Navi graduates!

Navi graduated from her Introduction to Agility course tonight! Yippee!! We've been taking her to the doggy place down the road for class every Monday night from 6 to 7 pm. for the last 6 or 7 weeks. I think Navi had a lot of fun. She's not speedy, but it's hard to get her motivated to be speedy in any aspect of life except swimming. She is pretty good at listening though, and she learned to jump small hurdles, jump through round hoop hurdles, jump over flat hurdles, tables, run the weave poles, run through tunnels, and all sorts of other silly little things. I liked the class but I felt that since there were six or seven dogs, sometimes you ended up spending a lot of time waiting around. Most of the time I was giggling at the other dog's crazy antics. There was a black lab who was really well trained, but refused to stay for the first 10 or 11 times its owners asked. There was another mutt that had more energy than any dog I've ever seen. The way we trained the dogs to do the weave poles was by setting up a fence that showed them how to walk through the obstacle. This dog would just prance OVER this fence and sprint around the room at top speed while his person ran around after him. Another funny thing he did was with the tunnel; initially the tunnel was always straight, so they got used to sprinting through the tunnel to the end. For the first time, the tunnel was curved, and he was so speedy that he didn't realize it. He shot into the tunnel, didn't follow the turn and instead kind of collided into the tunnel wall. All of a sudden the tunnel shudders and rolls and a few seconds later he made it out the other end. The trainer just had this silly smile on her face because it was something only that particular dog would do. The other dogs all looked into the tunnel before running it and realized they couldn't see the other end, but this dog just careened into the tunnel and realized it too late. There was also a very young dog that was quite small, and not yet well trained. I don't think he was poorly trained, just too young to have learned all the rules. I also haven't a clue what breed he was but he reminded me of a thin jack russel terrior with long skinny legs. He was always wagging his tail a million times per second. He was the second most energetic dog of the class, so if his person didn't have enough food in her hand to keep his attention, he would also be subject to sprinting around the room like a crazed maniac. Navi's problem was that she was TOO food motivated. She figured out who had food, and where they kept their food. If she was running the course with Tim or I, and the trainer happened to be close to her, she would forget that she was running an obstacle course and ask the trainer for some cheese. It was really fun watching all these silly dogs do silly things, but in the end every single dog was really enjoying the class. I really liked the trainer and I thought she had some really nice approaches to training the dogs in all these silly things. Maybe I'll keep doing agility with Navi because after an hour of running over hurdles and through tunnels, she's pretty wiped. Navi really likes the tunnels by the way.

I got home late from work today because of some old congressman who thinks he can be over two hours late to meetings when everyone else around him has to scurry and make sure they can accomodate his every little need. I was complaining to Tim about while I was at work and he said that if I wanted to make the congressman hurry on out (if he ever showed up), I should just ask what he's going to do about California's budget decifit. So that thought kept me going for the two hours extra that I spent fiddling with electronics that refuse to work. When I got home, I peeled some potatos and carrots and put them in a pot of water so I wouldn't have to later, and then we rushed off to Navi's agility class. When I got back, I made a chicken recipe my sister passed on to me where you marinate the chicken in parmesan cheese, mayonaisse, and garlic powder, then cover them with breadcrumbs and bake. I also made corn. and mashed potatos. For some reason, even though I've made this many many times, it tasted extra superb last night.

Muir Woods!

Meg wanted to see some big trees, so today we decided we'd head over to the Muir Woods. We walked Navi then we headed off. My dad took my family to the Muir Woods when I was younger, so I was excited to see if it was the same as I remembered. I think I was 12 years old the last time I visited this place, but I'm really not sure. When we were driving down a mountain on the way to the Muir Woods, there was a running race happening. They had to cross the road at certain locations, so there were older men with stop signs hurridly letting cars by when no runners were near, and then stopping traffic so that people could run across the road without having to stop or slow down. The stop-sign people seemed so much more frantic than necessary, but then again, if the runners lives were my responsibility, I might be frantic, too. It was interesting because it looked as if the race was just running up and down the side of this mountain. I like running, and I like races...but I wouldn't be interested in running up and down the same mountain side several times on a very hot day. It was so hot out that there was a woman standing at one checkpoint hosing everyone down. Dean and Meg had an annual pass to national parks, so we got into the park for free! The Muir Woods ended up being exactly as I remembered...with the one exception that I remembered the trees being much, much bigger.

Everything looks so much bigger when you are smaller. It was still amazing how huge the trees are, though. It's hard for a photograph to do it justice because the trees are so tall. We wandered around, and took a million photos. The one below is one of my favorites. I wish I had a person in this photograph, though. If a tiny Tim was standing in the corner, the size of the trees would be so much more impressive!

The wildlife seemed a little tame here; there were lots of deer who would stand within five feet of a fence and not care that you were there. There was even a little fawn that was all alone so I wondered where it's mother was. At one point, Tim found a log that you can climb into, and I made him climb into it.

Then he decided he could do me one better and climb all the way into the log. When I looked in to say hi, he snapped a photo!


That's Dean in the background with the flash! Here's a photo of Meg and Dean!

After wandering around the Muir Woods, we visited the gift shop. They have all sorts of beautiful redwood bowls. Dean collects pins, so he picked one up, and we wandered back to our car. On the way home, we decided they should experience another West Coast ...thing and take them to In N Out. It's a fast food restaurant but it's pretty darn good (for fast food). It was really crowded, so we ended up getting our food and eating outside on the curb. Yum! In N Out has good hamburgers, but the french fries make me really sad. The reason they make me sad is that they should be amazing since they are made from fresh potatoes on the spot, but the truth is that McDonald's and all those other over-processed fries are more delicious. At In N Out, they peel the potatoes, and then put them into this smasher. They smash the potates through a little grid and put them directly into frying in the oil. It would be nice if something so simple would taste better than the over-processed kind. Then we wandered back home, where the dog was very happy to see us! We looked at photographs of their road trip and laid around the apartment. Then we went Sake tasting! Neither of them had ever had sake before, so it was a new experience to them. I think Dean liked a few sakes; he ended up buying a lychee flavored sake, and a plum flavored sake as well. Meg didn't really appreciate the sake. I don't love the sake either, but they have these three plum flavored ones that are really good. One is a plum flavored sake, and the other two are plum flavored white wines. Yum. We bought a plum flavored sake and a plum flavored white wine. Tim got to try an expensive sake with gold flakes in it. It made him feel really special. Then, we went and got ice cream, since Meg and I are ice cream fiends. Meg and Dean hung around until 8 pm or so, and then they packed up their car and drove through the night to Yellowstone. Crazy!

Dean and Meg visit!

Dean and Meg have been driving across the country on a long road trip to visit friends and see sights, and they stopped in our area last night! The route they are taking is something like the journey depicted on this map. I'm impressed, because if I had to spend that much time in a car, I'm pretty sure I'd go insane. We had talked through text messages throughout the day and they said they would arrive around 7 or 8 and eat dinner with us. I knew Dean too well to believe that, so I decided we'd order pizza. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about when to make dinner so that it was warm and ready when they arrived. If they ended up being too late, Tim and I can just eat the pizza leftovers. I'm glad I did that, because they showed up late around 11 pm! They seem like they're doing well; they just recently got engaged. Dean proposed to Meg in a hot air balloon over Letchworth Park. I guess it had been so windy that the ballonist kept postponing the trip so Dean was going out of his mind. Meg just finished a nursing program at the University of Buffalo. She starts work at Strong Memorial in the heart surgery ward a week after they return from their road trip. It was pretty late, though, so we set up their air mattress, chatted for a while, and then Tim and I headed to bed.

I went to work early this morning so I didn't really talk to them but Tim showed them the way to the BART and they went into the city. They explored fisherman's wharf and that whole area while Tim and I were at work/school. When Tim and I got home, we got on the BART headed to the city, and walked over to find Meg and Dean. We finally met them right near Chinatown, and we decided to grab some dinner and some delicious baked goods at the Chinatown bakery that Tim and I love. It's hard to tell which Chinese eateries are good and which aren't so we just wandered around until a certain place struck Tim's fancy and we went in. The food was pretty good for Meg, Tim, and I, but Dean's plate of "crispy chicken" was somewhat questionable. It was very crispy, very chewy, and full of many bones. I'm not sure whether he liked it or not. He ate it with some hot sauce that was on the table and it must have been really spicy because he spent the entire dinner panting and breathing funny. After dinner, we wandered over to the Chinese bakery and got some cream buns and pineapple buns, which are two of the most delicious things the Chinese make. Meg and Dean really liked the creme buns. The creme buns are these sweet bread rolls that have a really good creme inside and they are covered in coconut. Tim doesn't even like coconut much, yet he really likes these creme buns. Pineapple buns are another sweet bread roll that have a sort of crispy topping that makes them look like the surface of a pineapple. I think those are Tim's favorite. Every time we go into the city, I try to get some of these goodies because the buns from this particular bakery far surpass the rest.

After dinner, Meg wanted to see Lombard Street. Tim knew where the general location of Lombard Street was, so we wandered over. After a few navigational oops, we finally wandered to the curvy location of Lombard Street and walked up and down the sidewalk. A lot of tourists like to drive down Lombard Street while holding camcorders, which makes for a silly fight. There was one couple on a motorcycle; the male was driving and the woman on back was holding her camcorder. I guess she dropped her camera and leaned over to pick it up and in the process she managed to fall off the motorcycle. They weren't going very fast, so she wasn't hurt. She just picked herself up, brush herself off, and walked down the sidewalk. I'm sure she was very embarrassed though since many people saw the fall. Oh well. I guess that's one way to remember Lombard Street, right? I bet the camera footage is pretty priceless.

After we were content with curvy little Lombard Street, we all wandered back to the BART station to head home. We were all pretty tired, so we just stared into nowhere or read magazines, and wandered home once we got to our station. Tim biked over to pick Navi up from daycare, and Meg, Dean and I wandered straight home.

Bird!

There is a bird in my shop today. It's not supposed to be here. The birds keep making these nests in the ceiling outside the loading doors. Sometimes when we open the loading doors to receive large shipments, a bird finds its way in. A few weeks ago I came into work and found a bird sitting against the window. It was so darned exhausted from a morning spent trying to fly through the window that I was able to catch it in my hands and release it outside. Thankfully, the birdie wasn't hurt and flew right away. Don't worry! I washed my hands.

Well today, another bird found its way in. I've spent the last hour chasing it around with a broom with the lights off and the loading doors wide open.

I wanted it to fly out, but instead, a second flew in.

My new lens :)

I got a new camera lens today!! It is a Sigma 18-55 mm lens, which will be something like Tim's 24-70mm lens since my XTI camera body has a 1.6 crop factor. I've not had a lens of my own and keep using Tim's; as a result, I wasn't taking many photographs. I always felt really bad when I'd take one of his lens because there was always the chance that he'd want to use that lens, or that I'd fall and break it and be responsible for the loss of an expensive lens. I wanted a reasonably priced lens that would allow for a few different types of pictures yet be light enough to carry around everywhere I go. After talking to Tim about a few options I decided on this lens. I bought it on Amazon a few days ago, and it arrived today! I took Navi to the beach with Tim and was hoping to find some cool photo opportunities, but nothing inspired me. I tried taking photographs of Timmy throwing sticks into the waves and Navi chasing after them, but it was so windy that I kept getting pelted with sand and water from the combination of the wet sandy stick and wet sandy dog flying through the air and crashing into the waves. I also took a few photographs to try out HDR photos, and I will post them here if any come out well. Tim showed me a really cool trick to get the camera to take three photographs of three different exposures continuously with one push of the shutter. It's nice because you don't have to move around to adjust the exposure and mess up the resulting HDR photo. I am impressed with the lens and I am excited to have a lens of my own to bring around and take photographs of life with. Now I don't have to be jealous of all Timmy's gorgeous photos!

Kitty!!

After Pam left on Saturday night, she had a little fiasco with a kitten. I woke up on Sunday and she told me she had a crazy story for me. Storytime began and it turns out that Pam had gotten a call from a friend saying something along the lines of "there's a stray kitten on my front step and I don't like animals so can you please take it?" I guess Pam and Hana went to get the kitten and brought it home only to discover that the thing was infested with fleas. She said that I come and visit since I love animals, but I wasn't about to go anywhere near a flea infested kitten so I declined.

The kitten is no longer a flea ridden beast, so I decided today I'd bike by on my way home from work and see Pam's temporary addition to the animal house. There are always a lot of animals at her house. I think there are eight roommates, two cats named Pander and Dante, a silly little dog named Penny, and a tortoise that spends its days endlessly trying to burrow out of its cardboard box. To add onto that, Navi occasionally visits, and there also seems to be a constant stream of ants designed specifically to drive poor Pam straight up the wall. The ride home from work was especially windy so I arrived more tired than usual and was happy to have a little break before the rest of my ride home. Pam opens the door and there is this little kitten with huge ears hanging from her hand, staring at me with the most curious eyes in the world. When I was inside, she put him down and he commenced to sniff my shoes, chew on my bike cables and cogs, and purr up a storm. He had the most unique coloring because rather than being striped, he had spots in a stripe pattern. He's also the color of various hues of sand. It's hard to explain, but Pam said that he reminded her of the little ridges that sand forms under shallow water, and its a description that really fits the bill. All in all, the cat was a little tyke, and while I do eventually want another critter running around my place, now is not the time. Besides, my fish tank is most positively green, and I should spend my time figuring out why rather than dragging new cats home.

Three Bears

Tim and I have been planning to go on the three bears ride with George for the past week now. The map of the ride and a description is shown at this website if you're interested. We were supposed to go on this ride last Thursday, but plans got changed and we ended up going today. The three bears ride is a really popular loop in the area that goes over the hills, around in the valley, over three hills (mama bear, baby bear, and papa bear), then back over the first hill again. It's something like a 36 mile loop with 4500 feet of climbing..but don't quote me on that because I'm really not sure. I've been riding without a computer on my bike for the past six or seven months because I feel like it allows me to appreciate the ride more when I'm not counting mileage or constantly wondering how fast I'm going. I think I'm going to put the computer back on soon because it will provide a nice idea of how I'm getting into better shape. I've ridden without it so long that I think I'll be able to have it around without becoming obsessive about speed or distance.

The cycling out here is a lot different than any other place I've lived. CT was full of endless hills, but nothing too long or extreme. NY was pretty flat, with a few hills if you knew where to find them. When I visited Tim in DE, he always took me out for rides with wonderful swirly, hilly roads full of trees and flowers. PA seemed pretty flat, with some long rolling hills in there. Out here, it seems like you have a choice whether you want to bike on a completely flat surface for miles and miles, or bike up, up, up, winding your way up a mountain, and then down the other side.

I was a little nervous because even if I do bike to work frequently, the bike to work is FLAT. The biggest hill is a bridge by IKEA with an elevation change that is probably somewhere around 30 vertical feet. I shouldn't have been worried, though, because I think I have a lot more endurance than I've ever had before. I don't bike fast, but I can bike forever and ever and then I'll bike a little more. Tim was superhuman as usual and didn't seem tired after the ride. I'm pretty sure the atoms he is built from are bonded in a new, unheard of lattice structure that somehow violates every known rule of physics and quantum electrodynamics. Deep down, I know this isn't true because I have seen him reduced to a tired wreck before. It was long, long, long after I became a tired wreck, but he still ended up as a tired wreck. I was impressed with George, too, because this was his first long ride with lots of climbing. He got tired at the end, but he did really well, and pushed through. The ride ended up being a lot of fun because I got to see cows, and I really love cows. They are so silly and curious. The ride was also kind of funny because it's named for the three hills in the middle of the ride. The first hill is the medium sized hill, and is named Mama Bear. The second hill is a small climb, and is thus named Baby Bear. The last hill is the biggest of the three and thus named Papa Bear. After we climbed the first hill/mountain/whatever it is, we went on a long downhill and then ended up at the base of the mama bear climb. We climbed mama bear, breezed down a small downhill and up another small climb. Tim and I assumed that this small climb was mama bear's finale. We started climbing the next hill and I was thinking the whole way that if this was baby bear, papa bear was going to be a monster climb. When we got to the top of "baby bear," we were informed that it was actually papa bear! The little hump we climbed after mama bear had been the baby bear climb. I think the ride should be more properly named into something like "pregnanat mama and papa bear ride" or "hunchback mama and papa bear ride" or something along those lines because "baby bear" really isn't a climb at all. All in all, it was a fun ride, and some parts of the ride had a really nice view. I will ride the loop again with my camera so I can take snapshots for you.

The Calzone Fiasco

I'm pretty sure Timmy thinks life without calzones or strombolis is a life not worth living. He's searched every pizzeria within miles and miles and has yet to find a single place that serves any. You can find three pizzerias on every block around here, yet if you walk in and ask if they make calzones or strombolis, the workers will either stare you in confusion or laugh at you. When I first moved out, there was one day where Tim gloomily stated that he could not find a calzone or a stromboli no matter where he went. He asked if I could make some, and searched online for recipes. He found a recipe for calzones with cheese, sausage, onions and red pepper and decided that we were going to make some, right then and there. He really liked the end product, and ever since he always asks if we can make calzones for dinner. I never shared the same appreciation for a calzone or a stromboli, but I always try to obligue because he loves them so much. The recipe ends up being kind of tedious, though, since you have to make the dough, let it rise, make the sausage, make the onions, char then peel the pepper and even though I don't mind being in the kitchen for long hours, it sucks up a whole night so I can't really have many other plans. As a result, it doesn't end up being made that often, and for the past few weeks Tim has been begging for a calzone.

On Friday, I told Tim I'd make calzones over the weekend, and then I completely forgot. I felt bad, so I decided that I'd make calzones yesterday. I figured I'd make the dough right before Navi's agility class, and then it would rise while we were gone. I got home from work, walked Navi up the hill, and then we pedaled over to Lucky to pick up the groceries we would need. Neither of us got struck by Hey-Look-There's-a-Sale! Syndrome, so we got in and out pretty quick. When we got home, I started making the dough for the calzones and disaster struck when I came up too short on flour. The extra bag of flour I could have swore I had must have grown legs and walked away. We only had 10 minutes before we needed to leave for Agility Class, so I didn't know what to do. I asked Tim if he could wait til Wednesday for calzones and he sulked and moped around but agreed that he could wait. I felt awful because he was really mopey and then he finally admitted that he really wanted calzones. I didn't have any time to deal with it before class though so the mess of dough got dumped into the garbage disposal at which point I discovered that garbage disposals don't like dough messes. I had to reach in and pull out all the goop and then I threw it into the garbage, only to discover that the bag had fallen down and that none of my dough goop had made it into the bag. So I had a little mess to clean up there. The counters, the sink, the garbage disposal, the flour canister, several plates and bowls, the garbage and the floor were all covered in dough goop. I cleaned it all up, and left the floor to Navi, only to discover that even though she will eat everything in the world, she won't eat dough goop. So I had to clean that up, too.

Anyhow we went to class and tired Navi out for the night. On the walk back, Tim went into Ranch99 because he didn't want to bike back to Lucky and paid for an overpriced bag of flour. That's when you know cheapie really wants calzones. So it was something like 7:30 or 7:45 and I made and kneaded the dough and it needed to rise until 9:15. Guess I wasn't going to bed on time, huh? I told Tim that he was on duty to help out, and told him to roast the red pepper until it was black on all sides. He reads the recipe, declares he knows exactly how he's going to do it, and disappears into the other room. I didn't think much of it until he brings out his little campfire stove made out of soda cans, and sits outside on the porch roasting the pepper over his little flame. I have to admit...I wasn't very surprised.

We eventually got the calzones made and they came out of the oven around 9:45 or 10:00 pm. Tim greedily ate an entire calzone and I ate maybe 1/5th of one - and I was hungry. That's how much he likes calzones.

So tonight I refuse to cook anything that requires more than 20 minutes of work.

Bike Day!

I decided that since Tim and I hadn't gone for any nice road bike rides in a while, we were going to go for a long ride this weekend. We always seem to go snowboarding or backpacking or mountain biking or hiking and I really miss going for a good long road bike ride. It's harder now since we're in a city; if we want to go for a ride, we have to bike over mountains and go for at least 25 miles or tolerate being stopped by a stop sign or a red light every 50 feet or so. It's not that we don't want to bike 25 miles, but when half of that is uphill, it ends up taking more time than we have. It's not fair to Navi that I show up at home after being at work all day, run her for 15 minutes, and then disappear for a few more hours while I go traipse around on my bike. She deserves better than that.

So, it was time for a lazy weekend with lots of walks for the doggy, and one nice long bike ride. We decided we'd bike up the mountain to Tilden. I unknowingly made the whole ride a good bit harder by suggesting we bike along the ridge after reaching Tilden on Grizzly Peak Road until we reached some road with a name that I couldn't remember that had a fun long downhill. I thought Grizzly Peak Road was a rolling hill kind of road but I really should have realized that since it was called Grizzly Peak Road, it meant you climbed uphill until you reached grizzly peak. So off we went, and we biked up...and up....and up...and up...until we reached a destination a lot higher than I had expected. We'd climbed 1700 feet! It's nothing compared to our trek across the country, but it was nice and satisfying. I love how when you bike up the mountain you have incredible views of the entire bay area. There was fog over the mountains in Marin, and through a little haze you could see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. You could see all of Oakland and all of the millions and millions of little houses everywhere. It always amazes me because I can see where I live, and the island close to where I work, and I'm always kind of amazed that I bike along the shore that whole way. It doesn't seem quite so long when I bike it, but when I look at it from the top of the ridge I'm always a little amazed.

Then there was the fun downhill! Downhills here are always really amazing because they feel so well earned. I had wanted to bike down a different road, but this downhill was much steeper and whizzing down at breakneck speeds was quite exhilarating. Then we pedaled across Berkeley and got back home, where I finished up from where Pam and I started yesterday (and failed) with making a ginger and vanilla bean creme brulee. The resulting creme brulee came out kind of grainy. I did my research online and that means you baked it too fast or too long. So I will try again, because I LOVED the creme brulee I had at my sisters wedding, and I WILL perfect my ability to make creme brulees. :)

No Peaches!

Pam and I had been planning to make something with peaches today for the past week. We had thought we'd wake up, go over to the farmers market, and find some super delicious and perfect peaches to celebrate the start of summer with a peach pie or some kind of peach shortcakes. It sounded wonderful until I woke up much later than I expected to wake up and found myself not in the mood for peaches. I wanted to try a creme brulee I'd been eyeing lately. When Pam woke up I said I wasn't feeling too peachy, and ran the new idea by her. She agreed that a creme brulee or a chocolate mousse sounded yummy, so we decided we'd make that today. I had no ramekins, and she had 2 and a half (one is tiny!) so we figured we'd bike over to Marshalls and see if they had any...but first, Tim and I were off to walk the dog to Target because I decided I wanted a nice starbucks frappachino to start my Saturday morning. So we wander on over, and I got a java chip frappachino and I got Tim a strawberries and cream frappachino, and when I walked out, Navi had an admirer petting her and gushing to Tim about her. I know, I know, my dog is simply the most incredible and awe-inspriring doggy in the world.

Then we wandered back home, and Pam wandered over, and then Pam and I wandered to more stores than I had expected to wander to. Marshalls didn't have any good quality ramekins...neither did Ross...so we wandered into Bed Bath & Beyond and emerged with some good-enough ramekins, birthday candles that burn different colors, and an unexpected teapot. I'd gotten tired of boiling water in a saucepan and having close encounters between my feet and spilled boiling water, so I fell in love with a pretty green teapot and brought it home. I was even more delighted when I got home, decided to make some chai, and discovered that the inside of the teapot is a beautiful, deep blue. I love colors.

Pam and I spent the remainder of the day making the custard for the creme brulee, making penne with vodka sauce for dinner, watching silly TV shows, taking impromptu rides to Lucky when I realized I didn't have ham for the penne with vodka sauce, and Pam even made a quick cake so we could try out the new birthday candles that we'd found for no reason at all but that they are cool.

Six Months at Aurora!!

Today is June 16th, which marks the six month anniversary of my working at Aurora! All my past full-time jobs were co-ops which were never longer than six months. Since I like celebrations and it's not every day you have something to celebrate, I decided it was a good night for a nice dinner and slightly more expensive wine than usual. After a good day of being a data collecting monkey at work, I pedaled over to BevMo! with Tim to look for a wine Jordan's wife had given me to try called Fione. We couldn't find it anywhere but in the process of searching I happened upon a shelf with a small assortment of mead. When Tim and I had gone wine tasting with the honors program (and Dean!) last year before we left on our bike journey, one of the wineries had a meadery next door. We had tried some of the mead, and I had liked it quite a bit. I decided I wanted some mead...and then next to the mead was this raspberry drink that also looked yummy. So I wanted that, too. Then I saw some really good looking dessert wines, and I wanted those too. It was the Classic Perry Dilemma: so many options...what do I do? Normally I blindly attempt a decision, but today is a celebration, so I tried to make Tim decide. He wasn't having any of it, though, so I decided on a Classic Perry Solution (the celebration version), which consisted of buying it all. I made Tim pick a dessert wine, I picked a mead, grabbed the raspberry drink, closed my eyes, bee-lined to the cashier, and made sure I didn't see anything else to grab on my way out.

We went to the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for our special dinner where I encountered another problem of mine called the Hey-Look-its-on-Sale! Dilemma. We saw tortilla chips on sale for reaaaaally cheap, so we bought two huge bags. Then the expensive lime flavored tortilla chips were also really cheap, so we had to get two of those, too. We had to get six avocados rather than two, because four were in a bag and were cheap. We couldn't just settle for those four, though, because they weren't ripe, and I wanted some guacamole RIGHT NOW. I finally managed to escape the grocery store and pedaled home from the grocery store like a guilty three year old child that has begged her momma for every bit of junk food on the shelves. At least we have enough chips to last us for a while now with all the guacamole we'll be making.

For a while now I've had my eye on a chicken recipe I found on epicurious for Chicken with Haricorts Verts and Lemon Butter. I've never used shallots before, and have always been curious what they are like. Instead of using haricorts verts, I just used green beans. Tim likes his vegetables really crisp (never mushy!) so I figured green beans were less likely to wilt...I also couldn't find haricorts verts. It was really easy to make, pretty healthy, and tasted wonderful, so I will definitely be making it again.

Caples Lake to Emigrant Lake

After having gone out and bought hiking boots, a backpacking pack, a warmer sleeping bag, and all that jazz, it seemed like we ought to go out and go backpacking so I could put it all to use. Since we had a doggy backpack for Navi, it made sense that Navi should come along, too. By pure coincidence, my coworker, Jordan, said that we should go mountain biking or hiking and then stop at his house in Sacramento on the way home Sunday night for a nice dinner. The only hesistation I had was that I had a nasty cold that was in its worst phase of ooze and gooze...but when Tim was really enthusiastic about the idea, I figured I could bring along a truckload of tissues and deal with it. We decided we'd try a hike in El Dorado National Forest in the Sierra Mountains from Caples Lake to Emigrant Lake. I saw it in a book of dog hikes that I have and it just seemed like the right distance (9 miles, round trip) for a first backpacking hike with the dog. It also involved a nice climb, which can only mean nice views. After a last minute friday night run to REI for a bear canister and a rain jacket for me, we packed and left on Saturday morning. I'm not really sure what we were expecting...but we weren't expecting anything that happened.

We stopped at the Ranger's station along the way for a camping permit, and they warned us about possible thunderstorms and snow. We shrugged it off because it didn't really matter to us...we've seen nothing but blue skies and sunny weather so a little rain and snow isn't about to faze us right now. We got to the trail head and there were all these fishermen sitting around Caples Lake with little fish pole holders. I never really understood that...it just doesn't seem worth it anymore if you have fish pole holders and you just sit there and watch. I'm not very interested in fishing, but doesn't having a fish pole holder take all the charm out of it? We walked Navi on leash until we were past all the fishermen, and then we let her off.

A few minutes later, we came upon a snowpatch that must have been something like 20 feet in diameter. Navi stepped on it, realized what it was a split second later, and went insane with delight!

She was trying to roll in the snow but it didn't go the way she hoped; since she had a saddlebag-like backpack, it was hard for her to roll onto her back. Worse, once she managed to roll onto her back, she was stuck there until she managed to defeat the backpack and right herself. We'd also throw snow, and she'd dart and hop around trying to catch the snow.

It was really cute. We probably wasted 30 or 45 minutes playing with this first patch of snow. Then we started hiking again, and we kept passing more and more patches of snow. Navi never lost her energy, and she treated each patch of snow as she treated the first; pure excitement. There was also a lot of mud around the snow because of the thaw. See all the mud on Navi's nose?



As the three of us wandered down this trail, the amount of snow kept increasing until it was very difficult to distinguish the trail. It was raining off and on, but this failed to dim our spirits because we haven't seen rain for a while. I was really thankful that I had picked up a new rain jacket at REI last night because if I was in my other rain jacket from the bike trip that has no hood, I would have been miserable. After wandering through the woods along the lake, we started climbing, and eventually we could no longer see the trail. Then it started to hail! Navi tried to catch the hail as it bounced up from the ground. Tim and I had to stop and take photos of the hail that was smashing down. He didn't want to take out his nice camera so we used my old crappy point and shoot that we brought along for this purpose.


After Tim's triumphant pose in the hail with the dog, we managed to find the most difficult way up the mountain possible. We knew that if we walked high enough we would eventually see the basin with the lake where we planned to camp. We abandoned all hope of trying to follow the trail and just kept walking up. Tim's legs fell through the snow a few times. The whole situation was so absurd that I kept giggling when he fell through, so he wasn't a big Perry fan for a while. Then I fell through some snow, too, which seemed to make him feel better. We got to a nice little overlook where we could see Caples lake which was the first lake we'd walked around. We still couldn't see Emigrant lake so we had to go higher. At the overlook, Tim took a neat photograph of all the storm clouds moving in over us.


We kept wandering up the mountainside and we saw a lot of pink snow. I had heard of pink snow before, and I knew there was something bad about it, but I could not recall what it was. Tim had never heard of it before, but as I brainstormed what it might have been, he said something about about whether or not it was some kind of bacteria. When he said this, the sudden realization slammed into my brain that I had been watching Survivor Man on TV when he said that you should never eat pink snow because it was filled with a bacteria that would make you very sick. Navi didn't seem interested in the pink snow, so we had no problems keeping her away from it. Soon after, we saw Emigrant lake! It was a very pretty sight. We were in the bottom of a basin where the lake was, and the mountain shot up almost vertically all around us. We didn't have a view of the nearby mountains from where we were, so we looked for a place to set up camp before trying to conquer more mountain in order to see the view. You aren't allowed to camp a certain from the lake shore, so we had to back track and find a nice flat place to set up our tent. After wandering around we found a nice area. Navi ran around and played while Tim and I set up the tent and made a nice wind shelter out of various sticks, twigs and logs that we found around. Tim said it was so windy the last time he went backpacking (when I was in Rochester) that he couldn't sleep since it whipped through the tent all night. We hoped the wind shelter would help.



You can see the wind shelter we made in this photo. You also see the wonderful view we had a chance to wake up to in the morning. After setting up camp and having a bite to eat, we were so cold that we all ran into the tent (Navi included) and curled up in our sleeping bags to dry off and warm up. We put our rain clothes down on the floor so Navi could sleep on them and have some insulation from the cold ground. I hadn't planned for her to be so wet, so I was concerned that she wasn't warm. I fell asleep even though it was probably only 6 or 7 PM, but soon after Tim woke me up and complained that he couldn't sleep. He wanted to climb up the ridge and see the view. I couldn't get myself out of my sleeping bag but after a while I finally climbed out and we trekked around with the dog a little more. The dog is fearless and sometimes it makes me so nervous. She doesn't comprehend that we are at the edge of a mountain. One misstep and you have a long way down to fall. Whenever we were at a summit area, I would hold her collar or put her on the leash in order to still my heart. It was an incredible view, and the storm clouds made it even more impressive.



We then wandered back down, and fell asleep. In the morning, we climbed another portion of the ridge, and even though it was pretty much the same view, the blue skies made it look completely different.

After a while, we headed back down to camp, ate breakfast, packed up, and wandered back down. We saw the trail at the top, so we followed it down and...it was much easier than the way we took up. It was much warmer, so lots of water was rushing down in the rivers. We found a few cool waterfalls, and had a fun time wandering down. Navi played in all the snow just as she had before. By the time we got back to our car, I was very tired and ready to go home. We drove to Sacramento and stopped by at Jordan's place where we tried out a tandem bike. It was fun, but we were very wobbily and not coordinated. We'd need a lot more practice, and neither of us will be buying a tandem soon. Jordan's wife made some fun pizza and they had some other friends over. Everyone was very interesting and very fun to talk to. Navi just sat under the table and looked for crumbs of food. After a while, we packed up in our car again and headed home. Fun!