I'm alive!

I just realized that I haven't posted in almost month, so I thought I'd check in. The last few weeks have been very eventful. Jack's Aunt Sherry visited for a week, then it was Jack's last week home before leaving for the summer season. That proved to be a very eventful week - we got officially engaged, and I even have a hand-made-for-me-by-him ring to prove it! The following week I filled my first week alone in the house with Swift Water Rescue Training for work (we're going to lead kayak tours, so they were trying to get some of the staff certified), derby practice, and whatever else I could come across.

This week has been a roller coaster emotionally - without much on my plate (just derby practices and my usual group craft sessions) I have had a lot of alone time that has sent me up and down the depression/happiness scale. Yesterday I was pretty down in the dumps until I a) started creating by making a pair of Jack's old work pants into a skirt (it's almost done, I'll post pictures when I finish it) and b) opened my house to couchsurfers again. I was desperate for company, and literally within 15 minutes I had a request from a chick who looked right up my alley. We hung out in the evening and walked to the beach this morning. She just hit the road a little bit ago - I found it to be a very fulfilling hosting, and I think she likewise found it to be a fulfilling surfing experience. It definitely made my day.

I've gone to the beach twice this week, once for 3 hours, and once for an hour - that's plenty of earthing time in my bare feet! I feel so energized and alive after that, which makes me wonder why I don't earth more. That's one goal I should try to accomplish this summer: get into the habit of earthing every single day, instead of just once a week here and there.

Anyway, that's the update. Not terribly exciting, and no pictures right now, but hopefully I'll get some good garden shots in the future, and when I finish that skirt I'll hopefully get some good photos of that to put up. So...

Until next time!

A month behind...

We went to Cerro Gordo at the beginning of March - we left the house about a month ago today, actually, to start the trip. So this is a bit late in coming. I didn't get around to uploading my pictures onto my computer until last week. Now, I'm finally getting around to the blog update. This will be mostly pictures. Remember: if you click on the photos, you'll see them larger. First, a couple from before we left home:

The crescent moon and venus (?) setting over our neighbor's house on a beautifully clear evening.

A whale spout (just right of center) while we were whale-watching before our trip. I got to see a whale tail that day, fairly close, and it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the whales are pretty much gone now, until November.

And now on to some pictures from Cerro Gordo...

Full moon over the Belshaw house one of our first nights. 

Twilight over the Sierra Crest, the American Hotel in the foreground.

Looking towards Death Valley from the saddle above town. These were the subject of a painting while I was up there.

Looking back towards town from the saddle - a little bit of snow on the Sierra Nevada.

Old tram terminal.

Plaque at the refurbished Hoist House. 

Entrance to a nearby mine tunnel. Fairly safe, as far as tunnels go, but I didn't like it.

Miner's Whiskers (washing soda)

Telephone wire in the tunnel.

Overhead shoring... I felt really safe walking under this woodpile... :/

The light at the end of the tunnel! (Jack took this picture of me.)

Back outside in the sun.

Roger looking like a miner. 

Clouds over Mt. Whitney

The best sunset while we were up there.

Raven atop the Chapel steeple.

Coming down the mountain!

Thunderstorm at sunset on the way to Jack's folks' house.

Next, I drove up to Virginia City to spend some time with my former Bodie housemate, John, his wife Sandie, and to see the sites! Here's a couple photos from the Mark Twain Museum under their store.

Mark Twain's desk (and several other peoples' desk, I'm sure, but he did use it).

A writing clip from Mark Twain in the Territorial Enterprise.

Old printing press.

Old milk jug.

Then it was off home. A long drive brought my through the northeastern part of the state and over to my northwestern side. Along the way, I got to see Mt. Shasta for the first time. Despite the snowlessness of everything else, Mt. Shasta appeared to be it's iconic, snow-covered self.

We've been home for two weeks already, and there's less than two weeks left before Jack heads to Sequoia for the summer. I just heard this past Friday that I got the job at Redwood National (phew!) so we're both breathing a bit easier. We had a visit from Jack's folks last week, and from his Aunt Sherry this week. Jack is trying to finish projects before he goes into the backcountry, and I'm just hoping he hasn't bitten off more than he can chew! Cerro Gordo, while fun, bit into our plans a bit because Jack got the call with his start date while we were up there, and then he had to sit tight for another week or so before he could do anything about it. Next winter, we've decided that we won't be going to C.G. after February if we get asked again. I have less than $3,000 remaining in my student loans, and it looks like I should be paying them off in full before the summer is over. We have purchased seeds and starts for our garden and begun digging up the lawn to plant. Roller derby continues to go well, and I am developing my skills with every day. Everyone is commenting on how quick a learner I am and conjecturing that I will be passing my tests within a couple months. Thursday I am going to try for my 27 laps in 5 minutes for the first time (roughly 1 mile), so I'll probably do a blog update for that. Overall, lots of good news here! Hopefully it won't be an entire month before I update again. ;)

Until next time!

Derby Girl

On Saturday we went to a bout between the Tsunami Sirens and Viva Roller Derby at the local fairgrounds. We had little to no idea what was going on, but slowly grasped more and more of it, and totally enjoyed the match. Jack discovered that they were holding a boot camp for people interested in learning to skate (and potentially becoming derby girls themselves) on Tuesday. The cost was $20, there was gear to be borrowed during the practice, all I had to get was a mouthguard. Which I did.

I nabbed this from the website - I'm in a black helmet 2 o'clock from the yellow helmet. This was at the end of boot camp.

On Tuesday I joined a bunch of other folks and very few actual newbies (there were a lot of "vets" who were coming back after long breaks from the sport) for a night of drills and how-tos. It was awesome. I had so much fun! Not only was the activity fun, but the ladies were all really cool, very supportive and friendly. It was a blast! So I came back the next night, and the night after that. The $20 was the first of what I hope will be a long series of $20/month payments to skate with the girls and Coach Old Xchool (a guy, in case you were wondering) three nights a week. I'm starting out as a Level 1 Newbie, but with training and dedication I could progress all the way up to a Level 3 and participate in the bouts as a full-fledged Tsunami Siren. We've even come up with a derby name (everyone's gotta have one, right?) for me: the Rogue Ranger.

So far I am the owner of a mouthguard and a pair of "butt pads" (padded shorts), but hopefully next month I'll be able to purchase some skates and after that my own knee pads and elbow pads, and hopefully my folks are able to save me $20 and send my wrist guards from back home... within a couple months, I should potentially have all the basics for skating. Of course, this is all assuming that I'm staying here for the summer.

I had an unofficial interview with Redwood National on Wednesday which I believe went very well, and I'm really hoping to get hired because it sounded like a great fit - more relaxing than Sequoia, with just as much flexibility in my interpreting (if not more). Not to mention I'd be able to continue living in my beautiful rental home and continue developing my skating with the Tsunami Sirens throughout the summer! Oh, I hope I hope I hope!!!

Now it's off to packing for Cerro Gordo - we'll be town-sitting for a week and a half up there and we leave tomorrow to start our journey!

Until next time!