Curious Puppy

Misty is an inquisitive girl; sometimes its not good, other times its funny. One day we went out to the back yard and she immediately saw something in the plants growing in the rock wall so she went to check it out.


I went over and saw this slithery, brown tail in the grass and immediately thought it was a snake. So I did the "safe" thing and got a pair of chopsticks to wrestle it out of the grass.


Turned out not to be a snake but some amphibian lookin' lizard thing; here it is.....


Here it is in full length; it was at least 5 inches or so. After being in the ice cream bucket for a bit, I returned it to the rock wall and I'm hoping it doesn't grow much bigger.

Working Hard

Here are a few of my awesome co-workers on our last day of orientation. Julia, Signe, and Erik. They are a fun bunch and I'm lucky to work with them. Unfortunately for them; they have to put up with me.

Muffins

I was at Weaver's again a few days ago; this time I was with Todd's mom and dad and we had a fun time there. I saw a bran muffin mix and decided to try it, thinking it would be good breakfast food. It was too easy; all I had to do was add water, but I wanted to make them more interesting so I dumped a jar of apple sauce and mashed a banana. They turned out pretty yummy. Add something else to my Weaver's grocery list.

Daily dose of veggies

I was in the grillin' mood again last week; had some grilled carrots, zuchini and mushrooms - yummy for the tummy.

Strawberries

It's strawberry season again......for about three weeks. Last weekend we went to Govin's Meat and Berry farm to pick some. Here was our transportation out to the field.


Enjoying the hay ride and sunshine.


The farm has about half a dozen dogs, most are these very large but oh-so loving Great Pyrenees dogs who are really good at guarding the sheep.


Get your baskets ready.


We're almost at the end of our row and the basket is almost full.

Chef Todd made Strawberry shortcake, home made biscuits, fresh whip cream and hand picked strawberries - it doesn't get better than that.

Wish you could have had some with us.

Roasting..........

Roasting is what it feels like today with temps in the mid-90's and humidity just as high. Unlike Hawaii, we don't have tradewinds to cool us down. The best thing to do when it's hot is to cook outside so you don't heat up the inside of the house........that means grillin'. I have to confess, I turned on the AC - I just couldn't take the heat and neither could Misty. I was hoping to get through June before turning it on but sadly, that didn't happen. At least we could enjoy our dinner inside a cool house.


Grilled Ahi and asparagus on the menu tonight - yum!

Summer Orientation

For three weeks every summer, we conduct orientation for the new freshmen students. Here I am with Susie, she's my Orientation Assistant this summer. I must have done something good because she is THE BEST, most FABULOUS, WONDERFUL assistant! Thanks for all you do Susie! This is the last week of orientation and we'll be celebrating Thursday night by going out for dinner with the other advisors and assistants - yahoo! 11 Days down, 4 more to go.......

Delicious Herbs

This year I'm trying to grow more yummy stuff, here's the dill, cilantro and basil. I made some guacamole with the fresh cilantro and it was great!

Chives and more basil:

Tomato

Summer is another word for.................

I love the warmer weather because when it's summer, that's another word for "grillin" in my vocabulary. Today we had some wild salmon - I grilled it with some dill I'm growin'.

Then I served it with some bok choy (Chinese cabbage) I got at the farmer's market. It was broke da' mout awesome (which means delicious)! My friend Jodi is convinced I should write a book with recipes for the grill and call it "grillin' for girls."

Yummy Food

I had a great weekend; I worked in the yard most of Saturday then went shopping on Sunday with my friend, Jodi. We hit the Asian grocery store and look what I got......kim chee! YEAH! All I need to do is cook a pot of rice and there's dinner (for me anyway, I guess Todd will eat a burrito). This brand is good; I've had better, but hey, I'm in the midwest - this is what I can get so this beggar won't be too choosy.