We Are Like Grasshoppers Compared to Them

Saturday was a beautiful day. I went for a run (only 35 miles left to go). It was a lot of fun. There were grasshoppers all over the trail and as I ran they would hop or fly out of my way. A very nice distraction from my run.

After that we had a few friends over. Some friends that moved out of state were in town, so we got together to catch up. It was a lot of fun to see them again and hear how life is for them. They are doing great.

Last week I made halibut kabobs with lemon tarragon butter. They were pretty good, but it turns out that I don't like tarragon very much (slight licorice taste). Then I made some peach jalapeno jam. It turned out a little thick, but it will probably still be pretty tasty on top of some cream cheese. Tonight I made risotto Florentine. It was pretty good too.

In other news, the good news is that my friend, Levrette, from India will be coming for a visit in September for a month or so. The bad news is that he is coming to learn another of my friend's jobs because the job was off-shored. It was expected, so at least it didn't come as a complete surprise. But it sucks. It was really hard for me because I knew about it a week or so before the team here did. It was hard keeping it a secret. Then when everyone found out the news, it was hard to defend why I kept it a secret. But I am relieved that it is out. And I am excited that Levrette will be here! I started to make a list of things to do. One thing on the list is to have Root Beer Floats. If anyone wants to join us for floats, let me know!

Peach Time

It's that wonderful time of year - I have a whole crate of delicious Colorado peaches. Yum! The other night I made a salad recipe from Every Day with Rachael Ray that had grilled peaches and grilled ham. The ham and peaches were great! The salad was... a little over the top. There were too many flavors. Ben requested that we not have the leftovers for the next night's dinner.

That same night I made Peach Cobbler from BH&G cookbook. I used more peaches than it called for, but I think that only helped the recipe. So yummy served warm with ice cream.

I have about 1/3 of the crate left, so I'm sure I will be posting with some more new recipes.

Record Breaking Month

I forgot to mention that this month I am on fire for new recipes! I made homemade pecan coconut frosting the other week for Ben's German chocolate cake. Friday I made Moroccan Chicken (anyone know how to smooth out spices? The dish seemed grainy to me). Today Ben wanted teriyaki shrimp but we didn't have teriyaki sauce, so I made some. And there's still more to come! Tuesday and Wednesday I have new recipes planned too. Whew!

Oh, deer! Oh, fawn!

Yesterday we finally kicked ourselves in the butt and went to our old place to evaluate what needs to be done in order to get it rent-able. We were both pleasantly surprised at what we found - everything is still in working order, no vandalism, no animals, and not a whole lot to do. Our plan is to take part of each weekend for the next month to work on stuff. We will be doing a lot ourselves, but we hope to get someone to help with some of the projects that are time consuming. Our goal is to have it ready to go by the end of September.

After working on that, I kicked Ben's butt and convinced him to go on a bike ride with me. We took one of the Regional Trail loops for the most part. It was so pretty! The trail goes through some awesome nature areas. The trail also has a nice mix for up and down hills. It was very fun. As we passed through one area we saw a doe and her fawn. They were so close to use. It was so cool.

Then Ben fixed our garage door. In the morning, I tried to leave to go let out Andrea's dog (she was running in the Ragnar Relay) and the door would only open about 1/3 of the way. So, I used Ben's car (parked in the third stall and a different door). We looked at the door a few times and couldn't figure out what was wrong. After the bike ride, we really wanted to grill and in order to do that we needed the garage door open. So, Ben took another look. Turns out one of the pieces to allow you to lock the door was installed wrong. The bolts had worked themselves loose and the piece had turned to block the last wheel from going up. Ben removed the piece and it works again!

We finished up the day with root beer floats with my parents. Today will be doing new house stuff... mainly laundry. I'm hoping to get a run in too. We'll see.

Hungry, Hungry Puppy

I know it's probably my fault because I think I forgot to give Zoey breakfast on Sunday. I know it's probably my fault because I left a few oatmeal cream pies and a granola bar on the floor of our bedroom...

Star Gazing

The other night Ben woke me up so we could watch some shooting stars. We grabbed a blanket and a pillow and headed to our front yard to watch (our new neighbor friend, Cassie, might think we are weird since she witnessed us setting up). It was a pretty nice night out. No bugs and slightly cool. We were out there for about an hour looking at the sky and talking. We probably saw about a dozen shooting stars. Not nearly the number we were expecting, but that's ok - it was still way cool.

The other night Ben and I made Mango Chicken with Coconut Rice. So yummy! And just like that, I've made two recipes already this month. :) Anybody have other uses for fish sauce?

Last weekend, Heather and I did another triathlon. I learned a few things - 1. Training makes things easier (so I will train before I do another one) 2. Red Wing has some terrible hills. But I suppose overall it was fun. Next time in addition to actually training, I think we will pick one closer to home. On the road by 5:45 am is not that much fun.

Won't You Be My Neighbor

Last week was National Night Out. Our entire development had an ice cream social. It was nice to finally get to know some of the people that live near us. Since Zoey and I walk the circuit every morning, someone just had to give a characteristic of their house and I knew where they lived. It was kind of funny... in our development we have houses and townhouses. The house people tend to have kids. The townhouse people tend to have dogs. Some of the house people were interested in us until they found out that we didn't have any kids. But the townhouse people accepted us. :)

Saturday night we were driving home and within minutes it went from a gentle rain to a complete down pour with tornado sirens going off. Ben was concentrating on keeping us on the road, I was checking the weather on my phone and keeping an eye on the sky for funnel clouds. It was only a 10 minute drive, but it was pretty exciting. We pulled in the driveway with plans to grab Zoey and head for the basement. We noticed out townhouse neighbors outside coming towards us. Katie came running up behind us asking if they could hide out with us in the basement. They had their niece and nephew visiting and they didn't want to all cram into the tiny bathroom that is their severe weather location. We quickly got them down to the theater room. I had the niece pick out a movie and got that loaded in. We were soon joined by Katie's husband and their dog. And the other set of neighbors and their two dogs. With Rick there we had 7 adults, 2 kids and 4 dogs waiting out the storm.

The storm did turn into a non-event. It rained enough to flood our "lake" in the backyard, but other than that, nothing, thankfully. I'm so glad that our neighbors felt comfortable enough with us to come over for shelter. We're looking forward to spending more time with them.

Three Little Speckled Frogs

The other night when I let Zoey out before bed, there were three teeny, tiny frogs on the cement slab. They were so cute, I went and got Ben to see them. He wasn't nearly as impressed as I was. Oh, well. And now, every night since then, I have seen at least one little frog out there. So cute! Zoey has tried to sniff them, and that's about all.