A day late but it still counts
Showing posts with label nacho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nacho. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Friday, May 3, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Jackson Hole
WARNING! LOTS OF PICS! i couldn't help myself!
so this shot was actually taken a couple days into the trip. this arch is made entirely out of antlers. i'm assuming Elk from the size but certainly could be deer. the story i got from the dog sledding company (later) was that the boy scouts get to go out first each year & collect the antlers from the national park (Yellowstone i'm assuming because i also didn't ask about that). they assemble them into these arches (there are 4 in the town square). amazing!
according to him, these arches are good for about 10 years - because the horns do deteriorate. when they start to look too weathered, they auction off the horns. in many cases, the entire arch gets sold in one piece & relocated. that's how the arch at the airport got there. i was not able to take a picture of it because it is on the tarmac & you can't linger there - seems like a dumb place to put it then. hence this photo instead.
we spent our first 2 days doing the usual snowboarding at Jackson Hole Resort (aka Teton Village).
i'd never been here before but heard plenty & so my expectations were pretty high. were they met? well, not really. i'm not saying i wouldn't come here again, but it would not be my first choice. maybe there just wasn't enough snow or maybe it's beyond my ability (which i don't think it is), but i was just very "meh" about it. just not impressed.
one of the things that caught Korby & Nacho's eye was the sleeping indian in this photo.
i could not for the life of me see it. believe me, Korby tried over and over and over and over and over...well you get it, but i just could not see it. i'm sure you can. so i took this photo in order to take it back to the room & look at it on the computer where i finally saw it.
well duh! right there! but when you are told multiple times "see that ridge..." then you might as well say "see that patch of snow". on to better stuff!
on our 3rd day, the boys did a snow mobile tour in Yellowstone. i skipped that for a reason you will see in a sec. so i had to rely on Nacho's photos from his camera phone. to his credit he admitted, the phone just doesn't capture the true colors - they never do!
they said it made them a little nervous when something that big is not intimidated at all by the snow mobiles. but very cool nonetheless.
and if you didn't want to brave the elements on a snow mobile, apparently you could take a guided tour in one of these!
i think i will buy my old truck back from Nacho's company and trick it out like this for winter!
so what did i do while they were off galavanting & herding bison? well, i got myself in some primo XC skiing! i am in love with this activity people!
Cache Creek Trail was only a mile away from our condo. so i got a nice hike up there & a nice hike back in addition to the 4 miles i xc'd that day! this was my first solo adventure on true groomed trails & i could not have been better initiated! i met some very nice people along the way and a lot of great dogs! everyone had at least 1 dog with them & 99% of them were off leash (dogs & people), just running along while their owner(s) were skiing. i soooooo need to move!
but here is the best part! on our 4th day, the guys went back to board/ski on the mountain, but i had scheduled a little trip for myself. A DOG SLEDDING TRIP!!!! how cool is that you ask? waaaaay cool! first thing i want to say about this is exactly what they said to us before heading out: everything/anything you've seen in movies/tv about dog sledding....don't believe. the dogs they show you on tv/movies are typically Huskies or Malamutes & they are way bigger than these guys. as they explained, and it makes sense, these dogs also compete in Iditarod races. so like a human marathon, you want a fit/sleek competitor. those Huskies/Malamutes, while very pretty, have been bred mostly for just that: looks! and are not built for this! but on to the good stuff MUSH!
here is how it worked for us: we did the Full Day trip (which i HIGHLY recommend). there were 4 of us plus our guide Courtney. so a mom & dad & their daughter, me & Courtney. the mom and daughter were in 1 sled, then me, the dad & Courtney in the other.
after about an hour of lounging in the hot springs, we sat down for an awesome beef stew lunch and some A-M-A-Z-I-N-G huckleberry cordials from The Huckleberry People.
and let me point out something very important here: before the staff did any of the prepping for us humans, they took care of the furfriends first! the dogs are their priority, not the people. so they go over each dog checking their paws, rewarding them, getting them water & their food FIRST!
after lunch, we headed back home! at this point we switched places, so i got to sit in the sled while "dad" helped drive. we did stop along the way to take some pics. in a very rare moment, i actually let Courtney take a picture of me, with the dogs of course!
they really aren't too much bigger than our boxers. but i hope you can also see they are very happy!
and the end of our trip brings me to housing! JHISDT has over 200 dogs & this is how they house them.
i cannot say enough (obviously) about our guide Courtney & the tour. it was the highlight of my trip. remember how i said i was all "meh" about Jackson Hole? well, not after this. the XC skiing plus this MADE the trip for me. i would come back to this in a heartbeat! i'm now wanting to come back in summer when you can mountain bike as well!
and in yet another uncharacteristic move for me, here's a pic of me and Nacho on our last day.
we spent our first 2 days doing the usual snowboarding at Jackson Hole Resort (aka Teton Village).
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| What a view! |
one of the things that caught Korby & Nacho's eye was the sleeping indian in this photo.
on our 3rd day, the boys did a snow mobile tour in Yellowstone. i skipped that for a reason you will see in a sec. so i had to rely on Nacho's photos from his camera phone. to his credit he admitted, the phone just doesn't capture the true colors - they never do!
but not too bad. they did get to see Old Faithful go off but no photo. sorry :( however, they saw a bunch of bison!
and if you didn't want to brave the elements on a snow mobile, apparently you could take a guided tour in one of these!
so what did i do while they were off galavanting & herding bison? well, i got myself in some primo XC skiing! i am in love with this activity people!
but here is the best part! on our 4th day, the guys went back to board/ski on the mountain, but i had scheduled a little trip for myself. A DOG SLEDDING TRIP!!!! how cool is that you ask? waaaaay cool! first thing i want to say about this is exactly what they said to us before heading out: everything/anything you've seen in movies/tv about dog sledding....don't believe. the dogs they show you on tv/movies are typically Huskies or Malamutes & they are way bigger than these guys. as they explained, and it makes sense, these dogs also compete in Iditarod races. so like a human marathon, you want a fit/sleek competitor. those Huskies/Malamutes, while very pretty, have been bred mostly for just that: looks! and are not built for this! but on to the good stuff MUSH!
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| here's the best photo i could find of Courtney & "dad" on our way to the springs |
on the way out, i stood on the back with Courtney & "helped" drive. a couple of times we got off the sled & ran while the dogs pulled uphill just so they didn't have to work as hard. "dad" got to lounge comfortably in the sled! mom & daughter drove their sled all on their own - one driving while the other was in the sled.
wanna know something you don't see in these photos? poop! here's the thing, remember these dogs also are competitive racers. so when racing they cannot stop to poop. process that again: they cannot stop to poop. so when they gotta go, they gotta go while they are going! put differently, they are going while they are going! oh yeah! so picture a dog at about a 12mph pace doing the big business. i'm not kidding! actually the drivers discourage it because most of the time, and if you own a dog you know this, they don't really need to GO, they are just marking. so when one marks, they all feel the need to. if they just let them do this as they like, this trip would never leave the station! but don't worry, they didn't get punished or anything. they would do their business while being corrected all while still trotting along! it is something to be experienced to say the least!
we stopped for lunch at Granite Hot Springs where we all took a dip while the guides took care of the dogs then prepped our lunch. sorry no photos but i only had my camera phone & if you know how bad i am with my phone, then you know why i would not dare take it in the pool with me!
after lunch, we headed back home! at this point we switched places, so i got to sit in the sled while "dad" helped drive. we did stop along the way to take some pics. in a very rare moment, i actually let Courtney take a picture of me, with the dogs of course!
and here's where i want to get on a soap box:
so when i Googled reviews for Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Tours, there was this one person from Georgia that had terrible things to say about the company & the treatment of the dogs. let me say, that person has no idea what a working dog is. i grew up around hunting dogs my entire childhood & there's a big difference between the dog you keep in your purse & these guys. they are bred specifically for this & this is what they live for. as Courtney said, if a dog ever needs to be kept inside (for example an injury or really sick), they actually hate it. they are very selective about what dogs get bred - unlike those puppy mills so many people get their purse dogs from. also, when one of their dogs can no longer race or work, they become "greeters" back at the office. they do not put dogs down because they can't work anymore. so if you think these guys are mistreated, then you need an education!
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| does this guy look unhappy to you! |
this is genius! those are cable spools for anyone who has never seen one. in the winter, turned upright like this, they can get inside (yes inside) them & that keeps them off the ground. their straw is changed out daily. so AGAIN, these guys are treated very well! in the summer, they turn the spools on their side so the dogs can not only get in them, but the flat becomes their roof & shade. i showed this to my daddy & he's now hunting down spools for his dogs!
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| i'm still trying to figure out how to get this girl in my pocket & sneak her home! |
and in yet another uncharacteristic move for me, here's a pic of me and Nacho on our last day.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Fonzi say: Aaaaaa
so as i mentioned in the previous post, i made a little personal gift for us last night for Valentine's Day. actually, we both made it.
i was inspired by a post earlier this week from Dina at Honey & Fritz. the original post can be found here. originally it was going to be a surprise, but my usual procrastination brought me to a better idea. Nacho & i love to do puzzles, especially at Christmas time, so why not use a puzzle we'd actually done & why not have BOTH of us contribute to this little art project? so Nacho pitched in while also managing dinner.
i started with a trip to HobbyLobby & bought an 8"x8" frame & a couple of pieces of white card stock for backing (i always buy an extra in case i mess up). then i tried printing out a large lowercase "A" from MS Word. that was not going well. i know, i should not have used a word processing program to begin with, but it's what i know most. i never could get the sizing or vertical spacing right. when i got the letter the size i thought i wanted, it would not print on a single piece of paper.
enter, OpenOffice Draw! i love OpenOffice. 1 because it's free, yes, but mostly because it doesn't have all that heft that the MS products have - nothing against MS products, i just don't need all the bells/whistles at home. so in Draw, i just created a lowercase "A" using the text tool & was able to size & position it perfectly - Arial Black 24 btw! i did practice runs with just an outlined A (like Erin's "M") then thought to color the "A" in (like Erin's "A"). after playing around with a couple of blues, i found the one i thought worked best with our puzzle pieces as a whole - blue8 in OpenOffice Draw.
the smartest thing i did: i printed the color "A" out on regular paper & played with the layout. glad i did this because i was waaay too anal about this. i have no idea how Erin laid hers out, but it didn't need near as much attention as i was giving it.
i'm not sure what Erin used to secure hers, but Mod Podge worked great for me & allowed me to brush it on instead of the strings that a glue gun can leave.
another tip: i actually MP'd a few pieces to one of my paper print outs just to get a feel for how it would brush on the puzzle pieces. since this was going to create a useless puzzle that i'm not willing to donate anyway, might as well practice!
and so Nacho & i created the 1st layer!
i let it dry for a few minutes & held it up to make sure all pieces were secured. success! then i just repeated with layers 2 and 3 - Erin has a lot more layers than i do, so use your own judgement!
the next 2 layers were a little less straightforward. at times, i brushed the MP onto the back of the puzzle piece, at others onto the pieces that they would be sitting on. it just depended on how the "standing" test went & if they held or not.
and in about 30 minutes i had a work of art!
and i am happy to say i don't think this will make it to the Pinterest Fail site!
i started with a trip to HobbyLobby & bought an 8"x8" frame & a couple of pieces of white card stock for backing (i always buy an extra in case i mess up). then i tried printing out a large lowercase "A" from MS Word. that was not going well. i know, i should not have used a word processing program to begin with, but it's what i know most. i never could get the sizing or vertical spacing right. when i got the letter the size i thought i wanted, it would not print on a single piece of paper.
enter, OpenOffice Draw! i love OpenOffice. 1 because it's free, yes, but mostly because it doesn't have all that heft that the MS products have - nothing against MS products, i just don't need all the bells/whistles at home. so in Draw, i just created a lowercase "A" using the text tool & was able to size & position it perfectly - Arial Black 24 btw! i did practice runs with just an outlined A (like Erin's "M") then thought to color the "A" in (like Erin's "A"). after playing around with a couple of blues, i found the one i thought worked best with our puzzle pieces as a whole - blue8 in OpenOffice Draw.
the smartest thing i did: i printed the color "A" out on regular paper & played with the layout. glad i did this because i was waaay too anal about this. i have no idea how Erin laid hers out, but it didn't need near as much attention as i was giving it.
tip: you do not have to, nor do you really want to, cover every square inch of the "A" in puzzle pieces during the 1st layer. as a matter of fact, some of that color showing through is nice!
and then i was off! here is the official "a" printed on sturdy card stock so any glue would not warp the paper too badly (that's another tip!).
another tip: i actually MP'd a few pieces to one of my paper print outs just to get a feel for how it would brush on the puzzle pieces. since this was going to create a useless puzzle that i'm not willing to donate anyway, might as well practice!
and so Nacho & i created the 1st layer!
the next 2 layers were a little less straightforward. at times, i brushed the MP onto the back of the puzzle piece, at others onto the pieces that they would be sitting on. it just depended on how the "standing" test went & if they held or not.
and in about 30 minutes i had a work of art!
Happy DayAfterValenties Day!
so how was your VD? wait, that's probably not something i want you to answer! but mine was great thanks! we typically buck the tradition of going out to eat because, well, i hate people & you can be sure to encounter them at dinner on Feb 14th! instead, we stayed in & cooked for each other - i prefer that anyway! i had planned to do a pork loin from my Ina Garten recipe book & Nacho was completely on board. so on board, that he simply took over!
so i did what i do best.....i made cupcakes!
and ate half the batter - SALMONELLA BE DAMNED!!!
but also while Nacho handled most of the cooking, i worked on a little VD gift (hehe). no not that kind, but this one does keep giving back!
not much to it but i'll give cred & some very abbreviated steps in a separate post!
and then we ate!
mmmm twas delish! another excellent job by TheMan. and then we exchanged gifts. Nacho got me one of my faves, Fanny May DARK Chocolate Covered Cherries. yes, i said Dark, not the regular stuff. i could eat these til i puke! romantic huh? and i got him
yep! those are 2 hair combs you see there! there was a 3rd blue one, but it went with Nacho to hockey practice this morning at which point he FINALLY RETURNED MINE! i don't do anything without an ulterior motive! and finally, "Nacho made me" (aka i made a gift to me from him) a very special flower arrangement.
that there is nothing but Cherry Blow Pops! my absolute favorite sucker. normally you cannot buy a bag of just the Cherry, but apparently at Valentines you can and i jumped on it! so the local hardware store can sigh a bit of relief that i won't be cleaning them out for a couple of weeks!
but also while Nacho handled most of the cooking, i worked on a little VD gift (hehe). no not that kind, but this one does keep giving back!
and then we ate!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
11
it's been a crazy few weeks around here & i've skipped posting anything. honestly i thought my next post was going to be bad news about Cookie, but fortunately that is not the case.
Sept brings 2 celebrations for us: our Anniversary & Cookie's birthday (always bittersweet without Butterz)! this year marked 11 for both of those. for us, it was Sept 15th and for Cookie it was Sept 22. i'm so glad to have both of these as my life! notice, they are not "part of" my life, but they ARE my life! it doesn't matter how many remote controls get destroyed, how many times someone pees in the house, or how much hockey gear gets strewn all over the place, i am so happy to have Nacho & Cookie - and i won't tell you who does which!
so Nacho & i spent our day in the most fitting way, doing what we love to do!
Sept brings 2 celebrations for us: our Anniversary & Cookie's birthday (always bittersweet without Butterz)! this year marked 11 for both of those. for us, it was Sept 15th and for Cookie it was Sept 22. i'm so glad to have both of these as my life! notice, they are not "part of" my life, but they ARE my life! it doesn't matter how many remote controls get destroyed, how many times someone pees in the house, or how much hockey gear gets strewn all over the place, i am so happy to have Nacho & Cookie - and i won't tell you who does which!
so Nacho & i spent our day in the most fitting way, doing what we love to do!
at the time, it was a bit unseasonably chilly here so i was afraid we were done for the season. but somebody somewhere likes us & not only did we get a little temp rise, but the water turned to perfect glass! it will most likely be my last run of the season, but it was worth it! the ride back home was just as nice!
this is how i like to end the season!
during all this time we were wrapped up in some pretty serious issues with Cookie. the short of it, she was showing signs so similar to Butterz final weeks that it scared us crazy. you are never ready to let them go, but i mean we REALLY were not ready. suffice it to say, she has pulled through. we don't know exactly what the cause was, other than she definitely had an infection & she is still on steroids, but we are glad to have her back at 98.9%. we will certainly take that. so it was actually a pretty big deal for us to take the break we did on our anniversary & head out. at any rate, she spent her birthday getting spoiled rotten with some relaxing beach time
and some ice cream
and she still rocks it like a 3 year old!
we do love our Cookers!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
the Answer to the Ultimate Question of the Universe?
why Nacho of course! can you believe this
turned 42 yesterday? really 42! that's not a typo
yes it can be quite exhausting!
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