Cleaning up the yard - in the snow

Nothing like cleaning up the leaves from last fall at the end of March and getting snowed on. Pictures below are:
1. Our fabulous art deco fence
2. 23 bags of leaves - another art form
3. Tarn showing how helpful he is cleaning up his toys - or - maybe he is just happy that four tennis balls materialized from under the leaves.

Long Winded

This week we got the biggest treat. Wedding photos from Heather (One Love Photo - See her fabulous blog on my blogroll). They were so fun to look through and crack up. The dancing, the conga line and the self portraits made me giggle. Oh ya, and the wedding day poker game. Of course I would not have it any other way. Here is the link. http://onelovephoto.smugmug.com/Weddings
Password: kingsbury (lowercase)
Last Saturday on way to Ellensburg, I got to do the little book. I must be out of shape because my legs were so sore. Damon road his bike there, we passed him on the way in the car, and then he hiked up a little to meet us on our way down. What does Tarn think? Damon just appears out of no where. He doesn't even act like it is weird. Maybe he is less intelligent than I give him credit for. Unfortunately we were unable to make it across the pass for Easter. The pass was open and we pulled off to drive up to Alpental as a side trip. As we got off the freeway a yellow dog was trying to make his way up the exit. We drove by and then had to go back. We were able to get him on a leash. He was so cute wagging his tail and hopped right in the car. I called the number on the tag and his family had a cabin less than a block away. So much for the big rescue, but definitely alleviated some of my guilt. Then we drove to Alpental and by the time we got back the pass was closed. We were able to visit with friends Gary and Chris on Saturday. On Sunday, our own special Easter bunny stopped by (see picture). I spent all day reading 'Atonement' our book club book. It was the greatest day because I had to read, but I wanted to read. There was no guilt about wasting the whole day reading. I went to the gym and read, I sat on the couch and read, I read while cooking (okay maybe not that – I can't remember). I was like my very own Dr. Seuss book. The book got finished and then the book club meeting disintegrated. Even I tried to cancel last minute, but Celisa – she calls herself the co-chair, I call her the book club bully – fondly of course would not let me cancel. We had a great time sharing our thoughts about the book and everything else. Our next book is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan if anyone wants to read from afar.

Precious Hike Sunday - Snow Mountain Ranch - Again

Tarn and I made it to the top (we think) at Snow Mountain Ranch. The wild flowers are in bloom. And Tarn is still clumsy.

The top. Kind of disappointing. I have been wanting to get to the top. I ran into a man at the bottom. I was picturing that he had a rifle when he was far away. Okay paranoia. When I got up close it was - big shock - hiking poles. And his belt buckle told me he was a mountain rescue person. Then I ran into another man higher up. He instructed me how to get to the top. "Go to the end of trail, up the rocks, follow the elk fence." All well and good until I tried to come down. Good thing that Tarn knew the way. It makes you wonder -who is leading the hike? We were happy though. Here we are - happy.

Pretty Art

This weekend I was headed over for Janice's baby shower and I got a 2 for 1 opportunity. Craft night at Embers. Arriving at Ember's, I wasn't sure what house until I saw the shadow of Ember's hair bobbing in the window. Entering the house to Leo (3 years old) and Fin (1 years old) dancing like crazy, rolling on the ground, and kicking the air. It was a great pajama show. Then the kids went up stairs and the suitcases of paper and art supplies were busted out. UH-OH. Fortunately while Heather and Kate played show and tell with craft items, Erika arrived and I had someone to talk to. Kate and Heather generously shared their supplies so I could make the beautiful item above for Damon. He loves it. If you look closely you can see the cactus in the cowboy boots. This piece combines some of my favorite things: cactus, red shoes, cowboys, and glitter. The experienced crafters told me stories of other nights where chairs were brought and beautifully adorned with paper. I then got to spend the night with Heather and Jon. When we arrived, Jon was playing beautiful music. We then stayed up until Heather said "It is 3:30!". Jon laughed and reported that meant it was 4:30. So we hit the baby shower on a few hours of sleep. It was nice, casual, and great to catch up with some good friends. Everyone is anxiously awaiting girl's weekend. I am wondering how many suitcases of craft items will cross over to the islands. Needless to say I was exhausted when I arrived home.

Burning Rice Krispy Treats

We have been crazy lately, that probably sounds like little dramatic, especially to all you that have kids. It is a little dramatic-but having not had a day at home, means the house is dirty and I am drinking yesterdays coffee that was actually dripped for the second day. Yuck. But we had a baby shower/potluck at work and so on the way home I got to stop at Target. Target in Yakima is a great people watching affair. In the morning, I started making rice krispie treats. Of course I was doing too many things at once and burnt them. They went to work anyway and they all were eaten. Of course, I probably ate half of them. Yum.

The lighter is climbing Rainier

I got an email from my old friend "the lighter". He wanted advice about climbing Rainier. He has me all full of memories about accomplishing the climb of Mt. Rainier. Here is me - on top - exhausted. I still can't believe I made it. In the spirit of laziness, here is the email I wrote him back about training for it - in case anyone else is up for the challenge.

That is awesome that you are going to do it. I am kind of jealous and feeling really lazy and overworked - so I guess I am not jealous. I started March 1st I think and climbed august 3rd. I started with the 5 months prior on the training guide below. Just remember slow and steady wins the race. Learn the rest step. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_step

This is literally the guide I followed. I saved it in my file of important papers and it is still online.

http://alpineascents.com/pdf/denali-train-chart.pdf

Buy your boots now and train in them. Don't rent the boots. Splurge on them. Train in your pack - even at the gym. Splurge on that too.

Pack funny foods that you like. Candy was the only thing I could stomach. Eat little bits of food all the time. I packed pizza in foil for the night on the mountain and breakfast (at midnight)before climbing on the mountain. Use a camelback even though it says the mouth piece freezes. If it does you can dump the water out into a Nalgene. Don't expect to sleep at all.

It is amazing what your body can do when you are in shape and train for it.

Baby Kitty

This picture is of kitty when he was a tiny baby. You can see he has been harrassing everyone since the day he moved in. Poor Tarn. I have been having some freaky dreams lately. Kitty was biting me the other morning and in my dream I said to Damon he needs to get kicked out. Damon (in my dream) told me that I couldn't kick him out because he was on the Workfirst program and he had to bite me to get his money. This is a wierd parallel to some portions of my work. Then I had a dream that I turned into a park and there was all of these blue gang members fighting. I thought (in my dream) "crap, my car is red". I was unable to get out of the park before they opened up my car with a powersaw. Obviously I lived, I don't remember how the dream ended. That dream was really freaky.

There have been some wierd things going on at our house. First our gnomes got stolen. That is funny, I am waiting for pictures of them from somewhere. Earlier this year our neighbors lawn ornaments got stolen and she stopped me to tell me about it, she was really depressed. I hope it is someone playing a joke, but is probably just high school kids. More concerning is that someone took Tarn's dog dish out of the back yard and moved our lawn chairs around. Unless I am just being paranoid, people have been in our yard. Oh I am going to make a trap the back yard and see what I catch.

I have been fasting, not blogging

This weekend we were on the west side for another race. My parents were the super hosts. Damon was pretty happy with his racing. I got to spend some time with my family and then go to a movie with Jon and Heather. We actually made it to a movie. I think that is a first. And I stayed up later than Jon. I know that is a first.

On Monday morning I decided to do a 3 day juice fast. (It lasted about 68 hours). I have done it before a couple of times, and it usually required some research and prep. This time I just started it and went three days. I really didn't even want to eat. It was almost a relief not to have to always be thinking about what to eat, where to get it, is healthy, and is it a bunch of wasteful packaging. So it was a nice way to eliminate some of the things to think about. I took yesterday afternoon off, knowing that I would probably be too out of it to deal with work.

Another great benefit was that I just floated through all of my lovely Wednesday meetings. Usually I am too amped up to deal with the blah blah of meetings. Yesterday I just thought to myself "Oh boy, they are yelling at each other, that is kind of funny. What is that on the wall up there?"

You are supposed to end fasts gradually. My fast ended first with a bowl of cheerios then meeting Gary and Chris at Buhrmaster bakery. Bread, olive oil, garlic, a panini, beers and then I am embarrassed to admit, making Damon stop at McDonalds. Oh well.

Benefits of juice fasting

In addition to promoting the excretion of toxins and decreasing congestive symptoms, juice fasting is believed to have the following benefits:

Eliminates most food allergies and sensitivities.

Reduces the burden on the digestive system, allowing it to heal.

Releases pesticides, drugs, and other chemicals from stored fat, which can then be eliminated.

Enhances mental, physical, and spiritual well-being

Has less severe withdrawal symptoms than a water fast.

Increased energy

Mental clarity

Glowing skin

Prevents chronic diseases caused by poor diet and lifestyle

Clears mucus dishcharge