Winter Hiking

In the past, I've always seen the coming of winter as the end of outdoor adventures outside of sledding until spring came. I still am refusing to run in the snow. A couple reasons: It sounds even WORSE than running in heat, the air quality is so bad that I think I'd be poisoning myself and lastly, I'm afraid of the trail not being groomed.

A couple weeks ago, J brought home some crampons. Stop giggling- they're not what you think. Crampons are those spiky things that you put on the bottom of your boots/shoes to keep you from slipping on the ice. He suggested we go on our favorite hike- to Adams Canyon. It was 12 degrees, and I'd donated blood the day before, so OF COURSE I said that I'd be happy to go.

It ended up being much funner and warmer than I anticipated. The views were spectacular, and quite different from the summer/fall views. I had trouble with my crampons though- they were a ladies' size 6-10, and it turns out they're closer to the 10 side than the 6 side.













Last weekend, J went to the outdoor retailer show, and he bought us higher quality crampons. Mine were sized ladies' 5-7, and this time, I had zero trouble with them. They were really handy.  The second hike, we went on the Malan's Basin trail. We didn't go all the way back to the basin- most people are stopping at the look at the view from Malan's Peak (I think that's what it's called, but I'm not sure). M came with us.

Basketball!

We signed S & Z up for Jr Jazz Basketball through our city's rec department. It's really a great deal- we pay around $50 per kid, and that includes playing games/practices twice a week for a couple months, a jersey (not fancy, but it's still a jersey!), and two tickets to a Jazz game. We bought a couple extra tickets to the basketball game (Jazz vs Chicago Bulls) so that we could go as a family. At the last second, we got an extra ticket, so we took our nephew along. The kids all had a blast, and the Jazz won, which was exciting.

The kids play their last games tonight. I think they're sad about it. They've had such a wonderful time, and have made pretty dramatic improvement. I don't think either of them are going to play professional ball, but they had a lot of fun, and that's what really matters. S really has great hustle, and she's truly a joy to watch. We've actually had other parents approach us and say how amazed they are at how quick and tenacious she is. It's really pretty amazing to watch because she is so much smaller than most of the other girls.

While Z has a good time, he tends to drift off into his own world, which can actually be more entertaining than watching truly excellent playing.

Recap of the end of 2013

It's ironic: The more that I have interesting things to blog about, the less time I have to ACTUALLY write about them.  At this point, I'm going to give up on actually telling everything that's happened the last couple months, and just to to recap. In addition, I'll add "blog more in 2014" to my resolution list.

Z became a Tiger Cub Scout. I think he's really enjoyed going to meetings. He got his Bobcat Award.








K went to homecoming with her boyfriend.

For Halloween, Z was a ghoul of some sort, S was a fairy (I sewed the costume, thank you very much!), M was Jack Frost (I attempted to do the frost design on his hoodie) and K fell back on her Super Girl costume. J and I dressed up as meth addicts.

I got my own office (admittedly, that happened at the tail end of 2012). 2013 was my best year yet. I hope that 2014 will be even better. I'm wanting to paint the walls, and make my office look like I actually have decorating taste.














In Dec., S participated in the third grade economics fair. She chose to make bath bombs, which were a hit!

















We have said for a while that we wanted to move to a bigger home. A couple things had to happen first. First off, we had to pay off all debt other than our mortgage. We accomplished this goal this past summer, which was an incredible achievement for us. Secondly, the cows had to go to freezer camp.  Freezer camp day has been set: February 21. So now, we're starting to really focus on things we need to do to get the house ready for sale. One of the big things is to remove the remaining popcorn on the ceilings, and retexture the kitchen ceiling so that it matches the front room.

Z watching daddy scrape the popcorn. Yes, that is a witch hat

We also need to do some major de-cluttering, as well as some painting. I think we may need to replace the carpet in our room and S & Z's bedroom. The idea of getting a house that fits us sounds unbelievably wonderful.

Cow Update

I don't post about them as much now, but I'm still the reluctant owner of cows. 

TBone earned a stay in execution for both of our steers. He's just too small to send to freezer camp this week, as I'd originally planned.  I was deeply disappointed, because feeding and watering livestock in the wintertime is not nearly as much fun as it sounds (yes, I fully understand it does not sound like a good time. Trust me, it's not!).

We got quite a bit of hay (I think around 125ish bales?) and started to hunker in.

It's been a rough month or two because Tbone has also started his escape act again. For several days (of course when J is out of town), he'd get into the pasture to the south of us.  We re-did the barb wire and things have been going well.

Today, we struck a deal with the neighbor to the south. We'll open up the pasture so their llamas and our cows will have free reign of both properties.  We'll be able to water everyone from their barn (and their heated hose and NOT have to haul 25+ gallons of water a day to the pasture... YIPPEE!!!!), and we'll share our hay with the llamas. They plan to rehome the llamas soon, but are contemplating a steer. Having buddies will be good for their steer, so it's a win-win all around.

llamas on our side, cows on theirs

So, this morning J and I opened up the gate in the pasture. The llamas were very quick to go to our side to play. The cows were a little more cautious, but as we backed off, they went to investigate. When they saw us walking back, they ran to our side of the field. I think this PROVES they knew that escape was naughty.

For the rest of the day, the llamas were literally running all over our field, and the cows were grazing around in the other field. I guess the grass really is greener on the other side.


As a side note, as we were walking the fenceline, checking to make sure all was intact, we scared up a beautiful pheasant. I wish I'd gotten a photo of it.

Help, I'm stuck!!!

Do you remember the scene from "A Christmas Story" when Flick sticks his tongue to the flagpole and gets stuck?  It was always one of the funniest, yet most awful scenes of the movie.

Today when I picked up the kids from school, S got in the car first. I asked how her day was, and she said emphatically, "It was TERRIBLE!!"

I was really surprised because she generally loves school and always has great days. I asked her why, and she said that Z got stuck on the playground today. What?!

Evidently, they have their last recess at the same time. Z was climbing around on the playground equipment and got his ring finger stuck in a hole on a metal bar. Said metal bar was about 5.5 feet off the ground, and his finger went all the way through (there were holes on either side), but then it wouldn't come out. He was trapped there, standing on a rope with his finger firmly stuck.  A classmate got a recess duty who came right over.  Recess duty couldn't do anything.  The second recess duty came over. She was equally flummoxed.

About this time, the predicament started to get a lot of attention, including S. S is a sensitive type, and was really, really upset. She was on the ground crying over Z being stuck.  About that moment, the bell rang.

The kids scattered and went to class, leaving the two aids with Z.

Z's classmates went inside and told her teachers. Because she couldn't leave the class alone, she brought the whole class out there to the playground, so she could check out the situation.

the hole involved, with a penny for reference

Finally, someone brought out some lotion or soap out and got him all slipped up, and he was finally able to slip his finger free.  Ms V (Z's teacher) knew that S was really upset, so she had him go see her in class so S would know he was free and ok. I thought that was very thoughtful of Ms. V.

Z was pretty stoic and casual about it, and seemed much less traumatized than S. All's well that ends well, though I hope that they do something to fill that hole. I'm a little surprised it's never been a problem before, and while Z was none the worse for wear, the potential for significant injury is big, I think.

Once J got home from work, we took Z back to school so that he could show us exactly how he could get stuck on the playground. I thought they were fairly fail-safe.  Shows how brilliant (?) my kids are.


Z has been pretty casual about the whole thing, though this evening, he admitted that he was afraid that he was going to be stuck there forever.

Helpful Llamas

So, TBone, the escape artist cow, has been up to his tricks again. Our fenceline has field fencing the entire length of the field; however it starts about 18" above the ground, and is probably 20+ years old and in need of new posts. So, we installed some barb wire on our side of the posts. Unfortunately, even this hasn't been enough.

I came out a couple weeks ago and found this scene. Casanova is poking his head under the fence, and TBone is off in the distance, grazing.  This particular section of fence goes all the way to the ground, but the railroad tie posts are old and somewhat rotted, so getting things firmly attached is difficult. Plus, once a steer gets to a certain size, keeping them in a pasture requires a certain level of cooperation from the animal. Cooperation is not something that TBone has ever really had. I'm glad I've never had to take him to parent/teacher conference- he probably wouldn't do well with the "plays well with others" part either.

I borrowed some dog kennel panels from my neighbor to fix the section of fence that Tbone had burrowed under, as J was in Germany, and major fence repairs are more his thing than mine.







I was trying to wire them into place when I made the discovery that llamas can be very curious, and attempt to be helpful. Of course, llamas are about as helpful as toddlers during brain surgery, but it made for a very entertaining time. Here, one of the llamas is whispering sweet nothings in my ear as I worked.

Are you sure you're bending that wire properly?

First Day of School 2013-2014

I know I'm a little late getting this posted, but better late than never, right? My kids leave to school at three different times, so getting a photo of all four of them at the same time was an impossibility.

This year, I have kids at three different schools, so one more than last year. Last year I only had two schools to deal with, but Z was in kindergarten. Personally, I believe that kindergarten is the biggest trick perpetuated by parents. Everyone THINKS that kindergarten means there will be a lot more freedom to the parent in charge of getting kids to/from school. LIES!!!!!!  It actually ties you down more because you have to make sure that you're around to get them to and from school. Want to drive off to something 45 minutes away? Not possible.







This year, however, heralds unprecedented freedom for me. Two exciting things changed this year. First, and most exciting, is that Z is now in first grade. That means that once I get S & Z to school, I am free (sort of) to my own devices until 3:25 pm.  Second: K is now in high school (eeeeeek!!!!), and conveniently enough, the IB high school just happens to be our neighborhood school. Even better, we are far enough away that she qualifies for the bus! This means that transportation isn't my responsibility this year. No Jazz Band rehearsals. No carpools for her.

Note the lack of pine trees for background.

Speaking of carpools, my junior high carpool for M has FIVE parents in it this year, so no more rotating Fridays to keep track of. I make two carpool trips a week, and that's it.

So far this year, the only challenging thing has been whether or not I can access my car and/or the road when taking the little kids to school. Road construction is still ongoing, and more often than not, the road is closed, which means a couple mile detour to the school that is 5 blocks away. Even more exciting, now that curb and gutter is done, I've found my car blocked in the driveway by misc. street workers. I've had to make it my policy to take the kids to school 15-20 minutes early to school. That way, if I come out and the cement truck is pouring cement and blocking my car in (like it did yesterday), it's no big deal to just walk the kids to school.