Thoughts in Random Patterns

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

We're getting a new puppy next Tuesday.  I went and chose him from his litter today.  We're going to call him Brooks, after the mountain range in Alaska. 

Here are some photos from our first meeting:

See him doing all the things puppies do, especially chewing!

And I'll properly attribute the title quote to Charles M. Schulz.

Stormy Weather

After a terrific long weekend of hiking and reading and sleeping and playing with friends, I had planned to drive home Tuesday afternoon -- but this is what the weather looked like. 

We had thunder and lightning and hail.

This is the neighbor's roof covered in hail.

So I decided to stay in Keystone since Brad was gone to San Diego and San Francisco and Portland anyway. 

And then overnight we had some snow, which makes everything glow in the sunshine.  It's so beautiful, but a bit surreal for the end of May.

Altitude makes all the difference here.  Entering the Eisenhower - Johnson Tunnel  at almost 12,000 feet, the outside temperature was 38 degrees.  At home in Eldorado Canyon at 6,250 feet the temperature was 63.  It's good to be back where the flowers are blooming.

Bears Everywhere

I was just outside chatting with my neighbor from across the street and she told me that they had a bear in their garage last night about 1:30 going through their trash.  They didn't realize they'd left the garage door open and the bear was having a grand time.  The sheriff came and set off a couple of firecrackers to scare the bear away.  Of course Kenai, my savage guard dog, and I slept through the entire event.  Maybe I won't go hiking today after all.

Snowing

It's snowing here this morning, as predicted, which will make it much easier to stay inside and do my work.  We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow at this altitude above 9,000 feet, but it's not sticking yet.  While waiting for Kenai to stop chasing squirrels and come inside for his breakfast, I saw a red fox cross the driveway about 2 feet away from me, and saw a red-tailed hawk fly across the meadow, and heard a red-shafted northern flicker call, although I didn't actually see it.  It must be red-named animal day here.

Hilly Walking

I'm up in Keystone through the Memorial Day holiday since Brad is away until Thursday.  I thought a week of peace and quiet might give me half a chance to catch up.  You know you're behind when your inbox is a laundry basket.  I have managed to wrestle my email inbox into submission, mainly by sorting into subfolders (which I'll never look at?).  I think I'm going to have to start scheduling email correspondence time or it just never happens, especially up here where it's so beautiful that mostly I just want to be outside.

I went for long walks yesterday and today, which I think in this terrain is called hiking.  The snow has mostly melted along the trails near our house, but there are many places that are pretty wet.  I had to tiptoe across what I would call tussocks and hummocks and muskeg if I were walking in Alaska.  The good thing about the melt is that there is plenty of water for Kenai to stay hydrated and cool and come home completely muddy.  Yesterday I did have a lot more bear thoughts than usual, but today my mind was emptier.  Friday I met only one couple with 2 dogs and today I met a mountain man or maybe Old Father Time also with 2 dogs.  It's so restorative to be out in the mountain woods just moving the body along.  I really love hiking by myself.  Even after therapy and ongoing meditation, I still worry when I'm with other people whether my pace is too slow or fast and I don't like walking behind a taller person because then I can't see the view and I'm always thinking about the other people instead of just being in the moment.  I'll keep working on caring less about what other people think, probably for the rest of my life -- but in the meantime I like hiking alone.

I have a fun step counting device (thanks, Brad) which reports that yesterday I did 146 minutes of aerobic steps and more than 15,000 steps for a day step total of 18,657.  Today I did 17,499 aerobic steps in 167 minutes for a day total of 20,193 steps.  I've finally remembered to charge my Garmin Forerunner (thanks again, Brad) and will wear it for even more data gathering on my next hike.

Tomorrow I'm going to read the Sunday NY Times and rest my sore toes. 

Food for Birds or Bears

I'm a morning person and usually wake up to the birds singing outside a little before 6:00.  This morning I was getting my pajamas on when Kenai starting barking in the fierce way that means he actually sees something outside -- and what he saw was a bear!  It took Brad and I a few minutes to get ourselves organized to take photos from the front door, and the bear had already taken the bird feeder down and was having a small morning snack, as you can see.

 

eReader

I may have finally found the electronic device that will change my book acquiring behavior.  For my May 1st Life Dinner gift Brad gave me a Sony Portable Reader, and then set it up for me this weekend (which may be the nicest part of the gift).  He tried it first, which is always a good idea since I'm much less excited about new technologies than he is.

But this one has been great.  The screen is easy on the eyes, and it feels like a book in the hand, and has an extremely easy user interface and easy downloading from the online bookstore.  I read The Road over the weekend for my first book.  The only strange thing is that I keep reaching to turn the page instead of pressing the Next Page > key.  I'll learn a new behavior eventually..