Filed under: flowers, petroglyphs, photography, travel, utah | Tags: , anasazi, bees, flowers, petroglyphs, photography, utah, x-files
outlandish photo effect applied to otherworldy arch site.
disclaimer(requested by d): this is NOT the actual color of the petroglyphs. while some refer to the folks who left these darling prints as “Anasazi”, d wants me to mention that it is politically correct to call them “ancestral Puebloans”, but, that just does not roll off the tongue of today’s travel novice.
here is a random flower, photographed in may on the same utah hike. again, d wants me to mention that this is NOT the actual color. he wants me to point out that i was playing around with my photo editor program, which is true.
seeing the world through chartreuse colored lenses:
a side note: i like the new color scheme, and fancy that this is what the flower would look like to a bumble bee or a butterfly. or…..a zygodactyl alien with one eye. heh heh, just kidding d. just trying to find a reason to mention fox mulder in a blog.
(recipe and party notes ahead!)
here’s the garlic….secret weapon.
we had our first work happy hour since i started working at the studio two years ago. birthdays were celebrated, but mainly it was just a chance to get together with eachother, which we never do.
a couple of us brought snacks, mine was homemade salsa. now, there are tons of delicious salsa recipes. i got one from my mom with a key ingredient (posssssibly accidentally) missing. i just like this one because it is very fresh and you can taste the garlic and the cilantro in it. and it got really great reviews tonight, which i didn’t expect, so i decided to post it here:
tips:
make salsa the day before, at least, so the flavors can blend. it really does taste so much better! the peppers get hotter, and the garlic mellows.
use fresh, locally grown tomatoes, not ones that were ripened in the store. they’ll be sweeter, firm enough AND juicy.
i like to add cilantro the next day. it seems tangy and really stands out.
i used organic garlic i picked myself from my friend’s farm.
1/4 cup chopped green onion (whites & tops)
4 cloves garlic – chopped
1 small can diced chillis
1 medium anaheim chilli (this is medium hot)
4 diced tomatoes
1 half can stewed tomatos (mostly the juice part)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 fresh chopped jalapeno (optional, because this makes it HOT)
salt & pepper taste, squirt of fresh lime juice.
no leftovers!
so, the mingling happened…
it was really fun. lots of laughing, and you know, i really like these people. they’re all really nice. y brought a delicious chocolate bundt from scratch, as well as “cowboy cavier”. so delicious. we had some cheese cubes, too, but …cheese cubes are cheese cubes. we had nimbus pale ale and dos XX beers. for the salsa and cowboy caviar, the dos XX was definitely the better pairing. and of course, what beer goes with cake.
ok, so maybe it doesn’t look like they’re having the best time, but….there really was alot of laughing banter. ok well, that is it for tonight.
Filed under: animals, dogs, mutts | Tags: animals, canine, dna, dogs, genetics, goodbear, mixed breed, mutts
for my birthday, dave, lynn and hannah ordered the canine heritage breed test for me. we expect the results any day now. please look at these pictures and venture a guess in comments. we would love it if you did!!
that isn’t my favorite shot, but it shows his coat pretty well. he looks so serious! (i’ll post some shots of him having fun in future days!)
here he is before work one day:
here is a close up of his head. he has that neotony/puppy thing going on, even though he was almost 3 in this shot:
i have had some great guesses from friends, one particular mix keeps popping up. and, while it seems to be majority for golden chow, i don’t think that is what he is. they aren’t the best pictures, but they each give an idea of what he looks like.
here is an older picture:
i can’t wait to get the results. 1. obviously just curiosity, 2. it might help me deal with some of his behavior. he is so smart and wonderful, but does have some interesting habits, fears. he is terrified of other dogs. he wants to hunt down every cat in town. he has learned more tricks than any dog i have personally met. and waffles between sheer independance and blind loyalty/neediness. i just love him so so so much.
please give me a guess! he’s 3, by the way, and has gastroparesis.
thanks
Filed under: animals, dogs, food, organic | Tags: cake, cooking, dog training, dogs, hummus, organic, vegetables, wine
i LOVE sunset magazine…..11 months of the year. LOVE it! but the november issue always angers me because it always have a lovely, golden, roasted turkey on the cover. and every year my poor mother listens to me rant about how the editors can’t find a new idea. thanksgiving. turkey. autumn. turkey. holidays. turkey. thursday my mom called from her town. the sunset had just arrived and, guess what? no turkey.
i know its silly, but, it really has been pissing me off. and every fall i say i’m done. i’m not looking at their damn magazine anymore. but there you see it: a spice cake, some cookies and some sort of orangey cheese cakey wonderful sweetiness. i flippin’ love sunset!
in dinner news:
was at the animal shelter till about 8:30, so dinner was super late, but super yummy: hummus, rice pilaf with a small bit of mushroom, spinach sauteed with fresh garlic and some sassy cumin, a glass if mirrassou merlot. num num.
in dog land:
mom was visiting for the day and went to see her grand dog kick fuzzy but at dog school today. he did a down-stay for a minute with me out of the room. i think she may have been impressed. i was. he squeaked a little, and when i came back, he looked freaked out. but he won the competition of the day…. cuz he’s a good bear!
ha……ha…..HA. dear mother thinks she is funny cuz she made a joke about me getting old, but, well….
i don’t know how it happened. mom came down for the day. we chatted. stopped at dirty dawgs to pick up cat and dog chow. went to have margaritas and food….stuffs.
then mom pulled out the texas hold ’em kit. that’s fine. your decision. you could have quietly lost to “hand and foot” or conventional canasta, but you brought the “big game”.
well, notice the chips people. mine are in front. hers are in back.
later, we retired to the living room. somehow the topic of my birthday came up. (somehow? i bring up my birthday alot. i frequently gun for free stuff. ) turns out….mom thinks i’m older than i actually am. the year of birth had to be thrown into the mix. and she just thinks its super funny that i’m lookin’ old, too. (nice)
moving on….
poor cody bear. gramma keeps calling his name. its really vexing. as punishment… gramma is being forced to go to dog school tomorrow. heheh heh!
Filed under: food | Tags: aggressive dogs, bar, cajun, dog school, french quarter, mother, weekend plans
this picture was taken a few weeks ago with my mobile phone. april and i were at “our” place, a cajun bar/restaurant in our neighborhood (kind of). we won’t be going this weekend, as she has many halloween activities planned, but dave and i might grab a pint when he gets done hiking and i get done volunteering on saturday.
i just think blogs need pictures, that’s all.
so, here’s what is going down this weekend:
mom arrives this afternoon for a late birthday celebration. possibly pasta, a girl can hope. early up tomorrow morning to take the bear to school, then an activity with mom before she heads back out of town.
i’ll do some work that afternoon, then work at the animal shelter saturday night helping with a class meant to make aggressive dogs less aggressive. (good luck with that, right?) then possibly a beer. sunday, maybe shopping for glasses for april. she’s never needed them before, so could be slight trauma, we’ll see. then work for a few hours. as you can see, a weekend full of high glamour!!!!
what are YOU doing?
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets | Tags: animals, bug, cicada, dog in truck, palo verde beetle
to read about the bug and see him in GRUESOME DETAIL, see below
under the perpetual influence of decongestants, i thought “hmmm…..how bad could it be to put cody in the truck”…
mistake!!! he hates the truck. it is big, and scary and the leather seats are slipperyyyyy. besides, he prefers, smaller, economical cars.
then, poor kiddo, i made him have a bath! to pay me back, ….he tried to eat a roll of toilet paper. he did not, however, succeed.
creepy!
yes, that IS a cicada in my pants. i went to take my clothes off the line after work, and there was this scary looking, transparent winged, freaky insect hanging out in my butt pocket. i didn’t know what it was at first, until…..i ran inside, grabbed a dog toy and hurled it at the pants on the line from the back door. it knocked the bug off and it made the unmistakable “i’ll kill you while you’re sleeping” war cry that only a cicada can make. still…..he didn’t rattle me as bad as july’s palo verde beetle incident. (i’m still not ready to talk about that!)
in other news….
oh there is no other news! i’m still sick. my car is still falling apart and i still don’t know what i’m doing with my life.
but….
current events: california forest fires are realllly bad, so that might start to stress me out soon. right now, i’m too stressed about the superbug to worry about other things. WASH YOUR HANDS PEOPLE!!!
Filed under: animals, dogs, mutts | Tags: animals, dirty dawgs, dogs, what would tim do?
the boss is out recouping…but as you see, he is in our thoughts. what WOULD he do? he would have ordered teriyaki chicken probably, as we were on our wat to pei wei for some thai food. my fortune cookie: “you will receive an unexpected gift from an acquaintance” HOW EXCITING.
later that day, in dog land…
due to a nasty cold and some stress induced asthma, poor cody bear has been limited to one or two walks per day. to cheer him up i took him shopping. here he is at dirty dawgs, trying out a new toy.
feels good in the mouth, lightweight, easy to carry with a light squeaking noise.
durable.
he ended up with a nice, lightweight magenta rubber toy with a high pitched squeaker. gratis. dirty dawgs is his FAVORITE place!
we’ll get to that orange crush later….
regarding my schedule: so, i’ve been pretty busy lately. my apologies to everyone who i have been blowing off because of all the extra work i’m doing. i promise….after this month things will be better.
back to the can: this soda is the last crush. it has been the last crush for about 3 weeks. whenver nate would be mean he would later say “i saved that last crush for you” but i just KNOW if i drink it….i’ll never hear the end of it. just like the fed ex man who drank his last mountain dew that one time. welllllll, i will let you know who drinks it.
in dog land: cody bear is working AGAIN this weekend AND he starts canine games class saturday and and he starts agility november 1st. look out world, cody is comin’ fo’ ya!
cody bear's friends 
