Also, uploading the pictures (many, many, perhaps way too many pictures) to the gallery has taken quite a bit of time.


Last year we were amazed to have Phish practically in our backyard when they played at Red Rocks. This year we were lucky to have Phish play at Telluride. With a six hour drive this was definitely not in our backyard.

This was the plan:
Sunday – leave around noon-ish and head for Montrose and stay in a hotel. Montrose, being only 45 minutes away from Telluride, would be a perfect stopping point.
Monday – leave Montrose around nine-ish to arrive early enough in Telluride to figure shit out. We were told that they weren’t going to let us into Town Park camping until noon. We also had to meet up with our friend, Jeremiah, to get our tickets to the show. We were anticipating long lines to get to our camp site and other general mayhem.

Unfortunately I spent most of the wee hours of Sunday morning puking my guts out for some inexplicable reason and felt like ass. Thankfully, most of the packing preparations were done the night before and all that was left was to pack clothing and chuck the stuff into the car. The trip came damn close to being called off, but there was absolutely no way in hell that I was going to miss this show! So, only a couple of hours behind schedule, we left Steamboat, got to Montrose, gathered the items we didn’t get a chance to pack (stuff like food), watched some tube in the hotel, grabbed a final hot shower in the AM and headed to Telluride.

I have to stop here and give some serious props to the town of Telluride and the folks who live there. I don’t know if they had any idea as to what they had signed on for when they approved having Phish come to town. Telluride is not new to music festivals. They have been putting on the Telluride Bluegrass festival for 37 years. But Phish is a bit different. The Phish scene is generally perceived to be a bunch of dirty hippies high on various illegal substances. I’m pretty sure that this notion has been completely erased. Phish fans are a community of fun loving folks who also like to spend some cash. It’s amazing that this little community of 3,000 people could host over 9,000 Phish-heads for two days. And to pull it off so smoothly boggles the mind.

We made it to Telluride right on schedule. The deal was if you were camping at Town Park you had to unload all of your gear as quickly as possible and then park your car somewhere. At first I thought this was going to be some crazy, hectic lunacy, but things were pretty organized. Dave parked the car wherever and by the time he got back I had camp all set up complete with Fat Tires at the ready and it wasn’t even noon yet.

The crazy thing about setting up camp was pulling up alongside two of our friends, Matty & Z, from Steamboat – completely random and accidental and awesome.

With camp all set up it was time to kick back and relax, cook some brats and corn on the cob on our baby grill, drink a few beers and eventually head into line for the start of the first night’s show. The Town Park campground is practically spitting distance from the stage and we were actually able to see the stage from our camp site.



Waiting in line:

The views all around the concert area were so magnificent that it was actually difficult to pay attention to what was happening on the stage:

We spent our first night of Phish fourth row, dead fucking center – 4DFC baby!

The second day we got into doing some sightseeing. We rode up the free gondola to get to the Mountain Village, gawk at the awesome scenery and grab some lunch.

Then it was back to camp for some more Fat Tires and visiting with our fellow campers. We listened to sound check from our comfy camp site and met up with a couple more friends, Jill and Mark, that we hadn’t seen in quite some time – five years or so. In fact, we were so comfortable in camp that we couldn’t get our act together well enough to get in line for posters. We decided to take day two a little more casual and not worry about how close we could get to the stage. We managed to grab a comfy spot with plenty of room for all of our friends that we had met up with to join us.

The music was fantastic, the crowd lovely; all in all we had a great two nights of Phish. I’m already looking forward to my next Phish adventure (whenever or wherever that might be).

August 9, 2010 Set-list:
Set 1: Down with Disease, Camel Walk, Ocelot, Light Up Or Leave Me Alone, Summer of ’89, Stash, Cavern, The Wedge, Possum, Julius

Set 2: Sand > Backwards Down the Number Line > Prince Caspian > Tweezer > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Piper > Mountains in the Mist, David Bowie, A Day in the Life

Encore: Quinn the Eskimo1, Tweezer Reprise

August 10, 2010 Set-list:
Set 1: The Squirming Coil, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Ya Mar, Timber (Jerry), Let Me Lie, The Divided Sky, Walk Away, Roses Are Free > Limb By Limb, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Party Time, Mike’s Song > Crosseyed and Painless > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Destiny Unbound, Carini > Free > Heavy Things, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Shine a Light

Formula One is comprised of twelve teams with two cars and two drivers in each team. Team orders, which have been banned since 2002, are part of the strategy for teams to gain as many championship points as possible. After all, it is the team that comes first; drivers are second. However, in order for the team to successfully grab the championship one of their drivers must also win. As the season progresses and the number of championship points dwindles, teams may choose one of their drivers who may have the best chance at clinching the championship. This driver will then receive the full backing of the team and assistance from his teammate. Even though the regulations ban this type of behavior all of the teams do this. Ask any of them, however, and they will vehemently deny it.

So, if they all do it and everyone knows that they all do it, what’s the big deal? It was the manner in which the team orders were given that has most people pissed off. The orders were so obvious to anyone watching the race and the lying that ensued afterwards was downright embarrassing.

Here is how the race played out –
Fernando Alonso qualified in second position with his teammate, Felipe Massa in third. Massa was able to get a better start and got by Alonso and Vettel for first position. Alonso also got by Vettel and claimed second. The rest of the race was rather uneventful with Alonso posting fastest lap times and Massa responding with his own fastest lap times. Ferrari should have been happy with a 1 – 2 finish the problem was that the wrong driver was in the lead; Alonso was leading Massa by 21 points in the championship.

Alonso did eventually manage to catch up to his teammate and tried to get around him during lap 23. Massa, however, held onto his position. A frustrated Alonso was then heard over the radio saying, “This is ridiculous”. Massa was able to pull away from his teammate and looked fairly secure in his lead. Alonso, once again, caught up to Massa and by lap 40 had closed the gap down to 1 second.

This is when Rob Smedley, Massa’s race engineer, is heard telling Massa that “Fernando is faster than you.” Not shortly after this transmission, Massa is seen dramatically slowing down, Fernando went by and Rob Smedley is heard apologizing to his driver.

The FIA have fined Ferrari $100,00 for this indiscretionary use of team orders. This is mere pocket change and amounts to nothing more than a wimpy slap on the wrist. The case has been handed over to the World Motor Sport Council who have the ability to impose whatever sanctions they want; if they decide to do anything at all.

Meanwhile, Alonso gets the win, Ferrari garner more points towards the championship and fans, like myself, feel cheated at not getting a clean race. This is, after all, what Formula One is – a race.

For those of you not familiar with the Rhythm Devils, the band was founded by Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Over the years their band has had a revolving troupe of members. This summer the Rhythm Devils include the one-man band of Keller Williams (guitar, vocals), Davy Knowles (Backdoor Slam – guitar, vocals), Andy Hess (bass), and Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum).

Set-list: Sitting on Top of the World Iko Iko Comes a Dawn Fire on the Mountain Fountains of Wood Ticket to Nowhere Good Lovin Voodoo Zombies Wrecking Crew Encore: Almost Cut My Hair

Show notes: Voodoo Zombies was awesome; Davy Knowles is amazing and Mickey Hart managed to screw up Iko Iko. Seriously, how many times has he played that damn song? Pretty funny.

If you want to give the show a listen, you can download it here: COTapers.org. You will need to register if you are not already a member. Once you are a member you will have access to a treasure trove of wonderful music. Thanks to phrog for flying the mics.

It is a pretty amazing crash when you consider that cars are going somewhere in the neighborhood of 120mph into this turn. An investigation into the crash by Williams has determined that a loose manhole cover was the culprit. As Barrichello came around turn 2 he hit the cover which flipped up and hit his left rear tire causing him to lose control of the car. In the video you see Rubens throw his $50,000 steering wheel onto the track. This is actually a breach in FIA regulations as the steering wheel must be reconnected after abandoning a stricken car. However, Rubens Barrichello, the man who has an excuse for absolutely everything as nothing is ever his fault stated:

“I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire.”

First of all, I didn’t see any flames shooting from the vehicle. Secondly, why couldn’t he have simply placed the steering wheel on top of the car, gotten out and tossed it back into the cockpit if he didn’t have time to reconnect it? Instead, he had a typical Rubens baby fit and tossed the steering wheel onto the track and into traffic without a second thought regarding the safety of the other drivers. Rubens Barrichello of all people should know the danger of debris on the track. It was a spring that came off his car last year during the Hungarian Grand Prix that hit Felipe Massa in the head sending the Brazilian hurtling off the track unconscious. Massa required brain surgery and subsequently missed the rest of the 2009 F1 season.

In this video you see the Hispania Racing Team car of Karun Chandhok run over Barrichello’s discarded steering wheel and drive off with it:

The steering wheel finally came dislodged before Chandhouk entered the tunnel only to be run over again by his teammate, Bruno Senna. Luckily, neither driver expeirenced any mishaps.

You may also remember the famous “blah blah” incident where Barrichello lashed out at his team during the 2009 German Grand Prix after he went from first to sixth place:

There was a great show from the team today of how to lose a race. I did all I could today, I got first at the first corner, and they made me lose the race.

If we keep going like this we’re going to lose both championships. To be very honest with you I wish I could get on a plane and just go home, because when I go to the team afterwards there will be a lot of ‘blah, blah, blah’ and I don’t want to hear that right now.

Formula 1 is generally depicted as the crème de la crème of motorsport; a gentlemen’s sport if you will. So, why does Rubens stomp around, throw fits and continually make a horse’s ass out of himself? Sometimes errors are made in team orders, sometimes incidents occur that are the fault of the driver. Never once have I heard Rubens take responsibility for what has happened on the track. And to publicly lash out at the team, whoever was at fault, is quite unheard of.

I’m not a Lewis Hamilton fan mainly because he does his fair share of whining. However, Rubens has just knocked Hamilton out of the “least favorite driver” list for me. Perhaps Rubens should take a lesson from Fernando Alonso. Alonso crashed his car during Saturday practice at Monaco, causing such damage that he missed qualifying and had to start the race from the pit lane. Pretty upsetting and frustrating especially considering that he is considered to be one of the top drivers to win the championship. He admitted to his crash being due to driver error. No whining. He simply pointed out that Michael Schumacher had started from the pit lane in 2005 and ended up in fifth place at the end of the race. Alonso managed sixth.

The creek was quite high as it had snowed heavily during Friday night and Saturday morning. This Dandelion was caught up in the flood waters.

It’s next to impossible to get this dog to pose for the camera. This is one of the rare times when she decided to oblige.

These Daffodils looked so sad with their heads bowed over looking at the snow wondering when it would ever be Spring.

If you look closely you can see signs that Spring is actually here. The Hummingbirds are buzzing around the feeder and don’t even seem to be bothered by the icicles (photo credit: phrog). The grass is turning green, the trees are budding, and the Daffodils have bloomed (and have now been pummeled into submission). Now I’m hoping that Mother Nature stops with Her shenanigans and gets down with some blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures above 70.

Summer around here is short enough as it is.

It was a Red Bull 1 – 2 for qualifying and all bets were on a Red Bull 1 – 2 for the finish of the race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. It shoulda, woulda, coulda, but was not meant to be and Red Bull had to settle for a 1 – 3 finish. Mark Webber had no problems taking his lead from start to checkered flag without incident. But once again, his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, suffered from unreliability issues with his RB6. Vettel had to wait for traffic to clear during his pit stop which put him behind the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. To make matters even worse, he then suffered a brake failure. Vettel was then forced to limp his car around the track for the remaining 12 laps. Luckily the gap between Vettel and fifth place Schumacher was a substantial one and he was able to maintain his position. A delaminated brake disc turned out to be the culprit.

Lewis Hamilton experienced the largest set-back of the race. Lewis suffered a deflation in his left front tire during his penultimate lap which sent him sailing into the tire wall, ending his race. Had Hamilton finished the race he would have been just one point shy of his teammate, Jenson Button, in the championship points standing. With Hamilton out, Alonso was able to capture second place to a cheering Spanish crowd. Sebastian Vettel managed a podium finish in third.

It was a frustrating race for Jenson Button. His pit stop was slowed due to a dragging clutch which sent him back onto the track behind Michael Schumacher. Even though Button was in a faster car, Schumi didn’t give the Brit any opportunity to get by. Michael Schumacher finished the race in fourth, his best result thus far for the season and Jenson Button claimed fifth.

With five races now completed, the top three contenders for the championship title are Jenson Button with 70 points, followed by Fernando Alonso with 67 and Sebastian Vettel with 60 points. However, with 14 races still to be had, a clear cut winner has yet to be determined. It’s still anyone’s race.

The news has been rather quiet during this lull in racing. Most of the news centered around the F1 personnel battling the ash of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Ross Brawn was among one of the few lucky souls who managed to get out of Shanghai immediately and relatively painlessly. Mark Webber, on the other hand, spent 44 hours traveling by various modes of transportation and managed to lose his passport along the way. The Virgin Racing team was so delayed in getting their equipment back to home base that they were only able to fit one of their cars, that of Timo Glock, with a new chassis.

Teams usually use this lengthy period in between races to add new bits onto the cars and make major adjustments. One driver who will be the beneficiary of a major overhaul is Michael Schumacher. Mercedes have increased the car’s wheelbase in an attempt to improve weight distribution. Ferrari will be trying out their new F-duct system in Spain and Fisichella has been out on the track testing the new aerodynamics. Red Bull’s Mark Webber has stated in an interview that Red Bull will not have the F-duct or J-switch available to them for the Spanish Grand Prix, while the Sauber team has also been testing out theirs. Most of the other teams have also made upgrades to their aero packages that they will be unveiling in Spain.

Once back home it was time to assess what parts may need replacing before the donor car’s engine could be put into the car. The first round of parts to be ordered: clutch kit (Ireland Engineering), rear main seal and pilot bearing (Car Quest) and a pilot bearing puller tool (Harbor Freight).

Waiting for the new parts to arrive gave us a chance to find out what was wrong with the original engine. The engine ran when we got the car but had a definite knock. Once we got a good look inside we discovered that the bolts that hold the connecting rod had come loose. When we removed the oil pan we found a connecting rod nut in the bottom of the pan. Oops. Apparently the previous owner’s son had attempted to adjust the timing most likely without any real knowledge of how to do this. From a restoration standpoint it’s kind of a shame since the car would be completely original had the engine not been destroyed.

April 24 – We ran into one snag with our new parts. Ireland Engineering sent us the wrong clutch kit. They sent us the 228 clutch kit instead of the 215. Luckily our donor car had the proper size flywheel. With the new parts installed it was time to get the engine into the car. Thankfully we were able to move the project into a garage as Mother Nature seems to be having a good time messing with the weather. The Monster Shed Crew was in full force and after a good solid day of serious laboring the engine was in. All she needed was a little coaxing to turn over and then she was running under her own power.

After taking the car for a quick trip down the road to warm up the engine we discovered a problem. The water wasn’t circulating through the radiator causing the car to eventually run hot. We removed the thermostat and tested it by submerging it in a pan of water which was heated to the required temperature which was 176° where the thermostat should open. Lo and behold, the thermostat remained shut. The thermostat from the original engine was tested and found to be in working order. A couple more trips down the road and another problem was discovered — a faulty water pump. Luckily, our local Car Quest can get us parts overnight at no extra cost. The car is remarkably easy to work on (so far) and the water pump replacement only took a couple of hours to do.

Cost of project to date: $1486.19
Rear main seal – $28.80
Pilot bearing – $13.80
Bearing puller tool – $48.98 (w/s&h)
Clutch kit – $236.76 (w/s&h)
Water pump – $65.78

“Everybody has a story. It’s like families. You might not know who they are, might have lost them, but they exist all the same. You might drift apart or you might turn your back on them, but you can’t say you haven’t got them. Same goes for stories. So,” she concluded, “everybody has a story. When are you going to tell me yours?’

It’s been a while since I have read a really good book. The kind you get lost in. The Thirteenth Tale was exactly that type of book for me.

World renowned author, Vida Winter, has been telling tales for six decades. All of which have brought her much fame and fortune. However, none are as sought after as the missing thirteenth tale. For years reporters and would be biographers have hounded Ms. Winter for this mysterious story or for the story of her life, but all have walked away empty handed. It isn’t until she is old and frail that Ms. Winter seeks out the daughter of a bookshop owner, Margaret Lea, to tell her story to; the real story.

The Thirteenth Tale is a perfect book to curl up on the couch with on a rainy weekend, enjoy a cup of tea and get swept up in an old fashioned tale that will have you guessing until the end.

All morning I struggled with the sensation of stray wisps of one world seeping through the cracks of another. Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes — characters even — caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.