On Time for a Volcano

Talk about being at the right place at the right time!

Garage Included

During our "pilgrimage" to MN to see the older relatives, we stay in motels in most places.  Having Miss Persia traveling with us has complicated things.  At one location we had to change from our usual stop over because they jacked up the pet rate to $35 per pet!  

In my search, I found this motel.  Didn't quite understand the "garage included" but the pet rate was great so I booked it.

Once we got there we found that "garage included" was just that.  Each unit had its own room (LONG) garage that you entered your room thru.  

At check in you were given your room key AND a garage door opener.

Pretty cool!

Actually... pretty WARM!  It was so nice to be able to load and unload out of the windy 30-odd degree weather.

The room itself was nice too.  Lots of space plus a fridge and microwave.

We will definitely be back next year!!

Our Own Jurassic Park

The other morning I was sitting at my computer when I saw movement in the driveway.  SomeTHING was marching up the drive.

I called to Himself to come quick and see!

A dinosaur!!

With that hooked beak, maybe it is a small Nasutoceratops.

It had a keeled tail.  Maybe it is some sort of stegosaurus...

But those claws kind of remind me of a velociraptor.  Wicked!

Nah, it wasn't any of those.  It's a modern dinosaur... a very cranky snapping turtle.

Must have come up from the river.  We're guessing it is 'she'.  And she was probably looking for a place to lay eggs.

She wasn't appreciative of our efforts to get a better look.

And she wasn't about to let us turn her over.

Pretty soon she had fire in her blood...

...and a target of wrath in her eye.

That would be me!

She was so done with us.  It was time to chase us down and kill us!

We retreated.  That girl was SERIOUS!

When we carefully came out about 20 minutes later she was gone without a trace.

Heaven help us when her ornery little clutch of eggs hatch and head down to the river!

A Two Bucket Day

Doing a 5K was the first thing I marked off my 'bucket list' on Saturday... the second was to 'try acupuncture'.

I noticed in the race info I received that an acupuncturist and a massage therapist were going to give free demo treatments after the race.

Free!

Alright then!  

I've had a curiosity about acupuncture for a long time.  A bit skeptical but also open to the idea.  I've read about how it is being used on thoroughbreds to relieve pain after races, to reduce stress, and to speed up healing.  Since horses can't be conned into believing something I figure they are pretty good 'witness' to the effectiveness of the treatment.

Heidi asked if I had any particular issues... besides just finishing a 5K soreness.

No, my posture isn't indicating that I was tense... I was tired!

She was doing 'ear acupuncture' for the demo.

The first needle that went in wasn't even felt.  (They are 36 gauge needles... which is tiny.)  The second I could just feel.  The third... very different sensation.  There were about 5-ish feelings of a shock, like an static shock.  It did not hurt at all.  The shock feeling continued after she had finished placing the needle.  The fourth needle gave two tiny 'shock' feelings.  The final needle I didn't feel go in.

And there I sat with needles sticking out of my ear.

What do I think?  As I said, I was skeptical.  But as I sat there, I felt a sensation of "release".  It's very hard to describe.  OK, I've just finished this long tiring walk... my body is stressed, my mind is a bit stressed, and with all those people around my little ol' introvert self was a bit stressed too .

The sensation was like a bubble burst.  Seriously, there was a 'feel' when it happened.  Extremely interesting... and nice.  Instant calm.

Next.  I have a bad back.  Way down in L4, L5, and S1, it gets out of whack occasionally.  When that happens I get a connective tissue & muscle knot that hurts.  I'm talking a big knot that you can feel.  At such times I have to stretch, Motrin, and give time for it to feel better.

Said knot decided to flair up on the last half mile of the walk.  I was even limping a bit because it pulls as I step.  So here I am sitting and thinking about how 'chill' I'm feeling when I realize my back is not hurting.  0% not hurting.  Wow.

I sit a bit longer, then Heidi removes the needles.  That tickled!

I get up... and my back feels great.  I reach back and rub... NO knot.  None.  Zero.

24 hours later and still no knot.

(Edit: Four day later - back is still doing great.)

I can not vouch for all forms, treatments, or practices of acupuncture.  But I can vouch for what I experienced:  it was real and it worked for me.

I will be going back.

(I was NOT compensated for this review.  My free session was available to anyone who stepped in the door.)

If you are from the Clarksville area, here is the contact information:

A Taste of Schakolad

There was a mini kidnapping of Himself last week.

I was a very good friend...

The kidnapping was down to Franklin, TN where we had a tour of Schakolad Chocolate Factory.  When you walk into the door your nose gets happy.

Then your stomach gets even happier!

We were greeted with the invitation to indulge in as much as we wanted of the chocolate fountain.  Alrighty then!

We also had time to look at the tempting display cases.

See anything you like?

Once everyone got there, we were taken back to the 'chocolate machines' where melted chocolate (both dark and milk) were constantly being swirled in a circle.

We were shown how to dip the spatula into the chocolate and fill a tray to make chocolate bars.

Then we each did a bar for ourselves.

You betcha I filled it as full as I could!

After everyone made a bar for themselves, the chocolate was put in the refrigerator to harden while we headed into the back of the store for a chocolate class.

This is a cacao pod that grows on the cacao tree.

And these are the cacao seeds.  These seeds have been cleaned and roasted already.  We sampled a cacao seed that had a brown sugar crust (kind of like a candied pecan).  It was crunchy and somewhat bitter.

Then we tried "nibs", which is the cacao seed crushed, after being roasted.  They are really, really bitter and taste more nutty than chocolaty.

Once we got past tasting cacao... we tasted chocolate.  From 91% (extremely bitter) to 70% for the dark chocolate.  That range is considered 'health food'.  Of the 70%-ers, we tried one from Peru and one from Madagascar.  There was a difference!  The Peru tasted more "citrus/honey" and the Madagascar was more "berry-tangy/spice".  Then we worked our way down to the milk chocolates.  At 40% it was very sweet and smooth.  We found out that is what they use in the chocolate fountain as it has enough natural cocoa oil to make it flow.  At the bottom of the scale at basically 0% cocoa is "white chocolate".  It is made from the cocoa fat/oil and has no cocoa in it.

Then we sampled some of the delicious chocolates from the store... amaretto, whiskey peach, butterscotch, and orange.

After getting our fill of chocolate, the group was broken into 3 groups of 2 teams each.

First task... build a chocolate house in 10 minutes.  They with the best house got a prize.

Himself and our team mates hard at work.

Group photo!  

I'm blurry because of chocolate on my lens!  LOL

Our finished house.

Our next activity was back over at the chocolate machine where we learn to hand dip chocolate.  As you can see, we did pretzels, Oreos, and marshmallows.

Himself working on his milk chocolate pretzel.

And a marshmallow.

My turn!

We got to make 2 each.

Our final activity was to decorate our candy with a 'tube' of very warm white chocolate.

I had a blast getting fancy, even tried a bit of zentangling!

Himself... he didn't want to 'contaminate' his chocolate with white chocolate.  (I think he scraped off his writing before he ate his chocolate bar.  LOL )

Oh... our team won the house prize!  Here's my team mate and I selecting our candy (our dear hubbies gave us their boxes to fill).

The delicious prizes!

From top left across:  Amaretto, Whiskey Peach, Blackberry Brandy, and Mint

Bottom row: Orange, dark choc covered cherry, Key Lime, and the Mystery Piece (I forgot!).

If you are in the Nashville area, I highly recommend taking this tour (and watch for a Groupon to make it even cheaper).  It was a grand evening!