Chhhhh-changes...

Well, it's a done deal.

Kate has been living in her residence hall at Colorado State University for one week. She's in college now - studying technical journalism. Interning with a local weekly newspaper.

David is commuting for the year attending Front Range Community College to attend to his core classes. He plans to transfer to University of Northern Colorado or Colorado State University. He wants to study Information Technology/Systems Engineering.

Both started classes on Monday and seem to be pretty happy about their courses and professors. Here's to a good year - I hope they conquer their worlds!

Oddly, they've abandon our family tradition of the first day of school photo....

However, Jane has not - woohoo! This is what pure radiant joy looks like on the first day of fourth grade. I wish I could bottle this to share with anyone who has forgotten what happiness looks like. Ahhhhh, Janey B......

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This happened two blocks from our house!

Day 1: "A bear cub wandered into Old Town this morning and settled into a tree outside the Avery House. Department of Wildlife officials are monitoring the situation but are responding with caution because the cub appears to be sleeping high up in the tree."

Day 2: "Officials from the Division of Wildlife removed a two-year old male black bear early today from a cottonwood tree it had climbed at the corner of Mountain Avenue and Meldrum Street. With the help of a bucket truck from Poudre Fire Authority, the cub was tranquilized and lowered from the tree about 3:30 a.m. The bear was first seen Thursday night, and wildlife officers worked Friday to get the bear down. The bear made several trips down from the branches, but was scared back up the tree by curious bicyclists. About 8:30 p.m. Friday the bear descended the cottonwood but then returned into a neighboring tree. The bear was tagged and relocated to the mountains west of Fort Collins. If the cub returns to the area, it could face eutha-nasia by the Division of Wildlife.“If he comes back and gets into a conflict situation… then that would be the second strike and that’s when we’d put him down,” said Dave Clarkson of the Division of Wildlife."

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90+ temps - 400 days and counting...

Just toughing it out in Fort Collins while praying for a freak snow storm.

Everyone keeps telling me "this is really unusual weather for us..." Just like when we first arrived in February with the snow not melting on the ground. Or, all of the rain we had in the spring.

Nothing but unusual weather as far as the eye can see. That, and some pretty fierce pit stains.

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I can think of worse things to do....

David described tubing on the Poudre (remember, that's pronounced POOTER - and I'm still not kidding) as "the worst experience of my life." Sure, he flipped out of the tube. Sure, the river current picked up in places. But the worst experience? When we have temps in the 90s?



At least I didn't drop him off at this spot....




Now THAT would've been some bad tubing!!!

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Well, this seals the deal...

Oh, look. I think I just found Joe's future home away from home. Right under my nose. Just a short walk from my office - a Fort Collins institution. Al's Newsstand with more than 2,000 magazine titles and imported cigars. That translates to a minimum of 2-3 hours per visit.

A decent newsstand is all the man asks for. How can I possibly resist?

Joe's forwarding address to follow...

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You can't pick your family...

Only a handful of people know that I'm a struggling, amateur genealogist. I've been researching a little known branch of my family for almost ten years. Today - out of the blue - I received a phonecall from someone responding to a request for help I posted on well-known genealogy website in 2002. A distant cousin from Philadelphia who has been working on his family history for 45 years. It seems our families converge a few generations back and (very lucky for me) he is interested in swapping documents, photos and GEDCOM files. Goldmine!

So, while we are swapping family tidbits over the phone and emailing photos back and forth - he spills it..."Carol, if you aren't aware of the Morgan family then you probably don't know that you're a descendant of Daniel Boone." Huh?? "Yeah, you know Daniel Boone - the Alamo - the BIG man." Wha - HUH??? Paperwork to verify this will follow.

No kidding. Reaction from the family was a little mixed. Kate was compelled to put me on speakerphone while her friends roared in laughter in the background. David laughed, said "cool" and went back to watching a re-run of Scrubs. And, Jane said "who??" Seriously. Who.

Then I remembered that a) Jane is starting 4th grade in the fall; b) Jane has only been exposed to a limited amount of American history; and, c) Jane is clearly not a product of TVLand the last vestige of historical drama:

Joe decided it would be much more impressive if I were related to Fess Parker. Arrrggghhh!

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Fort Collins: one of the thirty fastest cities in the world!

Fort Collins has a long, long list of superlatives to its name: best place to live; one of the top ten smartest places to live - you get the idea.

Anyway, no one could have been more shocked to see the latest issue of Fast Company - where Fort Collins is selected one of thirty fastest cities in the world in the category of Research & Development with Shanghai and Seoul! Apparently the region is generating patents at a rate of 11.45 per 10,000 people per year - four times more than the U.S. city average.

This is pretty cool because the number of patents and level of attaining education (Fort Collins is #7 in the nation for most educated populations - college and beyond) are significant drivers of successful, sustainable economies - any economist will tell you so. Check it out at: http://www.fastcompany.com/cities/2007/index.html

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