Now don't get me wrong, I am NOT running downstairs each day and wrapping my arms around Barry's neck and thanking him for moving me away from family and friends and all of the conveniences and familiarity of Kansas City after almost 14 years. BUT, I must say that I am not complaining either - it has been a very beautiful and fun place to live...so far. Remember that we haven't had our first snow yet (it is in the forecast for this weekend though), and it hasn't been below zero yet either (although we have had frost a few nights). In fact we haven't even put our snow stakes in the driveway yet!
I feel like I am on a roller coaster clicking up the large hill before the big drop...you never know what to expect on that first drop, just that it seems really scary going up. I am really hoping that the slide down to winter is not too fast & furious. And, that I will be able to look back at the pictures of the beautiful first months we have had here and know that summer/fall is worth the wait. Notice that I left out spring - I guess that it just gets overlooked here as the changeover doesn't really take place until June/July.
We are still trying to figure out what our new empty nester life is going to look like - it is very odd to have no schedule or commitments...can't figure out if it is good or bad - so for now we will just say different. We started our "church shopping" this weekend - for those of you who attend COR, you will understand that Pastor Adam has very big shoes to fill. There are no Methodist churches here, so we are really starting anew. We chose the church that had fellowship hikes planned for all the summer weekends and cross-country skiing outings throughout the winter....you have to find some common ground! There are a few other churches that we are going to check out over the next few weeks in hopes of finding a new church home, and hopefully some new friends too - please keep us in your prayers as we journey through this phase of life in JH.
Barry decided to break in the smoker this weekend - and boy did he outdo himself. We had amazing smoked salmon (Dave Becker's famous recipe) and smoked shrimp (recipe below - this is the best thing I have ever tasted & it was delicious the next day in shrimp tacos). On Sunday we smoked some spareribs...the eating is good in JH!
Once the ribs were smoking we couldn't resist another hike, since the weather was perfect (again) and we had time to kill waiting for the ribs to smoke. We chose a flatland hike in the Wild Game & Fish management area which is just south of where we live. It was a disappointing outing, not only due to the level terrain, but also due to the wildlife that we saw. Yes, we do have more sightings to add to our ever growing list of wildlife, just this was a bit more scary/odd. The first thing that we came upon was a dead horse - ugh. It looks as though he had a tree fall on him. NOT PRETTY:
The next wildlife that we encountered was a snake - yikes! I never even thought about snakes here. Luckily it was a baby snake, so I just screeched a baby yell. But then, I almost stepped on a larger snake and I let out the largest scream you could imagine - almost put Barry into cardiac arrest! Now I know that I would not handle a surprise sighting of something like a bear (or maybe my scream would put it in cardiac arrest and we would survive??). I need to hone my skills of acting cool, calm and collective. The rest of the hike was uneventful (thank goodness); I have attached a few pictures of the views:
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| View from the flatland out to the Tetons |
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| View looking East - I need to figure out what those mountains are called! |
Still lots to do and see while the weather is nice. Just found out about this local attraction on my way home for the rec. center the other day - maybe Barry & I will check it out next weekend:
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| You know a town is good when it has a corn maze!! |
A FABULOUS SHRIMP RECIPE!!
Mustard Marinated Shrimp
2 lbs. shrimp - cleaned, peeled,deviened (16-20 count) - I left tails on
1 1/2 c. veg. or canola oil
1/2 c. white wine - save the rest of the bottle for dinner:)
1 TBSP. Lemon Juice, fresh
3 TBSP. stone ground Dijon mustard
1 tsp. black pepper, cracked
1 tsp. kosher or sea salt (not table salt)
1 tsp. Fresh Dill, minced (I used dried dillweed)
Combine all ingredients together and blend well. Keep cold until ready to use (I let sit in fridge for about an hour to blend the flavors). Stir marinade to incorporated the ingredients again, before using.
Peel and clean the shrimp. Place in a glass dish. Pour marinade over shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Allow to marinate about 30 minute - not longer. Over marinating shrimp will cause them to be tough.
After marinating shrimp, put them on skewers and let them drain well.
Place in pre-heated 200 degree smoker (we used oak chips).
Smoke for 30 minutes then ENJOY (with the rest of the bottle of white wine)!!
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