good ol' Lake City

It's a beautiful day outside. 75 degrees, sunny, one of the last gasp kind of days before the rain clouds roll in for the winter. It's putting me in a better mood than I've been in for the past week. I signed up to double at the store this weekend and hated that decision all the way through. It was the nicest weekend in a while and I spent it inside both days. I've been frustrated with my job choice lately. Nothing against where I work, it's just for me anymore. I get really ancy working inside, especially if it's at a computer. And, working retail can only last so long before you get sick of saying the same things over and over and over and dealing with mostly good people but really hating on those few creeps who really believe the world revolves around their asshole lives. I can suck it up and treat them like people, even though they aren't returning the favor, but it gets harder and harder to do so the less I want to be there. So, I've been grumpy almost daily since I didn't get my usual day off. But, I have this coming weekend off entirely and, even though I was going to let it slide, I'm cashing in the Labor Day I spent at the office and I have Friday off as well. Since Tuesday is my usual day off, I only have two more work days until my three-day weekend. And one of those workdays, Thursday, I get to work the morning shift instead of my usual night shift so I can watch the VP-debate. My mom might come over to watch with me so that would make that day exciting and work would pass swiftly as a result. Perfect. This week is actually going to fly by pretty quick I think. I need to leave in an hour for the first UW rugby practice of the year. I'm really looking forward to it, especially looking forward to incorporating Crossfit into the fitness practices. I think it will help the team a lot and hopefully get some people excited about fitness. After that it's the second episode of Heroes. That's a pretty big deal in the Zimmerman/Knapp/ex-McCrow household. I won't lie, it's definitely not the same without Kaisa's shared enthusiasm/obsession with Heroes but that's a small sacrifice for her travels abroad. And, tomorrow I have loads going on. I want to go to my Mom's but would have to leave pretty early in the morning in order to back for a 2:50 doctor appointment. I have some annoying shit to get checked out. For whatever reason, I get super bad cramps when I exercise hard sometimes. That will simply not do whenever I become a firefighter and it really threw a wrench in my plans this morning. Three coworkers came to Crossfit with me. I was really excited to have them there and did their first workout rather than the one on the board. It was the easiest one I've done and I wanted to get through it quick and maybe do the other one after. But, the guy amongst us decided he wanted to try and beat me on the last 200 and I really didn't want to lose. So I "sprinted" (or what consitutes sprinting to me) it in while swearing at him and got awesome cramps right away. Trouble is, it looked like I was going to puke. I wasn't but my guts hurt pretty horrifically so I stepped away. I didn't want to come back and say that was an easy workout when it looked like it did a number on me. So, I didn't. I'll have to prove that later on. Long story short (or long), I'm going to the doc tomorrow to figure out why this happens. Then, back to Crossfit at 5:30 and then to my last Breakers practice at 6:45. Wednesday I want to do the 7am Crossfit since there's a clinic at work at 9am. Short break and back to work at 3:00 and then UW practice at 8:30. Thursday would be another early Crossfit, hopefully, work 8-3 and then begins the gloriously long weekend hopefully watching Palin embarass herself on national TV. (Nothing against you personally, Sarah. Your policies just terrify me and I really don't want your side to win the election. I wish you the best in your personal life though.) Molly and I were supposed to go to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth this weekend but we're thinking no. We have to get our patio in before the serious muds start and, even if it rains at the end of the week, it's probably better now than later. Also, those damn chickens are still on the porch and I really want them off. I'm wondering if there's a better solution than the dog crate on the front porch. Maybe the newly completed patio? Our garden is super tomato-ey. Some of the leaves on the squash need to get cut back and that veggies need to get picked and eaten. A lot can probably be pulled up since we're going to cover that whole area with fill dirt anyways. Besides that, it's just the same old stuff. Before winter Molly and I want to get a woodstove installed, put new gutters on the house, bring in fill dirt to the front lawn and put raised beds in place of the current "flower" and "herb" gardens. We also want to finish the patio, put a second set of stairs on the side of the porch and pull the back fence up to that area, and then paint the fence so it's weather-proofed. It's a lot to do. Hopefully we can knock a lot out this weekend. It would feel really good to be able to sit back and see some accomplishments, besides that damn chicken coop and it's eggless chickens.

Also, Lily peed on us again last night. She is a little bitch.

time for bed.

This was a long day. What with two meetings at work, separated by four hours in which to shop for and make and bake and package my cookies, it felt very rushed. I drove to work, sat in a Nike meeting. Then I went to Safeway for some baking stuff and found no good birthday card for my uncle. why do they make such stupid cards? I came home and baked some cookies and drank a beer and let the chickens out. I wrote my grandma an e-mail. And I wrapped all the cookies in tinfoil and put them in boxes. I drove my truck to the library to drop off/pick up books. Then I went to work for a long long meeting with Merrell. Then helped a ridiculous person pick out socks forever while Molly sat like a corpse in the corner of the store because she's sick and was helping me by mailing the cookies I didn't have time to mail. I addressed and taped the cookie boxes. Then I worked for five hours selling shoes. In that time I also ate soup, bought and ate thai food, and drank some water. After work I e-mailed a testimonial to my Crossfit coach, closed the store, and met Deb and Val for a UW rugby meeting and stayed a bit to talk to Val, which was good. Then I went to QFC to buy Molly ginger ale and Advil PM. Then I came home and ate a bowl of ice cream and talked to Molly and read my grandma's response and watched a Crossfit video. Now I am writing this before brushing my teeth and going to bed. Also, I almost just barfed or passed out from looking at, and then Googling, some nasty white chunks on Molly's tonsils. That is my entire day. Weird how it managed to fill up 15 hours. I liked the baking and the meeting was good. I liked talking to Molly and driving my truck and drinking the beers. I could have done without the rest of it though.

Cloudy fall day

I was trying to see if there was such a thing as a long-term weather prediction for this autumn (late summer, early winter, that sort of thing). And this is what I Googled first http://the-end.com/2008GodsFinalWitness/?gclid=CMXG9tiN9ZUCFSKhiQodkDrmhg. I am tempted to download and read this sucker. Sadly, with the mess with those asshole fat cats it seems like the US could be in some serious trouble over the next year. Especially with the war in Afghanistan ramping up.

I wanted to write more but I ended up responding to an email from my Grandma. We are having a nice e-mail exchange on politics and life. It's pretty interesting because we should be fighting, considering our large differences, but we're really having a great dialog that we're both enjoying. The last e-mail had to do with rape/abortion and gay marriage. We'll see where it goes.

I'm baking cookies before I head back to work. They're supposed to be bound for Connecticut, for my Uncle Frank's birthday, Wisconsin, for my cousin who's shipping out to Iraq next week, and Port Townsend, to my stepmom since she's been home alone all week while my dad is out sailing. I'm hoping they get to these various places before the weekend. I've sent baked goods over the weekend before and it's not the best plan.

The United States of Cheap Beer

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2008/08/11/cheap_beer/

keep it simple stupid

It's probably because I've had the week off from working out. Or maybe now that I'm not focused on the PAT anymore I'm stressing over other things (likely). Or it might be autumn snapping on our heels with this grey misty weather. No matter what, I'm eager for something more spartan, a rigorously simple life without knickknacks and trillions of errands. The attic is a sprawling geography of my what I used to do, used to be like. It's a lot of fun for Molly to go through (when she's not trying to find something of her's that she needs) but I could do without the reminder of my old nerdiness (not that I think I moved past that, I just know my current nerdiness very well.) I want less of the non-essential. I read a good website that advocated some, surprise, simple ideas to move away from a rushed, cluttered existance. Here is some of what this guy says... Be engaged in your downtime. I'm not going to lie, I've watched TV and been online at the same time. That's gross to me. Simply too much. And then you get a text message so you respond to that, while gmail chatting and trying to keep up with whatever's on TV... shit, where's my book. Call me a luddite but I think there is such a thing as too much, at least for this simpleton. I would love to spend more time reading. And I do like watching movies and TV series. But, Molly and I usually rent them so we can skip the commercials and watch way too many in a row. Another thing he said was to keep your e-mail inbox empty. Yeah right. Mine is as cluttered as the attic. I'm doing pretty well right now and I have 130 e-mails, 28 unread. I would not like to clean the whole thing out, although it would be pretty glorious when it was done. I should also check e-mail less often. I don't work much with computers but I still don't have any pressing e-mail contacts that I need to be refreshing the screen for. It's a weird nervous tic, maybe it affirms that I'm a person to be contacted regularly. What else... you're supposed to sort your clothes by season, so you can pack away those things that you seriously won't wear (like shorts now, apparently). I sort of already do this. I like to keep my dresser full of the clothes I folded the last time I folded clothes (looks like June or so from the geological layers) and then the floor is where I keep both a) the clothes I really where and b) the clothes that I don't actually wear but have been caught up in the laundry/floor cycle so keep getting cleaned and then walked upon, without being worn. It would be pretty sweet to have a) less clothes and b) to not have to paw through shorts in December or wool sweaters in August to find what I really want to wear. Besides, I could donate stuff I clearly never wear if I'm forced to pack or unpack it twice a year. Moving on, I'm supposed to be happy with my livlihood. I can't say that I really am right now. It could definitely be much worse but I'm really distracted by that glint of an idea that I could, someday, be a firefighter. I feel like a pipsqueak when I tell people that. And I get that same look you give a six year-old who professes the same vocational fantasy. It'll happen, I know that much. I'm just now sure when, or with what department. In this vein, I would do well to start studying for oral boards, just so I'm ready in case Tacoma calls me up for an interview. As 21st century creatures, we're supposed to be eating like it's the middle ages, no Coca Cola or Cheetos. Things that occur naturally in the world are okay (including beer, believe it or not), things that are created in a lab are not. I should probably follow this a little less loosely. Almost every night I feel like shit, probably the result of poor eating throughout the day. The rest of his list finishes out with such exciting endeavors as decluttering and organizing one's home, minimizing grass in the yard (less lawncare I suppose), live withing your means (rather than expanding debt), and buying less but buying high quality when you do buy. All of these things sound just great to me. The trouble is enacting them. It's way easier to clomp into the house after work, drop down my bag inside the door, track dirt over to the fridge where I open it up and crack open a cheap can of watered-down alcoholic goodness, and slump on the couch to watch something uninteresting. I'm actually preparing to enact something good for me right now. Can't you tell? Actually, I wanted an excuse to listen to NPR for half an hour and writing this blog pretty much took care of that. Speaking of which, what constitutes a recession because it seems like we're in one.

There is only one thing I would add to that guy's simplicity guide. I'd say everyone should exercise, in some fashion, every day. It makes you happy and it makes you sleep well.

murdery mystery

There was some weird ruckus this morning that we attributed to Lily, our ever-annoying kitten/cat. But when Molly went out to let the hens out one of them, Basal C., was face down in the shavings. She came and got me and it was pretty clear that Basal was no longer with us. She was laying at the foot of the ladder (their roost) and there was a lot (a lot for a chicken!) of blood on the four bottom rungs of the ladder. I couldn't find an injury on her though. We were both late, Molly for work and me for the dogs' annual vet appointment. So we put her a paper bag in the house and I am home now to bury her. I just washed the blood of the ladder. I really can't believe how much blood there is, especially without an obvious injury on her. I'm going to go bleach it and clean up the rest of the coop and figure out where to bury her. She was a good, quiet lady. Molly and I are both just shocked at how random it is. Poor Molly has not really dealt with this sort of sudden, random (and apparently fairly violent?) death. When I went out and picked Basal up Molly's bottom lip started quivering and her eyes got full of tears. I felt almost as bad for Molly as I did for the chicken.

I guess this is how it goes though. I'm moving the coop around in case she got hurt getting off the ladder. I'm not really sure what happened but I want to prevent it from happening in the future. This is probably one of the weirdest deaths I've ever seen.

RIP Basal C.

Three years later...

I passed my PAT with Tacoma this morning in six minutes and twenty four seconds. I felt comfortable, albeit taxed at times. And I felt like I had it pretty much the whole way through. It didn't feel like failure was an option. I am really happy with my time. The practice run I did was 7:41. Max time to still pass is 7:30. The Crossfit I've been doing has really helped, not only physically but mentally as well. I owe it to a lot of people who have given me advice and told me I could do it. If you hear it enough it seems to come true. I turned in my application packet right after and I hope I get a call for an interview. Nothing is for sure but I'm crossing my fingers. If I get invited to an interview that'll be the furthest I've ever come to being hired by any department, especially a department I really want to work for.

I'm stoked. This test has been in the back of my mind since I first tried (and failed) my first 2.5" charged hose drag back in August of '05. I didn't end up testing then due to being sick/injured/psyched out. Now, I feel like the chickens finally came home to roost and it was good. Very very good.

The best part is that I barfed in the shower this morning. I brushed my teeth and then brushed my tongue and made myself gag. I'd been on the verge of barfing all morning and that was all the excuse I needed to let 'er rip. I'd only eaten coffee so that was it, but it was a delicious way to begin the day. Molly forced me to take peanut butter toast on the way down to Tacoma, and Dad handed me a primo banana. I managed to eat a small corner of the toast and half the banana but couldn't choke down anymore than that. Even my normal cup of coffee was super unenjoyable. After I finished the test I drank a 16oz coffee and half a gallon of water on the way home, plus the couple cups of water I drank before and after the test. I had to stop to pee four times on the way home. Granted, my trip home took my forever because of a couple errands/poor turns. But I urinated at the Tacoma Public Library, the rest stop just north of Fife, the Queen Anne 76 station (this one was an emergency), and the Green Lake Kidd Valley. Great day.

Test today.

I want to barf. My PAT test is in three hours, exactly. I'm leaving in 40 minutes just to make sure I have plenty of time to arrive early. I know I've prepared as much as I can. I did 25 minute workouts that made me want to puke/die so 7:30 minutes of tough exertion can't be near as bad. At the end of last week I woke up thinking the test would be a welcome alternative to whatever Jake had planned for us that day. Now that I'm baring down on the test itself I'm more nervous just because of what rides on this test. I fail and I'm back to the drawing board, holding out for a call for Seattle in the spring and expanding my testing options to other departments in the meantime. If I pass, then I have no assurance of an invitation to an interview, but at least that's a possibility. So, that's that. I need to go drink a cup of coffee and try and choke down some breakfast. I'm excited and terrified for this test because of how bad I want it. We'll see. I'll know in three hours and three minutes how I did.

2008 Fall Plant Sale

Friday, September 12 and Saturday, September 13
Warren G. Magnuson Park
7400 Sand Point Way, Seattle

This is a good solution to starting our fall plants from seeds. I'll probably do container gardening since we don't know what we're doing with the level of the yard. More dirt??

Yesterday went pretty well. I was able to get in another hard workout. More sweat stinging the eyes and pouring off my gross stringy wet hair. Good times. I finally caught up with my dad. He's coming to stay for a couple nights next week so he can help us with our yard. I will definitely need to do some cleaning/tidying up before he gets here. I visited Maddie at her new barn and she seems fat and happy. It's great to see her in someone else's care and doing well. I hope that ends up being a permanent home for her because it seems like a great match. I tried to clean up some serious clutter on our attic stairs. I succeeded in cleaning up some of it, and moving the rest to front and center on the kitchen table. And then there was rugby practice where I go once a week to stand awkwardly and pick on the few new players that show up. Molly took the Norman back to the vet for the third time. Jesus, the most expensive chickens ever. Now they have eye/nose drops on top of their antibiotics. They need to clear this shit up so we can get them off our fricken porch. It's a special day, coming home to cage full of stinky snotty chickens. It's simply too much.

I've been stressed out lately (surprise). I think it's mostly the test that's now less than a week away. I've worried about this test since I went through the practice session four years ago. I'm much fitter than I was then. And I'm not playing a rugby game while sick a week before the test, like I did last time. But, I'm still nervous and I think that my nerves seep into my daily life. But, I've been on edge lately. When I feel crazy in my head I think it reaches out into the physical stuff around me. If the house is cluttered or filthy (it's been both lately) then it makes me overwhelmed. I think that's how my dad was when I was growing up. He'd come home for two week trips flying and be pissed as soon as he walked in the door. It was scary. I'm thrilled to be carrying that torch. But, it's a pretty helpless feeling and you only feel worse for knowing you're being ridiculous.

Lately I've been putting off finishing my Tacoma application (it's very long but could get me my dream job so I need to get over it), and dealing with my finances. A combo of buying a new truck (taking out an auto loan), putting a bunch of stuff on my credit card (which I don't usually do), and needing to pay rent, utilities, vet bills, doctor bills, the auto loan and insurance, and my cell phone bill makes it less than rad to sit down with the checkbook. I'm also unsure what to do with the dogs. The busier Molly and I get the less exercise and attention they get. Especially when those damn roosters are hogging our money/time with their drops and meds.

Anyway, it's almost 9am... time to get moving on this day. We'll see what happens today but I hope I can finish up the day feeling a little caught up. I also need to be in bed for about 9 hours it feels like lately. When I finish reading and actually fall asleep I'm not getting up until 8 hours has passed. Iron deficiency or muscle building rest?

hit by a truck

My butt feels donkey punched and the muscles in the front of my shoulder are miserable. I didn't even know there were muscles there. I'm a little shocked that I'm willingly going back for more in a couple hours.

Today is also the day that Kaisa leaves for Guam. Pretty bittersweet. I don't know anyone who isn't happy she's finally doing what she's wanted to do for years now. But, I also don't know anyone who is happy that she won't be around for the next six months.

I'm finally going to visit Mads today. It sounds like it's going really well at her new home. I've had her since I first came back from Mills, in 2002. And I've dragged her around from location to location as I've wondered what the hell I'm doing for the past six years. I really hope it works out at this new location. I'd love to not have to worry about her anymore.

Also, I'm pretty nervous about this Sarah Palin stuff. I do think Barack Obama gave up this same spotlight when he dismissed the idea of running with Clinton as his running mate. That would have nailed the election pretty well. I understand that it would be awkward having three presidential personalities in the whitehouse but, way better than McCain/Pailn. I do think it's rad that, either way, this election will put either a woman or a black man in the whitehouse. That's rad. I just wish the woman was someone more respectable as a politician than Palin. She sounds like someone that would be fun to sit on a pier with, toss a few back, and fish the day away. But, so did George Bush and that ended up being a mistake. She also makes the war in Iraq sound like a holy war, she's tried to ban books (who does that anymore?) and she lied about being anti-earmark since she did want the Bridge to Nowhere. She's clever and snarky and would be fun to listen to if I agreed with more of what she said. But, I worry that she's just a likeable personality for most people and I wish people would just go watch a TV show instead to see what they like rather than voting a 'neat' person into a powerful office. I think there's something very important about Barack Obama keeping his words 'above the fray' but it does make me miss Hilary's mean streak and how down to earth she was for most people. I like Obama a lot. I think he's very thoughtful and really weighs his options. That's not the same as being indecisive, he just doesn't knee-jerk react to problems. But, he needs to get on board with the bulk of working class voters. Sarah Palin is easily winning hearts and minds each time she repeats that joke about hockey moms and pit bulls. If Obama could get out to townhalls, fairs, churches, and union halls and give a detailed plan of what he'll do for Iraq and Afghanistan, drilling, and the economy then he'll start charging ahead. He's not going to alienate the city people that are already going to vote for him.

What else... today is a day that will hopefully get a lot done. Our floors are in serious need of a good scrubbing. I have a pile of bills that I've been putting off looking at and this is the first month I'll have higher car insurance and an auto loan to pay. The cars are definitely in need of some good washing. I would love to clean my truck, what a glorious way to spend a sunny day. That damn dirt pile is still hunkering in my parking space. The chicken cage is starting to smell again. And they're still on the porch. Sick. Our green tomatoes need some motivation for ripening, not really sure what that is though. And our f-ing hens need a kick in the butt so they start laying eggs. Or maybe if you kick them in face that'll knock in egg out. Maybe I'll experiment later today. I haven't talked to my Dad in a long time. And, there's always house cleaning, rose pruning, weeding, and cooking. Good times today, we'll see what actually ends up happening. I think I'll need to go to sleep by 10:00 because it's like raising the dead each morning I get less than 8 hours of sleep. I've also been sucking down water like we're going into a drought. Is this what fitness is all about? It's way harder than powering through a 30 minute workout each day.

this rutted road

I never want to write about my day. I'm not sure why. I had a great day today. Molly, Kaisa, Roni and I went to the Bloedel Reserve on the Island and walked in the woods for a couple hours. The woods smelled dark and furiously quietly alive. I miss the cedar and salal and bracken ferns and skunk cabbage and trilliums. Shit, sometimes I even miss the brambles and the nettles if I've been huffing too much exhaust and pounding the pavement too long.

It really felt like fall today, the light was less harsh and the air seems cleaner, almost like it's preparing to rain for the next nine months. We're making smoked cheddar roasted butternut squash tart for breakfast tomorrow to celebrate. The garlic is roasting right now and it's a pretty hefty smell. Too bad there's not a woodstove in this house to accompany it. The beefy red truck in the driveway will do for now though.

blog it.

It's been pretty okay this week. I walked into the Crossfit gym on Wednesday to see what I could do to get ready for the fire test. About 10 minutes later a gal walked in who was signed up for 10 personal training sessions for that same reason. So, I hopped in on her sessions and split the cost with her and now we're three days in. I feel pretty sore today. It's been all sort of stuff, but very useful. I feel like I've maxed out my grip every day and by now my hamstrings and upper back are hurting. We have tomorrow off and then are working out Sunday through Saturday next week. Then I have three days until the real deal.

When I got home today it was something special. Our porch is something out of a Steinbeck novel. We got some sick chickens in a cage, our trash, some dead flowers, a dusty old western saddle, and a bunch of other junk. That's my focus as soon as I go pick up my pickup from Lake City Transmission, which is happening as soon as I finish my bagel. It's not a glamorous Friday night. We need to go over to Redmond in a bit to see how Mads is doing. But, besides that I think I'm putting some elbow grease into this place. The only thing between us and trailer trash is the foundation on this house.

Resisting the temptation.

I'm a house divided right now. There's something about shifting seasons that makes me want to plan the crap out of my life. It's a tough urge to resist. Fall is my favorite season. I love getting up when it's still dark out and turning on NPR while I make coffee. I love the smell of breakfast coming before morning rays, like it's that much more potent and necessary without light seeping in and diluting the concentration of two eggs over easy. The daylight is crotchety, like it has somewhere else to be and us Pacific Northwesterners keep refilling its coffee cup and insisting it stay a few more minutes. This is when all the orange and yellow and green vegetables shoulder out the reds and blues and purples of summer. Suddenly it's pumpkins and cider and woodsmoke instead of iced tea and BBQs. And, by now, that's okay. The chickens go to bed earlier and earlier each night and get up later each morning. Buster is lazier, still crying to be outside but a little easier to get in when the sun goes down and a cold mist settles in the treetops. This is the season of crisp books, new windshield wipers, tea at night instead of cold beer, cornstalks, foggy windows, crunchy leaves and blistered hands from raking them up. This is the best time of the year, when you eagerly anticipate the short days, the thudding rain, the biting air. It's time for festivals and rodeos and decorations and music. The next four months are a collective celebration of falling leaves, goblins, feasting and lights.

I would like to forget myself in the spirit of the season. I'm trying anyway. Right now we have a dog crate of two sick chickens on the porch. The gutters on this house are saggy and probably full of mulched leaves from last fall. The swail in the front yard is grinning in anticipation of a mouthful of rain water and we'll have to walk through it since a pile of muddy dirt is slouching against the other gate. The tomatoes grew so big (and still so green) that their infrastructure collapsed onto the squashes. The other garden has gone back to nature. If we just took down the crappy white wire fence it would look like part of the yard. The back patio never happened but we have a bare patch of dirt where we put our good intentions. And Suzy's path around the side of the house is getting slick on those wet night walks to close the chickens in.

There are always things to do. Having this PAT test looming over my very near future keeps me anxious and casting about for alternatives to focus my nerves on. It's easy to wish for a cleaner house, no chickens on the porch, or a full bank account than it is to realistically think about this test and what I stand to gain from passing it. Less than two weeks until the day.

Feels like fall.

It smells like woodsmoke and the nights have been pretty cold. A lot of blackberries were green last week. Seems like fall is tripping all over itself to get a head start while summer is dragging its feet on the way out the door. Yesterday I tried to catch up at work and was able to get it pretty cleaned up. It was nice working on Labor Day because no one else was there. I had NPR on my computer but couldn't actually hear it since I was up in the shoe mez most of the time.

Today I worked on my Tacoma Fire application. There's a lot of stuff on there I have a hard time remembering: dates I worked as an office temp for Shared Strategy, the one time I was turned into a collection agency for an unpaid bill, my two car accident dates... hopefully I get a memory boost at some point because I'm taking the app pretty seriously because I want this job very badly. After I worked on that for an hour I spent the last 45 minutes shoveling dirt into the back of my truck. That sucker is earning her keep. She ferried 8 people from Deer Harbor to the other end of Orcas Island after Rob was boarded by the Coast Guard and had his voyage "terminated." Now she's helping us get rid of that miserable dirt pile in the front of the house. And, later this week, I'm going to pick up that a boxspring from Rachel's house.

We did have one mini adventure coming back late from Orcas. We tried to switch to the second fuel tank when we ran low on the first and went to two closed diesel stations. Apparently there's no 2nd tank or it's not hooked up to the switch because the truck died after one block (the rest of the fuel in the line ran through). It was 1am and we had to coast into a 76 station (with no diesel) and crank the engine to no avail. Each damned clerk told us the Chevron had diesel (when you could clearly read the sign that had diesel no where on it). So we got advice from beer-breathed whiskered creeps and finally were able to crank that engine into life on the dregs of the first tank. It was enough to creep down the freeway to the next exit, which gloriously had a diesel station.

Now, I'm headed to Mom's with the dirt.

Also, 10 days list-free so far. Only 355 more to go. It hasn't been the easiest. Especially because today is the beginning of the month (ah, a clean slate) and it feels like fall (ah, a new season). But, I was thinking recently, life seems to take care of itself. Even though I try to micromanage the crap out of it, the best things of the summer haven't been "listed." I finally got a tattoo with Alec, Maddie is in a great lease (and hopefully will be bought by the end of winter), we have our five chickens and the coop is finally done (for the most part), we have a garden falling over itself with veggies, we had a mini vacation, I tested for my top two departments (and am training for the big hump for Tacoma), and I bought a truck I'm in love with. I didn't even notice all this happening. I need to remember where I'm at in my life. I just turned 25 and I live in a rad house with more creatures that necessary with someone I love very much. I have a good job (for the time being) and am working diligently on attaining my longtime goal of being a big city firefighter. I love the fall and am excited for the smells, cooking, picking, planting, harvesting, baking, reading, cleaning, digging that takes up the bulk of fall in the Northwest.