Favorite photo memories of 2022

I am not normally one to post or even really take a lot of photos throughout the year, but I wanted to review a bit of what happened over the last year and what better way to try to do that than with the photos.

In January, we were in Oregon and enjoying our new home area.

Along the Deschutes River

The pup and I spent a lot of time walking and hiking off-leash trails, and even though there was a fair amount of snow through much of it, we enjoyed getting out and playing nonetheless.

We were also busy finishing up the lower level of our newly acquired home. By the end of January, we had finished the kitchen and were super excited to be able to use it fully. Our bodies were broken from the great amount of work, but we were pleased with the results. Renovating is not for the faint of heart though!

The kitchen before we started working on it.

Kitchen after our reno (mostly complete here).

In February, the pup and I had seen a group of geese on the roofs of an apartment building on one of the trails we were regularly walking. One morning, I finally decided to take a picture because seeing them sitting atop the roof reminded me of photos and paintings of farmhouses with chickens on the roof. But, as soon as I stopped to take the photo, our lovely dog decided to bark and charge, so they all took off, resulting in this photo.

B-dog was busy protecting our new home. She spent a lot of time watching out the front window for deer, birds, and any human passers-by, who were met with friendly, but loud woofs.

We also had the opportunity to finally replace the front door on our home. We had already renovated the front room, but had been looking for a door that didn't cost a fortune because the front door was a special disaster. We were pretty sure the former renters in the home had taken some sort of axe or something to the front door as it was full of dents, gouges and the like. But, finally, in February this lovely (pictured below) showed up as a happy surprise. 

The front door before it was replaced.

The front door, after we replaced it.

February was also the month in which I was able to finally answer my question about whether or not the Deschutes would completely freeze over in winter. Although it didn't completely freeze, this day was a pretty fantastic spectacle watching and listening as ice pieces broke and floated down the river.

The Deschutes River, almost frozen through, sort of.

In early March, Sam decided to run a local trail race. He came in third in his division, which was pretty exciting considering it was the first time he'd done a trail run-race. He was also pretty broken at the end and realized that training on actual trails would probably be beneficial in the future, rather than just road and treadmill runs. 

B-dog and I did our own walk while Sam raced, and met up with him at various points to take photos and cheer him on. She pretty much settled in while we waited and chewed on found sticks.

By March, I had picked up my Tern for grocery-getting and other errands. I was super excited to be able to make climbing the local hills with a load much easier. And, I have to say, I still find this bike super useful, so I'm glad to have it!

March is also the month when we finished renovating our main bathroom in the new-to-us house. It was so much more work than we anticipated, but it was also very rewarding to have it completed.

The bathroom before the start of our self-renovating adventure.

The bath at completion of the renovation.

My younger brother also came to visit us at this point in the year, and he was extremely excited to visit the last remaining Blockbuster in the country, so we took him by and took many, many photos, but I think this one was my favorite.

April found us enjoying some sunnier days, which was very nice. B-dog and I continued our quest to hit as many local trails as possible. This is one of her favorites because she was able to run freely off-leash and enjoy.

By the time May rolled around, we knew with certainty that we were going to be leaving Oregon. It was a bit bitter-sweet and we weren't sure how to feel about it. We tried to take in as many sights as possible, but it was always a little sad to know that we were in our final days in our new area.

By mid-June, we were back in Colorado, waiting for our temporary home to be ready for us. We were fortunate to have friends who were willing to take us in for a few days, and B-dog was happy to get to visit with a friend.

We also went back to walking in our usual locations in Colorado. It was nice to have familiar sights, but it was a little strange to be back so quickly.

In July, Sam and I were trying to get back to our tandem riding. after spending 10 months renovating an entire house, we were exhausted and hadn't had as much time riding together as we'd normally get, so we tried to sneak in the occasional ride while we waited to close on yet another house.

Our ride to Carter Lake -- an old favorite.

By August, we were in yet another house and the moving was getting exhausting. This new-to-us home didn't have a work space for me, so we got to work constructing that space.

We also planted some dwarf Blue Spruce trees along one side of the yard. They were super tiny, but hopefully, they will survive and will create some beauty along the perimeter and provide some privacy in the future.

In September, B-dog and I took our first longer-distance pedal with the Burly trailer to one of her favorite trails/swim spots. It didn't go extremely well, but she survived (as did I) and we realized that maybe this could be a good way for us to get around as she ages.

Sam also did another race this month, traveling to Flagstaff, Arizona, to race in the final Barn Burner mountain bike race (unfortunately, this race is being dropped from the Leadville series). He had hoped to qualify to get into Leadville for 2023, but, sadly, that didn't happen.

In October, we had wrapped up construction of my studio space and I was able to finally work in this new space. I was elated after about a year and a half of not having my working area to be able to get back to something normal.

And, by November, I was busy getting back to work because I had multiple markets/shows before the end of the year. The beauty of coming back to a known area is that events are well-known and familiar, but the down side was that I had very little time to produce work in time for the holiday events.

B-dog and I were also well into our old walking routes/routines. We walked on this particularly lovely morning without a soul in sight... it was pretty wonderful, really. The beauty of the cold days in November is that most don't seem ready to deal with it, so we had the luxury of open space to ourselves.

December didn't have a ton of memorable photos because I pretty much worked through the month. But, we had a particularly cold snap and B-dog and I decided to try to go for our daily walk anyway. It was so, so cold though (weather apps stated that it felt like -26F, but actual temp was -12F). My eyelashes were literally freezing together, so it was tough to keep my eyes open, but my glasses were fogging up if I wore them to try to protect a bit. We were both ready to wrap it up pretty quickly though, and I snapped this photo at the end of our adventure. At least she was still happy (or maybe, grateful, that we were done).

We crammed quite a bit into the year, but not nearly the number of activities that we really wanted to get in. There was not anywhere close to enough riding or working out, but completely renovating a house for the first half of the year, then looking for another home and having to build a work space occupied the majority of the latter part of it.

It's hard to know what is coming for 2023, but hopefully, things will balance out a bit and we can find more time for riding and the things we really want to accomplish. Wishing you and yours a very happy New Year! I hope you have your own memorable moments from the past year.