We’re in Vegas for a week. I haven’t been updating because I’ve either been at Roller Derby or laying on my floor exhausted from working out and playing Derby. I think the mania is calming down and I’m going to widen my horizons back out.
Here’s a random story about Vegas that I think of from time to time. If you haven’t been to Vegas, the strip is riddled with Mexican men and some women in large packs wearing florescent shirts, rudely handing out fliers for “strippers” direct to your room. They’re really pushy and will snap and flick the cards right in your face or many times reach across a woman to try to hand one of the cards to a boyfriend/husband.
One afternoon I came out of Sephoria (girly makeup store) next to the Venetian (swanky hotel) on the strip. There were a group of these guys packed together which was not unusual, but they had strange looks on their faces and were unnaturally quiet. I walked past them, across a driveway and turned around to look again. They were all staring in a strange direction and seeming like they were anticipating something. I walked a little further and leaned against a pedestrian barrier to see if I could figure out what was going on.
Less than a minute later two women in skirts came walking innocently down the sidewalk. The walked in front of the pack of men and across a driveway. All of a sudden, their skirts blew up above their heads, a la Marilyn Monroe. The throng of Mexican guys all let out a raucous cheer. The women rushed off the grate that they unsuspectingly walked over, shrieking and smoothing down their skirts.
When they were gone, the guys got back in position, anxiously awaiting the next unsuspecting victims. I started towards my car, quietly giggling to myself.
I know you’ve been waiting by the computer, refreshing your browser by the minute to make sure you would be the first to see a new update.
Andy pulled it off at the eleventh hour and worked it out so we could stay in Colorado and still have a decent income to keep the composting worms in compost and future kitten fosters in kitten chow. My friends even threw me a going away party that happily turned into a “yay you’re staying” party.
I was going to try my hardest to not mention roller derby in this post but there is nothing else as interesting to write about. Seriously, who wants to read that I spend all my time on Facebook, checking my email and occasionally go outside to feed the horse a carrot.
Oh wait, that’s kind of interesting, did I mention we have a horse? His name is Bad Horse. He’s not really our horse and his name is Romeo, or Bad Horse for short. He lives in the backyard.
About a month ago another neighbor came over and said she had some friends that were looking for a place to board their horse. A few days after, Bad Horse was living in our barn. It’s a pretty awesome deal, they clean up the poop and feed him. We get paid a little bit and get to pet and feed a horse carrots.
The last few days have been warm and spring like. I really enjoyed watching him roll around in his corral on his back like a over sized dog. Although, I will say it’s a little disappointing that his desire to be my friend is directly proportional to how many carrots I am holding.
Another somewhat awesome thing is the second car we’ve decided to get. We had planned on buying a older model Mazda Miata convertible to drive in Vegas. Now we’re staying in Denver, but the idea of a second car still sounds good. We’re continuing on with the plan. Can things get anymore awesome?
YES!
Because (you knew this was going to come around to roller derby again didn’t you) I have been promoted from newbie fresh meat to Kill Scout. It’s level 1a which means “baby” Kill Scout, but Kill Scout just the same. The process for moving up the ranks is newbie (practice Tuesdays and Thursdays), get promoted to Kill Scout 1a (add Monday/Wednesday practice with the big kids), Kill Scout 1b (get invited to Sunday scrimmage with the big kids), pass your skills test, pick a skater name, get drafted to a team.
Or something like that. The Kill Scout invitations and such are a little fuzzy.
So, to summarize:
Not moving to Vegas,
Staying in awesome Denver,
Horse living in the back yard,
Purchasing a Miata convertible,
Roller Derby promotion…all=awesome
I’ve been lax on the posting. I know. I’ve been playing alot of roller derby and working on a BIG IDEA, that will come to fruition in the next few weeks. What inspired me to post now? I injured my knee and can’t play derby right now and I need a break from the BIG IDEA.
I injured it about a month and a half ago and it’s been fine to marginal with me keeping a brace on it and sometimes icing it after practice. Last week we went to Florida and I slept on it wrong while we were on the plane and then forgot the brace and wasn’t able to get one for the two days. On the way home walking down the jet way to a connecting flight in Atlanta a lady brushed by me. While trying to get out of her way, my knee twisted every so slightly. I heard a crunch and I sucked in my breath and tears came to my eyes.
I got the message. It took awhile, but yes, I’m staying off skates for awhile.
What really sucks the big suck is that today is the first big game that we’ve been training all these months for. It’s a real game against the High City Derby Divas and the Rec League at the RMRG warehouse.
(*edit: I just got back from the bout and the newbies kicked ass! There were two bouts and the score for both games was something like 170 to 30. My brain and heart really wanted to play, but my body was content just watching.)
I did get to play the exhibition bout at the Filmore. It was only 20 minutes but really fun, held in an amazing venue and in front of two thousand screaming fans. That bout pretty much cemented my love for this sport.
Now it is time to watch mindless television with an ice pack on my knee in preparation for a bath and then more mindless television.
I know this blog is becoming all things derby but, it can’t be helped. This is what I’m doing all the time. This is a short documentary on Derby with senior skaters from the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls….hey, that’s MY league. So awesome.
Someone posted this on the RMRG board since it showcases many of the hitting techniques were learning. I thought you would enjoy it. This video actually made me feel better. I hurt my knee about a week ago after an especially hard hit and multiple rollergirl crash while we were scrimmaging in practice. I felt like I shouldn’t be hurt and that my weak sauce knee betrayed my invincibility. It’s not bad, no bruising or swelling. I think I just stretched out my MCL. It works fine going in the normal directions, but any sideways motion and it’s still a little tender.
After watching this, I’m surprised that I even still have knees. Although these girls obviously aren’t newbies.
Tomorrow is the first bout of the season. I’ll be at the Fillmore from noon to 8 or 9 and at the afterparty at the Skylark if you want to stop by and say hi.
I’ve been skating my ass off….literally. How can anything that is so fun and reduces butt fat be good for you?
Last night was roller prom. It’s basically what it sounds like. There was an awards ceremony for the RMRG volunteers and girls on some of the teams. It was alright but it made me realize that I’m not a dress up and go out kind of girl. I know, you’re all saying, really, you just realized that? No, I always knew it, but I thought maybe by joining roller derby I would change somehow. Because these girls dress up a little more punk rock, and don’t really care if you roll through the doors in bedazzled sweat pants or a Victorian gown. But no, I still prefer smaller, quieter events where you can talk to each other and don’t wear uncomfortable toe destroying shoes. It was fun, but the time, energy and money I invested could have been better used. I’m awesome at planning parties but not as good at enjoying them. Lame, I know.
Rufus Learned Peabody (yes, that’s his real name) is visiting us from Vegas. He’s going back tonight and Andy is following our fine young, Yale educated economist/sports bettor friend out to the city of sin to bet on Super Bowl props. This will leave me home alone to play roller derby and paint walls. Although if he’s going to be out there for awhile, I might fly out Thursday through Monday. It looks like we’re going to spend at least April and May in Vegas so if I go out for a few days, maybe I can psyche myself up for it. I’m hoping that the Sin City Roller girls will take in an orphan skater for a few months.
I have five kittens in the kitten room. The kitten cam is down because I poured chocolate soy milk into my macbook air keyboard. It’s working, but sporadicly. It’s the option keys that keep getting stuck down, but even after cleaning them really well with alcohol, the machine isn’t stable. So, I’m on the kitten netbook. Not as fancy, responsive or software plentiful, but, it’s much better than being stranded in this cold, cruel world with no internets.
The kittens have been with me for longer than usual. They have, to put it kindly, digestion issues. The vet had me feeding them plain yogurt with their dry food, but it didn’t seem to be working. Now, I give two of them .3 ML of antibiotics for sneezing that they thankfully seem to be over. and .3 ML of one type of antibiotics and .8 ML of another. That’s one full syringe of liquid meds plus another quarter. Multiply that by five cats, twice a day. They’re mostly pretty good about being manhandled, flipped around and having horrible tasting liquid shot down their throats but, It’s kind of a ordeal. On top of that, the .8 ML brown, smelly liquid makes the cats foam at the mouth like they have rabies. They run around after they get the dose trying to outrun the bad taste all the while flinging foamy cat saliva all over the place. It’s pretty gross but, the karma points I’m building up, or the mansion Jesus is building me is well worth the effort.
I won’t even go into the description of the two litter boxes I have to clean out at least twice a day. The kittens think this is the funnest game evar. They climb up my back, sit on my shoulders and observe or, sometimes just tear around the room like crazy trying to jump into the poop bag every time they pass. Most of the time they all just gather around and swat at the scooper or try to jump on my hand. It started out cute but has progressively gotten less so over time.
After this, I think I might take a month or so off from kitten fostering.
I’m going to relate this story to you. I just told it to Andy to let him view a little slice of how my mind works. He stopped listening half way through (a wife can tell). I give you my full permission to stop reading at any point. It’s pretty rambling, and there’s no real reason to relate it other than it really makes me realize the huge difference in the way Andy’s and my brain work.
C: “Andy, should I make a drink? It is New Years Eve and everything.”
A: “Sure, why not.”
I put the ice in the glass, poured the rum and then the coke. Lime. I just went grocery shopping, picked up some prescriptions and dinner. I couldn’t carry everything so I left a bunch of bags, one of them containing limes in the back of the Element.
I put my boots on and trudged out to the garage. While I was getting the bags I noticed the two mirrored closet doors that we had previously taken off the closet upstairs when the loft bed was being built. We thought we weren’t going to put them back on, but then decided to. I meant to bring them up yesterday.
After I put the grocery bags on the kitchen floor I went back out for the doors. I already had my boots on after all. I lugged the doors upstairs to the bedroom. While coming back down, I noticed a pile of laundry. I was going downstairs anyway, why not bring the laundry down.
When I went to throw the laundry in the washer, there was already a load in there. When I went to throw that load in the dryer, there was one in there ready to be taken out. I put the clean laundry from the dryer in the laundry basket and put it on the stairs to go up. I started the washer and dryer.
Back to the kitchen to unpack the groceries.
The last things in the bags were eight, four packs of wet cat food. I had been keeping the canned food in the cat room but it wasn’t an ideal system. In the morning when I feed them, I have to go in twice, once to get the food and then again to bring it in. They always try to escape and are successful much of the time. I found a bottom drawer with only a few kitchen towels in it and used half for the food. But there were more cans in the cat room.
I went into the cat room got the cans and let the cats out to explore the house for a little while.
I finished tearing open the plastic holding each of the four cans together and stacking them in the drawer. When I finished and turned around, I noticed the cats in one corner of the kitchen/dining room looking like they were chewing on something that they shouldn’t be. They scattered and I noticed that the two worms that I had seen on the floor were gone….
Let me insert here that I have a worm composting bin. It’s small, covered and doesn’t smell. I had to take it out of the laundry room because it was too cold for them in there. I put it right outside of the door, and am still deciding on where it should live. If the conditions are to wet or dry in the bin, or there isn’t enough food, sometimes a few earth worms will go searching for other conditions and end up outside of the Eco system.
….It looks like my little kittens of the apocalypse found a snack. I opened the top of the bin and thought they needed some moisture and food so I sprayed down the dirt and got a tupperware of rice that no one was going to eat and dumped it in.
I went to the kitchen sink to put the tupperware in and noticed a bunch of dishes. I washed them, turned around grabbed the lime that I originally went out for washed it, cut it up and squeezed a slice in my now flat, watery rum and coke.
Andy said that nothing like that train of thought has ever happened to him in his entire life. I asked him if he could tell me a story that could illustrate his train of thought. He said, the whole point is there would be no story to tell.
I think maybe my New Years resolution should be to be less complicated. I know that sometimes when I stop multi-tasking and thinking three steps ahead the household crumbles a little. Dishes pile up, trash overflows, laundry and other things that need to be done, don’t. But really, so what. I’m not saying I’m deciding to live in squalor, but maybe I just need to stop myself when I feel that compulsive pull, and redirect some energy to living in the moment.
Yesterday was my second roller derby practice. I am in LOVE. After warm ups, we skated around in “perfect” form with a shoe on our back. Low squat, flat back chest at close to your quads as you can get it. For every time your shoe fell of, five push ups. I felt pretty solid and the shoe only fell off once. Then we practiced whips and pushes. Whipping is (mostly) when blockers assist the jammer by pushing or pulling (”whipping”) in an attempt to advance them through the pack. If you don’t know the basic strategy of roller derby, this is a really simple, clear video to explain it:
Practice ended up with a “ladder” relay. Five teams of five girls skating a relay race starting with one lap having each girl take their turn and going all the way up to five laps. At five laps, the relay goes back down to one lap with each girl on the team doing progressively fewer laps until the team is cycled through. We ended up running out of time to finish. Practice even went over about fifteen minutes.
After practice we went to another girl’s apartment close to the practice space and had a hot tub/wine and food party in the middle of a snowstorm on an open roof looking over Coors Field. Although the food was on a table thirty feet away from the hot tub and it no one was really excited about jumping out of the hundred and four degree water to walk through the snow in their bare feet to grab the Doritos. Although, the more wine that was consumed, the more food seemed to make it’s way over.
I got a new batch of kittens today. Right now they’re staying in the laundry room. There’s been a breakout of ringworm at the shelters and before I can put them in their room, I have to take out the carpet remnants and replace them with other remnants or something else, bleach all their toys and bedding and then bleach down the walls and all surfaces.
Normally this would be mildly irritating. But today after P90X (new workout program Andy and I are in the second week of) and over two hours of pouring out every ounce of energy I had in Derby Practice yesterday, just lifting the weight of my own arms is seeming to take effort. Not painful, but my body really wants to stay in one place.
Even though I’m really tired, I don’t want to leave them in the laundry room for too long. They like to stay hidden behind the washer and dryer, out of reach. They’re at the age that the more you play with them, the more socialized to humans they become and will be more adoptable. Letting them cower back there is a dereliction of my duty and, lets be honest here, I really want to play with my new little guys.
I just moved the dryer at an angle as a compromise to psyching myself up into breaking out the gloves and bleach, and for one horrifying second though I crushed a kitten under it’s weight.
Roller Derby is amazing fun. I know I’ve only been to one practice, and I know I’m klutzy and not the best skater yet, but it’s awesome. For the first practice we worked on some basic skating skills, blocking and then did one minute scrimmages in our street shoes. I wiped out twice in one minute just running on my feet! Falling is fun, skating is fun, hitting is fun and just learning and improving is fun. Every girl I’ve met so far is unnaturally nice, and has that burning fire behind her eyes that I love to see in people. I look for it everywhere I go, and until I met this bunch, didn’t see it to often. Some may say crazy eyes, I prefer passionate.
Next practice is Tuesday. It’s mandatory to attend one higher level scrimmage a Sunday a month to keep track of penalties, score and generally get more familiar with rules and strategy. I already have plans to go this Sunday.
Every girl should do this. I think I really missed out growing up and not playing team sports. Who knew I had the ability to be such a jock. Plus, who knew there could be a sport that was so physically challenging and yet catered to my inner “stripper” who likes to wear fishnets and tons of eye makeup.
You’re not supposed to get your derby name until you get out of the “fresh meat” training schedule, but is there any question that my derby name isn’t going to be Cindigo? If you have any catchy suggestions, I’m listening. My favorite name, and a seriously skilled skater on RMRG “Whipity Pow“. What a great name.
Other than Roller Derby taking up most of my brain space, not much else is going on at the Denver Compound. Little Nubbin the snail died of “we hope” natural causes. But Snail Ernhart, JJ goldfish and Abraham are going strong. The kitten room is unoccupied as of right now and I’m getting a little kitten lonely. Andy has been betting football most every weekend and some weekdays and is doing well. Other than a few days so far, the Denver winter has been really mild. At least I though it was mild compared to growing up in the midwest. Everyone here, has told me that this winter has been unusually harsh. This is good news if this is the worst Denver is going to throw at me. For god’s sake, it’s 48 degrees today.
Hopefully Monday we can put our snowboarding annual passes to use.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I was just going to post this on facebook but I couldn’t figure out how and I didn’t want to fight with something that I shouldn’t have devoted any time to at 3 in the morning in the first place. I can’t sleep and am going to be seriously tired tomorrow.
Instead of meditation or some other relaxing thing that might help me get to sleep, I present to you, The Andrew Blair meme:
1. What does Andrew Blair look for in a partner?
quirky sense of humor and small boobs. Hey….that’s me! (Thoughts at the edit: Was that in poor taste to comment on my chest? Should I take it down? Was it funny enough to leave up? Not really but I already wrote it and I can’t think of anything better that isn’t boring and sappy. What the hell, leave it up.)
2. What would be a good way to make Andrew Blair’s day?
The clean version is movies and pizza on the couch.
3. Should Andrew Blair shave their head?
I think he could pull it off.
4. What would Andrew Blair name his children?
I seriously have no idea. Maybe he could chime in. I know this week I was thinking that Sunday would be a cool name for a girl….or a kitten. It was inspired by a really cool vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.
5. Would you swap lives with Andrew Blair for a week?
It’s hard to say, we have pretty similar lives being together 24/7 and all. But I don’t think I could handle the pressure of gambling. And the math, oh the math. My head hurts just thinking about it.
6. What object would Andrew Blair get stopped for in an airport?
Hair product. I think we’ve lost three to TSA so far. But it’s always adorable when the lady pulls him over to the side and takes out the offending bottle. (that’s not sarcasm, I really think it’s cute)
7. Would you sacrifice your life to save Andrew Blair?
In a heartbeat.
8. When was the last time you viewed Andrew Blair’s profile on Facebook?
Three minutes ago.
9. What was your first impression of Andrew Blair?
I don’t remember that far back, but on our re-meeting my first impression was that he was kind, funny and adorable and something that I must hold onto forever and ever.
10. What is Andrew Blair’s best physical feature?
He’s got great eyes and really strong arms.
11. What does Andrew Blair look good in?
He has many t-shirts that I love. He looks great in a suit, but the last occasion we felt was momentous enough to dress up that much for was our wedding five years ago. We’re kind of hobos like that.
12. If Andrew Blair was a space pilot, would you trust him to take you to the moon?
He would love to be a space pilot and I would trust him implicitly.
13. If Andrew Blair was really rich, would you ask him for stuff?
Yes. Specifically an unlimited supply of kittens and a spot on the Rocky Mountain Roller girls league….oh….wait….
14. What is the theme song of Andrew Blair’s life?
you got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em
know when to walk away and know when to run
you never count your money while your sittin’ at the table
Ther’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done
-The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
15. Have you ever had a heart-to-heart conversation with Andrew Blair?
Yes. They are usually about how I want more heart-to-heart conversation.
16. What do you think Andrew Blair writes about in his diary?
If Andrew Blair had a diary, he would be a girl. But, lets pretend.
He would write about sports betting and bankroll management. It would be interspersed with thoughts on hockey (playing not watching) and his undying love and devotion to his really awesome wife.
17. How did you meet Andrew Blair?
He lived down the street. We went to kindergarten together. Then, he found me again on the internets. It was all very romantic.
18. Would Andrew Blair beat you at a random computer game?
Random, yes probably. But, I think I would have a fighting chance. I would definitely kick ass in Centipede and I am the current record holder on phone Tetris. I think I would fail in Wii boxing, tennis and come to about even in Galaga.
Jesus, how old am I? Centipede? Galaga?
Oh, and if you count pinball (not really a computer game, but I’ll throw it in) I would lose by a billion. That guy is a pinball wizard for real.
19. Can Andrew Blair live without a phone?
Live without mistress Droid. Bite your tongue.
20. What do you think Andrew Blair has under their bed right now?
I know what Andrew Blair has under his bed right now…me. He’s sleeping ten feet in the air on the loft bed, and I’m laying here at 3:24 am typing this.
Roller Derby tryouts were today. By Thursday I’ll know if I’m a Rocky Mountain Roller Girl or not. Tryouts were fun, but really most of the day was spent driving around and doing things as inefficiently as possible. When I got home and was recounting the distances I drove in on the icy somewhat un-plowed roads for canceled events and bad customer service Andy said, “look at the bright side. At least you didn’t crash the car”. Then I said, “Oh yeah, and I crashed the car”.
The comedic timing was almost worth the scrape and rip I put on and in the plastic bumper. I backed into a cement loading ramp. In the rear view mirror all I could see was the low part. For a few seconds after I crashed into it I was really disoriented, nothing in my mirrors told my brain I should be hitting something.
At tryouts we demonstrated two types of stopping, skating together in a pack, hopping from foot to foot while skating forward and did three one minute sprints. During the sprints a girl had an epic wipe out that launched her off the track and into two industrial size garbage cans that went flying when she crumpled into them. She was fine. Everyone clapped, but not in a mean way.
I haven’t been updating lately because one, who am I kidding, no one really reads this and two, I’m actually doing stuff in the real world. We just got back from Green Bay for Thanksgiving with Andy’s side of the family and then three days in LA with my side of the family at Disney. My step brother and his wife have six kids. I was telling someone about the PCT hike and comparing it to a day at Disney. I was every bit as tired at the end of the day at Disney as I was on almost any day on the Pacific Crest Trail.
It was fun. Especially since Andy got to go with the older kids on all the “scary” rides and I got to wander around Princess Castles and merry-go-rounds. I’m fierce in many areas of my life but, adrenaline, heart stopping rides are not one of them.
Thanksgiving in Green Bay with Andy’s parents, sisters and family was unusually stress free. I’d like to think it was because we all pulled together as a family, but I think the two nights of late night bar time had something to do with it. Bonding over alcohol is bonding just the same right?
There are three new kittens on kitten cam. These guys are the oldest batch I’ve gotten so far. They’re about three months and sound like horses when they play. A few times I’ve had to go in to the kitten room make sure they didn’t crash through the plate glass window. I’m bringing them in to get fixed tomorrow. I should have them for about a week after that.
I’m typing this while laying very close to the ceiling in our new loft bed. This was one of my ideas that while under construction I was pretty nervous about, but the end result I think is awesome. Although a higher side rail is in order….I would really feel stupid breaking a leg, or worse dying by falling out of bed.
Kitten Cam is back up. The last batch temporarily broke Kitten Cam V.1. I’m still working on the placement and lighting, but for now, at least it’s up. I wasn’t going to take any more until we got back from Thanksgiving in Green Bay but they called and these four guys were hours away from the death shot at the city shelter. The three out of four are super friendly and the grey and black guy “talks” all the time. He’s sort of like a gremlin. The last of the four seems really shy and spends all of her time under the covers in the cardboard box. Since they came from different litters, they were pretty growly to each other but in just a day, they’ve become fast friends.
If you guys catch which culprit keeps pooping in the corner, rat him out, it’s for the greater good.
Tonight, open skate with some other roller girl wantabees and Andy at Skate City. In the near future, snowboarding. We bought our annual pass yesterday.
The foster kittens are back at the shelter. I would have liked to keep them longer but I wanted their “kitten-ness” to shine and give them a better chance of being adopted. It was alot harder dropping them off than I thought it would be. I know they’re only cats, but still. I got a little misty eyed when I was leaving. I pet them until they stopped giving me the “what the F*!K lady?” look from in their new cage and was reassured by the staff that they would be adopted quickly and that I could come by and visit any time I wanted to. They’re in good hands. I probably won’t visit. I think that might be a little too “cat lady”.
The super virulent and debilitating strain of what I’m calling bird flu, because I like to be trendy and dramatic, is almost gone. I did everything I usually do in a day and didn’t feel like falling down or coughing out a lung once. I think I’ll give the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls credit for the healing. I went to the pre-tryout skate at the warehouse/rink/gang clubhouse yesterday and meet current roller girls and other newbie roller girls like me. We all skated around for an hour got questions answered and all felt a little less nervous about the tryouts at the end. I met some really nice people and am even more geeked about being on a team. Very dorky, I know. But I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team I’ve actually not been forced to be on before.
On the off chance that anyone is reading this and wondering what has become of me and mine…we’re fine. Andy is programming a new genius thing and I’m trying my best to prolong the upper respiratory infection I have by pretending not to have it and continuing to drive to far away locations to pick up cheap and cool furniture from Craigslist. The last few days I’ve have tried to tone it down and even considered seeing a doctor when I started to faintly taste blood. Don’t worry, the kind of violent coughing that caused it has subsided. “Taking it easy” includes eating Tylenol PM’s at all hours of the day so that I stay put, on the couch and heal. Although, tomorrow is the first pre tryout practice for roller derby. How can I miss that? Even if I can’t do anything but lay on the bench stoned out of my gourd and watch, I’m going.
But really what I want to know is, What does Beyonce see in JayZ? I just don’t get it.
My last google search: Can you use composted horse manure like regular dirt? I think I’m a real farmer now….right? There are three compost piles in the back mostly filled with very broken down, dirt like horse poop.
I’ve been hanging out in the yard doing yard things with wheelbarrows and stuff. I actually planted three lavander plants/bushes by the mailbox because…you know, I’m a farmer now. Farmers plant things. Although, most farmers don’t keep herds of kittens, but I’m “special” that way.
I like working in the yard. This is a new development for me. I used to hate it. It makes a big difference when you actually like the yard and can envision what it could be. Also, I’ve learned from past experience that it’s a great way to show the neighbors that you’re “good”. I owned a house in Detroit for years and was very, very “bad”. I don’t want to be “that guy” again. It’s nice being out there and having various neighbors stop by to welcome us to the neighborhood.
Roller Derby tryouts are in the beginning of December. I’ve been skating a few times a week at the outdoor rink a few blocks away and at the rink on Saturday nights. From 10 pm to midnight is adult skate. There’s probably twenty people at the whole rink. It’s pretty fun. I went to a Rocky Mountain Roller Girls bout on Saturday. The Roller Girls have their own warehouse with a rink that they built and fund themselves. I’m still pretty geeked about the whole thing. Team sports were never my “thing” and I think I really missed out.
Angles With Paws is a non profit animal shelter in Denver rescuing, spaying or neutering and then adopting out cats and kittens to good homes.
They have a network of volunteers fostering these little furry creatures until they are old enough to get fixed and adopted. This cam shows the kittens that are being fostered by me. Right now I have three little guys about two months old.
You can click here, or you can always get to it by the link on the top left of the page.
We’ve been so busy in the real world, my commenting on my usually uninteresting goings on has been replaced by actually doing interesting things.
We’re in the new house and it’s really amazing. The nights are quiet and dark, the new bed is fluffy and comforting and I’ve been driving the 13 to 15 minutes it takes to get to the ghetto so I can slum it with the punk rock “kids” a few times a week and then retreat back to my safe haven of wildlife and rustic wood trim. This morning I walked out on the back deck to pour out some seeds for the birds and squirrels and a butterfly practically collided with my head. I almost laughed out loud and waited for bluebirds to descend on my shoulder.
(Since the drafting of this post I bought sunflower seeds and have no less than 5 and at the most 12 squirrels in the back yard at any given time. I think the next round of seeds were going to make it a little more challenging for them to get at. This morning, a fluffy, brown guy had opened the bird feeder and was sitting entirely inside looking at me through the clear plastic side.)
The kitten rescue lady is coming tomorrow to make sure we’re fit “parents” to foster wayward (I just had a visual of felines getting caught by us, shooting heroin in the downstairs bathroom) cats and kittens. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better….kittens!
(The kitten lady came and approved up for kitten launch. I thought it was going to be a mix of kittens and cats. But then the lady told us it would be only kittens. They need to be fostered until they’re old enough to be fixed and then adopted out. Andy was not totally on board but then he found out it was only going to be kittens and knew that he wouldn’t able to deny me this)
This is very close resemblance to my reaction. Just substitute “kittens” for “Ninento”:
I’m getting skates this week and am planning on skating my legs off to get in shape for Roller Derby tryouts in January.
I’m pretty excited. I went to Skate City and skated around for two hours. At first I felt a little silly skating around grade school kids with birthday hats on but they turned out to be good obstacles. The owner was really nice and gave me some tips on what they test for since they hold tryouts there. I got to try out some super cool quad derby skates, and I think I’m going to buy some gear this week. There’s a outdoor public hockey rink within walking distance from the house.
I’m going to the roller derby tonight (as a spectator, not a participant….yet). You may or may not know this but I’ve wanted to join the roller derby for the last 7 years. I couldn’t because we haven’t stayed in one place long enough to make the commitment. Tryouts are in January so I have plenty of time to skate around on my new quad skates and get good before then. The new house is about a mile away from a outdoor skating park. Now I have an excuse to go practice with Andy (he plays roller hockey twice a week).
It did make me feel a little queasy to think that I most likely be on a team with girls that are literally half my age. Not queasy in the sense I’m out of shape and can’t hang, queasy in the sense that I’m closer to 40 that 30 and even though 20 seems like just yesterday it was nearly twenty years ago. Before when I thought of trying out I was a little intimidated, but since hiking the PCT I feel like anything else I try will be a cake walk.
I mistakenly thought we would be in the new house Saturday night instead of Sunday so I promised our bed to a craigslister who needed it. She couldn’t pick it up any other time so we’re cowboy camping on the floor tonight. But tomorrow…..oh tomorrow. The new insanely luxurious king size pillow top will arrive. I’m drooling in anticipation. Right now, as I’m writing this, I’m laying on the floor propped up with pillows, inside an empty metal bed frame listening to my awesome new (to me) Ipod docking speaker that I bought on craigslist.
Does anyone else get annoyed by getting carpet “burn” on elbows while using a laptop on the floor?
It’s 2:15 am. I’ve convinced Andy that it would be the most fun if he came over to the house that I’m dog sitting for. I’ve been enjoying myself but, when I agreed to the job, I didn’t realize that it was in no man’s land. Mass amounts of tv and alone time were novel for the first few days, but were beginning to get old. Since there is no internet over here (I know right?) Andy has been resigned to be without his wife since the new magical, visual basic voo-doo sports handicapping mojo that Andy is working on needs the help of all the informations on the internets.
Out here in dogland, I have been occupying my time with Sculpty clay. Sculpty is crafty clay that you make stuff out of and then bake in the oven. Very second grade, I know. For the last three days, I’ve left the Sculpty on the glass coffee table with no problem. Tonight, after I drove the six or so hours (possible slight exaggeration) to pick up Andy, we came back to a living room containing hunks of multicolored Sculpty clay with Cooper’s teeth marks embedded in it, various Sculpty wrappers and a half dog eaten package of Fiber One cereal, fortune cookie crumbs and a small, empty, smashed, chewed container that only hours ago contained Chinese hot mustard.
In my defense, nothing in the note said to keep food off the counters, only the kitchen table. Who knew that a Basset Hound could reach that far.
Fortunately, Sculpy is non-toxic and Cooper didn’t seem to much the worse for wear. Although, he did seem to be a bit uncomfortable for the rest of the night. I can only imagine what a Fiber One, Chinese hot mustard mixture would feel like digesting.
Here’s a pic of the two hooligans. I’ve started drawing again. Nothing fancy yet, but I’m looking forward to putting together a studio in the new house.
We’re closing on the house in twelve days. One of my new favorite things to do is to check the “farm and garden” section of craigslist daily to make sure plenty of chickens are for sale. They are. The breed of chicken that I would like is a faverolle. Unfortunately, the only way to get them is to order them through the mail. They’re not expensive, only like $5 a piece but, then I have to have little chicks sent to me through the mail. That seems kind of cruel. There are plenty of hearty, young, plucky local chickens that would love to live with us I’m sure.
We had the inspection on Tuesday. The inspector seemed to be genuinely impressed with the house. It’s possible he was just trying to be nice, but it seemed to come from the heart. There’s a semi tame squirrel that I’ve seen a few times while I’ve been in the back yard. This visit, I spent twenty minutes breaking off pieces of chocolate chip cookie that the home owner left us and fed “Violet” (named after a back yard squirrel of my youth). Basically I would put the cookie on the fence and walk ten feet away, then she would come and get it. When she was done, she would scamper a little ways down the fence and wait for me to put another piece up and back away before she came and got it.
Who wants to take the over/under on how long before I have that squirrel coming into the kitchen begging for food.
Right now I’m dog sitting for a really nice couple that are on their honeymoon in Mexico. I’ve been hanging out with two cute bassett hounds, Cooper and Chibi. I’m especially bonding with Cooper, he’s really expressive with his eyes. Yesterday I was up really late watching TV. He stood right in front of me and unwaveringly stared into my eyes. I asked him what he wanted. He kept staring. I walked into the kitchen. He followed me and looked up the stairs. I walked up the stairs. He followed me, walked into the bedroom, and plopped down in his bed in the corner. I sat down by him and pet him until he went to sleep and then went back downstairs for more television watching.
Cooper made it very clear it was way past his bedtime.
You should have seen the stare I got when I took his seat on the couch!
I’ve finally finished editing and uploading all the old pictures. You can really tell that I was over the whole process with the quality of some of them. Although, many were in pretty bad shape. You really can’t appreciate the reconstruction without the original next to it.
You probably won’t be very interested unless you’re in my immediate family but in case you’re bored, nothing is on television and you just like to look at a slide show pictures of people you don’t know, here you go:
I bought a pro account, so any of you out there that have old pictures to add, you can email them to me and I’ll do it or, more easily, email me and I’ll send you the password and login.
If you just want to browse the individual pictures or sets, you can do that here:
In other actual really exciting news, I think we’re putting an offer in on a house. Don’t worry, this will in no way effect our hobo lifestyle. Four bedrooms means room mates and lots of people to look after the chickens and other animals. Did I mention it had a chicken coop and a barn? Really, not kidding either. Denver is awesome, what other place can you legally own chickens and horses (or whatever) and drive 18 minutes to a real downtown city.
Here’s a picture from the back. The siding, color and look, seems somewhat crummy in the photo, but it doesn’t actually look bad in reality. It’s charming and open and a good value for the price. The neighborhood is quiet and a few blocks from a lake and lots of trails (horse and human). Did I mention the amazing chicken coop? This guy put alot of TLC into this place and it shows. I know I shouldn’t get too excited because we’re just putting together an offer but, it’s really perfect.
We’re in Las Vegas for the annual Sports Book Review party. At the initial open bar greeting we borrowed Miss Nevada’s crown and sash for a photo op. Yes, you heard it, THE Miss Nevada. She was a really good sport about the crown and sash, although she looked a little worried as Andy placed it wobbly on his head. Did I mention the open bar?
We’re leaving tomorrow to either go to Laughlin for a day, or directly back to Denver. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but we’ve been looking for houses, and I have house fever.
Tonight, I think dinner and another open bar. Not good for anyone trying to keep their big butt genetics from reaching manifest destiny (read me) although, a few days of junk food and liquor can’t be too bad.
I’ve spent the last few days scanning, renaming and cleaning up old photos and memorabilia. I’m not quite done yet but, I just couldn’t wait to upload this.
I don’t think I have to comment other than to tell you that this is a self portrait done by my awesome husband at something like five years of age.
At least 360 more files to follow in the next few days (or weeks if I’m really honest about it).
Andy is coming home tomorrow. He’s been in Green Bay for two weeks. I really miss that guy. Other than that I’ve continued on my semi unhealthy path of boozing every night with Vlad and doing yoga every day at the gym. I figure the two cancel each other out.
Since I’ve finally figured out how to embed videos via flickr, here’s the death of a very dog fur covered chair once again, since it mkes me laugh every time:
