A couple of other things...

And, of course, I forgot some things. Tally graduated from her Master's program in Nurse Education from Nebraska Methodist College in December. She started it while we lived in Omaha, and it is an online program, so she was able to keep doing it when we moved. I'm very proud of her, and I guess she hasn't had enough, because she's planning on taking a semester off and then pursuing her Ph.D. I was at the Mojave Viper training exercise, so I wasn't able to go, but Tally flew out and her parents met her in Omaha, so I'll put some pictures up from that.

Also, right before we left for Christmas, we had what was reported as two-and-a-half feet of snow here. We are in the "high desert" which gets cooler that Palms Springs, and I think it's not uncommon to get a little snow here and there. However, this was pretty crazy, so I'll throw in a couple of shots of that.

Tally and John at the Marine Corps Ball

Christmas at Tally's house with Santa (the kids on the couch are Lexi and Gannon, our niece and nephew)

Long time, no blog...

Sorry for the extended absence. I guess it's been a perfect combo of being busy, gone, and, most of all, me being lazy.

We last left our bloggers in November with a visit to sunny Coronado Island near San Diego. After that, John started his 30-day training exercise with the Marines ("Mojave Viper"). He got to come home one day for Thanksgiving (sorry, no pictures), which was great.

About that time, Savannah (on of the "wiens") started getting sick with all of these weird bumps that would pop up that seemed like abscesses. I thought about putting a "medical mystery" type of thing on here, so you medical nerds (you know who you are, Dustin Little) could have some fun. It turns out that she most likely has a condition that is specific to dogs, so it wouldn't have been a very fun game to play. A vet down here figured it out--it's called "sterile nodular panniculitis"--so she's on steroids and is starting to get much better with treatment.

We were home for Christmas and got about three weeks, because it also doubles as my "pre-deployment leave". That was fun (but very cold). It was great to see everyone, and we got to snowmobile a little bit.

We were in Vegas about a week ago for our Battalion's Marine Corps Birthday Ball. The Marines (and the Navy, for that matter) love to celebrate (and I mean CELEBRATE) the anniversary of their formation (their "birthday") every year. Even though we are stuck out in the middle of the godforsaken desert, at least we aren't that far from Vegas, so we can head up there to celebrate. The normal birthday is on November 10th, but we were preparing to go to Mojave Viper, so we put it off until January. We stayed at the Wynn because we got a great deal on Hotwire there. If you ever get the chance to stay there, I highly recommend it. We were on the 58th floor and had a great view looking west over Vegas and south down the Strip. I tried to take a picture, but the window caused too much glare.

Now we're kind of just hanging out. I'm headed to Iraq in about 10 days or so, so we're trying to get stuff neatened up and loose ends taken care of. I think my mom is coming out for a few days, so maybe I'll have a few more pictures before I go. I should be able to still post on here from Iraq, but the primary responsibility will fall to Tally (ha ha). Sooo, if you aren't happy with the tinjblog service, you know you to contact.

Coronado Beach (from left: Heather, Lexi, Ronda, Lacey, and Tally)

Lexi in the water at Coronado Beach

Stephanie and her friends (from left: Kinley, Steph, Ann, and Bryce)

Back after an extended absence...

Hi, kids. Much has happened. We've had many a visitor at the hotel Tinjum. As mentioned earlier, my sister Stephanie and her friends were here the last weekend of October, with a good time had by all. Steph sent me some pictures, so I'll slap those up.

Savannah (the wiener dog) turned 4 and her back problems seem to be getting better, so that's good.

Then,...Tally's sisters, Ronda and Lacey, our niece, Lexi (Ronda's daughter), and Lacey's friend, Heather all came out to visit from November 5 until November 9. We had a lot of fun and did a LOT of driving. Too bad it wasn't warm enough to go in the pool here. However, we did manage to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain (north of LA), on home-school day, no less. It was a blast. We went on this insane rollercoaster called "Tatsu". Basically, you get harnessed in with your feet dangling. THEN, they tip you so you're horizontal and then they proceed to defy all the laws of physics with you. A good time. Here's the link for Tatsu: http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/Rides/Tatsu.aspx

We also went to the beach at Coronado, which was beautiful, and to a very cool outdoor shopping mall in West Hollywood called The Grove (http://www.thegrovela.com/). I'll post some picks of Coronado.

I'd like to wish a certain wifey (Tally) a happy 29th birthday (today). I love you, dear and, just remember, you'll always be older than me. Ha ha.

This will probably be the last post for a while. I am headed out "to the field", which means that all of us medical personnel pack up some basic stuff and head out to the middle of the desert where the Marines we take care of are training. However, this time it's (painfully) for one month. Pretty much right away when I get back, Tally, the dogs, and I are heading home for Christmas.

Sorry, Bakke, no food pics. Maybe I'll put one up of an MRE (meal ready-to-eat) when I get back.

Long time, no post...

Sorry for the long absence. My sister and her friends were here two weekends ago (they drove down from ND!), which was a good time. I don't have any pictures, so I'll mentally channel the good times into this post. OK, so that probably won't work.

Anyhoo, Tally's sisters, niece and her sister Lacey's friend, Heather, are coming to visit this weekend, so we should have lots of fun pictures to put up. There will probably be one of me throwing up after going on crazy rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Finally, with the election craziness today, I saw an election quiz on MSNBC and wanted to put up the link in case any election junkies wanted to try it. The link is: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27487258/?GT1=43001

Have a good day and happy voting.

More dinner pictures...

OK, so Bakke wants the challenge. Therefore, I'm going to post a couple more pictures. However, he has the AeroGarden (http://www.aerogrow.com/), which is a cool indoor, herb-growing machine. I'll be honest: I can't compete with that kind of aromatic firepower. I'll try, though. Last night, we made this soup that we used to love getting at the Upstream Brewing Company in Omaha: Smoked Gouda and Blonde Ale Soup. Delicious. We had a little French Bread with Smoked Artichoke Bruschetta or Olive-Garlic Tapenade.

Tonight, I tried out the classic Coq au Vin (French for "Rooster in Wine"--ours was a chicken, not a rooster) with Rosemary Bacon Potatoes. I thought this tasted great, even though it turned out more purple than Barney, due to the wine I chose.

Dinner pictures...

In response to Andy "Emeril" Bakke's request, here is the recipe for the Mexican Corn Salad with Grilled Scallops:

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
8 small ears of corn, husked
Vegetable oil, for brushing
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon pure ancho chile powder
4 ounces cotija or ricotta salata cheese, crumbled (1 1/4 cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce
12 large sea scallops
Lime wedges, for serving

Directions:

Light a grill. In a large bowl, toss the garlic and onion with the lime juice and let stand for 10 minutes.

Brush the corn with oil and grill over moderate heat until charred and just tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a work surface and cut the kernels off the cobs.

Whisk the mayonnaise and chile powder into the garlic, onion and lime juice. Add the cheese and corn to the bowl and toss. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Brush the scallops with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over high heat until nicely browned and barely cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Spoon the corn salad onto 4 plates and top with the scallops. Serve with lime wedges.

I do it pretty much just like the recipe. However, I have no idea what kind of cheese that is, nor could I ever find it. So, I just buy one of the small ball-shaped packages of soft mozzarella and crumble about 3/4 of the package up over the hot corn. I think that works OK.

Elephant Seals

Pretty cool--elephant seals sunning themselves along the coast.

Herefords along the Pacific

I took these (I will only post one) for my dad, since we raise Hereford cattle back in Powers Lake. It was pretty cool, though, that there were these secluded pastures bordering the Pacific.

Pacific Coast Highway Photo

A beautiful, high overlook along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Yosemite Trip

We headed up to Yosemite this last weekend. Very beautiful, just like everything you hear about it. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures for several reasons: very crowded, pesky wiener dogs, didn't have a ton of time, and needed to get going since it started snowing. I had heard about the monstrous rocks El Capitan and Half Dome, but I didn't realize how big they were until I saw them up close. Since I didn't do the loyal Tinj blog subscribers any justice by whiffing on the pictures, here's the National Park link with pictures: http://www.nps.gov/yose/.

We were going to traverse Yosemite to the east side and stay in Mammoth Lakes, CA, which is supposed to be a really cool town with a great ski area (http://www.visitmammoth.com/). However, both reasonable routes were closed due to snow in the Sierra Nevada range. Expedia nicely agreed to cancel our room in Mammoth Lakes. Since we had already driven quite a long way, we decided we might as well go somewhere else cool. That magical place, it was decided, turned out to be the Monterey Peninsula, specifically Carmel, which is where we stayed. We got in late, and had to get going on Sunday because we had a long drive back, so once again, I was not coordinated enough to get pictures. Henceforthtowith, I will again link to a website: http://www.carmelcalifornia.com/. This is one of the neatest places I have ever been to. I ran down to the beach on Sunday morning (that's why there are no pictures of this--I didn't want to carry the camera while I was running, and honestly, I didn't realize what I would be missing). Very cool--big waves crashing on the rocky beach, beautiful houses, and, by the way, Pebble Beach Golf Course. From the public beach, look off to the North and you can see the course about 3/4-1 mile away. That's probably the closest I will ever get to that landmark.

We started our drive back by going on the Pacific Coast Highway, which was beautiful. I highly recommend this drive to anyone who ever has the chance to make it. I will post a couple of pictures from this drive. These include one of Tally, the dogs, and me; one of some Hereford cattle (that's what we have back in Powers Lake) in a pasture near the Ocean; and one of Elephant Seals sunning themselves.

We wound our way back partially through some of the vast California wine country. We didn't stop, but will be going back sometime, so stay tuned for that. Also, we did drive by a very cool place called "Hearst Castle". We didn't stop, but I looked it up when we got home (http://www.hearstcastle.org/), and I kind of wished we would have. Oh well, maybe another time.

Dinner tonight...

Just for Andy Bakke, who is always publishing pictures of his gourmet meals: here's what Tally and I had for dinner tonight. It was Mexican Corn Salad with Grilled Scallops. And, yes, Andy, I want a "Throwdown".

One more San Jacinto Peak picture...

Looking West along I-10 towards the San Bernadino Valley. The San Bernardino National Forest can be seen in the background. Just over the smaller peak in the middle of the photo, the Cabazon casino and the outlet mall (and probably Tally shopping there) can be seen along I-10.

Looking North (and slightly East)

Looking North (and slightly East) from San Jacinto Peak down on the large windfarm below. I-10 can be seen at the bottom of the photo. Highway 62 can be seen heading north to Morongo Valley (upper left part of photo). Yucca Valley can barely be seen in the upper right part of the photo, just over a mountain.

View from the Tramway Station looking east down on Palm Springs

Amber (Tally's cousin) visited and a little hiking

It was nice that Tally's cousin, Amber, could swing through the neighborhood to pay us a visit last weekend. Actually, she was in LA for a conference, then came up to visit us and another friend of hers who lives in the area. I have no pictures because Amber insists I get them through her publicist only, and I have not completed the necessary paperwork yet.

Because I (and the rest of the Marine/Navy people in our battalion) were stuck in the field (read: desert) two weekends ago, we got yesterday and Tuesday off. Since Tally was working, I decided to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (http://www.pstramway.com/things.asp) up to Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness. The Tramway is a rotating (360 degrees) car that can hold 80 people and takes you from an elevation of ~2600 feet up to ~8500 feet. It's pretty cool. Then, I decided to hike the 5.5 miles up to the top of San Jacinto Peak. With an elevation of 10, 804 feet, it's the second-highest peak in Southern California. Now, I may not be an expert hiker, and I haven't scaled the tallest peaks on all 7 continents like D. Little, but it was fun nonetheless.