Random Pictures

Things up in Gillette have been busy, yet uninteresting. Work is going well. I am discovering some of the challenges that come with the job. As in most jobs the most satisfying aspect is dealing with people. This is also the most frustrating part of the job. Thursday and Friday of last week were spent in Cody. Actually only a little time was spent in Cody. The majority of the day was spent driving to Cody, and doing some inspections in the nearby towns. I met some really nice people during my stay. It is refreshing when customers are forthright an honest. Cody is a lovely area. The town is surrounded by arid wilderness. The city itself is clean and small. I checked out several real estate publications and the local newspaper to get a sense of the housing industry. From the little I saw it looks promising. There were about fourteen listings for apartments alone. There are probably not this many all the time as the college in Powell gets out next week. Prices for apartments are much cheaper than in Gillette which makes me want to move out there as soon as possible.

I decided to post some random pictures that you may not have seen before. Be sure to check out the video of the family hiking in Yellowstone.

Here is the Video (10 Mb)

Most of these next ones are from pictures I got from Mom and Dad.

Here are some in celebration of Jeff and Caroline visiting.

Owen kind of reminds me of Spanky from the old Little Rascals. I think it is the way he smiles.

Jeff's favorite task.

Littleton Colorado

As some of you know I was in Denver last week. I was going to spend two nights there but ended up spending four due to bad weather in Gillette. On Thursday and Friday it snowed two feet. The airport was closed until late Friday so my flight home Thursday night was canceled. I spent Friday in the Englewood office doing a lot of reading. I will pay for missing Friday the rest of this week. There is an adjuster out of our office this week so we will be busier than usual. Tomorrow I will be headed to Sheridan and Buffalo to do five inspections. It is about a two hour drive to Sheridan, and one can figure about one hour per inspection. I hope to leave the office by 10:00 am so I can expect it to be an eleven hour day. It may not seem like much, but during training I have become accustomed to seven and eight hour days. I guess those easy days are gone. I still like the work, but my right ear is a little sore from being on the phone so much today. Anyway enough about work. Here are some pictures from Colorado. They are not the best but I have a good excuse. I just won't tell you what it is.

These first ones are of a development called Ken Caryl Valley. This is what every community should be like. One thing that Colorado does better than any other state is open space. These pictures are of a huge park in the middle of the community. All the roads in the area had biking lanes. There were also small open areas behind all the homes. This valley is separated from the greater Denver area by a good sized hill. Even though the homes are a little large and close together it looks like a great place to live.

These next ones are of Littleton. The first one is the Littleton Temple. I did not know that there was a temple in this area. When I spoke to aunt Liz she mentioned going to the temple, and I was surprised to learn that it was so close to where I stayed.

This next on down is a good picture of the green space around the highway. From what I could tell all of the newer roads are designed this way; with plenty of space around them. The hotel I stayed at is the building on the top of the hotel. When I arrived i was shocked at how green everything was. I guess that spring comes a little earlier to Denver. Of course when I left most everything had an inch of snow on it.

This last one is from another park near my hotel. If you look closely at the middle of the picture you will notice downtown Denver. It was a great trip, and I hope to be able to go back and possibly head down to Colorado Springs to visit Scott and Liz. Unfortunately this past week Liz was not feeling well, and the rest of the family was enjoying Spring break doing some skiing.