Bindi the Foster

After we experienced our first volunteering with NCBR with transporting two dogs from the shelter to the vet we thought we could do more. Soon after that I received an email from the rescue group saying they had more dogs and were in urgent need of foster homes. I emailed back and threw our name in the ring. There was a bit of background checking with the vet of our current dogs to make sure they were up to date on vaccinations, and we also had to have someone come over to do a home visit to ensure we were a safe home. The home visit was scheduled on a Sunday afternoon and that following Monday we had our foster dog. Her name is Bindi and she was already in a foster home, but that family had to leave town and needed to make other arrangements. The nice thing was they already knew a little about her and figured she would be a good dog for us to start out with. She is a white female boxer about 4 years old and she still has her natural tail. We have had her for about 5 days now and she is a wonderful dog, she gets along with the rest of the animals and is just plain sweet. Anyone who adopted this girl would be luck to have such a great dog, we really look forward to her finding a forever home.

A Mermaid at Dive Bar

Wednesday was Noah's birthday and we had dinner with his parents at Lucca on the outside patio. Dinner in front of the fireplace was amazing as expected. With the night still young and no work the next day we hit K street to check out the new Dive Bar. Now, when I hear dive bar I think no frills, hole in the wall bar where bowls of pretzels and peanuts flow the cheap beer on tap. Dive bar is a dark, trendy, tourist spot with a giant fish tank above the bar. I took a couple videos with my iPhone of the mermaid swimming around and waving and smiling at the customers. From my understanding she comes out for a swim every 20 minutes. It was a bit kitschy in my opinion, one of those things you only need to see once. The salt water fish that accompanied the tank with the mermaid were super entertaining, but I have a thing for fish ;)

Time to brew!

Several times in the past year I've been invited over to my friend Chris's house on a brewing session. Chris is a avid homebrewer with many great batches of beer under his belt. From the first time that I had smelled the boiling wort, I was intrigued on the actual process, but after seeing the equipment needed, I had decided it was something I could not undertake. I thought that I could help brew here and there, but with tasting some of his home brewed beers, the thought of homemade beer was permanently etched in my brain. Chris has the capability to brew anything he wanted; from a self made recipe, to a clone of a nationally known microbrew. To top it off, at any given time he has four beers on tap on his kegorator. Damn, he has it made!

After several "Brewtours" with friends, I developed a huge appreciation for microbrews, craft beer, and many imported ales. I would usually pick eating at a brewery and having a pint over a equally nice(or nicer) restaurant.

Fast forward one year, Jamie was trying to figure out what to get me for my birthday. With not much on my list, she was low on ideas. One night while barbequing dinner, the idea of homebrewing beer (and cider) came up. I told her who to talk to if she was serious about buying some of the equipment, but I honestly though it was not going to happen. A week or so later she brought several large boxes home after work. I wonder what it was?

She went all-out. After working with Tim at BFD Sacramento, she got me a complete starter homebrew kit. From the bottle brush, to the gas burner, I was ready to go. Wait, well almost ready; I had to figure out what I was going to create..........

My First Transport

Thursday afternoon was scheduled to be Perry Family Lunch but it was canceled due to the weather. With my schedule cleared up I checked the internet for what to do now. The Nor Cal Boxer Rescue has a yahoo group where they post dogs in need. I had seen one in Stanislaus county that needed to be driven back to a vet in Fair Oaks, and thought, Hey it was just about an hour and a half drive, I can do that.

I contacted them and got the information and hit the road. I grabbed the kennel and threw it in the back of the car before I left. Once I made it to Lodi, Jean from NCBR contacted me and asked if there was any way I could pick up a dog in Fresno and then pick up the original dog on my way back. Sure! Oh, wait how far is Fresno? Lets just say it was a race against the clock. I made it to Fresno in good time thanks to good weather, the roads were pretty dry. When I made it to the Central California SPCA I met the sweetest brindle boy who was so excited to leave. He had kennel cough and some small scars on his face. The SPCA had called NCBR that morning and put him on the 48 hour euthanasia list, I am not sure if it was because they were full or he was sick, I didn't ask. He went right into the kennel in my car and settled down, not a sound out of him. I sent a quick photo and found out he already had a foster home that might also be adopting him and would like to name him Buddy. Now only was he a beautiful dog but he had a calic on the back of his neck that ran down like a ridgeback.

We jumped back on the road to Stanislaus Animal Shelter in Ceres,CA, and once I got there I was greeted by a large banner saying "We Moved." Ok well I have to be to the vet by 5 pm and I am about 1.5 hours away and it is 3pm. So I had to back track about 15 minutes and drive to the new shelter. They were busy and had about 4 people ahead of me. It took awhile to get everything together and get the second dog released to me. This fawn boxer boy did not pass the temperament test and was not going to be adoptable there. Seeing as I only had one kennel I tethered this guy safely in the passengers seat and hit the road. This young boy was not as friendly, he turned his back to me and started out the window the whole ride. No tail waging, no kisses as a thank you. It was a long quite ride home and everyone just kept to themselves.

Spending 6 1/2 hours in the car just me and a couple of death row dogs gave me a lot of time to think, a lot of time to reflect. Made me remember when Apollo was just a puppy and all the trouble he caused, like jumping off the roof of my Moms house or when he ate multiple sets of blinds off the windows. Klondike wasn't a picnic, he was allergic to everything including the laundry detergent. Neither dog has had to spend the night in a scary doggy jail. Both dogs has warm bed and a belly full of food. The experience was very heart opening. Both our cats are from a rescue group and I have had family dogs growing up from the shelter, but really giving a second chance to a dog because my plans changed was really amazing.

Hopping that I wouldn't hit traffic on the way home I had to make a few calls knowing very well I may not make it to the vet on time. We were able to ask the vet to let me drop off the dogs at 6pm. For a brief moment I thought I would have to house the dogs over night and take them in the morning. I called Noah and had him check the traffic online to see how highway 50 was looking. We made a plan that I would stop and pick him up along the way because we had an appointment to get our taxes done at 6:30pm. When I got home I realized that I had not seen either dog interact with men yet because everyone at both shelters were female. I recommended Noah be prepared because I had not had great luck with the fawn boy and because of the tight space he would be sitting very close with one of the dogs. Well I guess they are right when they say MAN's best friend, the small fawn boy crawled right onto Noah's lap and just stared lovingly into his eyes. We made it to the vet with only a few minutes to spare and so thankful we did. At the office we took a few photos and I named the fawn boy Tonka. They weighed the boys and Buddy who was very thin but tall was 60lbs, Tonka also on the thin side but a small dog weighed in at 48 lbs.

Recuse is full of needy dogs and we really feel like we want to help more and are going to find out if we can foster. Not sure if we are ready but we want to do what we can.

"Animals are such agreeable friends--they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."

- George Eliot

Happy Valentines Day

Yes I know it is a day early, but we both work tomorrow and today was our day off together so it only made sense to celebrate today. Started the morning with Noah making blueberry pancakes, eggs and mimosas. Then a quick trip to Costco, because everyone loves Costco! We then came home to tackle the garage. Noah got to open his birthday gift early due to there was no where to store it. When talking about storage space we decided the top shelves in the garage would be best but were full of junk. So we literally pulled everything out of the garage and placed it in the driveway and then got to sort through it all. I would say we tossed about 1/3 of what was cluttering the place up and found a ton of room. Now things are organized in totes and the garage feels clean. We did not move too much around but we are currently looking for a refrigerator/freezer for the garage and needed to move a few things to see if we had room.

After handling that much trash and dirt it was time for a shower. As I stepped out of the bathroom Noah asked me how the shower was, and then said he had something to show me. He took me out to garage where he showed me my Valentines present, new brighter head lights for my car. Trust me, they are super awesome HIDs.

Being proactive and responsible adults we had made reservations for Scott's on the River and were there early enough to grab a geocache in the parking lot before we went it.

We started with clam chowder and sourdough bread. Noah had the Jerk mahi mahi with coconut shrimp and I had the crab and shrimp louie. Dinner was wonderful as always, Scott's never disappoints. Now if I couldn't be any more spoiled when we came home I was surprised by a big box of see's chocolates in the cutest pink heart box.

"Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination." ~Voltaire

Bubbles

I am a girl who likes Champagne, and had my eye on the Korbel tasting room. The drive from our hotel was only 25 minutes away. We made it there a bit too early for the 11am tour, so we made our way into the tasting room. Angie helped us with our tastings and was also going to be our tour guide. She poured us some her personal favorites and gave us some food pairing suggestions. The best part was when she poured us one of the tastings and suggested it would go best with waffles and bacon. Soon it was time to start the tour, but we were reassured there would be more tastings to wrap it up. The tour takes us through the old saw house that was originally transformed to the winery in the 1880's, but nowadays they do all the manufacturing in other buildings hidden from view farther back on the property. There was lots of history, artifacts, and photos throughout the tour. One interesting thing is how Korbel was grandfathered in and still allowed to call it champagne. There was also a story about a dinner bell and some mules, if you go on the tour you should ask about it. We were shown the different stages of production and some of the old ways they use to, including some told machinery. It was also interesting to walk down the long hall of large oak barrels because of the way they were built with concave faces; you could hear your voice echo, but no-one else could hear your echo. After the tour we headed back to the tasting room for the more bubbly. Noah was pretty surprised about the many different champagnes they offered, the massive differences in taste, and the role Korbel has played in US history.

Pliny the Younger

After the great start to the evening, we had an idea to cap it off. Since we had full bellies, and were still close to Russian River Brewery, we decided to suck it up and wait in line for the release of Pliny The Younger. Pliny is a Triple IPA that is hopped three times more than their standard IPA, and dry hopped four different times, but only released once a year at the brewery, and for very limited distribution.What does all the hops mean? It is a BIG 10.25%ABV hoppy beer that is remarkably drinkable.

We had heard horror stories of people waiting several hours in line, but once we arrived we were happy to see the line was fairly short. We only waited for a half hour before we were let in. Unfortuanetly, we were "in" but only in the patio area, and still waiting for a table. I decided to head in and grab a couple brews to help pass the time before we were seated. After waiting at the packed bar, I soon walked away with two 10 ounce glasses of the legendary Pliny.(I also got a growler of Pliny The Elder). As I was walking away from the bar, Jamie came walking in; We finally got our table! As I follewed her over she informed me we were going to be sharing the table. What? Sharing a table? This should be fun for the anti-socials we are.

Luckily we were seated with a local couple close to our age. They had been there before, and were there for the release as well. We made our food order of a small Pazzo pizza (Mozzarella, bbq ranch sauce, chicken, carmelized onions), and to my suprise, Jamie order a secound round of PTY. We had a great time talking with our table-mates and ate and drank ourselves full. After the fun time of beer, food, and new friends, it was time to head back to the hotel.

We were lucky in the location of our hotel; it was only .8 miles from Russian River. We started the walk back with the full growler and sleepy heads. Jamie stopped for a quick picture with a giant hand sculpture in front of the Santa Rosa Plaza. We traded the growler back and forth because it tended to get a little heavy after a few minutes.

When we got back to the hotel we had to try and keep the growler cool somehow. We asked at the front desk, and they offered to keep it in their room service refrigerator, but we came up with a better plan. As you can see, it was simple. A hotel sink and several buckets of ice. For the ride home we grabbed a small stylofoam cooler from a local grocery store and once again packed the growler in ice for the long voyage home.

Happy Hour

After such a great start to the trip at Chateau Montlena we were excited to get to our next location. Following the recommendation we headed straight over to August Briggs winery located just off the Silverado Trail in Calistoga. August Briggs is a family owned winery that makes very limited amounts of all of their wines partially due to the fact they do not own any of their own vineyards. We were informed they sell out pretty fast with limited distribution because the wine club takes the majority of the bottles produced. Each wine had a very distinct taste, even a young barrel tasting. Apparently they are one of the few in the area out of 450 wineries that do free tastings. Jesse, who is part of the family business, was super informative and gave us some suggestions on some other places we should go located in the area, as well as once we got to Santa Rosa.

Once we left, we headed into downtown and strolled down Lincoln Ave to a deli that was connected to the Wine Stop. Enjoyed a nice lunch and headed in for some more shopping and tastings. Tom was helpful with history of the area and the wines available. There was a large selection and not just high ticket bottles. The focus was more on the small wineries that do not have tasting rooms and might not be as well known. I did pick up a bottle of 2009 The Climber Red, by the Clif Family winery, yeah like the Clif bars. I had read an article about it before, but had never seen it. I wanted to give it a try, so we grabbed a bottle. (Photo to the right is of the two bottles I had bought so far and I thought I would be done at just 2, I was wrong)

After enjoying the beautiful weather in Calistoga we hopped back in the battle wagon and headed down Petrified Forest road towards Santa Rosa. It was a pleasantly short drive with great views. Thanks again to Price Line's "name your own price" deal we checked into a room at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek and made the decision that based on how centrally located we were we would just walk around town and enjoy the weather.

On our way out we stopped at the concierge desk where Ramon was more then happy to tell us all the hot spots around town. With a little map of town he pointed us towards Stark's Steakhouse for happy hour, he even brought up the website to show us the prices. It was only a short 3 block walk so off we went. From the outside Strak's did not look like much, kind of a diner feel with neon lights and old plaster. Once inside its a different story, to the right was a fancy dinning room you would see in a traditional steakhouse. We were interested in what was to the left, a bar with a happy hour, and the best happy hour. With 15 items under $4, this is what we ordered; $2.50 Stark's Pale Ale, $1.50 Yam Fries and $3.50 Moroccan Chicken Meatballs. Ok so if you are not sold by the awesome happy hour, then maybe you would care about the extensive amount of fine spirits; they had a menu on the wall with a column of 20+ scotch, 20+ of whiskey, and another 20+of bourbon. Needless to say they had a full bar and lots of specialty cocktails.

While sitting at the bar we chatted it up with the couple next to us. The woman had a Russian River Brewery uniform on. Turns out this was a big weekend for the brewery and she had just finished her shift. We got some inside info and had been planning on heading to the brewery the next day. We left with plans to find another happy hour and soon found ourself in front of Russian River Brewery. Earlier in the day when we had driven by there was a line going down the street with at least 100 people. Now at about 6pm the wait was an hour long. (photo to the left is the photo I took while in line and no I did not get any permission) I was hungry and not in the mood to wait so we headed a street over to Third Street Aleworks where we grabbed some food and Noah had a beer while I had a ACE Perry cider (My favorite!). This was the first place I have seen it on tap, and was pretty excited. The food and brews were great, but it was extremely busy so we did not stay long. With our bellies full and the night still young, we were off to our next adventure.

Sorry for a bad cell phone photo, this was a photo we took for a geocache we did and I thought it was a cute statue I wanted to share. There are Peanut themed statues all over Santa Rosa.

Chateau Montelena

Thanks to a meeting at work my schedule was moved around and I magically got the weekend off. Not wanting to waste it plans were made to go out of town.  But when you live in Northern California the options are limitless, so we made a few requirements for the trip; short drive (less then 2 hours), cheap hotel (Priceline + Hyatt) and some fun actives.  The winner was Calistoga, CA and Santa Rosa, CA.  Now we have traveled to both these places but only on day trips and we planed on stopping at new places we had not been to on previous trips.  In fact soon to find out this would be a trip of getting outside our comfort zone.  The only plans we made were a prepaid hotel room and a stop at Chateau Montelena.  The only prep we did for the trip was a quick look and the map and watched Bottle Shock for fifth time.  

Bright and early Saturday morning after dropping off the dogs at Puppy Love Dogs we headed to Napa Valley.  With no real plans we arrived in Napa before most wineries were even open for tastings.  We drove by a few and no luck, we even made the mistake of driving by Silver Oak and it was the release day and a total madhouse so we turned the car around and kept driving.  It was just a short drive from there to Chateau Montelena and were greeted by a Japanese garden, a swan and some ducks.  It was a beautiful view with just a short walk up the step and there was the chateau.  Noah took out the camera and got some great shots.  

Just around the corner is the tasting room which is a little deceiving, already full at the bar we stood back for a moment and looked at the merchandise when some one pointed us towards the back and where there was a second tasting room.  The walk down the hall was filled with old photos of the winery and cased in glass the bottle representing the famous blind paris tasting of 1976.  The second room was not only bigger, it was just us and one other couple tasting.  The tasting fee is a bit high but thanks to social networking we were able to get that cut in half.  The tasting included the Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Chardonnay, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Montelena Estate Zinfandel.  Each wine was enjoyable and we even liked the Chardonnay as non-white wine drinkers, but hey it is what put it on the map.  The shocker of the day is I left with a bottle of the 2007 Zinfandel.  Anyone who knows me can tell you I stay away from the Zins, too peppery for me, this one was smooth and jammy, just perfect.

During the tasting we talked with sommelier who gave information about the soil types and the map of the ground, which hall a bee hill with no bees.  When they saw the Nikon they told us about the Mustard Seed photo contest (later to find out it had been canceled) and suggested we take some photos around the grounds.  As we left we were thankful for how early we had arrived.  The limos started to pull up and the groups of people headed towards the winery as we walked out.  Before we left we did ask from some suggestions on where else to go and they supplied us with a map but said their favorite was August Briggs, which was located just a few minutes down the road and would be our next stop. 

Getaway weekend

Every once in a while the planets align and everything goes our way.  We planed a weekend getaway with no real plans and just a few ideas of where to go.  We ended up having an amazing weekend that will be hard to put into words.  Don't worry, I am going to try, and we took photos.  

Here is a teaser photo to give you an idea and be sure to check back for more.  From the amount of photos to post and the events to cover it will have to be a few blog post broken up.  Lets just say it was an wonderful weekend with amazing weather.

So I bought this bike for $20..........

Last year I had the bright idea to start riding my bike more for my health. After riding my full suspension mountain bike on the streets for some time, I decided that a road bike would be much better suited to my needs. One day I stopped by a neighborhood bike peddler and bought a run-down 10 speed bike for $20.00. Being that it was a Giant Quasar, and fairly light, I thought it was a fine deal. Sure it needed some work, but I thought it was almost ready to ride. After a few adjustments and some air in the tires, I go for a ride. I feel a wobble. The wobble continues. I stop and check the wheels. One is full of rust(original steel wheels), and the other is way out of true. Dang.

My true tinkering self takes over. I decide to strip it down and rebuild it into something better. I soon have a slough of parts ordered online(mostly orange), and begin scouring eBay and Craigslist for new wheels. I tore the bike down, sand the frame and fork, then spray them a metallic black. My parts begin trickling in, and I eventually find a set of wheels. I had a paltry $150.00 invested in this bike. When I bought the bike it had already been stripped of both derailleurs, and was a single speed. The new wheel set happened to be set up for a freewheel or a fixed gear setup. I had never ridden fixed, but decided I would try it someday.

One lucky day it was complete. I quickly threw on the last piece, took the picture to the right, (then adjusted the seat) and rode the bike a solid 3.5 miles as a fixed gear. That ride was oddly a liberating ride. I rode fixed and never gone back. The bike did not have brakes yet, no bar-tape, and a stance I was not used to. I rode unable to coast, and the only means of slowing was the use of my legs, but I was going fast and riding like a carefree kid again. That short ride re-ignited my passion in bikes and I have not stopped riding or building. All of a sudden I was that 13 year old kid, and all I wanted to do was ride.

That bike is now just a frame hanging in my garage, with only one part surviving on my current build, but I have decided, that was the best $20 I have ever spent.

NorCal Boxer

Our tiny 810 square feet of a house is filled to the brim with 2 full of energy and full of life Boxers.  These beast are the apple of my eye and I would do anything for them.  But lets be honest, not everyone feels the same way about dogs.  About a week ago I decided to reach out and contact NorCal Boxer Rescue and volunteer with them.  Today they contacted me and gave me some more information about the organization and some of the opportunities that I could volunteer with them.  Some of the things they need volunteers for include transporting dogs from shelters, to the vet and to the foster home.  They also need volunteers to do home visits to ensure the dogs will be in a safe home that is dog ready and have a secure yard they can not escape from.  One of the things I am kind of excited about is being a representative  and going to events to inform people about the rescue and the breed.  Working a full time job doesn't leave a lot of time but I feel like I have enough to give.  I am very much looking forward to helping the breed of dog I love the most and working with others that feel the same.  So Yeah - Looking forward to that!

What's in the name?

So where did the name 'Team Kirch' come from? The obvious answer is that it is a simple abbreviation of our last name. However, this name has been around for a couple years now. Team Kirch is our official Geocaching name. Back in June 2009 we decided to give a try to something we had only heard a little about. We found our first cache less then half a mile from our house and we also learned about muggles (I'll cover muggles more later). From the get go we were hooked and in the next 6 months we hit 100 finds. The thing about geocachers is that its all about the numbers and the milestones.

Currently we have found 414 caches and hidden 14 of our own. In our best day we had found 21 caches, which may not sound like much, but they can be spread far apart and have different difficulty levels. Some are as simple as a container sitting under a rock peaking out a bit, others maybe disguised as an everyday object such as a pine cone or a screw holding up a sign.

 Recently we attended a geocaching event where there were over 50 attendees. A friend of mine from High School was there and we chatted with a few others and heard some good caching stories. At the end of the night we joined a group of 9 and set out for a cache that can only be done at night. It is set up with reflective path markers to follow that can only be seen at night with a flashlight. Night caching in a group was such a fun event we planned another one for a couple nights later.

So when we started talking about bring back the blog we had to think of a name. After a few vetoes from both sides we agreed on Team Kirch. It sums us up and seems familiar because we have already been using it, but let me tell you 'KirchNet' was a close runner up :)