Memorial Day weekend

Sorry we've been MIA for a while - no real reason, just got busy and out of the habit of posting. Jon and I had a good Memorial weekend though - 3 day weekends where we're both not working and not traveling somewhere are rare for us! We got lots of stuff done around the house, took some walks around the neighborhood, went to the local farmer's market (are fave vendors still aren't there yet), and did some cooking. Saturday Jon grilled hot dogs for lunch and make BBQ ribs for dinner - yum! Sunday we got sushi while we were out grocery shopping - california rolls for me and spicy tuna and salmon for Jon.
Today was overcast and got progressively colder during the day - Jon grilled burgers for lunch, but we had to postpone our planned dinner of a shrimp boil (one last practice before the 30+ people crawfish boil we're hosting Saturday!). By 3pm it was in the low 50s outside and started raining. I made a noodle soup with onions, orzo, and the last of our frozen Colorado carrots from our CSA last year. I've been cooking with baby carrots exclusively over the past few months, and I had forgotten how much more flavorful the real carrots are! I think I'm going to have to switch back! I used chicken boullion cubes and the soup turned out very yummy - nice for the chilly weather. I also made a batch of Amy's stuffing. Amy was one of my roommates in vet school, and she made up a stuffing recipe that has lots of different yummy flavors - sausage (I used veggie sausage in this one), onion, celery (we didn't have any), apple, torn up bread, and raisins (we didn't have any of those either). There's also some sage and thyme. It came out yummy and was a good way to use up some stale bread and leftover veggie sausage.
Chocolate cupcakes that I made last night - chocolate always looks pretty with red and white, don't you think?

Ernie is good at finding places to sleep

Just like the prior post, I found it comical that Ernie finds interesting places to nap.


A treadmill. A machine used to burn off one too many calories.


But wait, what is that furball under there?


Ah, yes. It's Ernie. He found another excellent place to nap.

wood

Last year, we had a tree that produced cotton-like fluff that covered our backyard for at least a month. I learned that it was a cottonwood tree, and it was basically a giant weed. It didn't look good, it "littered" on our lawn, and I decided to cut it down this year.


I went out and bought a chainsaw (apparently you can buy one for $70 or rent one for a day for $75) and had a neighbor help me ease the giant to the ground.


Now we have enough camping wood for a few years!




Jens shadow takes a picture of the downed tree with the lovely scenery of a utility box that lives in our back yard. And dont feel bad for the plant that it is crushing... it will be dug up soon, and that back corner will be replaced by "pretty" plants.



How much does a tree like this weigh? I dont know, but I was sore for a few days. At least it is good enough quality that we can use it for camping firewood!


Sorry for the boring post, as you can tell, I am excited that something that came from our yard can be used for an enjoyable camping experience!

Ernie's adventures in the basement

Ernie and Emma are not allowed into the basement. Too many things to get into, and I'm sure there are mice down there for them to find (one day they brought one upstairs and I thought it was a toy in the early morning hours and kicked it for them with my bare foot).

Well, Ernie got into the basement, and like a normal cat, he found a place to sleep... in one of our moving boxes. I thought it was cute.