Easter Sunday Hike 2013

On Easter Sunday morning we hiked the Confluence View trail from the lava cliffs down to the Virgin River. Part of the trail goes through the old city dump, which was interesting! We checked the iPhone for nearby geocaches but didn't really hunt for any. The weather was perfect - low 70s, sunny, the lightest of breezes.  The dogs were able to be off-leash and were sooooooo happy! They got in the river, got dirty and muddy, climbed rocks, chased lizards, and generally had a great time.

Mr. Mamie and Copper along the trail.

Mamie and Peanut at the trailhead.

 Doggies on the shore of the river - they both ended up wet and muddy!

See the little mountain goat? That's 'lil Peanut - she's a great rock scrambler!

HAPPY EASTER!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Geocaching 3/15/13

I'm still miserable with sinus stuff... UGH.  We did manage to load up the car with recycling and dogs this morning and head into the BigTown. Recyclables got dropped off and then we took the dogs to "their" park. BIG DAY for Peanut - she actually got in the little pond!  A "yoot" who's often there with his mom and dogs is always happy to throw the ball for Peanut, and today he tricked her into the pond by - yes, tossing her ball into it! Why didn't we ever think of that?!  For the rest of the time we were there Peanut was willing to put her paws in and take a few little drinks, and she went after the ball in the middle of the (tiny) pond a second time.  We're pretty happy about this development, as the warm (hot!) months are arriving and it will be much better for Peanut if she's willing to get in the cool water at the park.

Most of the day was spent doing laundry, reorganizing some stuff in our bedroom closet, and completing other random tasks.  Niece was here for a good part of the day, and when we took her home around 6:30 p.m. we decided to check out some nearby caches.  There is a fishing pond between our neighborhood and that of the Igors', so we stalked around there a bit - lots of "muggles," so we decided to return another time (and besides, I was only wearing purple Crocs on my feet and wasn't up for any real tromping around).

Mr. Mamie located another possibility near the intersection with the highway, so we went the extra tenth of a mile to check it out.  It turned out to be close to this sign, which is slightly nostalgic for me because before Wombat and GolfDad officially moved here, they parked their 42 foot "house car" (as Nephew used to call it) here on a couple of occasions while visiting.  We had some fun times at the picnic table when Niece was barely a year old and Nephew was a kindergartener!  Anyway, here's the sign:

Isn't the sky pretty?

The cache, called Locate, was a quick and easy find.  From the cache site I turned to the northeast and got this photo:

I love the light at this time of day!

Only two more days left of Spring Break.... :(

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Geocaching 3/12/13

Yesterday wasn't very exciting. Mr. Mamie spent most of the day at the office, and I had a big assignment to work on for one of my classes.  We didn't head out for any fun until 4:00 p.m.

After doing a couple of work errands for Mr. Mamie, we decided to just try one "virtual" cache before taking the GeoPups to the dog park.  The Washington City History Lesson  is close to Mr. Mamie's offfice, so we checked it out - very interesting! I've driven by it hundreds of times but never stopped to look at the statues and read the information.

 Getting a history lesson while geocaching.

I saw this video on the Geocaching.com blog the other day and thought it was really cool.

That about sums up the day... here's what the doggies did while Dad was gone and Mom was glued to the computer:

And now it's time for me to get back to work on my assignments, otherwise there will be NO MORE FUN during this break!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Geocaching 3/11/13

It's Spring Break, so we are able to fit in a little weekday geocaching! We are hoping to hit up some local sites every day this week.  We started yesterday by heading into the desert less than a mile from our house to find Somewhere - Even Here. Mr. Mamie's brother Insamity was with us, enjoying a few last hours of sunshine and family time before heading back to Texas. We put the iPhone in Insamity's hands, hoping he'd get "hooked" on the fun and then get his wife and daughters into the game too. 

The cache site was in open desert, and the terrain was FULL of stickers - we ended up having to carry the GeoPups most of the way! Peanut didn't mind, as she is a tender baby, but I think Copper felt a little like his manhood was being insulted. Better than paws full of stickers, though.

Insamity did a great job locating the cache, and we signed the log and left our card. We then followed a conveniently located dirt road back to the RAV, sparing the doggies' paws (and self-esteem).

Geocaching brothers and pups.

We headed to the dog park then (after a stop at Maverik for sustenance, of course) and once again tried to locate a cache that is hidden there, to no avail. Somehow we're just missing it! Part of the challenge is that there are so many two- and four-legged "muggles" around, and we don't want to be too conspicuous as we poke around in bushes and under sprinkler valve covers. Perhaps another time....

After some doggie playtime and a quick trip to Mr. Mamie's office, we dropped the dogs off at home and picked up Insamity's luggage. Then it was time for the drive to Las Vegas, which for me meant making a nest in the back seat consisting of snacks (almonds and Smarties, weird combo I know), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on my iPod, my awesome camping/travel pillow, and the iPhone so I wouldn't miss a single Twitter/Facebook/Instagram update during the two hour drive. Insamity was delivered to his flight back to Dallas in a timely manner, and we proceeded on in search of geocaches and food.

After locating a convenient Roberto's, we ordered dinner and plotted some caches. We first tried a microcache close to the restaurant called HorzonAZ, but could not find it. Our previous luck with urban microcaches has not been good (The Wheels on the Bus and Sportsman's Paradise being prime examples), so we accepted defeat and moved on.

A picture of my delicious rolled taco dinner!

Next we tried the nearby Sun in the City and had success without much trouble. No photo because there was no way to do it without revealing the cache location.  

 

At this point it was 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time (though only 5:00 in Vegas), so we decided that we had better start heading north.   Along the way we used the Geocaching app on the iPhone to see what was around us, and it is AMAZING how many caches are located along the I-15 corridor in the middle of NOWHERE! At Moapa we drove into the desert on Piute Nation land to see if it would be possible to make a grab, but it was getting too dark.  We continued on home and saved several future possibilities on the app as we drove through the Virgin River Gorge - there are a ton of caches around Cedar Pocket, and that's an area neither of us has ever explored, so we're pretty excited.

Even with only two actual finds, it was a fun day of geocaching and adventuring!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Geocaching 3/10/13

Being out of town for three days (Mr. Mamie's stepdad's funeral and a tech conference) combined with the time change did not make for a very early get-up-and-go today.  We finally hit the dog park around 1:00 p.m., and played fetch with Peanut for over an hour while Copper patrolled the perimeter and splashed in the pond.

Please throw the ball for me, pleasepleaseplease!

After the park we headed to the south side of The Big Town, and hunted a cache called Happy Birthday Jeffrey.

We found it!

This turned out to be not a very difficult find, and it happened to be right next to the Pilot truck stop, where we randomly ran into...

Mr. Igor!  On his way to work in his Great Big Rig.

We then headed down a very rough dirt road in search of a couple of caches way out in the sagebrush. These turned out to be the puzzle-type caches, and required more brain power than we possessed at the time. We hiked around and let the dogs run through the desert off-leash, and then got back in the car.

It was getting to be late afternoon, and Mr. Mamie's mom, brother (Insamity), and nephew were headed down from Tiny Town. Dinner was already in the crockpot but we still needed to put together salad and dessert, so we pointed the RAV toward home. On the way we found both Earthbender and Pine Valley Pipes .

Mr. Mamie and the GeoPups

Once we got home, SOMEBODY was vewy, vewy tired....

Copper says "I had a busy day!"

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

New Tent

We recently got a new tent, and finally managed to set aside some time to plan a camping trip.  So we spent Sunday afternoon making sure all was well with the tent and basically getting our act together to be ready to take off on the first day of Fall Break this week (which is still three days away, boo).  Here are a few photos of tent prep in the front yard...

 

Getting it laid out in the grass.

 

Annnnnnnd it's UP! This is before putting the fly on over the top.

 

Tall enough for a six-footer.

 Some people are lazier than others.

 

Look Peanut, Copper's in... you can go in, too!

 

OK, doggies are in with Mom.

 

Yes Copper, we really are going to all sleep in here!

Presumably the next photos will be from the actual camping trip!

 

 

 

 

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

P.E. Festival 2012

At our school, the third grade's spring program is traditionally the "P.E. Festival."  They play awesome music and have kinds of coordinated dance moves using P.E. equipment (jump ropes, hula hoops, relay batons, etc.).  I couldn't wait for Niece to be in third grade and finally get to be in this program!

I got a few photos - not super quality, because they were taken with the iPhone while I was also tending my own class during the performance, but fun to look at anyway.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my very good friend and first grade teammate TM, who got engaged to her boyfriend (and his two cute kids!) last weekend - may your future be happy, and not require these costumes on a regular basis!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Cute and Fuzzy

A few weeks ago Mr. Mamie and I were dropping off our folding chairs at a friends to be used for our Bunco night. The friend had recently gotten a Yorkie-mix puppy, and Mr. Mamie was pretty taken with it. Maybe someday Copper will get to have a cute, fuzzy little friend!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Joshua Trees 2008

I took these photos in April 2008. I had just gotten my Canon Rebel dSLR camera, and my good friend PhotoKay took me to an amazing Joshua tree forest in the bed of the Santa Clara River so I could try some nature photography.  These are some of my favorite photos I've ever taken!

 

 

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Cactus Blossom

Ha! You thought that because I live in the intermountain desert that this would be a post with a cactus flower photo, didn't you? Nope!

Texas Roadhouse Cactus Flower

Earlier this month for my birthday Mr. Mamie and I had a little dinner date at Texas Roadhouse (or, as we say it, Rexus Toadhouse).  It's not our usual type of restaurant, which made it kind of fun for a treat.  We saw these amazing looking fried "things" coming out of the kitchen while we waited for our table, and we just HAD to order one.  Sorry for the terrible low-light iPhone picture quality! That's a "Cactus Flower," which is the MOST DELICIOUS pile of fried onions I have every tasted!  I could have just had that and skipped the rest of the meal!

And now I feel bad for not having a REAL cactus flower photo, so here's one for you:

That's actually the bloom on a Joshua tree (also known as a yucca palm).  Come back tomorrow and see a whole series of photos I took of these amazing blooms back in 2008!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Choir at Tuachan

A couple of weeks ago I got to accompany Niece as she performed with our school's choir and several others from various elementary schools in the county at the Tuacahn Amphitheater.  It was a fun evening of good music, and a nice opportunity to see lots of families from school in a pleasant environment.

We started by having an Aunt Mamie and Niece-only dinner at Red Robin, where the waitress was oddly enamored by our matching school t-shirts.

 Mmmmmmm, french fries!

Our school's choir solo number was "Footloose," and they had some very cute props to go with the song.

Those are giant feet that they're waving around.

 Here's a shot with lots of choirs onstage together:

 Fun event and nice time with the niece!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Moon Over Red Rocks

Tuacahn, 4/4/12

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Sunday Drive 4/15/12

On Sunday we took a little drive, enjoying the sunshine and freshly-washed atmosphere after Saturday's rain.  We hunted and found a geocache out by the sod farm, but didn't take a picture because doing so would have revealed to much about the hide location. It was a nicely done little cache, perfect for a casual Sunday outing.

We checked out some neighborhoods I hadn't been in before, and then as we came back home we detoured slightly onto the gravel pit's access road (that's right across from our neighborhood) to snap this picture of the mountains/benches with Saturday's snowfall on them.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Spring Football

 Nephew had his first game of the spring football season on Saturday 4/14.  Now mind you, LAST weekend were were on the patio in flipflops with the pool filled... however, THIS was the weather on Saturday:

I must say that the 50% chance of rain was a total joke, because it was rainy, cold, and miserable ALL DAY!  Naturally the game was at a high school on the other side of the county, so I got to drive there and back in busy Saturday traffic.  A venti-sized hot caramel apple spice from St*rbux did make me feel a little better though. ;)

I sat with Mrs. Igor; Niece was at a friends and declined to join us out in the elements, and Mr. Igor got drafted to run the chains during the game.

Nephew is #88 on the left-hand side in the lovely gold helmet.  He's the odd-man out when it comes to helmets... the gold one was the only one that fit his giant head!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Sand Hollow Rainbows

Captured these with the iPhone on a drizzly Sunday drive, 4/1/12.

 

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Summer is JUST Around the Corner!

Signs that the warm-weather, outdoor season is here - scenes from our patio on the afternoon of 4/9/12 (Niece and I were out of school for the day):

 Perfect temperature!

 Purple petunias.

 Snapdragons and tiki torches.

 Lantern and sidewalk chalk.

 Citronella candles.

 

Marshmallow forks.

 

Fire pit, where the marshmallow forks will be used!

 

Pool noodle.

 Niece and Copper "swimming."

 Towel for the girl and water bowl for the doggie.

Wet and happy!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)