surprise, she painted her Polish Taxi pink. Congrats to Peggy for coming in 3rd place. Can't wait til next year. Photos by Juliano.

New Kitchen Floor

We finally had ceramic tile installed in our kitchen. We selected a white tile with chocolate brown grout. We painted the kitchen a honeydew melon green and white. Things are coming along slowly in the kitchen, but we hope to have appliances by next week!

Land of the Lost

Mama and I went on a Museum field trip yesterday and stumbled upon this house straight out of the TV show Land of the Lost!

Trip to Columbus

I had a meeting today in Columbus, so I drove down to my cousin Greg's house last night. We feasted on Domino's pizza & chocolate chip ice cream and hung out with his two sons, Adam and Aiden. Below is a photo of my Godson Adam. Isn't he just the cutest little angel?

Cool Bugs

This robber fly and common katydid were in the yard at the cabin over the weekend. Kudos to Jules for spotting the well-camouflaged katydid!

Not Fair

Up until today, we've had unbearable temperatures in Cleveland. Heat index has been around 102. (Check thecorrel.com for information re: how much Klunky sweat in church on Sunday) Sleeping has been horrible in the heat. Jules installed our only air conditioner in his office so his little Mac would remain cool. To my amazement, look what else I found in his office. Heaven forbid these aren't kept cool.