World's Laziest Dog

In the past, some of Norma Jean's adoring fans have referred to her as "the world's laziest dog", a nickname that Norma does not feel she deserves. In order to try and change the opinions of her human friends, Norma has decided to undertake a very strict and challenging workout regimen. To start her week off, I took her to the dog park and we walked the trails. In the past whenever I've taken her to the dog trails, Sully has been with us, but this time we braved it alone. I only mention this because the trails are right next to the road, and sometimes (most times) when Norma is off leash, she doesn't listen to me. I'm always worried that she's going to run away and not come back... Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when she came when I called during this little expedition through the woods.

Today, I thought that I would take her with me on a run, so that we could both get some exercise. I thought we could run to and then run through some trails near our house. Well I knew right from the beginning that she would be true to her nickname on this outing, when she refused to run for the first quarter mile. I figure she just needed a long warm-up... After that, she started to run (sort of) and I dragged her behind me the rest of the way. The only time I didn't have to drag her was when she saw a squirrel and tried to dart off after it.

On the whole I think that Norma and my first running experience together was a success, can't wait to try tomorrow..

This weekend we went snowboarding and I had the best day of my short shred sledding career. The conditions were bad (no snow and lots of ice), but I took it slow and had a great time. This video is from another day this year, because the ones Kevin took on Saturday did not show my true Olympic snowboarding skills. Actually I think the cameraman has the most skills in this video, because he is filming and snowboarding at the same time... very impressive.

Coffee Maker

We have been meaning to post a video of our coffee roasting experience for a while, but haven't had a chance until now. This video shows Kevin in the middle of the roasting process. Check out our awesome high tech roaster...

It's My Party and I Can Cry If I Want To!

Hi everyone,

Here is the video that we forgot to post yesterday. It's a little footage of NJ's birthday party.

Birthday Girl!!

Happy Birthday Norma Jean! Today you are one year old and don't look a day over 7 (in dog years). To celebrate her special day we took her to all her favorite places and she did all her favorite things.

First, we let her play in the yard for an hour with her friend Sadie. After that she was thoroughly tuckered out, and took a Norma sized "dog nap" on the couch. Like any good pet parents we used the opportunity to sneak out and try the coffee at a new cafe in town. It was yummy! When we got back, we took Norma Jean to the bark park where she met up with her friend Greg and together they ran out some doggie energy. After nearly freezing to death, we gathered up the birthday dog and headed to "doggie heaven". The local pet store workers love it when we bring Norma in, and today was no different. They showered her with dog treats and she loved all the attention! We each wanted to pick out a present for her, so as we took them off of the shelf, we put them in front of her, looking for the Norma sniff of approval.

This evening, Kevin and I gave NJ her birthday presents. I got her a doughnut shaped tennis ball, and Kevin got her a squeaky stuffed chicken and bone. Kevin thought that it was important that she get the opportunity to blow out a candle so he made her a little peanut butter "cake" with a candle stuck in the middle. Needless to say, dogs don't know how to blow out candles, she almost burned her nose off...

If you haven't already noticed, Kevin and I are a little dog crazy... We just love her so much! Here are some pics and videos of the action.

Common Grounds

Tonight we went to the first of 4 Monday night coffee tastings at a local roaster called Uncommon Grounds. Usually, we don't really like their coffee, but tonight's tasting really helped us to learn the story behind their business and the close attention they pay to helping the farmers who grow their coffee. I think it'll affect our perception of them and I can see us going there more often.

Tonight the tasting and info session was focused on Central and South American coffees, which is the region we prefer. We tasted coffee from Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico. Next week they're focusing on Indonesia and the following will focus on Africa. The final class on 3/1 is all about home roasting, which is what we've gotten into lately, so it'll be a great final class for us. Maybe Cammy/Mom and Art/Dad will want to join us for that class...

There was a representative from La Minita coffee in attendance, which is a farm/company from which Uncommon Grounds sources their green beans, and we cornered him and probably borderline annoyed him with our barrage of questions. It was fascinating and very informative. It helped us to get one step closer to our coffee roasting empire. Hopefully he'll be a great contact to have going forward.

For those who don't know, we've been roasting our own coffee over the past 4 months and it's been awesome. We use an old electric popcorn popper but hope/need to upgrade to a proper coffee roaster sometime over the next couple months. We'll roast later this week and will document it and post pics.

Denver, Utah, and Gross

That was such a gross post! Sorry you had to go through that alone, Melinda. I'll be home on Thursday to help you through any future barfings by our furry little friend.

The SIA Tradeshow went very well for us. We had a bunch of great meetings with dealers and everyone seemed to feel that our board graphics for next year and our outerwear looked really good. The dealers need to submit their final orders to us by 3/1 so time will tell how much they actually liked our stuff. While there, I met a bunch of people as well as met up with some old friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. The 4 days of the show consisted of meetings with dealers, a lot of walking around checking out our competitors, and great dinners with key dealers every night. All in all, it was a great time. Hopefully the dealers will buy a lot of product.

The show ended on Sunday night and since my flight to Utah wasn't until 6:40pm on Monday, I had a free day. I walked miles throughout the city on Monday and then found my way to a bike shop to rent a bike. I rode the bike path next to the river and then through a great neighborhood with cool restaurants and shops. It was great to be back on a bike again!

I got to Utah last night and hit the sack early. Today we rode Powder Mountain and the mountain lived up to it's name. We took a cat out to some great backcountry spots and then afterward I hiked out 3 times to the spot b/c the runs were so great and so filled with powder. I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!

Rise and Shine Clementine!

Last night was a restful night, filled with dreams of sugar plum fairies and warm sandy beaches... I imagined that I would wake up to my alarm and start my day in the usual way. Until 4:59am when I heard the pitter patter of little doggie feet walking towards my bed. The sound of doggie feet at this early hour is very unusual in our house, since as my neighbor describes it, we have the world's laziest dog.

Anyway, back to 4:59am... Norma Jean waddled over, and hopped her two front feet onto the bed. She only manages to get two feet up, because for our dog, all four feet is asking way too much! Whenever she does this, I think it is very cute and endearing; however, I'm not sure that Kevin shares my opinion on this. As she hopped her feet onto the bed, she must have jarred something loose, because she started to hiccup. Our dog is a chronic hiccup-er so I didn't really think anything of this until her final hiccup.... when she hiccupped an entire partially digested tree (with sap included) onto my bed. I immediately pushed her off the bed, which launched the rest of the hiccup barf all over the floor. After which, Norma Jean wandered to the nearest soft surface (her doggie bed), laid down, and fell asleep.

I figured she was finished at this point, so I took the sheets off the bed, rinsed them out, and got ready for work. I debated calling in sick, and staying home to take care of my ailing dog, but thought better of it and went to school. It was a good day, I'm glad I went!

Dog Barf Laundry.