Hello once again from the Aspen Street Coffee Shop in Fruita, CO!
I was reading my friend Stephanie's blog of her current adventure in Central America and then clicked on my blog. I was appalled to see that in 2004, I had over 130 entries; after that year, I haven't even written HALF that amount, and last year was just embarassing - 14 entries in all of 2008. I'm not as big into writing as I used to, but I can certainly find time to write more than 14 days out of 365!
Next Tuesday I begin my stint as a "real" student (I only had one seminar and one correspondence class last semester when I started, so not much studying or homework or time on campus). These are my last few free days. Not that I haven't been busy, but skiing at Vail and working out 1-2 hours a day aren't the same as studying theories and reading and using my brain for something besides vampire books on Kindle. ;) Tim, myself and hopefully some other folks are meeting at Vail this weekend and I have a feeling I'm going to find myself drinking Irish coffee while the rest of them are playing in the back bowls. I still suck at telemark. I went on Tuesday and did worse than when I went with Lindsay and folks a few weeks ago. And since my knee injury and apparently my cyst in my knee, I'm not the snowboarder I used to be. Boo.
The biggest thing going on is of course the Philadelphia Eagles! Since my Lions set history with 0-16 (I still want to get a commemorative t-shirt), at least I have the Eagles. Sure, I became a fan through Tim but I think after 3 seasons I can call myself a true fan. Though I am absolutely sick of hearing the same crap on sports radio OVER and OVER again. I don't know how Tim can listen to it. It's always a different way of saying the same thing: "Really, the team that wins the game is the one that gets the most points. It comes down to who's defense is better, and who's offense is better. The one that throws the ball, catches the ball, and can get the ball into the end zone more is always going to win the game!" DUH!!!! Or lately, the big news about the Denver Bronco's new 32 year old coach. Ok apparently he's young. "But it doesn't come down to age, it comes down to what he does with this team." OBVIOUSLY! Seriously, I just summed up 2 weeks worth of radio show "analysis" into a few simple sentences. Then there's the announcer that insists that everybody else was wrong with their predictions last week/month/season/years/35 years ago. But miraculously he was the only one that had his prediction, and he's the only one that was right. Whatever! One guy did that a couple weeks ago, and guess what he was WRONG! But you know what he said? "I've said this all along, despite what everyone else thought. And I was right!" Tim gets a kick out of my announcer impressions (when he's not turning it up to try to drown out my smart ass remarks... which are of course always RIGHT ON!)
Anyway, with that said, GO EAGLES!
Tim and his crew out here are now famous. Look at the GJ Sentinal! And notice, everybody else is wearing gloves (which they are supposed to) except Tim! What a rebel.
Logan and I went for a nice hike yesterday to a former mica (a type of rock) mine in the Bangs Canyon area. It was a pretty easy hike in the bottom of a canyon, tall walls of red rock on all sides and huge sage bushes. I haven't yet uploaded my photos but they are on the way!
With that said, I'll be back in Estes (Drake) next Monday night, before I have to roam around CSU like a dork and try to find all my classes!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
4,400 miles in two weeks
Every time I sit down to update my journal, I get distracted. It was so much easier when I was in Montana, with not much to do but exercise, hike, drink and write, when I wasn't fighting fires of course. What do I waste my time doing? Fantasy Hockey, email, Facebook, computer and tv shopping (yes I need a computer, no I don't need a tv), college classes, scholarships and easy money (doesn't exist), the news, photos, Facebook, Amazon.com, the weather... A whole lot of nothing, really.
I was out in Grand Junction before Tim and I left for our big road trip. After the 6 hour drive from Grand Junction to Estes, we did some errands and then left for Michigan on Dec. 19th. There were huge snowstorms across the plains but we got lucky - the road was clear despite the plethora of cars and trucks strewn about the median, the shoulders, sometimes upside down in a nearby field that indicated just how lucky we were to have smooth sailing. However, the temperatures were not friendly - -8 in Nebraska, with -20 to -30 windchill! Since we drove straight through, we hit Nebraska all night and refilling the gas tank and taking Logan for pit stops were so miserable I ended up putting on my snow pants just to stay warm. It really went quite well until the next morning. The news said Chicago had blowing snow but really, they were just a little behind on the times. The blowing snow had moved into Michigan, and we were in a near white-out on I-94. Which made for a horrible drive and I was being paranoid about multi-car pile ups as I'd see 3-6 cars scattered across the road here and there. At one point it took a little evasive action on my part, and a conveniently placed exit, to avoid a potential nasty accident. Sometimes a little paranoia is good, though, as only a couple hours after we made it through western Michigan, a 100 car pile up closed I-94 and killed one person.
We made it to Novi in 22 hours. We made such good time up until western Michigan - it usually takes between 18-20 hours; that was the longest it has ever taken me though my mom thinks it's just because I must be doing something illegal. I think it's just because I know how to hold my bladder, ha ha!
In Michigan, it was a combination of seeing lots of people, and doing absolutely nothing at all - except getting brutally beaten by my little brother at hockey on his Playstation 3, or watching sports on their nice big hi-def TV. I was so excited because the snow was thick and fluffy, and we brought our snowshoes to go with my sister, who had gotten a new pair for X-mas. Of course, within a couple days it warmed up enough that it turned to rain and everything was crusted over with ice. :( Tim and I went to the Red Wings game on the 23rd, which is always a good time and of course they won. I also just so happened to be in town for an old co-worker's retirement party, so I got to see the city boys and introduce them to Tim's large beard.
I was especially happy to be home for our annual huge family X-mas party, which I don't think I have been in town for 2-3 years! 50+ people and I still have no idea whom most of those rugrat kids belong to, ha ha! Pretty soon my sisters and myself will be the only ones left without kids... but Sue and I have dogs, and Linda has her cats, and hopefully my mom doesn't mind being Grandma Doolittle for a while. ;) The new tradition they started last year of the "white elephant" or re-gifting things ended up being pretty funny. Of all things, Tim got Old Spice Cologne and I got a manicure kit. If you knew us, you'd see why they were the most ironic gifts we could have received. Tim swapped his but I have to admit, I actually kept mine and (tried to) use it on what little nails I haven't bitten or chipped off, haha!
Leave it to my friend Jeff to have the party that brings most of my friends in one spot, making it much easier to see people in limited time - like Jess, who I missed last time I was in town. Even better, Brian and Melissa stopped by! They live in Seattle and though I used to be good about visiting about once a year, I've slacked off and it's Brian's turn to visit Colorado anyway. Jeff is now in Minnesota and who knows the next time I will see him, too - unless I can convince them to ski in Colorado again instead of Montana. I did stop at Donna's house to see her two kitties - which I love playing with but hate the inevitable allergic attack I have afterwards. I joked that I would name one "puppy" because I wanted her to get a dog.... but Puppy didn't let me down by being the first cat I've ever seen carry around toys in its mouth like a dog! Which was the cutest thing EVER! Besides Donna of course. ;) I am very sorry I didn't get to see Tara, Beth and Kevin... Seems like every time I come home it rotates who I miss. Next time guys, I promise!!
I am also bummed I didn't go out with my sisters like we usually do, maybe not to 5th Avenue anymore but Linda got sick and Tim and I were pretty much broke. Saw my dad and step mom on X-mas day, and I think the highlight of our visit for everybody wasn't so much as seeing ME, but seeing 100 lb. LOGAN! And yes, he did in fact prove he is the best dog in the world. Simple as that! In fact, I think both my parents and Tim's parents took more photos of the dog than us! That's ok, Logan's way cuter than I am anyway. :P
I know I'm leaving things out, like seeing my brother's mad skills at his JV hockey game and stuff like that. Was so darned busy and I don't remember everything anymore!
Saturday before new years was when we left Michigan for Pennyslvania. It ended up taking about 9 hours, not bad. Saw bald eagles, that was the highlight of that drive. We ended up at Tim's parents' house and we were even busier there than we were in Michigan. Went out to breakfast with his friend Matt and his wife Debra, which was pretty much the boys making fun of each other. Tim was making fun of that game "Rock Band", but we went back to their house and Tim couldn't stop being a rock star. I was rockin' the bass and well can't say I have a future as a drummer, but Tim kept singing and singing and his girly voice doing a Garbage song was priceless. We went to his sister's house, and her husband had just become a K-9 cop and has Body, a new 15 month old German Shepherd-Malamois mix K-9 cop in training now in addition to their 3 year old purebred shepherd, Thor. Body may only be 65 lbs, but he's agile, likes to jump, and isn't quite as trained as the other boys. Thor is I believe 85 lbs... and then there's monster Log Dog at 100 lbs (or more, he got fat over the holidays just like his mom and dad, haha!). Those three shepherds got along so great and went nuts in the backyard! We watched the Eagles WIN (which has set the agenda for every Sunday until hopefully the Superbowl) and Tim couldn't be happier. Tim's aunts and uncles came over on various days, the only of which I had met were Aunt Diane and Uncle Steve (they came to Colorado with his parents last year). We went and saw his Nan and she was pretty funny, told Tim she thought I'd be shorter but I think she liked me. ;)
We also went to see his friend Greg and Shannon and their 3 kids and their house in the country, which was pretty nice! Our New Years was pretty uneventful, Tim went through his model train collection and giggled like a little kid and I read books on my new Amazon Kindle. Which is a funny story in itself... my mom hands me a box for X-mas and I open it, it says "Kindle". I get a puzzled look on my face and my mom and Linda are like, "It's Kindle! You don't know what Kindle is??" Ummmm... Even when I open the box, I'm like what the heck?? Now this Kindle thing isn't cheap, but my mom tells me she heard about it on Oprah, you download books onto it. And since A. I love books but B. I travel a lot and am sick of moving boxes of books, it would be great for me! I kept joking with Tim that she got my a flat screen tv (my big addiction)... and I was like well um I've never heard of Kindle... thinking of what size tv I could buy for the same price... Needless to say, I researched it online and started messing around with it, and I LOVE KINDLE! Tim likes to talk about Kindle like Kindle is a person, like "Are you going to hang out with Kindle today?" and "How is Kindle doing?" The only bad part is that books aren't really cheap, considering I buy all my books used, and that since it's set up to purchase books immediately when you click, "Buy this book", it's easy to spend a lot of money. :P It uses Sprint's cell phone network for free to get on the internet (in black and white) and browse the bookstore.
Anway, back on track... I hung out with Kindle on New Year's. The ball dropped, whoop-de-doo it's 2009! Then we watched some crazy dare devils on motorbikes do some stunts, and then went to sleep. Pretty wild huh.
Logan got to hang out with Tim's parents a lot and I think between Logan and Thor, his mom really wants a dog. I hope she gets one. ;) Tim bought $36 in Tastykakes, a Philly local junk-food mini cake, and saw the sights. Went to Cabelas. We did not exercize whatsoever and I am still trying to get back to eating well (no gluten, corn, soy, blah blah blah) and feeling fit. Overall I was pretty tired from socializing and eating uncontrollable amounts of sugar! But it was nice to finally see Tim's hometown and meet more of his friends and family, though he didn't get to see everybody he had hoped. The whole time, I had "The Fresh Prince of Bell Air" theme song in my head...
Then the long, long drive home. We left on Friday morning after New Years and took I-80. It took 29 hours; it wasn't nearly as cold, but it was windy! Logan was visibly uncomfortable in the back of the cab, but he was a good sport about it. I kept myself entertained by reading about the swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park, but alas no end-of-the-world volcanic explosion is in the near future, (though that doesn't stop some folks from starting a panic anyway). We did finally get to my place in Drake and we couldn't even sleep, despite being so sleep deprived. Watched sports and played online. Got up early the next day, took care of some business, drove to Boulder and watched the Eagles win against the Vikings (WOOOO!) and then headed back on the road west to Grand Junction.
The first thing I did this past Monday back in the Junk is get a gym membership. ;) They have a pretty nice gym with good hours. I've been hitting it pretty hard and feel much better already. Not quite in the "hike all summer in the mountains" shape, or even in as good of "telemark ski around the backcountry of Rocky" shape as I'd like... but much better. The second thing I did was start exploring the public land with Logan. We romped in the snow among dinosaur bones (though we only really saw part of one) at the Fruita Paleological Site and also around Devil's Canyon, though we have yet to go on a long hike. I also spent a couple days fretting over Tim's 30th Birthday, which was on January 7th. Wooo! I had grand ideas but most of his friends are back in Estes, his birthday was on a Wednesday, and I wasn't sure how to make it a grand birthday. My first idea was lazer tag and skee ball at a place called bananas, but since they don't serve beer we went to th bowling super center called GJ Scores. I got Tim this big obnoxious balloon that sings Happy Birthday in Opera-style, some spider man temp tattoos, and some fancy hair conditioner for his Beard. Which, by the way, we forgot to celebrate his Happy Beard Day! His beard turned 2 years old on January 1st, and I had plans to make a big deal about it but without having any way of leaving the house without him (we were in PA), it fizzled. I have more bigger presents planned for him but we'll see what I end up getting him, when he makes up his mind what he really wants. :) After bowling we went and got sushi, of course!
While Tim's at work, I usually hang with Kindle, work out for a couple hours, play with the Loggenator (another new nickname for Logan), go online, stuff like that. My computer screen doesn't work all the time anymore so it's time to look for a new one. Friday, we went to see the new Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Tourino. His one liners are excellent, but it's a very good movie. Don't expect a real spaghetti western type plot - it's very serious, despite many one liners drawing a good chuckle (as well as in the back of your mind thinking, "I can't believe he just SAID that!"). We had big plans, like every weekend, of going skiing at Vail and such, but we were out past midnight at the movie and didn't want to wake up Saturday. So we just watched football and did nothing. :) Sunday, EAGLES FOOTBALL! And they won against the Giants! Next week, the Arizona Cardinals! Tim is freaking out of course, he pretty much doesn't hear or see anything unless it has to do with Eagles or football. ;)
After the victory, I really needed to get out of the house so we hiked a few miles up the No Thoroughfare canyon to a frozen waterfall, I took a couple photos and will post them soon. Today I had plans to go to Vail but after a nasty stomach ache last night and this morning, and the plain inability to get out of bed before 8:30 am anymore, it just didn't happen. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I swear! ;)
This is my last week in Grand Junction before classes start at Colorado State. I'm trying to decide if I should pick up Ornithology or Riparian Ecology, which would mean classes 3 days a week instead of 2. I'm really going to have to get in the groove of being a real student again, and very quickly! I have a feeling that one class will be challenging, with lots of statistics and population modeling, but just typing my journal nowadays sometimes feels like a challenge!
Anyway time to take the dog for a walk. Send good skiing vibes my way and hopefully I'll get up early enough to make the 2 1/2 hour drive tomorrow. ;)
I was out in Grand Junction before Tim and I left for our big road trip. After the 6 hour drive from Grand Junction to Estes, we did some errands and then left for Michigan on Dec. 19th. There were huge snowstorms across the plains but we got lucky - the road was clear despite the plethora of cars and trucks strewn about the median, the shoulders, sometimes upside down in a nearby field that indicated just how lucky we were to have smooth sailing. However, the temperatures were not friendly - -8 in Nebraska, with -20 to -30 windchill! Since we drove straight through, we hit Nebraska all night and refilling the gas tank and taking Logan for pit stops were so miserable I ended up putting on my snow pants just to stay warm. It really went quite well until the next morning. The news said Chicago had blowing snow but really, they were just a little behind on the times. The blowing snow had moved into Michigan, and we were in a near white-out on I-94. Which made for a horrible drive and I was being paranoid about multi-car pile ups as I'd see 3-6 cars scattered across the road here and there. At one point it took a little evasive action on my part, and a conveniently placed exit, to avoid a potential nasty accident. Sometimes a little paranoia is good, though, as only a couple hours after we made it through western Michigan, a 100 car pile up closed I-94 and killed one person.
We made it to Novi in 22 hours. We made such good time up until western Michigan - it usually takes between 18-20 hours; that was the longest it has ever taken me though my mom thinks it's just because I must be doing something illegal. I think it's just because I know how to hold my bladder, ha ha!
In Michigan, it was a combination of seeing lots of people, and doing absolutely nothing at all - except getting brutally beaten by my little brother at hockey on his Playstation 3, or watching sports on their nice big hi-def TV. I was so excited because the snow was thick and fluffy, and we brought our snowshoes to go with my sister, who had gotten a new pair for X-mas. Of course, within a couple days it warmed up enough that it turned to rain and everything was crusted over with ice. :( Tim and I went to the Red Wings game on the 23rd, which is always a good time and of course they won. I also just so happened to be in town for an old co-worker's retirement party, so I got to see the city boys and introduce them to Tim's large beard.
I was especially happy to be home for our annual huge family X-mas party, which I don't think I have been in town for 2-3 years! 50+ people and I still have no idea whom most of those rugrat kids belong to, ha ha! Pretty soon my sisters and myself will be the only ones left without kids... but Sue and I have dogs, and Linda has her cats, and hopefully my mom doesn't mind being Grandma Doolittle for a while. ;) The new tradition they started last year of the "white elephant" or re-gifting things ended up being pretty funny. Of all things, Tim got Old Spice Cologne and I got a manicure kit. If you knew us, you'd see why they were the most ironic gifts we could have received. Tim swapped his but I have to admit, I actually kept mine and (tried to) use it on what little nails I haven't bitten or chipped off, haha!
Leave it to my friend Jeff to have the party that brings most of my friends in one spot, making it much easier to see people in limited time - like Jess, who I missed last time I was in town. Even better, Brian and Melissa stopped by! They live in Seattle and though I used to be good about visiting about once a year, I've slacked off and it's Brian's turn to visit Colorado anyway. Jeff is now in Minnesota and who knows the next time I will see him, too - unless I can convince them to ski in Colorado again instead of Montana. I did stop at Donna's house to see her two kitties - which I love playing with but hate the inevitable allergic attack I have afterwards. I joked that I would name one "puppy" because I wanted her to get a dog.... but Puppy didn't let me down by being the first cat I've ever seen carry around toys in its mouth like a dog! Which was the cutest thing EVER! Besides Donna of course. ;) I am very sorry I didn't get to see Tara, Beth and Kevin... Seems like every time I come home it rotates who I miss. Next time guys, I promise!!
I am also bummed I didn't go out with my sisters like we usually do, maybe not to 5th Avenue anymore but Linda got sick and Tim and I were pretty much broke. Saw my dad and step mom on X-mas day, and I think the highlight of our visit for everybody wasn't so much as seeing ME, but seeing 100 lb. LOGAN! And yes, he did in fact prove he is the best dog in the world. Simple as that! In fact, I think both my parents and Tim's parents took more photos of the dog than us! That's ok, Logan's way cuter than I am anyway. :P
I know I'm leaving things out, like seeing my brother's mad skills at his JV hockey game and stuff like that. Was so darned busy and I don't remember everything anymore!
Saturday before new years was when we left Michigan for Pennyslvania. It ended up taking about 9 hours, not bad. Saw bald eagles, that was the highlight of that drive. We ended up at Tim's parents' house and we were even busier there than we were in Michigan. Went out to breakfast with his friend Matt and his wife Debra, which was pretty much the boys making fun of each other. Tim was making fun of that game "Rock Band", but we went back to their house and Tim couldn't stop being a rock star. I was rockin' the bass and well can't say I have a future as a drummer, but Tim kept singing and singing and his girly voice doing a Garbage song was priceless. We went to his sister's house, and her husband had just become a K-9 cop and has Body, a new 15 month old German Shepherd-Malamois mix K-9 cop in training now in addition to their 3 year old purebred shepherd, Thor. Body may only be 65 lbs, but he's agile, likes to jump, and isn't quite as trained as the other boys. Thor is I believe 85 lbs... and then there's monster Log Dog at 100 lbs (or more, he got fat over the holidays just like his mom and dad, haha!). Those three shepherds got along so great and went nuts in the backyard! We watched the Eagles WIN (which has set the agenda for every Sunday until hopefully the Superbowl) and Tim couldn't be happier. Tim's aunts and uncles came over on various days, the only of which I had met were Aunt Diane and Uncle Steve (they came to Colorado with his parents last year). We went and saw his Nan and she was pretty funny, told Tim she thought I'd be shorter but I think she liked me. ;)
We also went to see his friend Greg and Shannon and their 3 kids and their house in the country, which was pretty nice! Our New Years was pretty uneventful, Tim went through his model train collection and giggled like a little kid and I read books on my new Amazon Kindle. Which is a funny story in itself... my mom hands me a box for X-mas and I open it, it says "Kindle". I get a puzzled look on my face and my mom and Linda are like, "It's Kindle! You don't know what Kindle is??" Ummmm... Even when I open the box, I'm like what the heck?? Now this Kindle thing isn't cheap, but my mom tells me she heard about it on Oprah, you download books onto it. And since A. I love books but B. I travel a lot and am sick of moving boxes of books, it would be great for me! I kept joking with Tim that she got my a flat screen tv (my big addiction)... and I was like well um I've never heard of Kindle... thinking of what size tv I could buy for the same price... Needless to say, I researched it online and started messing around with it, and I LOVE KINDLE! Tim likes to talk about Kindle like Kindle is a person, like "Are you going to hang out with Kindle today?" and "How is Kindle doing?" The only bad part is that books aren't really cheap, considering I buy all my books used, and that since it's set up to purchase books immediately when you click, "Buy this book", it's easy to spend a lot of money. :P It uses Sprint's cell phone network for free to get on the internet (in black and white) and browse the bookstore.
Anway, back on track... I hung out with Kindle on New Year's. The ball dropped, whoop-de-doo it's 2009! Then we watched some crazy dare devils on motorbikes do some stunts, and then went to sleep. Pretty wild huh.
Logan got to hang out with Tim's parents a lot and I think between Logan and Thor, his mom really wants a dog. I hope she gets one. ;) Tim bought $36 in Tastykakes, a Philly local junk-food mini cake, and saw the sights. Went to Cabelas. We did not exercize whatsoever and I am still trying to get back to eating well (no gluten, corn, soy, blah blah blah) and feeling fit. Overall I was pretty tired from socializing and eating uncontrollable amounts of sugar! But it was nice to finally see Tim's hometown and meet more of his friends and family, though he didn't get to see everybody he had hoped. The whole time, I had "The Fresh Prince of Bell Air" theme song in my head...
Then the long, long drive home. We left on Friday morning after New Years and took I-80. It took 29 hours; it wasn't nearly as cold, but it was windy! Logan was visibly uncomfortable in the back of the cab, but he was a good sport about it. I kept myself entertained by reading about the swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park, but alas no end-of-the-world volcanic explosion is in the near future, (though that doesn't stop some folks from starting a panic anyway). We did finally get to my place in Drake and we couldn't even sleep, despite being so sleep deprived. Watched sports and played online. Got up early the next day, took care of some business, drove to Boulder and watched the Eagles win against the Vikings (WOOOO!) and then headed back on the road west to Grand Junction.
The first thing I did this past Monday back in the Junk is get a gym membership. ;) They have a pretty nice gym with good hours. I've been hitting it pretty hard and feel much better already. Not quite in the "hike all summer in the mountains" shape, or even in as good of "telemark ski around the backcountry of Rocky" shape as I'd like... but much better. The second thing I did was start exploring the public land with Logan. We romped in the snow among dinosaur bones (though we only really saw part of one) at the Fruita Paleological Site and also around Devil's Canyon, though we have yet to go on a long hike. I also spent a couple days fretting over Tim's 30th Birthday, which was on January 7th. Wooo! I had grand ideas but most of his friends are back in Estes, his birthday was on a Wednesday, and I wasn't sure how to make it a grand birthday. My first idea was lazer tag and skee ball at a place called bananas, but since they don't serve beer we went to th bowling super center called GJ Scores. I got Tim this big obnoxious balloon that sings Happy Birthday in Opera-style, some spider man temp tattoos, and some fancy hair conditioner for his Beard. Which, by the way, we forgot to celebrate his Happy Beard Day! His beard turned 2 years old on January 1st, and I had plans to make a big deal about it but without having any way of leaving the house without him (we were in PA), it fizzled. I have more bigger presents planned for him but we'll see what I end up getting him, when he makes up his mind what he really wants. :) After bowling we went and got sushi, of course!
While Tim's at work, I usually hang with Kindle, work out for a couple hours, play with the Loggenator (another new nickname for Logan), go online, stuff like that. My computer screen doesn't work all the time anymore so it's time to look for a new one. Friday, we went to see the new Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Tourino. His one liners are excellent, but it's a very good movie. Don't expect a real spaghetti western type plot - it's very serious, despite many one liners drawing a good chuckle (as well as in the back of your mind thinking, "I can't believe he just SAID that!"). We had big plans, like every weekend, of going skiing at Vail and such, but we were out past midnight at the movie and didn't want to wake up Saturday. So we just watched football and did nothing. :) Sunday, EAGLES FOOTBALL! And they won against the Giants! Next week, the Arizona Cardinals! Tim is freaking out of course, he pretty much doesn't hear or see anything unless it has to do with Eagles or football. ;)
After the victory, I really needed to get out of the house so we hiked a few miles up the No Thoroughfare canyon to a frozen waterfall, I took a couple photos and will post them soon. Today I had plans to go to Vail but after a nasty stomach ache last night and this morning, and the plain inability to get out of bed before 8:30 am anymore, it just didn't happen. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I swear! ;)
This is my last week in Grand Junction before classes start at Colorado State. I'm trying to decide if I should pick up Ornithology or Riparian Ecology, which would mean classes 3 days a week instead of 2. I'm really going to have to get in the groove of being a real student again, and very quickly! I have a feeling that one class will be challenging, with lots of statistics and population modeling, but just typing my journal nowadays sometimes feels like a challenge!
Anyway time to take the dog for a walk. Send good skiing vibes my way and hopefully I'll get up early enough to make the 2 1/2 hour drive tomorrow. ;)
Friday, December 19, 2008
Roadtrip = A week of snowstorms?!
I'm not sure what the worst part about these snowstorms is (because I LOVE snow) - the fact that I did not ONCE hit the ski slopes, or the fact that I have to drive from Grand Junction to Estes to Michigan between 4:30 this afternoon and Sunday. Thank goodness for 4x4 trucks, good tires, and an iPod!
I'm hanging out in Fruita, enjoying the expensive new USB wireless-N card I had to buy after my computer took a poop yesterday. The USB port wasn't even registering but with some persistence and aggravating clicking and restarting and system restore and unistalling, the USB port came back to life... but my old wireless card didn't survive the trauma. It wasn't working very well anyway. Amazing what a difference a WORKING wireless connection makes, the internet is so fast I don't know what to do with myself.
Another expensive thing in my life broke. That seems to be the trend of my holidays. My clutch on my truck went out on my way from Estes to Grand Junction. Not a surprise since I'm at 204k miles, and who knows if/when the clutch was replaced. Thankfully I know how to operate a manual without using the clutch (all that time behind the wheel of a 1970 something piece of crap split-shift Brigadeer dump truck) because I could NOT get it into 1st gear! I somehow made it from Colorado National Monument down to a shop in town... barely! Little did I know it would run me over $850! Ouch! I don't know when I'll recover from that one. Student loans can only cover so much... thank goodness I have a little emergency fund for these sorts of things!
Tim gets off work this afternoon after a week of doing trail work in the snow. I spent the time walking the dog, working out (since I was stuck at the Monument without a vehicle), and hiking in the snow.
It was overcast and snowed on and off; maybe 5" of snow on the trail so I only went perhaps 5 miles round trip. Of course, I went off-trail side-trip I tried to take and got cliffed out... so I had to backtrack uphill and retrace my route. Oops. ;)
I didn't end up going to Vail or Beaver Creek, although they are "only" 2 1/2 hours (more more with bad roads) away... closer than when I'm in Estes. Between having no truck, plus one morning it was windy and I didn't sleep well and sure as heck wasn't going to get out of bed... then today, I have to drive 6-8 hours with Tim from Grand Junction back to Estes and probably arrive between midnight and 1 am, so I didn't want to drive 5 hours round trip beforehand! Plenty of time when we get back from our road trip though.
So the roadtrip... leaving Estes in the afternoon on Saturday, arriving in Michigan on Sunday. Busy times, too! Tuesday alone, I am supposed to go out to eat with my family and friends, plus the Holiday party with my cityworker friends, a retirement party, and the Red Wings game (WOOOOO!!!)! Then our HUGE family X-mas party on the eve, my mom's house then my dad's house on X-mas day, Jeff's party on the 26th, and then on to Pennyslvania to see Tim's family and meet Logan's "cousins" - two German Shepherds owned by his sister and brother in law. One is their family dog, the other is the new K-9 Cop that Ryan is training. Pretty exciting, big dogs everywhere! I'm sure Tim's family will give them lots of great Christmas presents again. :)
Anyway need to pack and clean before we head out in a few hours. Can't wait to see everybody back at home! LET IT SNOW... just let it wait until we are done driving. ;)
GO WINGS!
I'm hanging out in Fruita, enjoying the expensive new USB wireless-N card I had to buy after my computer took a poop yesterday. The USB port wasn't even registering but with some persistence and aggravating clicking and restarting and system restore and unistalling, the USB port came back to life... but my old wireless card didn't survive the trauma. It wasn't working very well anyway. Amazing what a difference a WORKING wireless connection makes, the internet is so fast I don't know what to do with myself.
Another expensive thing in my life broke. That seems to be the trend of my holidays. My clutch on my truck went out on my way from Estes to Grand Junction. Not a surprise since I'm at 204k miles, and who knows if/when the clutch was replaced. Thankfully I know how to operate a manual without using the clutch (all that time behind the wheel of a 1970 something piece of crap split-shift Brigadeer dump truck) because I could NOT get it into 1st gear! I somehow made it from Colorado National Monument down to a shop in town... barely! Little did I know it would run me over $850! Ouch! I don't know when I'll recover from that one. Student loans can only cover so much... thank goodness I have a little emergency fund for these sorts of things!
Tim gets off work this afternoon after a week of doing trail work in the snow. I spent the time walking the dog, working out (since I was stuck at the Monument without a vehicle), and hiking in the snow.
 |
| From Colorado National Monument, Winter 2008 |
It was overcast and snowed on and off; maybe 5" of snow on the trail so I only went perhaps 5 miles round trip. Of course, I went off-trail side-trip I tried to take and got cliffed out... so I had to backtrack uphill and retrace my route. Oops. ;)
I didn't end up going to Vail or Beaver Creek, although they are "only" 2 1/2 hours (more more with bad roads) away... closer than when I'm in Estes. Between having no truck, plus one morning it was windy and I didn't sleep well and sure as heck wasn't going to get out of bed... then today, I have to drive 6-8 hours with Tim from Grand Junction back to Estes and probably arrive between midnight and 1 am, so I didn't want to drive 5 hours round trip beforehand! Plenty of time when we get back from our road trip though.
So the roadtrip... leaving Estes in the afternoon on Saturday, arriving in Michigan on Sunday. Busy times, too! Tuesday alone, I am supposed to go out to eat with my family and friends, plus the Holiday party with my cityworker friends, a retirement party, and the Red Wings game (WOOOOO!!!)! Then our HUGE family X-mas party on the eve, my mom's house then my dad's house on X-mas day, Jeff's party on the 26th, and then on to Pennyslvania to see Tim's family and meet Logan's "cousins" - two German Shepherds owned by his sister and brother in law. One is their family dog, the other is the new K-9 Cop that Ryan is training. Pretty exciting, big dogs everywhere! I'm sure Tim's family will give them lots of great Christmas presents again. :)
Anyway need to pack and clean before we head out in a few hours. Can't wait to see everybody back at home! LET IT SNOW... just let it wait until we are done driving. ;)
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| From Winter 2008-2009 |
GO WINGS!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wolves!
Quick update while I'm taking a break from studying and reading "Resolving Environmental Conflict" in preparation for the test I need to take for my correspondence grad class on public relations in natural resources. Fun fun, really. Useful, but not my cup of tea. Which is exactly the point that the books in this class make - natural resources folks are in their field because they like working outside with resources and not people, but they need to focus on people in order to better manage resources. Boo. Trees don't talk back!
I finally volunteered with wolves! Yay! It is a structured volunteer program because, although most of them are wolf-dogs, they are high percentage wolf and do NOT act like dogs. Many are socialized well enough that they seek you out to get attention or a belly rub, but many are skittish and avoid people when you enter their enclosure. I only got to help feed and water them, but it was still so great. Even if they only have one "certifiable" pure, arctic wolf (160 lbs and white, his paws are as big as my hands! and he's pretty socialized for a pure wolf and enjoys scent rubbing people) and a few that probably are pure but don't have papers (apparently it is legal for photographers, for example, to breed wild animals?!), even the wolf dogs are so neat to be around. It's easy to see that they would not make good pets (which is how most of them wound up at the sanctuary in the first place - people couldn't handle the wolf behavior that comes with being a wolf!). I was scent-rubbed by one named Tunyan... and the best way to describe it is think of a cat rubbing its chin and body on you to leave its scent on you. Now make that cat a wolf-dog that weighs as much as you do. Now imagine it scent rubbing with its whole body right on top of you! It was pretty funny. She tried to steal my hat and the volunteer coordinator warned us to hide our hats... and ended up with Tunyan stealing her glove. I guess it was a small miracle she got her glove back at all.
When they all start howling, it's a pretty neat sound. I hope to keep volunteering with them and moving up the ranks to perhaps helping handle the animals at events and giving medications or helping with more involved jobs... in the meantime, I'm fine doing housekeeping and just spending time getting scent rubbed!
The sad part is that one of the older, probably 95+% wolf dog named Kenai, had blood in his pee. I mean, it was RED. He was losing a lot of fur and had a slew of health problems in the past year or something like that (I'm still learning!). He was like 12 years old but some of their other ones live to be over 17. I listened in on the call to the vet and saw how he was hurting. They ended up tranquilizing him (they avoid doing this because it is so stressful on wolves that they can die, literally) and taking him in. Bad news: some kind of anemia, apparently the treatment includes transfusions and a lot of very stressful stuff. This was on Saturday. I just got an email that they put him to sleep yesterday. :( These things happen I suppose, but he was not doing well on Saturday and it is for the best.
If you like what they are doing, donate some money! And read through some of their newsletters, like from last fall about their lawsuit and the crap the neighbors pulled, and the WideAwake stories. That's me not speaking on behalf of the organization; I don't know all that happened but what I do know is so frustrating!
Anyway I go again tomorrow to spend the day with wolves. This weekend, Ryan is in town and I get to see him, yay! Then to Grand Junction to hang out at the Colorado National Monument before Tim and I head east. Busy!
I finally volunteered with wolves! Yay! It is a structured volunteer program because, although most of them are wolf-dogs, they are high percentage wolf and do NOT act like dogs. Many are socialized well enough that they seek you out to get attention or a belly rub, but many are skittish and avoid people when you enter their enclosure. I only got to help feed and water them, but it was still so great. Even if they only have one "certifiable" pure, arctic wolf (160 lbs and white, his paws are as big as my hands! and he's pretty socialized for a pure wolf and enjoys scent rubbing people) and a few that probably are pure but don't have papers (apparently it is legal for photographers, for example, to breed wild animals?!), even the wolf dogs are so neat to be around. It's easy to see that they would not make good pets (which is how most of them wound up at the sanctuary in the first place - people couldn't handle the wolf behavior that comes with being a wolf!). I was scent-rubbed by one named Tunyan... and the best way to describe it is think of a cat rubbing its chin and body on you to leave its scent on you. Now make that cat a wolf-dog that weighs as much as you do. Now imagine it scent rubbing with its whole body right on top of you! It was pretty funny. She tried to steal my hat and the volunteer coordinator warned us to hide our hats... and ended up with Tunyan stealing her glove. I guess it was a small miracle she got her glove back at all.
When they all start howling, it's a pretty neat sound. I hope to keep volunteering with them and moving up the ranks to perhaps helping handle the animals at events and giving medications or helping with more involved jobs... in the meantime, I'm fine doing housekeeping and just spending time getting scent rubbed!
The sad part is that one of the older, probably 95+% wolf dog named Kenai, had blood in his pee. I mean, it was RED. He was losing a lot of fur and had a slew of health problems in the past year or something like that (I'm still learning!). He was like 12 years old but some of their other ones live to be over 17. I listened in on the call to the vet and saw how he was hurting. They ended up tranquilizing him (they avoid doing this because it is so stressful on wolves that they can die, literally) and taking him in. Bad news: some kind of anemia, apparently the treatment includes transfusions and a lot of very stressful stuff. This was on Saturday. I just got an email that they put him to sleep yesterday. :( These things happen I suppose, but he was not doing well on Saturday and it is for the best.
If you like what they are doing, donate some money! And read through some of their newsletters, like from last fall about their lawsuit and the crap the neighbors pulled, and the WideAwake stories. That's me not speaking on behalf of the organization; I don't know all that happened but what I do know is so frustrating!
Anyway I go again tomorrow to spend the day with wolves. This weekend, Ryan is in town and I get to see him, yay! Then to Grand Junction to hang out at the Colorado National Monument before Tim and I head east. Busy!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Allergic to everything?!
I had big plans for the day, including updating this blog, studying, doing some online shopping... but I'm very agitated by something I got in the mail. Since this is a public blog and I don't need it to come back and bite me in the butt, we'll just say I had issue with somebody important but that also has a history of doing poorly at his job, and dealing with people in general. I brought it up and he decided to retaliate in a nasty unprofessional way, and now I have to decide what to do about it. Either way, I can't even read the whole reply I was given because it's outrageous. I'm just glad I never have to deal with this person again! All in all it is very upsetting as I did the best I could given a crappy situation to start with, with no guidance, and I was screwed over because it's easy to pawn the blame on somebody else. I hope karma does its job!
I recently learned about this delayed food allergy test that I have yet to find out how much of it my insurance is covering ($2700 but I know at least most of it is covered), and decided to take the plunge and find out what I'm allergic to. I have seasonal and year-round allergies to a ridiculous amount of things, from cats to down (too bad I won't give up my down comforter!) to mold and mites, I think pretty much everything but rabbits and cockroaches if I remember correctly. I took allergy shots for years in college, which unfortunately when you move to a different area of the country, I am surrounded by pollen to which I was not desensitized. Given the amount of external allergens, and the fact that if I don't take Zyrtec EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE, I break out in hives and itch all over. I've also had a slew of stomach pains that couldn't be explained by an upper GI and isn't made much better by taking medication. My friend, who was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, told me her symptoms and they sounded like some of my symptoms but 20x worse, so the pieces came together and I got tested. Results?
I have gone 27 years and I'm still alive, so I cheat a little bit. Maybe in the new year I will actually try to go 6 weeks. I get a consultation with a chef through the company and he just wrote me today, which may help. In the meantime I'm trying to get Tim used to millet and rice everything. It drives me nuts because I've never been the kind of person to be obsessed with nutrition labels - I've never dieted and generally eat things that say organic or natural on the front and that's about as much as I cared - but now I read all the little last details and then sigh in despair about fructose and soy lecithin and whatnot! The things I am avoiding most are wheat, gluten, and soy, and the easy things like peach and pear (yuck). Though I have had a lot of pizza lately...!
Logan's stitches healed up nicely so he no longer has to wear a t-shirt. Hope he doesn't get any more cysts ever!
I am happy but not exceptionally hopefully that I got an email stating that I am "qualified and...being referred to for consideration" for a GS-7/9 permanent Forester position with the forest service with Tongass National Forest. I get that email a lot and barely ever get even an interest phone call. The only way I could take it is if they were willing to make it a SCEP position (student position that gets converted to permanent when you graduate and generally they accommodate school work in the fall and winter) because I probably won't graduate until April 2010.
Tim and I are having fun over these holidays. First, we made sushi for thanksgiving. ;) No we didn't use turkey, cooked or raw. I had given him a sushi kit for last X-mas and we finally sucked it up and bought sushi-grade fish from Whole Foods. I am happy to say that neither of us got sick. Actually, it was a lot of fun and tasted really good! We waited until after turkey day to snatch up some really cheap frozen turkeys from the grocery store. Then, we went to the "Catch the Glow" holiday parade downtown. In the years I have been here, I have always avoided town like the plague for these parades, but Tim helped with some of the floats and it was fun. Logan got a lot of love. ;)
We are gearing up for the next couple months of travel - this weekend Tim goes to the Colorado National Monument for a detail opportunity, I am finishing the last 2 weeks of my one class and will also be going out to the Monument to hike and ski, then we head to Michigan and then Pennsylvania for X-mas and New Years. He's not very excited about the long drive but I'm in the mood for a long road trip. ;) Plus Logan gets to meet his "cousin Thor", which is his sister's german shepherd. I can't wait to subject Tim to 50+ of my relatives under one roof for our annual X-mas eve party! And we already have tickets to the Red Wings game on Dec. 23rd.
My friend Alex, whom I have known since 6th grade but haven't seen in like 5 years, came out for a visit. It was great catching up! I took him to Arapahoe Basin and taught him how to snowboard, which was my first time out on the slopes this year. We hadn't received nearly the amount of snow we have in years past at that point. However, the past week and next few days, Summit County looks like it's getting hammered! Tim and I were supposed to go out on Sunday but alas, he either never set his clock or we slept through it at 5 am and didn't wake up until 10:30 so we didn't go. I was determined though and got up early yesterday. It took 3 hours to make a 2 hour drive to A-Basin, mostly because it was still snowing and Loveland Pass was closed, but I finally made it there and there weren't too many people on the hill, and the snow was still powder/packed powder. It made my day. :) I did much better with the telemark skis than last year, though I still have some work to do. I am determined to not suck this year. Having a healed knee helps too!
I am also looking forward to Saturday. What happens on Saturday? I start volunteering with wolves! To get more wildlife experience, I am helping out at WOLF, a place outside of Fort Collins that rescues wolves and wolf-dogs. Some are people-friendly but not enough that they make good pets; some are real skittish pure wolves; I'm not sure what kinds of opportunities I can get my hands on but everything from behavior to vet stuff to handling them will get me experience I can use. Plus, how cool is it to be around 160 lb wolves face to face?
I recently learned about this delayed food allergy test that I have yet to find out how much of it my insurance is covering ($2700 but I know at least most of it is covered), and decided to take the plunge and find out what I'm allergic to. I have seasonal and year-round allergies to a ridiculous amount of things, from cats to down (too bad I won't give up my down comforter!) to mold and mites, I think pretty much everything but rabbits and cockroaches if I remember correctly. I took allergy shots for years in college, which unfortunately when you move to a different area of the country, I am surrounded by pollen to which I was not desensitized. Given the amount of external allergens, and the fact that if I don't take Zyrtec EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE, I break out in hives and itch all over. I've also had a slew of stomach pains that couldn't be explained by an upper GI and isn't made much better by taking medication. My friend, who was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, told me her symptoms and they sounded like some of my symptoms but 20x worse, so the pieces came together and I got tested. Results?
I am allergic to:So now I'm supposed to eliminate all of these foods for 6 weeks. Yes it is almost impossible. ;) Actually the hardest things to avoid are corn (corn syrup in any of it forms is in almost everything) and soy (because if it doesn't have corn, for some reason it probably has soy). I am most saddened by the avocado, berries, artichoke, and egg. ;) At least I can have milk! Ice cream! Chocolate! Theoretically I have different levels of sensitivities to these things, and not all of them produce symptoms... but I have to eliminate all of them, then try each one ONE BY ONE to see if they cause any problems.
Peanut Soybean Wheat Barley cranberry pear
avocado gluten lime spinach egg oat rye
sunflower white potato cashew ginger pinto bean wax bean
grouper peppermint broccoli lemon orange
safflower tomato apricot cherry peach artichoke
blueberry hazelnut raspberry corn mustard
I have gone 27 years and I'm still alive, so I cheat a little bit. Maybe in the new year I will actually try to go 6 weeks. I get a consultation with a chef through the company and he just wrote me today, which may help. In the meantime I'm trying to get Tim used to millet and rice everything. It drives me nuts because I've never been the kind of person to be obsessed with nutrition labels - I've never dieted and generally eat things that say organic or natural on the front and that's about as much as I cared - but now I read all the little last details and then sigh in despair about fructose and soy lecithin and whatnot! The things I am avoiding most are wheat, gluten, and soy, and the easy things like peach and pear (yuck). Though I have had a lot of pizza lately...!
Logan's stitches healed up nicely so he no longer has to wear a t-shirt. Hope he doesn't get any more cysts ever!
 |
| From Winter 2008-2009 |
I am happy but not exceptionally hopefully that I got an email stating that I am "qualified and...being referred to for consideration" for a GS-7/9 permanent Forester position with the forest service with Tongass National Forest. I get that email a lot and barely ever get even an interest phone call. The only way I could take it is if they were willing to make it a SCEP position (student position that gets converted to permanent when you graduate and generally they accommodate school work in the fall and winter) because I probably won't graduate until April 2010.
 |
| From Winter 2008-2009 |
Tim and I are having fun over these holidays. First, we made sushi for thanksgiving. ;) No we didn't use turkey, cooked or raw. I had given him a sushi kit for last X-mas and we finally sucked it up and bought sushi-grade fish from Whole Foods. I am happy to say that neither of us got sick. Actually, it was a lot of fun and tasted really good! We waited until after turkey day to snatch up some really cheap frozen turkeys from the grocery store. Then, we went to the "Catch the Glow" holiday parade downtown. In the years I have been here, I have always avoided town like the plague for these parades, but Tim helped with some of the floats and it was fun. Logan got a lot of love. ;)
 |
| From Winter 2008-2009 |
We are gearing up for the next couple months of travel - this weekend Tim goes to the Colorado National Monument for a detail opportunity, I am finishing the last 2 weeks of my one class and will also be going out to the Monument to hike and ski, then we head to Michigan and then Pennsylvania for X-mas and New Years. He's not very excited about the long drive but I'm in the mood for a long road trip. ;) Plus Logan gets to meet his "cousin Thor", which is his sister's german shepherd. I can't wait to subject Tim to 50+ of my relatives under one roof for our annual X-mas eve party! And we already have tickets to the Red Wings game on Dec. 23rd.
My friend Alex, whom I have known since 6th grade but haven't seen in like 5 years, came out for a visit. It was great catching up! I took him to Arapahoe Basin and taught him how to snowboard, which was my first time out on the slopes this year. We hadn't received nearly the amount of snow we have in years past at that point. However, the past week and next few days, Summit County looks like it's getting hammered! Tim and I were supposed to go out on Sunday but alas, he either never set his clock or we slept through it at 5 am and didn't wake up until 10:30 so we didn't go. I was determined though and got up early yesterday. It took 3 hours to make a 2 hour drive to A-Basin, mostly because it was still snowing and Loveland Pass was closed, but I finally made it there and there weren't too many people on the hill, and the snow was still powder/packed powder. It made my day. :) I did much better with the telemark skis than last year, though I still have some work to do. I am determined to not suck this year. Having a healed knee helps too!
I am also looking forward to Saturday. What happens on Saturday? I start volunteering with wolves! To get more wildlife experience, I am helping out at WOLF, a place outside of Fort Collins that rescues wolves and wolf-dogs. Some are people-friendly but not enough that they make good pets; some are real skittish pure wolves; I'm not sure what kinds of opportunities I can get my hands on but everything from behavior to vet stuff to handling them will get me experience I can use. Plus, how cool is it to be around 160 lb wolves face to face?
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