Site of the Great Gnome Massacre

Last night at around 2:00 am, we started hearing noises. Tarn went a little crazy. Then we heard the neighbor's monster truck roar away (Damon says the truck is the real crime). Finally I got up to see what was going on and a cop was sitting outside our house. Damon went out to talk to him. He reported that some kids had gone next door and had been smashing our neighbors gnomes. It is kind of funny except that the lady next door had her gnomes smashed before (she has a gazillion) and she stopped me in the morning and she was really bummed ("I am on a fixed income and can't afford anymore" - the neighbor). The gnome smashers were caught last night according to the cop. When we got up this morning some of the gnomes were in our yard. We also drove by her house and there is a lot of gnome pieces in the road. So of course I had to set them up for a photo. If you look closely the pigs are (see no, hear no, speak no evil), the bunny has been given a collar, and the turtle is just a turtle. Now one of us has to go deliver them back. But don't worry there are plenty of gnomes still.

Ride from spokane to coure d alene

1. Starting out Saturday morning 7:30 am
2. My first flat ever Saturday 7:45 am
3 and 4 Waiting out the rain Sunday morning 9:00 am
5. Bunny Bunny Bunny (at the rest stop!)

computer is down again

On the upside I found this delightful picture of Tarn and Kitty on the old computer. I took it when I wasn't working. I know that because they are dressed in matching outfits. Gary and Chris were over the other night and they said "remember when we stopped by when you didn't have a job, and you had Tarn dressed up in people clothes?". I was like...."ugh ya. That is normal right". Anyhow, I am glad to have a job. Sometimes I don't like it, but it is a good thing to have. Dempster (the old Rock is staying with us). He is doing awesome. Well, two throw ups this morning after the gym - but still he is really really well behaved.

Here comes the rain

Here comes the rain. We road the tandem from Spokane to Coure de Alene. It is about 40 miles and I think Damon does all of the work since it wasn't all that hard. Saturday was beautiful weather. There was rest stop with a bunch of bunnies. They live in junipers and probably eat what the people at the rest stop feed them. I fed them carrots from the snack thing at our bike rest stop. We got there and had a leisurely day in Coure de Alene with more than one nap and a dinner at the brewery as part of ride. We walked since we had no car. The people that road 100 miles took a taxi. The next morning we awoke to pouring rain and no way to get back to our cars except to ride. Damon said "you like the rain, so this won't be that bad". I do like the rain, sitting in the house in front of the fire with a good book, not riding a bike. We rode with water in our shoes. Everyone was in good spirits and we PR'd on the ride back. Then we got baked potatoes at the hotel we stayed at on Friday. I'll add a picture later since I am in class.

monks

If you dropped the chip then it would be just a monk. This was a fat little monk that was getting us to feed him trail mix after our hike while we waited for the boat ride home. It kept trying to get in our pack to get more treats and even tried to climb in Damon's boot. We saw lots of these little guys on the trail but this one was the fattest for sure. All of the animals were treating us like Dr. Doolittle. Maybe because we met the bear from Dr. Doolittle at Sequim and he shared. There was the deer at our campsite the second night that wouldn't leave. There was the pheasant or quail that let me take a picture right up in his grill. Then this chipmonk. We saw a fox at the resort, but he didn't stick around to hang with us.

We had a great relaxing, refreshing time in Redfish Lake. Of course we came back with all sorts of new goals and ideas about life (see motivation). Mostly we just chilled and hiked. We also road the tandem 30 miles to a hot spring. There are hot springs every where. The lodge was like a modern day Dirty Dancing lodge, mixed with my experience at Squaw Valley Academy. I swear there was only like 3 workers there running a full hotel and full service restaurant, bar, and marina. Our favorite thing was getting to breakfast at 8 am right when they opened and watching the mayhem of breakfast. Ymmm coffee with a reality TV show going on all around you. The nearest town is Stanley and we were plotting our move until we found out that in the winter the town only has 35 people. No thanks. Anyway we are back to work. And if you haven't checked out the kitty blog lately, take a look at these cuties.

Delight - Vacation

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you...
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

John Muir

Sequim - Happy Birthday Damon!

If you know Damon he is pretty mellow about his birthday. I just heard him use it to advantage twice. Once to convince kitty to stop biting him and a half hour to get me to let him watch MASH at bed time. What a manipulative little birthday boy.

We had a nice family reunion on Saturday followed by a trip to Sequim. We decided to stay in hotel for Damon's birthday and do some of the top activities Sequim has to offer. Just like everything else we seem to do our activities are bigger than our hours and I am glad that I wasn't able to book the Kayaking trip on Saturday and we didn't bring the tandem. We had just enough time to enjoy a hike in the Rain Forest, cut short a little by entering the national park where the No's include no pets. It worked out perfect and we crossed a bridge and did another trail. It was hard to get Tarn to cross the bridge, but eventually to avoid being left behind he crossed at Damon's heals and bounded across unaided on the way back. Damon had been concerned on the drive up fearing we may get stuck without seeing any other cars on the dirt road. In true westside fashion the road opened up to a parking lot full of cars sporting environmental bumper stickers. It is so pretty up there in the woods. We got back just in time to visit the Sequim Game Farm. Here we come goats! I thought it was going to freak Damon out. It did a little, especially the penned cougar, that two hours earlier I was reading how to avoid an attack from the hiking book. They could make it a little more comfortable for the animals but it is crazy cool to see Kodiak bears just sitting 2 feet from you surrounded by a circle of uneaten bread. I am not sure if the highlight was touching a buffalo tongue or spending time with goats. We ended the trip with a ferry ride and a stop at Marymore Dog Park. No pictures but that place must be like Disney Land for dogs. So fun for Tarn.