I made a Thanksgiving video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJtPKQrYgtw&feature=youtu.be

I expect more from you, Barnes & Noble

The table is "New & Noteworthy".  Zoom into the right corner.

The Alchemist (c) 1988.
The Old Man and the Sea (c) 1952.

Cue the credits, standing ovation.

I now know how to do everything.

Thanksgiving 2011 -- Phoenix, AZ

If it's half as good as it looks, we're all in for a treat.

My first pecan pie! 

Jason got designated as the carver as leigh was still recovering from an appendage + knife altercation  earlier that day.

Leigh gets in the Thanksgiving feast long-arm.

Cheers to your first thanksgiving!

Black Friday -- Spring Water Edition.

Of course.

This is a recent exchange of emails between Donna (our landlady, who is currently out of town) and me:

Darla: You missed quite an exciting hamburger night at the VFW.  There was a magic show!  Whaaaat.

Donna:  There was a magician?  Was it a young high school student by the name of Cody?

Darla: It was! How did you know this??

Donna: I have my ways.  Actually, he is a former student of mine and his grandmother was the local taxidermist.

Darla: Best.  Sentence.  Ever.

Passive Aggressive Notes, Thrift Store edition.

You mean to tell me.

You got that turkey golden brown by hitting the "Start cook" button? TELL ME MORE

Back in the hills!

I am reviving the blog!  Being back in the woods has renewed my sense of purpose and creativity.  I feel not unlike this:

The cabin is wonderful.  Donna took out the carpet and put in nice laminate floors, added a cooktop (no more camping stove, yeehaw!) and added a WHOLE new room, which basically doubles the size of the house, AND added a cute little deck off the side.  The new room is the bedroom and my office, and the main room will be Jason's studio.  I would attach pictures but we are still in the middle of getting everything organized, putting up shelving, etc. and I want to wait until it doesn't look like my dorm room freshman year.

But in the meantime, I am embracing the country life every chance I get.   Donna and I put in a winter garden.

To the left are onions and then to the right we planted many, many garlic.  If all goes well, in the spring we will have 100-150 heads of garlic, and about 100 onions.  If all doesn't go well, that soil is going to be delicious.

We also put in some lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and parsley.  There are snow peas off to the left.  

I'm in love with this cabbage plant.

I made bread!  Another riddle of the universe unlocked!  

Hope all is well with you!!

Something about this doesn't feel right.

I promise if I win, I won't let it change me.

I'd like to think....

I am also known best known for "sweet melons"

It's better with a friend.

For the record, this is the second such bathroom I have seen.  

Excuse me, miss, but is this organic?

How many people had to ask for "Jar Cheese"....

before they just went ahead and put it on the sign?

Ok. No vegetables. I get it.

Something tells me they weren't driving a Civic

I don't know much about kayaking...

But I'm pretty sure that this gets filed under "very bad day"

Better get out your wallet asap

Before they run out of "cold" and "t-shirt"

Do Jews have a pope? If so, we should call him

Because I think the tortilla for my breakfast burrito constitutes a miracle.

I don't remember why I was taking a picture of Jason

But the woman behind him makes me wish I did.

Nothing goes together like...

A big part of me...

wishes this was a normal day for us.

I wonder if that heater comes standard...

Because sometimes it gets really cold in the car.  

This reminded me of my Dad

Why just buy the spaghetti sauce in a can when you can also buy the spaghetti?

Mammoth Lakes -- so pretty!

So much snow still on the mountains!  In June!

Now that I put them next together, these two scenes look redundant although they are both uniquely pretty.

This is called Convict Lake.  I don't know why but I'd like to.

Blueberries + Kayaking. Blueberayaking?

Blueberry farm!

And then kayaking on a beautiful lake!

I'm pretty sure the last time I kayaked was 6th grade camp.

Darla: I've never seen a dog with a life jacket before. Carol: Yeah, she's a sinker.

What a lovely Saturday morning!

BBQ season is upon us.

Excited to have our first summer BBQ of the season!
Note: This and the previous post are in no way related.

I call him Jacques.

The other day we came home to find Carol, one of the women who lives next door, kneeling down by the driveway with what I thought was a new puppy!  (eeee!)

Turns out -- not so much puppy (boooo) but more injured fox (whaaat?).  When we drove up, he trotted off up the hill but it was clear that something was wrong (we suspect maybe he was suffering from poison).  Sometimes his legs worked, sometimes they didn't.  Jason followed him up the hill where he had laid down.  The rest of the story tells itself.

Maybe he's just resting?

Right at dusk we heard a cry.  The dogs had got jacques and he was dead. (Dramatic reenactment)

We put him in the fridge overnight.

It's just a bag people, just a bag.

Now what?

Special delivery!

wait for it....

wait for it....

good morning, jacques!

I saaaaid GOOD MORNING

"Say hello to my leel friend."

Time to put the model on the stand!

Amazingly if you put a fox in the fridge overnight, he will have a beautiful pose  for you to paint the next day.

He stayed like this pretty much the whole time Jason painted him.

And now he is a beautiful painting!

Update: Jacques has been delivered the California Department of Fish and Game to try and determine the mysterious nature of his ailments.  We have a betting pool here at the house regarding the results --  $5 to enter, winner take all.