Ahhhh... Vacation

This weekend, I took a much desired post-flight vacation to Texas wine country. It was all I could hope for... Relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun! Mike did a great job planning a weekend with winery visits, tasty food, and a cute little B&B that had homemade bread and deer at your doorstep.

But I must say, the best parts of the weekend had nothing to do with the house, the dinners, the wine, or the town. It was the stars and the hiking this afternoon. It's been months since I've seen more than the absolute brightest stars in the sky (the Big Dipper is a luxury to spot in Houston) and this weekend you could see the Milky Way standing out like a highway across the dark. It was phenomenal! The night sky is what started me in the job I do and it was so invigorating to see it again.

The hiking was also a welcome blast from the past. I haven't been hiking since before I left Colorado to move down here full time... All told, hiking Enchanted Rock wouldn't rank as one of the most incredible hikes of all time, but it definitely reminded me about all I miss from CO. I'll be going back soon. For sure.

So all told - good times had by all. It was a lot of fun to get to spend time with Mike, hang out, and relax again. I can't wait until next time ...

And I'm going to be working on posting more frequently. I've been busy with work and trying to get my backyard into a less than mud-hole condition after removing the giant cottonwood tree. I'll probably start reverting to "Garden Blog"-esque posts, but I'll try to stick around better from now on...

In Moscow...

Pictures to follow soon, but for now - sleepies...

Morning Quicky (not that kind!)

Okay, I'm about to run out the door for my last minute errands before my flight, but I figured I owed this thing a post. I just found my camera cable last night while I was packing so it gives me that much more incentive! :)

But since I'm short on time, here's the last couple of months in pictures:

Napa Valley, CA - I like pretending I'm rich for a day!

San Francisco, CA - Sun, Warmth, and the Stupid. What more could I want?

Pumpkin Carving for Halloween - Mine is the scary house, Mike's is the spider.

Happy Halloween - Scariest thing Mike or I could think of...

Hurricane Ike 2008

I know I haven't been as diligent about posting my status throughout this whole ordeal, but here is the quicky catch-up:

Last Thursday morning it was announced that I was in the mandatory evacuation zone. So I spent a few hours, packed up the house, boarded the windows and headed out by ~11:30 in the morning. I headed for Dallas where there were several pet-friendly (for evacuees) hotels that still had rooms available... It took about 8 hours to get there, but we made it in one piece and hunkered down there until Monday morning.


On Sunday I got several reports from friends about the status of my house (no damage but there were branches down), but nobody had any real details and they all figured the power was out at my house even though they couldn't really tell based on what they could see.

On Monday we decided to head back to check on things and start whatever clean-up we could - especially refrigerator clean-up after the power outages. When I got home, the power was still not on, but lo-and-behold, not 5 minutes after we walked in the front door there were cheers from the neighbors and our power was back! Along with power came internet and TV, so needless to say - I was extremely lucky on that front... especially since half of my street still doesn't have power today.

Comparatively, the damage was minimal. I was missing 2 boards from the back of my fence and one was loose. The holes are currently covered by plywood so the mutts can run around... My trees took some pretty major hits, though. To say "a few branches were down" was the understatement of the century... My backyard was filled with branches and after clean-up, I have a new 3-foot fence surrounding my front yard!


The large cottonwood lost ~60% of its canopy which ended up taking out the ash tree that was beneath it in the process. The other trees lost a few high branches and my neighbor lost half of a large tree that was between our houses. All of the major tree falls went away from the houses, though it looks like I did take a hit on my roof... There is some cracked decking on one small patch of my roof which will need to be replaced and I want to get the tree damage looked at by experts to ensure that my trees are still healthy and don't need removed, but otherwise I came out really well off - thank goodness!

Best Compliment EVER!

So for the record, guys - if you want to make a girls' day, it's simple. The compliment is not "Have you lost weight?" It's not "Did you get your haircut?" (though that one wins bonus points)... I got this compliment for (in my memory) the first time ever and I'm stoked:

"Have you been working out?"

AWESOME! A girl flat out cannot read anything negative into that one and it means that either I've a) lost some weight and it's noticable, b) I've been working out and you can see the results or c) I've been working on my posture and it's paying off... Or maybe some crazy girl can find something wrong with it - though I don't see how.

But either way I took it to mean "you're looking pretty good!" Whether that's what was meant or not, I'm taking it dang it!