4-Wheeling

After hunting a few times in the mountainous terrain, the fella and I decided to keep our eyes open for a 4-wheeler.  We knew we'd use them, and I didn't want to look back at our time in Idaho and say, "Wouldn't it have been cool if we would have had 4-wheelers?"  There's so many places here that you just can't get to with a truck.  We kept our eyes and ears open and one day the fella called me at work and said he heard about a few on the radio.  We were going to drive an hour to the next town to look at them, but then the seller said he was headed our way anyway and would bring them to us.  He was bringing two, but we just wanted one.

A few hours later, he drove away with an empty trailer, and we sat in our driveway with 2 new toys.

Up until yesterday, we had only used one for hunting.  We decided to take them out for their first trip :)

That's hard to do with a truck but a piece of cake for a 4-wheeler!

An old work site.

There were 5 or 6 cabins where the workers would stay.  It was waaay in the middle of nowhere!

After 7 miles and an hour and a half, we made it to the lake!

That's our town!

We had so much fun, but today my hand, shoulder, and butt are killing me!!! (Does that count as a workout???)

Oh, and just because, here's a picture of me from a few weeks ago before going grouse hunting. I got 2, the fella got 3!

Age?

Today, one of my favorite blogs Back East Blonde talked about how she still doesn't feel like a grown up despite living with her beau, having a house, getting a puppy, and having a grown up job.  I feel like this all.the.time!

I told my dad once that I couldn't believe that I was a grown up and I had my own apartment (this was years ago) and a job and all that.  I asked him if you ever really start to feel like an adult.  He chuckled and said, "Ha, no. And wait until you have kids!"  I ask the fella the same question sometimes, especially since he always seems so much better at adult stuff that me.  You know, like knowing what copay means for insurance.  He said he doesn't feel like a grown up either.

As I hang out with people my age and older, I realized we're exactly the same as we were when we were kids/teenagers.  We still make dirty jokes (like the kids I teach who don't realize I've already made all the jokes they're just learning), act inappropriately in public (we just make sure no one's looking), and giggle during meetings.

As a teacher, I still laugh to myself when I hang out with teachers who are just as childish as me outside of the classroom.  Remember when you thought teachers lived at school?  You'd see them in the grocery store and think, "There's Mrs. So-and-So. She eats food.  Just like the rest of us. That's weird."  The difference between us and kids is that we have to pretend.  Kids get to do all these things all of the time and it's acceptable.  We do all these things but have to pretend we don't.  Because we're grown up.  Responsible.  Reliable.

It's nice to know that as I get older I don't have to give any of that up...I just have to pretend to. :)

This Time of Year...

This time of year I get a little homesick.  I love midwest falls, I love the trees, the apple cider, the smells, and most of all, the football.  Buckeye Nation is a pretty cool place to be during football season.  In Virginia, I found an Ohio State bar that felt almost like home, and I got used to that.  We had our own little traditions in a home away form home.  If I couldn't be in a bar in Columbus, that was definitely the next best thing.  

Here in Idaho it's just not quite the same.  And this is the second year that the fella has been gone on the first game day (I realize this is the second, but we were in the mountains last week) which compounds the loneliness a little more though it doesn't occur to me until he's already left.  Not that he should stay home anyway just to watch me mope over my lack of football!

So, since I can't watch the game (and really I'm not that upset because watching here by myself just isn't the same), I'm going to put on my jersey, be sad for a few minutes, cheer up, and attempt to recreate Chipotle.  Though after my cooking adventure last night (imagine marinade exploding from the broken food processor) I don't know that I'm very optimistic at the moment.  And I'll wait until the day that I can be back in the midwest where Big Ten games are standard and the trees are golden.