Halloween 2017

These three are goofy!

 Happy Halloween!

Cherry Lake - drained

Cherry from the communication station

Two weekends ago, we took a ride out to Cherry to check out how low it is.  They have been draining it to repair the dam and we had not yet seen it.

Eleanor which is about a mile east of Cherry - it's full to the brim!

The pictures above were taken at the communications station that we sometimes drive up to so that we can get a good view of Cherry and Eleanor or to play in the snow in the winter.  Jim is still on his peg leg so we couldn't do much exploring or hiking.  Grace brought all her camera gear and took some pics for school assignments.

Then we drove right down to Cherry and saw exactly how low it was.   It was super cool to see although I wish we could have hiked down to the water line to look for treasures.

Pic taken from the middle of the dam

Pic taken from middle of the dam looking back at the boat ramp

This has something to do with the water flow but I don't know what!

Boat Damage

We took the boat out of the lake for the season and winterized it.  Unfortunately, when we took it out, we noticed that someone had hit the corner of the deck and ripped off a big metal bracket.  We had moved the boat close to the boat ramp and figured that someone had backed into it and then pulled forward ripping off the bracket.

It's a big bummer!

Left is what it should look like.  Right is ripped off!

Power washing the muck off the bottom of the boat

Habana Cuba

We went to the local Cuban restaurant, Habana Cuba this weekend.  Big deal you say?  Why blog about it?   Because we went once about 12 years ago for my birthday but no one but me could remember it.   I remember it clearly....I guess because I cared....because it was my birthday!  I don't know what is wrong with the rest of my family!

Brain

Grace is taking Anatomy and Physiology in school this year and this is one of the assignments to learn about the brain.  What a cool hands on way to learn!  It is simply a swimming cap with the different parts of the brain drawn onto it.

Diversity

I do a little bit of diversity stuff at work.  Just a little bit and it is focused on neuro diversity.  I was at a diversity event yesterday and I heard the best quote:

"Diversity is being invited to the party.

Inclusion is being asked to dance."

What a powerful way to describe the difference between diversity and inclusion in a community.

Photography

Grace is taking a photography class as school.  It is actually Photography 2 and she never took Photography 1.  Instead she submitted a portfolio to the teacher and asked to be allowed to go straight to Photo 2 based on her self taught experience.  The teacher agreed as long as she studied a particular book over the summer - which she did.

A couple weekends ago, she had an assignment and informed me that I needed to help.  I had no idea what we were doing but agreed to go into this field and hold a frame.  There was a lot of giggling as I tried various looks - silly, happy, pensive, stern....  The pic above was one of the outcomes!  It cracks me up and is so cool too!

The Baby

A couple pics of the baby living the college life in AZ!

Pig Halloween costume!

Shennanigans in the Closet

Last week I was helping take care of my folks dog, Pepper, while they were on a cruise.  He had been really sick the week before they left so I agreed to help so that he was at home, instead of at the vets office, and could have a quieter existence.

While there on Saturday I took a shower after a hike and looked out of the shower to see Hops laying in their closet, above.  She kept shifting her eyes and looking to her right like something was wrong.  So, figuring Ahi was up to something, I said, "Ahi, what are you doing in there."  Everytime I would say Ahi's name, Hops would look over in the corner of the closet!  So I knew she was in there with her.

When I got out of the shower, I looked and found Ahi underneath the clothes hanging on the closet rack!  She had just been on a 4 mile hike so I guess she was tuckered out!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Roy

Yesterday was Grandpa Roy's 81st birthday and we went to dinner at Mandarin Gourmet with Grandma Anna, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Glen.    We had a good time eating a giant feast.   And I do mean a GIANT feast!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Vietnamese Garlic Noodles

I carpool to work with a Vietnamese gal and love talking to her about her culture and her food.  She was telling me about the Vietnamese garlic noodles that she made for her daughter's birthday and they sounded delicious.   This is how the conversation went:

Her:  "You melt the butter, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and lots of garlic and then pour it over the cooked noodles.  Use lots of garlic."
Me:  "Yum."
Her:  "And then you top with parmesan cheese and parsley."
Me:  Cracking up...."you mean these are Italian Vietnamese noodles???"
Her:  Cracking up too...."I guess so, the cheese tastes really good on it!"

I love when cultures collide in foods!


GARLIC NOODLES

1 bag of angel hair pasta (16 oz)
4 Tablespoons of butter
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp of ouster sauce
1-2 Tablespoons of sugar
Lots of chopped garlic (6+ cloves)

Melt everything together in a small saucepan and pour over cooked noodles.  Top with Parmesan and parsley.