Strasburg Rocks!

Celebrating Strasburg, Colorado, a small, friendly town in the plains east of Denver...

GoPro Time Warp Bicycle Ride

Tecsun Q3 Review

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Tecsun Q3Since I wrote before about the tremendous Tecsun PL-880 shortwave radio, I figured I’d also do a quick review of my latest electronic toy purchase, the Tecsun Q3. This is an extremely small combo of a FM radio, computer speaker (with music controls), MP3 player, and audio recorder (from built-in mic, FM, or line in).

Instead of repeating it here, please take a look at my Amazon.com review of the Q3. Short version is that it is an amazing piece of technology and well worth the $36 I spent on it. Strasburg Rocks! gives it 4 1/2 stars out of 5 and highly recommends it!Strasburg Rocks! Recommended!

4 1/2 bulls

UPDATE August 8, 2016: A reader who had a Q3 with Chinese characters asked if I could scan the English manual so he could know what the buttons did. I searched on-line and couldn’t find one (kind of odd)…so I did…and figured I’d link to a copy of that scan here.

Congrats Matt, You’ve Won a Mug!

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15 ounce mugThanks to everyone who entered our mug contest. Most did so by liking our page on Facebook, second by contacting us via the web site, and third by following us on Twitter.

And…Matt Laughlin…you’ve won! We’ll be reaching out shortly to get your address and soon you’ll be drinking 15oz of your favorite drink from the best mug in Colorado! 🙂

Since this is all coming straight from my personal wallet it means we won’t be able to do tons of them, we will have more contests for free Strasburg Rocks! stuff…so if you didn’t get a chance to enter or didn’t win this time…don’t give up…you’ll get another chance!

P.S. If you still want a mug, you can purchase it from our Zazzle store and Zazzle’s Labor Day sale means everything is 25% off. (Zazzle forces us to charge at least a 5% royalty. We will donate any that we get to a local charity however.)

Strasburg Convenience Store

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Strasburg Convenience Store signIt hit me yesterday, when I stopped on my bicycle ride to grab a Bug Juice for my eight year-old (not to mention a thirst quencher for me), that I hadn’t done a review of a place I visit more than any other business in our small town: the Strasburg Convenience Store.

As a “convenience store it definitely” is convenient. It has anything you might expect, has reasonable prices, and is open most of the time a regular human would be awake. 🙂 (Okay, I’ll admit I don’t know its exact hours…but I’ve only once been on the road earlier than it has been open, and I think it closes at 10PM most nights.)

Strasburg Convenience StoreWhat really makes the store an awesome place is its employees. Not a single one is a grump, and most are as congenial as they come. I have to especially do a shout-out to Dave, who was a friendly face the first time we visited Strasburg. Snowstorm and all he was working and gave us some pointers on where we might buy a house. Now, I could mention more names, but they are all great…although…okay…Amanda and Chantelle do seem to be there a lot when I arrive and are also superb! 🙂Continue Reading

Strasburg on Two Wheels

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Cows
Cows doing what I should have been doing on a lazy Sunday afternoon…
Having lived much of my life in hilly areas, I really appreciate (especially as an aging bicyclist) how Strasburg is relatively level. If anything, there may as great a danger you’ll have to downshift from wind as it will be from an incline. 🙂

Five weeks and one day ago I fractured my left elbow at the end of a ride, so it feels great this week to climb back on the bike. It is true that there is less obvious things to take pictures of here than back in New Hampshire, but it definitely isn’t lacking of interesting subjects. You can tell I especially appreciate the cows. 🙂

Do you live in or around Strasburg and use a bicycle? Recommendations for places to ride to? Tips for us newbies to the area?

See you on the road!

“Invincible” by Shayne Leighton

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"Invincible" by Shayne LeightonIn the “you’ll never know what you’ll find on Strasburg Rocks!” category is this review of an album I purchased last night. 🙂

“Invincible” is Shayne Leighton’s new, debut EP (6 songs). It is titled after her remake of Pat Benatar’s hit of the same name. Now, to start off, I think it is always dangerous to do a remake of a classic song…and especially when that classic version is done by an artist who defined the female side of her genre during the time it was recorded.

But, you know, Shayne pulls it off! Is it as good as Pat’s? That’s an unrealistic question to ask a guy who was a rock-lovin’ hormonal teenager when Pat was in her heyday. 🙂 Instead, I’ll say that Shayne’s version is very good, doing justice to the original. It is a great addition to an EP where all the tracks are strong.

Strasburg Rocks! Recommended!Having said that, it’s not my favorite tune on the album. Instead that award goes to “Midnight Man,” the fourth track. That song is so good I basically had it on repeat half the time I was mowing the back lawn this afternoon. It’s a catchy work that speaks to how desire and temptation combined with rationalization can lead us to doing what we know is wrong. Maybe that wasn’t the author’s intent…but that’s the message I heard. 🙂

I highly recommend purchasing this EP (Amazon Music | iTunes | Spotify). I give it 4 bulls (out of 5). In case that seems low…with music it is near impossible for me to give 5 bulls. I grew up when groups like Led Zeppelin and Queen were ruling the rock music scene, and 4 bulls is as much or more than I would rate some recent releases from my favorite bands. Four means it is really good.

Great work Shayne! I look forward to seeing what your future holds, both for you and my listening ears! 🙂

You can check out the album’s title song below:Continue Reading

Win a Free Strasburg Rocks! Mug

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Strasburg Rocks! MugAlthough you can buy a Strasburg Rocks! 15oz Mug, we are giving one away…no purchase necessary. 🙂

How do you win? One of three ways: Contact us and say you are interested, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. Even better, do all three (and you’ll get three entries)!

Also, if you get someone else to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and they either let us know (or you do)…you get another entry. Total honor system!

UPDATE: To count with Facebook, you must like our Facebook page, not the Facebook post that points to this article. Right now the latter is outnumbering the former. Go figure. 🙂

Hmmm…so, rules of the contest…I should have thought about this before eh…?Continue Reading

Quest Aerospace Planet Probe

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Quest Aerospace Planet ProbeA reader of this blog (thank you!) told my wife she likes the rocket videos. Well, better late then never…here is the first Quest Aerospace model rocket I’ve purchased and built. The actual flight was two weeks ago (August 15, 2015). Successfully launched three times…and only one landed in the neighbor’s back yard. 🙂

Luckily, (a) they were home, (b) their dog didn’t eat it, and (c) they are friendly. 🙂

For your viewing pleasure, the Quest Aerospace Planet Probe:

Quest Aerospace Planet Probe image from Amazon.com.

Sock Hop!

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Sock hop photo boothWe are just back from the Strasburg Sock Hop at the Strasburg Elementary school, and as you can see it is a very serious affair. 🙂

Swinging at nightNot only was there a great photo booth in a retro-trailer, there were two hours of dancing, limbo rock, and myriad smiling munchkin faces.

Afterward, we completed the night with a good swing. Considering I only was bitten once while our eight year-old enjoyed that activity, I can’t complain.

Now, the iPhone’s photo exposure made it look brighter than it was outside, but this video gives a better idea:Continue Reading

Tecsun PL-880

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Tecsun PL-880Between Internet radio (we have redundant TDS and Bijou connectivity in our home) and SiriusXM satellite radio (which I also listen to mostly over the Internet)…I don’t really have a need for “normal” radio anymore.

But I miss it…along with a former hobby of mine, shortwave listening.

So, I decided to save up some money and get a new shortwave radio, settling on the Tecsun PL-880. I could not be happier. However, instead of repeating why here, please check out my short Amazon.com review.

Strasburg Rocks! Recommended!If you have never listened to shortwave radio, give it a try. There are much cheaper options (e.g. down toward the $30 range)…so you don’t have to spend $150 on the Tescun PL-880 to start (although, it is so sturdily and beautifully built and performs so well, it’s worth that even if you only listen to AM and/or FM). Two great sites to check out as you consider this purchase (and associated hobby) are SWLing.com and RadioJayAllen.com.

Strasburg Rocks! recommends this device and gives it five bulls!

5 bulls

Richmil Ranch Open Space

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Richmil Ranch TrailThis morning, before it got too hot, we headed out to Richmil Ranch Open Space (77910 E. Highway 40, Deer Trail, CO 80105). Minus all the noise from I-70, it’s a great place to connect with nature. I brought a camera to grab pictures, but it was mostly hijacked by my eight year-old, Augie, who gets credit for the photos below.

Not bad (if you ask me) for his first time using my Canon PowerShot G15. 🙂Continue Reading

“The Gospel According to Colt Ford”

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Colt Ford's "Workin' On"Once again I’ve been remiss in posting…something I promise to avoid in the future…

Although you have to admit, fracturing my left elbow three weeks ago gives me a little bit of an excuse. 🙂

(Speaking of “Life in Strasburg”!)

Either way, I figured until my next Strasburg-specific article I’d give a link to a sermon I did over Memorial Day Weekend, “The Gospel According to Colt Ford.” (We found a great church before we moved here and still drive there (Centennial) weekly to attend.)

Colt Ford “Workin’ On” image thanks to Amazon.com.

Launching Off the Weekend

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On the way to our weekly dad-son-only breakfast, we had a letter to drop off at the Strasburg Post Office…which just happens to be across the street from the local hardware store (Western Hardware). Last weekend we used up all our Estes rocket engines on Father’s Day, so it made sense to grab some more by walking over to that great establishment. However, we didn’t escape without an additional purchase. 🙂

Augie with an Estes air rocket

And the first launch was successful!:

What are you doing this weekend? How has yours started off?

Our Purpose

The sole purpose of Strasburg Rocks! is to celebrate Strasburg, Colorado, a small, friendly town in the plains east of Denver. It does not exist to make money. However, should Strasburg Rocks! produce any net income, it will be donated back to the Strasburg community.

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