These are just some random thoughts I've had this week / month, no storyline or moral intended.
First, sunsets. I love them. Along with sunrises some of the most spectacular shows Mother Nature has given us. Thanks to my friend Bret, in Hawaii, for sending some special shots from over there.
I thought the spectacular sunsets I was witnessing these past few weeks were Gods special show for me for doing such a good job at work, or completing that evening run when I really didn't want to go. But today I realized I don't have to know the reason for beautiful sunsets, or even if there is a reason. They appear anyway. I just enjoyed another sunset and didn't do anything special to earn it. WOW.
I know my wife, Nancy, got to see the sunset today. She left from here, End of the Trail, around 4:00 and as the sun would be setting in her eyes around 6:00, she must have just been arriving home to view it. We had a wonderful semi weekend together. During this weekend I learned a couple of things. First all those conversations I"ve been having with myself these past couple weeks sound a lot different when I have them with a living person. Nancy has been my rock in the past, but now she helps anchor me, or keep me grounded when someone inside my head tries to convince me otherwise. Nothing serious, just eating and drinking habits mostly, some dress issues. When she asked about what I liked most about the upcoming ART docent program, I said "the uniforms" without hesitation. Evidently that was not the right answer as she started laughing. I joined in by giggling a bit because out loud that did sound like a childish thing to like. When she asked that I not wear the "tissue or handkerchief thingy" cause it might make me look like a perve I realized we were laughing about totally different things, and outloud it sounded way different than in my head.
Speaking of wearing off the wall things, today at BV was a gorgeous spring ski day. Lots of tee shirts, spaghetti straps, suntan lotion and long underwear. Yes that must be the new 2012 fad. Just take off your ski pants and ski in what ever you have on underneath. Black thermals were most prevalent, they looked a little like tights, until they got close enough and you saw the fly hole. (don't look down, don't look down). It wasn't just the kids, the 20 - 30 something crowd. There were old men, at least as old as me, out there skiing in their "tadas". I was pretty much embarrassed for them, if they weren't embarrassed for their own semi bare-assed self.
Since I was in charge of Building Maintenance department today I declared this to be BBQ day. I spoke to about a dozen new friends and coworkers yesterday and let them know I would have a bbq fired up and available to grill on and maybe even a few "extra" dogs or sausages available if they wanted to swing by during lunch time. I figured this would be a way to meet more people and get to better know my fellow BV employees. I gave a couple sausages to the ski patrol guys whose window I was cooking in front of. My carpool friend came by when he heard there was free food. Another random ski instructor happened by after checking on his student that got injured in a crash, (his first student crash in 20 years of teaching) and earned a sausage for his story. All my other friends and invitees... nevermind. I felt like the kid at the park with the pork chop tied around his neck hoping some dog would come play with him. Oh well, I wanted sausages for dinner anyway.
I have been bringing random baked goods in to work and dropping them off at various departments since I have been working here at BV. My favorite departments to bring good stuff to are HR, Payroll, and the Executive Committee (GM, Mountain Ops MGR, and Director of Marketing). NO, I'm not trying to bribe my way into a year round position, I just like those people. I also bring good things to Ski School, Ski Patrol, and Ticket Sellers. Mostly because they are good people but they also have cute, young, ladies working there. (they remind me of my daughter..) Yesterday I received a thank you package from one of the departments. OK it was from one person in one of the departments. Anyway it was very sweet that she, I mean they, wanted to bring me some double chocolate chunk cookies and a growler of beer. I'll put it to lack of knowledge that the growler was full of Apricot Wheat beer. I guess she doesn't know most guys don't drink the fruity beer, they like choco chip cookies with milk.
Speaking of miscommunication, I had another miscommunication at the super market here this week. OK it's not a super market, it is a grocery store, but they do sell non local beer. I saw that the new spring seasonal from New Belgium came out. I love a good Colorado beer and most all New Belgium beers. I purchased a sixer of Dig and a sixer of their Ranger IPA. When I got home I poured the spring seasonal into a tulip glass and let it sit a while to let the aroma waft (sounds good). I took a sip and swished it around to get the full effect of the flavor and promptly spit it out in to the sink. I immediately read the description on the label and saw these lines, "incredible lemon aroma" "bursts of passion fruit, mango and peach" and "notes of grapefruity citrus". My first thought was, can I throw away this much unopened beer? Then I tried to think if I knew anyone that might enjoy this. When I came up empty, I tried to think of some other use for this beer. It dawned on me that beer makes a good marinade. Now I have a half gallon of Apricot marinade and a 5 pack of mixed fruit marinade.
I just had a talk with myself and I figure I'll try to bbq again next week, only this time I'll ask coworkers I don't know or people up skiing for the day and ply them with fruity Tri Tip. No I'm just kidding. I won't offer them free tri tip. But I will bbq again next week as the sausages were good, fresh grilled, and the scenery wasn't bad, except for the saggy long underwear on the old farts.
Happy Trails
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
mountain sunsets
Just got back in from an impromptu evening "wilderness workout". I had today off and in my head I had plans to go snowboarding again today. You see I had my first snowboard lesson on Saturday afternoon and spent the next 3 hours enjoying the heck out of the beginner friendly snow up at Bear Valley Ski Resort, "The Friendliest Mountain in the West". You can tell where I work. I attempted snowboarding back in its toddler years, sometime around 1995 or 96, again it was up here at BV, the friendliest mountain in the west.
In the intervening 17 or so years I have mostly cross country skied, snowshoed, or over the past 5 winters, alpine skied (downhill, fixed heel skiing)
I found I was unafraid of the downhill nature of snowboarding and picked it up fairly fast. Cub hill is truly a beginner hill but I found I was able to maneuver and make my way down or across the slope at will. I feel I am ready for a more intermediate hill. I was hoping to tackle some of the medium back side hills today. But instead I stayed home and found myself attempting to complete chores around the house I have been neglecting these past couple weeks. Since Nancy has not visited and my skier friends had to cancel and rain check, I have made no serious attempt to dust, vacuum or clean up around the house in a while. I would get to it all today. Well I got to most of it all today, at least the downstairs part. Laundry is washed, dried, folded and in the right room. Dishwasher is clean, rugs are vacuumed, trash is deposited at recycle center, groceries are bought and put away, and dinner is slow cooking. I found I had an hour or so until sunset, what to do?
I could either sit in my favorite chair with the fading sun on my back and read more about Greg Mortenson in Three Cups of Tea, or I could head out the door and get in a 45 minute wilderness workout. I chose to sit in my chair, but only for one chapter. Then I headed upstairs to change into workout clothes and headed right out the door and up the hill for my "as difficult as you want to make it" workout. This time I left my timing devices inside. Usually I take either a watch with a forty five second countdown timer pre set, or my Iphone with its Tabata Timer app and do preset intervals. This time I was going to do as many reps at each station as I could do properly, before running off to the next challenge.
Let me explain some of the "challenges"I have for my workout. I have about a 20 foot knotted ropeswing waiting to be clumb(climbed?), there is a 100 lb tractor tire to be flipped over 20 -25 times before running out of flat surface, there's an uneven pushup station, there's a heavy rope station, a triceps dip station, numerous rocks to lunge on or jump up on, and a flat tree fort perfectly placed for ab crunches. All these stations placed up and down around my house within easy running distance from each other.
Doing these exercises between running up and down the hill on trails makes for a great workout. But doing them first thing in the morning or just before sunset (My Favorite) has an added bonus. Most of these stations are set at a location where you can see for miles around. Let me tell you doing triceps dips, watching the sun lift the sleepiness from the skies or watching the sun set beyond Mount Diablo over 80 miles away, you sort of forget to count and just watch. Climbing the rope and being able to see over the roof toward Cougar Rock and the valley beyond makes you want to hang in there a little longer.
I think sunsets are Gods way of telling you "Thanks for doing such a good job today. Whether it was the good day at work, or the good run your just coming back from, or the good workout your enjoying at the end of a good weekend, here is a special reward for doing good"
In the intervening 17 or so years I have mostly cross country skied, snowshoed, or over the past 5 winters, alpine skied (downhill, fixed heel skiing)
I found I was unafraid of the downhill nature of snowboarding and picked it up fairly fast. Cub hill is truly a beginner hill but I found I was able to maneuver and make my way down or across the slope at will. I feel I am ready for a more intermediate hill. I was hoping to tackle some of the medium back side hills today. But instead I stayed home and found myself attempting to complete chores around the house I have been neglecting these past couple weeks. Since Nancy has not visited and my skier friends had to cancel and rain check, I have made no serious attempt to dust, vacuum or clean up around the house in a while. I would get to it all today. Well I got to most of it all today, at least the downstairs part. Laundry is washed, dried, folded and in the right room. Dishwasher is clean, rugs are vacuumed, trash is deposited at recycle center, groceries are bought and put away, and dinner is slow cooking. I found I had an hour or so until sunset, what to do?
I could either sit in my favorite chair with the fading sun on my back and read more about Greg Mortenson in Three Cups of Tea, or I could head out the door and get in a 45 minute wilderness workout. I chose to sit in my chair, but only for one chapter. Then I headed upstairs to change into workout clothes and headed right out the door and up the hill for my "as difficult as you want to make it" workout. This time I left my timing devices inside. Usually I take either a watch with a forty five second countdown timer pre set, or my Iphone with its Tabata Timer app and do preset intervals. This time I was going to do as many reps at each station as I could do properly, before running off to the next challenge.
Let me explain some of the "challenges"I have for my workout. I have about a 20 foot knotted ropeswing waiting to be clumb(climbed?), there is a 100 lb tractor tire to be flipped over 20 -25 times before running out of flat surface, there's an uneven pushup station, there's a heavy rope station, a triceps dip station, numerous rocks to lunge on or jump up on, and a flat tree fort perfectly placed for ab crunches. All these stations placed up and down around my house within easy running distance from each other.
Doing these exercises between running up and down the hill on trails makes for a great workout. But doing them first thing in the morning or just before sunset (My Favorite) has an added bonus. Most of these stations are set at a location where you can see for miles around. Let me tell you doing triceps dips, watching the sun lift the sleepiness from the skies or watching the sun set beyond Mount Diablo over 80 miles away, you sort of forget to count and just watch. Climbing the rope and being able to see over the roof toward Cougar Rock and the valley beyond makes you want to hang in there a little longer.
I think sunsets are Gods way of telling you "Thanks for doing such a good job today. Whether it was the good day at work, or the good run your just coming back from, or the good workout your enjoying at the end of a good weekend, here is a special reward for doing good"
I say Thank You God it was worth it.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
thinking of running to work
Thinking of running to work...
My work at Bear Valley has been great! I really enjoy going to work every day. There are so many amazing, happy, smiling faces there every day. Now if only the customers (skiers/ Snowboarders) would start to show up. I guess that means the snow would have to make an appearance and that means el nina would have to make a disappearance. But for now things are fine and dandy in the Lodge Maintenance department.
Some of the changes to our department have been reduced manpower during busy days, as there have not been too many busy days so far this year. According to history the weeks before Christmas, between Christmas and New Years and the week following New Years are the busiest of the season for a ski resort. That is due to kids being out of school for winter break and college kids being between semesters. Families tend to head to the snow country to enjoy a white Christmas if they have the means. This year the means wasn't there. There hasn't been any snow falling in California since before Thanksgiving. At Bear Valley there were a few lifts operating to service 4 or 5 man made snow covered slopes. The reduced customer base caused a reduced service need. Therefore changes had to be made.
One of the benefits of reduced manpower during busy days meant I was able to use the "non busy" days to complete some long unfinished projects. I have cut lumber for and assembled 15 new picnic tables for the Bear Bungalow, I have remodeled the Special Events shack, I have remodeled the MAS events office and done a fair amount of fixing and repairing other items around the 40 plus year old facility. Unfortunately this has left my co workers holding the fort for other customer service related calls during the day. These are service calls to help a customer unlock her day use locker, helping a season pass holder build a shelf in their season locker, emptying trash bins as they fill toward overflowing, mopping up spilled lunch from in front of a missed trash can, checking on the level of the septic holding tank. You know everyday issues at a bustling day use ski resort.
This past week another 'cut' has been made to most all Bear Valley employees. Hours are being reduced due to services being cut due to even more customers being absent. Our 4 / 10 work week has been changed to a 5 / 8 work week, leaving the temporary staff off the schedule. This has been a sort of blessing for me as I am getting home around 4:00 rather than at 5:30. Hence I am able to get in a run or bike ride in the evening before or during sunset. I love it!
Tonight's run was a shortish out and back, about 4 miles. Mostly hills. In fact every run, ride or hike around here is 'mostly hills' as I live on the top of a hill and can see nothing but hills around me (I can see the sunset between hills, occasionally). But tonight's hilly sunset run had another benefit to me this time. I had a brainstorm. What if, for my birthday, I ran to work. My birthday is in May. That gives me 4 months to get in shape for this event. It also gives me enough time to encourage some other people (OK, friends) to join me in this most of a day long enterprise. You see it is about 35 road miles from my house to work. It is longer by the dirt roads and trails I hope to traverse. I am hoping it is less than 50 but I will cover them all regardless.
My thought was to make an early morning start, down in Hathaway Pines around 5:00 am and run the majority of the Arnold Rim Trail that I have been a part of building. That throws on an additional 8 miles or so, but in the overall scheme, so what. It's good advertising. I can get some of my ART buddies to join me maybe. I know some of them hike and mt bike. Maybe they can join me for my breakfast aid station, somewhere around White Pines Lake. Say at 9 or 10:00 in the morning. Think you can make it? I think I can find other friends to join me for parts of the next 25 + miles up to Cabbage Patch. Then it's a mere 10 - 15 miles of Bear Trap Basin trail until Bear Valley Resort is in sight. No Problem.
Of course anyone that doesn't care to join me running, or should I say shuffling up these dirt roads and trails, may chose to leave later and ride their mt bike up this same route, or leave even later and take the speedier route of pedaling up Highway 4, or leave at the same time as I leave and enjoy the scenery and stop and wait for me at predetermined stopping points to provide me with water and fuel. (Being my 'crew' was in our wedding vows don't ya know. )
I don't know, it sounded SO doable when I was running earlier. I know it can be done. Maybe just not by me, not this year. BUT WAIT. Why not me. Why not this year. I'm not running Copper Canyon Ultra this year, I'm not racing in Leadville this year, I am going to run Bear Valley Ultra and maybe get a few other people to join me. Who knows, there might even be a tee shirt involved.
Think you want to join me? You Can Do It!! or part of it. Come on!
davee7098
My work at Bear Valley has been great! I really enjoy going to work every day. There are so many amazing, happy, smiling faces there every day. Now if only the customers (skiers/ Snowboarders) would start to show up. I guess that means the snow would have to make an appearance and that means el nina would have to make a disappearance. But for now things are fine and dandy in the Lodge Maintenance department.
Some of the changes to our department have been reduced manpower during busy days, as there have not been too many busy days so far this year. According to history the weeks before Christmas, between Christmas and New Years and the week following New Years are the busiest of the season for a ski resort. That is due to kids being out of school for winter break and college kids being between semesters. Families tend to head to the snow country to enjoy a white Christmas if they have the means. This year the means wasn't there. There hasn't been any snow falling in California since before Thanksgiving. At Bear Valley there were a few lifts operating to service 4 or 5 man made snow covered slopes. The reduced customer base caused a reduced service need. Therefore changes had to be made.
One of the benefits of reduced manpower during busy days meant I was able to use the "non busy" days to complete some long unfinished projects. I have cut lumber for and assembled 15 new picnic tables for the Bear Bungalow, I have remodeled the Special Events shack, I have remodeled the MAS events office and done a fair amount of fixing and repairing other items around the 40 plus year old facility. Unfortunately this has left my co workers holding the fort for other customer service related calls during the day. These are service calls to help a customer unlock her day use locker, helping a season pass holder build a shelf in their season locker, emptying trash bins as they fill toward overflowing, mopping up spilled lunch from in front of a missed trash can, checking on the level of the septic holding tank. You know everyday issues at a bustling day use ski resort.
This past week another 'cut' has been made to most all Bear Valley employees. Hours are being reduced due to services being cut due to even more customers being absent. Our 4 / 10 work week has been changed to a 5 / 8 work week, leaving the temporary staff off the schedule. This has been a sort of blessing for me as I am getting home around 4:00 rather than at 5:30. Hence I am able to get in a run or bike ride in the evening before or during sunset. I love it!
Tonight's run was a shortish out and back, about 4 miles. Mostly hills. In fact every run, ride or hike around here is 'mostly hills' as I live on the top of a hill and can see nothing but hills around me (I can see the sunset between hills, occasionally). But tonight's hilly sunset run had another benefit to me this time. I had a brainstorm. What if, for my birthday, I ran to work. My birthday is in May. That gives me 4 months to get in shape for this event. It also gives me enough time to encourage some other people (OK, friends) to join me in this most of a day long enterprise. You see it is about 35 road miles from my house to work. It is longer by the dirt roads and trails I hope to traverse. I am hoping it is less than 50 but I will cover them all regardless.
My thought was to make an early morning start, down in Hathaway Pines around 5:00 am and run the majority of the Arnold Rim Trail that I have been a part of building. That throws on an additional 8 miles or so, but in the overall scheme, so what. It's good advertising. I can get some of my ART buddies to join me maybe. I know some of them hike and mt bike. Maybe they can join me for my breakfast aid station, somewhere around White Pines Lake. Say at 9 or 10:00 in the morning. Think you can make it? I think I can find other friends to join me for parts of the next 25 + miles up to Cabbage Patch. Then it's a mere 10 - 15 miles of Bear Trap Basin trail until Bear Valley Resort is in sight. No Problem.
Of course anyone that doesn't care to join me running, or should I say shuffling up these dirt roads and trails, may chose to leave later and ride their mt bike up this same route, or leave even later and take the speedier route of pedaling up Highway 4, or leave at the same time as I leave and enjoy the scenery and stop and wait for me at predetermined stopping points to provide me with water and fuel. (Being my 'crew' was in our wedding vows don't ya know. )
I don't know, it sounded SO doable when I was running earlier. I know it can be done. Maybe just not by me, not this year. BUT WAIT. Why not me. Why not this year. I'm not running Copper Canyon Ultra this year, I'm not racing in Leadville this year, I am going to run Bear Valley Ultra and maybe get a few other people to join me. Who knows, there might even be a tee shirt involved.
Think you want to join me? You Can Do It!! or part of it. Come on!
davee7098
Monday, December 5, 2011
Living alone, but married
Mountain living, solo style, has it's benefits and problems. I'll do a pros and cons type of approach and settle the issue by weighing the columns. My guess is... nevermind. I don't have a guess
First off on the Pro side, as my loving youngest brother mentioned in his reply to my last column, living by yourself, the entire house is your 'naked room'. For me that carries a lot of weight, as do I. I see no wholesome or organic benefit from walking around naked, nor do I do it to impress anybody, myself included. Sometimes I just don't feel like putting clothes on. Sometimes I am unsure what clothes I want to wear. I have cleaned the house naked, folded laundry naked, and even I tried working out naked, but there were some safety issues, so I donned shorts. In the fall and winter months the temperature drops down to the low 50's and even into the 40's inside the house when I return from work. My centrally located gas fireplace takes a while to heat the great room back up to a comfortable level, around 59. That just means that if you drop by on a weekday evening you most likely won't see me naked, although I may still be folding laundry, or vacuuming, or working out.
On the Con side, I don't have many neighbors dropping by to chat or borrow a cup of sugar, or share a beer. This may be added to the Pro side of, walking around naked, but for now I'll keep it Con. Most all mountain folk keep to themselves, unless they have a problem with you burning scrap wood or pine needles on a "No Burn" day, or they think you parked you shed (or motor home) too close to their property line. They then walk, run, drive or email down to the homeowners association and lodge a complaint. You will be hearing about it for months. But seriously, most full time folks up here are reminiscent of the old west. They keep to themselves, fight their own battles and provide their own provisions. That's not to say they won't help out if a neighbor is in need. If you come limping in to catch up to the group you've been mt. bike riding with and you have half a manzanita branch hanging out of your armpit, they will graciously drive you :45 minutes to the next county to get stitched up. They will not remind you of how they helped, and hung out for two hours while all the nurses and doctors on staff that evening came to ooh and ahh about the size if it (The puncture wound that is), but they will brag on how you were trying to keep up with the younger, "big dogs" and managed to impale yourself on a manzanita stump. "Oooh, that was awesome". Or if you mention to a neighbor on your evening walk, you have young nephews coming up for the weekend and you want to make a fort, they will gladly drop what they are doing and bring all their scrap wood over for you to use, (and burn for them when you burn needles the next time).
On the Pro side again, I have plenty of time to catch up on all the reading, craft projects, knitting, and writing projects I have been planning on and haven't done for the past 3-5 years. My fingers are blistered from looming, but I have 3 nice new matching hats and a fine pair of leg warmers. I have puncture wounds on the ends of my fingers but I have finally mastered sewing ornament size moccasins, and dream catchers. My basement smells like a dump, but I have plenty of fur, paws and feathers from roadkill carcass' for my next leather and beading project. I have loaded my shelves to overflowing with new, good, old and bad books waiting to be returned to the thrift shop. I am so loaded with useless facts and trivia I scare myself.
On the Con side I find myself talking and arguing with myself because, because, because, There is no one else here. "That meal was great, I should have those leftovers again tonight. When did I make that soup? I think it was last week or the week before. It's in Tupperware, it should still be good, power was only out for 2 days last week. OOOH I'm sick, I wonder if I have the flu or maybe it was the soup." "What should I wear today? I don't think it's that cold outside. The weather station has a shadow, so it must be warm. I won't wear anything for a while and see how I feel later."
Another issue that is both Pro and Con is there is no one here to tell you what to do. There is no one to tell you it's past 9:00 on your day off and you need to get up and get the needles raked, or the driveway shoveled. But then there is no one here to force you to go out the door and shovel the driveway because you have to go to work tomorrow and you don't want to have to do it at 4:00 in the morning. There is no one here to make you go out and buy a case of Coors Light and a pack of tampons, but then there is no one here to tell you "let's go down to the well tonight and drink till we get our fill". Do tampons come in packs or bunches or boxes?
I guess my Pro and Con list weighs out pretty evenly. I do miss having someone here to talk about my day with, but then I have IM and Facebook to catch up with my friends on. I wonder why they don't answer me every five minute when I text them or change my status, like they used to? I don't like my wife sitting glued to the TV every evening, but I do miss having her here to try to impress and dress for. I sure miss the social life and friends I had at the local gym, but there is no beating the beautiful, serene, calming and wild wilderness just outside my window and all around me when I work out up here, naked and alone.
Time to go reheat that mac n' cheese, and put on some clothes, it's starting to get cold in here.
davee
First off on the Pro side, as my loving youngest brother mentioned in his reply to my last column, living by yourself, the entire house is your 'naked room'. For me that carries a lot of weight, as do I. I see no wholesome or organic benefit from walking around naked, nor do I do it to impress anybody, myself included. Sometimes I just don't feel like putting clothes on. Sometimes I am unsure what clothes I want to wear. I have cleaned the house naked, folded laundry naked, and even I tried working out naked, but there were some safety issues, so I donned shorts. In the fall and winter months the temperature drops down to the low 50's and even into the 40's inside the house when I return from work. My centrally located gas fireplace takes a while to heat the great room back up to a comfortable level, around 59. That just means that if you drop by on a weekday evening you most likely won't see me naked, although I may still be folding laundry, or vacuuming, or working out.
On the Con side, I don't have many neighbors dropping by to chat or borrow a cup of sugar, or share a beer. This may be added to the Pro side of, walking around naked, but for now I'll keep it Con. Most all mountain folk keep to themselves, unless they have a problem with you burning scrap wood or pine needles on a "No Burn" day, or they think you parked you shed (or motor home) too close to their property line. They then walk, run, drive or email down to the homeowners association and lodge a complaint. You will be hearing about it for months. But seriously, most full time folks up here are reminiscent of the old west. They keep to themselves, fight their own battles and provide their own provisions. That's not to say they won't help out if a neighbor is in need. If you come limping in to catch up to the group you've been mt. bike riding with and you have half a manzanita branch hanging out of your armpit, they will graciously drive you :45 minutes to the next county to get stitched up. They will not remind you of how they helped, and hung out for two hours while all the nurses and doctors on staff that evening came to ooh and ahh about the size if it (The puncture wound that is), but they will brag on how you were trying to keep up with the younger, "big dogs" and managed to impale yourself on a manzanita stump. "Oooh, that was awesome". Or if you mention to a neighbor on your evening walk, you have young nephews coming up for the weekend and you want to make a fort, they will gladly drop what they are doing and bring all their scrap wood over for you to use, (and burn for them when you burn needles the next time).
On the Pro side again, I have plenty of time to catch up on all the reading, craft projects, knitting, and writing projects I have been planning on and haven't done for the past 3-5 years. My fingers are blistered from looming, but I have 3 nice new matching hats and a fine pair of leg warmers. I have puncture wounds on the ends of my fingers but I have finally mastered sewing ornament size moccasins, and dream catchers. My basement smells like a dump, but I have plenty of fur, paws and feathers from roadkill carcass' for my next leather and beading project. I have loaded my shelves to overflowing with new, good, old and bad books waiting to be returned to the thrift shop. I am so loaded with useless facts and trivia I scare myself.
On the Con side I find myself talking and arguing with myself because, because, because, There is no one else here. "That meal was great, I should have those leftovers again tonight. When did I make that soup? I think it was last week or the week before. It's in Tupperware, it should still be good, power was only out for 2 days last week. OOOH I'm sick, I wonder if I have the flu or maybe it was the soup." "What should I wear today? I don't think it's that cold outside. The weather station has a shadow, so it must be warm. I won't wear anything for a while and see how I feel later."
Another issue that is both Pro and Con is there is no one here to tell you what to do. There is no one to tell you it's past 9:00 on your day off and you need to get up and get the needles raked, or the driveway shoveled. But then there is no one here to force you to go out the door and shovel the driveway because you have to go to work tomorrow and you don't want to have to do it at 4:00 in the morning. There is no one here to make you go out and buy a case of Coors Light and a pack of tampons, but then there is no one here to tell you "let's go down to the well tonight and drink till we get our fill". Do tampons come in packs or bunches or boxes?
I guess my Pro and Con list weighs out pretty evenly. I do miss having someone here to talk about my day with, but then I have IM and Facebook to catch up with my friends on. I wonder why they don't answer me every five minute when I text them or change my status, like they used to? I don't like my wife sitting glued to the TV every evening, but I do miss having her here to try to impress and dress for. I sure miss the social life and friends I had at the local gym, but there is no beating the beautiful, serene, calming and wild wilderness just outside my window and all around me when I work out up here, naked and alone.
Time to go reheat that mac n' cheese, and put on some clothes, it's starting to get cold in here.
davee
Saturday, December 3, 2011
New job, week one
First I would like to thank everyone that was there, for the fine CS send off Friday evening and the Saturday morning tailgate party after boot camp class. I will miss the group of friends and the social life I had the gym. I am sure I will find something like that up here eventually, but I already look forward to seeing all my friends down there in few weeks when I come visit.
My first week here has been fairly busy. I am still getting used to rising at 4:30 each morning as I need a full hour to make myself beautiful before heading out the door. Well at least I need 8 or 10 minutes to get dressed warmly and make myself presentable, the rest of the time I need to wake up, eat breakfast, make some lunch and drop the kids off at the pool. I cross my fingers when I start my fine new truck, and hope I remember to use the clutch when I drive off down the drive way. The morning commute takes me about :45 minutes as my fine new truck can't accelerate over 45 miles an hour up these winding, mountain roads. Those six little squirrels are running their 24 year old little legs off in there. (Yes my Fine New truck is an 87 Ford Ranger, that guzzles oil through its 6 tiny little cylinders.) But the price was right, thank you Dave H, and so far it has been extremely capable.
The long commute time allows me to spend the time viewing the so far spectacular sun rises coming up over the rest of the sierra mountains. It starts as a slim line of sunlight peaking over the far hills and slipping under the low hanging clouds. The sun appears to raise up the darkness as it shows the commuting world the beauty it has protected during the night. Peaking through the trees are the far snow covered hills of Mammoth and Yosemite and the valley of the Stanislaus. I look forward to summer when I can do this ride by bike and travel slower to enjoy it longer. The drive home each evening is headed directly into the multi colored sunset. The evening sky is painted a kaleidoscope of colors. After every turn of the road, the colors appear to shift and slide past each other, changing the hues and tones of the cloudscape to forecast the next days' weather.
Starting on Monday I will become part of the global warming solution and begin carpooling with my fellow Lodge Maintenance workers. The 35 mile commute time will be cut down by ten minutes or more, and I will ride in relative comfort in the F350 diesel (company owned) pickup truck. I will therefor only need the FN truck to get to the pick up location just a little ways up the road, and for the frequent ski days up the hill once the snow starts falling with more frequency. (Bet you don't see frequent used twice in the same sentence this frequently)
So far my work experience here has been repairing weather damages. Cracked sheetrock ceilings and damaged gutters topping the list. They are planning to house a larger "demo" ski area in the rental area, and I have been framing walls and new office space to accommodate that. Getting to know the behind the scenes space has taken me longer than I thought. There are more hidden switches, hidden closets, access hallways and stairways than I would ever have imagined. I have only been lost twice, but was able to convince the lonely young lady (I mean lovely young lady)working in the ticketing office to unlock the door and let me out both times. During the busy ski season time will be more repairative (and more janitorial) and less constructive.
My time at home, alone, is becoming the most difficult obstacle. Although the farther into the week I get the more tired I become and earlier I head to bed. After staying up until 10:00 on Monday to watch DWTS, I was in bed by 9:00 each evening, sometimes earlier since there was nothing to keep me awake on the boob tube. If you have a minute or two at any time during your own busy life, I would welcome a note or two on how my friends and family are coping. You can skip the countless stories of how many and the quality of the women that find Gary interesting, but other stories of you saving(traveling) the world, and how the kids are doing, and who else saw the amazing sunset would qualify as interesting. Oh but wait, that's what Facebook is for. OK so those you not on facebook, this part was for you.
Well enough about me, The temperature has heated up to 58 inside, and 40 outside, time to get on with the day. I have a busy day ahead making the place presentable for my lovely wife. Yes Nancy is coming up for the week! And Yaki. (I need to see if I can get that window opened). There are oodles of needles and fallen wood that need to be sooted, food to be cooked, glass to be squeegied, floors to be mopped, ( I was on a double letter roll), So I had best get busy.
Nice chatting with you all. Remember, Arnold is only a two hour drive away(if you live in the bay area, and you have more than four cylinders and are not in a Prius in the snow). Call ahead to make sure someone will be here and come up for a visit or a ride or a hike, or a ski...
My first week here has been fairly busy. I am still getting used to rising at 4:30 each morning as I need a full hour to make myself beautiful before heading out the door. Well at least I need 8 or 10 minutes to get dressed warmly and make myself presentable, the rest of the time I need to wake up, eat breakfast, make some lunch and drop the kids off at the pool. I cross my fingers when I start my fine new truck, and hope I remember to use the clutch when I drive off down the drive way. The morning commute takes me about :45 minutes as my fine new truck can't accelerate over 45 miles an hour up these winding, mountain roads. Those six little squirrels are running their 24 year old little legs off in there. (Yes my Fine New truck is an 87 Ford Ranger, that guzzles oil through its 6 tiny little cylinders.) But the price was right, thank you Dave H, and so far it has been extremely capable.
The long commute time allows me to spend the time viewing the so far spectacular sun rises coming up over the rest of the sierra mountains. It starts as a slim line of sunlight peaking over the far hills and slipping under the low hanging clouds. The sun appears to raise up the darkness as it shows the commuting world the beauty it has protected during the night. Peaking through the trees are the far snow covered hills of Mammoth and Yosemite and the valley of the Stanislaus. I look forward to summer when I can do this ride by bike and travel slower to enjoy it longer. The drive home each evening is headed directly into the multi colored sunset. The evening sky is painted a kaleidoscope of colors. After every turn of the road, the colors appear to shift and slide past each other, changing the hues and tones of the cloudscape to forecast the next days' weather.
Starting on Monday I will become part of the global warming solution and begin carpooling with my fellow Lodge Maintenance workers. The 35 mile commute time will be cut down by ten minutes or more, and I will ride in relative comfort in the F350 diesel (company owned) pickup truck. I will therefor only need the FN truck to get to the pick up location just a little ways up the road, and for the frequent ski days up the hill once the snow starts falling with more frequency. (Bet you don't see frequent used twice in the same sentence this frequently)
So far my work experience here has been repairing weather damages. Cracked sheetrock ceilings and damaged gutters topping the list. They are planning to house a larger "demo" ski area in the rental area, and I have been framing walls and new office space to accommodate that. Getting to know the behind the scenes space has taken me longer than I thought. There are more hidden switches, hidden closets, access hallways and stairways than I would ever have imagined. I have only been lost twice, but was able to convince the lonely young lady (I mean lovely young lady)working in the ticketing office to unlock the door and let me out both times. During the busy ski season time will be more repairative (and more janitorial) and less constructive.
My time at home, alone, is becoming the most difficult obstacle. Although the farther into the week I get the more tired I become and earlier I head to bed. After staying up until 10:00 on Monday to watch DWTS, I was in bed by 9:00 each evening, sometimes earlier since there was nothing to keep me awake on the boob tube. If you have a minute or two at any time during your own busy life, I would welcome a note or two on how my friends and family are coping. You can skip the countless stories of how many and the quality of the women that find Gary interesting, but other stories of you saving(traveling) the world, and how the kids are doing, and who else saw the amazing sunset would qualify as interesting. Oh but wait, that's what Facebook is for. OK so those you not on facebook, this part was for you.
Well enough about me, The temperature has heated up to 58 inside, and 40 outside, time to get on with the day. I have a busy day ahead making the place presentable for my lovely wife. Yes Nancy is coming up for the week! And Yaki. (I need to see if I can get that window opened). There are oodles of needles and fallen wood that need to be sooted, food to be cooked, glass to be squeegied, floors to be mopped, ( I was on a double letter roll), So I had best get busy.
Nice chatting with you all. Remember, Arnold is only a two hour drive away(if you live in the bay area, and you have more than four cylinders and are not in a Prius in the snow). Call ahead to make sure someone will be here and come up for a visit or a ride or a hike, or a ski...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
a not so brief history. book one
I've spent the last 29 years of my life working in the Bay Area. Getting married and having kids at 22, doing what I had to do to stay in the game was what my life was all about. After my youngest entered high school and proved herself quite capable I chose to leave the central valley / bay area commuter life and move over the hill to live where I worked in the construction industry, in the Bay Area. It's been almost ten years of living, getting remarried, and working in and around the outlying town of Livermore.
The economy helped me make the decision to make a move. The high end construction / remodel industry had dwindled. For the boss man, finding work for our small 3 man construction company had gotten increasingly difficult. Being on and off and on unemployment for two of the last two and a half years had been rough. Side jobs helped, but it just confirmed one thing. That is that I was a lousy buisnessman. I just wanted to work, not find work and collect for work done. It was time to make a move.
My wife and I had bought a cabin in the foothill town of Arnold in 2007 when life was good. After the building and furnishing of the new log cabin was complete, we enjoyed living the relaxed life that is shared by all mountain dwellers for long weekends and occasional vacation weeks. I had spent a good portion of this past year trying to fnd work in the Arnold area (at least in my own mind if not in actual footsteps to buisnesses). It finally dawned on me after talking with a few other BAT locals (Bay Area Transfers) that what was required was to commit and move up here and take whatever job was available rather than finding a job and moving up here after. I was trying to find the right time and the proper way to tell (convince) my wife that moving and chasing or creating a dream was the best move for me.
I was scrolling through the Bear Valley Ski Resort web sight looking at the 'employment' page and saw a full time, year round job opening and decided this was the perfect job for me. How could they not see that I was the perfect employee for them. I was moving and taking that position. Yea, Time to move.
The economy helped me make the decision to make a move. The high end construction / remodel industry had dwindled. For the boss man, finding work for our small 3 man construction company had gotten increasingly difficult. Being on and off and on unemployment for two of the last two and a half years had been rough. Side jobs helped, but it just confirmed one thing. That is that I was a lousy buisnessman. I just wanted to work, not find work and collect for work done. It was time to make a move.
My wife and I had bought a cabin in the foothill town of Arnold in 2007 when life was good. After the building and furnishing of the new log cabin was complete, we enjoyed living the relaxed life that is shared by all mountain dwellers for long weekends and occasional vacation weeks. I had spent a good portion of this past year trying to fnd work in the Arnold area (at least in my own mind if not in actual footsteps to buisnesses). It finally dawned on me after talking with a few other BAT locals (Bay Area Transfers) that what was required was to commit and move up here and take whatever job was available rather than finding a job and moving up here after. I was trying to find the right time and the proper way to tell (convince) my wife that moving and chasing or creating a dream was the best move for me.
I was scrolling through the Bear Valley Ski Resort web sight looking at the 'employment' page and saw a full time, year round job opening and decided this was the perfect job for me. How could they not see that I was the perfect employee for them. I was moving and taking that position. Yea, Time to move.
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