book burn

"Although having a girlfriend or wife didn't exempt some of the men from being assholes, they were usually more comfortable with me"

That's a quote from a book I'm currently reading. [Hotshot: A life on Fire]. It's a memoir written by a woman who'd worked several seasons as a wildland firefighter. (Note: they currently identify as nonbinary, but during the firefighting days, "they" was "she").

I'd originally picked up the book for tips on building trails and managing the surroundings at our boonie property, but it's interesting learning her experiences in such a physically grueling, male-dominated job. I purposely chose a book written by a female author for those latter reasons. 

It's also interesting to me since we live in a state that gets its share of wildfires. In fact, our new property is in recovery mode from a 2012 fire. The book isn't just memoir, it gets into ecology and pros and cons of wildfires. I'm learning stuff.

It also marks my 26th book of the year. Recall I'd set a goal to read 26 books in 2026, and I'm ahead of the pace. Here are the books I've completed since my last update in April. Recognize any?

 

Goodreads profile pic

I will note that none of these scream "Favorite book of the year!" for me. They were all fiction except for "Eager" and "Cheap Land Colorado.

For the most part, I liked all of them well enough or I wouldn't have finished them. But they're quite a mix. "Bunny" is super weird, for lack of a better term. The two books by Emily Austin deal with pretty flawed main characters and read like a series of random journal entries. Some readers don't like that, but heck, I read blogs, so that works okay for me.

Whacha readin'?

sticks and stones

I was supposed to have a remote tutoring sesh a little while ago, but my student no-showed me. I texted her at 5 minutes after and got the old "Oops, forgot to tell you I have a doctor's appointment..." 

Speaking of lies, that excuse is about as worn out as the homework eating dogs. Welp, two strikes and she's out as per the general rules. I've got another student scheduled for this afternoon, so the day's not a total bust... so far.

Yesterday, Magnum and I found ourselves with some extra free time, so we headed up to our place in the clouds to do a little trail bustin'. 

It was a beautiful day for it, and we broke out our shiny new trail building tools, one of which is called a Mcleod. We'd bought it a few weeks ago, and it was brought out to us all shrouded up. We undressed it, and I was a bit surprised to see that it's yellow. The catalog showed it as "dark metal" colored.

I'm not disappointed, I saw it and immediately thought of Big Bird, mainly Big Bird's feet. 

That's it parked next to my rough draft of trail. "Trail" seems too impressive for what I've created so far. "Path" is maybe more fitting.

I tried spotting places where the deer have already formed trails and following their lead. Hopefully they'll continue to travel that path, thus helping to maintain it.

So it was just nice to be out there in the quiet and fresh air. A turkey vulture circled overhead, likely waiting for one or both of us to keel over.

Meanwhile, we're getting used to the idea of owning this land. There are actually several other landowners surrounding the area. We met our closest neighbors on our last trip, and we've since gotten access to the discord group, which seems friendly and welcoming. I'm sure we can use their advice on all relatable things.

As I was toiling along, I thought, "wouldn't it be fun if I dug up something of value?

Nevermind, that sort of thing doesn't happen to me.

But who knows, as we get to know more of these "mountain people", maybe they've got some cool cult we can join.

Okay, never mind. I may have gotten too much sun.

no filter

"Is that why you like True Crime? Because you're happy you're not the victim?"

"Yeah", I say, "but it's also because I'm happy I'm not the perpetrator".

In the latest novel I'm reading, the main character likes to listen to true crime podcasts in her spare time. I also like me a good dive into certain true crime stories, and I know I'm not alone (otherwise, I'd be a little paranoid about the interest). It's my understanding that many, women in particular, are into the genre. 

The character in my book is mainly into serial killers, which don't hold much fascination for me. What I sometimes get caught up in are the people who appear to be "normal" - or exceedingly above normal - who turn out to have a whole 'nother thing going on beneath the surface.

Ruby Franke, Chris Watts, Kouri Richins, and Elizabeth Holmes are of the criminals whose stories I dove into a bit further than the surface. 

I think what I find so interesting is their ability to lie and keep on lying, creating huge snowballs of lies that eventually crash into them. Do they think the stories will just "go away"? I get stressed out just hearing about their actions. Heck, I get stressed out when I see a friend on social media who has used an obvious filter for their profile pic. I mean, aren't they worried about people running into them in real life and wondering what happened?? 

This morning, we met with Wolfgang and Meego for breakfast. We do this about once a month. As was typical, there was a waiting list for seating. I didn't want to get on the list until we were all there, and Wolfgang was running late. He let us know he was on the way, and the restaurant host told me there was about a 20-min wait. 

So I went ahead and gave my name, table for 4, and painfully stated, "yes", when asked if all 4 of us were there since I was 90% sure Wolfgang would arrive within 20 minutes.

Damn if that host didn't text me TWO minutes later that our table was ready! So the three of us checked in. I had to confirm 4 people. 

"Yes, he's in the parking lot...", omg, what is happening to me?

Wolfgang did arrive a few minutes later, before I was completely overcome with guilt. But still, the ordeal was enough to swear me off the lying. Enough criminal activity for me.

hands and fingers

Last week, while I was at work in testing, a woman came in for some certification exam, I don't remember which.

I was getting her checked in, and at one point, I had to get a digital signature from her. She signed the pad, and I saw that she'd drawn a little cat face as part of her signature. She had an "i" in her name, the dot of the "i" was the cat's nose. I'll demonstrate via this dramatization:

One reason we collect signatures is to see that they match signatures on the required IDs. When I saw the cat face, I was about to comment to her that she should sign her name the same way she signed her ID. But lo and behold, I looked at her drivers license signature, and there it was. The cat face above the "i". That actually is her official signature. Why not?

It's my understanding that cursive is no longer taught in elementary school. I think my kids were taught cursive, but if so, they were of the last. Meego may not have made the cut. I know they learned keyboarding early on, whereas I took typing as an elective in high school.

When we collect signatures from people in their 20's and younger, the result is often a sloppy printed version of their name, as in this dramatization, using my non-dominant hand for accuracy:

I'm not saying it's wrong to no longer teach people cursive as there's very little use for it these days. Some things still require signatures, but maybe that's going away too. Some of the tests we give don't require signatures but rather fingerprints. I wonder, if I had to take a test that required a fingerprint, would it work? Our fingerprints wear down as we age and become less readable, so I'm told. Well, actually, I had to be fingerprinted multiple times in the recent past before I got a decent image, so I know first hand. Mine are on their way out.

*side note: I'm not a criminal. People who work in public schools get fingerprinted. Recall my illustrious lunch lady career*

Maybe eventually, people will just have chips inserted at birth, doing away with any need for proof of identity. "Handwriting" will be an ancient word in anthropological archives

Do you like your handwriting?

June bugs

• It was my turn again on the Saturday rotation in testing this past weekend. I don't mind working Saturdays, especially now that the tutor load is light. But it does make for a shortened weekend. I worked with Daffodil, who is still fairly new at the job, but she's pretty much up to speed on everything at this point - thus the "privilege" of being added to the Saturday rotation.

I learned that she's originally from the Denver area, had moved out of state for work after college, then moved back when her boyfriend got a job here. I asked if she'd specifically been looking for part-time work, and got "nope, but after searching for such a long time, I'd take anything". 

Job market's tough out there, y'all. But I don't know what parameters she'd limited her search to, if she was only looking for college admin jobs, since that was related to her previous position. Either way, she's doing well and is a nice addition to our little group.

• We didn't get out to Middle Earth over the weekend, but we are getting some ducks in a row to get to work on the place. 

SOURCE

Our realtor is a former wildland firefighter, and he had trail building tips for us. He even presented us with this housewarming gift, known as a Chingadera. 

At closing, he asked if we'd heard of them, then lowered his voice, saying "do you speak Spanish?"

"Uhm, well, I know "chinga"', I replied.

Translated, chinga dera means "that effing thing"

I guess we can assume that some fireline people started calling it that, and the name stuck. 

• We did get out for a nice bike ride yesterday morning. After a very dry winter, it was nice to see a good volume of water in the Cache la Poudre (locally known as just The Poudre, pronounced POOH-der)  river that flows through town. Some late spring snows and rain helped.

I'd recently decided that I had too many bicycles and did a clearout. I had 4 bicycles - silly in my case. Now I'm down to one good general purpose. Sold two, donated a third. 

One buyer was actually a guy, but he was about my height and had a small build. I felt he was a good home for it.

A nice woman bought the other. She said she had a decent bike, but it was her ex-husband's, and she wanted to purge herself of him.  

Mission accomplished.

I, robot

Two weeks of summer break, and I'm having trouble keeping track of what day it is. 

I've been working a few extra shifts in the testing center - which never sleeps - so that's helped somewhat. The college summer session began yesterday, and I've already got one tutor signup whom I'll meet tomorrow. Thursday. Yes. Tomorrow is Thursday.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the extra free time. Today, I went to Discount Tire and had a set of new tires installed. Ever been to a Discount Tire? The entire staff is so dang nice and courteous, it's almost weird. Like Stepford Wives, but Stepford Tire Shop Staff. I'm not complaining, since human interactions become less and less these days.

Speaking of human interaction, of the jobs that have been replaced by AI, I fully expected tutors to fall away years ago. But here we still are. In fact, both my jobs at the college are being performed by AI, but there are still those who want real-life tutors and real-life test administrator/ proctors, and I guess I can understand that. 

AI tutors won't genuinely sympathize when hearing, "as if I'm ever gonna have to [insert annoying math concept here] when I get a job!"

AI test proctors won't compliment your cute shoes or empathize at how worthless women's pockets are when checking for cheat notes.

And speaking of unplugging, I'm enjoying these late springtime days. I caught some goose babies and a curious horse on my morning wanderings yesterday.

That was Tuesday. Which makes today Wednesday.

I think?

going primal

Greetings on this Memorial Day.

We went out to our newly acquired property yesterday afternoon. Magnum has been referring to it as "the property", which I find Bo-Ring. 

Here, I will refer to it as Middle Earth, for now.

This was our first visit since closing. We'd only been out the one time to look at it. I'd say I like it even more now than that first visit. No buyer's remorse as of yet. 

Meego and Wolfgang were along to help decide prospective trail routes, etc.

We located a small babbling brook, thanks to some recent rains. 

This dear deer hung out with us pretty much the whole time. It was there when we arrived, and seemed to be watching us as if to say, 

"Hello. Welcome. So... when're you leaving?"

As we were leaving, we also met our "next door" neighbors - a nice young couple. They have a house and some outbuildings and lots of equipment. I believe they live up there year round. 

They told us a little about the area and other residents - including the wildlife. 

They mentioned bobcats and the mountain lions that like to hunt the deer. I believe I'd found evidence of such while traipsing about.

As for us, we plan to keep it relatively wild. There's no electricity nor water source and just a small shed. 

Wilma Flintstone was more civilized.

puberty and connections

I just polished off the last of a big ol' batch of fried rice. I know, big whoop.

Thing is, when I make fried rice, I go big with the egg. I like a lotta egg in my fried rice. I made this latest batch with duck eggs.

Recall that coworker Sarge's family took on three baby ducks a little over a year ago. By late last fall, the ducks reached puberty and began earning their keep.

Sarge typically collects three eggs a day - ample supply for his family of 5. Ample enough that he often brings surplus in to work. 

I brought six surplus eggs home and turned them into fried rice. 

Three duck eggs in hand, one store bought
 large chicken egg for scale

They are noticeably bigger (duh!) than chicken eggs - nearly double the volume. I made double the amount of fried rice I usually make with 6 chicken eggs.

I give 5 stars. The duck eggs are bigger, fluffier, lovely to cook. I don't know how much of that pleasure is from them being duck eggs and how much is from them being homegrown fresh.

Sarge said, at first his kids were all, "Ew, you're eating duck babies?!"

So he explained they're not babies since they're not fertilized. 

Saying they're eating the product of a duck ovulation cycle is much more appetizing.

And speaking of sex ed... I don't remember having that taught to me in school. I only remember "health" class where boys and girls went to separate rooms and we talked a lot about periods and tampons and all the fun that entails. 

The real sex ed came in the form of a book, circulated among myself and several friends.  I was reminded of that book this week. 

Okay, anyone play "Connections", the NY Times game? I play occasionally, and did so this last Tuesday - May 19. One of the categories was books by Judy Blume. Spot them?

I'd heard of Fudge and Superfudge, but never read them. Never heard of Deenie. But I'd most certainly heard of AND read Forever.  

As I recall, there were two very worn out paperback copies that circulated among this little impromptu adolescent girl book club. We read the sh*t out of that book. 

I'm pretty sure it's the only Judy Blume book I've read. I understand it was quite controversial at the time - maybe still is. Also, as far as I know, my mom didn't know I read it, but who knows. She seemed to just know stuff without me knowing she knew it.

In my case, yes, it was educational. 

I don't remember much of it now, but in summary:

Two high schoolers fall in love. They have sex. It doesn't last forever. Everybody's fine. 

192 pages of that for my 13-year-old friends and I to discuss. Dang we were studious.

Buzz bite, bottoms

Coworker Buzz got bit by a dog a little over a week ago. Apparently, he was just walking along in a park when a rando dog - that was on a leash with its owner - suddenly decided to try to take a chunk out of Buzz's arm.

While the incident ruined Buzz's shirt, it didn't really break the skin, but left a decent bruise. And Buzz seemed pretty shaken up about the whole thing. Such a surprising, unprovoked response from a dog who's "never done that before!"

I commiserated with him with my own dog bite story when I learned of his ordeal a few days after the fact. The surprise of it, the confusion as to how to react. I won't rehash it, but I did (of course) blog about it [HERE].

And it really just grew out of swappin' stories, but that's when I realized that Buzz was pretty shaken up by it, emotionally. Later, as our shift together ended, he thanked me for sharing and talking it through with him. Said it was helpful to talk with someone who understands.

In my case, I chalked it up as a "weird" incident. I went home and cleaned up and that was that. In hindsight, I should've at least gotten a tetanus shot. 

In Buzz's case, Buzz called Boss because he didn't feel "stable" enough to drive himself. Boss drove him to urgent care. At urgent care, Buzz wasn't sure how to get his VA coverage, so he called Sarge - our other veteran coworker - who got him set. He was inspected and tetanused and sent home.

All this to say, don't judge a book... 

Buzz is about 40 years old, single, lives with a roommate. He's a military veteran with a large percentage of veteran disability. I don't know the extent of his disability other than he's got a bad back, but I think a good chunk of it is mental. 

On the surface, he seems pretty resilient. Stocky build, likes to joke around, does martial arts. But deep down, he's kinda vulnerable. And based on the way he discusses things, I get the feeling he regularly goes to therapy.

In other news, I'm still enjoying this little break between spring and summer semesters. Summer session starts next week, and I know nothing of the tutoring load yet to come. I've been using the break to take care of some to-do list things that have been back burnered for a while and do a few extra shifts in the testing center. 

Yesterday, Boss received some batteries he'd ordered. He showed us the underside of the box they were packaged in, so I figured I would share:

In case you ever need to say 'this is my bottom' in French.

something old, something new

ME: So... y'know we close at 4:00, right?

HIM:  I thought you close at 5:00

ME: Nah, Fridays it's 4:00

HIM: FUUUUUUUCK

Just one of the conversations I had last Friday in the testing center. Aah, finals week. This particular student walked in at around 3pm for his 2-hour final, due that day. I know him from tutoring. He's a concurrent enrolled high schooler, racking up college credits. He'll be halfway to his engineering degree already by his high school graduation.

He's intelligent for his age, but not the most punctual... or time aware.

Once resigned to his fate, "Welp, I only need a 38% on this final to pass the class".

"I'd hope that's doable", I replied. And apparently it was.

And just like that, the semester's done. After the frenzy of activity in the days leading up to finals, things are now very quiet on campus until summer session begins in a couple of weeks.

I've got a few things on my to-do list between now and then. For one thing, I have a doctor again. Recall that I was doctorless for several months as my old practice underwent upheaval and is no longer in our network. The new place wouldn't take me until it'd been a year since my last checkup. I finally reached that milestone.

Saw the new doctor, who then got the ball rolling on all the things: blood screen, mammogram, colonoscopy...

In the chaos of the old office upheaval, some of my stuff was missing from the records. For one, I knew I'd had a mammogram since the last they'd reported.

This to say how handy this blog is, because I figured I probably mentioned the last mammogram here because how weird is that? Bingo. Found it. Who needs medical records?

And speaking of archives, I did manage to find our Sam signed napkin from the wedding as well as Sam and Katherine's page from the guest book:

         

My brother made the annotation of where they were from, lest anyone wonder.

In other activity, we're this close to completing the purchase of that big pile of dirt we looked at a few weekends ago. About 50 acres of dirt, actually.

There goes the neighborhood.

a cake, a kid, a mustache

I've just emerged from our crawl space, empty handed. It's dark in there, I went looking for the guest book from our wedding, of all things. It's in there somewhere.

Peggy over at https://straightupnochaser.blogspot.com/ posted about celebrity sightings, of which I've experienced little. When I worked at a hotel in downtown Denver in the mid 80s, we often had professional wrestlers stay for WrestleMania type events, but I've never followed professional wrestling. So, despite the throngs of fans in the lobby, the wrestlers weren't anything more than typical hotel guests to me.

However... How Ever... we did have a couple of well-known movie stars at our wedding:

Mr. Sam Elliott, along with his illustrious mustache, and wife, Katherine Ross.

No, it's not like they are long-time family friends who made our wedding guest list and RSVPd "Yes!". They actually, more or less, crashed the reception with the help of their young daughter, who is now 41 years old. I got this photo after googling from around the time of the wedding crashing.

SOURCE

So, the story of how our worlds collided

• I grew up in a small town in Colorado.
• We got married in my hometown.
• My hometown is surrounded by boonies. Lots of boonies.
• A movie adaptation of a Louis L'Amour novel was being filmed
• Louis L'Amour wrote westerns. Lots of westerns.
  
• Sam Elliott (and sometimes Katherine Ross) starred in lots of westerns
• Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross starred in this particular western
• The movie was filmed in the boonies surrounding my hometown
• The movie cast and crew stayed at the hotel of my wedding reception

BOOM, celebrities at our reception.

Our wedding cake was set upon a table, and this little blonde girl walked in and asked me, "Can I show my dad your cake?"

"Okay", I replied, nonchalantly.

She returned with freakin' Sam Elliott in tow.

And honestly, my mom was already practically best girlfriends with Katherine Ross by that time. My mom worked at the hotel in the restaurant. Mom was very easy to be friends with, and never went all stalker on Katherine Ross. 

She told me she treated them like any other restaurant guests, and one day slipped Katherine a note saying, "I loved you in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and 'Stepford Wives'", to which I can attest is true - those were probably Mom's two favorite movies. And the friendship grew from there, at least during their time in my boonie hometown.

Magnum and I got a picture with Katherine Ross and their daughter, a.k.a. chief wedding crasher, and I'm sad to say WE LOST IT - THE PHOTO.

There are lots of other photos of the wedding weekend, but that ONE is conspicuously MIA, lost during one of our earlier moves. I lost that photo along with my diploma for my bachelors degree. Of those two things, I am way more disappointed about losing the photo.

But we've got a signed wedding napkin, and the couple did sign our guest book - which is somewhere in the crawl space... maybe.

nieve seis de mayo

We're having us a snow day. First one for the whole school year, and it comes in May?

But we'll take what we can get after our long, dry winter.  Poor awakening trees, welcomed by drought only to get dumped on with heavy, wet snow. Their roots are loving it, but their branches, not so much.

So, I'll be zooming with the tutees today. No complaints from me or them. I have an easy commute to campus, but remote sessions mean I need only be presentable from the shoulders up. 

 I took a soggy walk-about the neighborhood this morning. Pretty quiet out with all the schools and colleges closed - a precursor to summer break when many of the university students go away. 

Monday is the last day of our semester. Then it's a couple of weeks until the summer session begins. I've made myself available for summer tutoring. There are less students in the summer, but also less tutors, so it seems to balance out. 

Welp, time to try to make myself a quarter presentable.

proms, snow, and dopamine

We made it to May. Snow in this coming week's forecast after a whole lotta nothing all winter. 

I'll take it, better late than never.

But this weekend's been lovely. I went out to take care of a couple of easy errands yesterday via bicycle. At one point, I rode through a picturesque part of the university campus. It was teeming will well-dressed folk.

It's too early for graduation, I pondered. Plus, graduation would bring out caps and gowns, none of which were present. As I got closer, I noticed the well-dressed folks were a bunch of kids - broccoli-haired boys and gowned girls. 

Ah... prom.

Apparently, that location on campus is a popular place for prom pics.

I thought back to high school prom days and to how oh-so-important it seemed at the time, and how oh-so-unimportant it actually is/was in the grand scheme of things. But I hope they had fun - didn't get too drunk, and no one got pregnant.

Speaking of almost graduation, one week remains of the semester. Do-or-die for some students heading into finals. One of my tutees has very long, decorative acrylic fingernails. They can be cumbersome to deal with when she's doing her online homework - needing to use her chunky knuckles instead of fingertips when using her laptop touch screen.

"These nails make it difficult to do my math homework", she acknowledged, to which she added, 

"but I need the dopamine to do my math homework"

Hey, it's a balance.

watch out

"Wanna arm wrestle?"

Party Girl asked me this on Friday at work. Friday mornings in testing are nearly always very busy, but then things typically quiet down by noonish. We were at noonish. She suggested the arm wrestling to see which one of us could clock out early.

I asked what made her think of arm wrestling, "We could just rochambeau", I suggested.

But then I said she could go early since I had to tutor later so wouldn't be leaving campus anyway. She then admitted she just really felt like an arm wrestle match. So fine, I granted her wish, weird as it was. I don't think I'd arm wrestled since maybe middle school?

I won by the way.

• Speaking of granting wishes, two of my PEO friends and I interviewed a woman who applied for an educational grant. Bottom line, we learned she has too much financial aid already, so is not eligible for this particular grant. I need to draft an email to inform her, so am procrastinating by blogging instead. 
  
  
• We trudged around another property-for-sale in the boonies yesterday after deciding the access road to that other one was a deal breaker. Meego has come along both times, but Wolfgang had conflicts both times, so I meant to take photos of yesterday's site for Wolfgang, but plum forgot.

These are from the listing.

Again, there is some fire damage - from a fire in 2012 - but it's not nearly as stark as the last place we visited. And there are gorgeous views. I think we might put an offer on this one after a bit more research.

• After working up an appetite, traipsing around in those woods, we stopped at nearby Vern's just outside of town. 

Vern's is very popular, known for it's hearty meals and humongo sweet rolls. We'd never been there. It's an interesting contrast to restaurants in old town Fort Collins, which are more trendy, for lack of a better term. 

from Google reviews
What is that little thing below? A wolverine??

The Vern's decor is plentiful taxidermy, dead eyes watching from every vantage point. And there was a lot of camouflage clad clientele. 

Breakfast was delicious. Mine was meatless, which seems rather contradictory upon reflection.

cancel, campaign, commute

I'm in the computer commons at the college killing some time before my next tutoring appointment. I got to campus just in time to receive a text from my earlier tutee...

"I'm really sorry to do this so last minute..."

Okay, fine. She had to late cancel - health issues. So here I was in vagabond mode. I was in the student center for a while, having a snack. A guy walked up to me,

"Excuse me, are you a student?", he asked.

Heck no, what?? was what I was thinking, but to be fair, there are a few from my generation who decide to take college classes, for whatever reason.

So I said, "Uh, no. Sorry"

He approached the girl sitting not far from me. He's running for student government, getting signatures. I have no idea what the student government does here. As for me, I reached into my bag and put on my nametag so as to not look so student-y.

In other news, the Pelicans are here. They come every spring to, apparently, breed. Why Colorado, I have no idea.

I'm sure there are pelicans breeding in other places, too, but I always see a flotilla of them on my commutes home this time of year. 

And with that, so endeth todays loitering. 

moonscapes and lilacs

The weeks are a-flying by. Only three weeks left in the spring semester... but who's counting?  It's a busy time, and I'm SO glad I am not PEO president for another year. It almost happened, and *whew*. I've got enough other things to do.

I mentioned a while back that we've talked about purchasing some recreational land, and we've gotten more serious after perusing properties online. I should give credit where credit's due and mention that Magnum has been chief peruser, knowing our criteria. He's taken it on, sends me links to candidate properties, and found us a good realtor.

Yesterday was our first site looky-loo. We drove up to the boonies with Realtor to this mass of dirt that appeals to us for various reasons. It's kind of a sad story actually. The current owner purchased it a few years ago, worked at paying it off, built a small cabin - just a nice getaway. And then...

The Cameron Peak Fire happened and ravaged the place. It is now a landscape of blackened used-to-be trees and not much else. 

So, one's sad story is another's blank canvas.

Here's one of the pics I took of what was once a lovely evergreen forest

Very tall Realtor included for scale. (Seriously, the guy's like 7 ft. tall...)

But there are gorgeous views, primo location (when not on fire), and lots of potential. We really liked the property, but one downside is... The Road, yes it deserves to be capitalized. The road to get there is a bear for about the final half-mile. We brought our 4x4 truck just to make sure it could do it. It made it, and while not a deal breaker, The Road is a big red flag. Even Realtor and the local guy who maintains the roads in the area agree it's a beast.

So I want to look at at least one other property for juxtaposition. Not ready to start throwing money around just yet. 

Speaking of juxtaposition, lilac season is upon us despite our hot, dry winter and spring. I snapped this photo on a recent morning run around.

I'm sneezy, but they're pretty.

elevensies

Craving
Coffee walk
I'm surely addicted
12oz drip, oat milk
Happy

I recently read about a journaling technique. "Eleven" refers to journaling thoughts in the pattern:

• 1 word
• 2 words
• 3 words
• 4 words
• 1 word

So I gave it a whirl and came up with today's opening lines just prior to this morning's coffee walk. Afterward,

[student's name]
New hair
It suits her
Change would be good
Go

That one came about because we went for our coffee walk and ended up at a coffee shop inside a local bookstore. I went to the counter to order and was met by one of my college tutees, who was barista-ing. I didn't know she worked there.

"Oh, hi" I greeted, "I know you"

"Yeah, hi", her response

"Ooh, I like your hair, looks great", I genuinely shared.

"Thanks" <smile>

Her hair did look good. It's sort of a shag style, now died black with a shock of red on the lower half of one side. It's not something I would do or look good with, but it suited her. She'd recently decided to change her major from a STEM subject to creative writing. She'd never confessed fully to me, but I'm guessing she really wants to be a writer, but figured she should study something more "practical" in college, so went the STEM route.

Then she likely decided, "screw that", gonna follow her dreams instead. I think that decision likely lifted a weight off her shoulders. She did seem more at ease today as bookstore barista with cool new hair than as the last time I'd seen her - struggling math student.

Maybe she'll become a successful author, and I can say I knew her when...

On that note, we're already down to the last few weeks of the semester. I'm looking forward to the summer break, but a few students have already asked me about summer tuting. So it likely won't be a full-on snoozer, which is a good thing.

Balance
All play
And no work
Invites in the dementia
Maybe?

bunnies, books, 'n' beavers

Happy Easter to those who revel!

It's a lovely sunny spring day here. We went for a coffee bike ride this morning. A happy Easter Bunny waved merrily to us from outside a church, possibly muttering quietly at the bicycle-riding infidels.

This past week felt a little off for some reason. Tutor students struggling more than the usual. On Wednesday, I commented to one, "is it a full moon or something?" Lo and behold, it was. And now we've got the Artemis crew stirring the pot.

In 2026 Reading Challenge updates, I am now 16 books into my goal of 26 books on the year, so a bit ahead of the pace. Here are my latest that didn't end up in the DNF pile. Descriptions mine:

Shy Creatures - a single 30-something art therapist in the 60's tries to help a man who'd been "hidden" for decades and her teenaged niece while having an affair with one of the doctors. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Coworker - Typical Scooby-Doo type mystery from Freida McFadden. Audiobook while doing mundane things around the house. ⭐⭐

Flashout - some weird "artists" doing weird things in the 60's, not all that comparatively weird to other things from the 60's. ⭐⭐⭐

The Raven's Nest - Memoir from a woman who went to Iceland, fell in love with an Iceland man, married him, became an Icelander, divorced the Icelander, wrote a book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm currently reading a couple of non-fictions. One is Cheap Land Colorado - interesting book about off-gridders living cheap in Colorado. I happened to see it while loitering around a bookstore. I've been through the area, and the book reminds me a lot of where I grew up.

The other is this book about beavers, recommended by my Step Mother-in-law during our recent visit.

SMIL is a retired chemical engineer, and loved learning about nature's engineers and recommends this book to anyone who will listen.

Beavers are pretty badass, I've been a fan for a while.

BUC-EE

pandering

Happy April Fools day! Got any plans?

I'm enjoying a little downtime this morning, nothing scheduled until the afternoon, which will arrive quickly as per usual. Meantime, laundry.

I finished up a little over a week of cat sitting Wolfgang's cat while Wolfgang was out having adventures. This meant going to the cat daily, which I don't mind. Wolfgang's place is across town from work, but it's a pleasant bicycle ride, just adds time to the commute.

It would be convenient if Maisey the cat just stayed with us, but our cat, Napolion, will never accept that. He's becoming an old man and gives off plenty of GET-OFF-MY-LAWN! energy when it comes to other cats invading his territory.

Maisey is a sweet kitty, but Physical Touch is NOT her love language. I know to let her initiate any contact. I'd say she's more of the Receiving Gifts variety - as long as the gifts are food.

Once that's taken care of, she's happy to sit nearby and stare at me with her hypnotic blue eyes.

Her way of saying, "thanks"?

It feels more like, "Who are YOU, and what did you do with Wolfgang?"

lazy, injury, drama, the food

And... we're back. Spring break is over, back for the final push at the college. Catching up with the tutees I've had sessions with so far has been interesting:

------------------------------------

Me: How was your spring break?

Tutee1: Great, except I got lazy and forgot EVERYTHING!

------------------------------------

Me: What happened? <said to a concurrently enrolled high school student, gimping in with a medical boot on one foot>

Tutee2: I hurt my foot skydiving

Me: REALLY?

Tutee2: Actually, I stepped weird off of a curb, but isn't that technically skydiving?

Later, he told me he had to usher a choir concert that evening. I asked if he could be excused because of the foot injury.

"Nah, I'll still do it. I get extra credit for volunteering, plus there'll be a girl there I want to ask to prom"

Priorities.

---------------------------------------

Me: How was your spring break?

Tutee3: (looking pensive) Well, I went home (out of state), and everything kinda blew up. It wasn't so good

She looked on the brink of tears, which I hoped would not come (they didn't) - that's not my realm of expertise. 

Before the break, she'd told me that she'd recently changed her major from a STEM subject to Creative Writing. I wonder if that was the cause of the spring break family tumult, but she didn't elaborate, and I didn't ask.

---------------------------------------

Then I overheard this spring break revelation from a side conversation:

 Student1: I've realized my liking for fish

Work Study: The animal or the band?

<pause>

Student1: The food.

---------------------------------------

Spring break, in the books.

not a minimalist, aliens among us

Thursday was technically my last day of spring break.  Friday, I worked in testing, which 'never' takes a break. Since I filled in for Test Boss on Monday, I had but 3 fun-filled days of spring break. No girls-gone-wild here, but I enjoyed not having to be anywhere at anytime.

Tuesday, I hauled a donation to the thrift store - always a fun time. I browsed the bargains for a while. A few months ago, I was in there on another Tuesday and learned that Tuesdays are Senior Discount day. Then I was smacked in the face with the realization that I'm eligible for the Senior Discount. Egads, when did that happen?!

While I love a good declutter, I've slowly come to the realization that I actually no longer identify as a "minimalist". A while ago, I perused some discussion boards around "minimalism" and "simple living". I sensed a common theme among many participants. 

It wasn't just that they didn't have much "stuff", but they also steered clear of obligations, responsibilities, employment, relationships...

And I thought, well, that's not me.

Recently, I was at the joyful Happy Whisk blog, where she was enjoying a good declutter. I asked her how her hobbies, of which she has many, meshed with her minimalism. She affirmed that she was not a minimalist, but rather

 "I make room for what I love to do".

Marvelous! So THAT'S what I'm doing when I declutter! Hadn't really put it in those words, though.

In work updates, we have a new coworker. "Daffodil" started in late January. She's fitting in nicely, and I enjoy working with her. Other than Boss and Blossom, we are all part-timers. Since I just work one shift a week now, I've not had much time to get to know Daffodil, but I worked with her both Monday and Friday this past week, plus we were a little less busy than usual since the students weren't around.

She is in her late 20's, moved here recently with her boyfriend, and no kids. I'm not sure why she wanted a part-time job, but maybe just took what was available from jobs that interested her. Yesterday, she wore a skirt, and I noticed a tattoo peaking out between the top of her sock and the hem of her skirt, so I asked her about her tattoos. 

She showed us the one I'd seen peeking out - a roses-and-dagger design - and one higher up on her thigh. The one on her thigh is a triangle, similar to [The Eye of Providence], but not exactly. She explained that she and her best friend got that tattoo together based on their interests in "alien conspiracy theories". 

Well all righty then. I'm honestly curious to hear more from her thoughts on that 👽

clocks and poultry

I think I'm still adjusting to daylight savings time. I'm not sleepy when I should be and morning comes too early. Hardships.

It's spring break all around here - the university, community college, and school district. No tutoring for me this week, so I told Boss in testing I was available if needed. To that, he said, "Yeah? Maybe I'll take Monday off, do something with my mom"

So I worked in place of Boss yesterday. The do-something-with-Mom turned out to be locating her tax documents. His mom is not young, and tends to forget things, but still lives on her own. 

While visiting the in-laws in California, much of the conversations were about effects of aging. Stepmother-in-law told us that one of the tests for dementia is to have the patient draw an analog clock.

SOURCE

She was talking about a friend of theirs who failed his clock-drawing test. Later, I was curious as to the result of FIL's drawing. I'm not sure about dementia, but his memory does have noticeable gaps. FIL is an accomplished architect, so I'm sure there was a time he would've drawn an impeccably creative clock.

I mentioned this conversation yesterday to Party Girl, who concurred. "Oh yeah. My dad's clock was all over the place".

Now I feel like drawing clocks... just to make sure I'm still with us.

In other updates, we encountered the resident wild turkeys while on a coffee walk again. Only three were hanging out this time. Two males, strutting their stuff, and one seemingly totally uninterested female.

This guy couldn't get enough of himself. He was all, "look at how majestic I am!". Never mind that the nearby female was fully ignoring him. He begged me to snap a photo.

Once I complied, he raked me in again, "No no, make sure you get my good side as well!"

Fine.

snow, sun, and an Armenian brain

We're back from our sunny getaway. It was nice to visit the in-laws, Father-in-law and step-Mother-in-law are 91- and 81-years-old respectively. FIL is pretty frail these days, but SMIL is a dynamo who will probably outlive us all.

We flew out of Denver last Friday. That happened to be the day of a messy snowstorm that canceled or delayed over 1300 flights out of Denver. Our flight was canceled, we got put on a different flight. All in all, not terrible. We landed 4 hours later than originally scheduled, so could've been worse. It marked the first time I've ever experienced de-icing.

It was Murphy's law at its finest (worst?). Denver hadn't had an appreciable amount of snow for all of February, then they got over 8 inches the day of our trip. I say the city of Denver should thank us for bringing the water. 

Once we got to California, it was warm and sunny. Hot, actually, and I'm not complaining. SMIL had arranged for a ride to and from the airport which was super convenient. Our driver was George, a friendly olderish Armenian man, for both trips.

Upon picking us up for our return flight, he announced with his Armenian accent, "There's a traffic accident on the freeway". Then added, "I'm going to choose a good route with my brain".

So I figured, welp, guess I gotta trust George's brain.

Turned out George's brain did good.

So a quick trip, but nice to see the in-laws and nice to just get a change of scenery - alien-to-us trees and birds. We visited Huntington Botanical Gardens, and Santa Monica beach. I'd been to that beach before, it's great for people watching, and I'd never been to The Huntington.

I took zero photos, social media rebel that I am. Magnum took one, though. We had gate checked our carryon bags to "help make boarding go faster". And this was the thanks I got.

See that bag lying in a puddle of slush? Yep. That's mine. Of course. It sat there for at least a half an hour while we looked on, expecting one of the wandering baggage handlers (they were right there!) to pick it up. So my PJs were wet, but no lasting damage. Magnum was sure to capture the indifferent airline name.

Wanna get away?

runneth over

 Welcome to daylight savings time Sunday - or as my step-MIL calls it, "my least favorite day of the year"

We are on a little getaway, visiting my Father-in-law and said step-MIL. As such, we've had one hour shaved from our getaway. But still, a nice time. 

The past week was quite busy with that PEO saga. Everything worked out as people stepped up to do the  required tasks, and I was relieved of presidential duties after two years, as originally planned.

In addition, they adorned me with this lovely flower arrangement. Now, I'm not particularly a flower arrangement person due to pets that will want to trash such things and my own allergies, but it's the thought that counts. So this was lovely as one of our members is an accomplished florist while her husband is a renowned glass blower - he made the vase. So I sneeze with gratitude.

With that load off my shoulders, I'll still be busy with PEO things, but it will no longer be my name as the one to contact for seemingly EVERYTHING. My email inbox is thankful.

weekend ramblings

I am ready to put the whole PEO officer saga to bed. Looks like we've got enough volunteers to fill the officer slate for next year. Sheesh, you'd think we were asking them to donate a kidney.

In the tumult of recruiting officers, I needed someone to fill a relatively easy job, and I thought of Jan. "Jan doesn't do enough", I thought, "time for her to step up". Jan became my target.

Jan is one of the few people left on the planet who still has a landline phone in addition to her cell phone. I didn't want to bother her if she was away from home, so I called the house phone. Her husband picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm calling for Jan. Is she home?"

"No, she's out delivering Meals-on-Wheels. Can I take a message?"

-----------------------------------------

Meals. 

On wheels. 

Jan was delivering. 

Boy did I feel like a doofus. Told my brain to quit being presumptuous. Of course, doesn't-do-enough Jan got back to me later and happily said yes to my request. Super duper Jan.

-------------------------------------------

Speaking of extra tasks, I worked a long shift in testing yesterday because Blossom needed to leave early. I've mentioned the on-going issues with Blossom's absenteeism. I think HR has gotten more involved, and Blossom actually worked two full weeks without calling off. Seriously, I think that's the first time that's happened in two years.

But since she'd worked last Saturday, she needed to take time off this week so as to not go into overtime. Solution: have me work extra.

Be careful what you wish for.

--------------------------------------------

Speaking of wishes, I've recently become intrigued by these Italian Moka pots. I don't consider myself a coffee snob, but these just seem cool and cute to me, and I strangely want one. 

SOURCE

In college, I had a little 2-cup stovetop percolator. It got me through many a lecture. These days I use an hourglass shaped pour over maker and rather enjoy the daily coffee making ritual. I consider myself a minimalist, so what's up with wanting a Moka pot? Well, I do just want a small one...

Alas, they don't work with my induction stovetop. 

However, we do have a campstove. And a patio. Will = Way.

progress

Last weekend, I had that PEO "come to Jesus" meeting to get people to fill the two officer vacancies we have for the upcoming year. The discussion went well, although no one stepped forward right away to take either office, including President. So that remains as still me.

But it was a good talk, and to my appreciation, a few other past Presidents who were at the meeting chimed in and helped throw down. I ended up contacting the state board for advice, asking what the deadline was for getting all the offices filled.

They responded back, not with a deadline, but rather a "those lazy members need to get off their asses" (I'm paraphrasing)

So I sent out an email to the chapter, quoting the state board, and reiterating that "you lazy members need to get off your asses" (again, paraphrasing). 

It seems like we're going to live for another year. The Non-Lazies are pitching in to get us through, although they already do a lot. Typical. Looks like I'll be stuck in the President's chair, but will have someone to share the load with. Another Non-Lazy has already committed to taking over in one more year, so that's a plus. Sheesh, things I gotta do.

Speaking of language, it seems I've crossed a threshold with a couple of tutees. I've mentioned how I consider it a sign that students are comfortable with me if they start comfortably swearing during our sessions, no longer overly cautious about their words. I mean, if they were elementary kids, that'd be concerning, but these are all adults.

They always start out very respectful (probably because I'm old), but the ice is soon broken. I see swearing as a breakthrough.

One guy came in grumpy, then began dropping f-bombs left and right, mad at himself for silly mistakes he'd made on a test. I agree, he knew better and should've scored higher. By the end of our session, he'd calmed down and was more optimistic. Language back to PG.

Another girl often responds with "What the heck?" when her laptop glitches or something. Yesterday, something happened, and there it was, "What the fu..?" Aha!

My words, however, are always pristine, of course

I was assigned another student this week, and I happened to notice that she'd worked with a different tutor the week before. I figured the change was due to a schedule conflict or something and mentioned that to her.

"So does this time slot work better with your schedule?", I asked

She looked a little confused and then replied, "Uh, yeah. Well, I just didn't like that other tutor". 

Then I was all paranoid. Certainly it can happen, a little personality conflict or just wrong way rubbing. I know the other tutor, not that well, but wondered what's not to like? I'll admit it threw me off my game a bit. 

But she hasn't dumped ME yet.

unexplained

I was in the math center a week ago, happily tuting away, when I looked up and saw a printout posted on a bulletin board. In the middle of the flyer was a photo of adjunct instructor and fellow tutor, Greg.

I thought, "Oh, what's this? We doing instructor of the month or something?"

Then I noticed the "In Loving Memory of"

WHAAT? I was shocked. Friendly, mellow, patient Greg? Passed away??

I had no idea. Neither did many of the others I talked with. He never looked unwell or in any discomfort. He was, I'm guessing, mid 60s, and seemed quite healthy. Loved his grandkids, enjoyed golfing...

Magnum says maybe it's one of those cancers you don't know about until the end. Maybe?

Still feels strange to think I won't be chatting with him anymore. My colleagues in testing were equally shook.

• Speaking of testing, I worked last Saturday with Party Girl. It was a busy day with lots of annoying little fires needing extinguishing. I didn't get much catching up with her until we were closing up. What's with all these people and their issues? Didn't they know I had Party Girl tea to catch up on??

But I did know that she was in a much peppier mood when I worked with her on Friday and then Saturday than she'd been the week before. Things are not great at her dad's facility, but minisculy improved. She's given her husband the what for, and he's taking note. No more mention of her moving out, making him buy her a house.

In short, he's having what seems to be an emotional affair with a long ago girlfriend - The One Who Got Away - from back in high school before his first wife (Party Girl is wife number 2). They talk on the phone and text regularly. I don't know if she lives nearby, but he should pick a lane.

• Speaking of picking a lane, I'm going to lay it all out with my PEO chapter at our upcoming meeting that people either need to step up and take an office or we don't have a chapter anymore. Sad but true. I'm not going to keep us afloat for another year just so we're in this same boat next February. We'll see how it goes.

But I'll be patient and calm and caring. 

It's what Greg would do.