Flooded Falls

The good news is that we have ONE computer in the house with working internet. Also, I found a cord that will work for taking pictures off of my camera. So hooray, now you can see pictures. Behold, our hike to the Cascases last weekend, during some major flooding.

Ian by the stream. It was definitely rushing. (Compare with the homepage picture at the top of this page. Same stream. Different amounts of water)

Another stream picture.

Walking on a log. We were the only ones at the falls, for once. It was nice to have some solitude.

Apparently really excited to get my picture taken in front of the waterfall.

We packed a couple of Subway footlongs up there with us, and had a peaceful lunch by the falls. The quantity of water going over the falls was so massive that we got sprayed with mist from pretty much any point the falls were visible. It was a nice afternoon. Every time we hike this place, there is always something different.

Double Whammy

Dear Hokieville fans. I am sorry to inform you of two unfortunate situations. Situation number 1: The internet in our apartment is currently down. This means that I can only post to Hokieville at work, which is not good practice. Situation number 2: I cannot find the cord to attach my camera to my computer, meaning I cannot get pictures from point a (camera) to point b (hokieville). I am working hard on fixing these problems, so stay tuned. We went to the Cascades last weekend, and the waterfall was flooded, making for some picturesque views. This week Ian's brother Jarad has been here for his spring break. Hopefully I will be able to share some visuals sooner than later. Thank you for your patience.

Trail run

Ian and I ran in our first race this weekend. It was a 5k trail run. This is a little different than a regular 5k because we were actually running through trails in the woods of Virginia's Explore Park in Roanoke. Overall, it was a lot of fun. We woke up early enough to have a second breakfast, which is always amazing. We had to leave the post-race festivities a little early because Ian decided to do some extra stuff for his work and wanted to be there by noon. Too bad we left early too, because it turns out that Ian got first place in his age group and would have got a medal. Oh well, I guess there are always more 5ks to win. Check out the photo of the two of us after the race.


The weather was so nice this weekend that we got outside on Sunday as well, but this time it was with our bicycles. We always felt bad about biking, because we were having so much fun outside and we had to leave Neit behind. But Ian looked into a solution to this problem and of course found the answer. Its called a "springer" (I think). It attaches to your bike and you hook your dog up to it. There is a quick release just in case something should go wrong and your dog needs to detach from you. We took it out for a test run and it actually works really well. The spring minimizes that impact of any jerks or lunges Neit tries to take (like when he sees other dogs). And if you keep him moving, he doesn't really have time to think about going after other dogs. Here are a few pics.



We are happy that we have found a way to take Neit with us on our bike rides. Plus, he actually gets to run, and fast, so we feel like he is getting some good exercise in. All in all, we had a good weekend. We hope the weather keeps up the mild temperatures so we can have more outside adventures to report on.

Hokieville Lull

Ian and I have been particularly boring. Sorry I have nothing new to report. We have been training for a 5k run, which is this weekend. Neither of us are planning on placing well, we just want to beat each other. That will take place on Saturday. Other than that, I survived the first round of tests for the semester. Ian has decided that he won't start any new projects until we move to the new house in June. All roads lead to boring.

On another note, we are very sad to hear about the earthquakes in Chile. The good news is that our dear friend Oscar has reported that he and his family are okay. Their house received minimal damage. Oscar has been spending his days since the quake volunteering to help those in his town who lost their homes. We wish him all the strength and luck in the future.

Until next time...

Braving the snow

This must be what it is like to live in Alaska. We can't take it any more. We must get outside.

The constant snow really is beautiful. Unfortunately there is a lot of it. Too much for proper hiking. We didn't care this weekend. We got out there anyway. We ignored the fact that it was Valentine's Day, grabbed the GPS, and went trudging through the snow. Last time we ventured out, there was only about a foot on the ground, and the parks crew at Pandapas pond had run an ATV through all the hiking trails so that winter outdoor enthusiasts could hike (or cross country ski or snowshoe) around with very little problem. This time, however, that was not the case. An addition foot of snow lay on top of the old snow, and no brave park ranger had attempted to blaze our trails for us. Hiking is not easy when the snow comes up to your shins. Ian even tried to look for a cache while we were out. No luck. It was so difficult that we turned around earlier than planned to head for our car. That is a first for us.

The next day was President's day, which Ian had off of work. I did not have the day off. Ian got to stay home, relax, and play video games all day by himself for the first time since I was in Italy. We decided not to make a big deal about Valentine's day, in fact we even decided not to celebrate it until President's day. Ian made a little dinner, we drank a bunch of champagne and passed out early. Pretty perfect. And now...pictures...

Ian trying to figure out where we were at Pandapas

Cold stream cutting through the snow
Yet another photo in front of the pond

Blue sky, mountains, frozen water.

Ian searching for the cache. No such luck

Valentine's day set up. Classy

Project Linus

I am getting a little stir crazy with all the snow. In order to stay sane, I make things. Its nice to make things for a purpose, and I've found a charity called Project Linus. Here is their mission statement:

• First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”

• Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

So...I tried to make a blanket. Its really my first big project with a sewing machine. It turned out okay, I need some work with my craftsmanship. It will probably come with time.

I've made some things other than my Project Linus blanket as well.

Here are some birdies I made to drop off in the cache boxes next time we geocache.


I just finished up this cross stitch. Ohhh...awe....


I made a recipe box for Ian...

The front

The back

The inside

So, we are bored. We hope it quits snowing. The snow will melt eventually. And we can get out and play.

New Whips!

A whip, for my older generation of Hokieville enthusiasts, is slang for a car. I have used the term liberally here to describe our newest purchases, bicycles! We picked them up at a nice little bike shop in downtown Hokieville. Mine is a hybrid, which means it does well as a road bike but can do elevation changes pretty easily too. I got mine used, and I feel like I was pretty lucky to snag it when I did for such a decent price. Ian bought a new bike. Its a mountain bike. We plan on using them mostly for recreation and excercise, but I am going to start riding mine to work when the weather warms up. Another interesting fact, it has snowed pretty much none stop since we bought the bikes. We keep hoping it will warm up just a LITTLE bit so that we can take our bikes out but so far its a no go. So, I guess we'll just have to be a little more patient, which I am not good at.

My new bike! So sleek...

Ian's bike. Red hot!