Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Why yes-the calendar DOES say the end of March. Have we had at least a little bit of snow mixed in with the rain every day for the past 5 days now? You betcha!
Nothing sticking down here, but Friday morning went from a little snow with the rain, to more snow, to SNOW! Extended my walk at Laurelhurst a little so we could enjoy the epic snow a little longer! It was hard to get my behind to work with it still snowing out so much. I just wanted to sit and watch it.

Of course the good news is that snow down here means POWDER in the Mountains. So, when I got up at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday (it would have been 5:45 but Steve was going to go up BEFORE work with a co-worker-that didn't end up happening) and headed out to the Mt. for Girl Scout Ski Day it wasn't completely unpalatable.
Snow covered roads made for a slightly treacherous drive, but I still made good time and was only 2 rows back this week. So, after getting our tickets, I set up in the lodge to wait for people checking-in. Which means I have an incredible view of the Mt. from Mt. Hood Express over to yellow chair. And it's so early nothing's running yet. Then, I see the first skier making the first tracks down the untouched snow. Then another. And, so I have to watch the Mt. go from totally untracked to "there might still be some powder here somewhere if you look really hard" over the course of the morning.
Oh well. I finally make it out and get 6 runs in. 5 on Ridge Run where I can still find a little bit of powder off to the side of the run. Pretty chunked up, so it's hard to ski in it, but, there are still some nice little "floaty" places that make you know why snowboarding in powder is so unbeatable!
Top it off with a b'day party for Drew and Sarah. Tell you what. It kind of sucks to be the only sober one at the end of the night. While a conversation about who would win, a wolverine or an ant of the same proportions (those pincers, man) is just really not that fun to participate in. I shall remember that and try and be less obnoxious at the next function where someone else is stuck being sober!
Then a good, long 2 + hour walk to Wilshire park and back with the dog on Sunday morning.
I love this town.

What a weekend!

No more of this "Take, take, take" garbage. This weekend we gave back.
6 of us gathered at the 8:00 hour (which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for Daylight Savings Time) at Forest Park to give a little back.
We set out down the road with about 40 other people to clean up and restore this little area off the side of Germantown Rd. We went to work mercilessly ripping up Ivy and Blackberry with our gloved hands (and some other tools). Once we had scoured that clean, we planted things. This turned out to be a bigger challenge than expected. Turns out under that nice, pretty soil was ROCK. Like almost all rock. Shovels were useless against this rock. It took brute force and blows with a pickaxe (what the heck was the name of that tool?) to break it out of there.
Soon, the area was teeming with newly planted salmon berry, ferns and indian plum. Quite lovely.
The crew was SO amazing, we still had time after all of that, so some people went up the road with garbage bags to pick up trash, and others went across the road to rescue a few more trees that were ivy-choked. Pete was awesome and loaded up his truck to take stuff to the dump at his own expense. What a guy! Someday, we'll go dine on salmonberries there....
Topped it off with a trip to the Lucy warehouse sale. VERY worth it. Cleaned up with a skirt, 2 sports bras, bermuda shorts and 3 other pairs of dressy shorts for $45! Very worth it!


Of course, that wasn't enough for the orsportgirl. Sunday morning ALSO started way too early. Picked up Stephanie and headed downtown to the 30th annual Shamrock Run. No way was I letting this belly get in my way. Except the fact that I wouldn't be running.
So at 8:05 a.m., Stephanie and I started the 5k with a brief jog, followed by a QUICK walk. Turns out Stephanie had never done a 5K before, so that was exciting. Also turns out that even FAST walking leaves you at the back of the pack-which was nice! Wide open streets, not tripping all over people. Jogged a little more on the downhill-thanks to a potty break at about mile 2-and jogged it into the finish. Watch time had us under 45 minutes! Don't know chip time yet.

And of course, rewarded ourselves with a visit to St. Honore afterwards. Yum. Then a nap, some cleaning, another nap, then pizza night. What a weekend!

Oldman Pass

February 10, 2008
Me, Jacki, Pete, Ryan, Jo (ryan's Mom) plus Seasha, Blaze and Jake (Pete's temporary dog)
Weather's getting better, but wiht all the snow, we hear they ran out of moneyt o plow in Washington. DEcide with the nice weather yesterday, the road will be fine.

Get up there, the road is GREAT! But, there's a "road Closed" sign and a couple of barricades. It's obvious people have gone around it. So, we do what anyone would do-moved the barricades! Road is great, no one else, a couple of deer. Then-stopped! A big snow mover cleaning a chain up area tells us to turn around. Curses!
So, we head back down and head up to Trapper Creek. It doen't rain on us, so that's good. Snow is a wet-but not bad. We still have a great time and of course-a feast afterwards.

Leavenworth trip

Feb 3-5, 2008
With a gift certificate to RUn of the River in Leavenwroth, which is agreat Bed and Breakfast that doesn't allow children, realize we better get up there and use it!
Book it uin November before realizing that it;s Super Bowl weekend. Oops.

After a rocky start to our journy (leavng late, van possiblt overheathing) we take the truck and head up HWY 97. Thank goodness we were heading that way, HWY 90's closed due to avalanche contriol. Get there and settle in to watch the big game. I think we all know how it came out...
Fortunately, we get a delicious breakfast the next morning in order to head out for some skate skiing. Afer a lessone, we head out for an 8K skate ski. Steve is incredibly patient given that my feet are KILLING me! Lots of fun. Head into Leaventworth for a burger.










We have to leave the next day, after another delicious breakfast. Stop on the way home to enjoy another day in the snow. Me on snowshoes, Steve on X-country ski's.

Catching up

Yeah yeah-I'm a little behind again on posting. Quelle surprise! Maybe when I finally get a laptop and don't have to make my way to the basement, I won't be so bad.
Let's see... Christmas break-Meriwether came for a visit. Got a snowshoe in to Washington to celebrate December birthday's of Jim and Jacki. After a breakfast of fritatta and baked french toast, Jim, Jacki, Heather, Pete and Coop, plus Blaze, Seasha and Meri. Snow was too slippery to go far in the van, so we found a road and went there. (Camera was out of batteries that day)

After Christmas Tanya and Heather went on a 3 hour tour....Literally. Made it up to Oldman pass with Meriwether, Seasha and Scout.




Super deep, fluffy snow. Unbelievable. Wander around a while. up a big hill, down another, up another, down another. Hmmm...where are we? There's the road...which way. Decide we better backtrack. Make our way back to the car-finally.

Almost Thanksgving

11/18/07
Forest Park
Springville Trail
Jim, Lisa, Tanya. Scout, Lucy, Me

Pouring rain. 1.5 hours. Wet, wet, wet. And, it rained too. It was a GREAT day!
Springville to Ride Trail.
Topped it off with nice blazing fire. Must be November. Too bad it wasn't snowing in the Mountains enough to be snowshoeing. Hopefully soon.

Veteran's Day Weekend

What a weekend! Seasha was happy and tired if nothing else!
Saturday started with an AWESOME hike in Forest Park with Jacki, Amber and Amber's friend Cheryl, plus Blaze and Seasha for entertainment. Since several people are off of running duty right now, we walked instead. It was great! Left from Springville and 53rd at about 8:45, after saying hello to Susan and the ultrarunner crew. We were all very happy that the rain had stopped earlier in the morning, and actually left us wanting sunglasses a few times. After almost 2 hours, we returned to the car, slightly muddier than we had left. And, at the same time as the ultra crew. They might have put in 14.9 miles, but, we still had the same amount of time on our feet!!!

Sunday started with a nice long walk up to Wilshire Park and back with Seasha. Timed to return at about 9:45 and watch the Veteran's day parade on Sandy. Seasha kept me warm, but, was none too happy when the crowd of 100+ motorcycles, mostly Harley's with LOUD PIPES, revved their engines in front of us. I wasn't loving it either, but, had to spend the time calming the poor dog instead. After that, it got much better. Marching bands and Girl Scout troops are much less scary! Topped off the morning with a bath (for the dog) and pictures with Santa for "Santa Paws", a benefit for the Oregon Humane Society. So now, the dog's already pretty cooked after three mornings in a row of about 2 hours of exercise, plus, having me around keeps her awake.

It's never enough though!! Monday-Veteran's Day. Time for a hike! Load up Tanya, Lisa, Steve, me, Scout, Seasha and Lucy and head to Larch Mountain-paved trail/road. (Of course, I forgot the camera) Now we've got some Oregon weather. Bundled in rain gear, head to toe, and glad the wind has mostly stopped. Hike for about 1.5 hours, then return to the car for the gimps in the group. Decide we're wet enough and cold enough to call it a day. Sip hot chocolate, cheese and crackers and cookies on the ride home! Home by 1:30! What a day. Top off the day with the first fire in the wood stove of the season. Ahhhh-winter!

So, Seasha had a pretty good weekend. The dog barely moved Sunday or Monday afternoon. And that-is how a dog's life should be.

If the return to real weather wasn't enough, this weekend also involved quiche, the richest chocolate chip cookies and way too decadent fudgy peanut butter pie. Topped off tonight with Ricotta Gnocchi. It's all about the food and the exercise for me!!