Brief note before the storm

Tired and getting ready for bed, but just wanted to reassure everybody that we are prepared to do without power for several days.  We are not in a flood zone.  And our basement has a backdoor and is on a hill so water will drain out the back.

Also, I did not win my speech contest today.  Yay!

This blog isn't dead. A little tired, maybe.

eArThworm complained that I hadn't written in a while.  Which is true.  Having a Schnork takes up a lot of my time.  As does preparing for a long distance hiking trip.  And writing speeches.  I'm a vice president now.  I have responsibilities.

But mostly I got tired of spending time writing every night.  It's tiring.

See, this is an example.  I *just* started typing and the Schnork walked up and stared at me and schnorked at me.  It's like having a toddler.  She's going to go write on the walls with marker if I don't pay attention to her.  So now I have to type with her on my lap, schnorking and licking at me.

Anyway, I didn't die.  I'm leaving on a nearly three week hike in a few days.  I mailed out my boxes to Hanover and Glencliff today.  Only a couple more things to do, and if they don't get done it won't be the end of the world.  And a couple of doctor appointments, spa day for Beauty, cleaning up the house so the maids can make the surfaces nice.. the usual carp.

And worrying about Andy, who is losing weight.  Being the nutjar that he is, I never figured he'd be a tremendously long lived cat, but getting tired and skinny at his tender age (he's only nine!) is unexpected.  We're waiting on some test results from the vet.

Also, I discovered Words with Friends and I spend approximately seven hours per day beating my husband at it now.

Long story short, don't expect much from me.  I'm going on vacation.

Trip Report: Rockytop circuit hike day two

Big Run campsite to Brown's Gap,  6+miles, home

The voices kept going.  I had my peaceful mossy campsite to myself.  Bears didn't come get my food, though something clumsy did go crashing around breaking small limbs.  Bear, deer?  I don't know.  I was near a great spot on the river for going in to get a drink, so I probably had lots of company that I didn't know about.  I put in my ear plugs so my subconscious sentries would shut up about it.

I woke up at one point to see the moon peeking out through the trees.  Another time I woke to a roar and a spotlight - a low flying plane.  I have no idea why it was spotlighting the trees.

And then I opened my eyes and it was broad daylight.  Dawn kind of snuck up on me.  Usually I open my eyes once or twice and catch it creeping up on me, but not this time.  I kind of wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, but on the other hand the best hiking of the day would be early, while it was still cool.  I told myself that at a minimum I needed to get up and pee, and while I was up I might as well retrieve the food bag.  Once the food bag is down, that gets me rolling on the day.

But once the food bag was down, I realized something.  I had two breakfasts and one dinner in there.  Only one of those items could be served cold.  And my stove was acting up for last night's dinner, so I had used more fuel than expected.  I couldn't cook tonight's dinner or tomorrow's breakfast.  My decision was made for me regarding my path today.  Back to the car.

That decided, I packed up and started heading upstream.  I did the first mile in my crocs, as there were four wadeable stream crossings.  Usually I don't bother, but the trail was so gentle that I could afford to wear shoes with no support for a bit.  It was nice after the fourth crossing to be able to put on dry shoes and socks.

I saw far more people today than yesterday.  At least twenty compared to two.  Hiking in the park on a weekday was genius.  I'll have to do that again.  I plan to work some weekends in near future, which means I'd have weekdays available.

The first couple of miles went by very quickly.  Then I had a long uphill slog out of the canyon.  I drank three liters of water and sweated vigorously.  I started to be glad that I was going home rather than planning to hike all day.  I'd have needed at least five liters of water just to stay hydrated in the heat.  Instead, I got to the car a little after noon and drove somewhere air conditioned for yummy food and beverage.

I noted that the mileages on the park markers did not match the mileages in my guide book.  I haven't bothered to do the math, but the hike I did was a bit longer than I expected.  Which doesn't matter I guess.

I stopped at Loft Mountain Wayside for lunch.  There were a lot of motorcyclists and a few bicyclists there.  Nobody looked as grungy or sweaty as me.  Ah well.  Backpackers are in the minority even in a park like Shenandoah.  It seems odd to me because that's all I go there to do, but the vast majority of visitors just ride down the road on one form of transportation or another, and never see any of the beauty that isn't visible from the road.

Loft Mountain Wayside, btw, has incredibly good pulled pork bbq.  Just FYI.

After my insanely good sandwich, I drove home.  I know I didn't spend more time driving than hiking on this trip, but it sure felt like it!  I have to really want it to drive down to the southern end of the park.  Now I remember why I usually hike in the northern or central sections.

JD was surprised to see me home, not having gotten my text messages regarding my stove situation.  It was nice to see him, though, and to have a relaxed evening.  I don't know if my long weekend made up for my hellish work week, but I know it tried really hard.  The weekend deserves a commendation.  And a bonus.

Can it be Saturday now?

Woof.  I have been tired all day.  As in, having trouble following the conversation tired.  Kinda dragging on my walk tired.  I CANNOT WAIT for it to be the weekend.  I hope that Princess likes to sleep in, or at least nap, because I need the rest.

It's not even 8 PM but I think I'll be heading to bed soon.  I can't even keep two thoughts straight in my head.  Time for a shower and a long sleep.

I will be zzzzing as soon as I get back from the train station

Oof.  I'm wiped.  I hope I'm not getting JD's illness.  Probably I just need a good night's sleep.

It would be nice if what I needed were a couple of days worth of backpacking and sleeping on the ground, because that's what I'm getting this weekend.  :)  Just Blue Skies will be here in less than two hours. I have to work tomorrow, then we're heading on out to the woods for the weekend.

Last night, I got in touch with Sarge and I'm going to get together with him and Weaver to hike next weekend.  I sent a message to Gardener to see if she wanted to join.  Wouldn't that be a hoot if she did?  Not that the three of us wouldn't have plenty of fun on our own.  But in this case four would not be a crowd.

So anyway I figure I can take a day off in about three weeks.  Ah, nap, I knew ye well.

Speed post

Went to REI.  Purchased items.  (Have replaced all my daily wear jackets so I don't have to wear something that has permanent farm stains.  Also can reserve super ultralight down jacket for backpacking use.)  Practiced speech 3 times.  (It still sucks.)  Ate and ate and still haven't made it up to my minimum for the day.  No longer hungry, giving up.

Was a long day and tomorrow is going to be longer.

Hasta.  Maybe catch up with you Monday.

I want an operating system divorce

Life is kicking my butt a little bit.  I feel too busy.  Need some downtime.  A boring evening, perhaps.  Maybe even a boring weekend.  I'm thinking mid-March.

I spent my whole day wrestling with OSX.  I am so over that operating system.  Someday, if we sit down with some beer, I will tell you why, in great detail.  But for right now let's just say that it is not sys-admin friendly.  It's not server friendly.  It pretty much wants to eat your dogs and babies.  It's fine for the desktop, but trying to use it as a real server is just asking for trouble.

While I was still at work cursing at OSX and saying "Are you kidding me?"  (I feel the same way about OSX server that I do about trail layout in Maine) poor JD was home feeling sick.  I'm pretty sure he caught the cooties I brought home from Tennessee.  Poor guy.  He was already in bed when I got home from yoga tonight.  With luck I won't wake him up when I creep on up to bed.

Okay, Wednesday.  You're done.  Two more days, and then it's hiking time.  And dim sum time.  And then hiking time again.

I also need a note so I can stay home from work

Dear Internets,

I am tired.  I appear to be coming down with a cold.  I was just going to go watch a John Cusack movie and then go to bed, but then I thought "What if the Internets worry?  "  So I'm telling you that I'm okay.

Okay, goodnight, Internets.  See you tomorrow.

Love,

me

The second coming of Christmas was camping oriented

On the last workday of the year, I finally chivvied others into doing things.  I wrote a monthly report.  I deleted things.  I think that's about all should realistically expect of a sysadmin on the afternoon before a holiday.

My boss poked his head in during the afternoon and told us to skedaddle, which we did.  I went home and watched "No Strings Attached" on Netflix, a predictable but sweet romance.  Or romantic comedy.  Either way, I liked it.

JD made a vaguely Irish dinner (crock pot beef, cabbage, potatoes) and then it was Christmastime.  Again!  JD and I waited until today to open gifts because we didn't want to tote them to Arizona.  And we didn't want to open them as soon as we got home, because of the tiredness.  So this evening was it.  It was fun opening gifts, as always.  Two really made my eyes widen - DeLee got me a Jetboil (eeeee!)  and JD got me a purple Members Only jacket (heee!)  Also Santa got me a balance ball chair which I have put together but so far haven't gathered the gumption to move into my office.  Perhaps in the morning.

JD went to bed early and I think I'll be following him.  Tomorrow's a busy day, getting ready for excessive drinking and neighbor-hugging at midnight.

Why I shouldn't prepare medicines in the office

What a long day.  A long day full of embarrassing stains.  Somehow I managed to hit the ceiling of my office with Pluto's antibiotic / apple juice / karo syrup mixture.  I also hit my desk, my phone, my calendar, the top of my cabinet, the back of my sweater, and probably some other things.  Oh, and my shoe.

I already had it on my pants.

Really this stuff needs to be handled in a clean room, while wearing a bunny suit.  It's pernicious.  There is something about the combination that wants to escape and stick to everything.

When I finally got home after 7 pm, I had not had a chance to rest since the alarm went off at 6:30 this morning.  I was so tired that I ached all over.  JD fed me, then I went and lay on the sofa.  I could have happily stayed there, but I have chores to do.  Most importantly, I must clean out the syringe so that I can get goop all over myself again tomorrow.

I am going to be looking at those ceiling stains for years.  Dammit.

Not a real post (but it has giant construction condoms)

So tired.  I went out this evening to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Some things are hard to buy online.  I expected massive crowding, and didn't find it.  But I don't find shopping to be particularly fun or energizing.  JD informs me that some people are energized by shopping.  I find this hard to believe.

I can't say what it is, but I could not believe how hard it was to find one item.  I thought it would be really common but it is not.

I came across a camoflage necklace in one store.  What's the point?

Okay, bed now.  I have to go recuperate from shopping.  But first, two pretty much random photos.

Notice the two elephant sized condoms taped to the building, just to the right of the "Do Not Enter" sign.

The moon last night while Pluto was being a dink.

Where "supplies necessary for survival" means "marshmallows"

Hello there

It's that blog writing time of evening, but I'm tired.  I've been busy.  Got my backpack all stuffed (to the gills) with food and water and various supplies necessary to survival, and I just kind of want to go to bed now.  So that's what I'm going to do.  

I hope to have some pretty pictures to put up when I get done hiking.  Maybe some happy ones too.  (See above.)

Night all.

I have Nemo brain

I am so tired.  I think it's going to be another early to bed night.  But the reason why I'm tired is really good.  I woke up an hour early (yay time change!) and went in to work, and worked out at the gym! Boo ya!  In your face, Internet!  You thought it wouldn't happen, didn't you?  Well, it did!  And I have the sore muscles to prove it.

I had a fairly productive morning, but I hit a wall at 3:30.  I couldn't remember the name of the editor I normally use.  Two syllables.  Starts with an N.  Nemo?  No, no, that's a fish.  Um.. Oh, right, nano.  It should not have taken that long, as "nano" is a word I type many times a day.

That's when I knew I shouldn't be root anymore.

I caught a second wind just in time to leave work.  Whew!  You do not want me driving on Nemo brain.  I mean, true, my body can pretty much navigate the whole way home without any input from my higher level functions.  But what if something new happened?  I'd end up in DC with no idea of how I got there.  Which would be bad, because I can't navigate AT ALL in DC.  Despite having grown up within a few miles of the border.  DC = the other end of a train ride for me.  And even then, I need to check a compass when I get off the train.

Of course I have a compass with me.  Have you met me?

When I got home I was overjoyed to find that my new Zpacks Exo backpack has arrived.  Perhaps at some point I will find the energy to pack it.

nothing to see here

Today:  Please see yesterday.

They all tried to convince me to give them second breakfast, too

Hoo boy I am scatterbrained this evening.  I hope my autopilot is good because I'm going to the airport to pick up JD in a few hours.  I've been to the airport a bunch of times.  Maybe the car knows the way.

This morning started about an hour too early.  All of the animals decided that I had to get up before dawn.  I don't know how they knew it was Monday.  Normally, JD would be here on a weekday morning and he'd get up at 4:30 or some equally horrendous hour, so they would be fed in the dark.  On the weekends, they don't seem to mind me sleeping in until 7:30.  How do they know?  (Perhaps they're listening to the traffic outside?)

Somehow, when I was a kid, my cat Scooper would wake me up at 4:32 every morning to be let out.  On the dot.  A)  Why was she watching the clock like that?  B) HOW was she watching the clock like that?  C) Was it her boyfriend she was meeting? D) Were the neighborhood squirrels on the same schedule?

To wake me up this morning was a three part effort.  Andy delved under the bedroom door, grabbing the alarm clock's cord.  The movement of the cord and the alarm clock annoys me intensely, as the clock is right next to my head.  Olli, Dori, and Nazca paced the hallway, howled, and stood up with their feet on the bedroom door.  Inside the bedroom, Beauty started whining, then pacing the bed, then nudging me with her cold wet nose.

I tried the moron's method, which involved yelling "SHUT UP" and rolling over in bed.  This method accomplishes nothing other than venting my irritation.

After several repetitions of all of the above, I gave in to the inevitable.  As soon as I turned on the light, Beauty bounded over to give me a cheerful beagle morning greeting.  When I opened the bedroom door, Olli fell inward as he had been supporting himself on it.  I was very tempted to kick a few cats out of my way, but they're all pointy and I was barefoot.

It's sad how much difference that one hour of missed sleep makes to me.  It makes the difference between needing to write a note to remember to get things at the grocery, and needing to write a note so you don't forget the thing you need to do in thirty seconds.  Unfortunately, thirty seconds is longer than it takes me to find my pen and my sticky pad and write a whole note, so I forgot a lot today.

In which I have adventures with DeLee

I was busy backpacking this weekend.  I just spent a while writing trailjournals entries, so I'm just going to point you at them and some pictures and leave it at that.

Pictures of Shenandoah

Trailjournals entries for Saturday and Sunday

Zzzzzz

Good golly I'm tired.  Stupid Lyme disease.  I talked to my manager and my boss about shifting my work hours to accommodate more sleeping.  I hope to enact my "Sleep ten hours on work nights" plan this evening.

I gooped myself up with sunscreen and went for a walk today to see if it would help with my fatigue.  It didn't help but it didn't hurt either.  I don't think I got a sunburn, either, which is nice.  I'll have to check later to make sure I really didn't.

I try not to pay too much attention to government shenanigans.  Living near DC, it's in one's face all the time, and it is way too easy to get het up about it.  I vote, and I sign the occasional petition, but my feeling is that we pay a few congress critters to take care of the lawmaking and that's their job.  So I shouldn't have to monitor it daily.  Therefore I didn't realize until this morning that we are approaching a government shutdown AGAIN because congress can't get it together.  Little c congress.  They don't even deserve a big c anymore.

I am so fed up with the government.  They've all forgotten what their jobs are, if you ask me.  They're supposed to make laws, or hinder the making of laws (which works to reduce the number of stupid laws made in the heat of the moment.)  And they have to pass budgets.  Most of the rest is fluff.  Announcements?  Proclamations?  National somebody or other months? Signed "good on ya" awards?  TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.  Budgets?  Necessary.  And the congressmen of this country have been cranking out budgets for a really long time despite not always agreeing on what our priorities were.

I'm not saying it's simple.  Or straightforward.  I'm just saying that their collective job is to get this done and they're not doing it, and it's pissing me off.

Crates at 3; cats horrified

Today was Olli & Nazca's checkup at the vet's.  They both freaked the heck out when I was trying to get them into crates to go there.  Olli, we found out when we got there, peed in his crate and then soaked in it.  I'm pretty sure that's why he was rocketing around inside his crate - to avoid his own pee.  Poor guy.  Nazca bounced off the walls of the house (literally) and made several impressive escape attempts, including moving the box with which I had blocked the opening in the pet gate.  He peed outside the crate when we finally cornered him.  Not fun to clean up, but better than him soaking in it like his brother.

My cats smell great now.

We got both of them chipped in case they escape the house and go for a meander around the block.  Also I told the vet how Nazca is the least athletic cat ever (when it comes to jumping) and she was a little concerned.  She tested his vision but he was so freaked out that she couldn't tell if he wasn't reacting because of vision issues or because of the freaking.  She also drew blood for a blood test for cardiomyopathy.  I'm hoping he's just a weirdo.  More expensive medical issues we don't need.

After all the excitement I am worn out.  We're planning a quiet evening on the sofa, catching up on Warehouse 13.  And I think the weekend will see some blissful sleeping in.

In which Lyme kicks my butt

Man, I felt crappy last night.  We all went to bed early.  JD and the dog fell right asleep.  I had fever and chills and nausea and whatnot.  While JD quietly snored and the dog peacefully farted out a cloud of sulfur gas, I whimpered.  Oh, that sucked.

I woke up at eight in the morning, and then apparently fell back asleep.  When I glanced back at the clock it was ten.  I realized that I couldn't afford to fall asleep again, as I needed to take my morning dose of antibiotics.  I stumbled out of bed into the bathroom, and noticed that I had gained a double chin overnight.  And purple eyeliner.  Oh yay, the swollen glands and tired features of Lyme disease.  If I had any question before about whether or not I was really sick, I don't now.  (Although, I guess it could be the drugs.  But I doubt antibiotics would give me swollen glands all on their own.  Right?  Who the hell knows?)

I went downstairs and took my big blue pill.  Shortly thereafter, the phone rang.  Oh!  Yes!  Tara.  Totally forgot about my life outside the house.  I apologized for missing our ride, and asked her to check on Pluto.

Then several hours passed.  I'm not really sure what happened.  I was pretty out of it.

So I guess I could say I'm "fighting Lyme disease" now.  [1]  However, I personally feel that "fighting" is a stupid description of being sick.  It's more like "being mugged".  I am not hitting Lyme disease in the face.  I'm sitting here suffering.  Taking a pill twice a day does not qualify as fighting.  In fact, the whole "he bravely fought cancer for five years" thing bugs me.  He, the hypothetical he, SUFFERED from cancer for five years.  Going to chemo and barfing is not fighting.  It's the medical equivalent of being beaten up repeatedly.  I admit that there is some stoicism involved, but it's not like you're using judo skills on your disease.

Anyway, so the day passed.  And then I got hungry and JD suggested Chanan and there was yumminess.  Also, pants-wearing.

When we came back I sacked out on the sofa and watched a little Stargate SG-1 on Netflix.  Nazca, also, watched.

Nazca loves him some sci-fi.  He likes to watch from right in front of the tv.

It's been a very quadrupedal day.  Somebody furry has been touching me at nearly all times since before I awoke.  It started with Beauty pressed up against me in bed, then Andy on my lap, then Dory on my lap, then Dory, Andy, and Olli fighting for a place on my lap.. Fortunately it's cool enough to wear long pants (technically, champagne bottle pajamas) so no damage to the lap occurred.

The view from where I sat, for much of the day.

I expect I'll be heading back to bed soon, hoping for another ten to twelve hours of sleep.  If tomorrow is a repeat of today, work is going to suck.  Come on, doxycycline, do your thing.


[1] Lyme.  Not Lyme's.  It isn't possessive.  Lyme refers to a place, not a person.

Almost ready to go

My goodness I'm tired.  Long day.  Long day but good day.  This week is not turning out to be anywhere near as horrible (work-wise) as I had feared.  One of the horrible things is not happening at all, and another is going to happen while I'm out of town.   I can feel the tension draining out of me just thinking about it.  A third horrible thing may or may not happen, but I can handle 1 out of 3.

I went to a talk today about certifications.  I'm thinking about getting the CISSP certification.  Maybe.  The test costs $550, but work will cover it.  Test prep is anywhere from free to $2500, and would suck up a lot of my time for well over two months if done properly.  Although (she said humbly) I'm really good at standardized test taking, so that gives me an advantage.  And word has it that if you've done a lot of FISMA crap, that covers a lot of content in the test.  (This paragraph brought to you by Acronyms Int.)

So, there's that.

Also, it rained today and it cooled down a lot, and it's like some part of me needed that rain and is now happy.

This evening I got my maildrops packed up and ready to go.  I'll stop by the post office to mail them tomorrow.  That should be fun, with thirty pounds of food in them, waiting in line.  But then they'll be out the door and in theory I'll have food waiting for me in Maine.  That'll be nice.  Unfortunately my last mail drop is to a business, not a post office.  I don't really like to mail things that far in advance to a business, as they don't have a lot of room for boxes usually.  But it will only be there about two weeks, I think.  I hope it will be okay.  If not, it'll be in a town where I can get supplies to replace everything.

I posted my maildrop schedule in my 2011 AT trailjournal.  I'm not asking anybody to send me anything other than encouraging words. For one thing, I am already sending myself a lot.  And for another, I don't like to ask.  But if you think of me, you could send me a postcard (.. probably not to the private business, I'd guess).  If you do send me something, please tell me where you sent it and if it's a package or a letter so I know to ask for it.

My backpack and my daypack (because I don't generally use a suitcase when I could use a daypack) are both packed and ready to go.  I just need to get through this work week, and I am gone.  Vamoosed.  Outtahere.  I'll miss JD and the four legged ones, but I am definitely ready to put in some time on the trail.