In Arizona

The plane pictured here is one of Pterodactyl Airlines (actually Great Lakes Airlines) finest transports - a Beechcraft 1900-D. It seats a whole 19 passengers, although there were only two of us on board from Phoenix to Prescott, AZ on Wednesday, the 24th of September. From Prescott they were flying to Ontario, California -- with absolutely no passengers on board. (Not very cost effective, is it?)

It seems that the cat I took to the vet had a urinary tract infection and a respiratory infection. They gave him some antibiotics that Valerie has to feed him twice daily. It's some pink crap that she has to stick a dropped half way down his throat to get him to swallow it. For 16 years old he puts up one heckuva good fight to NOT get his medicine.

We're preparing for my mother's move next Monday, when we set off from Prescott to Boise, Idaho in a U-Haul moving van. Ah, the joys of the open road await. Her house looks much different with everything stacked in boxes in one corner of the living room, or else having already been given away to other people who wanted some "stuff".

A crew from her church will be there Sunday afternoon to load the van, and then bright and early Monday we'll leave Prescott for the last time. Another chapter has come to a close, yet another one waits to be written.

It's Going to Be a Long Week...

I'm back... but not with a vengeance. Just back. I mentioned that last Sunday we took a bike ride in Boise and wound up at "Joe's Crab Shack" along the Boise River; this is a picture of the view from our table.

Prior to this post is one called "Testing". Sure, I probably could have just deleted the thing and have moved on, but laziness has its benefits (in other words, that's one less thing I have to do). What it was all about was a test of my new cell phone, a "Blackberry Curve 8330". Even thought these phones have a ridiculously small keyboard on them, they still have internet access and, therefore, I can use it to post to the blog when traveling (if for some reason my laptop is not with me). I'll still need to try taking a picture using the phone, and then uploading it to this blog site before I can call my test 100% successful.

On Wednesday of this week I'll fly one-way to Arizona. Yes, that's right... I'm leaving Valerie for another woman. No sense in getting a round trip ticket for this little adventure. My mother is in the process of getting her household goods packed and will be my navigator as we travel by U-Haul moving van back to Boise beginning on the 29 of September. There's a one bedroom apartment (handicapped accessible) that has come open and she'll be moving in on the 1st of October. From then on anytime her computer gives her troubles I won't be able to use the excuse of "I'd have to be there to see what it's doing" -- I'll just have to stop by after work and fix it!

In the cat market... our oldest cat Ralph has suddenly started peeing in a certain area in our bedroom. This leads to speculation of why he suddenly is exhibiting this behavior (when he's never had a problem with the cat box before). Perhaps he's experiencing kidney shutdown, as he isn't drinking like he used to and he (like our other cat) is diabetic. Or could it be kitty alzheimer's, where suddenly he's too stupid to remember where the cat box is? I fear that Monday he will be taking a ride to the vet with me... and at 16 years old and whizzing on the rug, this might turn into one of those "one way" rides.

Testing!

This is just a test to see whether I can post to our blog from my cell phone.

To those reading this, please excuse me for this little trial run!

What to Do?

It's one of those Sundays... do we do anything, or just stay home and take it easy? We just came off of working six days straight, and we get to do that all over again starting tomorrow. I'm torn between taking a nap and heading up to a lake that we've never visited before -- surprisingly. It's about 40 miles from here, 26 of which is on a dirt road leading up a valley in the mountains northeast of here. If we go, I'll have to remember to take the camera...

Update: September 15th

We didn't make it to Deadwood Reservoir, but instead went into Boise and rode the tandem around. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant along the Boise River and then returned home. More information to follow in the next regular update.

A Lazy Day...

It was a Saturday, part of the once-every-sixth-week rotation where we have a Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to make a three day weekend. Unfortunately, Valerie had to work this Saturday, leaving the cats and myself to wander aimlessly around the house. As you can see by the photo, Kittle wasn't much into wandering and spent most of the day passed out near the back door, where she could experience the fresh air without actually having to get up the energy to go outside to enjoy it.

This photo was taken with a digital camera we picked up just yesterday evening to replace one that suddenly decided it didn't want to work anymore. It's a Nikon CoolPix P-60, which means that it's an 8.1 megapixel, 5X zoom point-and-shoot camera with a thin enough profile to fit in the back pocket of a bicycling jersey with no problem. It replaces a 4 megapixel Pentax Optio that had a 3X zoom, and probably cost less than the Pentax did when we bought it.

I spent some time playing with the camera today, and took a LONG nap to make up for a restless night, mowed the lawn, knit a little bit but actually managed NOT to give into the temptation to jump into the car and drive off somewhere.

The cats and I all say, "mission accomplished!"

I'm Feeling Blue...

This is a [poor] photo of the sweater that I entered in the Western Idaho Fair a couple of weeks ago. The attendant who took the entry felt that I should enter it in the "Made By Men" division; she must have been right. The sweater took a blue ribbon for first place, plus the other rosette for "Best in Division". They also awarded the sweater "Best Use of Texture".

I'd like to say that, because of all of these awards, I'm now filthy rich... but at five dollars for each one I'm not planning on retiring anytime soon.

The one thing I did figure out while trying to photograph this sweater is that one of my digital cameras is no longer working correctly. It's the one we use when we go bicycling as it's small and compact, and fits easily into the back pocket on my cycling jersey. Suddenly the images have lines running the length of the image, as if someone took a comb and ran it along the photo, and each tooth was an eraser that left a blank line in its wake.

Now the debate begins... do I pay to have this one repaired, or spend almost double that amount and go get a new one, the features of which will far surpass the one I'm using now? Interesting debate... one that I'll have to figure out later!

This is the weekend of Labor Day, another questionable "Holiday" that I'd rather be working. We take the day off to honor the laborers, and then go back to work a day later and have double the mail volume to deliver, thus laboring twice as hard. Somewhere I just don't see the sense in this!

Another Hot One...

All in all, our summer hasn't been bad. The temperatures have been warm, but usually not to the point of being excessive (unlike some summers that seems like the 100+ degree days will never end). We've had a couple of those days, and today promises to hit 100 degrees, but then we head into a week with weather in the 70's and 80's. I like it!

The Western Idaho Fair has been running for the past week; today is the final day. I entered one sweater in the fair this year, but haven't bothered to go there to see how it's displayed or whether it did well in the competition. Exhibits can be picked up tomorrow, so after work I'll run down there and pick it up... and find out then how it did. Curiosity has almost gotten the better of me, but there's just nothing down there other than other knit items that justifies paying the admission price. Maybe I'll change my mind, but then again there's those 100+ degrees on the thermometer today to dissuade me!

And the Results are In!

Ah yes, today was my very first colonoscopy (how I wish it would be the last). The stuff they have you drink the evening before so you can be "cleaned out" to make their sightseeing trip up your butt easier isn't the most pleasant of things to get down. I was fine until my third glass of the stuff, when I suddenly found out that I actually had a drinking limit and barfed a fair quantity of said third glass right back up. I was so pleased to be standing by the kitchen sink when this occured!

From that point on my drinking of the magic tonic slowed severely, but I finally managed to get the entire quantity down without any further gastric rejection. (But there were a couple of swallows that almost did me in...)

Anyway, most everyone knows what happens after you ingest this magical "go-juice", and I did exactly what I was supposed to do... many, many times. If only there was a pill instead of the gag-reflex inspiring liquid that could do the same thing. Or a capsule that, when chased by a LOT of water would have the same result. Someone out there could make a LOT of money by making this whole process a little easier to perform.

Anyway, the results are in and there was one lonely polyp found, and it wasn't anything to worry about. They said that, because there was a polyp present, I'd have to come back in five years for a check up. So, all you future pharmaceutical revolutionaries... you've got five years to formulate and market a product that I can actually stomach the next time. Get busy!

Another Sunday Lost...

I see that I totally blew through last Sunday without a post, or even the acknowledgement that I had even missed a post. Life must be getting dull, or I must have been sleepy... there's got to be an excuse if I only dig deep enough to find it.

The sad truth is that, while I didn't post anything last week, I have no amazing tales to make up for it with this week. But things will start to liven up in a couple of days.

I get to go in for my first colonoscopy on Wednesday! I've heard rumors that this is almost as much fin as a trip to Disneyland... so the real fun starts on Tuesday when we start "cleaning out" for the trip on Wednesday. I'm hoping that they don't find anything and that this procedure (like most) turns out to be an incredible waste of precautionary money.

So until sometime after this little sightseeing trip, I'll bid you farewell!

And Camping It Was...

Sunday morning came and went... shortly after noon we set off for our overnight camping experience. We arrived at the campsite sometime after 3:00 PM. Then the fun began...

We purchased the tent pictured here LAST summer, thinking we were going out the same week we picked it up. Hah! Not only did we NOT go camping that same week, the tent was still sealed in the box a year later... until yesterday afternoon (sometime after 3:00 PM).

The instruction book was somewhat helpful, but having not put this particular monstrosity up before I was soon at wits end, and the forest creatures were hearing new, frightening phrases being uttered by this [now over the boiling point] camper. We finally got the tent most of the way up, and then went into town for a few items... one of which was better tent stakes than the ones that came with the tent.

With the tent problems finally behind us, we took off for a bike ride along the Harriman Trail. We didn't have time to ride the whole trail, but got in about five and a half miles of it, and then returned back to the campground on Idaho 75 (both paved and downhill). It was a couple of ticks short of 10 miles, but was a very pleasant ride nevertheless.

The evening sky was dark thanks to the absence of the moon, and the display was breathtaking. Even though we see a lot of stars from our own home, the darkness from our campsite provided us with an even more brilliant celestial panorama than we normally see.

Morning came, I made the run into Ketchum for Valerie's morning coffee and then we set about the task of waking up fully and slowly getting ready to return home. I made a quick breakfast of pancakes (store bought mix, just add water) and then got busy in earnest for breaking camp.

Breaking down the tent was much less frustrating than putting it up, but next time we'll have a better understanding of what-goes-where when putting the tent together!