a Japanese cat relic?

 I could use some advice. 

We've got a short trip coming up. Dogs will stay at a local kennel, and the cat will have the house to himself. I feel okay leaving the cat for two or three days with a gravity feeder, big bowl of water, and a pristine litter box at the ready. This trip will be slightly more than 3 days, and I asked my friend/Boss - a card-carrying cat lover - if he wouldn't mind checking in on Napolion, our cat.

He accepted the mission, said he's got nothing else going on those days, and would be happy to do it. He lives just a couple of miles away, too, which is why I thought to ask him. Normally, I would ask a neighbor kid, but I honestly don't currently know any neighbor kids well enough - a ramification of empty nesting, I suppose.

With a neighbor kid, I would just give them some cash. But what to do with Boss friend? Feels cheesy to give him a gift card or such. 

Any suggestions?

For reference, he's about 60 years old - a single (never married)  history buff and Japanophile. Likes to read (history and Japan, duh), hike, and bicycle. Oh, and he's rather fond of cats.

I'm drawing a blank here.

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.

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.

hype, plumpies, doodles

A little weekend reflection...

Random happenings:

• In this week's excitement, we got a new fridge. His name is Coolio.
  
  
• The general area seems to be on a collective hangover following last night's college football match-up between Colorado and Colorado State. The two state rivals meet annually for the "Rocky Mountain Showdown", and both teams have been pretty bad the last few years.

This year, there's the whole hype train surrounding CU football, and the showdown was expected to be a blowout.  CSU apparently got tired of hearing about it, and they actually showed up for the show down, eventually taking a loss, but making CU play double overtime to get the win. I didn't watch any of it, but it's difficult to escape the hype around here. I'm exhausted just thinking about playing 2 football overtimes.

• A childhood friend of mine invited me to friend his running-for-mayor-of-hometown facebook page. He's changed both his first and last names, and he's always been a bit goofy. At first, I wondered if it was a joke page, but it seems he's legit running. 

Honestly, I've often wondered if he's undiagnosed bipolar. Not that running for mayor of a small town is too far out there, but I think it's a bit out of his league. But hey, who knows?

 A news story that caught my attention:

Fernando Botero, the Columbian artist, died last week at the age of 91. He was known for "plump, inflated forms" like this...

He was a prolific painter, apparently painting every day, all day.

I have no idea why he focused on the plump, but it made him lots of moulah.

A Triumph of the week:

• I joined that gym I did a trial at last week. I typically go to the gym and try to get strong a couple of times a week - or at least go through the motions. This new gym is a step up from where I'd been going.

A Challenge of the week:

• My Father-in-law and his wife were planning a visit in a couple of weeks, but FIL sprained/ strained a hip, so he's resting and had to cancel the trip. FIL has always been quite fit for his age, and he's now 89.

Looking ahead:

Speaking of art and challenges, the prompt list for Inktober '23 has been released. I plan to participate once again. Highly doubtful to get all 31 prompts, but we'll see where I end up. Seems all I do is doodle during downtime, so we'll see what happens this Inktober

playing catch up

Hello, December!

Another busy week down. Finals begin this week at the college. High anxiety time. These days, there are all these stressbusters in place: puppies, free treats, free yoga, etc. Sheesh, when I was in college, we tempered stress by studying and abusing substances on our own dime.

In other work related news, my boss is up for a promotion.  Similar role, but bigger crown. I hope he gets the job because (1) I think he'd be highly effective at it, and (2) if selected, his office would be at another campus.

I would still work for him, and as I've said here before - I like working FOR my boss, but I don't necessarily like working WITH him a lot of the time. He talks SO much about himself and his special interests (which aren't very interesting). So if he is the chosen one, it's the best of both worlds for me, and his maybe-promotion is all about me.

The selection process will take a while, but I'm over here rooting for him. He actually asked me to go over his cover letter and tighten it up a bit. You know I did my best!

The weekend was good. I had a PEO meeting on Saturday and then another Tortoise and Hare race on Sunday. This one was a 6k, so about 3.7 miles. 

The nature of these T&H races is such that "the fastest person doesn't always win". In fact, the fastest person rarely wins.

Likely winners are those who improve over their previous race. Last year, the one who took the grand prize at the end of the season was a 7-year-old kid.

But it's still a race, so naturally, everyone wants to know who's the fastest. Sorting the results always pulls up the same bunch.

Always those whipper snapper high school cross country kids. Oh, to be young again.

looney tunes and boogers

A week or so ago, I disassembled my desktop computer for more surface area at my desk. I've been using an old chromebook for most things and a laptop we usually keep upstairs. I like all the extra space, but I can't "move around" as efficiently with this old chromebook. First world problems.

Anyhoo, another busy week in the books. Midterms time at the college, so high anxiety and busyness there.  I'm very much enjoying tutoring for the college and glad I decided to throw myself into that ring. 

Fall continues to burst with color since we haven't had any real precipitation in a while. Here's young George doing his thing.

I can't tell if he's grown much since we brought him home from the nursery, but he seems to be doing okay, getting ready for bed.

Checked getting a flu shot of my to-do list this week, so we'll see what happens. Another October activity

And speaking of October activity, inktober continues, and I managed a few more prompts. Part of the motivation to clear off my desk was to have more space for doing this nerdy inktober challenge.

We're in the homestretch now. I've had fun seeing what others come up with for the prompts. Then we will likely all, like George, go quiet for several months

crack me open so I feel the air inside me

Happy October, typically one of my favorite  months - not too hot, not too cold, not too dark, not too bright. It's the Goldilocks of months for me.

Yesterday, we went downtown to witness  our first Tour de Corgi. So many Corgis! 

We watched the cute,  slow, waddling parade, then checked out a few of the booths in attendance. 

It was a lovely day for the nice wholesome event that included a costume contest as well as the parade.

October also is the month of the inktober challenge, remember? Thirty-one days, thirty-one drawings? We're two days in, and my head is still above water.

This is good for me, I haven't touched my art toys in a long time. I literally had to dust everything off. 

Speaking of misfit endeavors, we watched the movie Dinner in America. What a hoot!

It started out feeling like a goofy, quirky, misfit movie, which it is. And it could've totally bombed. It's aggressive and edgy and there are lots and lots of f-bombs. But it has a rather deep - dare I say "sweet and meaningful"? - core to it. It's not for everyone, but I loved it.

we know you love a party

This was another good week as we head to the end of September already. Dogs outnumbered us as we "boarded" Chaco's dog, Ella, while Chaco traveled for work. He's acknowledging that he needs to find a place to board her when he travels, but she's particular about where she'll hang out and with whom.

In the meantime, we're glad to help out, and the dogs have a good time together, but three energetic dogs don't come without exertion. Plus, the cat is not a fan, but he gets in his "free range" time when the dogs are outside. We have a kennel for them in the backyard. Ella stands on the dog houses and sends subliminal messages to be let out to run around or back into the house.

Let me oooooooouuuuuuuuttttttttt

Things at work are looking up. Boss put the word out about our staffing shortage since whats-her-face quit without notice right after being hired. He got a good response from a few part-time instructors looking for more hours and hired two of them. I met one of them last week, and another will start tomorrow. We also got a new work study student on board. In hindsight, we all think we dodged a bullet when whats-her-face left. She looked good on paper and interviewed well enough, but seemed a bit "off", for lack of a better term. 

Coworker Party Girl is doing a "dry September". I honestly think she's a functioning alcoholic. Her husband, Mr. Party Girl, probably is too. Her doctor has told her to cut back (drastically), but you know it's bad when even her drinking buddies tell her she drinks too much. 

She and husband accomplished Dry January of this year, but she was miserable despite having one (pre-planned) drinking weekend. I'm not sure what prompted Dry September. She did confess that she and the Mr. agreed to do it together, but would allow drinks on Fridays to make it more bearable than January was. 

It must be tough being a slave to a substance.

*slurps coffee*

surf's up

"Would it be considered harassment if a coworker or supervisor attempts to stop me from filing a claim of harassment against another party?"

My coworker, Party Girl, posed this question to me last week while well within earshot of our full-time coworker, Bugs.  Bugs is not in a supervisory role, but when Boss is gone, Bugs is typically put in charge. Boss happened to be out of town when things were going down with Nurse Ratched.

Party Girl, another coworker we'll call Betty, and I had dug around and found the official HR form for submitting a claim of harassment.  We decided to each submit our point of view of the Nurse Ratched situation, and Bugs attempted to discourage us from doing so.  The question was Party Girl's cute and clever way of telling Bugs his "advice" was not needed.

"Pretty sure the answer is 'YES!' as we all learned from our mandatory harassment training", I promptly replied as we all gave Bugs the side eye.

He backed off after that.  

To summarize, Boss did something we all (except for maybe Boss) agreed was inappropriate (not sexual, nothing like that) with a student.  That student went to her instructor - Nurse Ratched - to complain about Boss and ask for some leniency on the exam she took with us since she was feeling frazzled while she worked on the exam.

Nurse Ratched, understandably, became upset with Boss and complained to... somebody.  I really don't know what all happened after that as I don't have a need to know.  But because of the incident between Boss and Student, Nurse Ratched decided to bully, judge, and demean all of us, even though she's never dealt with anyone other than Boss, other than that one incident.

And THAT is when it became a problem for Party Girl, Betty, and me.  Nurse Ratched's abuse toward us seemed to be persistent and escalating, so the three of us each decided to get our two cents in.  

Bugs tried to stop us, saying, "It's already being handled" - referring to the Boss/ Student/ Nurse Ratched incident.

We disagreed as it had spilled over to baselessly involve us three underlings.  This was a new situation for handling.

Anyway, we felt good about telling our sides of the story and get confirmation from the honcho in HR who handles these things.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting much, but I guess something happened.  Nurse Ratched has been cordial in her subsequent communications.  Dare I say, apologetic, even?

Sheesh, in all my years, I'd never felt a need to submit a report of harassment or anything else to a Human Resources department. Kids, I tellya.

I feel good that we didn't just cower and hope it goes away.  I'm glad we spoke up for ourselves despite Bugs' attempts to stop us.  

Bugs is a nice enough guy, but doesn't like making waves. We more or less told him, too bad, you're in the deep end of the pool with the big girls now.

And to this day, I still haven't even met Nurse Ratched in-person.  

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

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

I don't need many words with you

My teammates and I showed up on time, looking sharp - almost unrecognizable.  Greg, a typical "granola" in t-shirt, rock climber pants, and hiking shoes, was decked out in his best interview suit.  

However, George was probably the most transformed.  George had a punk hairdo - whitewalls buzzed on the sides and forming a V at the nape of his neck, tufted bangs up front - and always wore hefty black boots, black t-shirt, and black jeans or shorts over his muscular build.  But there he was in his Sunday-goin'-to-meetin'-clothes

Then there was me.  I usually wore jeans, maybe a polo shirt, (now vintage) Reebok freestyle hi-tops.  But I wore a suit that day as well.  It was senior project presentation day, one of my final acts as a college undergrad.  

Greg, George, and I were good friends during that semester of our senior design project.  We actually had a fourth teammate, Steve - a pretty frat boy who was absent for most of the work. He might have been there on presentation day, but is foggy in my memory of it now.  I do remember him apologizing for not doing anything and offering to type up the report.  The remaining three of us thinking, "how's he gonna type up the report, he doesn't know what happened?"

Our project was a cute success.  We presented it, got our "A", and went on to graduate and do other cute things.

For my part, I sucked.  I was up there in my suit and realized I had not honed my presentation skills.  

I really shouldn't have been nervous.  We were just presenting to our professor and fellow classmates.  I got through it, but it was not a cute success.  Looking back, engineering classes in general at that time didn't require much discussion during classes, let alone presenting in front of class.

Afterwards, I realized that, up until that point, I really hadn't had much experience with public speaking.  It just hadn't come up other than maybe a handful of times in high school?  For some club fundraiser or such?  I certainly hadn't had any formal training.

Once I became a working girl after college, one of the first trainings I signed up for was "Effective Presentation".  The class lasted maybe a week, and there were about six of us plus the instructor.  We learned and practiced presentation skills, made and watched big honking VHS video tapes of ourselves, and got better.  Sheesh, if only I'd known in college.

Later, when I was busily volunteer momming in elementary school, I noticed lots of class presentation type activities required of the students.  I thought, "Oh, good they include this stuff in school now".  And I think it continued into middle school.  Hopefully high school too.

Seeing those kids up there, presenting compelling stories or describing a favorite possession calmed my nerves for their futures at the lectern. 

But at least I could play a mean game of Spanish Bingo!

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:

2. Tell us about something you never learned in school but should have.

we know you love a party

"The test center is closed as we celebrate the Pagan Solstice.  We will reopen on January 3rd when our hours will be..."

"...However, if you are a virgin and would like to volunteer to sacrifice yourself to ensure the return of the sun for the rest of us, you may contact us at..."

Then again, we just went with the standard winter break message.

The boss, assistant boss, and I worked the final shift of the year yesterday.  We were only open for four hours for the last trickle of customers before the holidays.  We took care of some general cleaning and tidying - took down the holiday decorations, cleaned the breakroom, then penned and recorded the winter break outgoing message on the voicemail.  Done and done.

I'm as ready as I'm going to be for Christmas.  We don't go all out, especially since the kids are all up and out now.  But it's nice to have some time together.  I've got a few decorations up around the house, there are a few gifts and cards, there's ham.

I definitely don't want to take part in the deadweight loss of Christmas, minimalist clutterphobe that I am.  On a somewhat related note, my step-MIL has sent us an abundance of "treats" every year for Christmas for many years.  Store-bought cookies and candies, etc. that we never manage to consume on our own.

Most of it ends up going to coworkers and then expires into the trash.  I keep thinking to gently let her know not to send so much if any.  But then, Christmas passes and I forget by the next time I talk with her, and it seems wrong to mention it in my Christmas thank-you note.

Once again, I received and opened the "box of diabetes" a couple of weeks ago.  I brought over half of it to work, and during yesterday's cleaning, the leftovers went into the trash.  There's still a significant amount at our house that we will dole out to the kids, then chuck the remainder.

Any advice on how to handle this?  Mention it to her in my thank-you note?  Give myself a reminder to bring it up the next time they visit - possibly summertime? Just let her keep sending the crap and not say anything?  There are certainly worse things.

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.

wild things

 Wolfgang moved from his apartment to a duplex last weekend.  We helped out a little, and I'll share this public service announcement:  

The first weekend in August is probably the MOST busy time for moving - definitely feel it in a college town!  Get that U-Haul reservation WELL in advance.  Yeah, Wolfgang didn't have one of those.

Lucky for him, he has some friends who have a big a** van they're converting to a camper, so that van toted most of Wolfgang's stuff .  He had to be out of his apartment by midnight Saturday, but couldn't move into the new place until noon Sunday, leaving him homeless for 12 hours.

He stayed the night with his van friends while we housed some of his stuff along with his rescue cat, Maisey.  In general, cats don't like change, and Maisey easily falls into that category.  

Maisey in calmer times

She was a grumpy kitty after having all of "her" things packed up and removed, then being stuffed into a carrier only to arrive at an unfamiliar place housing two dogs and a fight club cat.  Nope, not amused at all.

She spent the night and most of the next day camping in Magnum's office.  Social time allowed some petting but was accompanied by intimidating hissing.  It was quite an ordeal to get her packed up once again to move to her new digs, but Wolfgang reports that she seems happy now and has figured out that she's "home".  

But she put up such a fight on Sunday, that we had to call upon the expertise of Jim Fowler.  Remember him?

More seasoned *ahem* readers here might remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom TV show.  I remember watching it on the weekends and seeing Jim wrangle various deadly creatures, all while being narrated by Marlin Perkins ala "watch Jim almost die from the anaconda/ rhino/ panther/ etc."

So Magnum played the part of Jim and managed to scoop the wary Maisey with a towel and chuck her into a basket with Wolfgang at the ready with a good lid.  Success, whew!

Marlin and Jim would be proud.

getting carded

In a little while, I'm going to the eyecare place to pick up my new glasses.  They ask that customers either wear a mask or bring their vaccination cards.  I don't actually have a vaccination "card", I have a vaccination "cheesy slip of paper".  I don't know if the shooters ran out of cards and just made paper photocopies to then fill in, but that's what I have.  

We were vaccinated at work, and one of my coworkers left her vaccination cheesy slip of paper in her work scrubs and put them in the laundry.  So much for that "proof of vaccination".  But she requested and received an actual card from the pharmacy that supplied our vaccines.  

At first, I was all, "Oh NO, you WASHED it??".  But when she got her card, I was all, "Aw, I want one".

I never got one.  Maybe I should?  Last time I went to the eye docs, I took a picture of the cheesy slip of paper and showed that when I checked in and was allowed in without a mask, but they'd prefer the card for some reason.  Maybe I should put in the effort.

I'm thinking the COVID vaccine should've been the heftier gun version - like the smallpox.  Your proof of vaccination is the tell-tale scar.  My scar is still obvious, I think I was in the last class of kindergartners to get that badge of courage.  Anyone else have a smallpox vaccine scar?

Meanwhile, watching any of the Olympics?  I haven't watched any yet, just catch a few of the headlines each day whether I want to or not.  Thinking of my vision shortcomings, I could totally relate to this capture:

I may never win Olympic gold, but yes, I can relate.  Scoreboards and everything else are so far away.

Here's the full reaction:

Yeah, she's one of us.

women with balls

Rather large balls at that.

I was out enjoying a nice run in the early morning coolness - not to be confused with the midday heat from hell.  A figure appeared up ahead of me, jogging in my direction.  As we got nearer to each other, I saw she was a stocky woman in workout shorts, tank top, and braces on both knees.  

She was carrying a large hefty ball on her right shoulder.  It looked like the medicine balls at the gym, only bigger.  I'd guess it was about a foot and a half in diameter and probably about the weight of a toddler.  Her face was strained, sweaty, and determined as our paths crossed.  

Hmm, okay.  Don't see that every day, but she was putting in some work.  I wondered if maybe she was training for a firefighter test or something similar?  As I continued up the street, I noticed another balled woman headed in my direction.  Similar carry form as the first, similarly sweaty and strained, but not moving quite as fast or determined. 

Not far behind her was yet another woman-with-big-ball.  This one was walking and carrying her ball closer to her body, like a bag of groceries, with two hands.  Two more walkers employing the grocery carry method trailed behind for a total of five such women within about a half-mile.  I concluded they were an early morning HIIT class at the nearby gym.

I was left feeling a bit wimpy.  I mean, yes, I was out there frolicking about, yet carrying nothing, let alone a large heavy ball.  

I do have a rather annoying and conspicuous "war wound", however.  My annual summertime war with the bug world is in full swing, leaving me with a collection of welts.  This one on my face.  See it?

In the insect world, most males don't have stinging capability, so my itchy blemishes are most likely from females.  

Those bitches.

But maybe the face welt gives me credibility among the women with balls?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
1. Write about something that surprised you

ya dig?

I woke up this morning thinking of things I would do today.  Then I remembered I could barely make it out of the neighborhood.  Feels like COVID lockdown all over again.

It finally stopped snowing Sunday evening, but, ugh, what a mess.  I remember thinking, last Friday when we were anticipating the storm, that in a week's time, it would all be gone.

Gonna need to rethink that one.

I went out yesterday afternoon to clear more snow.  A guy was at the adjacent house doing the same, digging out his Volvo.

"It never ends, does it?", I said by way of small talk

"Yeah", he acknowledged.  And then, "This is my first snowstorm."

Omigosh, his first snowstorm was a 2-footer?! 

He's from California, visiting our neighbors.  Southern California, I take it.  But he said he was having fun playing in the snow.  He was planning on starting the drive back today, but doesn't know if he can get out.

And I was thinking sunny California sounds wonderful right now.

Magnum and I ventured out for a little reconnaissance trek yesterday.  We eventually made it to a nearby walking/bike path.  Some cross country skiers had blazed a nice little trail for relatively easy footing.  I could really use some snowshoes about now.

I do love Colorado, though.  And I love having four seasons.  Some people around here are ranting about the lack of snow removal from the city.  They compare it to the amazing snow removal in the mountain towns.  

Thing is, we don't typically get storms this big.  Plus the mountain towns don't have nearly as many miles of roadways, sidewalks, paths, etc.  We're not equipped.  Our main roads are "clean enough" for the most part, but residential streets are far down the list of priority.  It's up to the big trucks to blaze a trail for smaller trucks until eventually the little people can get out with some help from the sun.  Volvo guy will probably have to wait.

We lived in the Ogden Valley of Utah during the early 2000's.  There were 3 nearby ski resorts, and snow removal was incredible.  Ski resorts don't make money if people can't get to them.  Despite major dumpings of snow each winter, our kids never knew what a school snow day was until we moved to Colorado Springs.

The first time it happened, they awoke for school and I told them school was cancelled.

"What?  Yeah right.", and they proceeded to get ready for school, thinking I was joking.

"No really.  There's too much snow.  School's closed"

They ignored me, had never heard anything so ludicrous.  Why would I be so mean as to tease them like that?  I eventually convinced them and, thus, the snow day was born to them.  Good times.

All this snow makes me think I'd rather be in a resort town now.  I'd rather be skiing.  I'm pretty awful at skiing, but still...

lamb days and moolah

I'm a bit late to the party, but happy March!  If there's any truth to this lamb/lion business, we're in for a doozy of a finish because our March has come in like the cutest little lambkin.  

I did another Tortoise & Hare race yesterday, this one a 10K (6.2 miles).  The morning was B.E.A.U-tiful for it.  Sunny, calm, temps in low 40's.

Prior races had been run in 2 separate "heats", but our county just loosened COVID-19 restrictions to the point where we were able to have one large(ish) race.  Rather than a mass start, T & H races are run such that each runner starts based on a predicted finishing time.  In theory, there is a "mass finish".  

GO!

This race accomplished it quite well, I'd say. 


I started the race with only one other person and spent much of the early plodding feeling mostly alone.

By the turnaround point, however, things had gotten noticeably more crowded.  

SURVIVE JUST A LITTLE LONGER!

The homestretch was reminiscent of the olden days, having to jockey for elbow room.  

Honestly, it was fun but felt a bit alien after nearly a year of social distancing and apartness.

Welp, may as well put my vaccine to the test.  For science.

 In other news, I see Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos' ex, is remarried.  Her husband was a science teacher at Mackenzie's kids' private school.  He's going to help give away her billions.  I wonder what it feels like to have THAT much financial freedom.

From what little I know about Mackenzie Scott, she comes across as genuinely wholesome and certainly charitable.  I could see us hanging out, talking about our kids, comparing thrift store finds... oh wait.

What does one discuss with the third richest woman in the world?  Skinny jeans vs. Mom jeans?  Maybe I'll find out some day?

bring the heat

Happy Sunday, y'all.  The start of my "weekend".

I'm happy to report that I've felt very little adverse effects from my second hit of the COVID vaccine.  Had some mild muscle soreness develop a little into the day after, but it was all gone by evening.  I'm actually glad I felt something, because otherwise I would have wondered if the thing was doing anything!

We were concerned at work because a number of us were scheduled to work the day after our shots, and we didn't know how each would respond.  For the most part, people felt mild "crappiness", but were able to work just fine.  Our boss was relieved as she'd struggled quite a bit the day after her second shot.

"I felt like butt", in her words

I did start receiving texts from one coworker early Friday morning, however:

So yeah, that particular coworker soldierly dragged herself in for about an hour and then went home to "vomit in peace" once we were able to establish coverage for her.  Any voodoo attempts apparently didn't work. 

I'm still fantasizing a getaway.  It doesn't even need to be a warm getaway, although that would be nice.  But I'd be happy with a trip to the mountains, maybe a sunny ski resort.  "Sunny" being the operative word.

Although I've spent most of my life in Colorado, I've not skied (I had to google to see if that's the correct spelling for past-tense of ski) a whole lot.  I didn't learn to ski until I was 19 and in college and actually got a P.E. credit for my efforts.  Then there were the university years when, who had money for lift tickets??

There was one season there when I wasn't a broke student and also had a boyfriend who liked to ski and take me along.  We would load up early on weekends and hit the slopes.  "Hit" being the operative word in my case.  But I was young and could easily bounce back, literally, from the many wipeouts.  

That was many years ago, and snowboarding wasn't a thing yet.  Now, I watch snowboarding and it looks like fun.  Back in the 70's, when skateboarding was in a heyday, we kids spent our days zipping around and I became relatively skilled myself.  I now have the front teeth crowns to show for it.  So I think I would have picked up snowboarding pretty easily.  Sometimes I'm tempted to give it a shot.  I wonder how it would feel all these years later?

Okay, then again, maybe I'll just count "survived my COVID vaccine" as this winter's physical accomplishment...

chase the cares away?

I came across this article a few days ago with tips for quickly increasing happiness, particularly in the middle of a pandemic.  Oddly specific, yes, but certainly relevant these days.

In summary, the recommended five quickie activities are:

• Organize your errands (having a plan reduces stress)
• Message someone important (today's "socializing")
• Check your vacation day balance (visualize good times)
• Watch relaxing nature videos (increase in amusement and curiosity)
• Write a journal entry (gain control of your emotions)

Okay, nothing earth shattering.  

I'm pondering how much of this stuff I already do.  For instance, yesterday, I organized my errands, sort of.  I was a bit bored and decided to clean my office. Woopy doo.  But, in doing so, I decided to post my old vacuum cleaner for sale.  The vacuum cleaner had a new owner, and I had some fun money within an hour.  Win!

Message someone important?  Hmmm, well I read some blogs and commented.  Does that count?  I say, "yes", because blog friends are certainly important!  Win!

Check my vacation day balance?  I haven't specifically checked my available paid time off, but I have been pondering a little COVID-safe getaway to Arizona.  I've never been to Arizona, but it sounds so warm right now.

Watch relaxing nature videos?  Well, I do take video-watching breaks, but not necessarily relaxing nature videos.  I actually like to watch action-y videos in natural settings like skiing or snowboarding videos, mountain biking and other extreme things I don't do well.  While not necessarily relaxing, they do increase my amusement and curiosity ala, "how do you even do that?!" and/or "how many bones did THAT break?!"

Lastly, writing a journal entry.  Well... yah.  This counts, right? Win!

SOURCE

Additionally, I did another of those Tortoise and Hare races on Sunday.  This  month's was a 5-miler.  While it was a bit chilly and windy, conditions were much better than last month's slip 'n' slide.

In perusing the event photo gallery and "finding myself" in one photo, I found it ironic that I look so alone. The main reason I do these things is to get out with the other runners while managing the virus spread.  

Photographer dude musta had a zoom lens.  I swear, there were other runners.

I managed to pass more tortoises than hares passed me, thus adding a little to my point count.  All in all a fun time.

I'm thankful these little races are a thing, in this time of so many canceled things.

What are you doing to get/stay happy?  (PG-13 version)