When I heard there was a “Zombie Crawl” going on downtown, i knew i wanted to see it!
I knew i was too much of a chicken to partake, but figured i could go see what all the fuss was about!

There are some amazingly creative people that live around this fair city we have!
There were Pirate Zombies, A Tella Tubby Zombie, Babies dresses as zombies with finger parts in their bottles, there were a lot of brides – but only 1 michael. Really, just one?

There were the people that agreed to be chased by zombies – they had X’s on their backs

There were the zombie killers – a woodie harroldson lookalike, a storm trooper, and some other masked fighters.

And down the road a bit was the Robot Defense League headquarters!

There was a much smaller contingent of them – under 20 – vs the Zombie Crowd – i think one count was almost 4000! Way to go Danny Newman!

Definitely a good time was had by all!

Update

Due to the mahem caused by some of the participants poor Danny has now been fined for damage to 16th Street mall.

Donate to help fix it!

David Sedaris visits Denver,  to  a packed house at the Buell.

The stage was still set for Wicked, but he looked great under the giant dragon!

I last saw him years before out in Southern California – so I didn’t feel the need to pay the big bucks to see up his nose!

We were waaaay up in the balcony – 3 rows from the back! We could see pretty well, but of course the fun of “seeing” David Sedaris is to hear him read his stories.

He read a couple excerpts from his next book! We hope he calls it “Animal Stories” – you’ll have to wait and see when it comes out!

NPR – KUNC (did you know they do a 1 day donation drive? how cool is that)  and The Tattered Cover were there to support him and he supported them right back!Very cool!

His suggested reading this time around was “Our Dumb World”

It sounded hysterical and I think at least one person might be getting if for christmas this year!

He also suggested a weird recommendation for TV or internet viewing was a show on BBC called The Specials – Sounded interesting…Weird, but interesting.

The crowd was well behaved, creepily well versed in Mr Sedaris’s life, family and habits, and just happy to have him in their midst! The hour and a half flew by and we all moaned when he left the stage.

I am excited to be going to see the Loggins & Messina concert tonight at the Paramount Theater.  I have not seen them in over thirty years – although they have been a staple of our musical interest off an on for years.  Loggins & Messina was my first ever concert when I was sixteen.  It was at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and I still remember it to this day.  Driving home after curfew with a car full of partying kids could have cost me my drivers license, but with a little luck I managed to avoid that little scrape with the law.

Since then, I have particularly enjoyed Loggins & Messina when visiting Hawaii.  “Everything goes in Lahaina….”

My friend, Denver dentist Scott Greenhalgh who is taking us to the concert, told me that I should wear the clothes I wore to the concert that night.  Even if I still had them, there is no way I could fit this old body into those skinny clothes.  Something to aspire too…  Before the show, we plan to have dinner at The Keg in Lodo.  Very much looking for ward to it.  It will be good food, good company and good music!

Hi!

I wanted to introduce you to DENVER 2 for 1 TIX, www.DENVER2for1TIX.com.
Great savings for you on last-minute tickets from all around Denver, Colorado, including Arts, Theatre, Culture, Attractions and more.  Sign up for DENVER 2 for 1 TIX emails at www.DENVER2for1TIX.com.

Thanks!

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I saw a snippet on twitter about 2 for 1 tickets in Denver and since we are all counting pennies these days, I immediately gave it a click!

Love the idea, last minute tickets, cheap prices! With this and groupon (i know you know about groupon) I should be far from bored and have more money in my pocket to buy drinks!  The above email I could send to all my friends, but i decided to send it out to all the Denver Metblog followers instead!

Just back from a really fun – and cold – afternoon at Invesco Field at Mile High.  The Broncos continued to surprise the skeptical pundits – this time with an overtime wins against the “Boston” Patriots.  Wearing their throw-back yellow and brown uniforms with the striped socks (cheerleaders even wore their 1960s cheerleading attire – reminding many of us old folks of their high school cheerleaders), the Broncos came back from a 10 point halftime deficit.

The defense was fantastic, shutting down – and shutting out – the Patriots high powered offense in the second half.  Although they gave up a season high 17 points in the first half, as has been the case all season, they righted the ship at half-time and took control.

Kyle Orton looked like the quarterback that Coach McDaniel wanted when he traded away Jay Cutler over the summer.  He threw for two touchdowns (two eleven yard strikes to Brandon Marshall) and over 300 yards.  He spread the ball to all of his receivers – including Eddie Royal who came up with a number of first down receptions, Marshall, Gaffney, Moreno (who generated a lot of yardage both rushing and receiving) and his two tight ends – Daniel Graham and Tony Scheffler).

Even two untimely penalties against the Broncos punt receiving team late in the fourth quarter, which gave the Patriots life, weren’t enough to put the Broncos away.  The whole stadium held its breath wondering if the Broncos were going to fall to one of Tom Brady’s patented game-winning drives, but the Broncos just won’t quit.   This team just keeps on fighting.

We all left the stadium horse from shouting and cheering after Prater’s overtime game winner.  And many of in the crowd stopped over at a local bar while waiting to go cheer for the Rockies – another team that doesn’t know the meaning of quit.

Go Broncos!

Go Rockies!

As I may have mentioned before, this is Chez LeBoeuf-Little’s second year in CSA membership with Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce. Last year we had far, far too many veggies even for our renewed resolution to eat out less and cook together more, so this year I yielded to John’s wisdom in signing up for only a partial share. Even so, possibly because I’ve been going out of town at frequent intervals and John’s been working late, we have a situation.

Thus, on a snowy day in Boulder, I present OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Soup.

1. From that still unopened package of bacon you bought because it looked like a good idea at the time, remove four fat slices. Cut them into 1″ squares. Start them frying.
2. If you like, add a quarter-cup chopped up roasted chilis. The ones that looked so gorgeous at the farmer’s market last week. You only meant to buy three ears of peaches ‘n cream sweet corn, but you can’t resist a bag of freshly roasted chilis.
3. When the bacon is about half-done, delve into this week’s CSA share. Slice up and add to the bacon pan the stems of that beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, one fat green pepper, and one yellow onion. Let these cook until the aroma makes you salivate. Let cook a few minutes longer.
4. Roughly chop the chard leaves and stick them in a soup pot with just enough water to cover. Dump in a can of navy beans. (This is why you stocked up on canned beans.) Dump in a quarter-cup or so of frozen turkey drippings. (This is why you save and freeze the turkey drippings.) Dump in a nice big anonymous spoonful (teaspoon? tablespoon? Who knows? Who cares?) of your favorite bouillon.
5. Take the pan of bacon-onion-pepper-chili off the stove and put the soup pan on. Turn fire up to “please come to a gentle boil, if you please.” Dump contents of pan into soup pot. Stir.
6. When the pot’s boiling, reduce to “simmer but don’t take forever about it” and wait as long as you can stand it.

Serve with OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Salad, which is all the mizuna and arugula still fresh enough to eat in a salad plus a couple radishes and carrots and cucumbers and raw zucchini and julienned roasted beets and, you know, whatever, drizzled with Ravenous Chocolate Vinaigrette.

Time to eat!

Typically some greens haven’t been used up. Make stir fry tomorrow with the choi, using those Hazel Dell oyster mushrooms you bought for just this purpose. Also one of those great long yellowish-green peppers that you’re never sure what to do with.

Take the rest of the chard, collard, arugula, mizuna, and whatever choi didn’t fit in the stir fry, and boil them down for Green Gumbo. (This has the advantage of using up more peppers and onions, though you may have to go out and buy the celery and parsley.)

“Next time on the CSA Overflow Creativity Show: OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Freezer! Stay tuned.”

–
(Reposted from my personal blog, because if the Boulder Farmer’s Market and Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce aren’t relevant to Denver Metblogs then I dunno what is.)

It is a fact universally acknowledged that any retail space left vacant for a sufficient length of time must be in want of a seasonal discount store. Where the co-op used to be, there bloomed the Boulder Democratic Headquarters last year. Where Ross used to be in Diagonal Plaza before it moved down to Walnut, there blossoms the annual (or biannual, or perennial) Sniagrab (”Bargains Spelled Backwards!”).

And in the former downtown location of Borders Books, we’ve got Spirit.

Spirit at the old Borders

Notice the “Cafe Espresso” sign still on the wall. I’d make a Hamletonian lament along the lines of “funeral meats not yet cold,” except, of course, they are. They are so cold. And they’ve been reheated by the warm summer sun. And the flies and crows have long since had their way with them. They are compost.

Not to be outdone, Halloween USA has taken over the ex-Circuit City.

Halloween USA at the old Circuit City

This has been your official warning that, yo, Halloween is coming. Get ready, y’all.

It is that time of year – the leaves change and the beer flows! We have had the opportunity to try a couple this year and last and decided to pull it all together!

Table Tutorial

Today was a busy day.  Early this afternoon, my wife and I joined two of my colleagues – Maarit Kaaihue and Bill Fukui from Page 1 Solutions on a 5K walk in support of the Second Wind Foundation of Metro Denver – an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide.  At Page 1, we have been supporting Second Wind for two or three years and were very pleased to see so many people turn out at the Jeffco Fairgrounds for the Walk/Run/Bike event.  Organizers said that there were 4,000 people this year – up from last year’s record of 3,000.  This year the walk seemed easier and shorter – probably because I have been doing so much hiking all summer.  It was a lot of fun.

This evening my wife and son went to the Journey of Hope Benefit Concert at Red Rocks.  The event featured several bands and the Colorado Childrens Chorale – along with Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea.  The event was inspiring.  In addition to Greg Mortenson, the stars of the show were his daughter and five other children who had started foundations help impoverished children in the US, Africa and South America.  The foundations included the Little Red Wagon Foundation, Peruvian Hearts, and Africaid, among others.   Pennies for Peace sponsored the event.

There were a number of messages throughout the evening, but the central theme seemed to be that each of us can make a difference.  Even if we only help one child learn to read, that is one more literate child who will grow up to make a difference.  Bottom line, if each of us acts, we can change the world.

From September 18th through October 4th, the 3-dimensional art of Lesa Alison-Hastings will be on display at the Pirate: Contemporary Art Gallery at 3655 Navajo Street in Denver.

Pirate is one of the longest running galleries in Denver and will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2010.  Pirate can be described as “edgy,” and features contemporary art.  Ms. Hastings work will be showing with a local artist named BUG.

Opening reception: September 18, 6:00-10:00 PM.

Ms. Hastings started collaging when she needed a break from writing her thesis, and it later became a default creative outlet during periods of writer’s block.  She began doing both writing and collaging simultaneously, and eventually started merging language into the art.  For the most part she takes found objects, many of which are vintage or even antique, and combines unlike things to re-contextualize them into what she describes as a visual narrative.

She uses various papers, metal objects and scraps (many of which beg a current tetanus shot), woods, drawers, wax, and anything she can get her hands on and glue together.

Ms. Hastings is a Senior Account Manager for Page 1 Solutions, a website design and marketing firm specializing in Internet marketing for attorneys, dentists and doctors.

Diane and I have done quite a bit of hiking over the last several months.  The idea was to get in shape to do our first 14er – after I turned 50.  I thought I was in pretty good shape – until I was put to the test by Torreys Peak.

Torreys is supposed to be one of the easier 14ers and many people summit both Torreys Peak and Grays Peak on the same day.  Now, maybe I am overreacting because we did hike about 10 miles the day before near Mount Evans on the Chicago Lakes Trail.  In retrospect, we probably overdid it and should have taken it easy the day before attempting Torreys Peak.  We probably should have gone to bed early and relaxed that evening, but we didn’t.  And did we pay….

Bill, Ben, Diane and Dan with Torreys Peak in the Background

Fortunately, we did make it to the top.  But it wasn’t easy.  My 17-year old son and his friend came with us and they scampered up the hill like mountain goats.  They were often waiting impatiently as we dragged our sorry butts up to their resting spot and then they just took off again like it was nothing.

Shortly before the summit we went through a short snow bank near the top and dealt with some pretty harsh winds as we crossed the saddle between Grays and Torreys.  The winds were so strong that our friend almost turned back because he was having trouble keeping his contacts in with the wind, but he hung in there.  Then a short climb to the summit and we were there.

Beautiful!  Love those 360 degree views.  I can see why so many people are enamored with climbing 14ers.

What a feeling!  What an accomplishment!

The climb down was fairly easy.  Your feet take a pounding, but your lungs and thighs have a well-deserved respite.

I plan to do it again, but I learned my lesson.  Next time, I will take it easy the day before!

Lincoln Lake Trail

Yesterday, we went for an extended excursion on the trail from Echo Lake to Lincoln Lake.  The hike is about seven miles each way and took us about seven hours.  We stopped for lunch and for an extended break at Lincoln Lake.  It was worth every mile and every minute.  Lincoln Lake is beautiful.  It is nestled on the side of Mount Evans.  The water is crystal clear and the trout were jumping.

Lincoln Lake

The trail starts with a brief climb up from the Echo Lake campground, followed by about a mile long drop.  The rest of the way is a slow steady climb up to Lincoln Lake.  Most of the way is through pine forest but just before the turnoff to Lincoln Lake, it opens up into an old burn area with lots of beautiful silvery-gray gnarled dead trees coming up out of a grassy meadow.  The grass and underbrush was starting to show some nice fall color.  In fact, the mountains in the distance looked almost orange below treeline from the combination of green and red grass and brush.  It was beautiful.

We left at about 11:00 and got back just after 6:00.  We saw a total of seven people on the trail.  One couple got to Lincoln Lake shortly after us.  We passed another couple and then a solo hiker who were returning about a mile before we got to the lake.  Then, on our way back, we passed a couple of backpackers who were heading out to camp for the night.  On the whole it was extremely quiet and we had the trail – and the forest – to ourselves.

Chicago Lakes Trail

About a month ago, we hiked the Chicago Lakes trail with a good friend who was visiting from Washington, D.C.  We estimated that hike to be about 10-11 miles (round trip) with about 1,700 feet in elevation gain (although with the initial down and then up, the number was probably closer to 2,000 total elevation gain.

The Chicago Lakes trail was one of the most beautiful hikes we have ever done in Colorado – and certainly the most impressive of the summer.  With all the rain we have been having, the fauna was still very green.

The First of the Chicago Lakes

The initial climb of about a mile opened up to the Idaho Springs reservoir.  We stopped there for a little bit, but there were a lot of people coming and going, so we quickly moved on.  There were more people further on up the trail, but it definitely thinned out.

We thought about turning around about a mile before the first of the Chicago Lakes because we were planning to hike Torreys Peak the next day, but we pressed on.  When we finally made it to the Lakes the beauty of the scenery made it all worthwhile.  That is one hike that definitely want to do again.

Hells Hole

We do have one more hike in the Mount Evans area planned for later this fall when the aspen start to turn.  That is Hells Hole.  Good friends of ours have done it in previous years when the aspen  were peaking and rave about it.   Their pictures back up their story.  I can’t wait!

There are so many things to do this weekend, i don’t even know where to start!

First Friday –

it’s every first friday – but why not go since you have an extra day off this weekend?

Santa Fe, RINO and Golden Triangle – I love first friday! A bunch of people get together and look at some really cool art!

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The Taste of Colorado

So many restaurants, such good food, a wonderful time to spend an evening or a day!

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Sniagrab -

going on

Ski REx -

Starts Saturday but has a VIP day today (Friday) – just sign up for their mailing list and you get a ticket to get in!

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Cirque de Soleil

- many deals -

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Flobots bowling

They are bowling for Charity this Friday!!! You could bowl with them!

Where will you be this weekend?

You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

Last month a friend came to visit for the weekend and we decided we should explore those big pointy things with white stuff on the top… (Rocky Mountain National Park)

I had a national park pass from a trip to the Grand Canyon a couple months ago so i got in for “free”.

Keep a look out – they had a few “free entry” weekends throughout the summer – that’s cool!

We headed in through the entrance by Estes Park.  I wanted to make sure that my friend could handle the larger altitude change – she was from sea level, so we had our bag lunch by one of the water falls.

After that, we headed down toward Bear Lake for some not too strenous hiking! Obviously the easy hikes and easily accessible areas will be the most populated. Rocky Mt NP has created a huge parking lot and a shuttle system to get you around the heavily traveled areas.

I must say I am very impressed with ease of transit, the limited wait times for the buses, and the ability to get away from the crowds! We did the mile-ish hike to Alberta Falls

And then the trail around Bear Lake. It was a beautiful walk/hike.

It’s a neat place to bring visitors or just head in yourself!

It is right there – under 2 hours from Denver… Seriously – go take a look!

I can’t wait to get up there and find some other hikes and enjoy more of what Colorado has to offer!