Once again, another holiday has come and gone in a blur.
It seems like I barely finished writing my last post here, and now looking back it’s been almost a month! All one has to do is blink and *poof* a month has vanished.
So, where to start? How about at the top. Of the hill, that is. I mean, it seems like the right thing to do when your goal is to learn how to get to the bottom of said hill on this slippery board thingy strapped to your feet, right? The boys and I headed off early one Saturday to try our hand (feet?? I dunno) at snowboarding. I had a traumatic event as a teen involving a Sears Wishbook, hard earned cash, and a pseudo-snowboard, so this attempt at reclaiming my dream of sliding down the hill like an angel floating across the waters has been long overdue. We arrived at the Loveland Valley Ski area before the peaked over the mountains, excited, nervous, and over confident that our visions of snowboard mastery were about to be realized before lunchtime.
Well…..not so much. While it’s true that the boards are capable of conveying one down the slopes at a high rate of thrill inducing speed, the steering of said board is another thing altogether, and is, in fact, not as easy as breathing, despite our lofty goals.
After a number of rapid descents from a standing position to a posture commonly known as “face first in the snow”, I resigned myself to asking “How much for some lessons??”. After 90 minutes of training from a couple of instructors, I felt like I had a basic grip on the theory. A short pause for some food and a video call to Jandi to let her know I wasn’t dead (yet!) and I told the boys I was going for broke on the lift.
Let it suffice to say that yes, paying for lessons was good, and no, it didn’t mean I stayed vertical the entire time down the hills. After all, they say that no two snowflakes are identical, so one must verify this from time to time, lest we get sloppy and believe anything we are told, and what better way than to inspect the flakes than down where they are. My contribution to science was short-lived, however, and after retiring from this endeavor, I managed to not only make it from top to bottom without flailing like an off shore windmill in a hurricane, but even managed to get off the chairlift without using my nose as a brake. #winning, as the young people say. Let us conclude this matter by saying that no bones were broken and a good time was had by all, even if it hurt to walk the next day.
Prior to this, as mentioned in my previous post, my rig was in the shop getting decked out with a full wrap, and I think it turned out great! Now I have the pleasure of driving a rolling billboard around, and to further draw attention to things I have a spiffy set of LED Christmas lights strung up on the roof rack. My wife has her finger on the button to call the men in white jackets to come take me away most every day, and this caused that finger to twitch even more than normal 🤣. Big shout out to The Maine Sign for the great job designing & installing the wrap!
Then we have Thanksgiving. That uniquely American tradition where we attempt to consume our body weight in food, then moan about how the turkey has some trace element in it that makes us sleepy, after which we commence to attacking the deserts strewn across the counters.
Our contribution this year was to prepare a brisket. We planned to get together with some friends from church and so we trimmed up a 20 lb brisket, let it marinate for about 36 hours in a secret blend of seasonings, and then let it slowly melt apart in the oven for the next 20 hours.
It. Was. AMAZING. Or that’s what I was told, I’m not here to boast.
In other related newsy bits, we were privileged to upgrade the window treatments for Legacy Financial Services here in Greeley. They wanted to update the reception & conference room in their office, and selected a lovely pure white Dual Shades by Alta, as well as a Roller Shade in a white, 5% opacity.
The result? Clean, modern, light, and the ability to control the light in a way not possible with their previous faux wood blinds. An added benefit is that the new treatments are dramatically easier to raise, with a continuous cord loop operation. This eliminates the heavy lifting associated with horizontal blinds, as well as having a rather small string cutting into your hands as you struggle to lift the blinds.
Well, I think that is enough for now. In conclusion, I hope you had as nice of a Thanksgiving holiday as we did, and that you were able to take some to reflect on the many benefits we are given here. Family, food, a place to call home, and so much more.
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas,
Jeramiah
