adventure - party - carnage

Some catching up to do, it seems.

Been out having little adventures, this morning's featured road side blood and gore, but more on that later.

• On Friday, Magnum and I headed out for a commune with nature and hiked up to the summit of Arthur's Rock, a popular local hike.  I'd been up there once before with work friends, and Magnum wanted to give it a go with the aid of his new trekking poles. So off on our Arthurian quest we went. 

Magnum and the trekking poles, along with myself, made it to the summit and back. 

I highly recommend this invigorating hike. The summit rewards us with captivating eastward facing views where one (with super dooper vision) can nearly make out the cornfields of Nebraska.

Acrophobe me, hanging on for dear life

• Yesterday, we attended a large-ish family gathering to help Magnum's 90-year-old stepfather celebrate being 90 years old.

I grabbed a portion of one of the "Grandpa-D-with-all-the-grandkids" photos as it happened that our three contributions to the grandkid brood were right next to the man of honor. The landscape versions of the mass of grandkid humanity photos are much larger.

That's my MIL between Meego and Chaco, Grandpa D next to Wolfgang.

We each were supplied nametags with our "titles", i.e. "Abby - daughter-in-law" which made life easier at such a large gathering.

• This morning, Magnum and I headed out for a pleasant bike ride. Nothing strenuous, just meandering around our friendly town. We were rolling down a particularly picturesque street, me slightly in front, when I hear much scuffling from behind. 

I eventually looked around to see the end of Magnum's lengthy crash, he and his bicycle laying on their left sides.

The thing what happened: he was drinking from his water bottle, held in his right hand, as we approached an intersection. Upon noticing a truck approaching from our right, he instinctively grabbed his left-hand brake lever, which so happens to be the front brake. This caused his front tire to do a little hurky-doo, and the rest is self explanatory.

We assessed and briefly convalesced under the delightful shade of happy trees lining this particularly amiable street. It would've been a perfectly excellent little place of recess if not for all the blood and gore.

I whipped out my handy first-aid kit I always have with me while bike riding, almost happy for the justification to use it. It was reminiscent of that incident during my lunch lady days when young Mitch splashed nasty cleanser into his eyes, and I got to use the eye wash station for reals.

"I can fix this!", I told Magnum as I rifled through my little IFAK 

"Mammals are pretty much all the same except for the number of tits!", a line from a show we recently watched - quoting a veterinarian coming to the aid of her freshly stabbed wife.

For the record, I cannot fix a fresh stabbing, but a little bike crash road hash, oh yes.

water babies

I think I've become somewhat acclimated to the heat of summer. I looked up some tips for doing so, and bottom line, you just have to go outside and be uncomfortably hot for a while. At the same time, however, go too far outside your comfort zone and set yourself up for being heat sensitive forever. It's a fine line.

Apparently, there are scientific physiological processes at work other than just tricking our brains to "get used to it". As one article I perused puts it:

"Heat training has been shown to increase your standard rate of sweat, which in turn helps you regulate your body temperature. Further still, the body naturally will increase its volume of blood plasma (An adaptation similar to how altitude training increases your red blood cells)"

In short, your body learns to sweat more - bathing you in evaporative cooling. I took part in an impromptu study of such on Saturday.

Saturday was our town's annual Brickies™ (don't-call-it-LegoⓇ ) Creation Festival. The women of my P.E.O. chapter work the various booths, and, in turn, the downtown association gives us a pile of money. This was my second year volunteering. 

As with last year, this year's was a cute, wholesome, fun time. I mean, really. If you're feeling down about hearing of bad parents or thinking that kids are just a bunch of little hell-raisers, go spend some time at a Lego Fest. The contrast is rejuvenating!

I showed up at my assigned time of around 2pm. We had shade canopies, but it was still hot hot. The shade helped somewhat, but there was very little breeze. In fact, I looked down at the sweaty P.E.O. sister whom I was relieving of duty (she's very short), and she told me how her companion had to bug out early to barely avoid succumbing to heat exhaustion.

No sooner had I set down my bag that I could feel the sweat rolling down my face. This continued to be the case for the remainder of the afternoon a la...

this guy from Airplane.

And certainly not just my face. I periodically checked my shirt for noticeable signs of the great drenching. Thankfully, nothing seemed to break through the surface while I knew all too well what was happening underneath. 

As far as I can tell, I didn't frighten any children away from my station with my "increased standard rate of sweat and volume of blood plasma" as the line to take part was relentless until closing ceremonies were announced. 

More importantly, we all survived.

escape

Fangirl confession: I've been rewatching the Syfy series Haven again. Yes, rewatching again as in I've watched it several times. And maybe "watched" is not the right term since, after truly watching it one time through, I now indulge myself by streaming episodes while I'm going about mundane tasks around the house. What better way to clean bathrooms, do laundry, and such?

Is it a guilty pleasure, or just a pleasure? I don't carry any guilt about it.

The show ran for 5 seasons from 2010 to 2015. It's loosely based on a Stephen King novel, "The Colorado Kid".  

Nothing to be taken too seriously, but I enjoy the creativity and the Stephen King vibe -  a fun escape. I enjoy the characters, the writing, and, probably most of all, the setting.

It was filmed on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, a place I've never been but would like to. In addition to the drama, the episodes include wonderfully scenic views of fishing boats, lighthouses, beachfronts, quaint little seaside shops... things we don't have here in Colorado. I love the sounds of seagulls, lapping waves, and those boat bells - there's probably a specific name for "those boatbells", but I don't know what it is. I'm Colorado, so I know cowbells. 

Haven Trailer

Magnum and I watched the series originally back when it was more fresh, but we lost interest somewhere in season 4, I think. I've never watched to the end. But I stream the earlier seasons now and then, like today when the kitchen needed a cleaning.

A more recent show we watched is The Wilds, which ran for two seasons. Teens sent off to a "retreat" for troubled kids become stranded on an island after their plane crashes... or did it? Decent premise, but I once again lost interest before the last episode, and we stopped watching early on in season 2.

Currently, we're a few episodes into Deadloch, which is starting to grow on me with it's catchy deadpan one liners. I found one of the main characters overwritten and highly annoying early on, but her role has shifted a bit, so I'll stay in for now. 

As with books, I have no problem ditching a TV series when it's not working for me. The purpose of both is to be amusing escapism, right? It's not like it's for a work/school assignment. I can think of other shows I enjoyed for a while, but they ended up dragging on for too long without going anywhere, or went off the deep end. 

First world problems, I know.

So excuse me while I go pretend I'm cleaning a bathroom in Nova Scotia, just not a season 5 bathroom.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. What are you watching? Share your favorite summer programming so far.

down by the crick

Hot enough for ya?  This morning I stepped outside for a run at what is usually a pleasant time for such activity. But alas, it was already 76 degrees. Gross.

I realize 76 degrees would be pleasant for some, but we're spoiled here, and it's typically a good 10+ degrees cooler at that time in the morning.

Strangely, conditions seemed to improve as time went on. I ran mostly following a creek, which proved to be my, literally, cool friend. I crossed many other runners, walkers, bicyclists, and such also wanting to beat the heat. 

Last week on reddit, runners were discussing amazon prime day deals. I skimmed and saw heart rate monitors, gps watches, etc. Nothing I was interested in. Then someone said, "Nuun tablets half price!", and I was all, "what are nuun tablets?"

Well, I guess I'll find out, because I ordered me a 4-pack prime deal.

In somewhat related news, read about this guy? Assassinated while running. Hmm, bet he thought he was doing something healthy. He regularly posted his running and bicycling routes on the Strava app for all to see. Not a good idea for a commander during a war against Ukraine, or any place else for that matter. 

I, like many others, use Strava for logging runs and bicycle rides. Once again, I'm grateful I'm a nobody. But this is another example of how surprised I am with what people will post online. Strava, naturally, includes privacy settings, but the former commander didn't use them, apparently. It's like some facebook friends who give updates about how they just landed at some airport destination far far away from home for a specific number of days, a la , "Hey, go rob my house!"

On the flip side, Strava can be a handy thing, like last week when a woman was cooling down after her run and was approached by perv who tried to "expose his genitals" before she left the area. She got some snapshots from afar and posted a be-on-the-lookout to a local Strava group. 

She didn't get a good picture of the perv himself, but that's a pretty distinctive vehicle. 

Seen him?

sober saturday

I worked with Party Girl yesterday. Sleepy Man revisited us after he, not surprisingly, failed his first attempt last week. He stayed awake the whole time with us yesterday (still didn't pass). Seems like a nice guy, actually. I hope the third time's a charm.

A woman around 40 years old came in for a GED module. She instantly struck me as not your typical GED-er. One chief factor was her age (most are teens and twenties), but she was also very well kempt and articulate. In fact, when I checked her ID, the photo barely resembled the woman in front of me - enough to raise my proctorly suspicions. 

The photo on her driver's license showed a woman with hair pulled back away from a defiant looking and slightly chubbier face, heavily smeared with eyeliner. The woman in front of me resembled a wholesome Toni Collette. 

She chatted with us for a bit before she left, explaining that she wants to get her Master of Addiction Counseling license and needs the GED as prerequisite to get that ball rolling. She was excited about working at a new rehab center opening locally and shared that she was "five and a half years sober!"

We smilingly congratulated her, looking forward to seeing her through her GED progress. As soon as she was out of earshot, I looked to Party Girl.

"Yeah, I'm going for margaritas after this", she predictably divulged with a chuckle.

Now, we give Party Girl grief about her drinking, but not in an intervention kind of way. It's more of a coworker-banter kind of way. She acknowledges her "need" for alcohol, but she does seem to be able to control herself and is also one of the most responsible people I know. Let me count the ways:

• She reliably and diligently carries her share of the load at work
• She manages and maintains a rental property
• She has a good relationship with her stepkids, whose scene she entered when they were young teenagers
• She devotedly cares for her elderly memory-challenged father

In addition, she regularly tutors an 11-year-old Mormon boy. I include the "Mormon" to emphasize that Party Girl passed the family's clean cut scrutiny.

All this makes me wonder just what she would be like if she were to become "clean". 

She told me a friend asked her to come over after work and help design some landscaping for their yard. There would be margaritas. 

"I told them just one or two margaritas", she explained, "which we all know means two", she added.

Yes, we know. And I bet the landscaping will be splendid.

perchance to dream

What's it gonna be today? I'm gearing up to go to work at the testing center in a bit. I was off yesterday and tutored. On Tuesday, we dealt with a couple of characters. 

One was a woman who had "to pee so bad!" during her test. My coworker told her that we have no way to stop her test once it begins. She'd be allowed to take breaks, but the test will keep running. Her test (law enforcement) included videos and subsequent relevant questions.

Maybe giving her the "sure you don't want to use the restroom before you begin?" planted a subliminal need to pee. We could see her stand up and dance in place mid-test. I went to her and offered to let her use our shortcut to and from the facilities. She happily took me up on it.

Around the same time, we had another in the same room as need-to-pee lady who had trouble staying awake. Twice we noticed him with his head on his desk, and upon checking on him, found him snoozing away. Assistant Boss and I took turns waking him up. Granted, he was taking an insurance license exam. *YAWN*. 

We pondered the cause. Had he been burning the midnight oil? Did he take a couple of bong hits prior to the test to calm his nerves, and it worked all too well? Then I wondered if he had narcolepsy.

Years ago, I worked with a narcoleptic, Ross. I remember walking by a conference room with another coworker and noticing Ross looking deeply engaged in some documents in his lap. 

"Heh, Ross looks like he's sleeping", I quipped.

My coworker nonchalantly replied, "Yep, he probably is".

That's how I learned Ross had narcolepsy and that it was pretty well-known among people who regularly attended meetings with him. Ross was a nice guy and accomplished engineer. At the time, he'd recently married for the first time at the ripe age of late 40s. I learned his wife was giving him sh*t about his narcolepsy - not thrilled about him randomly dozing off while they were socializing. 

I suppose there are treatments and strategies available for managing narcolepsy, and I would guess that taking an insurance license exam on a summer afternoon isn't one of them.

cancels, gatherings, and dirt

Random thought / moment from the week:

• At work, we had an unfortunate man take his teacher license exam. I think it was for middle school math. He worked away for a couple of hours, felt confident about his answers, then accidentally hit "CANCEL" instead of "SUBMIT". 
  
  Just like that, his test was gone. No pop-up asking "are you sure?", no way to restore the exam, no nothing. He'll need to wait 35 days before he can take it again - after paying for it again. Ouch!  Poor guy was quite shaken up. Probably didn't get any sleep that night.

News that caught my attention:

• Juggalo gathering 2023 happened last weekend. I learned about Juggalos from a weird news story a few years ago when a strange guy was busted for stealing neighbors' Christmas decorations. He'd steal them and then put them up in his yard, i.e. it wasn't difficult to figure out who the thief was. 

SOURCE

The story was quite bizarre, and one of the details that came out was that Christmas thief chiefly identified as a juggalo, which sent me googling. Interesting crowd.

Anyway, I came across a reference this week to Insane Clown Posse, which jogged my memory and had me wondering if the gatherings still happen. I learned that, yep, they're still a thing and this year's coincidentally just happened. It seems juggalos have the reputation of being both highly depraved and lovingly spiritual - with much help from various drugs. I can't attest to know either way.

Triumphs:

• We broke down and purchased an air conditioner for the bedroom. We don't have central air, which is not all that uncommon in Colorado. But it can get unspeakably hot sometimes, and we've used a portable evaporative cooler that has served us well in the past. Fort Collins, however, is just humid enough to make the swamp cooler less than useful, so we bought a 1-room unit with an exhaust hose for the window.

As such, I rearranged the bedroom furniture to accommodate the pristine spot for the new air conditioner. So far, the new bedroom feng shui is agreeable, although that first night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it took a while for my spatial recognition to figure out where I was.

Challenges:

• I got a quote from a landscaping company a couple of weeks ago for making the desired changes to our front yard. 

Bottom line: we DIY

Something learned from triumph or challenge:

• I enjoy farting around in the yard grass, weeds, dirt, etc. when time allows. However, removing poorly maintained landscaping gravel is a pain in the ass.

paparazzi life

 

This past week, we were dog sitting Chaco's dog, Ella, while Chaco was out of town. I'd say she and our dogs have become pretty comfortable seeing this as Ella's home away from home. She settles in well with the daily routine, and Chaco gets majorly cheap dog boarding.

Even the cat, with whom Ella cannot be left alone, tolerates her presence for the most part.  He hangs out in his room of choice while being separated from the dogs and lets us know when he'd like to change his room of choice. His humans are well trained.

Chaco checks in on her occasionally, and I try to send him pics when he does. Clearly, though, Ella doesn't seem to like having her picture taken. She'll be sitting in picture-perfect form or outside basking in nature, but as soon as I get my phone out, *zhoop* she turns around or dashes off.

One evening, while out for a walk, I was able to capture her standing still. Well, it was the back of her head, but at least she was still. I knew if I went around to her front, she'd pull a blur move. But we managed a temporary sit still moment. 

The bunnies understood the assignment.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Show us a recent photo you took and let it inspire your blog post.

dead things and air conditioning

Happy Independence Day, you Americans! Happy Tuesday, others.  Plans for the day include keeping the dogs from freaking out from unwanted noises.

Magnum and I both had the day off yesterday - a little bonus from having 4th of July fall on a Tuesday.  We got some obligatory house care done, then decided to go on a little "field trip" in the afternoon when things got hot. Seeking someplace amusing yet cheap, big, and - most importantly - with air conditioning.

We found the perfect destination: Scheels Sporting Goods.   Oh.   My.   God.
We'd heard of Scheels' many virtues, mostly that it's just so BIG, but we'd yet to see for ourselves. Although we had no need for any sporting goods, we shuffled over to Johnstown. 

The minimalist frugal environmentalist animal lover in me was moderately appalled. The uncomfortably hot and sweaty people watcher, however, had a pretty good time.

Yes, Scheels is huge. It's chock full of "stuff", and I was quite amazed by the sheer amount of available product  inventory - strange to see these days with brick-and-mortar stores going belly up, unable to compete with online merchants. 

And Scheels is not all about consuming. It's like a little carnival going on in there. There's a Ferris wheel, an arcade, a cafe, a large saltwater aquarium...

I recently saw a stand up comic talking about Scheels, most notably the gun department. He told of his astonishment at the number of guns "just laying around!". Of course, we had to check this out. He was correct.

I snapped this pic of a small portion of guns "just laying around"  mainly while noticing the many many dead animals looking down upon us in judgement.

So many dead animals. They were all labeled, though, so... educational?

They were seemingly everywhere.

A mountain lion gave me the what for as I watched the indoor Ferris wheel (can't say I ever expected to write that sentence)

I'm not actually sure how long we hung out, but we spent a good amount of time even without visiting every department. We didn't purchase anything, but did chat a bit with the creepy animatronic John Elway

The Scheels experience on a hot day.  I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.