Minne-snow-ta

Last week, I took a little trip to Minnesota to visit The Parents. Thanks for the cookies Mom! Too bad there are none left. Sniff.



I had the good fortune of visiting The Museum of Office Antiquities, so I took a picture of this old tapper for my friend, Fred.



And I snuck in a candid of the The Counselor.

Cranes in Teton Valley

I know all y'all who live in towns with 5 or more-digit populations see these all the time, but a crane is truly a surreal image in Teton Valley. We don't have any buildings taller than 3 stories-- and that is rare. This modern T-Rex popped out of nowhere! Maybe that means a second stoplight soon...

Back in Action

The last month has been filled with lots of hours on planes and in front of my laptop. Some even in front of my laptop on a plane. Oh, there were a few days up at Targhee, too.

In January, I went to southern California for a trade show. When I was done working, I went to Studio City to visit Karrie and Jeff. Jeff took me to the newly renovated Griffith Observatory. The astronomy was fascinating- all the research, equipment, models, history. We had a healthy dose of melodrama in the planetarium too. The view of LA and the Pacific is spectacular. (Notice- no hat or mittens- woo hoo!)

















And this one is for my mom-



I was home in Driggs for a couple weeks and as my Gram says, 'Grass doesn't grow long under your feet!' Loathe to disappoint her, I hitched up the team and was back over at Jackson Hole Airport. Next stop: Spokane, Wa. My aunt Carole and I share the same b-day, so I went to Spokane to celebrate with her, drink scotch with Carl and visit with my Grandma. On Sunday, Carl took the lovely ladies out to Anthony's in downtown Spokane, the neighbor baked a nectarine pie, Gram made brownies and Carole saved 7 episodes of Project Runway for me on Tivo. It was a great birthday weekend.




Coincidentally, C.D. was traveling on the exact same schedule (or is that suspect?), so we kept each other company at DIA.



Catherine and C.D. put together an uproarious collection of gifts for me, including the Casino Royale DVD. Hubba hubba Pouty Daniel Craig. To witness celebrity internet stalking, click here: http://www.dedicatedtodaniel.com/. WOW.

Winter Walking and Skating

I cannot resist sharing these pictures from last week's snowshoe excursion with CD and Cat. The Hoyles endured a harrowing 1000 mile road trip from Eureka, CA to com visit us in Driggs. Too many laughs and cocktails! Thanks for coming to see us, kids!


Camera Credit: C.A. Hoyle


Photo Credit: C.D. Hoyle.

We also went to see the Earwigs play the Cowboy Bar team in Jackson. Maz scored the lone goal for his team. GO WIGS!

Christmas in Warsh-ington

Thanks to our dear Aunt Carole and Uncle Teasy (Carl) for hosting us for Christmas this year. I felt right at home while it dumped snow, but unlike the Targhee Pow, it was heavy and wet PNW precip.

Carl let me plow their driveway with his ATV and Jay relinquished his opportunity to push piles, 'You're going to need lots of practice for next winter on Paiute Street!' I must say the supervision was superb and I really am relieved that they stayed hydrated.

Grandma and Carl's mom Mildred were also at Christmas and we had a great time goofing off with them.

Carole serves up a feast for all.



Sophie dances around the Pup-peroni.


Gram poses.

Dashing through the snow

I was very excited to cut down our own Christmas tree this year. Maz, being the career mountain man and cutter of several Xmas trees in his youth, was more than prepared for this excursion.

He researched the location.



He researched the method.


He borrowed the tools.


He mixed the toddy.


Timber!


He engineered the retrieval method.


We have a legal tree.



Merry Christmas

Frosty

After peeling myself out of bed on a zero degree morning, I looked out and saw the layer of frost over Driggs. The trees looked so bright and brittle. I grabbed the camera and fingerless gloves (with the flip top- thanks Alison) and took some shots. I mostly used my film camera, but I snuck in a few with Jay's new digi.

Sea to Ski

Hawaii is incredible! It was an action packed 2 weeks with lots of driving, swimming and laughing with our friends J, Kelly, CD, Catherine, Jeff and Karrie. Maz and I eventually made it around the whole island to see the crazy landscape that seems to change within 5 feet of elevation gain.

We snorkeled in 3 different places, saw dolphins from afar and up close, went to a Luau in Kona, camped in the Puna district near 40 foot cliffs, saw some amazing sunsets and learned how to open up a coconut without a power drill.

Start saving your miles and get to Hawaii, wiki wiki!

Our friend Caleb graciously shuttled us to and from the airport (he is easy to bribe when beer is involved), and we returned to a wintery Driggs afternoon. Afraid of falling asleep for the rest of the day and being up all night- red eyes, gotta love them-we went skiing instead. We took our first 2 runs of the season. Bring on the powder.



Kona weather report: 77 and light wind
Driggs weather report: 18 and dumping snow, wind from the north

house goes to SIP factory, we go to the beach.

With any luck at all, Maz's gorgeous and accurate CAD drawings of our floor plan will go the SIP people this week. In the interim, this blog is turning into Hawaii Unwrapped, also titled Look at My Pretty Pictures, I am Having Fun Getting Sunburned at Approximately the 20th Parallel.

Most of the gear is packed. The summer gear is rolled in a space saving configuration. The flip flops are dusted. Let's go.

Licensed to Swill

(Click on the photo for a special treat.)

Getting my Idaho license today was completely unlike going to the MA RMV in the Watertown Mall an hour before it opens and hoping to make it to work only 2 hours late. I didn't have to look up the wait time on the internet and strategically plan my arrival, nor did I have get a second job to pay for an out of state transfer fee.

I also redeemed myself from failing my driver's test twice 16 years ago- I got a 95. My new license expires when I'm 40-sweet!

Happy Birthday Zunger!

Legal Migration

Back to incognito. We are no longer "the people with Mass plates" anymore.

24 Hours of Targhee

Life in Teton Valley would not be complete without a 24 hour mountain bike race. Our friend Randy of Team ODB (guess the acronym-special prize for the winner) raced at 24 hours of Targhee in September. Hard core!

mail , rocks, porches, bikes and parks

The mailboxes for the 'hood have been delivered. It reminds me of my Aunt Helen and Uncle Tom's mailbox complex in Caledonia, MN. When I visited, Helen would let me trot across the street with her key and retrieve the mail. Half the time I would forget which number it was in the time span of 30 seconds. Some things never change.

They look to be very Louisville Slugger-hanging-out-of-a-car proof, which is good, because I would hate to have my weekly delivery from Sierra Trading Post destroyed at the hand of a punk Driggs 15 year old.

I wish I knew which one was ours!


Yeah, more babyheads. Just want to give you a COMPREHENSIVE visual of the landscape. Get used to it.














Exercises in pantomine. Here is Maz leaning on our front porch railing.















Exercises in perspective. Maz's Silver Bullet on our brand new sidewalk.

















This is the back edge of our backyard, which backs up to a park with a soccer field and, if Jay has anything to say about it, a winter skating pond. Triple lutz anyone?




A parting shot for the day- a beautiful blue Idaho sky from the SW corner of our lot. Next spring, this same shot will hopefully feature a garage.

Speling Lesin

This was an exciting surprise- street signs! Paiute Street exists!

Oh wait, it's Piute Street, along with Legrand Pieere. Can we chalk one up for the merits double-checking our work? I hope they've been fixed on my trip out there tonight. Embarassing for my Idaho brethren!

Jealousy

Look who beat us to a building permit- our neighbor across the street! Must be an inside job.

We did have fun running around in their ceiling-less basement.

Babyheads!

Main Entry: babyhead; 'bA-bE 'hed
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural babyheads
Etymology: Teton English, from rock

1 a (1) Rocks similar in size and shape to the head of an infant.


Get used to seeing lots of pictures of these and christmas or birthday gifts of similar composition.












Jay rides the Silver Bullet in the yard while he can. Once those daises go in- off limits!

Topo-graphique

I'm olde skool and still shoot film, so here is a aerial topo of our lot and the park behind our sagebrush yard. I only have 3 shots left- more pics soon.


We have a small hill in the southwest corner of our lot and we were pretty much going to level the whole thing. It was haunting our casero-vision. Then our architect friend checked out the lot and said "This is the best lot in the whole neighborhood! We're keeping it!"