GONDOLAS!

Chaos's favorite thing about Telluride is most certainly the gondola. The first time he rode it he was apprehensive but now he is downright obsessive. I know- Caesar Milan would tell me a few things about this and tell me to be the pack leader and show Chaos how to act but I first had to make a video to show everyone his level of crazy. This is a section under a ski trail- we were unable to do this in the village area as he would be unsafe to himself and others.

Chaos and his gondola chase... he almost got it!

It's funny... after these sesssions the monster gets an obsessive look and can't chill out for a while... his tougue hangs out and he looks wild!

my high of the day

The high temperature today was 47 degrees according to my weather channel desktop icon. It had a certain bite to the air as I walked Chaos today and even on the walk home I was glad to have worn a fleece and non-chaco's. At this time last year we had already seen a foot of snow!

Chaos 2006

Now it caps the peaks but has stayed off the ground. I'm still not ready for that much snow. I need some Fall and have even gone so far as to purchase some yankee candles to remind us of new england falls. if someone wanted to send an apple pie, squash soup with a side of fresh cut pine logs I know one home that would be pretty excited for it!

and the final festival of the season...

This weekend was the Blues and Brews Festival here in Telluride. This is the last big festival of the season and we're closing in on one full year in Telluride. Last year we came on the day after the festival was over with the caravan of the subaru, the tacoma and the u-haul with chaos and mu-nee kitty.

Dave worked with some folks from Summit county at a beer booth and was busy all weekend. I got a Saturday pass and hung out. This festival brings around 8,000 people to town park so there were lots of people to run into and chat with. It also has some incredible people watching.

a little bit of rain...

double rainbows from our deck...

new shoes from birthday monies... which didn't get used today

because of said rain

How to build a truck sleepling loft w. drawer

Our big home improvement project for the Labor Day weekend was for our truck which at times has seemed like home. We framed out a big U shape with 2x12" boards and used a large sheet 6'x4' of 3/4" plywood to top it off. We then built a drawer to fit inside the U. This rectangle was made from 1x10" pine and 1/2" sheet of plywood for the bottom of the drawer. The two pieces are independent, the first larger one slides in and comes just over the wheel wells and the second piece, the smaller drawer slides easily. The result is a sturdy contraption that we can take in and out of the truck easily to sleep on and w/ ample storage space. Our cushy sleeping pads and Chaos's dog bed will ensure many good nights of rainy or cold camping.

We even reinforced the structure with some me tel L joints and sanded the edges so one one (or the dog) gets any splinters. We got to play with our growing collection of power tools and are happy to report no lost fingers or tails and we are still talking. It's a pretty simple design we borrowed from others~ thanks to Dano, Tim & Ethel!

Telluride Film Festival

Labor Day weekend and one of the more famous festivals~ the Telluride Film Festival. The highlights of this festival include people watching and free movies in the park. Last night we found a spot with friends among hundreds of others in our crowded little park and sat under the rain filled sky to watch "Into the Wild". We'd both read the book by Jon Krakauer years ago. Sean Penn just directed the movie that is going to be released so the rest of you can see it on Sept 21.

At times the sky opened up and dumped buckets of rain on us. We'd driven into town and had the tent in the truck so we grabbed our tent fly and ground cloth to help cover what our rain jackets couldn't. Props us lasting through the film go to our LL Bean rain fly. Also what better way to watch a movie (based on a true tale) of the wilderness then in the rain?