Colorado, Woodstock and a whole lot of water

First of all,  Wow, I didn’t realize it had been so long since my last posting.   I can’t seem to get into the habit of writing this.   Can’t promise to do better, but i can promise to try.  That being said, there is a lot to catch up on so here is some of it.

First, I love my new bench.  It works better than I had hoped.  The vises are great, the size is perfect and the mass of it makes a big difference.  It is really heavy!!!  If anyone wants more detail or dimensions, I’d be happy to share.

You’ll see in the title of this post Colorado.  Michele and I took a trip there for the US pro cycling challenge.  AKA the tour of Colorado.  Wow what a place.  If we had done that trip 20 years ago, we might have stayed there.  What an amazing place.  The whole reason for the trip tho was the bike race.  Easily the best week of my life.  I brought a leaders jersey from the Killington Stage Race I had and got it autographed.  I felt like the quintessential tourist but I got some great autographs and even better pictures.  Here a few.  I know these don’t mean anything if you’re not a cycling fan, but enjoy anyway.

The first one is me with Cadel Evans.  The winner of the Tour de France!!!  Second is George Hincapie heading out for a warm-up.  Third is Ivan Basso, two time winner of the Giro d’Italia and finally, Levi Leipheimer warming up for the time trial.  He got the leaders jersey on this stage and ended up winning the race.  So you can see, it was an amazing trip.  The only downside was a bitch named Irene.  This storm was due to hit here on Sunday afternoon and we were flying out early Saturday morning.  We were just about to get on the plane to Cleveland and I asked the ticket lady if there was a problem at the other end.  She said the flight was already cancelled!!  We opted to stay in Denver since there would be a lot of people stranded in Cleveland and worst case scenario was we would catch the last stages of the race.  Then we found out that despite what they said, they brought our suitcase to Cleveland.  Now we have a problem.  The only option we cold see was renting a car and driving home.  Yeah.  1900 miles.  I’ll spare the details but it was a long trip.  We didn’t even have a chance to enjoy it either because we wanted to beat the storm.  It was about 30 hours non-stop.  We got home about when the storm was winding down.  Right here there was minimal damage.  You didn’t have to go far to see some real devastation tho.  My friend Bill had his house washed away.  Gone!!!  He is re-building even though he didn’t have flood insurance.  Vermonters are a tough breed.  I think all roads are done and life is getting back to normal but it was a time not soon forgotten.

Now for a Woodstock update. (this a woodworking blog after all)  For those of you who don’t know, Woodstock is the site of the annual Vermont Woodworking Festival.  It is a big showing of woodworkers of all kinds.  Professionals, hobbyists suppliers, cabinets, furniture, crafts, carvings….. you get the idea.  There are displays, demonstrations, guests etc. etc.  I have had a display for the last few years.  It is one of the only shows I do anymore.  Some years it is great other years not so much. This was a not so much year.   I’m not really surprised by that though.  This hasn’t been a great year all around.  A lot of people are slow or out of business.  I’m no exception.  I am really fortunate in that John is real busy right now.  They are working on a huge house and he has work for the foreseeable future.  I am working three or four days a week there.  Because of this, I have to admit, I’ve gotten a little lazy about marketing.  I have to get on track with that.

I know this was a quick update for a big space but like I said.  I can try to do better and I will.