Thanks Bobby!

Earlier in the week Bobby and Alex had decided to take a break from the ski slopes and go on a hike. They strapped their ski's to their backs and hiked up- then skied back down! I'll see if I can convince Alex to write a little about his trip!

Lake Tahoe

While Alex got to enjoy a whole week with John and Katrina in the A-frames- I went down Wednesday for the second half. And apparently I missed all the nice weather. But when your talking about skiing, it can be quite the range. The first part of the week was warm and sunny- spring skiing. Which is good on one hand- but leaves some pretty crappy snow to slide on down the mountain. The day I got down there they were calling for rain! GREAT! So it ended up raining at the base and snowing at the top and eventually turned into snow top and bottom. So now this makes for some nice snow to ski on- (well the snow does- the rain doesn't help- but if you stayed at the top half of the mountain you were safe- wet but in snow!) My first Squaw experience was cold, wet, windy and snowy! But I got my first taste of "Sierra Cement"! And on the very last day- some actual light fluffy powder!

And you can see by the red helmet clad dude below Bobby was also able to join us! He is still recovering from some major jaw surgery (hence the full face protective contraption) and was only able to make it down for the weekends. But it was great to have us all together! It's been a really long time! And even better that we now have another girl in the mix! Thanks Trine! Can't wait to get together again soon!


The new ski jacket I was going to order was out of stock in my size- so I was forced to wear my not-so-waterproof old one!
Of course they were calling for a lot of snowfall for the beginning of this week (the week we're NOT there!) and it had started on Saturday night/Sunday so the drive home over Donner Pass was SLOW! They were requiring chains on everything that wasn't 4-wheel with snow tires (thank goodness for that new jeep right!) so on top of things being tied up with people trying to get the chains on- they had the check point set up to make sure everyone was following the rules. There were a bunch of these guys out there to put your chains on for your (for the low low price of just $30!!) This guy was last in line- right near the check point- I'm guessing to catch all the last minute people realizing they really mean business about this stuff! He was cute and cooperated with my photo!I do love driving when everything is white! SO pretty!

Topless!

The weather has been awesome around here! Lots of sun! Saturday we took the roof off of the jeep!

Poor Mr. Ned

I guess I should tell you whats going on with Ned huh? The Sunday before Christmas we went up to play in the snow (see older post). We had a blast! Later that night we had some friends over for dinner and they brought their pups to play. Ned just stayed on his bed and was very sluggish. We just thought that he was worn out from all the excitement (it was our first time up in the snow this year) Over the next few days however, we noticed Ned favoring his back left leg. Not putting any weight on it at all sometimes. He was having trouble going up the stairs and would occasionally stumble. Our neighbor was a surgical vet tech and took a look at our pitiful Mr. Ned. She thought that he strained the interior ligament in his knee and that we should keep him off of it for a while.
And so began our relaxed and lazy lifestyle that we adopted over the holidays! After nearly 3 weeks of little to no exercise Ned was doing much better and seemed to be putting weight back on his leg. We decided that he could handle a bit of running around and took him up to the school to chase the laser light a bit. Boy were were WRONG! he did fine while out there- but not even an hour after we got home he was back to not being able to use it. I made an apt with the vet and brought him in. They were unable to fully evaluate him because he was too nervous and tensed up (they took him into the back without me and he freaked out) So the Doc made "an experienced 30 year" guess! That his knee ligament (a different one then Carol thought) was either fully or partially torn and that we needed to bring him back so they could put him under to be able to fully feel what was going on and then operate if necessary. This whole ordeal would cost us $1,600!!! That was a little too much for us to swallow on a "guess" We also were not very happy with how this vet handled things- we were not allowed in the back with our dogs at all for anything. So Alex is currently on his way down to Ferndale to a vet that a friend reccomened. They are supposed to be very personable and good with the animals. So we'll see what their evaluation is in a few hours!

Here are a few pictures of Ned. Carol suggest we try to ice it- which is a bigger deal with dogs then it is with humans for sure!

Wii at the Baxter's

Last weekend we went over the the Baxter's to have dinner and hang out. Madison just got a Wii for Christmas so of course all of the guys were all over that! Thankfully the neighbors also got one so we stole 2 extra controllers so 4 people could play at once! Mario cart was a big hit and then Jabob insisted that we box! It was hysterical to see him box!

Sequoia Park

Since Ned's leg is still bothering him we haven't been taking them out for a lot of heavy exercise like normal. Which is just as big an impact on us as it is on them I'm sure! With them cooped up in the house all week when the weekend comes we like to take them out with us- and if he can't run around... neither can we! So we've stuck to just walks. And really- you can't stop Ned from running- you just can't! But at least this way he's not putting too much stress on it. This past Saturday we passed up a long bike ride at Headwaters Reserve for a slow walk at Sequoia park. It was a gorgeous sunny day! We've really been having some nice weather here! I'm wondering when the "winter rainy season" is going to hit! I'm hoping that it doesn't push itself into the spring!

Early morning CG Cutter Baracuda

San Francisco treat

Original plans of being in San Fran for Christmas and then New Years didn't pan out... So we went this past weekend. It conveniently was the same time at the REI seconds sale so of course we went to that, and did some other shopping and browsing in Union Square! We had a great time hanging out with Bobby and Steve! We really have to get down there to see them more often (or they can come here hint hint). Ned and Hanna got to meet Steve pup Bronco too!

While out at the bar on Saturday night we got into a debate on which direction the "C" in YMCA goes (is it to your left or right) Bobby's friend Shelly was very adimant that it went to your right (so that it made a C for you and not ppl looking at you) Alex dissagreed (probably just for the sake of disagreeing.... but in the end we found out through majority vote of the bar and good ol' YouTube that it goes to the left so that it is a C for everyone else.On the way home I talked Alex into stopping at spot that we always talk about stopping at- but never do.... Maybe someday we'll get to all the rest of the cool spots we see! This one is The Solar Living Institute. It's all about renewable energy and sustainable Living. It was cool to see some of the stuff they had! They also had some unusual sculptures too...