THEATER

Grammy winning musical biopic features hits like “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” and “So Far Away.”

The Laramie Project

When: Sept. 29 to Nov. 5

What: “ e Laramie Project” explores the reaction to the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 by culling together interviews from over 60 real-life characters representing their reactions to the crime. e production tackles the prejudice, hatred and compassion brought to light by Shepard’s death.

Cinderella

When: Nov. 24 to Dec. 31

What: Just in time for the holidays, Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Cinder- ella” will bring cheer to Arvada residents this winter. e contemporary take on the classic fairytale has won the hearts of theater lovers for decades.

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812

When: Feb. 16 to March 31, 2024

What: Nominated for 12 Tony’s when it premiered in 2012, “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” tells the story of a young girl — Natasha — who arrives in Moscow longing for her ancé and Pierre, a man having an existential crisis intent on saving Natasha’s reputation.

Noises O

When: March 22 to May 5, 2024

What: A meta look at the inner workings of theater production, this playwithin-a-play is a high-energy laugh-fest that’s sure to leave theater lovers and casual fans satis ed. “Noises O ” imagines a scenario in which everything that could go wrong with a stage production does, to hilarious e ect.

Advertisement

in all seven of his events, picking up six, rst-team honors after nishing third in the 400- individual medley, fourth in the 100-back, fth in the 800-freestyle relay and eighth in the 200-medley relay. He also helped the Mavs to a ninthplace nish in the 400-medley relay and is now a 14-time all-American over the last two seasons.

at total is the second highest in program history behind only Mahmoud Elgayar, who received two more all-America honors to complete his brilliant career with 15 total honors. He received at least one in each of his ve seasons.

Six other swimmers – ve men, one woman .. earned second-team all-Americans. MSU put together 24, top-eight nishes in the two-day national meet. e CMU men placed a program-best fth at the national meet.

Study: Geothermal Heating Can Be Made Practical & Affordable on a Community Level

When it comes to “kicking natural gas” and reducing a home’s carbon footprint, geothermal heating & cooling is the “gold standard.” But it’s extremely expensive to implement as a retrofit and still quite expensive on new construction.

My friend, Martin Voelker, a leader with the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, recently replaced his gas forced air heating system with geothermal, and the cost for drilling the 300-footdeep wells in his backyard was $18,000, which included running the pipes into his house but didn’t include the heat pump itself. Even though such a project would garner a 30% rebate under the Inflation Reduction Act, that’s still a heavy lift for an individual homeowner.

I know of another home which installed geothermal pipes horizontally in their large backyard at far less cost.

New construction is more affordable, because you can have the wells drilled within the footprint of the future home before the foundation is laid. And if it’s an entire subdivision, such as the Geos Community in Arvada, the cost is reduced because all the wells can be drilled one after the other.

In that scenario, each home still has its own geothermal well, but what if you could drill a geothermal well that was extensive enough to feed multiple heat pumps in multiple buildings?

That was the concept proposed by a group of Harvard students in Ivory Inno-

Did You Know? Potting Soil Can Be Flammable

Earlier this month, a Jefferson County home almost burned down. Thanks to a quick response by the local fire department, damage was contained and is estimated at $30-50,000.

Here’s what happened, as documented by surveillance cameras: A person tried to put out a cigarette by sticking it in the soil of an indoor potted plant. Unfortunately, the plant was in potting soil that contained nitrogen, and within a few hours the soil started smoking and quite suddenly burst into flames.

When told of this, David Dlugasch, one of our broker associates said that the exact same scenario caused his house he had sold in Gunnison to be burned to the ground the day after he sold it. This problem was a surprise to me, so I wanted to share it with readers. Below is a picture I took of the ingredients in a commonly available potting soil. Nowhere on the package does it mention that it is flammable and could cause a house fire. vation’s annual Hack-A-House competition, for which they won first place in the “Environmental Solutions and Construction Technology” category.

The Harvard students, under the name “Team Beckwith,” did a case study of a 49-house community in South Boston. The concept involved installing buried geothermal pipes in the homes’ combined backyard space.

Here are some excerpts from the arti-

How Does Geothermal Work?

Geothermal heating does not require there to be a thermal feature such as a hot spring. In fact, if you dig down about 10 feet anywhere at our latitude, you’ll find that the soil temperature is about 55ºF year-round. By circulating a fluid through a pipe either vertically to 300’ or horizontally if you have enough space, you can pre-heat that liquid to 55º and have a heat pump raise that temperature to 100º or so for heating purposes either by radiant floor heating, baseboards or forced air. This is more efficient than an air-source heat pump system which takes in outdoor air as cold at –10º and works much harder to achieve the desired temperature. In the summer the 55º geothermal fluid requires even less energy to be cooled further for cooling your home.

cle I read on www.Probuilder.com, which I have linked to this column on our blog, www.GoldenREblog.com:

“The novelty of geothermal energy is there,” Team Beckwith says. “The reason it’s not invested in is the capital, and the scale”….The team intends to do further research and revise their 24hour-made plan, and are already looking for connections to make their proposal a reality.

A vendor for both geothermal and air source heat pump systems that I recommend is Sensible Heating & Cooling, 720-876-7166, which I have mentioned in previous columns.

Comcast Remote Can Be Reset to Have a 30-Second Skip Button

Last week I complained that Comcast’s remote, unlike Dish Network’s & DirecTV’s, does not have a button for skipping forward 30 seconds on recorded programs. A reader sent instructions for reprogramming the 5-minute FF button to 30 seconds. Briefly, to enable 30second skip, do the following: While watching a channel, press the Exit button thrice. Press 0030 on the keypad. The page down button will skip back 15 seconds. I have posted the full instructions at www.GoldenREblog.com

Development Site Just Listed by Austin Pottorff

The helpful hardware man said he was aware of the danger and reminded me that nitrogen fertilizer can be used to create a bomb, as in the Oklahoma City bombing.

This is a great duplex at 1802-1804 Simms Street! It works for a motherin-law and family or as a 2-rental unit with great rental income. One unit, 1804 Simms, is 1600 sq. ft. and has 3 large bedrooms with double closets. The primary bedroom has a 3/4 bath. It has a large carpeted living room with a non-functional wood-burning fireplace. The kitchen is open with an eating area and a laundry closet with washer and dryer. 1802 Simms measures 950 sq. ft. Its primary bedroom has new carpeting, new paint, and a double closet. Another room is a non-conforming bedroom and can be used as an office or hobby room. The entrance has a foyer with slate flooring that leads into a very large and bright living room with hardwood floors. The eat-in kitchen can use some updating and has a newer bay window. Each unit has a well-maintained fenced yard, great for entertaining. The two-car garage is shared, and there is extra parking in the driveway. There is a basement area under 1802 Simms accessed from the back of the structure. This is a solid brick duplex home with good bones. Take a narrated video tour at www.LakewoodDuplex.info. Open house this Saturday, March 25th, 11am to 2pm

$675,000

$1,600,000

This parcel at 17205 W. 12th Ave. is a multifamily zoned parcel ready for continued rental income, or ripe for redevelopment. Directly adjacent to the city boundary, this 19,300-square-foot parcel could possibly be annexed into the City of Golden. This land offers proximity to parks, trails, grocery, dining, and public transit. Golden's King Soopers Marketplace is a couple blocks away, and the Denver West Office Park, Coors Technology Center, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Mills Shopping area, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Jefferson County Government Center, schools and downtown Golden are all within a few minutes of the site. Bell Middle School and Golden High School are a short distance away. Located within an Opportunity Zone, this parcel is a prime redevelopment option. Take a narrated aerial video tour at www. GoldenDevelopmentSite.info. Then call Austin Pottorff at 970-281-9071 for a showing.

Jim Smith

Broker/Owner, 303-525-1851

Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com

1214 Washington Ave., Golden 80401

Broker Associates:

JIM SWANSON, 303-929-2727

CHUCK BROWN, 303-885-7855

DAVID DLUGASCH, 303-908-4835

TY SCRABLE, 720-281-6783

GREG KRAFT, 720-353-1922

AUSTIN POTTORFF, 970-281-9071 art of chocolate making on a trip to Belize.

“It was pretty impressive,” he said. “ e chocolate tasted di erent.”

So ve years ago, Joyce decided to give chocolate-making a try as a hobby, and as it became more of a passion, he began doing it professionally three years ago.

Chocolate was a new endeavor for the retiree as he has learned what it takes to maintain health-department standards for the kitchen plus the nuances of chocolate avors. Chocolate making is both a science and an art.

“I’m not trying to compete with the grocery store chains,” he said. “I’m making a quality, handcrafted product.”

Joyce’s wife, Yuri Weydling, who is the director of avor development and community relations for the business, has taste buds attune to the di erent avors of chocolate.

“She has gained an appreciation of the subtleties of chocolate,” he explained.

He said while they like dark chocolate, the white caramel chocolate has “a wonderfully unique taste.”

One of the chocolates that Joyce produces is called “Stuart’s Smile,” named after Joyce’s neighbor and friend Stuart Collins. Collins said he’s not a big dark chocolate fan, so when Joyce created a chocolate that mixes dark and light, Collins smiled.

“His chocolates are quite avorful,” Collins said. “It started o as a very fun hobby. He’s the type of person who always needs to be busy, and this ful lls his need to always be challenging himself.” Both Collins and Joyce envision the shop becoming a place for people to hang out with a cup of co ee or tea and a bit of chocolate. e chocolate shop is near Bear Creek, so Joyce wants to have tables outside for people to stop by in warmer weather and enjoy his creations.

“I look forward to (the shop) being another social center, where we can have a cup of co ee and a bit of chocolate,” Collins said. “It will be a good place to be with people and chit-chat. Post-pandemic, I think we need that.”

High-quality ingredients

“ e rst step is choosing the right beans,” he said.

Joyce’s cacao beans come primarily from Ecuador, with some beans from Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru mixed in. He especially likes the beans that the indigenous peoples harvest from wild trees because they provide complex avors. e beans arrive fermented and dried.

Once in Kittredge, the beans are sorted and roasted. Joyce uses two roasters that look like toaster ovens. Once roasted, the beans are cracked, winnowed and ground. e grinding takes 72 hours and is done in something that looks like a crockpot with granite stones that create smoothness. en the chocolate is tempered and molded.

“Chocolate is critically temperature dependent,” he noted.

Joyce is proud that his chocolate has only four ingredients – ve if he adds hazelnuts – and he uses the nest ingredients: beet sugar from the Netherlands and Madagascar vanilla. e milk powder is important because it can change the taste and the chocolate’s fat content.

“I spend about half my time looking for sources for ingredients,” he said, adding that he’d like to use a more local beet-sugar company. “It’s all about mixing and matching the ingredients.”

A new profession

He said the community has been generous and supportive as he prepared to open his shop, helping him obtain the shelving and furniture. Joyce also hopes to o er chocolatemaking classes, and he’s talking with area businesses about co eechocolate and wine-chocolate pairing events.

“I’ve always been a foodie, but I never thought I’d be making chocolate,” Joyce said. “Given this is our rst food business, I’m learning things every day. I just really love it.”

WANT TO GO?

Blue Spruce Chocolates is located at 26290 Highway 74, Unit 5, in Kittredge. It is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BlueSpruceChocolates.