Busy day! We started out herding, of course, with the crew (in theory) me and Owen. In the end we were both given jobs, which we were supposed to do while herding. Save us all from trying to do regular chores with Dad around! So I was stuck trying to pick up trash and supervise the herd simultaneously, and Owen wasn't even supposed to pretend that he was herding, so far as I could tell. Sigh. So we went in from herding, took a break, and then I mashed tomatoes for Mom, who is trying to stay ahead of the garden without much success. She hasn't drowned yet in tomato sauce, at any rate. Following such indoor kitchen-based activities (there was cabbage beet relish, too) we all had some comp time, except Doug, who had gone with Dad to get a clothes dryer from Terry-at-work. While I was at Della, and therefore in an ideal position for phone answering, there was a call from a man in Adams who had a washer he wanted Dad to fix. He was willing to deliver it, and would deliver it in fifteen minutes. Did we have anyone here to help unload? I cast a panicky look at Peter and said we did. When he came, in an aged pickup with "Mayflower Honey" on the doors, he was accompanied by a grandson perhaps my age. They made short work of the dryer, I took Mr. Brewster's name and number, and they left. All very efficient.

Next the boys and I had to go pick up the pasture. Gah. They mostly sat around in a tree while I was out there, but after I went inside they seem to have accomplished something on their own accounts, which is good. They got on the computer while I waited around for Mom, and then she and I practiced my driving. I spent some time driving around the neighborhood, then she had me practice steering in the parking lot by the ballpark. It was a bit of a relief to actually get out and practice; I keep worrying that I'm just going to waste my permit and never actually learn. But maybe not.

By this time it was late afternoon, and I felt I could get away with going upstairs and reading. Mom has a new author for me, a rather good sci-fi writer named Connie Willis. The book was a novella, titled Uncharted Territories, and Mom wanted me to pay attention to Willis' backstory technique, which is very smooth. The story is fun, and I'm considering pursuing the author--except I still haven't gotten through Loretta Chase, even the books Mom wants me to read. Ack. And of course there's Diana Wynne Jones, but I've given up on getting through her in anything approaching an organized manner and am going to grab her books where and when I can. This decision was heavily influenced by the fact that Gere is the only branch with anything approaching a decent collection, and it's still pretty sad. Also I have to compete with the kids for 'em. Sigh. I may not finish reading her before I'm hunting her down for my kids.

Dad and Doug got home, after four, only to unload appliances and take off again after more. Then, when they got home for good, they had to start fixing things. The focus was on Mr. Brewster's washer, which was speedily healed; I'm still not sure if it was fixed by the time he phoned, or if Dad finished up while talking. Anyway, Dad was on the phone for quite a while, in that time discovering: Mr. Brewster is descended from the Governor Brewster of Plymouth Colony; he was very impressed with our professionalism (coughcoughchokeouch); his grandson had us pegged for homeschoolers right off; and he'll trade us a beehive for the washer repair. Ack!

Dad and Doug have replaced Mom's no-longer-functioning dryer, and they tried to put in a new washing machine but the new one didn't work. It was determined more economical to put the old one back. But we have a new dryer.

Owen is down with the flu. The germ has been making the rounds, starting with Mom, then going to Doug. Doug's symptoms have been reduced to a persistent cough, and Mom's entirely better, but Owen's in pretty bad shape. At least nobody's throwing up.

Wildflowers

Followed Lark to Sid's this morning, and ended up talking for quite a while. One result was a late walk. Too hot! The main point of interest was, again, at the gate: a nice young man was driving a tractor in. Strange. Lark didn't want to pull over, drat her.

Finished Girl Fight. I look forward to more of this.

Seven pushups just before lunch. Almost immediately after lunch Grandma went down for her nap, and I went over to Sid's for our shopping trip. So, for starters, we went to the military surplus store down by Old Colorado City to look at clothes. I ended up not getting any pants, but there were some t-shirts I got. There was a Goodwill near there, so we went there next, and I found several shirts, a skirt, and a very nice dress there. Sid got a charming little music box, a delightful confection in pink and white with three horses. It's in perfect condition, and plays the first couple of bars of "The Sound of Music" over and over.

It was raining when we got home. I showed off my purchases to Grandma, and then I went to sleep. Philip woke me up.

Grandma and I had bisonburgers for dinner while Philip napped, and after dinner I brushed the dog. We larked out at about seven-thirty, and somewhat curtailed the loop in order to get back before dark, coming back along the first leg, which is either shorter or just easier. We met a lady jogger, but no one else. The late wildflowers are blooming: the yellow clover; an odd plant called the prickly poppy, with a stalk like a thistle and a bloom like a white poppy; a purple flower that resembles a vetch blossom on steroids, but with radial compound leaves; the ground cacti, the bane of Lark's poor paws, with adorable yellow cups with dark red or aloe-green centers. Some have buds of dark pink, which will be opening in the next couple of days.

Finished Out of Africa.

Hadrosaurs

Well, everybody slept in, which is to say Grandma slept in so I did too. Who knows what Philip does. Philip having called the paper yesterday to say we keep getting two papers and it's rather a nuisance, please stop, there was no paper this morning. Typical, and not unexpected.

It was a long afternoon. Sid was here when Philip and I left for Denver. We made it to the Botanical Gardens at perhaps two, the iPhone having been used to good purpose in that area. We parked in one of those areas where all the houses are really huge and really nice, in an antique sort of style. Lots of lovely dogs, although not to speak to. Anyway, we got into the Gardens and started taking pictures. The first gardens was, I believe, the water-conservation one, showcasing plants that do well on little water. We took some nice photos there, and quite a lot in the Japanese Garden of the Winds, the Shoku-En. There was a tea house where you could take part in a tea ceremony, but it was closed today. There were water gardens, and an Asian garden, and a knot garden of herbs, and a rose garden, and romantic and fragrant gardens (they were doing weddings in the Romantic and South African gardens--I think we went through just after them both) and an indoor jungle garden which was wonderfully humid. One thing that was really cool was that there were dinosaurs throughout the gardens, so there was an Edmontosaurus in one, and a Kritosaurus in another (yay duckbills!) and the most prominent was the Daspletosaur, a relation of T. Rex. We both got pictures in front of that. Anyway, from the map, we missed a few, but we saw the Bambiraptors, the Daspletosaur, the Edmontosaurus, the Kritosaurus, the Oviraptor which was right out front, the Placerias which I remember from the first chapter of Walking with Dinosaurs, the Dimetrodon, the Quetzalcoatls, and the Syntarsus in the jungle. Please note that the only name here acknowledged by Spellcheck is T. Rex. Although they put up with Velociraptor too. I was getting pretty hungry by the time we finished, so then we went to Red Robin for either late lunch or early dinner, at about four or so. I remember they played "Viva la Vida" while we were in there. We both had hamburgers, and I had a Barq's in hopes that the caffeine would be adequate. I suppose it was, but I was still pretty tired when we got home.

This was not for a long time. After Red Robin, we went to Elitch Gardens. It was like an alien planet. The buildings, when you walk in, have a vaguely Wild Western Main Street look, and when this effect is combined with crowds of unfamiliar big-city people and the unfamiliar music, the result is something like the beginning of the movie, when the main point is to emphasize where this is set and that it's somewhere you've never been. The life-forms help--there was a group of three guys with long dark hair that, when gelled, produced spikes ranging from three inches to a foot tall. I tried to take a picture, but we were in line for the Sea Dragon and the guys were behind a tree. You can see them if you look, but it's not a great picture of anything but a tree. 

The Sea Dragon was the first ride we went on. I think we were in line maybe half an hour, although since this is Philip's average and I think one of the others was longer than that it may have been less. That one Gorillaz song, 19-2000, was playing when we got in line. The sound quality was fairly awful, but it was nice to hear something familiar in such a strange place. That ride was just plain fun, as Philip said we were starting out tame. It was, I suppose, but it was fun, like a really big swing. There was something of a bonus in the location, too, as it was right next to this ride where a boat went down a water slide, and we had a great view of the splash.

The second ride was the roller coaster. It was the oldest, tamest one they had, with no loops or anything, the Twister 2, successor to the first Elitch's roller coaster. The frame was wood, white paint peeling. It was fairly scary. I clenched my teeth, braced myself, and rode it out. Philip filmed the whole thing--it turns out it was only about two minutes, but two minutes is pretty long when you're on a roller coaster. After the Twister we went and got in line for the Boomerang. For the Boomerang, what more or less happens is you go up the incline, it drops you, you go around the loops and up the other incline, and then that drops you and you do it all again backwards as well as upside down. Lesson: don't bother opening your eyes when you're upside down. You can't see anything anyway if they were shut that hard. Also I think my ears popped multiple times, but that may have been from clenching my jaw. Anyway. They sold us a picture--I think it's from right when you start down the first drop. Philip was grinning like an idiot the whole time, except when he was laughing. There was a third coaster, the Mind Eraser, which involved hanging in a seat from the rail. That had a pretty loopy course, but fortunately the parking meter had expired and we had to go. I fell asleep in the cars making notes and, eventually,  narrating a Miles story in my head, until the radio took over with a story about cell phone viruses and how they won't become a problem until there are enough people with smart phones that all use the same OS. I tried to get back to Miles, but no luck. We got home at nine or so to an overwhelming welcome from Lark. She was so wound up she came back inside to check on me without even being called. Philip showed Grandma our pictures and video, I sat down to write this, and one of the cactus spines I picked out of Lark's nose this morning somehow managed to get me in the back and the foot when I sat down. Gack.

The end of all this is that Lark didn't get walked today. Uh-oh.