Monday, Aug 15th 2011

Yesterday was a blast! I wanted to write and post pictures as soon as we got home, but I also wanted to play Warcraft, and I tend to make less sense when writing tired...

so good morning!

We celebrated Valath's birthday with a cookout at Malone. We and a ground of friends converged on the empty lake at 11 o'clock and stayed until the sun went down behind the mountain, around 6 or 7:30 I think. We had five or six coolers, a whole bunch of food, a $16 fail-propane-grill newly purchased from somewhere, and the ancient camping stove which replaced it. There were hotdogs, hamburger, brats, sausage. S'mores. Fruit, soda, tea, chips, cheese puffs.
We had a group of Jamie and I, Val and Tig, Tig's parents and two brothers plus a brothers-significant-other. We had Tig Aunt and Tig cousins, and a uniquely helpful Tig-friend that ended up being called a boyscout. This man supplied tools when Tig's dad forgot them for the dock- he had a demolition hammer, ratchets and sockets, all kinds of stuff. He had a blanket I wrapped in when it got cold. He had duct tape to repair Jamie's shoes when the dumb things started fantastically falling apart. One edge broke, then the other edge, then the other shoe copied it... it was like a revolt of the shoes or something. I made a sit-upon out of a snapple case and spent most of my time just hanging out without the camera. When the sun went down we went back to Tig's parent's house and had cake and more berries.

Marty. This is right before she fell forward into the water. She tends to want to dunk her face anyway, but apparently it is extra-scary when it happens unintentionally. Washed the berry juice off pretty well, though :) We decided she's still too small for the floaty jacket- she doesn't have enough bottom end to be a keel and keep it from floating her face-down. A little bit of cuddles and some daddy-gator fixed her right up for more splashing though.

Beautiful Malone.

Dock! The sun was pretty...

Almost finished dock! We've rebuilt the half by the shore, and the left L section. Tig's dad has a lumber mill, which is like a huge complicated upside-down table saw that takes a tree trunk and gives you boards- it's awesome. He supplied rough wood for us, and screws. (The drill died so the L isn't actually planked yet, have to finish up another trip.)

Two trees which gave us shade most of the day. Pretty sun. Don't leave me sun! It's cold without you and the skeeters came out to hunt...

Tree with fixed dock. The other boat slope was taken so we had 2 groups come and put their boats in during the day, and one had to pull their boat out twice because it was really crooked. People like to ski out here and pull floaty-tubes and flip their girlfriends off in turns. It's funny.

Cooking a marshmallow! Slowly.... Catch on fire already. (I did make sure to eat a hamburger before I had 2 s'mores.)

Shoe repair! Poor Jamie-feet. The strap broke and he took it off and set the shoe ont he dock, just in time to put his bare foot down and find a broken bottle with it. There is some broken glass down there, and sharp wires. People are smart to wear water shoes or flip-flops until we find them all.

One good thing: we noticed when we came out this time that there was no trash! As compared to previous visits. The sign had been muddied and executed by firing squad since our last visit, but the new dock boards also had shallow carvings saying "Malin boys love it" and some weird names, maybe. Most weren't recognizable due to weird unidentifiable letters, but one name was normal. I forget what it was. But several other tire-fire pits might have been cleaned up, plus some glass. We have helpers! One legless top-of-tree-trunk (like a half log) bench was missing, and the bench with legs had been moved from our previous fire circle to another location, next to a small pile of twigs and branches for fires. We added the board ends cut off from the dock to it.

I took pictures all around the lake, I had the thought to stitch them together into a panoramic like my mom did once with the farmhouse. Not sure how to accomplish that digitally, though. She just taped the prints together. I'll ask Jamie later.

Point of note: I made sure not to take Jamie's picture today because he doesn't like it. Then when I was going through them quickly last night, he asked if there were any of him. So from now on even though I have to chase people and sneak in shots, i'm getting them! Because I like pictures of people too, and sometimes I even get lucky and snap some good ones.

Our anniversary was a great day too! No pictures there, but Jamie took me out to breakfast at a neat castle-y diner called Elmer's. Inside was like a fancy Bob Evans. Biscuits and gravy weren't up to par, but I had hazelnut pancakes with marionberry (pretty sure its just blackberries?) syrup and chicken apple sausage and eggs. The sausage was really yummy too. Then after breakfast we drove around and explored a little by car, and then went to downtown. We visited the library and found out what it was like, we went to the bead store here and got some things. We walked all the shops and just generally window-shopped. We were going to have hotdogs for lunch but when we walked to it, it was closed. Our game store guy said they might still be at the little fair, and he pointed us instead to an awesome barbecue shack. It's a tiny building with a smoker out front. There's three guys in it and they make everything from scratch, pretty much. I had a luau sandwich, which is shredded pork, a jelly-like barbecue sauce that's delicious, and pineapple rings on a roll-thing that's better than a bun. It doesn't look that big, but you eat it and are full. After lunch we went to the movies. Their matinees are at noon! We missed those, but we saw captain America. No popcorn, since we were stuffed from Smokey Joe's.

Also, that you for the card! Of course Jamie thought the turtles on it were cute (ok I did, but he liked the card in guy-fashion) and it got here just in time! <3

Oh, and also Jamie is no longer kennelmaster. Somebody made up stuff about him and now he's job-hunting again. He filled out a huge questionnaire online to find a job with a restaurant. He was absolutely tickled (my words of course) that he could check off all the boxes of kitchen/restaurant skills except for baking and cake decorating.

Happy Monday.

creativity

Isn't it awful when you have the itch to DO something and can't? Or when the creativity bug bites hard and there is no outlet for it? No project to do?

Lately I've had the horrible urge to make things. The pretty patterns I see on sale, the beadwork I see in magazines... I want to draw my D&D character. Or outfits on the cutout like we used to do with the lightbox. I keep seeing the jean top I made (which I broke trying to get on one day, but still have) and how it could be tweaked to make cute variations with collars or maybe even sleeves like a jacket. For those who don't know, that top was a pair of regular jeans turned upside down and made into a halter top. I'd have to wiggle into it because at the time I made it, I had no clue how to make a closure, so the pants zipper opened like usual, but the actual top was stitched closed. Anyway, it was a really cute crop-top halter. I miss the jeans I used to wear with it a whole bunch.

Anyway, I can't wait to have a place of our own and a paycheck so that theoretically, I'd have hobby money. There is  Jo-Ann fabric here as well as a Micheal's, and a bead store, though I haven't been in it yet. If they are too expensive I know I could get a FireMountainGems catalogue. I really want a light box, especially when it comes to writing down the design ideas I have.

Sometimes I want to draw a frog on a bicycle (or a very human-like one as the model for pattern designs. Froggy Creations, or somesuch). I think that would be so neat.

Part of this huge bolt of inspiration came from creating my new character for the Pathfinder roleplaying game (a non-violent priest healer) and giving myself a headache one night by going from books to computer screen to television for an hour of exercise. Those viewing distance changes are a sure formula for head pain. But Excedrin just before bed is a bad idea- it has caffeine. So I was wound up from P90 and fantasy RP research, and spent 4 hours laying in bed thinking of things, trying to sleep but too excited to do so.
To be honest, I sort of enjoyed the vivid imaginings.

Anyway, figured I'd share.

What day is it?

Right. Yay for computers and cell phones: it's July 31st. I knew it was Sunday at least, because yesterday was Saturday, Dungeons & Dragons day, and we hadn't had a good opportunity to play the last few weeks, so we spent maybe 10 hours in the game store. They have a little upstairs area which overlooks the larger room where tabletop wars take place rather noisily below us, but we're sort of secluded and relatively unbothered by other store customers and gamers. Once we brought chili in a crock pot, with a little tupperware container to give the guy that runs it something besides a cup of noodles to eat. This time we stopped at the grocery store first and got some deli grilled chicken and coleslaw, some plums and kiwis, and cheese sticks.

Oh! Jamie has a job! He is the kennelmaster of the veterinary office where Tig works. Ok, maybe kennelmaster is not quite the right term, but he cleans and fixes the kennels, plays with the animals, and other things. He and Tig now have lengthy conversations about work things and I listen as they chat about the frisky new dog staying with them, or the wedge-head crazy siamese cat.

The reason I just now remembered that detail is because he forgot to take his lunch with him and so yesterday he came home starving at noon, which is why we went to Jalepeno's and had tacos before shopping and going to the game store early. Their food is very good, but I got a quesadilla the first time. I like crunchy, or at least not soggy tortillas, and the filling was delicious, but watery. So I ate the middle out of it and left the gooey flap. This time I got beef tacos and they were a nice surprise because it wasn't your regular crunchy taco shell, but slightly more fluffy and most likely homemade. So it was a satisfying crackle crunch and then the tasty ground beef, lettuce and cheese.

Otherwise, life here is sort of simple. It's hard to remember the date because I'm not working, but we're doing P90X so I know what day of the week it is. Tomorrow is Monday- Chest and Back day. We just finished the second week, so one more like this, then they throw in a "recovery week" of mostly cardio and core work before they put you back to the grindstone in a different order to vary things up. Instead of Chest and Back it'll be Chest and Arms, then Back and Biceps, that kind of thing. It's the same, but different. /shrug   It seems to be going by fast.

I'm very happy, (and surprised) to say that every penny I spent to get my Florida license updated to the Oregon version will be refunded. $135 that we could really use back. Jamie will be getting paychecks soon, which is awesome and we can get credit cards paid back down after putting them to hard use lately. My work starts in September, but its a monthly check, which means I won't see any money until October. It's sort of strange, but hey. I walked out of one job and literally into another all the way across the country without even being interviewed first. Hows that for job security? Unless they stop sending kids to school, they'll still need to be driven there by somebody. It's neat, the buses here have little cords hanging out the back end like mice tails where they get plugged in to keep the engines warm in the winter. I'm excited for the school year to start.

Happy Sunday everybody!

July 19 2011

Today marks day 2 of what hopefully becomes a full 90 days of exercise success to fitness. We have limited workout space, we left all the weights back in Florida along with mats and hubby's push-up bars. All we have are the workout booklets, some bands, and a television. And two friends willing to give it a go with us and sacrifice their tiny living room for 45 to 90 minutes of exertion. Woo!

We went shopping yesterday at around midnight for some snacks and fruits. Plums, by the way, are decidedly delicious, with a sweet juicy inside and tart skin. I've had a plum before, but I usually forget how yummy they are, and after walking around Wal-mart late at night with a slighty empty stomach, its good to walk out munching such a tasty tidbit.

We woke up today, played our game for a little while, then decided that today is a beautiful day, and we went to the park for some frisbee golf. I'm better at throwing the disk this time, though I still mess up in angle or aim enough to be funny. Especially because these disks curve depending on how you throw them, I sometimes use the wrong arm. I should use my right arm to have the disk go out and curve left, and my left arm to make it curve right. It ends up being interestingly off-course when I forget which is which. But, I did better. Frisbee golf is like putt-putt but with baskets instead of holes, and obviously a frisbee instead of a golf ball. You throw, and once everyone has their turn, you advance to the disk furtherest from the goal basket, and they throw. Gradually you work your way to the closer disks and I suppose if you kept score, you'd keep track of how make throws it took to sink the frisbee. You don't want to be in front of a person winging a disk because sometimes they fly rather erratically, and our last game in the woods saw the side of my face meeting a rather badly thrown disk. Open fields are better, in my opinion!

Anyway, its a great day and now its time to raid. Fun fun!

Lava Bed caves

Today we went to the lava beds in California!

The caverns there were made by lava flowing in tubes, and a sign told us there are 777 discovered caverns, as of January 2011. That's a lot!  There is a loop you can drive with areas to pull off to see some of the major named caves. Ones like Hercules Leg, Lava Brook, Labyrinth and Catacomb. The first one we could walk into, but most have a steep stair going down into them. So steep that you sort of duck between or under rocks looming an inch past the railing. Sometimes it pays to be small! I would go down them facing out.

Going into them is sort of annoying. There is sunlight, and then none, and your eyes can't adjust that fast. Mine can't. It seems like your flashlight is a useless gesture, and you pick your way slowly and flash it around a lot to try and keep track of the floor as well as the ceiling. They sell hard hats for $6 at the visitor's center. Flashlights are free but need to be returned. If they don't get all the flashlights, they know someone is still out there, so its sort of nice that way, even if you don't have to take their lights.

The rock was all liquid at one point, but its not smooth like you sometimes see in tv shows or movies. Apparently as the surface cools, the inside is still liquid and moving, and is constantly breaking up the smooth surface so that the rock is all jagged and torn up. The ceiling and walls of the lava tubes are melted, like millions of tiny stalactites or candle drips. A hardhat is not a bad idea with all those sharp points hanging around. They aren't brittle. It's really rock, and I couldn't break off even tiny drips from rocks which were already on the ground (I wouldn't mess up the actual ceilings, in case I could break one- but I needn't have worried!). Also, the rock seeps water. There aren't actual drips usually, though if you stood still you could hear some drops, just millions of tiny beads of water clinging everywhere like diamonds in a flashlight beam. Combined with the yellow mineral traces left all over, we thought it was fool's gold at first. It's gorgeous.

The footing is sometimes smooth, and sometimes craggy and more like climbing. You can walk in a lot of places, but you also duck down a lot (even little ol' me) and the more extensive caverns require duck-walking or even an outright crawl to get into the deeper parts. We did a lot of the duck-walking and a few times we crawled, but you'd want more than just jeans for anything major. Sometimes the floor has as many sharp jagged points as the ceiling, which is to say ouch!

We're told the temperature of the caverns stays mostly the same, so that now they feel cool, while in the winter they'd feel warm. I want to come back in the winter-time. I feel like I should bring some knitted socks though, because they don't have toe seams, and having my feet move around in my shoes the little bit they can made me wish for better socks. I was also lucky not to step in any puddles, which sometimes were there waiting for an unsuspecting foot. Seems like they teamed with the low ceilings so you'd be more worried about banging your head and less concerned with feet, hehe. I actually only banged my head once, and that very lightly because I knew the ceiling was low and right there, but I did need my light shining down at the rocks for my foot because my other foot was losing its place. But only once! Several times we laughed when Val's helmet let out a screech as it touched the ceiling.

We joked about dungeons and dragons a lot. Anytime we came to a hole which might be a tunnel or a tight spot we'd say "send in the halfling!". They are only 3 feet tall. I did, being the smallest, get to scout out a few choices. We found one nice chamber which would make good living quarters with a possible chimney vent, and a separate area for sleeping. Neat! We rested there a bit, because it was at the end of one route we'd been following. Most of the caverns would end and you'd come out the way you went in.

After a whole morning of exploring, I think five hours, we had lunch that we'd packed- roast beef sandwiches and cookies, and drove home.

I like it here!