Walks in the Woods

These pictures are from 3 short weeks ago. The snowmelt had begun and the streams were finally exposed. Only one of our streams is year round, the rest are from seasonal runoff. And even the year round stream dries to a trickle in the dry months of July and August. Amazing when you see what flows through this time of year.

Our main steam

The first culvert

Pond just starting to thaw

My brother's part of the main stream

The "not supposed to be there" stream

We're going to do some additional grading this summer so that we can minimize driveway damage. This is an ongoing task - we fix one section and another needs it the next year. This section of road actually has a small diameter culvert - but it was so cold this winter that it froze solid.

No idea where this stream is...

The streams have since calmed down and the woods are drying out. Some of the trails that we laid out while snowshoeing are swampy messes but we're hoping they'll be dry once all the frost leaves the ground. Turns out it was a good thing we held off on marking the full trails. The trail heads are fine but we may need to alter routes a bit if the water doesn't drain.

Bathroom sink progress

You may recall that way back in May 2013 the downstairs bathroom sink looked like this:

Black pipe for supports, missing shelf supports, and temporary pine boards as side tables.

Well, now it looks like this (this is a surprisingly difficult thing to photograph):

Walnut sideboards and pipe shelf supports

We added the pipe shelf supports to get the sideboards up higher against the sink. And the sideboards themselves are from some walnut boards that Chris bought at the local wood auction (yes, we have wood auctions up here - who knew?). 

Walnut sideboard

The walnut shows beautifully against the white porcelain sink and fits in with the overall masculine look of the bathroom. We haven't actually installed the boards as we still need to spray paint the pipes but it'll all be solidly tied into place very soon.

Overall the look is slightly industrial, very organic, and I'm really loving it.

Distractions

We're supposed to be working on the upstairs clothes closet but seem to keep getting distracted. Good weather makes us want to be outside and the snow melt has the stream banks running full (pictures coming soon). So we're doing all kinds of stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with closets. We are:

Putting on the tractor's backhoe - which means we took off the snow thrower!

Throwing mushy snowballs for the dog

Clearing trees for firewood and a future apple orchard

Taking pictures of funny snow animals

Practicing our agility training

Walking. A lot.

Removing a tree that overhung Dad's garage

We've also been clearing off the front porch and putting the table and chairs in place. Yes, it's time to sit and enjoy the sunshine before bug season to arrives. We'll take advantage of these black-fly-free days while we can; it'll be soon enough to get back on indoor projects.

Furry guest

My sister and her new puppy came to visit for the first time. Sam (the puppy) is a Great Dane mix and is roughly 4 months old. She's a rescue dog so forgive her boniness - she's slowly putting on weight. We've waited nearly a month before bringing her to meet Cooper to give her time to gain some strength. 

Looks like the time was right. The following photos are ample evidence that dogs love to play. 

Blurry action photo #1

Blurry action photo #2 (slightly slower though) 

Cooper is the blur on the right

Starting to slow down more.

Ta Da! Two dogs! 

Well into the visit. Still playing.

They played in the house. They played in the snow. They enjoyed several walks in the woods.

Cooper is now comatose on the couch. I imagine Sam, too, is snoring at home. None of us can wait for the next visit.

Sleeping positions

Ah, the easy life.

Cooper and T'BD know how to enjoy a cloudy winter day. Curl up in a chair, or on the hearth rock, and sleep the day away.

Oh so comfy

There are two beds right by the fire. She chooses the warm rock.

Both animals like to lay on or very near the hearth rock. The floor is warm, the rock is more than warm, and the beds get moved, fluffed, and switched around depending on how much time has been spent by the fire.

A pretty good way to spend the day.

El Mexicano restaurant review

It's funny how you get in a restaurant rut - even if it's a tasty rut - when you live someplace long enough. Now that we've relocated, we're exploring the area all over again and finding new restaurants to try.

I've decided I'm going to start tracking and reviewing the restaurants that we try. First up is a Mexican restaurant in Saratoga.

El Mexicano on Broadway. We tried it for lunch on a snowy Friday and arrived just before noon. It was empty at first but soon started to fill up with a lunch crowd.

The tortilla chips were typical but the salsa was great. Full of flavor not just heat (although it was very hot). And the waiter brought a couple 4-inch cheese quesadillas (on the house) as an appetite teaser while we studied the menu. Nice! I had chillaquiles - fried tortilla strips covered with shredded chicken, cheese, and red sauce; baked in a small casserole so it stays hot. Wonderful! Needed some heat (nothing is spicy unless you ask) so I used some of the salsa on it. That did it. Chris had a combo plate of chicken enchilada and beef chimichanga. Again, wonderful! The chimi was small but absolutely stuffed full of tender slow-cooked beef flavored with onion, tomato and peppers. And the enchilada was great. Matter of fact, we didn't even need sour cream! The refried beans were rather generic as was the rice.

I had a margarita and it was tart and nicely mixed. Chris had coffee.

At the end of the meal the waiter dropped off dessert: a couple 4-inch tortillas stuffed with banana and deep fried, lightly covered in a cinnamon sauce and whipped cream - again on the house.

The meal came to $26 after tip and we'll definitely go back.

Facebook test post

Trying to get a post to feed to our Facebook page. Hmmm. Not sure this is going to work...