Skiing for Christmas!

Brian and I decided to take Big Tom and Spencer up to White Pass to do some skiing on Xmas. We packed up BT and left on Friday afternoon. Spencer seemed really excited about the trip. In fact, he sang to us while we were on our way. I hope you enjoy his singing voice, we certainly do.

It is amazing to me how much food I pack for one overnight trip. I pack for most every contingency because I usually forget something essential. One time, I planned on chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. Forgot the chicken. Oh, and I guess I forgot to pack Christmas dinner. I'll get to that later.

Our pantry for an overnight trip.

We made reservations at the very swanky Packwood RV. If you've never stayed there, you really should because it is quite glamorous. We woke up Xmas morning to some interesting neighbors.

Friendly Elk

I've seen the Elk herds from afar while driving to White Pass, but I've never seen them this close! We drove right by them and they didn't even flinch.

This was our first time skiing in Big Tom with Spencer hanging out in the van. I was very nervous and thought that he'd be anxious or miss us terribly. Well, as you can see from the picture below, he was quite comfortable and didn't seem to care what we were doing.

Skiing was great. We met up with some friends (Maggie and Patti) and really enjoyed the newly expanded runs.

It always amazes me to see Mt. Rainier so close. It is too bad that the were so many clouds out....

Mt. Rainier, covered partially in clouds.

We skied in the morning, headed back to BT for lunch. Spencer was happy to see us and took this opportunity to take a nap in the sunshine with Brian. So cute!

We finished skiing the rest of the day and then drove home Christmas night.

I guess I figured we'd find somewhere to eat on our way home. Or, maybe I figured that we had something exciting in our refrigerator for dinner. Ok, fine. I forgot to plan Christmas dinner because I was too busy stocking up our pantry for every possible contingency while camping! So, Christmas dinner for me turned out to be Pigs-In-A-Blanket and cinnamon rolls for dessert. For Brian, well, it is 8PM and he still hasn't found anything.

Our boy Jester

Brian and I have had Dalmatians ever since we've been married (13 years). We got our first dog Riley as a puppy. I'd never had a dog before and I was really in for a surprise! Riley was a very energetic, lovable, hell on wheels type of puppy. He liked to chew the corners of walls, window sills and spindles on staircases. We quickly realized that the key to taming Riley and correcting his behavior was to get another dog - Spencer. Note - this was actually our first mistake.

Spencer was offered for $50 in the paper. He was really cute and energetic as well. We thought he'd be a perfect match for Riley and then we'd never have to walk them again. They could just play together, right? Wrong. But, things got easier and we liked the chaos of having two dogs.

Then our beloved Riley died. We were distraught, devastated, sad beyond belief. I stayed home from work for 2 days crying it hurt so bad. Just having one dog (Spencer) felt so empty and miserable. So, about one month later we started looking for a replacement for Riley. Note - this was our second mistake.

We worked with an organization called Spots of Seattle. The women there said she had two dalmatians available, a female puppy and a male 9 month old, or so. I really wanted a female puppy but I told her to bring along the male just for fun.

When we saw the puppy, she was really cute and little and we liked her. But, the woman really wanted to show us the male she had brought as well. She brought Jester out of the car and I knew immediately I wanted him. He had the exactly same mannerisms that Riley did. It was freakish! So, Spencer got a new brother named Jester and life was back to normal. Right.

How could you not love this face.

We were assured a couple of things about Jester:

1. He was about 50 pounds, as tall as Spencer and done growing. 
2. He could stay in the house alone all day.
3. He got along fine with cats.

Turns out Jester kept growing. He grew to about 80 lbs and about 3 inches taller than Spencer. He also could not stay in the house by himself. The first day we tried letting him stay in the house ended in a trip to the vet where they induced vomiting. Apparently eating a pan of brownies is not good for dogs. And, not that I had a cat at the time, but Jester wanted to kill all cats. But, as time went by, he turned out great. He and Spencer got along pretty well too!

Jester and Spencer enjoying a ray of sunshine.

Jester had such a fun personality. He was a clown and always doing something to make us laugh at him. He would actually laugh and always greet us with a smile when we came home. He was just so much fun. We really cherished every moment we had with him. 

Jester in the throws of a good "flop" session. 

Jester started having health problems around 5 years old. He began to have seizures. The medication they put him seemed to control them just fine. Then, he developed pancreatitis. He had to put on special food and could no longer have dog treats. Instead we gave him plenty of other things like steak, chicken, vegetables. He managed quite well.

Then around 7 years of age we found out he had congestive heart failure. It came on with an episode of coughing that would not go away. We took him to the vet and were shocked to learn that he only would have a couple of months left.  I didn't quite believe it. He seemed normal to us. Yes, he had slowed down a bit but we didn't think it would be as serious as it was. We got the news in July and really had no idea how much time we'd have left with him. 

Jester, Spencer and I waiting for our friend Karen in the Capitol marathon. 

The vet put him on 5 different medications and we tried to manage as best we could. Over the next couple of months, we cherished the moments we had with him. I was still a little bit in denial. He really didn't seem to bad to me. He went for daily walks, ate, played, slept like normal. He was just a little bit more tired. 

His coughing came back one weekend that we were planning to go out of town for a bike race. Foolishly I felt like we could still take him to the kennel. Brian ultimately decided to stay back with Jester while I went to the race. I very much regret this decision. Jester died the following Monday with Brian at his side. He had a seizure and it was too much for his poor heart to handle. 

That was September and now it is December. We learned from mistakes #1 and 2 and have not gotten another dog. We've gotten close and even filled out some rescue applications. It was eerily quiet in the house after Jester died. We hated it. 

My absolute favorite picture of Jester. Pure happiness. 

 We've come to terms with his absence and have begun to enjoy our one dog household. Spencer has a much more subtle personality and loves to cuddle. We've realized that he was sort of over-shadowed by Jester's big personality. Spencer has calmed down and is a great little companion. 


We miss our Jester. My favorite nickname for him was Boppy Face. He had such a cute face. 

Pizza!

We love to make pizza. Especially on our pizza stone that was made for our outdoor grill. I bought it at Williams-Sonoma and I've never regretted the purchase.

This pizza looks good, but not as good as the one we made!

I've recently been trying out new recipes from the Pioneer Women website. We made her recipe for Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Pizza. It was fantastic! We don't make our own dough. I stopped by Old School Pizzeria and picked a medium raw dough from them instead of making it from scratch. For as little as $2 I can skip the hassle of making the pizza crust. It's worth it.

The caramelized onions gave it a sweet flavor and the proscuitto really complimented it well! It made me think about my co-worker Karen. She hates combining sweet and salty flavors together. In her words, "it is a violation." I have to respect that. I know this is only my second blog post but I really hate tomatoes.

Blog Worthy

I've always wanted to start my own blog. So, tonight after making a horrible dinner and having red wine and cinnamon rolls instead, I decided to start my own!

Where to begin. Hmmmmm. Not quite sure what the purpose of blogging is, or why I must have one. I think it is because I find other people's blogs so very interesting that I had to start one of my own.

What if people think my blog is stupid? Oh god. I'm starting to sweat.

What should the focus of my blog be? Cripes! I've got no clue.

I've got it! I'll follow in the footsteps of my sister-in-law and write my first entry about my Dodge Sprinter camper van. Big Tom. Why the name Big Tom? Well, it is red, and it is big, but that is not the real reason. You see, I hate tomatoes. My most hated food (remember this for the future because I'm sure I'll mention my hatred for tomatoes multiple times). I'll eat pretty much anything else except a raw tomato. I won't even buy them. If I'm forced to buy them (so that someone else can cut them) I pretend to not know how to pick one out in the grocery store and have the staff pick them and place them in a plastic bag. I won't touch them.

Back to Big Tom. Brian thought it would be funny to call it Big Tom because it looked like a big red Tomato. But, instead, to make me happy (and possibly save our marriage) he said, "we can call it Big Tom after your Dad." Well, that just melted my heart. So, we call it Big Tom.

Big Tom, Spencer and Brian in Minnesota

We love Big Tom, or BT. It is so much fun. Spencer loves it too.

Spencer, somewhere in Montana. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brian.

BT is in the shop right now. The check engine light came on Friday night when we were on our way to White Pass to ski for the weekend. We were 20 minutes from our house on the freeway and the dreaded check engine light came on. Saturday morning we took it to the shop to see what the hell was wrong with it. Something about turbo fuel injector, blah blah blah, covered by the warranty. We are hoping that BT comes home tomorrow so we can just stare at him.

The dogs on one of our camping trips.

The kitchen.

We went camping at Staircase about a month ago. It was quite fun, although a bit cold for Spencer's taste.

Spencer after he jumped into the river. We told him not to jump...

Notice my glorious rain boots. 

This is what it looks like when we are setup and ready to camp.

It is so much fun that sometimes we just like to hang out in BT in our driveway.

After we got home from camping, Spencer stayed in the van for an extra 20 minutes. Basking in the glory of BT. 

Alright. I think I've done it. Made my first blog entry and now I have to figure out how to publish it