Crested Butte Skiing

We had a great time in Crested Butte this year, on our annual ski trip. Unfortunately Em and Mel couldn't make it, but we'll party with them soon enough in Boston ! They had record snowfalls and in town the snow was piled up to the bottom of the second story of houses!


Here is a view of the surrounding mountains. This is not Crested Butte mountain. I have pictures of it at the end of these pics.


We are ready to go!


Jodi and Matt look ready to take on the mountain! And boy did they! I had a hard time keeping up with them.


This is a lunchtime picture of Dad and Suzanne. Too bad the light was streaming in on both sides of them or this photo would have been better. I think Dad was happy to be taking a break ;-)


Gotta take off your gloves to look at the map---boy do your hands get cold fast that way!


Dad's enjoying the ride on the lift.


Jodi and Matt at lunch on the first day of skiing. Lunches were relatively inexpensive compared to other places we've been.


Me on the second day.


This was the day before we left. They had these ice sculptures all around the base area. From the first day I saw this one I wanted to take photos with it. Finally on the last day I got my photos!

I made David pose too!

Jodi coming off a nice fast run.


And here begins the series of photos of Crested Butte mountain. It was so pretty from where we were staying and from down in the town area, that I took lots of pictures of it.


This was on the first day of skiing- it snowed overnight and continued snowing lightly until after lunch.


This is the classic view of the mountain. The way the apex sort of tips to the left is how Crested Butte's abstract logo looks .



From the town area before sunset.

Happy Birthday Jodi!

It's your birthday!

Have a good one!

photos of sam

Sam really likes to look into the mirror in our bedroom. This was after a long walk.

One night after dinner.

My two boys--aren't they cute? Both are hams!

My two sweeties.

dog psychology

I've got a question for all you burgeoning dog psychologists....

Every time David and I hug and Sam is in the same room, he barks at us. Almost like he wants us to separate. When we do separate, the barking usually stops.

What is going on here? Is this a possessiveness thing?

so much stuff

Yesterday David and I compiled a bunch of home improvement things we had bought but not used. We went through our 2007 and part of our 2006 receipts to find the receipts for these items so we could return them.

At Big Box 1 and Big Box 2 they told us they didn't need any of the receipts we had searched for because the purchases were over 90 days. I should have realized that! Many of the purchases were over 300 days old! So they gave us merchandise credits. Can you believe that we had about $300 worth of stuff just sitting in our basement, not being used? I can.

the dog ate my homework

No- really. Sam sort of ate my homework. We have been keeping sam in our basement rec room during the day while we are gone. Yesterday we came home and a whole expanding file folder was strewn about the floor. This is an expanding file folder with articles that are relevant to my dissertation. Front pages of articles were gone. I'm not sure if they were eaten, or just mixed in with the general loose papers that were on the floor. There were other casualties of the day, such as my folder with receipts, and a couple of CD's and their cases.

I didn't have the energy to go through the paper stack last night to put papers in the right places. I'll have to do that this weekend. In fact, I'm not sure why, but after dinner all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and read. So that is what I did. And then I went to bed at my new bedtime (9pm!). I can't believe I go to bed then, but I haven't had a problem falling asleep yet. I need 9 hours of sleep and so going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 6am gets me my nine hours. I'm still tired in the mornings, but not as much as when I go to bed at 11pm.

Happy Birthday Carolyn!

To my wonderful friend in MO-town..Happy Birthday!

Have a great day and I hope you have a wonderful birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday Will!

A round of cheer to David's Dad (Will) who is celebrating his birthday today!

Happy Birthday!

more on sam

Here are two photos--one of Sam and one of his toy we call "the republican". they are the stars of the video posted below.

get the republican!

In case you didn't know what my political affiliations are, you will soon know after watching this short movie of Sammy.

pilates

Somehow the gods were shining down on me two weeks ago because David came home with a gift certificate for 5 private pilates session at a local pilates place. He didn't have to buy it, because it was given to his boss as a gift and she gave it to me! How lucky, right?

Well yesterday I went for my inaugural session. She put me on about 4 different contraptions (machines) and we went through a series of movements. I'm a sore today, so I'm worried about how I'll feel tomorrow. I'm really hoping that this will be a great way to build those core muscles to alleviate back pain, and keep it from re-occurring. The private lessons are pretty pricey, but they also have semi-private lessons (which are only somewhat less pricey). In order to be eligible to take their mat classes (much cheaper), you have to do 15 private or semi-private lessons. So, I'll have 5 knocked out when I finish this gift certificate. Assuming I continue to like it, and think it is helping me, I'm going to have to figure out how to keep taking lessons to get to the 15.

5K

Just a friendly reminder that for 2008 you are allowed to put up to $5,000 into your IRA. This is an increase from 2007. So if you've got automatic investing going on- don't forget to increase your amounts (if you are able). $416 and change per month!

swim again

Yesterday was supposed to be a run/walk day on the training schedule. Instead I went swimming with one of my co-workers who is also doing the triathlon. Today another co-worker wanted to go swimming, and I brought my suit, so I'm going to go again today.

Today I want to focus on my form and technique. I'll be helping my co-worker with her technique, so hopefully I'm doing it right ;-).

And then tomorrow, I have my regular swim date with a colleague. I think I'll need to take thursday off from swimming for sure. And I may need to go buy some shampoo for swimmers...I don't want my hair getting dry and green :-)

Happy Birthday David!

Happy Birthday to David today!

Here's to having fun in the wild,
having fun with one's self and being cute and goofy,
and to having new and exciting experiences every year!
I love you sweetie!

I almost forgot....
your chocolate cake and Ellen's Eggs Mornay are waiting for you!

tree photos

Awhile back I mentioned that we were swapping our 2 Ash trees that pretty much died for other trees. We got some Arborvitae and a maple. Here are the photos of them after we planted them. Suzanne reminded me that I had not posted any pictures of the trees. I totally forgot. here they are! The house next door is now almost completely sided and all the windows and doors are installed.

update

I feel like I have no time since we adopted Sam! So sorry to have not posted in awhile. He was neutered last thursday and I think he is just about healed up. We left his e-collar off last night and I don't believe he was trying to get at his belly very much. We also distracted him with a peanut butter filled Kong toy so that probably helped. He wasn't allowed to go for walks longer than about 15 minutes, so needless to say, his energy was overwhelming during the other times. The vet gave us sedatives to help him calm down so he wouldn't injure himself/tear his stitches, but those didn't seem to kick in for about 2 hours!

We are trying to make sure he knows we are the leaders in the house. We've been watching Cesar Millan DVD's and read his books, and now I'm reading another book on dog communication called "The dog listener". The author shares some things in common with Cesar, but others she does very differently. I'm only 1/4 of the way through, so I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

training has begun

I've decided I am going to do the Danskin triathlon again. And this time, I have gotten a few of my co-workers to train with me for it. That was one of the things I learned last year...training is much more fun when you do it with other people. That and you are more likely to do it when other people are counting on you.

So, I worked up a training schedule which began on monday. It currently has us doing 3 days of training a week, and focusing mostly on the run and the swim. I'm quite excited to have a group of people to share the Danskin experience with. I really hope that everyone will actually end up doing the triathlon.

I figure I will end up doing 4-5 days a week of training, but it will be good to have set times to workout with others. Monday we swam for 15 minutes, and tomorrow we are supposed to walk for 25 minutes or so. We are all going to be working our way up to running for 30 minutes at a time, so our plan gradually inches up the amount of running time as part of the walk/run combination.

If there is anyone who does not live in Seattle but wants to come visit and do the Danskin triathlon with us, just let me know and I'll get you started on the training plan.

snow for sam's birthday

snow's a pretty good birthday gift. Sam seems to really like it. It got so cold here tonight that it is snowing.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today Sam turns 1!

So...when does he stop being a puppy?

lost a slipper

Actually, I didn't lose the slipper, it was half eaten by the new pooch. Okay- maybe not half eaten, but chewed up enough that I can't wear that pair anymore and had to throw them away.

I've been exhausted this week. David and I have been trying to switch off half days working at home, and I've had to get up an extra hour to hour and a half earlier to get Sam his morning walk. I generally enjoy getting out there in the morning, but this is much earlier than I am used to, and I'm still trying to get Sam into a pattern and get him used to behaving when putting on his collar and leash, so the preparation for the walk can be trying.

We also took him to the vet this week. He has an ear infection (which we suspected), and he got his rabies shot done. Now we have to schedule an appointment AS SOON AS POSSIBLE for his neutering. I really really hope that the neutering has some effect on his energy level, as they say it does in some dogs.

new pooch

We have some good news. Yesterday, David and I adopted a dog. He is a Golden Retriever and he is almost one year old. Unfortunately, he hasn't been neutered yet, so we'll have to do that soon. His old name was Macchiato, but we changed his name to Sam/Sammy. Here are a few photos of the new guy.

He is a bit more rambunctious than I was led to believe. The owner said he was starting to calm down--but if he was more energetic before, I can't even imagine it.

The owner also said she thought that he was full size, but I sort of think he may grow more. We'll need to take him to the vet so we can see how big he really is. His paws still seem to be pretty big for his body--I guess we'll have to see.


He knows sit pretty well--but that is the just about the only command he knows well. He can do lay down- but only with some coaxing.
We also found out that he is a slobber-er. He likes to hang his tongue out of his mouth quite a bit too.

reunited and it feels so good

Great, Fabulous News!

They delivered David's bag to him this afternoon at the house. Everything was still in there that was packed from Florida.

Including the Skyline! Thank you Ann for the offer to replace it if it was gone forever. That is very sweet of you, but I'm so happy that they had the chili still in the bag and it wasn't pilfered. Maybe the bag carriers don't know that it goes for $5 a can on Ebay ;-)

wow...my blog's been around for awhile

I started blogging May 26, 2005. That is 2 years and 7 months that I've been blogging. Holy cow. My how time flies.

someday when I'm super bored I'll go back and re-read all 442 entries (yea right).

lost luggage update

We have a promising lead. They think they found David's bag in Sacramento. It did have someone else's name on the white sticky tag--no wonder it went to the wrong place. We *should* have it back by the end of this week, and then we can see if all of our stuff is still in there. If one can of my Skyline Chili is missing- US Airways will hear it from me! (Just kidding).

more photos

Mom, Jazzy and Steve


Alex, Jazzy and Beki (Jazzy got tons of attention this christmas)

Mom and Steve making Goetta! The goetta was soo good. Steve and Ann brought a few pounds with them from cincy.

Grandma and some of her granddaughters (em missing)

Grandma and her children

Me and David

These photos were taken by Ann- which unfortunately means that there aren't any pictures of Ann...Hopefully when Steve downloads the photos from his camera we'll have some of Ann too.

a few christmas photos

This christmas we spent some time in Florida. Here are a few pictures from our day in Mount Dora.
Everybody is ready for some window shopping and regular shopping.


Taking a break from the shopping.


Posing...


More posing....


So happy coming out of a store.

Arriba! Ole! Grandma had fun trying on the hats at the mexican restaurant.

The town square in Mount Dora was all lit up with lights, as you can see above.

lost

US Airways lost David's bag on our trip home from Florida. We've been home now for 36 hours and we haven't heard anything from the airline, even though we've called many times and checked online. The online tool says that the bag still has not been found.

The thing is, the agent at the Orlando airport knew he put the wrong tag on David's bag, but he didn't bother to fix it. The exchange went something like this:

Agent: "Going to Seattle?" (holding 3 bag tags in his hand and looking around to see who was going to claim them. We only have 2 bags to check).
Us: raised our hands- "we are".
Agent: puts tags on the bags, puts them on the conveyor belt.
Agent: "Can I see your ID's?"
Us: Sure, here they are
Agent: Huh. that's odd. I've got an extra bag tag here. Accusingly, " you didn't tell me who you were before I put the tags on"
Me: (thinking in my head....I thought you were supposed to verify our identity before you slapped the bag tags on. Is it our job to tell you who we are without you asking? )
Agent: "Oh well, the bag will still get to Seattle." (turns his back to begin dealing with someone else).
Us: Confused...walking away...trying to feel better we reasoned that he said the bag would still get to Seattle, so we didn't need to worry about it.

US Airways apparently has the worst record for lost luggage among the national carriers. I don't doubt it given the lack of concern on their agents part.

Merry Christmas!

To those of you who celebrate-- Merry Christmas!

I hear there is lots of snow going around parts of the country-- hope those of you with snow enjoy your wonderful white christmas.

golfing for christmas?

We are thinking about going golfing. There are three 9 hole courses - I think we'll only be able to do 9 holes as we aren't really in golfing shape. It is amazing how much work golfing can be. I'm not any good, although I'd like to be better. Can't get better until you start practicing! David really wants to go golfing too. Actually- he is the impetus behind us going. Makes me think that we should try to find a nice cheap 9 hole course in Seattle and try to go more often. The problem is, it isn't usually one those thing we think about doing on the weekend (for some people it is the only thing they think about doing on the weekend), so we'll have to make a conscious effort to try and go.

never as cute on the second day

There is a sort of magic that happens at salons. They bewitch your hair to look just right and cute, and then once the clock strikes midnight the spell is over and never again will it be as cute as the day you left the salon with the new cut.

It still looks good, but I'm just not very good at fixing my hair, I guess. Maybe I can get some pointers from my fashionista sister?

haircut

I got a haircut today. It was about time. I went to a new salon that opened up in October, whose owner is a friend of one of my work colleagues. The owner cut my hair and she did a great job. The true test is the next couple of days as I figure out if I can make it look as cute as she did. I'll try to take a picture to post, or something.

Also- the shampoo was the most comfortable shampoo I've ever had at a salon- I didn't feel like my neck was being wrenched and my back didn't hurt. It was great.

The salon has a real contemporary vibe--concrete floors, italian modern furniture, and the owner designed some of the furniture pieces herself.

Did I mention that all cuts are $20? More if you want a blow-dry, but that is a fabulous price!

I know not many of my readers are in the Seattle area, but if you are- try out Ten Pachi www.tenpachi.com

ps. I was not paid for the above advertisement ;-)

Ready to relax

I've had a long week. Tuesday we planted trees, wednesday I flew to DC, thursday I participated in a site review at the National Science Foundation, today I am working all day in DC, probably mostly from coffeeshops (they only gave me until 1pm for late checkout). BUT...tonight J picks me up, and we get to hang out tonight and tomorrow in DC until I fly home on Sunday morning. I am definitely ready to relax, and am looking forward to the next couple of days.

twitchy

I've had a twitch near my eye for the past few days. I can always tell that when I start to get a twitch that means I need to move things off my plate, and do some relaxing. I think I'm going to have a hard time doing that until the holidays are over. I've got a work trip to DC next week, which slows down my work and my home task lists. I tried last night to read a fun book for awhile, but it didn't seem to help.

Well, maybe some hard labor this weekend will help? We need to dig holes in our yard for the privacy screen trees we are having delivered. That also means moving some plants to other places in the yard. Good thing we live in the pacific northwest and our ground doesn't freeze.

record rain?

From what I hear on the news, we are headed for a record breaking amount of rain in 24 hours. The record amount is 5.02 inches in 24 hours in 2003. Many areas around the Seattle area are experiencing significant flooding. Here are a few pictures of areas around town that have been flooded. I keep checking our basement--luckily we are sort of up on a hill, so less likely to get that kind of flooding.

snow and now rain rain rain

December 1st we got a good coating of snow. It was so pretty on Saturday with the snow coming down. I didn't want to be anywhere that didn't have a window to look out at the snow. When we got back to our house on Saturday evening our whole back yard was covered in beautiful white snow.

When we woke up the next morning it was all gone as the snow had turned to rain overnight. I don't think it has stopped raining since then. It was coming down hard last night and has been coming down pretty consistently all day today. One of the buildings on campus thought they were going to have to evacuate after the electrical room of the building was flooded with water. Luckily the pumps started working and they didn't have shut down the power to the whole building, or evacuate anyone.

I keep checking our basement to make sure we aren't getting any dribbles of water down there. No problems so far.

found some for cheaper

There is someone selling 10 cans of Skyline on ebay for $32 + 8.95 shipping which equals about $4.10 per can....better than the prices on the cincinnati favorites website...  

they took away my chili!

I am so upset! Tonight we were going to have 3-ways for dinner. For those of you who don't know what a 3 way is: spaghetti topped with cincinnati chili topped with finely shredded cheese. In years past I have been able to buy Skyline chili in a can at a few grocery stores around the Seattle area. Fred Meyer and QFC (both owned by Kroger) used to carry Skyline. I can't tell you how wonderful it was my first year in Seattle when I found Skyline canned on the shelf at the grocery. It was a little bit of home.

For those of you who don't know, Skyline chili (www.skylinechili.com) is a Cincinnati cult classic. Other people have tried to imitate, but don't come close (Sorry all, but Gold Star doesn't compete in my book).

I sent David to pick up a few cans of it at the store on his way home from work. He called and tells me he is at the second store and neither of them have it!!! ARGHHHH. Seriously! I defrosted my hot dogs and bought buns for coneys and everything. I was ready, even craving Skyline.

So I go online to see if I can buy it online. Apparently you can, for about 5 bucks a can (plus shipping! That seems exorbitant. I know it doesn't cost that much in the store (does it?). If any of my cincinnati friends want to do me a favor and go pick up some cans and ship them to me, I will pay all costs associated. I'm sure it will still be cheaper than these online dealers, even if I pitch in $.20 a mile or something ;-)

Now what will we eat for dinner?

one step closer

We did some painting last weekend which puts us one step closer to having some 'finished' rooms. We still don't have any pictures on the walls, but David has big plans for pictures in each of the rooms, and I'll take pictures once we get some framed on the wall.


Above are two views of our dining room wall which we painted red (for the time being). We are considering changing the color to a nice blue we also picked out for the wall. When we painted the red, we knew it was a trial period to see if we liked the red.


Here is the color in the guest bedroom. While we were originally calling the color "deer hide", we came up with another name for it which is much more positive: hot cocoa powder.


And this is the final yellow color of our bedroom. It is very nice and sunny. You can also see the baseboards in many of the pictures. I think we are completely done with the baseboards, so that is exciting! oh poo, I just remembered that we haven't painted or put baseboards in our closets (which we need to do). So, that is a task for another weekend.

progress next door

Yesterday we came home from work and wa-la - the house next door had its second floor framing up. I took a few pictures this morning so I could post and show you how it looks. We have very little light coming into our bathroom window now.

cookies from a bag

Monday night I made some chocolate chip cookies (from a bag mix) and I brought them into work today--it is not even noon yet and they are almost gone. However, I think I will go back to my old way of making cookies (from scratch). I've actually been thinking about trying to not buy any more mixes like that. The more I read those Nutrition Action Updates that Dad and Suzanne subscribed us to, the more I want to only eat foods that are in their original form before I cook them. I know I don't have the energy to start making my own tomato sauce etc, but at the very least, I think I am going to stop buying cake mixes and cookie mixes, and things like rice-a-roni and pasta sides. The added benefit of not using these boxed foods is I'll be removing quite a bit of partially hydrogenated oils from our diet (and making less waste for the landfill/recycling center).

thanksgiving cartoon- pacific northwest theme

courtesy of David Horsey

our thanksgiving dinner

Our thanksgiving meal ready to be consumed.

King crab legs- yummmm.
Two "colossal" scallops a piece. They were cooked just the right amount of time, but I should have spiced them a bit more than I did. Beaujolais Nouveau in the wine glasses. Butter wasn't clarified (something else I should have done but didn't feel like it--it was still good).
twice baked potatoes....more than just your regular potato.

happy turkey day!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

David and I did some relaxing this morning- watched the Macy's Parade, and then each of us got to work- David went outside to rake leaves, mow the grass and trim the bushes. I kept the AKC best in show program on TV and watched that in-between prepping our guest room to be painted. Now Miracle on 34th (?) street just finished. I've put our potatoes in the oven for twice baked potatoes, and got out some snacks.

Thank you to everyone for being yourselves. You have enriched my life in ways you may not know.

I'm ready to leave

This weekend David and I rented a good documentary called 'Sicko'. Many of you may have already seen it, but if you haven't I highly suggest it. It is one of Michael Moore's documentaries about the health insurance industry in the US. One of the most eye-opening things is the comparison of the US health insurance and health care industry with that of Canada, Great Britain, and France (look on DVD special features for info about Norway). That alone made me want to move to a country with universal health care.

I know I'm naive and hopeful when I shouldn't be- but I think that if the social movement was large enough and we had a president who had her/his head on straight we might actually be able to change health care in this country. The more I think about it- going to a hospital really should be a social service just like having the fire department come to your house when there is a fire, or receiving your mail everyday. If you don't have the means to afford the fire department they don't tell you that for $5000 they can save your garage but it will cost you $15000 to save the house. You shouldn't have to choose what you have to lose. Why is our health any less important than our houses and belongings?

I know that the health care industry is a major multi-million/billion dollar industry and would fight tooth and nail to make sure that universal health care never comes about. Our leaders and we as citizens should be more concerned about the health of our neighbors than with the profit margins of corporations. But that is just me. Crazy talk- I know.

Watching the movie really was enough for me to consider moving to another country. I'd like to know if anyone else felt that way after seeing Sicko.

next door

Can you believe how far the house next door is? They still have another floor to add on, and then the roof. They haven't even started framing the second house on the lot. All kinds of water has collected in the basements of these houses. They better pump that water out and dry out the wood once they get the roof on or they will have some serious mold problems.

As you can see, we have pretty much lost all of our privacy in our backyard. That window is their kitchen window. We plan to plant some Arborvitae along the side to block us from their view a little bit. Hopefully it will help us feel a bit more like our backyard is actually our backyard.

In memory of my grandfather

On Thursday November 1, 2007, my grandfather Charlie Ferguson passed away. On Wednesday October 31, the doctors told us that he had only 24 hours to 3 days to live. He was in the hospital because he had a bad fall and was getting checked out. It was unexpected, but we are all happy that he did not suffer long from the pain he was in. I am so saddened by this loss and am trying to find ways to deal with my sorrow. I am not writing about this to elicit sympathy. I am writing because that is one of the ways I cope. Papa (as we called him) was a gentle, sweet, kind man who is now at peace. The funeral is supposed to be sometime at the end of this week, although a date has not yet been set. David and I will be attending the funeral. If you find my blog to be unusually inactive, please understand.