The Fruits of our Labor

 

Here is an updated picture of our over abundant garden. Oh and of Slate looking up, wishfully wanting to be on the roof with me.

It looks like a mess.

Right now we are in the midst of carrot and green bean harvest, and getting ready to double crop our spinach and peas.  Yes, I enjoy being able to use farmer lingo.

Our corn is tasseling, we have a few orange tomatoes, our jalepeño plants are dying, and our onions are looking beautiful!

As you can see in the picture above, our corn has also become the place of refuge during hot days for our dear dog.  No matter how much I scold him.  One of our neighbors told us our corn grows about a foot a day and that they've enjoyed watching it from their kitchen window creep above their fence horizon.  This would be the neighbor that Jake called and introduced as Merle the first 4 years of their neighborship, while his name is actually Merrill.  

Can you find all the little watermelons in this picture?  There are 6 visible and definitely lots more little buds.  One has since been eaten by Slate.  We couldn't figure out why our green beans were all tilting over.  Turns out Slate eats them as well! Dogs and gardens just don't mix.

We went WAY overboard on our planting this year we've learned.  Though it has been fun to give veggies away and spend exponentially less hard earned dollars on food, I don't think we'll ever have this big of a garden again. Unless God decides we need 10 kids at some point in life. 

In other news, Jake spent every night the last couple weeks working on the wall behind the pulpit.  Someone donated rock and he's acting mason and dry stacking it.  I've been really good about sitting and watching him work while reading a book.  I haven't been a big fan of the idea of putting rock back there.  I thought it would be grandiose compared to the rest of the building.  I admit though that it's turned out looking nice and in the words of a friend, "Will give more than a blank wall to stare at when the minister takes a point out of the Spirits hands."

Mom and Dad also came and visited this past weekend.  They helped us fix our dryer...and mower...and wheat grinder...and cheered us on as we pulled up the spinach and pea plants.  We went down to the IMAX and watched the documentary on the Canada Pacific railway Saturday afternoon.  Mom and I had a memorable bathroom experience while we were there:

I walk in to a stall, thinking mom walked in to the stall next to me.  We hear "And after the small intestine, where does it go?"  "POOP!" "Well, first it goes to the large intestine but then it goes.." "Poop, poop, poop, poop!" At the last poop said from the 3 year old, a huge explosion comes from the stall next to me, and then lots of grunting.  My thought was 'Wow! I had no idea mom felt so bad!' And after more explosions, I whispered, "Mom, are you ok?" After no response, explosions, and grunting, I called a little louder, "Mom, are you ok?" Finally I looked under the stall and realized that those were not my moms feet or shoes...!  We left the bathroom together in hysteria.  Bodily functions, why oh why do they tend to be so hilarious at unexpected moments!

Evolution of my Bike Route

The Denver Metro area has been an optimal location for biking.  After first moving here and in to an apartment close to work, I found that with my trusty Wal-Mart bike, I was able to bike mostly down hill getting to work in 5 minutes.  This was great because I was usually always running late.  After my last semester of college where every night was about 2am, having an 8 to 5ish type job was rough! I found out people notice if you fall asleep in boring 6am meetings : )

Anyway, so this post is about my experiences with three different bike routes I've used to go to work for the last 5 years and a recent thought that brought this post about.

The Quick Scary Route

2 miles

The first route like I said earlier was a perfect "to work" route.  The return was a killer and probably the reason I lost 15 lbs within a year of moving out; that and having a 4 hour earlier bedtime and cheap bike that made me work really hard.  As I think about it, the downhill to work was really the only perk of this route.  I had to wait on 4 stoplights and part of the trail was dirt.  I obtained many flat tires from goat heads.  Sidenote: A friend helped me take my bike in to have my tire repaired one time and the sales guy told me my bike wasn't worth fixing and to look them up when it was time for another!  Rude!  But oh so true.  There were also many different people and cars to watch out for, which made it more of a frazzling frantic ride than just a quick jot to work.

The Peaceful Route

5 miles

After a year of living in an apartment, God opened the door for me to buy a house.  I had no concept of where the house actually was though as my Realtor drove there every time. I remember deciding one evening to bike in the general direction of the house.  I stumbled upon what became one of my favorite places to have alone time.

My house was very close to the Sand Creek Trail, which I could take to work going one way and to the Bluff Lake Nature Center or Stapleton going the other way.  The pictures above are from that area.  I loved biking or walking along this trail.  It was incredibly peaceful and full of little treasures you wouldn't think of finding in the city.  Such as a deer leg Slate brought to me!!!  Or the time I came upon a pack of coyotes!  My favorite thing about this trail was that it wasn't very traveled.  Because it is gravel and doesn't connect with any other of the metro trails, many bikers stay away.

The Perfect Trail

6 miles

I am now on my 3rd residence in the 5 years I've lived in Colorado.  Jake's house happens to also be close to a bike trail.  This trail rocks!  We can bike to Kev & Kerry's, Dan & Tess', the girls house, the Wiegands, Sarah's, work, and church without having to bike along any major streets.

Except in this type of weather...

Some days, this trail is packed and other days I don't meet anyone. As it takes me 21 minutes to bike to work if I take a shortcut and 27 minutes if I ride the trail as mapped above, I have a long stretch of time to just think.  I never thought I would enjoy a commute.  But when your only concern with commuting is not scaring someone you bike up behind or making sure you get unclipped before you tip over at an intersection, it's very easy to start valuing the time of commute.  It's a great time for prepping and unwinding from the day.  Ask Jake, if I ride home with him from work sometimes I can be a little fiesty : )

I've seen the same people over and over again as well.  One of these days, I hope to stop and introduce myself. It'd be super fun to start meeting people or at least say "Good morning Sir 'Small-Chinese-man-with-khaki-jungle-get-up'" instead of just "Morning." I'd love to know their backgrounds, become acquainted, or even get a picture with each of them.  That last one would be debatable, I wouldn't want them to take a different path because of "the creeper" that wants a picture with them.  All last summer I would meet the same tall black lady out for a morning walk.  She always had on a ball cap with a bandanna under it and sweat pants.  I longed to stop and chat, but for some reason, was either running behind or didn't want to bother her.  This year as I have yet to see her once, I almost grieve as I will never know what happened to my "friend."

It also makes me ponder whether hello's, thank you's, or any other communication is remembered?  Do they recognize me? Is my bike commute only a time of peace for me or can I positively impact those that I meet or pass?  I read about this gentleman from KC who was known as The Waving Man, who not many knew personally but were all positively impacted by his friendly wave.  Kindness can be expressed in many ways and I guess if there is a desire on my heart, some of my questions may never be answered but I'll at least know I can be doing my part.

All in all, it's been fun biking around my relatively new home.

Lots more enjoyable and a lot less road rage : )

Breathe

It's so easy for me to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off and forget to breathe.  Life takes a lot of energy and these last couple weeks have really challenged me.  Our world has been a blur of work, activities, guests, and well...life.  I wouldn't say I'm an easily overwhelmed individual but I tend to stuff everything down that I can't control or feels overwhelming/stressful until a moment comes where I completely lose control.  Sunday night on our way to the 3rd picnic of the weekend (2 of which I was the lead planner) and overnight guests, that moment came after forgetting utensils to put with our beans and corn.  How minor of a trigger.  Yet how telling.  I believed we could have non-stop plans 7 weeks straight.  And relied to heavily on just getting through those weeks.  And then did not make sure each day was founded on a Greater Power, a Great God and His Spirits calming presence.  All that we participated in was good, and God honoring.  My heart through it all...questionable.  I slacked seeking peace and living daily.

LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12.

I'm still learning, breathing again, and refocusing. Phew.

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Here are some of my favorite captures over the last couple of insanely busy weeks!

 

 Jake's family was here for 5 days.

Jake turned 28 and we celebrated with apple pie and a Dakota Blonde concert in Clement Park

Kate at a VBall night with church.

Harper trying to take a picture of us at the SHI Company Picnic.

5th Anniversary

2009 Collegiate Peaks

2010 Gunnison National Forest

2011 Gunnison National Forest

2012 Bern, KS

2013 Flat Tops Wilderness

Last weekend marked Aaron, Jake, and I's 5th Anniversary for getting together over 4th of July weekend.  It's always a great weekend for spiritual challenging, beautiful creation, great camping food, and long exhausting hikes : )  We had lots of rain.  One night, Slate kind of freaked out outside of our tent, which freaked Jake out inside our tent.  When the lightning show and rain came, Jake sat up and turned the flashlight on literally every 5 minutes to check if there were leaks and then would make comments like, "I don't think we should have put our tent here, I think we're going to get washed away" or "I really think we should move our tent."  I thought we were going to either get eaten by a cougar, washed away because we camped to close to a stream, or struck by lightning.  You would never have known though as through all that, Jake said I just laid still and kept saying, "turn the light off."

The boys were very gracious to lower the level of intensity they had for hiking this year, Maria is 7 months pregnant!  She is such a trooper!  They still got their intense hike when a random campsite host led them off a trail and they had to bushwhack a 3,000 ft vertical.  We all hiked Devil's Causeway trail, about 10 miles, and it got pretty long. Beautiful, but we were all ready to be done by the end.  The Flat Tops Wilderness is phenomenal and to add to the beauty, it was prime wildflower season.  The wilderness area is off the beat and trail enough that you don't have to worry about big crowds of people.  It's a great place to "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

 

Out with the Old, In with the New

In early 2004, I bought a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire...actually I should say it was purchased for me.  It started with 60,000 miles and got great gas mileage...I got 33 mpg on one roadtrip! (nevermind that I kept the AC off and suffered miserably just to see how good I could get : )

Flashback Summer 2005
Dad: So Tif, I have a question for you.
Tif: Ok...
Dad: I found Chelsie a car.
Tif: Good!
Dad: It's exactly like yours.
Tif:  ....loooooong pause...
Dad: It's a really good deal.
Tif: Well, that isn't the most exciting thing I have ever heard.  *weighing how to respond graciously* I guess if that's the best you can find...

Needless to say, all through college, my dear sister and I drove the same car.  I was less than thrilled at first, but as time went by it became hilarious.  Especially times when we both needed to drive somewhere because I lived in Manhattan and she in Topeka.  My favorite memory of this type of travel was when the tornado hit Greensburg in 2007.  As I recorded back then:

Chelsie and I both drove down to Greensburg individually Friday night, her following me.  As we had nothing else to do, we were talking on the phone to each other, bluetooths in.  We pulled up to the police road block and each of us had an officer come to our window. (Don't forget we drive identical cars.)  The officer asked me where we were headed and what we were doing. As I began to answer his questions, I heard answer by answer coming back to me through the bluetooth.  Chel was copying everything I was saying and telling her officer!!! How in the world I kept from cracking up while trying to finish answering the officers questions I have no idea. I'm sure they got a good chuckle out of our matching cars...and answers..  

Flash forward to Present Day

Since, Chel has purchased a different car but my little Sunfire has lived on.  It has been an awesome car!  It survived hitting a frozen dead deer in 2005.  Getting hit by a deer in 2006.  A kayak, tornado, and hail storm in 2008. Another dear decided to be hit in 2012 by my brother-in-law.  And not exaggerating, probably hundreds of road trips.  It now has 222,000+ miles and still gets 30 mpg on road trips.  Dad had told me after 200,000 you never know what's going to happen so I have been saving for a new car for probably 3 years now.  I keep thinking any day it will die on us.  We met our savings goal back in Dec 2012 and have had a dealer looking for a car in our budget ever since.  He found one and so now...it's time to RETIRE the Sunfire!!

Welcome to the family newest addition!