Day 409: The Llamas

The hotel we're staying at (The Best Western Ponderosa Lodge - highly recommend it) has several llamas on the property and even has food available so guests can feed them.

We've learned so much about llamas since we've been here!

• Llamas have banana shaped ears and flat backs.
• Their wool does not have lanolin. People who are allergic to wool usually don't have problems wearing llama wool.
• They guard against predatory animals. Sometimes llamas are merged into herds of sheep and goats to keep predators out.
• Llamas can be used as pack animals and to pull carts. They can carry up to 100 pounds.
• Most llamas cost from $1,000 to $5,000. Some show llamas can cost up to $20,000 or more.
• They are native to Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. They are used there for their wool, but people in South America also eat the meat.
• They live 15-25 years, weigh 200-450 pounds, and are 5-6 feet tall.

And here is one my husband found out first hand...

• The purpose of spitting is to tell other llamas to leave them alone. Llamas don't just walk up and spit at people. However, people can be spit on when caught in the middle of a dispute between llamas. Just moments after this next picture was taken, the two llamas decided to get angry at each other (and hubby) over the food. Hubby got the bulk of the spit.

Day 408: Sisters, Oregon

In the 1880s Sisters was a supply station for sheep men passing through to pastures in the high Cascades in the summer. In the 1930s, the timber industry boomed and Sisters had several sawmills in or near town. By 1963 the last sawmill closed and the population declined.

Fortunately, tourist-related travel increased and Sisters became know as the Gateway to the Cascades. Now Sisters is a tourist destination. Winter has nearby skiing and summer has things like the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Held since 1975, the quilt show brings people from all over. 12,000+ on quilt show day!

Every time we ever pass through Sisters I always buy tickets for the quilt raffle and I did that again today. Of course that happened at the Stitchin' Post, Sisters' magnificent quilt shop. And of course I had to buy some patterns and fabric while I was there.

Day 407: Trip to Sisters, Oregon

As we drove our 315 miles to get to Sisters, Oregon today lots of phrases came out of my mouth. And I took pictures for each one.

Yay! I'm so excited!
On Day 373 I "rode" my way to the Shoe Tree outside Juntura, Oregon. I was sad to hear that vandals had burned it down. But today I was so excited to see folks have found another tree not too far from the original and are starting one up again.

I'm glad I didn't really ride this road on a real bike. Watching tv when I was biking was so much better than this.
Mile after mile after mile (after mile) is nothing but desert and sagebrush.

It's going to storm.
Our morning started with beautiful blue skies but along the way we encountered rain, hail, and snow.

We're here!
Self explanatory.

Where else can you not have to step a foot off your hotel room's patio and see this kind of thing?
Llamas, squirrels, and Canadian geese. Who knew geese and squirrels were so friendly towards each other?

Day 406

I'm on the verge. Tomorrow is the day.

315 miles west from Marsing, Idaho is Sisters, Oregon. And I will be there tomorrow.

Literally, even. To coincide with my biking trip we are taking our own little venture, a getaway-from-the-rat-race trip. So my posts for the next few days will be travel pictures.

But not today. Today's picture is of the blossoms on our plum tree. The tree won't be nearly as pretty when we get back as it was today.

See everyone tomorrow in Sisters.

Day 405

By the look of today's pictures it's obvious I'm spending more time outside than anywhere else.  (Although you'd never guess that I didn't leave work until after 6:30 tonight.)

Today we have more lovebirds, some of my pretty daffodils, and my peony tulips. (Please ignore the grass and weeds.)

Day 404

They did it. My daugher and her boyfriend delivered my new landscape timbers and found some time today to put them in. While I sawed, they measured and dug. Unfortunately we ran out of time to completely finish them (daughter had to work tonight) but they look pretty darn good anyway. Much better than the bleached out/rotted out version.

Thanks for the work, guys!

And my daughter and her boyfriend weren't the only lovebirds busy. Take a look at the great woodpecker pictures Ruth sent my way!

Day 403

Happy Easter!

We had a full family day. A couple walks in the park by the river, a dinner with my mom, and a second dinner with our daughter and her boyfriend (who was also nice enough to bring our new landscape timbers over). Our daughter was even kind enough to bring a picture she had taken earlier in the day.

Chairs overflowing in a pickup. How unique!

And of course I had to add my own picture in there. A beautiful duck with a purple patch of feathers hanging out at the park.

A good day.

Day 402

Hubby said today, "We're in it to lose it."

He's talking about the juicing and weight.

We made an early morning trip to the store to buy more fruits and vegetables. We go through so many every day this juicing thing has become an expensive undertaking. I have to tell myself it's worth it. We're saving money by not going out to eat, not buying soda pop, and I've gone off several of my medications.

While our grocery budget is exploding, our waistlines are not. They are getting smaller and we're feeling better. We have more energy, clearer skin, and lower blood pressure.

Tomorrow's Easter dinner will be our first real test with a real meal. We're hosting my mom, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend and will be preparing our regular Easter dinner fare - ham and everything that goes with it - but will also be providing some juice drinks for those who are so inclined. By looking at today's picture, you can see we certainly aren't short on ingredients for the juice.

I hope everyone has a nice Easter Sunday tomorrow!

Day 401: Mystery Revealed

I thought today I would just reveal the mystery picture from Monday, but another picture happened today, too.

Kiddo and I were heading in the rose garden this morning to count landscape timbers. The plan is to, after 10 years, finally replace the timbers. They have long since lost their color and in some cases have rotted a bit. So in order to replace the timbers we need to know how many we have.

I followed kiddo right out the door. She had already made it around the corner of the house by the time I got down the steps, but she came back. Quickly. Yelling.

"Ducks! Get the camera!"

After grabbing the camera she and I slowly and quietly made our way back around the house to find two ducks in our backyard. There they stood, looking at each other across the yard. They soon paired up and hung around, only flying back to the river when kiddo tried to feed them some bread.

Hope they bring us some babies next time they visit!

And for the mystery picture (that I thought was an easy one, but guess not) was...A box of Kleenex. The close up picture was taken of the middle of the box where the seam lies.

Day 400

There are a lot of things I haven't done for 400 days straight. I haven't:

• washed my dishes
• driven my car
• kissed my husband
• sewn something
• listened to the radio
• petted the cat
• eaten fruits and vegetables
• exercised
• put on shoes
• worn my wedding ring
• read the mail
• used my cell phone
• taken a vitamin

I can only think of a few things I have done every day for the last 400 days:

• talked to my daughter
• watched tv
• made my bed
• checked e-mail
• drank water
• taken a picture

Day 400 is just like the previous 399. (Except I made my mom and daughter drink some juice. They took a sip of my kale-spinach-cucumber-carrot-celery-apple conconction that they hated, but each drank a small glass of carrot-celery-apple.) And the other exception is that my daughter took today's picture through the moonroof as I took her and my mom on a drive in my new car.

Day 399

We've always been a one car family. With hubby not driving it wasn't too hard. When our daughter started driving it became a bit more difficult. When she moved out on her own, it was even more difficult being car-less. She has been lucky enough to have a grandma close by and a boyfriend with a car, but she's been itching to get her hands on one. Ours.

We have always promised that when we were ready to buy a new car she would get the old one. We (and she) expected that time to come a couple years back. With all the health stuff with me and losing my income it had to be delayed. After getting myself back to work and having more money coming in, it was time.

Time for our almost 24 year old daughter to finally get the car. So tomorrow my mom will be bringing her over. My kiddo and I will be heading down to DMV together, me to register my new car and take possession of my old license plates (I just have to keep my old plates - those things have been through a lot with me); her to get the title transferred into her name (with no mom listed on it anymore) and her own license plate. I've talked to her a few times these last couple days and she sure is excited. And I'm excited for her.

I'm also excited for someone else. Look who is spending her time on the blanket on the dresser. Yup, kitty is trained again.

Day 398: Bonus Miles

I told myself when I started this cross-country bike ride one month ago that if I lost any weight on the ride, I would get bonus miles. One bonus mile for every pound I lost. Since it has been a month now, it's time to weigh in and see if I get myself any of those bonus miles.

After riding 210 miles this past month, I was sure I was getting some weight loss benefits. A couple weeks ago I noticed my clothes were fitting better. Then we started juicing 11 days ago - and we're still going strong - so I really knew there would be some bonus miles. But when I stepped on the scale, I was very surprised.

17 pounds.

210 miles of biking + 11 days of juicing = 17 pounds lost in one month!

Now, that in itself is an exciting thing. But just as exciting is that those bonus miles are getting me closer to Sisters, Oregon. I'm also excited to learn that hubby and I are going to be able to take a real trip to Sisters to coincide with my biking trip. And if all that isn't excitement enough, that trip will be taken in our brand new car that we just purchased last night. After a couple years of talking about it and having to delay it because of injury, then a surgery, and another surgery, and another surgery, then me not able to work, we finally decided this was the right time.

17 pounds and a new car. What a way to start a day!

Day 397: Mystery Monday

I decided to do another mystery picture. The last one from Day 377 turned out to be fun. (At least for me.) I'm needing some fun right now, so here we go again.

You might have something like this somewhere in your house, so hopefully this one will be easier.

Any thoughts?

Day 396

I'm trying to train our cat again. This time it's not just a fun trick like the one from Day 353. This one has to do with my mornings.

The cat sleeps inside most of the night. In the early morning hours she bawls to be let out (and we certainly abide). Then around six in the morning hubby lets her back in. She eats, she bawls, then she jumps on the foot of the bed. She runs up the bed, up anyone on the bed (me), then uses that person's shoulder (mine) as a launching pad/springboard to jump up on top of the bookcase headboard. She daintily walks around the lamp, the tv controller, and the box of kleenex and parks herself on top of any piece of clothing I might have on my dresser.

And there is where she proceeds to clean herself and fall asleep.

I'm now keeping things off the dresser, hoping she'll get the message and stay off. But she doesn't. She still runs through the same routine, but seems to bawl even more now that there isn't a soft place for her. So now my plan is to get her to quietly sit on a blanket on the dresser and off my clothes.

I'm starting to wonder who is the trainer and who is the trainee, though. Looks like she has trained herself to act like an Easter egg hiding in the grass.

Day 395

It was the nicest day of the year so far with temps in the 70s and beautiful blue skies. A day like this meant it was time to work outside again, but it also meant it was time to put the clothesline back up. Finally.

I sure missed it. A year ago exactly (on Day 29), I made a clothespin bag. That bag made it through the entire summer and will be on my line again this year. Unfortunately, no clothes went up on the line today because the weather turned off bad in the afternoon.

Luckily I captured several pictures before the storm hit.

When we first moved into this house, we had bunches and bunches of Johnny Jump-Ups. But as we tilled soil in our various flower beds, we started getting fewer and fewer of the flowers returning each year. This year we have just one single plant.

While my tulips in the backyard aren't yet blooming, those in the front bed are. I also came across some other flowers in the front bed that are only a couple inches tall.

I checked to be sure the hummingbird nest is still there. Now we just need the mama to come back.

The clouds moved in and the gusty wind kicked up, ending my outside work (and picture-taking) time.

Day 394

I have to fess up. It's probably pretty obvious looking at the rate I'm turning out quilt tops.

I've been sewing more than I have been biking.

I have plenty of reasons excuses why the biking hasn't been taking center stage. The old one broke, the new one was delayed in getting here, we've been juicing, it's spring break, and so on and so on. I should have been at my next destination by now, but I'm not and there is no one to blame but me.

I changed that today. As of today I'm again spending more hours biking than sewing. Too bad the cars on my latest quilt top couldn't help me get down the road faster.

Day 393

My sugar cookie icing is quite simple. Powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. I stir the ingredients together until I get the right consistency. If the icing is too runny it falls off the edge of the cookie. If the icing is too thick it won't flow through the ziploc bag. But last night I learned even more about icing. Not the cookie kind, either. Being that I've never been to a hockey game before, I actually learned all kinds of new words.


I learned that if a hockey player shoots the puck across the red center line and the other team's red goal line without the other team touching it first, there's a word for that. Icing.

I also learned that icing results in a face-off. That's where the puck is dropped between two players, kind of like a jump ball in basketball.


 
A bodycheck is when a player uses their body to slow down (and in most cases, slam) the opponent against the wall. Sometimes those bodychecks turn into fights. And those fights appear to be encouraged.


When one of the team's players gets a penalty and has to go to the penalty box, the team can be outnumbered by one or two players during the game for a power play.

I learned the goalie gets beat up by the puck. Just check out all the black marks.

And I also learned that our daughter and her boyfriend are thoughtful cooks. Knowing we've been juicing, they made sure the dinner they made for us - shish kabobs - were mostly vegetables. Even dessert was on the healthier side - strawberries and angel food cake. Thanks you two, we had fun!

Day 392

Day in, day out, every day has been the same. Hubby home, juicing, biking, sewing. One day is rolling over into the other. Never leaving the house. Nowhere to go and nothing to do.

But we are breaking away from that today. Today is the day we are going to our daughter's for dinner and will have some real food. Then we're going on a double date with her and her boyfriend to an athletic event that none of us have ever attended.

So tomorrow's picture(s) should be from that athletic event. Any guesses as to what we're going to see?

No guesses on today's picture though. Another kids quilt top done for charity, this time made from crumbs (those things I wrote about on Day 104.)

Day 391

Juicing, biking, spring break. I'm tired of talking (and writing) about all of it right now.

I'd rather work on quilts. Remember all those quilt blocks I made on Day 329? The ones I turned into a quilt on Day 339? Well, I turned the extra blocks into yet another quilt top.

That makes three quilt tops completed in the last week. I'm aiming for at least three more in the coming week. We'll see if I get tired of doing that!

Day 390

The obsession with juicing is taking over, at least for now. While some folks do nothing but juice all day everyday for months, that's not our plan.

The plan isn't permanent for us. We wanted to reset our bodies, go cold turkey off the bad foods and hit the good foods hard. We were planning on nothing but juice through spring break, but already changed just a bit. We're doing juice for two meals, with the third meal being a salad (either fruit or veggie). The strong need to chew something is overwhelming. The need to continue to pursue the all plant diet is just as overwhelming so we had to make a concession.

We already see how the juice can be a part of our lives once this week is over. You wouldn't think a plate of fruits and veggies would turn out so tasty (and yet so ugly). This version tasted like apple juice.

 

 

 

And for those with no interest in juice here are some words from Ruth, who was lucky enough to captured these photos...

This owl has been in our area for nearly a month. Here he is sitting on a house roof next to the chimney. First time ever in our area.

Day 389

I'm not a napper, but between the juicing and finally getting a new bike and doing lots of miles, the combination wore me out today.

We knew going into the juicing we'd hit a wall. We knew we'd lose some energy and some pep as our bodies were transitioning from sugar, salt, and fat-laden foods to healthy, plant-based diets. It just came earlier than I thought. I was expecting it after four or so days but it hit me here on the third day.

We prepared for it, though. That's why we started the juicing over spring break - so that we wouldn't be obligated to go anywhere or do anything, and if need be we could nap our time away.

So I napped today. I didn't exactly awaken refreshed, but I did feel better. Thank goodness it didn't take much brain power to take a picture of this strawberry before it hit the juicer.

Day 388

My mom called today about the blog. Really, about the juicing. When she called I was in the middle of my bike ride (back to double digit miles - yay!) and in the middle of still working on downing my breakfast. A big glass of kale, spinach, carrot, celery, strawberry, grape, and peach juice.

Yum. Well, not exactly. Yum on the fruits, yuck on the veggies. Even with the fruits outweighing the vegetables in my mix, I could still taste the kale. And I don't like hate kale. But I'm drinking it because I know it's good for me. It's good for my health. All this juicing is probably a good way to rid my body of all the toxins built up with all the rheumatoid arthritis medications. A good way to jump start my system.

So I'll continue. We're planning on doing five days (with a break Wednesday night because we're going to our daughter's for dinner), then back again for at least another four days. Then spring break will be over and we'll see where we'll go from there.

I do have to say that as much as I dislike veggies and the juice isn't the tastiest thing (at least not yet) it does fill me up. Last night I had my juice at 6 PM and wasn't hungry the rest of the evening. That never happens. Same thing today - my morning juice filled me up for the day. We'll see what tomorrow holds. Maybe I'll be starving!

If I starve, I'll just hide in my sewing room and do more sewing for kids. Today I was able to get another kids quilt top done. It didn't turn out as pretty as I thought it would, but I still have more of the kid fabric left so I'll have another shot at it.

Day 387

I usually like being right. But today? Not so much.

I was right about the whole juicing thing. Yep, hubby is planning on doing a juice fast and yes, he remembered I agreed to do it with him. He even put some money into the project. I paid for all the fruits and veggies from yesterday, but today it was another purchase.

A juicer. A highly recommended, five star juicer. And wouldn't you know it, it went on sale at my daughter's work today. 40% off. And wouldn't you know it, she had an extra 20% off coupon she received as an incentive at work. She put the juicer on hold for us as we hopped in the car and drove to Boise to pick it up. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as we got home hubby made a concoction. A concoction I had to pass on. I need one more meal before I start.

So tomorrow morning it is.

But this morning, my daffodils were blooming.

An evening update...

I decided not to back out on tonight, so my first night of juicing is complete. I consumed more fruits and vegetables in one sitting than I probably ever did in an entire day. The taste wasn't too bad, but the color sure was disgusting (no picture of that).  Take a look at the pretty version of everything I just drank.