the kitchen remodel project

well we decided it was time to do something different with the kitchen. it started off as just a plan - to reface the cabinets and get new doors and drawers made.

on friday we decided to re-do the whole entire thing. there was unscrewing and sawing and drilling and all sorts of things, and the next thing you know, the berlin wall came down (literally) and we had an open kitchen leading to the living room. on saturday we rebuilt the wall. on sunday we screwed down the drywall. today there was mudding and taping, and tomorrow will be sanding.

in order to prepare for this kitchen project, many things had to be accomplished. before anything could actually happen, we had to clean the kitchen out. but before that, we had to take the cabinet doors off. which turned out to be harder than just unscrewing the hinges because the hinges were so painted over that we couldn’t get to the screws. so michael cut new slots in every screw in the entire kitchen, and i unscrewed the hinges and removed the doors.

the following week included a lot of emptying cabinets and shelves, sorting things into categories, and boxing up all the things we keep in the kitchen. you wouldn’t believe it, but almost all the boxes i used to move my stuff from CA to here were used in boxing up this kitchen. i guess that means there was a lot of stuff. we were able to come to an agreement on a few things that we just don’t need anymore. so now everything is in one of 2 rooms, in one of many, many boxes. and the drawers are laid out on a spare bed so we can still get to them when we need to.

what i didn’t like, was on the day of the removal of everything, the 2 guys (dan and michael) that were doing the work were making comments about me not helping out. um, excuse me, but where were you both the whole previous week when the cabinets needed to be emptied and packed up? where were you when the strategizing about where things needed to go to be accessible was happening? where were you when the actual boxing of things was happening? not only was i annoyed at their ignorance, i was plain angry that they considered me to be a non-helper. because anyone who knows me, knows i'm everyone's #1 helper. i just didn't want to be in the way of all the ripping and shredding and downright testosterone that was happening in such a small space.

an unusual assortment

friends

one thing i really really enjoy about living here and not being involved with the university, but rather with the dance community, is the friends i've made in just the past year.

they're great. i love spending time with them on a very regular basis. at least 1-2 times a week, sometimes more, we get together and have dinner. sometimes we have dinner and a movie. sometimes we just eat and talk. sometimes there's only 2 of us, sometimes there's 10. sometimes we go running. sometimes we set out to run and just walk and talk. and on the weekends, we generally contra dance together. and if we are dancing out of town, we carpool together. it's a special thing i've never really had anywhere else. i cherish them very, very much.

---

physical me

i am thinking about getting active again but am not sure what i should do. i know the best way for me to do so is to get involved with a team. but what? on the weekends i dance. during the week i have been keeping track of my steps per day. even going for a walk helps me feel better sometimes.

---

mental challenges

i have been getting back into doing sudokus, jumbles, and crossword puzzles again. i like the patterns and i like the way it feels to have my mind working. maybe that means i’m ready for a job.

---

visual/audio entertainment

on movie nights with friends, we've recently watched:
- hillary and tenzing - climbing to the roof of the world
- lord of the rings - the two towers (this dvd kept skipping around, it was very challenging to get through, not knowing if we'd see the next scene in order or from 1/2 hour ago)
- a mighty wind (turns out, i LOVE this soundtrack. i must have it. the songs have been stuck in my head for days.)

i have been doing some reading:
- reading – three cups of tea by mortensen and relin
- listening – on the road by jack kerouac

turns out, listening to a book on cd is hard for me to do while trying to do housework. i keep moving from room to room and feel like i’m missing something every time i leave and so i have to rewind. it’s much more ideal for me to listen while on a long distance drive.

spring is coming

spring weather in the willamette valley of oregon means warm days and cool, usually clear nights.

it’s just march and the crocus and daffodils are blooming, and the daphnes are just about to be on. i'm imagining in california the buckeye's have already leafed out.

we’ve been doing a bit of yard work, including mowing the lawn, hoeing the massive amounts of weeds in the garden, reclaiming the garden from the lawn that keeps trying to take over, and pruning the plum, pear, and apple trees, and kiwi and grape vines.

the lunar eclipse happened on a wednesday a couple weeks ago, which is the exact day my friends and i usually go running. instead, we went on a walk and enjoyed the early evening light, and by the time the sun went down we could see the moon eclipsing, and the sky was clear. we drove to a better viewing spot together, and managed to see the earth move in between the sun and moon. it was a pretty neat thing to see, and it was nice that it was at an hour that wasn’t unreasonable like the last one, which happened between 130-5am. plus, it's much more fun to share those sorts of experiences with other people, vs sleeping in a cot on the porch, alone aside from the cat sleeping on my feet. which, was good in its own way. (to see pictures from last summer's eclipse, reference back to my august 2007 blog archives. i didn't take any photos this time.)

to do-s galore

i’m always making to do lists.

they aren’t always in one place.

so then i have these to do notes to myself all over the house.

sometimes they're lost. sometimes they're found.

and sometimes things get checked off, and sometimes they don’t.

what happens to things that never get done? were they that un-urgent?

do other people have this problem?

a celebratory weekend

leap day was my radio birthday, and march 1st was michael’s birthday.

we started the weekend off right by having lunch with one of michaels friends at osu. and then we invited all our friends to go get pizza with us at our favorite pizza place. and then people came over for ice cream, and they stayed till midnight so we could sing happy birthday.

and then saturday we had a contra dance, and then had a big group sleepover with our friends. our friend em has a house with a bunch of beds, so we dragged all the mattresses down to the living room, and lined them up so we could all sleep together in one big line of beds. we ate popcorn and talked, had a fire in the fireplace and roasted marshmallows for s’mores. and we all fell asleep approximately 10 seconds after we all laid down.

and then sunday we woke up and had special breakfast, then we came home and did garden work all day, then michael, his daughter and i went to the depot for a delicious fish dinner.

what a weekend!
(no wonder we had post-party let down the next day!)

happy radio birthday to me

this only happens once every 4 years, but i’m happy to say that this is the third (or 12th) anniversary of me getting my dj license at wrho 89.7fm, “the voice of hartwick college” in oneonta ny.

it was the birth of bert, sister kristen, the nameless one, the captain...

it was the beginning of bert and the brown shoes, brother joe and sister kristen, the nonexistent truth...as well as football, soccer, field hockey, and even a lacrosse game...

and so many hours on air, for regular 3 hour weekly shows, subbing in for other people, 18 hour shows - alone and with others, the 48 hour show, the daylight savings marathon, the "welcome freshmen" shows, the spring weekend nights on frisbee field...

it was the freshman takeover, with my fellow djs - joe, dawn, brian, missy...

it was meeting new people, and making friends i wouldn't have made elsewhere - martin, brad, mathew, jorge, eric f, jj, shaun, jim, eric d, amy, kevin

it was making sure everyone in the organization felt welcome, including the non-students - wolfman, charlie the k, jerry k, irwin, mike w, mike s, uncle bill, the other guy who was on fridays before uncle bill took his place...

it was countless hours of hanging around in the station during other people's shows, or even when no one else was on the air.

it was listening to music that had just been released, and only to the college audience...and some of it was amazing and some of it was so, so awful...

i have so many fond memories! i loved WRHO. and will forever.

face vs. house

in this situation, the house always wins.

i was putting firewood into the woodbox by the backdoor. we have 2 steps from the landing where the door is to the ground level, where the wheelbarrow is. so i have one foot on the 1st step and one foot on the ground. lean to the wheelbarrow, grab some logs, pivot and put them in the box, pivot back. repeat. until i get sloppy and forget my spatial reality, and WHAM-O, i smash my face into the corner of the house. i yell. i spit. i rub my head. i go inside. my tooth feels rough.

i chipped my tooth putting wood in the wood box. and spit out the piece.

luckily it wasn’t visible, and i went to the dentist a few days later and everything looks fine.

but just in case anyone was wondering, i wouldn't recommend going head to head with the corner of the house. it just doesn't feel that good.

dance dance dance the night away

this weekend was the corvallis contra dance camp. michael and i were able to pull ourselves together, though it was looking a little questionable for m at the beginning because he’d been sick for the past 2 weeks after dancing fool.

we danced friday night, saturday morning, saturday afternoon, saturday evening, sunday morning, sunday afternoon, and sunday evening.

michael says we danced 23 hours overall, including not just contra dance, but waltzing, and learning salsa rueda. and it ended up that there weren't enough men during the rueda lessons, so i ended up having to dance lead for most of it. hopefully i will remember how to follow one day when i actually dance it at a club.

there were many fun dancers at this camp as well. several new faces, some young people - children, who were having a GREAT time, and who really knew what they were doing - as well as many familiar fun faces.

the bands - THE GREAT BEAR TRIO and THE KITCHEN BAND were just amazing. they knew just when to really make things move and we were all rocking away for hours on end, sweating through the gatorade like we were on one of their commercials.

this camp reiterated the fact that i really need new dance shoes.

being that it was an in-town camp, we also hosted to guests at our house. it would seem they had an enjoyable stay.

recipe reader

i don’t like reading much.
well i guess it isn’t that i don’t like to do it, i just don’t make time to do it.

i’m not that creative of a chef either. i mean, i can make the basic stuff really well, but i don’t have a real creative streak when it comes to cooking.

but, in the last few months, i’ve realized that i like looking up recipes and printing them off, or looking in cookbooks and finding recipes that sound interesting. and i really enjoy reading the recipes.

making the dishes, well that’s a different story.

the things i’ve made seem to have turned out well, and people usually say “yum!” or at least they don’t say “yuck!” and spit it out. or else my friends are just super polite and would eat it even if it tasted like sawdust.

however, when it comes to the motivation to make something new, going shopping is not high on my priority list of “fun” things to do. plus, i’m always very worried that things aren’t going to end up tasting good anyway. this is probably an unrealistic worry, as i mentioned in the previous paragraph – no one has not eaten what i’ve made.

i might also have a tendency towards making things that i am fairly confident will be delicious. especially if they’re dips or sauces. these are my favorite things to make:

- basil pesto
- tomatillo salsa
- any dip that uses cream cheese or sour cream, most recently spicy crab dip

i'm not intending this to be a recipe sharing forum or anything, but if anyone has any meal or sauce / dip ideas they've tried successfully, i'd be open to hearing about it.

in the meanwhile, i think i'll go open betty crocker and see what i can find for dinner tomorrow. or maybe we'll just order pizza. :)

a dancing fool

life state = washington!

well i can check another state of the list of states i’ve never been to. on feb 1 we went up to seattle washington for a contra dance camp called “dancing fool”. apparently a frank zappa song.

anyway, we hit tons of traffic going up there, which was almost unbearable. and there was no side road to get onto, so we just had to sit in it: one sort of minor accident and one pretty major, multiple car accident that smashed the barrier into our side of the highway.

the dance itself was brilliant. we danced for 18 hours over the course of a friday night, saturday day, and sunday morning. needless to say, i trashed my dance shoes and my feet, my energy and my smile, but it was worth it on so many levels. there were hundreds of good, fun, daring, risky, high energy, playful dancers to meet and dance with, and i would definitely go again in a heartbeat. as long as i get new shoes.

and then we returned to corvallis where we both promptly got sick. michael got the flu, i got some variant. oh goodie.

and so it goes...

well it's a gray, cold january here in oregon and for me, it's been a series of highs and lows, both physical and emotional. after a great new years contra dancing party in west hartford, which is maybe the best way to start off the year, michael and i hit a couple more contra dances in greenfield mass before returning to our cold, western state.

the weather, for me, has never played much of a role in my mood, aside from the fact that i don't think of going outside to play if it's pouring rain, or even just raining a bit. this year, however, has proved to be slightly different. perhaps it's that i'm paying more attention to my mood, and someone i know who lives in portland oregon has kept mood journals over the years and notices a definite down-trend during the cold, dreary, wet, winter months. i've never done that, thinking that i would be bias towards myself, making myself think i was feeling gray even if i wasn't. but this year, i have had a series of days where i've asked myself if i'm feeling depressed. am i sad? am i feeling low because of events that have happened or just because there's no sunlight? hard to say, but sitting around thinking about it sometimes makes it worse. attitude is everything, they say, and i'm not going to let myself get down just because it's easy.

in sadder news, rachel's cat midnight died on monday. it was an extremely hard day for all of us, emotionally, because she showed up sunday night and the cat was having a hard time walking and not eating and hardly drinking anything. we knew the end was near, we just didn't know how long she had. and then rachel went to class on monday and on her drive back from portland, the cat coughed and seized a little bit, and then just stopped breathing. it was sad in that the cat had been with rachel since childhood, and was her home companion and friend. i felt sad not just because of the loss of life and a loved one, but because i realized what she represented to rachel - a piece of her life, gone forever. there was a lot of crying, periods of calm, followed by more sad thoughts and more crying. i had a headache after that for hours. we buried midnight under the light of the nearly-full moon, at almost midnight...and may she rest in peace in our hearts and minds as well.

in happier news, then, my friend shelley from san francisco came to visit on tuesday! she was en route to hawaii via seattle, but was in portland on a stopover and stayed for the night. we had a great time chatting, snacking, laughing, and generally talking a lot. during the day she was here, there was napping, sitting by the fire, drinking tea, going for a walk downtown, shopping at the co-op, and dinner with my friend emilie. the next day i drove shelley back to the airport, and we spent some time reading the comics and looking at the security line before she decided to head through. she got security scanned for making last minute arrangements, and apparently her sandal set off one of the security detectors. as far as i know right now she is in hawaii and in a happy place. she was just what i needed after monday's events.

however all that driving put me in a weird place, physically and mentally. i enjoyed it because i was able to listen to some of my old radio shows on tape, and laughed about how silly i was then, and how much fun it was to be on the radio. memories came flowing back and i was in a good frame of mind. when i got home, i realized the house was empty with michael gone to las vegas, so i called kirsten and paul who came over for dinner, guitar playing, looking at pictures, and snuggling with the kitties. when they left around 9, i thought it seemed early to be tired, but then i proceeded to fall fast asleep on the couch. vivid dreams of college homecomings and contra dancing and later on i was in possession of some special magical device that could protect my friends and i from hail the size of golfballs that also had razor blades on it. i just had to focus real hard on what i wanted to happen and it would. meanwhile there were bad guys abounding trying to hurt me for one reason or another, and there was just a lot going on so i was glad when the phone rang and i woke up.

a contra dance friend, dan, called today. he wanted to come and check our kitchen, which he is going to redo for us, to check on the location of the window and some cabinet and drawer specs. he had been to portland last night, at which time he had visited a museum with an exhibit about contra dancing. he picked up one of the promo cards and brought it back, and he showed it to me...and it was ME on the card! taken last january in new hampshire, i knew that there was someone taking pictures, and i knew that he was somewhat of an artist, this photographer. he had exhibits around the walls of the hall where we danced. anyway, i was shocked to see myself on the front of this card, promoting his gallery. while it is a cool photo - i'm in the ray of sunlight shooting through the one open window - i'm not making a very attractive face, and it appears i have a serious double chin going on. i shouldn't complain, i'm practically a star!

http://www.dougplummer.com/#/dance/At%20The%20Dance/7/

it's cold in the house. think i'll go sit by the fire. then it's on to big project, getting "my room" cleaned out a little and set up in a way that would make me feel like spending more time in there.

hope all is well for you all in blog world.

'tis the season to...crave dairy?

i don't know what it is about this time of year, this year, but for some reason i have been craving dairy products like it's nobody's business. milk, egg nog, cheese, cottage cheese, ice cream...luckily i'm ok with lowfat on some of those things, but i'm wondering why. why dairy. is my body not getting something it needs that dairy can provide?

in other news, the running and situps have been going extremely well. although i weighed myself on the scale at the mall the other day and it said i weigh almost 180 which i know cannot be true. i do not weigh 20 pounds more than i usually weigh. that is not possible without going up a pant size. i did have on shoes, pants, a sweater, and a jacket. perhaps that stuff weighed more than i figured. in actuality i think i've been between 155-165 for the past 12 years. i may have gotten down below 150 when i was playing rugby and running all the time for 6 months or something.

what else is new. i'm in CT for the holidays which is pretty great. i'm especially happy about this high speed internet connection! it's so different than what i have back in OR (but i am grateful to have anything at all, m!) my family is doing well and i'm looking forward to seeing the extended family on christmas and beyond. and i really am hoping we'll have a white christmas. really, really hoping for that.

i also am planning to go contra dancing, 3 times this weekend! that should be great, seeing the old gang again and actually getting to dance in my hometown once! a rare yet wonderful event!

so for now i should sign off, work on my christmas letter for an hour or so, and then go for my run, do my situps, wrap some presents, and whatever else strikes my fancy! my brother and i are doing our shopping trip tonight. should include some fabulous gifts, like beano, gas-x, nighttime breathe right strips, and other things that just get the gang to laugh on christmas morning!

getting through some things

i have yet to blog about my trips to arizona, new york, connecticut, or hawaii, nor have i written anything about thanksgiving, not going back to work, my new running/exercise regimen (see sidebar), or about the massive cleaning project i'm beginning...but all in due time. just don't want people to think i've dropped off the planet. oh, and i'm also getting christmas card / letter stuff together, and collecting addresses, and...you get the idea.

dog alarm clocks

you know how some people have those clocks that have sounds on them to wake them up in the morning? you know how some people have those cds with dogs barking to the tune of "jingle bells" or some such thing? you know how some people really love their dogs so much, they leave them at home for hours at a time, and they get lonely, and then they start barking? and then the neighbors dogs start barking? and then other neighbors dogs start barking? and then the whole neighborhood which probably has like 10 dogs are all barking or howling?

yeah, that's what got me up this morning. let's say i was NOT pleased. that's why we have cats.

i love carmel.

i just do. i love it. i wish i'd gone trick or treating, and i would have said "i don't want your candy unless it has carmel in it." delicious.

and then...poof!

(not much time to write right now, nor will there be any time soon, so here's the update.)
time has been slip, slip, slipping away, in the best of possible ways of course, but it seemed that i had all the free time in the world, which all of a sudden was reduced to hardly any free time at all. i went from biking everywhere to living out of my car. and from a leisurely lifestyle with my only commitment being soup kitchen on wednesdays at lunchtime and hanging out with the cats in the garden, to on the go, busy busy busy all the time. alternate titles for this post included "where does the time go" or "and then there was none", and so forth.

i started playing rugby for the oregon state university womens rugby club, collectively known as the black plague, although when i asked what they say when they cheer at games, they said "go beavs" which is the oregon state university mascot (the osu beavers)(at least it isn't the oregon ducks. what's so tough about a duck?) we practice 3 nights a week. back to back practices, not all that fun, i have to say.

i got a new job! i have been working at the oregon state university vegetable research farm for the past 2 weeks, on hazelnut breeding research. this namely means i have been crawling around on my hands and knees, collecting hazelnuts that have fallen to the ground and putting them in a bucket. however, my inquisitive nature makes me ask a lot of questions, and so i've learned a lot more about hazelnuts than probably the rest of my co-workers.


yesterday was my birthday! it was a beautiful, gorgeous, just about perfect day (we ate lunch during the torrential downpour) and the sunset was really peaceful. some people even remembered my birthday with cards and/or emails and/or phone calls. so far, 30 isn't so bad.

the next few weeks include some exciting adventures, which i'm sure everyone is looking forward to hearing about. all in good time, all in good time...

this muggle's DONE reading the harry potter series

...to be updated as i progress...

i began reading the harry potter books and watching the harry potter movies. being someone not really into reading, i thought it gave me a good reason to read something when it was just too hot out to do anything else. so my friend emilie and i have been renting the movies on tuesday nights, and then she gives me the book of the movie we just watched.

what? you're thinking...why do you read the book after the movie?

i learned this the hard way. if i read the book and then watch the movie, 9 times out of 10, i'm disappointed by the movie. this way, i let the movie stand on its own, and then fill in the details and further my understanding of the movie by reading the book. it makes sense to me.

anyway here's my impressions so far:

1. harry potter and the sorcerer's stone
movie - 2 thumbs up

book - 309 pages, 10 days = ~31 pages a day

2. harry potter and the chamber of secrets

movie - 1 thumb up, 1 thumb down

book - 341 pages, 8 days = ~43 pages a day

3. harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban

movie - 2 thumbs up

book - 435 pages, 9 days, = ~48 pages a day

4. harry potter and the goblet of fire

movie - 2 thumbs up for action, only 1 thumb for sticking to the book

book - 734 pages, 14 days = ~52 pages a day

5. harry potter and the order of the phoenix

movie - not out on video yet

book - 870 pages, 9 days = ~97 pages a day

6. harry potter and the half blood prince

movie - not out yet

book - 652 pages, 21 days (been busy!) = ~31 pages a day

7. harry potter and the deathly hallows

movie - not out yet

book - 759 pages, 16 days = ~47 pages a day

that's it for the books, now i just have to wait patiently for the movies to come out!

*note - i copied the images from
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/covers/*

lunar eclipse

while i wasn't able to stay up all night - or rather, wasn't able to fully wake up every 1/2 hour from 2am-530am (even though i set an alarm clock), i did manage to get up a few times to snap some photos of the lunar eclipse, which occured on august 28th.

i believe it's the first lunar eclipse i've ever bothered to a. pay attention to, or b. take photos. i did use the opportunity to sleep outside in a mummy sleeping bag, which i've decided is just not a good fit for me unless it's freezing cold out. plus the cat was sleeping on my feet, which was fine except i didn't want to disturb his sleep as well as mine. :)

so although the set is a little incomplete, since my desire to stay in bed is greater than the desire to get up, here's what i have.

130am ------------------- 200am

215am ------------------- 230am

400am #1 ------------------ 400am #2

i had a little more trouble with the 400am ones, simply because there was so little light, i had to keep the shutter open significantly longer than the others, and my hand, even though the camera was on the tripod, just wasn't super still.

back

i'm in connecticut again, but not exactly what i had planned. i'd originally figured i'd come home for my usual 4th of july trip, and to stay for 2 weeks and visit with my parents, grandma, and grandpa.

however on father's day i called home to find out how things were going, and my mom said, sadly, that my grandfather had just been diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his liver. that pretty much sent me into complete sadness and despair, and i flew home nearly immediately.

i am now spending many days and some nights over at his house with him, since he lives alone (his wife, my other grandma, died in 1995).

grandpa and i have been close since i got out of college in 1999, and maybe even before that. we enjoy a good lunch together, generally a noodle side dish, or some grilled cheese and tomato soup. we talk about things, stories of the past, about life and lessons we've learned, people we've met, things we've seen, and i fix his computer and show him how to work his dvd player. he is still incredibly sharp and can learn things even at 94 years old. and still has a great memory.

it has been very difficult to hear this news and know that he will now not get better. hospice has become involved and they will help keep him comfortable. he has always said he doesn't want to burden anyone, nor does he want to *be* a burden to anyone, so i'm not sure how long this will go on. he has a strong will to live and has survived many many things in his lifetime. he has had a wonderful life with so many blessings, and he knows that and appreciates it.

i love him so much.

a sensitive flower

well this is my 99th post. 99 holds a special place in my heart so i wanted to make this a good post. let's see.

1. i haven't finished writing up about my alaska trip, nor have i sent out any alaska postcards.

2. i haven't finished writing up about my peru trip either, nor have i sent out any peru postcards. which reminds me, the postcards we sent *from* peru still don't seem to have made it to the US. hmm we sent them at the end of march. hmm.

3. i have been involved in numerous yard and garden activities since i returned home from alaska and peru. they include, but are not limited to:

• mowing the grass with both riding and push mowers
• weed whacking
• trimming weeds around gardens, apple trees, and grape vines (by hand)
• edging the patio/driveway/sidewalk (with a spade edger thing)(michael helped)
• hauling brush to the sidewalk
• loading brush into the truck in the rain
• bringing the brush to the burn piles
• burning the burn piles (pretty dang fun, and kinda hot)
• stacking new brush into a new burn pile for next year
• throwing sequoia cones
• cleaning off the tree house
• setting up the hammock
• digging a trench along the back fence for a new fence to go in - which required moving a ton of "valuable" items out of the way, including old studded tires, wheels for a VW bug, plates of glass, shards of broken glass, a basketball hoop, old toys and dolls buried under years of sequoia needles, small rocks, large rocks, old chunks of bricks and/or cement, various metal poles, as well as a bunch of old fence that i cut off the old fence posts
• helping michael put in the new fence
• preparing the soil in the garden
• planting the garden
• watering the garden
• watching the garden grow
• cutting blackberries back
• removing ivy from trees
• playing with the cats
• sitting on the bench...

4. about a month or so ago i found a running partner. she's great. we run at about the same speed. the initial reason for my contacting her was because i was trying to get in shape for the rugby game...basically i just didn't want to be COMPLETELY out of shape for the game, which it turned out i wasn't. we have been going to different parks every week and i'm getting to see a little more of the town which i think is a good thing.

5. 2.5 weeks ago michael and i spent 2 days cutting and chopping firewood for next winter. some people say that when you go firewooding, it warms you twice - once when you cut it, and once when you burn it. i agree, but i think it actually warms you 5 times. once to move it / set it up to get it ready to cut/chop, once to actually cut/chop it, once to throw it in the back of the truck, once to unload it off the truck, and once to stack it once it's in the woodshed.

6. 2 weeks ago i broke out with this weird rash. we thought at first it was food allergy, but it lasted for 3-4 days and kept moving around. then we thought it was laundry detergent allergy, but we use free and clear and no fabric softener or other additives and i kept getting the rash in new places even with clothes i hadn't washed with this detergent. so, with consensus from my mother, we decided it was a virus. a weird creepy virus. which just proves how sensitive i really am.

7. 3 days after the weird skin virus, i got a stomach/intestinal virus. isn't life just special?

8. the lewisias are still flowering in the rock garden, and i took some photos, since they are flowers and maybe less sensitive than i.

9. i just got back from davis california where i had the most amazing visit. here's what happened, in a not-so-nutshell:

thursday -

• mike dropped me off at the airport in portland
• laurel picked me up at the airport in sacramento (although she was at terminal A waiting for me, while i was looking for her in terminal B where i landed).
• went to laurel's house, drank tea, met quiz the cat.

friday -

• got up early and walked to the light rail station, took it to downtown sacramento, then caught the bus to davis. all went smoothly.
• upon arrival in davis, i walked around, reminescing about old times.
• walked past my old house.
• heard the fire engines.
• had a burrito bowl at chipotle (rice, chicken, salsa, cheese, sour cream, guac). sooooo good.
• visited with wes from myspace, who works at bizarro world. caught up on life.
• went to central park. went to campus. sat under trees and just stared at the sky.
• met up with my rookie mendivil, went to nims' house and played with the guinea pigs (bridgette o'malley and tiffany amber williams o'malley)
• met up with laurel for dinner at fuji (fuji chefs sushi and roll, california roll, philadelphia roll, deep fried sweet potato roll, smoke salmon). sooooo good. probably ate too much wasabi.
• walked around davis. went to the coop. saw matt smith. checked out soap, burts bees, facial products, alcohol, chocolate and tea.
• went back to laurels house.

saturday -

• laurel and i drove to davis.
• had crepes at crepeville (cheddar, onion, avocado, cream cheese). sooooo good.
• walked around the farmers market and almost told some little ballerinas that they would never be princesses in real life, they would be drones just like us. bought some pistachios.
• went to the alumni rugby game. we were the first ones there, even after getting lost going to the field. got to see happy which totally rocked. well seeing everyone pretty much rocked.
• the alumni kicked a** at the game, though some of the new players are pretty dang good.

i'm the one with tape on my head and green socks.

• the social afterwards was OK but many people had already left by then. *shrug* ate a hamburger with ketchup. lots of ketchup.
• got a ride to bomie's house, then got a ride from laurel.
• we went to jamba juice (berry lime sublime). sooooo good. (she had caribbean passion -super - which turned out to be just slightly too much)
• walked around safeway, petco, big 5 sports
• met laurels friend at dos coyotes for pre-dinner (chips and guacamole). sooooo good.
• on our way to woodstocks for my real dinner with rugby people, happy texted me that she wasn't coming back to davis for any late night partying. i was super bummed, but detoured my trip to woodstocks to a trip to the train station, where i promptly bought a ticket and headed to san francisco!
• amtrak to richmond, bart to 24th and mission, shelley found me there and we went to her home in SF.
• stayed up late talking about everything.

sunday -

• woke up leisurely. had walnut bread toast from liberty cafe.
• walked to downtown bernal, saw signs for a moving sale.
• went to the moving sale and scavenged their cd collection. some kinda good stuff in there.
• shelley wanted to preview the cds so she had the people bring out their boombox and i dj'ed.
• i walked away with 12 cds, including: tori amos (boys for pele), arrested development (3 years, 5 months, 2 days in the life of...), michelle branch (the spirit room), eels (beautiful freak), jesus jones (doubt), midnight oil (diesel on dust), moody blues (legend of a band), new radicals (maybe you've been brainwashed too), smashing pumpkins (siamese dream), u2 (pop), a few mixes (gap's favorite songs album fall 2005, the 70's original nbc motion picture soundtrack)...
• she got some kids books for her nephew in alaska, and 5 cds, including some french reggae, french house, right said fred "i'm too sexy" single, something else i can't remember, and our favorite, shaun cassidy (greatest hits).
• returned our new purchases to shelley's house, then walked to the mission.
• on our way we found a secret stairwell, as well as a mini park. how can you beat that?
• went to taqueria can-cun (black bean vegetarian burrito w/1/2 avocado). sooooo good.
• spent one of my "where's george" dollar bills there (valencia and mission).
• walked valencia, stopped at a few random stores just to look at random things, some weird stuff, some pricy weird stuff, books, etc.
• walked to mission dolores park, otherwise known as "playa dolores", got a good view of the city from there.
• walked to safeway, bought milk. horizon organic whole milk. sooooo good.
• walked back to shelley's, drank some milk and ate chocolate.
• walked up to bernal hill and checked out the city view from there. about 20 fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, other emergency vehicles were all converging on this one building that didn't even look like anything was happening. i figured it might have been a drill just to see response time.
• walked back to shelleys. watered her garden. took out trash, recyclables, compost.
• went to sleep.

monday -

• woke up early, attempting to leave the house at 645.
• left actually at 700.
• no traffic leaving the city, listening to some of her fine cd purchases on the way, we arrived in davis around 830.
• after driving around for awhile looking for parking we decided to just pay and park in the pay lot.
• went to the growth chamber and started bagging up plants for autoclaving.
• put some plants in the autoclave.
• fast-walked over to wellman where the seminar was, shelley went in, i did not.
• went to the MU (bagel and odwalla). sooooo good. and called ingo.
• met up with ingo and went to mishkas.
• ate and chatted. checked my email and checked in for my flight.
• called my friend jane (from ely NV) who was in rancho cordova (en route to san jose, and then ely) who was coming to davis...and we could meet for lunch after my dentist appt.
• went to the dentist.
• met up with ingo again, went to the arboretum / arboretorium / arboridium
• saw the turtles sunning themselves. sooooo good.
• went back to borders cause i had to go to the bathroom. picked up a copy of sports illustrated where MY rookie is in a rugby picture on page 22 of the may 14th issue. no article, just the picture. but still.
• began walking again when jane called and said she was in davis.
• met up at redrum burger, had a turkey burger and fries, and a milkshake, met her gecko named boo, and caught up on the past 7 months. it was great.
• jane left and ingo and i had to move his car.
• went back to mishkas (thai iced tea). sooooo good.
• got a phone call, not sure who it was at first, but it was LEKA.
• walked to campus, met her at the library, went over and sat by the arboretum and talked and talked. about rugby, life, and everything else we could think of.
• she went to class, we went over to plant path to see if i could find shelley, to get her keys, to get my stuff out of her car.
• went to the growth chamber room, she wasn't there.
• went by the outside of the lab, shannon l. came out into the hallway, we chatted.
• i went into to lab on the other side, didn't see shelley, did see andrea, and we talked awhile.
• she walked down to the growth chamber room to open the door to see if shelley was in there. no luck.
• walked back up to the third floor, where we found shelley in the computer lab.
• got her keys, got my stuff, called laurel who was heading to starbucks. i could meet her there.
• returned to the computer lab where she was still printing things.
• hung out awhile.
• went to meet laurel and her friend molly. had a drink. talked more. shelley came over.
• said bye to laurel, then gave shelley a ride over toward campus, then said bye to shelley.
• got emotional.
• went to ingo's to get the dogs. they were cute and didn't try to bite my leg or hand off. dakota even drooled on me. thanks!
• went to the airport. said bye to ingo.
• got on the plane, flew back, mike picked me up, we drove to salem, then got my car and drove back to corvallis.

me and ingo..............................me and jane

the end.

in retrospect it might have been cool to have a gps with me and running the whole time, just so i could put a map up here of all the places i went. but you get the idea. i was pretty much on the move for 4 straight days. it was awesome!!

here's my garden. in future posts i plan to show it's progress with time. i might also post some other things having to do with the yard. viva el 99!