A new friend, Thanksgiving and such...

Within a couple of hours of putting up my hummingbird feeder last weekend we have a regular visitor. He is super cute and always eating! I have yet to identify him as a black chinned, juvenile or female not sure but am working on it:) I also put out a bird bath and two seed feeders and the finches and sparrows are going crazy! They are actually going through 1.5 of these daily. I am hoping to attract some other birds but we will see....


I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We realized it was our first Thanksgiving by ourselves and we enjoyed it to the fullest. Watched football and movies ate and drank all day long:)
To start with we had bacon and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms and homemade crab rangoons.




















Please note the original plan (as seen above) was to take a photo of the food just before we served ourselves...unfortunately the opposite happened:) So here goes; turkey, gr chile and poblano stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, corn casserole and green bean casserole=delish-is-ness!!
















The friday after Thanksgiving was my first day to be in the field by myself, a little nervewrecking but there was only 2 of us so the pressure was a bit off and my boss was outta town. That tiny white thing down there...that is my work truck 4 door Silverado, giddy up cowgirl (my coworkers all have Rangers-:p)

This was my view as the sun rose. Being able to take pictures of the sunrise from different hillsides/mountain tops will help me not be nervous when i am out there at dawn by myself:) And hopefully one day we will have some clouds in the sky to make the sunrise better!
I hope this finds everyone well, take care

Turkey Day 2009, Va Beach

My Dad's fiance Esther, offered to register me to run in the 2009 Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 10k (6.2mi). Obviously, I signed up for it. Getting up early and running in a traffic jam of people for an hour was a new and exciting experience. It was a good way to make an excuse for gorging one's self on Turkey later on. For my first race ever, it was a lot of fun. I will definitely race again and even try a 20k next time.

It is kind of hard to see, but that is Esther and I approaching the finish line. We kept up a good pace with a stop here and there. I've learned that if you are critical of the pictures taken of yourself, then do not ever have a picture taken when you are running. It will never look good.

The weather was almost perfect for me and there was even a little sun out when we were running the course. We finished the race in pretty good shape. I did a lot better then I thought I would. I figured I would be walking in the breakdown lane for half the race due to dehydration, leg cramps or some other indicator of being out-of-shape. Granted I was almost dead last in my age group, I see it as a challenge for next time.

A few hours later, for Thanksgiving dinner we all met up with my Grandmother and had a really nice dinner. The menu was designed as an a la carte so on my plate is basically one of everything, including some king crab legs. And of course that was only round one. After dinner and a nap on Grandma's couch, my Dad and I made it back home for some football and pecan pie. I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too! I miss all of ya.
Steve

Virginia Tech vs. NC State

What a perfect day for a football game. The stands were packed, the weather started off good, and we had good seats. The Hokies played great and NC State did what they were supposed to do...lose.

When the Hokies enter onto the field they play 'Enter Sandman'. It was senior day so they did things a little differently. However, everyone was hyped up for the game. I hope the video works.



That's my Dad and I of course. And what's that around my neck.?.. Hmm... Only the coolest scarf ever made! :) The sun was almost overwhelming but thankfully I wore sunblock, for once.

The day game turned into a night game and the temperature plummeted. Lane Stadium looked awesome under the lights. By now the Hokies had a good lead and all the NC State fans were crying in thier Beam & Cokes.

The section of the stadium to the left was just recently built. Before it was put up, there was nothing but a field there. Now it is a fist full of Hokies!!

This is an old restaurant Taj and I worked at. It's called Macado's and they apparently put up some gawdy awnings over the windows.

Take care everyone, hope all is well!!
Steve

Our first house guest

Shyam's friend Justin came out for a couple days this week and he brought us this beautiful chimenea!! the boys partied by the fire on both nights drinkin and tokin the night away. It's such perfect weather now for this since the nights are chilly!!

I forgot how cold the desert actually gets; i have been layering up in the morning for work-it's like in the low 30's when we are starting work:( and is gonna get colder :-0 (request permission to use)
















I will take your ribs and raise you a platter (cookie sheet) of nachos-food wars have begun:)

We went to the two local bars in town-well one is in town, the other is one town over...Yep, that was the name of the band at the first bar we went to...Welcome to a red state:(

2 local bars: Roman's Oasis and Waddell's Longhorn's. Yes, they are both country western bars...i think we will be creating a bar in our home, atleast a liqour cabinet:)

Ahhh, the joys of being a house cat:) Player has taken to finding the patch of sun and laying like this inside of it. Like his new trim figure? too cute or adorable, i can't decide:)

They have also taken to hang out in the back yard. Player has even learned how to open the sliding screen door:( i know the yard is ugly now but soon i will start working on it to make it pretty!

take care guys, hope to hear from you soon!!

desert, desert, and more desert:)

This was a walk we took in the White Tank Regional Park, it was a simple walk with too many people and yes, Taj i mean children but not only that adults-let me rephrase that adult cowboys in cowboy boots that are packing...we will have to look into longer hikes that less cowboy packin dudes are on:)

petroglyphs, .... coolio!

Ahhh, the critters of the desert..not sure about this ground squirrel but the lizard (i think) is a male side blotch lizard...cutie pie!

Shyam vs. the saguaro:)..no offense baby but i think the saguaro would win!

Taj----are you EVER gonna post a blog?!!! and don't tell me you are getting work done:( the holidays are upon us and i know that you have 10 days off!!!!You don't have any ideas? here are some to start with...D, D's Bday party!!!, the clouds and the rain (i have almost forgotten what they look/feel like) kkkk, now you have something to start with! looking forward to seeing it:)