July 12th

And it’s the day I paid full price for a Kindle book…

Dance of Dragons is released today, and I must have it to read.

I have been sucked in by this series, to whit I cannot wait for the price to drop.  And alas, it will probably be another 4 years before the next book is published.

Oh, Mr. George R.R. Martin…how you tease your devoted readers!

I may just have to read them all again…

PS The SSABs are pretty much awesome, but I have really loud water in my house.

Say Again?

I am looking at my calendar and I am not seeing any days off until Labor Day.

Which is kind of a drag because I have so enjoyed my time away from cubeland since the beginning of May.  I am sort of use to that now.  On the other hand, when I am not at work, the paycheck suffers, so full paychecks will be nice, and work well toward helping with today’s Big Expense.

Today...I buy myself SSABs (aka hearing aids). I have grown to detest the common term, so Eldest and I came up with the more palatable (to me) term SuperSonic Auditory Boosters.  I can live with that.

So. SSABs.

It has been a long time coming, and I have migrated through my family being irritated with me not catching what they are saying, to being solicitous when we are in public together and I am stumped at what the server is asking of me.  I am at the point of often not being able to rely on non-verbal signals to pick up what others are saying, and end up just staring at them.  Or anwering them totally off topic.  Yeah.  That works.  Often TV shows are a total wash.  The volume has to be too loud for me to get all the conversation.

Pretty embarrassing.

I won’t go to the fear about the possibility of considering a job interview.

So after much ado and time, I started the actual talking to audiologists and shopping.  It was truly painful…until I tried a pair…and I heard sounds and low voices and tones I hadn’t heard in years.

Brought tears to my eyes.  And pretty much settled it for me.

Vanity is out the door.  And somehow we would figure out a way to pay for them, but I was going to get myself a pair of those, and I was going to be able to hear birds again.

Brief aside, most insurance companies do not cover hearing loss, or hearing aids.  Nope.  Footing the entire bill for this one.  I could smoke, and they would pay my bills for lung cancer and heart disease.  I could drink and they would pay for my liver disease.  I could eat my way into obesity and they would pay for my diabetes treatment and related issues.  I’m not judging…I’m just saying…but I digress.

SSABs of today are not the hearing aids of yesteryear.  Mine will be programmed to my hearing loss, to emphasize what I cannot hear and leave alone the frequencies that I can. Pretty much awesome from where I sit right now.  I hope it is going to be all I hope it is going to be.

I hope the sound of eating chips doesn’t freak me out.  I hope that the sound of my own voice isn’t so loud I quit talking.  I want to hear birds again (I still hear meadowlarks and morning doves and finches, but miss so many others) but I know there are lots of really irritating sounds I don’t hear right now that’s probably for the good.  Along with the good will come the irritating, I suppose.  I wonder if I will hear everyone in cubeland typing.  People aren’t going to be able to sneak up on me anymore because I can’t hear them!

Tomorrow is going to be a new day, full of surprises.

I wonder if anyone will notice.

We're Walking...

Beginning a couple months back, I have been trying to get a walk in at lunch . Part of this is about wanting to lose 5 pounds, and being unsuccessful, and part is working where there is a great place to walk close by and wanting to take advantage of it.

When I worked here previously, I walked All. The. Time.  Well. Not all the time…I was working, after all.  I mean I walked almost every day.  Especially through the Dee-vorce, walking through my lunch helped me maintain my sanity, I do believe.

Anyway.  ANYWAY!  So I have forced myself to #1 put down the Kindle, and #2 put down the knitting, and #3 walk out the door and #4 breath some fresh air.

I have seen some interesting things, too, among them an eagle, a muskrat (I think), an osprey (I think), the ubiquitous Canadas, mallards, a heron, and now…the Poudre flowing full and flowers are blooming.

Well.  I thought to myself, I should bring my fancy smancy camera for my walkabout one day.  So I did.  Unfortunately, lots of fine feathered fellows thought to pose for me, and being successful has it’s drawbacks.  I am now rewarded and might have to tote that puppy more often!

Here’s is where I walk, and here is what I saw.

The river, usually not this high.  I know...by eastern standards, it is more of a 'crick'.

Woodsy-type places.

A Canada pair.

A flicker (like a woodpecker).

And some flowers...

Not great photos, but giving a inkling of why I like to get out at lunch. (Clicky for biggy...)

The Trip

(More about Mexico)

Three days before the trip, I realized the last name on my plane ticket was not the same as the last name on my passport. (I use both my unmarried and Wonderful Guys name.  Except sometimes I get lazy.)  Add to list….call Frontier.

Standing in ‘show me your passport’ line, in Mexico, the Guy and I are chatting it up with Youngest and the Bebe Daddy, with whom we traveled.  I hear….from afar…my name…my name…and yet…my daughter’s mouth is not saying anything.  And we realize that Dearest Sister and Middle Daughter are in the same line way a ways in front of us!  We wave, but alas.  Not the time or place to give us cuts!

The tower at the airport. Seriously.

After arriving at our resort, and finding our room, I start to ‘move in’.  After about fifteen minutes, Wonderful Guy mentions the A/C doesn’t seem to be working.  Not good.  He sets out on a mission…and by mission, I mean he goes to the front desk.  Within minutes, we have cool air flow.  Very good.  But we forgot to turn it down (or is it up?).  And we froze through out the night.  But better that than A/C not working!

We had clouds and 'strong breezes' and finally rain the day of the wedding.  Real rain the day after.  But the clouds broke up after that, and….all was sunshine, lollipops, rainbows, and silver linings!

The wedding, the family, the resort, the beach, the food…all of it absolutely the best.

My shawl worked perfectly, especially since the wedding and meal were inside, due to weather.  It is not known whether there are any photos showing exactly how well it worked. Eldest wore her cover-up until it started stretching and bagging.  I told her to take it home and toss it in the washer!  My wrap around the hips/sarong/shawl was perfect for duty as well.  I love it when a knitting plan comes together! 

Snorkeling is my new favorite thing. Unfortunately I have lived in land-locked states my entire life (yes, the panhandle of Texas is a land-locked state).  Once I was in the water, the whole breathing thing came naturally.  Flippers turbo-charged my swimming! Must. Have. More.

I did a shot of tequila. Snorkeling and a tequila shot.  It was truly a day of firsts.

After 6 days of no cell phones, no internet, and no drama, we arrived back in the states, where they let us back in.

It was one sweet trip. Thanks, Eldest and Mr. Eldest (what shall I call him now???), for sharing your good times with us.

The Garden

There were wonderful and beautiful iris. Almost at peak bloom they were.  I scurried out to photograph one evening.  And later that night…we were wakened by…hail!  Loud hail.  Big! Loud! Hail!

Hail that not only sliced iris blooms but made lace of hollyhock leaves, mashed soapwort, mangled hosta, dashed the newly opened peonies, and also…watered the basement.

I dutifully deadheaded later, and noted that the hateful hail even damaged the buds of my iris! It’s a good year to be a roofer in northern Colorado.  But! There were still blooms to come and I enjoyed them even more, I think, because of the destruction.

And then, when the last vestige of the icey destroyer was shaken off?  The night before we left for Mexico?

More hail.  So much for Iris 2011.  Whatever. (At least it wasn’t a wheat crop….)

Now it’s time to move on.  Lavendar is in full spread.  Roses are starting.  Carrots show promise, and so do the peas.

And the first evening back from our trip, sitting on the patio?  The fragrance of my honeysuckle was evident.

My tomatoes survived.  So there’s that.