Scout campout

We went on a combined cub scout / boy scout overnight camping trip this weekend. The boy scouts were working on some kind of leadership badge that had them teaching something to cub scouts. We did softball, ultimate frisbee, fishing, and geology.



Marshmallows around the campfire.


Why did we bring a pink tent to a boy scout event??

More mid-winter toddles

We're having another run of beautiful winter days, sunny and mild. So off we went to enjoy the outdoors. We had snow and cold temps on Friday evening. We were happy to see that Saturday's weather was nice enough for outdoor fun.

We went to the Boulder area. It's lower there than it is here, so there's less snow and ice on the trail. We also wanted to do some hiking associated with certain earthcaches. An earthcache is a non-physical cache with a geologic theme. Anyone can put one together. They are evaluated and approved by the Geological Society of America.

The prairie dogs were out today. They seemed to enjoy the sunny weather as much as we did. They were sunning themselves, running about, nibbling on weeds and seeds, barking, and so on.


The first little hike was along the Old Kiln Trail in the Foothills Trail Area. It's a short loop that goes past an old lime kiln and along the south side of a canyon cut by Four Mile Creek. The earthcache is actually a geology field guide, open to everyone. One claims the earthcache by doing a bit of extra work at a few of the sites in the guide.

The Old Kiln trail wanders through several important geologic units. It's a good way to see a lot of the local geology. Similar units occur up and down the Front Range region, including near the Palmer Divide. We saw most of the units from the time of the Lykins Formation through the Niobrara Formation and Pierre Shale. Some of these units yield interesting fossils, including dinosaurs. I don't think any dinosaur fossils have been found in this area, though.

The field guide points out interesting sedimentary structures in the rocks and interprets the environment the rocks were deposited in. Many are associated with water -- swamps, ocean bottoms, shorelines, rivers. The Lyons sandstone is usually thought to be wind-driven dunes.

We did not go down-section as far as the Fountain Formation, which is associated with the erosion of an ancestral Rocky Mountain Range. The famous Flatirons, a mountain ridge near Boulder, show off the Fountain Formation in this area. The Fountain Formation also makes up the geology of the Red Rocks Amphitheater, and is one of the prominent rocks in the Garden of the Gods park area. But I digress.

The photo above was taken from the Old Kiln Trail. It's a view across the road/creek to the next ridgeline to our north. We were walking through the same geologic units. This is the Dakota Hogback in this area. The Dakota Hogback is a ridge formed by tilted units in the Dakota sandstone. One finds ridges with these units paralleling the east side of the Rockies all the way through Colorado.

We were still psyched for more toddling after the first little hike, so off we went on another earthcache-related hike.

This next hike was at Marshall Mesa Open Space. Marshall Mesa is a pleasant park that's not up against the mountains the way that the first hike was. The rocks are not tilted as much. Most of the rocks here are younger than the rocks at the first place. The oldest is the Pierre shale, and then there are a couple of younger units. One of them, the late Cretaceous Laramie Formation, often contains coal in economically attractive quantities. Marshall Mesa was the site of coal mines in the late 19th and early-mid 20th centuries, part of the Boulder-Weld coalfield. The coal wasn't fantastic stuff, but it was good enough for the local markets.

As with the first earthcache, we followed a publicly available field guide to the geology of the park. The earthcache version was the same, with the addition of a few extra steps.

The photo to the right is part of the view from the parking lot. One sees a valley with old mining features and a lot of prairie dogs. Above it is a low mesa with trees. There are outcrops of the different units -- sandstones, mudstones, coal -- plus evidence of faults and other things of geologic interest (such as quartzite and meta-conglomerate rocks carried here from the high mountains by old rivers). Some of the outcrops are prominent, such as the ones in the hill in this photo, while others are subtle or not well exposed. You can't see it very well in this photo, but there are ditches running through the area, too. The whole vista is very tranquil, as is the hiking experience. The trails are gentle and wide.

I've been reading about the history of coal-mining in Colorado. This area really features a lot of the things I've read about. One can see mine subsidence collapse features, evidence of underground coal fires, and so on. The non-mining geology is just as interesting. I'd babble on about it for a while, but I wouldn't want any blog readers to hurt themselves from the resulting boredom-induced coma.

Coal mining in Colorado is part of the history of the labor movement in the US. Workers were not treated well. Unionization was slow and bloody. The Open Space people have made available a nice history of mining in the Marshall area.

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Late winter is a great time for hiking at the lower elevations near here. The increasing daylength and higher sun angle actually melt some of the snow and ice. The vegetation isn't a problem. Stickery weeds from last year are knocked down, and the new growth hasn't started. Cacti are still dormant and not nearly as vicious. Rattlesnakes are still asleep. Mosquitoes and other bugs aren't really out yet. It's not too hot. The thunderstorm danger is minimal. Winter conditions can be avoided and/or planned for.

I love the quieter colors of this time of year. Without all the distracting greenery, one can see more details. There are plenty of critters that are still around, and they can be more easily seen and heard.

Time for a few more photos!

It's been a while since anyone has posted.

A Winter Walk

We get some beautiful days even in mid-winter. It might be snowing like crazy 50 miles to the west, and we'll have sun and mild temperatures. If the trails are not snow-covered and icy, it's a good time to head out and enjoy ourselves. Urban open space trails are usually in good shape after a few days of sun and above-freezing temps.




Recently, we went to Red Rock Canyon Open Space, in Colorado Springs. It's a fairly new and very popular open space park. It's not "pristine" in the sense of untouched wilderness, but it is scenic and very nice for something so close to an urban area. The trails are wide and well-maintained.

The park consists of several parallel ridges with a series of trails. Even though the open space is not huge and even though there are usually dozens of people in it, it feels fairly private. The park connects to several other parks and open space areas, which eventually connect to Pike National Forest.

We only walked for a few miles and stayed within the park boundaries.

The above view is from a pavilion near the entrance. The photo to the right is from a quarry in one of the ridges.

We've done other outdoor things this winter, but I don't seem to have any good photos.

Plant photos

Our plants have realized that the days are getting longer.

The top photo is of one of the coleus plants we rooted back in November. This variety roots very easily, so it's no surprise that it's doing well. I like the small oak-like leaves with the dark red blotch in the center of the leaf. It's a very cute variety.

The other photo is a hyacinth. Last year, one of our kids brought home some spent bulbs from school. The teacher had brought them to the class, already in bloom, and no doubt forced. She let our child have them at the end of the school year. We stuck the pots in a corner and forgot about them.

Around New Year's, we noticed a few green shoots poking up above the surface. So we put the pots in the sun and started watering them. Both of the hyacinths bloomed in the past few weeks. One was pink. This one is purple. They smell just the way hyacinths ought to smell.

I'm a bit surprised at the hyacinths' determination to grow and bloom. It's a nice February treat.

Our holiday cacti are finally done blooming. They bloomed for quite a while. We may well get another round of flowers in a few months.

Most of the starts we planted in November and early December are still alive. Our success rate with the temperamental coleus, ivy-leaf geraniums, and scented geraniums was mixed. Some are still in a jar of water, waiting until I separate the rooted from the dead. The ones planted directly in dirt had a higher success rate, but it was not 100%.

We replanted our big Euphorbia trigona into a bigger pot. How big will it get now? It was top-heavy and unbalanced in its smaller pot. With the new pot, the plant is now taller than the doorway.

I keep drooling over all the seed and plant catalogs. I wonder what we'll try to grow this year?

Recipe Corner: Salsa Verde and Pico de Gallo

Here are the basic formulas we use when making Pico de Gallo and Salsa Verde. These are Texas-style recipes. We use these as dips or in our cooking.

Green Sauce (Salsa Verde)

tomatillos
serrano chile peppers
onion
fresh cilantro leaves
chopped garlic (optional)

The basic ratio is 2 tomatillos per serrano chile pepper, though we sometimes use up to a 1:1 ratio when we want a very spicy sauce. Use 1 small to medium onion for every 8-12 tomatillos. Use a handful of cilantro and maybe a clove or two of garlic.

Put the tomatillos, chiles, and onion in a pot of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10-20 minutes. We don't always pre-cook the onion and chiles. Sometimes we use them raw.

Dehusk and destem the tomatillos and peppers. Peel the onion and cut it into a few chunks.

Throw everything into a blender or food processor. Add a handful of cilantro leaves and a bit of cooking water. Puree until it's the consistency you like.

Season with garlic (garlic powder works fine), salt, and pepper.

Variations: Add oil, rice wine vinegar, jalapenos, chicken broth, etc. I also like to mix the salsa verde with yogurt (or sour cream or creme fraiche).

This keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days.

Pico de Gallo

Use the following ingredients in whatever quantities that seem good to you. Chop, mix, and let sit before eating. This will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, though I think it's best the day it's made.

tomatoes
serrano chile peppers (or whatever other chiles you prefer)
cilantro
onion
lime juice
garlic powder or chopped fresh garlic
salt/pepper

Can you hold up 2000 times your own weight?

Ian (and I) built a bridge from a bag of 75 popsicle sticks and plain white Elmer's glue as part of the Engineering Badge for Cub Scouts. Last night, his den's bridges were all tested to the breaking point. Ian's bridge weighed 3.1 ounces and held 405 pounds before breaking. That's an efficiency of 2090 (meaning the bridge held more than 2000 times its own weight)! The next best bridge held 280 pounds.

I took a high-speed video using an LG Dare cell phone. Here are the last 30 seconds showing the last weight being added, the Big Break, and Ian's reaction (that's him in the white T-shirt directly behind the bridge). It looks like the diagonal I-Beam closest to the camera detached from the bottom tension member.

Recipe Corner: Short-cut Blender Margaritas

Quickly-made pseudo-margaritas, much better than anything made from that abomination that goes by the name of margarita mix.

You need to have the following staples on hand:

frozen limeade concentrate
tequila
triple-sec (other orange-flavored liqueurs probably work, too)
kosher salt (optional)
water and ice (and a way to achieve crushed ice)

Put the following into the blender container:

1 part triple-sec (about 1/4 cup)
2 parts limeade concentrate (about 1/2 cup)
3 parts tequila (about 3/4 cup)

Add crushed ice and maybe a little water (to reduce the limeade concentrate to the recommended dilution, which is about 4 parts H2O to 1 part concentrate). This will be about right to make 40 ounces in the blender.

Run the blender.

Dip the rims of the serving glasses into the full blender, just far enough to get the rims wet. Then dip the rims into a small pile of kosher salt, held in your hand, to salt the rims of the glasses.

Pour the margaritas. Garnish further if that' s your desire. Drink up.

Ice Cream Follies

Last night's experiment in ice-cream making was not an unqualified success.

We started with the peach ice cream recipe in the Moosewood dessert cookbook. It's more of a sorbet recipe, but it looked good.

It called for 3 cups of pureed peaches, one to one-and-a-half cups of sugar, a cup of peach juice, a cup of half-and-half, and a bit of vanilla. The yield is about a quart. Sounds good so far.

We found a bag of frozen peaches in the freezer, but it was only 2 cups. So we added some frozen plums we found next to the peaches. We had no peach juice, so we substituted orange juice.

The mixture seemed like way more than would fit in the machine. I guess that makes sense when you think about it -- 3 cups of fruit and 2 cups of liquid and a bunch of sugar is by definition more than a quart. That was easy enough to deal with. We did most of the batch, transferred it to the freezer, then did the rest of the mixture and blended it with the first batch. Since the fruit came from the freezer, it was very cold and all of it became ice cream easily.

The big surprise came when we tasted it. We have re-created the flavor of children's chewable aspirin! I suppose it's an orangesicle flavor. The kids didn't really notice, since they've only had the liquid stuff. For the adults, it was quite disconcerting. I think we'll cross this flavor off of our make-again list.