Lately Travis and I have been going on power walks either at night or in the morning. He doesn't like to run as much and yet we like to workout together. So, a compromise is reached in the speed of our accomplishment over the same distance I would run. We have had some interesting occurences as of late...
The other morning we were rounding the loop on the other side of Sossaman and started come down on the east side of the road. All of the sudden, I looked over and I saw a horned steer on the west side.
Now, tons of our neighbors have steer in their backyards. This is not an unusual sight. But this time, I couldn't tell if this cow, who was facing right at me like the ones below in the photo, was
behind the fence or
in front of the fence. So I asked my husband Travis: "Which side of the fence is that cow on?" He answered me:"This side". So we chased the steer off the side of the road over to its owner's house, and went and knocked on their door to let them know their cattle were running about during rush hour traffic. They weren't home. Just as we were about to leave, because we couldn't find any open gates, someone pulled over in a white truck.
She was a neighbor girl and apparently did what everone does: CALL DOUG.
He's like the neighborhood grandpa around here for Rancho Jardines. He crossed the street (he lives right across from the owners) and knew how to open their gates and chased the cattle around.
Good thing we cityfolk didn't have to herd the cattle. You should have seen Travis' face when I was going around the steer to find the fence hole. They are big animals for sure. But not something a good ol' Dutch farmer girl would be scare of, right? The only question that puzzles me is why I don't like little pets but find my heart tender towards large stinky steer and cattle???? Maybe they can tell you.
We have to thank my uncle Erik and his friends, Howard and Gilette for their generosity. Howard helped us out with all the restaraunt recommendations and we were also introduced to a wonderful woman, Gilette,with whom we stayed in her wonderful guest quarters. We went on our first night in the city to a wonderful Italian meal at a neighborhood restaraunt on the Upper East Side. Overall, we enjoyed some of the best New York has to offer-- great food, good conversation and a warm crowd of people.
On the new day we walked the city seeing all the holiday sights including those in the windows at famous stores. My husband is wonderful to travel with as he has no unrealistic goals for seeing all the sights, but rather wants to enjoy the moment and the scene around him. We enjoyed lunch at Dean & Deluca, relishing their hot soups and sandwiches to sustain us through our special day. We decided in the fall that this would be an early celebration of our first anniversary--and what could be better than ice skating in Rockafeller Center and then going to dinner off of Madison Avenue?
We skated around as dusk was falling and then untied them to hurry uptown to change for dinner. We had reservations at my uncle's recommendation at a little elegant place called Alto. We enjoyed a wonderful four course meal of inventive dishes (there's another story there..but it will have to wait) including an appetizer, pasta, meat and fish, and finished off with dessert. It was definitely a meal to remember and the nicest place I've ever dined at. But I must confess it was the company that won my full attention.... We ended the evening with a trip to Times Square to finish our Midtown Tour. We know it is one of many trips we will take to New York City-- we already have a list of the things we would love to enjoy together like museums, Ruebens, more chocolates, and of course, shows. We'll try again next year!