a99kitten's Musings

I went snowmobiling for the first time in my adulthood yesterday. I went as a little kid but didn’t drive so that hardly counts :)

You start on these nice, wide groomed trails and then we were off up to a lookout. Up meant windier, narrower, less groomed trails. I drove part of the way up and it was SUPER fun! Snowmobiles do not have power steering. So you have to pay attention and use your arms to control this thing 100% of the time. And a lot of leaning (like when driving a motorcycle.) So I scrunched forward and in my supreme geekiness, pretended I was driving a speeder bike but on planet mixture of Endor and Hoth (through the forest and trees BUT in the freezing snow!) :)

Totally look like Leia :)

We came upon a couple who had crashed their snowmobile into a tree stump/well. Husband got off and helped the guy get it off. So then after that, I let husband drive as the trails got narrower and I didn’t want that to be us!

Husband drove a LOT faster than I did and I was flying up and off my seat over and over. My neck and back felt like when you take a hard butt check on the ice – spine condensed. Visualize an accordion…

Made it up to 8656 feet elevation where they have a warming/lookout hut. It’s called the Martis Valley Fire Lookout hut. It’s cool up there and you can see everything (hence the reason they would look for smoke and fires from up there.) The views were amazing. The sun was setting and the sky was filled with gorgeous colors.

Lake Tahoe

Majestic...

I love the mountains. I can never get enough of the beauty no matter what season, snow, sun, cloudy – always. Beaches are gorgeous – I do love Maui (and even my own beach at home) but mountains are my absolute favorite. The Sierras are awesome. I’ve been to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, British Columbia and Banff. I loved them all. Nothing can compare to the beauty of the mountains for me, not even a gorgeous sparkling Tiffany’s window display ;)

Loved this tree's contrast..

Someone had broken the door of the hut earlier that day so we were using the big slide windows they have to get in to the hut. The hut has a deck which is probably nice in the summer. It was icy so I took a digger on it which I’m sure would have been funny to catch on video :)

The snowmobile place closed at 6:00pm and it was a little after 5pm so we decided it was time to head back. Plus I was now freezing and starving! Husband took what he thought would be a shortcut to make it down quicker. But it wound around the mountain instead of down so put us in the opposite direction. By now it was getting dark and I was imagining all of the stories of people who get lost in the forest in winter and they go off trail and are never found alive again…great (I have quite a vivid imagination!) Luckily husband does have a good sense of direction and got us back on the trail we needed. We got back to the main gate and my hands and face were only partially frozen solid…

It was fun. Would I go again? Sure. Would I go all the time? Probably not – unless I got to drive my own and knew the trails better. It is a great way to get way up there where cars can’t go in the winter. Would be fun to take snowshoes up there and hike around too. And if I ever get my 100 acres in Wyoming – it would be super fun to have my own snowmobile to tool around :)

Today is a Monday. I should have been awake at 5:00am and taking the huskies out and then packing, closing up house etc. to head back to the Bay Area and work for another week. It seems however that the husky snow dance works very well.

What’s the husky snow dance you ask? Well…when the huskies and I look at the weather report for our winter weekend trips to Tahoe and see the snow we want is not forecast until Monday or Tuesday AFTER we leave, we decide that isn’t right. It’s not fair to the huskies. So we decide to should change it.

Our first snow of the season (back in November) was not supposed to start until the Monday morning we were driving back. This was according to the highly-paid meteorologists using billions of dollars in weather satellites. This was the forecast on the Monday before, the Wednesday before and even Thursday before we went up. The huskies and I decided we wanted the snow while we were going to be there, not after we left. So we did a little dance like I imagine the ancient indian tribes did for rain…(ok, not really but mentally we did! Funny visual though right?)

We drove up on Friday…in a snowstorm. Basically white-out conditions on the highway, icy roads, cars pulled off as they couldn’t drive because they had cars, and not trucks or SUVs, or even chains. Why? Because they checked the weather and it said clear weather for the weekend. Silly tourists listening to weathermen….

Our driveway was buried when we got to the house. We got the truck down the driveway and into the garage. The huskies leapt out of the truck and ran around like tasmanian devils. I seriously need a video camera :) Even Storm was crazy excited and he doesn’t like snow half as much as his brother. Especially now with his belly shaved from his ultrasound a couple months ago. It’s sllloooowwly growing back but his belly is basically peach fuzz. Could you imagine running in the snow with no clothes on – bare skin? COLD! It snowed more on Saturday and then was clear as the weathermen predicted…after the snow they didn’t. :) Husky snow dance – 1; Weathermen – 0.

Then for Thanksgiving they predicted clear skies with 1 day of partly cloudy skies. I said no way – we needed snow for Thanksgiving weekend!! The huskies needed some fresh powder to run in! The past 2 Thanksgivings have dumped snow here so why should this year be any different? Didn’t snow on Thursday – boo :( BUT – we got it on Friday!!! Husky snow dance – 2; Weathermen – 0. :)

Then this weekend the forecast was for the snow to start on early Monday morning and snow all week! After we left – boo :( I kept my faith that once again, the power of the husky Force would win and that the weathermen would be wrong…every day I checked the weather forecast to see if it changed and every day it said the same thing. Monday AM snow to last all week. But Saturday and Sunday would be sunny. Cold…but sunny (Monday was forecasted to have a low of 1…when I’d be out with the dogs in AM…brrrr..)

When we got here on Friday night it was clear – stars in the skies. And COLD! Very pretty for sure but it’s wintertime…snow is a must. Saturday morning, clear skies. Boo. Took the huskies out (a brisk 17 degrees out) and then half way through our walk the wind picked up, the clouds were rolling in. Could it be? The huskies did a little extra snow dance (this was really more like me running & chasing the huskies through forest but same thing!) About an hour later – snow :) It wasn’t sticking yet but it was falling :) And then it started sticking and it was getting colder. That night, coming home from dinner, it was 6 degrees out. When you are not a husky or dressed the like Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man, 6 degrees is frackin’ cold!!

Sunday morning I woke up, a dusting of snow from overnight but nothing major. I got sad – looked like the weathermen might be right this time (no…that simply couldn’t be…) It was still very, very cold out. And the clouds and wind were rolling in again…Angelus and I politely requested from the weather gods to bring the snow early please…2 hours later it was snowing. Angelus had 3 snow-fun outings yesterday (Storm said 1 was good for him.) By 8pm, he was racked out on his bed soundly asleep. And it was still snowing last night…and it actually hasn’t stopped yet. About 24 hours of snow so far. Husky snow dance – 3; Weathermen – 0.

Late last night, when I was packing up I said it would be fun if we got snowed in and couldn’t leave in the morning. Not sure my husband agreed completely with it being “fun” but we checked the weather. The weather statement was a big page of RED WARNINGS about high winds, snow advisories, white out conditions on the freeway, possible freeway closures for the next 48 hours, and warnings about making sure you have enough food, water and batteries in your house. Huh…ok. I smiled…

We knew we couldn’t leave as early as usual anyway as they wouldn’t have the freeway cleared. Or our street for that matter. So this morning I woke up to about 2 feet of fresh snow in our driveway. The plow service came around 5am (you hear them come as it sounds like your house is getting strafed) so this snow accumulation was just between 5-8am.

Deck this AM after husband cleared of snow last night!

Our street this AM

I dressed in my Stay-Puft outfit (ok, actually my snowboarding clothes) and leashed the buds up! Watching huskies in the snow is like watching pure joy in a child’s face. If it doesn’t make you smile and laugh – nothing will. The driveway snow was up to Angelus’ chest – over knee-high for me. He just glides through it. Poor Stormy couldn’t stay out long – the snow went up to his belly at this point so his naked belly was submerged in snow. So Angelus & I took him back and went back out. I don’t think he minded too much be warm inside tho :)

We stayed out for about 1.5 hours – playing with neighbor dogs off-leash & kids (schools here had a snow day too), running up and down snow hills (he is a LOT more graceful at this than I am!), digging in the snow looking for chipmunkcicles (he did, I watched) and walking up our street which hasn’t been plowed since last night so the snow was almost thigh-deep for me. We stayed in the tracks made by the big trucks that can make it down.

Angelus digging for gold...or chipmunks...

And it’s still snowing…and snowing. The tracks we made on our way out of our house/driveway were covered by the time we got back. It’s a lot of snow :)

Handsome snow guy :)

Angelus is napping now after our AM snow fun. My legs got a little tired too – my snow boots are like 5lbs each so it’s a workout hiking through snow!

Rest up after snow fun!

So we will rest up and go back out in a while for a 2nd shift of husky snow fun :) So the huskies and I really feel like kids today who got blessed with a good snow day…as I hum Jimmy Fallon’s “Snow Day” to myself…:)

Today is the last day of my birthday/4th of July vacation :( very sad…

I’ve been hiking every day and doing chores, staying and then yesterday had an afternoon/evening/night out at the park/beach for the 4th and fireworks. My hike yesterday was awesome. Gorgeous as always. But again – for the 3rd time on this trail – butterflies swarmed around me during this 1 section. VERY AWESOME!  Like walking with them. I wish I could have videoed it :) On Friday I did a 3-hour hike but yesterday changed my route and it ended up being 2.5 hours.  But all pretty – all the time :)

Tahoe Mountains 1

Tahoe Mountains 2

Tahoe mountains 3

I will be back either next weekend (depending on Wicked Tickets in SF!) or the weekend after but I still hate leaving. SOOO planning a Labor Day week vacay…

So because it’s my last day, I decided to just chill today. No plans of hiking, Squaw Valley pool party (going to the August one though!), hiking to Squaw High Camp, whatever. Just chill. It’s been nice :) Spent the day in the sun – on my deck, walking the huskies by the lake (although did try to avoid the sun for them!!) and then our clubhouse pool. Husband said “we should do this every time we come here.” Ummm…I always want to go to the pool – it’s YOU who can’t relax!

After about an hour, I went back home and to our deck again! Been getting caught up on my last 3 Vanity Fair magazines today that I haven’t had time to really read. As much as the articles have SUCH a grossly LIBERAL BENT, I still enjoy reading the mag for their old-world, old-society articles.  Plus any Annie Leibovitz photo spreads are beautiful. For now…but if they keep up with the pathetic Obama ass-kissing, I might not renew. At some point it’s just gross. Although they did turn on Bill Clinton so who knows – might make for fun reading in a year or 2…

I was still determined to make one of the mac and cheese recipes from my new-ish cookbook. I chose the City Hall Mac and Cheese by Henry Archer Meer. I do not know who that is but futzy, fancy foodies might? I googled him and he owns a NYC restaurant called City Hall (hence the name of this recipe!)

It was fairly simple. This is pre-baking after milk and cream reduction and cheese adding/melting and spice adding and then pasta adding…

City Hall Mac & Cheese

Put it in the oven to bake and then took Angelus on a short after-dinner (his dinner) walk. And we FINALLY saw a coyote!! Hadn’t seen once since winter!!! Storm decided he didn’t want to come on our walk and all I saw was a tail out of the corner of my eye and it looked just like a fluffy Storm tail! I thought did husband bring Storm out? NO! Once I looked and saw it was a brown and grey coyote looking quite cute and fluffy like our little Storm. I tried getting a picture but he wanted no part of me or Angelus. But he was only 2 houses away from us so I am keeping my eye out tonight!! I did hear 1 in our backyard 2 nights ago – maybe the same little guy.

Timed walk to be done with mac & cheese baking. Looks and smells SOOOOO good:

Baked mac&cheesey goodness!

Having with BBQ hot dogs (since I didn’t get one yesterday for the 4th – I have been craving one!) and they will compliment this mac&cheese nicely! I just tried it….OHMYGOD good!!!  Page 32 of the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook “52 recipes, from simple to sublime” by Joan Schwartz. Get one!!! :)

Today was a fun day! I did sleep in till about 7am like a lazy slack! Huskies said HOT outside already Mom! I took them down to a forest walk so it was mostly shady so they could stay cooler. They had the same reaction today that they had last fall on this same walk – something wicked this way is! They smell a bear? Or a dead body? Ghost? Angelus is afraid of nothing (ok, well…bees…) and he was acting strange and not wanting to continue on down the path.  And Storm had less than zero interest in continuing. So I of course made them continue on…but then was imagining a scary movie…where the dumb girl makes her dogs keep going down the scary path even though every person watching the movie is screaming at the screen to listen to your dogs!!! So we turned around :)

After doggie walk and coffee and email..I went on my hike. About 6 miles with 3 of it straight uphill. Beautiful though. A great hike. The goal was making it up to Hawks Peak. And I did :)

Hawks Peak view 2

There was still snow in some of the higher elevation areas.  And the best part – I saw 1 biker in the distance but other than that – came across no one. Very peaceful.  It was windy up on the tippy-top rock at Hawks Peak so I had to be careful not be blown off the rock!

Hawk's Peak View 1

I was using my iPhone app TrailGuru and it said about 6 miles and almost 2 hours but then my battery died – doh!! Good thing I didn’t run across any bears and need the phone camera!

Then it was lunch (turkey burger!!) and sun/tanning time! I just started reading James Patterson’s “8th Confession”. I realized today as I was going through my stack of books that I brought that I *always* read a James Patterson book on my vacation. So I moved it up in the priority pile :) These are always fun summer reads. This is the Women’s Murder Club series he does. I really like this series. ABC made a short-lived TV series based on it last season which I also liked. But not as much as the books obviously. Although Angie Harmon (who played the main character – Lindsay Boxer) was quite likable. I find his books, and this series in particular, to be very fun reads. And when you are baking in the sun, “thinking” books are not always the best (Milton Friedman’s “Capitalism and Freedom” is next in my pile…might get pushed down for “Gossip Girl” till after vacation..)

After sun time, it was chore time – laundry, cleaning guest bedrooms used this weekend, vacuuming house (I am ALL FOR 1 story houses btw…truly….stairs suck), hosing off deck pollen & spider webs (Angelus was VERY happy with this), and taking the garbage and recycling out to the bear box for pick-up day tomorrow. Now…I considered “accidentally” dropping garbage in the driveway and entryway to “accidentally” attract a bear or 2 (they LOVE and know when garbage day is – very smart bears!)…but I didn’t (dang it!)

Then we did another short buddy walk. I wore flip flops when I did this…unwise…I stabbed my foot on a big stick. OUCH! Bleeding!!! Crazy that the buddies can walk on all the sticks and rocks like they do. What pansy feet I have :)

I set myself a time limit on chores so it was time to make dinner and pick a movie! I made my tofu spaghetti – yum! And watched “Doubt”. Good movie. Not as dark as made out to be…but perhaps that is because A) I like the actors (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams) and B) I’m not Catholic. Good watch though.

But now just about time for sleepy so I can do it all again tomorrow :)

Friday night we got up here up around 12:30am…pretty late for me!! I was very tired since I woke up at 5am. Once here, we unloaded the car, got ready for bed and finally got to sleep around 1:15-1:30am.

Angelus barked at me to wake up around 3ish…he *never* does this unless he has an upset tummy. But he did not. He had no interest in going outside to pee or anything. So I went back to sleep. Then he woke me up again a short time later. Again, he did not want to go outside the front way to pee. He wanted to go out on the back deck.  I was exhausted so I just let him out and said good night.

Then he woke up husband around 4am and was going crazy running from the back deck to go out at the front door. We are pretty sure he was tracking a bear or coyote outside as he simply doesn’t get that excited about a raccoon or smaller critters unless he is actually chasing them – DAMMIT! I wanted to see the bear!!!! Next time! It’s been almost 2 years since I saw the bear in our driveway – I am due!! :)

I woke up at 7am and took the buds on a walk for an hour. Then it got too hot for them. Pretty sure Stormy gave me the paw.  Then it was vacation-coffee-mode on the deck in the sun :) I love sitting out on the deck facing the forest. Very peaceful, pretty and the forest smell is amazing.  Mandy came over about an hour later and Helen woke up and we eventually rallied to do a 6-mile hike where we found this alien pod:

Alien Pod

Not sure what is was. But had fun convincing ourselves it was poisonous and might kill us all on touch if we touched it (we were clearly dehydrated by this point ;) ) So I moved it out of the path with 2 sticks….where it dropped. Lesson 1: do not put me in charge of the nitro-glycerin. After giggling at ourselves we continued on and finished the hike unscathed by the alien pod…oh yeah – we did name it John :)

Mandy and me looking out over Donner Lake

Helen, me and Donner Lake

Got back and laid in the sun for an hour or so reading magazines and chatting. We opened up a bottle of Brut and a great time was had by all!

Later we had a yummy sushi dinner at Yoshimi Sushi in Incline Village. This is one of the several rolls we go that were not on the menu. This one is called the Lucky #7:

Lucky #7 sushi roll

You can link to my Yelp review from a previous visit on the front page of my blog (under Lifestream.) I HIGHLY recommend this place!!!! But then again, not so much that it gets too popular and I can’t get seated :)

Now I am in a food coma on top of 5 hours of sleep, sun and hiking…so I think this party girl should go to sleep by 10:00pm on her first day of vacation in Tahoe :)

I love hiking. I really, really do.  And when I say that, I don’t mean I’m all “Dude! Let’s totally scale that vertical side of the mountain!!’  No..definitely not that way at all.

I mean I love getting outside and walking, breathing in fresh air, hopefully seeing as many critters as I can and clearing my head. Getting outside does that for me.

I take my 2 huskies out for long walks every morning. I have been doing this for 8 years.  Every day, rain or shine (or snow!), sick or healthy (that means me.)  Every once in a while my husband will take over for me so I can sleep in but I’ve given up on that being routine. Plus the buds simply like me better this way :)

But because they are in contention as the thickest-furred and fluffiest dogs in the world, I don’t take them on sunny or warm day hikes. They don’t really enjoy it (Storm says this is an under-statement) and then I stress about them. So once the Tahoe snow is gone, I go by myself after taking them on their walks.

I love getting out on a trail, far away from any cars, not crowded with people (unless they have dogs I can say hi too!)  or noise other than nature noises.  I am always scouting for critters. In Tahoe I see a lot of squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, hawks, lizards, snakes, bunnies and deer. I’ve seen 1 bobcat, 5 coyotes and 1 bear (but this was in my driveway on a 5am doggie walk on garbage day!) I WILL see another bear!!! But I think I just need to leave peppermint patties on my driveway for this!

My forest - call me Snow White :)

At home, it’s mostly squirrels, crows, hawks, bunnies and deer. Although if I walk by the coast I also get seals, otters, all sorts of ocean birds, dolphins and whales.

I love spending 3 hours outside in the sun (clouds are nice too as long as warmish still), walking and just having peace and quiet. It really is good for the mind, body and soul.  Will always put me in a better mood.

And I want to be able to walk as long as I want. I do not want a set return time or someone asking if we are done yet.  I do NOT like to be rushed on my ME time.  I rush enough for work, homes, chores, dogs, husband, etc, etc.

And technology isn’t so bad either since I can sit here on a tree stump and blog on my iPhone about how much I love hiking and the great outdoors :)  But I better go as the thunder is clapping and the dark clouds are moving

Storm is a comin'!