Pumpkin Carving

But Nana I don't want to eat pumpkin guts, that's so sad!

Spooky Spooky! Roby and the two grandkids came over the house last night (10/29) to carve the pumpkins that we picked at the pumpkin patch. We had fixed elk roast and veggies in the slow cooker all day. We called RJ on Skype while the kids were here, ate and then started carving. Here's a look at the night.

Renae you are so funny trying to eat punkin guts.

Below is Katie's pumpkin which she dropped on the floor several times and it ended with a broken jaw!

Roby with some homicidal tendencies!

Spooky Day at the Park and Joufalas Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

BOOOOO! It's almost Halloween. Today we spent several hours with the grand kids playing at the park and picking pumpkins. We started off picking up the kids at Roby's house and heading to KFC and a pinic at Long's Park.

Kaleb on the monkey bars.

Katie climbing the rope and Renae's arm getting gnawed on by her t-shirt.

Then we drove around until we found the Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze at Joufalas Farm's. They have the best maze and patch that we have found. Renae and I found out that it is easy to scare Katie and Kaleb with fake spiders. Both of them also like to pick out pumpkins bigger than what they can carry.

Katie and Kaleb skeptically going through the corn maze.

Kaleb picking a huge pumpkin.

Training for the Bataan Death March in White Sands New Mexico March 29th 2009

http://www.bataanmarch.com/

Myself, Renae, and Renae's daughter Kristen have decided to participate in the Bataan Death March next March. This blog will outline the training that we have done to prepare ourselves for the obviously difficult challenge that is before us. Above you will find a link to the Bataan March.
I think we have decided to do the 15 mile Memorial Walk vs the entire 26.2 mile walk.

October 4th- We participated in a 3 mile walk "Walk for Life" at the botanical gardens in Grand Junction. I wore my day pack 10lbs to make it a little more challenging for me. We completed the walk in just under an hour. Was difficult maneuvering through hundreds of people.

October 7th- We completed three mile desert walk off of 25 Road. Walked along the canal and the normal 2 mile loop walk. I wore my day pack with 10lbs. Took the dogs.

October 13th- We headed out to Pollock Bench around 4pm with the dogs. Most challenging hike/walk to date with much of the first mile or so up hill in sand/gravel/slick rock. We hiked a total of 2.5 miles in 1.5 hours. Both Renae and I were wearing our day packs with about 10lbs each. We plan to head back and complete the entire 5.7 mile loop on Oct 19th. Trying to find good hiking shoes that I can wear my orthotics in.

October 15- Grandma Fuller's 82nd Birthday- Renae and I and the dogs headed back out to the desert around 6pm and hiked our desert loop which is now just over 3 miles. We are trying to figure out different ways to make it longer. We completed the loop in 1.25 hours as we were both pretty exhausted. Since we got started later we were able to see the near full moon rise up over the bookcliffs. It was quite extraordinary. So we are pretty sure we can do 3 miles in an hour with 10lb packs on it's maintaining that pace for another 12 miles. Like I said above this weekend we will try to double our mileage out at Pollock Bench, hopefully we will take a camera this time as it is quite beautiful.

October 17- Tonight we went for a shorter hike out at the desert. We headed out to the 25 Road desert after I got home from work (Renae had the day off kinda). We did the shorter 1.5 mile loop, it took us about 40 min or so. Really jazzed about the hike on Sunday out at Pollock Bench. Tomorrow is Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch so lots of high stepping. Tonight we took the dogs and I work my day pack around 10 lbs.

October 19th- Pollock Bench Loop (P1) to F2 to Flume Canyon (F1)

Renae and I headed out to Fruita again to check out Pollock Bench Loop (P1) we completed the first section we did on October 15 and turned right at the fork in the trail (while talking to Kristen). We came to the part where the trail leads down into a canyon, we decided for sake of knees to return the the fork in the trail and head left. Once we got to the section where the trail headed down into the canyon (to complete the loop) we conveniently took the F2 trail that bridges P1 to F1. We stopped for a bite to eat then completed the first section of the F1 trail. Total miles was 6.6 in a little over 3 hours. We figured we made pretty good time since the trail was up and down, rocky in some places, and loose sand in others. This was probably the most realistic trail for the bataan march. Then we headed to the Ale House to have our post hike lunch. Sweet, and a free dessert.


















October 23rd Homeless Stand Down-I took the rest of the afternoon off after we finished the stand down, I was on my feet all morning and was exhausted. I went to pick up Renae from work and we headed home to get the dogs for a walk out in the desert. We added some to our loop maybe 1/4 mile. So we walked probably 3.25 miles, I will measure it with the GPS next time we head out there for that hike. We also took our new adoptee, Kodiak, a retired military police dog. The plan is to start training for SAR. We finished the hike in a little over 1.25 hours. Neither one of us carried packs (I don't think we realized we'd do a little bit longer hike in the desert tonight). On Sunday I think we will either go back to Pollock Bench or up to Crag Crest (if there isn't any snow).

OCTOBER 26th - GRAND MESA - Well we decided to head up to the Mesa today to hike part of Crag Crest (it is a 10 mile loop with upper and lower section). We left the house around 1115 but didn't leave town until around 1145. We stopped by Safeway to return a movie and ended up eating a hot dog from an organization raising money for breast cancer. Anywho we got on top of the Mesa around 1245 and parked at the trail head parking lot. This time we had 3 dogs, Zeus, Kyrie, and Kodiak. Just a side note to this hike last time we did the lower section with RJ we took a wrong turn, lost Kyrie (for 24 hours) and RJ was late to work. Last time RJ hiked the loop all the dogs got quilled from a porcupine. Needless to say this trail has worked us over. Both Renae and I went to the bathroom and then got the dogs ready. Since this is the first time we've really had Kodiak out he started on a leash and did really good. Both Renae and I had our GPS going. We came to our first little adventure at the first pond where the dogs, Zeus and Kyrie, stopped for a drink. Now since Kodiak is a retired military police dog he hasn't been trained to fend for himself in the wilds, so we walked over to the pond and I showed him he could drink. Well Zeus had muddied the water where we were standing so I moved us over a few feet. There was a thin layer of ice covering part of the pond and also where we were standing. Kodiak put is foot on the ice and apparently thought it was solid, at this point I still had a hold of his leash, well he then started trying to walk on the ice and I started freaking out think I've killed my dog. Kodiak step plunged to the middle of the pond where there was a large rock sticking up out of the water. Kodiak made it to the rock came up out of the water and then skinny dog stepped across the thicker ice to the other side, needless to say he looked like a wet cold noodle. When I called for him to come back he acted like he was going to cross back across the ice so I walked around the pond to retrieve him. We dried him off and on we went. After about 1.45 miles in and about 500 feet of elevation gain we came to a trail fork. Instead of continuing on the Crag Crest trail we took the Cottonwood Trail. Now there was snow and ice on the trail throughout but nothing serious although I slide a couple of times. But this side trail was pretty much covered with snow and ice, but we continued on. There were a lot of trees that had fallen over the trail so Zeus would do his best to get either up and over or underneath. Kyrie of course was running from side to side doing her best to scare up a rabbit or something. Kodiak would pretty much stay right with Renae and I, and at this point he was off leash. We stopped at around 1.95 miles to give water to Kodiak and started back on the Cottonwood trail which only got deeper in snow/ice and continued downward. We decided to turn around for fear of breaking a leg or worse and headed back to the car. The trip back was pretty uneventful other than the Schnauzer that came running up to all of us and Kodiak wanted to play when the other dog started crying for his mommy, it sounded horrific. We made it back to the car, loaded up, and headed to the Wagon Wheel for chili, which they didn't have, so had a cup of cream of broccoli soup. We hiked 4.01 miles with a total of 957 of elevation ascent. I'll add some pictures later.



This picture was taken right before Kodiak did some plunge stepping.

November 1st- 25 Road Desert Hike - I took the dogs (Kyrie and Zeus) to the desert for a short hike. I got out there about 430 and there was a lot of traffic out in the desert. We did a variation of the desert loop. I hiked 2.75 miles in an hour with an average speed of 2.8 miles per hour. I wore my day pack, it weighed about 15 lbs.

November 3rd - 25 Road Desert Hike - Last night Renae and I took the dogs out after work to hike the entire desert loop that we have. I remembered the GPS so we got to measure it. We hiked 3.44 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Not to bad but we need to figure out how to make it about a mile and half longer.