Thursday, November 04, 2010

And Yes, It Hurts To Type Too, Darn.

So I seem to have knit a bit too much in the last few months and given myself some tendonitis in my wrist, boo. But I am (finally) just finishing up this wee knit for the newest baby in the family... I'll divulge a bit more once its in the mail, though really I'm not leaving much to the imagination here...

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Civic Duty

So I got summoned for jury duty for today. Oddly enough, despite the fact that I am about to turn 40 (forty!?) I have never done this before. I remember once getting the summons thingy in the mail, about two weeks after the date, as I had been overseas at the time. So being older and much more predictable these days, I did what you're supposed to do, called ahead the night before, and showed up at my appointed 8:30 am check in time. We were crossed off the list, given name tags (I was dubbed the catchy "Juror 91277") and metal-detectored for cell phones and guns. Then we went to the court room.

Let me back up here a bit and mention that our court house (Mariposa County Courthouse) is old. It was built in the 1800's. So the court room is up a flight of narrow stairs, on the second floor. It also has, not only a large structural beam right smack dab in the middle, but said beam also houses the chimney of the court room wood stove. I'm pretty glad it was a lovely mild day, and we didn't have to huddle 'round the stove for warmth. The final quaint, charming, and slightly alarming fact about our local courthouse is that the entire building vibrates when the bell is rung. So nine long peals of the bell clapper could be felt as well as heard.

And then the guy pled guilty in chambers, and we were all sent home after an informative video and thank you speech from the judge. Oh, and I kid you not, as I was driving away they were getting someone out of the paddy wagon and he was in black and white horizontal striped pj's. We do things the old fashioned way here. Evidently.

To see our high tech facilities click here and scroll down a bit more than halfway. You can just see the wood stove, to the right of center.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

One Of The Reasons That I Enjoy An Occasional Costco Trip



The cute little head banging part just kills me!

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Let Me Count The Ways!

Oh county fair, how I love thee...





Way to go Hubsand! First place Children's Portrait and some other crazy rainbow Special Award thingy too!

That there is that wacky sweater that I done-did knit, with all kinds-a crazy rainbow colored ribbons on it too! You could have knocked me over with a feather! And the Tarnay's clean up at this year's county fair! I ask you, what is not to love?

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Glossy Highlights

So we have friends visiting from Spain, along with their two kids, and Tank Boy is in seventh heaven!

He is also quite pleased with his NEW SOCCER UNIFORM, because evidently my son is already on his first team!

There has been much romping about the park, Strider Bike riding, and river splashing. That is until about four days ago, when it abruptly went from summer to fall in one night!


And you know what fall means to those who get a weekly veggie box?

FIGS! Yumm!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

In Praise of Deadlines

You will never guess what I finally finished!

It only took me a mere 18 months!

The jury is still out on whether or not it fits The Hubsand, as I had only 15 minutes to spare in getting it to the County Fair committee today, and The Hub was running around getting his photo submission ready as well. So you may notice that the model is distinctly not he. I may also have stayed up until 3 am last night figuring out how to graft and seam the crazy patterns on this thing, but really don't want to admit that in public.

Hey ever wonder what the inside of a cabled sweater looks like?

Kind of a keerapy mirror image of the outside, huh? And notice all those loose ends? With approx 15 balls of yarn in this thing there were approximately 30 of those suckers to weave in on the inside!

Ever wonder what suziehulahoop looks like after a knitting marathon, no shower and little sustenance, while modeling a wooly sweater in 92 degree heat?

Alrighty, time to head back to Knitpicks and get the supplies for the next project!

Sunday, August 08, 2010

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Last weekend the Hubsand and I got a surprise weekend away in Tahoe without the tot! Auntie Rena and Grampa teamed up to give us a weekend out of town. So we hotfooted it over to Lake Tahoe to revisit our youth. And by that I mean we went mountain biking. Together. Whee! We hit up Stanford Rocks and my former back yard ride Hole in the Ground. The biking was awesome, the camping was lovely, and we ran into tons of great folks from the old days. (Especially nice when I broke my chain and realized I'd forgotten the chain tool!) As a matter of fact, the whole thing was so great, I spent the next week wondering why the heck I'm not still living there. But then again, Yosemite is pretty dang awesome too...

So the point of this story is that while Mom and Pop were out of town Tank Boy got to go to Merced with his Auntie and see "Despicable Me" in 3D. He really loved the glasses, and they're flattering on him, no?


And speaking of awesome Yosemite, the YosGirlz did Cathedral Peak this last Friday. My camera these days is a bit bulky, so it did not come out at any awkward times during the climb (almost all of it) but I did get in a few snappies. There is a ginormous ledge before the last pitch of the climb, so Publina graciously got a shot of Vicki and I getting the gear organized.


We were a group of five total, but split into two groups for the actual climbing. From the top you could see three alpine lakes, Bud, Cathedral and one more. Here's two of our party chillin' (literally, it was chilly!) partway down the hike off the back side, with Bud Lake in the background.


From the same spot looking the other way you could see Eichorn and Cathedral Lake as well.


I have no pics of the actual climbing, but it was so lovely. There are innumerable ways to go, most of them fairly mellow. I got to pick what looked fun and then head off! The classic chimney pitch in the middle was a highlight of the day, a tiny bit exciting, but ultimately doable and very well protected. So. Much. Fun.

That evening we had a campsite reserved in Tuolomne Meadows and the Hubsand and Tank Tot got to join us. Being high elevation, its pretty cold at night and in the morning. But there's no need to freeze when you can wear what amounts to a sleeping bag around camp.


We rounded out this weekend with Saturday at Tenaya Lake, reading books and dipping gingerly into the water. (Oddly enough the water was warmer than the air, but the breeze was so brisk that swimming was kept to a bare minimum!) It was achingly beautiful, and the perfect family time counter point to the previous day's Girlz activities. And you'll never guess what we did on Sunday... actually got the towel racks up in the guest bathroom! Photos soon!