back in magnolia...

snowboarding is lots of fun. i'm just not very good at it. i sprained one ankle and fractured the other a couple of weeks ago. so now i am jobless, homeless, and somewhat legless. the good news is, my family has an overabundance of wheelchairs. and a twisted sense of humor.

pictures at Mount Rose

these are a few pictures i took at Mount Rose the other day, during my last snowboarding adventure of the season.

and this is why i won't be snowboarding again for awhile

three-grain apple cinnamon granola

after my friend Katrina posted a recipe for chocolate granola on her blog awhile back, i wanted to try making cereal. i found this recipe in my cookbook. it's yummy, so i thought i'd share. and i like taking pictures of food.

preheat the oven to 300. i cut way down on the baking times, because the first time i made this recipe the cereal tasted burnt.

combine on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes:

2 cups oats

1 cup barley flakes

1 cup rye flakes

add 2 cups chopped walnuts,

1/2 cup wheat germ,

and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, and bake for another 5 minutes

add 1/2 cup dry milk powder (optional) and 1 tablespoon cinnamon

heat, stirring, until blended:

1/2 to 2/3 cup honey

1/2 cup oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

add the oil mixture to the dry mixture and stir until coated. spread on the baking sheet and bake, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.

stir in 1 cup chopped dry apples, and 1/2 cup raisins

let cool, then store in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month

i wish my car was 4-wheel drive

Well, everyone back home seems to be posting on blog and facebook all about the miraculous Texas snowfall, so I might as well talk about snow too. :) The past week or so, it's been sunny and warm here in Reno. It's felt like spring, and I was loving it! I got to go on long walks outside instead of working out in the gym (which I sort of detest, but do anyway cause I feel good when I'm in shape). Saturday morning I went on one of these delightful walks. Then by Saturday evening it was getting chilly and thick clouds were descending, covering the nearby mountains. I went to a service at a church down the road from me, and by the time I left to go home there was about an inch of snow on the ground. I didn't think much of it, having just spent 3 months in Colorado. But I didn't realize that it would just continue to snow harder and harder throughout the night. It was still snowing hard when I got up at 5 the next morning to get ready for work. Despite the new tires I got on my car in Colorado, it still tends to slip and slide a little, and I really hate driving in snow and ice. I left about 20 minutes early, waded through at least 6 inches of the stuff to get to my car, and crept along at about 20 or 30 mph on the highway to get to work. People around here might be more used to driving in the stuff than Texans, but I passed quite a few cars stranded in the ditches. I finally made it to work, where nobody had thought to plow the parking lot, and somehow managed to park my car. I waded in to the hospital, thanking God I'd survived and hoping that everyone scheduled to work that day would make it. I guess they did, cause it was a pretty decent day. Every time I looked out the window I saw more fat flakes coming down, and tried not to think about when I'd have to dig my car out of the parking lot in the dark after work. By that time, thought, the parking lot had been plowed, and the roads weren't too terrible. I did pass 2 accidents on the highway, and even more cars stuck in the ditch. Sometimes I wish I could have experienced snow when I was a kid, back before it would start giving me heart failure. :) Needless to say, I'm looking forward to spring.

pictures

here are a few of the snapshots i took on my drive from Colorado to Nevada. they're not exactly in chronological order.

this was the view from a rest stop in Utah

i think this was the most trees i saw in one place the entire time. most of the landscape was just dirt and rocks.

this was outside of Salt Lake City. it's hard to see the mountain because of the fog, but it was beautiful. the ugly smokestack was a stark contrast.

cool rock formations in Wyoming - or maybe in Colorado, right before Wyoming.

my wonderful driving buddy. this is from the balcony of my new apartment in Reno.

and a couple of pictures from our costume party, about a week before my road trip. there are some more pictures on Hannah's blog.