 Some friends of ours recommended a great place for Katie to visit when Katherine and I make short out of town excursions. I guess we could let Katie stay there for longer out of town trips, but Katie prefers to go to Grandma and Grandpa Ulrich's house in that case. Anyway, DogBoy's Ranch is the place to go if you are looking for a great place for your pup to stay while you are away. This place is not your standard "kennel". They've got really nice dog runs, part of which are inside and part outside. But the coolest thing about DogBoy's is that they dont really stay in the dog run except at night! They have a 15 acre spread with about 20 different fenced off play areas for the dogs to play in during the day. They evaluate each dog and keep pooches with similar temperaments and energy levels together. They had no problem with Katie's newfound special needs (insulin injections) and other meds. They also take the dogs out for hikes during the day! We could tell that every employee at the ranch truly cares about dogs. Rebbecca took care of Katie for us on one of the days and we noticed she had a tattoo of puppy paws around her wrist! It's obvious they only hire real dog lovers out there!   
What happened to the "Dell dude"? Katherine and I recently purchased new computers. It's weird. We live in Round Rock Texas, the HQ of Dell,Inc. Michael Dell himself offices here (sometimes), yet when we ordered our computers I'm sure they were shipped from somewhere overseas. When we call Dell, we talk to somebody who claims to be called "Kenny" but I'll bet he lives closer to Bangalore than Round Rock. Oh well. Our computers are cool. We love 'em. They are dressed and ready for Christmas! (not intentional, I promise) Katherine's is newer than mine and looks a lot more modern, but they are only about 6 months apart! Geez...we're pretty nerdy to blog about our new computers! 
Go Go Baby Go! 
Katie has not been feeling well as of late. We noticed a few major symptoms a couple of weeks ago. She was drinking LOTS of water. Like a whole bowl at a time. That led to her having an issue controlling her bladder which is no fun for anyone! And finally, we noticed she was just not acting herself...a little lethargic. So, we took her to see the Doc at Forest Creek Animal Vet Clinic. He evaluated her, poked, prodded, tested her blood and pee and about 500 bones later (no pun intended!), we went home with some antibiotics, a box of syringes and a bottle of insulin. Yup. Miss Katie Marie is a diabetic dog. It's crazy to even write the words "diabetic dog"! But, it apparently can happen and is not uncommon. She takes her two daily insulin shots like a Champ. We are in the process of several follow up visits to make sure her glucose curves are in check. The good news is, once we get her on the right dosage, the old Katie should be back and she'll be able to live a normal happy life. No long story here. A picture is worth 1000 words. Below are some of the great recipes we've made in the new Vita-mix. If you are a Texan, you don't need me to tell you that this is fresh Salsa. This one is Katherine's creation. Tomatoes, candied jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, fresh lemon juice, red onions and salt. Delish.  I love this stuff. You are looking at a bowl of freshly ground Almond butter. Yup, just a few minutes prior, those were whole raw almonds. So creamy and fresh. The bread came from a great bakery in Marble Falls called Brothers Bakery. An old high school buddy of mine is the chef and proprietor.  The "Green Smoothie". Spinach, Soy Milk, Pineapple, Grapes and Ice. It tastes incredible. You don't taste the spinach, it's just yummy, creamy, and fruity!  Yeah, I know...this one has already been blogged about down below. But, this is a post about all the great things we've made so I had to include it. 
Zach and I were tourists in our own hometown today. We decided to start the day by checking out the "Artisan Stroll" in downtown Round Rock. We found out it was not quite a stroll down Main street like we had anticipated, but more like 10-15 tents set up in the park for the local artists. We were not disappointed though, and we'll go back the next time they're here. The "stroll" is the 2nd Sunday of every month. Next we headed next door to grab a burger at Junior's, a local bar & restaurant. We drive by the place all of the time, but we've never bothered stopping in. But I'm glad we finally did! This place is like a "Cheers" for the locals of Round Rock! We're planning on going back this Thursday to check out some live music.  
This is a gas station down the street from our house. With these prices, I think it's time for a road trip!! 
We took Katie to the park and got some photos of her modeling her Halloween outfit.  
So we found ourselves alone and unsupervised in a classroom on the campus of UT. I turned around and in those few seconds, Katherine had found a way to leave her mark! The funny part of this is that this was taken a couple of days before the Fall semester started; Imagine the look on kids faces when they walked into class!  
You gotta see our newest kitchen addition! Ever heard of a Vitamix? You've probably seen one at your local smoothie or coffee shop. It's incredible. So far we've cooked soup in it, made a delectable strawberry frozen dessert (see pics!), smoothies galore, and all natural, fresh, homemade almond butter! We love this thing. Geez...look at all the nutrition just waiting for our tummies!  According to a study at the University of Toronto, this machine actually breaks open the cell walls (with the help of it's 2HP motor) to deliver "maximum nutrition" from the fruits and vegetables we put in it! I know, I sound like that obnoxiously loud TV infomercial guy, but we are really excited about the Vitamix. It actually does have a really great reputation for making healthy, great tasting smoothies, soups and all kinds of other stuff from whole foods. Stay tuned for upcoming posts about "Green Smoothies!" In the mean time, check this out...made from frozen strawberries and Soy Milk! So creamy and delicious! 
We've added a few more links to "Our Bloggin Friends" Go check 'em out! You may not believe it, but we have our very own Caribbean Paradise just hours off shore from Freeport, Texas. Katherine and I boarded the M/V Fling (that's "Motor Vessel Fling" for all you landlubbers) for a weekend adventure to Texas' own Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. That's a mouthful, huh?  We left port on Friday evening July 4th and were underway all night arriving at our first dive site, The East Bank, on Saturday morning. This was Katherine's first experience at living on a boat for a few days and she was quite the trooper. Me, on the other hand had a new experience. I've spent a few years at sea and never, ever, not even one time got sea sick....until Friday July 4th. Note to self: Do not eat an Angus Bacon Blue Cheese Burger just hours before boarding a boat, especially when weather reports indicate 3-6 foot seas. After the offending burger crossed my lips for the 2nd time, it was smooth sailing the rest of the weekend :) We dove every 2 1/2 hours and in between we ate and slept. We did lots of eating, sleeping and diving! Every time we came out of the water, the crew had another meal or hearty snack ready to go. When we boarded the boat after our Saturday night dive we were greeting by the sights and smells of warm brownies and Blue Bell Ice Cream...not a bad way to end a great day of diving. If you are charting this, we dove the East Bank, an Oil Rig (designated HI389) and West Bank. I'd recommend this trip to anyone looking for great blue water diving without boarding an airplane! I didn't take my underwater camera on this trip, so thanks to Mario for letting me borrow a few of his underwater images from this trip.   HI 389 Oil Rig  Here's what an Oil Rig looks like underwater!  Aboard the M/V Fling (didn't I say we napped a lot?)  "GRRRRrrrrr"?? Apparently I look like this....  Headin' Home... 
The City of Round Rock has been serving up free music to it's citizens on a monthly basis for a while now and we finally got an opportunity to go soak some up. This month they featured the Texas Gypsies. I couldnt have said it better myself, so I'll just quote directly from their website: "Imagine this: you're in a quaint Parisian cafe listening to a delightful acoustic jazz combo. The air is filled with songs, some familiar, some exotic and intriguing. You're caught up in the music as lightning-fast guitar runs dart in and out of beautiful violin melodies. The rhythm guitarist is strumming his guitar with fiery abandon while the bassist slaps a rhythm that your feet cant resist. With your partner, you stand and move to the dance floor. Suddenly you stumble and trip over a Shiner beer bottle. As if waking from a dream, you realize that this isn't Paris, France, it's Paris Texas!"  The set list ranged from Django Rhienhardt, to quirky covers of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", to the aforementioned European style jazz and even The Beatles! Katherine and had a really nice time. We took some ice cream "just in case" it got too hot :)  The crowd... 
Well fans....it's been a while since we've updated our site. Of course, there's lots to tell, so grab a coffee and have a seat! Seriously, in the next couple of days I plan to add some posts about Katie, our new outdoor oasis, a trip or two, summer school and who knows what else! I'll never know how people find the time to update their blogs on a daily basis! Stay tuned.... We're back in school! Katherine and I are taking a class at UT. (It's OK Aggies....so far, Katherine has not spontaneously erupted into a ball of flames while on UT's campus. I was actually a little worried about that!) Ok...back to the class...so we signed up for a Mountain Biking class offered through the "informal classes" at said school. We had our first outing last Saturday and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. We weren't sure what to expect with this. The class compliment is a total of 4 people, 1 other girl and 1 other guy. Our instructor, Debbie is a very experienced MTB Girl....she makes it look easy! She took us through some basic riding techniques in the parking lot, assessed our riding positions and bike setup and we were off to the trails of Walnut Creek. We've been to Walnut Creek before and had a pretty good time, but we also knew from our previous experience that these trails could pose a few challenges. Ok, I have a bone to pick here. According to all the maps and info I've seen online, Walnut Creek is supposed to be an "easy to mid-level" ride. I'm not so sure about all that; there's some tough trails out there! Actually, this time was easier than the last and I'm sure it's just going to get better. We had fun with our first lesson. I crashed this time. I was going down a steep rocky hill and just didn't negotiate the crevices with the finesse they demanded. This picture just doesn't illustrate the degree of dirt, muck, and blood...hehe...  I think we are going back to Walnut Creek to ride the 11 mile loop next Saturday and then some tougher trails await in a few weeks! Stay tuned for more gnarly action...
This past Saturday we met up with our new dive buddies, Donna and Charlie at Lake Travis for a day of boat chartered diving. This is something we haven't done before on Lake Travis and it was cool to hit some spots only reachable by boat. This was a definite change from crystal blue waters and sea life in Cozumel, but it was a great day to get wet with friends and enjoy the lake. Lake Travis Scuba was a nice operation sporting a smooth riding pontoon boat with a comfy dive deck. We decided to make it an all day event and made 2 dives in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I picked up 10 cylinders of air to accommodate Katherine, Charlie, Donna and myself. The Xterra was sitting pretty low...That's a lot of tanks!  We started off at Oasis Wall, which is where I found a pristine unopened bottle of Bud Light. I'm not sure if anybody ever drank it but a couple of guys on the boat looked pretty thirsty...Dive 2 was at the old Scuba park. This dive site has lots of boats and other assorted stuff sunk there for divers to check out. We found a large houseboat in about 60 feet of water. The lake was still pretty cold at that depth.  We went back to the marina for lunch and to pick up another diver and headed back out for some diving. We went to Starnes Island and then made a second trip to the scuba park. During the Starnes dive, Katherine found a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, I found a lead weight for a fish line, and Donna found a diamond hoop earring! I guess Donna wins, Katherine second....and I found a piece of lead.... Katherine and I sat out on the last dive at the Scuba park to relax on the boat and swim around a little. All in all it was a nice day on the lake. Here's a few more photos. The four of us aboard the "The Giant Stride"  Katherine modeling the Sunglasses she found at Starnes Island!  Your's truly... 
This blog will be famous one day for our culinary skills! First, we present Grilled Salmon with Charred Corn Relish. This dish was a spectacular combination of flavors. First, you can't go wrong with grilled Salmon. The corn relish was extra flavorful thanks to the way the aromatic basil and sweet balsamic vinegar mixed with everything else in the corn relish. It's a taste I've not experienced before.  The corn relish recipe: -Soak 4 ears of shucked corn (on the cob) in large bowl of cold water for 20 minutes -Remove and pat dry -Coat corn on all sides with Olive Oil cooking spray, and season with 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper -Grill about 15 minutes or until charred on all sides -Remove cobs from grill and cool slightly -Slice the kernels from the cobs and transfer to a medium bowl -Add a pint of halved cherry tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. each of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, 3 Tbsp. of thinly sliced fresh basil (We used ours from our herb garden) and a 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly -Let the relish sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving -Top your grilled Salmon with the relish and enjoy! Thanks to Bobby Flay for this delicious recipe. Next up, for dessert we have decadent Brownie Goodness. We discovered an easy to make, low fat, low calorie brownie mix that tastes incredible. It's called "No Pudge" and it's available at H.E.B. and other fine food stores near you! We mixed up a batch of No Pudge using Fat Free Greek Yogurt. Then we topped it with Cool Whip, a little drizzle of chocolate syrup, some freshly sliced strawberries and a sprig of fresh mint (again, from our garden!) as a garnish. Wow, this was so good and fairly friendly to anybody watching your calories. Take a look at this! 
Katherine and I embarked on our annual dive trip from Friday May 23 thru Saturday May 30. This year we decided to hit Cozumel Mexico which is renowned for it's wonderful diving. We got a super deal on everything from the flight to the accommodations. I wish we would have taken some pics of the place where we stayed, but we just totally forgot. Lucky for us the internet exists and you can just check out the link right here. The Coral Reef Inn was a really neat little hotel a few blocks from the beach. It's kind of a bed and breakfast in the way it's set up, but the kitchen is for guest use....in other words, grandma ain't cookin' up pancakes and grits here, but there is an open air kitchen on the 3rd deck veranda. As this was a diving vacation (is there any other kind?) we dove from Saturday thru Wednesday which left Thursday and Friday to explore the island. We met up with another couple from East Texas named Charlie and Donna. They were a lot of fun to hang out and dive with! The diving was definitely great as advertised. The reefs are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma, but the marine life is still bountiful to say the least. We saw 5 sharks, 2 turtles, several sting rays, some ridiculously monstrous lobsters, big groupers, octopus, squid, and lots of other fun sea life and creatures. The current on some of the dives was pretty strong so that made for a challenging workout routine if you decided to stop or go the other direction. We've decided that Cozumel is the king of guacamole and ice cream.....oh man...Da Lindo's Ice Cream...In general, we ate pretty well over there. There are some great restaurants on the island. So, as previously mentioned Thursday and Friday were reserved for non-diving activities. On Thursday, we joined a group of people on a Trimaran charter. As soon as we departed it started to rain (par for the course for a Katherine and Zach vacation!). It rained pretty heavy as we traveled to a little cove on the North End of the island, but it finally cleared up before we got there. Once we anchored in the cove we donned our mask and snorkels and went for a little snorkel over a few coral heads. We hung out on a secluded beach for a while until lunch was served back on the boat. It was truly impressive what these guys cooked up on that little grill on the boat. We had some killer guacamole (see above), fajitas, chicken wings, fresh fish, and all the expected condiments. After lunch, we got to go on "spinnaker rides". This is kind of like para-sailing, except that the boat is anchored and we are basically just catching the wind like a kite. Katherine had fun with it, but when I got on "the wind died down"....yeah, right....I think we all know it had more to do with the fact that the sail simply wasn't suited for somebody of my "stature" :) On Friday, we rented a little car so we could head out on our own. There is basically only 1 road around the island so the only opportunity to get lost was in town! We stopped off in El Cedral which was a tiny village with some Mayan ruins. Then we went to have lunch on the East Side of the island at a place called "Coconuts". That was a fun little place with some pretty good food. We backtracked a little bit to the South side of the island to "Punta Sur". We visited the Punta Sur lighthouse and scaled the stairs to the very top (you know, where the big beacon is). That was pretty cool with incredible vistas in every direction. The East Side is a lot more "wild" in that it is undeveloped for the most part. The surf is much rougher and not very friendly for swimmers, boaters or divers, but it sure is nice to look at. There were some beautiful beaches and views to enjoy. Here we are!  Katherine on the Trimaran  The Spinnaker Ride  Miraculously, we survived this Shark attack.....close one!  Grey Angelfish  Golden Tailed Moray Eel  A Trunkfish  A "qulited" filefish...(we made up the "quilted" part in the name)  Katherine reading the underwater map  Yellow Tailed Stingray  Katherine having fun at the wheel!  Zach pretending to take charge in a storm!  One of the beautiful scenes from the East side  A Geiser on the East Side (as seen in the movie "Fool's Gold". Watch it if you don't know what I'm talking about) 
Usually, when you combine swimming and mountain biking you add a running event and "voila", you have a triathlon. We must have missed the running event somewhere, but my sweetie nailed the other two. :) We were riding at Walnut Creek Park in Austin along a river bed. We came to a ledge about 4 feet above the water and only about 1-2 feet wide. I dismounted and picked my bike up to walk along the edge. I got about 4 paces when I heard the sound of a bike loosing traction, followed by the sound of rock vs. pedals, followed by some incomprehensible verbal clamor. I turned my head just in time to see Katherine airborne and landing in the stream that she was riding along just seconds before. She was trying to negotiate the rather difficult rocky terrain and getting ready to follow my lead and jump off of her bike when disaster struck and she was unable to dismount the bike before it dismounted her! She's fine, so don't worry. The fall was tall enough to give me a scare when I heard the ruckus behind me, but short enough that the water was a nice soft landing for her. Here's the photos.... Part of the trail....  The offending ledge  After we fished her out of the stream...    Katherine's is the orange one!  
It's been a while since we've updated our blog, my friends. A lot has happened since we last met. First, we'll start off with our new fluffy friends. Katherine and I had the pleasure of watching fresh baby birdies grow from Day 1 until they "flew the coupe"! Katherine was tending to our plants as she does nearly every day when she found a surprise. A nest had been built in our hanging begonia plant on the front porch! Now, I'm not a bird watcher, so I have no idea what kind of birds these are, but it was really cool watching them and photographing them grow and transform over about a 10 day period from little blobs into actual feathered birds capable of flying and taking care of themselves. For humans it takes about 20 years, for birds....10 days....amazing. Here is what we saw on Day 1, May 3 2008.  Not much to look at yet. It's hard to make out the details, but what you see there in the first photo is 5 very recently hatched baby birds. Fast forward to Day 6, May 8 2008   You can see the beaks have formed and the heads are a little more defined. Day 7, May 9 2008  Day 10, May 12 2008 It's amazing how these little fellows have grown in 10 days. This is the last shot I got of them before they found their wings. During their stay in our Begonia plant, we checked in on them everyday. We had a huge storm with high winds, so I moved the hanging plant to a more protected part of the porch so they wouldn't get blown away with the wind. We found out that Begonia's can handle several days with little to no water (we couldnt very well dump a bunch of water on the little birdies). It was a really cool thing to witness up close. 
Katherine's parents were in town a few weekends ago and we spent Sunday riding the Hill Country Flyer train out to Burnet Tx for the annual Bluebonnet Festival. Here's proof.  The day was beautiful so we decided to let Katie stay outside and enjoy it instead of being all couped up inside. Anybody who knows us knows we love our Katie-Girl. Alot. She's quirky and ridiculously cute. She protects us from strangers. She wears a blue cape with "SD" in large white block letters for Super Dog. However, she scared the crap out of us both when we got home from Burnet. Apparently, she didn't like being in the backyard. She needed to explore the vast 2 street neighborhood. And she did. I can only imagine her running from yard to yard sniffing every square inch and peeing on top of whatever she sniffed. Hard, long work for a dog. She didn't take our feelings into consideration though because we got home and found an empty back yard. Our hearts sank. Katherine was in tears and I was freaking out about where she was, whether she was OK and how she got out. Did somebody steal her? Did I leave the gate open? Nope. We found her just down the street chillaxin' underneath a big pickup truck. I need to fix the fence.... 
 Katherine has been busy. Really busy. Did I mention she's been busy? She has singlehandedly (Ok, I helped a little here and there) transformed our house to a botanical wonderland! (well, a little exaggeration, but let's just say there's LOTS more O2 here than before!) She has installed a flower garden around our front Silver Leaf Maple tree, created a container herb garden, a little flower garden in the corner or our backyard and lots and lots of other flowers and plants in pots around the house. It's really added some color and natural beauty to the casa.
I've been dragging Katherine through biking technical hell for the past couple of weeks. A while back we decided to upgrade our department store bikes to something of a bit higher quality; Problem was, neither of us knew much about bikes. And there's LOTS to know. I started reading and learning and trying to figure out what's important and what's not. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to our new Novara Ponderosa's! Oh, and the new bike rack too...  We had our maiden ride this morning on a little 1 hour jaunt around our area. We've got a ride scheduled for tomorrow morning too...so many hike and bike trails in Central Texas to explore...Fun times ahead! Oh, and don't make fun of us for getting matching bikes. This model only comes in Blue! Well, we've done it. Actually, Katherine did it. I (Zach) have been promising to get this thing going for a while, but never sat down to do it. I came home from Jack in the Box (love the grilled chicken strips!) and there she was setting up an account. So, here we are, ready to inform the world of our daily endeavors much the same way as millions of other bloggers do. We may do some "catch up" blogs to get started.....we've been busy! Stay tuned..... |
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