My Tree Hugger License: Revoked

I did in fact get up early to do some yard work. I've been trying to get some grass growing again after the dogs and I effectively ruined the lawn when we first moved in.

It rained incessantly for the first month or so that we lived here, and they chose one corner of the yard in which to tear around/play. With the ground being so wet, they ripped up all of the grass. I also had left the lawnmower out in the yard thinking "We're in the Desert! It will be fine tucked away in this little corner here!" It didn't really work out that way, and I'm thinking all the rain may have also had a part in the death of the mower. So the one corner was screwed up in that there was just nothing growing anymore, and the rest of the lawn was screwed up in that I didn't mow for...let's just say a VERY LONG TIME...and the weeds of course made it up and sprouted before anything else.

I finally got the lawnmower fixed (professionally; the carburetor was jacked and no amount of cleaning the air filter--the extent of my small engine repair skills--was going to fix that) and managed to mow the weeds back, but it seemed pretty much a lost cause.

So I then got this genius idea to renovate the lawn. We'd have to block off part of the lawn so that the dogs couldn't run around and stir up all the grass seed. I devised quite possibly the most white-trash looking contraption ever to do the job:Yep, it's an old tarp cut into strips and stapled to fencing stakes. It wasn't pretty, but it served its purpose--for a while at least. The birds loved the new grass seed, and the dogs hated the birds, so when they got accustomed to the silver flashing and the tarp flapping, in they'd go to chase their winged nemeses.

Despite all of these incursions, the grass seed did sprout. It was terribly exciting to think that we might actually have a lawn again (or at least a corner of lawn), instead of a wastland of packed dirt and weeds. Funny thing is, it came up and looked glorious for a time, and then turned into this:
Patchy patchy dark green grass, patchy patchy thatchy grass, lots of bare spots, and lots of weeds. It's very odd, and I'm not sure why exactly there is such a difference in the types of grass that popped up. We love the dark grass--it's lush and soft. The rest of it... not so much.

Anyway, I've been out in the yard a couple times a week for the past month or two. Pulling weeds. Lots and lots of weeds. I don't know what they are, but they are smart, these weeds. They break off right at the top of the taproot, forcing me to dig and dig. And when I dig, I invariably come up with several yards of crabgrass.

And here it is, the reason my Tree Hugger License is Revoked: I HATE CRABGRASS. I unconditionally loathe the stuff. Yes, it's natural. Yes, it's green in this horrid brown scrubland. But I really really hate it. It makes the work of pulling all these other weeds so much worse, because it effectively creates a sort of impenetrable mesh guard. If you want to pull up a weed, you must first loosen the grip of the crabgrass, and the more crabgrass you loosen, the more crabgrass you find. It's awful awful stuff, and I hate it.

But hey, I've got time on my hands, right? I'll just keep diggin' and pullin' and pullin' and diggin'. I've considered a controlled burn or possibly a land mine, but the parts of me that cling to treehugger status disdain those ideas. I'm considering chemicals as well, but again--as long as I've got time, I might as well get dirty.

Living in Sci-Fi Movie

I had forgotten about Ozone Alerts. They happen with such regularity during the summer months here, that we begin to tune them out and just go about our business. The first warning of the season (yesterday--the day after Earth Day, ironically enough), though, always sort of stops me in my tracks and gives me a serious case of the heebie jeebies. Don't go outside? Don't run gas-powered engines? Including driving--don't drive anywhere unless you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. Don't spill any gasoline if you have to fill your tank--and for heaven's sake, don't fill it before 4pm!! It's all a bit creepy, really.

It's only supposed to be in the high 80s today, and I was in fact going to do some yard work. I'm not quite ready to get back on the bike with Bucket, but I figured I could at least get some weeds pulled and maybe some grass seed planted. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get an earlier start and just not turn on the radio--then I won't hear about how the air itself will sear my lungs.

I bet it's nice and humid and non-threatening in Missouri, where I'll be in four days! Hooray for trees and grass and green! And family and friends. :)

Every Rose Has Its Thorns, or Earth Day Takes a Bite Outta Me

I don't think I've mentioned it in the blog before now, although I've meant to for a couple weeks.

I've been teaching Bucket to run with me while I ride my bike. He's been doing remarkably well, and it's been really nice to get him some good exercise finally. He's much more quiet when he's pooped. Plus, I really enjoy riding my bike, and my dream is to be able to have him ride trails with me. It's a longshot, but as well as he's been doing on the road, I no longer think it's impossible.

This morning, however, I could tell something was off. He just wasn't paying attention. Granted, he normally has the attention span of a gnat, but it's something. I should have taken that observation to the thoughtful part of my brain and turned it into something intelligent, like a beeline for the house. Instead, I figured it was just a passing bout of ADD and that we'd be fine.

Here's the result of that lack of using my better judgement:
I also have a nice bit of road rash on my right elbow, and my right hip is going to have a fantastic bruise.

The worst part about all of this is that I have NO IDEA what distracted him and caused him to suddenly stop in the middle of a run. I am very diligent about watching out for people, cats, dogs, birds, plastic bags, oddly shaped rocks, and shadows that might grab his attention. There was nothing. My best guess is that another dog had stopped to leave his mark and Bucket, never one to be outdone, felt the urge to "overwrite" said mark. Normally I can just pull him through this type of distraction with a sharp "Leave It", but this one was so abrupt that I never had a chance.

Poor Delilah, who only ever gets a short walk on account of her gimpy knees, could only bounce around and look confused as I bypassed her and her longing looks and headed straight for the sink and the hydrogen peroxide. I've gotten myself washed off and rinsed down and the stinging has commenced in a purposeful way. I've commandeered the ice packs and downed a fistful of ibuprofen, but I think Delilah's walk and any subsequent hard labor I had planned for the day have just taken a backseat to me wallowing in pain.

And, by the way...Happy Earth Day! I've given of myself to the Earth today (literally!); what are you going to do?

Delilah the Sun Seeker

Our little princess Delilah is quite the sunbather. If you ever need to locate her, whether inside the house or out in the yard, you need simply to find the spot of sun and there she will be. I've tried many times to catch her on "film", but when I get up for the camera, she generally thinks she's getting a cookie (or a pain pill or maybe even a walk!) and immediately moves.
The other morning, however, I was standing in the kitchen and the camera was a step away on the table. Here's what I saw:
Isn't she gorgeous?

Rainy Days and Mondays. . .

hm. It's not rainy. It's Arizona, for pete's sake. It's not Monday. In fact, despite a fervent wish by the subconscious and cupcake/fantastic brownie craving part of my brain that it be at *least* Friday (we have Saturday morning sweets at the Wicked Bakery), it is only Tuesday.

So! I must not be down!

I should have a mood or index rating on here. Today would be "meh". It's tax day, and although I filed mine back in February, I just mailed my $90 to the State of Arizona today. Why give it to them any sooner than I have to? I got back a little bit from Federal, and I'm really looking forward to my "Economic Stimulus" bonus check. At least Dubya's looking out for me, even if the State of Arizona's Unemployment Office won't.

Aside from it being the Ides of April? Not much else to report. It has started to get ungodly hot at ungodly hours of the mornining, and although it's only going to get worse, I've begun my "get all my stuff done outside before most people have left for work" tactic. I watered the lawn and pulled some weeds this morning. Took the dogs out for walks. Dropped off a movie at Blockbuster. By 11am, it was all indoor work; washed some dishes, put some laundry up, thought about what to make for dinner and what to pick up at the grocery. Researched how to help Delilah out with her flop-bottom issues, and then did something about it (Anal gland expression; not one of the more glamorous things about owning pets). In general, it's been a pretty bland day.

But, I did happen to see that some folks have looked at *and* commented on some of my photos, and for that I am very excited and very grateful! Thank you for taking the time to look and for the kind comments. :)

Last Week

It wasn't really an uneventful week, despite the lack of posts. In fact, quite a lot happened.

Monday, I went down to Kartchner Caverns with a meetup friend. I don't have any photos to share, because they do not allow cameras inside the caves themselves. You'll just have to go to google images or something and do a search. There is also a really good article about it here. Trust me when I tell you, there are some amazing things going on inside these caverns.

To keep them safe and preserved, they actually hose down the pathways inside the caves every night. The paths are all built with "walls" about a foot and a half high or so, with grates in the flooring every so often. Because we haul so much crap in on our shoes and our bodies, they wash it all down the grates, which lead to a sump, which then washes and recycles the water into non-potable water for the rest of the site--watering plants on the site, going into the washrooms, etc. In addition to that, they actually run visitors through a heavily misted tunnel before even going into the caves--to keep the dust and fibers and hairs and dryskin and *whatever* from coming off us in the first place.

The caverns are "alive" and "wet", which means that they are still growing and changing, unlike many other caves that have been opened to the public. They have maintained this by creating a series of airlocks into the caves that keep the dry Arizona air out, and the incredibly (98-99% humidity--no exaggeration) wet cave air in. They have humidifiers inside the caves to maintain it, and they check it several times a week to make sure it's a stable environment. The most amazing part to me was a path through the mud that the original discoverers used when they first entered the caves. They were so concerned with preserving the caverns' integrity that they used the *exact* path on future trips into the caves. Even when workers started coming in, they used the same path, so the surrounding mud is absolutely untouched. In fact, I believe they said that only about 15% of the cave had been disturbed in any physical way. Pretty cool.

There are two distinct areas of the caverns, the Rotunda/Throne room, and what they call The Big Room. We decided to do both tours, as it's a three hour drive and it's not likely that we'll get down there any time soon. It was a really nice road trip, an amazing look inside--literally--the mountains of southern Arizona.

So I was in a good mood when I got home, and R told me I had a letter from the unemployment office. Yes, I had recently applied for unemployement, at the behest of my father. I kinda figured it was a lost cause, since I had actually quit my job of my own volition, but he insisted that I give it a shot. I was actually getting hopeful after getting a call from one of my old coworkers telling me that the store had missed the deadline for protesting the claim. Maybe this letter was acknowledgement and a statement of benefits. No. It was a letter saying I'd been denied. I quit my job and, despite my trying to explain that it was primarily a function of saving myself a whole lot of physical pain (I know I've talked about physical therapy, my herniated discs, and the ginormous amount of pain I was in pretty much 100% of the time I worked there), that's all that concerns them. So, physical hardship or no, I should have stayed at that job--risking further injury. At least according to the State.

Can you tell I'm a bit peeved about the whole thing? I'm not sure why, but it *really* set me back, reading another rejection letter. Getting rejected for a job is one thing. Getting rejected for unemployment? I felt like a complete and utter failure. I had a pretty harsh meltdown, in which I cried a lot and moped around for a day or so.

During my moping phase, I got yet another email from the airlines, touting their great getaway flights. Out of curiosity, I plugged in KCMO as my destination and found that I could fly in for 99$ one way (out slightly more), and within the next few weeks. R had mentioned to me some months ago that I should use my time off to go visit family/friends, but I felt odd taking a vacation from my "vacation" of unemployment. Add to that the fact that my mom and dad *always* tell me I should come visit them (my dad has another List that he needs help with!). So I mentioned to R the great fares and he again encouraged me to go for it. He thinks maybe what I need is a bit of time away from the stress of thinking about and looking for jobs--that I'll come back refreshed and ready to take on the world! I hope he's right, cos I'm going to Kansas City/Stockton for the last week of April/first of May. :D

The Palo Verde Trail, or The Bartlett Lake Allergen Death March

I went on a hike yesterday morning. Check out the Flickr badge to the left there for new photos, which despite everything, turned out quite nicely I think.

It was another Meetup hike, with a new group this time. I was all excited because it was a) A hike by a lake b) a (supposedly) relatively flat trail and c) it was up here on the north side of town. It was a longer hike--7 to 8 miles--but since it was more "cross country" than "mountain" I thought it would be a breeze.

Not so much.

I should have known things were going to be a bit doom and gloom when I started sneezing about 20 minutes into the hike. I'd had good intentions of taking some allergy meds before I left the house yesterday morning, as well as packing some extra for good measure. Ah, the best laid plans. I got the Kashi bars and the trail mix, the frozen bottles of water, the tp (just in case), the sunscreen, and the bandanas. I got the cell phone, the digicam and even my nifty new GorrillaPod (mine's pink!). But I forgot all about the allergy meds.

It's spring here in the desert, which means, contrary to logical thinking, that there are flowers EVERYWHERE.
As you might note, in addition to the multitudinous flowers, there is also quite a steep climb happening in this photo. This was not a rare occasion. My moutainbiking friends and I might call this a "whoop-te-do" trail; a rollercoaster of sorts, filled with a great many ups and downs. My knees loved it not. As far as the flowers go? My pants were covered in pollen. The water's edge was yellow with the stuff. And I kept sneezing. Before we were halfway out, I was feeling pretty miserable. The sneezes kept coming, and I was getting that fun sinus pressure headache that inevitably accompanies any allergy attacks I have. Before we hit the halfway point I was seriously considering hitching a ride back with one of the numerous fishing boats we saw. "Back to the Marina!" I'd cry, "I must blow my nose!"

I'm glad I took a lot of photos on the "out" part of the hike, because on the "back" portion, I was mindful only of staying upright and dabbing my constantly running nose with one of my bandanas (See!? I knew they'd come in handy!). I was getting hot, my head hurt, my nose was leeching any hydration I'd previously stocked up from my body, and I was getting clumsy.

Don't get me wrong--The Palo Verde Trail at Bartlett Lake is a beautiful walk. But next time, I think I'll go earlier in the winter, earlier in the day, and make my turnaround point much closer to my starting point.

I came home and sniffled my way through the evening, and ended up sleeping about 10 or 11 hours. I feel much much better now! However, I think I'll stay inside today. :)

Be sure to check out the flickr photos; you can see the giant old saguaro, more pretty flowers, and a really pissed off rattlesnake!

Ah, nostalgia!

Found this cool video on YouTube today. I miss the Muppets!








(if you are somehow unfamiliar with the "RickRoll'd" concept, just do a google search, or look it up on Wikipedia. It's an interwebs thing!)