16th Anniversary Vacation Photos

Now that I've learned how to upload photos from my new camera here is a brief run down on our trip:

We spent a week on Ambergris Caye, Belize with a group of friends. The weather was perfect and the company even better. One of the more relaxing vacations I've had in a long time. The only down side was that our resort was a long boat ride from everywhere we wanted to go.

On the day Rocky went bonefishing I went to see one of the Mayan ruins with other people in our party. I think Rocky really missed out on this. It started with a long boat ride across the sea to a river. In the sea we had a bottle nose dolphin encounter that was a real treat. The guide stopped the boat and the dolphin swam all around us.

In the river we saw a Jesus Christ bird:

Named for its ability to walk on water using the lily pads.

Oops; this photo is out of order. It is a bird that hung out at our resort.

Here is what our boat ride looked like as we rode through the mangroves:

Somewhere along the river we got off the boat, onto a bus for a long bus ride, and then onto another boat for another long boat ride up another river where we saw interesting plants and birds:
This is a barge built by Mennonites. The Queen of England invited them to Belize in the 1950's because of their ability to farm, weld, and construct. Apparently they have been a great asset to the country.

This plant was at the ruins:

Another photo out of order. This is a hermit crab that lived under the steps to our cabana during the day and came out in the evening making what looked like bicycle tire tracks in the sand.

At the ruins Will and I were the only ones to climb one of the structures. It was a lot of fun and we both appreciated that the other was there to enjoy it and not be the only one holding up the rest of the group.Our bus ride included Evelyn, the bus driver's 2.5 year old daughter:

Here's Will passing out rum punch, trying to get us all drunk on the way back.

Here's the group from the ruins trip. From left to right around the table: Dick and Deanna, John, Clella, me, Will, Pat, and Marlis.

I did that geeky thing of taking my own picture in the mirror to show you my hair after a day in the salty Belize wind:
A braid was a must. If I lived there I would probably have to keep my hair short. Every evening I had to spend extra time combing and ripping knots out of my hair.

Several of us were celebrating anniversaries on this vacation so on our last night the resort baked us a cake and decorated it with the ingredients they had on hand.

Back home. Here's Rocky, Lera, and Carly having a visit:

Just a Quick Post

I'm studying for two exams this week so I don't have much time for blogging, but I wanted to tell you all about a movie on HBO right now called "Temple Grandin". It is about an autistic woman who was able to get through college (I think she even got her Doctorate) and became instrumental in the designs of American slaughter houses. I was fortunate enough to see her speek at an alpaca conference a few years ago; it is something I will never forget. The movie is a must see for everybody.

Back to my Chemistry homework.

Happy Valentine's Day

We get rainbows quite often, but a double one is pretty rare. The photo doesn't do this one justice.

School has been going well again this term. My classes are Anatomy and Physiology 2 and Chemistry 104. This is my first real Chemistry class and it is so much fun. My favorite part has been balancing equations and calculations. I've always loved math. The S'mores lab we did Thursday was fun too.

In A & P our labs are always interesting. So far this term we dissected sheep brains, a cow eye ball, and a cow heart. Friday we ran EKG's on ourselves. The eye balls were the most interesting to me. We've had two exams so far; one on the nervous system and one on special senses. Our next one covers the heart and cardiovascular system.

I'm already registered for next term. I got into the A & P 3 class I wanted and I signed up for Off Loom Fibers to get some Art credits. I'm not sure I'll like the Art class since the focus is on radical stitches. I'm not a radical person at all, but I need an Art class and the Silk Screen filled before I could sign up.

We watched a really good movie yesterday called The Soloist.

Which reminds me: While we were watching the movie my father-in-law unexpectedly drives up with a German chocolate cake from The Muffin Mill that had "Happy Valentine's Day, Tammy" written on it. If you ever have the chance to try their German chocolate cake you won't regret it; it's the best I've ever had.

The Joys of Owning a Dog

Carly Makes us laugh a lot. Here is a photo of her watching popcorn in the microwave for the first time:Rocky got home before me yesterday and somebody called but he didn't answer, so the answering machine came on. He said when Carly heard my voice on it she ran to it and started whimpering. It's nice to be loved so much.

Last night I asked Rocky to feed Carly since I was studying so he fixed her food with warm water and a raw egg because that's supposed to be good for her coat. Well, at 5:00 am I was awaken by the most horrible stench, doggie diarrhea. (Carly is potty trained, but usually doesn't go out at night and hasn't figured out how to tell us when we can't see her go to the door.) I have to say that I'm seriously considering sending Proctor and Gamble a thank you card for producing Febreze. I don't care if it is toxic or punches holes in the ozone, it pert near saved my life at 5:00 this morning. That was one of the worst jobs I've ever had, but a roll of paper towels, half a bottle of Febreze, and one Kleenex stuffed up my nose later, I'm still here to tell about it and you can actually breath in our house again. It was also garbage day today and the cans were out at the street; I managed to make it out there and back in my robe and slippers before any cars drove by. The only good thing about it happening at 5:00 am.

Carly doesn't seemed to be at all fazed by the ordeal. She thought it was great that I would get out of bed so early to play with her. Her system isn't quite back to normal, but it hasn't slowed her down at all. I think she will be sleeping in her crate tonight since she does howl from in there when she needs to go out.

Survived the Holidays

The highlight of this year's (or would it be last year's) holiday season was taking Carly to the beach on Christmas day. It was a good day to go. We had thick fog in the valley, but the sun was shining at the coast; and it wasn't even very windy. The beach was deserted so we were able to take Carly of the leash and let her run. She had a ball digging, fetching, exploring, and trying to eat things like dead jellyfish.

On the way home we stopped at the casino in Florence for dinner. The steakhouse there is very good.

When we got home Carly and I curled up in the recliner together while Rocky surfed TV channels. He stopped on Marley and Me. Carly watched almost the entire movie. Her ears perked up at every bark and every, "Marley!" The next morning she was fascinated with the dog agility trials that was on the Animal Planet.

I did enjoy a strange mix of good movies during my Winter break.

It's a Wonderful Life was my favorite. I had never seen it before and so glad I did. There was a scene where George's friend is talking to him through the window of his car and starts to drive off. He yells out the window, "See you in the funny pages." My dad used to say that to me when he would tuck me into bed as a little girl. That is a memory that I never would have remembered without that movie.

I also enjoyed Horton Hears a Who, Gandhi, The Proposal, Ice Age: The Melt Down, and my sister came for a weekend and we watched Julie and Julia.

Now my Winter break is over, Winter term starts tomorrow, and I already found out that I have to dissect a sheep brain on Friday. Can't wait.

All Thawed Out

That's right; even the pipes and their breaks are thawed. We have three breaks in the barn that we know about. One of them was in the wall of the fiber room which was completely flooded on Saturday. What a mess. It took us several hours to mop, shop vac, and move fiber out of the water. The cheap laminate flooring we put in there is curling up on the seems, but it isn't as bad as I had feared. I think a few throw rugs will be good enough.

This weekend has to be better. My sister is coming for a visit and I'm sure we'll have a good time with no flooding.

Merry Christmas

Baby it's cold outside

Brrrr! It is COLD here. Yesterday and today it was 8 degrees when I got up. Today the weather man said with wind chill it is -2 degrees. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I don't ever remember it being this cold before. Thankfully it is dry, which is unusual for December. There haven't been too many accidents and it is possible to put on enough layers to do outdoor chores without too much pain.

On the up side, I took my finals on Monday and managed to do well on both, earning A's in both classes. Next term doesn't start until after the new year when I'll be taking Anatomy and Physiology 2 and beginning Chemistry. In high school I took physics instead of chemistry so I'm looking forward to that class. I love math and science.