Denver Zoo in the Winter

Date: March 20th, 2010

Accomplice: Caitlin (and the furry animals)

We decided to hit up the Denver Zoo the day after a 8-10″ snowstorm as in the morning the weather was absolutely beautiful. We arrived in the early afternoon and had a great time as it had been a long while since either of us had been there.

Let’s just say the weather was perfect, the animals were insanely active and the crowds were non-existent.

Numerous times throughout the day, Caitlin and I found ourselves in exhibits with only us and the animals (which may or may not be legal…). It much more enjoyable to see animals when they want to be outside instead of hiding in the corner from the hot sun and screaming kids.

The Male Brown Bear was Playing around and Real Happy:

And then we found out why he was so happy – Apparently licking the Urine of the Female Bear brings him much pleasure:

The Cheetahs were out running in their snow-covered pen:

Caitlin near the Monkey Area. Due to the Large amount of snow the monkeys were the only animals inside. But you can see how much snow there was in the early afternoon which was quickly melting off:

The Rhino was out enjoying the nice Light:

The Birds were Dive-bombing each other in Bird World as they fought for fish. We sat here for at least 15-20 mins watching them with only two other people coming through in that time.

Kingfisher:

Penguins were enjoying the cooler weather:

Amazingly the Red Panda was out and about running throughout his cage. Don’t believe I ever really seen him like this:

The Caged Beast: The Snow Leopard eying some tasty morsels:

Myself and Caitlin with the Polar Bears head just peeking through:

Obligatory Peacock Shot:

By the end of the day most of the snow had melted off and the Lions were out enjoying the last of the warm winter afternoon sun:

If you are following from a feed all updates can be found here: http://andylibrande.com/news/

Frolicking Through the Winter Months

To make up for my lameness in not posting any stoke all winter long, this post is all about the random days out and about with my camera. I also came-up with one of the most ridiculous names I could think of for a post just to commemorate this historic period in our lives.

Detailed trip reports of the more insane activities will follow, right now this is just the side-activities.

Roxborough State Park with Caitlin and Whitney (Jan 9th, 2010):

Ben Thought there was Something Funny Tasting in the Water (Jan 16th, 2010):

Scenics from the Biggest and Brightest Full-Moon of the Year (January 30th, 2010)(Summit County, CO):

Hiking Around Eldorado State Park with Caitlin and the Sister (Jan 18th, 2010):

Storm Blowing over Red Mountain – Awesome Time-lapse photos to follow – March 7th, 2010, 4:57pm:

Storm 30 mins later 5:33pm:

The Trees on the Side of My House After some Wet Snow- For some reason when they get the smallest amount of snow on them they can completely bend over and touch the ground (March 24th, 2010):

Anyways we had to find other activities to focus in on throughout the winter since the snow was so spotty. The only thing that I never got around to was climbing days out on the rock; I hit up the backyard wall a number of times but never got around to climbing in the snow (as in previous years).

More updates on there way including a Denver Zoo and the real report on Winter!!!

If you are following on a feed, all full updates can be found on my website here: http://andylibrande.com/news/

Optimus Prime Owns My Climbing Wall

Optimus Prime is the awe-inspiring leader of the Autobot forces. On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime’s prowess. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his size, and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. He would sacrifice his life to protect his fellow Autobots or those under their care.

In the eyes of Transformer fans, this is God.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Optimus_Prime_%28G1%29

Could not resist the above description of Optimus Prime when I was looking for good photos to base my newest addition to the climbing wall.

A couple weeks ago Caitlin and I set-out to add a new feature to the climbing wall and messed around with a couple of designs. Caitlin suggested the Triangle type shape in the corner of the wall and then we started building.

Once we had all of the pieces cut-out we somehow came to the conclusion that the shape kind of looked like an Optimus Prime face and thus the rest of the project we were focused on making the best volume that I have ever seen.

Materials and Construction for the Optimus Prime Climbing Volume:

1 4×8′ of plywood (the stuff that is ~$25-30 sheet not the $40-50 stuff) (Plenty left-over as well)
4 Metal Angles
Wood-screws
T-nuts
Black/White/Red/Blue Spray Paint
Tools: Circular Saw, Jig-saw, Screw-gun, straight-edge, triangle, big-ass hammer

Started by cutting the shape based upon the angle to the wall. Due to the complexities of the angle we did a couple sample cuts in some shitty wood I had laying around until it was pretty close. Once we started the front panel was the first piece and we tacked it to the wall to measure the side-pieces. Measuring the side pieces was all about precision with the lengths and the angle to the wall. Once we had the main angles all we had to do was cut the edges at an angle where they would fit together. Then I bent the metal angles until they were at the correct angle and screwed them onto the main board after we had put T-nuts into each piece.The last step was painting with multiple black layers first, taping out the design, then white, red, and blue. Hang-up and enjoy.

Here are a few pictures of the design process and the final product:

Caitlin holding the Optimus to give you an understanding of its size: