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            Moose

I am (or by the time you read this ‘was’) ridin’ down that highway while Chuck drives… connected to the internet. I am continually amazed by technology. I know the kiddies have been doing this for years, but for me, it’s still a novelty. We are on the way to Mpls to drop off #1 daughters stuph. The truck is loaded… well, mostly loaded. There are still considerable air holes in the way back. Jayne and I could pack another hundred pounds in here. Or pretty close to it… Went out and got me a hitch thingie for the receiver and have the bike rack mounted and her bike with us.

Speaking of which…. I haven’t ridden my bike all summer. My butt is constantly whining about the positions in which I sit and the bike seat is particularly onerous. I barely go 5 miles and all I can think of is ‘HOW MUCH LONGER???’ So the talk of recumbents has been going around for the last year or so… we finally took me out to a bike shop last Saturday and I rode 3… 2 two-wheelers and a trike. One bike with crank down (pedals below hip level) and one with crank up (pedals at or above hip/seat level.) Much fun!! One long wheel base – virtually no learning curve, just like riding a regular bike. The crank up version is a bit more difficult.. but it had a short wheel base and I did okay… didn’t dump myself onto the ground! YIPPEE for me… I’ll take the little victories. And then I rode the trike.

I.Rode.The.Trike. And not just any trike. An ICE trike. High end. Folding, Spiffy. Really spiffy. And fun… really really fun. I may turn into a trike girl. Did you know they come with parking brakes? PARKING BRAKES!!! for heavens sake… Just like a kickstand but SOOOOO much better… I think I have been spoiled by riding this one first. oops…. just like a really good pair of shoes…

Anyway, where was I? Hiking finished a week ago today… seems longer than that. Amazing what normal daily stuff will do to you. Sucks your brain out. Daughter #1 left last Friday for the UofM. She is part of Welcome Week for the freshman this year. Scary. Planning on telling them how not to get caught doing all those things it says not to do in the instructions. Had planned on cleaning (and cleaning and cleaning) the house on Saturday, but Chuck had mapped out a somewhat questionable bike route and was going to go drive it and that’s how the house ended up still dirty and I fell in love with a trike. I haven’t had a trike since the red one I got when I was little little. My x-seam is 44. What’s yours?

We did okay hiking on Sunday… drove out to IL canyon and walked the 3 out there… hopped in the car and found ‘facilities’ if ya know what I mean, hiked some more until Kat’s blood sugar dropped, drove back, ate lunch and walked some more…. My feet finally gave out and I nixed a walk down to the ranger station. Lover’s Leap was enough.

AACCHH….. I am getting to hate cars and trucks. We are 3 hours into this trip and my butt has given out.

I just saw an indoor ferris wheel….

The More of Later...

Umbrellas have been fetched. Rain is falling. Thunder is booming. Lightning is lightning. Sidebar: Why is lightning one of the hardest words to spell? I struggle with it every time I write it. Time to watch the flotsom and jetsom of visitors here in the front lobby. Am thinking I should move to the Great Room.. higher volume... and no doubt a Bride-zilla somewhere. hee hee hee They are fun to watch. no visitors as exciting so far as the Dru look-alike. Just the usual kids, grandparents and harried parents. I am sitting next to the birdcage in the lobby and there was a middle-school age girl talking to the birds. Very cute. The birds have been chittering all morning.

Since the rain is upon us... am thinking a field trip to Farm and Fleet is in order... if and when the rest of the gang gets out of bed. I just peeked into K&K's room and all was dead on the western front... unusual. Both of them are early risers. Am wondering how Kat is doing under the constant stress of Sean. Yesterday she said she so wanted to be here because it was somewhere with no confrontations. And life with Sean is a constant confrontation. I cannot imagine how hard it is to live with a special needs child. I am glad I don't have to face that. I am glad she can be here with us. Kay is living with the daily upheaval of corporate restructuring. Her position is going away but really don't know when and really don't have a good description of what she is going to do next. She hates to live with uncertainty. She dreads the thought of 2 hours of communting a day. We think she needs to apply for the financial director position at Lincoln Park Zoo. It would be just the change she needs.

I got a hit from a head hunter the other day. Am thinking I can send in my resume and see what shakes out. Barb encouraged me to apply. Always good to keep up with the interview skills. She is correct.

Think I will go wander the internet.... or maybe a trail... the rain looks to be dying off.

The Loss of Short Term.... ummm ... The loss of memory....

Since no one reads this, I feel relatively safe in commenting here. My favorite phrase of late.. who am I kidding... of the last few years is, "I don't remember." I don't remember fun/wild things I have done with my best friend. I didn't remember where I went on my first cruise with my beloved. I definitely don't remember my high school years the way other people remember them. I don't seem to remember anything.

I have been thinking that I should have kept a journal all these years. A diary. I had one on and off in high school and college. Had one on and off throughout the decades (GADS.... decades. I have been alive for decades. I have been alive longer than I probably have to live!! EGADS!!!! where did that word come from anyway? Egads. Will need to go look that up so I can not remember it at some point in the future.) Am thinking now that I should have been a little more disciplined about keeping a journal. Oprah does/has. I think I bought into the whole notion of 'nothing written down is nothing that can be used against you'. Bad advice. I miss all the missing years.

This is my start of keeping one again. I think. Haven't quite decided between this and the book on the shelf at home. This would be easier... I can access it from almost anywhere... but the book offers more privacy. Maybe I will just use my website instead... put up a page with some impossible password, or a hidden page or just carry around a word document on a flash drive. I need to write. I need a place to put it all down so I can reference it in my old age. (Wait, am I there already?) I hate the memory loss. It makes me feel stoopid.

So, where am I today? At Starving Rock... aka Starved Rock State Park Lodge. With my besties! Jayne, Kay and Kat. We are here to get away from everyone else. All responsibility. All errands, jobs, parents, kids, spousal equivalents, pets, annoyances, etc. Just us, some wine and some trails. And food. Lots and lots of food.

We got here yesterday. Kay and I caught up with each other in Morris and had lunch (ate too much... little diner with homemade bread toasted just right for the sandwich and red-all-the-way-thru strawberry salad. ate too much) Dropped the sewing machine off for repair. Silly thing won't tension correctly. I gave up and gave it to Leo. He can do anything.

Kay and I proceeded on to the Lodge. Unpacked. Thought seriously about taking a nap. Didn't. About that time Jayne called to announce her arrival. She was lost in the trees and her Tom-Tom (gps) had given up. We got her here. Started to unload the car and Kat pulled up. What GREAT timing. We flopped in the room for a while (reminds me... where does the phrase 'flop sweat' come from??), chatted, surfed the web and then headed out for dinner at the fish place. No, can't remember the name. It's the fish place. Captain's Cove, I believe. Down the road on the north side of the river, east of Utica, down in the same direction of where we last picked up Chuck when he rode out here 2 years ago.

Sidebar: Weird.. there is a guy across the lobby from me who looks just like Dru Peterson. Bet he gets that all the time... Spooky.... even tho I know Dru is in jail at this very moment, this guy is a dead ringer.

Chuck was well on his way to making it to the lodge before dark when the path posted a sign that said 'path out ahead'. Being Chuck, he didn't believe it and kept going. Until the path disappeared. By then it was almost dark and he was covered in clay and mud and called for a pickup. I think there is still clay in Kays van. Chuck is sure there is still clay/mud in his wheels. It was a fun pick-up.

Today we are supposed to hike... but the radar isn't looking pormising. Giant cloud with red spots in it. I think we are going to get pounded really soon.

I should go get an umbrella. More later

Things that make you go hmmm.....

Republicans....

Strong belief in God

Pro Death Penalty

Pro war

Anti-abortion

Let illegal immigrants bleed to death on floor of ER instead of offering emergency life-saving care



In other words..... you can't kill someone who doesn't have a life yet, but you can kill someone who DOES have a life even though most if not all religions advocate turning the other cheek and being a good samaritan.


Hmmmmm.... how does one explain that to oneself?

To mourn or not to mourn...

Nope... Michael Jackson should have been in jail.

I totally agree with a statement a friend of mine made...
" he had allowed himself... "
MJ made the choices that got him where he ended up. No pity here. I mean, come on.... MJ had his peeps going around the world SOLICITING 'Lifetime achievement awards' for the boss-man.... there is something REALLY WRONG with that outlook.

Good riddance to bad rubbish, as grandma would say....

I am thinking that I would like to be hired by some rich rich person (need not be a celebrity, but it would help) as the voice of reason, and that I had written into my contract that my decision on any given matter would supersede that of both the rich person AND the handlers/enablers AND that the rich person would be forced to thank me afterward for making the right decision AND that I would get paid exorbitant amounts of money for the honor of telling the rich person to shove it.

Just goes to show you that the right amount of narcotics will stop anyone's breathing (just like the 24 year old from Wilco that OD'd on Fentanyl patches... duh... )

...sigh... It's good to dream.

I can't wait till it's over

(okay, okay..... my opinion didn't stop me from watching the drooling, panting mobs on teevee last night... or from cackling gleefully while watching the news helicopters chase the sherrif's helicopter to the morgue... that was FUNNY!!!! ONly in LA!!!! But at least I watched most of it with the sound turned off and closed caption off)

Is today over yet?

Welcome to the support day from hell. It's my first week on call for my new job. AARRGGHH!! And, I am supporting a computer application that is getting new users added every week. And the computer application generates their paycheck. And it is the last day of the payperiod. Oh, well. I signed up for this.


On a lighter (or different) note, Chuck and I decided to move in together when our leases were up this spring. What a fiasco that has turned into! More later.....

Gimme My $$ Back!!!

Why are we wasting Congressional time investigating steroid use by baseball players? Who cares? Professional athletes are entertainers, nothing more. And if Congress wants to investigate entertainer’s use of steroids, I think we should look at ALL the entertainers out there. I don’t see any Congressional committee investigating NASCAR drivers, they are entertainers. What about pro wrestlers? I don’t see my local Senator breathing down their necks. (And they even call themselves entertainers!) What about basketball players? Soccer players? Ballerinas? What about the acrobats in Cirque du Soleil? Surely THEY are entertainers! Why not investigate them?

Professional athletes are entertainers. They don’t set national policy. They don’t police my streets. They don’t put out fires or provide medical care. They don’t teach children reading and writing. They put on a show, that’s it. They are adults and if they want to inject themselves with banned substances, so what? How are they different from heroin users? Or alcoholics? Or people who smoke? All of that is bad, but Congress isn’t investigating those people.

Quit wasting my hard-earned tax dollars on pointless steroid investigations. What are you going to do, send users to jail? HAHA! Spend my tax dollars on something substantial. I know, how about health care reform?