gone fishin'

"Find something beautiful to look at, and spend a few minutes contemplating it. You already know how to create beauty, and that's a start"

So sayeth my horoscope app for today. Yes, I have a horoscope app. I don't know squat about astrology, but heard of the app and downloaded it just for grins a few weeks ago just to see what it would say.  It gave this advice after "telling" me that I'm over-identifying with other people. What?

I had two tutor appointments this morning. Appointment number one showed up and informed me she's withdrawing from the class because the teacher can't teach and she's over it. Appointment number two showed up stating he has to pass his test today, or he's withdrawing from the class - then he opened his backpack to realize he didn't bring his class notebook or his notecard he's allowed for the test. 

An unproductive day for me so far. I should find something beautiful to look at, already.

In the meantime, I will contemplate these tutees. I know Tutee1's teacher. She seems okay, but then I've never taken a class from her. Tutee2 is a nice enough guy, a little impatient with things in general, but not a hopeless case. 

I suspect, as I'm only hearing their sides of the stories, that their struggles are not solely due to their instructors. The pandemic didn't help this generation, academics-wise.

I have three more appointments today, hopefully things will become more productive.

In the meantime, I had some playtime. I'm not inktobering this year. It became not as fun after instagram changed their algorithms, and my interest lagged. But I saw the prompt for today was "Camp", so partook of a getaway.

A  depiction of a thing originally created by someone else. 

Now I'm off to meet with Tutee3. What's in the stars?

all I needed for another day

Happy November! This really is my favorite time of year. I feel I started the month off right with a morning jaunt at sunrise.  Had to snap a pic of the view

... to which the cell phone, of course, does not do justice. We did get our first snow this past weekend, a decent amount - 5 inches maybe? I was NOT at all aclimated to the abrupt onset of c-c-cold, but it was pretty.

Temperatures were not too too cold last night for the trick-or-treaters, of which we only had a handful. We've got leftover candy that I can take into work. Plenty of moochers to be happy, and better to have too much than not enough. 

Work is busy as we're still short-staffed. We haven't yet hired a new assistant boss, and one of the part-timers who left a couple of months ago has not been replaced. BUT, we finally got the ball rolling on hiring the new assistant boss. I'm on the hiring committee, and we've begun getting the ducks in a row as the job was posted this week.

Oh, and #inktober2023 is done. Whew, it was fun but for the pressure to draw everyday! Not that I had to do it, but y'know when you get a good streak of something going, and it's hard to quit? 

Well, I surprised myself by getting 30/31 prompts. I only missed number 15, which was "Dagger". Not going back. I think my pens are about out of juice anyway. So - yay! New pens for me!

Anyway, another pic that I took a couple of weeks ago along the running path... before it all turns to cold and ice.

We set our clocks back this weekend (really, can't we just pick one and stick with it?!). Darkness descends.

numbers

Sick of inktober updates? Grab the barf bag... 

I'm still alive with it, four more prompts to go. I think a couple of my pens are running on fumes, but they'll have to hold on a little longer.

Aside from that nonsense, October has seemed to have flown by. We've got real snow forecast for the weekend, so time for everyone to demonstrate how they forgot their winter driving skills.

Halloween isn't looking too rough, weather-wise. It's difficult to gauge how much trick-or-treat activity we'll have in our neighborhood. The college had a Halloween event this past Wednesday for students and staff with young kids. I'm guessing they chose Wednesday since that was the day closest to actual Halloween with the most in-person classes going on? Before the snow comes?

Anyway, the bits I saw were pretty cute. The school's mascot is the Wolves, so the event was titled "We're Wolves!" *snort*

I have no costume, the house is not decorated. There are a few houses in the neighborhood decked out for Halloween - houses where young kids live. Our neighbors have a young daughter, and their front yard features a glowing skeletal unicorn in the style of My Little Pony that is both cute and creepy.

Here we are being lazy empty nesters.

I have to leave in a bit to go scribe a test for "Ben", the calculus student with cerebal palsy. Someone asked what would happen if I wasn't there to scribe, and I'm pretty sure that someone from the math department would be called upon to do it. I rather enjoy doing it, though, and I'm thankful to have time in the schedule. Apparently, disability services is trying out some software that can do voice-to-text for math, and I'm curious as to how good it is.

For now, it's me. From the college's point of view, I imagine I'm a pretty cheap option.

rock punks

 Magnum and I both had the day off yesterday, a beautiful fall day. He asked if I wanted to do "a hike or something". 

Recall that he got himself some trekking poles a few months back to aid in this "hike or something" business. He test drove them on a short hike to Horsetooth Falls, then we did a slightly more strenuous hike to Arthur's Rock. With both, the poles did their job, and Magnum and his knees survived.

So now he was ready for Horsetooth Rock, which is a prominent landmark here.

It sits watching over us from the west, and as can be imagined, many local businesses like to ride its coattails a la Horsetooth Dentistry, Horsetooth Plumbing, Horsetooth [fill in the blank]... It was so named by early wild west trapper types for looking like a you-know-what.

Getting to the tooth is a popular local hike. I went up solo shortly after we moved here, but Magnum had only been partway. He deemed yesterday the day of the tooth. We set off, us and his trusty poles. 

It was a nice day for it, maybe a little on the hot side. I'm glad to report we made it up, and (more importantly) back down without a hitch.

The trail was not crowded at all. We got to the summit, where there were a handful of others, in mid-morning and met more people coming up as we were headed back down. 

It was a nice way to end another somewhat busy week. The weather's great, but it will be blustery and snowy soon. 

And I managed to keep my inktober streak alive for the time being.

Ten more prompts to go.  Paper and pens are in ample supply, so it falls to me.

inks and perspective

October marches on! Leaves are in full fall mode around here now. Our young George (Maple in the front yard) is doing his thing along with the others. 

It's been a relatively busy month at work, but I'm still riding the inktober wagon. I'm surprised to have only missed one prompt so far.

I don't like that Instagram no longer allows sorting tags by "top" and "recent". Now the choices are "top" and "recent top". Bummer. I used to like sorting by "recent" to find other nobodies like myself who aren't trying to be influencers and snag a bajillion followers. 

But, I guess it has to be done to give the moderators time to weed out the bad apples. 

I was thinking that one of my tutees was going to drop his class, which would've opened one of my time slots for another who was waiting. I told Tutor Boss, "Jake's hanging by a thread" because when we met last week, he just wasn't into it. In fact, he'd brought a friend. Initially, I thought the friend wanted some help with the class too, but they told me she'd already dropped the class as she'd fallen too far behind. 

Anyway, that was fine as I figured she wanted to sit in to brush up for when she retakes the class. But after an unproductive time, we called it a day. Then, alas, Jake was back this week, all motivated. 

He apologized for his inattentiveness last week by sharing, "I was going through some family issues". Furthermore, "My friend, Corey, was having a rough day too."  

Then he elaborated, "We have relatives in Israel".

Hello!! Well, that put things a bit more into perspective, and I was thinking, what was he doing at the math center at all last week?! 

He didn't say more about the "family issues", and I see it as a good sign that he's coming to school and studying hard. 

And here I am playing with my ink pens. 

pump-kings and inkings

It definitely feels like fall now. I had to break out long pants and long sleeves this week - fleece even!

This morning, I was out enjoying a run around town with temperatures in the 40s.  I turned a corner and came upon this rival of Charlie Brown's legendary Great Pumpkin. 

 It was just sitting there next to someone's driveway in a residential neighborhood, and I thought maybe it was factory made? But no, upon further inspection, I saw it was an actual pumpkin. It had to be at least 3 feet in diameter. What sort of hoisting equipment got it up onto that wall?

I looked to the right and saw, lingering in a mess of foliage, the pumpking's possibly bigger brother laying about.

Such a massive mound of pumpkin, it seemed freakishly huge to me. What is in that soil?  Clearly, someone there knows how to  grow a squash. 

In other news of October, I've managed to keep my head above water with Inktober prompts so far this year, managing 6 ink drawings in the first 6 days. 

Birds, bugs, and rodents seem to be emerging themes. 

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Share something you made progress on.

Barbies and turtles

Happy October! Feels like it snuck up on us. 

October is typically one of my favorite months, weather-wise anyway. It also is the month of Inktober! 31 days, 31 ink drawings.

I've made it to the starting line at least. Today's prompt is "dream"

I always wanted one of these Barbie Dream campers, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe I'll have a real one when I'm an old(er) lady.

Speaking of starting lines and old ladies, this morning was also the first of the season for Tortoise and Hare races. It was a short and sweet 4K (2.5 miles). Big turnout because...

1. it's the first race of the season
2. it's the shortest race of the season
3. the weather was beaut

I managed to make it to the finish without succumbing to injury or death, so it was a win. I noticed another runner refer to the races as "Tortuga y Conejo", and I think I like that better. Maybe I'm getting bored with English.

knee-highs ftw

I don't think I was too much of a tortuga. I was slightly slower than my predicted pace as the algorithm is still adjusting to my post-covid self, but it was a fun time with the other weirdos. 

So a nice end to a decent week and a nice start to the month. See ya, summer.

life is a series of challenges

Anyone want some candy?  We had zero trick-or-treaters  last night.  Last year, we had one group, but it was COVID times, and we weren't sure what was the norm.  This year, COVID isn't as big a deterrent, but it was a cold, wet evening, so maybe?  Anyway, we've got leftovers.

Other than that, it was a good ending to the month.  I did manage to pull out a few more drawings for Inktober '21.  I include the fat raven here because I forgot him in the last update.

In all, I finished with 11 drawings out of 31 prompts, so at least I got into double digits.

So yes, I participated.  Yes, I had a good time with it.  No, I didn't do it under pressure.  The "purpose" of Inktober is to get people into the habit of drawing on a regular basis, so for me, it worked.

In other participation prizes, I ran a 10K yesterday morning.  It was the October Tortoise and Hare race for the local running club.

These are typically run around the start/end of the month, and it wasn't intentionally a Halloween themed event.  Not surprisingly though, there were a few people in costumes.  I was passed by a cow and a Wonder Woman and was able to pass a Chewbacca and a Spider Man.  I saw a few other costumes along the course,

For the most part, actually, we were dressed to deal with the wet, drizzly conditions.  Here, I'm waiting for my start time (I was warming my hand, not picking my nose) behind this mom of undefined pink costume with her bat babies.

I did manage to stay quite dry for the duration.  I was wearing a fleece neck gaiter at the start, but once I warmed up, I pulled the gaiter up around my head.  

So no, I was not trying to appear dressed as a snake charmer. My finishing "turban" is merely the result of wardrobe management.  

In all, I was happy with how I did - came in slightly faster than the algorithm predicted.  These Tortoise and Hares are fun, but it's been a while since I've done a typical mass start race, and I kind of miss those.  First world problems, I know.

Now it's the start November already.  National Novel Writing Month.  

Don't hold me to that one.

that time of year again

28.  Crispy

We are nearly to the end of October already.  I have no candy for trick-or-treaters yet.  Will they be interested in scraps?

Inktober is nearly wrapped up, and I have less to show for it than in years past, but I'm okay with it.  No pressure.  Today's prompt is "Crispy" for my buzzard friend.

I hadn't drawn much more than doodles for the past several weeks whenever I'd pick up my pens.  At first, doodling was a form of meditation for me after Malcolm's sudden and unexpected death.  And I sorta stopped drawing "real" things.

So I'm grateful for Inktober for providing prompts and getting me out of my doodling stupor even though I got behind in the prompts nearly before the thing started this year.  

But it's been a good busy.  My Mother-in-Law was in town last weekend with her husband.  The second recent in-law visit since I have two full sets of them.  yay.  Oh well, it wasn't bad, and it's nice that all our kids are around to visit with them as well.  These in-laws are both in their mid- to late-80s and it's a bit worrisome to think of them driving the interstate, but they got here and back home okay.  

Anyway, here's the rest of what I have for Inktober '21 thus far:

Yup, a whopping seven out of 28 submissions to date.  But better than nuthin'. Twenty-fifth percentile!  Well, it's not a competition... not a competition... not a competition... not a competition...

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Throwback Thursday. What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?

a Sunday rundown

 

We're getting our snow.  Boy, howdy, we're getting our snow.  Magnum and I just finished making a second shoveling pass of the various surfaces.  It's really coming down, but I personally would rather shovel 3 inches of snow four times than shovel a foot of snow once.

I took the dogs out first thing this morning, and they were looking at me like, "Wha happened overnight?"

And there is currently about twice as much snow on the ground as in the pic.  The main happy dance around here is how this helps contain the various wildfires.  No, the snow won't put them out.  In fact, I'm sure plenty of the snow melts and evaporates before it even hits the ground near the fires, but it will certainly help slow the spread.

I was at work yesterday, and one of the cooks got a notification that the East Troublesome fire was approaching the highly popular Estes Park YMCA camp.  We all commiserated our special memories of the place and crossed our fingers that it would be spared.  The camp is the area where we spent the first part of 2016, 'member?

We were there in the wintertime, but it's even more popular during summer months for its access to outdoor recreating in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The fire is also burning up areas we were just at this past August.

As of this morning, the camp has not suffered any fire damage 🤞 

In other silver liningness  news, this felt like a pretty busy and productive week.  As such, I didn't get much inktobering done at all, other than one quickie:




But I'm reminded...

I don't have to do them all.

I don't have to do any of it.

Chaco and Wolfgang stopped over last evening.  Chaco treated us all to Thai takeout as a sort of acknowledgement of a new work position he just started.  Meego was out of town with some friends, so missed out.

I think I've now had 5 Covid tests.  They're not getting any more comfortable, but they remain negative.  I  normally like to stay positive, but in this case,  no.

Better go shovel.

smoke and mirrors

Greetings from a dreary Sunday morning in my neck of the woods.  I'm actually happy for the drearage because it's brought with it some sort of precipitation.  We've had so little, and there's a raging wildfire knocking on our back door. 

The Cameron Peak fire now holds the spot of the largest wildfire in state history at nearly 200,000 acres and counting.  Whoever's ever sung, "rain, rain... come again another day".  Now would be good!

The university's meme page posted a graphic, but I think most of us are feeling the same vibe, college student or no

SOURCE

We had some really smoky days this week.  If nothing else, it gets people to wear their facemasks all the time.  My bike rides into work left me with annoying particulates in my eyes, tempting me to break out the ski goggles.  Residents at the facility were not allowed to go outside.  Those poor folks are isolated enough as it is and now can't go out for "fresh" air, which includes the popular haircut tent.

I'm remaining positive, though, thinking colder temperatures and more rain will help get a handle on things.  I'm looking forward to being able to hike again on Horsetooth mountain and check out the charred remains and subsequent new growth.

In other news, I managed to have my work schedule adjusted so as to not work every Saturday and Sunday, which is why I'm sitting here now.  Sunday's off, woohoo!  And I managed to get a few more inktobers in although I've missed a couple.  We've passed the halfway point:

The inktobering is cutting in a bit to my blogging time, but I'm still here reading the latest.  Maybe a day or two after the facts, but still here.  

nothing disgusting

Today's inktober prompt is "disgusting", and I decided to give myself a break from the inking since (1) a break sounded good, and (2) I couldn't think of anything "disgusting" that I'd want to be engaged with for an hour or so.

I did manage to get through the first 10 prompts in time, so adding to last week's inktober update...

Number 10, "Hope" is a pregnancy test stick of unknown outcome.  I figure "Hope" applies to either result, depending on the testee.

But speaking of "disgusting", there was a time when same sex marriage was considered disgusting.  There are many with that view still today.  But too bad for those people, because it's totally legal in all 50 states.

A longtime good friend of mine got hitched yesterday for the first time at the ripe age of 58.  I'd originally planned to be at the wedding, but COVID threw a small wrench in those plans.  

Undeterred, he married his partner while many of their friends tuned in online.

I'm so happy for them both.  *SNIFF*  Nothing disgusting here.

touching the void

I'm in therapy.  Physical therapy?  Kinda?

It was almost exactly one year ago that I had that monster tooth removed from my head.  I don't miss it, but I have missed chewing over there.  This morning, I got my "dentures"

This whole mouthpiece for one tooth, but it's the simplest solution.  I love it already.  It needs a name.

So I've been eating a bunch doing therapy to learn to chew over there again.  It's a slow go, and I'm feeling quite full.  Still, I'll continue in the name of progress.

Remember being a teenager with that raging teenage metabolism?  I remember eating large bowls of cereal just before bed, going out with friends for pizza or chili fries after Friday night football games, etc.  All of that in addition to three square meals a day.  If I ate now the way I did in high school, I'd probably weigh around 300 pounds.

The reminisces came up at work over the weekend.  Someone said something about coworker Young Mick, and a cook chimed in, "Ever see his breakfast order??"

We can eat whatever we'd like at work, and are allowed to order one meal per shift from the cooks for our scheduled break.  I know it's already made a noticeable dent in my own grocery bill, and others similarly appreciate the perk.  

Young Mick is 17 years old.  Super nice kid and a very compassionate helper to the old folks.  I'd never particularly taken notice of what he eats, even though we take breaks together, since we're all spread apart while eating these days.  But when the cook mentioned the amount of food he puts away, the rest of us covertly observed yesterday.

A pile of French toast, several slices of bacon, eggs, pastry, OJ... Still hungry, he grabbed a cup of thick yogurt to ceremoniously end the feast.  He managed it all in the time it took me to finish a breakfast sandwich and cup of coffee.  Impressive.  Seemingly not an ounce of fat on that kid.  Ah, to be 17 again.  I'm sure his parents appreciate the supplement, and I hope they have a large pantry.

As I'm learning to chew with my whole mouth again, I managed another Inktober submission for the prompt "Rodent".  What to draw? 

I wonder why that concept came to mind...

staying busy and steering clear

Another week is in the books and I feel like a recap is fitting! 

I'm continuing to enjoy my newish job as I'm still learning the ropes.  As with any job, there's always something to b*tch about, but all in all, I'm liking it.  

One dislike is that I work weekends.  Being bottom of the totem pole sets me up for that, and I know that eventually - soonish - I'll get off the Saturday-Sunday duty.  At least I don't work evenings, so there's that.

Speaking of playtime, I've survived the first four days of Inktober.  I'm glad Inktober is a thing, and I'm glad that Wolfgang essentially holds my butt to the fire every year to participate.  My pens and papers were collecting big dust, and it's been fun so far.  

I'm not optimistic that I will get all 31 prompts in this year, but 4/4 is good enough for now.

Speaking of Wolfgang, we touched base with all three of the brood this week.  Wolfgang recently got a pretty new bicycle via mail order and had it shipped to our house since he lives in an apartment complex.  So he came by to put the pretty bike together.

Chaco stopped by this week for various reasons, one of which being that his dog likes to play with our dogs and vice versa.  For the record, the cat is less than thrilled with these visits.  He also brought ingredients and cooked up a Filipino dish: lechon kawali ,a dish I'd never heard of.  It's crispy fried pork belly.  Just reading that adds 5 pounds.  

Meego also stopped by and filled us in on college during COVID.  He doesn't live in a dorm, so isn't as affected as those who do.  Of course, there are no typical university events going on.  This weekend, for instance is (stay home)coming weekend.  See what they did there?  

Speaking of COVID, I've now been tested three times and have yet to become a statistic - unlike a certain someone...

back to the drawing board

 Here we go, Inktoberites!  Who's with me??

The first prompt for Inktober 2020 is "fish", so I drew this robot fish.  Or is it a fish robot? Robotic fish? Fishic robot?

Well, whatever.  I heard of devices that are meant to monitor water pollution.  They are designed to swim like fish rather than move like submarines, as fish swimming is much more energy efficient than submarine propulsion.  

As far as I know, they only monitor pollutants and help to create maps of water pollution.  It'd be nice if they cleaned it up, too.  A little?

The activity brought back memories of the cute little robot lawnmower at the hospital job I recently left.  I hope he's doing well.

One down, thirty to go...

by their right name

Years ago, when I was in college and working in retail, our management asked us to refer to customers by their first names if possible - usually if they paid by check or credit card where we could see their names.  Most of us felt that was kinda weird and didn't follow those instructions, not all the time anyway.  Maybe if we actually knew the person outside of work we'd use their first name.  Maybe.

We felt that, while some people might like it, others would find it strange and/or an obvious attempt to pretend we're all chums when we're actually strangers conducting a short and simple business transaction.  Plus, there are some people who have their legal names printed on checks and credit cards, but it's not the names they use day-to-day.  Magnum is one of those.  It helps him screen telemarketers.

I don't care much one way or the other when strangers refer to me by name while doing their jobs.  Maybe it's because I figure their boss told them to do that like mine did.

I'm thinking about this because I'm having to fill out a short "competency test" for my hospital job.  It's multiple-choice and pretty easy to answer many questions by process of elimination.  One such question:

Do you ever call the patient by their name?  When would you do this?  Why would you do this?

and one of the answer choices:

d.  you should refer to patients as "Buddy" or "Chief"

Ha, I'm pretty sure that one's not the correct choice. Also, it doesn't answer the question of, "why would you do this?"

Uhmmm, maternity ward...

"Good morning, Buddy!  Congrats on your new baby, Chief Mom!"

Another instance in college, a (female) friend of mine went to see one of our (male) professors during office hours for clarification on an assignment.  He referred to her as "Honey".

OMG, right?

Never mind that we were rare females in a male-dominated major, but I'm pretty sure professors wouldn't easily get away with that now.

Do you like to be addressed by your first name by strangers providing some small service, like retail?  What about things like, "Honey", "Buddy", "Sweetie", "Chief"?
I'M  QUITE  POSITIVE  I'VE  NEVER REFERRED TO ANYONE AS "CHIEF"

In other news, I indulged some more in #inktober52 with the prompt "spider".  In my version of the story, the spider and little miss Muffet were good friends.




We also visited downtown over the weekend.  There we were halted by yet another train.  Weirder still to have a long *ss train haul through the middle of a downtown area, but there it was.

What we've learned about the local train situation:  none of the locals likes their interruptions, and the train people don't give a hoot (see what I did there?)

a babe in the woods

When I was a little kid, I used to often draw.  I can remember pretending to be a waitress and taking "orders" from family members who would play along.  Then I'd draw their meal.  This was quite a long time ago, I was single-digits years old, but all I remember drawing were hamburgers.  My customers probably knew better than to order anything else.

This week's #inktober52 prompt is "dinner".  I sketched another hamburger.

And if that isn't exciting enough... I was out walking some errands today when I came upon a domestic CAT!  Out in the WILD!

Recall that the county where we currently live does not allow cats to be out roaming around away from the owner's property.  Our own cat is still pissed at us, but too bad.  Rules is rules.  So, such a sighting is rare!  Might as well have been Sasquatch!

I had to snap a quick pic.  See him?  Sasquatch Cat??

He/she was very pretty, and my grainy phone pic does not do justice.  Or maybe it was just the rarity of such a sighting that made him seem so majestic.  Not only was there a cat out and about, but it was out and about amid (among?) a bunch of snow.

This was within an apartment complex.  Wolfgang, who lives in an apartment complex nearby, tells us he sees cats outside quite regularly.  Maybe it's an apartment dweller rebellion.  Either way, I felt that Sasquatch and I had a moment.

Don't tell Napolion.

winter pastimes

Well, I'm not going back to make up lost time, just gonna show up late to the party.

There's the Inktober challenge - a drawing a day, everyday for the month of October.  Last October was my third attempt and first success.  I put my pens and my feet up afterward and haven't drawn a darn thing since.

A few weeks ago, Wolfgang tipped me off to #Inktober52.  The powers that be wanted to keep the drive alive for a full year's worth of prompts; one prompt per week for 2020.  Oooh, that sounded like fun.  Then I proceeded to not draw a darn thing.



But hey, January was busy!  What with settling into a new town and new house, selling the old house in the old town, January 2020 is pretty much a blur.  I felt the dust had settled enough, and I'm a month fashionably late this week, where the prompt is "hammer".





In other being-lazy news, we've been watching the TV series "Fortitude" on Amazon Prime Video.  Seen it?

It looked interesting to me as I like the arctic-city-where-normal-people-won't-live setting.  But the show is stranger than I expected.  I mean that in a good way.  It's also rather gross.  I mean that in a NOT good way.  I just cover my eyes for the gross parts.

Since it's been cold and snowy here all week, watching Fortitude makes Colorado feel like a winter vacation spot... oh, wait.  Colorado IS a winter vacation spot.  The lift lines yesterday at Vail ski resort made the news.

SOURCE

It was reported that some waits were as long as 75 minutes.  This surprises me, not only because of the packed conditions, but because Vail is EXPENSIVE.  In fact, I remember reading an article that put Vail as the most expensive place to ski in North America. The cost of just a lift ticket for a day is $209.  Part of the reason for that, I thought, was to keep lift lines short.  I know there are season passes and discounts for buying tickets in advance, but it's still pricey recreation, particularly at Vail.

So who are these people packing in at Vail and distributing cash all willy nilly?  Is there a maximum occupancy for a ski resort mountain?  Oh well, more power to 'em.  I was not part of the mass, but was rather down in the lowlands.  With a snow shovel in hand.

Maybe when I win the lottery.

from Ring to Ripe

Happy Halloween!  And Happy last day of Inktober!  I managed to survive the challenge of doing a drawing every day for the month of October.  Third attempt, fist success.    Here are prompts/days 1 and 31.  Progress?  Anything?

I feel a bit like those worn out and ripe shoes for today.  Here are the remaining entries since my last Inktober update. I'm sure no one's been able to sleep while waiting for them:

So, yes, it was challenging but fun.  I think I got better at some things and faster as the month progressed, and it was also fun to see other submissions and know I wasn't the only weirdo.  

Now, on to other things.  We've had big snow and freeeeeezing this week.  School kids got two snowdays, and it's not even November.  Foreboding?  Even the local university cancelled classes, which spilled a bit into  my tutee schedule.

I'm not complaining.  I have a to-do list to check off.  Magnum and I are getting more serious about downsizing from our empty nest and selling the thing, and I'm looking forward to a bit of a fresh start.  I've also put reading blogs a bit on the back burner because of Inktober.  Did anyone miss me / notice at all?

And for the first season, I'm considering getting a flu shot.  Magnum says he's getting one as his workplace is administering them next week.  He's not gotten a shot in recent years, but he did have what was probably last year's flu, so it's fresh in his mind.  

I think I had the flu two winters ago and can't remember a time before that, but yes, it did suck the life out of me for nearly a week.  Then again, I've heard from some that the shot made them feel like crap.  

Anyone have any advice or experience to share for this flu shot virgin?  

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

7. Write about something you’re looking forward to.

another good-bye, salt withdrawals, and more ink

Another week in the books.  Inktober has me slacking on blogging a bit, but I'm never truly gone from here... 😇

My P.E.O. chapter lost another sister this week.  This was somewhat expected, so unlike when Tiffany died, not as traumatic.  Jeanie was 90 years old and had been in failing health for about the last month or so. 

Although physically frail, she was a total hoot and sharp as a whip.  When she'd had to go to the hospital when the problems began, the security guard informed her that he had to check the contents of her purse.

She told him, "Okay, but it's full of dope!"

Dude had no sense of humor.

She was ready, though.  After she was able to go home from the hospital, another friend told Jeanie, "I'm praying for you", and Jeanie replied, "Well, thanks.  But please don't pray for me to get better.  I wanna go!"




And she did.  She'll be greatly missed.  Rest In Peace, Jeanie. 











We spent time with Magnum's mom and stepdad today.  They live in a senior living community nearby, so we went for brunch in their dining facility.  It's a nice place, really, with a plentiful variety of food.  Gotta say, though, I was having sodium withdrawals.  Everything was so devoid of salt, and I fear I may be a salt-aholic.  The pumpkin spice pancakes were good, though - my first pumpkin spice anything of the season. 

And thank you to everyone for the tooth hole/ sinus sympathies.  I'm feeling almost normal now.  A few more days and I should be cleared to blow my nose, and I'm so looking forward to that!

Inktober continues, and me with my head still above water...