Backyard Demo

Well it finally happened. We have been talking about it and talking about it - but there is no turning back now...

The planter bites the dust...

They started in on the circular pad next, but were foiled by the double layer. Reminds me of the castle which sank into the swamp, and they built another castle, and that sank into the swamp - so they built another one and that one was solid. Who builds one pad complete with flagstone and then builds another one right on top?

No matter, a 1 hour jack hammer rental took care of that.

Can't believe the blank slate we have to work with....

However, on the other side of the yard, things don't look so bad. However, it looks like Torben's handy work back there. Missing a couple of trees, the play structure - but its a nice place for the patio furniture. Makes a good breakroom.

And Like that - POOF - its gone!

 Along with the security......

Torben's Bathroom Project

Greetings Monkey Fans;

Torben decided that he had had it with whomever had repaired the plumbing and drywall from the previous remodel. Unfortunately, that person was not available to dope slap, so he took matters in his own hands. There was ooodles of fun to be had with a hammer, especially when dad a gave the ok to use it on the wall...

Step 1, remove the old toilet paper holder....it was behind the toilet, only those with tails or tentacles were able to use it...

Step 2 - after applying the proper star shaped screwdriver begin hammer applications...

Dad was working on the left side, he's a little better with the hammer. But check out what I was doing!

Nope, still working on the toilet paper holder. But I'll get it damn it.

Finally, the wall's opened up and the old plumbing is exposed (with a little help from Dad), now is time to remove all the lead-bronze-galvanized pipe as well as the old polybutylene, valves and spiderwebs. No problem, I did what I could now its dad's turn.

Yeah, that's gotta go...

Well, Dad got conversions to pex, and put in shutoff valves to isolate the bathroom - now to replace the old pipes!

Looky looky! Dad got the new pipes in and the bathroom was returned to normal! Just had to glue in the last pipe for the vent, but everything looks good! No leaks...and the wall kinda got fixed too.

Yeah, the wall looks pretty good, now all that is left is a little sanding and some painting. But mom has to pick out some cabinets first!

(more to come)

Christmas Eve Luminaria 

Torbs & Dad on the roof.

                                                        Motorcycles going by the display.

Nifty tool belt a gift from neighbor Gordon.

Cousins Katarina and Angelina arrive!

A surprise present…. Torben!

3 generations of cookie bakers.

Decorating the living Christmas Tree 2012 - it survived & was used again in 2013 

Hiking at the Volcanoes

Well, Monkey fans. I guess life just took over for a while and the blog had been forgotten. We promise to again start updating and give you some glimpses into monkey life.

Today we offer a story narrated by the Monkey himself. So for the first time on this blog you can hear about monkey life straight from the monkey's mouth!


Let me start the narrative to set the stage, and then I will start recording the monkey's words. The volcanoes are just to the west of town, in fact the mesa they sit on is a composed of several lava flows which were emitted from them. They are long extinct, but you never know. You start your trip to the Black Volcano then take a turn to the north and approach the Vulcan. Ok, now the monkey...

 I am going up to a volcano. And, the volcano had lots of ash. And, but it wasn't active. And, I felt good! That's me, ok.

I saw some hot lava rocks. I went up to the top of a volcano, but it wasn't active. I went on a trail to the top of a volcano, that's what I was saying. No other words for that one, that's a lot of words.....that's a lot of words!

I saw some hot lava rocks, and the story is about when I went up to a volcano with my dada and I like the word about volcano!. I like the word volcano, and I like the hot lava rocks and brought some to school - but didn't share them because I forgot to bring them. Merry Christmas Everyone!

I am looking at something with the binoculars, but I don't remember though. But I do remember looking at the cars with the binoculars. Cool! Do you remember the airport we saw on the map? I saw that airport! It was really far away. And then I saw the cars.

We are almost on top of the volcano (Vulcan) looking out. They will just have to make up their own story for this one.
 

Back to Tim, monkey needs a break. This is a view from Vulcan south and east towards the Black and Ja Volcanoes. ABQ is just down in the valley to the left of the volcano. We were both impressed with the views of the city and constant stream of airplanes flying in to land at the Sunport. There is also a smaller airport just to the west of the volcanoes, which is what T was talking about in the previous.

We didn't go to the very tallest part of Vulcan because we were talking about the spirits, which were not very good and I thought they would start killing us off if we went to the top. (this is the monkey again) That's what I think. The spirits were trying to take over the land. They were just trying to the protect the land and take over other people's lands. The Indian spirits!. The spirits are nice but they are not happy when people come sneaking around there trying to kill their sisters and brothers. They will see alot of blood and bones, and they will say something strange is going on here. (this was all news to me)  I found a little lava arch, I saw that little arch first. It's some kind of little cave or some sorta of cave because you can go underground. You can go underground because its a little cavy thing. There is a lot of sand under there.

 

Making a little snow, van bam baby! Making a little snow, vam bam baby! (repeat this five times to the tune of Man the Mirror from Micheal Jackson) Making a little snowman baby! Making a little snowman Baby!! (t wanted this red)

 I like it, this was my last one baby. Big bam baby! So that Indians take over the land, take over the lan big bam baby! We could do yellow, can we make all the words red?

Ok, fans, that's it from the Monkey. This last one is Torben walking through a cut in Vulcan heading east towards the Sandia Mountains in the distance. We were asked not to climb to the top of the volcanoes because the Pueblos consider this rude, which brought up the topic of spirits. However, in our initial discussion, I certainly portrayed the spirits as more benevolent - but capable of becoming angry if you disrespect the sacred lands. This business about taking over, that was all fabricated in the monkey mind.

Camping near Valles Caldera

So Monkey and Co. decided to take a Memorial Day camping trip into the hitherto unknown (at least for us) and explore a part of New Mexico. We decided to head up towards Jemez and the Valles Caldera, a super volcano responsible for some of the many interesting features in this state (such as Tent Rocks which some of our family have been too.).

The car is packed, its Friday and we aren't wearing sunglasses. How many miles till Chicago? Load up Torben, here we go! (someone was excited, we didn't have to ask twice)

Jemez is only about an hour or so away from ABQ, and the terrain changes dramatically. Red rocks stand in stark contrast to the green of the cottonwoods and burr oaks. We couldn't help but think of the roadrunner from the Wile E Coyote cartoons. We were extremely worried about finding a campsite, we had heard rumors that it would be wall to wall people., so we didn't stop to show you.

Finally, a campsite....

It took us a while to find it, all the developed sites were full already and the Redondo site was closed. We ended up finding our spot just off a forest service road. Clearly this site was a favorite of some hooligans, smashed glass, melted cans and hacked up trees. Torben did a fine job helping to clean up the site. After settling in we drove down to check out Lake Fenton, really a little reservoir but stocked with fish from a local hatchery, for a picnic lunch and hike.

On our return to camp, we discovered that somewhere along the line we had acquired a little pup tent, which someone required that we set up for him. This turned out to be a good thing, because Torben packed a big bag of toys to bring with him. Now he had a place to play.

 Notice Torben doing a good job keeping his shoes out of the tent, but trying to use the frying pan to drive the tent stakes was not such a good idea.

Torben turned this tent into his workshop, but contrary to appearences he did not sleep in it.

Later that night Torben learned about washing up at camp.

The next morning Torben learned that it gets quite cold in the mountains at night, even if it was quite hot during the day. But, he also discovered if you bring your santa hat and whine enough you get hot chocolate - both things which help to keep you warm.

And then the day's adventures started. Our first trip was the Spence hot springs, a short hike up the side of a mountain revealed a little cave from which the warm waters of march sprang forth. The views from the spring were fantastic, and it was warm enough to be pleasant but not too hot.

After the springs, it was time to grab a snack and then a quick swim in the mountain stream. Who knows, maybe we could catch a fish....

After the Spence hot springs, and swimming it was time to check out the volcano. Torben was convinced there was a hole he could jump down to see the hot lava. He very much wanted to find this hole. He was not dissuaded after asking the Park Rangers were such a hole could be found, even after discovering that magma was still there but five miles down. So we hiked around a lava dome, taking in the expanse of the caldera and imagining what it was like when it was more active. In the last major eruption over 1 million years ago, it deposited over 8 ft of ash, allowing the cliff dwellings to be dug in the volcanic tuff of the early humans living in Bandolier State Park. We also found lots of bones, kept our eyes out for rattlesnakes (and rattlesnake poop).

The grassy part is the bottom of the caldera. The slight hill to the right is the lava dome we hiked around.

Sunday we headed home, but since we werent in any hurry we decided to visit one more hot spring. This one was listed as a strenuous 1 1/2 mile hike in, but we decided it was early and the boy could do it. We soon discovered, the hike was switchbacks all the way, rocky and a little longer than advertised.

Notice the sign says 2 miles, and well, we already were in some distance. But, McCauley spring here we come! (actually, this was taken on the way back). We also were fighting the crowds this time, we had assumed that the "strenuous" description would keep people away, especially when the rocks seemed to impose a size limit to the trail:

The monkey made it though (with a bit of a ride on dad) and the spring was well worth it. Not as warm as the others, but pleasant non the less. Quite a bit more wildlife, little tetras in the pools and the signs of snakes. Torben and Kris in the upper pool....

 and the snake...

 And now Torben and Kris in the lower pool....

The trip down was a little treacherous, but Torben made it again (with a little help from dad on the first climb back from the pools), but he was zonked after that. A quick ice cream stop in Jemez helped, but it was all she wrote for him until we got back to ABQ. Luckily, we returned to fresh strawberries in our garden.

Well, that's it for now. However, we took advantage of the REI sale this last weekend to purchase a few new camping items. First, a bigger tent, the 2 man doesn't fit us anymore. Second, a poop shovel and a few other odds and ends. So there will be more camping to come....