where did june go?

this is where june went...

it was lost among all these tents and bikers... but we did manage to find some of june here...

Bluegrass weekend had camp chaos living up to it's name with 5 monsters and 5 people and 5 days full of music and sunshine.

The recap of june goes like this... 3000 people for one event with 36 hours of work in two days, 12,000 people for bluegrass and 5 days of music, 2000 bikers with more then 900 questions on where to eat lunch and what to do in telluride.

We still have another week of june to make it through with one camp chaos move to it's new location. I'm expecting to climb about 200 flights of stairs before the process is finished.

bike events...

Last week Chaos and I snuck out on a hike with Mako and Sandy to Bear Creek Falls. Chaos is such a poser but sure is cute! I'm glad we went as this week has been very stressful.

we had the first of 2 large bike events hit town this week and it was exhausting. I worked from 7am on Monday until 7pm on Tuesday with only a 4 hour nap in there. Chaos, Dave and I did overnight bike security and it was exhausting. Chaos is a great guard dog and let us know about any noises. It was a large endeavor that included everything from setting up a 26' stage to organizing volunteers to cleaning it all up. 2000 cyclists and 1000 more people traveling with them...

Less then 24 hours later the influx of the bluegrass crowds are hitting town. I had hoped to take these next few days easy but it's not meant to be.

More photos eventually.... it's hard to get pics when you work more then you play...
Camp Chaos is transforming for bluegrass as well. We'll become home to 5 dogs and 5 people this weekend. Chaos is ready for all his friends to hit town and for the dog festival to begin.

Game on...

The gondola is spinning again and with it the tourists and their questions! As i am now working closer with them I have learned a lot more about the questions they ask and why they travel. I met a young couple setting out on a 90 day adventure and a couple in retirement on a 3 week journey. It is fun but makes for a long day which doesn't end @ 5pm... I'll see them after and still be the info source. It makes me love my weekend carhartts even more! Chaos came to play telluride guru on Monday and even he was tired by the end of the day! It's hard work being the cute token telluride dog!
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change of pace

Now that we're no longer worried about where to live we can focus in on the fun things again. My favorite festival, Mountainfilm hit town this weekend and we spent the weekend enjoying the culture. Last year Lynn Hill and John Harlin III signed my books and this year I found Jennifer Lowe-Anker and David Breashears to sign at the reading frenzy.



Work has an insane camera~ the nikon d-100. This isn't a simple point and shoot. it's a big monster and takes incredible pics. I had some good luck with it the other night and have taken some great doggie pics of chaos and his friends. It's pretty phenomenal to be able to catch the water droplets as they fly through the air.

Chaos has some pretty cute friends but they're not always easy to catch being still. The camera has the speed to be able to capture these monsters in all their cuteness. Here's some shots of chaos, mako and murphy being their goofy selves.

and the new camp chaos location is....

one building over! That's right we're staying at parker ridge! (No Evie we do not have our address yet...)

This July we get to move down one flight over 300 yards and up 2 flights of stairs. It's a one bedroom and smaller but has great storage. It also has a remodeled kitchen with new cabinets, new convection oven, a fridge with the freezer on the bottom and isn't stark white!

Dave called two ads in the paper today. Both had potential. We looked at a two bedroom in the next complex over but it was more expensive then our current house and had no garage. The one bedroom we're moving to is less expensive and has no garage but as mentioned above it has some features that make up for it. Our new landlord has a dog that Chaos has slowly made friends with over the last year and a half. When Dave called the ad today we knew it was one of two neighbors and when he figured out who she was he introduced himself as Chaos's dad. For a dog named Chaos he has a great reputation. She's pretty excited to rent it to someone she knows and we're excited to know who we're renting from.

This takes a lot of stress away. As I posted last week there has been a lot of ad's in the paper but options were slim. The one we looked at last week was a basement dwelling with limited natural light and a funky damp smell. It was cheap but there was a good chance that our medical bills and cabin fever would increase. Any more then 6" and we would have no sunlight at all. We will have more light in our new place and our plants will also be happy with the move.

32 ads

32 long term rental ads in the telluride daily planet
6 do not allow dogs
1 does not allow cats
12 are more then 40 minutes from town
15 are priced over $2000 per month
7 are studios
2 do not have real kitchens
4 have already been rented

my math isn't awful. there is overlap in the categories...plus it's midnight and i'm not really going to count- just trying to outline the conundrums that we face. each morning we grab the paper and a sharpie and cross off any that are over $2000, over 40 minutes from town or studios. We're willing to beg someone to take Chaos if we give a larger deposit so we ignore the no dogs unless it is in an area that really does not let dogs live there. (this is sometimes due to people building developments in ELK Calving areas... so my dog can't live there but 500 people can???) We are also not willing to pay $1600/month to cook on a hot plate and microwave.

32 ads and we're left with one possible place to rent. A drive by showed us why it was in town and cheap... basement with well windows. We'll still look at it but optimism is not running high.

Disappointment

We found a great place not to far from work and with woods around us. We were going to sign a contract this week and put down a deposit when she called and let us know that the current person changed her mind and is not going to move out after all! The search resumes...
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And the bubble burst...

We like where we live. It's a cookie cutter condo in a nice neighbourhood and 500 yards from the ski lifts. We had a year lease that was up in October, 2007 and last Monday the owner told us he was selling the condo. He offered to let us purchase it at a mere 345k. We thought about talking to a lender but Realised that even if we were somehow approved that it was a lot for a deed restricted condo that can only increase value in small incremental and that's a huge monthly payment. I started in on the classifieds and making calls to the 2 ads that were pet friendly- upon interview of the animal. We looked at them on Wednesday evening and found a great one - plus they loved chaos. We haven't signed a lease but it's moving forward and looking good. We'll keep you posted on the impending move of campchaos!
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