Ahhh Science!

Earlier this month, students at Dave's elementary school completed a hot air balloon science project. Groups of students worked together to design and build tissue paper hot air balloons, which were then launched using hot air generated from an old wood burning stove. I can't believe how cool they turned out!

A few days later Dave was a chaperone on the students' field trip to the Gallup Hot Air Balloon Festival. It sounds like the kids had a blast (and so did Dave).

Happy Birthday!

Happy 39th Birthday to my Handsome Husband!!!

(ok - so, i'm 15 minutes late)

October, Where did you go part 2!

I know, it is now December, and I am just finishing posts for October.

The "Moab Other Half" 1/2 marathon was October 17th. My brother-in-law (Chris), my co-worker (Terry), my friend (Melissa) and I all ran the race. It was a really really neat race with breathtaking scenery and a fun crowd of racers. (Thanks to Terry for the pics of the race)

(Me and Chris - before the race)

(The back of me! About 4 miles in...)

(along the race course)

I did better than expected given that I was pretty lax on my training for the month between Imogene and "The Other Half". I finished in 1:44:09 and was 6th in my age group (out of 203 females) and 144th overall (out of 1558 racers)!!!!! It was enough to make me wonder what I could do if I trained seriously! It was especially fun having family and friends participate with me :o) I'm hoping I can twist Chris' arm to do more races with me in the coming years.

We stayed in a cabin on top of cougar canyon, about 40 minutes outside of Moab. It was completely solar and wind powered, with hauled water and had an incinerating toilet! It was sweet!

The weekend following the race, Chinle hosted it's first (hopefully annual) Tseyi Triathlon. Patricia dedicated many hours to organizing the event. It was a great success! Dave and I volunteered the day of the event and had a blast. I was very glad to be a volunteer for a change instead of a race participant! It was cool to see so many community members excited about the event. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share :o(

After 3 years of pestering, Michelle and Emily came to Tsaile for a visit. Both of them were content with staying local for a few days instead of driving all over the Rez to sightsee.

Instead we checked out slick rock, White House Trail, Tsaile Lake, Dine College and Roof Butte.

We also took a tour at Acoma Pueblo before sending the ladies off on their way back to Pennsylvania.

The time flew by and as usual, at the end of the visit I felt as though we could spend so many more days catching up.

October, where did you go?! Part 1

The first weekend of October brought Allison and Sarah to the Rez with bags of roasted green chilies for our annual "Chili Peelin'" weekend.

Having visitors is a great excuse for us to get out and explore locally. We went for two great hikes that were new to Dave and I. One was to a place we thought was called thundering house (but it's not... and I can't remember the Navajo name for it, which means something like "the place the winds swirl around"), a high lookout point in the mountains just behind our house.

The second is called Twin Trails and is in the Del Muerto Canyon just down the road. Luckily, Victor Clyde was up for a day of hiking and was our "guide" for the hikes.

That evening the Scarboroughs and the Clydes joined us for a dinner of delicious green chili stew (with pork cooked in Ryan's Big Green Egg - YUM) and homemade tortillas (thanks Marce!). Thanks to Patricia for the pictures!

The following weekend Dave and I took a backpack trip to West Clear Creek.

In typical fashion, we carried more than necessary and hiked a far shorter distance that we had ambitiously planned. The trail starts at the rim of the canyon and decends (almost without switchback) 1 mile to the canyon floor.

We hiked about 1/2 mile more and found a fabulous campsite! We decided to drop our packs and explore further without them. The canyon and creek are aptly named because the water is crystal clear. That night we learned what a "babbling brook" really is. As we sat by the campfire the creek sounded almost like people talking, or at times like a radio commercial. We had to convince ourselves (more than once), that it was really just the water! What a beautiful place. We will definitely go back (and hopefully hike more of the canyon).

Pharmacy week was mid-October. Each year activities are planned to celebrate the profession.

For some unknown reason each "week" (pharmacy week, nurses week, lab week, etc) is a reason to "dress-up" at work. Of course I support this endeavor since it allows me to dress in regular clothes all week instead of my uniform! Our themes were jersey day, cowboy western day, traditional dress day, costume day and jeans day. Here is a picture from Traditional day. (I'm not very traditional with just my moccasins and necklace!)

It's a long one!

September has been BUSY!

Labor Day weekend was spent in Taos with our great friends, Allison & Sarah. We hiked around the ski valley, went to the Taos Mountain Music Festival and took a trip to a community named Llano.... where we "met" some of Dave's old "family". I was too lazy to take many pictures and now I'm regretting it. What an amazing part of the Country!

The following weekend I completed my 3rd Imogene Pass Run, this time with my friends Andra and Terry. It was cold at the start but warmed up to be a perfect day. I improved by time by 7 minutes and was 75th out of 500 finishing females! Thanks to Dave for always motivating me to get up for my early morning runs... especially now that it's dark out.

While Dave went to Syracuse, UT to see Matt's homecoming football game and spend time with family, I stayed home and did garden chores all weekend. Although I am exhausted from harvesting and preparing veggies, I am happy to have a freezer filled with garden bounty and a growing shelf of home-canned goods.

This past weekend we completed our first ever mountain bike race - "The Squash Blossom Screamer" in Gallup, NM. Dave and I both did the beginner's race and had a blast. Ryan kicked butt in the intermediate race and we were all wishing Patricia was there to share in the fun. Here's Dave and Ryan relaxing post-race. We are both looking forward to riding our mountain bikes more!

Yesterday I made my first ever homemade spaghetti sauce, and canned it.... which took all afternoon. It's amazing that 7.5lbs of tomatoes only makes 2 quarts + 1 pint of sauce! I'm torn between if the effort was worth it or if the $5.95 jar of gourmet sauce at the store is the way to go!

I'm happy that it's already September 27th and we haven't had a hard frost yet. I'm crossing my fingers for a few more weeks of growth, ripening and harvest before needing to prep the garden for winter.

S.O.S!

Solar Oven Sport!

Every now and again for the past few years I have told Dave that I want a solar oven. I was convinced that I would make one. Finally, after visiting with my friend Kelly (who has a solar oven) I came to my senses and realized I would never actually get around to making one.

So..... we ordered one from the Solar Oven Society. The Society promotes and the use of solar ovens in areas of the World where cooking fuel and clean water are scarce. (You can pasteurize water in oven!)

Two weeks ago our "Sport" oven arrived. Put it outside in the morning, let the sun do it's thing, come home from work and dinner is served! This week I made a chicken curry casserole, a potato/onion/carrot/cauliflower/cheese casserole (yes...all from our garden!) and this morning I made banana bread!

This thing is awesome!!!

local color

My co-worker, Terry mentioned that I should check out a recently painted, abandoned building in Lukachukai. Yesterday as Dave and I were driving home from errands in Cortez, we did just that. (Ignore the tagging and graffiti someone decided made a good addition to the paintings.)

Pickled Pink

Last night was my first ever canning "lesson"! Patricia's mother-in-law Rosemary walked her through the canning process during a visit to Tsaile last week. Now, armed with the proper supplies and books (all Patricia's!), we are off to more adventures in canning!

I pickled beets and Patricia tried a dilly bean recipe. The only snafu was one broken jar!

My Family Makes Me Happy (when they aren't driving me nuts)!

My brother has been "hosting" a beach vacation in Ocean City, NJ each summer for quite a few years now. This year Dave and I decided it has been too long since we were part of the riff-raff.

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older....but each time I see my family, I enjoy the time with them more and more. This visit flew by and we came home saying "wow, we really need to see our families more". My nieces grow "cooler" each year and it was neat to watch Dave and Jake bond over baseball (and soccer... GO SPAIN!).

We spent time on the beach, went to the Cape May Zoo, rode a 6 seater surrey, played a mean game of boys against girls Pictionary, and of course cruised the boardwalk more than once.

Dave and I headed to Danville, PA with my sister, Emily and Jake on Tuesday. We were able to check out their new home (almost completed!) and get some good sisterly bonding time too.

Wednesday we headed to Grindstone Island, 1000 Islands, NY for some much needed quality time and R&R with (beautifully pregnant) Mimi and Brian.

We were even lucky enough to have a delayed flight in Dallas, giving us just enough time catch breakfast and get some hugs from Dad and Patty before heading back to Albuquerque.

Sorry to all of our friends on the east coast that we weren't able to see during this trip :o(

We had to have the awful discussion of prioritization of family vs. friends.... We are missing so many of you and have yet to see all of the newborns (now turning 1 yr old plus!), pregnant mamas and new puppies. There's just never enough time in 1 week vacation. Hope to visit with all of you soon.

Cinnamon Pass

Over the 4th of July weekend we drove a 4-wheel drive route from Silverton, Colorado to Lake City, Colorado called Cinnamon Pass. The pass is part of the Alpine Loop and gives access to the the stunning American Basin.

Ryan and Patricia found an awesome campsite not far from the Basin with stellar views, shady pines and the creek just a scramble away. We were joined by Patricia's Aunt & Uncle from Denver as well as Melanie & Sam (friends from Kayenta, AZ IHS).

We celebrated Patricia's birthday that evening with spectacular Carrot Cake (per tradition!), and the next day while the boys went fishing, the girls decided to go for a hike. Thanks to Sam for my lesson on cleaning and preparing freshly caught fish!

It was hard to pack up on Monday morning, all of us seeming to want just a few more days to enjoy the area. We drove on to Lake City, through the towns of Creed (where we stopped for lunch at Kip's Grill!), South Fork, Pagosa, Durango then back home to the Rez.

Since gardening has become such a large part of my free time this year, I can't help but post a few pictures from a few weeks ago.

Our first dragon's blood beet!