]> http://greasy.com/troutbend/index.html troutbend's Blog en-us © 00:15:15 Greasy.com All rights reserved. Mon, Jul 00:15:15 7 GMT 30 http://greasy.com/troutbend/invasion_canada_1866.html "Neither of my grandfathers was very practical..." was how my grandmother started her story back in 1978. She took her teeth out after supper so her speech was slurred and we strained to hear her over the clackety window airconditioner. She related the story of her grandfather Heffernan who fought in the Civil War on the Union side and after the war ended wanted to keep fighting. He was of Irish descent and really hated the English so he and some of his Irish friends invaded Canada. For al ... Sun, 6 Jul 2008 18:46:46 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/depth.html I'm trying to think of something deep and profound to share with you today, and it's just not coming. Sitting here in the dining room with the cat all that is on my mind is superficial stuff like wondering if the incoming clouds are going to bring rain, and goodness look at all those hummingbirds and how soon am I going to run out of sugar to make hummingbird juice and have to go to town for more. I am in between knitting projects because I finished my sweater and that would be another exc ... Sat, 5 Jul 2008 18:31:14 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/please_friend.html Yesterday I helped my friend Jane set up her Greasy account as Plantdetective. She is a retired botany professor from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her husband is a retired zoology professor from there. Jane is also a forensic botanist - plant detective - and consults on crminal investigations. We had a good time picking the names for Jane's blog. She has two Welsh corgis, so we considered working that into things, but we settled on other names. She is a fine addition to our g ... Sat, 5 Jul 2008 18:10:41 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/bowling_report_take_back.html Your good wishes (esp the 'break an arm') must have helped. Here is the report from Las Vegas in Mr. Troutbend's own words: "Today I bowled for the first time at Texas Station (other than the practice session) and I qualified for the finals right away. There were only 3 people in my age group for the 10 AM squad, and only about 20 bowlers total. I shot 660 which was the highest of any prepaid entries so I won a pair of shoes, and I also won a spot in the Columbia shoot-out which comes with ... Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:35:09 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/tree_spraying.html Kincaid Tree Surgery showed up today for the annual tree spraying against pine beetles and spruce bud worms. Usually they come twice a summer because the spruce problem is early in the season and the pine beetles are later in the season, but this year (I think for their own purposes) they are here about half-way in between. This year aphids are unusually bad and are attacking the spruce trees, particularly Colorado Blue Spruce. They form white egg sacs that resemble snow on the branches. A ... Wed, 2 Jul 2008 20:08:23 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/owes.html I figure Mr. Troutbend owes me a good fireworks show. Years ago we lived near a big reservoir and could sit on our roof and view the best fireworks show we'd ever seen and the way it's going ever will see. Then it was discontinued so we would have had to join the throngs of people who drove to view them set off over a golf course in the city. In the mountain town near where we live now, weather and fire danger permitting, fireworks are set off over the lake but we avoid it because of the t ... Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:30:10 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/hand.html We have motorcycle people from Nebraska next door and I spend half the time thinking they are okay and the other half picturing them and their local friends as drug dealers and meth lab operators. Last night I worried that they are going to steal some of my objects from the Brown Palace, and maybe the ones from out of state are okay, but their friends from our nearby city looked a little funny around the eyes, and a little too excited about discovering our property tucked down here off the ... Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:36:01 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/commentary_food.html It looks like Buddy the Cat is too late to warn Mr. Troutbend about eating whatever was in that dish. He jumped up there as if it was very important. More likely, he thought it might be something for him. Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:53:38 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/hot_vegas.html Mr. Troutbend is getting ready to drive to Las Vegas tomorrow, an 800 mile jaunt to participate in bowling tournaments. Please don't wish him luck in a comment because it won't make any difference. He never does very well, but I suppose it is endearing that he keeps trying. It is 74 degrees here and 108 degrees there so the ten days he is out there will seem plenty long enough. Of course he will be in air conditioning most of the time. It's the drive across town to the bowling venue that w ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:05:32 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/interface_question.html No, not INTERFAITH, this is about how comments work in Greasy. Maybe I am the only one, but when I go to reply to one of your comments, I click on 'Reply' and the screen refreshes so instead of replying to a comment, using the comment box will create a whole new separate comment. It takes several tries to finally get the comment box to be a reply, and sometimes I just give up, which is why I don't respond to comments as much as I could. Has anyone figured out a way to get around this probl ... Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:29:19 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/popping_question.html Our last weekend's guests staying next door were from Nebraska and got engaged while they were here. They hiked up to Alberta Falls and that's where he popped the question. She has a nice diamond ring, not a huge rock, but big enough to see at 4 feet. I can remember when Mr. Troutbend proposed to me. It was February of 1978 and went to a so-so restaurant where we had not so great stroganoff-esque beef tips on noodles. Somewhere during the meal he said "I think we should get married." He ha ... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:37:58 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/priceless_friendship.html This morning I was sitting around in a daze trying to get worked up enough to start cleaning the bathroom when the doorbell rang. I thought maybe it was the visitors staying next door with a problem only I could solve, but lo and behold, there was Bob just in from Independence, Missouri with a loaf of homemade bread and five new hummingbird feeders. My first thought was 'there goes that last piece of apple pie.' Bob is a school principal there in Independence, and he comes up here to fish. ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:21:00 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/shop_goes_atv_xxx.html Allenspark is a small mountain town near here. Tourists on rented ATVs would be a huge public nuisance in our lovely mountian setting. Business owners say switch to porn gallery forced by permit denial A sign on the former Eastin Gallery and Studio at 14863 Colo. 7 in Allenspark, advertises the “Patterson XXX Porn Gallery.” Owners Jeff and Vicki Mead say they’ve been forced to go into the pornography industry after the county shut down their ATV rental business. But some nearby neigh ... Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:49:38 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/roofers.html It's hard to find a good roofer. Last year we got new roofs on several of our buildings, but it took three years to get a roofer to do it. In the meantime, there was leaking going on that we are still repairing the damage from. For two summers we called around and left messages (nobody answered their phone - too busy roofing), and 4 out of 8 called would agree to stop by to give an estimate but only two would show up, and then they dropped off the map. Finally one said he could do it, but ... Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:35:56 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/monsoon_season_colorado.html Here in the foothills of the Rockies we are moving into our monsoon season where it might cloud up every afternoon and rain a little bit. According to today's paper, a 20% chance of storms in the summer means something different from 20% chance in the winter. Here is how it was explained: "In the winter, a 20% chance means a one-in-five chance, but in summer it means that there will almost certainly be showers, but only about 20% of the area will be hit." This same guy said that to avoid g ... Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:19:07 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/hillbilly_joke.html This came from a relative in England. When she tries to 'do' an American accent, it comes out southern, so I think she has some American email buddies in the South. Two hillbillies walk into a bar. While having a shot of whisky, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. And, after a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress. One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, 'Kin ya swallar?' T ... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:48:10 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/redneck_seafood_dinner.html Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:37:43 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/better_photo_moose.html Here is our moose this year. Last year's was a male, this year's is a female. I don't think sex change surgery was done, but would like to see them both at the same time. Here is last year's moose. Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:13:55 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/cleaning_door.html Today I have to get over there and clean the Brown Palace in case those people show up a day early, not likely, but it’s probably not a good idea to keep putting it off pretending it doesn’t do much good to dust too early. I can always run around Saturday morning and suck up the recent dead flies. I hate seeing dead flies in the window sills. I painted the louvered closet doors in the laundry room yesterday, and brought in a lamp for better lighting so the dust on the tops of the door ... Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:08:56 GMT http://greasy.com/troutbend/credit_card_companies.html Have you noticed that credit card companies are getting a little strange? We always keep our balance paid up, but lately it seems like there is less time from when the statement arrives to get the payment back to them. This especially bothers us because if we are moving between two homes, the mail forwarding isn't always very timely. To solve this problem, I have started paying my credit card bills online, and that works okay, but I trust them less and less, so now any time I have any kind ... Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:37:06 GMT