Foxy

Joe and I took the dogs for a walk yesterday. We went on our usual route...a trail that winds around the woods just off base. Lately we've seen a lot of foxes around - more than we've ever seen since moving up here. But we've never been close to any...they're always running across the road, or jumping into the brush yards and yards away.

That was until yesterday. We're walking, la la la. I hear some type of growling and rustling up ahead. I'm kinda anxious...after all, Kodiak is bear country (even though we've yet to see one). As we pass by an off-shoot of the trail, a fox jumps out not more than 6-10 feet away, and starts growling and yipping at us. Joe and I freeze for a second, the dogs start going crazy, and the fox advances on us. It didn't run away. It came after us! Aren't they supposed to run away? Aren't smaller animals supposed to be intimidated by larger creatures?

I swear it's eyes were red, too.
It was a crazy fox.

We high tailed it out of there.
Figures we'd end up being mauled by a fox instead of a bear.

Recipe Bonus

These aren't so much recipes, as little tricks or suggestions that I couldn't keep to myself.

Add at least two teaspoons of almond extract to your next batch of brownies or chocolate cake. Holy crap.

Try a grilled pineapple, ham, and cheese sandwich. Mmm.

Buy a bottle of dried parsley flakes, and put them in and on everything you make. Soup, chicken, canned vegetables, garlic bread, gravy. Makes things seems a little more homemade.

Enjoy!

{I'd love to know some of your favorite tricks of the trade, if you have any you wanna share!}

This would be so funny if only you watched Rome on HBO, knew our dogs, and heard Joe's voice for King

Joe and I were making dinner in the kitchen. King's under foot, waiting around for some scraps, but Joe tells him to leave.
As King slinks out, Joe says in his King voice: "Joseph of the McCollums, I call for justice!"

It had me laughing all night.





Seriously, go watch Rome, already.

Framed Art

I meant to post these pictures for a while now, mostly for Mom, who keeps asking.

Here's the newest artwork to make it onto our walls. It only took over a year to get the prints out of the closet and into the frame shop...


Apparently, I'm not so good at getting things done fast, huh?

This print is from Sheri...when she and Dawn were visiting...and we went on a shopping spree in town. We each got similar works from the same artist - Sheri's was puffins, and Dawn's a polar bear. It's hanging at the top of the stairs.

These prints are in the bedroom, framed and matted the same. I think they're gorgeous in a group. As soon as I saw these prints in the store, I fell in love with them. Byron Birdsall is a simply amazing artist.


Double matted, with a copper-ish frame, in the living room, also by Birdsall. And possibly my favorite thing. Ever.

It's not Labor Day yet

Joe: "Who wears a white sweater to go fishing, anyway?"

Re-Cycle

I bought a bike this past week. This was a big step for me. I haven't been on a bike since I was ten. There was a horrible accident...which resulted in a complete and total fear of riding.

Justifiable.

But Joe got one last month. He was pestering me to get one too, so we could start up our own gang.
I had to. To start the McCollum Bike Gang.

Totally justifiable.


PS. We're still thinking of a suitable gang name. Any suggestions?

Not-So-Weekly Recipe

Totally lacking in the recipe department. I know, I know. It's been the same ole' same ole' around here lately. Plus, not many grocery store trips. So the cupboards are bare.

However, these are an amazingly great treat. Even when you're low on supplies.




Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Cookies


ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (I personally have to have crunchy. Have to have.)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
dash of cinnamon
splash of vanilla extract


directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Double recipe if desired. (It'll only make around a dozen...depending on the size of the cookies)
2. Spoon out teaspoon sized dollops of dough onto cookie sheet. Press tops down with sugar-coated fork.
3. Bake at 350* for 10 minutes, or until bottoms turn brown.
4. Let sit on pan for a few minutes, then move to cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Us as Simpsons' Characters

Try it!

The McCances in Alaska

Mom, Dad, and Kaity came up to visit Joe and me. (A quick aside to my brother, Bryan - Dude. I miss you. Come on up.) And of course the weather was gorgeous. Not as insanely nice as when Dawn and Sher were here...but it was definitely not rainy. Well, there was that one day. One out of 9 isn't bad.

Of course there was lots of sightseeing, lots of souvenir buying, and lots of video games. I think Kaity's going to either be an amazingly awesome driver, or crash right out of the gate. Thanks to Burnout 3, the rockin'est game ever.



We fished and saw salmon and trout jump out of the water, but we didn't catch anything. Didn't matter though, since we were able to pick up packaged halibut, salmon, and ginormous crab legs. And shrimp. What can I say...Kodiak's a seafood heaven. Take that Maryland!


Mom was so afraid of running into a bear while we were outside on a trail or in the woods. But the only bear we saw were the stuffed ones. Eh.

She did really like the trees, though. One of the first things she said after arriving was, "I've never seen so many Christmas trees in one place!"


We all learned what to do when someone does come across a bear. You're not supposed to run away. You should identify yourself and speak in your normal voice. Kaity related it in the best way though, while also making fun of me for my desire to hug a big bear: "Hi, my name is Kelly. What's your name...? 'ROAR!'" (Ok, totally funnier in person.)



That picture makes up for it.

Dad even made his goal to stay up to see it get dark.

See, this trip was a win win for everyone! Thanks so much you guys for visiting. Love you all!

{More pictures here, and my favorite shot here}

Eeep!

My family arrives today.
Pictures and funny stories to ensue next week.

So now everyone will know what to get everyone else...

No more guessing. Even though it can be fun. Sometimes...if you like getting stuff you never wanted. Ever.

My Registry

Here's mine. I just started; believe me, it'll get bigger.

Laugh it up

I sooo wanna take Megan Mooney out for dinner and cheap drinks one night.

I ♥ers U Dawn and Sheri

It's been a week since Sheri and Dawn left. A week. Crazy. It's gone by really really fast. Probably because all the fishing Joe and I have been doing. Thanks, Sher.

But oh, what a trip. I'm beyond words to say how happy I was to have them stay here.

Dawn arrived first, on June 12th. There were plane issues, and she had to take a later flight. And since apparently our phone likes to hop of its hook and not make that horrible screeching sound to let us know, we weren't aware of the change of schedule. It's amazingly disappointing to go to the airport, watch the whole plane disembark, see all the luggage ride around several times on the carousel, and wonder if you missed them some how in the itty bitty Kodiak airport. But it all got worked out, and Dawn arrived. We all then went for McDonald's milkshakes. That's how we roll. Sheri swore us to sit on our hands and not do anything until she arrived...the weather was so nice though, we had to get out. But of course we did all the same things over when Sher got in on the 15th. Freakin' early in the morning, too. Her luggage was a little late in coming. However, that was worked out before noon. So come visit Kodiak...you and everything you have will eventually make it here! Promise!


I took them around town, site seeing...which was mostly into little shops where we all spent a lot of money. We bought each other things though, so it's ok. There was the base tour, the cook outs, new inside jokes, late sunsets but early nights, watching the dogs, beach walks, that rainbow at 11:30 pm, magical coffee, tea, and smoothies, driving the length of the paved road system, far away wildlife, weird tan lines, old memories, Propel, and fishing.

There's...just...so many...words.

Sheri's only requirement, or one of her only requirements, was to go fishing while in Alaska. Joe got us all geared up and we went out. Three different times. The first was more or less for practicing. And for feeding mosquitoes. The second time out we ended up at the American River, in a wonderfully open mosquito free clearing. After a couple hours, Dawn caught a fish. A steelhead trout. Totally exciting. Then awhile after that, I caught one. It makes the hours in the drizzling rain worth it when you can catch a fish. Although, I do have to say I don't think I would have been able to bring it to the bank if it wasn't for Sheri. She all but dove head first into the water to pull it out. No more catches that day. The next day we all went back out, to the same spot. Dawn had sat down to read (after all, she caught her fish), Joe and I were still hooking up our fishing poles, and Sheri caught a trout her first cast. It was insane. Sheri yelled out, "I caught a fish! I'm not kidding!!" She was grinning ear to ear. I think Sher would've liked to land a huge salmon, but the trout were very good.


And there was the hike up Old Woman. I think it was the hottest and sunniest day ever. It maybe got up to 80*. At the top were the spectacular views, and a snow bank. Where else can you get snow, outdoors, in the summer? Of course we had an impromptu snowball fight. Naturally.


All I wanna know now girls, is when are you coming back?

{More photos here.}

Scrub

No posts lately...friends are coming for a visit (Dawn and Sheri...you ROCK!)...which means cleaning time. It's amazing the level of filth you get used to day to day...

Heh.

Holy Crap

I L-O-V-E living in the future.

Potatoes could be used for bioplastics.

POP!

Awesome.

Prat Humor Equality, NOW!

Rad Girls? Has anyone seen this show? I've known about it for a while now, just through their ads on Fuse. I didn't think twice about it...just some 'girls behaving badly' type of deal.

Well, ohmygod it's horrible.

Joe summed it up by saying, "How can we be subversive without being entertaining?"

While Jackass isn't my cup of tea, there was a lot of it that was funny. Ok, maybe not a lot, but it was still humorous. But Rad Girls take the cake.

Perhaps it was just the one episode, but I have a feeling it's all like that.

I can't exactly put my finger on it, because most of what they were showing has already been done...pube hair humor, sliding down stairs (they were wearing helmets and had mats at the bottom - Jackass would so not approve, ladies), and pants peeing.
What it is, is that guys have done all this before. And everyone laughs. So if a girl does it, it'd be just as funny, right?

I don't know.

I do know though, that there aren't as many female comedians as their male counterparts. Why? Can men only do slapstick, and be universally appealing? Is it a clear cut gender issue? Cultural definitions and restraints? Anyone have any ideas?

Ohh man.

Tina Fey, where are you? Sarah Silverman, pleaseplease teach a class.

Happy Memorial Day!

I was watching Rambo III last night.
Don't judge me.

Joe was having a mini-movie marathon of action flicks, because he sat through Vanity Fair the other day.

There was one scene where Rambo puts gun powder on a wound and ignites it to close it up. This apparently reminded Joe of something...

Joe: "Didn't you ever break open a blackcat to get the powder out, to light it?"

Me: "No. I was a girl. Remember? I played with Barbies."

Joe: "But G.I. Joe had to introduce Barbie to explosives at some point. Like, 'Look Barbie {explosion sound effects} AHH AH! My hand! Noo!'"

Me: "My Barbie never would've dated a deformed G.I. Joe."

Joe: "You mean, she wouldn't have married G.I. Joe if his face was melted off?"

Me: "Nope!"

I'm featured

http://etsians.blogspot.com/

Go find me

:D

Not-So-Weekly Recipe

Here's one of my favorite meals...

Chicken Pot Pie

ingredients:

1 can reduced fat condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can mixed vegetables (pick out all the lima beans, because really...who likes lima beans?)
1 can diced potatoes
2 -3 cooked chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
1 cup Bisquick mix
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 egg

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Dump vegetables, potatoes, and soup (no water), into a 9" pie plate...or other similar sized pan. Mix in chicken. Stir until everything is coated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together Bisquick, milk, and egg. Pour batter on top of chicken/vegie mix in the pie plate. The batter will stay on top, baking up into a biscut-like crust.
4. Bake for 30 minutes. I find that putting a sheet of tin foil on the rack under the pie plate saves a lot of clean up hassle in case the pot pie boils over. The crust should turn golden brown, and the inside boils up a little.

Total comfort food that's easy to make.

Enjoy!