Anniversary Dinner

Eric cooked Bolognese (meat based tomato sauce with ground beef and pork in it) for our anniversary (#6!) dinner tonight . He has Mondays off now with his new schedule so he had all afternoon to get this going. It was so yummy! I had a second helping, which I probably didn't need but had anyway. Yes, that's also fresh basil from the back yard :)

Our Backyard . . .The Continuing Saga

Per the patio pictures from a few weeks ago, you know we have one very nice looking side of our back yard. Below is a picture of the patio at night with the lights on that we put up. I’m in love with the patio and I sitting out there.

As for the other side, well we just pretend it’s not there. It needs work, but the work has begun! The trees that hang over that side need some trimming so Eric did that. He also pulled up the old flagstone and put it on a pallet in the alley (our land lady wants to sell it). Once the flagstone got pulled up we were left with a giant sand pit, which Indy has not hesitated to make his personal beach. We also planted 3 buckhorn trees along the back fence. These were re-purposed from a job site that Eric did a tear out on and should provide us some privacy from the alley. Yes, we realize they are misshapen and somewhat crazy looking, but we couldn’t trim them in fear they’d die out from transplant shock. We should be able to trim them this week.

Buckhorn trees

Yes, he's standing on the fence. Yes, he has a chainsaw. Yes, I yelled at him. No, he did not care.

All the branches that got cut down

We’ll keep posting pictures as the backyard continues to evolve. Until then you can enjoy the pictures of our thriving veggies and herbs! Everything is doing really well- I even have a squash growing!

PHR Test

This test is the Professional in Human Resources exam. It’s a test that, if I pass ( I hope I do!), let’s me put fun letters after my name and gives me instant credibility amongst my HR peers and with the staff I support at CDM. I am scheduled to sit for the test December 2, and it will definitely be interesting. The test is comprised of 225 multiple choice questions that cover all areas of employment law, strategy, compensation, benefits, etc. CDM has agreed to pay not only for the test but also the prep course ($1,350.00!) at the local college, so the pressure to pass is really on!

Indy's Vet Visit

We can no longer call him “Pudge”! Indy went to the vet last week and is not only incredibly healthy, but is down to a svelte 95 pounds! This is 15 pounds less than when we got him 2 years ago. The vet was very impressed and told us to keep up with the swimming and hiking because it seems to be doing wonders!

Sleeping on the floor with his wet bandana on trying to stay cool

Gnocchi

Last weekend I attempted gnocchi. Gnocchi is comparable to spaetzel, but it’s made from potato and is meant to be paired with Italian meat dishes. We’ve eaten it a few times and like it, so I figured I’d give it a shot. With Mario Batalli’s gnocchi recipe in hand I got going. The potatoes boiled, were riced and then the dough was chilled in the fridge for a bit to stiffen up. Then all the little gnocchi pieces got dumped into boiling water (see the spaetzel similarity??). They cooled off and we then tossed them with sauce for dinner. All I have to say is FAIL. This was soft and squishy and gnocchi should be much more firm- when you mix it with the sauce you shouldn’t get mashed potatoes with tomato sauce!

Lucky for us I made enough for 3 awful dinners with this stuff. I’m going to do some more research and look up some other gnocchi recipes and see what they say. I’m convinced this needed more flour, but who knows. I’ll let you know if I try this again (it won’t be soon).

Riced potatoes and the potato ricer I bought. Yes, another gadget. Surprise!

Potato+Flour+Water= Large Ball of Gnocchi Dough

Gnocchi, or so I thought

1 of 3 bags of gnocchi

Eric's Back Country Hike

OK, first off our apologies that this hasn’t been updated in awhile. No excuse other than sheer laziness, but hey it happens.

Anyway, 2 weekends ago Eric went backpacking with Todd back down in Buena Vista, where we hiked over 4^th of July. They hiked the Ptarmigan Trail and camped above tree line. Pictures are below and include Eric’s commentary :)

Fishing in Ptarmigan Lake- yes, a fish was caught!

Mount Yale (14'ner) from across Ptarmigan Lake

Wildflowers in a fun camera setting

Mount Yale at Sunset

Lost Lake Hike & Buena Vista

On Saturday Eric, Matt and me, and of course Indy, drove down to Buena Vista to hike to Lost Lake. Buena Vista sits at the bottom of the Collegiate Peaks- a bunch of 14,000 ft mountains that are named Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc. The views were amazing and so was the weather. It was a day well spent. 

The big peak in the middle is Mount Princeton

On the pass looking back at the Collegiates

We weren't entirely sure where the trailhead was  since the info on the hike website was specific in saying the trailhead is unmarked, but is below tree line near the summit of Cottonwood Pass. Why no one felt a sign would be beneficial is beyond me. Anyway, we drove to the summit of Cottonwood Pass, got some good pictures and let the Pupper Dog play in the snow. There's video of him "fetching" snowballs that Eric was throwing. 

 

After we left the summit, we drove back down the pass a bit and low and behold found the trailhead! The scenery was amazing! The trail was awesome and we had a great time. The only frustrating part was that we sort of lost the trail to Lost Lake, and had to wander around to find it. I climbed up a snow bank and saw tents, and I yelled to Eric " I see tents! There are people! People camp on lakes, right!?". I was desperate to find the crazy lake since I was tired and my shoes were soggy from hiking through a marsh. As a note- people do camp near lakes and maybe 50 yards from the campers was the lake. I was pretty stinking happy!

Eric started to follow me across the snow bank and stepped through a melting spot and lost his shoe!

First alpine lake! He was so happy!

 

After the hike we went back down to Buena Vista and grabbed some dinner at a brewery. Very yummy food and surprisingly good beer! I drank a whole one ( I am a wine girl not a beer girl, much to Eric's dismay. So me finishing a beer was a huge deal!)

Indy conked out in the back on the way home sleeping while cuddling his pig ear