A Few Words From The Road

Once again I have set out on my annual trek to Tucson, AZ for the Gem, Mineral and everything Jewelry show. Last year coming and going I battled the elements: rain, sleet, snow, ice. This year I am battling different challenges: getting old, diabetes, ...wait.. I battled those last year too. And last year was my first year going alone. Pffft! This year should be and is smooth sailing.

A few highlights from my trip out..
I have a new dislike for people from Colorado. Especially those who drive Audis. Let me be more specific. Those who drive Audis and talk on the phone. It seems that Colorado drivers are to Wyomingites as Arizona drivers are to Californians. Here lies the fun. I am "from" Wyoming.. had to drive through Colorado and am staying and visiting Arizona and i am originally from California!! This might warrant a Venn diagram.

Rest Stops.. Can be a wonderful thing....
On my way out I of course stopped at a few state ran rest stops. It seems that they have all gone and remodeled these oasis' on the highways and byways. Most are in good condition and nicely maintained. However... The one just before Benson/Tombstone exit on Interstate 10 gets my vote for the scariest pee-stop on my trip so far. First, when you exit your vehicle there is the distinct smell of death. Something died out there in the darkness and it's letting it's presence known. I have to give ADOT the kudos that this place is well lit. The ladies room was relatively clean however the two of three stalls lacked doors and there was a roll up garage style door between the Mens and Ladies side that had been rolled up about 18 inches .. enough for someone with little effort to crawl under. Yeah that gave me the strength to carry on a little farther and head into Tucson. (my original plan was to spend the night in Tombstone and ghost hunt... but I had my share of frightening stuff!)

Why do people have to suddenly slow to a stop for no apparent reason in the travel lane? Why can't they just pull over??? (do i really have to elaborate on this one? )

Missed Photo Ops
Because I am goal orientated and therefore drive from point to A to point B .. then C etc. I will occasionally miss some good photo opportunities. Here are some of note.

Just over the border in Colorado is a bison ranch.. with bison! They were all over the place covering the hillsides. It was really cool!

Some where along the way were two dehorned cream colored bulls trying to "lock horns" and spar. Either that or they were scratching each other's foreheads. It was very cute.

Trinidad Colorado very cute town. I really wish they would finish their highway project. It's been over a year now and it's still a 35mph zone through there.

Other Things of Note:
Albuquerque had the highest concentration of "Smoke Shops" i have seen. Every strip mall has at least one.

Over the past year I have stayed at a lot of motels and have formulated an opinion. There's not a lot of difference. One of my favorite places to stay when I am in Colorado is the Best Inns and Suites Denver off of Quebec street in Commerce City. It's only major Malfunction is it's dated and faded. But it's clean, quiet, has full amenities and kitchenettes! Plus it's $35 a night!

My very nice room at the La Quinta here in Tucson is about $100 a night .. it's almost the same room. Has the identical bathroom , and if pretty noisy. Why do people have to shout in motels? I mean in their rooms and down halls. It makes now sense
Wow.. just noticed the wall fixtures are the same. Point for point the Best Inns and Suites Denver wins by price and amenities.

Well time to get ready and face my day. I have my first technique class today. It's a Cold Connections class called "Captured" This should be fun. She touts that this will improve my sawing skills. That's not hard. I am looking forward to getting instruction on how to correctly use a jewelers saw. Oh and tonight I move into my timeshare... home sweet home!

I am way too organized

The extremes I go through to keep myself organized

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Forward Motion

It's the day before I leave for Tucson. Suitcase is packed. Tool kit is packed. Fishing gear is packed. Reservations are made, confirmed, and itinerary is printed as well as my class schedule. The car has had a tuneup, oil change, new tires and insurance is paid up. The bills are paid for the month and the house is clean. Why do I feel unprepared?

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Gearing up for Tucson

It's one week left till I leave for Tucson. For some reason it doesn't feel real yet. I finely booked the nights at the timeshare. My classes are all inline and paid for. I just have to wait till the clock ticks down to take of. I am way too organized...have a thingy to organize my receipts and data collected. Since obviously this year for the first time I can mobile blog maybe I will succeed in actually blogging while there!
I love it when a plan comes together.....

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Christmas Takes Longer And Longer Every Year

Christmas used to be on December 25th. Now it seems to start the week before. Nobody seems to be in the keep office, those in the office seem to have other things on their minds. Not me, I am here with the same dedication I always have.
I think instead of a New Years resolution, I think I am going to make a checklist of things no to get done.I am pretty good at checklists. Yeah checklists, calendar reminders, and th tasks, that's way to go.
With this new trick phone I think I can stay on top of things. Let keys see how fast procrastination.
One of the top things on my list is to get knitting again. And to start photographing my craftwork and getting it onine. I have a friend that makes hats who wants me to make custom hat pins for his business. That would be fun and expand my horizons as a jewelry artist. Next year is going to be all about expanding my craft .
So the rest of this year I will be setting things up for a smooth transition. I would love to start things off smoothly.

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A bigger digital life

I got a new phone and the technology is amazing. This thing can do more than my current laptop.This will make it easier to stay in touch with family and friends as well as keeping my business growing. This post alone is a step up from my blackberry. I can seven stream live video from remote locations like fiber festivals and even from the middle of a trout stream! With a decent camera attached, I should be able to bring back the content. As with anything I need to to keep the motivation going. Most importantly, I need to learn to use this blasted thing.

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It's that time of year..it's the Tour de Fleece

Day 2 Estes Park Oddessy

It started out as a beautiful day .. sun shining and all that. I picked up breaky at Mickey D's and headed off to the fairgrounds to check out the Wool Market. I had forgetton that classes were on Thursday and Friday but the actual Wool Market didn't start until Saturday. That's OK I had to drive down the hill to take care of some business.
The Drive down the mountain was absolutley gorgeous!! I WANNA FISH THE BIG THOMPSON! I don't have a font big enough to express that. There were fly fisherman everywhere!! They all looked like they were having a blast. And me here without my rod! =Sigh= oh well... next time!

On the way back up the mountain I stopped by a local rock shop and looked at the goodies. I got into a conversation with the owner who had some tourmaline from Pala. We traded some rock stories and some Tucson Gem Show storied and I left with a few pieces of stone. Two nice moonstone cabashons, two tourmaline cabs and a string of tiny faceted garnets (very nice). When I got up here I sat down with full intention of going down to the creek and knitting for a while... but of course as things go fell dead asleep. I woke up hungry and fretted over dinner. Nothing like an agorophopic with social anxiety disorder traveling alone. We don't go out much! I found a local Mexican restaurant that had take out and fretted some more over trafic and parking... but I got the courage to drive my ass down there and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of trafic and loads of parking!! I made my order and took it back to the timeshare and pigged out while watching Man vs Food (Man won both episodes) and was quite full.
I finally got the knitting out and finished the first in the next of a series of baby socks for the boss's progeny. Very cute! I figured that instead of just starting the second of the set I would knit another in the pattern as the correct series of colors had not come around again. I dropped a stitch on a purl and it ran down to the cast on.. I'll have to frog that and start over ... no biggie they are tiny little things - it was less than a hundred stitches into the sock anyway. So I have been poking away at my grey wool socks. A lesson in sanity or patience. It's a solid color sock so no pattern to keep me awake and occupied. I am just hanging on with the pattern as my push. Although I am still in the 2X2 ribbing I am enjoying it. It's very soft and cushy... and is as fun as bubble wrap to play with .. just a little quieter.

Well tomorrow starts the Wool Market. I have cash in hand as well as my resale permit (saves on taxes now is a pain later) so I have a buget. I had a bigger buget until I went to the rock shop ... but I was good ...I didn't spend the bank. My sister will show up sometime ...that should be fun! We both enjoy the wooley arts.

The weather has been interesting. It started raining this afternoon. It was really pouring a short while ago. They had tornado warnings from the Wyoming border all the way to Trinidad Colorado. I am glad I am up in the hills... tornados don't form in the mountains. Russ and I have a deal that if either of us sees rotation in the clouds and a wall cloud and large hail you have to grab the camera. You probably though I was going to say head for safety... but this is from the woman who when Russ put the nail from the nailgun thru his hand the first words out of my mouth were "Where's the camera" I knew he was fine.... but how often are we gonna have the chance to get another kodak moment like that???

Well I'm beat and I need to jet off some directions to my sister so she can find me tomorrow. I will be back here in the evening maybe with a few more stories and if I get coordinated some pictures.. The difficult part is the only internet is in the lobby of the timeshare... and I have no cell phone reception here. Where I do have cell phone reception I have no internet so getting 2 and 2 together to make 4 has been difficult. Maybe I'll talk Juti into eating a the brewery ... generally those places have good grub and this one boasts of high speed internet. And I think I can get cell reception ...

It's time for the Estes Park Wool Festival and Market

Ok everytime I go to one of these cool events I promise to try to live blog.. this time I won't... I can't - no cell phone reception. I will try to nightly blog - how is that? The trip up here to Estes Park was a trip! I had really cool thunderstorms with finger lightening (haven't seen any of that since Wisconsin) And of course everything was lush and green. There wasn't any wind between Chugwater and Ft. Collins which was very unusual. I usually hit 50mph with higher gusts going through that route...it was nice today-probably because of the storms. I saw a double rainbow! Very cool and while enjoying the rainbow I listened to the National Weather Service Tornado Warning... oh joy! I even got to use my rusty California driving skills in traffic. Since I left work 4 hours plus late [ugly story of the past two days are omited from this blog] I got to drive the last two hours in the dark... and the last hour of it was a thrill ride! New Moon... no stars... no lights... and because of the terrain it was like driving through a pitch black tunnel with the only light the reflection of my headlights on the double yellow line on the road in switch back mountain roads. I can't wait to see it in the day! I want to know what I missed. Part way up the mountain I passed what looked like mountain/rock climbers - not sure if they were going up or coming down. From what I hear (sounds like home) the river is raging out here... I got glimpses of it on my way up.

Tomorrow I'll check out the wool market. I need to find Susan (Susan's Fiber Shop in Bristol, Wisconsin) and give her the sample of cleaned, carded and spun Teeswater from the bag of fleece she handed me when I visited her shop back in March. It's really nice stuff... it's just like Yearling mohair only softer and easier to work with and has a beautiful luster! I hope she likes what I did to it!!

Ok well off to bed.. I have wool to drool over tomorrow...

Holy Wah! I'm knitting again!!

It's been a knitting drought for almost a year now. I started that pair of green striped socks after breaking the sock curse and ....[insert sounds of crickets] Yeah well chalk it up to the sock curse and that 9 months of Evony addiction [2 months clean and NPC free] I attribute my return to normalcy to three people. The first is a gifted hypnotist from Seattle who broke me of the evil addiction. It took a few tries with reinforcement but it worked. The second a new online friend who pointed out that I was smart and really should be doing something with that. The third is my sister who ungrafted the sock that was holding me back from picking up my needles again. So I hit the start button on life and started doing things again. Let's compare to last year.... Prior to June 11Th I was knitting and watching TV. I think it was the same 6 movies over and over. Gone in 60 Seconds, The New Guy, Groundhog Day, The Holiday, Mad Money, and Pretty Woman. Yeah I know pretty pathetic. But compare to after June 11th. Evony and watching said movies. Extremely pathetic.

Fast forward to this year.. two trips by myself out of state. I have been taking day excursions by myself to see some of the sites around Wyoming and also have started fishing again. For those of you who know of my Social Anxiety Disorder and borderline agoraphobia you know that that was a monumental feat. Knitting had to come back into my life. Have to keep those idle hands busy.

Been working on jewelry again. Well designing it .. can't work in my "shop space" it's not conducive to production. That's the one really nice thing about the house in Buffalo... It had a room for fiber and sewing and a shop space for metal and glass. I will have to adjust. The exciting thing about designing jewelry this time is I have a purpose. I found a call for artists for a book that someone is doing on the Steampunk aesthetic. One of my favorites! I have three designs but only one could I put together in the amount of time I have...so I will settle for the lesser of the three designs. I still have to execute the design.. I will start on that this weekend.

So back to knitting... I have that 2nd sock to finish. Just saying that shakes a fist at the sock gods who curse those that talk about their projects. The patron saint of U.F.O.s I will finish this pair and wear them proudly. Take that those who would stand in my way!!

Oh and my next trip is planned. It will be fiberific. I am going to the Estes Park Wool Market. That should be fun. Me... fiber... and no one to tell me I can't!

That time of year

The weather outside to way too nice to sit inside and be on the computer.. It's time to pack up the crackberry and the spinning wheel and go out on the deck and enjoy the longer, warmer afternoons. I was out there a few minutes ago watching Mr. and Mrs. Mallard tooling around one of the still pools of the creek. They too were enjoying the sunshine and the spring warmth. No leaves yet on the trees but the evergreens are soothing. The sound of the flowing water relaxes me. I can't wait to take the storm windows off and have that sound lull me to sleep at night again.

Now for the big decision .... which wheel do I take out on the deck? One of the Kromskis? or the odd Irish tension wheel? I could go light and bring out a drop spindle... naw.. that chocolate creamy alpaca is calling my name.. it deserves a wheel. Ok .. I promise to ply the Polwarth tonight. I'm going to use the method my sister showed me last week. very intriguing. Wind the bobbin into a center pull ball and ply from both ends. But that's this evening.. right here ..right now .. put down the damned computer and walk away..pick up a wheel .. any wheel and spin. Listen to the water. Relax and let the troubles of the day flow down stream. Away from me .. away from the house... out of the neighborhood out of the hollar and down the valley. Diluting as the creek branches come together and flowing away far away. Past the dam... past the freeway and disappearing into the lake..

Been a while

So I kicked the Evony habit. No really I did. I have no desire to play anymore however I do miss the friends I made. I have actually met some of them live and in person. It was very fun. The first was Kiltedhighlander. Nice young man whose real name is Aaron. And yes he actually wears a kilt. Next on the list was Tura. Out of all the players on the game Tura was one of of my first three friends. His real name is Chris. He's my age and lives the closest. A very cool individual and a wonderful person. And his wife tolerates crazies like me. I also got o meet Alatar. Phyllis was one of my newest friends on the game. We met basically when our alliance was a war with someone we shouldn't have picked a fight. She and I worked very hard in diplomacy to end it peacfully. Her and her wonderful husband (who also tolerates crazies like me) are a riot. I wish they lived closer. I have to remember to box up some hops for them this week - they brew too. The fourth person I met I can't say enough about. We met in the game when his alliance attacked my me. I played up the "you must be secure with your manhood to attack a little old lady" angle. Exchanged witty barbs at each other for two days until our leaders negotiated peace and they had to stop attacking. So what did I do? I ported a town in an empty space right below him and said "We're friends now" and we have been ever since. What can I say about CuEire ... aka Casey. He's funny, well read and as right wing as I am...maybe more. I adore my newly met friend. I hope to meet more in the future. At least LadyTera aka LT aka Linda. She's like one of my best friends and we've ever met face to face. I gotta change that!

I'll have to go on and on about my two trips I took. For now I need to go to sleep and dream pleasant dreams -

Now that i have kicked the Evony habit I will have more times for crafts and for blogging and maybe even getting more stuff on my website so that you can buy it.

Wyoming Weather More Moodswings than I

We had our first snow. We had our first severe snow a few weeks later and now it's in the 70's. We should expect a cool down soon. I still need to get my web store up. I have a lot of things I should be doing. It will all get done. It was a very short fall. The freeze hit before the leaves could fall off so the trees look a little shaggy. But boy the animals are going crazy..we had 8 deer in the yard this afternoon all begging for candy and we are regularly visited by a flock of wild turkeys.

I am sort of in a fog... I haven't been sleeping well. I need to go to extremes to get some sleep. I have the window open a crack to let in fresh air and the sound of the creek. That doesn't seem to help. It's been weeks since I have had a decent nights sleep.

Halloween was a non issue. No parties, no celebrations no revelry. This was a weird year too. It had the same calendar as 2003. That meant I could mentally relive the events of the Cedar Fire and the evacuation and the losing everything. Of course even after the rebuild with this economy the house is gone.

This will be a very solemn Veterans day. I have friends stationed overseas and some on their way out to the front. I understand the need and I respect the job that our military does but I still am very protective of my friends. I don't want to lose any of them. We could not have our freedom if it wasn't for their hard work and dedication. I say prayers for you all.

I've been working a lot at the day job. My current project is to label documentation photos from a historic site. It's not as exciting as it sounds. But because I needed to be not disturbed to finish on time .. I worked from home. That was very nice.

So wish me luck in getting my web store up. I have some new pieces of jewelry and some nice yarn. I need to start spinning again. I need to start knitting again and I need to start pounding on metal and melting hot glass.I've been out of touch for 5 months held captive by a computer game. Wow now that would be a trip...sleeping and crafting again. Sleeping starts tonight. Crafting starts tomorrow.

It's snowing!!!

For those of you who know me snow is very special. We got our first snow this afternoon and of course I was in tears. Yay!!!!

Resting

I am home today with feet up and thermometer at my side. I've been feeling under the weather the past few days running a low grade fever. I promised myself I wouldn't go into work yesterday but I did and fell and hurt my knee and back so today.. I am not going to work. I am resting feet up downing aspirin for fever and pain. I'll probably go into the urgent care clinic later when Hubbins get home. I know I can drive there but i don't know what they will do to my knee so I don't know if I would be able to drive home. So better safe than sorry.

This would be a very good day to start a knitting project. Spinning is out of he question. I need to finish bagging and tagging my yarn for the sale on Saturday. Should get it in the mail too. Hopefully it will all find a home.

Fall is in full swing outside. Winter is right on it's tale. We are expecting the first snow in the basin this week. Samhain this year will be disjointed. I don't know what we'll do. Maybe have a sit down dinner and tell ghost stories or something. I don't think the usual festivities will go over well here. It's time to brew beer. The weather is nice and cool finally. Time also to over winter the hops and the rose and of course the indigo. I figure we'll plant spring bulbs on he leach field of the new septic tank which is finally hooked up.

Hey it's my stove!!! Just watching Kelsey Grammar on the Good Morning America plugging his new show "Hank". The clip they showed had an old stove in the scene that was identical to the one I left behind in San Diego at our Alpine house. Sigh. Well I have a whole new future before me.

Now it's time to do a little house cleaning.... as long as it's withing reach of my Lazyboy. Maybe noodle on the squeezebox and build some more on my Evony Cities. Oh yeah... and start a knitting project.

People are funny today's blog isn't tonight

I don't get people. Maybe that's why I live in the middle of nowhere and enjoy my peace and quiet. Not that I don't like some people. I do. And these past eight months were not very fun with all the isolation and loneliness and stress. I can't say that it almost broke my spirit because it totally did. Love and friendship are good glue to put the pieces back together.

This house helps a lot. It is structural Valium. It made saying goodbye to MY house easier. Wood on wood on wood and soft colors of red and green and the warm golden yellow of my office/craft room created from blood, sweat, and tears and dreams.
Sometimes I think my purpose in life is to have what I want taken away from me.

Must infuse some whimsy in my life. I think it's time to change the drive band on my wheel.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

I had kind of a creepy day today. It was the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I remember when I found out. I was at home working, and I had called a supervisor for a question and he broke the news about the first plane hitting the first tower. I Turned on my TV and watched with disbelief. While I was finishing up with my customer, the second plane hit the second tower. The world stopped and the rest is history. A moment we should never forget.

Fast forward to today. I woke up at 2:00am with a panic attack, which I rarely get anymore. It was a bad one. I was uncontrollabley shaking and my heart was beating out of my body. I was drenched in a feeling of sadness and dread and felt like I wanted to climb out of my skin. I could best describe it as the feeling of being on a roller coaster when you don't like roller coasters. The feeling of hurling through space with no control. This feeling lasted all day and into the night. It's calmed down a little thanks to my friends on the online game I play. They made me laugh (LOL) and made me forget how I was feeling for a while.

Now here I am 24 hours later still buzzing with unwanted energy. I picked up the new issue of Spin-Off (the magazine for hand spinners ... but if you didn't know that why are you reading my blog??) In the back there was an artical written by my favorite fiber author, Stephanie Pearl McPhee, about a friend of hers (Denny McMillan) who made her own personal souvenier of S.O.A.R. 2008 by gathering all of the wool left behind by the participants in the classes and the spin-ins. She ended up with several skeins of yarn and knit a couple of items including a neck warmer. Having attended that S.O.A.R., and taken Robin Russo's exotic fiber class, I had contributed to her project. I was always embarassed to leave at the end of the day with a large pile of fluff under my chair. After all this was an exotic fiber class and that stuff ain't cheap!! I'm glad that the fiber found a home and a purpose. I cried a little at the end looking back on my memories from last October. And looking forward to spending tomorrow uncovering my fiber stash that has been packed away for a few months as we move into our latest dwelling.

This house has been a Godsend. While not perfect and it would be nice to have the septic system working correctly, we really like it here. The sound of the creek is soothing and the trees and wildlife are ever entertaining. It is as relaxing as our house in California was. That is the best excuse for not being unpacked yet. But as of last weekend I started to set my shop up again to work on jewelery projects and felting projects and hopefully this weekend I can find my fiber and yarn and start my spinning and knitting projects.

I need to get my website back up and my web store and move that in a forward direction. Holiday shopping season is rapidly approching. It's time I caught that wave and rode it for all it's worth. And as winter approches, settle in for a while.

When Winter does arrive I will have plenty of time to spin and knit, plenty of time to shape metal and blow glass, and plenty of time to spend with my friends online building cities and conquering barbarian cities and laughing. However one of my online friends won't have all that time to spend with us. He will be in harms way defending Democracy on the other side of the world. Cleaning up what was started 8 years ago on a sunny September morning. My thoughts will be with you. God Speed and come home safely.

Story Days

Recently I moved to a little town called Story. Population 650 and I think a lot of those are seasonal residents. It's a cute town. EVERYONE wants to live here. We have a creek running along the property and the sound of the rushing water has lowered my blood pressure way down to where I am probably normal.

This weekend is Story Days. The whole town gets together and puts on a shindig. All of the locals do something. There is even a parade. Now if you live in a large metropolitan area and have the occasional parade you ain't seen nothin' like this! Although not as Norman Rockwell as the ones I saw in small town Wisconsin, this one was truly a delight.

It started before it started. First there was gunfire followed by sirens. Then some Civil War troops marched down the street.... then the sirens got louder and then they announced the parade.

First in line were the Fire department and rescue squad followed by the sheriff, highway patrol and National Guard. Thank goodness nothing ever happens here as all of the protection services were in the parade.

There were cowboys and Indians. There were Masons and Shriners (including the contingent in go carts weaving around in their Fezzes. There were clowns with pitchforks (yes clowns with weapons very scary) There was a few floats. I think the most confusing one was the kid in the wire pen and a guy in a chicken outfit dancing and there was a tipi on the back. There was a pipe and drum band and later on a lone piper. The local radio station had a boom box van playing classic rock and there was a showing from both the Big Horn Model A club and another classic car group who had not only the usual 1930's and 40's souped up cars but a large group of high end muscle cars squealing their wheels and revving up their engines plus a viper a prowler and several model years of corvettes and mustangs.

The whole thing was so cute I cried. Now my neighbors think I'm nuts.

Currently outside ...probably in front of my house is an Indian Dance performance.

And a fun highlight that I enjoyed was the kid who walked over to my fence and tried to dump trash nonchalantly on the ground. He saw me see him and he gave me the "what are you going to do about it" look. I gave him the "pick it up or I will jump this fence and rip your head off and use you as a garbage can" look. He picked it up and put it back in his pocket. Justice prevails.

Well as non social as I am, I am a prisoner in my home this weekend. The street is parked up with visitors and crowds of people. But I'm fine. I still have unpacking and cleaning to do.

Next year will be different. I want to enter my Lamb Tagine in the dutch oven cook off. I also want to set up a booth at the bazaar and sell some yarn and jewelry. Had I known about this a few weeks earlier I would have done it this year. Day late dollar short... story of my life.

I know I know it's been over a month!

So when I last blogged I was hopelessly addicted to a stupid computer game that was holding me captive. Well now I have 5 cities not one, I have prestige reaching 140000, I have been promoted to General and Earl. I'm still addicted but I can put the computer down.

Also since I last blogged the house we were living in sold so we had to find a place to live. Hubbins was out of town still (since March) I was freaking out and got totally depressed to the point of no longer functioning. It's been almost 20 years since I have been like that. Things turned around in the weirdest way.

I had put in an application for a house on a quiet street in town. I went to the grocery store to get some comfort food. As I was leaving the store I stopped at the gumball machines and put my 50 cents in for a Santo. Yes tiny plastic saint statues from vending machines. I received a Saint Jude. Patron Saint of hopeless causes. My next day at work I placed the little Santo on my computer monitor. Later in the morning I got a call from the potential landlord saying I didn't get the house. My boss's wife at that point, sent me a list of a few places for rent. One was already rented, one was too expensive, one was way too small and I called the third. The owner said it was a "very rustic" cabin in a cute little town. It took me three tries to find it. Once I found it I fell in love. We moved in this week.

It's right on the creek and I sleep like a rock and my blood pressure has gone down enough were I almost had silence one morning. My tenitis had quieted down to where it wasn't like walking through a field of cicadas.

Well Les Stroud is on Craig Ferguson tonight ... I will try to say awake an watch.