Whistler Trip

Jerill and I went to Whistler, British Columbia for a week to ski and relax. We hadn't had a real vacation like this since our honeymoon 6 years ago! It was a good trip. I went intertubing and watched a ski jump competition. I took 2 days of ski lessons at the Roxy Ski Camp for Women, and I went skiing on my own one day as well. I actually didn't fall that much and now, I'm a solid Green Run skier.

Here are some pictures of the professional Ski Jump competition I went to (they were doing qualifying runs for the real competition held the following day). I saw 40 of the world's best ski jumpers including the Swiss or Austrian dude that just got the World Record jump this year. It was actually a lot a fun and really something I probably won't see again for a long time.

Click on the movie below and see some a Dude FLY

I took a lot of movies but this one really sums up the feeling the best. Other still pictures I took of the event...

The vew from our condo...

Can you see the Dude flying through the air? This jump ramp is HUGE.


Apparently this guy is hot shit, so I took a pic. Can't remember who it is though - Austrian I think? He was sort of the star of the event.

This Dude just finished a sweet jump. We got to stand really close to where the Dudes finished their jump. This guy was whizzing by. Note the size of those skis!

While we were gone, Scott went to stay at his farm with Diane in Carnation. He got his sheep back for a whole week! Upon his return back to our house though, my mom gave him a new bed to sleep in (he was trying to squeeze into Lucky's bed and it wasn't really working out well for him). Here he is all snuggled up to the pellet stove and Xbox in his new bed!

And as you might recall, Mattie stayed at my mom's house (with Lucky too). And, during their stays, they were groomed. Thankfully, Mom did a great job and Mattie doesn't look like a Whippet/Coyote mix afterall - more like a Irish Wolfhound / Border Collie actually. She's such a cute dog. Her coat is SUPER soft right now - she feels like a bunny.

I liked this picture - it's posted at Whister describing Cross Country skiing. As you may know, Whistler will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Jerill thoroughly enjoyed skiing on some of the runs that will be used in the races for the Games.

And, here is a pre-cooked vision of what we are eating for dinner tonight. I bought a couple pork loins and I rolled one in italian herbs and spices and the other I put a cherry-chipotle rub on it and then wrapped in a latticed-bacon blanket. It just came out of the oven so I'll let you know how it turned out!

Challenge

I was just given a blog-challenge from www.deltabluez.blogspot.com.
Basically, Here are the rules of the challenge:
1. You get selected
2. Go to the 6th folder and get the 6th picture
3. Post it and spill the beans
4. You pick someone else

Well, it turns out that my 6th folder in my generic PICTURES folder is "Mattie & Kuro Movies." And, in there were only 4 movie files, so I chose the last one, which is 50 seconds long and titled, Mattie, Kuro and the Bee.

Mattie, Kuro & the Bee: Kuro is Diane Pagel's (my herding instructor) gorgeous Scottish bred Border Collie (he is nearly 1 year old now, and probably 7 or 8 months old in this video). We took care of Kuro for a few months in the Summer while Diane underwent some health events. We LOVE Kuro and, as you can see in this video, so does my dog Mattie, the Smithfield Sheepdog. Mattie and Kuro would play like this for at LEAST 45 minutes every night that we had him with us. In this particular footage, you can see Kuro taking a bit of a whoopin' from Mattie, and his desperate attempts to find his magical "Busy Bee" in the basket of dog toys which, I seem to think, he believes will stump and confuse Mattie and make her go away. Or, he was inspired by the pest control "Rid-Ex" commercial on the TV, playing in the background. Kuro is one smart cookie!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4x4mkAH5IA&feature=channel_page

So, we are having some significant snow event right now - about 6 inches of snow has accumulated thus far (probably will end up being around 9 inches by tomorrow morning). It has been very cold for over a week now. The ground outside is frozen - I don't believe the dogs have ever experienced Perrma-Frost before (well, maybe Scott has since he lived in Canada for 6 years). I've been feeding my wild birds and squirrels a variety of breads and seeds today - it disappears in about an hour. Very hungry little forest creatures!

I took a glamour shot of Scott out in the snow today...

Here Scott is running up our sledding hill yard...

Mattie & Scott

I want to get my skis out. Yes - I got a limited snow-skiing pass this year, it's my very first one ever. I have skied probably 9 times now in my entire life, and 8 of those times were over 10 years ago (excluding Cross Country). I do have my own equipment now and a great support team comprised of Jerill, Andy, Amy, Liz and Laird. I just realized I really should be getting in shape physically actually in order to not hurt myself up there!

It's my father's Birthday today so we are going to the Casino Buffet for dinner - Snow or not, nothing will keep Pops away from all-you-can-eat crab legs and prime rib!