seize the moooment

I'm sitting here in long pants, long sleeves. We had us a cold front! 

Monday got to 100^o F and yesterday topped out in the high 60s. Magnum and I took advantage and went up to Helms Deep to do some trail bustin' in the great outdoors. We hadn't gone up there in about a month mainly because of the heat, wimps that we are.

The hill in the background took on a
fire in 2012,
so those are our burnt trees

It was a nice day and felt very productive and good to be out in the hills. I feel I'm getting better at the business of trail-building looking back on my sorry initial efforts.

We also checked our footage from the trail cam. Plenty of captures in the past month - mostly all dear deer.

Others in the area have reported bears, rattlesnakes, skunks, and a lone moose. We can personally vouch for the mouse population.

We didn't see any deer during yesterday's visit, but as we were leaving, we came upon this garden party going on at the neighbor's.

We'd heard the moos, but didn't spot any of the moocher cows while we slaved away on the trails, but there was a big old bunch of them just up the road. Too many to count.

This particular princess looked at us as if we were the intruders, inconveniencing her. She did reluctantly step aside just enough to let us through and leave her alone.

While there, I took a few pics of what is essentially our driveway. 

We're interested in getting some quotes on having it cleared out and smoothed out somewhat, as it's pretty weedy and rutty.

If only we could train the cows.

layered up

 "How many layers of bottoms do you have? I've got on three. I'm going to start unzipping now"
~ heard while standing in line for the ladies room last weekend.

We went away for an arctic adventure weekend, rented a cabin in Estes Park with Meego and Wolfgang. We'd planned it about a month ago. Little did we know last weekend would be one of the coldest in a long while. 

So we bundled up and headed to the mountains. It so happened to coincide with a [skijoring event].
I'd heard of skijoring, but had never seen it live. What a rush!

Skijoring is a lot like water skiing, except the water is snow and the boat is a horse. 

SOURCE

It looks really really fun... if you know what you're doing... whether driving the "boat" or skiing. For people like me, it's a guaranteed trip to the ER or worse. 

We layered up good since it was snowing and the temperatures were in single digits. Like my bathroom line companions, I also had three layers of bottoms (not counting the bottom bottom) - leggings, pants, snow pants. Thankfully, all my layers had elastic waist, no unzipping necessary.

The cabin we rented was on the grounds of a large YMCA camp, so there were other activities at our disposal. Since it was so blustery and cold, we did mostly indoor things - shoodoops at the basketball gym, play card games, cook, eat...

So a fun filled getaway for a couple of days. Then it was hit the ground running back home. The spring semester has begun, and my tutor schedule is filling.

On to February.

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!

ex encounters, nice hands, pain

Magnum and I were out at a coffee shop this morning. I noticed a couple of women walking in, and did a brief glance up. There was a nanosecond of eye contact recognition before I quickly looked away. One of them was none other than my ex. 

Yeah, my ex hair stylist. 

Several months ago, I mentioned here about [a weird haircut experience]. It was weird enough that I'd  decided not to go back and to find a different salon, even though I'd been going only to this same stylist for over two years. I've since found another stylist - great location, easy going atmosphere, very reasonably priced - and all is well in my hair world. 

I figured the ex wouldn't really notice my absence. She has a fairly large clientele, and all I ever got were cuts. No dye jobs, no other treatments. Get in, get out, every coupla months. But in that nanosecond of eye contact at the coffee shop, I feel quite sure she recognized me and probably thought, "Hey, that's what's-her-face", and then realized "She hasn't been in for quite a while". 

Had I still been going to her for cuts, I would surely have stopped and chatted a bit this morning, asked about her holidays, the family, etc. As it was, I continued whatever I was talking about with Magnum. The ex was wearing eyeglasses, which she didn't wear at the salon. I still recognized her, but could easily feign a Clark Kent phenomenon going on. Silly, I know. But it felt good to skedaddle outta there before things got awkward, ha!

In other news, I continue to celebrate Boxing Day by cleaning out a few unwanted items. Soon, I'll have enough for a thrift store drop-off. And I took down our sparse Christmas decorations yesterday.

We watched a couple of movies this weekend. [Watching the Detectives] is just goofy and quirky, starring Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu.

Is it a romcom? I guess it's a romcom. 

We've been watching [Peaky Blinders] and are on the final (6th) season. So it was fun and interesting to see Cillian Murphy as someone SO So so different from Tommy Shelby!

Same great hands, though. Ever noticed what nice hands Cillian Murphy has? Well... I digress.

The other movie was [A Real Pain], both in title and in watching it. Okay, it's gotten favorable reviews, but it didn't do much for either of us. 

Only about an hour and a half lost, though.

Now, we're in the lull week between Christmas and New Years. The college is closed. I will stay out of trouble. Maybe I'll schedule a hair appointment.

eats and hunger

December has arriveth. Looking out my window, I see actual snow on the rooftops. Not much, but I say it still counts.

I had all of last week off from work and tried to make the most of it. During that time, I...

... shopped, enjoyed family time, climbed a mountain, had a tarot reading, shot a gun, napped, ate lots of good food, walked dogs, (reluctantly) learned a little about plumbing...

along with the other day-to-day stuff. All in all, a good week with a minor annoyance of a slow leak in one of our bathroom sinks. The silver lining is, we should have a nice new faucet when all is said and done. We (translation: Magnum) think we can DIY the fix before having to call in the professionals. Fingers crossed.

This week is the last week of the college semester, so it's prep for finals before it all comes to a crashing halt. Along the way, I lost a few tutees who dropped their courses after falling too far behind. 

Of those who remain in the fight, I think they're all going to make it. It feels like The Hunger Games around here sometimes.

compress, de-

This past week was an exhausted drag into fall break. Yeesh, Thanksgiving is a late one again this year, and it's been felt at the college by both students and staff. No classes all next week, but campus is open through Wednesday.

I worked in testing today with Sarge. It was a, thankfully, smooth and uneventful day. I have no tutees next week because of the break, so I'm in loaf mode since clocking out this afternoon. 

This week also featured another birthday for me. I've had a few now. Coworkers bestowed this card upon me.

For my birthday last year, I was given a piñata (empty). He still lives at the testing center, and we named him Felipe'

Here is Felipe', last year during December finals (he doesn't normally have reindeer antlers) guarding a few beverages - his designated job.

So it'll be a small paycheck next round, but I'm looking forward to the time off. No major plans, but I'll think of something. 

I also noticed the adjunct faculty whiteboard has been further adorned with decompressive thoughts, now that mid-semester is semester's end.

I'm hoping to get in some loaf time with good books - currentlly reading [The Wedding People] and am see-sawing on its goodness or badness - some nature time, and other chill pursuits. Tidying, that's always fun.

What's on your whiteboard?

dodging runners, obligatory kisses

Fall is in the air, ya feel it?

Magnum and I enjoyed a noticeably crisp bicycle ride this morning. A welcome transition from the hot hot of summer.

It was a peaceful meander as he's just coming off a crud virus he caught from me a couple of weeks ago, and I just got my annual flu shot yesterday. It worked out since it so happened that this morning, there was a half-marathon happening on the path we took.

I'd hooked up the bike cam to catch some of the fall colors that have just begun, but we mainly had to keep our eyes out for the half-marathoners.

Coupla screen grabs from my grainy video:

I didn't get a covid-19 shot, partly because I highly suspect the crud virus I had was just that. It featured a tell-tale "razor blade sore throat" from the latest version, followed by what felt like a garden variety cold. So hopefully, I'm thoroughly inoculated.

In other news, I'd heard that this last week was homecoming week at my hometown high school. Their social media page listed the royalty, and I found it odd that for each female royalty, two male escorts were named. But, in thinking back, I remembered that yes, there were two boy escorts for each girl.

The escorts for the dance were all members of the football team, but the escorts for the parade and football game half-time were of the non football variety because the players were otherwise occupied. I'd forgotten about that, I mean, it's bean 43 years...

This had me flashing back 43 years to that whirlwind week where I found myself part of the homecoming royalty - this would've been back in my big-fish-in-a-very-small-pond days - and I remembered my full gamut of escorts.

Escort for the dance was the hunky football captain, Ken. Escort for the parade and half-time was the effeminate, good natured, Joe. Joe was clearly gay, but this was the 80's where such things were not really spoken of, but were just understood. I'm sure Joe had his bullies, but he had plenty of good friends, myself included, and he was a pretty popular kid. And again, clearly gay.

So this walk down memory lane took me back to the fun Joe and I had during the parade, and then it was on to the halftime show of the football game. This is a pic from my yearbook of halftime just before we paired off with our respective escorts.

Our names were announced, our escorts handed us a flower of some sort, then gave us a traditional smooch. Joe fulfilled this obligation, probably bregudgingly.

My boyfriend at the time - he'd graduated a year ahead of me and watched from the stands - said that Joe had a big ol' grin on his face after the smooch. I can imagine Joe thinking, "Geez, the sh*t I gotta do for school!", and just having fun with it.

As I was recalling that memory yesterday, I realized, I was likely the first and last girl Joe ever kissed.

fragmentary recall

This was a shortened weekend for me as I worked yesterday - Saturday rotation time again. Another seemingly productive week down. Let's bullet.

• I finished a novel this week - The Silent Patient. When I went to add it to my Goodreads, I strangeley saw that I'd already read it? Really? Apparently, in 2019. Well, it wasn't memorable the first go. And it even has a twisty, big reveal ending. Oh well, 4 stars.
  
  
• Speaking of memory, we watched Total Recall - the 2012 version with Colin Farrell.

It was pretty much what I expected. A lot of shoot-em-up, running around, heavy CGI, etc. But I won't say no to 2012 Colin Farrell. 

• Speaking of pastimes, it occurred to me, out of the blue this week, that I would probably enjoy bird watching. That made me feel old, where did that come from?
  *I know bird watching isn't just for old people, it just made me feel old to suddenly find it appealing*
  
  

• Speaking of hobbies, our tutor bosses at work asked each of us math tutors to put together a "tutor bio". It should be 100 - 150 words and include our educational background, which campuses we support, etc.
  
  

I typed one up, and the word count was 50. *SIGH*. I mean, I said all the things. What more is there? They encouraged us to add "fun facts" about ourselves. Ugh. 

The only maybe fun fact, if you would call it that, is that I've been a regular blogger for over 20 years, but I don't tell real life people about that. 

I'm not saying anything about bird watching either.

peopling

It's noticeably denser here. Living in a college town brings fluctuations in population, and things become thicker in August. 

This week is Freshman move-in, and classes start at the university next week. The community college where I work started classes yesterday, so here we go. My tutor schedule is wide-open, we'll see where we are at week's end. Tutor Boss says she has lots of intake meetings scheduled - where she assesses student needs/ requests and matches students and tutors. I'm hoping to get busy soon before we're replaced by AI.

In the meantime, I'm in laid back mode still. Yesterday, I went for a haircut. Remember a few months ago, I blogged [that weird haircut experience]? At the salon I'd been going to for a few years? Welp, I'd decided not to go back there. Thanks to reddit, I found a different salon that is not only as good in both quality and price as the old place, but it's all around better - better location, friendlier, a little cheaper even. No more getting my haircut in the middle of a freakin' coffee klatch!

Later I went for a bicycle joyride cleverly disguised as errand running. I think I'm going to start using the GoPro again for these joy errand rides. My work commute is typically uneventful - knock on wood - so I stopped bothering with the bike cam, but yesterday included:

• I was coming up on three other bicyclists, about to pass them. The three entered an underpass/ tunnel and I heard a *clank-cah-clank*

Once in the tunnel, I see one of the cyclists has gone down, like she crashed into the sidewall of the tunnel. The man behind her stops and I stop as well, while the third guy just goes around and keeps on a-going. 

Amid the typical, "y'aright?", I'm assessing. The woman who crashed and the man who stopped appear to be riding together. They're both on "Rent Me!" bicycles and middle-aged. I'm guess they're from out of town - possibly dropping off a college kid and enjoying some kid-free recreation.

The woman says she's fine, landed on her foot, lost a shoe. I have a small first-aid "kit" with me, but more for cuts and scrapes than for a twisted foot. But she says she's fine, didn't hit her head or anything. The man thanks me for stopping, and then I continued onward.

• I was going around a right bend when these three hooligans - how's that for an eligible-for-the-senior-discount word? - these three hooligans come flying towards me on motorcycles. Motorcycles?!

This was on one of the friendly multi-use paths running through our county. Hooligans were on full-blown gas-powered motorcycles, which are most definitely not allowed. The only motorized vehicles allowed on the pathways are ebikes and scooters that max out at 20 mph. And these kids were going, I'd guess, at least 40 mph. 

Thankfully, they were single file in their rightful lane, but sheesh. In the flash that I watched them go by me, it seemed they were rounding that turn, pushing the envelope on how much control they had at that speed. They looked to be middle schoolers or high school freshmen at most. 

And so I'm wondering what went on after they're behind me? I went by a few law-abiding others in both directions. What of them? What of the "Rent Me!" crash couple?

Eventually, I dropped off a book at the library - one of my joyride enabling errands - and there are three librarians with walkie-talkies in the foyer, debriefing after some sort of incident at the library park. But that's just another day at the office for them. Those downtown librarians are tough. 

 

adventure

Summer semester officially ends today. As such, I'm in a lull for about two to three weeks, and I'm not complaining. I'm doing some tidying and reorganizing - mostly digitally. I still have a couple of short shifts in the testing center each week, so it's not a total slugfest. 

With the tuting, I don't blog as much as I used to. This blog has served to help me recall the whats and whens of different happenings, so a few bullets from recent.

• A couple of weeks ago, we went out with Wolfgang and Meego to celebrate Wolfgang's recent birthday. He chose a Korean BBQ place, and we put away much food. The restaurant brings all the dishes out along with raw meats that we cooked at table top, built-in grills. Intereactive!

At one point I was enjoying tearing into a seafood pancake and noticed some soft little white ring things. I had no idea what they were, and later I happened to come across a video of a chef cooking up some squid and realized that's what I was eating. So I've eaten squid, cool.

• Our little brush with nature last week, in the form of a rattlesnake, sent me down a snake infested rabbit hole of learning about rattlesnakes. They are actually pretty cool critters, but I still don't want to ever ever get bitten by one. 
  
  
• We've been pondering the idea of getting some nearby recreational land, but haven't gotten very far beyond the pondering stage. We'd like to kick things up and get more active on that "project" before we're too old to enjoy it.
  
  
• 
  This morning, I was leaving the gym when a shiny new Mercedez-Benz G-wagon pulled into the parking lot. I'd only ever seen one from afar, and never really took much notice. Up close, it was obviously quite the adventure toy. 

 

I realized that, for the price of one G-wagon, we could get about 35 acres of rural land and all the rattlesnakes it would hold. 

chutes and rattlers

 We played some hooky this morning. Both Magnum and I had a light workload today, and Magnum suggested "a hike or something".

Okay.

We took advantage of the fact that it's not the weekend and went to a popular local hiking trail: [Arthur's Rock]. The hike is about 3.5 miles, round trip, and gains about 1100 feet of elevation. We got to the trailhead around 8am, and the heat was already kicking in. It would be a "heat training" kinda day.

As expected, we saw only a handful of other hikers since it's Monday. The final push to the summit is this gratifying chute scramble.

We hung out atop Arthur for several minutes, taking in the views, trying to figure out different landmarks.

Magnum utilized his trekking poles for his sketchy knees and wobbly ankles, needed mostly for the descent.

At one point, as we navigated the trail under the full on sun, we heard what at first, to me, sounded like a horny grasshopper stridulation. Upon closer inspection, it was a frickin' rattlesnake giving us a fair warning!

Snake was right next to the trail, within easy striking distance of our naked shins, poised at the ready.  Magnum looked at it and said, "oh hey, it's a rattlesnake" then made like he was just gonna keep on a-walking.

I said, "hold the phone!" or something like that. We decided we should back off and consider our next move as the trail was quite narrow at that point. As we did so, Snake backed off and slithered off away from the trail.  We proceeded on by, "thanks for the warning, Snake!" Nice of him/ her.

We made it back to the trailhead without further incident, passing a few other hikers headed upwards.  All in all, a good use of hooky morning.

Now for some unabashed product placement:

Not-weed gummies = quick energy snack

"Thirsty for Justice" bike-to-work day Law Firm freebie water bottle = expendable in case I fell off a cliff or was taken out by a rattler

can't take it with ya

The weekend, she was a good one. I'm feeling much lighter, but not necessarily in a good way. We dropped a lotta cash.

I mentioned we were looking to get a new vehicle that could get us around in snow and into the boonies. This after years of me yo-yo-ing between getting such a thing or giving up a car for the bike and rent something as needed.

Well, screw it, we (I) honed in on a vehicle I liked, did a bit of research, looked around for one, ended up traveling to Cheyenne Wyoming for our new acquisition. 

Cheyenne is a quick trip from Fort Collins. The dealership was friendly, had several for us to choose from, with lots of wide open space for test driving. Highly recommend.

In the meantime, the screenhouse? It's progressing nicely. The roof is complete. We just need a couple doors, and it's a thing.

We keep reminding ourselves, "we can't take it with us". Still, after years of frugality, this is not the norm for us. 

Yesterday, I went for a lovely hike. Just me and Meego. He invited me to check out [Button Rock Preserve], so we did that. It was a nice hike and a nice catch-up with Meego. As the youngest kid, he sort of fell in with this ready made family. 

I hadn't really realized before, but he wanted to know more about who we were 😂

For one, I explained the relatively large age gap between him and Wolfgang. How Chaco and Wolfgang arrived - *bang* bang*. After a couple of miscarriages, we finally got Meego. Born on Mother's Day no less (he knew about the Mother's Day birth, at least).

Life, religion, family, relationships - easily the deepest, and longest, conversation I've had with him. Oh, and the hike was nice too.

Anyway, really nice time. Now it's Monday. Carry on.

we're here

Yesterday, Magnum and I were partaking of an old folk's walk, when he said, "We should go somewhere tomorrow", implying an eating establishment perhaps. 

Now, we rarely go out for meals - go on plenty of coffee excursions, maybe throw in a bagel or such - but going out for an actual meal usually involves our kids as well. So I thought for a moment, and responded, "why?"

"It's our anniversary", he smirked.

"OH, heh. I knew that!", I quickly responded, pulling up the calendar in my head.

I do know the DATE of our anniversary, I just hadn't realized it was here already. August?! Wasn't it just May??

As is probably obvious at this point, we don't make a big do on our anniversary. I think of it in the way Vince Lombardi (I think) didn't like touchdown celebrations because he wanted his players to be all, "of course we scored, it's inevitable. Chill out".

Actually, I think the quote is "Act like you've been there before", but that might not carry the same meaning when applied to a wedding anniversary. *AHEM*

Anyway, here we were back then.

Coupla kids signing our lives away.

The wedding was in a little church in my little hometown. We did the traditional things - the flowers, the cake, the white dress, etc. 

The date itself was not particularly "special". As for many, I assume, it was a day on the calendar when the important people were free of other obligations and available to be in the little hometown, and the venue was available.

And *poof* here we are 34 years later.

So yes, we've been here before. It's inevitable, we planned it that way.chill out. ❤️

We did partake of a lovely bicycle ride this morning. I will miss these perfect mornings when we are in the thick of frozen winter. 

We stopped downtown for a coffee break - doesn't count as "go someplace" yet - it was relatively quiet. University students are starting to arrive for the fall semester. Freshmen start moving into their dorms tomorrow.

We sat near a window of the coffee shop and watched as police people walked around, investigating. There was a shooting nearby last night - one dead, one injured. A suspect has not yet been caught. 

We have a pleasant, typically wholesome, downtown area. But sadly, we also have our share of thugs.

mish mash

Late to the weekend mashup...

• Last week was a good mix of busy and relaxing as it started with a day off. Now that Labor Day has passed, it feels more like school time at the college. 

The interview process continues for our new boss position. We should know the selection shortly. Party Girl has been serving on the selection committee and sneaks little insights to us when Assistant Boss is out of hearing range. 

One candidate is apparently highly qualified to the point of being over qualified. Red flags include, will she just do the job for a few months before moving to a Dean position? My other concern is that she would have trouble working under our former boss who has been promoted one level above. Bottom line, Assistant Boss is still in the running but not in the bag.

• I scribed again for "Ben", this time for a full length unit exam. It's so hard to keep my mouth shut when he makes mistakes.
  
  
• A few months ago, Magnum and I ended our gym membership and got season recreation passes that give us access to various city amenities including gyms and pools. The season passes were a cheaper option than the gym we belonged to at the time. 

We started regularly going to the gym housed inside the city's Senior Center because its closest to where we live. It's a decent enough gym, but limited. Last week, I visited yet another gym - also close by. It's much better than our old gym and not much more expensive. Gonna switch. 

There, I now feel mashed enough to get on with the week. Off to work in a bit. 

I remember when blogs were "the new thing to do", and I read a few before starting my own way back in the old days. I read one that was a dude just blogging about day-to-day stuff he'd done during the week, and I thought, "why am I reading this?" but had to admit it was kind of relaxing.

And here we are.

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.

next

Last weekend, we got together with all the guys for Meego's Birthday, Part II since Wolfgang was out of town the weekend before. Mexican food this time, no restaurant family drama as far as we were aware, thank goodness.

We have begun toying with the idea of purchasing some recreational land - some boonies to call our own. Nothing fancy. We're not fancy people, plus we can't afford fancy anyway.

Asked the kids if they would get use out of such a getaway, and the brainstorming began:

• solar-powered-bike-park-archery-range-cult-commune?
  
  

Me, I'm thinking Teletubby house 

In other playtime, I dusted off my drawing things yesterday. A neglectful doodler, I've been! Then I drew a quick boat. Why a boat? No idea.

I remember when I used to do at least ONE artwork a week. Illustration Friday was a website that hosted a weekly prompt and sometimes offered awards.  I would post my submissions here as well as with the Illustration Friday group over at deviantart.com. 

Alas, the website is no more, and I no longer had the proddings other than the annual Inktobers. 

How easy it is to slack when there's no rudder! I visited my deviantart page, which also lives among the dustbunnies these days. 

Yeah, I used to be quite a deviant. Did I have more time back then? Nah. Less distraction maybe.



Set a goal. Write it down.

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?

hermits and bathrooms

Well, this week seems to have gone by quickly. A few bullets of reflection:

• I finished a book this week. The Stranger in the Woods is a story of Christopher Knight, a man who parked his car and headed into the woods of Maine and allegedly lived alone for 27 years.
  
  

I found the book highly annoying. The author seemed to try to make Christopher Knight out as some sort of enlightened woodland sage. But the fact is that he lived in his so-called camp on someone else's land, all the while frequently stealing everything he used from surrounding recreational cabins and a nearby camp for the disabled. 

Anything and everything he ever possessed was stolen: food, clothing, booze, propane, camping gear, car batteries, device batteries, tools, books, magazines, TVs, radios, video games, and so on. He buried his discards at his "camp" a.k.a. dump. He drank so much stolen booze, he became an alcoholic. He was not at all self sufficient - a premise I assumed when I first picked up the book. 

Turns out, he just can't stand being around people, but he sure likes helping himself to their stuff. It became a story mainly because he was eventually caught and sent to jail because of his ongoing thefts. 

I'm reading something better for me now, to get that bad taste out.  We've thought about purchasing some land - a few acres for recreation. I would be open to letting certain others use it... just please ask first?

• Yesterday, we gave a fond farewell to our old gas-powered lawnmower at the recycling place. From there, we stopped at Lowes and picked up a new battery-powered mower. We don't have a lot of lawn, and have plans to decrease it even further, but I'm ready for the grass to grow now.

• An email went out at work last week from one of the Deans or VPs, - I forget which with all the restructuring and changing of titles going on - one of the "higher ups", anyway. She was alerting us to some vandalism that's been happening on our campus.

A couple months ago, the student government association stocked the bathrooms on campus with baskets of menstrual supplies.  All of the bathrooms. The building where I work, for instance, has two sets of "men's/ women's" bathrooms and one "all gender" single use bathroom. 

I didn't realize it at the time, but the baskets were put in designated "men's" bathrooms as well. We do have a decent population of transgendered students, so the SGA was being inclusive of that. And I'm not sure about staff population, but from my small sampling, I work with one transgendered fellow tutor as well as a transgendered fellow test proctor. 

Apparently somebody or bodies has been trashing and creating nasty graffiti concerning the baskets - no doubt regarding their inclusion in men's bathrooms. We're to be on the lookout.

• This coming week is the last week of this semester. It's going to be chaotic with finals - both from my test proctoring job and my tutoring job. 

It's a good chaos, though. I think?

call o' nature

We went away for a few days of relaxation on the beach... but not really.

We went away for a few days of play in the mountains. I'm not really one for sitting on a lounge chair on a cruise ship or beach while sipping an umbrella drink and taking a pic of my sandaled feet. So this'll do.

We visited lovely Steamboat Springs, CO - yet another touristy resort town up yonder. A ski town fer shur, but plenty to do year-round, so the whole fam headed there for a little end-of-summer getaway.

None of us had been there before except for Magnum who'd gone there to ski once or twice in the pre-me days.

We stayed in an Airbnb or Vrbo (Magnum booked it...) condo with plenty of room for all of us and nice views off the pond.

Our condo also allowed us to bring Chaco's dog, Ella. Our dogs stayed behind at the kennel, so don't tell them about Ella.

On our first full day, we rented bicycles and rode the length of the trail that runs through town, top to bottom and then some. Along the way, we stopped at the enjoyable Yampa River Botanic Park. It sits right along the bike path and was nicely laid out and maintained. 

My trip recorder skills are so bad, I didn't get one photo, but oh well. We have the internet.

On the bike ride, I noticed quite a few rather run down, mobile home type residences on the outskirts of town surrounding the posh big expensive homes of Steamboat. Thing with these resort towns - somebody needs to do the cookin' and cleanin' for the ritzy residents.

We walked around the small downtown area, Chaco in search of a hoodie. He preferred one that did not say "Steamboat Springs" anywhere on it. Not a chance.

With biking checked off our list, we headed out the next day for some hiking. We found a nearby trail that would take us to Fish Creek Falls, a moderate hike that took us from about 7400 ft to 9000 ft to the upper falls - around 4.5 miles out and back.

The aspens had not yet begun to change. It should be really pretty in a couple of weeks when we're not there.

We rounded things out with a good deal of eating and lounging and people watching and gaming. The trip provided me a much needed nature fix, yet left me thirsty for more. Greedy, I know.

hot and spicy

"Driving the struggle bus through toasty town!" another runner commented regarding running in the heat this morning.  

It's hot outside.  Need to get up really early to beat the heat, and I (and the struggle bus driver) was not up that early. No duck pics today as even the ducks kept a low profile along the creek. But it wasn't unbearable, and I know the heat wave is worse for many others. We're noticing the payoff of the new windows and blinds we got last December. We don't have AC, and have been able to keep the house relatively cool without it.

It was a good week and nice to be back from our hippie adventure. In addition to learning about earthships, we stopped for a bit of Colorado lore in San Luis - the oldest town in Colorado, established in 1851. San Luis is a very small town with a few hundred residents in a poor part of the state. In college, I was friends with a girl from San Luis. She was a "tough chick". These days, she's a high school teacher, so good she's tough.

San Luis' most famous attraction is the Stations of the Cross Shrine, so we had to stop and check it out. The attraction features a trail that makes its way to the Cathedral with each station depicted in bronze sculptures along the way. The trail is dirt, but not very steep, and less than a mile long.

We enjoyed the stop, it's nicely done and well  maintained. We are not anything close to being devout Catholics, but I definitely felt a certain sacredness while there. Others we saw along the trail were very quiet and respectful.

When I was growing up, my mom was friends with a nice and very Catholic Italian woman - Mrs. Valentine.  Mrs. Valentine was an excellent seamstress, and my mom would often bring clothes needing altering to Mrs. V.

The ladies would sit and visit, and if I tagged along, I was given books or such to look at if I didn't bring my own. Visiting the Stations of the Cross Shrine brought back memories of being at Mrs. V's house and coming across graphic depictions of the stations of the cross - likely not meant for a child!

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in San Luis, CO with about an hour or so to kill, I recommend a visit to the shrine.

In other touristy activity, we walked along the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  We crossed the bridge on our way to the earthships. It sits 650 feet above the river. It's no secret here that I'm not a fan of heights, so the views from the bridge were impressively horrendous for me.

I managed to let go of the railing long enough to snap a pic, which really doesn't do a great job of depicting the depth of the gorge.

Sadly, the bridge is apparently a "popular" place for suicides. Lots of suicide hotline info and little memorials along the way.

The American Institute of Steel Construction awarded the bridge "The Most Beautiful Bridge" in the long span category.

So that about rounds up our little trip to the Taos area. I'd never been there before, although it's quite close to where I grew up. The town of Taos is pretty small - lots of adobe houses and shops - with little galleries and touristy gift shop type places.  Need a kachina doll? Taos is your place!

We had to sample the local Mexican food. There is quite the rivalry between the state of New Mexico and the town of Pueblo, CO for the BEST green chilies. I've had some Pueblo green chili, and it's delish. Now I've had Taos green chili, and found it also to be delish, but a different delish from Pueblo delish. 

Either way, it's all delish.