Regretting the Expenditure

Because gadgets that make me feel like a slacker suck.

I bought a Pedometer just after Christmas. Despite the fact that I have a really snazzy GarminForerunner 301 which works just fine (except for the download/online stuff, which I've never managed to be able to access), I wanted to see exactly how many steps I was taking each day--to see how close I was to the magical 10,000 steps mark.

Not. Very. Close.

I wore the pedometer every day last week, from the time I got up in the morning to the time I went to bed. I wanted the full day's worth of steps. Admittedly, there are limits to what the pedometer can measure--it only starts counting after like 4 consecutive seconds of walking, and erratic steps or moving too quickly or too slowly sometimes means it won't register your movements. Still. I figured I was in a pretty good position for 10-15k steps a day. Right?

Like most people, I grossly overestimated the number of steps I take on any given day. On days when I started out by walking 3-3.5 miles with the dogs, I came in only around 8-9k. Still short of the mark. On days that I didn't walk the dogs (I know, I know, for shame...), I came in around 3k. Miserable machine!

My one triumph was Wednesday, when I both walked the dogs in the morning (3.69miles), and went for a hike that evening (3.5 miles). Steps that day: 17,890! But let's be honest, the odds of me doing anything remotely like that on a regular basis are slim to none. I've taken to walking in place in the kitchen while making dinner, but I think it only serves to make me look ridiculous; I'm not sure the pedometer even "sees" those steps. le sigh.

Anyway, here's the breakdown for the week:

Day / Miles / Steps
Sunday / 8.57-bike / no ped yet
Monday / 3.02-walk / 9485
Tuesday / 0.00 / 3117
Wednesday / 7.19-walk / 17,890
Thursday / 0.0 / 3445
Friday / 3.47-walk / 8562
Saturday / 0.0 / forgot to wear the ped
TOTALS: 22.25 miles / 42,499 steps

I have no idea where that puts me for the month, because I forgot to look at my old post and I've been too lazy to write it down in my planner, where it really should go. It would save me a lot of time at the end/beginning of the week when I'm doing these recaps. There is a lot of button pushing and scrolling through workouts to get to the numbers. So perhaps I'll get on that.

The 'rents are coming in on Wednesday for a week's visit, weather allowing. Supposedly some big ice storm is set to hit their neck of the woods, just in time to make driving 2 hours to the airport a real fiasco. Here's hoping the weatherman is wrong this time too. All this is to say that, assuming my folks make their flight, chances are high that I *won't* be posting much this week.

That's funny. It implies that in other circumstances I might post 5 times a day or some such. lol.

You get my meaning. So that promised excursion to the summer of '08 will likely wait a little longer. But here are a couple photos from a hiking trip I took way back then (to Woods Canyon Lake), just to keep you interested:
It was so amazingly beautiful up there. Green. And green. With wind and water and vegetation that was green. /sigh

Giddy

I am thankful that I have a job that allowed me to watch streaming video of Today's Events. I was able to successfully complete my assigned tasks, but I will admit that there were a lot of breaks taken to oogle the massive display of hope and excitement and pride playing out on my computer screen.

I was stunned at the numbers of people who showed up for the event, and even more blown away by the amount of preparation that went into providing for them--the miles of chairs, 20 or so giant screens(I'm totally guessing here) that allowed the folks over a half mile away to see what was happening at the podium, the warming stations, the blankets that were handed out, the security, the transporation...it was mind blowing.

I was awed by the enormity of the occasion itself. The formality of it all really made me proud. We, as Americans, don't have a lot of real "culture" to call our own--it's all a mishmash of the immigrant communities that make us These United States--but oh, the ceremony of the day! The motorcades and the banners and flags, the military personnel stationed at every gateway and portal. . . And the millions of people clamoring for the tiniest view of the new president--the joy and hope on the faces as the cameras panned the crowd... It really felt like America.

I am not naive enough to think that things are going to change overnight. I am, however, giddy with the thought that we have finally come together as a country and spoken out about some changes that we'd *like* to see--that we *need* to see. I believe that we have chosen the administration to bring about some of those changes. It's not going to be painless, and in fact it's probably going to get worse before it gets better, but I believe that it will happen.

Yes, It Can.

A note on mileages

So I slacked off a bit last week, and I'm going to call it the fault of my allergies, which started kicking my BUTT on Sunday. I simply could not drag my sorry self out of bed early enough to get any exercise in for the next three days.

However, I did really well the previous week, and I've gotten this week off to a good start, so I'm not calling my Resolution a bust.

Here's what I have so far:
Week ending / Miles:
Jan 3 / 8.29(w)
Jan 10 / 6.71(w) 20.13(b)
Jan 17 / 8.63
Jan 24 / 8.57(b)

TOTAL: 52.33

Which means I've averaged 2.9 miles a day--barely over my goal, but beating it nonetheless. I'm feeling manky again today after my ride this morning, but I've managed to get some allergy meds down my gullet, so hopefully I'll get some decent sleep and be up and at 'em in the morning.

Oh, and the pedometer I ordered after Christmas has finally come in, so I'm going to play with that this week and see if I even get close to the magical 10,000 step mark.

Later this week: More on the joys of Wii Fit and my sundry hikes during my Summer of Freedom and Gloom 08. Woo.

I'd better get this done. . .

Before another day goes by and I'm a full week without posting. Oh. The Horror.

So yeah, in real life, I rode my bike Saturday morning. TWENTY MILES. /flex

To be honest, I was not planning this. If someone had said to me before hand "we're going to ride about 2o miles today", I would have laughed nervously and suddenly remembered that I had a broken leg, or that I had to give birth later in the day and couldn't possibly work a ride that long into my schedule. As it was, we intended to ride about 10-12 miles....and just kept going.

It was a ride I joined via Meetup.com, so I didn't know the people (turned out a couple people bailed so it was just me and one other gal) I was riding with, and I was barely familiar with where we'd be riding (along the canals in Scottsdale, which was an enabler to the length of the ride--they are very fast and easy riding). As it turned out, though, the ride leader and I got along just fine, and ended up riding well past where we thought we'd end up. We also stopped at a groovy little farmers' market along the way and sampled some of Sam The Chocolate Guy's goods (mayan chocolate--yum!).

Unfortunately, I presumed that since I had ridden 20 miles that morning on my bike, I could eat anything I wanted in whatever quantity I deemed desireable. This turned out to be not such a good idea, as by Sunday morning I had not only gained back any previously lost poundage (truth be known, I'm chalking it up to muscle gain!! that's my story, and I'm stickin to it!), but also felt quite sick.

I really need to start jumping on the Wii Fit every morning again. There is nothing like a sweet little electronic voice "tsk tsking" at you to shore up your willpower against naughty things like cookies and sweet sweet coffee drinks.

At this point, though, I've gained back nearly all the weight I lost last summer, and I am loathe to climb aboard and watch the graph line shoot through the top of the telly. And I really don't think I can bear to hear the disappointment in my Wii trainer's voice. So the plan is to lose a bit more on my own before I go back to the balance board. I might just have to suck it up though, because if last Saturday was any indication, I'm pretty full of fail on the whole "do it yourself" mode of fitness.

Besides, I better get serious if I'm going to spend 6 months on an Australian island. (hahaha, I know the link is broken--I don't think they really anticipated the response. Fairly naive, I feel, if you're advertising to pay someone $100k to spend 6 months vacationing and blogging about their experiences.)

Link-o-Licious!
<3

Hump Day!

Whenever I hear that phrase, I actually envision the week as a giant surly camel, with Wednesday teetering precariously on its hump (it's always a dromedary, because Wednesday is so big that it would simply sit across the humps of a bactrian camel. . . the single hump is key). True story.

Not only is it Wednesday, but it's also the 7th of January. Date-wise, we're a week into the New Year. Here are my totals so far:

8.34 miles last week
6.85 miles so far this week

Which makes for a grand total of 15.19 miles over the course of 7 days. Just over 2 miles a day; it appears that I'm barely ekeing by! Thing is, I've been doing a fair amount of non-linear exercising as well--I just don't know how to translate that into mileage.

Anyway.

Quickly, very quickly, as my computer cutoff for the evening is about to strike, let me jump back a month or so ago when I was telling stories of a trip to the Midwest.

You'll recall that I first hit the Casa De Parentals, and then zoomed up to KC to visit My Best Friend in the Whole World Even England. I was supposed to have left for home after visiting with her and her family for a few days, but I was compelled to go back and spend some more time in the boonies with no cable and intermittent DSL. So I called Southwest and switched my flight to a week later (hey, I was unemployed--what I lacked in money I more than made up for in Free Time), and back to the 'rents' I went.

I knitted some more, probably worked in the yard some more, surely played a lot of solitaire on the computer because there is only so much network television I can take (Honestly, I don't know how they do it. I'm SO showing them the glory of Hulu when they come visit!). It was a lovely lovely time, but eventually I had to come back to the reality of unemployment in Phoenix.

Fortunately, I had in my pocket a gift--or rather the promise of a gift. A gift that would distract me, entertain me, and enable me to get some exercise during the Months in Which I Do Not Leave The House. I had in my pocket a Wii Fit (well not *really*...more like a gift card...a LOT like a check in my name so that I could pick it up when I got back to Phoenix. Happy Birthday!).

Arbitrary Restart

I'm a bit dubious of New Year's Resolutions. It's a great tradition and all, but it seems a bit callow to make a bunch of 180 degree turns in your personality and mannerisms just because of specific date on a calendar.

That said, I always make a couple. I guess I'm hopeful that some strange twist of fate or alignment of the stars will actually enable me to make things stick this time around--to help me make the changes that I'm apparently incapable of making on my own at any point in the year.

I like to leave my New Year's Resolutions kind of loose, so if I fail, it will be harder to pin it down as an absolute miss of the mark. I don't like to Resolve to lose 15 lbs. I prefer to say that I'll get in better shape. Nor will I say "I will no longer eat candy and consistently od on sugars." Rather, I say "I'll eat more healthfully."

This year I abandoned that tack, for the most part. I have made the obligatory promises to treat my body better--to exercise more and eat more veggies and whatnot--I would feel that I was letting down the Gods of Tradition if I left those out. But I have also made the following, quantitative, resolutions:

I will log, whether on foot or on bike (or swimming if it comes up), 60 miles a month. Sounds like a lot, but it's a paltry amount, really--and sadly more than I've managed to accumulate in recent memory. And I'm not talking about the distant that might be racked up in my numerous trips to see if anything nommable has suddenly appeared in the fridge. I'm talking about purposeful travel. Walking the dogs, hiking, going for a bike ride. Actual exercise.

I also originally thought that I might resolve to write three times a week here. But that seems, really, to be setting myself (and you?) up for disappointment. Once a week seems a better goal, given my propensity for getting wildly distracted and then overwhelmed with my own thoughts to the point of speechlessness.

Yes. Two *real* resolutions. I think it's about all I can handle. And so far I've done fairly well with them. I've logged 11.5 miles this year so far (so I can sit on my butt for a couple now??), and have written twice in three days.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play on the computer for the next 35 minutes so I can shut it down by 8pm. (It's another unspoken goal I've given myself, but I'm pretty sure it won't last, so I'm not going to mention it now.) Getting a full night of sleep has proven quite satisfying to me for the past couple nights, although I'm not sure what the dogs or the man make of me waking up before 6am on my own.

Today

Today is the first day of the rest of this year. Profundity at its best, ladies and gents.

I had big plans for a big blowout of a post, to bring attention to the fact that I have resolved--yet again--to do better at this. To write more. To post more photos.

But the fact of the matter is, after a beautiful hike this morning at Pinnacle Peak Park:
I am pooped and have a whopping headache to boot. (yes, that's a house nestled at the foot of that mountain that I just hiked over. must suck for those people to have to live out here in the middle of a beautiful nature area, with all those trails out their back door. I feel sorry for them.)

So. Welcome to 2009. Welcome to my blog. When I shake this headache and get some rest, I'll be back!

Apologies!

To all my fans in the KC area, who didn't catch the fact that I was doing a retrospective here! Seems I got people all a-flutter, thinking I was headed back that way soon. Ah, that I could! I would love to catch the MBP reunion happening next weekend.

No no, what I meant was that the next time we talked (meaning, of course, the next time I rambled on endlessly in type and you read or skimmed the blogpost) I would tell you all about the Kansas City leg of my trip, wherein it became every more clear to me that once you have an adorable child (as does my Best Friend in the Entire World, Even England) the laws of physics and gravity and whatnot all go straight out the window.

Everything is centered around the little one. Where to eat, how to entertain ourselves, what we say...The World starts revolving around her. Not a bad thing, just wildly different than Life Without A Child. And honestly, I have no idea how ppl with children survive. After a day and a half I was absolutely wiped out. Exhausted. Waterballoon fights in the backyard? Hours spent trying to finagle a few teeny bites of food into her little mouth when she was otherwise distracted by some fancy artwork or an action packed football game? Painting and cutting and chalk art on the front steps, lots and lots and LOTS of lotion applications (oh boy does that little girl love lotion!). Blinky, whirly, blingy, springy toys. A trunk full of dress up clothes, and a tea set on the drum set. Trips to the park, where we were served handfulls of dirt "cupcakes", and where a giant worm proved far more fascinating (and terrifying) than anything I could have ever imagined:
At times I tried to hide in my room, but even that was useless, as bright and early in the morning the tiny little voice was at my door..."Where's Kewwi? KEWWI!! WAKE UP!" And you can't be mad at her--that's another bass-ackwards law of little people (and puppies and other baby animals)--she's just to adorable and honest and *real* to get mad at. She's incredibly smart, very funny, and generally a very cool little girl. I'm SO glad I got a chance to hang out with her, and I can't wait to do it again...but man, I'm glad I only have dogs and a boyfriend to take care of!

Then again, I don't think the puppies *or* R would ever want to take part in a miniature replica train ride:
I can't wait to go back and see her (and my best friend!) again. . .

Update! And Stuff...

So. In the past two days, Team Fatty has raised over $11,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Not too shabby. I personally haven't contributed a great deal towards that amount, but I have yet to put it out to our online gaming family, or to my hiking/cycling Meetup groups. Must. Push. Moar!

Yeah.

Back in Missouri (Mizzou-rah, or Misoo-ri, or Misery, depending on your regional dialect and/or personal mood), there were Thunderstorms to enjoy, hummingbirds to feed and laptop computers to connect.

I also got a refresher course in knitting, which for some odd reason I've always wanted to learn. Mom has tried on multiple occasions to teach me, but because I am quite unable to pick it up and immediately be good at it, it's never quite caught on. Because there is little to do in the boonies except watch one of the three available television channels, I got quite a lot of practice in while I was there. I even managed to knit...an oversized washcloth? a pint-sized towel? Looking at it again now (I keep it near me at all times, as a reminder of more crafty times.), it's more the size of a placemat--although it is wholly unsuited to that task as it would slide all over the table *and* get horrifically laden with crumbs to boot.

I was pretty pleased with my little washcloth/towel/placemat, and after I got back to Phoenix I promptly went out and purchased some inexpensive cotton yarn with which to continue apace. Thing is, I don't watch much telly here. And it's difficult to knit while sitting at the computer--much more difficult than you might imagine.

And so, alas, my sunshine yellow skein of yarn sits atop my tower, largely unused. I've got about 4 rows of what I'll optimistically call "seed stitch" on the needles, but since I haven't really done anything with them in approximately forever, I doubt there will be much more added to them.

I could seriously open my own shop with all of the half-finished projects I've got laying about.

Poing!

And later, Kansas City, here I come!

Brief Interlude

If you have spent any time around me in the last 2 years or so, you've heard me mention The Fat Cyclist. He is one of my favourite blog writers, he is a cyclist, and his wife is battling some pretty horrific cancer right now.

He's been involved with the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation since her cancer came back, and they have helped immensely with referals, information, and sundry sorts of assistance. There are some really good posts about it, and other things here.

Last year as a community, Fatty's friends, family, and readers donated to the LAF via Mike Levin, who raised over $57,000 dollars for the cause. This year, Fatty has challenged us to create four Fat Cyclist teams (one for each city in which the Livestrong Challenge is held) in the hopes that we will be the biggest Mega-Team with the most gigantic-est funds raised--ever!

So. I've joined the San Jose Team. (They're close and they needed warm bodies!) You can find my donation site here. I know things are tight for all of us right now, but please consider donating even $10. Chances are excruciatingly high that you or someone you love will deal with some form of cancer in your lives. Donations to the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation will enable research to continue towards treatments and cures, as well as provide a strong base of support for people currently dealing with cancer.

Thanks.

Yes, Goats!

When I went home to The Sticks, it was partially to celebrate my parents' anniversary, partially to celebrate my mom's birthday, partially to celebrate Mother's Day, and partially to celebrate my own birthday.

On my actual birthday, my mom asked what I wanted to do. . .go to town and go shopping, maybe? Maybe. . . But what I really wanted to do was go see the neighbour's goats. Mom had mentioned this neighbour and her menagerie countless times, knowing the odd affinity I have for all creatures great and small (and smelly). And aside from having goats, she also sounded like a pretty cool lady anyway, so I was excited to meet her. So we put on our grubby clothes and shoes--we'd be traipsing around in a goat pen, after all--and headed across the golf course.

Yes, there is a golf course smack dab in the middle of the neighbourhood where my folks live. And yes, there is a house off the 6th or 7th green with a yard full of goats. I couldn't make this up.

This is Billy. The Billy of the herd. He is one nasty dude. I was warned, but refused to believe in the foul habits of a billy goat. I don't think I got any photographic evidence, and believe me when I say this photo was taken *before* I witnessed it, but yes...billy goats pee on their beards.
It's quite a demonstration of agility and balance, really, but in the end I just wasn't as impressed as he possibly hoped. I guess his little trick works with the lady goats though, because there were dozens of little faces like this staring us down:I got to break out the goat treats and become everyone's best friend for a few minutes, and despite Billy giving me far more attention than the little ones dared, it was a really cool thing to do on my birthday. Yeah, that's me, turning 38 and livin' it up at a petting zoo, with a smelly pee-covered billy goat chasing me around and shoes covered in straw and poo. I am probably the world's cheapest date. And I'm okay with that.

I need my camera.

Because Delilah has just moved her achy bones from her bed to a sunny little patch on the floor behind me. The curtains are pulled back and the window is open, so she's getting a full facefull of direct sun. And she's squinting. It's pretty adorable, but it's a sight only for me today, because my camera is downstairs on the kitchen table. Probably out of juice anyway.

My iPhone is charging about a foot from me, but it was so dead that if I pull it off the charger to take a photo it will just die again. I'm obviously not terribly good with electronics that require proximity or charges.

Anyway. It's Saturday morning, just about a quarter to 9am here in Arizona where we don't change our clocks. I have no idea what time zone we're a part of these days. When people ask, I just say "Arizona Time" and let them figure it out.

We're going to a movie later this morning, but I thought I'd take this quick bit of quiet time to bring everyone up to speed on my doings for the past months. Everyone. Ha. The two people who still even bother to check to see if this thing has been added to. The other two people who read it have long moved on to other things. But I digress.

My last post was towards the end of April, and shortly after that I went home to Missouri to see my folks and my Best Friend in The Entire World, Even England (long story dating back to highschool).

Going back to my folks' house, which is smack dab in the middle of Boonies, MidAmerica, should be a relaxing, idyllic thing. They live close to a ginormous lake, where there are a lot of fish. They are surrounded by miles and miles and miles of woodland trails, and there are birds singing and squirrels chucking nuts down at your every move. But when I go home, it's always Project Time. Here's dad, preparing the lawnmower for me. See all that grass behind him? That's about 20% of what there is to mow. And see my above allusion to the fact that there are a LOT of trees to mow around.

I also got to move some newly cut firewood around. Baby snakes like big piles of wood.So do frogs with bright yellow legs. I didn't get to save any baby mice this time, but I do always enjoy finding critters; especially if I get to pick them up and put them on other critters.Snickers did *not* approve. I'm not sure the frog enjoyed it much either. But it was amusing to us humans, and no one got hurt.

I did get to spend some quality time in the woods, hunting for morels. Sadly, after many many hours, we had to settle for, well, nothing. Fortunately the neighbours had enormously better luck than we did, and they were in a sharing mood. Anyway. It was pretty in them thar woods:Another critter! Can you see him? Look real close!And that, my friends is day one of my trip to Missouri. Well, it could have been days one and three. I've slept since then, and even yesterday was a blur, so I'm not really going to make much of a stab at getting things from 7 months ago in chronological order. Anyway.

Tomorrow, Goats!

I am Thankful. . .

...that my mom and dad never fail to mention the fact that I never write on my blog anymore. Every single time we talk, for the past 7 months since I last wrote, my dad especially asks why I haven't updated my blog. And every time they mention it, I reply that yes, I really need to get back to writing. And then I get sidetracked until the next time they ask about it.

So thanks, folks, for nagging me back into writing. :P We'll see if it sticks this time.

There are a lot of other things I'm thankful for, but that I won't go into here. I think it's enough to just say that I appreciate my life and I realise that things could be much different for me and mine.

We have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm going to also leave that for another time. It's late on Thanksgiving and despite having eaten entirely too much food earlier today, I've got a bit of the midnight munchies. I'm going to go snag a bite of leftovers and hit the hay.

Love,
me

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!