Tonight we have reached the point of no return. We have the cement cut and removed from the basement area, the door wall taken out and we will put it back tomorrow in it's new place and we'll get on to moving dirt out of the area's where the new plumbing will be.
Oh to be back at it again. This is good. Still have to keep the upstairs kitties up and the downstairs kitties down and so far so good. Plus we don't want them using the newly created dirt area as a special box all their own.
But so far the project is moving onwards as we thought is should. We even decided this was the best reason to break out the JWBlue. Oh how sweet it is! our toast is "Back in the Saddle again" that's the remodeling saddle y'all.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fall projects
So, today we tried an approach to the rose hedge that worked GREAT! Some where along the way I envisioned tying up each individual bush and lopping them off at the base. IT WORKED GREAT! We still have to get the bundles to the dump but we are hoping heavily on our neighbor for the use of the trailer. It's all green waste so it goes into the side of the dump that doesn't cost anything and they compost all of the green waste.
The difference on the border is huge, I can see down the street and this spring we can stain the fence. So nice to have the overwhelming hedge down.!
The difference on the border is huge, I can see down the street and this spring we can stain the fence. So nice to have the overwhelming hedge down.!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sweet surprises
Shopping at Costco I came across some frozen fruit cups. Tucked in an odd corner and probably won't be available again I find little 4 oz packages of Fruit Singles by Wawona. This particular one is spectrum blend. it has Peaches, Strawberries, Pineapple, Kiwi, Blueberries, and Cranberries. WOW how good is that? States it's 100% fruit, no colors, no sugar etc. Hope it's as good as it sounds. YEA!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Health Insurance makes me crazy!
You got to have it, you have to make decisions not knowing what is in store for you down stream, you know it's expensive. Then you have to deal with them when they delay payment, loose your claim, or deny coverage all together. After dealing with insurance companies I tend to NOT trust them and wonder how all the information will be used (against us) down stream.
HIPAA came about some how to finally prevent health providers AND the insurance companies from SHARING your information. OH DUH. Now there is a upcoming boom of businesses that offer "WELLNESS" to a company. You are subjected to blood tests, weight and BMI and a lengthy questionnaire that wants your family history as well as you personal details on how you live. By doing this they work with your insurance company to off set your premiums. All under the guise of 'helping you'. You are assigned a coach to help you set your goals, reach them and by golly celebrate with you as you reach your goals! How cozy is that? And they report back to your employer that you are compliant.
Who will get that information? Of course they say this is all HIPAA protected. Well of course it is up front. But the nameless statistics will most certainly be gathered. And used. Watch out Health Care reform.
Long ago the FDA came up with the food pyramid. Well, didn't they blow that? it's totally UPSIDE DOWN. But for years since the effin GOVERNMENT told you it was what was best for you people believed it. They tell us coffee is good, they tell us coffee is bad, they tell us eggs are good they tell us eggs are bad, and the list of good vs bad goes on and on. We've been TOLD what is good for us or bad for us for so long we no longer make our own decisions.
This is the first year the place I work and where husband works timed out the decision making for choosing benefits. This year we could make an intelligent decision on what to do. We'll stay with his plan. Overall the out of pocket risk is greater to have two plans, and that is the ultimate decision. Also, I do NOT have to choose to go through the wellness program. You know since it's no longer attached to my insurance it would be a good thing to follow. I wonder if it's available without being attached to my insurance plan.
One of the ways an insurance company rates a groups risk factor is the percentage of possible child bearing people or families in the group. Too bad you can't have two policies. One that would cover that group, and one that would look at the others that no longer fall in that category.
It will never be an easy answer. But one thing that is very obvious is we need to take more responsibility for our selves and quit letting the government tell us what is best for us. Quit letting them make decisions that will control us. Quit keeping our heads in the sand.
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way . . . . . . (well one or two anyway)
HIPAA came about some how to finally prevent health providers AND the insurance companies from SHARING your information. OH DUH. Now there is a upcoming boom of businesses that offer "WELLNESS" to a company. You are subjected to blood tests, weight and BMI and a lengthy questionnaire that wants your family history as well as you personal details on how you live. By doing this they work with your insurance company to off set your premiums. All under the guise of 'helping you'. You are assigned a coach to help you set your goals, reach them and by golly celebrate with you as you reach your goals! How cozy is that? And they report back to your employer that you are compliant.
Who will get that information? Of course they say this is all HIPAA protected. Well of course it is up front. But the nameless statistics will most certainly be gathered. And used. Watch out Health Care reform.
Long ago the FDA came up with the food pyramid. Well, didn't they blow that? it's totally UPSIDE DOWN. But for years since the effin GOVERNMENT told you it was what was best for you people believed it. They tell us coffee is good, they tell us coffee is bad, they tell us eggs are good they tell us eggs are bad, and the list of good vs bad goes on and on. We've been TOLD what is good for us or bad for us for so long we no longer make our own decisions.
This is the first year the place I work and where husband works timed out the decision making for choosing benefits. This year we could make an intelligent decision on what to do. We'll stay with his plan. Overall the out of pocket risk is greater to have two plans, and that is the ultimate decision. Also, I do NOT have to choose to go through the wellness program. You know since it's no longer attached to my insurance it would be a good thing to follow. I wonder if it's available without being attached to my insurance plan.
One of the ways an insurance company rates a groups risk factor is the percentage of possible child bearing people or families in the group. Too bad you can't have two policies. One that would cover that group, and one that would look at the others that no longer fall in that category.
It will never be an easy answer. But one thing that is very obvious is we need to take more responsibility for our selves and quit letting the government tell us what is best for us. Quit letting them make decisions that will control us. Quit keeping our heads in the sand.
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way . . . . . . (well one or two anyway)
Monday, September 28, 2009
So you don't know what you got till it's gone . . .
Fresh fish. Man, it's just something missing from our diet. Who knew that in one fast year we would still be looking for good fish. OK, let me back track a little here.
Since this weekend marked our one year anniversary moving to UT we wanted to have a little celebration dinner. We have a real nice bottle of chardonnay from Napa that is just yelling at us to have for dinner so we thought it would be good to get some halibut and have a nice dinner. I figured I would pick up some halibut from Costco as that's been the best looking for as long as I can remember. (NOTE: the halibut I remember was seen in AK Costco) So I wasn't really anticipating problems when I stopped at Costco to pick up some for dinner on Saturday till I looked at what they had to offer. ICK. like as in REALLY ICK. So, I mulled the salmon and decided to go over this with Terry.
We figured there MUST be a seafood market in SLC. After all, the grocery stores actually have fish selections, but I wouldn't buy fish there as they have NO idea how to handle it and who knows how long it's been there. So we look on line and decide to find one that had very high ratings in downtown SLC near Temple Square. This is really downtown. We left our house about 11 am and headed out. Once we get to town and to the area we are supposed to go (cause we did certainly look this up on Google and had the map in hand) we realized it's Saturday market at the Pioneer park and you can hardly get near the fish market. We only had to drive around a few blocks before we could even get in the parking lot for the business but we managed.
So the fish market is on the end of this fancy market/deli place that basically you need to have the right shoes on, carry the right purse, etc to even be in the place and be taken seriously. This was not boding well. Then we find the doors to this place and walk in. UGH. First instinct was to turn around and walk out. Ever smell the bottom of a dock? This was worse. And while they list tons of types of fish, there was hardly ANY display. What a disappointment. One of the guys was trimming a large tuna and couldn't even cut it his knife was so dull. The halibut selections sucked. Plus were the tail pieces with skin on still so by the time you trimmed them you would have paper plate thick pieces. We quickly backed out and went to the car.
So, we figured we would find ourselves a burger and a phone book and try for another market. We got ourselves situated in town for the proximity for where we needed to go and had lunch. Found another market and after several times of flipping back and forth in the phone book maps we had an idea where we needed to go. After lunch we headed out and for the most part drove right to the area. There are large business clusters on both sides of the road so we have to figure out where in the world this place was. Course we picked the wrong side of the road first and had to back track and cross over to get to the other side.
This market was attached to a restaurant and also VERY high end. The fish at least didn't stink which was nice, but they had the halibut pre cut in small pieces, skin on, and were priced $6.99 and in very small print EACH. WHAT THE HECK? This fish was priced out at like 18.99 a pound. OH MAN were we ruing the day we could pull out a chunk of fish from the freezer that Terry caught and enjoy it!
So we headed to one of the Costco's in SLC to see if their selection was any better. At $10.99 a pound it's still pricey but it's a celebration and we weren't feeding anyone but us so we made our selection and headed home. Home by 4:30 in the afternoon. Home after trucking all over the west end of SLC trying to find our way around. Home after driving in all new areas we hadn't ever explored before. (and will likely not again) ; - )
So, we get home and open the fish and whew what a smell. It was all I could do to not chuck it. I rinsed it well, and trimmed it, and Costco's was ever so clever in packaging it and tucked a good 8 inches of thin tail meat that you really can't do a whole lot with under the filet making it look bigger. SUCK HEADS. This piece was at least without skin, but I still have to clean it up and slice it up. We ended up with 4 measly pieces that I put in a baggie with some olive oil and spices till the grill was ready. ALL the garbage went out immediately. baahh. ICK.
Got our salad made, got the wine out of the fridge so it had a chance to warm up a bit, had a white table cloth and napkins and made the little green folding table outside up to look extra special and we had dinner. The BEST part was Terry absolutely outdid him self with the grilling on the halibut. Once it was seared he moved it off the heat onto the foil and closed up the grill (with the holes still open for the heat) and we sat and enjoyed our salad first. Then the fish came off and it was PERFECT. Absolutely PERFECT. It no longer smelled or tasted or even hinted of fishy it was delicately seasoned and done PERFECT! Man you couldn't ask for a better meal. The salad was good, the wine was better, the fish was the best.
Here's to one year land locked in UT and hoping our son gets the fish sent soon. !!!
And to all you folks in AK! RELISH THAT WILDLIFE! Eat hearty, savor each and every bite, cause we are jealous!
ME
Since this weekend marked our one year anniversary moving to UT we wanted to have a little celebration dinner. We have a real nice bottle of chardonnay from Napa that is just yelling at us to have for dinner so we thought it would be good to get some halibut and have a nice dinner. I figured I would pick up some halibut from Costco as that's been the best looking for as long as I can remember. (NOTE: the halibut I remember was seen in AK Costco) So I wasn't really anticipating problems when I stopped at Costco to pick up some for dinner on Saturday till I looked at what they had to offer. ICK. like as in REALLY ICK. So, I mulled the salmon and decided to go over this with Terry.
We figured there MUST be a seafood market in SLC. After all, the grocery stores actually have fish selections, but I wouldn't buy fish there as they have NO idea how to handle it and who knows how long it's been there. So we look on line and decide to find one that had very high ratings in downtown SLC near Temple Square. This is really downtown. We left our house about 11 am and headed out. Once we get to town and to the area we are supposed to go (cause we did certainly look this up on Google and had the map in hand) we realized it's Saturday market at the Pioneer park and you can hardly get near the fish market. We only had to drive around a few blocks before we could even get in the parking lot for the business but we managed.
So the fish market is on the end of this fancy market/deli place that basically you need to have the right shoes on, carry the right purse, etc to even be in the place and be taken seriously. This was not boding well. Then we find the doors to this place and walk in. UGH. First instinct was to turn around and walk out. Ever smell the bottom of a dock? This was worse. And while they list tons of types of fish, there was hardly ANY display. What a disappointment. One of the guys was trimming a large tuna and couldn't even cut it his knife was so dull. The halibut selections sucked. Plus were the tail pieces with skin on still so by the time you trimmed them you would have paper plate thick pieces. We quickly backed out and went to the car.
So, we figured we would find ourselves a burger and a phone book and try for another market. We got ourselves situated in town for the proximity for where we needed to go and had lunch. Found another market and after several times of flipping back and forth in the phone book maps we had an idea where we needed to go. After lunch we headed out and for the most part drove right to the area. There are large business clusters on both sides of the road so we have to figure out where in the world this place was. Course we picked the wrong side of the road first and had to back track and cross over to get to the other side.
This market was attached to a restaurant and also VERY high end. The fish at least didn't stink which was nice, but they had the halibut pre cut in small pieces, skin on, and were priced $6.99 and in very small print EACH. WHAT THE HECK? This fish was priced out at like 18.99 a pound. OH MAN were we ruing the day we could pull out a chunk of fish from the freezer that Terry caught and enjoy it!
So we headed to one of the Costco's in SLC to see if their selection was any better. At $10.99 a pound it's still pricey but it's a celebration and we weren't feeding anyone but us so we made our selection and headed home. Home by 4:30 in the afternoon. Home after trucking all over the west end of SLC trying to find our way around. Home after driving in all new areas we hadn't ever explored before. (and will likely not again) ; - )
So, we get home and open the fish and whew what a smell. It was all I could do to not chuck it. I rinsed it well, and trimmed it, and Costco's was ever so clever in packaging it and tucked a good 8 inches of thin tail meat that you really can't do a whole lot with under the filet making it look bigger. SUCK HEADS. This piece was at least without skin, but I still have to clean it up and slice it up. We ended up with 4 measly pieces that I put in a baggie with some olive oil and spices till the grill was ready. ALL the garbage went out immediately. baahh. ICK.
Got our salad made, got the wine out of the fridge so it had a chance to warm up a bit, had a white table cloth and napkins and made the little green folding table outside up to look extra special and we had dinner. The BEST part was Terry absolutely outdid him self with the grilling on the halibut. Once it was seared he moved it off the heat onto the foil and closed up the grill (with the holes still open for the heat) and we sat and enjoyed our salad first. Then the fish came off and it was PERFECT. Absolutely PERFECT. It no longer smelled or tasted or even hinted of fishy it was delicately seasoned and done PERFECT! Man you couldn't ask for a better meal. The salad was good, the wine was better, the fish was the best.
Here's to one year land locked in UT and hoping our son gets the fish sent soon. !!!
And to all you folks in AK! RELISH THAT WILDLIFE! Eat hearty, savor each and every bite, cause we are jealous!
ME
Thursday, September 24, 2009
to Acclimate
we are approaching our one year anniversary here in UT. In fact Saturday at about 5 pm will mark one year. whew, several days drive on the road with the cats. Several stressful hotel rooms, the poor kitties being boarded for like 10 days while I was in Montana, Terry had to travel to Vernal UT, and then back to Montana to then have both of us travel for a few days in NE MT to visit his family in Sidney. Poor poor kitties. they were sick, tired, lost a lot of weight and still purred when we held them. They must have had the strangest thoughts.
Not unlike ours as we viewed our new home. At least our new area, and man it was gorgeous. Trees of every variety, flowers blooming, ornamental grasses of all types I can imagine everywhere. Lucky for us the local BYU (yup, that is THE BYU) was having away games cause our landing spot was across from the stadium and they had a room that would take cats. For all of 5 days we were there. SO GLAD our Realtor located a condo in Sandy UT for us on short term. We got it for a month and then weekly after that. We only needed a month.
In that time we have made decisions that will affect us for awhile. We set up banking (and changed our banking since then) we bought a house (and remodeled it already with more to come) I had work (and for my safety and sake left that and looked for something else) I found great work and am still there (Thank you God) We made a February trip back to see family in AK (cause EVERYONE in AK is Family no matter what) We have agreed to foster our daughters two cats (and haven't killed them yet cause we learned never to say "what's the worse that can happen cause it will ) We travelled to Napa CA to see our daughter and son in Law and on up to Oregon for a dear friends 60th birthday, And we have seen a great deal of this state and really enjoy this a lot!
But back to acclimating. We now feel that 80 isn't so bad cause it's better then 100. And we are realizing that when you have 80's to 100 + that 50's and below are chilly. It may have to do with the fact that you are now in tank tops and shorts where you wouldn't have been in AK but again with the acclimating. The weather is exactly what we had when we moved here and with that it's much cooler than a month ago so it's Divine! A year ago we were suffering and VERY glad we had air in the car. The other night we did make the decision to close up the house cause the lows would be in the low 40's for the night. In AK the house would still be wide open with fan's on to bring in the breeze. We no longer travel with coats in the car all the time but have to remember that we'll need them in the near future. We no longer travel with rain coats either cause for one thing the rain is warm, and it won't last all day for sure only a short time no matter what and afater that you will dry out and not get hypo thermia. Another cloud may come by and rain some more, but in general you only have to wait it out.
We still marvel at some early termination dust on the mountain and every one here didn't even really notice. The snow melted the same day probably before noon, but it was there, and a special sight when you watch and follow the intricate cycles of weather. We appreciate that when you travel from home to the southern part of the state is gets hotter even though it's well past sunset. We are eternally thankful to experience all of this.
So acclimate we will, I hope we can handle the cold this year, cause it's nothing like we are used to and promises to be yet another fun winter, but oh wait........ it won't be for another two to three months. ; - )
Mag
Not unlike ours as we viewed our new home. At least our new area, and man it was gorgeous. Trees of every variety, flowers blooming, ornamental grasses of all types I can imagine everywhere. Lucky for us the local BYU (yup, that is THE BYU) was having away games cause our landing spot was across from the stadium and they had a room that would take cats. For all of 5 days we were there. SO GLAD our Realtor located a condo in Sandy UT for us on short term. We got it for a month and then weekly after that. We only needed a month.
In that time we have made decisions that will affect us for awhile. We set up banking (and changed our banking since then) we bought a house (and remodeled it already with more to come) I had work (and for my safety and sake left that and looked for something else) I found great work and am still there (Thank you God) We made a February trip back to see family in AK (cause EVERYONE in AK is Family no matter what) We have agreed to foster our daughters two cats (and haven't killed them yet cause we learned never to say "what's the worse that can happen cause it will ) We travelled to Napa CA to see our daughter and son in Law and on up to Oregon for a dear friends 60th birthday, And we have seen a great deal of this state and really enjoy this a lot!
But back to acclimating. We now feel that 80 isn't so bad cause it's better then 100. And we are realizing that when you have 80's to 100 + that 50's and below are chilly. It may have to do with the fact that you are now in tank tops and shorts where you wouldn't have been in AK but again with the acclimating. The weather is exactly what we had when we moved here and with that it's much cooler than a month ago so it's Divine! A year ago we were suffering and VERY glad we had air in the car. The other night we did make the decision to close up the house cause the lows would be in the low 40's for the night. In AK the house would still be wide open with fan's on to bring in the breeze. We no longer travel with coats in the car all the time but have to remember that we'll need them in the near future. We no longer travel with rain coats either cause for one thing the rain is warm, and it won't last all day for sure only a short time no matter what and afater that you will dry out and not get hypo thermia. Another cloud may come by and rain some more, but in general you only have to wait it out.
We still marvel at some early termination dust on the mountain and every one here didn't even really notice. The snow melted the same day probably before noon, but it was there, and a special sight when you watch and follow the intricate cycles of weather. We appreciate that when you travel from home to the southern part of the state is gets hotter even though it's well past sunset. We are eternally thankful to experience all of this.
So acclimate we will, I hope we can handle the cold this year, cause it's nothing like we are used to and promises to be yet another fun winter, but oh wait........ it won't be for another two to three months. ; - )
Mag
Monday, September 14, 2009
Zion National Park 2009
WOW. What a great weekend we had. The weather was grand, the vistas were astonishing. Here we are in Springdale with a view of the cliffs.
We arrived in Hurrican UT Friday evening in time to settle in for the night. It's a 3 to 3.5 hour drive so since I could skedaddle out of work a little early that made for getting out of town easier. A decent enough room at the Travel lodge for a great price. Funny though, we had to stop off in a little town Toquerville first to drop off some paint to the local dealer. He lives in Toquerville and the store is in Cedar City but since we were coming through later we just dropped it off to him direct. We met at the 'little' post office and made the exchange. It was dark by then and the temps outside had been as cool as 72 degrees, until we started descending from Cedar City. We watched our outside temps go back up to 85 degrees. Welcome to the southern Utah climate. So from turning the air conditioner to warmer for a while, to more cold later was very weird.
On Saturday morning we went into Cedar City for the horse parade. I was expecting a lot of horses but need to remember it's a small town out west and they do the best they can. We found the most perfect place to sit and enjoyed ourselves just the same. Apparently Cedar City has LOTS of parades. It's a great little town with a lot going on and we had a good time.
From there we went to the park. For the first day we just took the drive through the park, tunnel and on to the other side. Stopped along the way to take pictures and admire the amazing views. Yes pictures will come soon.
Saturday night we went out to dinner with the dealer we delivered the paint to. What a fun night, good food and lots of laughter!
Sunday we got up early so we could take advantage of the cool temps and better light. It wasn't quite the gronk of doom but 5 am is early. Got a hearty breakfast at the local JB's and on we went to the park. Our goal Sunday was to park at the lodge and take the shuttle bus up Zion Canyon. You can not drive your cars into the canyon during peak season but the shuttle is free, and while not a whistle stop has lots of stops you can get on and off at your leisure.
We opted for some of the easier hiking areas as we aren't exactly versed in hard core hiking. The Emerald Pools hike went very well and we pushed ourselves up to the middle pool before descending and taking the Kayenta trail out. it's about a mile and a half and in places you are climbing up stairs that have quite the steps to them. We saw dear, birds, and a little lizard's tail. He was too quick to see him entirely, just saw his tail.
From there we hopped back on the bus to the end of the road and walked the trail to the Temple of Sinawava. We made it most of the way back and decided to call it quits as we were hot and tired and sore so we headed back to the bus for the ride to the lodge. Probably another couple of miles of just walking on cement that is covered with sand on my poor foot didn't do it a world of good, but the sights were amazing!
Off to work today, I'll work on some more pictures later this week. We had three cameras along and I need to figure out what all to compile. Plus Terry took some really nice little video clips I'm hoping will post on the Gmail account. I'll be sure to give it my best shot.
Till then, Happy trails to you . . . .
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