ghost bike, pensive pets, alcohol fail

I was thinking I might go for a quick bicycle jaunt to the library, but it's sunny and 97 degrees, so i said "nah". I realize 97 doesn't sound so bad to many, but here, it's a whine worthy temperature. I opted to stay here in my dark house, measuring 77 degrees. No need to turn on the AC just yet.

We did get out for a coffee walk earlier, so I haven't been totally holed up like a cavewoman. 

SOURCE

• Speaking of bicycle jaunts, [a woman bicyclist was killed] last week in a local traffic mishap. I've been following the story as it happened at an intersection undergoing a construction project. I had biked through the area about an hour before the tragic accident.

So far, from everything I've heard about it, the woman did everything right. She dismounted her bicycle, she was led through the intersection by one of the construction workers. Still, she was hit by one of the trucks involved in the project. So strange.

There's an ongoing investigation. Bottom line, she's gone.

• I happened to be in that area because I was feeding Wolfgang's cat again last week. Wolfgang and Meego traveled to California to visit my in-laws. Chaco was there too as he had come out for a little over two weeks and had a preplanned trip to visit his CA friends.

Ella on a walk,
prior to the dreaded BOOMs

Meanwhile, we were the pet sitters. Chaco's dog, Ella, stayed with us. She does NOT like fireworks.

Fireworks are illegal here, especially in lieu of half the state currently being on fire. But that never stops the criminals.

So it was nice to spend some time with Chaco. A lot of his time was spent working at his local office and visiting friends, but we got quality time in as well.

• The five of us did make it up to Helms Deep - our property in the hills. Helms Deep is what we call it, so that's it's real name as well as it's blog name, so be it.

It was nice having the extra muscle to do some trail bustin'. We haven't been up since because... well... whining about the heat again.

• Lastly, Magnum and I have proven, once again, that we are failures at alcoholism. We had somehow amassed a collection of undrunk beers - bottles and cans. We just don't drink the stuff at home. Some of it was leftover from potlucks that ended up at our house. Others, we'd bought thinking we'd drink it. Pffft.

I pondered if there was a way to donate it, but food pantries don't accept alcoholic beverages. I mentioned it at work yesterday, wondering if maybe the college food pantry would take it. But we're pretty sure they wouldn't. Then Party Girl mentioned her drinking running group had an upcoming camping trip and would gladly take the cans. Problem solved!

We also had a few bottles of Modelo in stash. I checked the expiry date - November of freaking 2024?!

Down the hatch drain.

That's the end of the two years beers.

 

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.

wintering

Back to work tomorrow after a 2-week hiatus. Part of me is chomping to get back to being a somewhat productive member of society, another part of me is thinking, "y'know? I could get used to this".

At least it will be an easy transition since tutoring won't get going for about another month, I just have my teeny schedule in testing. The new person can't start this week as originally planned, so I got two extra shifts until she starts next week.

The weather has been so mild here. Magnum and I went for a longish bicycle ride today. We were just going to ride for coffee, which we did. It was so nice out, we decided to take the long way home, which we did. It was SO nice out, I talked him into taking a longer long way home. Surely, this won't last.

So we have warmth, no snow. It did get cold enough last week for the ponds to freeze over. I got this pic of my goose neighbors waiting for the morning thaw out.

Speaking of enjoying the outdoors, a woman was hiking nearby on New Years day and ended up getting [killed by a mountain lion]. So tragic, and it's terrifying to think what her last moments were like.

Stay safe, please!

po po, I dunno

 At the college on Thursday, I worked testing in the morning and had tutoring in the afternoon. I had a little break in between and sat outside the student center for a little sun and sandwich as it was a relatively cool day for July. 

A couple of our security guards walked by, which in itself was not strange. They do frequent walk-arounds to various campus buildings throughout the day. I saw them convene with a couple of other law enforcement types and then the four of them headed to a nearby building. 

A few minutes later, I packed up and headed into that same building, which houses a computer lab, to check off a few tasks before tutoring. Inside, I found many campus security guards and city policemen huddled in a hallway. One of them spotted me and politely asked me to "go around" the building.

I did a quick 180 outta there. Campus is relatively quiet since it's summer semester, and I didn't see any other people who I might ask, "what's up?" There were just a couple of policemen stationed outside the building in question.

So I headed to the library, where I saw seven or eight police vehicles parked, with a couple of others arriving. Curiouser and curiouser.

Exiting the library a while later, I saw one policeman retrieve another policeman from a freshly parked patrol car. The retriever was clearly toting a large rifle, and the retrievee was carrying a hefty riot shield.

And I'm thinking, "does anyone care that I'm just walkin' around out here?" I did see one of our maintenance guys out driving around in his golf cart/ truck, and I asked him if he knew what was going on.

"Everyone I ask says, 'I dunno'. I asked one of the cops, and he just gave me a dirty look", end of story.

On my way to the tutoring center, I asked my testing coworkers if they knew what was up. Boss said, "Security came by, said they were looking for someone. That's all I know". Then he joked, "We didn't tell them where you were."

And that was that. The campus was never put on lock-down. I don't know how long "the incident" lasted, but it was cleared up by the time I'd finished with tutoring. Later that evening, we got an email acknowledging "police activity" with links to mental health services for anyone who might've been freaked out by it, but no explanation.

Yesterday afternoon, we got a follow-up email saying that a student was suspected of having a firearm on campus, so police were contacted, but nothing was substantiated. 

So was it all a prank or what?  Seems like there's more to the story,

That's all my excitement for the week. That and this Bon-Sai that was added to the scratch paper wall-of-fame

No kiss cams to see here.

bicycles, birds, baddies

It was a beautiful morning for a bicycle ride today, and that's exactly what we did. Really feels like spring has sprung. While tooling through a particulary ritzy neighborhood - visiting how the other half lives - we came upon 4 or 5 wild turkeys.

Although rare, I've come across wild turkeys within the city limits before, but this particular "rafter" (had to look that up) of turkeys included comparatively large and quite lovely birds. Others have seemed scraggly and weak looking. 

I slowed a bit to take in this healthy bird crew as a pickup came up behind us. So I moved on along to not block the pickup, but then pickup guy pulled alongside of us and asked, 

"Didja see the turkeys?! They're HUUUUGE!"

The group let out a good gobble-gobble, just to show off, as we carried on our way. 

Shortly afterward, a lone blue heron gave us a flyby, and a while later, a pod (google again) of pelicans gracefully circled overhead. A morning of bicycles and birds it was.

I have no photos of these majestic bird sightings. Know that I at least momentarily considered pulling over and getting pics, but talked myself out of it. 

I didn't experience the local "Hands Off" rally first hand yesterday, but heard that it was peaceful. However, later in the afternoon, we got several news reports of a "possible gang-associated" shooting at the local mall with a suspect on the run. 

So that was news for our sleepy, relatively low-crime city. Authorities were still looking for a suspect when we went to bed.

Around 4:30 this morning, I was awakened by what sounded like someone knocking on our glass door or one of our windows. About 6 knocks, followed by a pause and 4 more knocks followed by a pause and 2 more knocks in quick succession. 

A disconcerting sound, certainly. But then I figured if someone was knocking on one of our windows or doors, the dogs would be going bananas, which they most certainly were not.

"Hmmm, it's probably gun shots or fireworks", I figured, which made it strangely seem less disconcerting. 

No news of it today other than from Ring neighbors and Nextdoor people who were similarly awakened and wondering, so it was likely fireworks.

Fireworks are illegal in Colorado, but not so in Wyoming, which is about a 45-minute drive from here. So we get firework shooters year-round and learn to just go back to sleep.

Anyway, we learned that the police identified and arrested a suspect in the mall murders - yes, both victims died. Some teenager. Under 18. WTF.

on track

It was good to be back to the "normal" schedule this week, with students back after spring break. Catching up with tutees, many stuck around and just enjoyed the break, while others took advantage and went somewhere fun. 

• I've been wondering about Thor this week. He is not one of my tutor students as I am just his designated scribe, but I typically see him every day in the tutoring center. I haven't seen him at all this week, nor have I heard anything about scheduling his next math test.

• Another of my students is currently battling cancer. She's one of the nicest people you'd meet, intelligent and hard working too. Always has a smile and positive temperment. Makes my minor gripes seem silly.

• Another student has a neurological "condition". I'm curious to know more, and he'd probably tell me if I asked, but it feels wrong to ask. He often reports to me about recent seizures - "about one every coupla weeks" - and yesterday, he showed me his new watch. It's meant to alert him, and others around him, when he's about to have a seizure.

I've considered what I'd do if a seizure comes on during tutoring, and I think I'll be able to react appropriately. So far, so good. I will say that his math skills are sharp as a tack. I think his parents chose to sign him up for tutoring mainly to keep him on track with his assignments, but once we get passed the chit chat, our sessions are mostly me just watching him do everything correctly. 

Speaking of smart watches, I'm liking my new toy purchase from last weekend.  It's a little too "Mother Hen", though, a la:

What is this "harder training up ahead"? What does it know that I don't??

And speaking of coaching, there's a shakeup at the nearby high school. Ten of the twelve track and field coaches (why were there so many to begin with?) were abruptly fired earlier this week.

The only explanation so far is that they "violated district policy". And the official statement also included "no students were involved". 

Piecing together from the rumor mill, it sounds to me that all ten were drinking, most likely during a track event/meet. If so, then yeah, I can see the abrupt canning of the bunch. Student safety is the coach's responsibility during an out-of-school activity.

I feel bad for the track kids, though. Their season JUST started. C'mon, adults, actions have consequences. I wonder how they were found out?

I'm sure more details will come out eventually. 

Alegra la noche

Yesterday afternoon, on the way home from work, the city had a station set up, giving away free stuff. Yes, I consider myself a minimalist, but that won't stop me from checking out some free stuff.

They were giving away bike lights, reflector bands - like for your sleeve or pant leg - and reflective shoe laces. I partook of the bike lights (the freebie tail light turned out to be total crap, but the headlight's a winner) and the shoe laces. The occasion was "Brighten the Night", sponsored by the city. I guess it for  now that we're back to standard time, heading toward winter solstice.

The utilities people were there too, and I got a 4-pack of LED light bulbs. Generous of them. I was on my bicycle and really needed to play some excellent tetris to get everything in my bag.

This week has felt weird. Early darkness coupled with the election - tutor students looking for ease of anxiety, and not just the math kind. So we worry about the things we can control. Math is friendly that way. No ambiguity.

Speaking of controlling and brightness, I upped my visibility as I mentioned recently, regarding the early morning runs in the dark.

Snapped a couple of pics out in the pre-sunrise wilds this morning before the snow moves in.

My new vest not only is reflective, but has built in lights - front and back. Three light modes: fast blink. slow blink, and steady. I swear the fast blink has seizure inducing quality. I stay away from that. 

Stay seen and sane, everyone 👍

awaiting outcomes

It seems my skeletal friend at the college got a job in facilities. I spotted him riding shotgun in one of the maintenance trucks. Safety goggles protecting the non-existent eyeballs.

My ballot tracker service has informed me that my ballot's been received. We dropped ours off over the weekend. It was quite lengthy - lots of proposed ammendments in addition to the big thing on the ballot. We'll see where we are in a week. It's likely to be ugly no matter the outcome. 

This looks to be another busy week of stressed out students as the semester winds down. Over in testing, Blossom is still often out. Last week, it seems, she actually was battling a real illness. All that slacking has come back to haunt her because she's out of sick days. 

She was in yesterday, and I asked how she's doing. She admitted that she needs "to take better care" of herself. After battling real health issues, she's already sick of going to the doctor's. Will things turn around? We shall see.

... or are you happy to see me?

Thanksgiving week is upon us. At this time of abundance, I'm doing all the prompts from Mama Kat:

1. Tell us about a current interest.

I've been following the Kaitlin-Armstrong-killed-Mo-Wilson sentencing and trial recaps. Sheesh, what a bizarre case. 

2. Write about something you gave a negative review.

This week I bought some cajun flavored sesame sticks from Natural Grocers. After eating a couple, I realized they were not cajun flavored but garlic flavored and mislabeled. And I was all, "gross", because I quite dislike garlic. But thankfully, no one here is allergic. But what if someone was allergic? That could be bad. 

I let the store know about it via their online contact page. Who knows if anyone reads the submissions? Not necessarily a negative review, but mislabeled food products could land them in hot water.

3. Tell us about something you are looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to a slowed week at work coming up. The test center is open through Wednesday, but students are on break all week, so it should be fairly calm and quiet. 🤞

4. Book review! Share a recent favorite (or least favorite) read.

I'm currently reading Happy Place by Emily Henry. I'm about halfway through it, and apparently it's a popular book. For me, I dunno, it's kinda... bad. It might end up a DNF for me.

5. Write a blog post in exactly 7 lines.

My fritzed foot is still not 100%.

But it feels better with each passing day.

I feel I could go for a short run.

But Dr. Internet says not to run for 4 to 6 weeks. 

So, no Thanksgiving race for me this year.

Boo hoo. 

Still very thankful for lots of stuff.

6. Write a blog post inspired by the word: over

We caught a cheater at work this week. Really, it's a rare occurrence. I've worked there for 2.5 years, and can remember just 4 cheaters, all of them college students.

But this guy, he hid a cell phone in the crotch of his pants, then began using the phone during his test. A coworker busted Cheater and took the phone. When going over the video footage, we also learned that Cheater was chewing tobacco and spitting in his testing room.

Party Girl had a justified cow when wiping down the workstation after Cheater finished, at which point he denied doing any spitting/ mess making.

He knew we have cameras, now he knows that they don't just watch, they record.

Game over?

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. 

weird and gross

Gosh, seems like I've been gone on vacation. But nope, not the case. This week just pulled me in other directions. So, happy Friday!

Firstly, the college students dealt with midterms earlier this week, so the test center was bustling. And, as a result of midterms, several students said, "Oh, fudge!" (or something like that) "The semester's half over and I'm in a pickle. Maybe I should sign up for tutoring!", and they did. 

So suddenly, my tutor schedule's full and I'm filling in here and there a little extra at the testing center. Sarge is on vacation, and we haven't even started the process of hiring an assistant boss. So, in the spirit of the holiday, we're operating with a skeleton crew.

So a little catch-up in bullets:

A moment I'd like to remember forget:

• I stopped at walmart on my way home one night this week. I don't like going there, particularly around 5pm. BUT, it was a convenient stop as walmart tends to be, and I needed some Flonase®, and walmart has cheap drugs. 

Apparently a man wet his pants just before I arrived. An employee was standing by the "wet cleanup" so shoppers would avoid it. Soon afterward, I saw the same employee wiping it up with a flimsy rag, about the size of a hand towel, by swishing it around under his foot. 

No mop, no water or cleanser of any kind. He was essentially just smearing pee over a large area of floor. 

That'll teach me. All for the want of cheap Flonase®.

Something I learned and would like to explore further:

• I learned about Mike the headless chicken from Liz . Clicking on her provided link, I learned that Mike was from Fruita, Colorado - near to where I am right now! There's an entire festival commemorating a chicken without a head. Who knew? I might just have to attend this festival next year.

On a similar note, I learned about the Mothman and the resultant Mothman museum. How much further I wish to explore that one? Hmmm....

A news story that caught my attention:

• Didja hear about the vomit fee for people who can't handle their Sunday brunch mimosas?

Makes perfect sense to me.  Charge 'em.

There it is. A rather busy week featuring an unwanted bodily fluids theme. 

 

weekend mash-up

I'm nursing yet another spider bite. A couple of weeks ago, I had three - count 'em, three - spider bites at various locations on my head. Annoying, itchy, oozy things. I assume a spider was in my bicycle helmet when I unknowingly put it on? Then it had a munch fest?

Friday morning, I woke up with another telltale bump. This one on my chin. It has oozed for the last couple of days, and I think we're almost done, but sheesh.

Us at our flashiest

Magnum and I racked up another year of wedded bluster bliss this week. That makes 33 of them so far. Egads! 

No big celebratory antics, just mutual acknowledgement and back to it. We're both so dang low maintenance, and that's probably the biggest factor in our "success".

In this week's news, certainly the devastating fires of Maui caught our attention. We've had our fair share of scary wildfire in Colorado, and I think of Hawaii as being in the tropics and not as susceptible, but, sadly, no.

And on a local sad note, the local bike club planted yet another ghost bike. This one a memorial for a 10-year-old boy. 

Heartbreaking. 

Ghost bikes shouldn't be this small.

The work week ahead looks good with Boss and Assistant Boss away at a conference. I honestly can't imagine how one fills a whole week at a Testing Conference, but they're off on their adventure, and maybe the mice will play.

Fall semester classes begin a week from tomorrow. *WHOOSH* ← The sound summer makes as it leaves the chat.

cancels, gatherings, and dirt

Random thought / moment from the week:

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

News that caught my attention:

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

SOURCE

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

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

Triumphs:

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

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

Challenges:

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

Bottom line: we DIY

Something learned from triumph or challenge:

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

weekend bullets

And so ends another week. Time goes faster the older you get, it's true. 

• I worked at the college yesterday as my turn came up in the Saturday rotation.  I was teamed with Assistant Boss who struggles somewhat with dyslexia. He seemed more challenged than usual yesterday after a problem with an early check-in had him a bit frazzled for the rest of the shift.

He confided to me that he thinks his dyslexia is getting worse as he gets older (he's late 50's). From my observation, it seems he has developed anxiety from the potential mistakes as a result of the dyslexia. Maybe it's the compound effects of dyslexia + anxiety about dyslexia making it seem worse.  End result: it's worse, but not terrible.

On a lighter note, we had chuckles from a test candidate from China whose name was pronounced "Wrong Way" (she found it amusing too). Made us wonder if our names mean anything in other languages? Hopefully nothing embarrassing. 

• I decided to stop "drinking" a little over three months ago. At that time, the extent of my so-called drinking was splitting a lite beer with Magnum most evenings. So, I figured it wasn't really doing much for me, so what was the point? Admittedly, I did/ do miss the taste of it in a habitual kind of way, especially now that we're in the heat of summer and a "cold one" sounds enticing. 

Last weekend, we went out to eat with the guys for Father's Day, and they each ordered (not lite) beers. I got a slight buzz just from sampling them. If I wasn't a lightweight before, I definitely am now.

• 38-year-old Courtney Dauwalter from Leadville, CO won the Western States 100-mile ultra race by smashing the previous record for women. 

I enjoy running, and I have absolutely NO desire to EVER run 100 miles. I don't even have the desire to run a full marathon - something all kinds of people pay money to do. 

That said, I would happily run 100 miles through the mountains before I would ever get into a deep-sea submersible.

 

thinking thoughts

Tuesday, time to reflect I guess.

Random thoughts/ moments:

• We got together for a nice time with all the guys for Father's Day. It included another good restaurant discovery (featuring no adjacent table drama). My blackened chicken sammich was so good, but I didn't finish it. I actually woke up later in the middle of the night thinking, "Damn, shoulda got the to-go box!"
• My 19-year-old friend/former coworker CC had her baby. Everyone seems happy, lovey, and healthy in the filter that is facebook.
• Had a P.E.O. meeting last weekend. Our convention delegate came back with various prizes for us. I got the "Crunch" award, for coming through in a crunch, a.k.a. agreeing to be the next chapter Prez. I figured my award would have to do with that

News that caught my attention:

• Our local indoor mall is staging for a total redo that will essentially get rid of the indoor mall. It all makes good sense to me, but where are the old folks going to walk?
• I have no desire to go on any sort of "submersible tour" of the Titanic or otherwise be in a submarine. Certainly not to a depth of 13,000 feet. Especially not after such stories of the ongoing search operations.
• I read an article written by a local MD who is also a registered dietician. The article addresses why/ what to eat before running. I usually run in the morning and don't eat beforehand, but the article says, 

"Men and women's bodies function differently when it comes to burning fuel and things that have worked well for some men (i.e. fasted running) are dangerous and counterproductive to women."

So that caught my attention, which is mainly why I read the article. But I never found what was "dangerous and counterproductive to women". Anyone?

Triumphs:

• Is it a triumph that I thought about eating a graham cracker, like the good doctor's article suggests, before heading out for a run this morning? But then I said, "Nah", went for an enjoyable jaunt and survived?

Challenges:

• We've got landscaping ideas for the front yard. I actually like working in the yard, but it's time consuming. Do we just throw money at it and let some pros do the main bits, then happily maintain it afterward? Or keep chipping away and have a never-ending-WIP?

One thing learned from triumph or challenge:

• As mentioned, sprucing up the yard on our formerly-a-rental-enjoying-a-mere-modicum-of-lawncare house, I'm learning, is a good sized project.

sometimes sunshine, go away

 Some Tuesday reflections

3 random thoughts/ moments:

• Are mullets making a comeback? I've been seeing mullets on more kids and young adults than I remember in recent years. I've gotta say, some people are able to rock a mullet. I don't hate them.
  
  
• Young guy came into the testing center for a certification test having to do with his job in horticulture. Party girl put him through the whole don't-cheat pocket check before seating him for the test.
  He responded with, "wow, this is worse than when I went to jail!", which had us giggling.
  
  
• Speaking of Party Girl and horticulture, she expressed her interest in trying psilocybin, or magic mushrooms - which are legal in our state - to improve her mood, with guidance from a knowledgeable doctor.
  She's totally given up pot and hard liquor and "only drinks beer".  She pretty much confessed to me that she knows she's an alcoholic, and she said it in such a way that assumed I knew it already, which I did. I just wasn't sure if she knew it.

News that caught my attention:

• 4 children found alive after 40 days in the jungle. The youngest was 11-months old!
• World record 2 miles in 7:54. I'd be hard pressed to run one mile in 7:54.
• Denver Nuggets are NBA champs. I don't follow the NBA, but "Denver Nuggets" and "Champions" aren't words that typically show up in the same sentence, so I suppose it's noteworthy.

Triumphs:

I have enough regularly scheduled tutees for summer to nicely round out my working schedule. I'm not going to take on any more students, so can settle into a modicum of predictability for the next few weeks (ha! as if).

Challenges:

We've been getting well above average amounts of rain for the last month or so, which isn't really a challenge. I appreciate the break from the hot 'n' dry. But the rain has flooded some areas, and it does put a literal damper on my bicycle commuting. 

Magnum got himself some trekking poles a couple of weeks ago. His knees don't like hiking downhill, so he mostly avoids it. He hasn't yet hiked "the tooth" (Horsetooth mountain) right here in our "back yard". It's such a local landmark, it seems illegal for him not to have hiked it in the three years we've lived here. 

I've been meaning to go up again now that it's summer, and Magnum says he'll test out the trekking poles and join me. They'd better work, I'm not carrying him down. In the meantime, we're waiting for the trail to be less muddy and mostly less hail-y and lightning-y. 

One thing learned from triumph or challenge:

Work Study shared with me a list she compiled with activities for getting out of her comfort zone/ routine. It's easy to get stuck in a rut. It's been too long since I've done much exploring outdoors. Rain or shine, just go.

gone, grime, and ghosts

It feels like summer now. We live in a college town, and I'm not gonna lie. As much as I appreciate the university and all it adds to our city, it's nice when the population drops for a couple of months every year. Everything becomes noticeably less crowded and just... slower. *cleansing breath*

My work schedule is a little lighter as well, so I enjoyed a bit more bike riding with no particular place to go this week despite the poor air quality alerts. Canada is burning. We should have a view of the mountain range beyond the trees, but the sky was too smokey.

The local trial gardens (another perk of the university) have begun doing their thing.

A local bicycling group also "planted" two ghost bikes this week, to acknowledge two local bicycle fatalities (so far) of 2023 during Ride of Silence, a world wide event. I didn't participate in the ride, but I did swing by the sites after the fact.

facebook.com/BikeFortCollins

Fort Collins is a very bicycle friendly city (thanks again, in part, to the university), but of course, it could always be better. I'll note that, for these two fatalities, motorists were not at fault. In fact, they likely feel pretty crappy about their involvement. 

Obey the rules. Pay attention. C'mon now.

SO, I look forward to more summer laid backness, and less congestion in our city until the fall semester brings back the U-Hauls and such. 


And NO ghosting from the lovely Violet.






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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Summer is coming! What are you most looking forward to?

life gets warmer

The high school near us serves as the school district stadium. There is a raucous track meet happening there currently. I can hear the announcer calling athletes to their events, bringing back memories of my track olden days in high school. Butterflies in the starting blocks. Better them than me.

It's a beautiful day for a track meet, actually. I'm liking this spring weather. Each day lately, when I emerge from the front door, this guy is hanging out.

He knows he's gorgeous and happily poses for photos, but has yet to let me pet him. He belongs to a family across the street, so I'm not feeding him. I think he just comes over here to taunt our cat, Napolion, whom we no longer let outside. 

Technically, it's against the law to let cats roam about willy nilly, but plenty of cat owners do it. We decided we'd abide the law, much to Napolion's disgust.

Yesterday was my last tutor session of the semester, so I've got downtime on the schedule that I'll try to use wisely. Monday will be busy busy with testing for the last day of finals. Then onto the quiet lull of summer semester.

I caught a bit of King Charles III coronation through news networks this morning. Not the long, drawn out pomp, but a 2-minute "cliff notes" version. So much royal regalia. Plenty of comments on Harry's absence on the balcony, since it's just for "working royals". Funny, no mention of Andrew *ahem*

The nice weather and royal pomp reminds me to reserve my spot for the annual Tour de Corgi.

It'll be here before we know it!

reflection

Another week deeper into spring. Sun is shining, birds are chirping, pollen is floating.

I'm looking forward to the end of the semester. I've identified some inefficiencies in my tutoring schedule/ availability, and have made a few adjustments. But the adjustments won't kick in until after the end of this semester, so let's go already. 

Boss is his happy annoying self once again. His whining about being jerked around regarding his promotion has paid off, and he is supposedly given an agreeable start date. So he's back to his mundane running-of-the-mouth, and I find myself rather missing the grumpy moper boss.

From here, I'mma do this reflection prompt I found... somewhere:

Three moments from this week I'd like to remember:

• I got my teeth cleaned this week, and it was the first time I'd seen the hygienist as well as the dental assistant without surgical masks. Masks are no longer required in medical offices, and they happily showed their unfamiliar faces. Hygienist, of course, wore hers while working, but nice to see whole faces during the chatty times.
• While out walking with pooch Penny, I came across what looked like a couple of brothers learning some skateboard tricks. It was just a wholesome scene. Older was probably around 13 years old, younger was about 7 or 8. They looked like they'd just gotten the new skateboards, and the fact that they were both wearing matching new Vans sneakers made it all the more wholesome. 
• We have a workstudy student who works with us in the testing center. She has an "emotional support" dog that boss said she can bring to work. Omigosh, little Gizmo is the cutest thing!

One of the week's triumphs, big or small:

• I've mentioned how I've been dealing with physical stamina issues since having covid, mainly noticeable when running. I've been working on it with more attention over the last few weeks, and have made happy progress.

One of the week's challenges, big or small:

• Those tutor scheduling inefficiencies I mentioned up there. 

One thing I learned from my triumph or challenge:

• I learned that running slower really does help one run faster. 🤔
• I learned not to cater to unreasonable requests on my time.

Two events or news stories out in the world that caught my attention:

• I've been captivated by the story of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, the national guardsman who leaked top secret documents over a Discord server.  Brought them home? Took photos of them? Supposedly for clout among his online buddies?
  I mean... what the hell??
• Is it the end for Bud Light? 

behavior

Happy April, we are a fourth of the way into 2023. There are neighbors around the corner from us who still have Christmas lights up that come on each night. I wonder if they're really into Christmas or lights or have them on a forgotten timer?

This week, we had Chaco's pooch, Ella, boarding with us while Chaco travelled for work. She's a fun dog who blends in well with her "cousins", Penny and Merlin. And what's one more dog adding to the extensive pile of pet hair?

So, the dogs enjoy these sleepovers. The cat, Napolion, not so much. He expects to maintain his status as the Alpha pet at all times, but Ella has yet to get the memo. It's a bit of a furry juggling act for us resident humans.

Speaking of animals, we watched Nocturnal Animals, and The Shape of Water in movie news. Both were entertaining - I stayed awake throughout. 

Nocturnal Animals is a revenge story-within-a-story. I'm not a big fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, but he was well cast in this one. Amy Adams and Michael Shannon did well with their roles, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an it-don't-matter actor for me... As in, if he's in the movie, none of the other details matter, I'll gladly watch. 

I was aware that The Shape of Water won the Academy Award for Best Picture the year it was nominated, but had never seen it. I liked it well enough, but honestly, it was a bit too whimsical for me. Great plot, too much whimsey, and the soundtrack grated on me for a lot of it. It was like a kids' movie that included sex and violence. And again, the actors were great.

And speaking of violence, a month or so ago, a house not far from us was a total loss in a fire. Once the embers cooled, a deceased woman was found inside, and a man against whom she had a restraining order was located at the scene. 

I often run along the sidewalk that backs up to what is left of the house. The fence is gone, exposing the charred remains.

I don't know of any updates in the investigation, apparently I'm not in a need-to-know position. Sad, though. It's a quiet residential street - bicycles, basketball hoops, walk chalk, etc. And now this.

I will gladly opt for Christmas lights in April.