Body Concepts Inc

Archive for the ‘Linda’ Category

Here is the link to the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!  So many of you have asked me for it, I thought I would just post it.  It is on our Facebook page as well.  Here is the link to the recipe:  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ultimate-chocolate-chip-cookies

Enjoy!

Well, I just had my own private safari . . . and I am not making this up; I kid you not.  I am taking Gabby on our sunset walk around the neighborhood.  We walk down the driveway and make a right onto the road where a slight incline rises to meet our feet.  We make the sweeping bend down the backside of the small hill and at the corner at the bottom of the hill is a rafter of turkey.  They see us, are of course confuse, and only stay just slightly ahead of us as we turn the corner which has Gabby leaning hard on her harness.  She does not bark or lunge for them, because she is smart and I have trained her well.  Because the turkey are distracting Gabby she does not say hello to the two beautiful horses that live on the corner.  I know it is my imagination, but the horses seem disappointed; they like Gabby.  With the turkey heading toward the manzanita we continue down the road up another small hill and as we descend the steeper backside we stop and say hello to the Llama and the goats it protects. (I must interrupt myself to report that as I type this with Gabby on my lap, the sky that wonderful dusky color before total darkness, four deer are play fighting in the backyard, and are gone.)  We are now at a brief flat section just past a pretty steep climb.  I slow my pace as we head downhill again on another sweeping turn and look back and up over my right shoulder to see if I can spot the foxes that live on the hillside and like to sit on a protected rock outcrop.  I am lucky.  A single fox is quietly watching our progress.  I say hello, which is only polite, and as I turn my attention up the road to the really big climb of the evening, I see a very healthy coyote trotting away from us right down the middle of the road .  This definitely gets my attention.  Needless to say it was an anxious walk until I got some distance between my little chihuahua and the big coyote.  I was so preoccupied with looking back and to the side for the coyote that I didn’t even notice the three big deer that were frozen 10 feet ahead of me hoping I would just walk by.  I was so startled when I looked up that I said out loud Oh Sh-t!  If a deer could roll its eye they would have.  They just looked at me like, “Darn she sees us” and trotted right off.  The rest of the walk was uneventful until I got to the perfectly manacured house across the street from our house.  As Gabby and I approached the open pasture to the house there, grazing next to each other was a huge rafter of turkey and about seven deer.  They were on one side of the fence and we were on the other.  It felt just like a walking safari.  What an amazing evening walk to say the least. 

This is why I think that life is so wonderful and exciting:  What events will unfold in our garden, what will happen when I step out the door, will my new recipe be delicious, will I flip the boat today, will I successfully help someone live a healthier life, who will I meet, what will I learn?  And most of all, my husband, my friends, and my dog to share it with.

It is 6:30am and Rob has just left for his Sunday ride.  My upper back is bothering me from my open water session yesterday, sighting aggravates it a bit, so I am holding off on my normal morning row.  Thank God age brings with it some wisdom.  So instead of rowing, Gabby and I are in the garage heading out to get the morning paper.  Like she does every morning, she stops, lowers her head, peers down the dirt driveway at the tree with a pile of pine cone fragments at it’s base.  She is having her morning chihuahua- – squirrel standoff.  The squirrel is clinging head first low on the tree trunk waiting for Gabby.  They see each other; they are locked in each other’s gaze, then the squirrel makes his taunting call and Gabby is off like a shot.  They run around the tree for awhile, then Gabby heads down the driveway with me to retrieve the paper.  It reminds me of the sheepdog and wolf cartoon, where they are really friends, but when the work bell rings the feel obligated to chase and run.  Gabby and I are just back at the garage when an adult doe stands up from under a mature manzanita and walks toward us.  Gabby remains still, watching attentively.  When a doe walks that purposefully toward me I know she is a decoy.  I look past the deer and see her fawn hop away quietly.  This makes Gabby move and I halt her with a “No” command, but this was enough of a distraction to let the jackrabbit  hidden about two feet behind me take off without Gabby noticing a thing.  I feel like I am in the Disney movie “Bambi” and Bambi has just saved Thumper.  Yes, I know Bambi was a male, but you get my point.  Did I mention how much I love mornings?