End of Year Letter

Wow, what a year…and like everyone else we are wondering where it went. It started out with us house sitting on a very nice estate, skiing whenever we could and working at our “mom & pop” engineering firm (JK Mechanical Design LLC). We had many visitors including a friend from the UK and Jodi’s family who all enjoyed the many amenities of the estate. In early April the owners returned so we moved back to our tipi on April 15^th where it continued to snow on us with the final snow (10”) occurring in early June. It was hard moving back to the tipi after being so spoiled at that estate, but it gave us incentive to finish our house plans and submit them to the county for approval. In late May we submitted and after some back and forth with the building department they agreed to allow us to stamp our plans and we were approved for construction. In the mean time Jodi went for a run in town and passed what appeared to be a great lot that was for sale. Suddenly our plans of building our dream home changed. This lot seemed perfect, next to the river park (we could ride our bikes and paddle from the front door), on the town line where it wasn’t subject to town approval and with the right exposures to build our low energy home. In the end we didn’t buy the lot but it made us reconsider our plans and if we really wanted to live 20 miles away from town. We ended up listing the tipi property and began looking for other options in town. It took us until fall to find a house and we settled on a fixer upper that is smaller than some apartments I had in college.

Like most houses in Buena Vista it wasn’t well cared for and needed some work before we could move in. We lived in the tipi for an additional month while ripped out carpet and sanded and refinished the floors. In the meantime the bears returned and occasionally they would visit, scavenging for food outside but leaving the tipi and its two residents alone (whew!). In October we moved in the house and continued working on it. We took out the old wood burning stove and installed a pellet stove and stainless steel venting. We remodeled the kitchen by removing the old metal avocado green sink cabinet and upper cabinet and put up the cabinets that used to be in our Denver house (recycling at it’s best). We added a garbage disposer which required learning how to add a new outlet and switch. Jodi painted over the grease spattered walls and ceilings and we removed all of the old appliances with the exception of the gas stove. The latest project was removing the moldy tiles and avocado green bathtub in order to replace it with a shower. Through it all we have developed some skill in home improvement and feel that there is very little we couldn’t do ourselves.

Jodi and her friend/running partner Dana decided after running their first half marathon together in the spring that they wanted to set a goal to run their first marathon in the fall. They set their sights on the Baltimore Marathon and they trained every weekend with a long run and several short runs during the week. 6 weeks before the event Jodi was crippled with a back problem, making it difficult if not impossible to train. After visits to different medical professionals with little result she went to the chiropractor and thankfully he was able to help. He discovered that she tweaked her back many years ago and the pain she was feeling was the result of the tweak never returning to its correct position. He manipulated things and she rapidly felt better and was able to train. On October 13^th she and Dana finished the Baltimore Marathon (26.2 miles) in 4 hours 31 minutes. We stayed in Virginia with Holli and her kids enjoying their company for several days. Jodi had a short visit with our overworked friend Rob while I paddled in West Virginia on one of my favorite rivers. I think I enjoyed the journey of Jodi’s training more than she did because we went to many different race events around the state and I watched as she excelled at running. Jodi and Dana even participated with a team of 10 members that ran the Colorado Relay. This was 24 hour 170 mile race from Idaho Springs to Glenwood Springs where each team member had 3 runs, consisting of trail running, night runs and some roads. They were tired but very excited about the event and the camaraderie they shared along the way.

I spent the year doing the usual, skiing until spring when I trade my skis for my bike and kayak to enjoy the local whitewater and trails throughout the summer. In late fall it was looking like the bike riding season was going to continue through the winter. The fourteen thousand foot peaks were bare and our ski hill did not have snow on the advertised opening day. This continued until the first week of December when the skies finally opened and we were hit with two really big storms. Monarch Ski Mountain opened with 60” of new snow. To commemorate this event several friends and I skinned to the top on our telemark skis before the lifts opened and placed first tracks while everyone lined up at the lifts below. So far this early ski season has been incredible with the average day being better than best days that have occurred in the past ski seasons. Every time I ski, ride or paddle I reflect on how I am so glad to be home and so happy I have my wonderful wife to share it with.

Our first year of being in business for ourselves full time has been better than expected. We were able to keep busy and work on some pretty cool projects including several LEED certified buildings. It is exciting for us to see how our industry has changed from “do it cheap” to “how can I save energy”. It was really frustrating if not an ethical dilemma to know that buildings we were working on could be more energy efficient with a little more investment but that increase in capital did not fit with the owners mission of “do it cheap” so we specified equipment that didn’t fit with our personal values. Now because we work for ourselves it is much easier to be true to who we are and do projects that fit our objectives.

We ended the year with a Christmas celebration in Buena Vista. Jodi’s family rented a cabin and we were able to share the Buena Vista experience with them. We went skiing, sledding on our favorite two mile run and ate some really good food. It was nice having family around and seeing our two nieces get excited about skiing and sledding. We’re hoping to make it a tradition.

Well we wish you all a great 2008!