Titus firsts

Titus experienced a bunch of firsts during our camping trip last weekend.  I think I'll give you more details about our trip through the eyes of the dog.
1.  For the first time ever... Titus camped in TX.  HUGE difference from camping in Washington or Oregon.  Instead of snuggling up next to me at night to stay warm, he hardly slept at all because he was too hot.  His constant panting only added to our discomfort.
2.  For the first time ever... Titus encountered an armadillo!  I've been waiting for this moment since we moved to TX.  I was hoping it would happen at home where he would be free to chase it and play, but oh well.  Watching the armadillo run was pretty funny.  Titus could have easily caught it if he hadn't been on a leash.  Armadillos were pretty common at the park, so maybe he'll get another chance in the future.  We had 2 at our campsite one night, but Titus was resting in the tent and missed both of them.
3.  For the first time ever... We swam with Titus.  Yes, we've taken Titus to the lake/river for years, but usually we just wade around and make Titus do all the swimming.  We might take a quick dip to cool off, but water up in the north can be pretty cold for any real swimming and TX waters are pretty murky.  At this park, there were several natural spring pools that were very clear and cool.  We spent 2 afternoons just swimming around to avoid the heat- it was wonderful!!  Let me tell you something- swimming with Titus is hilarious.  He didn't know what to think of us being in the water.  Most of the time he would just swim around us in circles and go back and forth between me and Josh.  He also got very concerned when Josh would float around on his back or on his stomach.  If Josh put his face in the water to watch the fish, Titus would swim over and paw/scratch at his back.  Oh, and forget about going under the surface!  Anytime Josh would dive down, Titus would go to the spot he last saw him and swim around in tight circles until Josh resurfaced.  It was too funny!  It was almost like he had some kind of rescuing instinct, but it was not accompanied by any real skill.  In the future, I might try working with him to see if I can get him to dive.  We'll see.
4.  For the first time ever...  Titus swam with a life jacket.  I know, I know- he's a lab, he can swim just fine on his own.  I agree- Titus is an excellent swimmer and can't help but be in the water anytime he sees it.  We bought him a life jacket a few years ago when we got the canoe.  At the time, we didn't know how well he would tolerate staying in the canoe when he could easily jump out and swim instead.  We figured if he jumped or fell out, he would be stuck swimming until we could reach shallow enough water for him to jump back in.  If we were in the middle of a lake, he might have to swim quite a distance and get very tired.  Anyway, after a couple of canoe trips and only 1 fall/jump out of the canoe, Titus grew quite content with laying down and enjoying the ride.  We never even used the life jacket.  Then one time while we were dogsitting, the other dog decided the life jacket looked like a good toy, and he shredded one of the straps.  I just got around to mending it this summer, so we were back in business.  We knew this camping trip would be very hot and that we would spend a lot of time in the water, so we brought the life jacket along.  I'm so glad we did!  With the heat, lack of sleep, a good amount of walking/hiking/swimming, Titus was one tired pup.  It was obvious that we were working him too hard by the last day, so we tried the life jacket.  He definitely seemed more relaxed with it on since he didn't have to work as hard.  Unfortunately, I think we waited too long to try it out because...
5.  For the first time ever...  Titus actually got too tired to swim.  It was crazy.  We were in the water and he just made himself a bed in the weeds and watched us.  He whimpered and whined for a while- it was so pathetic.  He wanted so badly to swim with us, but he was just too exhausted.  About every 20 minutes or so, he would jump in and make a lap around the pool to make sure we were ok.  Then he would get back out and go back to his bed of weeds.  Poor guy.  He was also so tired that he gave up being obedient on Sunday afternoon.  All he wanted to do was lay in the car or the tent and rest.  Of course we were trying to pack up the tent and load the car, so he was in the way.  At one point, he wouldn't get out of the car at all.  I tried pulling him out and he growled at me.  It was funny and frustrating at the same time.  He was such a tired, grumpy, old dog.  I'm sure if he had gotten sleep at night, he would have been just fine.  He has pretty  much slept non-stop since we got home.  Poor pup.
6.  For the first time ever...  Titus got to sniff/lick catfish and white bass.  We never caught these fish in the north.  I think Josh enjoyed fishing for something other than trout.  We took the canoe out Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning.  We saw heron, vultures, eagles, waterfalls, and of course fish.  The river was very slow moving, so paddling was pretty easy and peaceful.

I think that about wraps it up.  I really hope we get to visit Colorado Bend State Park again, but I think we'll wait until early fall or late spring so that we can actually sleep at night. 
*Remember to check out pictures by clicking on our flickr link toward the top right of this page*

Colorado Bend State Park

We just enjoyed an amazing weekend at Colorado Bend State Park.  This beautiful park is only about 3 1/2 hours from our house, and it is one that I hope to visit many more times.  We brought our canoe with us and spent many hours on the Colorado River.  Josh got to fish, we saw some great waterfalls, we swam in multiple spring-fed pools, we hiked some fun trails, and enjoyed a relaxing campsite.  The only downside was that it was so hot at night that we barely slept at all the whole weekend.  We are so exhausted today, but it was totally worth it.  Check out our flickr page for pictures...

How much wood...

So we have decided to try heating our house during the cold seasons by installing a wood burning fireplace insert.  Josh has been working so hard this summer to clear a bunch of trees and dead wood from around our property.  (Just another excuse to play with the tractor!)  Last week he filled 11 pallets with firewood and moved them into one of our sheds.  The remaining branches were placed into piles that have been growing bigger and bigger as the days go by- until this last weekend when Josh rented this fun toy.

  












This wood chipper was fun and powerful!  We spent several hours Friday night and Saturday morning whipping through piles of wood.  Mom was here visiting for a week, and she got put to work too!  Josh spent several more hours working without us on Sunday.

We started with this...

Added this...

And ended with this!

That was just one of our piles!  It really was amazing to watch huge piles of branches get turned into small piles of mulch.  I think I had a little bit too much fun helping because I am actually looking forward to when we get to do this again (we still have lots of wood to get rid of).  I think next time we'll wait until it's below 100 degrees though!

Sopaipillas

When we lived in Oklahoma, I decided to try making sopaipillas from scratch.  I tried a couple of very different recipes and chose the one that worked best and tasted good.  I made them a couple of times soon after and then completely stopped.  I don't have a good reason, I just stopped.  I decided to give them another shot this week.  It's probably been about 7 years since I made them, but they still turned out pretty good!

The recipe is from a cookbook we inherited from Josh's grandparents when they passed away.  It is a New Mexico cookbook filled with all kinds of yummy things that I grew up eating in Albuquerque.  I haven't tried very many recipes, but I'm glad we have it in our cookbook collection.  It's a little piece of Josh's family and my family bound together.
When I posted on facebook that I made sopaipillas from scratch, I got this response from my friend Rachel:
"Mmmmm like, New Mexican sopaipillas??? The light fluffy ones with holes that you put honey in? Here in Lubbock, sopaipillas are flat, crispy things with ice cream...yuck."
Has anyone else had this experience?  Sopaipillas are very different in certain areas of the country and vary from restaurant to restaurant.  Some are flat, some have ice cream on them, others are covered in cinnamon and sugar or whipped cream.  I'm sure they're all perfectly yummy, but they're just not what we grew up with in NM.  We like ours puffy so you can eat the corner off and pour honey inside.  That's what this recipe gives you.

I'm going off memory on this recipe, so forgive me if I have to come back later and alter it!

Sopaipillas (New Mexico style)

1 1/2 c. scalded milk (cooled to about 115 degrees F)
1/4 c. warm water (again, about 115 degrees)
1 package of yeast (~ 2 1/4 tsp.)
2 tsp. sugar
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
cooking oil
honey

Mix scalded (cooled) milk and warm water together.  Dissolve yeast in the milk/water mixture.  Sift the sugar, flour, and baking powder together.  Stir in milk/water/yeast mixture.  Knead dough about 15 times on a lightly floured surface.   Cover the dough and let it rest ~ 20 minutes.  Heat oil to about 350 degrees.  (use a deep pot or deep fryer) 
Roll dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/4" thickness.  Cut the dough into triangles or squares about 2-3" wide.  Cook the sopaipillas in the oil for about 1 minute on each side or until just golden.  Enjoy while hot with honey!
Makes about 3 dozen sopaipillas.

Some tips I have learned:
-Scalding means heating the milk to just below boiling, and yes, it does make a difference.  Several recipes don't call for scalded milk, and they just aren't the same.
-If you roll it too thin, it won't puff when cooked.
-The dough can be refrigerated and used for several days.  I think it actually works better (puffs more) after sitting for a day or two.  Just be sure to put it in a greased bowl that is about twice as big as your dough ball since it will continue to rise.  The pictures above are from day 2 dough.  They puffed about twice as much as the first day batch.
-The shape of the sopaipillas doesn't really matter.  I just roll out the dough and cut it into small sections.  You can tell from my pictures that I'm not too picky about shape. 

There you have it.  Let me know if you try them and if you have any additional tips!
**  Note:  We were too impatient to pour the honey inside and let it coat the sopaipillas.  We just poured the honey all over the top.  Unfortunately, the honey just melted right off and pooled onto the plate.  Still very yummy though!

Our vacation

We just got back a few days ago from a vacation full of good family times.  We started in Illinois with Josh's family.  It had been 2 1/2 years since our last visit.  I didn't take very many pictures which I am now regretting.  Mostly I just captured our nephews playing together, but there were 31 of us together for one of the meals.  The Brokaw gatherings are always lots of fun and we love catching up with everyone. It also happened to be Pig Day the Saturday we were there, which explains the first picture.

Benjamin and Jackson (our nephews) chatting about their day at the pool

Jackson brushing Ben's hair

Ben was interested in Josh's watch and computer

Ben sitting in his bucket reading

When we left IL, we went through St. Louis and stopped to try some frozen custard.

Then it was onto Tulsa, OK for a family reunion for my Dad's side of the family.  Our last reunion was in 1988, so there was a little catching up to do!  My grandma has 6 siblings, but only 3 sisters are still living.  It was great to have them all together along with some of the children and grandchildren.

The 4 sisters- my Grandma is the beautiful woman in the black and white top.

The whole bunch- it is so hard to get everyone to look at the same time and smile!  I hope someone else got a better picture than I did.

Our little part of the family- Josh, me, my Mom, Aunt Patty (Dad's sister), Uncle Bill (Patty's husband) and my grandparents.  My Dad's brother Bill and my brother couldn't make it. 

And what was Titus doing this whole time?  He stayed with Navi...

They did this...

And this...

And eventually this

Now we're dogsitting Navi for a couple of weeks.  He keeps Titus (and me) very busy.
Videos:
Tug of War
Tug of War, part 2
Playing chase- warning!- video may make you dizzy!

Oh, I also turned 30 while we were in IL.  No more 20s for me!

Early birthday gifts

Josh and I quit giving each other birthday gifts years ago.  It was decided that instead of gifts we would take camping trips.  This year we will be in IL for my birthday, so I just kind of assumed that would be my birthday gift/trip.
As we were walking out to the car after work yesterday...
Josh: "So do you want your birthday gift today or on your actual birthday?"
Me: "What?!?  We don't do gifts anymore." 
Josh:  "Ok- so I'll give it to you now."
Isn't it pretty?  It's amber!  (and of course it's plant related- because it's from my Josh)

I've never really liked amber jewelry until our recent trip to Galveston.  There was a store there that had the most beautiful amber I had ever seen.  I didn't know that amber came in such beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and green!  Usually it's just some ugly brown/yellow/tree sap color.  Of course, I didn't buy myself anything and that was the last I thought of it.  Well, Josh found this necklace (on his own!) that has all 3 pretty colors of amber.  I absolutely love it!  Thanks hon!
I've also received one other early gift.  A few weeks ago, my mom sent me these:

Purple and gray Teva mandalyn wedge sandals.  If you don't know how much I love these, click here.
These go perfect with all my ACU clothes- thanks, Mom! 
I guess turning 30 isn't so bad!

Why did the turtle cross the road?

... to get away from Titus, of course!
Yesterday we saw our first turtle (ornate box turtle, I think) on our property.  Of course we had to introduce Titus to another animal.
Video 1: Titus cautiously closes in...
Video 2:  Titus isn't sure what to do
Video 3:  Titus loses interest
  
A few pics: