a sweet pea pod dweller

Happy New Year!

2012-02-13T09:03:00.001-08:00

How can it be possible? It is two months into the new year, and I see that the last post was from last September!!! I have been so remiss in my duties. Well, I will try to remedy my lax ways and keep up with posting better this year! Nothing like starting New Year's resolutions in mid-February!

So, here's what's new with me...

Joe and I have started repainting the inside of the house! And we picked out the prettiest colors... I just love green. And don't you fret, we repainted the ceiling too. We had to take down some pretty awful 80's track lighting and it left a nice dirty halo where it was. Yuck.

Next, I'd like to whitewash the brick fireplace. Despite what this picture looks like, the lighting is a little low in the living room at night and the big dark fireplace makes it look even darker. Besides, I like how whitewashed bricks look.

Here's what's new a the espresso stand:

I f i n a l l y got the permanent menu boards made and put up. Man, that took forever... I meant to have them up within six months of opening, and that was a year ago! Despite the delay, I'm very pleased to have them finished and love how they look.

Over the holidays, my parents helped me get up the new awnings over the windows. Another super delayed project, but again I'm super happy with how they turned out and they work very well.

And just in time for Valentine's Day, I got my red heart lights strung up yesterday.

Happy Love Day everyone!

XOXOXO

Ye Ol' Urban Spoon... give it a whirl.

2011-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

You can even post on here how much you just love your espresso drink that I make you... and how wonderful you think I am ;)

Dreams do come true....

2011-07-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

This one has been lingering since high school, when Janet and I cooked up a plan to buy a sailboat, name it the Dawn-Juana, and sail it to warmer climes.

Well, that was over 15 years ago, and we finally just this summer got to climb on a boat together! My second time on a sailboat and Janet's first! This long overdue outing was to celebrate Janet getting married over the winter. I was hoping to have time to plan a wedding shower, but alas, being too busy prevented that... so this was a post-wedding celebration/gift.

Down on the river....

2011-07-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

My first overnight camp out this summer, actually the first one in years I think. Good people, flowers, fire, fish...

Moving along at a snails pace...

2011-07-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd have this done mid June when I first got started on it... But apparently I wasn't taking into account that I work ninety-plus hours a week, and the evenings right before bed just don't hold enough time or energy to get moving very fast... But here's where "we're" at now. I say we because I'm trying to make this a team project, recruiting whoever I can from my family and friends to help me ;) ... Big thanks to my brother, mom and boyfriend for all the help up to this point!

... and then they were blue!

Spring flowers and unknitting...

2011-07-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

The turtle-neck on the sweater was too 80's I guess. Of course my crafting sensibilities bristled at the suggestion of cutting the neck off this sweater and stitching it to keep it from unraveling. To my delight the sweater was knit from the bottom edge up to the neck, so I could just unravel it :) It came out picture perfect, thanks to my stubbornness.

The thing dreams are made of...

2011-07-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a 1948 Spartan Caravan for sale. Needless to say, I was instantly smitten and thought I needed to purchase it to turn into the home of my dreams. Alas, after a first visit, I realized this caravan would take many thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to turn into something worthy to be called home.

Oh Blue Goose, I sure hope someone with sufficient funds and time finds you to return you to your glory days...

Simply the best...

2011-06-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

We won! We won! We won!!! Thanks to my loyal customers... friends and family (who are also customers ;)...

Janet wrote me some new lyrics to the Tina Turner song Simply the Best... " Congratulations to Dawn... and Retro Espresso! You're simply the best......better than all the rest.....better than anyone......anyone I've ever met....." Tina Turner rocks. Now I just wanna hear Janet sing it.

Spring has been well underway despite the constant snow and rain this year, and now summer is almost here! Flowers seem to be doing okay despite the lack of sun... Maybe with summer solstice, the sun will come out in all it's glory...

Seattle in the spring...

2011-06-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

How excited was I? Oh, very excited!!! I got to leave town for the day. Crazy I know! A certain someone wanted me to go to Seattle with him to see his sister play in the show Guys and Dolls. And man was she good, in fact the whole musical was great!

Of course there were no cameras allowed inside the theater... so no pictures of that, but here's the rest of it:

Saturday morning we made our way down to Pike Street Market, of course. Our hotel being a mere four blocks away, we walked, and window shopped along the way. And had breakfast. I should have taken a picture of the salmon eggs benedict I ordered. Holy yumminess.

These gorgeous green and jadeite glasses were in a store that was NOT open. Thank goodness. I thought I had to buy them and take them home with me... There goes the rent money.

This store was located in a very quaint little enclosed patio with lots of little retail shops... I should have gotten a picture of the whole thing... but here one of the little planters in it. I like the little plants planted in the pots... I want a few of those for around my espresso stand!

When we arrived in our hotel room, Joe went to the window to open the blinds and look out the window, and immediately a seagull dives for our window sill and lights there... looking for food. Of course Joe, not one to disappoint, obliges with cheese and salami.

I'm guessing we're not the first hotel guests to feed this guy. I could have reached out and grabbed his leg I was so close with my camera...

Where does the time go?

2011-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

So I missed posting anything in April or May, and now here we are half way through June!

I've been working extra here at the stand trying to get the sitting area put together...

My mummer got a good start on cleaning up the pads... I put that lady to work!

I got 12 yards of gravel and dirt shoveled out of the foundation behind the espresso stand. It needed to get taken down a little bit so that I could bring in some sand to lay the pavers and rock in... Holy smokes! That was a work out. I did enough whining that my brother offered to come in with his little excavator and loaded it on his dump trailer for me. He thought I should just shovel it on by hand... Like I'm super woman or something... Well, I might be, but that's just a huge waste of my strength! I should be lifting school buses off children and deflecting speeding bullets. Thank goodness for brothers with big toys.

Small sized operator in training...

In an attempt to prove that I can do anything... I mixed up some concrete to patch the crumbly edges on some of the pads. In all fairness I should mention that I did get some help from Joe. Though he talked the talk, he never had played with concrete before either.

I thought we should definitely put our names in it... but Joe was very reluctant. He did however put his foot in it.

Liquid Sunshine...

2011-03-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

Spring is on it's way! The birds are singing and just about the last of the snow banks have melted away... It sure is giving me an extra spring in my step.

I thought I'd let you all in on my newest project. Of course it's something here at my espresso stand...

I have a foundation behind the espresso stand that has four octagonal cement pads in it. My landlord gave me permission to turn this into a sitting area! So exciting... :)

Since the cement pads are octagon shaped, I thought it would be fun to have an octagon picnic table for them... I found this one on Craigslist, and it's even in Moscow! How lucky is that??? I'm not sure I can quite afford this one, but the guy who made it said he'd be happy to make me another one anytime. Pretty convenient. I'm hoping to get a couple of these eventually.

And to top off such a good start to my sitting area, I've been able to find quite a few free bricks around the area! I'm still looking for lots more since it's such a large area to fill. Let me know if you know anyone around this area that has old/used bricks or pavers that they'd like to get rid of. I'd be happy to take them off their hands!

In a desperate attempt to hold north Idaho in it's icy grip...

2011-03-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Winter just won't give up, it just keeps snowing out there... but I have to admit, I kinda like it. Now I just have to play hooky at work and take my skis out for a day or two.

Soon we'll be buried under a mountain of snow... Sounds cozy.

Jeff cleaned off his car before going to bed hoping it would be an easy job in the morning...

Thank goodness for snow plows... now pull over and get out of my way so I can drive faster.

Looking forward to spring...

2011-02-27T12:07:00.001-08:00

... even though it's dumping snow outside...

My aunt and uncle in Virginia sent this to me in a Christmas present this year.

Funny enough, a girl I went to college with, designed this seed packet for a little company out in Troy, Idaho a year or two after we graduated. I remember her telling me about it and how she won some sort of design award for it. It has different flower seeds in each of the little containers and it's set up to look like a little make-up kit. I'm very excited about the flowers.

Today as a birthday present to myself, when I get off of work, I'm going home and starting a bunch of seeds.

I've been saving loads of milk jugs at the espresso stand to make little green houses out of them to start grow my little seedlings in... So exciting! :)

Even my Angel Wing Begonia knows that spring has to be just around the corner. It's starting to flower again after dropping leaves all winter!

And as a special treat for everyone...

2011-02-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

...a post with actual photos from today. Unheard of, I know!

It's amazing what one can do with a scrap piece of aluminum and a rope light. This cost me $24 and some blood. A neon outdoor "open" sign would cost me $375... You do the math.

Jezebel is helping show off my new "open" sign. This is what it looks like during the day with kitties.

This is what it looks like at night with kitties.

Right on schedule...

2011-02-27T05:42:00.000-08:00

Time to post Christmas photos :)

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go.

Don't Grandma Dotty have a splendid barn? And it's chock-full of really cool antiques.

Christmas dinner. Main course, green pine scented candle.

And these are some old wooden Christmas ornaments my grandma hand painted many a year ago.

She made me and my brother one of these sleds too. I have it somewhere in an ornament box...

Some winter shots...

2011-01-31T07:20:00.001-08:00

The huge slacker that I've been, I apologize for. I've been super busy holed up in the Airstream most of my waking hours making espresso drinks, or at least waiting to make espresso drinks. I'm still working part time at the Appaloosa Museum also, which has been a nice break from the small quarters of the Airstream. I just made a neato stuffed horse head for kids to play with. I wish I had a picture of it to post here for you to see... Maybe tonight when I get home I'll take a shot of it. I'm pretty clever if I do say so myself... The horse head goes along with a little booklet, which I also whipped up (actually was the idea of my boss at the museum, then I implemented), and it teaches young'ens what horse face markings are called. IE: star, stripe, snip, blaze, etc... And on the horse head there are velcro markings you can take on and off. I hope the kids think it's fun... I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a hit at a college party, but the little ones should think it's a kick in the pants.

So these are some hats I knitted up to sell at the stand for Christmas to help cover the bills. It was amazing how slow the holidays were around Moscow. I had about half of the customers as I normally do.

This is a pic from Thanksgiving... I know I have some catching up to get to present day... This is a baked pumpkin stuffed with wild rice and apple stuffing. A recipe I got for the Food Co-Op. It turned out pretty dang tasty.

Winter shot of the Sweet Pea Pod in the frigged north.

Parting shot of a late fall sunset over the Palouse... Ciao for now...

And then there was Halloween...

2010-12-09T09:09:00.001-08:00

Baby steps, one holiday at a time. I know Christmas is almost here, but I need to share my old pictures first.

Long overdue...

2010-11-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, there was an open house party. I tried to think of everyone I knew to invite, but everything was so last minute, some of you may have been mistakenly overlooked. But, don't you fret, you didn't miss out on anything you can't still get. Just come on through the espresso stand and I'll serve you up a tasty treat.

Oh the inspiration of it all...

2010-11-11T06:23:00.000-08:00

I love the designs, patterns and clothes of the 1950's and 1960's. It might be called a sickness, my boyfriend would say so. When he first came into my house, he said that I have things his grandma would have. She must have some great taste!

Anyway, I ran across these sweet recipe book covers while perusing the web and thought you might enjoy seeing them too...

And who could resist this recipe? How creative and fun!!! Okay, so who really has time to make things like this these days... I wish I did! :)

I'll be sure to take pictures when I get around to making this culinary delight.

Trying out this FaceBook thing...

2010-09-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

Running on all cylinders?

2010-09-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well at least I'm OPEN! Yay for me :) The espresso stand is now open 5 am to 6 pm Monday thru Friday, and 5 am to 1 pm Saturday and Sunday. Pictures? Are you crazy? I don't have time to take pictures! Yesterday was a 14 hour work day for me, that may sound like a lot of hours but it's a break from trying to get the stand operational, so it was pretty dang nice... Pictures coming soon, promise!

Friday on the farm...

2010-08-21T14:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I had to take an unexpected trip up to Spokane... My espresso and granita machines needed a little bit of a tuneup. So since a tuneup takes more than just a second, which was just fine with me this time, I got to go on a field trip!

I'm getting the milk for my espresso stand from Spokane Family Farm. A small family run operation, like the name implies. They have about 25 cows (don't quote me on that number) that are born and raised right on the farm. One of the great things about their milk is that it will come fresh to my espresso stand, straight from the cow, within 72 hours.

And besides being the freshest milk you can get without having to keep your own cow in the back yard, they also use a super low temperature to pasteurize their milk, killing the bad bacteria, but keeping the healthy bacteria that's good for our stomachs. The closest thing to raw milk available, without the health risks.

Check out their website (at the green link above) to find out more about how amazing their milk is.

Here's Trish, she not only loves her babies, they love her back.

This special little heifer, is the pride and joy of Mike and Trish's barn. She comes from (let's see... I'm going to butcher the details I'm sure) a prize dairy bull from England. If I recall correctly (and if you know me well you know that it's most likely I'm going to get this wrong), the bull sired the top producing dairy cows across the pond. You'll have to ask Trish for details to get it all straight when you get the chance to go up and visit the farm.

That there is Mike, the "best farmer in the US", according to Trish. And after seeing all the amazing attention to even the most minute of details on the farm, I'm inclined to agree with her.

This is the milking parlor. You could literally eat off this floor it's so clean. Makes me very confident that every jug of milk I get from them will never be questionable.

Besides cows, they have miniature donkeys! I fell in love. This little cream puff is Cookie. I wanted to stuff her in my pocket and bring her home with me. In fact, I might in a few months. Trish and Mike do sell their foals, and in a few months Cookie will be old enough to be weened and sent to a new home. I call dibs on this one. You can have the other one she has... or wait for a new one to pop out.

Apparently, miniature donkeys have all the good qualities of a goat and none of the annoying habits... You can even teach them to drive little carts! I'm sold. I'm such a push over for small fuzzy animals.

Holy Moses....

2010-08-09T12:58:00.001-07:00

I just got up my "Coming soon!" banner! Not sure I love all the crazy colors in it, but it's not permanent, so I can always change it.

Take a gander at the view I'll have from my espresso stand window. Ain't that just the sweetest street Moscow has to offer. How'd I get so lucky. Sweet Avenue is just that.

So, I know you'll all be super excited to know that I'm on Paradise Path, a biking and walking trail that goes all the way to Troy! So now at the end of your hot and dry walk, you can just swing on by for a Lemon-Lime Slushy... or whatever you choose to wet your taste buds with.

Just drug the Pod home yesterday, with all the cabinets finished!

Take a gander at these beauties... I'm shocked at how nice everything is turning out. If you hadn't noticed yet, the cabinets are getting stained blue. Of course.

If the arc were this stylish, Moses never would have moved out to dry land. This Land Yacht however, will be my new home away from home. I'll probably even be spending more time in here than at my house. You'll know where to find me.

Longevity is in the genes...

2010-08-01T11:23:00.001-07:00

This lady, my Grandma Dotty, is too tough to die... and she turned 91 this last week. She still mows her own large and beautiful lawn, and even runs a DR around to weed wack the stubborn weeds in the lane and barnyard! Don't mess with this lady she'll mow you over.

Bekah not only knows what purple is, can also say purple. Amazing little girl.

Dwight is so excited about the birthday candles, he can barely stand it.

Retro Espresso latest...

2010-07-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Here's what the inside of the trailer looks like now!!! So exciting... Starting to look a little bit like something.

I got the front bank by the sidewalk cleaned up. Put bark on it.

Then planted flowers in it. And then promptly people started walking and riding their bikes over it. Silly people, don't you know that's what the sidewalk is for? Better be on your toes next time you try that, cuz I'm putting "landscape rocks" in it. Hehehe...

The fun and festivities from yesterday included having two loads of gravel brought in. Then I got to rake it all out, and move half of it around with a shovel. My brother was kind enough to lend me his compacter, and I ran it over, and over, and over the drive lanes to pack it down. I woke up halfway through the night with the sorest muscles ever. I hurt from my head to my toes... I think this is a sign that I worked hard yesterday... and I might be a touch out of shape? Hahaha...

Fourth of July with the Mummer...

2010-07-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

All work and no play...

2010-07-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Check out those muscles...

Notice the exposed ankle. I fried the chicken out of it. Ouch.

A new clematis I planted last summer. I thought it was going to be blue, by the picture it came with, but it seems to be a light lavender color.

Mum's beautiful lupines in her front yard.

Slow progress...

2010-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a little pic to whet your appetite. I've been polishing the outside of my trailer. It's quite the process. I am having to give the whole trailer basically a massage with the polish before hitting it with the buffer to get all the tough oxidation off... More pics to come soon.

Long lost Memorial Day camping pictures...

2010-06-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

It was another rainy Memorial Day weekend this year, what a shocker eh? But what fun is it to sit at home dreaming of sunshine? So I went camping with Tanley and Jed... and his brother and some friends.

This was their "happy faces".

Tan and Jed call these timber tigers... Fierce.

This little guy was trying to stow away in my car in the morning... I'd be searching for dry ground too after all that rain. He was about to drown.

Super cute snail... if snails can be cute. I for one, am kinda grossed out by their slime trails.

Tan, Jed, and I decided not to brave the rain in our tents and we all slept in our cars. Noogie slept in the front seat of their car... Talk about cozy.

So in love after all these years... well, actually it's only been one year. Tan and Jed.

This is Fish Creek up off the Lochsa. Super nice trail heading up the crick.

And no, I'm not balding... That's the sun reflecting off my super shiny hair. I do have a normal hairline.

Jed is the badest biker I know... This is his second time down this stretch. The first time the bike road him down the hill... This time he dominated. Quick learner.

From Plywood to Herb Garden...

2010-06-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm trying my hand at a new craft...

2010-06-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

This here is a beginner's beading kit I picked up at GoodWill. I thought the Appaloosa Museum could make their own kit to sell at the gift shop... So I gave it a try to see how hard it actually is to do beading. It's not hard, but it doesn't help to have pre-arthritic hands. I'm not sure what age of kids this would be appropriate for... Maybe 14+ year olds?

Mundy's the Amazing!

2010-06-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

So here's a shot of the pea pod sitting at the shop after her window's got installed. How exciting!!! I'm just picking her up today to take her home and polish her up this week... Progress... Oh! and to the left edge of the picture you can see the perfect back door that Dave Mundy made for me... Super cool.

Oh Jasper how sweet thou art...

2010-05-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to Jasper Sconce, the newest member of Retro Espresso. After being abandoned in Texas, his owners decided to post him on Craigslist for a new home. Thankfully, we found him.

He will be lighting the way to the front door for the baristas in the early mornings of winter when the sun isn't up yet... and in the evenings when the sun goes down early. We look forward to a long and faithful relationship.

My Chai - Coming soon to Retro Espresso!

2010-05-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

Just so you all know, this is the best chai on the planet... except for maybe in India, but who's willing to drive that far for a cup?

I first found this delicious steaming organic nectar in Bend, Oregon. I spent the summer living with my best friend Tanley, working a graphic design internship, and a part time job at a coffee house, that served this chai. I was hooked from that day forward.

A few years later I found myself working a season down in Antarctica. While down there I bumped into a fellow chai lover (Brody you know I'm talking about you!), and told him all about it. And then low and behold guess what showed up in the mail for a Christmas present from my friend? Yup, you guess it, a well packaged bottle of My Chai. Holy smokes, that was the best present someone could get down on the coldest continent of the earth.

So now, present day, it's my turn to do the ordering! Finally!!! I've been waiting to open this espresso stand for years...

You're all gonna love this stuff.

Sugar's got a new floor!

2010-05-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

So the preservation of the old floor became an unrealistic dream... So with the help of my parent's, we've installed a fresh subfloor and I've ordered some fancy pants linoleum to lay down before the cabinets go in. It's going to take a couple weeks for it to come into Moscow... But here's a sample of what it looks like:

It's called Herb Garden, how perfect is that???

The Sweet Pea Pod Update...

2010-04-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

I want, I want, I want...

2010-04-01T15:44:00.001-07:00

another trailer to fix up! Ain't this one a beauty? Looks like someone has been using it for a hunting cabin...

Workin double-time...

2010-04-01T13:14:00.001-07:00

So, time is just flying by. I've been working every spare second trying to get the paint stripped off the Airstream. I'm finally done!!! Wooohooo!!! Now I just have to drill out all the rivet nubbins that are sticking up so I can get after the small spots of paint with steel wool and some lacquer thinner. As you can see the end caps (the rounded ceiling end parts of the trailer) are not metal, those are, in fact, fiberglass. So I've just sanded it down to the last layer of paint, having to go through many layers of other paint on the way, and I'll be painting back over it with a lovely color... and design.

And you can see that I still don't have the door stripped... I keep fogetting that part! Maybe I'll get to working on that tonight after I get off work at the museum...

The window at the rear of the trailer will be taken out along with the wall below it, so I can get in my larger equipment. Unfortunately, the fridge is too wide to fit though the door... and the soon to be bought ice machine might be to large also. I was thinking of leaving it a permanent access door... we'll see.

And the floor needs refinished and finished... as you can see, there are parts of the floor missing where it was put in around the existing cabinets... And in the back where the bathroom used to be, there is a huge section of soggy soft plywood that if you're unlucky you could put your foot through. So that'll need cut out and replaced... somehow. Wouldn't it be super lucky if I found a guy to date that knew how to do all this and also actually wanted to! :)

Primroses, daffodils, and tulips, oh my...

2010-03-01T10:53:00.001-08:00

Mum got me primroses for my birthday, besides other goodies. So pretty.

The kitchen walls got put on hold for a few days while I worked on my parent's horse club calendar and dvd of last years rides. But with that all wrapped up now, I'm back on track with the kitchen sidetrack. Really I should be working on my Airstream, but that is a whole other story.

So here's the progress report on the kitchen (don't mind the mess):

Walls primed! With pretty tinted primer... This is what the actual paint color will be I'm pretty sure.

These fancy walls have grooves in them to make the wood paneling look like real wood boards. I know everyone has been fooled up until now when I just spilled the beans, but I thought it best to stop the charade. I'm plastering in the grooves and then am going to hand texture the walls. You all will be wowed I'm pretty sure.

And here's what's been letting the cold breeze in for the last... 40 or 50 years. There's a gap between the floor and the wall, that I think goes all the way to the crawl space under the trailer! Who would've thought... Today I'm going to the hardware store to buy some expanding foam to shoot in there. That should fix it.

And now, here's the big birthday lunch that you all missed out on. You really should show up for my birthday, you would eat really well. Salmon patties, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and angel food cake with raspberry icing.

There's Grandma Dotty with Bekah hoping for some handouts.

Pops chewing, Dwight wondering what that gunk is on his plate (he's partial to Cheerios and Macaroni and Cheese), Dave trying to show him that it's edible, and the cute little girl again.

The beautiful Mummer herself.

And dad just couldn't stop his heated discussion about who knows what, just to smile. The punishment, this picture. Ha!

Gone are the days of cute bunnies...

2010-02-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to say I don't like the cute little furry guys, but on wall paper, they seem a little dated. Though it does have it's place as grandma's country cottage decor, it's not something that I love waking up to in the morning.

So, I've embarked on another home project. I'm tearing all the wall paper off my kitchen walls and painting them a nice sunny yellow color. I've gotten all the wall paper and underlayment off the walls, now they need to be scrubbed. There's a nice crusty layer of wall paper paste adhesive... that apparently the sugar ants just love.

Little Robin-Red-Breast is back...

2010-02-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

in full force! There' were about 20 little robins outside my bathroom window this morning. They were going crazy over the left over apples from the apple tree that grows right out front of the house. My goodness, spring is here... or at least the robins seem to think so.

Oh boy, more than a little behind...

2010-02-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

So, what's been happening since December 7th... Well, how much time do you have? Hahaha... Not much has been going on. Christmas came and went. Hung out with the family.

Part of the family...

My brother and his family cut out before we got the group picture. Just as well, his little boy is the biggest squirmer when it comes to sitting still.

This is the little guy in question. He's hiding behind the Christmas tree fiddling with the ornaments.

The new heater stove...

2009-12-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is the best little stove. It really kicks out the heat.

The Dilly Dally goods...

2009-12-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Here's what I got so far. Now I just need to get the Airstream online now... Anyone know of a shop that can strip the paint off the interior for me. It's an impossible task to strip paint when it's below freezing outside... Sure could use a shop...

This is a La Marzocco 2 group Lina. The work horse of espresso machines.

I got this granita machine for a great price from a lady up past Spokane who has an espresso stand. I guess the granitas just weren't doing it for her.

This is my collection of whipped cream canisters... I had no idea I had so many... I just collected everything in one spot. I have one new canister, and two vintage ones, then the red thing is a soda water canister.

Knitters delight...

2009-12-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

A baby shower gift over due from... last Thanksgiving! At least I got it to the little guy before Christmas rolled around...

Well, I guess it's about time to do this again...

2009-12-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

I just got home from Florida spending Thanksgiving with Christopher and his family. Here's some pictures of the event!

This lovely piece of furniture washed up while Christopher and I were at the beach one day... Amazing what can grow on plastic.

Some beach birds...

Local birds...

The man...

2009-11-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I got to go down to Jackson Hole to visit Christopher for a couple days. The visit was definitely not long enough, but I couldn't put off going to visit for a better time, since who knows how bad the roads will get this winter. It's such a long drive, and with snowy, icy roads it makes it even longer.

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig...

2009-11-03T11:29:00.001-08:00

Despite fighting a sinusy type head cold since flying home from Washington, DC, I've been plodding forward on putting together my espresso stand business.

Just this last week I purchased a granita machine. This will make coffee granitas and some sort of lemonade slushy drink. Personally, I hate drinks made in blenders. They are made with ice cubes blended up (this is what makes them slushy) and as soon as they're blended they start to melt, thus watering down the drink with ice melting in them. They just turn into a watered down drink. I think it's yucky, so I'm not going to make drinks in blenders. Plus, blenders are noisy, breakdown often, and are difficult to wash quickly when it's there's lots of drinks to be made.... 'Nuf said.

(Photo of granita machine coming soon!)

A few weeks ago I got to go to an apple squeezing party at Nancy and Nile's house. My mom used to work for them at the local veterinary clinic. Every fall they have a potluck where people bring lots of apples and yummy food to eat. Some people even bring instruments and play music. Good times.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is San Antonio

2009-10-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the daunting road system that's been keeping me from driving myself around exploring... It's hard to read a map and drive at the same time.

In 1968 the World Fair was in San Antonio. The Tower of the Americas was built for this momentous event. At 750' tall, it's taller than the Space Needle in Seattle, which is only a mere 605' tall. The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World Fair, so apparently San Antonio had to one up (or 145' up) the west coast.

If you ask me, I think the Space Needle has style galore. It's not always about being the biggest is it? What do you think, am I wrong?

And why don't we have World Fairs anymore???

Here's my first glimps of the river walk. This is sweet little outdoor amphitheater, the Arneson River Theatre, is right off La Villita, a charming little arts village, where some original buildings to San Antonio have been maintained mostly in their original states but converted into little art galleries. A little slice of heaven for me.

If you all watched Miss Congeniality, this is the stage where Saundra Bullock did her talent show for the competition. I believe that's what I was told anyway.

So the river walk, is actually on the San Antonio River. Oddly enough, it's one level down from street level. So to get there you take a stairway down to the walk. It's kind of like dropping down into a secret tunnel of water, ancient trees, and giant philodendrons.

This is the beautiful little path Tom, Karla, and I took down to the river. We stopped at a little outdoor bar on the way and got a margarita. Which by the way, is legal to walk around with, but just on the river walk, don't try going up on street level with it or you'll get nabbed by one of the bicycle police.

Tom was sure that I needed a picture of myself all lit up by the sun next to the historic bridge. I look like I'm on fire.

Here's a nice little example of how the city has devised a way to aerate the river to keep the waterway healthy for the fishies and wildlife. They have installed man-made waterfalls all around the river walk which also really add to the ambiance by adding trickling and splashing sounds. Very relaxing. I'm sure the ducks appreciate the ambiance too.

So as soon as dinner was over we ran down to jump on the river boat tour to get the low down on all the buildings and sights along the river.

La Bella Vita in all her glory...

2009-10-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

A sailboat made of plastic bottles...

2009-09-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Last year I heard mention of a large garbage patch out in the Pacific Ocean. After recovering from the shock and bewilderment, I did some internet research and found that most major oceans contain such a patch. Apparently these patches are formed by the vortexes caused by the swirling ocean currents catching up the floatsom and jetsom.

Just days after finding out about this garbage patch, while sitting in a Chinese restaurant waiting for my take-out and flipping through a magazine, I ran across an article about David de Rothschild and the plastic bottle sailboat he was building and planning to sail across the Pacific ocean from San Francisco to Sydney Austrailia and along the way passing the garbage patch.

Check out the Plastiki's journey here.

Tree Hugger's website photos of the giant Pacific garbage patch.

Grape stompin' fun...

2009-09-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

at Becker Vineyards. just north (?) of Fredricksburg, Texas.

Adventures in the yard...

2009-09-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

The new La Bella Vita Gourmet Logo

2009-09-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

This logo was designed by Karla! She is quite the creative lady. She gave me a drawing of what she wanted it to be like and then I drew it out in Illustrator. So really all the creative credit should go to her!

The lion and the banner are purchased from iStock then reshaped a little here and there. The coffee plant branches and beans were drawn by me.

So this was truly a group effort this time!

You'll be able to find La Bella Vita Gourmet's website here.

This little guy...

2009-09-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

was hanging out over a little pond at Rainbow Gardens, in San Antonio. Talk about a big plant nursery! Holy cow... I wish I could take this place home with me. It had extensive paved paths leading to ponds, fountains and arbors. If I get to go back again, I'll be sure to take more pictures.

Here are the other pictures I took there:

Banana flower?

Banana Trees

Koi pond with a two foot white koi.

Raisins to raisins, grapes to grapes...

The ever creative Karla, saving the top of her homegrown pineapple to start a new plant for next years crop of pineapple.

Here are the two story cowboy boots I promised last time.

This guy is usually just a flash of green out of the corner of my eye. This time however, he sat still for a picture.

And out near Tom's mom's house in the "country", there is this pasture full of sheep. Quite photogenic.

La Bella Vita Update!

2009-09-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

The proud new owner of a deli case, Tom.

Wood paneling to go on front of bar.

Beautiful wood barrel to house bottled drinks in ice for display, compliments of Karla.

Granite bar top, freshly installed.

Bar in progress, with fancy roaster on right.

Installation of La Bella Vita sign.

Texas?

2009-08-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

Yup, here I am in Texas. You'll have to wait till this evening for pictures (at the soonest) because I forgot to put my battery in my camera yesterday. I got all the way to the coffee house when I noticed that my camera wouldn't turn on.

What in tarnation am I doing in Texas, you might ask? Well, one of my favorite cousins on my dad's side of the family invited me down to help her and her boyfriend open a new coffee house. How could I decline such an offer!?! That's like asking Pooh to work in a honey factory! So, here I am in Texas. I'll be taking pictures of two story cowboy boots and rug shops with cow hides hanging across the whole front, as soon as I get my battery and camera reunited.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of back home to satiate your need for pretty things to look at.

This is the vegetable garden Christopher built for me in May. Since apparently I have been neglecting it, the deer have trimmed up all the squash vines around the perimeter of my meager fencing attempt.

Here we have acorn squash growing on one of the vines smart enough to stay inside the fence.

And the one tomato plant residing up in the "vegetable garden" is a pear tomato, pear tomatoes and all.

And my parting shot of the day, Christopher testing out his long lost skills as a pizza dough thrower. It was like riding a bike, apparently your hands just remember what to do.

The skinny of it is...

2009-07-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

I am working for myself again... phew. I'm working on getting my espresso stand up and running. I'm gardening. I'm hanging out with the fam. I'm most likely going to be moving to Jackson Hole sooner than later.

Here's some pics of the time between now and the last time I was here.

This is the little corner of the raised vegetable garden bed that Christopher made for me. It's going to take a lot of dirt to fill this thing in...

Here it is after a little bit of sunshine and water.

My strawberries kinda pooped out this summer and I sorta let them down too. I didn't fertilize them and then I let the raccoons ravage them... but luckily the raspberries are taking up the slack. So far I've made five batches of jam and I have about two batches of berries waiting for me in the fridge and it's time to pick again!

You might be wondering who this Christopher is... This is Christopher.

Christopher lives in the beautiful place of Jackson Hole, well near it anyway, with the Tetons in his back yard, literally. I'm trying to figure out how to move myself down there with my Airstream/espresso stand. It sure would be handy to bring an income with me.

Christopher's new hobby is paragliding... He's trying to talk me into giving it a go.

Did you all know that I'm an aunt again?

Here's the newest little darling, introducing Rebbecca Cloe. Well you can't really see her, but you don't get to see pictures of me very often, so I thought I'd throw another one in.

Here's some spring flower pictures from my place.

...and here's some pictures from Yellowstone from last month when Christopher and I took a day drive over to see Old Faithful and some buffalo.

And here is a disturbingly graphic sign to keep parents on their toes...

Orange is the color of...

2009-02-25T19:40:00.001-08:00

This cute little guy almost got squished under our feet as we slide down a drainage to the river from the walk we were taking along the flume in Paradise.

Lucky for Jed, this is the only picture of him and Tan that wasn't blurry. What a cute couple eh?

I've never been to the flume before. It was beautiful, and a really easy walk, gradual gradient running along the hillside. I think every town needs one.

And as our parting shot, no one can get enough of cute babies...

William Quenten Geabeau the III, what a name for such a cute bundle. We like to call him Willy Q.

I owe you an explaination...

2009-02-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

of what has been keeping me from blogging. I'm sorry (again) for my lack of communication with you all, but I promise, I have been very busy. (First, here's a cute picture of Pumpkin)

I'll work from the present, backwards.

I just returned home from California last night, just in time to throw a Body Shop foot spa at my mom's house. Yes, that's right, I said "Body Shop". You're reading the blog of one of the newest recruits to The Body Shop At Home. But I won't tell you about that just yet, my first story will be about my trip to California.

My sister Tara (from another mother), had her first baby this last week. I've been planning all along to take the lengthy trip from Moscow to Paradise, California since this last fall, but I had no idea that I would be informed of the time of departure at four in the morning. Tanley, my other sister, gave me a jingle only hours after finishing up a late Friday night movie... I actually told her to go without me! But she wouldn't let me go back to sleep (thank goodness too, I would've kicked my own butt when I actually woke up!).

I can't even believe I made it in time for little Willy Q's entrance to this world since it took a fifteen hour drive to get there. Poor Tara was exhausted from being in labor so long. In the end after a speedy c-section, we all got to meet the little man the fuss was all over.

Here's Daddy Q holding the little Willy Q just moments after his debut.

While Tan, Jed (Tanley's fiance) and I were down in Paradise for a few days, we took some time away from the hospital to take their dog, Noogie, and Tara and Q's dog, Mona for a walk along the flume. It was gorgeous! Bright green moss, orange salamanders the color of the fall leaves on the ground, the calming ripple noises of the water flowing through the flume... It was magical.

... I guess those photos are still on my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it till I get them uploaded.

One thing that has been keeping me very busy is a new job. Finally I am back in the world contributing to society... I was offered a graphic design position at MaryJanesFarm. I am so excited to be using my degree and I didn't even have to move to a big city to find work. How lucky am I? My family can't even believe it... having a degree in art and all. My dad used to joke that I had a degree in basket weaving. Honestly, I think it would've been pretty sweet if I could have taken a class in that. I love baskets!

Just today I talked to MaryJane about what kind of work this summer holds for me. We talked about her bed and breakfast and huge garden. It looks like I'll get to play in MaryJane's garden and even help with the bed and breakfast. I don't think she knows that I've dreamed of putting up little yurts up around my property and creating my own little b&b... This'll be great experience figuring it out what it's all about!

So back to more pictures...

I'm sure you've all noticed the quality of kitchen appliances going downhill over the decades. Last year my mom's toaster went "tummy up" and she had an impossible time finding a good toaster for under $60. In the end she settled for a plastic $15 toaster and has been complaining about it ever since. She says it doesn't get hot enough to toast her bread and takes so long that she just ends up with dried out bread by the time it pops up. Well, imagine my dismay when my prized vintage toaster, fabric covered electric cord and all decided to start burning my bread. Not only was it sexy and built to make it through a bombing, but it used to toast my bread perfectly every time with no fussing. I couldn't just toss it in the trash, I had to try to revive it. After spending four hours tearing it apart, twisting together some elements, wiring in a new plastic covered cord, and figuring out where the sixteen wires that fell out of it went, it works like a charm now. I love my toaster.

Okay, the night is wearing on and it's getting late for me. I'll have to wait for another night to tell you the thrilling stories of the other appliances in my life. Lucky for you.

More to come soon.

Luke's new logo...

2008-11-15T20:47:00.001-08:00

and teacher training postcard:

It's not right...

2008-10-31T13:41:00.001-07:00

the colors are all wrong (or at least a little wrong), but I'm going to have to deal with it till I work up the energy to buy new paint and repaint the bathroom.

I have been thinking about finding a winter job. I've done a lot of thinking about this actually, but have yet to act on it. I'm still picking up a few lawn jobs here and there, just enough to keep me thinking I have enough money coming in to pay the bills.

My friend Luke just asked me to make a logo for him for his yoga studio in Lewiston. Here's a couple of preliminary sketches... but I think they're a little too busy. I'll have to work on a simpler version, or something completely different.

Well hello my long lost friends...

2008-10-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long dry summer for my blog. I apologize. I will try to rectify this over the following months and change my ways.

Here's what I've been up to lately...

I've been online dating. Shocking I know, but I thought I'd give it a go and see who I meet. I've met some very nice guys, but unfortunately I haven't encountered a bonfire that's consumed me yet. Or maybe that's fortunate? I don't know.

I've found that it does take a lot of time and energy and I've considered discontinuing as soon as my paid for month is up. And I think that will be in just days.

I went up to Sandpoint a few weekends ago to meet up with a friend for some camping and hiking. Unfortunately it rained on us all weekend, though fortunately the cloud cover kept the air temperature fairly warm. I think we missed the brilliant colors of fall by a couple of weeks, but we got to see the beginnings of it.

Besides meeting new guys and trying to decide what part they are going to play in my future, I've been hanging out at home with Pumpkin. She is doing fantastic. She's made herself right at home in my little abode and has even become a bit territorial over it. She has taken to watching life outside of the windows and if she happens to see any of my outdoor cats through the windows she bristles up all over and slams herself up against the window or sliding glass door. Of course I go over to try to calm her down and she acts sweet and innocent as if nothing happened. This is my little Pumpkin Pie reluctantly posing for a photo.

I've also been working pretty hard on my bathroom remodel project. It's been ongoing since February... I think I'm nearing the final product... I've gotten the ceiling painted just last night and this evening I'll be painting the walls with a dark blue glaze. The plaster that I just finished texturing the walls with wasn't a color that I was excited about so I'm going to augment it with blue... I'll post pictures of it when it's in it's finished glory. Everyone will be clamoring to use my restroom when they take a gander at that picture...

And since I didn't get this lovely picture posted in a more timely manner... and I just couldn't keep you in the dark about my culinary expertise... Behold, the salmon burger on a bed of spinach, topped with sweet pickled red onions and a cilantro cream sauce.

Take a look at the color and composition of that plate... astounding... and it was delicious too.

Fall is falling...

2008-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

I got stuck in the mud this weekend... a precursor to the snow and ice I'll be getting stuck in soon!

I have been failing in keeping my blog well updated this summer... Sorry.

Here's a bit of what's been going on:

Little Miss Pumpkin is not so little anymore... She really does like to eat and eat.

The roomies outgrew the roost and flew the coop.

I finally finished painting Willow's parent's basement.

I got to try out sailing for the first time. It was a blast...

My mum requested an outdoor tub be set up for her birthday. This is located in my garden.

And the most recently photographed event was going to get wood with the fam.

2008-07-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast this summer is going by. It almost feels like fall already. I don't like it. Wasn't it still snowing just last month?

Lawns are still keeping me busy, though many of them have become every other week instead of weekly. All of the odd jobs are keeping be busy, ie: flower garden clean up, hedge trimming, pruning, etc... I need to get back to a painting job I started in May also... It MUST be done by mid-August! So hopefully I can finish that up next week.

My own 'yard' has been very neglected. Just today I finally got around to weeding the flower beds in front of my place. It was so irritating to see that weed bed every time I drove home after a long day of work, too tired to work in my own yard. Now that it's somewhat cleaned up, I need to plant some more flowers in it. With all the weeds gone you can see that the flowers are quite sparse.

I'm sure everyone will be thrilled to know that I am finally bathing at home again. My dad got the bathtub fully plumbed in last week! Sorry it's taken me so long to tell you about it. I'm sure the suspense has been killing you. Now it's my turn to get some work done... I don't like the accent tile that I bought to tile the shower with, so I'm doing some investigating into making my own tile for the shower. There's a pottery studio down in Lewiston that I'm hoping will help me with my quest for the perfect tile. I want a deep blue green, that feels like deep water in the middle of a lush forest. I haven't found any tile at the flooring stores around town that fit that specific bill. I found a candle at Pier 1 that is the perfect color, so I've been hauling that around town tile shopping with me. No luck yet.

Besides working and messing around at home, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I'd like to do for work this winter. What I've come up with so far is: 1)Cook at Wais Divide (in Antarctica) 2) Work on a sailboat somewhere or 3) maybe go back to school for nursing? Who knows what will happen. I've been hoping that something will fall in my lap like it did last summer with the job down in Antarctica. I may not be that lucky again. So if anyone has any suggestions on where I should go or what I could do, leave me a comment with some info on it! I'm up for anything. In fact, I talked to a lady yesterday that said I could go cook a sorority in town for the winter, or she'd ask her son who is the skipper of a fancy yacht if he needed any help... or she know a professor who might need help with a camp he runs up in Alaska for glacier study in the summers. Now that's quite the variety to pick from! Unfortunately, I don't think I'd last very long in a sorority, and the skipper son only has two other job positions on the boat and they are filled, and the summer camp for glacier study job would be an office job in Moscow... So I'll be waiting for something else to pan out.

Ode to Chris

2008-06-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Poor Chris... He broke his clavicle last week.

I whipped him up some boxer shorts with this snazzy fabric that he fancied.

I was in such a hurry to get it packaged up and mailed I didn't get a picture of the shorts themselves... Maybe I can get Chris to send me a picture of him modeling them...

Summer...

2008-06-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

just started and it's already flying by! Holy cow. My arms and back are super tan, but the rest of my body is as white as the day I got home from Antarctica... I'm an odd sight in a swimming suite I bet. Though I haven't made it into a suit yet! My friend Chris said he'd teach me how to swim... better (what I do is kinda embarrassing) but he moved himself to Boise and with the price of fuel, there's a slim chance I'll be spending the money to drive down there for the weekend...

Here's a pretty little picture of my lily white legs, one with a few gashes in it from a blonde moment at work.

My garden is going crazy with blooms. And my strawberry plants are loaded with little green strawberries hanging like grapes from them. A few things have gotten eaten by some fuzzy little wildlife that has moved in recently. But I won't be chasing them off because I think they're so dang cute. I hope they don't eat too much.

Here are some of my garden flower pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Unfortunately... sort of... I didn't get the bathroom sheetrocked or the bathtub installed last weekend. It was, after all, Father's Day, and my pops was working on helping me finish insulating the bathroom walls before we seal them up with the sheet rock. Then I skipped out on helping him in the afternoon and made dinner for the fam. We had a delicious dinner of bbq steak and other various tasties. Then we went and planted a pear tree I got him for his special day. My dad is awesome.

That's my bro on the left, Dave, my dad in the middle, David, and my mummer on the right, Mary. It's just like old times... I'll have to put up a picture on here of all of us gardening when I was just knee high.

So, since Dave was over, we had to take advantage of his muscles, and we had him help us carry the new (cast iron) tub into the bathroom. I certainly don't need back problems!

And my parting picture, these are my new roomies...

Miss Sugar Pumpkin...

2008-06-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

is the name of a very sick little kitty I found in the yard of a vacant house in Troy as I was mowing yesterday afternoon. She's a stray kitty, not friendly and not clean... or healthy. She was completely out of it, stumbling around, falling over, and didn't even realize I was right next to her. After calling a Moscow vet and the Troy vet clinic (which is open by appointment only) and calling the Mosocw Police and talking to the Latah County dispatcher, I came to the conclusion that no one cared about this sick little kitty except me.

After finishing up my lawns for the day, I returned to the lawn where I saw her and found her right where I left her, huddled up under the edge of a bush. Of course I didn't have a kitty carrier in my pickup waiting for me to rescue strays all over the country... It's a good thing I don't find sick and injured animals very often... So, I went over to neighbor Ali's house and asked if she had a box I could take the kitty home in. She produced a perfect sized box and an old sheet, which helped a lot in catching the little scamper.

Last night Pumpkin slept in my kitchen in a pet carrier. She ate a tiny bit of food but then proptly passed out in it. At least she made it through the night. I'm hoping that she'll still be kicking by Monday so I can take her to the vet to get her checked out, though if not, at least she's had a luxury hotel to sleep in instead of the rain, cold, and bushes where I found her.

Poor little thing.

Rainy days...

2008-06-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

give me a chance to catch up on paperwork. Luckily for me, it's been raining a lot lately. So I've already caught up on paperwork, now I have time for blogging! Yay!!!

I'm back in the groove of mowing lawns everyday, besides your basic yard work and gardening. My own lawn and garden look sorely neglected, though I have managed to mow twice and have gotten some nasturtiums, eggplants, zucchinis, and mini sugar pumpkins planted. I still have to get in and pick up the leaf piles I raked up months ago... I was also hoping to get up to the picnic ground to do some clean up work so that I possibly can have a couple picnics this summer too... We'll see. Unfortunately my days off are rainy days and those days aren't good for doing outside work...

A couple weeks ago I managed to talk my friend Chris into coming to Moscow to deliver some artwork I wanted to buy from him. In return for the art, I let him work with me for a week. I thought it was a pretty fair trade...

Although he wasn't a very fast worker since he had broken his heel bone the month before and was still gimping around from it. And also while he was here he came down with the single-wide sickness I've been battling since I got home from the ice.

Last weekend I managed to get out of town. I got my yard work done on time despite the afternoon rain storms. My friend Chris and I did some yard sailing and some Good Will shopping. I found a sweet $20 BBQ to bring home, propane tank and all! And at wiped out Good Will of all of their wool sweaters!!! I'll be rolling in felted craft projects in no time at all! I'm quite excited.

This picture above is Chris on his brand spanking new clay brown velour sofa in his cozy little pool boy cabin near downtown Boise. He was being a little camera shy.

Besides trying to get the felted crafts rolling, I've started another knitting project. I'm knitting squares of different colored yarns, then am going to felt them and then sew them together into a quilt. It should be rainbow-tastic.

As far as bathroom progress, it's still coming along slowly. The rewiring is close to being finished. Since the walls are thinner than the standard thickness (being built with one by ones and all... It is a single-wide you know) a few of the electrical boxes need to be 'custom fitted' to fit in the walls. The plumbing is just about done, and soon the tub will be in and then we can put up the backer-board for tiling and the drywall. Soon is such a relative word.

Besides the bathroom work. I've found that some of the other outlets need replacing also... by means of testing them with a space heater.

I'm still not showering...

2008-04-01T17:29:00.001-07:00

but there has been a bit of progress in the bathroom! This is what it has looked like for about the last week, but then it started snowing... in the bathroom.

It was a bit too cold for me to go pee at night, so I decided to do something about it. I went and bought nails, then lost all motivation to work out in the nasty weather. This is where my mother stepped in and helped me get my butt outside to put a new wall together. She's such a hard worker, lucky for me.

Now I even have insulation up in the wall! So my home is staying a bit toastier than it was. Good thing I had all that warm clothes to wear that I brought home from the ice!

Arcata or BUST!

2008-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just got back last week from a road trip with my mom to Northern California. It was awesome, the weather was rainy, I got sicker, I got drugs, then I got better, then we got home. Here are some pictures from the event.

First we stopped in Bend, Oregon to visit Tanley and Jed. Tara came up from southern Oregon for the weekend too. The weather was beautiful. We walked around downtown, did a little shopping, stopped in at a fun little tea house, and went to McMinnamin's soaking pool.

From Bend we booked it down to Arcata where my mum's cousin lives. It was drizzly the whole time we were down there, but we were chillin inside most of the time so it didn't really matter. Personally, as long as it's not snowing I'm okay with the percipitation!

Here's some pictures of the flowers that had just popped out:

We did make it out one day and went to a restaraunt in Trinidad. Here's the pier right out the front door of the eatery.

What the heck am I talking about?

2008-03-06T16:41:00.001-08:00

Well, this is for you Miranda...

I know for a fact, that the majority of you who are reading my blog don't know where I live or what form of home I'm living in. I have been bouncing from apartment to Airstream trailer to house and back again for years and years... Currently, I am renting a single-wide trailer, it used to be my Grandpa Dwight's abode. He passed away a year ago and now it is owned by my Uncle Dwayne who lives in Virginia. I hope someday he lets me buy it from him... It's right next to my parent's property, about three miles north of Viola out in the country (and fields). I love living next to my parents, I love that it has tons of childhood memories, and I love all the trees and the little creek (even though it dries up halfway through the summer).

Here's a little picture to feast your eyes on...

Miranda, I am still taking very good care of the little Airstream. (For those of you who don't know, I purchased the Airstream form Miranda about four years ago.) She, the Sweet Pea Pod (as dubbed by me) is transforming into an espresso stand. My new business someday will be called Dilly Dally Espresso. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not holding my breath, that I'll have it up and running by this next winter. I'll be posting pictures of her transformation as it happens over the summer. Wish me luck!

So tell me Miranda... What do I do about being tagged? I know I read about it in your blog, but don't remember where or what it said about it! Help a girl out.

Still working on the bathroom...

2008-03-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

I have come home to a dreary little town and dreary weather...

The crud got me. I've been sick since the third day of being home. It's soooo tiring. I should be all better in no time, since I don't have the time or energy to continue being sick after Friday.

It has also really been hampering the progress on my bathroom... well besides the weather also. Here are some things I've picked up to install in the new and improved bathroom:

Accent tile...

Fancy big new window...

Cast iron tub...

Here is my little nephew enjoying a banana at my bithday dinner. The rest of us had kabobs to eat.

I went on a shopping spree at Goodwill for my birthday... and I found this cute little rose bud creamer! Do I use cream? No. But I had to have it anyway. Maybe I will start using cream now, you never know.

This may look like it's not all that steep of a hill, and it's not... but my silly little pickup refuses to make it up to the top of my driveway after the last snow... When will it be spring???

Back to the great North Idaho!

2008-02-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm home again! After a three day vacation in Christchurch and a night in Seattle, I've finally made it home. I was pretty sad for the first few days. I can't believe that it is all over so fast. I wish that I could have brought all my friends that I made down there home with me... Hopefully we will all keep in touch.

At the Christchurch Botanical Gardens

Rose Garden

Now I'm knee deep in bathroom remodeling... Don't worry Aunt Monica and Uncle Dwayne! I have it all under control. It'll be so nice to have a window in the bathroom to let light in, and then I can have plants in there too. With a window and maybe a couple extra mirrors hopefully it won't feel like a shoe box anymore. I think any change will be a drastic improvement...

After one day of demolition...

Soggy insulation.

Winter home for the Ant family.

Idaho kids...

2008-02-02T00:07:00.000-08:00

Megan - McCall (left), Danny - Boise (center), Dawn - Moscow (right)

South Pole Pictures!

2008-01-29T12:19:00.001-08:00

The LC-130 Hercules sleigh ride to the South Pole! Negative forty degrees...

The South Pole sits at an elevation of 9,301 feet on top of approximately a 2 mile thick sheet of ice that is moving toward Africa at the rate of about 30 feet per year.

"The new South Pole station, designed by Ferraro Choi and Associates, is an engineering marvel. To avoid the fate of the two previous stations, the 60,000-sq.-ft. structure (which Polies call the El Station) stands 12 ft. above the surface on 36 columns. When drifts threaten to engulf the station, workers will use 100-ton hydraulic jacks to raise the structure by two full stories (one story about every 15 years), extending its life expectancy until 2050." -Popular Mechanics

That is some expensive siding.

Growth Room in the new South Pole station building.

The old South Pole dome... being retrograded?

Inside the dome it's just being used for storage... I guess it used to have buildings inside for a gym and housing... besides other stuff.

This is where all our tax dollars are going... South Pole signage.

Three hour ride back home... This here is Mike trying to make the perfect scarf.

As if things couldn't get any better...

2008-01-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

I'm flying to the South Pole tomorrow! How lucky can one person be?!? I am getting to go on what is called a boondoggle. Boondoggles are a kind of fun excursion/vacation to go see and do things that are usually outside the normal scope of a persons job down here. (And let's face it... the scope of my job is usually inside a cubicle in cubicle land.) I'm pretty dang excited!

To be sure, pictures will be following soon!

The McMurdo Crud

2008-01-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

So far I've been avoiding contracting the crud or the flu. My roommate on the other hand has been sick for about two weeks in total since we've gotten down here. Either I've been super lucky, or I have an amazing immune system. I prefer to think the latter, but have a sneaking suspicion that I could be wrong.

The first wave of the flu hit the beginning of the season, the end of October/beginning of November. With all the new people coming down from the states to start off the summer, they brought with them all sorts of yuckies, and since it's like a giant petri-dish down here (the self serve galley, and public use computers...) of course everyone got sick. Medical tried to prevent the spread by quarantining people to their rooms, but since we all get to share rooms with one to five people, of course roommates got sick... and so on and so forth.

This next wave of sickness came in, they say, from New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, which of course wasn't included in the round of vaccines that they offered to us down here at the beginning of the season. This news didn't upset me in the least, as I didn’t get the vaccine since I nearly pass out at the thought of needles.

My poor roommate, Jared (you all might know him as being an old friend of mine from Moscow) was quarantined to our room. He apparently was supposed to have me pick up meals for him, but he didn't tell me this because he was afraid I'd bring him jello, oatmeal and toast for his meals... He has no faith in me when it comes to feeding him apparently. It would have been nice to know, however, that I was in a confined space with a contagious person. I would've slept in the lounge to avoid getting sick.

Well, Jared returned to work about four days ago, and I thought I was home free, but alas... I woke up with a nagging feeling in my head that my health was heading south. The feeling hasn't left yet today... Only tomorrow will tell if the inevitable has finally caught up with me.

No pressure...

2008-01-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Well, since many people have been asking for my address... Here it is again:

Dawn Abbott, RPSC
McMurdo Station
PSC 469, Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035

Be aware that if you feel like mailing a package (! ;) styrofoam is a banned substance in Antarctica. Thanks! Flat mail (any envelope, even the big letter sized ones) comes in on all flights coming on to the ice, so it comes fairly quickly, but packages are low priority and can take over a month to arrive here... But it being summer the weather isn't holding up inbound flights like it was earlier, so it may get here in a few weeks!

Keep in mind that I'm probably leaving the ice around February 11th... If I'm not here to recieve it, it'll just get returned to you... eventually.

Random Pictures

2008-01-02T13:53:00.001-08:00

This is Larry, my Operations boss, all dressed up for a Santa flight out to the field camps to spread some holiday cheer.

Here is Icestock 2007. Bands, chili cook off, Sawbucks Coffee, snow, hoola-hoops, good times.

Sawbucks. Aren't the carpenters clever? They served coffee and hot chocolate to keep us warm. Mmmmmmmm

One of the bands... 70's and funk. The best band that performed... although I did miss the bluegrass band when I went home to take a nap... they're dang good too!

Five Year Plan

2007-12-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

I love Yogi Tea. Besides it being one of the better boxed teas, it has those fun little thought provoking sayings on the paper tags attached to the tea bags. Each one is like opening a fortune cookie. But this is even better than a fortune cookie since the tea is actaully yummy (fortune cookies are kind of stale and gross...). So, today's morning Yogi Tea saying of the day is: The only tool you need is kindness. I don't know how true that is if you're trying to build a house. But a nice moto to live by none-the-less.

I just got out of the Operations supervisors meeting. I sit in with my boss, Larry (who, by the way, is from Couer d'Alene) and listen to what's been happening in the Operations departments for the last week. All the fun, juicy information that the general public doesn't hear right away gets discussed... like how people loose fingers... or how power poles fall down, or who gets to fly home early or to the Pole and what-not. I know it doesn't necessarily sound super exciting, but you need to bear in mind that I am in Antarctica... and we don't have a whole lot of news to entertain us. Oooo! I just got the scoop from the cubicle land network! There was a skirmish at the Pole involving two boys fighting over a girl... not me, mind you. One was med-evaced to NZ and the other... who knows. Ahhhh, what a soap opera.

So, yesterday was Boxing Day. What is Boxing Day? (Aha! I just looked it up in wikipedia... You should take a gander if you don't know.) I just needed something to say to people who I had been emailing 'Merry Christmas!'... It's kind of a let down to have a holiday over. At least we have New Years day coming up soon. Yay! Another two day weekend! Unfortunately, we don't actually get New Year's day off. I suspect that there will be many a tired worker about town on the 1st day of 2008. Be careful to look both ways before crossing the road, or you may get mowed down by a delta or a dozer...

One thing that I like to do every five years... (I started this six years ago) is to write a five year plan, what I want to accomplish, where I want to be, etc, etc. Last year my five year plan came to an end and I had been planning on writing a new five year plan to figure out what direction I wanted my life to go in. Well... I got distracted. I still haven't written it, and now that a year of my life is past without a plan, I'm wondering where all my efforts in life are heading. My last five year plan included finishing my undergrad degree, having a pick-up, Airstream, and chainsaw. Check, check, check, check (borrowed from pops). Although having things (such as vehicles and what-not) isn't necessarily a goal, it's what having these things will afford me. This year of not being within a plan, I've tried to stay focused and move towards a goal... though I haven't stayed on any particular schedule.

Now that I'm thinking about it, here's what my next five year plan might include: continuing to convert my Airstream into an espresso stand and start up business somewhere, find a body of water to live on/near, learn how to weld, become proficient at throwing pots on a wheel (purchace a wheel and kiln), and return to practicing yoga... and maybe getting a boat... like a sea kayak and or a sail boat... or a raft... or all three. I'd also like to get my Vinny Van (Vicent the Turtle Bus) up and running again. He makes a cozy home for life on the road, especially now that I've up and gutted my Airstream.

Speak the truth...

2007-12-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

this is what my Yogi Tea of the afternoon says. The truth is, that today I feel a bit like a zombie. After going to the Waste Barn and listening to some amazing acoustic music, I felt compelled to avoid bed for three more hours till two in the morning... not doing anything but curling up in a chair drifting in and out of sleep in the lounge with Rush Hour 2 and 3 playing. It's a good thing that today I don't have much for mental needs happening, just answering the phone and finding people to go move things around town with heavy equipment. Easy enough.

It doesn't feel like today is only two days before Christmas. I don't ususally have much for hopes in the way of holidays, but I had some fleeting thoughts that this Christmas might include a bit of romance, but alas, there is not much to be found in McMurdo these days. I should say, this is not the reason that I came down to the ice, but it does seem to be a omnipresent theme down here and it is hard not to get sucked in with the rest of the population vortex.

So there it is. It's muddy, windy, and yes, dusty too. A storm just blew in... the skies are over cast, two fat seals are hanging out on the ice pier. I have one hopeful Christmas present hiding on the top of my closet behind a curtain waiting to be opened on Christmas day... I must confess, especially since I have the title of my post 'speak the truth', that I did receive another gift in the mail from one of my wonderful lawn customers... and I already opened it (thank you Skinners!). So, I started my Christmas cheer a little early. Now I have Christmas socks to wear for the big day! Oh! and now that I think about it, I did recieve a cubicle calendar from my aunt and uncle in Virginia of beautiful pictures of Washington DC. I am going to have to go visit them someday...

Thank you for all your warm thoughts and care packages. I feel loved.

Cooking at Black Island

2007-12-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

I have been getting out of my office and working at other offices. I have been answering the phone at Fleet Ops (the guys who drive around dozers and fork lifts and stuff), programing movies at the TV station... and just starting yesterday, volunteering at BFC (Berg Field Center) where they outfit all the field camps with everything they need (except things with motors in them...that comes from another place). I'll try to get some pictures of the BFC today. I think it has just become my favorite place to be down here. The lighting is great (incandescent, not fluorescent) and they have cozy/warm wood floors, they're organized (for the most part) and they have a kitchen area! Yay!!! A place to cook :)

Speaking of cooking, I just got back from Black Island this last Saturday. I was out there for a week, giving the cook a break. She came to town to sit in my cube and answer the phone (poor thing) and I got to go cook for everyone out at Black Island!

I think I got the better end of the deal personally... but she did get to take daily showers, hang out with her friends in the evening and also do laundry... Which are all things not possible to do at Black Island. Black Island is a communications location for McMurdo. There's a bunch of antennas, dishes and other various comms stuff out there. The two permanent residents out there are Tony, the BI manager, and the cook, Megan. Everyone else who goes out there is transient and only there for a few days working on comms things... IT guys and riggers. The max capacity out there is 8, although this year since there is a major upgrade on bandwidth happening, there has been an overload of IT guys there... Tony and Megan deserve a raise for sure.

So... since I was out there I got my fix on cooking. I cooked three meals a day for seven days... and did all the clean up too. The riggers were awesome though and helped me clean up after meals. They need to make a shirt that says 'I love riggers', I'd wear it.

Okay... I need to get back to work... and I promise I'll post pictures very soon!

Snow School & Scott's Hut Delta Trip

2007-12-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. I told myself that I'd post once a week whether I had anything to say or not. Well, I do have lots to talk about, but this cubicle job has made me L A Z Y!!! Things are picking up in my work now though, and it seems like I'm pretty busy most of the day doing odd jobs.

Snow School was very interesting and I had a good time. I learned how to make a quinzi (sp?) hut and how to build a snow wall for protection from the winds. The winds do get pretty brutal down here since there's not a whole lot to protect you from them, especially on the ice shelf...
So this is how our day went at snow camp: We sat in a class room and went over some basics before they trucked us out to the ice shelf. To be continued... (I'm too hungery to go on)

Okay! Now with some cookies in my stomach... This last week I went on a Delta trip to Cape Evans. A Delta is a huge cartoonish looking vehicle used down here to transport people around on the sea ice and ice shelf. So, out at Cape Evans is where Scott wintered over with his people back in ??? A long time ago. His hut is still there, with an attached stable where they housed the horses they brought down here. They had the horse names stenciled on the wall where each one went in the stalls. It was kinda creepy. I think they ended up eatting their horses. In a part of the entrance to the hut was a big stack of seal blubbler. It was kinda warming up on the day I was there, even thought the wind was crazy, and the seal fat was starting to kind of flow. Pretty smelly too. Here are some pictures of the interior of the hut: there was a kitchen area, bunk beds, a very large dining table and chairs in the middle of the hut, lots of other things that I'll have to tell you about later...

McMurdo the Beautiful

2007-10-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Things are going really well down here on the ice. I had my first day of firsts the other day. I hiked up Observation Hill and took some pictures, went to the green house and took some pictures, then found a sauna in one of the dorms to use (sorry no picutres). This last Saturday night we had a Halloween party. I got dressed up like a gnome, sort of. There were a lot of crazy costumes at the party. The costume contest lasted about an hour because there were about 100 people who wanted to be judged... not me!

I need to have another day of firsts... like hiking out to Hut Point or Castle Rock or taking a nap or reading a book in the green house. I'm going to be scheduling myself for Snow School sometime in November (hopefully later in the month when it's warmer). Snow School teaches you how to dig a snow cave and I don't know what else, but it is an overnight trip and you get to sleep in the snow cave you dig... Don't worry, despite the weather warming up, there's about 100 feet of snow (so I'm told) that will be there to dig and sleep in.

This here is a picture I took of Mt. Erebus (in the background) and Castle Rock (in the foreground) when I was on top of Ob Hill.

Arriving to Antarctica

2007-10-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'M ON THE ICE...
I've finally made it to the ice after having a week off of work to prepare and then several days of travel to get here. This is a lovely picture of me in my issued parka. It may look silly and overstuffed, but it's definately not overkill! When I arrived on the ice yesterday, it was nearly Condition 2 weather with it being -60 F and high winds. I thought the 20 yard walk to the shuttle vehicle from the C-17 was going to frost bite my nose off. I must admit though, I like the sensation of frozen boogers and nose hairs.
Despite the cold weather, my dorm is a nice hot sauna. Apparently the thermostat which controls the entire side of my hall is broken and thinks that it must heat everything up to 110 F. I slept with my window and door open last night and it was the perfect temperature, even with it being -30 F outside!
My dorm is named Mammoth Mountain Inn, NSF Berthing and also Building #188. As I am finding, nearly everything has three names, nicknames, acronyms, or numbers to designate what you're refering to. Needless to say, it is very confusing at first for newcomers... Luckily there is a map provided at the orientation welcome that lists all names and numbers... Just finding it on the map is the last challenge...

In the beginning...

2007-08-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this is just the first of (I hope) many posts and pictures of ice, snow and rock in Antarctica to come. Sounds exciting, I know!!!

Thanks to all my lawn customers of this summer for helping me pay the bills and giving me some good conversations! You don't realize that you were my social life. As sad as that may seem, I really enjoyed it! :)

My last day of work on lawns will be Friday, September 21, 2007. Don't you fret though, I'll be back with my lawn mower poised to cut grass this coming March!

Photo by Morgan Gardner