Folkin’a – That’s Some Rain

Sorry for the few days without a post. Thursday it started raining in the afternoon and it hasn’t stopped since….which is extrodinarily rare for Colorado. Thursday night/Friday morning brought a rowdy overnight thunderstorm where several lightning bolts made their way into people’s homes. The working fire that we went on was an attic fire, and the news story can be seen here (if I get any pictures, I will post them). All of that activity left me arriving home late from work and no time to update the blog. 

Yesterday was the only day that Ahna, Ezra, and I could go down to the Fire-Rescue International conference in Denver. It rotates between several cities, and comes to Denver once every three years (for one more rotation). The conference is the annual show put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs – where my Dad worked for 20+ years. Needless to say, there are lots of family friends that we wanted to see and wouldn’t ever have the chance otherwise. I wandered the exhibit floor for a while with the crew from my ladder truck, then met up with Ahna, Ezra, and my Mom and did some visiting. 

We also had tickets to go to the Folks Festival yesterday and had originally planned to head up in the early afternoon after hanging at the conference, but the rain changed those plans. First to describe the festival: it’s a three day annual event put on by Planet Bluegrass at their place in Lyons, Colorado (they also do the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and RockyGrass). There is on-site camping and lots of great music, but we could only go for one day this year – partially because we have a 9 week old, and mostly because I have to work two of the three days of the festival. The big draw for us this year was Patty Griffin; Ahna’s favorite musician. We have seen her several times before, but were really looking forward to hearing her music at such a beautiful venue…but mother nature had other plans. 

Remember all of that yapping about the 90+ degree days and the streak of no rain? Well that gets to stop for now (will assuredly return next week sometime) as the temperature over the past two days hasn’t topped 55 degrees, and the sun hasn’t been seen since Thursday. It has been a steady rain that intensifies for a few minutes at a time, but has soaked anything and everything…including the festival grounds in Lyons. We drove up there in the evening (to reduce our exposure to the elements) attempting to see Patty. Ahna, Ezra, and I loaded up in a sling, rain gear, hats, long-sleeve clothes, and blankets and attempted to make the show. Unfortunately the rain and Ezra’s non-willingness to enjoy the swing meant that we didn’t get to see the show. Ahna did go into the venue and watched a couple of songs from afar, but it wasn’t the evening that we had hoped for. Oh well, I suppose. 

As we talk now, the rain continues to fall and the temp continues to hover right around 50. They say that this will continue into tomorrow, but that we should be back into the upper 80’s by Tuesday or Wednesday. The mountains did get the snow that was promised, and Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National park had to be shut down for well over 6 inches of snow. 

Obama Speech Update: We received notice that we were ‘wait-listed’ for credentials to the acceptance speech at Invesco Field. We were not able to change our lives around this past week and give 6 hours of time to the campaign; therefore didn’t get in (we have some friends that found some time and were notified that they got in). I expressed my frustration to the state and national campaign about the misleading stories about tickets and received the generic replies that actually didn’t answer any complaints or questions. It truly has been disappointing – the way that they have handled the credential dispersion for the speech. Perhaps we can still keep our fingers crossed to get in…..

Here are a couple of pictures of Ezra with some of the hand-made blankets that he has been enjoying. Oh, and one of Ezra’s first rest in his crib (now that we have been able to move the clothes into his dresser).