Border collie/pointer, Golden, dachshund, Aussie

We did the Incline first thing. It did not get off to a good start; we parked at an extreme distance, up in the residential area. It was a long walk. On the way we met another woman/dog pair headed that way. The dog was a Border collie/ pointer cross, his body leaning toward pointer and his coat an interesting patchwork of black and white, as if it couldn't decided whether to be solid or speckled, and had compromised. They were the first of many climbers--it was sunny and warm, and a lot of people were doing the climb. We leapfrogged with a young woman from Louisiana who'd been in Colorado for two weeks and was beginning her high-altitude exercise regimen with an attempt at the Incline, having more or less recovered from giving birth a few weeks ago. She made it all the way up. Oh, and a man passed us on his way down with a Golden and this tiny dachshund with really short legs. The Golden was doing fine, and the dachshund was keeping up, in a game hopping scramble. I hope it was carried up, because I have no idea how that dog could have gotten up some of those steps. We made it up in an hour and thirty-one minutes, eleven minutes more than last time, which miffed Phil rather. We sat in the shade at the top for awhile, cooling off, and then headed down the trail. That was when my feet began to hurt, that trail being by no stretch of the imagination flat, level, or even smooth. In most areas your feet are on slopes which run down to the gully in the center of the path. One foot began to drop broad hints about pulled muscles. We kept going. The End Was In Sight--no, not by a long shot; but we were aware of its presence. We passed a number of people, going both up and down. Going up was the older couple with the Aussie. She was big, with easily twenty pounds or more on Lark (although more pounds than she should have, for her inches), and she was a beautiful black tri, with a wide white collar over the back of her neck. She was lovely. She was also shortly to overheat, as her coat was considerably thicker than Lark's--almost winter weight. I hope they didn't go far. We had quite a ways to go yet: down the trail to the parking lot, down from there to the road, along the road to the uphill branch that led to the car. We stopped on the way at the Iron Spring, where, every few seconds, water spurts out of a hose from a structure like a glorified wellhead. Of greater interest to me was the creek; Lark and I scrambled carefully down to the water, and Lark, after cautious consideration, walked into the water. It was, for the most part, only a couple of inches deep, but the current was very fast. She cooled her paws all the same, which was what I'd had in mind. We climbed back up to the pavement and rested. Philip got a Nalgene out of the pack--I think all the good water was gone, excluding the dog water--and got some of the water from the spring.  It was really strong and tasted fairly awful. It wouldn't have been so bad, though, if the minerals hadn't stuck to my tongue. Glech. After that we continued, more or less refreshed, up to the car, and thence to Boonzaijer's. Rosie from church was manning the counter and took our order: and eclair each for me and Grandma, and the last fruit croissandwich for Philip. It was rather like the fruit cups, with the same fruit and cream, but the pastry base was an enormous croissant, the top dusted with powdered sugar. It looked delicious. Philip confirmed this estimate. We ate at the bakery and then went to King Sooper's for a few things--Grandma had called us at Boonzaijer's to say she was out of Vaseline, and I already had a small shopping list. We didn't take long, and then rejoined Lark in the car with a SoBe for me and a Gatorade for Phil. Then we went home. And crashed. I'm pretty sure Phil went to sleep, but I had computing to do and didn't really want to take a nap.

At about five o'clock Philip and I went out to dinner. We started at Trinity Brewery, a lively little place with a Colorado atmosphere and an emphasis on the drinks. The waiting was pretty informal, with a get-your-own-plate principle, but they were impressively green, with (main point) a bin for food scraps, labeled "scraps for the piggies." We asked about it, and the waitress told us that the scraps go to a farm, but tend to end up with the chickens, as pigs don't discriminate and are like to eat a toothpick. We sat at a table with high bar stools, and Philip had a beer ("Drinkable") and I had a root beer. It was mild and not very fizzy, with some resemblance to a cream soda, but I liked it. We had sliders to eat, which are basically mini hamburgers. Those were very good. Philip, who seemed to look on the evening as an exercise in criticism, made me rate the place. Three or four stars.

Shuga's was next, a nice little cafe on Cascade. We ate outside, ordering a cup each of the spicy shrimp soup, and Philip had a cocktail--I don't recall the name, unfortunately. The soup was good, not too spicy, but by the time I'd gotten half way through mine the inside of my mouth had had enough. We talked more than we ate there, but it was a nice place, with a comfortable atmosphere. Three or four stars.

After Shuga's we went to Amanda's Fonda, a Mexican-style family restaurant with a lot of business. We waited perhaps an hour for a table, until Philip went and collared a waitress--we were served immediately. The outside eating area was on a large porch on the far side from the road; it was well-guarded from mosquitoes by torches, a very real necessity, as a creek ran just below. The sound was a pleasant undercurrent to the conversation and music. We ordered the seafood enchiladas, and shared; they weren't bad, but I can think of better uses for seafood. We left once Philip finished his grande margarita, which he'd bought at the bar at the beginning of our wait. I had a few sips, at intervals, and liked it; the initial flavor, of citrus, gradually giving way in your mouth to a mildly alcoholic taste, was a pleasant effect. Three stars.

The plan for the fourth stop was an Irish pub-style restaurant downtown. We found the place, only to discover that, at ten o'clock on a Saturday night, they were carding everyone at the door. We kept walking, and ended up at Josh & Jon's ice cream parlor. There was a chalk board next to the line, where lots of people had left messages--there was one, "Call Cameron for a good time--719-337-0075"--it was pretty fun to look at. We ordered a butter pecan sundae, with hot fudge, whipped cream, and two cherries, to share. It was really good. Sarah Debenedittis says we should have gotten Yellow Cake, though--she says the ice cream tastes exactly like cake. The butter pecan was good, all the same. Afterwards we walked around a bit more, as my legs grew increasingly mutinous, and it was a relief to sit down when we reached the car and went home.

Castle, episode 6. Mystery: jewel theft. Personal: Cinderella comes to the ball. Funfunfun.

It was ten when we larked, and pretty hot. We met no one on the first leg, but early in the second leg there was a teenager and his.....man, I don't know. Grandma? I didn't get a very good look. They remained within earshot behind us for most of the second leg. The boy sounded like he was talking a mile a minute, but I'm not sure what about. Maybe the weather--Lark and I were broiled by the time we got back.

After lunch Philip had me work on the SAT. I finished that practice test, and he totaled my score, although I don't think he scored the essay, which I finished. Oh, right--gotta post that for Mom. I think, besides that, my score was 1150, though. Not counting the essay. I took half-an-hour to write it, without referring to my last attempt (and going in a somewhat different direction). My arm was cramping before I finished.

About four we left to go to the church barbecue at Bear Creek. We took nearly an hour getting there, having an inadequate idea which of the various roads claiming to be a part of Bear Creek Park actually led to the park facilities. We found it eventually, however, and I played volleyball with some of the other kids/young adults (in the more literal sense) until it was time to eat. Rachel and Liz Debenedittis and several people I didn't know were on my side, with Sarah and Abby, Elise Mann, Matt, and some more people I don't know on the other team. Ben stood at the net and hit from either side--'libero' playing taken to a new extreme. I was getting fairly decent by the time we quit. We ate at six, I think, sitting with Abby, Ben, Matt, and Rachel opposite, and I think Josh Mann on Philip's far side. After dinner I watched everybody play Frisbee until it was time to go at seven. There should have been plenty of time to walk the dog before dark, but it started raining, and then thundering, so we went along the road almost to the trail and then turned back. I'm beginning to hate thunder, especially when I'm outside.

Philip and I then proceeded to spend at least an hour wrestling with the math problems on the SAT practice test that I missed. It was pretty interesting. There was one that he missed, and a few that he said I didn't need to learn just then, sometimes because I was just getting there in algebra and sometimes because he just didn't want to mess with it.

After that we did what he calls calisthenics, the same program as last night. I did better,  but crunches are.....geh. Abs + crunches = jelly, for lack of a better description.

Then we got floats and watched episode 4 of Castle, which was the politicians one. "Hell Hath No Fury" is the episode name--possibly because the murder was arranged/accompliced by the guy's wife, with assistance from his campaign manager, who did the deed for her.

Then I read some Waverley, started Wickford Point, and went to bed.

Bloodhound puppy, golden, Boston bull terrier

Dreamed Lark successfully put up the ewe lambs and two unfamiliar goats. Despite the animals all looking more or less right, it was a pretty unrealistic dream. Everyone went where I wanted them to. Also the ewe lambs looked about the same as when I left, which shouldn't be right.

Lee came early and took Grandma outside, which is becoming the norm. I don't think Philip got up until she left, and I know he never ate breakfast. Lunatic.

Lark did not get a walk this morning. At least, not a normal walk. First she had a ride in the car, where, despite the availability of food all morning, she did not get sick. At all. Then she had a walk--a long one, up a hill along the road from where we parked. Then we had to climb the horribly steep trail up to the stairs. At that point, I sat down--Philip had pretty much left us behind on the trail, and waited for us at the steps. There were, again, a lot of people climbing, although it was rather hotter than Saturday at first, with the sun coming and going. I think we were past the false summit before it began to rain. There was a guy climbing with a couple of kids--Oliver, a dog-lover with lots of energy, and Grace, with less attention to spare as she worked her way up. She really did well, considering how overweight she is--I'd say there's hope for her yet. Quite a lot, really, if she can finish the Incline on her first try. The young woman with the bloodhound puppy was doing it again--what with Lark, Zeus, and a young Golden, it looked rather like a puppy play date on the slope above us. Lark was having lots of fun, as I'd finally let her off the leash. I'd been wondering if Phil would approve, but when he suggested it I quit worrying about it. The view, as omitted in the last post on this subject, was great; I could even see our hill, and figure out approximately where the house was. At one point there was an enormous curtain of cloud obscuring it, though; I wonder if it corresponded with the rain at noon, which Grandma told us about. By the time we made the false summit Phil was pushing me pretty persistently, and then he came up with a system: go thirty steps, rest ten seconds. Okay. We'd done maybe half a dozen of these when there were about four more steps, at which point we dropped the system. There's a lovely flat space with lots of rocks and things to sit on at the top; we sat for awhile, admiring the view, having a drink (Philip had refused all water until the top), giving the dog a drink, and cheering Grace on. Oliver did twenty pushups, but they weren't very deep. It made me think of Grandma's story of taking Doug on the Cog Railway: once at the top, she warned him of altitude sickness, and he promptly went to the edge of the pavement and started doing pushups. Gah. We all took the trail down, in installments as one group or another left separately, and it was quite a while down the trail before my legs were anywhere near as tired as the first time. My left, while sore, was never rubbery--a relief. It began to rain more heavily on the trail, and after a bit of that Lark started giving me pathetic looks--"I don't like this, make it stop, c'mon Mom, there's stuff hitting my head!" She was alright otherwise, but we were both pretty wet by the time (after an interminable trek past various now-empty parking) we made it to the car. I toweled her off a bit with the sweater Grandma had suggested I bring, and which had hitherto served no useful purpose. But Lark lay down on it, and tried to go to sleep. (Unsuccessfully, as she slid about on the vinyl seat, but the effort was there and I appreciated it.) She came wide awake as we got to Boonzaijer's, though, and it dawned on her that Philip and I were getting out of the car and--worse--she wasn't. We went in and got fruit tarts, which are delicious confections of cream in a pastry shell with strawberry, kiwi, orange, and grape slices on top. I looked out at the parking lot as we ate, and there was that little pointed face at the window, waiting for us to come back. We did so shortly, with a slice of Belgian double chocolate mousse cake for Grandma; Lark was delighted to see me. She calmed down before we got home, though. The light was red for our turn onto Nevada, and as we sat there, watching the arrow, hail began to ping onto the windshield, closely followed by huge drops of rain. We--eventually--pulled into the driveway in a downpour. Philip ducked out of the car and dashed for the door. I tried to open my door so Lark could follow while I collected my stuff. It wouldn't open--the rear passenger doors on the Vic open only from the outside. Philip came dashing back to open it, and I let Lark out to follow him, then reached for my hat and backpack. When I got out of the car, Lark was waiting, in the pouring rain (which she detests), for me to come too. I was touched.

Followed lunch, dry clothes, and conversations. My muscles, while a bit tired, are not yet seriously complaining. 

Nap......

Philip went back to Golden after dinner--something to do with work. 

Started Wuthering Heights after the comp shut down. Got two chapters in and switched to Moliere. Grandma has a Heritage volume with Tartuffe and The Would-be Gentleman--much more fun than Bronte, and with great illustrations. And I am glad to say I can now disagree with Napoleon's summary of Tartuffe--"A third-rate comedy"--with a more informed opinion.

15 pushups, 20 situps, 5 elbow-to-knees (Lark always gets worried at this point), and three arabesque stretches.

Big brown mix with black shading again

Up a bit late. The cat was glad to see me. Had to spray some ants--Syd left the can out, with the request to use it if necessary. There were more this afternoon, this time focussing on the food dish rather than the counter. Sprayed those too. Syd's coming home tomorrow--and everything's still alive....(To "everything's" Spellcheck says: "Are you sure about that?" Yes, thank you.)

An uneventful morning walk. It was sunny out, although not, technically, hot, and nobody else was out. Phooey. I'd been hoping for the lady and the Golden, at least. I like 'em. Lark disapproves of Jackson, though. "Get away from her!" she says when I pet him. Sigh. I'm not sure whether to call this an advance in our relationship or not, but either way I disapprove. Gonna have to figure out what to do about it--she can't just tell me not to pet other dogs; I mean, she talks to other people.....I'm sorry, dear, petting is not an exclusive part of a relationship any more than conversation. Live with it.

Ended up not getting on the comp 'til after three, with one thing and another. I regretted the delay once I got on--Doug had been on all morning, talking into thin air. Oops. He seems to be into Russian Novelists at the moment: having cut a swathe through Solzhenitsyn, he's now reading Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. None of these names are acknowledged as legit by Spellcheck--so helpful....

Clouded up by dinnertime, with rain threatening by the time we larked. We met the iPod-bearing jogger with the big brown mix again; he doesn't leash his dog, but always reaches for his collar when he sees us. Last time we ran into him, we were in his blind spot, coming down the creek bed as he came down the main path; he stopped and grabbed for his (obediently heeling) dog as soon as he was aware. I think I disapprove of earbuds while out: there's so much else to pay attention to, and in the end it's rather a liability. Perhaps a sturdy man in good shape, accompanied by a large dog, doesn't need to be quite so alert as a woman whose dog is as petite as she is, but it's always good to be aware of what's going on around you. We also met the Asian/Caucasian couple, who I begin to suspect go on walks for Serious Discussions. That's what it's always sounded like as I approach, although I'm glad to say not too serious. It may just be the natural tendency of his voice to sound like he's talking about something important, though. I don't know. I have every expectation that this will remain the case, nor would I want it otherwise. One family's problems are enough.

Reading Three Came Home. I wasn't at all sure I wanted to read a prison camp book just now, but Keith has a terrific style of her own, amusing and serious in turns, and very sympathetic. I can't find Mom's other recommendation, Christ Stopped at Eboli, but I did find Wuthering Heights. It's on the table for consideration, while I read Three Came Home. I am not at all sure I want to start reading the darker/crazier English classics--Grandma and I were talking about Thomas Hardy at dinner--but I've been thinking about it, and will no doubt continue to do so. A book about three men making sheep's eyes at an ice queen fails to attract me, large supporting cast of actual sheep notwithstanding.

15 pushups, form improving; 16 situps, having realized how pointless it is to continue after my abs have quit and left all the work to back and (somehow) shoulders; 5 standing elbow-to-knees; 3......a bit like an arabesque but I'm holding the outstretched leg at the ankle. All of which are no doubt very good for me, but they don't seem to do much for the Incline-afflicted muscles. Hm.

Husky, bloodhound puppy

Spent some time petting Maddie this morning. I think she's getting pretty bored and lonely over there.

It was nice and cool out, with a stiff breeze and intermittent clouds over the sun when we started out on our walk. By the time we made it to the trailhead, the sun was out for good and we were too low to catch the breeze. Sob. It was pretty hot. We met an older couple with a red husky; I'm not sure, but I'd say the husky was pretty old too. It had a white face anyway, so that was no help, but its pelt seemed a bit faded, and its movements cautious. I don't know. No adventures this morning, anyway, for which I am grateful. And Philip was there when we got home.

Philip napped straight through lunch, and then I embarked on the campaign to get him off the couch and into town for groceries. I was foiled--at least in the latter aim--by a phone call from Ben, who was doing the Incline and wondered if Philip wanted to come. Philip did, and asked if I wanted to come. I supposed so if Lark could come? I was fairly sure I was going to regret it, but by the time Ben said, no, no dogs in his car, I was kinda committed, mentally. So I went. Ben was driving, and besides Phil and me in the backseat there was Tom, his roommate, who wasn't going on the Incline but wanted to do some running on the trail. So off we went. The main point of the drive there, as far as I'm concerned, was when I spotted three bighorn sheep in a meadow at Glen Eyrie. We went by too fast for me to get an alert out, and I was still uncertain that they were indeed bighorns by the time we were past. So we went through Manitou, and eventually found Parking, and spent a minute or two wondering whether or not to wait for the impending storm to blow over or just go up. The ayes had it for "just go up." So we did. I was already having trouble long before we made it to the steps. Philip made me keep going. They decided I'd better set the pace, which meant, among other things, that we stopped pretty much whenever I decided to. This was nice. Anyway, Philip pushed me on, with Ben providing the voice of experience, and we climbed. And climbed. And climbed. Climbed quite a lot, really. Met some interesting people. We leapfrogged most of the way with a man in a red shirt who was trying for the second time that day. A woman with a beautiful bloodhound puppy running extremely elongated ovals around her passed us both coming and going. A girl--younger than me--with her dad were trying it for I think the fifth time, having made it so far only two-thirds of the way, a record they surpassed today. And there were some young men heading down at speed. Not very high speed, and sideways, but I was pretty irritated until the first one slipped. He didn't fall, but I felt a little better. Philip and I turned to head down when we were three-quarters of the way, leaving Ben to go the rest of the way and catch up to us later. Feh. We turned onto the trail, which connects with the stairs at about the two-thirds point, and took it down. Tom overtook us shortly, and Ben caught us with a good way left to go. My legs were pretty tired by then, with the left calf threatening to give way. I hoped I wouldn't need it for anything particularly serious, because if I needed to, for instance, break a fall, I was in trouble. Fortunately there were no crises for it to betray me in, and by the time we reached the bottom, it had more or less steadied. My feet were beginning to complain a bit, though. A light rain began up on the trail, and it was beginning to get serious when we made it to the car. The culverts were full by the time we got to Boonzaijer's for the Traditional Ben & Tom Post-Incline Dessert, a tradition Philip and I were happy to support. Having left home about noon, it was a bit after five when we got home. I was ready for a nap, but we still had the shopping to do. This was successfully navigated, as was the preparation of dinner. It remains to be seen if I can survive both the after-dinner movie and getting to bed; walking Lark is out of the question. I did manage to get over to feed the cat, though, and got the mail. Aren't you impressed?

Golden retriever, poodle mix

Maddie was glad to see me this morning. I spent some time playing with her after checking all the plants, but had to quit when the claws came out. We larked as soon as I got home, which was pretty late. It was hot out. We met a couple of people on the Heller road--a man jogging, and the woman with her Golden who warned us about the rattler last time. She didn't recognize me until she was right close and I was talking to her dog, though. Maybe because I was wearing different camos and a nonmilitary t-shirt? Hm. Anyway. Despite the heat, I managed to maintain a good brisk pace, even back up the hill on the way home, so maybe there's something to be said for long pants? Or something. I've also been thinking about borrowing Syd's bike, which she suggested before she left, but I'm still not sure I want to. I'll probably just procrastinate until I get home.

Owen, as requested, sent me some brother-pics. The one most to the point was Mom standing between Peter and Doug--and looking up at Peter. Quite a ways up, in fact. 

Urk. Maybe I should take a few weeks of Krav before I go home.

After lunch I decided to make brownies. Grandma had shown me where everything was, and I had just cracked the first egg, when the doorbell rang. Oops. It was the folks from JJ Caulking, come to inspect the situation. Jackie was along, apparently an irregular occurrence, plus her husband, Sam, and one of the boys, Clint. I use the term "boy" loosely, as he's twenty-seven. Anyway. They didn't stay very long, and then I got back to the brownies. I'd finished, and was initiating cleanup, when a deer caught my eye: there was a doe, probably once a nice bright red, standing on our side of the edge of the Seamans' driveway. Her presence, in itself, was unusual; besides it being the middle of the day and all, Grandma says the red deer rarely come up here, and it's true that she's the first I've seen beyond the Heller estate. Besides that, however, she looked awful. Her ribs were showing through her faded, patchy coat, and there were suspicious little black marks that made me think of very fat flies all up her neck and along her head. It was pretty sad. I think she was probably old; her movements were measured and slow, like Cassie's, and when Lark dashed into the greenhouse and began barking up a storm she turned her head, examined the situation, and then decided the dog was no threat. She remained wary, however, and after a minute or so she began to move slowly off.

The brownies came out very well. :) Now I'm wondering if I should take Sam up on his teasing and really make brownies for the painters when they come. If I don't I know he'll tease me, and I'd love to see his reaction if he thinks I took him seriously......mweheh.

Larked after dinner. We met only one person, a familiar jogger with his little poodle. No deer. It was fairly nice out, there having been a downpour during dinner, but there didn't seem to be anyone taking advantage of it. There was a police helicopter, though, flying back toward the far end of the little Heller valley.

15 pushups, form improving; 20 situps--note: don't count in English.

Finished Mistress of an Age, reading for three hours straight.....

Four coyotes

Nice and cool and wet this morning. It actually stayed that way all through the walk, too, although the sun came and went. We didn't meet anyone, but I did learn something. Crows really croak. Like frogs. Bullfrogs. Grrroak. I never knew. I would not, however, have minded in the least if the crow, after educating me thus, had either gone somewhere else or shut up. He kept flying, back and forth, overhead until we got out onto the road. Sheesh. He must've thought I really needed the lesson drilled into my head.

Quiet day, really. Reading The Forever King, somebody's sequel to their slightly modified--majorly modified--version of The Once and Future King. Several characters, including Arthur, have reincarnated, and a couple never died. It's not bad, I suppose.

Went over to Syd's to be briefed on the house-sitting. Since it seems the camping trip is a week later than thought, she doesn't need to arrange anything separate for the weekend. Also Phil told her there will be no camping trip, because of Austin's wedding, but I'm still not sure whether he was clear on the actual date at this point. Hope lives eternal....

Larked about seven-thirty. It was really nice out: cool, cloudy, no visible sun. Lots of bugs, though. We were more than halfway along the narrow, twisty second leg of trail when I saw four coyotes: parent leading two pups, with the other parent bringing up the rear. Lark, fortunately, never saw them, but we came under some rather suspicious scrutiny. The adults seemed to feel were best left alone, I'm glad to say. Later on, as we came up the road, a doe bounded across; I'm still not sure if Lark found her or not, because she went off-trail for awhile when we came up to the point she crossed.

15 pushups 20 situps

B's birthday present came last night! She asked me what I wanted months ago, the last time I came over before coming out, and I told her I'd like Emmylou Harris CD's. This, of course, sent her off into a tangent about country music and singers, but she didn't forget. Last night, when I checked the mail, there was a parcel in the mailbox. She sent me the Warner|Reprise Years Anthology. I promptly sat down and wrote a thank-you note, stifling the instinct to send it to Mom first for inspection, and am now wondering if maybe she wouldn't appreciate a phone call more. Being B, she probably would. Sigh. Anyway, it was something nice to listen to as I lay awake until three a.m., trying to fall asleep. 

Larked about nine-thirty this morning, after letting Lee in. It wasn't too hot when we started, and there were a lot of people out. Actually there were only two groups and no solitaries (or dogs), but the first was some sort of tour group of at least half a dozen people. I disengaged as soon as possible. This took some jogging, since I had to get far enough that Lark wouldn't be constantly running over to visit. The second group was much smaller, and consisted of a couple and their grandsons, having a small Cheerio-based picnic in the creek bed, between the crossing of the wide trail and the tributary where the smaller trail joins it. Lark was delighted to make their acquaintance. 

About one-forty-five Jackie from JJ Caulking came. She had an appointment, to discuss painting the house with Grandma, but I think she was a little early. Anyway, she brought her granddaughter along: Patricia, very stylish in a cute kind of way, and thirteen, which I would never have guessed. She looked about my age. They were both on the short side, very dark, but Patricia was pretty quiet. We were kinda....."What do I say? What do I say?" There wasn't a whole lot of conversation on the couch. Fortunately Lark always gives me a method of ignoring awkwardness, by petting her, but......it's not ideal. It's still awkward. She just lets me pretend I don't care. Not. Ideal. Sigh.

Phil came in.....actually, I don't know when. Couple hours before dinner, I guess. Which we prepared jointly. Larked about seven; met those boys and their grandpa, with the addition of their dad, launching a raft on the pond back there.  It was a pretty good raft, actually.

Called B to thank her for the CD's. Now to get the letter mailed...

Watched The Devil Wears Prada. It was a lot better than I expected, and then some. Meryl Streep was awesome. Seriously, working under her would be worth it just for the education in verbal style. The character has a fantastically devastating way with words. If the author had as much a part in creating that character as Meryl Streep did, I am reading all her books. I mean, Miranda's the female edition of Havelock Vetinari!

Twenty pushups on easy. Got up to write it down, and Lark promptly lay down in the position best calculated to block situps, which were next. Did twenty-five, after she was moved.

Golden, dachshund, goldendoodle, golden/german shepherd, short black poodly creature

Sid came over after breakfast to talk to Grandma. She's taking us to the doctor's office this afternoon--somehow I'm going, I'm not sure why. It was nine-forty when Lark and I headed out. It was pretty nice out. It was kinda funny--when I hit the dam, and went onto it to cross, there was a woman with a Golden coming on one side, and a man with a boy and a dachshund going on the other side. We met the three boys just before the big dip in the path, where water runs when there's enough. The man said "hi," the boy--about Isaac's age, I think--told me they had a dog with them too, and he was the short one, and Reggie the dachshund tried to mount Lark. She didn't disembowel him, so I guess she liked him. I said "excuse me," "I see," and "Lark!" in that order. Then we ran for a bit. The other option was to stay with them, and, while interesting, it's a bit more complicated than just leaving them behind. My body took the running rather well, I thought. Anyway, we met the woman with the Golden again in the road, and she told me she'd seen what she thought was a snake, up in the middle of the road, and so had turned back. I thanked her for the warning, and we exchanged a few remarks on snakes in general. She doesn't like 'em. So we kept going, and sure enough, up on the slope before the next patch of shade there was a sort of log shape in the middle of the road. It looked a bit like a dried stalk of mullen, and I thought, "Was that what she was talking about?" Lark promptly trotted up to sniff it, and as promptly bounced back, as the snake hissed and drew its head back. As its tail began to buzz, I called Lark, my voice, after the first shriek, only a little frantic. She looked at me, looked back at the interesting creature making such an odd sound in the middle of the road, looked back at me, and then trotted regretfully over. I leashed her, telling her what a good dog she was, and we made a careful circuit, going off the road a bit, as the dratted snake had a commanding position in the center of the road. I did not unclip the dog until we were inside the house. Lesson no. 1: I do not like poisonous snakes. Lesson no. 2: If Lark is ever bitten, it will be on the nose. Lesson no. 3: Just because you dream your dog is eaten by coyotes does not mean she will be bitten by snakes. Or at least not the very next morning. I noticed even my subconscious couldn't imagine such an eventuality, though.

Sid took Grandma to the doctor's office after lunch. I spent some time on the comp, then crashed. Grandma woke me at about four-fifteen to get ready to go to the ball game. I was ready to go, having walked the dog, eaten, and changed, by five, the estimated time of departure. Ralph came this time--he's allowed to drive, now. I hadn't known, though if I'd thought about it I suppose I would've. Anyway, it was a decent game, I guess. The Dodgers creamed us. It was the same place as last time, so there were a lot of dogs again, starting with two beagle puppies in the parking lot--terribly adorable, they were. Then there were a Goldendoodle, which I visited, and a boxer, which I did not, in the audience. Oh, and those two beautiful Danes went past again. After that was a huge brindle mastiff--it was a perfect setup for Sid's joke, actually, where you go up to the guy in the park with the dog and go "Oooh, handsome," or something like that, and when he's accepting this as a compliment of his dog, you go, "The dog's not bad either." I, of course, am not about to get up the nerve to do this in a million years (Sid says she can't remember if she did this when she was younger or not), much less to run up to a shirtless guy in the park and say it. Fun to think about, though. Hm, what else? Oh, yeah, there was a man walking a pair that may have been an Aussie and a rat terrier. Not sure, though. Aussie mix, maybe--it had a conspicuous tail, for one.....

We larked again after I got home, about eight. We met the couple with the leashed barkers almost first thing, coming up the Nevada road; they reeled their dogs in and kindly waited for us to get to our turn. I got in a breed query, and got an answer on the brown one, at least: golden/German shepherd. Wow. Never would have thought it. Right color, though, I guess. It was actually a really nice walk, after my knee stopped hurting; a certain prancing someone whanged it with a stick before we even made the gate. For symmetry, I guess. The other one's flashier, with the scabbed scrape, but it was hurting at walks for days after I knocked it going after her on a runaway night. Feh. My left stopped hurting after awhile, though, so I could enjoy the walk and wonder whether we'd make it back before full dark. We did, but the sun was no more than a pale orange glow behind the mountains, fading through pink to blue. A buck was standing at the fence between Heller land and the driveway parallel to the road; I think we'd interrupted his feeding, though when I caught his eye he was simply standing, watching us. Lark, of course, noticed nothing, though he stood there until I could no longer see him.

Fifteen pushups, twenty situps. I could probably up the number of pushups now, but I don't have the energy.

German shepherd mix?, blue tick hound

Urgh. Was reading Memory last night. Didn't finish it, for all the good that did.

It was fairly cool on our walk, at least. We were pretty warm when we got home at ten-thirty, though, after the full circuit. Oh, and there was a little white pickup parked up behind the dumpster at the Heller house. Another pickup came by a little after I saw it; there was a seal or something that I didn't get a good look at on the door, and the driver stopped to ask, before driving down to Nevada, if the truck was mine. Well, no. 

Finished Memory. Miles, Miles.....

Grandma had me do some more weeding in the rock path. I got everything in the shade. While I was out there I saw a helicopter, which is common, but it wasn't really a common helicopter. I mean I've never seen this type flying around before. It was a military type, painted olive drab, and it was the type that has two equal rotors. I looked it up, and I think it's called Chinook. The photo I found--from the Miramar Air Show--was of a white one, though.

Ralph came over. Grandma paid him for the lawn, and we discussed the lessons a little further. The problem, apparently, is that parking lots are quietest on weekends. I didn't ask Ralph for weekend lessons, Phil can do that..... oh well. Work in progress.

At seven we larked. It was sunny but cool, and very nice out. We met a group of four, two men, woman, and boy, with two dogs. The off-leash dog looked like a red German Shepherd, which was probably a mix. The leashed one was (I asked) a blue-tick hound. Never met one of those before....Anyway. The clouds, present but distant at the beginning of the walk, were coming closer, and there were rare drops of rain by the time we were halfway home. We made it home before the rain started seriously.

Hmmmm, gotta mop tonight....

Fifteen pushups, twenty situps.

Medium brown dog, German Shepherd/Golden; short black poodly creature

B called. She was asking for my address again, which is pleasantly suspicious, but I think we ended up talking for half an hour, at least. Somehow it figures that if I'm going to get conflicting advice, some of it will be B's. I like Mr. Marble's advice better, anyway. So with that, it was almost ten when I got dressed to take the dog out. Trina says when there's no school, she sometimes stays in PJ's all day. Somehow, even with no livestock, I still can't do this. Interesting. Anyway, it was pretty hot by the time I gave up on finishing the first leg, and roasting when we got home to find Ralph gassing his mower at the end of the drive. Grandma asked him to mow all her long grass, because of the snakes. Sigh.

On a Cake kick.

Asked Ralph if he would give me some driving lessons. He said yes, if Grandma says yes. Grandma said yes. What did I just do?

Pat finally showed up to fix the swamp cooler. Yaaaaaay, cool air.....

Started Hellsing. I hope the art changes.*

Ten pushups in the middle of the afternoon....

*Whaddaya know, it does. That's better.

Walked the Lark after dinner, about seven-thirty or so. It was pretty nice out, but with an unhappy knee and stomachache, I didn't really enjoy it. Made the full circuit, though. We ran into a fair crowd in the willows along the road, though--four teenagers on bikes had stopped to ask directions of an early-middle-aged couple with two dogs. Fortunately the dogs were leashed, and Lark stayed out of range, because the brown one seemed a bit aggressive. I leashed her and dragged her off, but we didn't get enough of a head start, because once they started moving too the dogs could see each other again. Lark wanted to go back, and the brown dog barked. By the time we were on the road outside the gate I had had to carry her, because she sat down and I didn't want to drag her. Grrrrr. When we got to Eagle Rock they turned down the street, fortunately, and I could put the idiot dog down. Grr. I was beat when we got inside.

"Blue" came up on Pandora--for the first time, evidently; nobody'd thumbed it. This is no longer the case. :D

Ten more pushups, twenty situps.

Schnauzer, pit bull

Eventually dragged out of bed. At least my knee scabbed over--I skinned it last night on the stairs outside, which is ridiculous. Also, if Lark is going to make a habit off running over behind Myrdice's to bark at distant threats to the homestead, I am going to start taking her out last thing on a leash. I don't care if she comes back promptly or not, this is ridiculous. And unacceptable, did I mention that? Unacceptable. Unfortunately I'm not sure she knew why I was mad. She should know, at least, that she's not supposed to cross the road, but.....

We went out at about eight-forty-five. It was beginning to heat up but wasn't too bad, but by the time we got home, after an uneventful walk around the loop, it was hot enough. Somebody was weed-eating in the yard at the green house. A woman walking a schnauzer beat us out the gate. Nothing else to report. Hot....

It occurred to me that Whit, from The Sharing Knife, has a lot in common with Peter. Hm.

Read, did my schoolwork, fell asleep. Quiet afternoon.

Was unusually hungry at dinner....ate a lot, then had to convince my stomach that it ought to be full capacity by now. It shut up eventually, but I hope this isn't going to become a common occurrence.

I'm not sure what time we went for a walk, except that Antiques Roadshow was on. I do know it was eight when we finished talking to the middle-aged guy with a very well-mannered pit bull at the gate. He leashed her, because sometimes she does fight--she had a gash on her leg stapled because of another pit down on the road from Heller to Nevada--but she sat, and then lay down, quietly while we talked. He also asked if the older guy walking an Aussie he'd seen before had been my dad, but no. Also the dog was twelve, he said. I'd like to meet that pair sometime. Anyway, we talked for quite awhile, mainly about pits. But we parted eventually. I was surprised and a little amused to see a new sign at the trailhead: below "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES" is a shiny new sign: "DEALING WITH URBAN WILDLIFE-- This is a natural area. There may be rattlesnakes. Please stay on the trail." Wasn't there this morning. I wonder if it has anything to do with the snake the Seamans' neighbors found? Anyway, we made the circuit, getting home after eight-thirty but before dark.

I skipped pushups to see how far I could get with the situps, but I only made twenty-five. -_-;

Mostly lab, possibly pit, and "mostly poodle, if not all"

Philip ended up being the one waking me up this morning, somewhat later than usual for a Sunday--eight-forty, maybe? I panicked, anyway, enough to get out of bed pretty promptly, and then forget what I do first--i.e., let the dog out. I remembered before actually, say pouring cereal, but it was a discomfiting feeling. There was one stoplight where Philip thought we were going to be late, and we just barely made it before the announcements. The sermon was on Romans 8:28-30, which kinda drives me nuts because of course they don't use KJV, and hearing the familiar words so changed drives me insane. Of course, it would probably still drive me nuts if the words were the same, because he would cadence them differently, but not as much.

After church we ran home to let the dog out for a few minutes, and then we went to the Boonzaijers' for lunch. There was rather a flock of children, Jenna's four and one more. Soren, the eldest, is perhaps ten; Decker (?), a friend, about the same. I think Charis told me she was five, Aunica (sp?) is two and a half, and Silas is just walking. He tends to run around under everyone's feet at church, which always rather startles me. I'm getting used to it; everyone else seems to take it for granted. It's such a small church, nobody really worries about losing track of their child. Have I mentioned I love this church? Anyway, besides the little ones, there were Jenna, Steve, Philip, me, and Ben. Ben seems to be an old friend of the family, especially of Jenna's, and he's very good with the kids. He's also a programmer friend of Philip's, so they talk to each other at church a lot. So the older kids all ate at the island, and the grownups and the toddlers ate at the kitchen table. The conversation was pretty interesting, mostly about the duty of Christians to the poor and whether it applies to those who are homeless through their own fault, etc. I didn't have much to contribute, but it was interesting to listen to. We eventually left, some time after dessert, fleeing a discussion of iPhone apps that degenerated into Jenna and Ben taking turns with Phil's phone playing a game on it. Ben threw her his phone so we could escape. 

It began to rain heavily shortly after we got home, and I read Passage until about five or so, when I took Lark out into cloudy humidity. We met two women up towards the far end of the first leg, accompanied by a muscular brindle sort-of-like-a-pit to whose breed they claimed ignorance, and a big black mostly-lab. Lark was pretty relieved to get away, because even after they were leashed the two dogs, both larger than she, continued to bark. Sheesh. So I jogged for a spurt, and then had to quash Lark for jumping at me while I ran, after which we walked. Actually she walked, trotted, loped, and galloped, but I walked. We went down to the head of the creek for splashes; it was pretty lively, after the afternoon's rain. Coming up out of the wash we encountered a familiar pair: a small poodle mix, sopping wet, and a shirtless man on the farther slope of middle age. I think the first thing he said, after greetings, was, "Oh. Military?" "Ah--no, I just like their clothes," I answered, in the most glib reply to that inquiry so far. After those two the rest of the walk was hot but uneventful.

Finished Passage, Philip went back to Golden, started another Mrs. Pollifax. Did I mention Jenna's given me another reason to drive now? She wants an au pair/housemaid, and while I don't think I'd live there coming over a few times a week, or whatever, would be cool. Also certain instincts were stirred by the kitchen floor. I just wanted to grab a mop and attack it. So add it to the list of "Things to Do that Someone Might Actually Pay Me For If I Move Out Here." So far we have:

Work at Rock Ledge Ranch (driver's license required)

Help Jenna out (ditto)

And anything more I think of.

Fifteen pushups, getting easier. Twenty situps--should probably up that.

I don't feel so good.....like my circulation is inadequate or something...... =_= Bleah. Haven't felt this bad in weeks. Dreamed I found a new issue of Shojo Beat in a store....but both covers were ads, and I don't remember any manga inside. I've come to the conclusion my subconscious doesn't have enough to do around here. At least I don't remember any Bara no Tame ni dreams--those would probably be pretty weird.

From Doug: 

"And in other news: Looks like I may well be going to Hank's for a month. If nothing comes up between now and next Monday, I gather. I'm looking forwards to it, I suppose. I mean, working from 8 A.M. to 2 A.M. sounds rather daunting, but the worst I'm worried about is my level of fitness dropping quite a bit... Well, we'll see... We'll see..."

What, I go so kick Doug out too? I feel sorry for Mom already, with just Peter and Owen....

Larked at nine, after Diane got here. Planned to take the long way again, but it was an oven so we took the short way. It took almost as long as I'd expected the long way to take, too. Met a middle-aged couple in great shape jogging. Women, take care of your fitness level and your appearance will look after itself.....at least, that's what I think. 

Carole came today. She's going to Missouri for someone's wedding tomorrow through Sunday, so she scheduled today before she left. I like talking to her. Did I ever tell the story from when I was reading Out of Africa? I'd been reading in the kitchen while she did the studio, so after she finished I was walking by carrying it. "Oh, that's a good book," she said. A very small incident, but it still amuses me.

Decided I'd spent enough time mucking about with equations and went on to square roots today. Considering my mental abilities today, this was probably easier anyway. When trying to think feels like moving through a swamp, it's much easier to go "oh, okay, radicand," than actually try to solve anything. Although I did a fair amount of reading when the math wouldn't work and I was trying to stay awake. Especially during the period when the Net went out.

At five I succumbed to the nap attack that'd been threatening most of the day, figuring since I'd have to wake up for dinner, I wouldn't get enough sleep to seriously interfere with my sleep cycle. I think in the end I got half an hour of uninterrupted sleep, and then I had to start coming to some form of consciousness every five minutes to throw a tennis ball. At least it meant I wasn't completely asleep when Grandma came in. I was adequately conscious to catch the television saying the Nova program tonight would be (in fancy font) "The Secrets--of Samurai Swords." Oh, hey, that looks interesting. So after dinner (salmon) I held Lark off and watched it. It was pretty interesting, really. On the one hand you have professors and scientists from various Western universities talking about atomic structures of steel, and on the other you have Japanese craftsmen explaining about the shrine in the forge. Cool. There were lots of fight scenes, too, interesting mainly for the costumes, and they had a kendo master and his daughter demonstrating this ritual--I'm not too clear on what it was, actually, but it involved the master's daughter shooting at him with a Japanese longbow, and the master had to cut the arrow before it hit him--and it could easily have killed him. He did, too. And there were no fail-safes or anything. They were kinda late in the program, though--it started with smelting the steel, in a clay furnace called a tatara, like the name of Sarasa's brother in The Legend of Basara. I wonder if Tamura-sensei had that in mind? After that was the swordsmith--I was amused to see that the apprentices do stuff like hammering. Very efficient. After him was the polisher, and then they started talking about collectors and museums. Oh well. There were movie clips, though, and did I mention the fight scenes? And the costumes? Mmmm. 

At eight the program ended, and I couldn't hold Lark off any longer, so we left. It was just the first leg again, and very buggy it was. I had to let my hair down first thing. We met three lady joggers who may have been three generations of a family. The ages seemed about right. We made it home about nine, I think.

Fifteen nonstop pushups on hard; twenty nonstop situps.

Husky puppy, Maltese

Gurgh. I've only been reading this manga for two days, and I'm having dreams about it. Abnormally fast results, those. I woke up at three a.m. from one and lay awake for several minutes convincing myself that those shadows weren't ghosts. Sigh. The subconscious is a terrible thing. I don't know whether they were the ones from Ghost Hunt or not, but at least there were some nice characters in my dreams.

At nine o'clock, after letting Lee in, I went over to Sid's to return her milk and get paid. I ended up staying for an hour, with the result that I went home about the time I should've gotten home from walking the dog. By the time Jinn came to take Grandma to the eye-doctor and we got going, it was pretty hot. We took the usual way through the Heller estate, where, by the way, there was still a big scuffed place in the path. I went ahead and wrote "AKUMETSU" with the edge of my boot. We continued up past the pond. I decided on the spur of the moment that we'd take the residential way home. I hate it when I do this, because it always means I have no water, and spend the entire way wondering if Lark's going to be okay. I also ended up worrying about myself for a bit, which is rare because I don't get as hot as Lark does, but I was fine after a house with a spigot on the front and no ground-level windows. The lawn was so soggy it squished, so I didn't even feel very guilty. That didn't help Lark, though, because there was nothing for her to drink from. I think I'm going to start carrying a plastic bag to line my hat for her. A couple puddles tided her over until we hit the drainage below the dorms. There was a very big puddle in the bottom of the depression there. I sat on the dike plotting our advance while Lark splashed around, attacking the columns she produced and ending by tearing around in circles through the water--which may have been three to six inches at the deepest point. Our course was originally set for the Pole's driveway, at the closest point. This course was rendered inadvisable by the presence of a woman on the balcony, having a deep discussion on the telephone. I did not think she would be happy to meet me, so we went along the outside of the fence until the pines blocked her view. I should perhaps add that I don't think she ever noticed us. Anyway, we ended up going along below the curve of the rise until we were in the next neighbor's yard. Lark led the way, being familiar with the territory, until I decided we could get up to the drive. We followed it home and came in across the lawn. Interestingly, I think it took less than an hour and a half--even with the boots' weight, I'm still covering ground substantially faster than I was. Interesting.

Oh. Yeah. And we met a woman with the most adorable little husky on a leash. I think she's trying to train him not to pull while he's still small--good luck to her. He had really soft fur, though, and blue eyes. His ears were the best, though. It was like a cross between a rabbit and a mule. The effect was adorable. He realized shortly that Lark had possibilities, but when he stood up against the collar, waving his forepaws at her, she backed out of reach and watched him suspiciously. I took ourselves off.

Finished Ghost Hunter. Somebody made a comment about Bara no Tame ni that I didn't remember happening, and I started thinking about it....so now I'm rereading that. Better hope I don't end up rereading Berserk. 

Lark and I went for our walk at about seven-twenty. We met the lady from next door to the Seamans, Donnice (sp?), out walking their Maltese. Telling Grandma about it, she said, "Yes, Donnice is cute."   ........Okay. Anyway, it was nice and cool, but buggy, so I let my hair down. I think I lost two Apparent Maturity levels and gained three Apparent Weirdness levels, but hey, I also gained five Pest Repellant levels, so it was worth it all the way. Besides, I only saw two people on the way home--Ralph Seaman was talking to someone in an SUV. Oh well.

"Brianstorm" by the Arctic Monkeys had me humming a bit from the Weird Al AMV for most of the walk. =_= Dan dan, dudadudadudadudadu dan dan..... never mind.

Fifteen pushups, lower and harder than usual. Broke once or twice, no pattern. Fifteen situps, could probably start doing more if I didn't do 'em right after pushups.

Got up without too much trouble at seven-thirty. Fed Maddie after breakfast, then got dressed for church. I ended up wearing my green English teacher dress, remembering much too late that the fabric is too heavy for midsummer. Sigh. It cooled down before we came home, though, so it wasn't a morning of misery.

The sermon was on sanctification. Pastor Reese took it through the meaning of sanctification, the duties toward God and man, and sanctification as a way to salvation--the analogy he used was a road, with transportation still needed. It was a pretty good sermon, anyway--Dave's usually are.

We stayed to lunch afterwards, which is to say I ate and Philip sat. We sat with the Boonzaijers and Ben; Jenna's always fun, and there were two toddlers as well. Annica's slightly easier to deal with than Silas, but Silas has the advantage of not trying to speak. Oh, well, sometimes she's intelligible. Ben calls her Anakin. Uh-oh. I talked to Sarah DeBenedittis for a good while before lunch, too--yay Bennet girls. Phil's idea, not mine. Pray for my sake I never get them all associated with the characters Philip says they correspond to, because then I am in trouble. I think he said Abby is Lydia and Liz is Lizzie....help me..... After lunch I talked to Mr. Marble, which is a change because when Mrs. Marble is there he doesn't talk much. She's in Alaska getting the house ready to sell, so she'll be gone for six weeks. Sigh. Mr. Marble is really nice too, though, and we had a nice talk. He gave me some good advice on the whole "what am I going to do with myself" question. He says whatever I end up doing, studying a language now is bound to be useful someday. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. He also said I should ask Dad what he thinks I should do. Philip agreed. I set them both straight.

I think it rained here while we were gone. Hm. It didn't rain while we were in church, but there was a puddle on the corner all the same that sent water spraying in my window. -_-; Fortunately it mostly went on the dashboard.

It rained again after we got home, and then after it stopped Lark and I went out. The grass and all was pretty wet. We met a young couple, probably bf/gf, out a little past the pond. We turned back when Lark finished talking to them, delayed again when she decided to wade in the pond. That's rare. O.o Anyway, we stayed on the wide path for awhile, but the call of the water grew to strong to resist and we ended up walking along and in the creek bed the rest of the way to the road. The last of the water went in the grass some time before the crossing, though.

Walked again after dinner, at seven. This time we followed the creek all the way up to the culvert, then came back by the path. It was really fun. Some idiot had scratched an obscene drawing in the trail, though, close to the creek crossing. I scuffed it out and was mad most of the way to the gate, but by the time I got to the gate I was just wishing I'd written "akumetsu" or something under the scuffed spot. That would have been cool. *sigh* Oh well. We got home in time to help Phil, just back from church elections, haul those branches jichan lopped up to Grandma's branch pile.

Fifteen pushups, without breaking stance, and fifteen situps without stopping. That was because I got distracted and forgot to stop at five, though.

Black lab

Ran over to Sid's to look after Maddie as soon as I was dressed, then came back to walk the Lark. It was pretty hot, but nothing really interesting happened. We met a middle-aged man with a grizzled beard when we were almost to the gate, but otherwise there was nobody out. I wonder if it was the same man who was watching a deer that time? 

Phil and I got out to the grocery store about eleven-thirty. Did the shopping, came home for lunch, and then went out again. We went to REI to try on shoes; I found some hiking boots I liked (Philip paid--mostly) and Phil tried some sandals. I think he decided on that model, but to see if the flagship store in Golden has a better selection. They looked good, anyway.

It was raining when we got out of REI, and continued to rain as we drove down to the surplus store, where I got a boonie hat. It'll do. Next was Safeway, because Grandma said they have the best watermelons. Met a black lab on the sidewalk outside.

Philip's pretty well decided we're not going to the Mann's picnic, which, he says, has probably moved to the church with the rain. Phooey.  We had pork ribs for dinner, with watermelon salad and baked potatoes. It was really good. 

Maddie Madeline was ready to go out when I went over after dinner, but it was sopping outside and I've no confidence in my ability to get her in again. Besides that Lark was waiting for her walk, so I apologized and left. Lark and I went the usual way, by the signs the first people to do so since the rain. The creek was running fast, with an interesting detour into the path at the crossing. I think the detour sort of leaked off the main streambed in bits, and then merged in the scrub there to flow into the path a little above the crossing. It was fun to watch, at any rate. The weather was nice, we met no one but heard their firecrackers, and my new boots were satisfactory. It may be a while before I'm used to the weight of 'em, though.

Philip's planning on Men in Black tonight (it was going to be Independence Day, but I've seen it before) so I'd better save this now. I'll report on the movie in the morning, probably while Philip showers.

Fifteen of each after the movie. Getting easier, not that the bloody cheering section helped.

Dalmatian-Dachshund, coyote, and three deer

Well, I did get my own adventure in this morning's dream....and it was depressing. Very depressing. Reminds me of the beginning of Mission: Impossible. Feh.

We larked at ten to nine. It was pleasantly cool, but heated up fast. Ther was a lovely red doe on the road, in the bend shaded by willows and cottonwoods. Lark saw her before I managed to get close enough to see around the tree in the way. Sigh. We met the funniest dog, though, out walking with a couple of women at the first bend in the trail after the creek bed. He was white, all over black spots, and had a Dalmatian head, but he also had the shortest little bow-legs. "Dalmatian-beagle?" I hazarded. "Ah--Dalmatian-dachshund," one of the women said. Oh. Of course. I should have guessed. It was exactly that sort of body. Maybe the Dalmatian head distracted me, or maybe I just didn't want to think about such a crossing. I still don't, but that dog was hilariously cute. They almost caught up with us while we were at the watering hole, but we dodged up to the other trail and I don't think they saw us.

Decided to finish Beauty Pop, now that it's been completed for yonks. I hadn't remembered quite how much fun some of the characters are.....

Was thinking at lunch that the Dalmadoxy could be a legitimate hybrid. I'm sure it could be popular.

Buckets of rain after we got the mail. Was that at four? Hm. It was lightening up when I finished BP, anyway. Well, it'll probably be muddy on tonight's walk, though. 

Mom called during dinner. I talked to her while Grandma finished eating--so nice. She says they've put the paddock back together, and are separating the lambs from the ewes. Glad to hear it.

We went for our last run about seven-thirty. It was reasonably cool, with clouds advancing to regain the ground lost in a retreat after this afternoon's rain. There was a very handsome buck standing near the road, screened from Lark by a stand of trees. I didn't see him at all until I was nearly past, then the flick of an ear, perhaps, caught my eye, and I twitched. He calmly observed as I went a few more steps, at a normal gait, then carefully backtracked to greet him. He watched and listened, undisturbed, at I chatted him up and looked him over. He was the red type, very handsome, with what I understand to be four-point antlers, still velvety. I stayed for a few moments, until Lark began to get suspicious, and then I went on, feeling that it would be fearfully impolite to let her chase him. Makes me wonder if hunting is allowed, down there--although he may have felt safe simply because of the season.

Our walk continued uneventfully for the full loop until we were almost out into the creek bed, still in the little scrubby area where the little crick probably flows once a year into the wide wash. I was watching Lark run into the brush around the creek bed, where she would probably meet me when I came out, when a movement caught my eye through the scrub. A deer? The movement was pretty low, though, and of a different type--I waited for the animal to come clear: it was a coyote. Heading for Lark. I yelled for her to come, and she did, promptly, possibly having developed an ear for hysterical summonses by now. So she came, and looked back, and--oh, cool, what's that? Hey, (running over) what are you? LARK! Come! Huh? Oh, Sorry, gotta go, Mom's calling. And she came. Thank you. She even stayed close all the way out of the long grass ("Don't go in the long grass! Velociraptors!") and into the Heller road. I kept a frantic eye on her, having no hope of tracking the coyote in the scrub, brush, and tall grass, and by the time she was tired of surveillance I was beginning to tell myself things like, "Well, he looked like he was going somewhere. He won't take the trouble to follow us, will he? Probably not." She did disappear, though, in the scrub oaks a fair way up the road, and I had calmed down sufficiently that I hadn't freaked out by the time I saw another buck, of the gray variety this time, bounding along the fence line that runs down to the gate. There seemed to be a small black streak on the grass some distance behind him, and I focused on the next clear view. Yes, Lark was after him. I continued, no longer worried except in the automatic, almost casual way of any mother while their child is doing something stimulating. Do deer kick? Elk and moose kick. Nah, she's always too far behind. I doubt a deer would fight, anyway. Well, probably a mother would, if she had fawns nearby. Not a buck, though. Deer are supposed to be defenseless--but defencelessness doesn't mean you can't be an aggressor, with the right attitude.--She came when I whistled from out past the gate, coming down the slope and under the rail fence up there. When I called her for the leash, she said, Are you kidding? Give me a break. Oh, fine. Whatever.--And she lay down to pant until I'd clipped the leash on. I've been making her sit for the leash, past few days, and she apparently felt drop was less demanding. We made it home, anyway.

New manga, Teppen!. Showbiz, which is okay. Girl trying to find unknown family member, with a comedy tag. Hm, potential. Dorm-room gender-bender--well why didn't you say so?! Wheeeee! Good, strong heroine, too--personality-wise, I mean, and being a boy was more of a misunderstanding than anything else. Did I say whee? Wheeee! Only three chapters so far, though. I hope they don't make it twenty volumes--five should be about right, I'd say. Anyway, bai now! :D

Three sets of five each situps and pushups, just before showering. Lark administered first aid after the pushups, until I was ready for situps. Oog......

Golden retriever and Border collie, ewok-teddybear

Took forever to go to sleep.....and then Grandma got me up before seven-thirty. Come on, Grandma, Lee isn't coming until nine! And it was an interesting dream! Although I wouldn't want to be the hero. Perpetual festering wounds aren't funny. I would have liked to watch his friend finish yelling at him, though......Five more minutes?

Well, at nine-twenty Grandma went and looked at the calendar, which said Lee isn't coming until tomorrow. By that time I had about forty minutes to walk the dog in, so we bolted. I wasn't sure we could make the whole circuit before ten, so we just did the first leg, and I jogged and ran a lot. There was a little traffic tangle a little way along on the way back from the watering hole; Lark was lagging behind a bit, and I stopped to wait for her to catch up. A lady on a bike came on, and she had almost passed me when I heard a woman's voice calling a dog. Oops. So I let her pass, and then I started running for Lark. When I came into sight, she was at a bend in the trail, engaging in wary incivilities with a familiar-looking Border collie. Where were the woman and the golden? Around the bend in the trail, with another girl, rather younger. So I said hi to everyone, in varying tones and enthusiasm levels (with Lark lowest), and the woman said, "I think we've seen you before." "Yeah," I said, "couple days ago." Having petted the golden, I decided I'd better extricate us. So I started out running, calling Lark very firmly and wishing the idiot collie would quit chasing us. It did, very shortly, but I ran for a good while. I'd decided, a few days ago, that my body wasn't being challenged much by walking anymore, and I need to run more. But the incentive to run, when it's really hot and you want to have some energy left to get home with, is pretty low. So today, with the deadline for getting home and the canine imbroglio, was a good day.

So Grandma told me Sid called while I was gone. Did I mention that last night, just as she was coming in from Last Call, Lark got kinda woofy and Intruder! Intruder!-ish? Yeah. And again at twelve-thirty, while I was trying to go to sleep. She woke Grandma, too, just in time to hear the Rockies lose in the thirteenth inning. So that was our angle. Sid called to say that they had a bear visit last night and tear the trash apart. Meep. Actually, she also said that they're going camping this weekend and want me to take care of Maddy, but I still need to talk to her about it. (And say, Yes! I'd love to! Where's the cat food!)

So Grandma told me about the camping while we were in the car, with Jinn, going to the bridge luncheon. It was really nice. They had it at Joan's, because Norma's kitchen is a disaster zone with remodeling, but Norma still kinda presided. Harriet was there, with pictures of the Ethiopian twins her daughter is trying to adopt after, what, six miscarriages? So their one little boy will have little sisters. Also Grandma told her about Mom having all of us after her various miscarriages, which is to say there's still hope, so who knows, there could be more. So with Jinn and Grandma there were five, and they had a little game of bridge while Joan cleaned up. I, fortunately, had Barrayar in my purse, having contemplated the possibility of this eventuality. It was really fun talking to them over lunch, though, which was a variety of chicken salad (with palm and artichoke hearts) followed by lemon cream pie. It was all delicious. Joan sent the salad home with us. Wait, was it Norma's salad? I think so. Anyway, that's dinner. So Jinn brought us home, all speculating on the species of the bright yellow flowers covering the hill behind Joan's house. It's a lovely and eye-catching effect.

Read Barrayar while Grandma napped, and then it was time for Anti-Dog-Hair Measures, i.e. brushing and sweeping things.

Two sets of five pushups while waiting for pasta to boil for dinner. Kind of hard by the second set, but not too bad.

Took Lark for a run after dinner, from about eight to eight-thirty. It was really nice out: cool, with a pleasant nip to the arms and legs without being cool enough to bite. We met a family of four toiling up the Heller road: boy on bike, a couple years younger than me, toiling along at the laboriously slow pace of one who has to wait for everyone else; sister, maybe older; mom; and dad, with dog on leash. It was a very small dog, of uncertain breed, but it looked rather like the dog in the "When teddy bears and ewoks breed" lol. Lark got along with him quite well. We went perhaps two-thirds of the way to the end of the first leg, then turned back. I jogged in prolonged spurts. The family had still gotten a surprisingly little way past the creek crossing when I met them again. This time the boy stopped to respond to Lark's advances, which infallibly gets a rather warmer smile and hello from me than ignoring her, or merely saying hi and passing on, does.

I've been jogging more, since walking doesn't challenge my body enough unless I go farther than I have time for. What I've been wondering is whether it might not be a better idea to walk with weights instead--carry my backpack, put some books (although I'd hate to put books to such a use--maybe I can find something else) or something in it. Jog when I've gotten somewhere with that, maybe. It's something to think about, at least, and if I want to adventure I'd better be able to shape up to carrying things. Even if I don't adventure, it's always nice to know one's in shape if one does, by chance, have something interesting happen.

see more dog and puppy pictures

Lark....

Woke up about seven and got up to put on dry underwear and rinse some of the blood out of the wet ones. Went back to sleep and slept in. Interesting dreams--involving horses, unusually. Lambs, too. I made the interesting discovery that my subconscious thinks the sewer pond is a lot shallower than it is. Uh-oh. My conscious self believes that no self-respecting livestock over the age of two weeks should need to be pulled out anyway, though.....although sheep aren't particularly self-respecting......and waterlogged wool can create balance issues.....Fortunately none of the ponies were involved at that point.

Pulled some more weeds out of the walk instead of walking the dog. Threw a lot of balls while I was at it, though. It was really hot.

Fell asleep after lunch. Woke up to let Diane in, then crashed again. Grandma came into the studio at almost five to find me petting the dog, on the floor to stay awake and cool off. She said if I was cramping I should probably walk the dog--I had arrived at a similar conclusion, although along somewhat different paths. Anyway, we got out before five. It was sunny when we started, and while the sun went behind the clouds pretty quickly it remained hot. We met a man on a bike in the trees on the first leg, and then there was a jogger as I was coming out of the wash where Lark drinks. I heard him go by, and then, as Lark streaked past, swear. I called her as I came out, and then I got clear and could see him. The very well-tanned jogger was bent over with his hands on his knees, panting, and when he saw me he said, "Didn't know what that was!" "Australian Shepherd," I said, and then, "Hello, doofus," as she sidled toward us. The jogger started off again, and I had to call her back from following him. Lark, Lark.....She didn't cause any trouble with the next jogger, a young man with longish hair over halfway along the second leg--we passed one another, and went on. I don't think he was much older than me, if at all. After him there was no one until the gate, where we passed a young man on a bike with a pale, emphatically smooth-shaven lower face. I don't know if his upper face matched under the sunglasses, but I wondered if he'd just got rid of a beard.

"Dark Blue" by Jack's Mannequin running through my head the whole time. Well, at least it's a song I like...

Grandma made dinner, some pasta with veggies. She needed to make at least half again as much.....but I supplemented with cheese sauce on bread. The pasta was really good, though.....

I just remembered I have some assigned reading to do tonight. Gotta go.

Hm. Looked it up and I came out on May 15. So.....let's see if I can stay until July 15......

Father Paul called about eight to ask when would be a good time to come over. He's slated for Friday, in the end. The schedule is a terrifying thing......

The "Human" channel just opened with "This Boy." O.o

I found out on MangaU that Shojo Beat's not gonna run anymore. Viz is dropping the magazine. Nooooooooooo! Please, no! Do you guys have any idea how long it'll take me to buy the volumes of Honey and Clover up to where the magazine was? Huh? Huh? And now I have to get the chapters up to date on my reading list for stuff like Crimson Hero so I can read the chapters when the scanlators release them! Granted, at least I can drop Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time and Sand Chronicles now (Sand Chronicles I'll read the end when it comes out, though), but you know what? IT AIN'T WORTH IT. At all. 

Ten pushups and situps right before bed. They weren't all in a row, but they weren't too hard, either. Lark lay down and watched wistfully without being told. I am, however, reasonably certain that this training will somehow not be applied to, say, Peter doing pushups. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to apply it or not.