Snow...on the 8th Day of Spring!!

These poor little daffodils don't know what hit them!

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Snow on the eighth day of spring, imagine that?

One day soon I know I will wake up to warmth and REAL spring weather....I just have to be patient. It seems as though I have been doing that for awhile now.

The snow is blanketing everything once again.

It has been several hours since I snapped these photos and the snow is still falling. When, oh when will it stop?

Birds and bugs everywhere are running for cover.

My planters await their marching orders.

My seeds sit in their little paper packets waiting to see light and drink H2O.

The long tray of carnations has been hit by a freeze-thaw cycle once again. I hope they will live to bloom this summer!

I dream and dream of the day I will see green again.

Or I can just look at my pictures from this summer.

Many of these little guys didn't make it through the winter in the house, but my green thumb will only plant more and more and more!!!

This is my garden plot....empty and frozen.
It will soon to be filled in with grass seed in preparation for our move up the street. A nice big grassy yard will please the new tenants!

My wonderful garden oasis in August 2008.

I spent many afternoons laying on a blanket watching this thing grow.

It's relaxing just to think about.

This is one reason I will really miss this house when we move...it has a wonderful backyard for gardening. When we move up the hill in June I am going to try more container gardening and experimenting!! This summer my plants may be stunted from a late start but I will still have them. Every year is a learning experience I suppose.....

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I love the flowers of squash plants.

They are lovely and delicate but robust at the same time.

Spring is coming slowly but surely....no matter how many times mother nature throws a snowball at us!

Valentines Day Part 2 AKA Paintball Mania

Happy and exhausted after my first paintball woods game!

I only got shot 4 or 5 times! I have 3 good bruises to show for my hard work in the "Armed Forces War" at Nitehawk Paintball near Reardon, WA on March 21st. Ryan and I were on the Navy team; there should be pictures of the teams on their Web site soon. Check it out: http://www.nitehawkpaintball.com/

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Maybe I should back up a bit.....for Valentines Day I was surprised with some paintball gear! Nifty padded pants to keep my legs protected and a jersery. Best of all--a mini paintball gun. Just my size! I was excited to try it out, but a little hesitant at the same time. Turns out, I love shooting people with pink balls of fury!

The pictures below show my awesome paintball clothes. They work well in battle. :)

My gun is a Dangerous Power G3 . . . I love this little thing! It is easy to carry and manuver with while moving quickly.

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For many weeks after Valentines day had we planned to play in the "Armed Forces War" at Nitehawk Paintball field with a few friends. Everyone else bailed the night before so Ryan and I solidered on and had an awesome time!

There were 4 teams that day: Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. Yellow, Blue, Green, and Red with a few black arm band renegades running around too. There were even old army trucks barrelling around in the mud trucking people to and from the far ends of the field. It was a crazy sight to behold, but exciting and fun too. I also enjoyed the fact that I was not the only girl playing by any means.

When we arrived at the field at 9:15 a.m. the parking lot was already full.

This is where we moved the truck after almost getting stuck in the mud. Luckily about 15 very nice paintballers ran over to help push the truck out of the mud. We were not very happy with the Ford dealership in Moscow because the 4WD was supposed to have been fixed two weeks prior to this. It is fixed now but if it hadn't been for those great people who helped us at the field we would have hit a little tree and been stuck in the mud for sure!

This is what the back of the truck looked like at breaktime....kinda messy. But SO fun!

You can also see Ryan's gun--Eclipse Ego.

The field had many small trees, fallen logs, rocks, and open areas to play in and around. The picture below was taken in the "safety area" where you cannot shoot paintball guns, but it is a good example of the terrain at this playing field. There are a few towers to take over, trenches to crawl in, and a ravine where you can stalk other paintballers. It is quite the playing field!

Overall it was a really fun day, even if it rained most of the day; it made things interesting. I had a lot of fun running and jumping in trenches and even shot a few people before they shot me.

I'm not going to lie. I got shot many times.

The great thing about paintball is that you just walk back to your little "base" and then get back into the game. It makes for a nice little walking break after running around like a warrior. By the time I get back to the part of the field where the action is I'm ready to play again.

My new clothing worked well deflecting the paintballs from marking my skin up very much. I only got a few bruises compared to the many times paintballs broke on me or my clothes.

It is a pretty cool field! It'll be fun to go back when there is no snow on the ground.

Snowy March Photos Galore

Snow in March! AHHHH!

When will spring arrive for good?

Soon, we hope!

Seventies style Paradise Ridge

Vintage Paradise Ridge

Paradise Ridge Color Boost

Pretty blue moon and the bright sky.

The giant maple tree in the front of the Cherry street house.

For a few days in February I thought spring had arrived. Moscow was then hit by a blizzard on March 5th. I couldn't believe it when I opened my eyes that morning! Later on, the sun came out and the sky was a brillant color of blue. The trees were begging me to take photos of them. Then I did some experimenting with Photoshop, and got a little addicted and may well have gone overboard with the photos in this post. But they are all uploaded now so there is no going back!!!

Branches begging to be contrasted against the blue sky.

Black and white branches with some nifty edge burning.

And more experimenting! I found new 'actions' by Pioneer Woman (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/) and will be posting more unique photos thanks to her creative genius and willingness to share these actions!

This beautiful pink geranium continues to thrive in the Festival Dance office; blooming several times throughout the winter and this spring. This is one hearty geranium!

Colorized geranium.

Vintage style geranium.

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Onto another subject, my adorable kitties!

They are big guys who act tough but are really love muffins. Cupid 1 1/2 years old and we think Alvin is around 3 years old.

This is Cupid's "I do not find that flashy thing amusing, give me treats now," face.

This is Alvin lounging on my legs. His favorite place to sleep. Cupid likes to sleep right next to Alvin. All the time. They keep me warm, so I don't complain!

The Boys.

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These beautiful roses were from the Swan Lake reception last weekend. As they age, they start to spread apart and smell even better!

I'm a little bit of a rose fanatic. I get it from my Grandma Doris.

I think I'll leave these roses to be the end of photos in this post. What a beautiful ending!

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Ryan and I are off to the coast for a few days early Saturday morning. We'll swing by Moscow to pick up paintball gear on Tuesday, and head up to Papa & Grandma's house to spend the rest of the week playing around home. I think Ryan and I are sleeping in the camper in the garage--it will almost be like a camping adventure. This may only exacerbate my camping urges. Early in April we plan on backpacking in Hells Canyon, so my outdoor needs will soon be satisfied.

xoxo

Fifteen

Todays post is quick because I'm tired from working all day.

The Swan Lake ballet was wonderful. The Eugene Ballet is phenomenal! We had a great audience, a nice reception afterwards, and got home before 8 p.m.; I'd say that's pretty successful! :)

Now I'm ready for bed!

Before bedtime, I had some fun with photoshop after I scanned an old old picture of Brittany & I. I found the lyrics to one of our favorite songs by Taylor Swift and the results follow below.

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Just for kicks, here is the original picture. If I remember correctly, my Dad took this picture with my film SLR camera back when I worked in the high school darkroom.

I think the year was 2002?? I love finding old pictures!!

Moose Creek Valentines Day Adventure

For weeks beforehand Ryan had been telling me that he would have to go pick up my gifts the night before Valentines Day. But I know him better than to believe him when he says things like that. I knew he would have something planned well in advance. In the days leading up Valentines I recieved several surprises at random times.

A moose, elk, and mountain goat!
They magically appeared on my dresser, desk, and on the
nightstand Valentines morning to wake me up.

Beautiful red and pink & white Begonias Ryan surprised me
with on Valentines Day Eve and morning.

Mid-morning we headed east to Moose Creek Reservoir. First we stopped by Spring Valley to see the ice fishermen and walk out to the middle of the frozen reservoir.

Standing on Spring Valley ice!

We love spending time at Moose Creek reservoir in the summer so Ryan decided it would be fun to hike around in the snow and eat a hot lunch next to the frozen water. We brought along our snowshoes but ended up not using them because the snow was so hardpacked from the repeated freezing and thawing over the last month. There was a good trail made by cross country skis through the snow along the reservoir and as we got closer to the mouth of Moose creek, so we wandered in the snow occasionally looking at footprints of of all sizes. I was happy to use my new christmas snowpants. They kept me warm and dry!

My Valentine hiking along Moose Creek.

The mountain goat joined us for lunch.

Frozen Moose Creek reservoir. It was so pretty and freezing cold.
Only one ice fisherman sat out on the ice while we were there.

For comparison--here is a picture of the reservoir last June.

I cannot wait for this time of year to return.

Valentines Part 2 coming soon.........