Flume Trail

We stomped the Flume trail last weekend. For sure.

Birth-Day

My youngest sister, Kayce, happens to be quite the talented card-maker. There isn't a holiday or occasion that isn't celebrated by a bright and original and cheery card. This card happened to include a dollar bill because this was an extra-special card to celebrate my day of birth. Kayce doesn't have many of these dollar bills so I felt extra-special because of her gift. Kayce has quite the dollar-sense and is more aware of fiscal responsibility then any other seven-year-old I know. In my more recent conversation we talked about the price of gas and her baby steer that she is raising to sell. She also did her best to determine what she should be paid to babysit our future kids. (No need to panic....we have no exciting news and shouldn't in the near future) She thought that three dollars an hour seemed about right for baby-sitting. I stated that "I wasn't sure I could afford her prices and might have to shop around" She matter-of-factly replied "well I do have college to pay for." Kayce and I think along the same lines, I guess we must be sisters.



I had a perfect celebration complete with fresh flowers, presents, cake, people I love, wine, dark chocolate, a birthday serenade(Garret made sure to that I heard his froggy voice over the phone) and the mtn bike trail of my choice. It was so good that I might be suffering, in the slightest way, from some post birthday blues.

Mt Rose in two seasons

Mt Rose summit by foot, last weekend. It only took like an an hour and twenty minutes to get to the top,so we thought we going to beat Jocelyn's time and hurried back down. Surprisingly, it took just as long to get back down, so we still beat her, but not by much. (she will contest this, but she who blogs first wins)



Here's a photo from the archives, the other time we were up there. Sometime in the 09/10 season, we did Mt Rose on skis. I think we even blogged about it. Okay, at least Facebooked about it.

The Black Wall

Gearing up


The not-so-ominous Black Wall

Autumnal Days

Fall leaves saturated with orange and red hues. My mama taught me the art of gathering and bringing nature indoors. (I've only come to realize that this was an art, as a kid I assumed that everybody had the knack or vision) She was a professional. No tree with spring blossoms or unique pine cone went unnoticed and un-gathered.



Green tomatoes rescued from the chilly fall air. I've been promised that they will ripen if left on the windowsill. They seem very green and very hard but because they look so pretty and domestic I'm willing to give the process some time.



Soft sunshine, new chairs and books on the bookshelf. My Dad always seemed to head to the shop this time of year. After the busyness of summer he'd hide-away to revive and create. Fortunately, luck was on my side, and I married someone who has the same creative juice and talent. He doesn't have a shop and only wishes for a wood stove but still manages to do beautiful work. Denver finished the wood chairs by the window a few weeks ago and I'm so proud of his handiwork.

Beached

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since we moved into our little brick bungalow. I remember our first night in the old creaky house that smelled dusty and dank. It doesn't smell old now except when we forget to take the trash out after a few days. Two days after getting the keys to the new house Denver began the great renovation. He's done a ton of work on the house, the landscaping, and even the basement is getting organized. Nevermind that the entire back lot sits in disrepair, with dead weeds, piles of dirt and a couple of sagging buildings. Only the neighborhood cats enjoy hanging out back there, its kind of a legoland resort for felines. They poo in the nice soft dirt pile and romp through the weeds, climb the trees and poke their heads through holes in the fence. Well all this is about to change. (When I say "about" I mean in the next six months or so, so don't get too excited).

The plan is too build a garage/shop with a studio/apartment on top of it in the back corner of the lot. It's a great plan, but there's a hitch. It takes money to build a garage. We don't have any money. One way to have more money is to make more money, but that's easier said than done. The other way to have more money is to spend less money, which is probably even harder. Nonetheless, we are now on our second month of the "spend less, make more" campaign.

Which brings us to the best-ever, four-day, ultimate cheapskate, all expenses paid trip to O.C. complete with fresh seafood on the pier (many thanks to Adam's dad for this evening), a cocktail party, a taco feast, a delicious breakfast, free coffee and doughnuts at church, and some surfing just to keep from getting fat. I don't think we surfed enough. We shivered on the pier while waiting for an unwary lobster to wander into our hoop, (none ever did) and got to ride with Dennis and Diane back and forth from Reno (thanks for the lift!)

Pie shopping

On the first weekend of October, Chelsea and I always* go bouldering. This year, we each got to bring a friend. I brought Josiah Hassler, and Chelsea brought Jocelyn Little . Chelsea got her picture included just because she's cool like that.







*(This part is a complete dramatization)