Big Lobster

Okay, so I really have nothing to post, but my lobster, Bruce, was trying to steal this zucchini this morning and drag it back to his lair.  It was too heavy so he just climbed on top of it and started gnawing on it.  I've never had a lobster this big before.  He's about 6 inches long and he could grow to be about 12 inches long.  I'm hoping we can keep him alive that long.

Coonhound Lost, Coonhound Found - And More!

Two weeks ago on Sunday I took the coonhound out for our morning hike at 8 am.  I admit that sometimes I don't keep as close an eye on my animal as I should.  I was hiking along when off in the distance I heard her start to bay.  I could see that she was about 1/4 mile ahead of me, and she was chasing 2 deer.  I used the shock collar on the highest setting over and over again, but either she was out of range or she simply didn't care.  I plowed through the snow for about an hour hitting the shock collar and whistling for her, but I had no luck.  I finally decided there was no sense in me walking any further, so I turned around.  I went down to the store and purchased poster board and a fat marker and I made 6 lost dog signs.  I tacked one up at the trailhead where I lost her and then I moved north (the way she had gone) tacking them up at each of the next 5 trail heads.  At each trail head I hiked for a ways calling for her and hitting the shock collar, and asking everyone I met to be on the lookout for her.  After I had put my signs up at all of the trail heads I went back to the one where I lost her and I hit the trail again.  Again, I hiked for about an hour calling for her.  I came to a point where up ahead the trail curved around a hill and I thought, I'll go to that point and call for her again, then I'm giving up.  Just then the stupid animal peeked her head around that curve.  She had been gone for 4 hours and it took us another hour to get back to the car, so needless to say we were both exhausted.  I have never seen her so tired before.  Once we got home she slept all day and through the night.  She only got of the couch once to get a drink and do her duty outside.

As you can see from these pictures we've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks.  A couple of weeks ago the snowpack totals for the state were over 200% of average.  It has warmed up somewhat this week and the snow is melting now, and we have that wonderful Utah smog covering the valley.  There should be a couple of storms this week and hopefully they will clean out the air a little bit.

My resolution for the new year has been to cut way back on my sugar intake.  I'd like to say that I was giving it up entirely, but I know myself too well for that.  I have found a web site with the most delicious looking gluten-free, sugar-free, low-carb recipes.  Today I made biscuits.  I haven't had biscuits since I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and it has been one of my greatest hardships.  This evening I ate 2 heavenly biscuits and nearly wept for joy.  Later this week I am going to try the black bean chocolate cake.  Anyone who is interested can check out the link to Healthy Indulgences on my blog list.

I have also discovered Winco Grocery Stores.  They are building one here in Layton, but I heard that there was one in Roy and I decided to check it out.  It isn't as cheap as I was led to believe, but they have a huge selection of produce and all sorts of self-serve items in bulk bins that I was really excited about.  They have all sorts of nuts and candies (including sugar-free) as well as dried fruits, baking products and mixes, spices, cereals, granolas and all sorts of things that I'm sure I was too overwhelmed to notice.  They even had bulk gluten-free flours.  I use a lot of flax and some tapioca flour and the bulk stuff is cheaper than I have been paying at the health food store so I was thrilled about that.  I tried to use the peanut grinder to make my own peanut butter but I couldn't get it to work.  They also have their own bulk organic honey straight from the hive.  Seriously, there are signs warning you not to open the lid and let the bees escape.  I don't know that I will go out there every week, but I will definitely be making Winco a regular trip.

Yes, I'm a Slacker!

It is now New Year's Day and I am finally posting pictures from Christmas.

I picked up Mom and Rick from the airport at about 8 pm on Christmas Eve and we went to my house.  We spent the evening chatting and watching tv, then we went to bed.

Christmas morning we woke up and ate a lovely breakfast casserole, then I took Shady for a hike.  Once we were all ready for the day we went over to see Denise.  Brian's mom gave her an electric turkey fryer, and I am so jealous.  I spent some time looking through the recipe book at all of the delicious things that you can deep fry.  Sean had cooked turkey, ham, stuffing, and probably a vegetable, but I don't remember, so we stayed for lunch.  After lunch we went to see Little Fockers at the theater.

When the movie was over we stopped at Jo's place and I remembered to get my camera out.  We ate cheese and pepperoni on crackers and caramels while we chatted and admired their gifts.

On Sunday it was the Wassom family party.  There was a ton of good food and conversation.

After the party Steph's family stopped by my house to see the dogs.  Shady loves Brian!

On Monday we went up to Steph's to see what the girls got for Christmas, then we went out to lunch.  Apparently I didn't think to take any pictures while we were there.  Later that evening I invited everyone over for dinner at the spur of the moment, but only Denise and Tori took me up on the offer for some roast beef.

On Tuesday we just hung out until it was time to take Mom and Rick back to the airport.  They were supposed to be on the 5 o'clock flight, but they were not able to get on until the 8 o'clock flight.  I'm sure that wasn't a fun wait with the dogs!  After I dropped them off I headed over to the Tilley Family party.  We met at the church across the street from Cherry Hill for pizza, games, pinatas and a white elephant gift exchange.  I took a few bad pictures with my phone, but I can't get them to load here for the life of me!

Now that all of the festivities are over I have spent the last few days relaxing and reading The Hunger Games series which I borrowed from Denise.  Hopefully I will have the last one finished before I go back to work on Monday.

I'm Dreaming of a Foggy Christmas

Okay, so it's been more of a reality than a dream.  We haven't gotten the torrential rain like California, and Southern Utah have been experiencing, but it has been very wet here for the last several days.  There has been a near constant drizzle and a lot of fog.  I took these pictures on the 23rd when I was out with Shady.  You couldn't even seen the town down below, it was completely covered by clouds.

We did get enough rain that there were streams in places that usually only have water flowing when the snow melts in the spring. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Now Playing in a Living Room Near You

Well, in a living room near me, anyway.

I've had my old furniture for three years, and I've hated it from the moment it was delivered.  The back cushions didn't sit right and it was really uncomfortable.  I ended up just taking the back cushions off unless I had company but it was still uncomfortable.  A couple of months ago I spent a few hours watching movies on cable one evening and at the end of it my back and my butt both hurt like crazy.  It was then that I decided I needed to do something about it.  I spent about a month looking around for something that would work for me, and this is what I ended up with.

It is a little bit big for my room, but there should be plenty of space for having company.  The cushions are all permanently attached, so the coonhound will not be able to knock them onto the floor.  One problem with the old furniture was that it was vinyl and Shady's toenails ripped into it a couple of times.  This is really thick microfiber so that shouldn't be a problem.  I am told that dog hair will wipe right off with a damp paper towel, so hopefully that is true.  Wish me luck with it!

Patio Roof

Here we have an inside view of the new patio roof.  It definitely looks better than that other crap that was up there before.  For those of you who had not seen it, it was green fiberglass and the previous owner had painted the wood after the fiberglass was in place and had made no attempt to keep the white paint off the green fiberglass.  Now everything is nice and white.

Here is the best view that I could get of the top of the roof.  You really can't see much of the top from my yard.

In other news, I decided to take a page out of Colton's book (I do what I want!) and I took Wednesday off work.  The day did not start out well when, on my morning hike, Shady spotted a deer and took off.  I suspected that my collar was not working, and this event proved it.  I spent about an hour and a half walking back and forth between Adams Canyon and the animal shelter calling for her.  I had finally given up and was on my way back to my car when I found my bad animal sitting on the trail waiting for me.  We now have a new collar in good working order and I was able to call her back from chasing coyotes this morning.  I love the shock collar!



Halloween

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween weekend photos.  Our only camera was my cell phone, which doesn't always take the best photos.

Here we have Ava as a Greek goddess.

Ashlyn was Princess Tiana.

Grace was Storm from X-Men.

First we went trick-or-treating at the Thompson's local LDS church, then we went to Steph's work, then we came down to my neighborhood.  We spent about 3 hours trick-or-treating and the kids would have kept going all night if the adults had let them.

Sunday morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

At the head of the table is Jo's boyfriend, Josh.

This weekend I celebrated my birthday in style by ordering a gluten-free pizza from David's then going to bed early.  On Saturday Brian came over and put a new roof on my patio.  He replaced the old nasty light green fiberglass with new dark green steel.  I like the new roof, but I haven't taken any pictures of it. 

Saturday night Denise, Tori and Megan took me out to Rodizio Grill for a delicious dinner.  On my way home I stopped at Kohls and bought myself some new cozy jammies and a couple of cardigans for church.  Since the only temperature settings in my church appear to be only roasting and freezing, I was in need of something to keep me warm.  Even with the cardigan I was a little chilly today.  I might have to sacrifice fashion for warmth and keep a parka on during meetings.