Snowbound

We headed up to Mammoth... again... for Thanksgiving.

The drive home

Thanksgiving morning Greg took Chris duck hunting at Crowley...

Borrowed gear, borrowed gun, borrowed dog, and borrowed duck

McGee Creek

Successful hunt

Lookout

There was working at Chris' dad's house...

Mac helping with the raking

There was a snowstorm, and playing in the snow...

Ayla zooming around; Mac being to dignified to zoom for the camera

And there was the long drive home...

My favorite little valley, north of Bridgeport

Icy trees after Coleville

And there were sleepy dogs after a busy long weekend...

Fried Dill Pickles

So, another Mammoth trip... unfortunately Tioga Pass closed the night before we drove up, so what had been a 4.5 hour trip is now 6 or so since we have to drive up to South Lake Tahoe and then down. That 1.5 hours really makes a difference too.

Its very, very cold in Mammoth now. So cold, in fact, that Ayla voluntarily cuddled up with Mac:


He totally snuggles with her in the car, and since she can't get away she puts up with it. Mac and I were sitting on the couch when Ayla climbed up and all but laid on Mac, the little personal heater. They stayed like this for about an hour, until someone came to the door and they had to jump up to greet/scare them away.

We were quite busy this trip, and ended up going out to eat most of the time:

- Mediterranean pizza from Nik-n-Willies... really good and spicy.
- Veggie wrap at Good Life Cafe... pretty good, a little dry.
- Veggie burrito at Amigo's in Bishop... had beef in it; they didn't charge for my dinner, but I lost
my appetite.
- Veggie pizza at Pizza Factory in Bishop... meh.
- Veggie burger at Angel's in Mammoth... decent

But Oh. My. God. Angel's fried dill pickles were sooo good! Chris is not a pickle fan, and even he liked them. I need to recreate these at home with some sliced pickles, for easier ranch-sauce dipping. I had some regular pickles today and they just weren't the same. If you have the chance, and even remotely like pickles, you must try them!


So the plan is to be back up for Thanksgiving. Its a lot of driving, but worth it to see my two favorite Willers together!

Another Mammoth Trip

We went to Mammoth... again. As usual, it was great. Bullet points of what we did:

• BBQ steak night on Friday
• Mochas at The Looney Bean
• Relaxed at Greg's place
• Took the inflatable raft up to Horseshoe and floated around
• Personal Oktoberfest with grilled brats, potato salad, and beer
• Rooftop archery
  
• Monopoly (Chris won)
• Fresh blueberry muffins and Cuppy's Coffee
  
• Went to Mammoth Creek
• Met up with the boys' dad at the Bishop Country Club and hit some balls
  
• Pizza lunch
• Bowling (Greg won, twice... but my last two tries down the lane were strikes!)
• Grumpy's for fried food and pool
• Chocolate bars from Schat's Bakery
  

We came home just before the weather turned, and now its snowed about 4" in town from the pictures I've seen!

Here's the pictures...

Quick Mammoth Trip

We ran up to Mammoth for the weekend to take care of some family business. Driving through Yosemite over Tioga Pass is definitely worth the price - its only 4.5 hours from our home to Mammoth, and the drive itself is gorgeous - so we went ahead and bought a Yosemite pass. Perhaps the next time we'll find a place to stop with the dogs and enjoy the park a little.

Saturday Chris and I took all three dogs up to the lakes to tire them out, took care of family stuff, and then grilled in the evening on Greg's awesome balcony. Sunday Greg took us out to shoot clay pigeons, which was a blast. Greg is a great shot, no surprise since he's also a great hunter. Chris has always been a good shot, and completely obliterated some of the pigeons to dust. I only took a few shots, but I hit a clay pigeon that was really far away, so I'm quite proud of myself. I really enjoyed chucking the pigeons for both Greg and Chris to aim at and trying to figure out who's shot took it out too. Then we took the dogs up to Horseshoe again and had a great time.

If only Mac wasn't such a little punk - he started a fight with Willy, and got his butt handed to him (ha!). Its always a great time up at Greg's, but its also very nice to be home again.

I finished the Watermelon Dress last week for my co-worker's baby shower. I'm very happy with how it turned out - I left off the collar edging, and did the flower pockets using duplicate stitch rather than intarsia, and finished it all of with some supposedly vintage wooden-look plastic buttons. I hope the new mom gets as much joy out of it as I did making it.

Lastly, here are a few pictures I snapped while playing fetch with Mac and Ayla last week. I've been taking them out together and its actually going quite well so long as I have two toys and a bag of treats.Time to start another week!

4th of July

We took a trip over the long 4th of July weekend to visit with family. Our first stop was my parents' place in Nevada. We played around with their new Wii - tennis is a blast! The next morning we headed up to Mammoth...

I think its been at least five years since I've been back there, and I'm a bit surprised at how much I've really missed it. I know I've missed the impossibly starry night skies, but I had forgotten the vanilla scent of pine and the warm smell of pine needles in the dirt. I've missed feeling small surrounded by the mountains and tall, tall trees; the sound of the wind whispering in the aspens; the crystal clear water in the lakes and streams; the dry air that makes it seem difficult to get really dirty since you the peaceful feeling of life everywhere. It felt so good to be home again, even if I have no home there. Mammoth will always be home to me.

Chris, Greg and his dog Willy, me and our dogs went up to Horseshoe Lake shortly after we arrived. There are quite a few more trees dead up there from the geothermal activity than I remember, but the water level is higher than I've ever seen it. Willy is a hunting dog and we enjoyed watching him retrieve a dummy duck from way out in the water while Mac and Ayla played along the shore. That evening we had Nick n' Willies pizza (and Sky salad and garlic bread, yum!), chatted, and I whooped the Willer boys' butts at Cribbage and dominoes. :)

The next morning, after Schat's Bakery donuts for breakfast, we took the dogs down the street and watched the Fourth of July Parade. One of the announcers was a guy I used to do community theater with, which amused me. Then we took the dogs to McGee Creek to play. The current was quite strong (unless you are part otter like Willy or posses stilts for legs like Ayla) and Mac was nearly swept away when he went in for a drink, but Chris was downstream and stopped him. Twice. While its not deep in most places I don't think Mac would have been able to get a foothold with his stubby little legs and would have ended up in Crowley Lake. We found a calmer area and hung out for a while, and I was bitten by a mosquito and developed a giant welt on my forehead, but it was still fun.

We headed back to Greg's place and grilled up steaks for dinner (Gardenburger for me). Then we picked up some mochas from The Looney Bean (holey moley were they good!) and headed down to Whitmore Pool to watch the fireworks show. I remember watching the show at the Crowley shore, and want to again sometime because its the best show ever when you're sitting right under it. Even from our distance it was good.

The next morning we headed up to Rock Creek Lake. Yes, the weekend was mostly about throwing our dogs in various bodies of water. I wonder if there's ever been a bulldog hiking around up there before? Ayla saw a fisherman in waders way out from shore and apparently thought she knew him, because she took off run-swimming toward him and wouldn't come back to me no matter what I yelled. The water started getting to real swimming depth for her, and since she tends to panic when she swims, I got ready to save her. I set my camera on a handy stump and headed out after her, totally thinking I would be swimming in the icy snow-melt water. Finally she turned around to look at me, and came back. The people on the shore thought it was pretty funny, but I kept her leashed the rest of the time. I was not looking forward to that swim!

After getting back to town and settling the dogs we went to lunch at Roberto's, where they have the best flour tortilla chips (though you have to ask for them now, they only bring out corn chips) and my favorite Juanita's salad. We visited some more, and then Chris and the dogs and I headed back to my parents' place for the last leg of our trip. The following day we made the trek back home, with two completely wiped out dogs.

We learned on this trip that Mac is a complete ass. He kept trying to pick a fight with Willy, going so far as to put his toy ball in front of Willy and then attacking him when Willy went to pick it up. That's intent! What a little jerk. He's just dominant and Willy was so good-natured about it all, but we definitely saw another side of Mac when its not just him and Ayla, whom he can easily push around. Ayla was her usual goofy, shy self. At least some things are consistent.

We also learned that we would easily move back to Mammoth if we could. I would love to take my dogs to the lakes all the time, and there's so many beautiful places to hike and explore. The best thing is the far smaller number of people; I hadn't realized how much that bugged me until it wasn't there any more. It was so much more relaxed an atmosphere. Then again, dealing with the snow in winter and spring isn't a picnic. The entire trip was somewhat surreal though: I was expecting to feel a lot of nostalgia and remember-whens, but from the moment we drove into town it felt natural, like we had only been gone for a day and were heading back home like we always did. I understand a little better why some people leave, and some people stay, and some people return. And I think you can go home again.

Too Much Fun

In fact, I had so much fun last weekend that I just now have the energy to write about it.

It has been far too long since Stef, Katie, Liz and I got together and acted like our usual immature selves, and that's exactly what we did Friday through Sunday last week. And it was awesome.

Katie drove through a snowstorm to get to my place Friday around noon. She met the dogs, and Ayla surprised me by instantly liking her. I showed Katie around and we took Ayla out to play some fetch. Then we headed out to Stef's place to meet up with Stef and Liz. Then we all piled into Katie's car and drove up to San Francisco. We parked the car and checked in to our room at the Hyatt in Union Square. Then we hopped on a cable car, packed like sardines in with the other passengers, and headed to Fisherman's Wharf. He had dinner and drinks at Cioppino's On The Wharf. I had the three cheese tortellini that was nice, and a great peach bellini that was even better. Yum! After dinner we walked to Pier 39 and barked at the sea lions, checked out Alcatraz from a distance, and enjoyed the street performers. As evening fell we walked down to Houston's at the Embarcadero to have wine and beer on their gorgeous patio by the fire pit. Then he hopped on a Muni car (free ride night!) and headed back to Union Square. We went to the top of the Hyatt to the Grandviews Lounge for more drinks and listened to the piano player's last set. Finally we went back to our room to laugh ourselves to sleep.

Saturday morning we blearily and pre-coffee dragged ourselves to Max's for breakfast (yummy blueberry pancakes!). After the coffee perked us up a bit we walked around the city. We stopped to check out The Palace Hotel, with its stunning Garden Court. Then we walked through the financial district where we saw some really weird and cool horse statues made out of driftwood and cement. Once we got the the Embarcadero we walked around an arts and crafts fair, and then to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. We walked down a pier and watched people catching their dinners, and then headed up to Chinatown. Then we had to get back to Union Square to see Spamalot, which was fantastic! I think quite a few in the audience didn't know what they were in for, which confused me, but we were laughing until our faces and stomaches hurt. The Lady of the Lake was especially great, and she really stole the show.

After the show we headed back to the room to relax a bit and share a bottle of wine that Stef had brought. Then we had dinner at Scala's Bistro, where we had another bottle of wine along with our dinners (pesto ravioli with lemon cream sauce for me, yum!) and where Katie and I developed a crush on the sommelier. After dinner we took silly pictures in front of the store windows in Union Square, and then went to The Carnelian Room at the top of the Bank of America Building, the tallest building in the city. The view was amazing, and the apricot colada was good too. Stef, Liz, and Katie went downstairs to meet up with Stef's fiance and the kids (who brought us really cute plush flowers) while I held our table and just enjoyed watching the sun set over the city. Then we walked to North Beach, got chocolate at a candy store, and walked back to Union Square again. We stopped in at Lefty O'Doul's for a beer and then went back to the room. Liz was hungry again so we ordered a pizza from room-service. Then it was one or two in the morning, so we hit the hay. One more day to go!

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and went across the street to Starbuck's for coffee and food. Then we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped at Battery Spencer on the north side to take photos. Then it was onward to Napa and wine tasting! Our first stop was Viansa, a gorgeous winery and marketplace where the tasting was a mere $5. Our favorite was the Frescolina, a dessert wine. We drove a bit further down the road and stopped at Domaine Carneros, which was very impressive. We shared the sparkling wine flight (the rose was the best) and a cheese plate with the best goat cheese I've ever had. We headed up to Beringer, and though we missed the tour we had a nice lunch. Then we drove back down Highway 29 and stopped at Heitz Cellar where I made friends with the resident dog. She was so cute, as soon as she woke up she rolled over for belly rubs. The port here was very good too. Our final stop was V. Sattui, one of Stef's favorite places. They have a very nice lawn where I hung out while Liz and Katie tasted wines - I was a bit wined out by this point, but I hear the wines here are very good.

Finally we drove back home to my place so Liz could see the condo and meet the beasts. Then it was time for everyone to go home. We had such a fantastic time and laughed ourselves silly; our voices were hoarse toward the end because of all the talking and laughing. It was so great to be with the girls again. We're so lucky to be able to pick up right where we left off the last time we saw each other. And I'm very lucky to have such wonderful people for my friends. Love you guys!

The full set of pictures is here.

The Little Brother Graduates

Full album/bigger pictures here

This past Tuesday was my little brother's graduation from Western Nevada College with an Associate of Arts degree. I took Ayla and went up to my parents' place Monday morning to be there for the ceremony and spend some time with the family. Later Monday evening my Nana and Ted (grandparents on my mother's side) arrived too. We had a nice dinner of grilled vegetable, tofu, and shrimp (for the omnivores) kebabs, with my favorite quinoa salad on the side.

The following day Mom, Nana, and I headed into Carson to do a little shopping. And look who I got to see!!!!

Apologies for the crappy iPhone picture

Katie and Eric! Katie's parents live not too far from my parents, and they just happened to be visiting and in Carson for lunch. They came over to the store we were in to say hi, take a picture, and give me a chance to embarrass Eric by hanging out in the women's lingerie section. I'm so happy we got to see each other, even if it was for only a few minutes. I'm even happier that we'll be getting together soon with the other two members of the Four Musketeers. I love you guys! And by the way, nice catch Katie!

Tuesday evening we attended Clay's graduation. We got there an hour early and were lucky we did, because not everyone who showed up got into the auditorium. The ceremonies were about to begin when we suddenly hear a huge shout from the back. I thought it was some crazy dude, but then the bagpipes began. The shout had come from the major(?) of the Scottish band, and he along with the pipes and drums led the processional into the hall. An improvement on the usual Pomp and Circumstance, if a loud one. Anyway, I didn't get many good pictures during the ceremony since the lighting in the hall wasn't great and when Clay walked across the stage to receive his diploma I was yelling for him, which made my camera shaky.


After the graduation we went to dinner at El Charro Avita where we had yummy food and large margaritas. By this time it was late so we went back to my parents' place where Clay opened a few presents and then we sat around chatting.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then I headed home. Ayla managed to make everyone fall in love with her of course (Ted was referring to her as his dog after about ten minutes - she adored him!), but I know she was happy to head home where she could really rest. Its just so exciting up at my folks' house, with so many people to watch and play with, and so many cats to sniff. The drive home was uneventful, and Mac was more excited to see Ayla than he was to see me when we finally walked in the door.

Overall it was a great trip: I got to see both sets of grandparents, see my little brother graduate, and spend time with my family. Thanks everyone!

Holidays

Christopher and I are nearing the end of our two-week vacation. It has been very, very nice and relaxing. Last Tuesday we went up to my parents' place for Christmas. It was wonderful to see them, and to finally introduce Mac to them. Of course, Ayla is their princess and gets spoiled whenever we visit as well.

Over the summer Mom and Dad found a cat and her six kittens in their backyard. They took them all in, got the kittens and mama-cat all fixed and vetted, and tried to get in touch with a local cat rescue organization. With the pet overpopulation problem as it is, the cat rescue was unable to help out and Mom and Dad ended up keeping them... all of them. Now they have the six kittens, mama-cat (who lives with my dad in Vegas while he's working there), and the two old lady cats Precious and Jo (I got Jo in high school and she grew attached to my Dad when I left for college). In addition to the nine cats they have a bearded dragon named Puff, a turtle, and a fish tank with four gouramis and a couple algae eaters. Its always been a zoo in the Larson home!

Here's a slide show that starts with the kitties, then goes into some holiday photos:

We came home on the day after Christmas (to a loudly protesting Gretel kitty). On Sunday we decided to replace the carpet in our bedroom. We ended up going with the Pavilion Berber in Desert Stone at The Home Depot since it fit our room (12' wide rolls) and wouldn't require seaming, it was in stock, its about a third the price of putting in laminate (what we put in the living area), and it would be good for the pets. We aren't expecting this to last forever, or be what we sell the condo with if we ever sell the place. We just wanted something nicer than and different from the standard apartment carpeting that was already present.

We brought home the 12' x 16' roll in the good old Jetta - gotta love the fold-down back seats, that car has been nearly as good as a truck for us. That afternoon we moved everything but the bed and the Bowflex out of the room, ripped up the old stuff, laid down the new (the original carpet pad was still in fine condition and didn't need replacing), and maneuvered it into place under the remaining furniture. It was quite the task, but didn't take long at all. It certainly isn't a professional job, but its more than good enough for what we want right now. And for less than $150, its definitely made the room feel a lot nicer. I don't have a good picture (its not an easy room to take a photo in due to lighting issues), but click on the linked product name to see it.

Yesterday we headed into San Francisco for an early New Year's Eve dinner at Daily Grill. This is the restaurant we went to last year around the holidays, and where my great-aunt and -uncle took the family to for my college graduation six(!) years ago. We shared the spinach-artichoke dip with crostini, Chris had an aged rib eye with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes, and I had the pesto penne. The service wasn't as good as last year which was a disappointment. The food was quite good, though not warranting a trip into the city alone. After dinner we headed to Nordstrom's to have dessert and coffee at their cafe like we did last year, but they had closed early for New Year's Eve. I love sitting at the top of Nordstrom's and watching the city below, so I was quite disappointed that we couldn't do that this time. Instead we caught BART back home - we didn't want to be in SF when it got really crazy for New Year's Eve, it was crowded enough while we there. We stopped off for ice cream at the market and watched the ball drop in New York on TV, with my ark snuggled happily in my lap:


It was a nice evening overall. Next year we'll try someplace local for our little tradition of a fancy holiday dinner out, though I told Chris I want to go to a very nice vegetarian place in the city for my birthday in April that I've been wanting to try.

For the next few days before work starts again we'll be relaxing and enjoying ourselves, and conditioning our bodies to wake up before 10 am again (ouch!). I hope you had a happy holiday and here's to a wonderful new year!

Never Wake a Sleeping Dog

... because you probably did a lot of work to get it sleeping in the first place. But more on that later.

You dare interrupt my nap on your clean blanket?

Our 4th of July was low key. Chris worked for about half the day, then we BBQ'd and watched the fireworks from our patio. It was actually a cool night so we didn't hang out on the patio long, but the show was good and its nice not having to go anywhere and deal with crowds.

We took Ayla and Mac to Point Isabel today. It was Mac's first time at the Bay and he walked the entire time with us without slowing down, the little trooper. Ayla kept looking for a way down to the water but the tide was out and everything was mud. We finally got to a small beach area and Mac got his first taste of waves and salt water. He followed one out a little way and then took off running back up the beach when the wave came in again. He finally got the hang of it and while he wouldn't go out far - I can't imagine its easy for him to swim - he seemed to like it. We'd throw a stick out for Ayla and Mac would wait to ambush her when she brought it back in so he could take it. Ayla had a blast though. I had forgotten how much she loves fetching in the Bay.

And here's my latest obsession:


I picked up Rock Bank for our XBox 360 before the holiday and am loving it. I'm on the drums and Chris is on guitar in our little band, and the game fills in bass and vocals. It is definitely challenging, but the band-geek in me isn't going to give up easily. I'm a little more than half way through a solo tour on drums (70 songs at the medium difficulty), and started a vocal solo tour too, though I think me singing Black Sabbath music is amusing. I did download the three Jimmy Buffet songs for my dad, so next time we all get together we can have some fun. I find myself listening to drum lines on songs now and imagining how to play them. I wonder how I'd be on an actual drum set?

I'm about half way through the Travelling Roses Scarf, but its just more of the same so I'll save a picture for when I have it finished. We did run across a tasty recipe over the weekend for a Cheesy Guacamole Dip: blend together 1 cup guacamole, 8 ounces cream cheese, and 1 cup grated cheddar. We like it hot, so I throw in some Frank's Red Hot Sauce as well. Its good with tortilla chips and I threw some on our salad with dinner tonight.

Rock on!

Catching Up

Happy New Year!

Our holiday was very quiet, but very nice and relaxing. The week felt like months, it was so nice! We mostly hung out at home and did the things we enjoy. On Christmas Day we went to see I Am Legend because Will Smith is awesome, and the theater was packed. The movie was good (though paying $8.50 for a matinee showing was not so good) and I might have cried a little in the dog scene. Later that week we went to a comedy club to see Christopher Titus perform and he was really funny. Otherwise, we stayed up too late and ate great food prepared by yours truly... which reminds me... Tofurkey? Never again.

My parents gave me Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for Christmas and I've been loving it. There's so much information I'm pretty much reading the book cover to cover, like a text book. I've already learned a lot and I'm only about half way through, and I've been cooking from it and quite happy with the results. I also received an immersion blender so we've been having lots of creamy soups that are incredibly easy to make (Roasted Garlic and Potato; Creamy Tomato; Butternut Squash; I even used it on my veggie-loaded marinara sauce).

We had a small breakthrough on the pet front over the holiday. Ayla usually wants to play and chase Gretel when Gretel is on the floor, which does not go over well. However, if Gretel is head-level with Ayla she is definitely in charge. Well, we were all lounging one day and Ayla is roaming around looking for a place to land, but all of the seats are taken. Desperately she looks at Gretel on the couch, then gently and with much trepidation got up next to her, where they both took a nap, side by side! Lookie, I have proof:

If I don't see you, I can pretend you aren't there.

Almost touching!

It happened again last night. I was sitting on the floor with Ayla, reading, a blanket over us, when Gretel came by wanting to snuggle. She proceeded to climb onto my lap, then on top of the sleeping dog, then jumped off of Ayla, jumped back on, walked all over her, repeat. Gretel is a little heifer at over 12 lbs. (she's on a diet!) and her walking on you feels like being jabbed quiet hard with sticks since all her weight is on four little stilts. Ayla looked up once, then just went back to sleep. Good girl!

Finally, here's a few pictures from last Saturday's usual hike:

Christie resting at the top of the hill

Ayla enjoying the view

Ayla sleeping on Christie on the way home

TTFN!

On the road again...

We spent a long weekend on the road this past weekend. Friday morning Ayla and I headed up to my parents' place in Nevada. We didn't do too much that day - went to the market, helped Dad haul numerous 60lb. bags of sand from the truck to the back yard for their new marijuana-factory greenhouse, and just chatted. Mom and Dad grilled veggie burgers and Mom made some awesome fries for dinner. Chris arrived later that evening since he couldn't leave until after work.

Saturday Chris left for Greg's place in Mammoth. Mom, Dad, and I headed in to Carson City to do some running around. I got more yarn and a needle roll at Michaels (yippee!) and Dad came this close to adopting a 7-year-old Lab/Dalmation mix from an adoption event outside Petsmart. He was such a sweet old man and had it not been for Phantom's old age (he turned 14 on Halloween!) and their cat Precious' asthma which seems to be particularly bad with stress, and the fact that they couldn't tell us if sweet old Casey was good with cats, the Larson's might have had an addition to their family/zoo. Heartbreaking indeed, but it turns out Casey was adopted the following day to a family with multiple cats. Here's hoping to a loving home for him!

Then we stopped by Lowes where Clay works and I gave him a big hug in front of his coworkers, thoroughly embarrassing him. :) Later that evening Clay joined us for dinner at Indian Garden. They had tons of vegetarian options (yippee again!) and I got to introduce them to the mouth-gasm that is Ras Malai - fried cheese balls soaked in sweetened condensed milk and flavored with cardamom. I've had it served cold, but these were hot and oh so tasty... excuse me, I'm drooling on my keyboard...

Chris went all over Crowley and Mammoth with his brother. He got to drive his little Toyota up around Rock Creek, which he's wanted to do since before he even got the car. Greg showed him his mad archery skillz and they BBQ'd at Greg's spacious place that night. Now that we know Greg has plenty of room for all of us (twice the size at least of our condo! not fair!) we'll all head up to Mammoth next summer! Chris really enjoyed spending time with his brother - its really a shame that we're all so far apart.


Sunday Chris watched and Greg caddied while their dad played in the Bishop Country Club Championship. He unfortunately did not win, but I hear he had a good time and its great that his sons were able to be there. Meanwhile, Mom and I went to the newer mall in Reno and did some shopping. We had a great time checking out the stores (I bought Mom lip gloss at Victoria's Secret, she has sexy lips!) and had a nice light lunch of Chai lattes and a fruit and cheese plate at Starbucks. We drove back home through Virginia City, which is a cute, tiny little town with a lot of history. Maybe next time I visit we can go up and poke around more.

Eli arrived shortly after Mom and I got back. The Larson's place is a convenient stopping point whether he's flying in to Reno to visit his family in Bishop or driving through from Kansas, as he did this time. Welcome home Eli! We're glad you made it safe and sound! Chris also got back from Bishop that evening and Mom and Dad made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone.

The next day Chris and I leisurely headed for home back in San Ramon. It was a really nice trip, as always. Thanks again for hosting us and the random friends and family that tend to show up with us, Mom and Dad! Love you guys!

Playing Catch-Up

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I had all of last week off!

Sunday, June 30, Chris' dad came to visit us. We grilled steaks, showed Don around our home town, and chatted. Monday morning the boys had a 9:00 tee time at The Bridges Golf Club, which is pretty much right behind our condo. Both said it was probably the most difficult course they've played, but very beautiful. When they got home I grilled some pizzas, we went swimming and rested up, then went to dinner and saw Live Free or Die Hard. I thought it was a great action flick.

Then Tuesday morning the boys had another tee time at the golf course in front of our condo. We're surrounded by golf! The course was easier, and still beautiful. More swimming after, resting, grilling, then we played mini-golf. I think the guys were worried when my first shot was a hole-in-one. I didn't win, but I hung in there with them and had a blast.

On the 4th Don went golfing at our local municipal course; Chris was wiped out from the previous golfing since he doesn't actually get out on the course very often. We had a nice time resting at home and getting ready for the show. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, with my macaroni salad and baked beans on the side. We watched the broadcast of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition (Kobayashi has fallen!). Then we watched the fireworks show right from our patio. It was a good show, and Ayla just watched, not scared at all like I thought she would be.

Thursday morning we drove up to my parents' place in Nevada. For the first time Chris and I took the Pioneer Trail route around South Lake Tahoe, and what a difference! I really dislike going through the town, and this bypasses almost all of it. My life has been changed!

My dad, brother, and Eli (on leave from Iraq) were golfing at an Arnold Palmer course in Dayton. They got home and we got to catch up with Eli, hear about his experiences, and enjoy ourselves. We had a lasagne for dinner that I had made and brought from home, then went to see Transformers which was a lot of fun. Then we dropped Don and Clay off at home and headed up to Reno to hit some tables. See, we had to stay up all night since Eli had to be at the airport at 4:00am, so why sleep? We lost at El Dorado to a dirty blackjack dealer (he was a perv!), took Eli to the airport for his 3-day journey back to Iraq, and finally got back to my parents' house at 5:30am.

After a few hours of sleep I got up and hung out with my folks. Don had already headed home by then. We were too tired to do any more driving, so we stayed in Dayton that day. We all had fun playing in the pool during a lightning storm (hello, I'd like to be fried now!), napped throughout the day, and relaxed. It was really nice. Chris and I headed home around noon on Saturday and spent the rest of that day and Sunday repairing from so much fun on our vacation.

So, now we're back at work and I'm playing catch up with all the emails in my inbox. The weather's been cool the past few days, but the weekend should warm up again. I'm looking forward to some time at home over the weekend. The laundry sure is piling up! :)

How I've spent my summer vacation...

... or just my Memorial vacation so far.

Chris and I packed up the car early Saturday morning and headed to visit our friends and help with their kitchen renovations. We got a lot of demo done and a start on the cabinets. I'm sure it will look great when its finished. Ayla had a blast playing with their dog and their 2-year-old son too.

Sunday afternoon we headed back home. Driving through Gilroy, the garlic capital, was mouth-watering. I guess all the garlic had been heating up in the sun and I could virtually taste the garlic bread in my mouth. Heavenly! Once we got home Gretel gave us a stern talking too for leaving her on her own for 36 hours. Sorry kitty, it won't happen again! She was appeased with food, per usual.

Today has been chores and relaxing. Chris had to buy a new router for our internet connection. On his way he dropped me off at the local Art & Wine Festival where I wandered around a bit. I saw the requisite tie-dye baby jumpers, jewelry made from antique spoons, and photographs of Mediterranean villas.

We just had a tasty dinner of ribs, grilled marinated portobella mushroom, macaroni salad, and corn on the cob. Its funny, my parents and grandparents are having ribs and corn tonight too. In honor of Liz's cooking ability and Memorial Day, here's my recipe for my special

Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce:1 c. ktechup
1/4 c. Jack Daniel's whiskey
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 Tb. lemon juice
1 Tb. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tb. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

I like to add more garlic since we love garlic. And I've been adding Frank's Red Hot Sauce lately after the sauce is finished to up the heat. I love this BBQ sauce. I haven't used store-bought in years. Its great served over beef ribs cooked with a dry rub. I am looking forward to topping this all off with lemon meringue pie later tonight!

Christmas

So here's my belated Christmas post:

My winter break from work started out fun. December 20, 21, and 22 I spent with food poisoning. That was fun. I'd rather not think about it now...

The Saturday before Christmas we packed up the car with our luggage, presents for family, and the pup and headed up to my parents' place for the holiday. Along the way on Highway 50 before Echo Summit we stopped to give Ayla her first taste of snow. I think she hated it. All her toes were splayed out to keep her balance on the slippery hard pack, and she was very unimpressed when Chris lifted her over the burm and put her in the snow. She shivered so hard! We felt bad and she wouldn't do her business, so we packed back in to the car and got on our way. Dobermans aren't built for cold weather, especially princesses!

Ayla walked into my parents' house like she owned the place, which she pretty much did. She followed my dad around like his little shadow and play bowed for him all the time; she really enjoyed playing with Clayton; and she got lots of love from my mom. And Ayla absolutely loves hanging out with Phantom and watching what he does. He's a great influence. :)

Chris' dad, Don, came up on Christmas morning. Ayla didn't quite know what to think of him, I doubt she's ever met anyone so tall. We all opened some really nice gifts (thanks, Clay - I wear my new gloves every day!). We had some great appetizers during the day and played the Monopoly Here & Now Edition. All the pieces, properties, etc., are updated to current times and players can make side deals, and it was a blast. I was this close to beating Don, but in the end he prevailed. Beginner's luck I say! :)

Then we cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner. My dad fried a turkey in the backyard and everyone gathered to watch the lowering of the bird into the oil and the later removal of said bird. It was really quick, tasted great, and who can resist the danger of boiling oil and an open flame in the backyard? We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and salad. For dessert, we had pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie. Yummy!

We all left the next day. When Chris and I got home, Gretel let us know how upset she was to be left over Christmas and meowed all night! But she was happy to have us home and became the snuggle-bug she usually is.

We spent the rest of our break on another home-improvement blitz. I painted the bathroom and a wall in the kitchen. We installed a new bathroom light that we picked up at Costco which matches our bathroom decor quite nicely. We cleaned out a bunch of stuff and got everything organized. We bought a new entertainment center and put it together, painted it, and made our living room nice. I'm sure there's more we did, but its all a blur now!

The first week back at work was pretty busy for both of us, and Ayla is getting re-settled with our usual schedule. The weather was rainy and cold during the week, but its beautiful now. This weekend has been great so far. I've sold a couple things on Craig's List that we no longer needed, and extra money is always good. And Chris and I kicked a@! just now playing Gears of War on XBox Live against Clay and my dad. Love you Dad, don't take it too hard! :)

Anyway, more of the same expected for tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and Chris and I send out our best wishes for a spectacular New Year!

Turkey Day

Due to inclement weather, Chris and I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. That didn't stop us from making an entire Thanksgiving Dinner for the two of us though! We had an 11-pound turkey that we rubbed an herb butter all over and injected with melted butter with copious amount of garlic, and stuffed with the usual aromatics (orange, onion, garlic, lemon). We also had Stovetop Stuffing and cranberry sauce from the can - a couple guilty pleasures - and mashed potatoes with gravy. For dessert I made a pumpkin pie and a cherry crumble. Needless to say, we had lots of leftovers. I put four dishes of turkey enchiladas in the freezer, and we had turkey sandwhiches for days. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Road Trip!

I'll be the first to admit that we are crazy. We woke up at 3am this past Saturday morning to get on the road to visit my parents in Nevada. We chose that ungodly hour so we wouldn't have to deal with Bay Area traffic on a Friday afternoon, and it really works! So, as I said we woke up at 3am and Ayla looked at us like we were insane. With some prodding we managed to get her up and out of the house, and into the car where she promptly went back to sleep.

We got to Dayton around 8:30am and Ayla walked into Mom & Dad's house like she owned the place. Phantom, their 14-year-old lab, seemed to enjoy having the little whippersnapper around. She adored him, loved running in the back yard, and soaked up all the attention she could. In fact, she was quite spoiled - with 5 people in the house (Chris, me, Mom, Dad, and my brother Clayton) there was always someone willing to play or pet.

It was COLD though (no trips to the river this time)! Ayla got a chance to try out her new red jacket in the cold weather and it was perfect. She was running around in the backyard in the mornings and loving it, not shivering and asking to come back in.

We humans had a good time too. We had good food (Did you know they put security tags on the meat in the local market? Apparently beef theft is a problem there.). We played pool and learned a new card game called 3-13. We laughed... lots. A great time!

Chris, Ayla, and I came home on Monday. Back to work for those of us with jobs (yeah, I'm talking to you, retired-person Dad!). But we are looking forward to visiting again soon. It was very relaxing being there, and I hear there's good fishing to be had next time.

Happy Halloween!

Lots of Stuff

Fourth of July - We have a killer view from our very own patio of the fireworks put on by the city. And, since we're less than half a mile from the main park, we could hear the music and festivities the whole day. We had a lovely barbeque and then decided to hop over the patio railing to the hillside, just in case the view was better. There were quite a few people doing the same, but I think we were the only comfortable ones. We set up a blanket and our patio chairs, brought out our really weak solar patio lights, made hot cocoa, and enjoyed ourselves. Ayla did great too. She pretty much ignored the fireworks, though we were plying her with treats the entire time. So, come on out to see us next Fourth and we'll have a really fun time!

August 12 - My dear friend Stef visited us for the day. We spent most of the time talking and laughing, and catching up. We got some take-out for lunch and took it to a park, where we were attacked by bees. That was not so fun. We ended up having to toss the food and get out of there before we all got stung. Later we had a barbeque and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine, and before we knew it, it was midnight. Stef stayed over and got to enjoy Gretel, the cat, walking all over her at night. Good kitty, don't let the guests sleep soundly. :)

The following weekend - More visiting with Stef, but this time we went to see her and her cute little house and yard. Ayla did her best to eat all the flowers, but Stef assures me they are back to normal just a week later. We picked up lunch at The Lobster Shack, where they daily fly in fresh seafood from Maine. Yummy! Then we went to Bay and had a picnic. While we were there a woman with a dog came and played fetch with her dog into the water. Ayla chased that dog over and over, trying to get him to play with her, and getting in the water deep enough to reach her belly. Soon enough she'll be swimming! It was so wonderful to get to see Stef two weekends in a row; I'll have to steal her away from her fiance more often.

August 25 - My parents and little brother were RV-ing this week. They set up camp in San Benito at a Thousand Trails and did lots of things: visiting wineries, going to Monterey, visiting wineries, going to missions... did I mention they visited wineries? On Friday Ayla and I hopped in the car, leaving Chris to fend for himself for the night, and drove down to visit. The RV area made me Feel like I was at summer camp. They had a lodge with ping-pong, two pools, a jacuzzi, a mini golf course, horse back riding, and even a dog park! We hung out at the camp that day and enjoyed each other's company while Ayla tried to get old man Phantom, my parent's 15-year-old lab, to play with her. There were tons of quail right outside the site, and a peacock, and hummingbirds... and flies. We had s'mores that night around a camp fire and the next morning Ayla tried to eat a bush. She got pretty far on the thing too. Mid-day Ayla and I drove back home, and she slept the rest of the weekend. Camping is hard work! It was great to see the folks, and I have some ideas for future RV sites we can all enjoy.

That's it for now. This is a long weekend and we have some plans, so I'll have more to write soon!