A Very Random Assortment of Things

These little buggers hang out in our trees each morning, causing Hitcher to spend hours looking skyward, and, of course, to howl.

Mmmmmmm.....uffaletta. We had some authentic New Orleans-style olive salad on hand, so I made this muffaletta for dinner one night last week. Well, actually, it lasted for more than 1 meal - more like 3.

I finally met our 98 year old neighbor two evenings ago. She said, "Your dog is the best behaved dog. He never barks at me." Ted says her comments are proof of her senility.

Hitcher came darn close to eating my parents' parakeet yesterday. The poor bird was all ruffled and worked up. Apparently, later that evening, the bird got loose in the house after biting my dad, and both the dog and cat were chasing it around.

I've never really been allergic to anything before, but I am certainly suffering from seasonal allergies right now. I had a bad reaction in the middle of our group ride last Saturday, so I'm now taking OTC Claritin. It seems to help a bit.

We're having a cocktail party on Friday night. I think we're both hoping it will force us to organize the spare bedroom/office, along with being fun, of course. After having a few weekends at home, we're heading toward Seattle this weekend for Tia and Andy's wedding (http://cannondalegirl.blogspot.com/) and a cross race.

Today is Pazza's birthday. She's 2!

We've been doing a fair amount of mountain biking lately. Lord knows I can use all the practice I can get! The nice thing is that I can actually see the progression as I get better and more confident. Don't get me wrong - I'm still a wuss, but I'm less of a chicken than I used to be.

We went up to Moscow Mountain yesterday morning with Chris and Lorena, who offered to show us some trails. We had been doing the same loop over and over, so it was fun (and a little scary!) to try some new trails. Seeing as my first cross race is probably a week from today, I need to get myself heading into off-road mode... and fast.

Lots of people walk by our house since it is in a neighborhood full of families and is directly across the street from the park. Hitcher howls at anyone passing with a dog, and even quite a few without, which is what the bark collar is for. There is only one person at whom he never howls - our 98 year old neighbor who walks to the park with her walker. We have yet to meet her, but other neighbors have told us that she lives alone and walks all over town with her walker. Hitcher will quietly watch her, or walk along beside her as she passes our fence, but he has never howled at her. It's almost as if he knows better than to bother this old lady.

Rafting

Rusty and his girlfriend, Deborah, came back for a few days to visit this week.
Since Rusty and Deborah were in town, we all decided to take a raft trip on the Salmon River. Mom sat this one out. Left to right we have: me, Ted, Dad, Rusty, and Deborah.

Ted was first up in the kayak since he was the one who was most enthusiastic about it. He ended up kayaking when the sun was directly overhead and forgot to put sunscreen on the fronts of his legs, so he has some very red shins right now!

Rusty was sure that Ted was going to end up in the water, so we were all waiting for Rusty to have his moment of glory. Surprisingly enough, he made it through without turning it over.

Finally, it was my turn in the kayak. I had never gone kayaking before, and it turned out to be really fun. Our guide forgot to mention that I would have two rapids to go through, rather than one. The 2nd one sure looked big to me, but I made it through without capsizing. My arms and torso were very sore the next day, as were my legs from running, so I was pretty much sore all over!

Greedy scammers

We knew there would be a lot of cleaning to do when we moved out of our old apartment. Ted lived there for eight years, so almost nothing had been replaced or tended to in that time. We both cleaned the place for several hours during our final day there, and Ted continued cleaning until 3 am that morning. We had received our list of what we needed to clean and we made sure to do all of those things.

Unfortunately, we made the mistake of trusting our apartment managers. We have dealt with them a lot in the past few years and always thought they were great people. When Ted talked with them on the phone, they told him not to worry about cleaning the blinds because they would all be replaced. They also said the walls would be primed and painted, so we got the major scuffs off, but not every little mark. Finally, they told us we only needed to vacuum the carpet, as it would all be replaced. We trusted them when they told us all of these things.

When Ted got his damage deposit check in the mail, he received a whopping $8.64 out of $500! They charged us for every little thing, including the unclean blinds, the marks on the walls (they supposedly spent 12 hours cleaning the walls alone), and the carpet. Ted immediately called the apartment owners and complained about the charges from the managers. The owners completely backed up the managers, but Ted got them to back down a bit when he threatened to take them to small claims court. We did have in writing that we did not need to do a thing to the carpet, so we knew we had a great case for court.

While we could not prove the cases for the blinds and walls, we did at least get them to refund the money for the carpet. We also discovered that the managers keep whatever money is not refunded to the tenants. Conflict of interest? Hmmmm.... Scammers. I will never again trust people in this position. The owners also said that they are no longer willing to give us a positive recommendation. It's hard to believe that people are so deceptive and greedy.

Um, it's a CAT tower, not a dog tower!

Our little house that we are renting.

Here's a lovely photo of my brother from a few years ago. He was trying to get rid of his tan lines before his trip to Europe.

And, Miss Pazza is starting to feel at home too.

Shamus is feeling at home in the new bathroom.

home and ready to exercise!

This is the result of Ted going through his T-shirt drawer after we moved.

After a week of way too much food in Chicago and Wisconsin, it's nice to be home and getting back on the exercise track. I let all dietary caution go out the window and enjoyed cheese, cheese curds, frozen custard, deep-dish pizza, wine, and Chicago-style hot dogs. I guess that explains why light salads have tasted so good the past few days.

We got back on Friday, which ended up being a very long, frustrating travel day for me. I used my family perks for Rusty being a pilot, which meant a free ticket, but also put me flying standby. I was unable to get on Ted's 9 am flight out of Chicago because it was overbooked. Nor was I able to get on the 11 am flight. I finally got the last seat on the noon flight, which took me to Minneapolis. By that time, Ted was long gone on what was supposed to be the last leg of our trip. After searching around for someone who would actually be willing to help me find a new flight to Spokane, I ended up getting the last seat on a flight to Seattle, with hopes that I would then catch a flight to Spokane or Pullman.

Since the only flights out of Seattle were Horizon or Alaska, and my family benefits are through Northwest, I was essentially stuck. In order to get on a flight to Spokane or Pullman, I needed to have a paper ticket, which I did not have! I was told to call Rusty and have him get me some sort of pass, which he had never heard of; with some research, he discovered that he needed to order the pass two weeks prior to the flight, and it would then be mailed to his house. Obviously, that was not going to work. My options were to rent a car and drive 5 hours home (I had already been traveling for 10+ hours), or purchase a ticket to Spokane or Pullman. The only Pullman flight had left by this time, so I had to buy a ticket to Spokane. This meant that poor Ted had to drive up to Spokane and pick me up.

Ted had gotten into Spokane at 1 pm, so he drove home to pick up Hitcher and do some stuff around the house. I didn't arrive in Spokane until about 7. Long day! We had a good dinner in Spokane at the Latah Bistro (thanks to Mom and Dad for offering to treat us) and then drove home.

It was really nice to have nothing planned for Saturday and Sunday since my clock was so thrown off. We went mountain biking both days at Moscow Mountain, which is something I really need to do consistently to help me get ready for cross season. There's still a lot to get done at the new house here too, but it's slowly coming along.

While in Chicago, I was emailed by a potential personal chef client. The woman is a recent widow, who is pregnant and has a five year old. She is also Jewish and Vegan. If she ends up hiring me, it'll definitely be a challenge; all meals will have to be Kosher, Vegan, and kid-friendly! I also have a new business idea in mind, but I'm not going to divulge any info until I research it further.

That's all for now!

We passed this lady one day in Pullman recently and just had to take her picture.

In the past couple weeks we have squeezed in:

- one trip to Philadelphia for both of us

- one trip to San Antonio for Ted

- one short visit with our friend Naomi in Spokane

- one trip to the Seattle area for Kari and Dan's wedding, along with a visit to Ted's sister and her family

- one move across town in Pullman

- one evening with my parents in Clarkston

- one trip to the movie theater for The Simpson's Movie

- and... we leave for Chicago tomorrow morning

The house is still full of moving boxes, but everything is slowly getting put away. Shamus is adapting surprisingly well and has already made himself at home on the bathroom rug. Ted's hopes of breaking him of his habit of drinking from the bathroom faucet have been dashed, as it only took a matter of hours before Shamus was sitting in the sink asking for the water to be turned on.

Of the animals, Pazza is having the hardest time adjusting. She's such a meek little kitty to start with, so she has spent most of the past few days under the covers on the bed or inside a closet. She seems to be getting a little more adventurous, though.

Hitcher could care less that we moved out of the old place. He's loving his new fenced yard, as are we. Who needs to take him for walks when he runs laps around the house at full speed?

It'll be a nice break to go to Chicago tomorrow. Ted's parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, so everyone's heading back to visit. It will be a relief to get away from the moving process for a few days!