A lovely morning along the trail

We were supposed to start demolition of the double-wide today. Alas, it was not to be. Some sort of scheduling snafu with the guy who was supposed to do the demolishing. It's been rescheduled for tomorrow.

We didn't know that, however, when the alarm went off at 6:30am this morning. Neither Tim nor I had to work today. Tim has the day off, and I'm still on vacation. The reason for getting up early was to get to the property first thing so we would be able to watch the first push of the dozer into the building.

I decided I would bike out there. It's about 17 or 18 miles door-to-door. There's a bitch of a hill though (at least it is for me) in between the trail and the property that always kills me. But it's still a nice ride.

Tim decided to drive, so he'd get there faster :-).

Tim left, and I headed out with my bike. I expected to see a blue heron on the way (I always do) so this time I came prepared with my camera. In the end, I ended up seeing 4!!! Got pictures of 3 of them (although not very close) and the 4th flew away before I could stop my bike. All of them were out trolling for breakfast. Wish Tim had been with me. He would have taken better pictures :-).

It was at the first heron stop that I saw that Tim had called my cell. Quite by accident, actually. My bike fell over while I was watching the heron, and the contents of my bike pack spilled all over the trail. I noticed when I retrieved my cell phone that I had missed his call so I called him back. That's when I learned there would be no demo today. Well - at least I didn't have to worry about the killer hill :-). But it was such a nice morning, I decided I'd keep going and ended up biking all the way to the trail head and back.

A few more pictures from the trail.

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Geekin' Out

Yeah - I know... this totally makes me a geek. But I couldn't help it. This blog stuff is all still so new and exciting for me ;-). There are much more interesting posts further down. Really!

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More "Signs of Life"

After checking out the equipment (see previous post), and verifying that the power was disconnected from the house (George sent someone out to do that today), we took a little stroll in our forest ("our forest" - I just love that :-)).

On previous excursions I came face to face, quite literally, with an adolescent owl (it was the middle of the day and it was napping on a lower branch that I almost banged into). Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the time. But since then, in his own wanderings of the forest, Tim came across what he believes to be the location of the owl's nest. We believe that this particular tree is where its nest is located because at its base are littered countless small rodent carcasses and skeletons, in various stages of decomposition, including this tiny, intact skull. In reality it measures no more than about an inch and a quarter in length. An interesting find though.

I took several other pictures of the carnage and the tree as well as other new Signs of Life on today's little excursion.

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Let the Demolition begin!

Tim and I went to the property today to check on the fruit trees. We're supposed to start demolition of the double-wide tomorrow, so also we just wanted to take one last look around the place while it was still peaceful. It was a nice surprise to turn into the driveway and find a caterpiller and dumpster front and center in our driveway ready to go. Let the demolition begin :-)

Here are a few more random pictures.

We're so excited!

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Today is our 1st Anniversary!

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Strike a pose

This is Ginger's favourite napping position. I'm thinking if there was such a thing as "Playcat Magazine", this'd be the centerfold.

A slightly different angle:

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It looks like the pie was a hit...

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Harvest Time!

Went out to the property today to check out the orchards. It had been a while since we had been out there and I figured there would probably be some fruit to pick - I was right :-)

I picked a laundry basket full of fruit - about half of it apples (I think we have 2 or 3 varieties - the brilliant red ones remind me of the poison apple in Snow White - with perfect white flesh and the most amazing brilliant red skin I've ever seen) and the other half pears, with some italian prunes thrown in for good measure (most of those were rotten already but there were a few good ones!). There appear to be plenty of apples for us and the deer to be quite contented, which is nice. We have an unspoken agreement - they get the low hanging apples and the stuff that falls on the ground, and we get the apples in the upper branches. It appears that deer don't like pears at all - just apples. Fine by me!

Finished picking just as it started raining, promptly got home, and made a pie! My mom's recipe (which I believe has traced its origins to the Joy of Cooking)

Mmm.... :-)

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Back from Salish Lodge!

We're back from Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls, where Tim and I spent two days to celebrate our first anniversary! Ok, technically our anniversary isn't until August 30th, but the timing worked out better this way :-) It was perfect - very relaxing. We both had massages at the spa, and made ample use of their therapeutic pools, went hiking down to the base of the falls, ate scrumptious food at the restaurant, and relaxed in our room in front of a crackling fire, with the roar of the falls audible in the background. All in all, a very very nice way to celebrate our first anniversary!

Highlights: The huge jetted tub and fireplace in the room; the balcony overlooking the river; falling asleep to the sound of the falls in the background; the absolutely amazing dinner we had in their main dining room our 2nd night; and the hike down to the base of the falls and back.

Lowlights: The older couple at the table directly behind Tim during lunch who were clearly there for a romantic getaway, who kept noisy-kissing (you know - that saliva-sucking kissing sound that totally grosses you out) and groping each other (she was practically sitting in his lap, and he had his hand up her pantleg the whole time while she massaged his thigh and would lean forward so her boob would brush against his arm). Get a room already. That's what we did! Besides, I was trying to eat.

Heh ;-) Anyway - it was a wonderful little escape. Here are the pictures!.

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Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Woohoo! The football season is here! Well... the pre-season is, anyway :-)

Tonight at 7pm is our season home opener - Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos.

So you know where we'll be tonight :-)

I wasn't always a football fan. It wasn't until Tim and I started dating that I got into it. It wasn't that I disliked it - I just didn't understand it and had no interest in it. But after it became apparent that we would still be dating into the fall of 2000, Tim saw fit to warn me that Sundays and Monday nights are off limits. Meaning, if I make any plans to do something on Sunday or Monday night during football season, I'd be doing it without him :-) Fair enough! Good to know the boundaries of the relationship early on :-)

But Tim was not just hoping I'd leave him alone on Sundays and Mondays - he really wanted me to share his enthusiasm for the game so he bought me "Idiot's Guide to Football". Great book! I read it cover to cover and by the end was even impressing Tim with my knowledge of the game.

Tim's been a season ticket holder for several years now, so we've gone to all the home games (I think we missed one in 2003 when we were on our Honeymoon; and I missed the one that Tim took my Dad to in winter of 2002, when Mom, Sarah and I went wedding dress shopping instead :-).

My initial impressions of the game after reading the book and going to the first home game can be summed up like this:

Violent Chess

When you get past all the helmet banging and bone crunching and grunting and sweating and all the gladiator analogies, there's actually a whole lot of strategy involved.

Anyway - Football season is here, and I'm excited!

Go Seahawks!

Post Game Update

Sigh... they lost...

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Barbie for President

Given that I can't actually vote in this election, I've restricted my commentary on the whole presidential election scene to links to wacky articles. So - in keeping with that theme here's another one.

Barbie for President

Candidate of the "Party of Girls!" (exclamation mark included), she has "pledged a campaign that will concentrate on creating world peace, helping the homeless and poor, and taking care of animals"

Ok - I'm gonna have to out and get me one of these barbies. But... what I REALLY want to know is whether they'll be coming out with a Ken Secret Service Man doll, complete with earpiece, dark suit, and sunglasses.

I'm also thinking of all the imaginary scandals you could create with the Barbie for President doll!

When I was little I had lots of Barbies and Barbie clothes, but no Ken dolls (not sure if that was a cunning plan on the part of my parents, or I just never wanted one). So when I wanted to give Barbie a boyfriend, I cut all the hair off of my Cher Barbie doll (who was about a head taller than my other barbies, and sported a much flatter chest and more masculine facial features), dressed her up in boyish clothes, and had her wander around my basement floor holding hands with Barbie while they went imaginary shopping.

Could you imagine doing that with Presidential Candidate Barbie?! All the reporter and journalist barbies would have a field day!

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Do you shop at Costco or Wal-Mart?

A fun article that explains why it matters :-)

http://slate.msn.com/id/2104988

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Well, that explains it.

President Bush admitted today that his administration will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people."

Thank goodness. Because to date I just thought it was ineptitude. I didn't realize it was one of his actual goals.

You can read the full article at the Daily Herald. But it is MUCH more fun to take the quote out of context :-)

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2004 National Capital Marathon

Back in May, Tim and I went to visit my sister, Sarah, in Ottawa. It so happened the weekend we picked to visit was the National Capital Marathon weekend.

When I was in highschool I remember my friends and I volunteering to be a water-hander-outer along the marathon route. We'd get up early and meet at the water station, and we'd be given these light yellow "Ottawa Citizen" (the local newspaper) t-shirts to wear, and we'd spend the morning setting up the tables and pouring water into paper cups while we waited for the marathon to start.

Back then, I remember they had the wheelchair, and the running race, but I don't remember there being an inline skate race. Heck - I don't remember there being inline skates, period, at the time ;-)

Well, now they have an inline skating half-marathon and full marathon, in addition to the regular walking/running marathon and half-marathon races, and the wheelchair race.

I never would have guessed back then in highschool, while I was pouring water into those paper cups, that I'd ever be entered into one of the National Capital race day events. If you read my 2003 Disney Marathon entry, you'll recall that I really wasn't much of an athlete in highschool. Yet - here we were in Ottawa, me with my inline skates, all set to race 14 miles...er... excuse me... 21 km (afterall, we were in CANADA) on what I believe was the exact same loop along which I had handed out water oh those many years ago ;-)

I hadn't actually planned on racing. When we told my sister we were coming over for a long weekend, she had mentioned she was entered into the race that same weekend and we told her we'd come watch and cheer her on! She casually suggested I bring my blades and enter too, but I declined. However a week before we were scheduled to leave, I called her up and she changed my mind :-)

I hadn't been actively training for the event... in fact, at that point I had been somewhat lax in my workout routine. I knew I'd be able to finish it - I'd been skating about half the distance - 7 miles - once a week with friends. But I didn't actually train or prepare for it and I was no where near the same physical condition I was in when I ran the Disney marathon.

My sister, on the other hand, had been training :-) So I told her I'd enter and skate with her if she promised not to let me slow her down. She promised, and was true to her word :-) I'm so proud of her! Way to go Sarah ;-). Sarah finished before me - with a race time of 1:02 after getting off to a great start and managing to get out ahead of the crowds right away, while I lagged behind trying to figure out how to pass the giggling group of little teenage girls in tight jeans who were skating in front of me. There were also a lot of hills, which slowed me down on the last half of the course. My finish time was 1:27. Not great - but I kept reminding myself I hadn't been training for it (or for anything for that matter).

We were both lapped by the full marathon in-line skaters though. That was slightly demoralizing:-) I think they finished the full marathon in just under an hour. Scared me half to death when they whizzed by us. As they approached from behind they sounded like an angry swarm of bees, getting progressively louder, and then suddenly, they were past us. I swear I felt a breeze as they went by, but all I saw was a blur of technicoloured spandex, and they were gone.

BUT - I finished the race, without incident and feeling great - no soreness or tiredness (in fact, was ready for some sight seeing after we showered and had some breakfast at the hotel). And most importantly - I got my finish medal :-) Now I have two medals as evidence of my athleticism! One for Disney and one for this. It's amazing what a little piece of cheap metal on a ribbon can do to make you feel like a true athlete. In fact, I've since made myself a promise. I will only enter events in which I get a medal at the end. No t-shirts or posters or certificates as prizes. I want a medal. Hung around my neck by one of those medal-hander-outers at the end of the race. It feels so... Olympian! ;-)

As with the Disney race, there were photographers stationed at several points throughout the course, snapping pictures of all of the participants as they wheeled, walked, ran, or skated their way along the route. And as usual, after the event they sent out a link where you can search (by bib number) for and order photos of yourself... for an exorbitant amount of money. Which I of course shelled out. I just got them in the mail on Friday, so here they are - photos of me during the race :-)

Check out Tim's Ottawa photos on crappymusic.comfor more pictures taken during our visit to my other Nation's Capital.

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Signs of Life

Those of you who know us personally, know that we are in the process of building our dream house! We have a gorgeous piece of property complete with seasonal stream, wetlands, forest, and the start of an orchard! It backs up onto a local golf course as well, so it is extremely private.

We're very close to getting our permit and starting the demolition of the double-wide that is currently located there (the double-wide... that in and of itself warrants its own entry!).

Most weekends Tim and I head over to the property to hang out and do some work - mostly we clear blackberry bushes, mow the lawn, check the orchard, and just generally hang out to see if we can spot wildlife. To date we've seen deer (Mom and baby), a coyote, an owl (face-to-face, literally), numerous moles and shrews, hawks and many varieties of birds, snakes, and bunnies!

A couple of weekends ago we were out there doing some general clean-up. It was way too hot (in the high 90s! In Seattle!) for any critters to be coming out of the shady protection of the forest, so instead, while Tim mowed, I busied myself with searching our property for proof of the wildlife that was currently hiding from the hot summer sun. I call the results "Signs of Life" ;-)

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Looking for something to read?

Every so often I go through a book-reading spree. My longest one lasted from Grade 1 ("First Grade" for you americans) through to my graduating year from university. It seems since moving out here to Seattle, getting an actual job, and then turning that job into an actual "career", I've had less time for reading. It's just so much easier to plop down in front of the TV and watch strangers' dreams get shattered on American Idol, Last Comic Standing, Marry My Dad, or any one of the other trillion "reality tv" shows that are bombarding the airwaves. (What is up with that? It's not like TV wasn't mindless enough before...)

Before I started first grade, we moved to Germany. My dad was in the military and we actually moved around quite a bit. But I think the move to Germany is what set me off on the right reading path for life (at least until adulthood). Because for 3 years - grades 1 - 3 - we had no TV. NO TV (we also had no phone but that's a separate topic). And I never missed it. I read. A lot. And I listened to stories on the radio. God - doesn't that make me sound like I'm ancient?

Anyway - I read a lot while we were there. And when we came back we did get a TV, but it was a black and white tv. Without a remote control. And no cable. And just the one TV for the entire house. So I just kept reading when we came back. Except for thursday nights when I was allowed to stay up till 9pm to watch Buck Rogers! Buck was preceded by "Littlest Hobo" at 7:30pm - another family favourite. Kind of like "Lassie", except that the Littlest Hobo was a boy dog, and a german shepherd, and he lived in Canada. And he was homeless. But I digress.

Now my reading sprees are much shorter and farther apart. But I just finished a good one - about 2-months long, and I read a lot of great books. So - Here they are (that's what you're supposed to do in one of these, right? List your favourite books, movies, music, etc.? Whatever).

- Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
- The Five People you Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom
- Self, by Yann Martel
- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Rule of Four, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
- The Davinci Code, by Dan Brown
- The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant
- Pompeii, by Robert Harris

Actually - I have only just started that last one. I fear my spree is ending before I will get to the end of the book. Must. Get. To End. I had hoped it would last at least through my upcoming vacation. Must. Make. It. Last. Ah well. We'll see. I can feel the words releasing their hold. But it's actually a good book. I think i just need a break :-) Good thing this blog thing started happening.

I did quite well this spree though. I tend to have a theme for a spree. Recent sprees have been historical fiction, and there's a bit of that in this one too. I used to go through long and heavy science fiction / fantasy sprees. And there have been a couple of "airplane book" sprees. This one had a bit of a mix to it. All in all, a good time!

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It was a dark and stormy night...

First - thanks to Tim for setting this up for me (and not getting annoyed with all my questions about how this web blogging stuff works. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and he set it all up for me today! And even backed up the content on the old site. He's so cool. Love you babe ;-) ).

As for the rest of you - don't hold your breath expecting to see something spectacular any time really soon on this site... this is all new to me. I have to figure out how to get all the stuff that used to be on timothyandheather.com over here. And then I actually have to do it :-)

Ok. Now for some content. This being my "first" post, it must be something prolific. But first - I need to figure out what each of these text fields I want to type in... Entry Body.... Extended Entry... According to the little help pane that popped up when I clicked the question mark above the text field marked "Extended Entry", An extended entry, combined with my entry body (which is the text field in which I am now typing) "make up the body of my entry". Sounds vaguely dirty. Or erotic?

Let's see... "I can use these two fields however I like: I could split up my entry over the two fields, or I could completely ignore the Extended Entry text and enter only the Entry Body text".

Ok. The first version of this post in which I made use of the "Extended Entry" text field elicited a "Hey - that SUCKS" from my better half, so I am revising this to NOT use the extended entry. Because apparently, what the extended entry does, is cause you to have to click a link to read the rest of my entry. Well hey - you don't know if you don't try.

Oh hey - I think I just figured out how I can format text. Most excellent.

Lucky for you I think I also figured out how to insert a URL. So here's your chance to escape this blog. Go. Run. Run fast!

Hahaha. Nice try ;-)

Seriously - you can see after a brief couple of hours of playing around with this, I am getting quite handy with it if I may say so myself. You'll notice I've managed to republish my 2003 Disney Marathon story in this new blog format. Not too bad for a rookie, huh :-) I even figured out how to lie about the date it was posted so it would appear to be chronologically correct!

Well - check back often... to re-read more epic adventures from the lives of TimothyAndHeather (Of course, if you never visited us at our old web site, this will all be New to You).

At some point, I promise to actually write some entirely new content. Especially since I have 2 weeks of vacation coming up, and I seem to have come to the natural conclusion of my latest book-reading spree.

talk to ya later!

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