Three days later, I am still unimpressed by civilization, except the electricity that keeps my CPAP alive. So if everything but electricity went tits up, how would I feel? I would miss Smallville. I would miss Nova. That is about all in my TV universe that I would miss.
I would have lots 0f time, come November, December and January to seek out moose antlers in my snowshoes. Plenty of moose up Big Cottonwood. We did not get a hint of moose up on the Wasatch Plateau last week, despite our seeking. Nothing near the CC Pond. No moose sighted up at Gooseberry East or down the creek toward Electric Lake. Just deer across Flat Canyon and nothing up on the Skyline, though that is where we hunted for firewood.
What do we (Joe and I) see the first time we take a winter trek up Big Cottonwood? Moose. Time to look for antlers.
I am too hot. I look forward to fall.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Easing into civilization
The gods of electricity were not kind to me last night. I had gone to sleep for just a little while on my blessed CPAP when the power went out. I woke up smothering to death as I always do when the power goes out at night. I was really disoriented and did not realize the power was out as I pushed the mask off my face and sat up on the bed. The fan was not blowing. I could not turn on the lamp. Okay, power is officially out now. I sat there for a while as the house heated up and wondered how long it would be before the power was back on. Finally, I decided I needed to inform Utah Power on my own--as a public service as well as a selfish act of getting my sleep. I had spent three nights without my CPAP camping and I was ready for a night of long, deep sleep before I had to go back to work in the morning.
I tentatively crept from the bedroom to where I USUALLY keep a flashlight for emergencies. Damn! It wasn't there. So, I crept into the living room, where I knocked over the Nordic Trak I inherited from my late father, which knocked a tray off the furnace which had my blown glass Sangria pitcher and cups. They must have crashed into each other to break, because they landed on carpet. I pressed onward. I made it into the office where I found a cigarette lighter and lit a candle. I called Utah Power and their automated system told me they already knew my neighbourhood was blacked out. So much for talking to a real human being and getting to whine about my CPAP sleep deficit. I crept from my office like the Hermit of the Tarot deck and found the flashlight in the kitchen which I used to survey the broken glass on the living room floor. Damn! How did I creep by that path TWICE without amputating half my foot on the broken glass???!! I returned miserably to the hot bedroom and sulked for a while until I decided to get in the shower and get wet, which increased my spirits considerably. I went back to the bedroom wet, which kept me sane for the next two hours. The wild winds of earlier in the evening had died so not so much as a breeze came into the room. I tried to tell myself that I could sleep one more night without the CPAP and tried to sleep. I retrieved my cell phone and pager and set the alarm on the pager and layed down. FINALLY the power came back on. The lights I had turned on in the kitchen and bathroom came on. I darted to the fan and turned it on, reset the clock and alarm and put on my mask and lay down. I did not bother to turn off the lights. Bad witchie, no biscuit! I feel asleep almost immediately and woke up for work feeling like I had fallen under a bus.
At work, I had a small project. Winn, Gods bless him, helped me set up the PC workstations which I configured later on. Yep, thrust back into the world of electricity and technology with no padding whatsoever!
Now I head off to bed with visions of sugarplums and CPAP masks, right after the cats get their soft food. Can't forget the soft food or they will pester me clear through the night. Maybe tomorrow I will not be nodding off while I am waiting for some program to install or during a critical reboot.
Maybe tomorrow I will be able to break through the Pagan news blackout about Aspen Grove, etc. and have something really hilarious to report.
Sweet dreams!
I tentatively crept from the bedroom to where I USUALLY keep a flashlight for emergencies. Damn! It wasn't there. So, I crept into the living room, where I knocked over the Nordic Trak I inherited from my late father, which knocked a tray off the furnace which had my blown glass Sangria pitcher and cups. They must have crashed into each other to break, because they landed on carpet. I pressed onward. I made it into the office where I found a cigarette lighter and lit a candle. I called Utah Power and their automated system told me they already knew my neighbourhood was blacked out. So much for talking to a real human being and getting to whine about my CPAP sleep deficit. I crept from my office like the Hermit of the Tarot deck and found the flashlight in the kitchen which I used to survey the broken glass on the living room floor. Damn! How did I creep by that path TWICE without amputating half my foot on the broken glass???!! I returned miserably to the hot bedroom and sulked for a while until I decided to get in the shower and get wet, which increased my spirits considerably. I went back to the bedroom wet, which kept me sane for the next two hours. The wild winds of earlier in the evening had died so not so much as a breeze came into the room. I tried to tell myself that I could sleep one more night without the CPAP and tried to sleep. I retrieved my cell phone and pager and set the alarm on the pager and layed down. FINALLY the power came back on. The lights I had turned on in the kitchen and bathroom came on. I darted to the fan and turned it on, reset the clock and alarm and put on my mask and lay down. I did not bother to turn off the lights. Bad witchie, no biscuit! I feel asleep almost immediately and woke up for work feeling like I had fallen under a bus.
At work, I had a small project. Winn, Gods bless him, helped me set up the PC workstations which I configured later on. Yep, thrust back into the world of electricity and technology with no padding whatsoever!
Now I head off to bed with visions of sugarplums and CPAP masks, right after the cats get their soft food. Can't forget the soft food or they will pester me clear through the night. Maybe tomorrow I will not be nodding off while I am waiting for some program to install or during a critical reboot.
Maybe tomorrow I will be able to break through the Pagan news blackout about Aspen Grove, etc. and have something really hilarious to report.
Sweet dreams!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Back from the wilds
So we went down to the wilds of Sanpete County and camped a bit. Well, it seems that a huge amount of Utah's population did the same thing. On our treks for firewood, there were whole communities of trailers and fifth wheels and all kinds of recreational homes parked among the aspens in all directions and not just among the paid sites provided by the US Forest Service that we took advantage of. There was a veritable city among the trees, each site with its own campfire this Pioneer Day weekend. And each campfire was attended by at least two or three ATVs. ATVs are the bane of regular campers. They mostly ignore posted speed limits and each one coats the camp with an additional layer of dust. The forest on each side of every dirt track road is coated with many layers of photosynthesis-blocking dust for ten yards on both sides.
Okay, here is a new one in my experience. Joe and I went fishing down Gooseberry Creek. We played our flies and got nada. We went back to camp to find that the Squidbillies had moved in next door. All of the adults of the troop were trashed and there were beers aplenty to be thrown in the lake. Apparently there were children aplenty to be thrown in the lake, too, because that is exactly what happened. The boyfriend of one of the Squidbilly daughters threw her two-year-old son, from some other father, into the lake. The kid folded up like a lawn chair and started to sink until the toothless grandmother plowed into the lake to save the sinking child. Of course the girlfriend and her sister dutifully beat the boyfriend with fists and fishing poles and called all kinds of names. The drunk boyfriend just kept saying that he wanted an answer. Answer to what the fuck?
Was it an answer from God? Was it an answer from the Lady of the Lake? What was the answer he was seeking? Was there more beer back at camp? Does God want him to throw more infants into lakes? Even drunken Grandpa just sat there with his fishing pole until the consensus among the Squidbillies was to abandon their position on the lake and return to camp, dunked kidlet in tow. The drunk boyfriend was left to walk up the road without them enduring the dust of passing vehicles and ATVs until he reached the keg of camp.
The uncle of the tossed child did approach me and offer an apology for the drama that we all got to witness. He said that this boyfriend of his sisters only had made his acquaintence that weekend and they did not know anything about him. I advised him that the child might have fluid in the lungs and needed to be seen at an emergency room. Well, Joe ran into one of them up in the trees when he was up gathering water at the cistern tap above Gooseberry Lake. TRASHED! Trashed! trashed! I hope the kid survives, but if the kid does not survive, it will be a grand example of Social Darwinism. Parents too fucking stoooopid to have kids. Poor little guy!
Okay, well back home now. Old Ulysses made some messes, but I have them all cleaned up now. Waiting for a monsoon storm to cross the valley. XOXO
Okay, here is a new one in my experience. Joe and I went fishing down Gooseberry Creek. We played our flies and got nada. We went back to camp to find that the Squidbillies had moved in next door. All of the adults of the troop were trashed and there were beers aplenty to be thrown in the lake. Apparently there were children aplenty to be thrown in the lake, too, because that is exactly what happened. The boyfriend of one of the Squidbilly daughters threw her two-year-old son, from some other father, into the lake. The kid folded up like a lawn chair and started to sink until the toothless grandmother plowed into the lake to save the sinking child. Of course the girlfriend and her sister dutifully beat the boyfriend with fists and fishing poles and called all kinds of names. The drunk boyfriend just kept saying that he wanted an answer. Answer to what the fuck?
Was it an answer from God? Was it an answer from the Lady of the Lake? What was the answer he was seeking? Was there more beer back at camp? Does God want him to throw more infants into lakes? Even drunken Grandpa just sat there with his fishing pole until the consensus among the Squidbillies was to abandon their position on the lake and return to camp, dunked kidlet in tow. The drunk boyfriend was left to walk up the road without them enduring the dust of passing vehicles and ATVs until he reached the keg of camp.
The uncle of the tossed child did approach me and offer an apology for the drama that we all got to witness. He said that this boyfriend of his sisters only had made his acquaintence that weekend and they did not know anything about him. I advised him that the child might have fluid in the lungs and needed to be seen at an emergency room. Well, Joe ran into one of them up in the trees when he was up gathering water at the cistern tap above Gooseberry Lake. TRASHED! Trashed! trashed! I hope the kid survives, but if the kid does not survive, it will be a grand example of Social Darwinism. Parents too fucking stoooopid to have kids. Poor little guy!
Okay, well back home now. Old Ulysses made some messes, but I have them all cleaned up now. Waiting for a monsoon storm to cross the valley. XOXO
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Preparation
I am really excited. I have been getting ready for a camping trip this weekend. I have gone through all the camping totes, washed the camping dishes, and cleaned out the back of my car for the inevitable stuffing. The cats are nervous. They KNOW they are being left at home. I would not mind bringing one or two of them along for the fun, but we are bringing Mojo and that will just be too much chaos for one weekend. Between having Mojo and a four year-old along, that should be just the right amount of chaos.
So camping . . . and fishing. I am bringing along the reflector telescope I got from Joe for Christmas to take advantage of the dark skies up there. I haven't even used the scope yet. Oh yeah, did I mention fishing? Maybe some easy hiking and some wildlife drives. We will be fishing, too, by the way. Campfire dinners!
Well, it looks like the monsoon is going to abandon us for a few days for this trip. It does make me a little sad. There is NOTHING like a good thunderstorm up in the mountains. I went camping with a couple of my coven sibs about three years ago up at Gooseberry Reservoir and one day we had about four or five monsoon thunderstorms come through. It would thunder and rain, we would hole up in the tent for about a half hour and then the sun would come out again. Wait two or three hours and then repeat. On the second to last storm, we got hail. Not just bb sized hail, but marble or nickel-sized hail which punched holes in the plastic tent windows and let the rain run in on us. Okay that last part was NOT fun, but the lightning and thunder was amazing. Sometimes the monsoon is not so violent. When I was up there with my parents a few years ago, it was overcast all day with periodic showers. It was just damn peaceful and pleasant and cool. Down at home the temperature was 105 degrees that day while we might have gotten to seventy. The fishing kind of sucked, but I was just soaking in the rainy and cool vibe.
So I will be gone for a few days. I hope everyone has a great Pioneer Day. I really wish that a lot of native Utah Pagans would get over their Mormophobia on this day and embrace it for the opportunity to connect with ancestors that it is.
So camping . . . and fishing. I am bringing along the reflector telescope I got from Joe for Christmas to take advantage of the dark skies up there. I haven't even used the scope yet. Oh yeah, did I mention fishing? Maybe some easy hiking and some wildlife drives. We will be fishing, too, by the way. Campfire dinners!
Well, it looks like the monsoon is going to abandon us for a few days for this trip. It does make me a little sad. There is NOTHING like a good thunderstorm up in the mountains. I went camping with a couple of my coven sibs about three years ago up at Gooseberry Reservoir and one day we had about four or five monsoon thunderstorms come through. It would thunder and rain, we would hole up in the tent for about a half hour and then the sun would come out again. Wait two or three hours and then repeat. On the second to last storm, we got hail. Not just bb sized hail, but marble or nickel-sized hail which punched holes in the plastic tent windows and let the rain run in on us. Okay that last part was NOT fun, but the lightning and thunder was amazing. Sometimes the monsoon is not so violent. When I was up there with my parents a few years ago, it was overcast all day with periodic showers. It was just damn peaceful and pleasant and cool. Down at home the temperature was 105 degrees that day while we might have gotten to seventy. The fishing kind of sucked, but I was just soaking in the rainy and cool vibe.
So I will be gone for a few days. I hope everyone has a great Pioneer Day. I really wish that a lot of native Utah Pagans would get over their Mormophobia on this day and embrace it for the opportunity to connect with ancestors that it is.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Lulu
How can I possibly get four hours of my life back? Is there an application somewhere for do-overs? Can I fill it out and subit it online? Will the appropriate gods get it?
Lulu is a person in our local Pagan community who takes herself way too seriously. She was booted from a group of local witches, but now she is a gythia in an Asatru kindred. Snap, crackle and pop! GYTHIAHHHHHH! I am GYTHIA hear me roar! I just spend four hours roasting her ass and explaining why her kindred--and in turn herself--are not victims.
Wow, imagine my surprise . . . you see, in real Wicca and Witchcraft, it takes years of study just to be initiated and more years of study and self-examination to become a high priestess in a coven, whether that coven is one's own or not. The ones that flap about like fledging chicks and screech their title to the world usually are not counted among those that put in their time. Does anyone know where I can buy an "I am Gythia" kit--just add water and drama? Do they still sell erector sets these days? I could build my own tiara with battery powered lifts and cranes. I can glue on my own cubic zirconia--obtained from a sufficiently counter-culture gem show, of course. Does anyone know enough about Asatru to know how long it takes to become a competent gythia, or gothi?
I have this little rule in the back of my head in the course of usual Pagan transactions. That rule is about how the veracity and competency of one's Pagan or Witchen priesthood is inversely proportional to the number of times it is mentioned in casual conversation or in posts on Yahoo! groups. Excuse me . . . I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. I was thinking of Lulu.
Angry! Still angry . . .
Lulu is a person in our local Pagan community who takes herself way too seriously. She was booted from a group of local witches, but now she is a gythia in an Asatru kindred. Snap, crackle and pop! GYTHIAHHHHHH! I am GYTHIA hear me roar! I just spend four hours roasting her ass and explaining why her kindred--and in turn herself--are not victims.
Wow, imagine my surprise . . . you see, in real Wicca and Witchcraft, it takes years of study just to be initiated and more years of study and self-examination to become a high priestess in a coven, whether that coven is one's own or not. The ones that flap about like fledging chicks and screech their title to the world usually are not counted among those that put in their time. Does anyone know where I can buy an "I am Gythia" kit--just add water and drama? Do they still sell erector sets these days? I could build my own tiara with battery powered lifts and cranes. I can glue on my own cubic zirconia--obtained from a sufficiently counter-culture gem show, of course. Does anyone know enough about Asatru to know how long it takes to become a competent gythia, or gothi?
I have this little rule in the back of my head in the course of usual Pagan transactions. That rule is about how the veracity and competency of one's Pagan or Witchen priesthood is inversely proportional to the number of times it is mentioned in casual conversation or in posts on Yahoo! groups. Excuse me . . . I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. I was thinking of Lulu.
Angry! Still angry . . .
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Weekend Update
I have to say that there were two highlights to my weekend. I got to go fishing and larking about with Joe and I got to have a visit with my coven sibs for a while. Joe and I went to Diamond Fork and did some fishing. I had a few hits with flies and Joe had none, so we changed to worms and drove up-river. We finally had found a place to really play with our new fly-rod outfits and practice. I am so out of practice. I have not used a flyrod in about eight or nine years. It feels good though and I got into the groove again after just a little while. While I was walking to and fro I fell through the bank into an abandoned beaver lodge. Beavers make some of the best trout fishing holes and this was one of them, but the dam was degraded and the hole exposed. When I walked away about a foot of sandy earth gave way and I fell in. I thought my knee or my back was a goner. When the beavers did not gnaw my leg off at the knee, I pulled it out and stood up and stoicly strode back to the truck. I need to take Joe farther up Sixth Water but the fishing up there is more of a challenge and more work. I also want to hike to the hot springs up Fifth Water. Joe doesnt want to go up there when anyone else is there, but considering how many people were hiking to and from the hot springs, I don't think that is really possible.
I have been preparing for a trip up to the Wasatch Plateau tonight. Gotta get all the camping amenities organized or it will be a disaster. More fishing up there, too.
I harvested my first tomatoes tonight, too. Two ripe, red Romas. You just cant get tomatos this good at the store!
I have been preparing for a trip up to the Wasatch Plateau tonight. Gotta get all the camping amenities organized or it will be a disaster. More fishing up there, too.
I harvested my first tomatoes tonight, too. Two ripe, red Romas. You just cant get tomatos this good at the store!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Anger
Anger is a really strange thing. Sometimes it persists in the crannys of one's psyche. You think it is all gone, but it just sits there, dessicated, waiting for the next rain of emotion to wash over it and it breathes back to life and strikes out. Eventually, it dries out again and waits. After a while, it just loses its identity and you become angry, but you don't know why.
Even more rarely, a kind of epiphanal catharsis happens and then the crannys get scoured and the stronger parts of the psyche crash together in a new configuration, just a few stones at a time. It can be kind of disorienting. NOW what do I feel like? Hmmmmm, I need to think about that.
Last night, I spoke to an old and dear roommate that I parted company with in the poorest of ways. It was like speaking to a lost part of my soul and made me think back to something TESS suggested. Tonight, because of that conversation, I feel more connected and much less angry. I feel the same from a conversation the night before where I felt love and loved and resolution and possibility. That is what I took from both conversations: possibility. That there is a future time to carry on and to resolve old stuff and new stuff and make MORE stuff and then shovel that. Sometime shovelling the stuff means really yummy tomatos!
Even more rarely, a kind of epiphanal catharsis happens and then the crannys get scoured and the stronger parts of the psyche crash together in a new configuration, just a few stones at a time. It can be kind of disorienting. NOW what do I feel like? Hmmmmm, I need to think about that.
Last night, I spoke to an old and dear roommate that I parted company with in the poorest of ways. It was like speaking to a lost part of my soul and made me think back to something TESS suggested. Tonight, because of that conversation, I feel more connected and much less angry. I feel the same from a conversation the night before where I felt love and loved and resolution and possibility. That is what I took from both conversations: possibility. That there is a future time to carry on and to resolve old stuff and new stuff and make MORE stuff and then shovel that. Sometime shovelling the stuff means really yummy tomatos!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
An Cu/rsa
So what is the course of this blog going to be? I actually didn't give it a whole lot of thought today since I was busy with work and did some gardening when I got home. I let the cats out for a breather today. The boys stayed outside as long as I did, but Lusay decided she was going to recline out by the irises for a while longer and did not come in. After I talked to Joe on the phone a couple of hours later, I decided to hunt her up and she was in the driveway, defending the house from the invasion of a very pretty tabby. She did come to me and I carried her in telling her what a good girl she was. I guess the flower bed is safe for one more night . . .
Okay, distraction . . . quantum topic. What will I write about? How about some of my travels, a bit about my family and friends. Maybe I will mention work when it rears up like a scary dragon. Sounds pretty normal, I guess. I think I will also want to talk about Paganism, Witchcraft and the Utah Pagan Community quite a bit, too. Some of it would be serious. Some of it satirical, just because Pagans, in aggregate, can be really funny--particularly when they are being so very serious themselves. I imagine some of that satire is to make fun of the seriously retarded and at other times to make a point. I think that satire and irony make really good points for those who are attuned. Satire is also a long-time Celtic tradition from clear the hell back when Celts were farmers, herdsmen and headhunters. Modern Pagans just do not appreciate it, particularly when they are the subjects. Funny that. . . I have not managed to raise boils on my subjects yet as did the satirists of old, but I keep practicing. I have managed to earn a stalking injunction (dismissed in court) for some of my satirical work. You can watch that here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWHKQMRn-qg
and here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VziZuhobvN8
This is just a taste of what is to come. Bon appetit!
Okay, distraction . . . quantum topic. What will I write about? How about some of my travels, a bit about my family and friends. Maybe I will mention work when it rears up like a scary dragon. Sounds pretty normal, I guess. I think I will also want to talk about Paganism, Witchcraft and the Utah Pagan Community quite a bit, too. Some of it would be serious. Some of it satirical, just because Pagans, in aggregate, can be really funny--particularly when they are being so very serious themselves. I imagine some of that satire is to make fun of the seriously retarded and at other times to make a point. I think that satire and irony make really good points for those who are attuned. Satire is also a long-time Celtic tradition from clear the hell back when Celts were farmers, herdsmen and headhunters. Modern Pagans just do not appreciate it, particularly when they are the subjects. Funny that. . . I have not managed to raise boils on my subjects yet as did the satirists of old, but I keep practicing. I have managed to earn a stalking injunction (dismissed in court) for some of my satirical work. You can watch that here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWHKQMRn-qg
and here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VziZuhobvN8
This is just a taste of what is to come. Bon appetit!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Getting Started
Why is it always so difficult to start something like this. I decided to try this out because my sister is doing it. I have no idea who will read this yet. I guess I will have to decide that once I have gotten the hang of some of the options here. For instance, decorating . . . what pictures do I want to hang on the wall here? I am not a big picture taking person. Perhaps I need to change that. I have ideas about what kinds of things I want to talk about, but not how to say them yet. Well, enough for tonight. I guess we'll see what I can manage tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)