Always In The Soak Zone

Back to Sea World. Bruce can be a bad influence on people. We had a few new employees along on the trip to California, and Bruce convinced one young man to go sit in the "Soak Zone" during the Shamu show. I think he said something like, "We won't get very wet." Well, of course they got soaked in the Soak Zone. Funny thing- Shamu must be directionally challenged. On the first pass when the whale is supposed to REALLY get folks wet, he splashed his tail inward- towards the center of the tank, instead of out at the audience. I guess whales have bad days too.

Here's Bruce getting wet- from my safe, dry seat.
Bruce and our helpless victim. Look at that sneaky look on Bruce's face:
Other wet pictures- Bruce got chilled and had to go back to the hotel and change his clothes!I think this picture is pretty awesome! It looks likes Shamu is seriously going to eat all th0se people!And a few more Shamu Show pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I've always been a fan of French Onion Soup- it's probably the bread and melted cheese on top. Shannon and I always order it at the Cafe Orleans in Disneyland, along with Mickey beignets! I tried this recipe the other night and it was really good. Peter said the soaked bread was like a "slug" and opted to dunk his bread in the soup French Dip style. This is an allrecipes.com recipe.

Quickie French Onion Soup

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 3 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed chicken broth
• 2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed beef broth
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (1 ounce) package au jus gravy mix
• 2 cups croutons
• 8 slices Swiss cheese

Directions

1. In a small skillet over medium heat, cook garlic until just golden. Set aside.
2. In a skillet, cook sliced onions in butter, over medium low heat, until a caramel color is reached (any onion that is burned during this process should be discarded). Set aside.
3. Combine chicken and beef broth in a 2 quart saucepan. Add fried garlic, fresh ground pepper and sauteed onions. Bring the soup mixture to a boil and then simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the packaged gravy mix and simmer for another 10 minutes.
4. Turn on oven broiler and divide soup evenly among 4 oven safe soup crocks. Place several croutons on the top of the soup followed by two slices of Swiss cheese on top of the croutons. Make sure that the cheese does not sink into the soup. Place soup crocks on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler. Broil until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Let cool slightly before serving.

Meet My New Little Friend!

We continue to move backwards in time... We were in California for the annual Getaway trip, sponsored by the So. Cal. Tourist Board. We go every January, and we always get to spend some time at Sea World. Usually we get a "behind the scenes" tour. This year's tour included:

Shark Eggs. Gross!
Lots of Nemos:And flamingos.
But my favorite part was the dolphins! Sea World is remodeling their Dolphin Stadium, so all of the dolphin moms and babies were living "behind the scenes". Those babies were so cute! All of the dolphins were very curious about us and kept popping out of the water to get a good look. I love their smiling faces!
This one got spunky and started squirting us- no sardines for that kind of behavior!
Sea World has beautiful landscaping with lots of blooming flowers. What a nice thing to see in the middle of January!
And we always have to take a picture of Shannon on the manatee:

A Pony Puppy Mill

On the way home from California, I stopped at the "farm" where Rocko was born. Here I was expecting a beautiful facility with rolling grassy fields, filled with beautiful, long-legged bay wonder-colts , running with their beautiful moms. In the distance, on a hill, lighted by a shaft of sunlight, would be Rocko's sire- mane and tail blowing in the wind. What a disappointment! It was like a puppy mill- for horses. The place was falling apart, with chicken coops, rusting out trailers and cars, a terrible cinder block barn and sad-looking horses. The house attached to the property was a dump. After giving myself a pep talk I talked to the Hispanic workers. One spoke English. I told him that I owned a horse that had been bred there. I asked about Rocko's sire, and the man said that he had colic-ed and died the year before and that Rocko's mother was long gone. He seemed very surprised to hear that a horse from there was jumping. He was very nice, and told me I could look around, but I really didn't want to. I'd seen enough. No wonder the place didn't have a fancy website. Rocko is where he needs to be- in a nice barn, being taken care of and loved, and having a job to do.

Another Nighttime Temple

I stayed in St. George on my way back from California and tried some nighttime photos of the temple there. I have a rickety, fairly worthless little tripod that actually worked for these non-flash pictures. While taking pictures, I got a distress call from Peter- he was also in St. George with friends, and he had locked his keys in the car. Triple A to the rescue!!

January In Arizona

Someday I will be a Snowbird. I will escape Utah's cold in November and not come back until April! We spent 5 days in Scottsdale last week, doing deliveries for Getaway. We worked from 8-5 most days, then ate dinner and collapsed into bed. One night we drove out to the temple in Mesa. An intimidating desert thunderstorm came through while we were there and we had to make a run for the car:We dropped in on Cam and Amy while we were there and found out that we had dropped off materials to Amy's school the day before- small world! We all went for ice cream and they patiently toted us old-folks around, showing us the sights. For those of you who know them, you won't be surprised that their apartment was perfectly clean and cute. We are so happy we stopped by!

The best thing about Arizona was that is was 75 degrees every day. In January!! I would stand with my face to the sun and just bake. Love it there. :)

I'm living in an Alien World!

Why do I feel like this? Because things are really out of whack for me right now. I've been home for 3 days out of the last 17, and I still have Christmas decorations up! Anyone who knows me well will realize that that is out of character for me. Now, I'm not complaining!! I've been in warm, tropical places, enjoying 75 degree weather and that goes a long way on my "so worth it" list. So, tomorrow morning, MONDAY morning, I'm going to get caught up! I'm going to unpack my suitcase and clean up all those piles of clean and dirty clothes. I'm going to put that darn Christmas stuff away! I can hardly wait. (Maybe I should escape to the warm again!)

I have taken many, many pictures in my recent wanderings. and rather than show 2009 pictures, I'm going to start with yesterday and work my way backwards. There was a clinic out at the barn yesterday, and since Rocko is 99% recovered from his muscle tweak and was getting the day off, Shannon became the Pony Trainer again. She is the perfect pony trainer because she has the skills of a grown -up rider, but without the grown-up size. In other wards, she can make the pony do what needs to be done without squishing the pony! Yesterday she rode Goldie, who was very well behaved and did just what Shannon told her to do: