Christmas

Christmas Eve we went to my parents' house. Shadow and Rocky had a blast playing with their cousins. Here they all are, waiting expectantly for scraps from dinner:

After dinner we opened stockings. The dogs got theirs first. They were pretty excited:

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Rocky helped Henry open a gift:

Shadow was actually a really early Christmas present from me and Henry to ourselves. We just decided that if the right dog came along, we wouldn't wait until Christmas and let the opportunity pass us by.

My parents got me and Henry snowshoes, which is pretty awesome because mine are really old and Henry doesn't have any. Now hopefully we'll get a chance to go soon. Henry still needs snow boots to wear with the snowshoes.

When we got home, I decided on a whim to put up some last-minute Christmas lights. It was really cold outside and I froze my butt off. The wood stove helped out with that. Note our stockings hung by the fire. Henry got me a hand-made one with Tinkerbell on it.

We stayed up late drinking cocktails and watching Elf. Henry made popcorn for the movie, but we can't make popcorn in the kitchen because the popcorn maker always blows a fuse, so he made it in the bathroom:

Christmas morning we opened presents at home, which was really nice. Our first Christmas together in our own place. Henry got me Sketcher's Shape-ups, and I got him a Blu-Ray player. He also got me a beautiful blown-glass necklace. Then we headed to Henry's parents' house where we had Christmas dinner and even more presents. After that, we headed to the bar where Henry works because his bosses were working and we hung out with some of Henry's co-workers while his bosses waited on us for a change.

Posted via email from cosmictadpole's posterous

The Dogs

Life in the Country

It's been interesting living out in the Sticks of Shoshone... We don't have central heating, so we've been relying on our wood stove to keep us warm. We haven't been able to make a firewood run, so we've had to make do with scrap lumber received through a personal connection. So far so good, but it hasn't been incredibly cold yet. It's been interesting standing on the porch late at night and sawing up long scraps to fit in the wood stove. There is a wild kitty that comes to visit me while I do that. I've been feeding him because our landlord trapped and moved his mother and siblings, and I worry that he's lonely and hungry. He is not afraid of the saw and often gets right in the middle of what I'm doing. I call him "Kiki." I think he's maybe two months old. The box is his little house so he can get out of the elements. I'm thinking about taking him in to get him neutered and vaccinated since I've started feeding him and sortof become responsible for him. The other night when I was cutting my wood, another kitty came out of the darkness, and it appeared to be pregnant. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about her if she keeps coming around.

It's nice to have animal company on these late nights when the fiance is working. In addition to Kiki, we've also added another canine to our menagerie. We thought Rocky was getting lonely having moved away from my parents and their dogs, so we thought it would be a good idea to adopt another dog. A local shelter was having a Halloween event to promote vaccinations and show off their dogs, so we went to check it out. We ended up taking a juvenile German Shepard/mix on a trial basis to see if he and Rocky would get along. Rocky actually hated him at first, but now they're getting along pretty well. Shadow (new dog's name) is much more of a puppy than I thought, and he peed and pooped in the house and has been chewing everything. I think he's already getting close to being house-trained, though, which is great! He's also a super-sweet mellow teddy bear. I think he will fit into the family just fine, and we've already decided he's a keeper.

Rocky (left) and Shadow (right)

Rocky and Shadow keep me company all night, which is nice, except that Shadow wakes me up every hour or so wanting to play.

We finally got some basic channels to come in on our TV after much research and about $100 spent on an antenna and a converter box. It's really nice to just have the babble of the TV in the background while I'm futzing about the house.

We got a dryer but still have no washing machine, so it looks like I'm going to make the trip into town tonight to do some laundry. Unfortunately, the washers there are a little rough and have ruined several items of the fiance's clothing already.

The Move

Here is our new house:

We moved in on Saturday. It was actually very stress-free due to the fact that Henry's entire family helped. We went to bed exhausted, and woke up the next morning to see this:

Needless to say, we stayed inside by the fire the rest of the day, and unpacked. I was pretty disappointed because Fall is my favorite season, and it seemed like we had just passed right over it and into winter. Fortunately, the snow melted within a day or two, and the weather is pretty much back to normal.

This is what the house looks like from another angle and further away:

What the surrounding landscape looks like:

As an added bonus, there are llamas in the pasture adjacent to our backyard! They belong to the landlord. There are three females, a male, and two fairly new babies. Apparently, since llamas are from the southern hemisphere, they have their babies during our fall, which would be spring in the southern hemisphere.

The dad is the only one brave enough to get up close to us, but apparently he can also be aggressive due to the babies, so we have to be careful of him.

Brain is completely not working today. All I can think about is soaking in a hot spring without a care in the world. Too bad there's so much going on that I should be thinking about. We're meeting with the future/new land lord tonight to sign the lease and get things all figured out. Then it will be moving madness. I can't wait to move, but I'm not at all excited about the phsyical reality of packing and unpacking.

Started my new diet today

Breakfast: Two bowls of Apple Jacks Cereal
Mid-Morning Snack: Three cookies and a Red Bull
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Sandwich, with 100 calorie snack pack for desert.
An hour later: Still hungry - ate peanut butter Twix out of necessity.

We Are Moving

Finally, the fiance and I are going to be moving out of our respective parents' homes and into a place of our own, stragically placed almost exactly between his job and mine (about 30 miles either way). It's kindof out in the middle of nowhere, right on the edge of a big corn field, but I'm pretty excited about it. There are llamas living beyond the back yard, and they just had a baby. There is a momma barn cat with a litter of kittens. And I'm hoping to have some chickens there so we can have fresh eggs. I've also been fantasizing about building a wood-burning hot tub in the back yard, but that is a little more far-fetched, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off. We'll have a roommate - one of Henry's good friends; but it's a big house with four bedrooms, so I think it will absorb the three of us nicely.

Unsuspected Proposal

We went to Wrigleyville to look around and go to some shops. We decided to get a new photo of us in front of the Wrigley Field marquee (since we have one from '07 or '08). Henry handed the camera to his friend to take the photo, and then he started getting down on one knee...

I was totally shocked, and didn't know how to react, but I eventually said "yes." :)

My Dad discovered that Rocky likes to ride in the basket of my bike. Those are my worried hands on the right.
Rocky is happy with my Mom at the wheel.

Rocky and I are both nervous when I'm driving.

Rocky loves to jump!

My Mom made this wind chime out of Rocky out of clay for my birthday.

She also got me this really cute treat jar.

Beautiful Spring Day at Galena!

It was a gorgeous sunny Sunday and I was getting ready to waste my time procrastinating about doing chores as usual. My Mom asked if I wanted to go up to Galena to snowshoe while she skied. I really hate last minute plans, and I almost didn't go, but I decided that since I rarely get to hang out with my Mom, I'd regret it if I didn't. I'm glad I changed my mind! It was great to get outside and be in the sunshine with the blue sky and the sparkly snow and get my blood pumping and see my Mom smile. The dogs had a blast too! Pictures below:

"Oh boy! We're gonna go play in the snow!!!"

My Mom with Galena Lodge in the background, and Hank (brown) and Lucky (black).



Mom skiing.


Me and Rocky getting ready to go snow-shoeing.


The day was so incredibly sunny and beautiful. The shattered ice on the creek looked really cool, but didn't translate well through the photo.


Some local history. Cabin shown below.

Historical cabin at Galena.

You may think my Mom is quite the rebel from this photo, but Rocky was one of probably 12 dogs on the deck at Galena Lodge.

Worn out dogs on the way home.

my soul is parched; is every day a new existential crisis?

This is the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho. It is the only man-made structure in the US where BASE jumping is allowed year-round without a permit. I cross this bridge every time I go to visit my boyfriend. It crosses over the Snake River Canyon, which is really quite incredible to look at, especially as the sun is setting. Many people commit suicide off of this bridge, and also fall to their deaths when their BASE jumps go awry. Sometimes, it is even seen as a practical way to dispose of the occasional inconvenient dead body. So I have a somewhat morbid fascination with the bridge, since it represents something beautiful and something sinister at the same time. Also, Evil Kneivel attempted to jump across the Snake River Canyon in his Rocket Cycle, but ultimately failed. The ramp off of which he jumped is still visible today, not far from my boyfriend's house. Last weekend, the weather was warm and the boyfriend was working, so Rocky and I took a pleasant stroll along the edge of the canyon.

This sculpture was there, and it reminded me a lot of a little story I wrote about what it would feel like to jump off of this very bridge, to feel yourself falling, and then to suddenly feel yourself rising and to begin flying. I'll have to see if I can track that down. To me, it looks like these ladies are dancing in the wind. I think it's a nice sculpture.

Spring Makes Sculptures

Found outside my local post office.

(click to enlarge)

Help, I'm totally stuck! Medication is not working today :(

An awesome idea executed expertly

This is absolutely fabulous: When Superheroes turn baaaaad!
I want this girl to photograph my next event. No, I want her to HOST my next event (because I have so many events, lol)! She seriously has the best ideas, from homemade superheroes to arranging a camping trip in her own living room to celebrate her anniversary with her husband.

Train of thought with an ADD brain:

I wanted to look up photos for inspiration for a tattoo that I want, and I want to possibly incorporate some kind of cowgirl pinup/wild west idea, so I googled cowgirl pinups,













and then I remembered this really cute picture of Elizabeth Taylor twirling a lasso, so I googled that,













and then I found out that it was taken on the set of a movie called "Giant," so I googled that,









(it also has Rock Hudson and James Dean!)
and then in the process of looking at photos from Giant I found another picture that was taken of Elizabeth Taylor on the set with a cute little doggy,













so I googled Elizabeth Taylor and dogs, and I found that there are many photos of her with dogs and that she seeems to be quite the dog lover, so I decided to amass a collection of these photos of her and dogs. I also decided that I've got to see the movie, Giant, because it looks like quite an epic with some attractive actors and old-westy scenery.

Pictures of Elizabeth Taylor with dogs:

I was really touched by these photos, because you can see that she has had a love for animals her whole life (there were also pictures of her with a cat, a horse, and a chipmunk). Though some of them may be posed, I believe that at least some of the dogs are her pets and I feel like you can really see her affinity for them in the photos. I love the fact that she's got a doggy in her lap, even when she's in a wheel chair.

Here are images from Giant:

And I will leave you with some final cuteness before I end my Elizabeth Taylor obsession for the day. Is she not freaking adorable?!

P.S. I pulled all of these images off of Google images search. None of them were taken by me.