First horseback rides...

Kai had his first horsie ride! :) And of course I love this picture, seeing how much horses were a part of my life. He's SOOOOOO cute!!!
I think this was my first ride. That's my mom holding me and my maternal grandfather leading the horse. My grandparent's owned a farm, but sold it by the time I was...about 5 or 6? I have a ton of pictures from that time...kittens and me on a bench, playing 3 Billy Goats Gruff with my dad and brother in the barn, picking vegetables, and my favourite, being read to by my grandma in the garden. I don't remember the farm at all...but I know they had one! :)

This one probably doesn't count, does it? Know what I learned the other day? Carousels have a variety of animals/characters to sit on, a merry-go-round has only horses. I loved horses from as early as I can remember.
Maybe Kai will grow up to be like his Auntie Chan and be a rider. It all starts with one ride and the next thing you know you're here:

I've probably said this before...but it's SO odd that none of my current friends here know me as a rider. It's such a HUGE part of who I am, but most people don't know that. If you don't believe me, check out my Growing Up gallery....LOTS of horses there! :)

First real hike!

Yesterday I went on my first real hike since my surgery. Colleen's friend Sandy was going up South Sisters, but neither Colleen nor I wanted to go that far, so we just went from the Devil's Lake trail head to Moraine Lake, around the lake and back. Turned out to be a gorgeous day. But I have to say that I MUCH prefer the route from Green Lakes trail head! The Devil's Lake route is way steeper!!!! The other may add a mile or two, but it's worth it. And I definitely still have major leg issues! :( My shins were fine, but my calves...whooboy. When I get back from Mexico it's back to Dr Smith. If I need more compartments released I'll do them this winter, so I'm not off for another whole summer!!! Anyway, here's our first look at South Sisters. Colleen is over there on the side having a sit-me-down.
Here I am going down to Moraine Lake. It was so beautiful!
See! :) It was supposed to rain this weekend, but it only sprinkled a little bit on Friday night. The trails might have been slightly better after rain..but all in all it was good.

On our way down Colleen and I were just chatting chatting chatting away when all of a sudden we both stop and realize we've lost the trail!!! Well....ahem....we turned around...and low and behold there's the trail! It was a switchback that we walked right off of. Hee hee hee.

By the time we got down my legs were killing me. Not my shins, but my knees and hips. It had nothing to do with my leg issues, but the usual pain with downhills. I was SO sore Saturday evening. I hobbled to the bath and that's about all the activity I managed! On top of it I knew that I had a big (well, big for ME at the moment) mountain bike ride Sunday morning.

Sunday morning the Bella conversational ride was going to carpool to Swampy and ride to Bend. I love that ride, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to. I did though, and it was fun. Here's the group at the Swede Ridge shelter.

So now I have less than a month and a half to get myself back into shape and able to hike. I really shouldn't be biking anymore, and be hiking every spare moment!!!! :) :) :)

Weekend in Vancouver

Wow, it was a truly gorgeous weekend in Vancouver. Clear blue skies for the four days I was there, temperatures in the 80's...just fabulous! Here's the view from my bedroom at about 6 am, out to the ocean and then to downtown. I grew up with an amazing view.

When I got there some of my extended family was there for my dad's birthday party. His birthday was Sept 3, but this was when everyone could get together. I was really happy to be able to be there for a little bit of it anyway!

One of the reasons I went up was to take my mom her new bike. When they were down here a couple weekends ago we went to a bunch of bike shops to get her a "comfort" bike. It finally came in, so I brought it up. She hasn't ridden a bike in almost 20 years! Well, except for a bike ride earlier this summer in Holland. That really WAS her first ride in 20 years...and it was a 27 mile ride...and she panicked, forgot how to break and hit a tree! Hee hee.

This ride went much better. Dad and I took her down to the high school and we rode around for a while. I gave her some pointers and taught her how to properly stop, turn, change gears etc. She did really well. When we were trying to leave this area she freaked out and jumped off the bike. She'd been heading for a fence and evidently AGAIN forgot how to break! Sigh. That one she's going to have to learn fast. We spent an hour or two just fiddling around on the bikes. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really excited that mom and dad have this new fun thing to do together.
Sunday I went to Randal and Jen's for a block party they were having, and to spend some time with Kai. You;ll have to check my Flickr gallery for those pictures. There was a pinata...but no one got hurt! :)

Last week I was sitting on the couch and Dread jumped up onto my lap. He stood there on my legs for a minute or two, then hopped off. I looked down and this is what I saw. He's lost a lot of weight in the last 5-6 months...but he's still a big boy. I'm worried that he's "winding down."

Madeline L'Engle

Madeline L'Engle, the author of the Wrinkle in Time books died. So sad. Well, not really....she was 88. I loved that series.

Camping Labor Day weekend, off to Vancouver this weekend

Wow, I have not been a good updater! :) It's been a crazy busy couple weeks. After the High Desert Omnium I think I was so busy working on results I just didn't want to spend more time online!!!!

This last weekend, the long weekend, I lead a Bella ride on the Black Rock Trail, went to a friend's housewarming party, then headed out to join the Grier's and some others where they were camping up near Davis Creek. It was beautiful. It wasn't developed camping, so that means there was no one else anywhere near us!

Here's Clyde...one of the MANY dogs with us, sitting looking at Davis Creek. The water was just beyond our campsite, down a sandy hill. Unfortunately the sides of the creek were rather... icky. Smelly algae. The water was clear enough, but to get into it you had to go through the yucky stuff...and getting out too! :)

So, Sunday we decided to spend the day at Crescent Lake. Man, it was just beautiful!!! WE found a deserted day use area and set ourselves and six dogs smack dab in the middle. Hee hee. I don't know where all the people were for the long weekend, but they weren't up at gorgeous Crescent Lake. The water looked like the water off Belize it was so blue and clear. And warm. Here's Sheila testing the water.

And here are Sheila and I floating in the water. We spent quite a bit of time out there, then Sheila went in and brought me a beer, and I continued floating all by myself. I could have stayed out there a lot longer...but I'd finished my beer and I was getting lonely! :) I did however burn my chest pretty good. I was wearing sunscreen, but I didn't reapply enough, obviously.

Here's our site that day. See...completely empty except for us. Chris is there on the left learning how to kite sail. That's Brandy in the front with Max the bear looking out at the water. Well, Max isn't a real bear, he's a huge black Newfoundland. So sweet!!!! And then all our crap behind them. It was really windy, so they played with the kite and also tried some windsurfing.

Finally we headed back to camp when we were good and hungry. It got a little cold...but not enough to put on full pants...but not warm enough to keep the shorts on. So Sheila and I came up with our own solution....Capri's with socks pulled up. Here's Sheila in all her glory:

Here we are at the campfire after dinner.

Then we all headed home on Monday. It was early afternoon by we got back and yup my chest was on FIRE. I won't post the picture of that! :) This weekend I'm headed off to Vancouver to spend some time with my family.

I also realized that I only have two months until the Mexico trek....I need to start hiking! :)

So much to update!

Wow, it's been a really busy week. And I'm so tired I can barely see straight. But I just wanted to say hey, I', still here...and I'll update as soon as I can. Probably tomorrow evening. If you want to see what I've been preparing for and then doing this last weekend, you can check out pictures here of the High Desert Omnium that the Bellas put on this year.

Wow, it was an insane amount of work...but well worth it.

Weekend visit with the 'rents

My parents were here for the weekend, and we had a really good time. They left Vancouver Thursday evening, camped in Washington then drove to Hood River and spent the day with Randal, Jen and Kai who'd been there that whole week. They arrived here around 6:00, which was nice. We had dinner, hung out...I got some nicce leg massages. Mmm. They really felt good. My legs are still quite tight. I think I'll ask my doc if for the next little while if I can go to PT for some therapeutic massage...they feel better.

Saturday morning we went to the lava river cave. We'd tried to go last year, but we didn't really have lights. Oops. Yea, you really do need headlamps or flashlights/lanterns. Anyway, we had a great time. I am claustrophobic, but I'm ok in...most of the cave. The ceiling is pretty far away. It's a great big huge round tube...like the name indicates! :) Here are my mom and dad in the cave. This is down towards the end. This is as far as I go. I tried to go farther, but I just couldn't do it. It only goes about 100 or 200 feet further, but for at least 50 feet you're crouched over like this. Ugh! I just can't!

Mom came back, but dad continued all the way to the end where the sand plug is. Here he is almost to the end of the really low part. He's basically crab walking. I shudder just remembering. I didn't even make it as far as he is now.
On our way out, here's our view of the entrance. It's about 2 miles round trip, but it takes a lot longer than it would to walk that up above. You're going slow, and having to watch your step quite a bit. It's so worth doing though! :) Doesn't cost anything if you have a NW Forest Pass. If you don't, you have to pay the one day fee.

Then we spent the rest of Saturday looking for a bike for my mom. She hasn't really biked in about 20 years, but wants to take it up again...for commuting and just riding around. Not mt biking or anything. When she and my dad were in Holland this summer my dad's cousin took them on a bike ride...my parents didn't realize that it was a 30 MILE RIDE!!!! And my mom ran into a tree! Hee hee hee. So she wants a "comfort bike" and I think this is the one she decided on:

Evidently bikes are cheaper here, so they're going to order in a medium and I'll bring it up the next time I go to Vancouver.

We had dinner at Hans...'cause they're closing at the end of the month and I've wanted to take my parents there for the german food for quite a while. It was yummy! I got the Jager schnitzel. Mmmmmm. Mom got the red snapper "schnitzel" which was very very tasty too.

Earthquake in Peru!

:( Sad news. There was a horrible earthquake in Peru today. It's so hard, cause it's an area I know now. It was a magnitude 8 (WOW!!!) earthquake centered in Ica and Pisco. There were something like 11 earthquakes after ranging from 5-6.3, which is already a big earthquake! Pisco is where the alcohol pisco is made, the national drink of Peru. Pisco is...was, a lovely little town surrounded by vineyards. Ica is a larger town in the middle of the desert. This is the oasis of Huacachina right outside Ica.
There's something like 510 dead so far. There were 200 buried in a church where they were attending a mass for a Pisco man that had died a month before. This is that church...not much of it left. A man outside his home in Pisco. Now just rubble. Something like 70% of this town of 68,000 residents was destroyed.

This is the Pan American Highway...we drove along this stretch! My thoughts are with everyone in the area. I loved Peru...and it's always just so weird to see somewhere you recently were in the news like that.

510 people. Wow, that's a lot. Magnitude 8 earthquakes only happen every 5-10 years and usually devastates more than one community near the epicenter. The scale only goes to 8 and is considered total destruction...on the Richter scale.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Friday was my birthday, and it was nice while being quite uneventful. I took the day off and drove up to Cultus Lake to get a camping spot. We weren't going to go up until Sat morning... but I knew that we would not get a good spot on Saturday. Cultus Lake was completely full, but I found the PERFECT spot on Little Cultus. Right on the lake! It was so gorgeous I didn't want to come back to Bend! I did though, 'cause we were having a get together at O'Kanes at McMenamins.

Man, McMenamins has the WORST service in the history of Bend...maybe even the universe!!! They truly suck! It's too bad that the atmosphere at that bar/patio is so nice. I'd never go back... but unfortunately it's a great patio. Sigh. They do truly suck. SUCK!!!!!!!! It took 50 minutes for our burgers to come, we NEVER were asked at our table if we wanted drinks or food...they just ignored us and we had to go inside. Even when you went inside, you weren't guaranteed to get served! But there are servers all over the place! What the hell are they doing????? Then others ordered....after another 50 minutes the food still hasn't arrived. Turns out they didn't even place the order! So they said we could get it in 10 minutes...took 15, but that was ok...but it was the WRONG THING!!!!

McMenamins really truly really really really really really SUCK PIGGY WONKIES!!!!!!

Oh well, we still had fun. Then Saturday we headed up to the lake and had a great weekend. More of that later once I've uploaded pictures. I let Heidi take the camera on her ride...she'd forgotten her camera. We'll see what she took pictures of......
:)

12 Gauge Rage ROCKS!

Roller derby was this last Saturday. Their first bout of the season. Man, being there really made me mis skating! Oh well, some day....

12 Gauge Rage ROCKED! Last season they were in last place.This year they may just be the team to watch. They were skating against Moulin Bruise. April was amazing, as were many others on her team. They kicked ass! Look, can you see the scoreboard? At this point 12 Gauge was ahead 78 to 30. They won 116 to 6o. Whoohooo! :)

I didn't take many picutes of the action. I haven't figured out yet how to get my camera to take good action shots from farther away. They're always dark...and if I get that fixed they're really blurry! So you'll have to be satisfied with a couple fan shots. Here's Jimmy and myself. I did a "Jimmy shot"...but you'll have to look at my flickr site to see it! Hee hee hee.

And here's Sheila doing her Rock of Love shot. I LOVE Chris' face looking at his wife. Hee hee. I don't watch Rock of Love, but evidently one of the women did a pose like this...but her boobs were hanging out. I asked Sheila why she didn't fully replicate the pose...I guess she felt that roller derby was a family thing and therefor that pose was inappropriate! :)

It was a great night. Congrats 12 Gauge Rage!!!