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There are some pretty interesting events in and around Reno that happen in September and October. It is my hope to attend some of them NEXT year since this year I am way too preoccupied with my house and unpacking and organizing and all that. I thought you might like to hear about a few things lest you still think Carson City is the gateway to Siberia...

Click Here to see a cool high speed video of the Reno Balloon Races. Happens yearly around the second week in September.

Complimenting the Reno Balloon race weekend is the Virginia City Camel Races held that same weekend. I find this odd and hilarious and it will be a must see event on the calendar next year.

Even better on a weekend in early October Virginia City holds the World Championship Outhouse races. Seriously, how could you not want to miss a derby like that???


I'll leave you with this:
Click Here to watch the trailer to the movie "Players" just released on DVD that was shot in Carson City! Who knew? There may have to be a movie night at my house for this one.

Oh, and this that I just noticed out my kitchen window. I have one of those beautiful trees on the side of the house that is putting on a show.

YUP!

It is strangely hazy around the mountain peaks today but that is indeed SNOW. Tuesday the mountains got snow, we got rain and a low ceiling of dark clouds. Ummm...it's only October right?

Everybody Do The Candy Dance

The first official weekend of fall is known for two things in Northern Nevada. I partook of one while everyone and their Harley headed to Reno for Street Vibrations, which is the other. I've yet to participate in Street Vibrations since I don't yet own a motorcycle though I have plans at some point to become a motorcycle ridin' gal. I did take my Motorcycle Safety course and passed so that's half of it there.

Many a motorcycle can be seen making their way to Genoa at the base of the Sierra's for the annual two day Candy Dance and Arts Fair. The motorcyclists are, no doubt, headed here.



The Genoa Thirst Parlor - established in 1863. It is a favorite spot for cyclists to stop for a refreshment. I often wonder if the cyclists know that they are headed into a beehive of a street faire going on all around the bar.

The Genoa Candy Dance was started in 1919 as a dance and supper to raise money for streetlights in the tiny town. Candy was passed out at the dance as a way to entice more participation. With the success of the event it continued on paying for a years worth of electricity each successive year. It has evolved into a two day street fair featuring arts and crafts, food, a dance and supper, along with the sale of some of the best sugary concoctions including Pecan Turtles, Chocolate Haystacks, Fudge, Divinity, Almond Bark....these are just a few of the favorites. This year I purchased the fudge and divinity. The divinity was the most delicious I have tasted since christmas at my Grandmother's many, many years ago. Excellent fudge, too. There is also a woman who makes English Toffee to swoon over. I had some of that too.


The purchasing of candy happens here. At the Town Hall building.

After a morning of sauntering around looking at peoples wares and sneaking bites of english toffee, my sister and I picked up a Navajo Taco and sat for a bit of lunch. A Navajo Taco is new to me but it was simple and delicious. Fry bread topped with chili beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese, onions. The bread was awesome and it was quite filling.



We sat in the shade of this beautiful tree and had lunch.

With the mountains to gaze at. Very beautiful and serene.

A nice way to spend an official fall afternoon. And sugary treats to take home!

Fall Upon Us

What have I been doing? Where have I been? Good question...where should I start. I am recovering from the effects of a rather unpleasant sinus infection that required antibiotics and made working in a face mask that much more pleasant. Though the antibiotics have done their job I am still feeling sluggish and not 100% and come home in the evenings and pretty much climb in bed by 9 PM which means the TiVo is running overtime while all the new and returning shows I am trying to watch go by the wayside in favor or more sleep. Add on, the not necessarily stressful but stressful just the same, starting work in a new office and getting acquainted and organized and now juggling two offices part-time and the fact that the office space in the new house looks like a tornado hit it while I attempt to wrestle it into some sort of less chaotic order meanwhile, obcessing over the boxes of just junk that needs to be shredded that are waiting for attention in the garage. HMM, that about covers the minutae of it all.

There were family visits in the last few weeks, a day at the Genoa Candy Dance which I will explain along with pictures of Genoa but I wouldn't want to present this all to you until I've got my research and history correct cuz that would just be wrong. Still candy has been known to make me dance so it's a good visual there I think. Swaying to the music of a well made piece of fudge...it could happen.

All that plus beautiful fall foliage, we get some amazing color here, the first rain of the season, a dusting of snow on the Heavenly Valley peaks today, temperatures dropping, heaters revving up and the weekend figuring out how to shut down and drain the swamp cooler.

I'll be back with photos.

Found

My backyard has just acknowledged the official start of autumn coming up this weekend. My trees are so smart!

Vast Variety of Virgos

Now that the Virgo birthdays in my family have come to an end we can all catch our breath and plan for the normal spacings of birthdays. August/September in my family is a whirlwind of Virgos, more Virgos per square inch than any other group.


This is Virgo MMniece with her two kiddles, the littlest of which is also a Virgo.

These gorgeous identical twins are the Virgo daughters of MMnephew. They just turned 3!

Here's Virgo MMnephew with one of his Virgo daughters

Here's Virgo MMsister with the littlest Virgo. The littlest Virgo just turned 1!

Here's Virgo MMbrother-in-law with the littlest Virgo.



Now the great part of all these virgos is the sheer number of MMfamilial gatherings, this year topped off by the suprise party for MMbrother-in-law, who suspected nothing, though I believe he was seriously contemplating divorce by the time MMsister got him to the party. MMfamily, not really well schooled in the fine art of lying, had a wild time keeping the stories straight and piling lies and excuses one on top of the other. MMherself had to figure out how to sneak down to the Bay Area without MMbro-in-law knowing which wasn't easy considering they live 4 blocks from me. Whee, I can safely say MM and family are full of cake and kids and parties and everyone can settle down for a bit.

September 11th

Cruisin'

Last Wednesday I worked my last day at the South Lake Tahoe office I have been temping in since July. (Did I ever think to take my camera....umm...no)

Some things I will miss:

Watching the sun creep up over the mountains in Carson City as I drive along the ridge of my neighborhood out to the highway.
The “bear crossing” signs along the top of Spooner Summit...these make me smile for no reason
The glimpse of Spooner Lake as I head down the Summit into Tahoe. Awesomely serene.
The first breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe as you round the corner of Highway 50. Big and Blue.
Cave Rock...it’s the coolest thing. You drive through it.
The sweet, clean morning air filtering through evergreens as I drive through Zephyr Cove.
The glimpse of mountain cabins and houses along the way into South Lake.
The open meadow that leads the eye to the view of the high rise casinos that are South Lake Tahoe...looks like a miniature city plopped down in the mountains.
The sign for Heavenly Valley ski resort that just says “Heavenly” which is a fairly accurate description.
The meandering ease of Pioneer Trail, which is a welcome backroad, rather than the drive through all of South Lake.
A wonderful ranch just before Al Tahoe Blvd, where I turn, where there is a large white barn and a huge meadow where you will see white horses grazing. The first time I noticed this, in the early morning hours, struck me as a dream or the setting for a fairy tale.
A one hour commute with maybe 5 stop lights and time for a full CD to play.
This view from my work space:



I won’t miss getting up at the crack of dawn to travel there. I won’t miss the increasing congestion of traffic as the summer wore on. I most certainly won’t miss all three huge road construction projects that gave off a badly designed video game vibe. I won’t miss the sticker shock at the pump.

Not that I won’t travel to South Lake many times more...it’s just that the likelyhood of doing it at 6:30 in the morning is pretty slim. For being such a cranky pants morning person I am suprised at how much I looked forward to this early morning ride. Beautiful. It’s why I live here.

I was rewarded with an easy office to work in and an office staff that was helpful, appreciative, and nice. They gave me this as a parting gift. Sweet, huh?

By Summer's End?

MMspouse asked me a few days ago "So, when does the snow melt completely?"
Um....maybe September???


Highway 89, August 25, 2006...Still a bit of snow up there.

MMMMM....Breakfast!

These delicious looking goodies were waiting for me when I got home this evening. Good friends W&D sent cookies to celebrate the new house. YUM, throw on some decafe and it's a party!!

Halfway

Today is the half way point of my week. I am working more than usual this week and last week. Throw in a very fun and busy visit from MMmom and MMniece and assorted tots and you have a reasonably happy yet overly tired Moxie. I am determined not to let this period of intense work get to me and I will stoically keep the whining to a minimum since it is so rare I overwork myself.

Since I am halfway or somewhat settled into the new house I have actually found some time to read. Ahh, books - I have been so distracted in the past few months that nothing got read and my stacks were keening and calling me but to no avail. I had to jump back in with a fitting summer beach read "Motion to Suppress" by Perri O'Shaughnessy. P. O'S. being a pen name for two sisters who write mysteries revolving around lawyer Nina Riley. The cool part of this series of books is that they are set in Lake Tahoe...yup, that big blue lake right over the hill from me. I actually drive by the building they use as the setting for Nina Riley's office when I work in South Lake Tahoe. I wouldn't know anything about this if my buds W&D hadn't given me one of the books right after I moved to this area. I have also tackled Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking." I've never been much of a Didion fan but I do like John Gregory Dunne's writings and have a signed copy of "Monster in a Box" from a reading he did in San Francisco. I wasn't sure I wanted to read a memoir of Mr. Dunne's demise....however, it did capture my attention, it is wonderfully written without being maudlin, with a lot of quirky descriptions of the way grief has it's way with you. It's a beautiful tribute and a lovely insight into their relationship. I've just started Augusten Burrough's "Dry", my niece has the companion "Running with Scissors" so there is to be a trade off down the road if she ever finds time to read again.

With that I'm off to watch a rerun of "House". Love that Hugh Laurie, can't wait for the new season.

Entomology 101

Latest visitor to my house. He appeared to have fallen off the roof. There was much discussion as to why he was on the roof. He was determined to climb up the screen. First we relocated him to the grasslands of the backyard. Next thing ya know, he's back at the screen. Figured he would like to be back on the roof, so after watching his progress up the screen halt at the top he was corraled into a big bowl and released back to the roof. He scampered away at a rapid rate. I think he must live in the oak tree on the opposite side of the roof from whence he came.

RIP

A brief moment of silence as I mourn the end of my chuckle a day. Thanks to punk rock knitter and knitty kitty at You Knit What? for witticisms and jaw dropping fugness in the knitting world.

Suprised

My co-workers threw me a house-warming lunch today at work. It was such a nice suprise. There was lunch with deli sliced meat and cheese, amazing wheat rolls, an awesome fruit salad, and potato salad as well. Then we capped it off with a chocolate cream pie.....tipped over with glee I was. Then there were presents. I couldn't believe it! How sweet and thoughtful was that? What a great gang I work with. They graced me with an amazingly soft chenille throw to cuddle up in. A beautiful silver candle holder and candle with a yummy sugar and floral scent, a spice rack with stuff I might actually use...there were jokes about the possibility of me cooking. A great welcome sign for my door. The topper though is a beautiful watercolor painting. This painting was at work one day. My co-worker L.'s mother is an artist. The painting was L.'s. She had brought it to work so her mother could pick it up for a show she wanted it included in. I just loved it. L. assured me that her mother would paint something for me in the future. Lo and behold, L. gave me the painting I loved so much. This photo doesn't do it justice, there's so much shading and delicate detail it is hard to believe it is watercolor. L.'s mom is truly gifted and I am proud to display such a beautiful piece in my new home.

Though we do have a penchant for luncheon's and party's and dessert at work, especially for birthdays and I joked that they did this because they needed a reason and my birthday is too far off, I'm truly touched that they would have a lunch for me and give me gifts for my new house. Sweet, Sweet day.

Welcome!

This is what you will see after you walk up to my door, lean over and admire the cherry tree on the side of the house, and then turn around. Those lovely mountain peaks. AAAHHHH!

As you can see I live on a hill which I like. The other good thing is that the driveway now has a southern exposure and that will come in very handy come snow season. At our rental we had a north facing driveway. It was rather disheartening to be out shoveling the driveway when all the houses with south facing driveways were clear thanks to the sun exposure. I anticipate less need to shovel the driveway this winter and that is a nice bonus.

There's a hint of excitement in the air. Rumor has it Trader Joe's is coming to Carson City. No one seems to know just where this store will be but there's also a rumor of a September opening. There are several new buildings going up in the Topsy Lane shopping area which is 2 stop lights from my house and 2 new buildings that are almost completed in the Target shopping center which is 1 stop light from my house.. There are several empty retail establishments in Carson City that may be likely candidates as well. Either way I will be a happy camper. Once again I will have a Trader Joe's close to my house.

Nevada elections are coming up and with it the vast quantities of campaign signage that goes with it. From one end of Carson City to the other and down to Minden and Gardnerville there are signs everywhere. I'm watching the Jack Carter (D) for Senate race closely and the race for governor. That one is a no brainer for me. I always vote pro-choice and Dina Titus (D) is pro-choice. It's that simple. As in California so shall it be in Nevada, I hope. I'm a woman, it's my body, etc. It's important for the younger generation of women to have choices, options, access to Planned Parenthood, education. None of these things are to be taken lightly. Many fought hard for a woman's right to choose and I'd like to see that right upheld.

As I wobble off my soapbox I'll remind you to vote for whom ever floats your boat.
Exercise your right to choose.

MINE

August 1st was the year anniversary of my move to Carson City. I celebrated the day by mailing my first mortgage payment on my new home. If only that thrill could maintain itself over the next thirty years. Ha! Still she's lovely even though it looks from the photo like I bought a door, a couple windows, and a garage. Most of the house is tucked back off the street which is nice for peace and quiet. There's no showing off the interior because it's not nearly in show off condition but there are fewer boxes to trip over and quite a few more were carted off to recycling last week. Phew, that was a relief...cardboard was making me dizzy. Thanks to the inexpensive home warranty we purchased we were able to get the refrigerator water feature repaired and up and running for very few dollars and get the swamp cooler (such a classy name)serviced so it runs at maximum efficiency which came in handy when temperatures hovered in the 100's for two weeks....

Last friday we installed a really quiet garage door opener and 3 ceiling fans. Okay, wait...MMspouse and I picked them out and then we paid people to come install them. It was a significant home improvement and I'm quite proud of increasing the value of my home so easily. The bonus was all the money came from a rebate after close of escrow for fees that had been estimated and turned out to be less. It was an awesome treat to go out and be able to shop for stuff, pay cash, and have money left to pay people to install it all.

I'm still pretty amazed that I was able to do this and that I did it in a year's time. Like MMmom always told me "You can do anything you put your mind to!" It's awfully nice for this lifelong apartment dweller to sit on the deck steps and run my feet through grass in my own backyard. It occured to me tonight that the refrigerator is mine....not a loaner....funny little things like that keep happening. I've got lots of ideas of things to do over the next couple months and years. Meanwhile, I'm gonna live here for awhile and settle in and see what really needs to be done next. Could be flowers. Could be paint. Got 30 years to decide.

Tech Trouble

Who knew that moving just four measly blocks would upset the whole apple cart that is my DSL line. Unbelievable! So, now we are on Cable internet and now I have to configure my laptop to a router so I can be wi-fi once more. Sheesh. Once that bit of tech torture is completed I will be up and running and pictures will come forth and all will be right in my world. Meanwhile, I am emptying boxes and organizing my new home and I just really can't believe this is taking so long but there you have it.

MMspouse actually uttered these words to me whilst we were out pricing ceiling fans and garden hoses...."well, if we are talking about decorating we need a theme!" I almost tipped over....then promptly told him I am not so much a theme person and when did he become a decorative kind of guy?

So, the month of July has passed in a blur of unpacking, troubleshooting our swamp cooler and our fridge, a two week heat wave, and yet more ridiculous bureaucratic red tape from the Nevada Dental Board.

Bring on August....July pretty much sucked!!!

Home on the Ridge

GOT THESE!



THESE TOO!



NOW THIS!

Real photos soon.

Earth, Wind, and Fire

photo courtesy of aroundcarson.com

This is what I couldn't take my eyes off of last night while I drove home from work. Dry lightning (another new thing to me) created a substantial brush fire in the Northeast of Carson City. It started Sunday and burned until it was contained today. With up to seven fires burning in Northwest Nevada resources were scarce, the sky was black with smoke and the fire went on for days. It was scary to watch a hillside burn from my ridge across town. I can't imagine what hell it would be to be living near the fire in North Carson City. I was driving behind a car today whose driver was casually flicking his cigarette ashes out the window and I seriously would have liked to kick his door in or pummel him on that outstretched arm. Folks, we've got record high temperatures, afternoon thunderclouds with dry lightning, and mountains ready to blaze up with just the slightest provacation....do you think you could use the ashtray in your car! GGRRR! The thunderclouds finally opened up today and let loose some rain.

My other preoccupation: closing escrow this week. Besides the paperidge, which I spoke of previously, it seems it is not possible to close a house without the inevitable last minute details that require digging through boxes of old tax returns, tracking down stray W-2's, running to an office store to fax documents, making far to many phone calls, and being glued to my cell phone. Consequently, I feel as if I am in a constant state of distraction, have an amazing compulsion to make lists and of course, forget said list and needed documents when I leave the house. Monday I jumped in my car for yet another errand and realized I had left my keys in the house and had locked myself out. Bravo! Luckily, I had the forsight to make and hide a spare house key...for which I promptly patted myself on the back.

Generally, I imagine myself to be handling this process fairly well, I have to laugh at myself when life smacks me and says...silly girl, you are sooo all over the place. I took my sister with me today for the final walk through. Good thing, I was just so busy gawking and admiring my soon to be new abode that I really would not have noticed any of the repairs and such we were there to inspect.

Finally, I must share a moment that makes me a proud aunt. One of the best conversations I had with my college niece when she was visiting: As we are driving up the highway from Minden to Carson City we are discussing books. My niece keeps a list of books and authors she wants to read (that really must be the auntie gene).We talk about her books and authors and generally get all geeky and bookish. I am thrilled that some of my favorites are on her list and that I can gush about this or that book while my niece nods and bobs her head in that way that only another bookish gal understands. I am just so thrilled that she loves books and that I can share that love.