Lucy my Lu

I'm lucky my husband has a knack for taking pictures because our dog, Lucy, is well documented! I have to share a few photos... Good thing we don't have kids yet because I have a feeling they will feel like the paparazzi are after them :)

Xmas Tree Hunt 08

This was the first year we hunted for our tree with NO snow on the ground! My first thought was this will be easy. Little did I know that even though the trees are easier to get to we would still spend the same amount of time haggling over the perfect tree. I felt like the higher we climbed or the deeper in the forest we went we might find one with a halo of light surrounding it saying "Here I am the best Christmas tree ever". Not enough branches. Too tall. Too small. Too brown. Too Charely Brown. But regardless of which one we picked I think we would have loved it the same as soon as we got home and decorated it....which is exactly what happened! Zach used our new wedding chain saw (timber!) and it was easy for both of us to carry after dealing with firewood all autumn. Lucy had a GREAT time to say the least! She managed to sniff everything within a 5 mile radius of our tree. Good job gang!

Thanksgiving to All

Zach, Lucy, and I had a wonderful trip down to Reno to visit with family and friends. There is always lot's to do and little time to accomplish everything but we managed to have two Thanksgiving dinners, take a drive up to Tahoe, do a little shopping, and I got to babysit my nieces, Callie and Avery. They grow up so quickly so it was a good opportunity for me to get to know them a little better before they are off to college! And I can't believe we don't have any good photo's of Callie. Everyone did a wonderful job cooking and we ate and drank more then we needed but had a wonderful time doing it :) I wish we could visit them ( and Lake Tahoe!) more often.I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family and am happy we could share this holiday together.

Michael Pollan

We were lucky to have Michael Pollan speak in our community last night on the importance of our health. Americans are so obsessed with weight control and nutrition and yet we are one of the unhealthiest nations on earth. Why is this? This was one of the main discussion points in Michael Pollan's lecture last night. Author of "The Omnivores Dilema" and "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto", he has a great understanding of the importance of eating wholesome, locally grown foods, that support our health and our communities. Why is it that we think imitation food is better then the real thing? Why do we think we get better nutrition out of a vitamin then the real source of vitamins/minerals in the food themselves?

He had some good words of advice when confronting choices of what to eat:

• Quality is better then quantity. You get more nutrition (& taste) out of an organic tomato then you would out of a commercially grown tomato that is filled with pesticides/chemicals to make it bigger and grow faster. The price might be more for the organic tomato but it's likely going back into your community instead of a corporations pocket.

• 5 ingredients- Anything more is probably not food

• Do you know what all the ingredients are? Can you pronounce them?

• Food is perishable. If it doesn't mold or rot it probably isn't good for you, i.e. Twinkies

• Eat around the perimeter of the grocery store. This is where the produce, dairy, whole grains live.

• Sit down to a meal. Eating on the run causes us to eat more of things that are not good for us.

• Would your great-grandmother recognize that as food?

• And finally, enjoy eating- eat with friends, family, and neighbors. Make it the social and cultural experience that is suppose to be and you will find you eat smaller proportions and slower, while enjoying the company of those you love. Isn't this why Europeans are so skinny?

I appreciated hearing Michael Pollan speak and am encouraged to support our health and well-being in our own community through co-ops like Idaho's Bounty and starting a garden next summer!

Well Wishes to Wanda

I found out this morning that my sister Erin & her husband, Gabe's dog, Wanda, was in a horrible fight with another dog. Wanda is an Australian cattle dog and only about 30 lbs. Sweet natured and once a professional frisbee dog. The other dog was a 60lb pitbull and belonged to their roommate. When Gabe found Wanda in their home she was lying in a puddle of her own blood barely alive. He rushed her to the vet and after some grueling decisions and a night of agony, Wanda is luckily on the road to recovery. I'm so saddened for their family and know that their dogs are like children. We are wishing Wanda a speedy recovery! xoxo

Bright Future

I am elated that our new president elect is Barak Obama! After a moving acceptance speech I found myself in tears, relieved that our future leader of the United States is someone I believe in, support, and admire. I am so grateful that the majority of US citizens feel the same.

Hooray for the United States! Here is to a bright future ahead!

VOTE!

Halloooweeeennn!

I have to admit I was not really into Halloween this year until...about one hour before when Zach and I decided to dress up and we started getting trick-or-treater's. 30 kids in about 20 minutes! I didn't realize how many little tot's where in our neighborhood until they started showing up in swarms. Knowing most of their parents it was funny to see them watching the action in the background, enjoying their little monsters and princesses racing around for little pieces of candy. Zach and I recycled our costumes from last year that we used on our Grand Canyon trip down the Colorado. We spiced them up a little but managed to make "Napoleon & Dynamite" look pretty good. Our friends- Sarah, Jenna, and Willie where a skit from Saturday Night Live (Celebrity Jeopardy- Turd Furgason, Alex Trabeck, and Sean Connery).

I have found memories of being a kid in Reno, racing around on rollerblades trying to get the most candy. And I'll never forget when I got kidneystones one year and couldn't go trick-or-treating. Luckily, my sister Erin shared her candy with me.

I didn't have enough time to snap pictures of all the little kiddies at the door but did receive some adorable pictures from my sister, Addie, and her little ones dressed up! Avery was "Daisy LaDuke" and Callie was a "Yale cheerleader and Ariel".

Morning Traffic

On my way to work this morning I was stopped by what is typical for this time of year, a herd of sheep moving down the street directly at me. I love watching them as they move like a school of fish around obstacles (like my car!). The expert ranchers control them with their dogs, whistling, calling, stopping for a nod with the hat and "howdy". It's a nice distraction from the usual morning routine. This weekend is the annual "Trailing of the Sheep" where the sheepherders take their flocks right through downtown as on lookers cheer and celebrate a long tradition of Basque sheep herders in the area.


Winter is closer than I thought, 3"-6" of snow is expected today. It seems like we went right over fall into winter, never a bad thing in this town as everyone has 'ski fever'.

Fall

Fall is here! The chill in the air, the orange, red, and yellow leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving, firewood...We are lucky to live in an area where the seasons are very true to form. I thought I would share some of the beautiful pictures Zach took yesterday while working.