We went for a walk the other day and noticed several new things.  First, the finished trail and fences on the south side.  They look really good and I’m sure after a while when the grass grows it’ll be great!  Hopefully, the fence will last and people won’t break it down.  In case you were one of the folks who cut the trail all the time, It’s really not good to cut it.  It kills the grass and causes erosion and looks pretty bad.  So please, everyone, be cool.  The fence looks great!

Also, noticed that Evergreen Parks and Recreation put a LOT of effort into removing much of the pond seaweed with boats, rakes and trucks.  Notice the huge piles on the shore in the gallery below.

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I went for a walk around the lake last night and took a few pictures.  It was a really nice walk; the weather was perfect, the lake was smooth and there were lots of people enjoying the evening. The park and rec district is doing some nice work on the trail around the lake.  Smoothing it out, widening in places, adding more gravel where there’s usually standing water after a rain, rebuilding some rock walls and trying to close the makeshift trail that people have blazed cutting the switchback on the south side of the lake.

They’ve put up two fences, one at the top and one at the bottom, but people have decided to ignore that and trample the fence down and just walk right over it. It’s really too bad that people don’t have the respect for our lake, trail and the Parks and Recreation Districts work to protect and maintain a good trail system.

As I said, the walk around the lake was really beautiful, including a really nice wedding at the Evergreen Lake house (for reservations, please call the Lake House at 720.880.1311).  Have a look at this small gallery and let us know how you like to enjoy the lake.

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Please join The Evergreen Design Center on Friday, July 29th from 5:00 until 8:00 as they welcome Melanie Warinske (Nuchols), former president of the Evergreen Chamber and one of Colorado’s most original artists at their July Artist Reception. Melanie’s powerful combination of metal, wood and found objects are centerpieces of private homes and corporate offices throughout the country. The Evergreen Design Center is privileged to show her work  at the Evergreen Design Center Friday the 29th.
Receptions are an informal and family-friendly way to spend a summer evening. Here is the schedule of other great local artists coming to the Evergreen Design Center this summer:

Friday, August 26th J. Chester Armstrong, wood sculptor
Friday, September 30th Denise West, oil and watercolor painter

We’ve had EDS Waste Solutions for a long time, probably about 8 years.  But we spent a lot of time collecting all of our recycling in the basement and hauling it to the King Soopers recycling center.  We really wanted Curb-Side recycling, which EDS offers, but for an additional cost, and you need to use your own containers.

Then we heard from some friends about Mountain View and that they offer free Curb-Side recycling and give you free cans too!!  We’ve been using these really old trash cans, but they’re really beat up and falling apart and hard to haul around.  When we found that Mountain View would bring us 2 free cans, we were sold and immediately switched.

Mountain View Trash and Recycling Cans

The Recycling is great!  Single Stream and they take just about everything.  We’re OK with a small box of some recycling that we take to King Soopers every now and then.  Mostly, we’ll need to take the non-corrugated cardboard, but beyond that, Single Stream, Curb-Side Recycling is a big WIN for us.

Recycling Rules

Thank you EDS for all the years of garbage Collection!

Thank you Mountain View for the new collection, Recycling and cans!

(A note to EDS:  We’ve had several other families switch just because we did and the Mountain View deal is so good.  If you had a similar deal, we would not have switched.  It might be time to re-examine your offerings to be more competitive.)

June 1 – The Congress and Evergreen School of Music

June 15 – Mountain Holler and Juggernaut

June 29 – Max Wagner and Mighty High Band

July 13 – Your Father’s Mustache and Acoustic Mining Company

July 27 – Josh and the Empty Pockets and The Hooligans

August 10 – Megan Burtt and the Cure For Love and Open Space

August 24 – Tunisia and Fresh Jefferson

Here are a few pictures from the Soda Creek Fire last week.  Some of the smoke and some of the burn area after the fire on Highway 103.  Fortunately, it didn’t get very big and our fabulous firefighters knocked it down right away!

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Now that the ice has completely melted and we’ve had some great warm weather, some wind, a few fires, another few inches of snow, then some more wind and now some real spring weather, I thought I’d post some photos of some interesting ice. There were at times some large cracks showing and there was one day when part of the main skating rink was flooded because of an obvious crack somewhere under all the snow. Fortunately, it didn’t affect the skating much.

Also, part of the southern boardwalk had additional 4×4 supports put in that couldn’t stand up to the ice.

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Time to Clear Your Land to Keep the Fire Danger Down!

We Hired Dastardly Deeds to rake our yard today. We live in a Ponderosa Forest in Evergreen and the ground is covered in dead grass and pine needles. It’s a tinderbox here like most everywhere else in the state. So, it’s time to get out and rake and clean up your yard to keep the fire danger down.

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Here are a few things you can do immediately to start making your land safer:

1. Rake your yard.
2. Move all dead wood and firewood away from your house.
3. Water your grass.
4. Trim branches from near your house.
5. Cut down trees that are too close to your house.

Here are a few things to do today to be ready in case you need to evacuate:

1. Gather important papers.
2. Gather computers and/or hard drives.
3. Gather important artwork/photos.
4. Pack an emergency bag with clothes and necessities.
5. Think about where you’ll go if you need to go.
6. Make a list of things to gather and leave it in an obvious place in your house.  In case you’re not home, you can tell a neighbor what to get.
7. Make a home video inventory of everything in your house.  Go slow enough so you can recognize everything in your house.  You’ll need this for insurance reasons to know what to replace. Keep this video and documents in a safe place like a safety deposit box.
8. Get an online back up service for important, irreplaceable files like photos or QuickBooks files.

Let us know what other ideas you have…

I took a walk the other day around the lake.  The sun was out and the weather was really great!  The lake was about to close and unfortunately, it is now closed.  We had a great winter of ice skating and playing on the ice and snowy walks.  This is the first time in a long time that I felt the winter went by so quickly.  In fact I wish we still had more time to ice skate.  I just hope that the ski season doesn’t end so quickly.

Here’re some photos from my walk.

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I went up to Echo Lake this weekend to play and practice in the snow and ice and here are a couple pictures from the day.  It was really pretty cold and windy.