use real butter

Thanks to all of you who wrote in to share your inspirations in the kitchen! Jeremy, dog, and I went for a hike Sunday morning to scope out some gorgeous cross country ski trails for WHEN THE SNOW GETS HERE.

a pleasant walking trail

After the hike, I closed the comments at 216 entries (anyone who commented more than once had their comments compiled into one entry). Jeremy used his trusty python random number generator to give me 5 numbers: 62 – Mollie, 71 – Wentong, 87 – Nicole, 96 – Andrea, 137 – Linh. We then set up five dog kibbles in the great room with a corresponding number while Kaweah was detained in the office. At first I was worried that she’d make a beeline for the most visually obvious but…

my worries were unfounded

**Jump for more butter**

Seeing as I will be posting my Daring Bakers Challenge in a few short hours, I’m tossing out another puppy pic (I don’t have many of Kaweah when she was a wee pup) to tide folks over – and to fulfill my NaBloWriMo obligation.

learning to love the snow

On the drive back to the house after dinner last night, fantastic lightning storms were raging in the sky over Pagosa Springs. Just as I grabbed my camera off the kitchen counter to go outside on the deck, it began to rain, then sleet, then hail like nobody’s business! It was too much even for me. Before MIL and I went back to work in the quilt room, I watched Jeremy and his brother playing some game on the Wii. If you think it is fun to play, it is equally hilarious to watch as two 6-foot tall, thirty-something, skinny guys punch the air while shouting, “No way!” or “How did you do that?!” or “Come on!!!”

When I stepped out onto the deck this morning, there was some snow on the ground. Woooohoooo! Even though Pagosa is further south than Ned, we usually get less snow than my ILs do. Still, we’ll gladly take less if it is enough to ski. Winter is coming.

from the deck

**Jump for more butter**