subversified.com

2009-07-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a little more time in the outdoors lately, and thought I'd share some photos. Boring for most people, but a few of you loyal readers might like to see them.

My first excursion of the summer was out to Lewis and Clark Caverns, a cave system about a 45 minute drive (to the west) from my house. I really kind of adore this place. I don't go often enough.

They recently installed some new lights, which show off the colors in the rocks better.

The columns and stalagtites are very cool.

I was the only one who showed up for the tour at this particular time of day, so I got my own, personal trip through the caverns, just me and this guy (the tour guide) showing me with his flashlight how some of the rock formations are translucent.

This long, dark (man-made) tunnel is the exit.

And here's my tour guide opening the door to the outside world for me.

And this is the walk back to the parking lot.

About a month later, I went camping. My dogs have never been camping before, and I wondered how they would do. This was an experiment in a nice campground about a 40 minute drive (to the South) from home.

Here's my wrinkly tent that's been packed up a long, long time and was pitched in the near-dark.

Me and the dogs in the tent. I love how their personalities shine through here.

It was a pretty gorgeous morning.

We walked around the trails leading from the campground. (Seen here.) Then drove farther up the canyon.

Past a reservoir.

To the (relatively easy, paved) hiking trail leading to Palisade Falls.

Me at Palisade Falls.

Duchess playing in the stream.

Duke playing in the stream. You can see his usually stand-up ears are being held back in the "woah... this is all seems very dodgy" position.

I think a good time was had by all.

2009-03-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

So I was making dinner this evening and put some chicken in a skillet to cook, then stepped into another room for a minute. I hadn't been gone very long (honest!) when Duchess starting barking her loudest bark ever and staring at me intently with that "read my mind, you daft woman!" look on her face. I mean, it was very loud barking. You know how a fire alarm is so loud your ears ring? Yeah, like that. I even thought to myself, wow, you're as loud as my fire alarm! How do you do that when you're such a small dog?

Sadly, I wasn't doing a great job of reading her mind, but I could tell she wanted me to do _something_ and it was _urgent_. So I thought to myself, "well, before I do anything I need to go check on what I've got going on the stove. then I can figure out what's got you so upset."

But as I moved into the kitchen she stopped barking. She was still staring at me and looking alarmed, but I guess I was moving in the right direction.

It wasn't until I was standing almost right at the stove that I smelled the smoke. Now I'm sure you're all thinking "wow! Duchess just saved the house from burning down!" and let me assure you - the house was in no danger of burning down. Dinner wasn't even in danger of burning down. Something had just splashed on the burner and it was smoking a little bit. And the chicken was starting smell good.

Duchess watched the whole operation very carefully as I stirred the sizzling chicken and turned on the fan to disperse the smell of smoke. She relaxed visibly as things went back to normal, but continues to follow me closely around the house this evening instead of lounging by the fire.

So on the one hand - I'm glad I know now that Duchess recognizes that smoke is a bad thing, and I'm glad she could smell it so much sooner than I could (and felt the need to alert me to it). She also alerted me to it long before the smoke alarms even thought about going off. So that's great. And I'm also hoping I'll know what that bark means the next time I hear it.

But I have this sneaking suspicion that the alarm on her face wasn't so much because she knew _something_ was burning - but that THE CHICKEN was BURNING!!!!111 This dog adores chicken. Far more than she loves me. I'm just a conduit to very occasional treats of chicken.

So I'm not going to throw out my smoke alarms and trust the dog to warn me if the house is on fire. I mean, this is a fancy condo, but it's definitely not made of chicken.

2009-03-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

Since I have clients on the other side of the globe right now, my sleep schedule can be a little wacky. This morning was a sleep-in morning, so I was still in bed at 8:13 or so.

We had a pretty serious storm last night - about ten inches of very wet snow. I'd heard it sliding off the roof several times during the night. So when I woke up at 8:13 or so to a rumbling noise, that's all I thought it was - more snow sliding off the roof. So I rolled over and went back to sleep.

When I was mostly awake an hour later, I wandered downstairs to check my email. A friend of mine in California sent me an instant message as soon as I sat down. It said, "hey, you doing okay today? My best Bozeman bud said there was some sort of explosion downtown..." And I went wha huh? I assured her that I was okay, and that we had snow, but I had no idea what happened downtown.

My first thought was to google, so I did. That brought me a few links to newspapers with just a sketch of what I knew had to be an ongoing news story. (For those of you not already in the know, here's a link to the local newspaper story.) My next thought was to turn on the TV and see if one of the local stations had any video. That's when I discovered the snow had temporarily knocked out my satellite TV reception. Hrm.

So then I wondered if there was a twitter hashtag yet. I just had no idea how many Bozeman locals used Twitter. I'd never checked before. A little digging brought me to the #bozexplod hashtag. And boy, was it hopping. By the time I read one page of messages from local Bozeman residents (including links to photos) there would already be another 20 comments to read.

So I was getting updates on the story every 30 seconds or so, with some great photos and links to things like live streaming radio broadcasts of press conferences. (It hadn't even occurred to me to turn on the radio.) So I could sit in the comfort of my own home and get way more information than if I had been standing on the street downtown getting in the way.

This is why I love technology, and why I feel like we're still in the middle of figuring out how best to use it. This was a very natural, very useful way of getting information about what was going on in my small town in the middle of nowhere.

There was very little national news coverage of the story - and even if CNN had really glommed onto it, the local Twitterers still would have done better. By noon they were reminding us that the firefighters and police could sure use something to eat, and maybe a drink of water. They started organizing where to bring donations for emergency personnel.

But I'm sure there are still evolutions to how this technology will sort itself out in the future. The crowdsourced google map of affected areas and suggested alternate routes for getting around was an excellent use of the knowledge-sphere. Many people contributed to creating that map, and many more found it a useful resource - much more useful than a radio or TV news reporter chanting off a list of street names.

It's been a surreal day. One person is still missing, the fire is still burning, and the Twitter feed is still rolling along - a little slower now, but still with great information. And now I've starting following the twitters of several locals. Who knew this day would bring so much.

2009-02-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

Just in case you were wondering, my favorite architect is Antoni Gaudi. Here's a link to some photos of his work. And in particular, I wish I could live in this house.

Someday I would like to travel to Barcelona and other places where this style of architecture is common. And if I ever get to build a house I never plan to sell, I'll definitely try to find someone who will draw up plans for me that incorporate all these curves and organic lines. A girl can dream, right?

2009-02-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

I'm really enjoying the false spring we get here in Montana in February. It only lasts a couple of weeks, but the temperature gets up near 50F and the snow melts back a bit. This is great for general getting-around and walking the dogs. Not so great for skiing. Oh well.

One thing's for sure - this isn't going to last long. We had snow till June in 2008 and there's no reason to think 2009 will be much different. I'm sure in just a few days we'll be back down around zero F and dodging blizzards.

And you know, I think maybe instead of false spring, this should be called the Mud Season. It's pretty messy out there.

2009-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I love the velvety silent darkness of December. I love how early it brings the evening and wraps the world away from the cold, driving people inside to warm fireplaces and cozy blankets. But I also love that this empty slate of time is not destined to get emptier and emptier. Yes, we need to wipe away the things that did not work, the broken failures in our lives. We need to breathe in fresh, cold nothingness for a time. But when the longest night is over, the sun with its warmth and life takes its extra minutes in the sky and declares darkness and loss is not our destiny. It may not come all at once, but the heat of creation will spark rebirth and renewal, just a few minutes at a time. And we can start anew.

Here's a poem I like by Oliver Herford:

I HEARD A BIRD SING

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

2008-12-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

The things I sometimes miss about Chicago:

1) The aquarium
2) The cheap food
3) The parties with friends
4) The field museum
5) The lakeshore

The things I never miss about Chicago:

1) The traffic
2) The crush of humanity
3) The rejection of reality - yes, snow does fall in Chicago. Maybe you should plan on where to put it when you have to plow every year. Somewhere other than on top of the cars parked on the side of the road.
4) The dirt/dust/air pollution
5) Oh, the agony of parking!

2008-12-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

My six-year-old niece wrote me a letter in code. See if you can decypher it. This is my best approximation of her handwriting:

Der AWnD

I AmHFinG U GiuDTiem
in 1 GreD
thac&

LuV IzzY

Ok, it's not intentionally in code. She's just learning to write and did it all on her own. I was pretty confused at first, but then my mother pointed out that my name is in the first line, and from there I got the whole thing.

Love you too Izzy!!

2008-10-22T21:32:00.001-07:00

trying out a new way of connecting up my blog and twitter

2008-03-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Things My Dogs Are Trying To Teach Me
--------------------------------------

* Bedtime is bedtime, it doesn't matter if there's work to be done or deadlines looming. It's BEDTIME.

* Cats are shifty and not to be trusted. Especially anywhere near the carpeted stairs.

* Field mice, voles and birds are fun toys.

* Ground squirrels are evil and will invade the house if not protected against.

* Strollers and bikes are devilish machines bound to cause trouble if left unperturbed.

* Liver is one of the most delicious foods on earth. Your shoes are another.

* Showing proper appreciation for a beloved toy involves chewing on it. No matter how much money was paid for that piece of electronics.

* That's not garbage. That's a potential nest. It just needs shredding and spreading in a circle in a corner.

* Children need to be sniffed, watched very carefully and occasionally hidden from. You just never know what they're going to do.

* Pizza is the greatest food in the WORLD.

* Leaving the house for meetings or shopping is highly overrated.

* At -9F it's too cold to go outside for ANYTHING.

2008-01-27T22:08:00.000-08:00

Can the weekend really be over? It's been kind of a surreal day, so I felt the need to touch base with... virtual reality? I don't know.

First of all, I spend my Sunday mornings corrupting the minds of youth. That's right, I'm a Sunday School teacher. Of the most impressionable age - 18 months to 3 years. Whatever you tell them now sticks in there and sticks good. Well, the bits that stick do. We had a long conversation today about Daniel in the lions' den, and the part they liked best was that the mean guys got eaten. That was met with howls of delight and giggles. Love these kids.

But boy do they wear me out. I don't know how mothers do it.

I got a short rest at home and a walk with the dogs, then I went to go facilitate a seminar about how to do genealogical research. It went fine, and the group was visiting over cookies and punch when I was starting to feel like my day needed to be over. I was tired and my social capabilities were being overtaxed. I was frankly wondering how to end the party gracefully so I could go home.

Then someone popped their head in the door and told us President Gordon B. Hinckley had died. The end of an era. I mean, he was 97, but you get used to people who are around giving funny, brilliant advice for your whole life.

Yeah, that cleared the room pretty quick. It wasn't on my list of possible methods, either.

When I got home, I had a message from my oldest brother repeating the news. Good to know our family grapevine is in working order. There was a second message also. A grandmotherly woman I know has decided there's a nice young man she wants me to meet, and wants me to call her to get details.

What a day.

2008-01-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

So, here's a funny dog story. Yesterday I went to the pet store and found a couple of cheap rawhide chews. I wondered which one my dogs would like better. So I bought one of each and brought them home. One - yay, big hit. Then I opened the other one. It's rawhide wrapped around peanut butter. So you have to chew through the rawhide to get at the yummy yummy treat.

And holy cow. That one was apparently THE BEST. They traded it back and forth all day, each one making a little more progress and eating a little more peanut butter. By today, they were down to just the rawhide. No more peanut butter. But apparently, it's still the greatest little piece of rawhide ever.

Tonight, Duke was sitting on my lap, happily licking and chewing on it. Duchess apparently saw this, went over to the door and scratched to go out. So I got up - and Duke had to get off my lap, of course. And he follows me everywhere, so he came along. When I went over to the door, Duchess turned around and went back to the couch. She picked up the piece of rawhide, and went to the fire to chew it.

Duke hadn't realized what was going on, and was patiently waiting by the door to go outside. (Duchess, so tricksy!) So I put his leash on him to take him out.

Duchess heard the door open. She watched Duke go out, and came over to me to get her leash on too. She still had hold of the precious rawhide.

She took it outside and buried it. Duke peed. Duchess dug up the rawhide and buried it again. (In the snow, we've got about a foot out there right now) Duke saw what she was doing. She dug it up, moved to another spot, and buried it again.

They both came back inside.

Five minutes later, Duchess needed to go back outside. (right, but I was curious to see where this was going to lead.)

So both Duke and Duchess went outside. They both went back to the first spot and dug. And dug. I couldn't help it. I said, "Duchess, it's over there." She looked at me, looked where I was pointing, went over and started digging. She found the treasure, and came back inside.

Duke followed. I turned my back at one point, and when I looked up - Duke had the precious rawhide. Duchess was looking lost and confused.

She went to the door and asked to go out. I put the leash on and let her. She went back to where she found the rawhide a few minutes ago and started digging. And digging. And digging.

Finally, I coaxed her inside. I found another toy they like a lot. Now that there's no more peanut butter, apparently the new bone was better. Now Duke is watching Duchess chew her bone while he nibbles at the rawhide.

Hee! Now he's barking at me, like I'm supposed to fix this situation. Funny dogs!

2008-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yes!! I have achieved something I've been trying to do for almost twenty years. It'll sounds strange when I tell you, but here goes.

The lunch lady back in high school used to make the most amazing cinnamon rolls. They had a gooey caramel topping and weren't adulterated with nuts or raisins. They were just amazing, and I've been trying to duplicate them for years and years.

I think I'm finally close. The dough just needs a little tweaking now, but I've finally got the topping nearly right.

Frosting is for lightweights. Carmel with some substance to it is truly the way to go. Heavenly!

2007-12-29T22:48:00.000-08:00

Weirdest. Movie. Viewing. Evar.

Ok, it's not that the movie was all that weird. The movie was Ocean's 12, which I'd put off seeing this long because when it came out everyone said it was just kind of eh. I did catch about 15 minutes of it on TV once a year or two ago. I only watched enough to go "oh yeah, that's what movie this is. It is kind of eh." So it didn't really grab me. But I've got a memory for movies. They just stick.

So I sat down to watch it today while I was working on some last minute (read: late) holiday gifts I haven't finished making yet. I watched it all the way through on my crochety old DVD player, and when the credits rolled I went, "huh. that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It didn't connect all the dots in the middle, but it didn't drag on, in fact..."

And that's when I realized. I hadn't seen the 15 minutes that I caught on TV a year or two ago. I had to think really hard. Had I caught some other movie? No, it was definitely these characters, and I even recognized some of the sets. I wasn't confused about what movie I saw. Did I just... space out for 15 minutes? I was stumped.

So I started over at the beginning and tried to pay more attention this time.

Mystery solved.

I didn't space out. My DVD player skipped parts. And skipped them in such a way that they just looked like clean jump cuts. That's why it hadn't hadn't seemed to connect all the dots. I missed a big chunk in the middle and at the end.

Fortunately, the second time around it skipped different parts, so I could fill in the blanks. I think I finally got to see the whole movie, but not in the right order. At least, all the dots are connected now.

But come on, the Oceans movies are weird enough with the wacky timeline hijinks. Wow, what a surreal evening.

So here's the big question. Is it just this DVD? Or have all the movies I've watched in the last six months been edited on the fly by my faulty electronics? For how long? Can I ever trust it again? Or should I just watch every movie twice in a row?

If anyone would like to donate to the Wendy's new DVD player fund, let me know. Or at least be patient with me while I look confused as you discuss your favorite movie scenes.

2007-09-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

The dogs and I celebrated the last day of summer by going on one of my favorite hikes. It's only about 20 minutes from my house and can be as long as you like. It connects to a trail running down the ridge of an entire mountain range. Granted, I've never made it up that far, but that's what the maps say. So there's no danger of running out of trail.
As you can see, fall has already arrived here in the rockies. Today/night may be the equinox, but the leaves started turning three weeks ago. We've already had our first frost, though no snow yet. That's why Duke is wearing a sweater. Not just because it makes me laugh. It really was fairly chilly out this morning and he gets cold really quickly. I took him out of the car and he immediately started shivering. Duchess on the other hand has plenty of body fat to help keep her warm, so she didn't have to wear a sweater. Poor Duke. I wish he would relax and wear the totally cool store-bought coats, but he freaks out a bit when I put them on him. He thinks he needs to be carried the entire time. What a diva. But I discovered when I was crocheting something else with this fuzzy, soft yarn, he was constantly right there on my lap cuddling up to the project or the working skein. So I got clever and crocheted this little number for him from the same stuff. He thinks he's just walking around in a snuggly blanket, and I don't argue. Hopefully it will get him used to the idea of wearing clothes. He's going to need them when winter arrives. I like walking in the snow.

My final photo shows the weather today. You can tell it's autumn here not because of the color of the leaves but because the rain has started up again. The low-hanging clouds are actually clouds now, not smoke from forest fires. I love the changing of the seasons.

2007-08-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching ballet again this summer. It took me a long time to decide to take the leap and do it again. The beginning of the whole thing last year was kind of tough. By the end things were going more smoothly, but this year my friend who helped teach last year was unable to participate (having a brand new baby can do that to people I hear) so I was going to be entirely on my own.

But it occurred to me that saying "I taught ballet for 2 summers" sounds a lot better on a resume than "I taught ballet for one summer" if I ever wanted to do this again in another town for instance. Plus, I'd have the chance to teach my niece and my cousin's daughter (first cousin once removed?) and I'd regret passing up that opportunity.

So here I am! Instead of trying to do all 3 classes in one day (age groups must be separated - there are some things a 4 year old can't do that an 8 year old needs to do) I have the younger kids on Tuesday and the older kids on Wednesday. It's working out pretty well. I still need to figure out how to tear myself away from work in a more timely fashion, but hey, nobody's paying me to be there way early.

I have many areas to improve in, but I'm actually quite enjoying it this time around. Well, I had a hard week last week, but today I came home in a better mood than I left my house in. And that's worth all the little dancers' weight in gold.

2007-07-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! I've been trying to express to people how totally awesome the police blotter in the local paper here is. And now it is online for the whole world to see.

My favorite for today:

* A man on West Villard Street saw someone trying to steal his brother's vehicle. He hit the person in the face while trying to get him out of the vehicle.

But don't miss this gem of passive-aggressive reporting. These stats are included in the paper on a regular basis, and they never change much:

The inmate population at the Gallatin County jail included the following:

* The jail held 56 inmates.
* An additional 26 inmates were being held at other jails at the cost of $55 per inmate per day, plus transportation costs.
* The maximum operating capacity of the jail is 39 inmates.

Can you tell a new jail is a hotbutton issue around here?

2007-05-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

My walk this morning was a serious birder's heaven. Spotted on just my half-hour walk with the dogs through my subdivision's park:

15 pelicans
1 blue heron
4 mallard ducks
20 white and black striped ducks - maybe buffleheads? oops, a birder tells me these are probably northern shovelers instead
5 rust red, small ducks - maybe cinnamon teals?
3 red-wing blackbirds
1 robin
2 ravens
2 biggish birds with bright yellow chests - maybe western tanagers
3 tree swallows - or maybe violet green swallows
2 house finches

I did my best to identify the mystery birds, but I'm not an expert, just someone who's interested enough to go "Oh wow, bird!" Something truly impressive - on Monday I went on a hike with my parents and we saw 2 sandhill cranes. I swear, they're HUGE.

Ok, more photos of the pelicans and ducks:

2007-05-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the cat:

2007-05-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

The dogs and I got caught in the rain this evening. It wasn't terribly cold, but a little uncomfortable for them, I suppose. I was trying to decide if it was going to blow over quickly as it sometimes does around here.

While I was standing there staring at the clouds the dogs waded out into the tallest grass they could find and hunkered down. Apparently they were going to wait it out. I don't know who taught them to do that - not me. I guess their dna has more emergency survival information in it than I thought.

2007-04-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

So I'm supposed to be taking care of my brother's cat. And he used to be an outside cat, but I was all paranoid about letting him outside here because I was afraid he would go searching for his family, or run out into the busy street and die. And I'm supposed to be _taking care_ of this cat.

Nevertheless, he escaped a few times and kept coming back after a day or two, so I began to relax somewhat about his little walkabouts. I even started taking pictures of his funny reverse-skunk look he'd get from sleeping in the engines of cars.

And then a few days ago he came home looking like this. That's dried blood. That's not funny. Of course he showed up at 11pm looking like this. Not acting sad or sick or anything. Just with a swagger that really said, "You should see the other guy." Under all the dried blood it was hard to see if it was a bite or a scratch, so in the morning I called my sister-in-law and explained the situation. She came over to assess. Evidently he's a bit of a scrapper and has come home looking worse than this (oh dear) in the past, but she agreed we should take him to the vet to make sure he's caught up on rabies shots.

The long and the short of it - he's fine. He's done with his short course of antibiotics. His eye is looking much better, though still not great. And although he complained about it, he was getting pretty good at taking those pills. I think the treats before and after worked.

2007-04-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

Also better late than never - Happy Spring! Personally, I celebrate Easter but I love the whole human tradition of honoring the return of spring. I love it so much I take humorous pictures of my dogs. Enjoy the lengthening days.

2007-04-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

Better late than never. I think I forgot to mention here that my fish died. Poor fish. I didn't know you long. A year maybe? I did get one picture of him before he went belly up.

2007-04-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day! I'm a fan of the good old fashioned holidays, and this is one of the best. Personally, I prefer the happy/funny pranks and pulled this one off yesterday when I went to hang out with my family, including several nieces and nephews.

2007-03-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned Duke is rather more affectionate than Duchess ever was? He loves being scratched behind the ears or on his belly. If you're not paying enough attention to him, he'll come over and stick his head under your hand so you can pet him.

His favorite place for napping seems to be - not the fireplace, like Duchess - but my lap. He'll sit on my arm and stick his nose in my armpit to get comfortable. Apparently I smell quite sweet, as he takes a deep breath and sighs.

Well, today he had been napping in a dog bed. I'm trying to encourage this as I can't always be planted on the couch with him in my arms. He got up from his bed, staggered over to me, hopped up on the low futon I was sitting in, and collapsed in my lap. I honestly don't think he truly woke up at any point.

My sister didn't warn me that her dog is a sleepwalker.