"It Comes in Pints?"

Some cute little hobbits showed up at the Carsten's on Friday. They were astounded by the bounty and the large human-sized crockery. Observe:





Just wait until the Gaffer hears about this!

The most appropriate Christmas Card ever

Dustin and I received this card with a gift. I thought it was really cute and perfect for us.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Soup and Season's Greetings

I don't want this post to sound all doom and gloom, but I think it's important to talk about.

I've been having many conversations lately with friends and strangers about our current times. Face it. Our economic outlook is bleak. The signs have been there for a long time and we are just beginning to feel the bite.

The good news is this: For now, most people are making adjustments. No one is particularly happy about a reduction in the standard of living, but they are taking it in stride. I am trying to see it as an opportunity to build stronger community ties.

One way we can do this is to ease the burden of cooking. You know all those left-overs you never eat? Take them to a friend. Making a casserole? Make two. I have a lovely friend in Portland who had the same problem most of us have with eating at restaurants: huge portions that you cannot finish. So she would get a box for the portion she couldn't eat and then go find someone panhandling on the street to give it to.

And here's the thing I am totally bad at: We really, really need to start gardening. I know that some of us already do, but it should be a larger group effort. I suffer from extraordinary laziness when it comes to anything other than my job and that just will not do. So everyone must pile on the peer pressure this coming spring, so I actually start growing stuff.

It is likely someone (or some many) we know is going to be in dire straights by the end of 2009. Let's be prepared to help them them out. It's not the time to despair, but the time to repair what's wrong with our society.

And if I'm wrong, and we avoid a Second Greater Depression? Then the changes we make now will make our community richer.

Ian's Bacon Grease Surprise

As Promised: Cop on a Segway

OK Next Time

we're bringing this on the hike:

An Initial Sampling of Pics

Gobblerfest '08: Notes from Jana

Estes Park - We arrived back in the Springs last night and I am currently sitting at the hospital with no patients to take care of and alot of time on my hands. So, I thought I would jot down a few remembrances of the First Annual Gobblerfest in no particular chronological order. And yes, I totally stole the style I'm about to use from Sue Spengler. Thanks, Sue!

Arriving last to find good food, wine, whiskey, a warm fire and a room full of friends - What's smelly?: Princess Di - Led Zeppelin lyrics = bad teenage poetry - Excitable and loud Mike C. - Brandy's clock trick - Lauren finding me in the bathtub and preventing me from cutting my head off - plastic foam earplugs that have a noxious odor - the miracle of homemade whipped cream - Mark's nighttime arias - comfortable air mattresses, who'da thought - Olwyn eating raspberries off the tips of her fingers - delicious food - "I'm going to kick her in the perineum" "I don't like this game" - Space Troll! Space Trollop! Space Wizard! - "This hike is cranking my calves" - Ian's rocky breech birth - Bedding down animals - crying- laughing- "I can't carry the ring Mr. Frodo, but I can carry you!" - Drew's amazing death on a pike- D&D power struggles - "First, I puked in the bedroom..." - Dustin's amazing gluten free pumpkin pie - Olwyn sleeping in fetal position on the couch - Alex being a first class dungeon master who against all odds, got us through a crawl in one session - trying on evil for a change - Aaron force feeding Bettina - Raisins and licorice with a side of elementary school cafeteria food (hold the corn dogs) - waking up Bettina (sorry) - musing to yourself "Did Aaron barf on my shoes?" - brie - Mary Poppins - Olwyn and Brandy hiking without water - Gem Lake - Ian's crucified snow angel - Mark's beautiful pottery (and thanks for bringing the burners) - cooking vegetables over an open flame while it's snowing - hot toddies - not fitting everything in the car - the snow on the drive back - having PMS - Mark is posable - malfunctioning waterbottles (they're now easier to open!) - Aaron's dad sweater - Bettina's fuzzy collar - Brandy in the apron(which I need to drop off for you, don't know why I took it back with me) - the gift of giving one apron and going home to find another had arrived from my mother - freezing my butt off on the lodge porch talking to my grandfather - Annyong running in the parking lot - breakfast! (with green chile) - Aaron Retka, the dwarf - John's amazing disappearing vomit - non-smoking Jenny - Thieves with their pockets full of silverware - Note to self: when you have a Resist Fire spell, save it until you actually confront the dragon - snow - "Do you know what hiking means?" - Connor sneaking around the cabin in the middle of the night- getting everyone around the table for dinner - Hayrides! Ponies! - Ian's potato mashing drill (and his 35lbs of potatoes) - Turkey turning into turkey soup - "The living room looks like a special episode of GynoChat" - Spotted dogs and non-spotted dogs