Happy Birthday my Husband!

Thanksgiving was also my husband's birthday...on the VERY SAME DAY! We are very holiday-birthday prone in our family. He took the holiday opportunity to have the river to himself and went and did a little fishing.

Despite the biting cold, Miss G thought she might be able to go. I think she doesn't know she's 16 years old and 8 inches tall.

Biting cold.

There was gift-opening before our pheasant/duck/ham dinner!

Then over to an awesome thanksgiving/birthday/dominoes party! Hooray for birthday bones!

Hee-hee! Purple and green ice cream cake birthday treat!

Happy thanksgiving birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we were going to host the in-laws for Thanksgiving, but icy weather and a pile-up on I-84 had them on the road for hours but making no progress. So they turned back and we celebrated the holidy with just the three of us.

A friend at work gave me this book she though was ridiculous. As I LOVE setting a good table, it didn't seem ridiculous to me at all!!

But I learned that you really need rigid cotton napkins to do anything interesting.

I attempted a couple of slow cooker dishes this year: honey ham and stuffing. The ham was rock-n-roll. The stuffing would have worked OK, but you really need a full 8 hours to get it to "bake" right.

In addition to the ham we also served a pheasant and two ducks. Thus the two bottles of wine. Red for your duck, white for your pheasant. Take a sip of each for your ham. ;)

Hope your Thanksgiving was just lovely!

First Snows of 2010!

The weather has been fantastic lately!

We've had a bit of snow!

And then a bit of rain.

I've even had to get out my clever BPA ice scraper! Hahahahahaha!

I love when the sun brings out the sparklies!

The Chicken Chalet.

So lovely!

Natural Born Killer

In addition to all of his other killing adventures, my husband has recently been hunting a variety of fowl...

...In the freezing cold. Which sounds miserable to me, but he rather likes. I think assistant Louis is not so into it either, and much prefers a sunbeam.
Peasants. Despite its harsh subject matter, i love this pic. Sorry Carolyn.

Feathers are both beautiful and also creepy.

So much ducks in the garage.

If you are familiar with Ren & Stimpy's Dance of a 1000 Chickens, you will recognize the Dance of Seven Ducks.

Like a duck hunting ninja. Almost exactly.

My Retirement Must Come to an End....

But alas, my peaceful, retired touring life with the parents had to come to an end eventually. I had such fun seeing them, seeing Idaho's sights, and in generally enjoying the good life. On one of our lovely, relaxed meals out, I noted that I sometimes feel like that Syrah. ;)

On our last day's adventure we went to the historical museum. This is a picture of a logging camp mess hall circa 1920. I LOVE that its so civilized...tablecloths! I do so love a good tablecloth.

Note to self: head back saddle shot, not my most flattering angle. Mom and I messin' around on the museum's saddle exhibit! Hee hee!

Sooooo nice to see ya! Au revoir, parents! Thanks for the fun visit!

Touring Idaho City

It was another lovely day, so we decided to head up to Idaho City and other assorted mining communities of yore.

Framed by the city hall building!

I love a good log/timeline display! The center-most arrow indicates the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776). The outer-most arrow indicates Idaho becoming a state (1890). This was 31 years after Oregon had!

I just love this picture of the parents. Going all sorts of directions at once!

Here's me and Dad...and this large brown thingy. I didn't realize until getting the camera home that I'm the same color as the big brown thingy.

The whole town had a lovely bright carpet! :)

Fall in Sun Valley!

On our trip, a quick visit to Sun Valley for touring, lunch, and to watch a bit of the BSU game (as, oddly, no one had the Duck game on ;).

The Sun Valley Lodge! They serve a mean slider.

The sign for pizza. Hee hee!!

Tiny momma strolling around Sun Valley. She left her snow bunny outfit in the truck cause it was so dang balmy out. ;)

The first ski lift in the country!

Roaaaad Trip!

We went off on a girls road trip to the mountains!! Despite threats of inclement weather, the roads were clear! We stopped at the ice caves in Shoshone where I bought this tiny quartz steed and mom found this strange little puppy in the parking lot. Our road trip mascots! Done!

The views over Galena Summit were fantastic! The mountains have just a touch of powdered sugar on top!

So cute girls! Such a fun road trip!

Hee hee! The former Miss MacKay!
Stanley was just lovely. Not yet snowed in, but pretty cleared out.

Tastiness

Lucky for us, the parents' trailer was jam-packed with delicious treats, carefully delivered to our door!

Including these bee-yoo-tee-ful carrots!

Plus they brought this kim chee! Hee hee! No, canned blueberries, canned by...Dad!

Mmm...fresh salmon in a light mustard fry!

Mom's homemade chowder! Yay!

After dinner we fired up the wood stove in the garage to ward off the Idaho late autumn chill!