over the (big gelatinous) hump

That bug sting I got on Wednesday at approximately 11:26:43 AM but who's tracking?  Wish as I did for "just a glancing shot", the thing morphed into an ugly angry itchy hot lumpy thing.  Well, I suppose that was all of me in general.

It's a slow process.  In fact, I spent Wednesday afternoon volunteering at Meego's band camp while the leg remained pretty operational despite a growing red patch covering my inner thigh. But by Thursday morning, it was well on its way to Manatee Leg

CoinkyDinkly, I had a doctor's appointment Thursday morning for my annual "well woman" checkup.  That term always conjures up an image similar to--->
in my brain.


Even though a well woman checkup is not similar to that at all


ANYWAY, since I was there, I figured I'd ask the good doctor about this bee sting business





Not surprisingly, the lumpy thing did the asking for me. The doctor's medical jargon reply:

"What is THAT?!"

So we talked bee stings and my typical reaction.  I swear I thought this is something everyone goes through!  When others told me they just maybe get a little bump, I just figured they hadn't been stung by a "real" bee.  😕

But based on the fact that the doc has been through med school and all, and that she even went so far as to suggest I start carrying an Epipen, I began to realize that Manatee Leg (neck/chest/hand...) was not a normal reaction.

I think I'm over the worst of it now as it maxed out sometime Thursday into Friday.  There's still quite a bit of bee juice in there, but the redness and general discomfort has lessened.   I have an appointment next week with an allergist *fingers crossed*

In other news of excess stuff, Wolfgang has temporarily moved in

That's Meego at his computer among most of Wolfgang's crap.  Meego has an entire couch now for a "desk chair".  It was the most logical place for the couch, so be it.

Wolfgang's lease was up at his apartment, and he's not wanting to sign another lease as the plan is to move out of town in the near future.  In the meantime, he has his job here in town, but is looking to expand his employment horizons while filling our house with stuff.

where are they now?

I was sitting on the floor, and he came up and gave me this spontaneous bear hug.  I guess he was just caught up in the moment, having a good time, and he just HAD to hug.

It was a sweet hug, but a bittersweet hug.  It was our last day together, and he didn't know it.  But I knew it.

After I retired from the corporate world and got on the mommy track, I ran a little home daycare.  It was a great arrangement getting paid to have cute kids come over and play with Chaco and Wolfgang.   Sure, I was required to do some stuff, but I was already doing that stuff for Chaco and Wolfgang anyways.  Meego wasn't quite in the picture at the time.

Conner was our first and most frequent customer.  I first met him when he was just 3 months old.  The sitter I'd had when I'd been working referred his parents to me to help get my little daycare going.

Over the course of two years, we watched him go from a little 3-month-old to a cute, rough and tumble toddler.  And I think he saw me and Chaco and Wolfgang as his extended family, which I guess we sort of were.  There were other kids at the daycare too, but they were part-timers.  Conner was a full-timer, blessing us with his presence nearly every Monday thru Friday.

L-R: Conner, Wolfgang, Chaco
and that wagon.  I searched all over creation for that
awesome wagon

Conner and his parents made for a cute little family.  Mom and Dad were both just in their 20s, but with good jobs and with family around town.  It was clear that they doted on Conner, and he was a happy kid who knew he was loved.

But, we moved.  We left the state which meant leaving the little daycare biz.  Chaco started school, Meego came along, Wolfgang started school, and I got busy with Meego and volunteering and my daycare days were done.

In all that busyness, I didn't miss running a daycare.  But I did miss the kids.  Most of all, I missed Conner. I hadn't kept in touch with his parents, this was the days before facebook and all.

I'm not sure what got me thinking about those days recently, but I found myself wondering where those daycare kids are now.  I did a little searching online and found this kid with Conner's name, but if not for his parents, I wouldn't have recognized him.

That's not surprising because he's 20 years old now.

Tall, athletic. Graduated from the high school near our old house, now going to college. He has a little brother, same age as Meego.

And he has a stepmom.

Mom and Dad are divorced and Dad's got a different wife.  That saddened me.  I just remember them as the happy cute little family.

But 18 years have gone by.  A lot can happen in 18 years.

If I passed him on the street, I wouldn't have recognized him.  But seeing those few photos, knowing it was him, I could see his little toddler self behind the tall young man he is now.  A little teen angst and attitude showing, but it's him.  I see it in his eyes.

I'm sure he doesn't remember me, but I remember him.  And I remember that last hug.

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Linking up with Mama Kat again this week for the prompt:
1. Throwback Thursday: Share an old photo and let it inspire your blog post.

the bees knees, NOT

I got stung by SOMEthing today while out on bicycle Alice.  I'd been doing so well when it came to bug stings lately too.  When was that summer?  When I got stung three times in two weeks?  I'm too lazy to look it up, but I remember the experience well.

Neck.  Hand.  Chest.  In that order.

This time, it's the inside of my thigh.  I'm hoping it was just a glancing blow, an inadvertent collision.  When I felt it happen, I immediately stopped to check for and remove a stinger, but didn't see one.

Of course it has now also begun to swell.  I'm hoping my right leg doesn't eventually take on the appearance of a fully grown adult manatee.

falling rocks!

Actually, no.  It typically doesn't.  😏

Have you ever done a thing that you weren't expecting to do, and the thing ends up being amazing?  Or you have low expectations that are way exceeded, like, way?

This past weekend, we took a quick camping trip, not really expecting anything special. The whole thing was sort of born out of, "well, we haven't been camping in a while...", like we needed to change the oil or something.

We'd heard of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, but had never been there, and Magnum managed to find an available camping spot, so we reserved it and made plans to go.  Surprisingly, the whole fam was available and willing.

So we got there late Saturday, and no one really knew anything about it.

Me:  I thought you had researched this place

Chaco:  I don't know anything about it, I thought you and Dad researched it

Magnum:  I saw it on a map of Colorado...

Wolfgang:  I googled some images last night after you said where we were going...

Meego:  ...

So, the clueless went camping. Bottom line?  Sometimes that can be the best way to go and be pleasantly surprised!

But I'll skip the campground, because that was nothing to blog anywhere about.  But the canyon!

SOURCE

Oh.  My.  God.




We got to the campground and found a trail that followed the rim of the canyon, so we could look down into it.




But we were still clueless about the place.  Was it possible we could GO down into it?



Answer: Yes

Us:  Yipee










There are a number of steep trails that take hikers down to the canyon bowels.  They have names like "S.O.B. Draw" and "Devil's Backbone" and "Long Draw," formerly known as "Devil's Slide".

We chose the one that looked the most friendly, because we'd been clueless and because of Magnum's knees.

And it was way fun and amazing and exceeded our expectations.  Surprise weekend fun.  The trail was about a mile long with a vertical drop of 1800 feet.



It was quite steep, but with plenty of large rocks and tree roots to get footing on, unlike much of the other trails, which aren't all that well marked and are loaded with scree.












Plus, about a third of the way down was an 80 ft. long chain to help keep us from plummeting to our deaths through a particularly steep portion.

So it was actually quite fun getting down there, and of course, the views were extraordinary

After getting ourselves back up and out, we all agreed that our expectations for "going camping" were exceeded.  Magnum still has his knees, although he said the hike

"kicked my ass"

He's usually the master of preparation as well as Mr. Worst Case Scenario, so this sort of thing was outside his comfort zone for a number of reasons.  He was betting on us dying from heat exhaustion and/or dehydration.

I assured him that we would not.

...since the fall would probably kill us.

.

no despacito, es rapido

Last night, Meego and I went shoe shopping for him, and as we got into the car and turned on the radio, "Despacito" was playing.

"This is the most streamed song EVER", Meego commented, "even more than 'Gangnam Style'"

"Yep, say what you will about Justin Bieber", I mused, "but the kid's successful"

We talked a bit more about hits and music, then, "I don't even know what 'despacito' means", Meego confessed.

And I was all, "What?  You're in Spanish IV, what're our tax dollars paying for?!".  But really, it just made me curious as to what "despacito" means.

It means "slowly" (thank  you, google)

More curious, I google the translated lyrics of the song.

... Is it hot in here, or is it just me?  Okay, but really, nothing surprising there.

What I'm really blogging about today is a little man in a boat...erm... OOPS!  I  mean....

my last boat ride.

Honestly, I've not been on many boats.  Never been sailing, but I've been in little motorboats and canoes and rented paddle boats if any of those count.  Mainly for tooling around lakes where shores are visible from most anywhere.

When we lived near lake Ontario, I was surprised at its vastness, being a Colorado girl.  But I never went boating on lake Ontario.

We do have lakes here in Colorado, but really, good sized boats aren't that common a thing.  River rafting, however, is very popular.  A raft is not a boat, but I'm going to count it anyway.

Arkansas River, near Buena Vista, CO

This photo is from the last time I was in a raft.  I don't remember the exact year, but suffice to say that it was over half my life ago.  Looking at it now, I recall how I was a lone female in a boat with four guys.  Not a bad way to "end" my rafting days?

A guy I was dating at the time, who worked as a sales rep, had to entertain an out-of-state client.  Mr. Out-of-State had always wanted to go white water rafting. The then-boyfriend made arrangements with a river guide and got me and another friend to round out our foursome(!)

It was a fun and successful day.  The sky was beautiful blue and the rapids were muy rapido.  Mr. Out-of-State (guy in the red hat) loved it, and a strong business relationship was forged.  We ended the day with barbeque and beers at boyfriend's house.

I have no idea where any of these guys are now.  The boyfriend and I didn't last much after I learned of his love for la marihuana, but we had some good times.

And he forked over the cash to buy me this overpriced photo.
 

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:
2. Tell us about the last time you were on a boat

the people you meet

"I've got two weeks off coming up, and I'm going to hike the Colorado Trail.  Figure I'll need to average about 35 miles a day"

He was telling us this as he shouldered his fully loaded backpack he wore to train for his trek.  Then he told us that the woman he was with was his 33-year-old crossfit workout partner.  She had left a few minutes earlier, and he seemed to want us to know that she wasn't his girlfriend.

Well, she was a bit annoying.  For one, she was blasting music from her cellphone, for all to hear on top of a mountain, whether we cared for her music or not amidst all that nature.

She'd said, "I'm slow going down", and Hiker Man told her to go ahead and get started without him.  He seemed to want to chat with us for a while to further the distance between him and Music Lady.

Chaco and I have continued to climb the occasional 14er.  My count is now up to eight, which is a baby number compared to the true zealots.  We met Hiker Man and Music Lady on the summit of Missouri Mountain (Yes, it's in Colorado 😋)

Another hiker was a soft spoken young man who counted Missouri Mountain as his 20th 14er.  He pointed out a few others he'd done as we looked over the landscape.

He gave us a cordial farewell before beginning his descent and inserting his considerate earbuds.


Prior to this summer, the only other 14er I'd hiked was Pikes Peak, which, unlike these others, is a bit of a zoo on the summit.  In addition to the hiking trails, there's a paved road to get there as well as a cog railway.  There's also a crowded gift shop, and hikers are greatly outnumbered by tourists who have driven or ridden.

Despite the crowded conditions, the only people that Chaco and I spoke with briefly atop Pikes Peak were visitors from out of state who could not believe we'd walked up there.

I find much tranquility in these other less traveled peaks.  And the only people at the summits are those who have also hiked up there, making for a bit of instant rapport - even if they have some annoying traits like blasting music from their phones.

A woman atop Mt. Yale complimented our cardboard sign (Chaco makes 'em). I noticed that she was wearing a "Yale University" hat and asked if she was an alumnae, which she was.  I imagine that getting into and graduating from Yale University is more difficult than summitting Mt. Yale, but if you do the first, you might as well do the other!  Wearing the hat, of course.

there goes the neighborhood

The  next door neighbors have been having regular nightly fireside gatherings.

Over the last few weeks, I've been awakened by the smell of campfire smoke, the sight of flickering firelight, and the sound of voices.  One night, I heard what can only loosely be referred to as "music".

What have they been doing?  Are they conjuring up some sort of spirit?  Evil or otherwise?  And the chickens.  What's with the chickens?!

And there was that full moon over the weekend.  Come to think of it, there's been no such gathering since.

Okay, so maybe it's just been the kids next door having friends over for chats around the fire pit late at night.  They're not even technically "kids", as they're all around 19 or early 20s.

And maybe they haven't been dancing or conjuring up anything from beyond, but just hanging out late at night and waking the neighbors who like to sleep with the windows open during summertime.  What is it about people in that age group being so  nocturnal?

But alas, this morning I heard a splashing in the backyard and looked out to see Mrs. Neighbor watering the pet chickens.  Then I saw Mr. Neighbor out front talking with another neighbor.

Looks like Mom and Dad are back home.  I've missed them.

the teletubbies did it

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

I'd build an Earthship.  Just a small one.  Big enough for two people and the occasional guests. It could be a vacation home.  Maybe we'd airbnb it when we weren't there.

[From Wikipedia] An Earthship is a type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and upcycled materials such as earth-packed tires.

An Earthship addresses six principles or human needs:

1. Thermal/solar heating and cooling
2. solar and wind electricity
3. self contained sewage treatment
4. building with natural and recycled materials
5. water harvesting and long term storage
6. some internal food production capability

pinterest.com

Designing our Earthship would be fun.  It would provide a lot of sun in the winter.  We could make use of the natural landscape.

pinterest.com

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

It would be cool in the summer and still provide plenty of natural light.

pinterest.com

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

There are plans available online.  We'd just need to get ourselves a plot of land and get hopping.

pinterest.com

Construction might involve gathering and filling old tires with dirt and pounding them over and over with sledge hammers, and/or collecting a bunch of old bottles and/or cans and tediously joining them with concrete.  

SOURCE

It could take many hours.  But could be a fun hobby, right?

Or... maybe I'd do a webcomic...

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Describe a hobby you would pursue if you had an additional hour to spend each day

losing Denver

On Monday, Chaco talked me into climbing another 14er.  His secret plan was to actually climb two, but that wasn't revealed to me until I was already committed.

Mt. Belford is one of the Collegiate Peaks of the Sawatch range, sitting among Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc....  I'd never heard of Belford University before.  Apparently it's in Texas.

Yet another pic with cardboard and the hat

Not far from Mt. Belford is Mt. Oxford.  Nice to have a prestigious Brit university among the crowd.  It's a bit of a steep ridge to get down from Belford toward Oxford, but nothing I hadn't done as a kid, before I had much sense.

Some clouds were moving in, but they looked to be blowing away from us, so Chaco had talked me into making the extra trek to Oxford.   Once on the summit, we found a couple of canisters held to the rocks with cables and containing logs we could sign.

Checking out the register on top of Mt. Oxford

As we sat and scarfed some snack sustenance for the descent, another hiker joined us.  I was beginning to wonder why we were the only ones there, so with this guy, I was able to stop wondering.   We had seen him on Belford where he'd asked if we'd seen his buddy, who was wearing a huge backpack, and was easy to spot and remember.  We told this guy (never got his name) where we'd last seen Backpack guy.  

Apparently, when Backpack guy arrived at Belford, he was less than thrilled to continue on to Oxford, what with that big old backpack and all.   So Denver (let's just call the guy "Denver" since that's where he was from) decided to hike to Oxford by himself, then rejoin the buddy on the way back (gotta go back to Belford to get down).

Chaco'd made a sign for Oxford too, complete with date.
How could I say, no?

It was quite windy and some new clouds were gathering, so we thought we'd better get going.  Denver asked if he could join us back across the ridge as it was kind of hairy in the wind.

Chaco took the lead with me close behind and Denver right behind me.  We could see a big cloud moving our way with the wind.  The cloud filled in the whole valley as we looked over the edge of the trail. Then it covered us and became fog instead of a cloud.

Right?  Fog is a cloud that you're in??

Anyway, the fog was very cool and a bit surreal and spit graupel at us.  I was glad I'd bothered to carry my windbreaker and put it on atop Oxford.  As we made it back to the summit of Belford, I looked back for Denver - the guy, not the city.  Didn't see him.  Where'd he go??

I wasn't really that worried about him as he is probably in his mid 20s and seemingly quite fit.  During our conversation, he'd told us that Oxford was his 18th fourteener, so this is something he does regularly.

But we never saw him again.  And I'm still wondering.

fash-off

The wooden smell of the full-color catalog.  The soft feel of the pages. The cheerful images of healthy, happy, popular, smart, and friendly girls.  Every year in my early adolescence,  toward the end of summer, long before there was anything remotely resembling the internet, my mom would have me peruse the girl clothing sections of  Fall catalogs and Back-to-School flyers and make a few choice selections.  Remember, ladies?  Eegads!


Later, in my high school years, I preferred to do my own shopping at the mall.  But since the nearest mall was several miles away, those happy girls from JCPenney and such kept me sustained as quite the fashionista of middle school and jr. high!






Styles come and (thankfully) go.  They can be difficult to keep up with sometimes.  God forbid we should be caught wearing something that is "SO last year!"

Still, there are some current trends that I just can't get on board with. Fashion preferences are certainly subjective, so I'm not dissing anyone who likes stuff I don't like.  And truthfully, I am at least aware that my fashion sense is... uhm... "lacking".  But here goes, f'rinstance (all images from Pinterest)

Big Chunky Shoes

I don't like 'em.  Aside from the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to walk three yards in them, I just don't like the look.

I can't imagine that they're healthy for feet, knees, hips, spine, etc. but even if they were, I don't like 'em.

I see them with skirts, with pants, with shorts (??), and just, no.









Pastel Hair

This is another trend I'm seeing more of, on all ages and genders.  I'm just not a fan.  It just seems so My Little Pony.

It's hard for me to even know just what it is I don't like about it.  And given the popularity of pastel hair - even adorning friends of mine - I must be in the minority.









Ripped Everything

I kinda feel like the people who started this trend are all just laughing.

Them:  Let's shoot these jeans full of bullet holes and sell them for 50 bucks!

Consumers:  buy, buy, buy

Them:  OMG, hahahahahahahahaha.....





And just for completeness, let me make mention of a coupla trends I don't particularly like to see on men...




Sperm Squishing Jeans


I think I probably have a biological aversion to seeing skinny jeans on guys.

I realize I'm not in the target audience for Boy Bands in general, but I don't find this attractive and worry a bit about the future of our species.











Meggings

Or leggings for men.  Apparently those are a thing.

I feel a bit snooty saying this, because I really like to wear leggings.  Love the comfort and versatility and bright colors and patterns.  But honestly, I would not feel very comfortable being in a room with a man wearing meggings.








Any fashion trends you think should go away?

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Linking up again this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
2. Make a list of the latest fashion trends that you just cannot do.

freedom day and a twofer

Happy Independence Day weekend!  I guess many Americans are already celebrating.  It's always a bit "inconvenient" when the fourth falls in the middle of the week, but we should be grateful for the holiday.

My summer tutee is a college woman who is from a country other than the U.S.  We were looking over our schedules for this coming week, and noted we couldn't meet on Tuesday.

"Oh yeah, it's "Freedon Day", or what is it?" , she said.

"Independence Day", I answered (knowledgeable tutor that I am...)

"Oh, right", she replied, "We don't have that in my country!", she said with a laugh.  She, in fact, is a quite strongly opinionated and independent woman and certainly knows what the holiday stands for even if she gets the name wrong.  It's safe to say she likes living here.

And I like living here too!  So thanks to those rebels who got the ball rolling on that one.

Speaking of the good life, Chaco and I made another trek to the mountains yesterday.  I know of a few people, mostly younger than I am, who just love climbing the state's 14ers whenever they get a chance.  Now I think I'm starting to understand the "addiction".

Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful hike up Gray's Peak and then shuffled on over to Torrey's Peak before descending back down again.  This is a popular route, known as "Gray's and Torrey's", which allows climbers to bag two lovely 14ers in one triangular day hike.

SOURCE
Gray's Peak on the left, Torrey's on the right

This is an extremely popular hike, and if we'd had our act together, we probably would've driven up the night before and camped.  But it was really a Friday evening spur of the moment decision, and at least we had our act together enough to leave in the wee hours of Saturday morning and make good time to the trail head.

Despite the crowds, we both really enjoyed this hike.  Plus, the other hikers were all very friendly. I went passed a little boy with the smallest pair of YakTrax I've ever seen strapped to his little backpack.  Precious!

Behind Chaco, heading up to Gray's Peak

I really enjoyed the views and variety of terrain.  It was very rocky for good portions of the climb compared to Mt. Elbert.  We also enjoyed some snowy areas, but they either weren't as bad as Elbert or I'm starting to like them.  We did encounter a couple of hikers who were a bit freaked out by the snow and thus held up the hikers behind them a bit.  I didn't mind since I could sympathize with them, and I was just happy that I wasn't the freaked out one.