Twinspiration

July 25, 2015 kathygetto 8 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

Carol has come up for a visit.

We’ve had a blast…

Today, I thought I’d write a bit about us as twins…

We have, obviously, been twins our entire lives. (Hee hee!)

Identical Mirror Twins

Carol and I are what’s known as mirror twins. We are identical twins, twins that form from a single fertilized egg, where the split occurs more than a week after conception. Had the split happened much later, we would have been conjoined twins.

Mirror twins often have physical characteristics that display on opposite sides as if they were looking in a mirror. For example, I have a mole on my left ear that matches one on Carol’s right ear.

Twin Telepathy

I love being a twin, and Carol does, too. We have a built in best friend for life. Carol and I have often experienced a twin telepathy although it doesn’t happen as often now as it did when we were teenagers.

When we double-dated, we’d often finish each other’s sentences, thoroughly annoying our dates who couldn’t keep up and didn’t understand why we were laughing uncontrollably.

Double Trouble

One of the strangest things about our childhood was that when one of us broke a bone, the other broke the same bone on the opposite side within two days.

When we were 10, I fell out of a tree and broke my right arm. Mom rushed me to the emergency room for a cast and sling. Two days later, Carol fell out of swing at school and Mom rushed her to the emergency room for a cast on her left arm.

This happened three times: twice for broken arms and once for broken fingers.

Who is that?

Carol and I have two other sisters.

Carol’s been scanning all the childhood photos of all four of us on to Flicker. I’ve been going through the photos, tagging and labeling with names and locations.

Even I have to admit that it’s weird because until Carol and I are about six, it’s virtually impossible to tell which twin is which.

Sometimes I’ll guess and put who I think is who. But usually I simply tag our combined photos with “The Twins” and photos with just one of us with “One of The Twins”.

While that might not sound that strange, imagine what it would be like if all of your childhood photos were simply labeled with Child #3 or Daughter #1.

Actually for Carol and I it’s not that weird. Even though we’re in our late 50′s, we’re still called The Twins by our family.

All that being said, I still like to guess who’s who in photos.

I’m pretty sure Carol’s the one on the left of this picture picking her nose. Hee hee…

Laugh Out Loud

Hot Sh*t

July 24, 2015 kathygetto 8 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

So there was a wildfire two days ago in the foothills just north of Boise.

And when the fire was first reported on the news, the official wording was a bit odd:

Carrie Bilbao, BLM spokeswoman says there was evidence and “other personal items left at the scene,” proving the fire was man-made.

headline-1 The fact that there was a fire is not unique, but yesterday’s headline stating the cause of the fire was very unique!

Turns out that a dirt bicyclist stopped for a bit to relieve himself. He lit his used toilet paper on fire.

Embers from his fire caught the dry grass on fire, and the rest is history.

He turned himself in to the Bureau of Land Management saying that he may have caused the fire. Officials haven’t released his name (I’ll bet he’s thrilled about that!), and it hasn’t been decided if he will be charged.

But I’m wondering if it was really the toilet paper that caused the fire. Survivalists often use poop to create fire. Maybe this guy had the right combination of roughage and fats in his diet to create the perfect ‘fire starter’. 🙂

From KTVB:

Bureau of Land Management officials say a cyclist who couldn’t hold it is responsible for starting a fire that scorched more than 73 acres in the Boise foothills.

According to BLM spokeswoman Carrie Bilbao, a man was cycling in the foothills when he stopped to defecate in a ravine. Afterwards, the man tried to get rid of the waste by lighting his toilet paper on fire. The man apparently tried to bury the burning waste to extinguish it, but an ember spread to nearby dry grass.

“I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go,” Bilbao said.

The Hull Fire was reported at about 1:30 p.m. by several people off 8th Street in the Hulls Gulch area. Emergency responders called in ground and air resources to quell the flames, which spread to 73 acres. The fire was contained by 8 p.m.

“We’ve had this before, actually – it doesn’t happen very often – but when people have to go, um, they will often burn their toilet paper just as kind of an environmental concern, to not litter, basically, but in these fuel types, it’s not a good idea,” Bilbao said.

Bilbao said the man came forward and told the BLM he might be responsible for the blaze. The man’s story matched “evidence” found at the scene, according to investigators.

Police have not yet decided whether to charge the man with a crime or hold him financially responsible for fire-fighting costs. The man’s name has not been released.

Memories

Took a Little Tumble…

July 23, 2015 kathygetto 2 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

Four years ago today, I took a little tumble off of my bicycle and my health has not been the same since. (More about that in an upcoming post…)

I was on the last half mile of a wonderful 25 mile ride along the Boise Greenbelt. I was staying at Melissa’s house while she was in Seattle visiting Richie. Rich was in Fallon visiting his dad.

I had just lost 40 pounds to reach my goal weight and was feeling (and looking) marvelous. Just marvelous!

I’m still not quite sure how the fall happened. I think I caught the edge of the pavement which caused my front tire to turn sideways as I went over the handlebars. I was riding alone, so I’m not sure if I blacked out. I do remember thinking “Oh, this is going to be bad…” as I was falling head first into the pavement. I had a bicycle helmet on, but those do nothing to protect chins. 🙁

When I got up, I saw that my knees had some impressive strawberries. I had apparently kept my hands on the handlebars because my knuckles were pretty bruised up and bloody as well. I raised one hand to my chin and saw blood as I pulled it away.

I needed to get back to my car, so I road my bike the last 1/2 mile and loaded the bike. As I got into the car, I looked in the rear view mirror and knew immediately that I had to get to the hospital because my chin was very swollen and I wasn’t sure if I had broken a wrist.

The hospital was only a couple of miles away. After waiting just a short bit to see the ER doctor, he came in, took one look at my chin, and said, “I’m pretty sure you’ve broken your jaw. We’ll need an x-ray to confirm it.”

The second time I saw myself was when they pulled the x-ray machine down in front of my face and lined up the cross hairs. I looked at my reflection in the glass and said, “Holy Shit!” when I saw how swollen my face was only it came out, “Holy Thit!” through my swollen lips. 🙂

fall-1

Turns out my jaw wasn’t broken, just very bruised. Here’s what the underside of my jaw looked like when I got home later that day… Impressive! I felt like Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade character.

fall-3

I was concerned about my hands and wrists and thought they might be broken. But the doctor had me squeeze his hands and said I was ‘very strong’. I said, “Well, maybe, but I’m clumsy and after two falls in three weeks maybe I should start acting my age.” He said, “What you’re doing is just fine. You are acting your age.” That made me feel lots better.

I still ride my bicycle, and I’ve taken a few falls since then. But, thankfully, none of them were as bad as this one…

Cerebrations, Food

National Junk Food Day

July 22, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

Shoot, I didn’t know it was National Junk Food Day yesterday until after I went to bed.

If I had known, I could have eaten way more crap throughout the day and not felt guilty because I would have been celebrating an important day. 🙂

Anyway… Here are parts of the funny, and yet informative, article by Amy Roberts and Julie In I read on CNN.com about new junk foods…

9 bizarre snacks to try for National Junk Food Day

At CNN, we love sampling new snacks. Chips, cookies, candy, pretzels … you name it, we’re not picky.

So when snack-food makers come out with bizarre new hybrids — toasted coconut & sea salt Triscuits, anyone? — we’re not afraid to try them.

When we learned that Tuesday is National Junk Food Day, we at the CNN Library jumped at the chance to put our taste buds on the line. In honor of the holiday, we librarians bravely conducted taste tests of some of the most bizarre flavor pairings to hit the snack market this year.

After all, librarians love gathering information. And this wasn’t just snacking, this was Research.

Here’s our personal take on nine new strange snacks. Maybe they can help you find a fun treat to mark this momentous occasion.

Heinz Sriracha Ketchup

Amy Roberts: Why would you want Sriracha-flavored ketchup when you most likely already have ketchup and Sriracha sauce at home and can mix them yourself? Because you are lazy. That’s OK. We are, too.

This ketchup blend has less Sriracha than you might think but just the right amount of kick. I wasn’t sure until I tried some on a breakfast sandwich from the CNN Center food court, and then I was hooked. I’m totally going to start buying this.

Julie In: Sriracha — good. Ketchup — good. Sriracha ketchup — undecided.

I like the kick of Sriracha at the end and the balancing sweetness of the ketchup, but the hint of garlic seems out of place. I like garlic on its own, but here, it seemed like a third wheel interfering in the marriage of Sriracha and ketchup. (Disclaimer: I did not try it on a breakfast sandwich.)

Amp Energy Zero Blueberry White Grape Drink

Julie: My primary thought after one sip was: This is awesome! I love this feeling. I love the rush. I feel powerful. I can feel the alleged antioxidants from the blueberry and white grape flavoring coursing through my veins. I’ve tried a lot of energy drinks in my time, and this flavor combination is my favorite.

Amy: “It’s sugar-free!” was my primary thought as I felt my heart beating out of my chest after one sip. As a bonus, the blueberry and white grape combination was unexpectedly good. We also tried the original as a control, which tasted like “hot Mountain Dew,” aka my new band name.

General Mills ‘Star Wars’ Cereal

Amy: As a fan of “Star Wars” and sugary cereals, I think this is the best thing to happen to me in my whole life. It’s like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms got married and had babies — fruity babies in the shape of spaceships and light sabers. If you share my passions, this is for you. Darth Vader and Yoda are on the limited-edition boxes now, and two more characters will appear on new box designs in October.

Julie: “Star Wars” and cereal seems like an unlikely pairing, but after the first spoonful, I made the connection. The fruity cereal and marshmallows transported me to “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” — before I discovered the dangers of high-fructose corn syrup and it was still acceptable to act out fight sequences from “Star Wars.” (I still act out the scenes, but it’s not as cute when you’re an adult.) The double dose of nostalgia was so delicious, I had to have seconds.

Trader Joe’s Baconesque Popcorn

Amy: OK, this is the best thing that’s happened to me in my whole life. (This list was done in chronological order.) “Baconesque” refers to bacon flavor, not real bacon, which is good for vegetarians. (The package isn’t specifically marked as vegetarian, however, but it is kosher.)

The smoky flavoring combined with the white cheddar is enough to make me say, “Yes, I’m having this popcorn as my dinner. You got a problem with that?” There will not be enough to share.

Julie: I only got a small taste because Amy slapped my hand away when I went back for more. We both liked the white cheddar and the smokiness of the bacon. I’m a card-carrying carnivore and didn’t even miss the real bacon.

Read about all nine bizarre snacks…

Cerebrations, Memories

Way Too Long!

July 21, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

A few months before I turned 40, I went on a vacation.

Capture BY MYSELF!

It was amazing! I spent four days and three nights on the California coast in Mendocino.

I came across the pictures I took recently and reminisced about the trip…

First stop was in Muir Woods for a short hike.

Mendo-2

Second stop was a view of the hills off of Highway 1.

Mendo-1

Third stop was my hotel with a (distant) view of the sea.

Mendo-6

My hotel room was ever so lovely…

Next stop was a hike along the coast.

I spent the weekend hiking, reading, a browsing the quaint Mendocino shops.

The amazing thing to me is that when I took my first solo vacation, I swore that I wouldn’t wait another 40 years to take another one.

But here it is, 18 years later and I haven’t taken another.

I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never gotten around to it.

It’s time to do more than think about it. 🙂

I’m off to browse travel sites and start making plans to solo travel again.

Cerebrations

Backwards Brain Bicycle

July 20, 2015 kathygetto 6 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

A lot of you may have already seen this video, but I found it fascinating enough to watch a couple of times.

It’s about a bicycle that’s been adapted so that to turn the bicycle left, you have to turn the handlebars to the right.

Sounds easy, but it’s not.

I I especially like the punch line: Knowledge is not understanding.

This is so fascinating, that I’ve started looking at other videos that Smarter Every Day has.

Amazing and informative!

PS Special thanks to Carol for posting this first on Facebook. 🙂

Places, Shop

Morning at the Market

July 19, 2015 kathygetto 2 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

Rich and I went to the Boise City Market yesterday morning with Melissa.

It was grand…

We got to see the University of Idaho famous mascot–The Vandal.

And some full-sized Rainer beer cans that were strolling along…

0718150959a

We’re still not quite sure why they were out for a stroll, let alone of they could see it off their costumes. They had a guide with them at all times.

0718150959

Some beautiful plants including a cornucopia of succulents.

A man making balloon sculptures. He was hoping for a very busy day; he had at least three hundred balloons tucked into his supplies belt.

Jack Thompson makes some amazing pieces out of wood. I took some pictures so maybe Rich can make me some once he gets his shop built.

This photography looked almost too real to be real. 🙂

I bought one of these wire, bead and glass objects and talked with the artist for a bit. She’s from Idaho City.

She’s lived there almost 40 years and is not quite considered a “local” yet. (You have to visit Idaho City to understand how true this statement is… 🙂 )

It was a fine market, and we had a great time.

Just Stuff

Doodle to the Rescue

July 18, 2015 kathygetto 2 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

I found a solution to a scheduling problem that I’ve been searching for for a very long time that some of you might find useful.

It’s called Doodle and is available on doodle.com.

It’s a free online scheduling solution that was designed to let people figure out that the best time to schedule a meeting so that the greatest number of invitees can attend.

I looked and looked for a way to figure out who could play pickleball at specific times. A group of us used to send multiple emails to try to figure out when and where was the best time and place to get the most players. It was a nightmare…

Doodle came to the rescue.

I set up a poll for each of the two parks that we play at and players indicate what days they will show up at each park.

We need at least four to play, so if four hadn’t signed up for Monday at Terry Day Park I would have contacted those who had signed up and cancelled.

tdp

The great thing about it is that only the person establishing the poll needs to have an account. All the invitees can just enter their name in.

It’s as easy as pie…

Memories, Places, Wow!

Glory Hole

July 17, 2015 kathygetto 8 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

I’m going through some old pictures, deciding what to discard and what to scan electronically and then discard.

I came across some photos of when Rich and I visited the Owyhyee (oh-Y-hee) Dam just after we moved to Idaho nine years ago.

It was a wet year–probably the last one since we moved here. And there was flooding below the dam.

A friend in Nevada had told us to take a look at the dam because it’s so impressive. And it was.

From Wikipedia:

Owyhee Dam (National ID # OR00582) is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Owyhee River in Eastern Oregon near Adrian, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1932 during the Great Depression, the dam generates electricity and provides irrigation water for several irrigation districts in Oregon and neighboring Idaho. At the time of completion, it was the tallest dam of its type in the world (it was surpassed about two years later). The dam is part of the Owyhee Dam Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The dam impounds the river to create the Owyhee Reservoir, with storage capacity of nearly 1,200,000 acre feet (1.5 km³) of water. The more than 400-foot (120 m) tall concrete-arch gravity dam is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and operated by the Owyhee Irrigation District. Haystack Rock Road is carried over the 833-foot (254 m) long crest of the dam.

We knew it was a tall dam, but we had no idea what we were going to see once we drove up the road to the top of the dam!

Here’s a sequence of three shots of what amazed us:

A wisp of water misting up from the reservoir just a little bit away from the dam.

A hole underneath the wisp of water that went somewhere…

A HUGE HOLE that tons of water were sucked down into!

Turns out that’s called a Glory Hole. The hole is the spillway for the dam. It’s nearly 300′ deep and almost 70′ wide.

Here’s a video of water going over the spillway that someone posted on YouTube. Listen to the sound. Amazing.

Engineers can raise and lower the ring-gate control of the glory hole to help monitor water levels and run off.

Driving up the road to view the dam and then seeing (and hearing) the glory hole is a memory I will never forget.

Neither is watching one unlucky fish being sucked into the glory hole…

Memories, People Are Good

Poh’s Big Adventure

July 16, 2015 kathygetto 6 Comments

Meridian, Idaho

This is too wonderful not to share.

Video from CBS New York News:

Story from NBC News:

A dog’s bucket-list adventure has become an Instagram sensation.

When Poh, a 15-year-old dog from New York, received a terminal diagnosis, his owner, Neil Rodriguez, decided to make the most of his furry friend’s final days.

“We had a choice: either we just wait at home for the inevitable or we try to give him one last big adventure,” Rodriguez said.

Poh’s veterinarian found a softball-sized tumor on his liver and multiple tumors in his kidneys. The vet told Rodriguez that Poh’s time was limited so, together with his fiancée, he took Poh on the road, chronicling their travels to landmark destinations on Instagram.

“What’s better than having him walk around a beach, take a nap with the sun on his snout, the wind breezing through his ears,” Rodriguez said. “Nothing better.”

Perhaps that’s why Poh has lived beyond the original diagnosis of just “days” to live. Poh has been traveling across the country for four months now.

Along the way, Poh — believed to be part pit bull, part Labrador retriever — has posed at the White House, pranced along the Las Vegas strip and sunk his paws in the water along the California coast.

“He’s just a survivor,” Rodriguez said about the former shelter dog. “He’s the Energizer Bunny of dogs.”

Some people have criticized Rodriguez for hauling a sick and old dog all over the country, but he says he can see a positive change in Poh when they are on the road.

“When he would be home, he would degrade a little bit and when we would bring him back out, his spirits would be back up.”

Poh’s Instagram account now has more than 100,000 followers, and Rodriguez is encouraging fans to adopt a shelter dog of their own.

“I love my dog as much any person would love their family member, as much as they would love their child,” Rodriguez said. “I love my dog infinitely.”

While the end of the road may be near, these two are proof that life is all about the journey.