Christmas

We drove up to Ross' mom's house on Christmas eve. Planned to leave the house by 2, and it was closer to 3 when we left. Then the traffic on 94 was hellish. For some reason everyone was driving out of town on Christmas eve! Imagine! However, we got there, helped Sara install her new blinds in the main room, and she cooked a delicious meal of tenderloin. Stayed the night and in the morning we took Toad and Clio out to the horse farm to go for a relatively short walk in the cold - it was 1 degree out. Warmed up a bit walking through the barn and saying hi to Hawk (Sara's horse) and then we said hi to the "babies" who were in the outdoor paddock. Toad actually touched noses with one of them! I think he wasn't as freaked by their smaller size.

Then to Ross' dad's house, where there were many people who all loved Toad. Susan's sisters and families were there, and Ross' two brothers. We sat down to brunch. Hung out, chatted. Opened presents. As the evening approached we packed up and drove back to the cities. I think Toad was very happy to be home; he sacked out on the couch for the rest of the evening.

Well, I'm not on top of it

Not blogging every day, by god, but here I am making an effort.
Today was a day of wasting time and pooping around. I had a goal of dropping some books off at the library and hitting the REI clearance sale. Ross decided to come along as long as the trip would include coffee and a book store. The trip ended up including HOM furniture, IKEA, Borders, Southdale.... argh! Too many people! Too many shoppers!

We hit IKEA because we've had thoughts of upgrading to a queen size bed someday. Of course we walked out of there with several other items and not a queen size bed. Hit Southdale because Ross wanted to get Mille Bourne for Billy, and of course the game store didn't have it. So instead I bought a pair of jeans at the Gap. Ha ha.

The lesson is: buy everything online.

hangin' out, making beer

Wow. I look tired. Perhaps because I climbed for 3.5 hours, then walked the dog in the cold.

Ross, on the other hand, looks perky.

The beautiful stream of liquid malt extract flowing into our beer... not yet beer.

I get artsy with the malt extract. "Work with me! That's it!"


Cold snowy weekend, but we're tough. We're Minnesotan. We shovelled and trekked through the snow and didn't let it stop us. This morning I drove to the climbing gym and had a scary interlude in which people in front of me on the highway were spinning out and I honestly feared for a moment that I would hit the car in front of me. But that moment passed.

Now we make beer. I am weary and already tired of making beer, but you can't really stop once you've started. I can tell I will sleep well tonight.

the Christmas Toad

winter, and surviving it

It hasn't been too bad so far. I have shrugged off the cold. I have walked and even run through the snow. I faltered a bit after Thanksgiving, struggling to throw off a cold and rejoin the world of the running, but now I've run in 3 degree weather... I've run in snow. Today, in the midst of the biggest snowstorm of the season Ross and Toad and I went out for a walk on the golf course. The wind was biting as we walked into it, but once we turned around and walked back it hardly bothered us. Ross commented, "I feel warm now." I said, "Yeah, I'm fine." Once we got home we learned that it was only 6 degrees out.

Of course it's all easier in December. Ask me how I feel in February.

Rejoining the blogging world

Okay. Here I am, and it has been a long time away, but in my defense I just got busy with other social networking stuff... check out my stuff on flickr, goodreads, facebook... But it is true that those really are different animals from blogger and I do seriously intend to get back to blogging. And posting more pictures! Here's my vow - at least one picture per day between now and the first of the year (barring any days away from the house that prevent me from blogging).

To start out I'll post a few pics from last weekend's Sandstone Ice Fest, at which I was one of the instructors for the women's ice clinic.

The whole class; Amy and I are at the left in the back row.
Two climbers on the ice flow. It is basically dead vertical, if you can't tell.
Kiri belaying. Note my gloves - I finally indulged in some "lobster claw" gloves and I love them!


Kiri and Amy belaying.