Why is my house in such disarray?

Oh, right. It's because I've been out having fun. I'm not to the point where I'm grossed out by the floor or anything, but the clutter around here is getting to "must do something soon" levels.

Saturday Mr W and I joined some friends for swimming at our local reservoir. Due to it being a wet year (for around here) the reservoir is really full. Gloriously full. I guess the rain has made it so farmers (the primary users of the water) aren't drawing down as much water for their needs. It was nice to float and chat. 

I went to a party, we saw a movie, and I had dinner with new friend M. We are both content with seeing how it goes. He's got a different life than I do, much less structured. But it's been fun to get to know someone new and it looks like we'll do something this weekend. It is NICE not to be fretting about it. Nice indeed. 

Something has shifted in my outlook/confidence, and I think it's due to my starting this jogging thing. I started, ostensibly, for Mr W's sake, so I could help him establish the habit of running and then get something out of his participation in cross country this fall. We were two weeks into the C25K (couch to 5K) program (an app on my phone) and I was so sore, I didn't think I could do it. I could feel his interest waning if I was going to quit, so I kept at it and figured out that I need to stretch, daily, to feel good. 

And here we are, about three months into it. He wants to just concentrate on getting faster and faster at running 20 minutes (which is something like the 2K they do for CC races), and I want to do my shuffle (12 minute mile - woot!) for 25-30 minutes. So, I've been going out just with the dog, and riding my bike when he does his run. It works.

I suffer single sock syndrome

My picture loader isn't working at the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to load my picture when I'm done writing.

I like to knit socks. They're a portable craft that gets done relatively quickly. Up until now, I have always knit one at a time. For some reason, they always come out a little differently, each sock in the pair.

Worse than that is the three or four single socks I have made that either had issues that made me hesitate to start the second one, or I just kind of lost interest. Maybe I could wear them as mismatched pairs...

I've been wanting to learn how to knit two socks at a time for a while now, and finally scheduled time with my good friend and known super knitter S so she could show me how. She pointed to this pattern on Ravelry (not free, but cheap)

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fish-lips-kiss-heel

that has an extensive sock making part to it, not just about the heel that involves tracing the sock recipient's foot on a piece of cardboard so you can do measurements and insure an exact fit. So armed with that, and Judy's Magic Cast On:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pmxRDZ-cwo

We started the toes of my new pair of socks. I'm doing them on one 40" circular needle. You work around the outside, right to left on these. front of one sock, front of the other sock, back of one sock, back of the other sock. The heels are done separately, I am told, and I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

There, the uploader worked. I don't have a pattern picked out yet, but I've got a lot of options with this sized needle and the fingering weight yarn. I'll update when I've got a good one picked out. 

In other news, I am meeting someone new for a drink tonight. We've been connected by a mutual friend and I've FB stalked him enough to see that he seems interesting and kind. I'm so rusty/out of practice it's like starting completely over, which I suppose isn't entirely bad. 

Update, 7-30-14: It was a very enjoyable meeting. I feel I might be a little too organized for him, but we'll see if he calls and wants to continue. I figured since I reached out initially, he can make the next move. 

Icicles

Here are my thoughts on the weird icicles that formed on the south side of my house. We've had a good bit of snow and it had been cold, so there was plenty of snow on the roof ready to melt. It had warmed up the day before for the first time in a while, and was above freezing when this happened. The weird icicles formed near, but not exactly across from, the window. There are both normal and angled icicles.

I think that the straight ones formed normally, when the temperatures were warming up. I think the angled ones also formed normally, but the radiant heat from the house pushed the dripping water/forming icicle away from the house as it formed. It wasn't particularly windy, so I think it's a heat thing, not a wind thing.

In other news, I've grown weary of Valentine's Day things, right on schedule. I dislike being reminded that I'm. still. alone. Even though things are going just fine right now. I feel inadequate in that regard, courtesy of the media. Thanks for nothing.

A funny thing happened

I believe I have crossed some kind of threshold in the dating department. After talking with two friends in the last couple of weeks that signed up for online dating, I went ahead and bought a month's subscription for myself. A month is about all I can stand at a time.

It's been a year and a half since I have been on a date (!) and in that time I have done a lot of stuff. Made/making new friends, I really feel like I have good solid social connections that are from a variety of my interests. But no sparks with anyone I've met.

I've felt the desire to get this part of my life settled (that's the term I use in my head) for a while now. Almost to the point where it's become this thing that I'm almost convinced will never happen, so I've gone ahead (as I should) and went on with my life. By golly, I like my life.

Anyway, so the threshold is that I got an email from someone who I had considered emailing back, but in the end had a funny feeling about him, so I didn't. I had this sense of "geez, I might actually have to go and meet some of these people". And that was followed by a feeling of "well, I don't have to, things are pretty good right now as they are". It's hard to describe. I'm less desperate, I guess. Still, I wish I'd cross paths with the guy already.

I'm trying

I am trying, with this Valentine's Day thing, not be one of those people. You know, one of those people who (as I joke that I will do) wear a black arm band on February 14th. Or host/attend anti-Valentine's Day activities. Or generally badmouth love in general, and romantic love in particular.

This year it is HARD. My goal is to let the day pass unacknowledged, and for some reason all the declarations of love bug me a bit this year. I don't think people are being particularly obnoxious about it, but that I'm sensitive to it.

Instead, I'll try to broaden the kinds of love that can/should be acknowledged on Valentine's Day, so my kid and my dog get a few more smooches on the tops of their heads.

But I'll be glad when it's February 15th.

Here's a bit of heart art I found. It's embroidered. Link is here.

Edited to add:

This is my weekly horoscope from Freewill Astrology:

This Valentine season, I suggest you consider trying an experiment like this: Go to the soulful ally you want to be closer to and take off at least some of your masks. Drop your pretenses, too. Shed your emotional armor and do without your psychological crutches. Take a chance on getting as psychologically and spiritually naked as you have ever dared. Are you brave enough to reveal the core truths about yourself that lie beneath the convenient truths and the expired truths and the pretend truths? 

Pilgrimage

Last night I watched the movie The Way, with Martin Sheen. It's about a straight-laced, follow-the-rules kind of guy who gets a call that his wandering adventuring son has died on his very first day of a pilgrimage that starts in France and goes through northern Spain to the sea called the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James). This link shows the route and has info.

Sheen's character flies to France to identify and claim the body, and decides on a whim to take the pilgrimage in his son's stead. The movie is about the people you meet along the way and how we make choices about how we live our lives. I really liked it and recommend it.

This is a picture I pulled off the internet (link below). Amazing scenery, with this pastoral-small European village feel - really nice. The movie has made me think a bit about folks who have the wanderlust in a big way, those that most definitely don't, and the rest of us in between.

I found myself thinking about my assumption that, sure, I'm in good enough shape to do an 800 km walk over the course of a month. Well, I think so. And thinking that I could do this kind of thing if I really wanted to is an assumption I carry with me that makes me feel better about not doing it. I've always figured I'd get to Europe someday. As I've mentioned before, it's something I don't want to do by myself; I'd like to go with the wonderful guy I hope to eventually meet. 

But I feel sort of this nagging feeling that I should be making contingency plans so I don't wait too long and miss the opportunity. This thought isn't necessarily new, but I figured I'd put it down on the blog. If I hit 50 (3 years from now) and still my match is taking his sweet time, I'm going to Europe for 2-3 weeks on my own. Saying that makes me feel better.

It's a big world out there, that like it or not we are part of. Ack. I'm a little embarrassed to say I've never been further out of the U.S. than Canada, and that was 20 years ago. Life kind of happens, you know? It's more in my nature to do things locally, I guess. I was chatting with someone the other day, saying how, when you own a home, you could work on home stuff during almost all of your free time and not be finished. Ergo you need to back off a bit sometime, yes?

Hmm. I need to cogitate on this a bit more.

image from here

A little catch up

Happy weekend! It's supposed to be near 100 for the next two days. I'm volunteering at our local brewfest this weekend. It'll be fun, I need to drink lots of water. So, what's been happening here? 

Well, at work, I got work done on a project and it's ready to hand off to my boss, who was this week collecting ticks in Missouri. The magnitude of my gratefulness for not being asked to go on this trip is huge indeed. Ick ick ick. So, that's good. I worked from home yesterday afternoon on a little proposal that helps explain the connection between the sort of research we do and public health. It's not always a straight line, and it helps to try to make it clear for the people who at the top who make decisions. 

I've been working a lot on Etsy shop stuff. Well, it seems like I've been spending a lot of time lately trying to promote my stuff on Pinterest, Facebook and Tumblr. The overlap is definitely there, but it seems each has its own different audience. But setting that stuff up and keeping it current takes time. I do enjoy it, though, so it's not like I feel like I'm wasting time. Those earrings are the last of five pairs I posted recently. I used mainspring barrels from old watches, plus the little glass cabochons and my clay tiles. If you've got an opinion, what do you think of the price? Reasonable?

I'm also doing a giveaway on the FB page. Check out Wednesday's post for details. 

It's been so very dry here. I know it's not like that everywhere, for sure. I've been dutifully watering my garden and sometimes my grass. I'm trying not to let my lawn die this year. I've gotten a so-so harvest from the lettuce and spinach - it got too hot too fast after I planted them. But the rest of it is coming along. I planted a bunch of cantaloupe, and with the hot summer, I'm hoping we get a few good ones. It seems like it's around the beginning of school by the time they are ripe, but the plants have flower and I'm hopeful. The dog's been helping herself to the raspberries, which I think is quite funny, and I'll just need to try to get out there before her.

I can tell you this because it's done and there's no jinxing it now. I had gone out on a few dates with someone I met online. I know, I know, why the online stuff again. In short, because I feel like there's no one out there (so I don't spend much time on the site), but yet I'm an optimist, so it feels like leaving a business card in a jar. Anyway, we went out for lunch a couple of times and went hiking once. Each time, it was this thing about how busy he was, and whether he'd be able to make the agreed-upon time. We moved things around several times, and the last straw was when we had agreed to go out, potentially, on a Saturday night before he was leaving for a conference. We had set up the potential outing at least a week in advance, so it seemed to me he could find a couple of hours to do go out. He emailed at 6 pm, not to apologize, but to say he couldn't make it, he had too many things to do yet.

The reason I mention this is because there was a time when I would have put up with this bs. There was a time when I would have thought this pretty normal and would have been understanding. In fact at the beginning, when we had to reschedule or he couldn't make it, I thought, "well, he's got a lot going on, so I'll be flexible." And you know what? We all seem to manage to make time for the things we think are important. We do. We are all busy, too. So I emailed him and said that he seemed like he was always too busy, and that there was no hard feelings, I just didn't want to conduct things that way. 

And I never heard from him again. I guess he's too busy to reply. 

But things are good. I was telling a dear friend who came up from Denver and took me out to dinner last night (and has been married forever) that yes, I still sometimes can't believe that I have been single now for 6.5 years after the divorce. But I have come to realize, especially after hearing about how one half of a couple can make bad choices and make things difficult for both parties, that it's nice to come home to a friendly dog and just check my email and go to bed. 

The kidless stretch

I dropped off Mr W's new computer and some school work to his dad's house last night and realized with a sigh that I kind of liked having the kid around as much as he was during the holidays. We've got a nice little routine here. I think he appreciates that it's just me, him and the dog, so things are pretty peaceful. It's his dad's weekend to have him and he'll be with him for the next few days.

Not that his dad doesn't take good care of him. Financially, and time-wise, his dad has always stepped up and done his duty as a father. I'm thankful for that, and don't worry that my kid will be mistreated. He likely won't see fresh vegetables at his dad's house, but one has to pick one's battles. I hear stories, good gravy, I hear stories of the extent to which parents shirk their duty (yes, I'm using the word deliberately) to their kids, and I shudder.

So, I miss Mr W, but a kid needs a dad. I had a dream last night that his dad showed back up and wanted to move into my little house. And I was sort of scratching my head saying, "Didn't you just get married? And anyhow, I don't want you!" Even for the kid's sake. Funny.

I do get a twinge of envy when I see him settled into his new life with his nice wife and plowing money into remodeling their house. But I don't begrudge them their happiness. I would like my own, thanks. And I'm fairly confident that I'll someday look back and see how it all led to being with the guy I end up being with.

In other news, I went to my first old time music jam with my banjo. They are at this place that is so very Colorado in what it offers: it's a bike repair shop, coffee shop and bar all in one. I had Mr W that night, and he didn't have school the next day, so was happy to play on is video game thingy. I got him a hot chocolate, and tried to not embarrass myself.

I've got a really long way to go on this banjo thing, but it was a good experience to sit with these folks and just try to keep time. They tell me that eventually I'll be able just do simple chord changes (C, D, G) and keep up. I sat next to E, who is a really good player, and watched his hands a lot. There were three banjos, three guitars, three fiddles and one mandolin. I heard that's on the small side of what they sometimes get.

Anyway, I am more motivated now to keep at it and get better. I enjoy the songs themselves, which all do kind of sound similar, but you can see civil war-era ladies in big dresses dancing to them. Or two little girls with pink cowboy boots, as was the case Tuesday.

Must. Learn. New. Computer

If I can negotiate some time on it, that is. This new computer is in high demand when Mr W is around. No, I'm not a total pushover when it comes to screen time, but since we don't have cable, and I stopped the Netflix video deliveries, the computer is both TV and computer.

And this computer has a bunch of great features and does things that I have no idea of - I really need to do some of the online tutorials - need to make the time.

Mr W will likely get an inexpensive PC for Christmas. I can't wait. He'll still have to read for computer time at a rate of two minutes of play for each minute of reading, but it will be nice to have my computer when I want my computer.

I've modified my plans to involve him in this bracelet stuff. Taking apart old watches, while fun, is a little tricky, and it's kind of easy to stab yourself if you're not careful. Plus, I've found that I really enjoy it. Tinker, tinker. I received the lot of 100 watch movements and it's been fun to start to process those. And great that they've already had the case and crystal removed. Saves me a lot of effort.

Mr W's job, we are going to try this, is now to make the little cut-out clay pieces. He's good at processing the polymer clay through the pasta machine, and can stamp out and smooth the pieces. I told him I'd pay him 10 cents per finished piece. They have to be usable, or I'm not paying. Hopefully that will be incentive to do a good job.

I'm going to fiddle with taking some pictures of the bracelets this weekend. I friend gave me some pointers on taking well-lit photos, and I want to see what I can do there. I thought I'd offer free gift wrapping for people that wanted it, and also wanted to include a little tag on a string for the bracelets. Back when I worked for the rubber stamp company, we had a retail store that sold all sorts of wonderful card-making and scrapbooking items. As a result, I have a stock of card stock and cutters, and stamps, etc. and I think most of it can be parlayed into this project. Yea!!

Nice guys that might be potential partners? *sigh* Nope, haven't seen any, so I'm getting on with things instead.

Glorious sleep - sometimes

 When I went through the period from March through the middle of July this year thinking I was going to lose my job, I had trouble sleeping. Not surprising, I think that anxiety over what's going on in our lives keeps a lot of us from getting the rest we need. Then I ended up getting my contract renewed for another year, and that was a huge relief.

I tried what I called a sleep experiment, which I didn't say at the time, but consisted of me taking the sleep meds my doctor prescribed for four days in a row. I think that did help a bit, as I felt like I was sort of in a habit of waking up at 2:30 and staying up for an hour. In the end, I do think that helped reset my clock.

However, it hasn't been until I've taken my profile offline and taken a break from online dating (Again. I know, but one of these days I'm going to show up here with good news, I promise) that good sleep has found its way back to me. I've also had a couple of instances where I'm aware that I'm dreaming, which is unusual for me. This morning, when the alarm went off, I had been dreaming I was in a room with some people, thought of my brother J, and there he was. I said something like, "let's see if we can get something else to show up, but nothing scary, OK?" I thought about an ice cream sundae (you see where my priorities are). And all of the sudden, there was a glob of whipped cream on the clock radio. The alarm went off shortly after.

The last two nights have felt good and normal in terms of sleep, and I feel relieved about it, but also a little peeved that I haven't been able to harness the peace of mind I need to sleep well when times aren't as good. I think I still need to learn to meditate, or do something that I can get some practice clearing my mind for short periods of time.

I'm really thankful to be in this spot. Prince Charming, you'll know me by the big happy grin on my face.

Once again

It"s been an elsewhere kind of week. Trying to plan for things that are coming up, lots of time in front of the computer. The computer stuff shook out with success. I know a tiny bit about this program and wanted to use it to analyze data for a paper that I'm writing. It uses the geographic coordinates of each site and compares it with the genetic data to group the populations into groups, if that makes sense. It was all well and good to start, except that it put three populations on the wrong side of the state, and that took a few days fiddling to figure out how to kind of fool the program into putting the populations where they needed to be. I am glad that my boss is OK with me spending that kind of time on something, especially if, as in this case, we'll use the program in the future.

After going out for coffee with yet another person from the online dating site, I am officially taking a break. I was just about to when it seemed he and I might hit it off, but there was no spark. Perfectly nice, just not what each other is looking for. Can one tell this in one two-hour coffee date? I think so. I know so. It's funny, I picked the place, and the same thing happened the last time I went for a first meeting at this place. The guy was a great match on paper, but wasn't interested.

And I've been mulling over past connections as well. To what end, I'm not sure. I looked up someone I had gone out with a few times and we ended it as friends, and I think he'll be someone that I can call up to go see live music or hang out with, with no expectations of taking it anywhere else. I got a call from another past relationship person, who was going through a painful breakup with someone they truly cared about. I don't know if we do this more when it's someone whose well-being we care about, but when the conversation was done, the feeling of being able to step back because this wasn't actually my problem was a huge relief. And yet another past brief relationship person has been all over FB this week, as he whoops it up on vacation.

And 9-11, who hasn't been thinking of 9-11? I get sucked into the pictures and the stories of the heroes, and get so depressed about where the country has gone from there. Depressed that it takes a tragedy to bring out the best in us. The partisanship in Washington is so repulsive to me when so many people only want to work and earn a decent wage to feed their families. There is an interfaith remembrance tomorrow afternoon, and I think I will attend to get a reminder that people are doing good work.

And today's going to be a busy day! Mr W's got a party in the afternoon, we're going to a picnic, and I won tickets to the Historic Homes tour for knowing why they built the streets so wide in my part of town. Why, you ask? To be able to turn around a wagon and a team of horses, of courses.

And, I started knitting my Lanesplitter. It is going to be a pretty fast knit, and I'm excited about it.

OK, thanks for reading through these rambles. I'm looking forward to heading back to the present for a while.

Where was I?

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted.

Must mean I've been delving into the online dating thing again. There's only so much screen time to go around. But now I'm doing what I usually do, paddle around for a while, and get out and sit on my towel for a while. The clincher this time was a person that wasn't quite my type, but hey, I'm trying to keep an open mind, right? So I replied to his email and he responded. With seven separate rambling emails over the course of about an hour. Seven.

So, you're kinda new to this business. eh? I sent an email this morning saying I didn't want to pursue that match, and best of luck. I try hard to be nice about it. There's no reason to be mean. But I blocked him, too, which feels weird. I haven't had to do that before. I did converse with some nice people this time around. Met BW, who, while fun and nice, is clearly not my path, so to speak. The search continues. I was reading an online chat yesterday written by a matchmaker in Washington, DC, and thought, will it come to that? I'm hoping not. I'm going to shift back to socializing and see what happens.

And speaking of socializing, I need to get my costume ready for the biggest bike parade in town, the Tour de Fat, that happens this weekend. I'm going to volunteer, so will be there doing something and I'm sure I'll run into people I know.

And Mr W and I attended our church's start up breakfast this past weekend. I got caught up with some friends and left with the sense that I'd like to get more involved there. They're all about putting their faith money where their mouths are, so to speak, and it's a good community.

And the banjo lessons are going great! But slow. Teaching my hand the chord positions has been a slow go of it, but I see progress. I love how it's been pretty much as I've expected, that practicing will make me better at it, and as I don't really have any expectations as to how fast I progress, there's no pressure. I like the idea that at 46 I can learn something new like this.

The sleep experiment

So I've been taking some steps to get myself a better night's sleep the last few days. My thinking was that I wanted to see how it felt to actually be rested after a few good night's sleep, because lately I've been having trouble sleeping.

And you know what? I can feel the difference. It manifests itself as optimism, and also as the desire to create something. That last one's been especially strong lately. It doesn't feel like I want to start knitting yet (too warm), but I feel the need to make something with my hands.

I KNOW I have so much to be thankful for. I WANT to feel appreciative for all the things that go right in a day. For all the ways that my life works out as one that I'm happy leading. I WANT to be content. Getting enough rest is such a simple concept, but I feel like it's hard to get at these things if I'm not rested at some minimal level.

In other news, I've not gotten the closure email from BW yet. I don't know, it just a courtesy thing that would be nice to have. The "thanks, I liked getting to know you, good luck in your search" blurb. I agree that we do learn something from each person that we have a relationship with, and I have several nuggets of wisdom from him (from just the way he is, not anything he's trying to sell) that I have learned. If I don't hear from him in a couple of days, I'll send an email to that effect and close it out. 

I need to take pictures of my alley garden today. It's coming along better than expected and looks really nice!

LindaCO, you are such a nice person, but...

I knew there was a chance this might happen. I knew that BW wasn't all that far along in the process of getting over the last person he was dating. And so, last night there was "the talk". The talk about how his ex had recently contacted him and he feels like there's unfinished business there and he has to follow his heart and I'm a lovely person and he needs a couple of days to sort this out.

It stings, but I appreciate his honesty such that he rates high marks in my book and I think we'll be friends regardless. I've kept saying all along that he's different, not my usual match, so it feels a little like I've been turned loose to find someone more like me? I don't know, we still got along fine.

In a weird turn of events (but not so weird when you live in a smallish city) BW and I went to an outdoor concert last night, and I see a kid walking by in a yellow shirt - it's Mr W! So I follow the line of sight and there's my ex, and his fiance. The ex later gets up to go, sees us, comes over to say hi. We chat a bit, and he says that they went ahead and got married over the weekend. Not all that shocking, I knew it was coming, but... Mr W hadn't seen me up til this point, and as he walked back from playing, he saw me and I have to say it still makes me smile, his face lit up and he literally ran over to me. How nice for his dear ma.

So I'm back in the pool, the dating pool, that is. Better for having had this experience with BW. I tend to go introvert without a partner, and this was a great exercise in why it's important to keep getting out and doing stuff. Before I met him, I also was without the job renewal, so was in a funk about that. Now, I feel like I'm in a better position to socialize.

Easy Peasy

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that I fret from time to time about whether I'm providing enough enrichment/extracurricular stuff for my kid. I guess not enough to make it easy to find those past posts to provide the links here, BUT, I do. As a kid, I recall being bored a lot of time time, and wish my parents had provided/suggested some kind of art, music or sport for me to develop some skill on/with.

And it's not that I want to go overboard and have his schedule booked out and commit to having to get him somewhere for practice each night after school. I just want him to get excited about something other than playing video games, which have been his passion for a few years now. As I type this, it seems like perhaps removing them for a while would hasten the process of finding another "thing", and I might. But the point is that he hasn't found anything yet that he's said, "Mom, I want to do X, will you sign me up?'

In addition to that, my city's Rec department is top-notch. They have a ton of things going on, and put out a big booklet of activities once per quarter. And every time it comes out, I guess I see opportunities wasted or something.

But this coming school year, it seems like an easy solution has been found. At the end of last year, he participated (at my suggestion) in the after school Lego robotics club, which more or less saved him a spot for the "real" Lego club that he's eligible for now that he's going into (gasp) 5th grade.

Me: So, will you be doing the Lego robotics club this fall after school?
Mr W: No.
Me: Well, you did it at the end of last year, and this year you'd get to compete in the tournament
Mr W: OK.

OK? Oh, OK! Alright then, that's one thing. It was like his default answer is no, until nudged a little otherwise.

Smelling blood in the water sensing an opportunity to get him to agree to a sport, I asked what sport he'd do if he had to sign up for something. I'm a little embarrassed to have had to put it that way, but there it is. And he said he'd like to do the Running Club. Huh? Oh, OK. He's tall and slim, maybe running could be his thing.

So, just like that, we've got activities lined for him for the school year. Easy peasy. And the best part is that it's all at his school. No shuttling. I really like that.

In other news, BW's still around. We seem to be seeing each other a couple of times a week, and that feels about right. He's in no hurry to meet Mr W, and I'm fine with that; my kid's got a dad in the picture. As these last couple of weeks have unfolded, it feels to me like the tide is turning, that some sort of hill (or valley) has been crossed and I'm heading away from the anxiety of the last few months. I'm happy to ride this for a while, and feel lucky.

10K

One of the great things about living in Colorado is being able to get to 10,000' relatively easily. This is especially handy when the temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-90's, one has gotten a late start and wishes to hike on a Sunday afternoon. Sally and I headed up to Montgomery Pass, which is always farther away than I think it will be, about 1.5 hours from the house, up the Poudre Canyon. But it was a really nice day for a drive, so that time was well spent.

The parking lot is at 10,000', and the hike is short, kind of steep in spots, but takes one up above treeline for a really nice view. I think that's Wyoming out there, but don't quote me on it. The sign is at about 11,000'. Sally is a better hiker than I, and it's my estimation that when we include all the back and forth she does and the dashing about in utter doggy excitement, she does twice the mileage. Easy.

And there is still snow up there! In the shady places. It was a pretty warm day, but there were several spots where we had to go up and over some snow. Got my boots wet, but nothing uncomfortable. Miss Sally loved the snow. What is it with dogs and snow? With the first patch she saw, she was belly-down and eating it.



The flowers were OK. There has been so much snow this year that they are late. If I go up in 3-4 weeks, the show will be better, but there were still some nice flowers along the trail. Above is something in the Buttercup family that was growing right there in a little stream of snowmelt. Cold feet. Brrr.

In other news, the date with BW was fun. A lot of fun. I'm in that stage where it's hard to know what will happen next (as if we ever get a clear window on that) and I'm thinking about it probably too much. But what's different this time is that I feel like I've got tools to get me away from that and thinking about what's going on now. It's been a fun ride so far, so we'll see where/how it goes.

I gotta get myself out camping! I think I'm going to go during the week for a couple of days, since I haven't camped all summer.

Supporting the Arts (Dinner Included!)

Yea, Saturday! Tonight BW and I are going to something called the Art Lab Supper Club. Friend D and I went to the last one in April, and I'm excited to be attending another one. It's a nifty idea. Get organizations to donate food, and sell tickets for dinner. Line up several artists who need modest financial support. Have each one give a presentation as to why their project deserves the proceeds from ticket sales. Get audience to vote to determine the top three choices. Give away the money. So cool!

In other news, I need to get the emissions checked on my car today. The county has simultaneously reinstated the requirement for people to get their cars tested, and restricted the number of places that offer the service. Then it's tidying up the house, trying to get to the dog park before it gets too hot, and other this and that sort of Saturday stuff. Hoping that Sal and I can go for a hike tomorrow morning before it gets too hot. She loves to hike.

Getting back to it

Mr W and I had a fabulous time in MN. No doubt about it, flying was so much easier than driving. We had direct flights, and had minor delays each way, but got there in a reasonable amount of time. That's about all one can ask from the airlines these days, it seems. They did accommodate us when I asked to switch our seats so we'd sit together, and that was nice of them.

What did we do? Besides the talk my SIL and I attended, which I'm still ruminating over, we did a bunch of stuff for Mr W. We went to the Science Museum of Minnesota, which had the King Tut exhibit. I had missed the boy king when he was in Denver for several months, and it was a nice surprise to be able to see it in MN. Cool stuff, and I'm glad we did it. Mr W was trying to wrap his head around the time frame, and was suitably awed. They had pictures on the walls that Howard Carter took when he discovered the tomb, and then had the objects right there. That was cool.

We also, godhelpus, went to the Mall of America, so Mr W could do rides at the indoor amusement park. I'm of the opinion now that he likes the idea of an amusement park much more than the actual things, because he's just one of those people who has a lot of trepidation about strapping into a ride and getting tossed around. His dear aunt and I tried to bribe him (well, technically it would have been a reward because he'd get it afterwards) with a generous trip to the Lego store, if he would go on the easy rollercoaster that spanned the entire indoor space. We got up to the platform twice and he bolted both times. I won't lie; it wore me out.

We also ate really well, and I've got the extra couple of pounds to prove it. My SIL goes to the gym regularly, so I tagged along for three of the days and worked out. At least I made an attempt to mitigate the ice cream, steak, etc. It was just really nice to visit with two of my favorite people, and I was glad they were able to fit in our visit between all the summer travel they have scheduled.

I took the day off yesterday, which was a good method of re-entry, and now am getting back into the groove. Nothing new on the job search front, but a co-worker mentioned that he had a phone interview and they surprised him with some of the standard interview questions that I probably don't have good, quick answers to yet. So, I got a book out of the library and will brush up on that this weekend in anticipation of an interview. I had lunch with BW, and that has all been fun so far. A couple of days ago, I got an email through the dating site from someone who lives about an hour and 15 minutes away from here. He seemed nice enough, actually did have a background in science, but I replied that logistically, I couldn't see us being able to swing it. It underscored the importance of finding a local guy.

Oh, and the little experiment in having Sally stay with a dog park friend and her dog instead of at the kennel worked. Almost too well. The group of regulars reported that she was too exhausted by her almost constant playing with the other dog that she didn't want to chase the ball when she came to the dog park. She's been pretty much sleeping since I picked her up yesterday. A job well done!

It's easier

I'm glad we are flying to MN, and not driving after all. I do think that if I had a bigger chunk of time that the road trip makes sense, and Mr W was actually looking forward to it. Well, in the sense that he'd have hours and hours of time to play video games.

It'll be easier to prepare for a plane trip. Two carry-ons, one that has the computer. Download some stuff to the iPod, make sure we have all the cords to everything. Pack a few clothes, and we're good. A little more money spent this way, but I think it's worth the convenience.

We're trying something new for Sally. She'll stay with one of the women who I walk with at the dog park, instead of going to what I euphemistically call "dog camp", i.e. the kennel. I have to pay $25 a day to kennel Sal anyway, and would rather give it to someone I knew.

And I'm having lunch with BW today. I decided to take the afternoon off anyway, to run some errands that I just don't seem to be getting done, like getting the emissions tests done on both my vehicles. Second date.

The Plan. No, another plan.

Well, after running the numbers three ways for getting to MN to visit my brother and SIL, I think I've settled on flying. Since we've got $125 vouchers from Christmas, I can apply those and it's more reasonable. The van is a true guzzler (in my book) with gas mileage at about 17 mpg. Take a couple miles off for using the A/C if it, theoretically, were to work and it's about $450 for gas (premium, thanks) to get there and back. 

Getting there the first way was to drive the van and camp outside of Omaha. Eighteen hours of driving over two days, and of course, the same return trip home. With the money I'd save on gas, it was just about the same cost  for the second way: rent a small car and stay in a hotel.

Here's the thing, though. I have come to the realization that four long days of driving over eight days does not a vacation make. I'm trying to squeeze a lot into eight days, and it's simply not worth it. The journey to get there and back would be mostly something to endure. Now, if I had a solid two weeks to do the trip, with the benefit of A/C, that would be a different story.

So we're going to fly. I'm going to call the kennel first thing tomorrow and see if they've got room for Sally. There's also someone from the dog park that might be able to take her for that time. I don't think Sal would really mind either way.

It ends up being about an extra $200 to fly when I considered the expenses of driving, not including my time or mental energy. So, while I was looking forward to some contemplative time on the road, it'll have to be to and from the airport. Is my time, and the convenience of stepping on a plane and just getting there worth something? Yup, about $200.

Logistics. Now I'll need to adjust Mr W's camp schedule so he's around two partial weeks instead of one week on and one off. I'll just work for the two days that I was going to be driving and get paid for that time. I'm thankful my work situation (dwindling as it is) is flexible in that regard.

Speaking of work, I got another fed application in yesterday. It was so involved, I must have spent 30 hours on it easy. It was partly my fault, as I read the "write a narrative about how your experience matches the specialized experience required for this position" as writing several paragraphs under each of the five kinds of specialized experiences. What they really wanted was to divide it by job, not the kind of specialized experience, so I had to edit and cut and paste. The nice thing was that when I submitted, it checked for errors (three kinds, even) and found none. So I've sent that one off into the ether, and will hope for the best while thinking that I did my best.

So today, there's no job search stuff to do, and the dating thing is sort of waiting for us both to get done with the stuff we've got going on these first couple of weeks of July. So, no dating stuff to fret over today either. Mr W and I will see fireworks tonight at City Park, and try to arrange for him to play with a buddy for a while. I'll tidy up the house, check on my garden and it's therefore shaping up to be a good day.