January at the Ranch

Adding to my last post, here's a little of what
we've been up to at the Ranch in January...

The Girl and one of her friends celebrating new years...funny story....when I was a junior in high school I wanted to go to someone else's house for a New Year's Eve Party because we were going to watch movies and my family didn't own a color tv or vcr.  A few days before New Year's, my dad arrived home with a color tv, a vcr and five movies (Back to the Future!!).  The Girl is a junior in high school and wanted to go to a party...I chatted with the mom of the other young lady in this picture and we made a deal with the girls.  During the course of our chat I told her the tv story.  Later that day we ran into each other at the grocery store, both of us with our carts piled full of junk food bribery and other party supplies, and noted that "this is our version of the color tv, isn't it?" We had a good laugh, the girls were embarassed and New Years was a (calm, quiet, safe) success!




Here are a few shots from the backyard of that awesome Supermoon (I love the view from my back door...)

For all of you who requested photos of the elusive BOGO...check it out...photo accomplished! She and Sid are very settled in, although she is still hesitant to come downstairs for more than a few minutes at a time.  The other day she journeyed all the way downstairs, through the family room, through the kitchen and into the laundry room...when she met Alice apparently.  As the girl and I watched from the couch (over our shoulders), BOGO shot out the laundry room, failed to gain traction on the tile and actually ran in place like a cartoon cat before shooting forward again, back through the family room and up the stairs.  She has apparently recovered from her unpleasant experience, as she was just exploring the family room again....

 While there are fewer pictures of the teenagers and fewer cute sayings, I did enjoy finding this on the counter at 7:30 am on a day during Winter break....apparently "Zesty Santa Fe Style Chicken" is what the Boy enjoys for breakfast.

 Several years ago my brother gave this game to the Mister and me for Christmas.  We played it a few times that visit, and a few times with friends since. I think it hung out in one of my classrooms for a short amount of time, before being relegated to the game cupboard here, where the Boy discovered it during Winter Break.  As always, the game inspired lots of "what kind of question is that?!" and "Um, who would do that?!"  as well as, "There is no way that is the best response to that situation...."  I was just happy they played a game together with no (ok limited) arguing. I think my favorite question was something about what should you do if you encounter a cougar and the answer was something like take off an article of clothing and wave it above your head.  But we were maybe a little slap happy by then, after trying to answer how to cross a river safely (choice a: take off your pants and wade choice b: take off your backpack choice c:  hop from rock to rock....none of these seem like the best choice??)

There's really not much to say about these two yahoos...they like snow, so obviously they are happier in Alma than at the Suburban Ranch...we are supposed to get snow tomorrow night though, so stay tuned...

 The Girl went with friends to paint pottery...and made me a mug for my birthday!!!  (and is it not the cutest mug you've ever seen?)

 My new boots, purchased with Amazon Christmas money and some rewards points...I seem to be developing a boot habit of sorts...I guess there are worse things..

 Ah, here is a photo of Sid sitting where Tigger used to sit before he (Tigger) fell and detached his retina...Sid, dude, be careful, please...

 One "melted" Sid...

 The Boy on the rail the landlord's son installed on our apartment patio...there is video if you are interested, but the most exciting part is me freaking out that he is going to crash into me or the glass door




Well, we are approaching February quickly--February and March are going to be snowboard competition season (which I will have to bribe the Mister to photograph) as well as SAT class and AP Prep class.... so I may have to be creative in my photo taking or you all may just have to read about the books I read!  Happy January from the Suburban Ranch--drop a line in the comments if we haven't heard from you in a while--we'd love to know what everyone else is up to!

Ah, January

Well, Good Evening before another semi-significant birthday!  Big plans include, um, work, and going out to dinner somewhere.  Anywhere, as long as I don't have to cook or clean up, right?

Let's see...I can tell it is January--even in Colorado I feel the lack of winter sunshine.  In protest of the endless driving in the dark, I'm leaving my outdoor lights up until the last day the HOA will allow them (January 31, for the record) and then I may replace them with simple, white, twinkle lights...my own little protest.  I have three new classes this semester--two are repeats (with different students) of classes I taught last semester and one is a support lab type class.  So far I'm enjoying all my classes.  I have several students new to me, and get to continue my two favorite classes of the year, so its all good.  Three of my classes even have windows....so I can see daylight once in a while!

Morrison the puppy is settling in well--she actually sleeps better than Tigger.  Mr. IM and I are awakened nightly, several times nightly over the last week, by Tigger's song of his people.  Last night he stopped for a few minutes when I got out of bed, scooped him up, and plopped him in bed with us. My theory is that he gets cold...so I think I will knit him a sweater and force him to wear it. We'll see how that goes... (probably not well, given his history with sweaters).  Morrison goes to bed between 8 and 9 most nights--if she stays up until 10, she is like a sleepy toddler and has to poked, prodded and sometimes carried up to her upstairs kennel.  She goes out between 5 and 5;30 (Mr. IM takes her out at 5 when I get in the shower, however, her laziness has refused a couple times and has waited for me to get her at 5:30).  Alice and Tigger still detest the puppy, but Liberty seems to (sort of) love her.  She at least likes drooling on the puppy, which leads to lots of baths for Morrison, which Morrison loves...

The Girl has joined a club volleyball team as a practice player (don't know if I mentioned that yet?) so that fills my weekends while Mr. IM and The Boy are skiing (snowboarding).  The Girl and I continue to try to keep up with Downton Abbey...waiting impatiently for January 26, when the whole season will be available (for a fee) from Amazon and we can just binge watch the whole season (between volleyball events, while the boys are in the mountains)

I have already finished a couple great books--Charles Martin's newest, of course, will probably go on my top 10 (and it is only January 11...11.5 months to go in this year) and I really enjoyed Ready Player One...a dystopian novel with an 80's trivia twist--if you remember the 80's you might enjoy it...it you loved video games in the 80's (or dungeons and dragons) you'll probably really love it.  I'm also getting ready to finish book 3 of the Blackcoat Rebellion series by Allie Carter--teen lit at its best, but entertaining.  Unfortunately, it will be YEARS before there is another Diana Gabaldon book....maybe I'll have to do something useful!

Good Night, from Morrison and I!