winter pastimes

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

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

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



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





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

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

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

SOURCE

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

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

Maybe when I win the lottery.

that Dolly Parton meme

That Dolly, who knew she'd still be such a trendsetter at 74 years old.  Oh well, look at Betty White?  Our prime years await!

I'm here waiting for my laundry to finish cycling and for the temperature to go up a few notches so as to venture outside into the arctic that is our current neighborhood.  I saw other bloggers playing with the Dolly Parton meme, so gave it a go.

Good thing I'm not looking to date anyone and in "need" of an actual Tinder profile.


And speaking of pets and primping, I'm looking for recommendations.  For those who have furry family members, what method do you use to remove fur from furniture and EVERYTHING in your home?

The struggle is indeed real

fashion fail?

I walked into the place, thinking I could just leave my jacket on and maybe no one would notice.  But, it was so hot in there!

Okay, screw it, I took the jacket off.  Who would care?

I didn't bring it up.  She didn't bring it up.  Did she notice?  I think she noticed.  

She reminded me that I should've been there last week.  It wasn't a reprimand.  I explained that I knew, but had a last minute thing.  Was it a reprimand?  She's usually so friendly...


I've mentioned that I get injections for my allergies.  Since we moved, the old clinic shipped my shot juice to the new clinic, and all is good. I go every couple of weeks, and the new clinic is very nice and friendly.  Yay, everyone is happy.

It also happens that the new clinic is located within a large medical complex affiliated with a specific hospital.  It also happens that I started a new job working for a competing hospital just down the road from the medical complex where I get my allergy shots.

Well, how convenient, I'll just stop in on my way  home from work to get my shots.  I planned on doing that last Friday, but alas, I had a flat tire that became the priority.  No biggie, I decided to get injected after work yesterday.

Except, I forgot to bring a change of shirt. 

See, I wear a uniform top at the new job.  Nothing flashy, but it does have the logo and name of the hospital embroidered near the left lapel, hence, me bringing a change of shirt on shot days...

... which I forgot to do yesterday.  But I still wanted to stop in for my shots, so I did, feeling a bit like that Chick-fil-A van in the Popeye's drive thru.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Tell us about a recent mistake you made.

canine envy

It's a wonderfully strangely warm and sunny day today.  Temperatures in the 70's on this Groundhog Day.  Magnum and I took advantage and decided to go for a bike ride around our extremely bike friendly town.

Not surprisingly, many others were out recreating.  We passed several other walkers, joggers, bicyclists, skateboarders, etc.  At one point, we pulled up behind an interesting crew:  two girls, early 20's I'd say, each holding a leashed Doberman Pinscher. The girls were on rollerblades being pulled by the dogs.

And those dogs were like fine tuned machines, focused on running down the pathway and pulling the girls.  The pathway is a multi-use path with 2-way traffic and is rather narrow in spots.  But those powerful dogs stayed precisely in their lane, staggered slightly one behind the other.  The girls didn't need to propel themselves at all on their rollerblades, just coast behind the dogs.  But it was clear that the girls were in complete control of the animals, and it was quite impressive.  "Badass" is what actually came to my mind.

SOURCE

The girls, too, were not Miss Prissies.  They were both solidly built, and one of them in particular had a head of long wild blonde hair, which only added to the badass appearance.  I felt as though I was temporarily thrust into some Frank Frazetta-esque world of witchlike beastmasters... erm... beastmaidens?







I got to thinking of our two dogs and what a disaster it would be if we tried such an endeavor.  Heck, we're still teaching them to walk in a straight line, let alone pull us down a crowded pathway!

Our previous dogs, Domino and China, both liked to run.  Although  not nearly as disciplined as the dogs on the path today, I could hook them up to the kids' sleds, and they'd run up and down the snowy street a few times with me holding their leashes.  Penny and Merlin have the strength and energy - although Penny's on the small side - but hoo boy.  It'd be trips and falls waiting to happen.

I love our two meandering mutts, and I know they just need time and attention.  They'll eventually get it. 

But I wish I could get some witch's brew from those two on the path today.

hospital chicken in the land of flat tires

"Okay, your vehicle is ready", he said with a smile.

"Thanks, uhm...", I looked at him expectedly, "I haven't paid yet"

"Right, we don't charge for fixing flats", he replied, still smiling.

I figured he was joking, so, "haha", followed by *pause*

"Need anything else today?", he queried.

Omigosh, he was serious.  I didn't owe anything.  Thank you, Discount Tire.  I'll be back.

I'd walked out to the parking lot to see my rear passenger side tire was flat - the silver head of a large screw nestled within the treads.  I called AAA because I can, and then set to work.  The friendly road-side assistor appeared relatively quickly.  By then, I had my car jacked up, lug nuts removed, and doughnut at the ready.  But the tire was not budging.  I asked if I was missing something.

"Oh, yeah, it's just rusted on there", he replied as he retrieved a primitive mallet from his toolbox.

He proceeded to perform a highly technical process of removing the flat tire - giving it a few good whacks with the mallet.  Soon I was on my way and stopped at Discount Tire where they (surprisingly) fixed and installed my flat tire for free even though I didn't buy the tire there.

This incident marked my third flat tire in two months.  Firstly, I discovered the front tire of my mountain bike was flat shortly after we moved.  That's a mystery to me since I hadn't ridden it in a few months, and it was fine when we packed up.  It went flat on the moving truck?

Oh well, fixed it and all's good.

Then last week, I had a flat on my commuter bike - first flat in the two and a half years and who knows how many miles.  Oh well, fixed it and all's good. I'm hoping that's the end of the flat tires for a while.  Does Fort Collins just have an unnatural amount of sharp road crap?

In other news, I started a part-time job last week working in the culinary department of a small hospital.  I'm enjoying it, it's fun, and my coworkers are a talented and friendly bunch. There is potential to progress to bigger things, so we'll see. 

For now, I appreciate the opportunity and the ability to cut back on the tutoring, which I've been doing since 2008.  The burnout is real.

just bought two houses

Now that we've sold a house, the task of finding a new home remains.  Not gonna lie, I'm not thrilled at the thought of moving again.  Although we're not in a hurry, we did pop into an open house over the weekend.  A new listing popped up, and we had nothing better to do, so we went on in.

The house was okay, priced about right, I'd say, and in a favorable location.  Floor plan was a little too closed in and the yard was a little too big for my liking, but it was good to see a little of what's out there.

The thing that steered me away, though?  Neighbor's backyard.  There was a fire pit surrounded by a few chairs and some pilfered road signs.  It just looked like a party backyard to me, and having just moved from next door neighbors that had occassional 3am bonfires, I'm scrutinizing neighbor yards.

Thing is, I liked those previous neighbors.  They were friendly and hard-working and took good enough care of their property and such.  They weren't awful, but what's with the (illegal) bonfires and party tunes in the wee hours of the morning?  Oh well, not my problem anymore.

And I know that neighbors can change.  Our old neighborhood went through a few iterations while we lived there, so no guarantees.  At least we didn't have any crackhouses or meth labs... to my knowledge.

In the meantime, the dogs at least have some new digs.  We got this new kennel for them when we moved.  It's 6' x 16' , and I just got back from picking up matching dog houses.  Nothing fancy, just the lovely plastic shelters.  The dogs are pretty civilized, though.


The cat still pines away for the great outdoors even though I've explained to him that it's illegal in these parts.  He clearly has no respect for the law.



The lease for the house we're renting is up at the end of May, so we've got some time to shop.  We sort of have an agent here - someone we met at an open house last fall when we were REALLY just snooping.  But she seems nice and competent.  She knows we just closed the sale on our house and sent me a gift card for a local espresso and pastry.  Yes, I'll accept bribes favors.

Do you like/ dislike/ feel neutral about your neighbors?  Any horror stories?

show me yours?

Since we moved to Ft. Collins, Magnum and I have been checking out coffee places for our weekend walks.  Geez, just typing "weekend walks" makes me feel old.

Anyway, we've built up a decent list of options, and this morning, we walked for the first time to a place I'd been wanting to try.  This particular coffee house is very near the university campus, so we figured most of the clientele would be students (a.k.a. people young enough to be our children), and we're okay with that.

I liked the place. I think I would even say it's usurped my previous choice for top spot when figuring in the coffee, atmosphere of the place, and the walking route to and from.  Additionally, while our entrance did noticeably skew the average age, I did spot other grey hairs and bifocals in the place.

No sooner had we sat down and taken our first sips, I recognized a young guy who came in and approached the counter.  He'd been a student from when I worked that boring job at the high school a couple of years ago - that boring job that revealed to me my lack of any desire to ever work at a high school.  I don't think he noticed me as he was with a companion and the place was generally pretty busy. Even if he had noticed me, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't remember me, so small was my role in his high school life.

But I remembered him as a good kid - AP honor student, very respectful, etc.  He's the same age as Meego, and it was a kind of a nice surprise to see this mini blast from the not-so-distant past.  I still feel like a bit of a stranger in a strange land after moving from Colorado Springs.

And speaking of downsizing, We Are Clamco blogged about her new computer.  It's an all-in-one that I like the minimalist look of.  I considered getting one last year (?) when I was looking to replace my desktop, but found a cute microcomputer instead.  Did I ever introduce it here?

If I did, sorry for the redundancy and laziness in searching the archives.  But I do like this little powerhouse.  It does everything I need it to do for the tutoring biz while taking up very little desktop real estate.  Here's a photo, and I've included an easily recognizable everyday item for scale:

Care to share your hardware?