"Spring has changeable weather."

So states my Nebraska: Guide to the Cornhusker State (nice book, thanks uncle Tim). They ain't kiddin'. Last week Keith and I spent a warm evening lounging in these chairs with our laptops. This week they're buried in snow! Nebraska spring, you tease me with promises of long weekend bike rides only to dump 8 inches of snow on my front lawn.

We had been expecting a visit from members of the Gautreaux family this weekend, but perhaps that will not happen after all.

In other sad ironies, Keith and I finally upgraded our television only to find we couldn't get the big game (or any channels for that matter). This is how we watched it instead.

Not much else new going on here. I am starting to deliver a few babies, which is always fun. And I continue to make small, slow improvements to our home decor. It looks as though flying will never be a part of my future since the one instructor in B.B. has left town. Instead I am seeking out more domestic hobbies like gardening, interior design, and shopping for a myriad of baby showers.

Desert Flowers

Here are some pictures from our vacation this week. For the most part the fun-having was done during the first few days. For Keith and I, the second half of the week has been spent sitting in a large, overly air-conditioned auditorium for nearly 10 hours straight listening to people talk about various medical topics. The talk on pap smear updates was good, the one on aerospace medicine, not so practical. Truth be told, I love a good CME. I love sitting around and drinking coffee while soaking in what really smart people have to say about the studies I've been reading all year. I love pontificating about various medical practices. It's amazing how much difference in opinion and practice style there is between various clinics and communities. Keith thought I was crazy when I was actually more excited to go the the conference than I was about sight seeing or sitting by the pool. Anyway, enjoy the pics from our "Kat almost died hike", as well as our trip to the botanical gardens. More pics will eventually be available on Flickr as usual.

Top 10 Reasons to Move to Broken Bow

For those of you who aren't aware of all the attractive offerings of our beloved B-squared, here's a partial list in reverse order of importance:

#10) Nice people. Our garage door has been torn off for over a month, and no one has stolen a single item.
#9) Open spaces. If you like the outdoors, and you don't mind frequent gale force winds and an occasional waft of cattle manure, then you'll love walking or biking on rural roads through rolling plains.
#8) Local produce. Talk about a green-minded people, BB has a nice farmers market throughout the summer. You can even buy local, grass-fed Bison there.
#7) Friendly neighbors. Ours have come through yet again in the doggie daycare department while we're vacationing in AZ.
#6) Very nice doggies live there (yes, I mean ours)
#5) No traffic. You know you're getting spoiled when sitting at the intersection for 30 seconds while waiting to cross the highway causes you to throw your hands up in frustration.
#4) Home cooking. Sort of a necessity rather than a bonus given the dining options are few, but hey, it's still good.
#3) Excellent health care from very qualified professionals.
#2) Housing prices: You can afford a veritable mansion here for the cost of a down payment many other places in the U.S.. The median home price in BB is $57,800.
#1) Keith and Shaleah live there, and if they aren't enough, they now have a big TV.

So, if it hadn't already occurred to you, give it some thought. Broken Bow, "In the middle of everywhere!"

Rich people live here.

We're in Scottsdale. It's a ritzy suburb of Phoenix that seems to exist solely for the purpose of helping people consume. The road our hotel is located on is lined with countless restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and shopping centers. And if you don't like the Crate & Barrel across the street, you hop on the shopping trolly and ride 8 miles south to the next one. Awesome! Today I bought cute dessert plates at Anthropologie, a lemon juicer, and espresso cups -- all things that are very hard to find in rural NE, but easy enough to take back as a carry on.

We have four days of Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences here, and four days of consumption. Kat and Jeffrey were kind enough to drive out here and entertain us for the weekend. We did lots of cool stuff including a nice hike and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home (see this blog for professional style description of events).

When we come back we will be smarter, tanner and better dressed. Very successful CME week indeed.

A good rule of thumb: Any time you go to observe nature, bring binoculars

Did you know we have a national insect? (I know Keith and Jeffrey probably did, but other people with normal sized brains?) Well, I didn't. I have no idea why we need one, but I guess if we're going to have one, the monarch is a worthy recipient of the title. Monarchs may not seem real sexy to the casual observer, but I'm here to tell you that they're hot! Monarchs have a pretty amazing life cycle. For example, Monarchs from the Northern Rocky mountains migrate south to Mexico each year where they inhabit no more than a 70 square mile area for the winter. The migration cycle is longer than the butterflies life span, so somehow their tiny little bug brains have to hold the navigation information in such a way that it can be passed on to future generations so they can complete the round trip.

This winter Christa and I decided to escape our respective tundras and travel down to Mexico to observe the hibernating butterflies in the Michoacan state. Neither of us are really butterfly buffs or naturalists of any sort, but we were both incredibly impressed with the experience. It was definitely worth the three and a half day trip it took us to get there (no joke!). When we were there we met a guy who loves Monarchs so much, he got his PhD in Monarch life cycles. He now works at the Smithsonian, but he comes back to Mexico each winter to lead nature tours of the Monarch sanctuaries. How cool are you sir?

This picture shows the butterflies all clumped onto tree branches where they are hibernating. (If one did not bring binoculars one might have missed this). Monarch watching wasn't all we did though. During our week long hiatus from our husbands, we also managed to hike a volcano, visit a colonial city, and sip pina coladas poolside before heading out to the sand for some volleyball. (Another rule of thumb: when hiking volcanoes in Mexico, don't tell your guide you're pregnant unless you really want to freak him out.) Mom and baby did great, and we're already planning our next sunny vacation.

Bad Ass Mountain Biking Chicks

These are old pics (obviously), but with the freezing cold weather and flat landscape here in B-squared, there has been a paucity of outdoor activity ops and therefore related photo ops. I miss the Rockies, but I am doing my best to transition to small town plain type activities. We've cross country skied a few times. Last week I played basketball with Keith and other large, hairy people. I am not in good shape. Running up and down the court for two hours straight without a break nearly killed me. I am not exaggerating. My VO2 max is probably a negative value at this point in the winter. Also at multiple points I was literally writhing around on the court when my calves cramped up. I could barely walk for two days after that. Also I am tiny compared to men. I don't know how to do anything except post up and rebound, and when I'm in the key I get batted around like rag doll. It doesn't help that when I finally had an open shot, a certain loving husband (whom I will not name) reached out with his infinitely extensible mitt and swatted the ball back at me. Isn't there some sort of unspoken rule against that? There should be. I'm going back tonight, but this time I'm going to rig it so that said husband is on my team.

Winter is Here

There's a bit of a snow storm across Nebraska today. Keith is on call in the ER waiting for the ambulance to bring him his next crash victim. Not wanting to be one of those victims, I canceled the shopping trip I had planned to the metropolis of Grand Island. This has had two effects, the first is that people I love will be getting a lot of stuff from Amazon this year, and the second is that I have time to blog. Unfortunately I don't have much to blog about, so instead I will post pics.




It's funny looking at these pics. I think they convey a lot, but without some text, I think they are probably totally misleading. Like if I didn't tell you so, you may never guess that the telescope Keith seems to be expertly gazing through has actually been collecting dust since our first Christmas together when I bought it for him. It is only now, two years later, that it has finally had its debut. I would have been wise to listen to his mother who suggested buying the least expensive model out there, since Keith actually likes lying on his back to gaze at the stars much more than he likes fiddling to focus a high powered telescope on distant planetary features. Still, the moon did look really cool that night.


I think these pictures capture the joy of playing in the snow with the puppies and maybe even the relaxed warmth of the fire. What they can never convey is the stench that exudes from those cute pups' coats as the snow melts away from their filthy puppy skin.


Even though I have been yet unsuccessful in getting tall pictures to come into my blog upright, I still wanted to put in our "Christmas photo". What you are missing here, but could easily guess if you ever met our dogs, is that it took us about 15 harried minutes of corralling our indoor livestock to get this perfectly posed pic. And if Keith smile looks strained, I think it probably is.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday. We certainly are.