Prepping for summer: home, river, and booze news

First time ever we live in a house and not a condo- no shared walls, no neighbors with windows looking into yours, and we have a lawn!

The weather has been phenomenal the past 2 weeks. It was in the low 80's but it was a dry, hot 80's and the breeze was warm too. We both got a little sun despite wearing sunscreen. On the drive to work there is a distinct weather line just west of Multnomah Falls and when the Portland area is clouded in this is where you seemingly go through a portal to another world... one with a 500' ceiling of clouds. Meanwhile east of there is nice and sunny. We've experienced this from both directions. We're so happy to be living in a sunnier region!

Litter Box Project

When I was little we had a door between the dining room and the living room and I would make a point of slamming it shut whenever I went through. My parents were at the wits end after telling/ yelling at me to stop slamming the door. Finally, my dad said "The next time you slam the door I am taking it off it's hinges and putting it in the attic." Of course I walked over there and slammed it. The door spent the rest of the time we lived in that house in the attic. It was a pretty effective way of resolving the issue without just spanking or scolding me. You can't slam the door if there's no door to slam. 

Since bringing the cats home, we've gone through various phases of cat-proofing attempting to do the same thing- remove the things they find to cause problems. This works for the most part. We don't follow the rules on the litter box though. They recommend having 1 more litter box than you have cats, which would put us at 3. We've barely had room for one box, so this was never an option and we're typically too busy to clean it more than once a week. Lucy shows her disapproval by making an art of getting as much litter outside the box as possible. Her success is astounding and baffling. For example, we now have 3 floors and the litter box is in the basement. She manages to spread it all over the basement floor, up the stairs and somehow gets a little all the way to our bedroom and into the bed. We can't exactly remove the litter or the box, so when we discovered our friends had a top entry litter box and said it really cut down on the litter tracking we were thrilled! On Amazon, they cost about $40, which is absurd. That's double what I paid for the boxes we have and it's nothing more than a glorified storage tub. So, here's the how-to in pictures for building your own (should you find your self in need) for $10 each. [...]

Field Trip

Was in the field this week north of Seattle and wanted to share some photos. We had progressively nice weather, but the rain left large puddled areas along our access roads and determining draining solutions was challenging.

A beautiful and chilly morning with some patchy fog.
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On the move again

It's been a while since I've posted and I know I still need to finish out my Belize posts. 

Work and Moving news:

New work toys: GeoXT and a Rangefinder

I was laid off at the end of January and spent February and March collecting unemployment and looking for jobs in any way related to my field or bartending. I discovered two things- my career field is not really hiring and you can not get a job anywhere in this area without knowing someone... not even a bartending job! Mackay Sposito called me in March wanting to add me to a new project and I started April 1. I am now listed as an Engineering Tech in the Engineering Dept. The work is not quite surveying and not quite engineering or design. I am helping assess transmission line access roads for improvements, reconstruction, drainage, etc. At some point I will be assessing and mapping access road stream crossings. Washington state doesn't want anyone impeding fish migration. [...]

Solo Snowshoeing

Bennet Pass Trail

Suz took Tuesday off and we went back to the Mt Hood area. She went snowboarding, but I don't do that. So I went to the Bennet Pass Trail to snowshoe. This was my first solo hike in I-can't-remember-how-long. Went about 4.5 miles total in around 2 hours. and there was hardly a soul in sight. Passed two cross-country skiers on their way out and a couple walking their dog once I was nearly back to the parking lot. The weather was very nice- at least on the Mt. Hood side of the trail. On the Badger Wilderness area it was fast moving fog with a light rain. [...]

Naked Snowshoeing

Matt, Suz, and I went snowshoeing with Naked Winery on Feb. 9th. We met at the White River West Sno Park with a bunch of winery members. Just like the winery- all the members are fun-loving and easy-going too! This was our first event with the winery outside of tastings and wine pick-up parties. Matt and I went to REI and rented the gear. It was a lot of fun and my first time snowshoeing in years.

We trekked and along the way dug up previously buried bottles of wine. They were marked with fake red roses- easy to spot, right- but apparently someone not in our group thought they should collect them. We spent some time looking for two of the bottles after the roses went missing, but we found eventually! If only they'd known there was wine underneath! We maybe went 1/2 a mile to a mile the whole round trip, stopping every 10 minutes of walking to uncover another bottle. It was a blast and I wasn't the only one who wished they'd eaten a bigger breakfast.  [...]

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Yesterday I ventured into the meatloaf making world for the first time. I essentially combined two recipes. The original one where I got the idea from Jamie Eason here and the meatloaf recipe from our Cooking with Beer book by Paul Mercurio. Most recipes call for a cup of oats, but we don't have rolled oats in the house (just steel-cut), so I substituted short grain rice. 

Free form cooking is our general method and involves taking whatever veggies are in the fridge and spices that sound good and for the most part ignoring that part of the cookbook recipes. All of the ingredients below are approximate measurements and done to taste. Essentially this recipe is 2 pounds of ground meat, chopped veggies, and spices. Also, I suggest taking a bit of the mixture and frying it in a pan and adjusting the spices as you see fit. 

These turned out fantastic. I am glad I tested bits in the frying pan. I ended up adding more chipotle spice and some apple maple bbq sauce to balance the heat with sweet. They are pretty filling too. I had one for dinner last night and one for breakfast this morning. They heat up nicely in the microwave. [...]

McMinnville

Matt planned a really fun winery weekend to celebrate my birthday. I was very grateful to get out of town! We went to McMinnville and stayed at the Hotel Oregon and toured 3 wineries: Youngburg Hill, Yamhill Vineyards, and Amity. It was incredibly foggy all day, but it made beautiful hoar frost. 

The itinerary: Text from Grape Escape Winery Tours with italics comments from us. We are not expert wine tasters and we didn't take notes, so I will put down my amateur comments for what I remember.  [...]

First Anniversary

Pulled out the camera to play with it today and realized there are quite a few pictures from earlier this year that never got downloaded.

Our anniversary was way back in April- 9 months ago! We went to Hood River and stayed at a B&B. It was our first time exploring the area and it quickly turned into our favorite local getaway. I don't have my editing program on my laptop anymore, so they are unedited and uncropped.

The B&B

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Tea and Targets

    

We started out with stardard police 
targets, but moved on to the fun 
zombie targets.

Suz and I bought these Groupons last month for a basic pistol safety class for women only at the armory nearby. What better way to spend the day of the world's demise than shooting guns?! The first hour is a classroom portion (and yes, we did drink tea) where you learn about what type of guns and ammunition fall into this category, rules for safety on the gun range, in public, and in your home, parts of the gun, etc. She had several models for us to handle and get a feel for. Even though they weren't loaded (there's no live ammo allowed in the classroom) I think we were both pretty nervous about handling the pistols. It did help a lot to be doing this before we went into the range. 

Being from Alaska, I've had the opportunity to shoot quite a few guns, but never regularly or the same type of gun. I'm not comfortable being around them or handling them. I'm not comfortable with other people, even if it is their gun, handling them either because you don't have to know about guns to own one and clearly there are a lot of people who have a lot to learn about the responsibilities of owning a deadly weapon. This is especially relevant in light of the recent shootings here at the Clackamas Town Center and Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut this past week. Personally, I think one should have to show proof you've taken a basic pistol/ gun safety class before you can buy. [...]

Xibalba

Day 4: Monday, December 10

The ATM Cave entrance.
http://mayawalk.com/

This morning we met at 7am down at Mayawalk for a quick breakfast before we load up. We're heading out on a full day trek to Aktun Tunichil Muknal or the ATM. Brian isn't feeling well and has to back out. So, there's 10 of us plus 3 guys and another girl who aren't with our group. From the time we load up into the vans, the story is solely from the perspective of the part of the group who rode with Aaron and went into the cave with him. The other guide, who was amazingly knowledgeable, was Gonzo. Both are caving buffs who worked with and led the original archeologists when the artifacts were first discovered. They have a long history with the ATM. Some people may have been with both people throughout various parts of the journey. 

It takes about 45 minutes to get to the parking lot where we will unload and pack out the food and gear to the start of the cave. Part of it is paved, but a better portion of it is unpaved and quite a bumpy ride in a 9 passenger van. Every now and then a dinging warning alarm like the one you'd hear to fasten your seat belts goes off. Aaron, the owner of Mayawalk, has decided to be one of the guides to lead us on this adventure, and he lovingly pats the dash and tells the van "It's going to be okay, baby." Apparently one of the other guides drove too fast through a muddy hole on the way to the cave and it got the sensor wet. They had ordered a replacement, but something was the wrong size so they had to send it back, and were still waiting on it to arrive. He is really hoping that we don't dock the company in a review for the sensor going off about every ten minutes. The other van has no air conditioning and a few other minor problems aside from just being old. He said he's had plenty of people give poor reviews based solely on the transportation to and from the cave. This is utterly unfair. It's Central America and you're out here to be on an adventure. This is all a part of the whole wonderful experience. We gave them good reviews. [...]

Cayo

Day 3: Sunday, December 9

Today is our first official day and we're heading to San Ignacio in the Cayo District near the western border with Guatemala. We are incredible excited to get rolling to the jungle! Belize City was an interesting time, but after two days, it's time to move on. In my opinion, if you are ever in Belize City all you need is 2 hours. One hour to see the sights and shop the local crafters- they're all within half a mile of the Swing Bridge (most are far less than that) and an hour to eat (I recommend Neiri's). Then move on to the Cayes or the Cayo. 

Sam and Louise in San Ignacio

We were told breakfast would be at 7am, but when we got upstairs to eat we were told breakfast was now at 7:30. All fine and good; we are quite alright drinking coffee and chatting on the balcony. Take that! The bus we wanted to catch is at 8:30, so we did the after-breakfast dash to get our bags and get to the station. The hotel called 4 cabs for 12 people. They all showed up in under 60 seconds and not everyone was ready. The first cab drove away with 3 people in it. The next had 2 people. (We're off to a great start here.) The had the remaining 2 cabs wait which had 3 and 2 people, not counting Emilio was at the front desk making sure everyone had turned in room keys and checked out (and also getting scolded AGAIN by the owner). Wait a minute, that's only 10 people total. We're missing 2 people! But we only just met everyone, how are we supposed to figure out who's missing? After consulting the girls in the other car and trying to remember everyone, none of us can remember seeing the two blonde girls from St. Louis get into any of the cars. They were in the lobby with their bags right before the cabs came and Gail said she saw them walk to the back of the hotel. No one has seen them since. Emilio was leaving to join us in the cab and we're trying to tell him what we think going on. It doesn't look good to lose two people on the first day. We searched the hotel, recounted in our heads, and still couldn't figure out what happened. [...]

You better Belize it

Day 2: Saturday, December 8

Today is our first full day in Belize. It's also our monthly date anniversary! We ate breakfast at the hotel for $6 BZ each. I forgot to mention anything about currency. Here they take U.S. and Belize dollars. One Belize dollar is two U.S. dollars- the easiest conversion rate ever. If you've never traveled outside the U.S., aside from Mexico and Canada, this area is a great place to start. They speak English (and Creole and Spanish), have the same standard wall outlets- no converter needed!, and they take U.S. money with a very simple conversion to Belize currency.

On the way to the zoo. West of Hattiesville.

The hotel called us up a cab to take us to the main bus terminal in the sketchy-don't-walk-there part of the city. I'm sure we would've gotten lost anyway with all the not-street streets and road construction. The bus station is hectic with food stands, people coming and going and hanging out, taxis, and buses. There isn't much of a solid bus schedule- everything runs on Belize time. I think it took us about 10 minutes to get a handle on what was going on. We asked at least 2 people, who were standing by the gates where passengers load and unload from the buses, if that bus was going to the zoo. We thought any bus heading west would stop there, but determining which bus that was proved challenging. Neither of them were much help. Finally, a random old man came up and pointed us to a counter where we bought our tickets. We were supposed to get on the West Line bus in terminal 1. All the buses are school buses like we used to ride as kids- Blue Bird- but now they've been painted rasta colors and fly down the road making stops whenver someone wants on or off. There are official bus stops, but if you're just on the side of the road and flag one down, they'll pick you up. It was $3BZ each to the zoo and ticket attendant on board let us know when we were there. [...]

Destination: Belize

Day 1: Friday, December 7

For our wedding, we didn't ask for traditional wedding gifts. We're both adults who have been living on our own for years, and pretty much owned all the basics. Instead, we asked for contributions for a honeymoon trip. I don't recall how exactly we decided on Belize. Matt had traveled through Central America several years before. I think I wanted to see that part of the world and visit Tikal. This past June, Matt found the Land of Belize trip that Intrepid offers, for half off. We immediately booked it. There were limited dates, but they worked out. We picked December 8- 15. It's a slow time of year for both our jobs, but not so close to the holidays that traveling on standby would be impossible. It was also key that our vacation to the Maya holy grail wasn't overrun by crazy apocalypse freaks. Traveling with Intrepid takes and draws a certain type of person (usually). We only packed overnight hiking packs. You're traveling with a group of people (up to 12) and a local person who will be your guide. The guide's job is to tell you about the area, give you recommendations on where to eat and what to do, but most importantly, make sure you have transportation and sleeping arrangements taken care of ahead of time, so you can focus on the journey and having fun. We were very much looking forward to this trip's itinerary because we get to see the city, the inland Cayo district with jungles and caves and ruins, Tikal in Guatemala, and end with a few days to unwind and work on a tan in Caye Caulker. It has everything we're looking for in 8 days. [...]

Wenatchee, Tehaleh, and Trial

Last week of November 2012. Matt was in trial and I was in the field. Only one of us was able to take pictures. These are my favorites.

Our work took us through an orchard.

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