Rock Crawling

On his way back from the gun range, Russ met some fellas playing with their curious looking RC vehicles on the rock outcroppings around the old quarry. So he stopped to see what they were up to. It turns out they are remote control rock crawlers! Just like R/C cars, but these micro trucks are are built to crawl over boulders, mounts and anything else that happens to get in the way. Of course, Russ was completely fascinated with the engineering and the technology that goes into theses little machines. So after a week of researching and meeting people involved with the hobby, Russ purchased a crawler of his own. He assured me that he will not get into it like some of the other enthusiasts who compete and have a myriad of tools, accessories and parts all over their house. In the few days he has had it, the crawler has driven countless miles and over numerous obstacles. Rock piles beware, Russ is always on the prowl for a new challenge to climb over! I have even taken the truck for a spin, it is pretty fun figuring out how to turn the wheels and angel the approaches so you don't flip the truck or get high centred.

Looking back at 2008 and Forward into 2009

It seems like every year about this time I reflect on the past year and think "golly, where did the time go!?" It seems like it has flown by. The beginning of the year we were wedding planning, which turned into a lovely garden party in the Sautee Valley in April. The summer was slow in arriving but finally brought the typical beautiful Northwest weather and lots of fun eventing opportunities with Warren. The ladies, Fern Hazel and Scratch also came to live with us. And I created more garden space in the front yard! The fall lasted a long while into October, we had sunshine and warm temperatures to make up for the slow coming Summer. It was also back to Georgia for Ben and Danielle's wedding on the coast. How fun was that!? And then the winter months brought the crazy "arctic blast" with record low temperatures and snowfall on the valley floor. Now here we are and 2009 looking forward to the New Year and waiting to see what will be in store...... Welcome 2009!

After Christmas thaw

The temperatures are finally staying above freezing, the snow is melting, just very slowly. It seems like the weather is getting back to normal now; mid 40's and rainy by day and mid 30's and rainy at night. I felt comfortable enough to drive to work today as the roads were clear though it is odd to see all the mounds of snow piled in parking lots. I'm just not used to seeing that much snow!!

The ladies have even decided it is safe to emerge from their box, they have been pretty much hibernating since the snow started getting above their ankles. Now they can at least maneuver from one bare parch of ground to another and dodge the snow piles....

It was like a second Christmas when Santa's second delivery arrived. Phoenix got to open her rawhide bones, which she has been exuberantly thrilled to gnaw on all evening and Russ and I love our various items from the Sautee-Nacooche area! Phoenix even took a moment to pose for the camera with the bone hanging out of her mouth... I thought it made a pretty funny picture!

Merry Christmas!

We woke up to a white Christmas... well, that was no surprise, considering there is darn near 1 foot of snow on the ground and temperatures have not gotten above freezing for the past 2 weeks. We have been enjoying all the snow. It is a novelty for the Georgia gal but mister for Alaska it is a refreshing return to normalcy.

A Christmas memory for me is trying really hard to go to sleep Christmas eve night and then waking up really early Christmas morning to view the loads of presents under the branches that Santa had brought. The most difficult part was lying in bed watching the clock at 5 am and debating if it was a reasonable hour to wake up anyone else. One year my brother and I agreed to wake each other up, no matter what time it was, just so we could turn the lights on and look at the tree before Mom and Dad got up. No matter how quiet we were, some how they seemed to know we were stirring and would be up not long after we were up and about.

Well, Christmas morning is not all that much different in the Schuchman household. We have two kids... furkids as we call them... except they don't really concern themselves with being quiet or not waking us up in the morning. And they don't save it for Christmas day, it is every morning they are anxious to get up and get moving. We slept in till about 6:30 and then the pacing began. So we got up and got some breakfast for the furkids and then marveled at our little Christmas tree and all the brightly wrapper packages underneath. After Max and Phoenix went through their morning routine of eating, going out and coming back in, they realised the tree looked different and Max in particular new what was going on. He remembered Christmas last year, both puppies got treats in their stockings and packages to un wrap. Max will actually help open a gift, if you ask him too. He was ready to dish out present for us, that morning! And some how he knew which present was for him. He carefully pulled down the one with his name on it and looked at us for the okay to take off the paper. He thoroughly enjoyed his new chew toy, it was his focus all morning.

Phoenix had some cookies she could enjoy while Max happily chewing away on his new toy. Part of Santa's delivery got held up due to the snowy/windy/icy conditions and her package was in the second box. She is a pretty easy going dog, though, edible things are just as exciting to her (or maybe even more so) than a new chewy toy.

Russ and I continued to enjoy opening presents and chattering about the things we'd received and then goatherd our selves up to head to Lucky and Jade's for Christmas dinner. They are to the north of us and had received even more snow so we took our snow shoes and sled just in case...

It was a good thing! There was a little path worn in the snow from the back door to the car, and that was it. The path was about 2. 5 feet deep. Russ and I put on our shoes to go anywhere other than the path and we needed them. The stuff was powdery and deep! It was fun trekking around in it. Jade and I even built a substantial snow man and went for a little bit of sledding down a small hill. The toughest part was getting back up the hill in the deep snow! Lucky and Russ built a snow pile of their own and we even had a small snow ball skirmish.

It was a very enjoyable Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

...and there is still snow!! Though we are supposed to warm up to 36 today. Butmore snow coming tonight and into tomorrow.... looks like we are going to have a white Christmas! Russ took me out to the barn again today. He wanted to go for a ride in the snow!

A Snow Situation...

Here it is Monday and there is still snow! I'm not talking about the remnants from snow that has come and is now on the way out, I'm talking about snow that comes, doesn't melt and more comes in on top of it! I've never lived in that kind of snow!! The wet air came in and was not strong enough to move out the cold gore air blasting from the east so the Portland/Vancouver area got more snow! Saturday started with about 2 inches with an ice crust on top. Phoenix was surprised when she went charging out the door after breakfast and the ice went "crack" and then she went "thump" as it broke and her feet sunk in after each step. I have a list of things I wanted to do before the snow melted and building a snow man was one of them. Well, I settled for a snow Muppet. The picture doesn't do him justice. He has a red pepper beak, rosemary feather tufts and rose hips for eyes. Quite the character! Here he is again Sunday morning, he gained a few pounds over night! We got another good 4 inches over night! Then more came down again today. Russ kindly took me out to the barn again Saturday and today. Saturday I was determined to take Warren for a ride. The arena footing wasn't too frozen so after a good warm up, we rode for quite awhile. Russ did some shopping while I got in some good quality barn time. After spending all day cooped up Sunday, we were both a little stir crazy on Monday. Both of our offices were closed while the cities were figuring out how to deal with all the snow on the roads. That meant Russ and I could head off for an adventure. Of course we ended up at the barn again. And there was even more snow! I let Warren out in one of the pastures to romp, he seemed a little bewildered as to what to do, there was no grass to munch and he is not much of a frolicker. He settled for licking snow!

Critters in the cold

Warren is happy as can be in the cold weather. I put a heavier blanket on him after fighting a frozen lock and a frozen horse trailer door earlier this week. (And to Mom and Anna, I haven't changed one bit, if I can get out to the barn, you can bet that I will ride in the rain/sleet or snow, with out even thinking!, but out here we have covered arenas so it is not as much of an issue) So yes, I took Warren out for a ride on Tuesday with temperatures in the teens. I bundled up in my awesome warm and toasty fridgaware suit and got him tacked up and warm. When it was time to get in the saddle, I reluctantly peeled off my suit to my fleece lined riding clothes underneath. I rode for about 20 minuets until I started not being able to feel my fingers and toes. As long as you stay moving, the cold isn't too bad, but when you stop you cool off pretty quick. Warren was very content to be plunking around the arena, but I wanted to keep the feeling in my fingers (it is really hard to untack a horse with numb fingers!) so I called it a night and got back into my warm fridgeaware suit. Thursday Russ took me out to the barn and we were greeted with a happy looking fuzzy Belgian standing in the snow with practically a grin on his face.

The hens are another story. They have a nice warm box to get huddled in at night that has been keeping them pretty comfortable when the temperatures are super low. But they are not big fans on putting their feet down in the white cold stuff. They'll scratch for a little while then they'll go perch on anything they can find to keep their feet dry. (Thankfully everyone is done molting and all the feathers are back in place!)

Max loves the snow! He is like a little kid; he can't wait for us to go outside to play with him. He loves catching snow balls, eating snow, rolling in it, anything to play in the snow. Phoenix is a little more mellow about it all. She goes out to play a little bit and is quick to come back in to sit by the window and watch the winter wonderland from inside where it is warm.