Snow Day Four...It's FINALLY NOT SNOWING!

Snow Day Three...

Snow Day Two...

Snow Day One...

YO: Today is the first real day of winter, snow and all. While some look forward to warm days inside, Jarred and I don’t. We tend to drive each other crazy. I become a cleaning maniac while Jarred gets into zombie mode while watching kayak and mountain bike videos on the internet. We usually end up bundling up and heading outside. So while we could still manage sitting around, I thought I’d start the annual Widdop-Jackman or the Wackman update.

Here’s the down and dirty for this past year in a handy-dandy third person timeline format.

January- During the first week of the new year, Jarred discovers hernia #1 in his groin and sprains his ankle by getting it stuck in a rock after swimming out of his kayak at the base of a waterfall. Surgery (on the hernia) follows. Sarah quickly discovers that she is not a nurse or sympathetic towards those who are hurt and whiney.
February- Jarred’s back in shape and kayaking. Sarah ramps up for a great show season with Nic, her horse.
March- Jarred whines about inability to kayak. Bike trips are planned, cancelled, then re-planned.
April- Sarah and Jarred embark on their first multi-day bike trip. After purchasing a bike trailer, loading it up with minimal gear, and heading over to “better” weather, they head out of Ephrata to bike a loop up through Bridgeport, Chelan, Wenatchee and finally back to Ephrata. 200 mile trip is completed in three days. Sarah competes in her first derby with Nic, does well but whips out a great score of zero because she can’t count and over-spins.
May- Jarred makes his infamous whitewater run on the Little White Salmon. While continuously refusing to admit a near brush with death, a story Jarred wrote about the incident is picked up on website’s across the US (no money though, bummer.) Jarred discovers hernia #2, surgery follows. Sarah promises herself that she will NEVER become a nurse and is reminded that men are babies. She is reminded that abdominal cuts hurt though!
June- School’s out for summer! Sarah and Jarred finally put house on the market…only to be met with recession and 19 other people in North Bonneville who also put their houses on the market. Sarah and Jarred head off for a summer in Idaho. Nic, Sarah’s horse becomes lame, which begins a summer of vet and farrier visits/bills.
July- Mountain biking, mountain biking, mountain biking. Nic is still lame. Sniff, sniff, sob, sob, Jarred sells his Jetta and replaces it with a teal (despite Sarah’s grumbling about HATING teal vehicles) Mazda B2200, affectionately know as the wheelbarrow for it’s power and carrying capacity.
August- Road biking, mountain biking, road biking. Jarred raft guides for Zoller, a great company that guides the Middle White Salmon. Jarred’s career as a raft guide is cut short by a brutal road bike crash which left Jarred with little skin, a broken collar bone and scapula (shoulder blade.) Sarah begins to believe she’s done something to make the nurse gods mad because here she is again, playing nurse to a fly infested, puss laden, VERY grouchy Jarred. Nic is still lame.
September- Back to school. Sarah begins a new job at Camas High School. Jarred attempts to teach ceramics at Mountain View with broken bones and crusty skin. Nic is still lame.
October- Jarred is back in action. He tentatively mountain bikes and purchases a new road bike (the crashed bike was not reparable.) Nic is no longer lame but now really FAT. Sarah is glad that she has her biking partner back and that he now bikes at her pace!
November- Great weather continues. Jarred starts kayaking again Nic is back at work and Sarah and Jarred get crazy with the bikes. Sun Valley is no longer the mountain biking mecca of the Northwest, it’s been trumped by Washington…the promised land!
December- Nic is ready to show…but wait, he missed most of last show season! Sarah and Jarred now have six bikes total, recently adding two single speed cyclocross bikes to their collection. Now if they could just sell that stinking house in North Bonneville so they could bike to work!

We’ve discovered that life is only as boring as you make it and we’re both dedicated to making the most out of what we have despite injuries and the necessary evils, like work. At times both of us feel that we could be doing so much more but maybe there are not enough hours in the day, and we’ve not yet figured out how to live our lives the way we want to without working. We’ll get there. But in the meantime, we’re having copious amounts of fun.
As always, we invite any of you down for some good hiking, biking and boating. Jarred is a great raft guide, he took my parents down the river this summer and they’re still alive!
Merry Christmas and enjoy 2009! Sarah, Jarred, Shuksan, Gretta, Bella and Nic

Many of you also received our Christmas letter in the mail. I thought I'd also post it though, in case I forgot about you!

Enjoy the Holidays and the snow!

The Downfalls of Snow in the Northwest

I love the snow, only if my life can exist as it normally does, while the snow falls and sticks to the ground. This worked well in Idaho, a place where snow is normal, people can drive in it and do not think that life ceases to exist outside of one's house when snow falls. As you all know, this does not work in the Northwest.

I only worked one day this week, therefore we had four snow days. Now some of you may be writhing in jealousy, let me remind you that the state requires we make these days up. Not in Feb, or Jan when we have holiday's abound. Nooooo, we make them up in June when the sun is out, horse shows are in full swing and there are more important things to be done than to educate students who can't sit still because the sun is shining.

Northwest drivers also seem to believe their cars are incapable of working when snow lies on the ground. As I sat in Jarred's ceramics room yesterday, waiting for him to get out of school, I actually heard a student tell him that she needed to leave school early because her car was old and didn't run in the snow. WHAT? Jarred's response was a quizzical "OK?" but he was really thinking, "What a lame excuse, your car does run in the snow, you just need to get out and drive it." So here, I sit on Friday, stuck in the house knowing all my students are also in their houses when we could be sitting together in school, there's nothing else to do now, right?

Before the snow hit, Jarred and I did manage to get some final biking in for the year. Jarred got me a single speed (no gears, just pedaling) cyclocross bike for Christmas. I love it!

The Gift That Never Stops Giving

Since this is the season of giving, I thought I'd pass this video along.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
It squealched any idea I had about Christmas shopping, not that I've really done any yet, anyway, but it reiterated my belief that Americans need to change their views about consumption. I am a recent Costco member and while I love only shopping once a month, I despise the amount of plastic Costco uses. EVERYTHING they sell comes in plastic and what gets me more is that even the small stuff, like batteries (we just bought some rechargeable ones), are encased in a large plastic container. I go back and forth between being the green shopper and sticking to Whole Foods and being the convenience shopper and reveling in the large amounts of food I can buy at Costco. This video made me feel guilty about shopping at Costco. That guilt might not be a bad thing.



Enjoy and try to be a conscience consumer this Holiday Season!

What an awesome fall!

So I guess I have another week or two to say it's still fall. Jarred and I have been biking maniacs this fall and we've counted ourselves lucky with the weather! This past weekend we headed out one of the better trails in the Gorge. We rode through a lot of frost and frozen ground but the day was beautiful and Shuksan loved the trip. We were hoping to get some more rides in soon, but winter may be kicking in this weekend!

A Man and His Big-Ass Chainsaw

No man is complete without some sort of big-ass tool, whether it be a power tool, oversized lawnmower or chainsaw, they all have one. Jarred's big-ass tool of choice happens to be a chainsaw.

I was first introduced to the big-ass chainsaw idea as we lay in our tent one night at the City of Rocks in Idaho. I happened to comment on the great fencing many of the ritzy homes in Sun Valley had and asked how one went about obtaining such fences. Jarred's reply (the seriousness was evident from his tone), "A big-ass chainsaw." Not long after this conversation, we purchased one, the 55 Rancher. Or should I say, Jarred purchased one. Upon it's arrival at our house, I eyed the thing cautiously and was careful when picking it up for fear that it would come alive and take control of my body. I've never been opposed to the idea of a big-ass chainsaw but don't find myself ever wanting to use one. I do, however, love heating my house with wood. And for this endeavor to remain affordable, we must use the big-ass chainsaw.

So, each year we tromps out into the woods to cut firewood. Because I don't aspire to ever use a big-ass chainsaw, I'm always in charge of carting the wood from the woods to the truck. I sometimes think using the chainsaw would be the easier job as Jarred typically aims for fairly large trees.

This year, we waited until the last legal day to cut wood. Between Jarred being injured and just having too much fun doing other activities this fall, we procrastinated. Needless to say, wood cutting is always somewhat fun...makes me feel a little like Dick Prenicky. If you're not familiar with Dick, PBS did a film about him. Dick went up into the Alaskan wilderness and proceeded to build his own cabin (prior to building the cabin, he built his tools) and lived in it for 30 or so years. He shot all his own food, made his own dishes and built his own canoe. When in wood cutting mode, Dick Prenicky is a bit of an idol.

This year, Jarred picked a downed tree on a failry steep hill. Not only did he enjoy being a man with a big-ass chainsaw (he even grew a beard for the occasion), he also enjoyed rolling the logs down the hill to the road and watching me chase them so they didn't roll off the other side of the road and down another hill. I have to admit, I don't mind the work that goes in to having wood but I'll never understand the thrill of the big-ass chainsaw.

All of us are guilty of collecting things....rubber bands to put around open chip bags, tools that may come in useful one day, socks that may eventually find a mate, jeans with too many holes but are still so comfortable, dogs, books, half used chapsticks, you get the idea.

I pride myself in being able to part with items I have not used recently. I don't collect anything and can't stand clutter. I do have a problem getting rid of horse blankets (I only own one horse but have about five blankets for him) and can't stand throwing out plastic containers and try to reuse them as much as possible. Jarred and I also have a hard time getting rid of back packs. I think we have at least five larger backpacking backpacks and about eight regular packs, ranging in size of course. While we don't need these, we can't seem to part with them and have an entire closet dedicated just to backpacks.

BUT there is a limit and my realization came to fruition last weekend. Last weekend we headed up to Tacoma to move Jarred's dad out of his duplex. Earlier this fall, Jarred's dad, Gary, fell and suffered a serious brain injury. While he is on the mend, he's not ready to live on his own yet and is currently in an assisted living facility in Spokane. Since his brain is not fully functional, he has little use for the myriad of things he collected. So, last Saturday Jarred's family and I got together to pack up his house. Now I'm sure Gary would not have considered himself a "collector" but the shit this guy had, definately put him in that category. I was in charge of packing up his clothing. As I hit the first closet, I thought to myself, "Wow, this guy has a lot of flannels." I think I counted 10. The second closet surprised me with EVEN MORE FLANNELS. I decided the man had hit his limit at 10 and gave the rest to the Goodwill.

We next hit the garage. Tools, tools and more tools and this was after he delivered an entire two tiered tool box, full of tools, to Jarred last fall. Not only did he collect tools, but he also collected car parts, tape, flashlights, sleeping bags and blow up rafts. Since packing up the garage was a team effort, much discussion went into what to ditch and what to keep. The collectors among us emerged. As we bantered over whether or not to keep fuel pumps from three different types of cars, we all came to the same realization....what will people say about us if they some day have to clean out our garages or houses? Will we be laughed at for what we decided to keep? I think we all secretly went home to analyze our "collections."

To solidify the theme of the weekend, as we were driving home on Sunday we passed a motorhome. I noticed the dash of the motorhome was cluttered with something and as I took a closer look, I realized that beanie baby on top of beanie baby were piled up on the over sized dash. I chuckled to myself as I imagined that motor home overturning and beanie babies flying everywhere...what would the medics think?

The teens revolt!

The one "good" thing about teaching, is that there is never a dull moment, nor do I have any leisure time, the days seem to fly by. I always wonder why some people have time to do online shopping while at work. I can barely find time to plan my next unit (this one happens to be Animal Farm- if you haven't read it, its great, and if you really want to understand the allegory behind the story watch a film on youtube called "Stalin: Reign of Terror), let alone do some online shopping.

Back to the lack of dull moments. Imagine yourself in a room with 20 kids, specifically, freshmen and sophomores. If I were to observe the actions of my students during class, they would range from coloring on oneself with a Sharpie (a new fad), picking ones nose, farting, writing notes, asking what the directions to the assignment are (when they're written on the board), asking what we are doing (when it's written on the board), asking when class ends (when it ends the same time every day), discussing fruit snacks and why they smell funny, and the one distraction I just don't get, reading Annimae (sp) books.

Now some of you may thing, "Well Sarah, you must be a really boring teacher." Well at times, maybe I am but there is just no way that I can create a grammar lesson that even comes close to Grand Theft Auto. There's no way Ayn Rand could write a book like South Park and try as I might, Guitar Hero does not fit into my curriculum. The hardest part of teaching is not the sorrowful stories of abuse, poverty and neglect. Nor is it the long hours of grading. The hardest part of teaching is trying to compete with the multitude of information and entertainment thrown at kids today. So while learning how to identify a verb in a sentence may seem dull, dull just does not fit into the classroom as there is too much going on. Take today, for example.

Our English department met this afternoon to do some much needed curriculum planning. This meant that I had a substitute for the latter half of the day. During the beginning of 5th period, my administrator walks in and asks to see me. Curious, I walk out into the hall with him, where he promptly tells me that our school policeman is in my room because my students are threatening to walk out. A revolt? Oooh, this ties in perfectly with Animal Farm.

I groan and head over, wondering what this group of socialites (three football players, two cheerleaders, a leadership student, three wrestlers and a hodge podge of other social butterflies) could be so upset about? Did someone cancel the next school dance? Or worse yet, was the athletic department's budget just cut in half, no more cheer leading?

I get to my portable to hear the end of our police officer's speech about respect. Twenty-four eyes turn to me as I head up to the front of the class.

"What happened?"I asked them, trying to get a feel for the reason for the revolt. All students are in their seats, in fact, their in their proper seats, they didn't even try to sit next to their friends while I was out. All students have their assignments out.

"Well..." Silence.

"Come one."

One girl finally pipes up. "She was rude to Jasmine before class started so Jasmine left. We were just standing up for Jasmine. Jasmine got kicked out and some of the boys threatened to leave."

Hmmm.

I ask the sub to come outside where we discuss what happened. I pretty much get a "He said, she said" story. I thank her, give my students one last evil eye and head off to find Jasmine, who has left class.

As I head over to find Jasmine, I ponder on the revolt and find it somewhat humorous that my students don't revolt because of an assignment or a seating chart or even a new rule, they revolt because of an argument that took place prior to their presence in the classroom and they couldn't even follow through with their revolt, as important as it seemed at the time. In fact, the entire incident took place before the bell could ring and only about five students were in the classroom at the time. He said, she said is a powerful tool.

What excitement will school hold tomorrow?

Fall Fun

Jarred's Halloween Costume which can also function as a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Our friend Dylan in Seattle. Heavy equipment movers are in high demand right now. This is Dylan's training rig, in January he moves up to a Tonka truck.

Our favorite mountain biking trail up by Cook/Underwood.

Riding Nic, notice the missing bridle.

Jarred and Shuksan...notice Shuksan's feet...

The weather was so great in September and October, we found ourselves outside most of the time. Now that daylight savings time hit and it's rained for the past week, we're reminded of what fall can really be like in Washington.

Is the world going to be a better place now or what?

Small Hitters

What to do with a half an acre of grass? We've been wondering this since moving into our house in North Bonneville. Aside from digging it all up or spending thousands on trees, we've drawn a blank. All of our neighbors seem to love to mow as they also
have large lots with lots of grass.
I hate to mow and refuse to buy
a riding mower despite the fact that it takes me one and a half hrs to mow the law. This weekend changed everything and now our yard has a purpose.

Jarred and I have been having a great time mountain biking this fall. We've been wanting to visit Post Canyon which is just outside of Hood River. Post Canyon is what we like to call a "big hitter" area. "Big hitters" are mountain bikers who throw themselves off of huge jumps, ride crazy logs and teeter-totters. Jarred and I are not "big hitters" we have cross country bikes, not made for jumping. I have to admit, I wasn't too excited about trying the obstacles, they looked downright scary. Jarred couldn't get enough of the obstacles though despite the fact that yes, his collarbone is still broken. By the time we left, both of us were hooked. We decided that we needed to go home and make our own "small hitter" course. This is what we've come up with so far. I know, I know, not too impressive, especially after you've gone on youtube and typed in Post Canyon. We look like a bunch of weenies. But hey, it's a start. And now our yard has a purpose.

I realized that I don't have too many photos of Nic, even though I spend the majority of my time with this guy. Jarred took this photo while I had Nic up in Idaho this summer. I had grand intentions of giving Nic a summer off from showing to trail ride with my friend Lori. I find trail riding totally unengaging and generally want to fall asleep in the saddle about 1/2 way into the ride. On the other hand, trail riding is great for the horses. It's mentally engaging for them and is a great way to get them in shape. So I committed to a summer of mentally engaging Nic who has spent his entire life doing circles inside an arena.

Not long after I brought Nic to his beautiful vacation home in Sun Valley, he went lame. To make a long story sort, Nic's got bad feet and considering the fact that he's got a big body and small legs, the condition of his feet is important. Since I've owned Nic he's been a tough horse to put shoes on and has had periods of lameness because of his feet. I think these periods of lameness came to fruition when we finally tried to put a new pair of shoes on Nic at the beginning of the summer. The new shoes ended up bruising his feet to the point that they abcessed. Abcesses are amazing because blood and puss actually spew from the foot. In Nic's case, they happened to spew from the top of his hoof.

Luckily, Sun Valley has a plethora of great farriers and good vets. However, Nic's foot problems weren't a quick fix and I spent the summer soaking his feet and making trips to the vet. We did no trail riding so neither of us got the vacation we wanted. As the summer wore on, I began to worry about the potential that Nic would never heal and I woud be stuck with a pasture pet.

Nic is finally sound now though. He's not 100% but I can now ride him and we're doing a lot of trotting, which Nic does not like because it's work. He'd rather continue his vacation time and get fat, eat, sleep and poop.

Peaches

A couple of weeks ago, Jarred's mom came down with 9 boxes of peaches and 5 boxes of pears for us to can. I generally don't like the canning process as it's usually hot, the fruit gets everything sticky and it takes forever. Last year Jarred's mom, his sister and I canned about 7 boxes of peaches and had a blast, so the social aspect of canning can be fun. Plus peaches in the middle of winter are great!

Barack Obama has his own television channel!

Jarred and I don't have television, by choice, unlike our internet situation. This means that when I am around television, I get the uncontrollable urge to flip through as many channels as possible, in hopes to catch up on what I may have been "missing." I generally find that I am disgusted with what is on television and that I'm not missing much. However, last night, my television experience proved to be full of surprises. 

First off, I was totally baffled to find out that Paris Hilton has a show on MTV called My New BFF (or something of that sort). Intrigued by the show's title, I immediately flipped to MTV and settled down to see what a BFF was. I quickly learned that a BFF was a Best Friend Forever. Hmmm, how would one pick their best friend on a television show? Doesn't sound too exciting as it takes years to develop a best friend, right? WRONG! In Paris's world, a BFF can be chosen in a mere 1/2 hour. Of course there are stipulations; best friends cannot be ugly, must be anorexic, wear enough mascara to cause Cover Girls stock to skyrocket despite these hard times, and they must be as simple minded and mentally inept as Paris Hilton. No wonder it only takes 1/2 hr! I have now lost all respect for MTV and what I believed the channel represented and I now know why my high school students think it's ok to abbreviate everything, u know? 

Baffled, I went back to the good ole' satellite guide to see what other crap I could find. As I grudgingly clicked through the channels, I realized I was wasting precious hours of my life and was about to turn the television off when I came upon a channel devoted solely to Barack Obama. I have to admit, I was surprised that this was even an option, could candidates really purchase their own cable channels? I guess if they can fundraise like Barack, anything can happen. I decided to settle in to see what I could learn about the candidate. 

After about 15 minutes of listening to Michelle Obama's mother talk about her daughter's childhood and Barack and Michelle talk about how they met, I came to the conclusion that Barack has hired some fantastic marketing professionals. Not only is he plastered all over the web, but they've even catered to the television watching crowd, those who wish to become familiar with the candidate, but more on a Paris Hilton level. These television watchers don't want to know about Obama's policies, they want to know how he fell in love, who his mom was, that he plays UNO with his daughters. Only once in the half hour I watched the channel did I hear any mention of what Obama would do for our nation. I was able to find out more about where Obama stood on the economy by reading the first paragraph on his web page. While I'm excited to hear that more and more people are voting this year, it frightens me to think about why they're voting. I also decided that television watching is not for me. I'll stick to NetFlix where at least I can have a choice in my own depravity. 

Enough for now, I'm going to go put on my Barack Obama tee-shirt and head outside to enjoy the sun. 

Yesterday, Jarred and I had the opportunity to hear Frank McCourt speak at Mountain View, the high school where Jarred works. What could be more entertaining than a cute, little, old man with an Irish accent? Frank lived up to my expectations as an entertaining speaker. He truly is the same person he is in his memoir. As I listened to Frank speak, I learned many a thing about this little man. He's not afraid to swear in front of high school students (of course, he's a retired teacher with a Pulitzer Prize under his belt), he writes BY HAND, every day and he wrote a children's book. When I heard him say this, I thought to myself, "Gosh, he must really be owned by his publishing company." I just could not envision Frank McCourt writing some cheezy children's book, let alone a CHRISTMAS book. After a short explanation by Frank and further investigation on my part, I found this was no ordinary children's book, it was a Frank McCourt children's book, complete with odd humor and honesty. I recommend checking it out, especially since most of you are now toting babies or young-ins who need to be read to so when they enter school, they will have advanced vocabularies and already be able to read so their teachers will have to do less work. 

The Mazda Wheelbarrow

Since Colleen asked, and I have computer time, I thought I'd explain the Mazda wheelbarrow that Jarred purchased at the end of the summer. Photos to follow.

In the last few years, Jarred has decided that his financial goal is to live debt free (minus a mortgage). To reach his goal, Jarred decided to analyze his finances to see where he could eliminate debt. Since Jarred went to posh-posh UPS, he'll be paying for his education until he's 90. A little extra work this summer eliminated the small credit card bill he had. Now he was close to his goal, but one dark financial cloud still loomed over his financial world....our beautiful silver Jetta TDI wagon with a veggie conversion kit. With the price of gas these days, TDI's are a hot commodity (they get a whopping 50 mpg). So, after some research, Jarred found that he would be able to sell our Jetta for about $1000 less than we bought it for AFTER putting 73000 miles on it. Whoever hears of cars appreciating and not depreciating?

After finding a buyer, Jarred began to look for a more "affordable" car. This meant a car he could purchase without obtaining a loan or much of one. From past experience, we realized that Jarred probably needed a small truck or something that he could drive to various off-road places. While he takes care of the car's running parts, Jarred isn't really into aesthetics, like I am. As he began his search, I had visions of a cute little Toyota pick-up or smaller SUV. I was working in Idaho at the time and sent over craigslist postings of what I was looking for. Apparently, Jarred had other ideas about what he wanted to purchase.

One day while I was working, I get a call that Jarred is going to go to Portland to look at cars. I quickly provided my suggestions and vehicle desires and also reminded him of my number one desire. I DIDN'T WANT A TEAL VEHICLE. I hate the color teal, and the thought of driving a teal vehicle, really bothered me. After this CLEAR reminder, I wished him luck and hung up.

Not an hour later, I get another call. Jarred purchased a truck. A Mazda truck. A TEAL Mazda truck. I actually don't remember being that mad about anything in a long time. For some reason, I just could not fathom WHY Jarred would ignore my needs and purchase a TEAL truck. I was disgusted and curtly hung up on him.

So, for the past two months now, we've been commuting in a TEAL Mazda truck that makes a few noises, has cheap tires from Wal-Mart, no working gas gauge, numerous scratches and plastic hub cabs. Not to mention we have to keep a bottle of Febreeze handy for when the smell gets overpowering. The selfish, cynical part of me wants the damn thing to die, but it just chugs along. It now has a white PVC bike rack in the back, to add insult to injury to my feelings about aesthetics. The bike rack is awesome, just ugly.

I own a F250 Diesel truck that can haul just about anything. Since the Mazda has a bed, we'd kind of assumed that it too could haul just about anything also. However, we've come to realize, after moving wood and other heavy objects, that the Mazda REALLY operates much like a large wheelbarrow. In fact, I've opted to use our wheelbarrow instead of the truck a couple of times.

Jarred is tickled with his new financial freedom but we're no longer riding in style.

No Man's Land

I had some time at school, so I thought I would update you all on where we've been. First off, school started, which means my computer time is limited to creating vocabulary tests and unit quizzes. Secondly, we don't have the Internet at our house. I know most of you are asking, what we could possibly do with our time at home...and why don't we have the Internet at our house?

To answer the first question, not having the Internet, or cable has been great for my health. I bike, ride my horse, or hike with the dogs, and I keep a mean clean house. Of course I no longer know what my friends are doing, if they've have two more babies, if someone has died or acquired a new dog, but then I guess ignorance is bliss.

We don't have the Internet because we live in the town The Truman Show was based on. The Internet is too vast for Big Brother to control, so only dial-up is available. Jarred and I refuse to pay for dial-up. Now our neighbor is perfectly happy eating an entire meal while checking only one email message. No thanks. The good news is that DSL is on its way. We signed up at the end of August and were initially told we would be up and running by the middle of Sept. We were recently told the end of Sept. and now it looks like we'll be waiting two more weeks. Maybe by them our house will sell?

Not having the Internet at our house has definantly hurt the progress of my blog. No new updates on Jarred's scabs, broken bones, or his newly acquired Mazda wheelbarrow. So until we are able to live in modern times, you all will have to be patient.

What happened to the bike? Sure seems like the carbon forks should be stronger.

Pads

So now that my new involuntary profession is nursing, I'm becoming well versed at what type of bandages work and what don't. Not that I'm good at bandaging, but I've come to realize what works and what doesn't. Jarred is pretty much one big scab right now and much of his arms and back need to be covered so he doesn't stick to everything he touches. While he needs to be covered, what he is covered with MUST come off easily or else my time with him in the shower is more painful than necessary.

I've come to realize there is a purpose to those extra large, extra long maxi pads- they soak up puss and don't stick to the human. Today, on my second trip to Wal-Mart in two days (painful), I started pricing out absorbent materials. Johnson and Johnson makes great bandages, but they're about $.80 per bandage. When you're using 8 a day, that adds up. So I wandered over to the maxi pad section....24 extra long maxi pads for $3.97 (the roll-back price). I'm sold.

I'm also sold on telfa pads and co-flex. My horse friends will nod in agreement, telfa pads don't stick to anything and co-flex sticks only to itself.

Biking Adventures

It seems that most of our friends start blogs because they have kids or take sick photos of guys hucking themselves off of waterfalls. While we're not on the kid track and, until recently, didn't have a camera to take sick photos of guys hucking themselves off waterfalls, we do lead fairly interesting lives and don't always get time to share those adventures with all of our friends, we figured this would be an easy way to do so.

So, let me (Sarah) start out with our most recent adventure...road biking. Last fall I bought my first road bike. Jarred was the lucky recipient of an awesome hand-me-down from our friend Nate, a few months later. We've been on our bikes a lot since then, even taking a spring break multi-day trip.

This adventure sure didn't start out as one, as most don't. Jarred and I have been house sitting out by Hood River at my friend Lisa's. Jarred was raft guiding a mere 14 miles away, so we were utilizing the close location and good roads and biking to work. Lisa lives at the top of a four mile hill, a great downhill ride to the Columbia. Saturday morning, Jarred and I took off down the hill for his ride to work. Those of you who know Jarred, know he does nothing slow, so off he went down the hill at break-neck speed. I followed behind at a slower speed. About two miles down the hill I turned a corner only to look up to see a mess of bike, man and bike parts. My first thought was, "Is that a limb?" What I was really seeing was Jarred's spilt water bottle in the middle of the road. As I rode down to Jarred I happily found him conscious but naturally, in a lot of pain and swearing loudly that we needed help. Many neighbors and passer's by, helped and I ended up driving Jarred to the emergency room. Once there, the real damage was assessed. Jarred ended up with a broken collarbone and a chipped scapula (shoulder bone). Oh, and an ass load of road rash and seven stitches in his eyebrow (the same one he split open with a paddle after going off a waterfall a couple of yrs. ago in Canada). The nurses in the emergency room were lucky enough to wash the road rash while Jarred was on a morphine drip. I, however, have not been so lucky.

Now, how did this all happen, you may be wondering? Good question. As far as Jarred can tell, he was pedaling as fast has he could, as he was trying to hit 45 mph (which he did hit around the time of the crash) and his foot slipped out of the clip and possibly into the front tire. Things happen fast at 45 mph, so he can't remember his foot going into the tire. The odd thing is that the forks in the bike broke. We've yet to determine why this happened.

So our adventures are now limited to picking scabs in the shower and visits to orthepedic doctors, oh and eating.