Saturday, August 29, 2009

a couple of work trips

Earlier this summer, I had a couple of fantastic trips for work. First I went to Colorado (my first time...I'm in loooove!!). Here are a couple pics that I took while driving. I missed the turn-off for the Pike's Peak lookout point but I tried to snap one while driving. (I believe that is the second one below.)


Then the next week I went to Washington State...also my first time, also in looove!
First I was up in Bellingham and had dinner right on the bay. SO gorgeous!
Here are some pics from the drive back down to Seattle. I love the trees!

Then I ended my trip down near Tacoma. We had lunch at the Chambers Bay Golf Course which will be the site of the 2015 US Open. It definitely looks different than any course I've ever seen but that is intentional, or so I'm told.Finally, before I had to catch my flight I was able to tour around Seattle for a bit. I headed straight to Pike's Place Fish Market. I was so excited for the fresh fruit and veggies and all of the gorgeous flowers. It smelled so good (at least as you walked directly past the flowers...not so much as you got nearer to the fish).

Of course I had to stand and watch the famous fish throwers for a while. I, along with the rest of Amercia, read the book FISH! so I couldn't miss out on seeing these guys!
Bonus points to anyone who can spot the fish in mid air below! And I had to see the original Starbucks! I had to step foot in but didn't want to stand in the long line so I didn't buy anything!
Finally, I drove to the Space Needle. I almost decided to go in but then didn't want to have to deal with paying to park and walking in heels after my trip to the fish market. So instead, I took a picture on my way and decided I'd visit the next time I was in Seattle.
Have I said before that I love my job?!?!

More from the garden

Remember earlier this summer when we had babies all over the place? Well, we had more late in the summer! Josh was in the garden one afternoon and heard some rustling, only to be surprised by 4 new baby bunnies! Their mama was such a good mama and had made them a great nest in the corner of the garden. We poked around a bit (never getting too close) to show the boys and check in on them and every night, she was sure to cover them up really well and put lots of her own fur in there to keep them warm. It was the cutest thing ever.
Here's one of their little noses poking out. Don't mind our brown beans...we didn't like them very well so we let them go bad. :( No beans next year! And here you can see a couple of them all cuddled in their nest:

Our garden did really well this year! Here is one crazy plant that produced EVERYTHING at once and then putzed out. All of the others have produced all along, but this old guy gave us everything he had all at once and then just tuckered out.
Here is the loot after one jaunt to the garden. We've done picks like this a good half dozen times throughout the summer. And we're still not sick of tomatoes!!
In addition to the tomatoes and the cukes, we finally got an eggplant!! 2, actually! We haven't picked them yet but we're excited...3rd year's a charm!

Storm Shelter

So everyone knows that Kowe and I share a certain (well founded, I might add) fear of tornados. It really is hilarious because Kowe can sense a storm coming from miles away. She starts acting weird and then as it approaches and I start freaking out with her (only when there is a chance of tornados...I'm not scared of most thunderstorms, but she sure is), she knows exactly what to do to keep safe. We have our storm shelter all set up in the kitchen closet, so we have all of our pillows and blankets ready and we start our little routine of getting the vacuum out, getting the weather radio and flashlight ready, etc. She just knows. Sometimes if I know it's going to storm while I'm at work, I'll leave the storm shelter open for her because I know it makes her feel much more secure. She also loves to be behind the toilet, so we'll turn the fan on and let her hang out in there so that she can't hear the small rumbles as easily.

Well, on this particular day, I was gone and Josh was home with the dogs as a scary storm approached. I guess he forgot to open Kowe's storm shelter but had left the cupboard open so she plowed through and made her own safe haven. I am so sad by the worry in her little eyes! But doesn't her path of destruction kind of remind you of a tornado?!Josh cleaned out some of the cans so she could get nice and cozy. I feel so bad.

She is just so cute!