Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Santa did indeed visit us, and we must have been on the nice list!  :)  Here's a shot of the mantle and stockings!  Indy's stocking is the one in the middle, you can tell her stocking is FULL and there's more stuff on the mantle that wouldn't fit.  What a spoiled dog!

And the Christmas tree...

Here's Indy with the majority of her toys for Santa...needless to say, she is a happy dog! 

Indy is opening a gift from Rodger, Barbara, Puparoo, and Rhubarb... 

And as you can see, in no time at all Indy had the "guts" out of one of her new toys (see the plastic tube hanging out).  She has precision cutting skills...that's for sure!  We weren't even done opening OUR gifts yet.

Jared received a Pileated Woodpecker Bird House, and it is a sizable one! They are BIG birds, so it make sense that they need a big house.  The interesting part will be getting that birdhouse on a tree without Jared killing himself.

This is a table runner that Jared's Mom made for us.  As you can see, it is perfect on our table.

And here's a fun shot...Jared's new Pileated Woodpecker house is on the left; on the right is a songbird birdhouse that Jared's Mom made for him.  There is just a little bit of a size difference, don't you think?   

Merry Christmas!  

Christmas Eve 2012

It doesn't seem like it should be Christmas Eve already.  Where has the year gone?  Needless to say, we are ready and waiting for Santa Claus to make his appearance.  Even Indy is depressed that she has to go to bed so early.

Our Christmas Eve is very mellow, and exactly what we need.  We are doing nothing but catching up on our movie watching and eating a smorgasbord of snacks.  Kristina made some rock star rolls for the evening!  They taste even better than they look.  Hopefully Santa will enjoy them!

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Now that the REALLY rainy season is upon us, we have been trying to find "inside" things to do on the weekends.  We ran across the Volunteer Park Conservatory.  The actual building was built in 1912, so 2012 is its 100 year anniversary.  It is a very interesting structure and the history that goes along with it and the surrounding area is quite historical as well.  Here's the snapshot of the building...

It has a couple of different "wings" and the plants inside are quite impressive.  Thankfully considering that we spent so much time in Arizona -- a lot of the plants were very familiar.

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!  It was a quiet Thanksgiving for us; we had no visitors nor did we go anywhere, so we decided to make the most of it and cook anyway.  We had a very traditional meal:  roasted turkey (that was brined), creamed peas, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pies for dessert.  It was a lot of work, but worth it.  We followed up our meal with a walk with Indy.  We lucked out and had a dry day, so it was perfect -- eat a large meal and then go for a long walk.  When we got back from the walk, Kristina had some homemade coconut cream pie and Jared had some homemade pumpkin pie.  The coconut cream pie was a new recipe and definitely a winner.

All in all, it was a good day!  Next up...Christmas!  Can you believe we are that close to the end of 2012?

The End is Near...for the LEAVES!

My oh my what a difference a week makes!  Last weekend was WET and while a lot of leaves had fallen, the trees seemed to have most of their leaves in tact.  But, we have had some colder weather push through and it seems like most of the leaves have now fallen.   Today was a SUNNY and DRY day, but VERY brisk.  When we woke up this morning it was 30 degrees, and it took a WHILE before it warmed up above freezing!  The high was only supposed to be mid-40's today, and we're sure it didn't exceed that by any means.

Look at all of those leaves on the ground.  You can see most of the leaves are on the ground ready for raking!

This shot shows you that the trees near the trail have lost all of their leaves too! 

And of course, here's Indy -- laying down on the job.  It figures!  She is supposed to be helping!  At least she is being a good dog and just hanging out with us!

Jared with the "ain't this just loads of fun" look on his face!  He is really making those leaves pay!

Fall Colors

Once fall arrives in Western Washington...it REALLY arrives.  We have been combating the leaves for a few weeks now, but they have really begun to fall now.  It is amazing how the weather turns and nature goes at it preparing for the upcoming colder weather.  However, before all of the leaves fall off of our trees, we thought we would share some of our wonderful fall colors.  Enjoy!

Here's a shot of the backyard.  The main tree there is the one with the bird feeder!

Here's a shot in the direction of Cottonwood stump.  As you can see, leaves every where! 

A close-up of some of the Big Leaf Maple Leaves...they are BIG. 

Beautiful yellow color...look at all of that work to come our way!

We're not the only ones with great fall colors.  The Tolt Pipeline Trail is just splendid! 

Indy checking things out and wondering why she can't be in the backyard too.  The answer would be that if one of us can't watch her, she likes to go explore.  So we keep her contained when we are busy and let her out when we can keep a close eye on her.  Regardless, she is happy! 

Pretty red...this is a smaller Japanese Maple on the side of our house.  We can't wait for it to get BIG! 

Fall has arrived!

We were starting to think that Fall was passing us by this year.  Up until October 12th, the Seattle area had been experiencing unseasonably dry and sunny weather.  However, that day Mother Nature decided to flip the switch -- and fall arrived.  Over the last TWO weeks, we have gotten approximately 3" of rain (just at our house).  Knowing this, we decided to come take a look at the Tolt River today in Carnation.  We had made quite a few trips to the river this summer...mostly for Indy's pleasure.  We had a dry day today (albeit it cloudy), so we thought we check out what a few inches of rain does to the river.

Here's what the river looked like today.  It was quite high and muddy -- and moving at a decent pace.  So much so that we decided to leave Indy on her leash while she submersed herself.

To refresh your memory, here's what the same section of river looked like Labor Day weekend.  Quite a difference, huh?  Granted the picture Kristina took today was with her mobile phone, so she couldn't zoom in the same, but you can see that the rock bar that was present in September is completely covered with running water now.

A good shot of Jared enjoying the river...

And of course, our soggy little doggie got to experience the river too!  Look how wet she is! 

Happy Fall...