Oh Happy Day
I woke this morning to snow...again. So I decided I better get my ass in gear and prepare for a winter of fun. So I drained, coiled and stored the hoses, placed the deck chairs in storage, hauled still more firewood, mowed the lawn until I ran all of the gas out of the mower, stopped the dog from puking on the carpet (that's the last time I leave her outside to eat grass), watched the Twins win their final game of the season, tried to turn off the outside faucets but found there was no shut off valve - here's hoping that these are non-shut-off necessary faucets, scraped and repainted the patio door, watched Lily the friendly neighborhood raccoon take a huge dump on my lawn (who knew that something so small could have that much in them?) and totally reorganized the shed out back. Not much for a Sunday afternoon.
Also, the
murderers were caught so we don't have to worry so much. Although given where they stole the car and where they were caught, I can tell you that they drove right by my house. Comforting. The cops in Sweetwater County are much less inbred and actually have a jail with locks though, so they should be able to hold the guy that didn't get shot.
On Rock of Love, Bret dumped skank Heather who said she'd continue to date him along with Jes. Who says this? Jes, the normal person who is totally too good for Bret, said hell no when he asked if he could have them both as girlfriends. So he kept Jes. I was happy to read what she said about this show in an interview with the local paper.
"No matter what they say, everyone who auditions for these shows knows they have the possibility of exposure and publicity. I was approached to do this show and, I'll be honest, I didn't even know who Bret Michaels was. And I thought it would be a good experience. I sat down with Bret before the show, he asked what I was expecting, and I said I had no expectations."
Jes is awesome and she needs to not date someone who slept with Lacey and Heather (who is so dumb she actually had Bret's name tattooed on the back of her neck).
Happy Birthday to E
Today excitingly enough is my golden birthday. When I was about 6 my golden birthday was the most exciting thing I could imagine and I was quite disappointed that I'd have to wait over 20 years to have it. My brother, on the other hand, got to have his that year. I consoled myself thinking I would be an adult and be able to have a big party. You know what I'm doing tonight? I'm going to haul firewood, have a cider, watch the Twins get beat and go to bed. I'm very okay with that. I think I must be getting old.
I also got in trouble because my mom sent me flowers and I didn't call to say thank you. It turns out that the people at the front desk decided not to tell me I had flowers. Luckily, my dad called to tell me to call my mom to say thank you for the flowers so I was able to stop back in at the office and pick them up for weekend enjoyment.
Gracie is less excited about this birthday thing because she got to go to the vet and get a shot today. She also got her butt drained and had air freshener shot up there. She was not amused.
ETA: I should also point out that the town of Mountain View decided that my birthday deserved a bigger celebration and so they had a parade for me. Color guard, fire trucks, they went all out. Clearly, I'm awesome.
The Bastard Lied
Turns out the murderers may not be on their way to Vernal and could be heading north. People who lie suck.
A more in depth analysis of the escape shows that the cameras didn't work, the door wasn't locked and one guy was in charge of watching all 120 prisoners. Good work there Utah.
Good News
Everyone's favorite escaped murderers have been spotted heading south further into Utah and not north towards the Valley. I find it interesting that these guys were in the Daggett County jail and not in a maximum security prison. I could escape from that jail blindfolded - though I wouldn't be particularly excited to run through 50 miles of Badlands to get somewhere even remotely populated.
In other news, I managed to haul several loads of firewood into my garage. Thankfully, it's warmed up a bit now so I should have more time to transfer some more wood. Also, there's been no unexpected turning on of the furnace in the middle of the night. Seriously, the thermostat was set at 45 and yet it was cold enough to trip the heat. I don't think I can make it to November without turning the heat on when it's that cold in the house in September.
I'm goin' to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around.
A while back, I was asked what exactly there is to do in Western Wyoming. Thus begins the series - What is there to do in Wyoming? We'll start with my weekend trip. Now some people in Minnesota head to Duluth to see the fall colors, I (living in Wyoming) travel to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park.
Now there was some worry about these things called the "Tetons" because much like the Shane Co. I was wondering whether they did in fact exist. Here is what I saw when I visited the park six months ago...
Ah but magical masters that they are, the Tetons did make themselves reappear...
After a trip through the park where I actually saw wildlife including several moose, elk, buffalo, coyotes and wolves - no bears sadly although someone did bring a dead one to the parking lot at my office, I continued on to Yellowstone. Old Faithful says hi.
There's a hell of a lot to do in both parks and Jackson itself besides looking at scenery but I didn't do much because I was alone and I had nowhere to put Gracie. Of course, if you want to stay away from the crowds you have to go in the fall or early spring. Or you can visit some of the other places soon to be featured in "What's There to Do in Wyoming?"
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As an aside, I'm so over the snow. It can stop now. The mountains look pretty - let's keep it up there and not in my driveway.
Yoga Sucks
I just thought you should all know that. For this week's fitness fun, I took a preemptive ibuprofen. It seemed to help with soreness except that I don't think I was very sore to begin with. I'm getting better with this working the muscles thing.
In other news, my dad tells me that my mother and brother think that Gracie looks like a mountain lion. I don't see it. She looks pretty much like a dog to me.
In really positive news, I have finally paid off the taxes on my company paid living quarters so my paycheck was $250 more than it has been for the past few months. I'm going to go out and spend that extra money this weekend. Yay for money!
I've been a bit remiss in posting about her but I'd like you to meet Gracie.
She's terrified of my kitchen and likes to get up ridiculously early on the weekends, but she's very sweet.
We went to the mountains today. What a great time to go up there - the weather was fantastic, the leaves had started to change and there weren't a bunch of dumbasses from Utah up there. I was going to start a series showing the nice areas around my house, and then I forgot to bring my camera with me.
Wordpress Hates E
So there seems to have been an exodus to Wordpress. I don't like Wordpress because much like BatChat doesn't like tequila, Wordpress doesn't like me. No matter what I do it won't let me comment on anyone's site. Clearly they have issues.
I Suck
My entire body is sore from this stupid class. Running and swimming never did this to me. What's even worse is that everyone in the class is at least 20 years older than me and some of them kick some serious ass. That said, I guess it's motivation to try some stuff at home so I won't suck so much where people can see me.
Oh Joy. Oh Rapture.
I had to run into Evanston today to pick up some weights for the exercise class I joined that is kicking my ass. Anyway, that's not really important. What is important is the best thing that's happened in a long while...my truck held the cruise control on the entire way home. I even maintained speed over the Sisters. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have your vehicle spontaneously shut off the cruise control just because you go over a hill? Okay so they're mountains, but usually the cruise cut out before the Sisters while climbing only small rises.
Now the real test comes when I try to recreate this miraculous event.
Update
Turns out there is nothing wrong with my dad's aorta so they didn't have to crack his chest open. Since it turned out well, I think my dad kind of enjoyed the ultrasound. He claims he learned a lot about his insides.
Notes from the Mountains
Fall is officially here. I gave my patio door a second coat of paint on Saturday knowing that I would be home so I could leave it open all weekend (it gets stuck to the weather stripping when I close it). This morning I woke up at 5 AM and it was absolutely freezing in the house. The temperature this morning was a balmy 25 degrees. Given the amount of frost on my windshield, I need to clean out the garage soon.
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DirecTV and Wells Fargo are on my list. DirecTV somehow managed to get me service at the correct address in WYOMING, but somehow managed to send my bill to WISCONSIN. If I hadn't wondered why I hadn't gotten a bill, they would have terminated service. However, the late payment is on my credit record. I am pissed. For the record, I do not live at 1709 Depot Ave Limon, Wisconsin. I do not live at 1709 Depot Ave. I do not live in a town called Limon. What the hell? The rep I spoke with could not explain how the service request address was correct but the billing address was not. And technically I get all my bills sent to a post office box which I gave to them when I first moved in. Bastards.
Wells Fargo has been charging me $10 a month for a savings account that pays out 20 cents in interest. Somehow, I'm paying them to keep my money. I've asked it to be changed, it didn't happen and another $10 charge occurred. I'm closing the account. I hate Wells Fargo.
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My dad visited the doctor today and the doctor thinks his aorta is leaking. He has an ultrasound scheduled within the next hour or so. If there is leakage, he'll have immediate open heart surgery. He was taking it all rather well.
Weekends Are Good
E was especially productive today. I seem to be much more productive here than when I lived in Chaska. Tonight for dinner, I'm having pizza and cider. Yay for alcohol!
Holy Hell That's Yellow
So here's a picture of the "Yellow" Room. Very cheery and bright.
After pulling off the sunflower border and discovering a half painted over border underneath, I painted the room with green and put in all my dark wood antique furniture. Sadly, I can't get the whole room in the picture. I still need to make some window treatments and hang something on the walls, but at least I don't go blind just walking in there.
I should add that there is all new carpet and baseboard trim throughout which makes things infinitely better. I also replaced the interior doors, but they're still wrapped in plastic. They're hanging, but in still in plastic until I decide I want to paint again.
Home Sweet Home
As promised, a couple of pictures of my new house (I apologize if the picture quality is bad. It looks fine on my camera, but it was super dark, so I brightened it and now I think it may be weird.)...
No, it's not the same as my old house. It's bigger and it's a single family home. It's different. See...Totally different.
Especially the back. Here's the view from my deck...
Tomorrow, I'll see if I can post some interior before and intermediate nothing's completed but it's better than it was pictures.
Freaks on a Plane
You know I've flown all over the world but somehow this weekend, I managed to fly with some real freaks. On the way out I got an aisle seat, but lucky me, I was sitting next to the unaccompanied minors on the flight. One of them had a severe inability to sit still and shut up for the flight but E survived. The best part of the flight was when I looked over and saw that the guy sitting across the aisle was reading
A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. I had just turned my phone off or I would have snapped a picture. I totally want to go out and find this book. I bet they carry it at the Deseret Bookstores.
My flight last night involved the "friendliest" couple ever. I'm extremely anti-PDA anyway but this was ridiculous. It's a three hour flight. Can you not keep your hands off of each other? So I had the luck of drawing the window seat with these two next to me. In addition to tickling each other and generally doing annoying things, I was watching his hand and I have to say that if anybody was doing that to me with some stranger sitting right next to me, they'd be nursing a broken arm. If you're on a two seat row, some of this would have been okay, but I was really uncomfortable and unhappy with this all. Grow up.
Don't Rain on My Parade
For the first time in years, it did not rain on the Nimrod Jubilee Days parade. This meant that the crowds were out in force. My brother had the bright idea to throw beads as well as candy. My mom and brother were out of beads less than a quarter through the parade and so suddenly I was the most popular person in the parade. All I could hear was "Beads! Beads!" A couple guys lifted their shirts so they got some, but the only other people besides little kids who got any were those showing their Twins pride. Santana Jersey Girl got a bunch.
In non-Nimrod news, I was listening the the Twins game on Friday and while I was actively cheering for Baker to pitch the no-no, I was kind of relieved when he didn't because I was planning to go to the game, but didn't because my grandma is in the hospital and we needed to go visit her.
