Sun, Moon and Kitty Cat

In true Bend fashion they do a full moon ski at @MeissnerNordic and perhaps on any other size moon as well! We decided to take advantage of the mild night time temps (25 F) and have a ski.

It was fun and we just might have to do it again!

The full moon peeking through the trees and clouds

At the Meissner Hut, the light in the distance is Bend

Jim at the fire pit warming up.... 

Cameras at the ready!

Earlier in the week we got out for a road ride!

No matter where you are and what you do there is a vista to be had!

And this blog post would not be complete without a few pix of our kitty!

 

We got him a cat tree, and he loves it!

and it's the prefect height to get great pix of him!

all that playing,climbing,scampering wore him out!

A week in the life...

She likes sweet potato!

...of official Bendites/Oregonians.
 Well, we have settled in nicely and are able to get out and enjoy our surroundings...wanted to share some photos of our week.

tsk likes to watch the deer come by

he is a true Bendite now!

Aspen Grove at Shevlin Park

Inside the covered bridge

covered bridge over Tumalo Creek

Jim skiing at Swampy Lakes.... that or a Yeti....

up up up

Sweet little birds.....

Gray Jay

ok... so they are also known as Camp Robbers...

a little fireside dining

It's official!

one of our many views...

We have barely scratched the surface of all there is to do in Bend and the surrounding area. Check back as we share our discoveries. Thanks for reading!

We Made Bread!!

I made a major life breakthrough! Finally overcoming longstanding obstacles. The perfect New Years Day resolution! I made bread. Though this may seem such a minor thing to some, I on the other hand am yeast afflicted. Yeast impaired, a Yeast-ochondriac. If I read a recipe and it calls for yeast I know to turn the page and move on. I am a yeast flop.... until today!!!! WooHoo! 

A bread recipe that had yeast in the ingredients... but looked easy, as if even I could do it.

So I tried it....

Behold! It has risen!

Getting ready for the cast iron pot

Just out of the oven

Cooling on the rack

Freshly sliced... and YUMMY!

I would recommend this recipe to anyone. I found it on Pinterest. The blog post and recipe is here 

I will try some of the other versions as well. 

Chicken Parm Meatballs.

 We made another pinned recipe to have with our bread. The chicken parm meatballs.

Both recipes are keepers!

Bon appetit!

GymTastic

 Everything inside the house is pretty much done... so time to do a few things in the garage. Since we have this huge garage we thought we would take some of the space and use it for a workout area. A garage gym. We had most of the stuff already but wanted to add a chin-up bar.
So off to the hardware store we went.
Came back home with some plumbing pipe fittings....

fittings

The bar assembled ready to install

After some false starts we finally got the right screws to screw into the big beam

In place and ready to go!

The suspension training straps are up and work great

Bosu ball and Balance balls at the ready

Arm straps for leg raises to work those abs!

And to top it off ... an awesome commercial grade rower from First Degree. It was on consignment at a local fitness place. Got a deal and it is so smooth. It acutally uses water as resistance.  Sounds and feels like you are on the open water in your scull!

So now there is no excuse. 

If the weather is too bad we can't say 'no workout today, too harsh for a bike ride/ski'

All we can say now is 'Let the fitness begin'!

Squirrels, Kitties, and Deer ....

... OH MY!!!

We were afraid that we might not see the wildlife here that we had in Truckee... fear not! We have deer a-plenty...
Have been told there are elk too, tho we haven't seen them yet. Waiting for them to come by...

 This guy came up to the house with a group of deer. He chose to go a different way for his nibbling. He walked right outside our office window! How cool is that!

Reaching for the good stuff!

 And then there is this sweet boy... watching the activity that is going on outside...

 Whoa! What's that? They have some pretty big squirrels here in these parts! Must be from all the birdseed they eat!

yawn..... enough with the squirrels.....nap time!

Caught him mid jump!

and a beeline to the feeder...

Even though the squirrels empty the feeders.... it's still fun to watch them

Come on... is this the cutest little squirrel or what? He even posed for the camera!