Hi and Merry Christmas. These photos are of an amazing sunset as seen from our deck. In early January we experienced a rime ice storm, sometimes known as hore frost. This occurs when the trees are below freezing and a heavy fog bank moves through. It is quite beautiful.
In January we attended the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Event in Golden, CO. They have well-known poets as well as singers. A fun evening. You can listen to cowboy music and poetry on our cowboy music station located elsewhere on this site.
In early February we headed for the rodeo in Phoenix, AZ. In the middle of New Mexico stands this very large antennae array. These massive antennae can be moved around on railroad tracks to be positioned to listen to different parts of our solar system. They are truly are massive. As we drove across New Mexico, the Honda Pilot's odometer passed the 88,888 mile mark.
February 14 - 15, 2015, Phoenix, Arizona
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Here is a photo of our study with Tom working on the computer. Before our next trip, Frank installed four monitors in our trailer.
Our first destination for our Spring trip was an antique phone show held in a VFW hall in Clair, MI. Tables were set up and those in attendance displayed their telephonic equipment. Some of this telephonic equipment was simply on display, while others bartered and sold equipment The last photo shows Frank with his Steady Cam Pilot and his new Canon XF 205 pro video camera..
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Then we headed south to Indianapolis, IN. where we toured the Eiteljorg museum. They had some of Remington's statues on display as well as an extensive collection on gold mining. They also have an excellent cafeteria. It was well worth the trip.
After Indianapolis we headed south into Kentucky to again visit Mammoth Cave. This was about our fifth trip to Mammoth Cave and it is still fascinating.
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April 25 - 26, 2015, Little Rock, Arkansas
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These are more snowy photos taken from our deck facing west toward the mountains. The last photo is of a bird who built her nest on the head of one of our statues. She and her mate could not have selected a better place. It was well protected from rain, snow and wind. It was fun to look through the windows and see her hatching her brood. Five beautiful young creatures emerged from that nest and then, after about a week, they all flew away.
Our home here in Castle Rock has a well and a septic system. Our county requires us to have the septic tank cleaned every five years, but we had it done in four and one-half years. Here Tom is talking to the man who cleaned the tank. Later in the year we had to have a pipe replaced near the top of our well. This YouTube video shows some of the digging which was done on September 28. We're putting this video here rather than all by itself later on.
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These are photos of a heavy rain in the valley below us. It was taken from the deck which is shown in the third photo. The other photos are of interesting cloud formations. Finally here is a 4 minute time lapse video of storm clouds forming over the mountains as seen from our deck on May 29.
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June 27 - 28 2015, Calgary, AB, CA
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July 11 - 12, 2015, Denver, Colorado
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On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing gay marriage in all 50 states. That day, Tom proposed to Frank and Frank accepted. Tom wanted to wait until marriage was universal in all 50 states. So we invited a few friends over for the wedding which was held in our backyard. We selected July 27, 2015 to coincide with our 32nd anniversary of being together. Frank and Tom decided to get married in matching shirts which they wore at the Gay Games 9 Rodeo held in Tom's home town of Akron, OH back in August 2014. We searched for and found a wonderful minister to perform the ceremony. She is Reverend Sally Lilly and is a delight. Tom wrote the wedding vows, and then asked Frank to check them to see if he agreed with the wording. Frank read them, and then asked, "Do you agree with what you wrote?" And Tom said "yes I do." So Frank said let me read a sentence to you. "Do you Tom take Frank to be your awful wedded partner." And with that both broke into laughter. It should have been "Lawful". The first photo is of our friends Cody, Patrick and his Mom, Betty. The sixth, seventh and eighth photos are us signing our marriage license and our friend Ernie being our witness. The next to last photo is of us with Rev Sally in the center.
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In attendance at our wedding were Deb and Bill from Washington, DC. They were kind enough to fly out for the wedding. A few days after the wedding Frank took them for a long drive into the mountains. Photos here are of South Park and the Dillion Reservoir which partially provides water to the city of Denver.
