Walking in a winter's wonderland

     This New Years we took out 3rd annual holiday trip up north to snow country!  There was no snow in Arizona until 3 days before New Years, just in time for us to travel to the mountains!  Instead of staying in Flagstaff AZ this year, we decided to stay in Williams, a cute little town 30 minutes south of the Grand Canyon.  Williams is 6,500 feet above sea level, has a small ski hill in the hills above the town and tons of National forest to explore.  We purchased snowshoes (which felt very odd because, need I remind you, we live in the desert!) but it turned out to be a great investment!
     Our trip up north should have only taken 3 hours, but due to the snow storm that was going on, took 7!  7 hours with all 4 animals; we were all ready to get out of the truck when we arrived!  To add insult to injury,  neither the walkway or the driveway were shoveled when we arrived!  Chris grabbed the shovel and got to work.  We travel to the mountains because we miss winter, and thankfully, we had got to participate in all aspects of winter during out little getaway ;)
     4 days of snow shoeing, skiing, sitting by the fire, and playing left us very happy and looking forward to 2011!  We has no internet or TV which was also a bit of a treat!

The cats enjoyed having new windows to look out and new beds to hide under.  They seemed to feel very at home.

We had so much fun last weekend, we decided to day trip back to Williams on Saturday for a little more snowshoeing!

Happy 2011!

A year in review

2010 was a fantastic year!  Let's take a trip down memory lane.

We rang in the New Year with a wintery vacation in Flagstaff with the family.

Unfortunately, that was our last and only taste of winter.

Moving on, with springtime came a visit from my parents and Rachel,

a proposal (shocker),

a trip to the Gand Canyon (my third since living in Arizona)

a private wedding, (use your imagination)

and wonderful visit from Chris's parents (also no pictures, bummer).

In May, we rescued Dodge, our precious little kitty who was dodging 4 lanes of traffic when I found her. She has turned out to be an amazing little girl and a wonderful member of the family.

We also took a trip east to visit my family and to attend our long-time family-friend Jen's wedding.  We had a blast!

Next we headed to San Diego for a 4 day weekend get-away from the heat of the PHX.  

Shortly thereafter, we went to Michigan for a family wedding!  We had such fun at Brenda and Steve's wedding, hanging out with family and meeting my new extended family members.  

After our Michigan trip, we suffered through the rest of the summer avoiding the heat and patiently waiting for the fall weather to arrive (3 months later. . . )

I had a birthday, 

cooked some delicious foods

and Chris made some amazing beer.  

We added another ginger to the family, welcome Oliver!  He followed me home and had me at hello.  

 Holidays were celebrated

and we all made out like bandits!

We are about the to ring in the New Year and we are very excited.  I look forward to sharing our updates with you and seeing more friends and family in 2011.  Love to all!

Gobble Gobble

Just a few things I am thankful for. . .

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends far away :)

Opps I did it again. . .

I hesitate to start this story for fear of the ribbing and chiding that is going to come my way. . .  but we have added another kitty to our family.    The story goes, as unreal as it may sound, with a kitty following me home while I was taking the garbage out.  The poor guy was super friendly, but clearly very hungry and was with-out-adoubt- asking me for help.  He followed me at my heals right up to our front door, unphased by the ferocious barking that was coming out the house.  Chris and I gave the skinny little guy some food and kept him company while he ate.  After spending about 20 minutes with him, we realized that this cat was clearly not an outdoor cat and this little guy was dying to get into a warm, friendly house.  The readers digest version of this tale is that we found out that this cat had 2 homes, both with owners that were neither conscientious nor all that serious about owning a pet.  When contacted, his last owners stated that they "did not want him anymore, and since he was found, were just going to take him to the pound".  Chris nor I could let that happen, especially since this cat was clearly a great pet, not fearful of dogs, and full of love to give.   We decided to keep him for the following reasons:

1.  We have lots of love and resources to share.
2.  Accepting Oliver (that is kitty's given name) into the house evens the voting and vetoing power of the males.  (We are now a household of 3 males and 3 females).
3.  Everyone now has a species specific pair (2 humans, 2 dogs, 2 cats).
4.  Oliver also evens out the number of gingers vs non-gingers (red-heads).

In all seriousness, we thought long and hard about the impact of adding another pet to our house.  Because we are blessed with 2 smart, loving, compassionate dogs who understand when another animal is in need, it has been relatively easy to include Oliver into our household.  Little Dodgie on the other hand, is unsure about Oliver, but over time, she will learn he can be a great friend.  Welcome Oliver, you filled our last empty space and have rounded out the McLean family nicely!

P.S. I am no longer allowed out of the house alone.  This should decrease the chances that stray animals will follow me home.

I put your picture away

After 2 months of intermittent travel and a heavy work schedule, I was finally able to slow down a bit  and get caught up.  One of the things I caught on was reading my new camera manual and taking some pictures.  I also picked out an awesome camera bag from Amazon (thanks Oscar and Mary!) so I am now able to carry and access my camera with easy.  

Last week I told you about Bountiful Baskets.  We received our basket this Saturday and we were super excited with its contents.  This week, we added the "extra" offering: 30 lbs of green beans.  That is not a typo. . .  30 lbs of green beans.  WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!  Yes, the dogs do eat green beans, but really, 30 lbs?  We have green beans coming out of our ears!  Any suggestions on what to do with them are welcome.

Yesterday after the basket pickup, I headed out to take some wildlife pictures.  I went to an area not far from our house where I know many species of birds hang out.  Being practically blind without my contacts and not having the worlds sharpest vision even with contacts in, I have never been partial to bird watching.  Usually I cannot see enough detail to tell what kind of birds they are and lord knows I have so much random information inside my head [can you recite the Constitution's  preamble and Twas the Night Before Christmas, I can!] that I cannot remember their appropriate birdie names.  This particular wildlife area however has lured me in because 1. the birds that hang out there are so huge that even this blind bat (he he he) can see them and 2. we can get relatively close to the birds and I have a telephoto lens so I can really see what I am looking at.    I have been stalking these birds on our morning runs and yesterday I was able to shoot some.

Here are some of the Great White Egret

and the great Blue Heron

Some Coots (I think it is so funny that I caught these 3 birds in 3 successive phases of eating).  Are these birds the inspiration for the saying 'you old coot'?

A very vain duck (or maybe he is sleeping)

and some boyfriend/girlfriend ducks 

After my nature session, Chris met me at the trail with the bikes and the dogs.  He is the dog whisperer.

We biked the dogs on some soft-pack trails and ended up in lower Puppy-go park where the dogs love to jump into the swamp water to get some heat relief.  

We ended up turning into the more hilly section of the park. Yes -I am  riding my bike in a skirt and sandals; I did not get the memo that this is what we were going to be doing.  

Such a fun morning!

We will have to do this again -with proper bike attire ;)

Dodgie was happy to have us all back home for the rest of the evening.

Happy Halloween!