A BIG FAT KID ADVENTURE!

Today we had the mother of all kid adventures. Yesterday, Me, Grace and Tyler found the opening to a cave/mine. The two of them spent the rest of the day devising a plan on how to get a pic inside the cave, which had an opening about the size of a beach ball. They came up with:

* Strap a camera to a remote control car

* Strap a camera to the Chiweenie

We did not have enough time last nite to show it to Jim, Doug, Jeremy and Drew so we went out this morning.

We were armed with shovels, pics, cameras and flashlites. Doug, of course, went in first! Then everyone followed! Except for Chris and Auntie Deb who were making plans with the life insurance money!

It was an old mine, probably dug 150 years ago, that was about 100 feet long.

What a thrill it was to see. We then went to search for other mines. We found some but none as long.

Dog Beach

Here are some pics from the dog beach last weekend. The dogs LOVED it! Ahi met a dog the same size as her and thought that was fun. Daisy Mae swam in the ocean.

Goalie Girl

This girlie is one tough cookie and being a goalie is just one part of it! I thought these were fun pics of her getting ready for a game.

Starving

I am so hungry today that I can't even think up a good word to describe it.

I woke up at 5 am to let Ahi out and I was really hungry. I thought it would go away.

I left for the gym at 5:45 am and was still really hungry. I wished I had a banana.

I rode three miles and thought that the feeling would go away. Nope.

At 7 am, I started a one hour excercise class. My stomach was growling and my brain was distracted.

At 8:45 am, I heated up my oatmeal (steel cut with golden raisans and walnuts)! And as Drew says: Hallelujah!!!

I am still eating it and thinking about what I will have for lunch!

It is going to be a long day!

Who needs a baby with a whiner and sneezer

I swear I have gone back in time to when we had little babies. Last nite, we were up half the nite and it was not the kids, it was the dogs!

At about 3 am we were startled awake by giant dog sneezes. I mean GIANT dog sneezes! Daisy sneezed 4 times in a row with the biggest sneezes you have ever heard - it was like her head was going to explode! The probalem was that when she sleeps on her back, nose spit runs back into her snout and makes her sneeze. My guess is she had been sound asleep on her back for awhile and then woke up with tons of nose spit in her schnoz! Thus causing the 6.0 (on a richter scale) sneezes!!! By the end of the second sneeze we had both jumped out of bed and turned on the lite! Scared the bejeezes out of me!

And.....it woke up the Chiweenie! UGH! So, now she is whining in her crate. I tell her to be quiet and go back to sleep which she did for about 45 minutes and then she started again. So I had to finally get up and let her out.

We were up for about 2 hours thru all this! I am way to old for this! And now the two of them are sound asleep in my office next to me, while I work!

pics

I have some good pics from the weekend of the dogs at a dog beach....but Jim took my camera squiding with them yesterday and left it with a friend! Stay tuned and I will post once the camera is located.

However there will be no squid pics as they did not catch any.

A good friend....

Every so often, we are all gone from home for an extended period of time and can not bring Ahi with us or leave her in the backyard. When this happens, Auntie Debbie and Jeremy come over in the middle of the day to let Ahi out to go potty. And if possible, they take her to run an errand with them! Today was such a day and she went to the pet store to get some dog food with them.

You know you have a great friend when you get a voice message like this at work:

"Hi, it's Auntie Debbie. Ahi went to the pet store with us and was a little nervous nelly. She is now back in her crate and seemed to enjoy the trip. OH! and Harvey the Pitbull was getting dog food too!"

Auntie Deb is a great friend for checking on Ahi and taking her on an errand with her.

And she is a great friend for giving me details about Harvey the Pitbull because she knows I would enjoy that detail!

I am blessed with good friends! Who love the doggies like me!

And I am lucky to have Jeremy to assist Auntie Deb because he is so kind to the doggies!

Snowboard boots anyone?

Let me know if you know anyone who wants to buy a used pair of snowboard boots. We have a size 3 and a size 5. They are both in good condition. They take up too much room in our winter gear bin!

Score!

I love it when I completely forget about Bagel Wednesdays until the email goes out saying the bagels are here!

I scored a cinnamon raisin bagel!

OH! The little things in life! Happy happy happy!

Scrubs!

The new season of Scrubs starts tonite and we are VERY excited! And there are two shows tonite:

Show 1:
Dr. Kelso's beautiful replacement, the unethical Dr. Maddox (guest star Courteney Cox), shakes things up a bit, while J.D. struggles to manage new interns.

Show 2:
J.D. and Turk set aside their decade long steak night tradition to comfort a dying patient, while Dr. Maddox (guest star Courteney Cox) begins to show her true colors.

Plus as a double yippee.....it comes on right after NCIS!

For someone who rarely watches tv, I am in over my head today!

AI pool anyone?

That's right folks, American Idol is back and bigger than ever this year! With that being said, the top 12 AI Challenge will officially be on the way in the upcoming months. Who's in, who's out and which newcomer wants a piece of the pie?! Last year, after 12 weeks of competition, 3 people in the pool took home some dough. Last year we had 30 players with a pot size of $600 and this year who knows how much bigger it could be!

$20, 12 weeks glued to your television set and 3 winners (only if you consider 2nd and 3rd place a winner) in the end.

Let me know if you interested or not.

Rules are simple:

When the top 12 are announced, you must pick who gets eliminated each week before the show starts. All picks must be in before the start of the top 12. 1 being eliminated week 1 and 12 being eliminated the last week (this is the winner of the show)

You will be rewarded 1 point for getting week 1 right, 2 points for week 2, so on and so fourth.


Payout Breakdown as follows:

1st place - 60%

2nd place - 30%

3rd place - 10%


So far I have the following folks interested:
Brian
Lesley
Team Walker
me

Anyone else?

Sniff

I went up to my folks house yesterday afternoon to pick up Drew's new feather bed from their garage. They are on their way to the Panama Canal on a cruise and did not want Drew to have to wait until they returned to get the feather bed. So I ran up there yesterday planning to do a quick run in, grab it and be on my way. But as long as I was there, I thought I would check on things.....that is where I made my mistake.

I did a walk around the outside of the house, making sure there was no broken windows, packages left out, etc. I found a utility closet outside the house open. I looked in thinking the wind probably blew it open and was going to close it. That is when I smelled gas.....

It is one of those times where you hope you are hallucinating because you really don't want to deal with it. So I walked away and then walked back...sniffing. Yep! That was gas!

Hours of work later, PG&E comes out, finds a leak in the manifold and fixes it!

I guess I was lucky to have noticed as it would have been bad if the house blew up while they were gone!

Drew's xmas gift

This is Drew's xmas gift....no....not the dog - the bed! It was time for the giant kid to get a giant bed. He went from twin to queen. Daisy loves it too!

Snow Adventure

We went to the snow today. We went four wheeling down a forest service road, pulled off the side and started a fire. The kids sledded and played. We had a yummy lunch of homemade pierogis and roasted veggie soup!

It was a chilly day - but sunny.

The excitement of the day was when a group of 14 four wheelers came by. They were out driving around in the snow.

Dog Snow Shoeing

Hurricane!

I walked out to the garage (at the cabin) this morning and was faced with this! What a mess! Our summer gear is mixed with our winter gear and this is the result. We need to get out there and do a clean up .

More pics

Here are more pics from our snowshoe trip to the lookout tower. There is a helicopter that we got to play around in. Not a bad spot for a picnic!

Fire Lookout Snowshoe hike

Yesterday we did a snowshoe hike up to a fire look out in Yosemite. The hike up the mountain is beautiful but the view once you get to the top is magnificent!

It was Ahi's first snow shoe hike and she did great! She hiked about 4 miles. Every so often, we would pick her up for a while to warm her feet.

Dork Cam

We got a helmet cam for xmas. You strap it to the top of your head for snowboarding, biking, fishing, etc. Jim is the guy that wears it, so we call it "dork cam"!

Here he is using it to play spoons.

Early morning at the cabin

I got up early this morning and the dogs were NOT ready to go out for a run like they normally are. I think we wore them out with all the hiking, swimming and snow play. I was on the computer and looked over and they were snuggled up together. Sweet doggies!

Violence

Last nite we were playing a game of spoons and it turned violent! The pic shows the results!

The spoons went flying, broke some glass and my hand landed in the broken glass while I was going for a spoon! That is blood on my hand from the cut.

You can't lose good friends - part 1

There seems to be a pattern....

Today we lost our friends. First, our Chiweenie. Now, our friends.

This afternoon we went to the snow with Tina and Marty for an afternoon of sledding. When we pulled off the road at the spot where we always stop, we waited and waited..... But no Tina and Marty.

There are two roads with the same name and we were at the second one. So we figured that they must have gone to the first one. So we turned around and went back to look for them. We each had walkie talkies but they were not responding to our calls.

We got to the first road and headed down it. The conditions got worse and worse - lots of snow and ice. We started worrying that they thought we went down it and headed into the poor conditions. We went a couple miles and could not find them. It was starting to get unsafe so we turned back.

We started to get worried.

We headed back to the main road.

We decided to head back to the cabin, thinking they might have headed back.

When we got back to the cabin and they were not there, we put together a full on rescue plan.

We loaded the truck with sleeping bags, shovels and warm clothes. Jim and Drew were on the rescue team. Gracie and I were to wait at the house and if Jim and Drew were not back with Tina and Marty by 8 pm, I was to call rescue authorities.

About 20 minutes later, everyone showed up at the cabin! Hurray! Just like the Chiweenie, Tina and Marty headed back home to safety!!!!

Lake Day

Jim and Marty went fishing today in the kayaks. Jim caught a giant blue gill and caught all the action on his new helmet/head cam! Grace, me and the dogs all walked down to the lake to check it out and Daisy got a chance to swim.

self portrait

Here is Daisy and I snowshoeing together. I took the pic of us by holding the camera out and upside down so I could push the button! That is why her nose is cut off of the pic! It is the best shot of the 5 that I took.

My Best Friend

Everyone should be lucky enough to have a lab as a best friend.

Isn't she a beauty?

Random Texting

Tonite while bbqing chicken, Jim got the following text message from a phone number he does not know:

"Ya when you admit you care we will talk but really im done with your attitude you need to have respect for other people."

To which, Jim replied:

"respect is really overated"

To which the random texter responded:

"wrong number my fone is tripin"

To which Jim responded:

"No worries, let me know if you want to talk, my friends call me dr phil"

To which the random texter responded:

"thats nice but i really dont know you lol"

And then later texted him again:

"sorry again about the text and thanks for the offer to talk"

Weird and random!

The Grandma Holidays

The Grandma's had very different holidays.

Grandma Kathy spent hers convalescing a hurt shoulder. She took a spill on a wet sidewalk and ended up on her shoulder. The doc says it may be a rotator cuff injury but that there is too much trauma right now to tell. Lucky for her, she is doing some traveling coming up that will include some rest and relaxation!

Grandma Anna went snowshoeing with me up at Badger Pass. She is amazing...almost 72 years old and she went snowshoeing for 3 miles at 6500 feet!

Pierogi Kitchen

Today we spent about 4 hours making pierogis. Pierogis are a polish giant ravioli type food. The filling is mashed potatoes, onions, garlic and cheese. It's a big labor intense process but the results are delicious!

Prewash

Here is Ahi doing the pre wash in the dishwasher. Saves water.

Merry Xmas Present!

My Dad got this cool buffet warmer for xmas. We used it that morning for our breakfast burrittos and it kept everything warm! LOVE it! I must get one!

Badger Pass

Here is the tremendous weather from yesterday!

Can't Lose a Good Chiweenie - Part 2

As you all know, the dogs go out for a run every morning. This morning, at the cabin, Jim went with me, so we decided to walk thru the forest, down to the creek behind the cabin. That way the dogs could be off leash the whole way and get a good run in.

We went about a mile and started walking up a road. The Chiweenie took off down the hill, across the creek and up the canyon on the other side. We continued to walk a little ways while whistling. After a few minutes, there was no Chiweenie to be seen.

So....Jim walked across the creek and looked for her while I walked up and down the road whistling for her. We did this for about 20 minutes until we decided that she was (a) she had gone home or (b) she was lost in the forest forever!

So we hiked a mile back home - whistling and calling her name the whole way!

Jim took a different route then me, just in case she went a different way home.

We got home and.....no Chiweenie on the deck!

Damn!

I yelled down to Jim that she was not here. I went to the front and opened it up to tell everyone that "apparently, you CAN lose a good Chiweenie"! And....I was greeted by Drew on the couch, snuggling with Ahi!

She had been back about 15 minutes!

Damn dog found her way back thru a forest that she had never been in before this morning. She was barking at the front door, so Gracie let her in! Then, everyone waited for us to get back.

What must Daisy think?

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays from pontoon mama and her whole crazy crew!

Pic taken in Yosemite. You can tell how tall Drew is in this pic compared to me.

Frasier

Twas 4 days before xmas

and all thru Sonora

Many creatures were stirring

All being human beings

OK....thats all I can think of for now...

This is our xmas tree for the cabin. We looked all over Sonora and found the last three (in the whole town) at Orchard Supply. Jim drove up to the front of the store, parked in the fire lane, held up each of the riduclous three remaining trees and we all laughed hysterically - for these were the ugliest trees of all time!

We chose this one and call him Frasier. It is so little that we just threw it in the back of the truck on top of the groceries. Normally we get a 12 foot tree for the cabin and this little guy is lucky if he is 5 feet tall! We giggle everytime we look at it! And he is so whimpy I accidently call him Francis!

Snow Chiweenie

Ahi had her first trip to the snow and loved it!!!! She ran all around and ate snow. But then after a while she got too cold and wanted back in the truck. We turned it on and turned on the heated seat which is the second pic. She laid there and shivered while the rest of us played in the snow.

Want to hear something nasty?

Yep....I know you do!

We have a "for sale" alias at work. For those of you not in high tech - that is an email list that you can sign up for and people post things they have for sale. Then you get an email saying the item is for sale. Think garage sale at work. There are all kinds of random things people sell - bikes, sunglasses, purses, dvds, computer parts, etc.

Now here is the nasty part.... Every few months there is someone selling a used breast pump! ICK! I totally believe in reusing, reducing and recycling. But I don't want someones old breast pump....especially someone I work with!

YUK!

Any Pokemon fans?

I have a brand new Pokemon book that needs a new home. I got it for my very handsome and charming nephew, Jack, but he already has it. Just say the word and its yours! And come and get it!

My favorite cookie recipe

Butterhorns

Dough

1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sour cream

Filling

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 t cinnamon

Mix together dough ingredients, divide into 3 parts, roll into ball and refrigerate in wax paper overnight. Roll out each ball to 1/4" thick (like a pizza dough) and sprinkle with fillling. Cut into 16 parts (slice like pizza) and roll up (like a crescent roll). Bake at 375 15-18 minutes. Makes 48.

Dog Sandwich

This morning, Jim left at 5 am to go get the boat. When he got up, I asked him to let Ahi out and put her in bed with me so that I could sleep late.....HA! Nice try!



He brings her into bed with me and she does her crazy roll around routine and then climbs under the covers and snuggles right up against my stomach. She then proceed to breath on me - big breaths! Then she started hiccuping! Big breath followed by big hiccup!



Then Daisy Mae gets in on the action by laying right behind me...making me the filling of a dog bread sandwich. She puts her head on my shoulder and breathes right in my ear.



So much for sleeping in! I could only take about 10 minutes of it and then decided to get up and take them for a walk in 27 degree weather!

Reporting Live from OG Office.....

My investigative reporter in the field just found out the following:

"Just found out more about the dead guy.

He'd just come out of the store and had a heart attack, fell and hit his head. They were treating it like a crime scene because no one saw it and he was wearing shorts in the rain. The police thought that was odd (they must not know Jim....haha).

Anyways, they pronounced him dead at the hospital.

I feel a little better knowing it was a homocide or some bum."

Dead Guy Number 2

How many dead guys can we find in one week? Remember the one I found at the local elementary school? Well.....he didn't end up being dead but it was unknown at the time.

So, Jim goes to the grocery store on Sunday nite and comes home to report that there was a dead guy in the parking lot. Apparently half the parking lot was roped off because a guy was dead in between two cars. It was not known what had happened so the police roped it off and treated it like a crime scene.

Weird happenings.

Family Pics

Here are the family pics we got taken this year. I love the one of the 5 cousins!

Xmas Humor

Thanks to my friend Tracy who has the same sense of humor as me! Merry Xmas to all my Old Lady friends!!!

Out takes

Here are the out takes from taking the xmas pics of the dogs. I don't know about you but they make me laugh out loud! Hilarious!