¡Sé positiva!

It happened. I could only dodge that bullet for so long, I suppose. I tested positive for covid crud this morning.

I still feel quite fine, thank you. But last night I developed a ticklish little cough, and this morning, all my food tastes like cardboard.  So I figured I'd do the home test. 

I opened up the test kit, and the instrucciones  were in Spanish, which was fine as I knew there must be instructions in English somewhere too.  

Nada. All Española.

I studied the outside of the box to see if I'd picked up a Spanish-speaking test by chance, but nope. All was in English. Then I thought that I could maybe kind of wing it, as I can get by with being able to read some Tarzan Spanish, plus there were pictures. How hard could it be?

Thinking better of it, I opened another of our kits of the same brand, and inside were two sets of instructions: one Spanish, one English. Aha, no winging required.  And definitely positive, no ambiguity.

So here I am, already feeling a bit stir crazy. I have the day off from work today and tomorrow, but I did work the past three days. I've worn a mask while at work ever since Magnum tested positive, and I sure hope that kept the coworkers safe from my cooties. Time will tell.

I have a hair appointment for later today and have been trying to get in touch with the salon to cancel, but no response. I went ahead and booked an appointment for late next week. Dang covid, doesn't this virus know how difficult it is to get a hair appointment?

Actually, I'm grateful that a hair appointment cancellation is pretty much my chief concern, and a far second to concern for my coworkers.

I did get out this morning for a socially distanced jaunt.  Fresh air and sunshine are good treatments, yes? Came across this guy sunning himself on a fence

He didn't seem to mind me stopping to snap his pic.  He also didn't offer me any fruit.

rollercoaster, I don't say no

The good news: my house is relatively clean.

The bad news: because everybody has covid, so I've done a bit of cleaning.

Well, not quite everybody. I'm sitting here in my strange little island of misfit toys, symptomless.

It seems to have kicked off last Sunday when we got together for Father's Day. On Monday, I was at the vet's office with Merlin when Wolfgang texted us that he'd woken up with a sore throat and tested positive.

By Thursday morning, Magnum and Chaco were both on team covid as well. And Meego? Well, Meego hadn't joined us for Father's Day because he was already working on a case of the covid crud he'd acquired days earlier.

We had a good run, 2.5 years or so. I guess I'm personally still on the streak, but don't want to jinx it. Everyone is vaxxed and boosted, so it's probably not as bad as it could be. Like a nasty cold. I'm practicing "spousal distancing" as much as practical since I really don't want to have to miss work and/or pass it along to my coworkers.

It's already a lean ship as it is, with coworker Martha having just finished her last day before shuffling off to greener pastures in Mexico. Plus, Boss has diabetes, Assistant Boss's 80-something year old mom lives with him, and coworker Kat helps care for her 80-something year old grandma. 

Oh, and Merlin? Ear infection. Much better now, thanks.

Speaking of dogs and little surprises, I was out walking with Penny the other morning when she took up a sudden interest in something. I turned to see this teeny fawn that had been hunkered under some Aspens.

Penny wanted to make a friend, but the fawn wasn't big on the idea. She/he wasn't big on anything - such a tiny critter, smaller than little Penny. I didn't see Mom around, but crossed my fingers that she returned, and that's the story I'm keeping in my head.

On another little furry things note, we got an email at work last week that one of the buildings needed to be closed because of a refrigerator malfunction. We thought maybe toxic refrigerants had to be removed, thus prompting the closure.

Well... what actually happened was, a walk-in freezer, used by the vet tech program, stopped working, and everything inside thawed. "Everything" being animal cadavers. 

Ew migod.

No hazardous materials just a nasty nasty odor. I'm sorry for whomever made the initial discovery.  All better now.

...or getting there.

at the home

"She's gonna say something like, 'Wow, you've been busy in the kitchen!' when we take her lunch in".

It was my first day working as a nutrition aide at the nursing home. I was shadowing Matt, a college student and fellow nutrition aide. Barb, one of the residents, was in her room seated in her wheelchair, focused on her TV.

"Hey, Barb. Lunchtime!", Matt announced.

"Oh boy! Somebody's been busy in the kitchen!", Barb replied as if on cue. I smiled to myself, thinking of what Matt had just told me.

Matt introduced me while he got Barb situated for her lunch. She was a typical looking frail old woman in a nursing home. But my eyes were instantly drawn to the wall behind her where several family photos had been hung. 

In one, I saw a strikingly beautiful woman, clearly Barb in her younger years. It was a black-and-white family portrait of Barb, her husband, and their four kids. Barb's eyes and posture conveyed a keen intellect and sure confidence. It was one of my first meetings of the residents I would get to know over the next several months, and seeing that photo of Barb reminded me that each of them had lived rich, full, and vibrant lives before arriving at the nursing home.

Like Barb, most every resident had photos on display of their earlier lives. I appreciated that I could see them as more than old and frail and dependent.

Another woman, Norma, had a skillfully done original oil painting of Mount of the Holy Cross hanging in her room, and I asked where she'd gotten it.

"I had a friend who was an artist. She wanted a birthday cake for her mother's 90th birthday, but all the bakeries wanted a ridiculous price for what she wanted. So I told her I'd make the cake, which I did. She so appreciated it, she gave me the painting", Norma explained.

"A few years ago, the friend asked if I would will the painting for her daughter to receive after I die. My daughter said, 'Don't you dare!' since it was rightfully my painting to bequeath.  MY daughter will get it!", she said with a giggle.

I've been gone from the nursing home for a little over a year now. I keep in touch with some of my former coworkers, and they often catch me up on who has since passed away.

I learned that Norma died last winter, and I remember fondly the conversations we had and how she had such a positive light and sharp intellect despite her physical limitations. I remember how she'd write little "reviews" on her meal tickets because she knew the dieticians collected them for tracking. 

The eggs were just right, and Lena was so pleasant as always...

I'm thinking of that oil painting and how it stays in Norma's family.

Back to Barb, I recall  one day, she said to me, "I'm going to be 69 years old in November!"

I replied, "Really? We'll definitely celebrate!", but in my mind, I knew "You're going to be 99 years old in November"

As the oldest resident, Barb did in fact make it to 99 years old last November. Everyone wondered - will she make it to 100?

Two weeks ago, she fell short of 100 years by 5 months.

For Norma and Barb and all the rest, I'm thankful for the little specks of time we had. I honestly didn't expect much when I took the job, but it was fulfilling in many ways.  And eventually, it'll be my turn to go to the other side.

Until then, I guess I'll just keep busy in the "kitchen".

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: bond

you had me on the sunrise

 It's that time of year again.  Bike to Work Day 2022!

It's actually my day off - PERFECT for Bike To (not) Work!  It was a beautiful morning for it: sunny, warm, calm, bikes and freebies galore...

If one were to stop and eat something at every station... well... I don't think they would survive. So much food to be had! And swag.  Don't forget swag.

Honestly, I don't care so much about the goodies. I just enjoy playing along and observing. But that's not to say we came home empty handed or empty stomached. Here are a few of our takeaways.  

Notice that we got tote bags.  Fort Collins grocery stores do not provide plastic bags, and they charge ten cents per paper sack.  This started back in May (we voted last year). I've been using tote bags since before, it's always good to keep those tote bags on hand!

We mainly hit two big stops that included multiple sponsors - The University Oval and The Square in Old Town. There were many other sponsors and stops, so we had to pare it down to something manageable.  

Anyway, I threw together a quick summary of our morning - whittled down to two  minutes.

It was nice to join in the festivities and nice to see lots of cute little kids out with their families. Certainly, the event has morphed from Bike to "work" to "Bike to Wherever". 

There were still a handful of cars to deal with in traffic.  I could almost feel the drivers,

"razzum frazzum razzum bike-to-work razzum frazzum..."

because of all the bikes out and about. I think I also saw a few uptight spandexed bicyclists thinking the same. But hey, it's a good day to chill and have a donut... and coffee... or a breakfast burrito... or muffins... pizza... smoothie... pancakes... banana... SO MUCH FOOD...

seven old days

It's been a week already since I last posted. Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, and since I work at a state college, it's a long weekend for me. I recently passed one year working at my current job, making it the longest duration of employment - other than my tutoring biz - in quite a while.

Not that I haven't enjoyed and/or gained from my various paid stints in recent years. Each has been a stepping stone to something better in the difficult waters of finding rewarding employment beyond 50. I'm thankful for the tuting that's carried me for several years, and I'm thankful that I can be picky - an offshoot of being thankful that Magnum is the stable one.

Also, last week, I officially transferred to a local PEO chapter after the two year+ holding pattern. I've mentioned that PEO has chapters all over the US and that covid shut down in-person PEO meetings right after we moved here. So I held off visiting local chapters until things opened up again, then hit up a few local chapter meetings with a vengeance. One group eventually took me in - a lovely assemblage of ladies, for certain. 

Speaking of work, covid, and shutdowns, I occasionally deal with technical issues at work and have to contact tech support agents.  This past month, I made two calls to different tech support sites.  I'm pretty sure that most tech support agents we deal with are working from home these days.

Both of the unrelated agents I dealt with were prompt and helpful. And, in each case, I almost got the impression that they were... lonely? Wanting to keep me on the line after my issues were resolved, they offered more (deemed unnecessary) assistance or wanted to chat more about the cause of the original issues, etc. I wonder if they miss going in to an office where they have face-to-face interactions with coworkers?

I know of others who love working from home and don't want to ever go back to the rat race commutes. One of my coworkers dealt with a tech support call where the coworker said he heard multiple cats in the background. Ideal work for crazy cat ladies?

I mostly like getting out of the house, but my job is an easy bicycling or walking commute away, and it's not full-time. It's not a "dream job", but it'll do for now, while I figure out the color of my parachute.

hot and spicy

"Driving the struggle bus through toasty town!" another runner commented regarding running in the heat this morning.  

It's hot outside.  Need to get up really early to beat the heat, and I (and the struggle bus driver) was not up that early. No duck pics today as even the ducks kept a low profile along the creek. But it wasn't unbearable, and I know the heat wave is worse for many others. We're noticing the payoff of the new windows and blinds we got last December. We don't have AC, and have been able to keep the house relatively cool without it.

It was a good week and nice to be back from our hippie adventure. In addition to learning about earthships, we stopped for a bit of Colorado lore in San Luis - the oldest town in Colorado, established in 1851. San Luis is a very small town with a few hundred residents in a poor part of the state. In college, I was friends with a girl from San Luis. She was a "tough chick". These days, she's a high school teacher, so good she's tough.

San Luis' most famous attraction is the Stations of the Cross Shrine, so we had to stop and check it out. The attraction features a trail that makes its way to the Cathedral with each station depicted in bronze sculptures along the way. The trail is dirt, but not very steep, and less than a mile long.

We enjoyed the stop, it's nicely done and well  maintained. We are not anything close to being devout Catholics, but I definitely felt a certain sacredness while there. Others we saw along the trail were very quiet and respectful.

When I was growing up, my mom was friends with a nice and very Catholic Italian woman - Mrs. Valentine.  Mrs. Valentine was an excellent seamstress, and my mom would often bring clothes needing altering to Mrs. V.

The ladies would sit and visit, and if I tagged along, I was given books or such to look at if I didn't bring my own. Visiting the Stations of the Cross Shrine brought back memories of being at Mrs. V's house and coming across graphic depictions of the stations of the cross - likely not meant for a child!

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in San Luis, CO with about an hour or so to kill, I recommend a visit to the shrine.

In other touristy activity, we walked along the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  We crossed the bridge on our way to the earthships. It sits 650 feet above the river. It's no secret here that I'm not a fan of heights, so the views from the bridge were impressively horrendous for me.

I managed to let go of the railing long enough to snap a pic, which really doesn't do a great job of depicting the depth of the gorge.

Sadly, the bridge is apparently a "popular" place for suicides. Lots of suicide hotline info and little memorials along the way.

The American Institute of Steel Construction awarded the bridge "The Most Beautiful Bridge" in the long span category.

So that about rounds up our little trip to the Taos area. I'd never been there before, although it's quite close to where I grew up. The town of Taos is pretty small - lots of adobe houses and shops - with little galleries and touristy gift shop type places.  Need a kachina doll? Taos is your place!

We had to sample the local Mexican food. There is quite the rivalry between the state of New Mexico and the town of Pueblo, CO for the BEST green chilies. I've had some Pueblo green chili, and it's delish. Now I've had Taos green chili, and found it also to be delish, but a different delish from Pueblo delish. 

Either way, it's all delish. 

children of the sage

Greetings fellow travelers! Magnum and I recently returned from a couple of days of hippie camp. We traveled south to the outskirts of Taos, NM to live among the Earthshippers. An interesting and educational time was had!

Our hippie camp rental among the sage

We knew  there was a cluster of earthship activity just outside of Taos, but I was not expecting the sheer number  of structures.  There are six or seven that can be rented, and I was thinking maybe fifteen to  twenty altogether with rentals plus private owned?

Welp, turns out the site is over 80 earthships on 640 acres.  I had no idea there were so many in one spot. It was almost other worldly. It was nothing but dirt, sage, and earthships as far as the eyes could see!

For those who don't know, earthships are sustainable structures offering total off-grid living. They are often made from "trash" such as glass bottles, beverage cans, and automobile tires.  They utilize solar and wind for power, rain collection and cisterns for water, and greenhouses for gardening. 

We stayed in the Phoenix West studio. It was the only one available on the dates we requested. It was very nice, better than I expected actually. 

"Our" side of The Phoenix

The only drawback is that it does not have a kitchen since it's part of a bigger structure, and the kitchen was in the other half - rented by some people who rained on our parade.

The interior was cozy and quite serene.  So much so, I kinda forgot to get photos, but I swiped these from the website:

Strangely, I really loved the bathroom (?). This photo doesn't do it justice. 

Two skylights above kept the whole interior bright and cool, and that shower was better than anything Gilligan ever had on his island.

I was surprised at how hot the shower water could be. 

Not surprisingly, there are fire restrictions in place in all of New Mexico. I'd brought our camp stove to use on the patio, and we managed fine without a full kitchen. There was also a coffee maker, coffee and tea selection, and a few dishes and utensils in the studio.

So yes, hippie camp was a win! Are we going to pull up stakes and become children of the sage, ourselves?

Oh, heck no. Too "out in the middle of nowhere" for us. 

We will remain Outlanders.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Write a blog post inspired by the word: Freedom

triflings

Happy June!  Sun is shining, plants are blooming, birds are chirping. Speaking of plants, here's a quick George update.  Magnum got and installed some support stakes.

 Each stake is bigger than George himself. I think it looks like some sort of torture apparatus from a tribe of cannibalistic savages in our front yard, but it's doing the job.

In other news, my coworker, Martha of chucking-everything-and-retiring-to-Mexico fame has possibly contracted covid, so is out for the week. She had a possible exposure, then her husband tested positive. So although Martha's first two tests came back negative, she's thinking she's probably got it by now. 

I'm kind of surprised we've dodged it so far, Martha being the first case at the office. Not complaining, though.

Magnum and I are planning a short getaway trip later this week, so sorry if Boss wants me to fill in for Martha at week's end.  I did cover for her yesterday, so I'm still a team player, right?  I'm not sure what our covid protocols at work are at this point. 

One of Meego's friends was travelling in London when she tested positive and just needed to test every day. She was allowed to travel back once her test showed negative. At least it's the slow season at work, and I'm sure the others can handle the workload.  Isn't "every" place short staffed?

In other news, we watched a bad movie. It wasn't awful as it had some good messages, but I felt the bad outweighed the good.  The movie was "Grandma" with Lily Tomlin as a crotchety and rude old woman who helps her teenaged granddaughter procure money to have an abortion.  Seen it?

I got tired of Lily Tomlin's character's crotchety rudeness.  I don't find that entertaining, but rather annoying, and that was her chief character trait.  It was probably meant to be funny.  Otherwise, I guess the casting was good, but I'm a stickler for details and a couple of further annoying things:

• In a scene where Grandma is getting a tattoo, the tattoo machine is absolutely silent, and there's very little wiping going on.  I think even people who have never seen a tattoo done know that tattoo machines make a constant buzzing sound when tattooing.
  *upon a second viewing of the tattoo scene with earbuds, I discovered the machine DOES make a faint buzzing noise that my TV speakers didn't get to my ears. Still too quiet, though. Maybe just my crotchety, rude, old ears...
  
  
• Another scene - granddaughter pukes in the kitchen sink (preggars, remember?).  Then she continues her conversation with Grandma, and they leave the kitchen. So I'm all "Dude!  Rinse the freaking sink, sheesh!" I mean, who wouldn't rinse the sink??

So I guess that's my week that was. A tree looking tortured, a covid coworker, and a mediocre movie. I'm grateful for all of it.

like we've opened up the door

She could feel the aloneness in her gut like a punch. She sat back in her chair, and the room felt empty even though her indifferent husband was seated nearby.

She realized that her days had become a series of mundane activities, centered around keeping the house tidy and stocked with food.  She hardly ever went anywhere except to the grocery store, and she couldn't quite figure out where the rest of her time went each day.

But who was she kidding.  She knew she wasted hours on facebook, lurking through overused memes, political rants, and gossip - rarely engaging in any of it herself, just spectating. This is what her life had become, and she accepted that it was her own fault.

Then one day, a private message. She didn't even know what the feature was at first and it scared her a little. 

"Am I being hacked?!", she wondered. 

Reluctantly, she clicked the message open. It claimed to be Bill, a boy she'd grown up with, who was now a facebook friend. She hadn't seen  him since high school in the 1960's, he being a couple years older.

All the girls had crushed on Bill. He was attractive, outgoing, and athletic and subsequently very popular. She herself was quite shy and tended to blend in to the background. But she knew Bill from her time spent working with him at the local Dairy Queen during summer breaks.  

Her friends back then would tell her how lucky she was to know and work with Bill.  She would blush and say how he just treated her like a little sister, that was all.  But it was better than nothing.

Many years later, social media became a thing and Bill showed up as a friend "suggestion". She'd nervously sent the request, and to her delight and relief, he accepted. 

But they never really engaged much one-on-one. She would often see photos of Bill on lavish vacations with his pretty wife or updates regarding his successful adult children. His profile listed him as retired from a prestigious financial firm. None of it was surprising, she knew Bill would achieve whatever he attempted.

What could this message be?  Probably a mistake... or more likely, a scam praying on an naive elderly woman.

"Hey there, Sadie", the message began. "I've been meaning to get in touch with you..."

And that's how it started.  Over the next couple of weeks, Bill and Sadie messaged each other back and forth. Bill told of his wife's sad decline and eventual death from a massive stroke about a year prior.  He hadn't shared any of that on social media, always wanting to project a happy fulfilled life.

But in truth, he was a sad man in his retirement. True, he had wonderful relationships with his children, but they had their own families now and lived spread far and wide.  Always so outgoing and friendly, he struggled with so much isolated free time.

And then, the clincher. He confessed to having a bit of a crush on Sadie in their Dairy Queen days. He didn't pursue it since they worked together, plus he knew he'd move away from their hometown to attend university while she was still in high school.  It wouldn't have worked out.

He was so happy to receive Sadie's friend request on facebook, but since she was married, he didn't want to make any waves.  It was one particularly lonely night when he'd sent the private message...

Long story short, Sadie saw the light. Over the course of a few months, she divorced  her  ungrateful husband and settled the assets - much of which she'd inherited from her parents, who'd never particularly liked her husband.  She got a beauty makeover that included a whole new wardrobe and new hairstyle and dye job.

Lastly, she got herself a sporty little Miata convertible. And her transformation was complete.

She and Bill currently reside happily just around the corner from me

...or something kind of like that or not at all. 

_________________________________________________________________________

Yeah, so yesterday, on my way to work, I rode past a cute little Miata convertible that I'm quite sure is the Miata convertible that nearly ran me over a couple of weeks ago during the intersection incident.

Same color scheme, same temporary plates.

Coming home later, I saw this smiling olderish couple, hand-in-hand, out enjoying an early evening stroll.  

They headed toward the Miata house, and I realized the woman was likely Miata woman of the intersection incident.

Clearly she was overly giddy that day, rushing to her first in-person meet up with Bill after all those years.  Stop signs and traffic lanes be damned!

I honestly have no idea who these people are, but I'm going with "Bill and Sadie around the corner". 

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: time.

cave coffee and a new addition

On Sunday, we took a drive down to lovely Longmont, CO to visit a tree farm, aptly named "The Tree Farm".  Longmont isn't particularly known as a destination to visit - mostly, I assume, because of its proximity to Boulder, which is beautiful and very expen$$$$ive. 

Personally, I haven't spent much time in Longmont, but Magnum found out about the tree farm, so we took the field trip. On our way, we stopped at a cute coffee shop: Cavegirl Coffeehouse.  It was a trendy little place with a new agey vibe to it.  I thought the surroundings were interesting, so we investigated a bit.

It was located in "Prospect New Town" of Longmont, described as "the coolest neighborhood in America".  It's cool because it's an "urbanist community" (this post is giving my quote marks key a workout).

The goal was "to build a distinctive project which would minimize negative impacts on the land" and is "an antidote to suburban sprawl".  I can get behind that.  Not a fan of sprawl, myself - one of the reasons we left Colorado Springs.  

Anyway, we got all coffeed up - I give Cavegirl 5 stars, although we only had coffee.  They had other things, mostly beverages. They claim to be 100% gluten free, and I could've gone for a bit of gluten with my coffee, but it was all good.

Then, off to the tree farm of no elaborate name. It was moist and muddy as we were there in between rainstorms. The trees and ornamentals seemed quite happy and healthy.  

We brought home this youngling Autumn Blaze Maple, and hopefully the happy healthy will remain. 

Here he is after his first night in our garage.  Violet the bicycle for scale. I use the male pronoun, but I actually have no idea the tree's gender. He could be both male and female because trees sometimes do that.

But I figured, "we will hug him and squeeze him and name him George".

George now stands, looking quite tiny, in his station in our front yard.  

Grow, George, grow.