I get home from work and immediately put my play clothes on.
I can think of many things I could do outside.
Weed the garden,
mix up the compost,
mow the lawn,
water the plants.
Just a few of the items on my summer to do list.
Winter is still months away.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Going back to School
Have you considered going back to school - in other words - getting a second degree?
Uff da.
My current job has morphed into this uber crazy position that is so pared down that all I get to do is the stuff that I have to do. Not fun. So after 8 months of this position - I am wondering if maybe a job change is in my future.
Have you gone back to school?
Did you have kids and a home to support?
My dream since I was pretty much done with my first degree is to be a librarian.
Maybe someday I will realize that dream or not.
Stay tuned.
Uff da.
My current job has morphed into this uber crazy position that is so pared down that all I get to do is the stuff that I have to do. Not fun. So after 8 months of this position - I am wondering if maybe a job change is in my future.
Have you gone back to school?
Did you have kids and a home to support?
My dream since I was pretty much done with my first degree is to be a librarian.
Maybe someday I will realize that dream or not.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Adding Professional Sports to the list
Growing up in a small town in a state that didn't have any professional sports - I never really became a fan of any teams - except maybe the Cubs. But didn't really even follow them - I just knew some of the more popular players.
Living in a large metropolitan area - I have recently been to two professional baseball games and *surprise* I enjoyed going! Didn't hurt that they won both games either.
Then this past weekend - I watched the PGA US Open on TV for the first time. I may even have a few players that I like. (I will save that disclosure for another time). But I thought I would try to find out when the next tournament is and am failing miserably. I am pretty sure it is the British Open but trying to find it on the PGA home page isn't working. Which probably goes to show how little I know about golf - right? Oh well. I will search for British Open and find it right away.
So far absolutely no interest in basketball or football or hockey (yuck!) but all are playing professionally in my current hometown. So stay turned for more amateur talk on sports!
Living in a large metropolitan area - I have recently been to two professional baseball games and *surprise* I enjoyed going! Didn't hurt that they won both games either.
Then this past weekend - I watched the PGA US Open on TV for the first time. I may even have a few players that I like. (I will save that disclosure for another time). But I thought I would try to find out when the next tournament is and am failing miserably. I am pretty sure it is the British Open but trying to find it on the PGA home page isn't working. Which probably goes to show how little I know about golf - right? Oh well. I will search for British Open and find it right away.
So far absolutely no interest in basketball or football or hockey (yuck!) but all are playing professionally in my current hometown. So stay turned for more amateur talk on sports!
Monday, February 4, 2013
It's February?
and I haven't written in months...
Excited about 2013.
I have a milestone birthday this year.
Can't believe I will be 'over the hill'.
Makes me feel like I have to get over some hill just to be a smart-ass.
2012 kind of sucked...
Job stress
Health stress
I have to drive in snow... :)
Looking forward to spring.
We are supposed to be done with the super cold weather now.
My fingers are crossed.
Happy February.
Excited about 2013.
I have a milestone birthday this year.
Can't believe I will be 'over the hill'.
Makes me feel like I have to get over some hill just to be a smart-ass.
2012 kind of sucked...
Job stress
Health stress
I have to drive in snow... :)
Looking forward to spring.
We are supposed to be done with the super cold weather now.
My fingers are crossed.
Happy February.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
From a recent wedding that MD attended
An excerpt from Plato's Symposium
Humans have never understood the power of Love, for if they had they would surely have built noble temples and altars and offered solemn sacrifices; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done, since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy.
To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was not like it is now, but different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. Due to the power and might of these original humans, the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans' insolence without destroying them.
It was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half. After the division the two parts of each desiring their other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one. So ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of humankind.
Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other's sight even for a moment. We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called Love.
Humans have never understood the power of Love, for if they had they would surely have built noble temples and altars and offered solemn sacrifices; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done, since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy.
To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was not like it is now, but different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. Due to the power and might of these original humans, the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans' insolence without destroying them.
It was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half. After the division the two parts of each desiring their other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one. So ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of humankind.
Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other's sight even for a moment. We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called Love.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
BWCAW Day 5
Back the way we came...
Today we woke up to an overcast sky. It was windy enough that my anxiety was kicking in about the paddle ahead. We ate breakfast, got packed up, and headed out back to the entry point in Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake.
The small island, just a few strokes from out campsite, had a few bushes with wild blueberries on them. So we stopped and ate a few. It was a good start to the day. We didn't see anyone as we headed out of the lake. The campsite that looked like it was pretty much right by the water was empty, so they must have headed out quite early.
Paddling in Green and Rocky lakes was tough but they were so narrow that the wind couldn't really get a good grip on the lake and whip up those white caps. We still didn't really find the campsite on Green Lake even though we carefully scanned the map and shore as we paddled past. I guess if we really wanted to camp there, a closer look at the shore would be needed.
As we walked to the end of the portage from Rocky to Oyster, the sky was still overcast. The lake looked like there were some white caps on it and as I sat waiting for the group to come back from the second portage, two things happened. A chipmunk shot out of the hole in the tree underneath me as I was sitting over it and about scared the daylights out of me. I laughed out loud as I thought about how scared that little guy must have been. The other thing that happened was another canoe came into view to my right along the shore line. I wasn't sure where they had been because the lake route would have brought them from the left. BUT the wind was pretty strong so I assumed they got pushed across the lake as they were making their way over here.
We got our canoes packed and chatted with the couple for a bit. They had taken over an hour to get across the lake and we were amazed at the stamina at the very least. So needless to say - I was not liking what the next bit of the day was going to bring.
We decided to paddle to a sheltered spot on the lake and stop to get a snack before the paddle. R got out the nut sack, gorp, granola bars, and we each threw them around until we had our fill. Then after getting lifejackets on and securing our hats, we took off. It was a b*tch. That was by far the hardest paddle we had done on the trip. We had to paddle along a peninsula dividing the lake and we were getting pushed in the shore pretty hard by a good headwind.
One thing that makes paddling so hard at these times, is that you always end up knocking you thumb HARD on the boat. At least I do. So not only are your muscles screaming but your hand is throbbing from hitting the gunnel.
As we rounded the corner of the peninsula - I let out a blue streak and then looked out across the big part of the lake and felt much better. We weren't going to be paddling into a headwind so we just needed to paddle hard across the waves. (Which is actually more dangerous because there is a better chance of being dumped by a wave pushing you over.)
We sited our portage and started across. R and D were quite a bit ahead of us and so I dug in trying to hit the tops of the waves so I could get a good stroke *in* the water. We did pretty well across this lake. We had to do a little bit of back tracking and cross the waves but after a little struggle - we found it and prevented the canoe from getting tossed into the rocks at the portage. I once again thanked the gods for my boots and jumped in the water to get us safely onto land before R & D got there and needed to land.
This portage was the beautiful one a few days before but now I was so drained from the paddle that I didn't remember to look at it as I walked through. The difference of wind and no sun didn't help either.
Earlier in the trip, we had decided to look for the portage into Lake Agnes from the river out of Oyster. We found it pretty easily today. The sun was starting to come out and we paddled into the portage and it looked much different from the other portages we had been to. It was really grassy and muddy. We did see tracks that looked like moose and maybe coyote poop so that was exciting. Its the little things right?!
The portage was interesting too. It was up, up, up and crossed about 6 little streams along the way that were flowing across the path. I wondered if it was many little streams or the same one crossing back and forth down the hill. It was a pretty hot walk because the sun was now back out and the breeze was not touching us as we hiked through the forest.
We were finally all at the other end and started to talk about finding a campsite on Lake Agnes. We looked at the map and saw one just to the north of the portage and then three to the south on this side of the lake. We got back in the canoes and as we came out of the bay towards the campsite, we saw another canoe coming towards us and we thought we better hightail it to the campsite. As we got closer though we decided to ditch this site as it looked pretty exposed without a very good view.
We rounded the corner on the next campsite and found that it was occupied. The next option was all the way in the bay and the last site was further down the lake outside the bay. As we got to the site in the bay, we still didn't see the other canoe so D did a quick check and I got out for a second opinion. It wasn't great. Very terraced with maybe one good tent site and a few not so good sites for the other tent. It was also pretty narrow and exposed without a good spot to get into the lake for a dip. So R & D decided to take off for the next site and MD and I would stay here and keep this site in case the other canoe got there first. So MD and I stayed there for about 5 minutes, burning in the sun, and decided to take off anyway.
When we got to the other campsite - R&D had decided that we should take it so we were glad we hadn't stayed any longer at the other site. The lake was pretty yacky all around, I discovered. The rock sloping down into the water was very slimy and made getting out of the canoe difficult at the landing. So swimming was definitely out for me and I was looking forward to getting into shorts and relaxing in the shade.
More on Day 5 in my next post.
Today we woke up to an overcast sky. It was windy enough that my anxiety was kicking in about the paddle ahead. We ate breakfast, got packed up, and headed out back to the entry point in Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake.
The small island, just a few strokes from out campsite, had a few bushes with wild blueberries on them. So we stopped and ate a few. It was a good start to the day. We didn't see anyone as we headed out of the lake. The campsite that looked like it was pretty much right by the water was empty, so they must have headed out quite early.
Paddling in Green and Rocky lakes was tough but they were so narrow that the wind couldn't really get a good grip on the lake and whip up those white caps. We still didn't really find the campsite on Green Lake even though we carefully scanned the map and shore as we paddled past. I guess if we really wanted to camp there, a closer look at the shore would be needed.
As we walked to the end of the portage from Rocky to Oyster, the sky was still overcast. The lake looked like there were some white caps on it and as I sat waiting for the group to come back from the second portage, two things happened. A chipmunk shot out of the hole in the tree underneath me as I was sitting over it and about scared the daylights out of me. I laughed out loud as I thought about how scared that little guy must have been. The other thing that happened was another canoe came into view to my right along the shore line. I wasn't sure where they had been because the lake route would have brought them from the left. BUT the wind was pretty strong so I assumed they got pushed across the lake as they were making their way over here.
We got our canoes packed and chatted with the couple for a bit. They had taken over an hour to get across the lake and we were amazed at the stamina at the very least. So needless to say - I was not liking what the next bit of the day was going to bring.
We decided to paddle to a sheltered spot on the lake and stop to get a snack before the paddle. R got out the nut sack, gorp, granola bars, and we each threw them around until we had our fill. Then after getting lifejackets on and securing our hats, we took off. It was a b*tch. That was by far the hardest paddle we had done on the trip. We had to paddle along a peninsula dividing the lake and we were getting pushed in the shore pretty hard by a good headwind.
One thing that makes paddling so hard at these times, is that you always end up knocking you thumb HARD on the boat. At least I do. So not only are your muscles screaming but your hand is throbbing from hitting the gunnel.
As we rounded the corner of the peninsula - I let out a blue streak and then looked out across the big part of the lake and felt much better. We weren't going to be paddling into a headwind so we just needed to paddle hard across the waves. (Which is actually more dangerous because there is a better chance of being dumped by a wave pushing you over.)
We sited our portage and started across. R and D were quite a bit ahead of us and so I dug in trying to hit the tops of the waves so I could get a good stroke *in* the water. We did pretty well across this lake. We had to do a little bit of back tracking and cross the waves but after a little struggle - we found it and prevented the canoe from getting tossed into the rocks at the portage. I once again thanked the gods for my boots and jumped in the water to get us safely onto land before R & D got there and needed to land.
This portage was the beautiful one a few days before but now I was so drained from the paddle that I didn't remember to look at it as I walked through. The difference of wind and no sun didn't help either.
Earlier in the trip, we had decided to look for the portage into Lake Agnes from the river out of Oyster. We found it pretty easily today. The sun was starting to come out and we paddled into the portage and it looked much different from the other portages we had been to. It was really grassy and muddy. We did see tracks that looked like moose and maybe coyote poop so that was exciting. Its the little things right?!
The portage was interesting too. It was up, up, up and crossed about 6 little streams along the way that were flowing across the path. I wondered if it was many little streams or the same one crossing back and forth down the hill. It was a pretty hot walk because the sun was now back out and the breeze was not touching us as we hiked through the forest.
We were finally all at the other end and started to talk about finding a campsite on Lake Agnes. We looked at the map and saw one just to the north of the portage and then three to the south on this side of the lake. We got back in the canoes and as we came out of the bay towards the campsite, we saw another canoe coming towards us and we thought we better hightail it to the campsite. As we got closer though we decided to ditch this site as it looked pretty exposed without a very good view.
We rounded the corner on the next campsite and found that it was occupied. The next option was all the way in the bay and the last site was further down the lake outside the bay. As we got to the site in the bay, we still didn't see the other canoe so D did a quick check and I got out for a second opinion. It wasn't great. Very terraced with maybe one good tent site and a few not so good sites for the other tent. It was also pretty narrow and exposed without a good spot to get into the lake for a dip. So R & D decided to take off for the next site and MD and I would stay here and keep this site in case the other canoe got there first. So MD and I stayed there for about 5 minutes, burning in the sun, and decided to take off anyway.
When we got to the other campsite - R&D had decided that we should take it so we were glad we hadn't stayed any longer at the other site. The lake was pretty yacky all around, I discovered. The rock sloping down into the water was very slimy and made getting out of the canoe difficult at the landing. So swimming was definitely out for me and I was looking forward to getting into shorts and relaxing in the shade.
More on Day 5 in my next post.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
BWCAW Day 4
Day 4
Oyster Lake, Rocky Lake, Green Lake, Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake
Its Wednesday! The morning started with clouds but quickly got hot. Before we left on our trip - temps were predicted to be in the upper 70s and move into the low 80s as we got further into our trip. Most days felt pretty hot with clear skies and a little bit of a breeze. Today we were paddling with the breeze at our back most of the time which made for a hotter paddle.
The portages between Oyster and Ge-be-on-e-quet Lakes were noticeably different from the portages we had seen so far on this trip. They were noticeably narrower and they were up, down, up! MD calculated that we traveled about 50 feet up in elevation from Oyster to Green and then Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake was actually lower than Oyster. And that was just the lakes - the portages were even higher than that!
NOTE: After looking at some websites with more detailed information, the elevation of the portages was closer to 100' up and 50' feet down and 66' up and 38' down.
Rocky Lake was a nice small lake with bluffs and one campsite we didn't get to see. We also sang some Rocky Soundtrack theme music while we paddled through. Green Lake was very green. We had a hard time locating the campsite on this lake. I don't know if we ever really found it. There was some discussion that campsites are sometimes retired for a time. Maybe this was the case with this one.
Finally - into Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake. It is a gorgeous lake. Very deep in some spots with a few islands to add interest. We passed up the first two campsites as they were taken and then finally decided on one of the campsites on the far side of the lake from the portage we came into the lake. It was a nice site. There was a rock into the water and then on top there were trees with the kitchen area and there was a few nice tent sites to choose from. The bugs were actually pretty bad here - especially the biting flies which wouldn't move from your leg even if you were stomping. Yuck.
The lake was clear enough that when I was in thigh deep water and in the sun I could see the bottom of the lake so I felt comfortable enough to get in a swim a little. Lake swimming is absolutely not something I do especially when I can't see in more than about a foot of water.
We had LOTS of chicken for dinner. MD trusted the butcher on portion size and really one breast would have fed two people - not one. But It made for a good laugh.
The food really has been very good this trip. We have oatmeal and coffee in the morning along with bacon one morning and 'trinkets' most other mornings. Trinkets are muffin mix cooked like pancakes. So good! Usually I can't eat a trinket after I have had my share of oatmeal so we pack them up in a ziplock and I eat it on the lake as we are paddling to our next desination. They are a little wet coming out of the ziplock but still tasty.
Lunches are usually tortillas with chicken or tuna or PB&J. Then we broke out the GORP, nut bag, or granola bars and drink lots of crystal light flavored water.
Dinners - Steak, Chicken, Chili, Wild Rice soup - all really good as well.
We usually ate lunch around 2p so that left the afternoon and early evening today free to do things around camp or go out in the canoe. We all did a bit of everything but late afternoon found us all in our canoes - fishing the shore. R&D headed south and MD and I headed northish. It was a fun bit of fishing. We were casting in toward the shore and as we were reeling out line in - we were getting glimpses of fish.
We each had a really good hit on our line just a cast in between. I was reeling in and a big northern swooped in to get my lure just as I was about 2 feet away from the canoe. Scared the bejeepers out of me but it was SO cool! To see a fish come up out of the depths and right there next to me - very cool. Then MD was pulling his lure up out of the water for another cast and another fish jumped out of the lake at his lure. I didn't see it but I heard it. It was fun to be getting some fishing action after lots and lots of casts at previous sites with little or no bites.
We ended up heading back to camp due to some rolling thunder to our south. It seemed to be really far away but the sun was covered with clouds and the weather can change pretty quick up there so we thought we better get dinner going. The thunder lasted a bit but we didn't get any rain so we ate our HUGE chicken breasts as best we could and then did a little more fishing/reading/swimming and headed into bed.
After dinner the nice breeze we had that day disappeared and we really felt the heat that night. It was about 80 degrees and it felt pretty tropical to me, especially when we got in the tent. The tent mesh is built to keep out really small bugs but it also kept out very light breezes. So we were laying on top of our sleeping mats in few clothes until about 3am that night. Then little by little it cooled off and I was in my sheet, then eventually unrolled my sleeping bag and through it over myself.
The frogs sang all night too which I liked because it kept all the other noises from making me wonder 'What was that!?'.
Oyster Lake, Rocky Lake, Green Lake, Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake
Its Wednesday! The morning started with clouds but quickly got hot. Before we left on our trip - temps were predicted to be in the upper 70s and move into the low 80s as we got further into our trip. Most days felt pretty hot with clear skies and a little bit of a breeze. Today we were paddling with the breeze at our back most of the time which made for a hotter paddle.
The portages between Oyster and Ge-be-on-e-quet Lakes were noticeably different from the portages we had seen so far on this trip. They were noticeably narrower and they were up, down, up! MD calculated that we traveled about 50 feet up in elevation from Oyster to Green and then Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake was actually lower than Oyster. And that was just the lakes - the portages were even higher than that!
NOTE: After looking at some websites with more detailed information, the elevation of the portages was closer to 100' up and 50' feet down and 66' up and 38' down.
Rocky Lake was a nice small lake with bluffs and one campsite we didn't get to see. We also sang some Rocky Soundtrack theme music while we paddled through. Green Lake was very green. We had a hard time locating the campsite on this lake. I don't know if we ever really found it. There was some discussion that campsites are sometimes retired for a time. Maybe this was the case with this one.
Finally - into Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake. It is a gorgeous lake. Very deep in some spots with a few islands to add interest. We passed up the first two campsites as they were taken and then finally decided on one of the campsites on the far side of the lake from the portage we came into the lake. It was a nice site. There was a rock into the water and then on top there were trees with the kitchen area and there was a few nice tent sites to choose from. The bugs were actually pretty bad here - especially the biting flies which wouldn't move from your leg even if you were stomping. Yuck.
The lake was clear enough that when I was in thigh deep water and in the sun I could see the bottom of the lake so I felt comfortable enough to get in a swim a little. Lake swimming is absolutely not something I do especially when I can't see in more than about a foot of water.
We had LOTS of chicken for dinner. MD trusted the butcher on portion size and really one breast would have fed two people - not one. But It made for a good laugh.
The food really has been very good this trip. We have oatmeal and coffee in the morning along with bacon one morning and 'trinkets' most other mornings. Trinkets are muffin mix cooked like pancakes. So good! Usually I can't eat a trinket after I have had my share of oatmeal so we pack them up in a ziplock and I eat it on the lake as we are paddling to our next desination. They are a little wet coming out of the ziplock but still tasty.
Lunches are usually tortillas with chicken or tuna or PB&J. Then we broke out the GORP, nut bag, or granola bars and drink lots of crystal light flavored water.
Dinners - Steak, Chicken, Chili, Wild Rice soup - all really good as well.
We usually ate lunch around 2p so that left the afternoon and early evening today free to do things around camp or go out in the canoe. We all did a bit of everything but late afternoon found us all in our canoes - fishing the shore. R&D headed south and MD and I headed northish. It was a fun bit of fishing. We were casting in toward the shore and as we were reeling out line in - we were getting glimpses of fish.
We each had a really good hit on our line just a cast in between. I was reeling in and a big northern swooped in to get my lure just as I was about 2 feet away from the canoe. Scared the bejeepers out of me but it was SO cool! To see a fish come up out of the depths and right there next to me - very cool. Then MD was pulling his lure up out of the water for another cast and another fish jumped out of the lake at his lure. I didn't see it but I heard it. It was fun to be getting some fishing action after lots and lots of casts at previous sites with little or no bites.
We ended up heading back to camp due to some rolling thunder to our south. It seemed to be really far away but the sun was covered with clouds and the weather can change pretty quick up there so we thought we better get dinner going. The thunder lasted a bit but we didn't get any rain so we ate our HUGE chicken breasts as best we could and then did a little more fishing/reading/swimming and headed into bed.
After dinner the nice breeze we had that day disappeared and we really felt the heat that night. It was about 80 degrees and it felt pretty tropical to me, especially when we got in the tent. The tent mesh is built to keep out really small bugs but it also kept out very light breezes. So we were laying on top of our sleeping mats in few clothes until about 3am that night. Then little by little it cooled off and I was in my sheet, then eventually unrolled my sleeping bag and through it over myself.
The frogs sang all night too which I liked because it kept all the other noises from making me wonder 'What was that!?'.
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