| At this time last year, we were preparing to drive back to Colorado after more than two weeks of visiting families and friends in Ohio and Pennsylvania. After an extra day on the road due to severe winter weather, we returned to our new home full of unpacked boxes. Our 2007 New Year’s resolution was to get our house and lives organized while once again enjoying mountain life.
Our 06-07 ski season started shortly after some quick decorating and hosting our first Christmas Eve dinner for some close friends in our new home. We missed the better snow in November/December but still got in some good ski days (we always say that a bad day of skiing is better than a great day of work) before our Super Bowl Party for 16 1/2 friends. |
| Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & Happy New Year |
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| By the time the Tucker FAA Ski Club arrived in February, we had shaken off the rust of moving twice in 3 ½ years and building a new home. This group needs to quit working (or partying) so hard because the nighttime activities are taking priority over the daytime athletics. As a result, a few members of the crowd had some injuries (sprained knee, cracked ribs, broken arm and Charlie's fractured C7 vertebrae) but all have healed and are ready to give it another go in 2008.
This summer we took our hiking to new heights with our hiking partners, Jan and Tim. We all hiked our first 14,000’ mountain (14er for short in Colorado), Grays Peak. A week later the foursome headed out to summit another 14er, Quandry Peak. At 13,500’ Nancy’s knees told her brain to keep the marmots company while the other three went to the top. For the people back east, the animal in the picture is a mountain goat (not a marmot or is it Tim after letting his beard grow too long) which we saw on our Grays hike. We also saw a family of five mountain goats on our Buffalo Mountain hike (not a 14er but very difficult). Due to an unusually warm and long summer, we hiked enough for two summers which is good since we hardly hiked at all last summer. |
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| In the interest of completing our new home (and single-handedly attempting to keep the USA out of a recession), we went on a shopping spree. The first priority was to upgrade our great room entertainment system with a 60” HD TV, satellite TV service, home theater surround sound and a new DVD player. To compliment our viewing and listening experience, we purchased a variety of prairie mission style oak and leather furniture. We continued the wood and electronic theme (not the leather) into our bedroom with the purchase of a king size bed and a smaller HD TV. We also completed the kitchen by adding bar stools around the island and having the entire backsplash tiled. Once the snow melted and we determined that the deck was mostly stable, we ordered our Jacuzzi hot tub which was installed on our anniversary. Since the van is seven years old, has over 120K miles and we now have a 2-car garage, we added a new Hyundai Santa Fe to our transportation fleet. Nancy did a great job over the summer helping to pay for all our new acquisitions by conducting a 2-day garage sale to sell all of our old possessions.
In addition to pushing the limits on our credit cards, we made two trips to the east to visit our family and friends. In June we loaded ourselves and the cats into the van for a cross country trip to OH/PA. Nancy/Charlie, Oreo/Dusty and the van decided that we all were getting too old for driving that far. So, in October, Nancy/Charlie flew and Oreo/Dusty stayed home without the keys to the van. During this trip we celebrated Mom Gardner’s 96th birthday. As you can see, Mom is doing great, but Katrina was not kind to Charlie’s brother Tom. |
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| The 07-08 ski season has been inconsistent so far. In November we had very little snow and warm temperatures, so the local resorts delayed their planned opening dates or barely opened with very little terrain available. So far in December, the snow pack deficit has been erased by two storms totaling about four feet of snow in one week. With no snow for more than a week, Nancy has been out on our deck doing her snow dance (hopefully the neighbors don’t file a complaint with the police).
Although we have more to do, we’ve made significant progress in achieving our 2007 objectives. Our hope for the coming year is too be able to spend more time and to share our lovely home with our family/friends. We know that we are fortunate to have so much and to live in such a wonderful place. As our friend Carol says, which has become the slogan for our local group, “We are truly blessed”. Nancy, Charlie, Oreo and Dusty would love for you to visit us for some skiing, hiking, sightseeing, etc. We want you to know that you’re welcome anytime, but please call ahead to book a reservation. |
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| Love & Best Wishes: Dusty, Charlie, Nancy & Oreo |