Scorcher

Colorado is smack dab in the middle of a heat wave. Triple digits are sometimes common in July and August, but usually not this early in June and not for several, consecutive days.

Several years ago, Handy Man and I went to visit Rah-Rah and some of my family in Arizona. By May, it was already stifling hot. As we were walking outside, in the late morning mind you, Handy Man turned to me and said, "You can put a big, red X on this state. There is no way in hell I would ever live here." 

And although this was the weekly forecast for Denver...

... and Arizona - This is just sick. I can't believe Rah-Rah still lives there, every year, year after year, in that kind of heat -

Yesterday, it was actually one degree hotter in Denver than it was in Chandler, AZ where Rah-Rah lives. (103' in Denver, 102' in Chandler)

How is that even possible?

This weekend, there was only one way to beat the heat. Take the kids to the pool. 

Okay, we live in the country. This is the closest pool I was willing to drive travel to.

No crowds.

No fighting over lawn chairs.

Kiddy toys welcome.

And swimsuits are optional. 

This is one of the greatest advantages of our little house on the prairie. Especially for the mom who is NOT is swimsuit shape, let alone "public" viewing swimsuit shape.

Having a pool in the back yard has many advantages - this mom can do laundry while the kids swim. 

While changing another load, Mr Blue Eyes decided to venture away from the pool and over to my flower pots - which I ended up forgoing planting this year because I was too lazy/busy/crazy. I am glad I did because after this week my poor flowers would be shriveled up and burned to death. 

Thanks to Sissy, Mr Blue Eyes was not just playing with dirt, he was playing with mud. 

More like mud soup.

Yummy. Yucky.

Thank goodness for the country - look at that cute little butt!

Okay Sissy, that's enough water...

Ta-Da!

My Brown Eyed Girl is the maker of smiles, the warmer of hearts and the joy in my life. xoxo

Secret Garden

I was admiring my some of my clematis vines this week. I had cut them back quite a bit this winter thinking that they would be a little more tame looking this summer. Not the case. They are huge. Thick. Hundreds of flowers everywhere. Hundreds of new buds waiting to bloom.

The vines are so lush and thick with flowers that my brand new lattes I bought last year is actually being pulled apart in pieces due to the weight of all the flowers. It's crazy.

I just love these deep, deep purple flowers.

My sister LOVES purple. Always has. I hope she always will. Every afternoon I pull up in front of my house, I see these bright purple flowers and I think about my sister.

"I need to call Rah-Rah."
"It sure was great talking to Rah-Rah today!"
"I miss Rah-Rah... wonder when she is going to visit again?" 

No pressure Rah-Rah...

When are you coming to visit again?

I started taking some pictures of the flowers. I was thinking about using one of these pictures as a new cover photo for my Facebook page.

As I was getting closer up to the plant for a close-up shot, the whole bush of flowers started vibrating.

I was a little spooked.

I waited for a swarm of wasps or bees to come flying out and attack me.

And then I realized the vibrating wasn't very bee like...

...what on earth?!?!

Do you see the culprit?

I was six inches from her before I saw her. If it had been a snake, it could have bitten me.

After adjusting my eyes...

Well hello Miss Kitty!

You scared me little kitty!

All snuggled in her fragrantly padded little bed of clematis vines.

Grease Lightning

I am not sure exactly what I expected from my first experience at Bandimere Speedway this weekend. Maybe Danny Zuko driving behind the wheel of his Ford Thunderbird. One of the Pink Ladies positioned front and center waving her scarf at the start of every race...

Grease Lightning playing in the background...

I grew up not far from Bandimere Speedway. I am ashamed to admit that I had never attended a single race in all that time. I drove past it every weekend while pulling a horse trailer and heading out to Westernaires. I just never attended a single race. 

This weekend, Handy Man's company picnic was held in a suite at Bandimere for part of the weekend's qualifying races. I am so glad we decided to take the kids to my in-laws and make a date night out of the event. 

Kid-less. Tickets in hand. On your marks. Get set. GO -  we were off and running.

Everything I know about drag racing I know from watching movies like Grease and Fast and the Furious. Yes, I admit I have seen all 5 Fast and the Furious movies. What can I say? Paul Walker is nice to look at. And there is something about Vin Diesel...

So what I know is this: Two cars race each other. They are fast. Vin said something about needing a 10 second car - so that must be fast. And you gotta have NOS. 

What I found out once I got to the races - Grease and the Fast Five did not help me prepare for this event...

Handy Man (who apparently is an expert on everything) immediately found delight in tutoring me in the basics.  Lets start with these two cars below, waiting their turn to go next.

What you can't see in this picture is an area that is watered down at the beginning of the track. The drivers will roll through the sprayed down area first, wetting their tires. 

Before the race starts, each driver is allowed to perform a burnout, which heats the driving tires and lays rubber down at the beginning of the track, improving traction.

I was amazed that during the burnouts, the drivers manage to keep a vehicle stationary (or close to) while spinning their wheels, causing the tires to heat up and smoke due to friction. There is a lot of smoke. I was thankful we were in a suite - with free beer and tacquitos - not having to inhale the smoke from burning rubber. 

I think you would have to really, really love racing to be one of the guys who stands down there all day on a piece of hot asphalt while car after car burns out and suffocates you in smoke. Surely this is hazardous to your health. Wonder if their employee benefits have high premiums? Wonder if they even qualify for benefits. Maybe just hazard pay... I have digressed.

Think the worker guys in red have it bad... 

How about the drivers. Handy Man tells me that under that fancy shell of a car the driver is basically just sitting on a little seat with the engine and all the car parts surrounding him with out a barrier of any kind. This explains why after his burnout this guy on the left had to open his car doors while he backed up into position at the starting line.

I enjoyed watching all the Stock Dragsters, especially some of the old muscle cars. 

Then there were the Top Fuel Dragsters.

I would have guessed these were the Funny Cars - but I was wrong. I mean, the Top Fuel cars have these HUGE tires in the back - which by the way cost about $500 a tire - and then these two itty bitty tires in the front that look like mountain bike tires. Okay, maybe maybe dirt bike tires. The body of the car is long and slender. Very fragile looking. 

Sometimes during their burnouts, the cars get all herky-jerky. You'd swear they were going to lose control and crash the darn thing before even given the opportunity to race. And these guys are just standing around like it's no big deal.  Nothing protecting them from a car mauling them over.

Motor Heads! 

What was really neat to watch (especially from our suite) were the Top Fuel burnouts. As the drivers spun their tires, the tires would literally become narrower and taller (if that makes any sense). It was like the tires were literally trying to separate from the rims.

You'll notice this guy is racing  - himself. That's because these were qualifying races. I didn't understand exactly how it worked, even after Handy Man explained it 17 times. But something about they were just trying to get a qualifying time within their division. 

Yep. Sure. Okay. 

I almost asked if these guys ever race for pink slips. In Fast and the Furious, they often raced for pink slips. I was pretty sure Handy Man would never let me come out in public with him again. Well except for the grocery store. Definitely never out with people he works with - or people he knows.

Do you think they ever race for pink slips? Like a side bet? I know - digressing.

All the cars, and even a couple motorcycles, cycle though their runs. One after another. Grouped by types until you finally get to the big boys.

The Alcohol Funny Cars.

These babies are LOUD and FAST!

Funny car fuel systems are key to their immense power. During a single run (starting, burnout, backing up, staging, 1/4 mile) cars can burn as much as 15 gallons of fuel. And I thought I got crappy mileage. The fuel is a mixture of nitromethane and methanol. 

Handy Man drug me out of the suite to stand down below for the Alcohol Funny Cars. Standing there is amazing. You absolutely have to plug your ears when they go. It is so loud that your heart literally vibrates in your chest. The asphalt beneath you vibrates. It's amazing. 

I cannot imagine what it is like to be strapped inside one of those things.  

This poor guy blew his engine right after his burnout. 

After they drug it off the track, we were able to get a little closer look at the car. Pretty neat.

Pretty Fancy!

After watching the Alcohol Funny Cars run, they started over again with more of the Stock Dragsters. We took the opportunity to go walk around the trailers and cars that were parked up above the stands. You should have seen some of these rigs and set ups. Some of the rigs and trailers they use to haul these cars are are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. By the time you add the cars, parts, spare tires, fuel, tools and who knows what else... this is a very expensive hobby/sport/career. 

I turned to the wife of one of Handy Man's friends - whom Handy Man not only works with but also hunts with - and I told her, "We should be thankful our husbands like hunting as their hobby. We think that they spend a lot of money chasing birds and Bambi - can you imagine if they were into race cars?" 

Hunt on Handy Man. Hunt on!

Sushi King

Any one who knows Handy Man can tell you that he is your stereotypical "meat and potatoes" guy (minus the potatoes on most occasions.) Actually, he's more of a meat and pasta guy. Anything you can make with a noodle is right up his alley. 

That and peperoni pizza - only peperoni on his pizza.

Handy Man is a routine driven kind of guy who always colors between the lines. He likes boring  traditional foods of all kinds - that might be an oxymoron. Comfort food. Anything he can eat with a fork that is boring traditional is perfect in his book. If he has to use a knife, it's too much work. 

Lazy "Hill Billy" often comes to mind.

When we got married, one of my favorite pre-wedding consultations was with the caterer. Taste testing all of those divine dishes. It was heaven to my pallet. Handy Man missed the consultation due to work. While my mom and my future in-laws were helping me to select the menu we would serve our guests, we joked about Handy Man's ideal wedding dinner. Just prior, Handy Man had suggested bar-b-queuing for our wedding guests. Hamburgers and hot dogs on the porch of our little house on the prairie - for 250 guests.

That is reason 4,268 why most grooms don't get to make final wedding decisions.

While deep in laughter over Handy Man's suggestion, the chef offered to make Handy Man a hamburger for his wedding night. He said, "If the groom wants a hamburger, I will make him a huge juicy hamburger." So that is exactly what we secretly arranged. We all agreed not to tell Handy Man he would be getting a hamburger on his wedding. On our wedding day while everyone else was plated the fancy dinner selection, out comes a large cheeseburger just for Handy Man. He was shocked. Surprised. Confident he married the best woman ever.

The groomsmen were jealous. 

Saturday night, Handy Man and I had an afternoon and evening out on the town. Just us. We attended his company's summer picnic and then went out to dinner with some friends. A double date night. The other couple chose the restaurant. Since they invited us out, I was game with whatever they selected. Well, until I found out they really wanted to get Sushi. I couldn't help but giggle inside.

Handy Man + Sushi = hahahahaha

I called my mother-in-law and told her we'd be picking up the kids a little later. I announced we were going out for Sushi. "SUSHI???" she asked. I confirmed that I had not misspoken and we (Handy Man included) were in fact going out for Sushi. She was flabbergasted. She said I better take pictures because she would never believe me if I told her he tried Sushi.

I was so excited!

Handy Man was a little reluctant. Nervous I think. Scared - probably.

With a little pep talk in the car, I assured him that he would be able to find something on the menu and not to freak out. He just needed to have another beer relax.

We ordered an array of Nigiri Sushi items and Handy Man ordered a seared salmon dish. I made sure to select a few tame items for him to try including a couple rolls - he agreed to "try" at least one piece of Sushi.

I was giddy inside as I watched his expression when they brought out the large plate of sushi. To be honest, I think he started looking a little pale. 

After eating most of his salmon dinner, he announced he was ready to, "try this sushi stuff." We helped him mix his soy sauce with a little wasabi. We gave him a little tutorial on the different items and I tried to coax him towards something pretty mild to start with.

Handy Man jumped right in there and started with Kani (cooked crab meat). 

This was a Kodak moment. 

A few last minute instructions

He chewed carefully. Processed this new experience thoroughly and when he had finished swallowing he announced that it wasn't half bad. 

And then he reached for another piece. 

I about fell off my chair!

Next choice, Hirame (Halibut). He really liked that one.

He tried a couple pieces of Sake (salmon) and a lobster roll. 

About fifteen minutes after getting our large platter of assorted items, another smaller plate arrived with Toro (fatty tuna). I could tell just from looking at the Toro that I was going to pass on trying it. It was not my cup of tea. Fatty tuna is the most prized and expensive part of tuna, like the tenderloin of beef. But it's pretty fatty - go figure.

Handy Man jumped right in there and was willing to give it a go. 

I was worried for him. He had come so far. Branched out on a BIG limb already today. I was afraid his new limb might break under him. But he cowboy'd up and took a bite - a BIG bite.

My heart was racing a little. I watched as he chewed the Toro. 

Silence speaks a thousands words. 

Handy Man has a pretty good poker face. 

It was no use. I have watched that face for more than 12 years and I knew he was having a hard time getting that one down. 

When he reached for his chop sticks - I know he even used chop stick! Can you believe it! - to sneak a few scoops of teriyaki sauce left over from his seared salmon, I knew he did not like the Toro. But he was brave. He forcefully swallowed the Toro and searched the table for something else to cleans his pallet - the last Kani (cooked crab meat).

Modestly, he admitted the Toro was not his favorite. Pretty greasy tasting. But overall, his first Sushi experience wasn't all that terrible. He admitted that he expected the worst and it really wasn't that bad. His favorite was definitely the Kani (cooked crab meat) with the Hirame (Halibut) a close second. He said he would never suggest Sushi as a restaurant choice, but knew that if he was stuck in a situation where he had to get Sushi again he wasn't nervous.

I was so proud of my Handy Man. My meat and pasta only guy. 

Shoot, he was braver than I was!

Watering the Flowers

It's getting hot, summer is upon us. So it shouldn't have come to my surprise the result of letting my Brown Eyed Girl water the flowers for me while I started dinner. 

She truly has become more skilled in handling the hose.

She is very conscientious. She instantly realized that Boji's bowl was empty and took the initiative to full up his bowl with fresh, cool water. 

She is becoming so responsible. 

All intentions are well intended until there are two...

I give our Brown Eyed Girl and "A" for effort. She did attempt to just water the flowers.

She made the effort to be a loving and responsible roll model for Mr Blue Eyes by telling him to stay away from the water dish. See here is proof of her growing responsibility and good intentions.

But sometimes, we get teased. Sometimes, we are enticed.

When it's hot out and you are one and you are tempted... you just can't resist the urge to touch.

Even when you are three and working so hard on being a big girl... you just can't resist the urge to touch.

And when you can't boss them around and it's hot out...you join them.

Pure pressure, the spoiler of all good intentions. 

And then just a touch becomes....

...little splashes.

...then BIG splashes.

And then, you are wet!

You go back for more and more because it is glorious and it is hot out. 

Then Mommy takes off your wet clothes because you can't wear wet clothes in the house. 

While she hangs the wet clothes out to dry...

More splashing.

Until the water is all gone and it is time for dinner.