Natale allegro

Merry Christmas everybody. We have a white Christmas here in Colorado, it is snowing! It isn't a heavy snow but just enough to cover the ground. Sorry I haven't been keeping up but it has been hectic here at the casa. I have been working in Denver (yup back at my old job site in Aurora with Raytheon) during the week and coming home home on weekends. My company was on the down select for the next generation GPS so we are hard at work getting ready for the final selection in 18 months. It is a huge contract for our little company. I make the drive up on Monday mornings and come home on Fridays (the company got a 3 bedroom apartment a few miles from Raytheon so the Colorado Springs people wouldn't have to drive that much). I am currently writing systems requirements for the project. I was promoted up to Systems Engineering from the test group and I'm also doing Business development work so it keeps me pretty busy. Lisa is working at the north hospital still and doing the craft things she always does. She made many of the gifts we sent out this year.

We had Christmas eve dinner at Mike and Rene's house last night and today it is just Lisa and I for Christmas. Last night was fun and our nephew Zach had the time of his life. He got lots of loot but had the most fun with his "Duck Man" out fit. It is one of the towels you can wrap up kids after their bath but Zach decided he needed to fight off the "scary things" with it. He had a blast!

Lisa got some very nice dishes from her Mom and Dad and I got a really cool plate and mug from Mom and Dad also. They have pheasants on them and the mug has a very nice poem on it. They are rather old (made in the 50's I believe in England) and will go on the shelf next to my Gamble's Quail. I am slowly doing the downstairs in a classic hunting lodge motif.

We got some good snow the other day so I was finally able to get out the snow blower I bought from Bob and Susan and use it. Wow that thing can throw snow all the way to Denver! Once I discovered that the cable to engage the blower portion needed to be tightened it made short work of the driveway. Now don't get me wrong I still miss my 17 year old neighbor who would clear the driveway for me but I did have fun using it and if I get enough snow this morning I will be out there again.

We also had friends and family up for a Holiday Day get together and had a wonderful time visiting with friends, many I haven't seen in a while. I got to spend time with my "other girl" Lilly and we spent much time looking over the tree. She loved the lights. It is always nice to have good friends and good food because it makes it a good day. But then isn't that what the holiday is really about? It isn't about getting presents or anything like that, it is about spending time with family and friends and laughter and good cheer. Great now I'm sounding like a Dickens novel! LoL!

Well Lisa is awake now and speaking of gifts it is time we open our gifts to each other. We went small this year since our gift was the trip to Italy this year. I will be smoking a prime rib today for our Christmas dinner so I will need to get the smoker ready. I think I will use up the maple wood to smoke the prime rib today. I also have some oak if I need it. We are also have baked potatoes topped with sour cream and a really good English cheese plus a few bottles of really good red wine. I'll be heading back to the gym on Wed morning to start working off the holiday season.

Well time to go. Merry Christmas everybody and Lisa and I want to wish all of our friends and family the best of health and prosperity in the coming New Year.

Spiacente non ho scritto ultimamente

It's been a while since I have posted. I have a few moments before leaving for work so I can do a quick catch up while I enjoy my morning latte made with my new machine! Speaking of that I found a good milk with a high fat content so I can get good foam. We get a milk delivery from Royal Crest and they have milk called "Royal Rich" and it makes great foam. I discovered in Italy the secret to the foam is the fat content of the milk. Since I don't live on a dairy farm (and all of my Wisconsin family have moved of the farm years ago) it is my only access to whole milk.
I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. My parents made the trip to Wisconsin this year and Mom told me they had a good time visiting with family. Mom told me that my Aunt Yvonne had 27 people there for dinner! WOW! Way to go Aunt Yvonne I bow to your hostess skills. We had 8 at the house this year. We had Chuck & Cora and Mike's family up to the house for a late dinner. I brined and smoked a turkey over maple wood this year and we made roasted butternut squash and cranberry ravioli, and homemade taramasui for dessert. Cora made potatoes, roasted veggies, and roasted a turkey also. So we have plenty of leftovers.
The weather has been cold and we have had some snow. We haven't had anything like last year so I haven't been able to use my new snow blower. I am patiently waiting to get it out of the garage. Work has been busy, it seems we are the belle of the ball right now. We had a successful launch last month and we are getting ready for another launch next month. Since the launch we have had all the big contractors calling us. We were just awarded a 35 million dollar contract that is going to keep us busy and we are still looking at several others. I have been tagged to become a systems engineer and to start working towards becoming a program manager and do some business development work also . I have some meetings this week with a large company that hopefully we can partner with to get a local contract worth close to 50 million.
Lisa is working at the north hospital only now, she likes the 10 minute commute to work. She is also going to work one day a week with the Centrua Hospital system soon because they are paying $40 an hour for ER night shift. She is still busy with her crafting (stamping, scrapbooking, and quilting) and we are planning our next vacation.
Well the coffee is almost empty and it is time for me to leave for work. We are teaching a course this week at work so I need to get there before the students arrive. I am assisting today but will be the primary instructor tomorrow.

è tempo del caffè!

It's coffee time! My new espresso machine form Italy has arrived! The UPS man delivered it yesterday and I have been playing with it both nights.

Well we got back the other weekend at it was a seriously long flight in very small seats. Also somehow in the distant past I set it up for kosher meals in my profile for United. Well it seems very weird to have somebody with a heavy German accent hand you a kosher meal and say, "Here is your special meal." That was just a bit freaky for me and the irony was not lost on Lisa and I. I've since changed the meal option for me because the food wasn't good on the trip over to Germany. The Rabbi overseeing the meals in New Jersey would have died if he was served the meal we got served, but the meal coming back was really good. We had a very nice lamb dish.

Anyway we are back into the swing of work and Colorado. Lisa made fresh pasta the other night and the white bean sauce we had at school, it was really good. We are planning our Thanksgiving menu already since dinner is at our house this year. I will be smoking a turkey (using maple wood) and we will be doing some fresh pasta and maybe a celery risotto also. I also would like to do the fennel torte we had at school also, I love fennel.

Well back to the espresso machine. While in Italy Lisa bought pottery and I bought a espresso machine. It is a beauty and makes a very fine cup of espresso. It is a little more work than the last machine since this one has the pump handle to let you control the strength of the coffee. I have invited my friend David up on Saturday while the girls go to their stamping club to play with the new machine. We will be babysitting Lilly and working on the perfect cup of espresso. It has to have the perfect "creme" on top of it. He always has great coffee beans, maybe I should have him bring some of his ground coffee along. I think I need to send a e-mail to him tomorrow on that topic.

Hopefully Lisa's pottery shows up this week then it will be Christmas in November.

Ciao!

School's over and back in Florence.....

Well school is over and we are back in Florence for one last night. Words cannot describe the beauty of the Tuscan countryside. Rome may be the heart of Italy but Tuscany is its soul. We had a great time at cooking school and I highly recommend it to everybody. The building we were in was over 500 yrs old. It may not have had the modern fixtures but the water was hot, the toilet worked and the bed was comfortable. I know some of our guests would have liked CNN or something but I was so busy I didn’t even think about a television or the outside world. The internet was touch and go but it affected the instructors more than me. We had good weather for most of our trip and it only rained a few days, but they needed the moisture so I’m glad they got it.
What can I say about Sandra Lotti. She is a diva in every sense of the word. She is an amazing teacher, chef, woman, and mother. Not only did I learn the ingredients of the recipes but I learned why they were used and what to use if you cannot find it. Sandra’s love for her region comes through her every time she speaks. She taught us like her Grandmother taught her and she freely answered any question we had. We bought her recent cookbook which is only in Italian and hasn’t been translated yet. This is going to make Lisa and I learn Italian so when we come back we can speak to Sandra in her language and hopefully get so much more.
Christopher is an amazing talent and chef. His lessons were amazing and he is a true master of making custards. He is so creative in the kitchen that it is scary. We have to try to get to Province Town to his restaurant when it is open (it is open during the tourist season). We are looking forward to meeting up with him in October next year for dinner in Denver. He comes to Denver for “Cooking for the Cure” and has invited us to meet him for dinner.
We made so many new friends at school. The pictures we got are great and I’m looking forward to the video so everybody can experience Sandra and her incredible voice.
Lisa and I will be back for the Spring session in a few years. Chris told us we should come for the advanced class with the chefs, he thinks we can hold our own in that class. We think one more class and then we will try the advanced class.
We are not looking forward to the ride back tomorrow. It will be long and very boring. See you soon. Ciao!

Truffles and Ravioli Day

Today’s tour was all out truffles. We went to a factory that a family has been running now for 50 yrs. The grandfather was a truffle hunter and then his son thought they could make a business out of it and now the whole family is involved in making everything possible with truffles. Lisa and I picked up some truffle oil, truffle polenta, and this amazing truffle honey. The trip to get there was very long and my butt started to hurt from sitting that long.
It has been raining and it is really needed so I don’t mind much. It isn’t a downpour, just a steady rain that soaks the ground and plants. That has kept me getting to the internet. You can only access the net from the little square outside of the olive pressing room and since this thing goes through battery power like a Frenchman with free cigarettes I am typing this up on word and will add it to the page when I can get outside for a few moments and upload and check scores.
We made multicolor ravioli today. The dough is much softer than the gnocchi dough we made, it doesn’t have duram wheat in it so it feels a little wetter. Lisa really got the hang of it and she made a woodland camo dough from the left over green, black, and brown and it looked really cool. We had 2 sauces for it: the first was a sage and butter sauce. Note here do not brown your butter, that is French. Italians do this over a double boiler and gently warm there sauce with the sage in it. The second sauce was a tomato sauce, the same we learned the other day.

Yesterday was gnocchi day. We made 2 types, one boiled and one fried. I liked the fried one better than the other but the boiled gnocchi is more of a traditional dumpling than the ones we get in the states. It is very soft and does not have a bite to it.
Dinner was great. We had spaghetti carbonara and then chicken cacciatore made the proper way. Sandra is an awesome cook and it was a great meal. We also had crème brulee for desert. Christopher made the crème and it was GREAT! He is a master at that dessert. We are keeping a journal of notes and I will add that to my notes.

Today's picture is of Lisa and $1000 euros worth of white truffle.

Back to School.......Arrival and Day 1

We made it to the school on Sunday and was met by our guide. She is a wonderful little Sicilian woman who with her daughter (who is stunning the by the way) are our tour guides for our afternoon tours of the local area. The train ride was good but we were happy to get to our room. We have a fantastic room with a private bath (we got lucky on that one!) and a canopy bed. Sunday was spent walking around the school and waiting for the other students to arrive. There were about 10 of us here already so we had lunch with the staff. The owner of the school Sandra is amazing. She is an expert in all things Tuscan and does not like the French. She says they have killed cooking and should go back to school. I like her! Her lead teaching chef Christopher is incredible. He has several restaurants in the states and knows all the famous chefs. He is a great teacher and fun to work with.

There are also some French Culinary Institute students here doing an internship but sadly they are leaving today. They are a great group of kids (twenty somethings!) who are great cooks and have a passion for food and cooking.

Monday was our first day and Lisa's birthday. All the staff was wishing her a happy birthday and then after breakfast we went into the kitchen for our lessons and to start to prepare lunch. The students cook lunch and the staff makes dinner, it is a great deal! We started with working on knife skills and we were taught the same way the instructors were taught at FCI. I must say I picked it up pretty well and the instructors told me with some more practice I could motor my way through heaps of veggies in no time. We chopped all the veggies for the sauce that was to go on our pasta. The sauce was a local traditional white bean sauce (Tuscan means "bean eaters") with just a little tomato in it. We then moved onto the pasta lesson. Lisa and I have been waiting for this lesson because we are not good at making pasta. Lisa is Sicilian and not Italian so she is not a big pasta fan so she hasn't had good luck with it in the past. We will now. We made a tagliatelle to go with our sauce. Oh also on the sauce, we learned that you DO NOT HEAT THE OIL BEFORE PUTTING IN THE SAFRITTO (the carrots, celery, and onions). You must put them in cold and sweat them. You know when they are done because the oil becomes clear again. When you add to the oil the water makes it cloudy so when it clears up the water is gone and the veggies are ready for the next stage.

We also chopped up fennel for a lovely au gratin that was our first course. The pasta came out great even the instructors had lunch with us. Christopher said he enjoyed our pasta and that we did well and that if we ever seeing him eating bread that meant he didn't like what we made and we should practice more.

After lunch we went to Pisa for our tour. We saw the tower and church and every thing else but honestly we are churched out. Today(I'm typing on the morning of day 2) we will go to Lucca and I don't know what we are learning today. I do know on Wed we are going to a truffle factory and a local chocolate maker is coming in to show us his candy. Lisa and I have decided we are coming back for all four seasons to learn all we can. Sandra and Christopher are great and make learning so much fun.

Oh also we met the Duke who owns Camporomano (camp of the Romans) and he showed us his olive oil press and how it works. He is a very nice man and his father is so funny. We have some ladies who came as a group (old friends who worked together) and he likes to watch them walk by. He is so Italian! Well time to go, the instructors are showing up and breakfast will start soon.

Today's picture is from a farmer's market we found in Florence. We had the best salami we have ever had there and right next to it were the pictures of the pigs before they became the salami! It was great.

Ciao!

Day 5: The Pitti Palace and Gelato

Today was about 2 things. The Pitti Palace and going to the best gelato shop in town. We accomplished both. The Pitti Palace was great, we took all the tours possible and the wandered all over the huge garden behind it. We will have to go back to more of it. The weather today sucked so we didn't get to see much more than a 1/4 of it and that was a lot of walking. We found the gelato shop and added four more flavors to our list: Hazelnut, Rum, Lemon, and Persimmon. This was by far the best gelato yet, it was so creamy and smooth we are going back every time we visit Florence.

We got some shopping done for us today. We got some pottery for the kitchen (a pasta bowl, some coffee cups, a sugar bowl and a creamer to go with the new espresso machine). We had a great dinner again tonight, I had wild boar for dinner. On the way to dinner we met this lovely young man. Tonight's picture is for Cora. Maybe Kate would like an Italian boyfriend?

We leave for school tomorrow and we have heard we enjoy the country side more than the city. The weather is turning a bit nasty so hopefully this will blow over tonight.

Ciao for now.

Day 4: Uffizi Gallery

We did a little shopping in the morning (Rachel and Mallory we specifically got you guys something Lisa thinks you will like) and to walk the train station route for Sunday morning. It is easy to get lost on the streets here so we made sure we knew where we were going since we are walking to the train station.

Today we saw some of the greatest Italian masters work. We saw Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian. These four men were considered the greatest artists of the Renaissance. We saw the painting "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli, Michelangelo's "Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist", DaVinci's unfinished "Adoration of the Maji", and his "Annunciation". We saw many of Botticelli's paintings including "Primevare" (Spring) (it was next to the birth of venus). Words do not describe the art we saw today.

Before continuing I need to write out the gellato list. We have had: Pistachio, Melone, Coffee, Chocolate, Passion fruit, Nutella, cookies, blackberry, strawberry, fruits of the Forest (a mixed berry) and black cherry. We have not gotten gellato from the same place twice. Which brings me to the couple we met in the Piazza Della Signora today. They were a nice couple in their 80's who have been coming to Italy for over 40 yrs. They have traveled all over the country and they told us where to get the best gellato in the city so we are going there tomorrow. There daughter lives in Bellevue Washington and their son graduated from the same High School I did (just 1o yrs later!) They told us about the time that the Italian government was digging in the piazza and came across the remains of the Roman city and what they decided to do. They decided to make it a working piazza and to remove the ruins and back fill the piazza. They were a great couple, he was from New York (Brooklyn) and is now living in FLA. We loved talking with them.

We had our tour after that and then headed off to have dinner. What a surprise we had another great meal in Florence! We have been ordering the house red wine and have not been disappointed yet.

Today's picture is especially for David Defranco. He will know why. (wait till you see the foam here!)

Day 3: A much better day

I finally got the Internet to work today before heading out for the day. I will be posting up tonight for everybody to catch up. I also got my Christmas present today, a new espresso machine. It is one of the good Italian types with the manual handle. It will arrive in three weeks at the house, I can’t wait. When we get back I want to invite David up to have a cup with me and experiment to find out the perfect pull. It is all chrome and wooden handles, it is a thing of beauty.
We also found the two story food market today. It was full of butcher shops and fish mongers and farmers selling vegetables. I have never seen so many porcini mushrooms in my life and even here they are expensive. We stopped in the café and had a cappuccino and watched the shoppers.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around down near the Arno river since we were going to have a tour of the Uffizi Gallery. We walked across the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge) and looked at all the gold that was for sale and then continued on to the Plazzo Pitti (Pitti Palace) and looked into a tour. We decided since it was so big that we would go all day on Friday and explore the whole place. While having some lunch we discovered that I had erred in my tickets for the tour and had to meet the group on the other side of town so we beat feet for our tour. Once there Lisa discovered the tour office was near by so we checked in and they told us we had to be at the Gallery in 5 minutes. Well that wasn’t going to happen so we rescheduled for tomorrow.
We ended up wandering again and this time we went to the San Lorenzo church where Cosomo Medici is entombed and was the private church of the Medici family. Michelangelo and Donatello were principle designer and artist for the chapel. It is a big place with lots of great art for the stations of the cross.
After leaving there we wandered around and found our selves at the Arno river again. We walked back and stopped for a small meal (we had a big lunch today) before coming back to the hotel. Lisa bought a bottle of red and we are now having a glass and figuring out our day tomorrow. We have a tour at 4:30 but the rest of the day is open. We will go to the Pitti Palace on Saturday and spend the day. Ciao!

Wandering through Florence: 12 hours on foot

Today we saw the David in all his glory. We started the morning looking for coffee and ended up finding the Galleria Dell’Accademia. It is where the David is. As you round a corner he is standing there in the middle of the room staring of to his left. The detail work is amazing! You can see his tendons and his veins under his skin. Pictures do not so this justice at all, you have to see it in person to appreciate the detail and craftsmanship of it. The paintings we saw were also amazing. What drew us to the area is the San Marco Church. It is a lovely church and while were walking around we saw a lot of tour groups heading down the street so we followed and found the galleria. This is a picture form the San Marco Church.
From there we wandered to find Dante’s house and church. I think we found it but ended up in another old church that was between mass so we went in. I think every church here has priceless art on the walls and ceiling. From there we started to follow small streets and wandered into the Piazza Della Signora and saw the house of Cosomo Medici, the last Great Prince of Florence, it is huge! Also there are so of the most incredible statues out in the piazza. A copy of the David is there and some other amazing stuff. After we left there we went to Santa Croce church, by far my favorite. This is where the tombs of Dante, Michelangelo, Galileo, and even Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister-in-law is there. It is an amazing place and we got a little tour from one of the Italian men who work there. It was the highlight of the day. I mean the David is an awesome statue but the Sana Croce church is just overwhelming.
We finished it off with a great dinner in Piazza de Republicca. While we were eating dinner we heard an amazing street performer singing opera and went over to look. She had the voice of an angel and should be singing professionally in a company. We had a nice walk home and I struggled to get the Internet working but failed. I’ll try again in the morning.

We made it!

We arrived safe and sound but really tired. It was a very long flight and Luftunsia doesn’t upgrade. We had a Red Soks fan get us the score of the game as soon as we landed. Go Rockies!

I knew I was getting close to Italy when we got on our flight for Florence because the stewardesses were beautiful! They were the classic Italian beauty and every inch the princess, they didn’t pick up any trash during the flight. They left that for the trash crew when we landed. We got into our hotel and they had us in a small room the first night with a fantastic view of the city. The next day they moved us into our normal room that has a overview of a brick wall, so much for the view.
We took a walk and ended up at the Duomo, the big famous church (it is huge!)and then had a nice dinner at a local place. The fresh pasta was great and we had a nice walk. We slept the sleep of the dead that night.

La prima neve della stagione

The first snow of season has arrived! The flakes are getting bigger as I type. It could be a very cold night for the Rockies in Denver. Lisa and I will spend the day cleaning up the house and packing for our trip. We are leaving in the morning early so we can either upgrade a class for the flight to Germany or try to get a exit row seat. I don't mind spending time in the airport waiting for our flight, I have my I-Pod and a book.
Well the snow is slowing down now, bummer! Well maybe the weather will drive away that crazy woodpecker from beating on our house in the morning.

A Quick update

Well this last weekend had its up and mostly downs for the sporting teams we follow. The up was that the Rockies made to the NLCS. Lisa and I had dinner at the parents house and watched the game. It was nice to see that my nephew loves to watch sports also. The downs were many this weekend for sports. First let me say I am not happy with the French right now. Last summer they kept Ireland from winning the 6 Nations Cup and this last weekend they beat the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup. Also the Gators lost for the second straight week this weekend, true it was to the #1 LSU Tigers but still. Sunday was no better. Lisa went to the Bronco's game with a friend and watched as they got a big beating and then later that night the Packer's blew a lead and lost to the Bears.
The only other up is that we are one week away from leaving for Italy! I am so ready for a vacation. I will be taking my laptop with me so I will keep the page updated as we travel in Italy. It looks like the hotel and the school have wireless Internet so I can update the page in the evenings before going to bed, that is of course if I'm not totally blasted on red wine!

And now for something completely different......

This last weekend Lisa and I saw the play "Spam-a-Lot". Those who know me know I love Monty Python and one of my favorite movies is "In Search of the Holy Grail". The play was really funny and we had a great time.

The play is loosely based on the movie but Eric Idle added some other fun things to the play. This play was the only reason we bought season tickets for the theater this year. It was really worth the money.

This last weekend the opera house was having their open house and Lisa and I had some time to kill before the play so we took the tour and ended up buying season tickets to the opera this year. We got killer seats for the main three operas (LA TRAVIATA Verdi, DON PASQUALE Donizetti, , and NIXON IN CHINA Adams) but for the added show (THE FLYING DUTCHMAN Wagner) we got AWESOME seats. Our season tickets are in the mezzanine center stage but for Wagner we are in the 4th row center. After we bought our tickets we went into the house to check the seats and we were stunned at how great they were. We went back and thanked the girl in the ticket booth who got them for us.

After the play we went to the Capital Grill for dinner and and had the best steak we have ever had before (and we've been to Emeril's Delmonico's Steakhouse in Vegas). We had a great waiter who is in training to be a Master Sommelier, so we also had a awesome wine with dinner. Lisa and I stayed up in Denver at a local hotel and came home on Sunday morning.

It was a great weekend and it gave Lisa some time away to get her mind off of the rough week she just had. I know she missed stopping to see Grandma Rose and cleaning her glasses for her on Friday morning. We have just three more weeks until we leave for Italy. I hope to be updating our blog while we are in Italy. I'm thinking about taking my laptop with me because the hotel and the school both have WiFi.

In memory of Rose Senia

This is a very sad weekend for the Senia and Pizzitola families. Lisa's Grandmother Rose Senia passed away on Friday night. Rose suffered a minor heart attack earlier in the week but seemed to come through it well and we were looking to move her out of the hospital and into a care facility but she took a turn for the worse on Friday morning. Rose developed a lot of blood clots on her lungs and we knew the end was near. Lisa called me and the family gathered together to say their good-byes on Friday afternoon. Sadly because of the rapid pace of Rose's declining health some of the family couldn't make it, Robert had just left for Afghanistan and Rose's daughter Camille couldn't be there also. Cora and Rose's son Frank were there and Frank was with her when she passed.

For those who knew Rose you knew she has been battling Alzheimer's for the last several years. It was a form that was a rapid onset and in the last months Rose's memory had been fading quickly. In true form of the disease she had good days and bad days, but through it all she was a delight for all who knew her.

In respect of her wishes there will be no memorial service. Rose did not like them and said they were morbid and begged us not to have one for her when she died. Instead we will gather as a family and have a nice lunch and share our memories.

I still remember meeting her for the first time. Lisa took me to her house and we sat at the kitchen table and she showed me the family photo album and told me about her family. She asked me to open a bottle of Chianti for her so we could enjoy a small glass and get to know each other. When ever I have a glass of Chianti for the rest of my life I will always think of Rose and how much I will miss her.

We would like to thank the staff of the "The Bridge" for all there support during this time and for making Rose's last 2 years so wonderful. Rose loved the living at the Bridge and made many friends there. We also want to thank the wonderful nurses at Memorial Hospital. They were a source of comfort during Rose's final day on earth.

Goodbye Rose, we will all miss you very much. Say hello to Grandpa Charlie for us.

"Fine settimana Di Festa"

This year’s "Holiday weekend" was a hectic one for us. Once again the social director dragged me back out into public. Actually I had a great time this weekend and got to see a bunch of friends and celebrate some milestones with close friends.

On Saturday we got up early and went for our bike ride. We load up the bikes and go over to the Santa Fe Trail to knock out some miles. We are taking it in strides so we don’t have another asthma episode like we did in CA. It is part of our "get back into shape program". We also discovered that the bike Lisa has is more suited towards cruising the paved roads and not the dirt tracks. So we are selling it and going to get her a good off-road bike with fat tires. Later on Saturday we were invited over to Denny and Faye’s new house for a Housewarming/20 yr Anniversary/Faye’s 40th Birthday Party. They have a very lovely house (a custom build) in a new housing area of Monument and have a great view from their backyard. Hopefully they won’t loose it.

Sunday morning found us down at Joyce and Robert’s for the annual Balloon breakfast and BBQ. It was nice to see Joyce and her family; I haven’t seen them for a long time. They haven’t had the event in the last several years due to house renovations and bad weather but this year the house is almost done (just some finishing work) and we had good sun. We had a great breakfast and morning cocktails with good friends. We couldn’t stay for the whole day since we had another BBQ to go to. On our way back north we stopped at the Schroeg’s house for an afternoon BBQ.

It is always good to see the Shroegs. Erich and I go back many years and our wives have become very close friends. We had fun and I got to meet the head of their stamping group and her husband. He is a Navy pilot doing some time here in the Springs. I told him if he every wanted to come over while the ladies invaded the house he was always welcome. I feel for the poor guys with all those ladies in the house, I have heard the conversations get pretty, well lets just say intense. I told him I always have something to drink and a game on the television.

Monday found me cooking all day long both in the kitchen and on the deck. Lisa and the nurses in the ER decided to have a potluck since they were working on the Holiday this year and Lisa “volunteered” me to make BBQ. I may have put up a bit of static but it let me play with my BBQ and let me make some BBQ sauce. Now I love BBQ, all types and I am not going to debate which type is the best (Carolina, Texas, Memphis, or St. Louis, you can take the poll on the side of the page to voice your opinion) but this weekend I made pulled pork, which is a Carolina specialty so that mandated a Carolina BBQ sauce (it is a vinegar based sauce versus a tomato based sauce). I made a spicy version and a regular version for the ER. I also BBQ’d up a hen house full of chicken (for those non-pork eaters). I made up my own dry rub for the pork but used a commercial dry rub for the chicken. I have a great book that has taught me a lot about BBQ. It has taught me about proper dry rubs, when to use mops (the liquid used while BBQ’ing) and various sauces and sops. I think Lisa loves the book more than I do because she won’t even buy BBQ sauce any more, I have to make it. Also we don’t go out for BBQ I have to make that also. Well the meat was a big hit at the ER and so was the sauce; I got many compliments and was told that I could BBQ for them anytime I wanted. Lucky me huh?
The weather was great over the weekend (well except when I had the BBQ going, it ALWAYS rains when I have the BBQ going). I didn’t get anything done in the yard but I think we are going to have to start to winterize soon. Last year we got our first snow of the season in mid September and I think we will hit that mark again this year. They are calling for a big snow year again this year and thankfully I got me a big snow blower for the job!

"Un pomeriggio pigro di domenica"

Today is "a lazy Sunday afternoon". I did a little house maintenance today; I had to seal an open space in the attic vent that was allowing some water to get into the attic during our monsoon rains we have been having. So other than that I plan on laying on the couch and watching Palermo take on Rome this afternoon. What I am really waiting for is the Rugby World Cup that starts in September. I feel sorry for the American team; they start off against the defending champions England. The bookmakers are giving France the edge this year and after watching them in the 6 Nations Cup they do look tough but I’m holding out hope for the All Blacks to win this year. Let’s go Kiwis!!!!!!!

Yesterday while Lisa and I were running errands I stopped and looked into SCUBA lessons. It looks like I will be taking my classes in November and doing my open water dives in December. Now that may sound strange but they do the open water portion in New Mexico’s Blue Hole and the water is around 85 degrees year ‘round. That won’t help when I step out of the water and its 20 below but hey that’s the price I have to pay I guess. I’m doing this for our 2009 vacation to Bermuda with friends. We are renting a dive boat for a week and will be diving the wrecks around Bermuda. This is a picture of our friends Val & Marty who we are going with. Thankfully Marty is a Dive Master and Val has lots of dive time so they can keep a eye on me. Next year I plan on going to Mexico for several long weekend dive trips to get as much time in the water as I can. I have always wanted to learn how to dive and now I have an incentive to learn (also I can afford it now!)

Well the game is starting and I have the house to myself for now so I’m going to plant myself on the couch and watch the game and get a nap in. I worked some late nights last week in support of an upcoming GPS launch (the ops crews had a week long exercise and needed Braxton Support) and I’m still a little burned out. I’m getting way to old to work crew!

Our Crazy Squirrels

"Try that again and I'll be kickin' yer furry, brown bahooky!"---McSquizzy (you must say this with a Scottish accent. A few glasses of scotch whisky usually helps) In the movie "Open Season" Billy Conolly plays a deranged squirrel who thinks he own all the trees, well I think he has moved into the trees on our property.

The squirrels have free reign on the deck. They run back and forth and are even brave enough to come right up to the sliding glass door and stare at us through the window. I guess it doesn't help that I have a feeder out for them. They took over one feeder to make a nest and a bird house that my Dad made to make a nest.

Years ago my Grandfather told me that if you want to know what the coming season is going to be like just watch the animals. This year we have had some weird weather here on the divide. We have been getting HUGE rain storms lately and what is got me a bit worried is that the squirrels are already build nests. They have raided the deck cushions for the stuffing. This guy looks like Santa Claus! They have pulled all the stuffing out of the top pocket of the cushion. They just sat there as Lisa open the sliding glass door and took this picture. They are amazing.

My birthday weekend was nice and some what quiet. I got some very nice presents from my family here in town and I enjoyed a nice piece of ice cream cake with my nephew who turned 3 on the 10th. I got a call from my God-Father who also has a birthday on the 10th and birthday power point presentation from my friend Val. All in all it was a nice weekend. The weather was hot and I spent Saturday morning out in the fields with Kate. As you can see it was very warm out there and she went through a gallon of water to stay cool and hydrated. We worked on the "Whoa" command and our hand signals. She is doing really well in the field and I can't wait for hunting season to start. I am also looking forward to getting my other hunting partner Luke into the field. He is an amazing bird dog (also a German Shorthair Pointer) that can hunt all day long. I don't get to work with him much since he is also very involved in running agility with his owners.

That's all for now I guess. I think I am going to relax on the couch and watch Rage Against the Machine and a live performance by Henry Rollins on DVD that I got from Netflix. I'm so happy that Rage is back together and making music again. I have also become a big Henry Rollins fan and I Tivo his show on the IFC, it is great stuff!

Remember Blind acceptance can be dangerous and always question your leadership.

una nota rapida (A quick note)

Today is my birthday. I made it to the age of 42, which as some of you now is the ultimate answer to the universe. What makes today even more special is that it is my friend Val's birthday (she is way behind me in years), it is also my nephew Zach's birthday (he is 3 today) and Uncle Bill's birthday (my Godfather and he is way ahead of me). It makes this day all the more special to be able to share my birthday with these very special people.
I know it is actually the 11th where Val lives (she and her husband are on the other side of the international date line at the Kwaj) but I want to wish everybody a very happy birthday today. I will get to see my nephew tomorrow but I won't get to see Uncle Bill and Val this year. I miss you guys.

"La piattaforma posteriore" or better known as the back deck

As many people know dining "al fresco" is a way of life for the Italian people, so our deck is a central point in our life for dining al fresco and drinking al fresco and anything else al fresco! It was one of the two features that sold us on this house (the great room was the other feature). Lisa and I have been known to enjoy our morning coffee and the newspaper outside before starting our day or ending the day with our evening meal and a drink on the back deck. Thanks to my Dad we have a beautiful new table to enjoy our meals at.

Our main deck wraps around to the front of the house so we follow either the shade (for Irish people like me) or the sun all the way around the house. We also have our tomatoes and spices growing on the deck and will push them around to follow the sun or get out of a hail storm. The deck is also a little wider than most decks I've seen so we have that much more room when we have a large number of friends over. The only down side to a deck that large is having to clear all the snow off of it when the storms come. It usually takes a few hours to clear the snow.

We recently hosted our annual Tiki Party when we gather family and close friends to celebrate the summer and catch up on all the "goings on" of every body's very busy lives. In typical Italian fashion we have lots of food & drink and it is always a good time. Lisa and I enjoy it even though I always "ping" right up to the day of the party (many of you know I am a hermit at heart but I do enjoy seeing my family and friends). This year my parents were here to enjoy one of our annual parties and they got see some of my AF friends who were able to make it.

The Tiki Bar is a key point to the deck. My friend Dan Reyes and I made the bar while I was assigned to Vandenberg AFB and we had the movers bring it to Colorado. The top is getting worn so this winter in order to protect the great art work Dan did I will be moving it to the garage and determine a way to cover it in some kind of resin so it will last for ever. Dan did great work and I don't want to loose that great art. For those of you have seen the Tiki Bar you will know what I mean. The art work is done in a "Shag" style and somewhat resembles his wife Julie. We love it and never want to loose it.

Ciao!

Our House

This is a picture of the house on one of our famous Spring storms. We live up on the Palmer Divide which is famous for its storms, both for snow and for thunder& lightning. This storm was only supposed to drop a "dusting", we got a foot when it was all done. We really don't trust the weather reports here.

Our house is a raised ranch style that sits on 1/2 acre. We have the corner lot so our yard is "pie" shaped with the pointy end at the back. We have no street lights up here so when the sun goes down you can really see the stars.

The deck you see wraps all the way around the back. It used to have our hot tub on it but it was old and started to leak really bad so Dad and I chopped it up and had it hauled away. We also have a deck off of the master bedroom and a small deck for a front porch. The front door is not the green door you see in the picture, that is actually our downstairs "family" room. I use that deck to sit in the shade after working in the yard enjoying a drink and a cigar. Our front door is at the top of the stairs on the left of the picture.

The same view, as in the picture, of our house at night has been described by my Mother-in-Law as, "the stern of a 18th century sailing ship as it sails away." I have to agree with her on that. I think in the evening with the lights on in the house it gives it a certain flare, but then everybody thinks they have the perfect house don't they? If they didn't they wouldn't have bought it I guess.

Opening Day

This is the first post for the new blog. I would try to put more on it tonight but I bought the movie 300 today and I really want to go and watch that right now. I plan on putting up some pictures of the house and news from Camera nei pini soon. Oh as for the name well we are a Italian household here as you will see when I post pictures and we are surrounded by pine trees.

Ciao!