Duraflame® Campfire Roasting Logs™ Giveaway

We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. Add in the hot weather keeping us mostly indoors and that is why you haven't really heard much out of us. We just finished up with a yard sale this past weekend so unless you want a post about that (we put our old junk stuff in the yard and people bought our old junk stuff) or about our time out at our Aunt Patty's pool, then I guess a good giveaway will have to do. :P

Duraflame® Roasting Logs™ Review

We were recently asked if we would like to try out Duraflame®'s new product, Campfire Roasting Logs™. We do have a fire pit out back, and we spend a lot of summer and fall evenings out there relaxing after sunset. With Bug around though, we hadn't had very much "relaxing" time. This particular evening was no exception. Bug's bedtime had come and gone, she had fought sleep for two hours, and we had finally won the battle. After a long day and with two bored teenagers in the house, we decided it was time to kick them (and ourselves) outside for a little R&R by the fire. The girls decided they wanted S'mores, and it was then that we remembered we needed to do this review. Duraflame® had been kind enough to not only send us a Campfire Roasting Logs™ pack, but also a S'mores Kit to go with it.

Gotta Keep On Keeping On

It's Saturday night, and Tim and I spent all day in the woods. And since the end of the world didn't show it's ugly face, I suppose we'll have to pay the bills and feed the cats after all. But that can wait until we're done being lazy by the fire.

See, the way we seen it, if we were going to be "called" today, then we were going out in style. Our style, that is. We dressed ourselves in our favorite hiking clothes (well, I had to improvise a bit as the baby has caused my favorite hiking pants to be a bit snug around the waist) and set out for a hike in the Big South Fork. It took me us all day to hike roughly 3 miles, and Tim and Clover were very patient with my numerous stops and out-of-breath-ness. Building a baby is hard work!  We hiked to the beautiful Slave Falls - where I ruined the seat of my drawers by literally having to slide down large muddy rocks to get the perfect shot - and on over to Needle Arch where Tim took my 10 weeks photo. He doesn't know it yet but it was the perfect place to take this one since it occurred to me not two days ago that in less than seven months I'm going to be forced to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. Needle Arch - the beautiful, naturally-formed, sandstone archway - will never be the same to me again. I will forever look upon it with fear and dread. And with those thoughts in mind, it was slightly disappointing that Jesus didn't show up to give me a reprieve.

On a side note - and a bit of personal trivia - what you may or may not know is that this is Tim and I's first birth together. Ashby - whom I've raised since she was three - is Tim's biological daughter and my adopted daughter. Although that's not relevant to our outdoors blogging, we thought it might clear up some things if we happen to sound like newbies all over again.

I know Tim is looking forward to detailing our hike for you - he loves that part of blogging! And I love to let him do it. So for now, and since I'm still here, I'll be working on the photos for his post in the very near future.

Oh, and Chip - these are just for you! The laurel is starting to bloom in the BSF.

Until then - Happy Weekend!
Robin and Tim

After Hours

Being outdoors is always relaxing for us. Even when we are out working up a sweat and pouring all our energy into climbing a mountain, at the end of the day we always breathe easier and find our spirits relaxed and renewed. And "outdoors" doesn't always mean "in the mountains," "in the park," "on the trail," or "climbing that mountain." Outdoors, for us, is just that simple. It means being outside the confines of walls. So, after a small hike today, we wanted to spend some relaxing time in our backyard by our flint-ringed fire pit soaking in the breeze, the smell of wood burning, and the tree frogs that sing non-stop this time of the year.

We don't really live too far from the city, but we're definitely rural. And when I say rural I mean, we can look up and see a million stars, we can close our eyes and try to count crickets chirping, we can listen to the fire crackle, and if we're really lucky, we can even hear the bloodcurdling calls of a barn owl or red fox.

But not tonight.

Because tonight, as we sit by our fire trying to relax for the week ahead (and burn up all the dead fall from last week's storms) we are being serenaded (once again) by our lovely neighbors who illegally operate a business in a subdivision in which they apparently must rev engines for hours, run diesel trucks that sound like high-powered generators, and mow their lawn at 10pm on a Sunday.

So, yes, consider this post a rant, at best. But it's very odd that we also live beside a legally-operated vehicle repair garage that never bothers us with this constant noise. Matter of fact, I rarely hear them even during business hours.

We just want our peace and quiet back. Is that too much to ask for? At least after dark? Please?