We hopped in the car at 6 a.m this morning and drove down to Memorial Park to see the Colorado Balloon Classic with our neighbors. Due to the weather, the balloons weren't able to lift off. However, we were able to watch all of them inflate. We stayed by the Stars and Stripes balloon for most of the time and were able to see the entire process required to inflate a balloon. It was pretty cool.
If it weren't for Julia we'd be headed down there tonight for the balloon glow with some friends from church. Instead, we're just joining them for dinner before they walk over to the park. So, here are some pictures from our morning out.
Music by Plain White Tees (1, 2, 3, 4)
I've lost 3 of the 6 Alberta Dwarf Spruce trees that I planted in April...maybe partly due to transplantation but mostly due to the fact that I planted them in a previously unknown swamp alongside my driveway.
The ground is mainly clay, so any water that hits this area gets trapped in the hole that they've been planted in. Even watering the grass around the trees has resulted in a pool of standing water around the tree's roots. I've basically drowned them (poor little trees). I'm not exaggerating when I say the hole holds water like a bucket. It's a swimming pool of water in there.
So, on to plan B. My next plan is to dig the hole much deeper, but to fill in the bottom with rocks. Essentially, the rocks are going to act like a drain...allowing the hole to hold more water and preventing the water from pooling around the root ball and top of the hole. I dug this hole 2 feet deep and tested it this afternoon. With the rocks, the hole can now hold 5-6 gallons of water before it starts to pool at the top of the rocks...which is still a good 12-18 inches below ground level.
I think this should work. I'm pretty sure the tree's roots won't be affected by the rocks in the bottom since they'll be free to grow outwards. I don't think they'll be growing down. If this doesn't work, I don't know what else to do except to go back to grass in this location.
I went to the last Sky Sox home game tonight with some guys from work. It was a good time and they were good company. The highlights of the game included the pepperoni pizza, Coke, sunflower seeds, seeing Kelly Riddle (a fellow '96 grad from Rampart) walk by and then dance to the music between innings. You never know who is watching you.
I also sat behind a local news celebrity but I can't remember her name even though she goes to our church. I did catch some baseball but was pretty bored by the time the 5th inning rolled around. ...and people say nothing happens in soccer!
Last week I noticed that some of the trees around town looked like they wanted to change color. I chalked it up to the way the sun was hitting them on my drive home. After all, it had only been about 6 weeks since July 4th. This week it’s pretty obvious that there are some trees already changing color. All of our neighbor’s trees are already turning color in addition to the numerous sightings along my route to and from work.
Being as this is still August, I thought it seemed a bit early and maybe an indicator of a long winter. I went and checked last year and surprisingly found no difference in the timing between the two years. So, that means that in about 2-3 weeks, all of the trees in town should be showing their fall colors.
Speaking of fall, on the way to work today I became curious why this is the only season that we have two names to describe – fall and autumn. I can’t think of another name for spring, summer, or winter in the English language. I headed over to Wikipedia only to find out that in the past there has been a third name associated with the season: harvest. Earlier uses of harvest eventually changed to autumn. Autumn is the preferred use in scientific or literary contexts…or to put it another way, the formal or official term for the season. Interestingly though, the term fall is mainly used in North America whereas other parts of the world use the term Autumn. I didn't really find an answer to my question, except for the fact that the U.S. says 'fall' and England 'Autumn'. It's just one of those things that changed over time like color or colour, theater or theatre.
Fall is our favorite time of the year. The colors change, the weather gets crisp and cool, and everything starts up again (school, sports, pumpkin spice lattes for Stacey, etc). September is by far my favorite month. In a few weeks, I’ll be sure to post some pictures of the Autumn Blaze Maple tree in our front yard, our trip to the Happy Apple Farm (the harvest), and another trip to the mountains. Since we received so much rain this year, I’m curious to see how that will affect the colours, er, colors. Hopefully we won’t get a freeze early on and we can enjoy them for at least a few weeks.
Another funny video of Julia dancing. Watch what she does and says when she's not running around in circles. It's a pretty informative video as far as her development is concerned.
p.s. sorry about the cheesy music. It was the only station playing music "on demand".
Recently Julia has been saying "nigh nigh Dadda (or Momma)" and patting the carpet when she wants us to lay down on the floor. She usually then joins us for some face to face giggles.
