The Kids Found the Candy

I came home from work to see that Bunny and Llama had apparently helped themselves to our leftover Halloween candy. Here's Bunny with his head in a bag formerly filled with Swedish Fish.

Llama trying her best to look innocent.

I think they may have eaten too much, because they didn't seem to be feeling too good afterwards.
 

Blame Mark

In a comment to my post about my high school reunion, my friend Mark wondered why I didn't include a scanned yearbook picture. Mark, my good friend, I accept your challenge:

And to keep you from coming up with any more "great" ideas:

Happy Halloween from Das Haus von Ruh!

Bunny, Llama, and friends- dressed up in their Halloween costumes 

Our Thrilling Weekend

Saturday: rent sod-cutter, pull up turf

Sunday: dig 70 feet of trench for landscape edging
 

The World's Happiest Countries

An interesting article by BusinessWeek online lists what it calls the "World's Happiest Countries". I was interested to learn that 4 of the top 5 are in Western Europe, including Austria at #3. The United States comes in at #23.

Pinkerton Class Reunion

Last weekend, we traveled to New Hampshire to attend my 20th high school reunion. It was fun, but also very surreal. I was a bit surprised by how few people I remembered- but 20 years for me is over half of a lifetime ago. It was emotionally interesting as well- I was very shy and insecure during my high school years. Seeing those people brought back those memories, while at the same time I now have the tools to deal with it.

Also in New Hampshire that weekend were my aunt Anne, uncle Jim, cousin Laura, sister Jen, brother-in-law John, niece Emma, and nephew Jack.

Emma tries on a new hat. That's a "Dora the Explorer" band-aid on my right hand.


Jack is giving some serious thought to crawling

Stillwater Canyon Trip, Day 6

Our final day of the trip was pretty relaxing. After breakfast, we broke camp and moved our bags to the beach. We washed the thick Colorado mud out of the canoes and kayak, and settled in to await the arrival of our jetboat.


Football on the beach after chores were finished


Jetboat arrival

The jetboat was our way back to Moab. They loaded canoes, gear, and people from our group and several other groups. Then we motored up the Colorado river. The boat moved fast enough that in the hot desert sun I put on long pants, a fleece, and a windbreaker. I felt disconnected from the landscape as the shoreline zoomed by.
Traveling by Jetboat

When we arrived at the Potash dock, there was a school bus waiting for us. The jetboat drove itself up onto a trailer, where it was pulled by the cab of a 18-wheeler back into town. We collected our gear, said our goodbyes, and began the long drive back to Fort Collins.

It only took 6 months, but this concludes my series of blog postings about my Stillwater Canyon trip from last May.

More Unrest in Budapest

There has been alot of violent protests in the Hungarian capital after our visit. The most recent clashes occurred on the Elizabeth Bridge, which spans the Danube between Buda and Pest. The photo below, taken from our hotel room, shows this bridge...
 

Rick Steve's Videos

Rick Steves has a video podcast with clips from his show. The download times are long, but they are all pretty interesting. The most recent episode talks about Salzburg and Hallstatt. It includes footage of a classical music concert in Mirabell Hall (where we saw a similar concert) and scenes from the town of Hallstatt (including a shot of our hotel).

Mass Chaos! (Ballon Festival: post 4 of 4)

Most of them haven't even launched yet...


Balloons everywhere


There's over 160 in this picture alone.