New month, new improvements, new plans

August is the month.  I have no idea how it became the month, but that's ok.  Some plans are better by not being plans, but just falling into place.

So August is the month....
....I sell my car, Nigel.  I love him very, very much, but the Mister wants me to get something a little bigger, and a little safer to drive.  Since my warranty is up this year, I ordered a different MINI, a Countryman--it's a 4-door hatchback (talk about making me feel like I've become an adult) and it's AWD.  It's being built in the UK later this month and I should be able to start driving it sometime in October.  Feels bittersweet at this point.  I wanted a MINI Cooper for so long, and I had so much fun driving Nigel, I hate to sell him....but I can't have two MINIs, unfortunately.

....we got our treadmill!  Yay hooray!!  I've wanted one for years and I finally ordered it a couple weeks ago.  It arrived yesterday and I put it together (even though it says it's a two-person assembly).  So far, it's pretty impressive.  Touchscreen, fan, iPod compatible w/big speakers to listen to the music with.  A couple flaws need to be figured out, one being the squeak on the right side every time you take a step.  Annoying much?

....I'm being healthier.  I restarted eating better, via the South Beach Diet.  The food plan and options are straightforward and easier to follow than Weight Watchers to me.  I don't have to count or discount stuff I eat & do, I just get a list of foods that are ok to eat and foods I should stay away from.  For the first two weeks I'm staying away from a lot of refined foods, sticking with lean meats, fish and veggies.  I was successful with this approach before, I just stopped sticking to it.  3 days in, I'm feeling more energy, less sluggish (and desiring a nap) and when I had croutons yesterday with my salad & energy drink, I didn't feel guilty or beat myself up over it.  I thought I'd better have the energy drink since I sweat so much earlier in the morning while cutting/trimming grass and then putting together the treadmill.
I'm looking forward to continuing the change, regaining energy and losing other stuff.

....I've become the landscaper.  So to speak.  We already had a happy lawnmower--a Neuton battery-powered lawnmower.  It's quiet, efficient, and doesn't stink or blow out any nasty fumes.  I never mess with gas, oil or trying to yank anything to start it; I simply push a button and off it goes.  If everyone switched to a mower like mine, it would be the equivalent of taking 5 million cars off the road (or something like that).  Monday I bought a battery-powered trimmer.  I love it, it's super and I can't wait to use it again.  Mowing is a chore, trimming is fun.  Yes, I'm weird.

....The strawberry patch is producing berries!  We've had 2 berries so far to try...but there's a bunch of green ones that are starting to turn now.  Oh boy!  Oh boy!  I can't wait!!  Let me tell you, the first ripe strawberry I ate last week was ah-maz-ing!  So sweet and juicy and delicious.  Weeding is something I look forward to, strangely enough.  Having berries is great, but pulling weeds out of the ground on a regular basis is cathartic.

....We may or may not be getting air conditioning, kind of.  We got some bids for air systems last month and found one we'd really like to get that is actually a heat pump.  It would save us money during the winter and keep us cool during the summer.  Of course, it's expensive and a serious decision, but if the temps stay in the 90º region for a few more weeks like they usually do, I want me some coolness in the house.  Updates will follow.


Random stuff:

This pretty reflection was provided by the vase/container/cooking utensil holder and the early morning sun.  Things aren't all bad if I wake up early!  I thought it was a fanciful thing to see first thing in the morning, so I took pics.

Smudge is a cuddler.  I absolutely love it.  She usually rests against my leg, but this morning I had a pillow next to me, so she laid on that, then held me to down make sure I didn't leave her to fend for herself while the dogs were loose.  At least, that's what I'm guessing.

Smudge and Lily share a moment of peace, checking out the birds in the field behind the house.  It's rare but nice when this happens.

When I'm in my office, Amber lays next to my chair.  Sometimes she climbs into the tiny space under my desk to lay down.  Where I go, she's not long to follow...
When I'm on the couch, Lily climbs up onto my lap.  Kind of.  She's not "allowed" on the couch.  By my definition, this means all 4 feet.  So she puts the front half of her body on my lap, or next to me on the couch, for some scratches.  She's not as much of a cuddler as Smudge or Amber, but she's much more kissable.  Her cheeks and ears and head are so soft, I just have to kiss her.  And she takes it.  She's turning into a sweet, if highly energetic, girl.  I'm hoping to get her on the treadmill those days I can't/don't go on a walk.

Another list

• I don't like chocolate.  This doesn't mean I don't like cocoa--sometimes I eat brownies or dark chocolate stuff (Mounds?  mmmm)
• I don't like diamonds.  They bore me.  I grew up with Yogo Sapphires and much, much prefer them, their different shades from blue to purple to purple/pink/red, than the glassy-looking diamond.
• I don't like yellow gold.  Sometimes it's ok with white gold, but the proportions must be more white than yellow.
• Why is soy in every.damn.thing!?  I'd like to get some protein from a source other than soy or nuts.  Unfortunately, that leaves me with the dairy family or meat.  Hard to take those on a long trip....
• My tastes have changed, a lot.  As a child I never liked mustard or green olives.  Now I make potato salad with lots of mustard, put it on my sandwiches/burgers and I found some delish green olives.  I know children have more sensitive taste buds, so tend to be pickier eaters, but it's strange to experience it.
• I love spring and autumn.  My favorite season used to be summer, mostly because when I was a kid I spent all that time at the pool.  Now, however, I prefer the cooler spring and the smell of leaves in autumn.
• I am a clone of my mother.  When I look at my hands, I see hers.  When I hear myself laugh, I hear her.  When I'm being snarky about strangers, I hear her, too.  As an adult, it's so nice to know that my Mom isn't someone I don't want to be like.  Sure, I could do without the cleaning fit before people came over, and I'd love to not be so hot all the time, but otherwise, it's not a bad deal.
• I get excited about the mail.  No idea why, but I LOVE getting the mail.  It's like a surprise every time I open the mailbox.  
• British singers seem to be my latest favorite.  I've always tended to prefer female singers (with the exception of John Mayer and Jason Mraz), but Florence & the Machine, Kate Nash, Adele are all rocking my world right now.  Sorry America.
• I was grounded twice during my childhood.  Once for playing with fire, once for not wearing a helmet when I went snowmobiling (my head was too big to fit into the available helmets).  Other than that, I was just a spoiled, obnoxious, sarcastic, well-behaved child.
• The Mister occasionally gets the dogs riled up, playing all over the house.  I think it's funny.  But when I do it, he gets cranky.
• Hardwood floors make for some funny dog-running spills.
• I really wish I knew why Lily keeps chewing on Smudge's head.  And why Smudge lets her.

Frustration

The Mister is experiencing lots of pain recently.
For about 15 years he was a mechanic--lots of bending over cars, twisting the body in uncomfortable positions....
Once he finally stopped being a mechanic, and moved to more of a desk job, it was a big relief for his body.  However, the stress on his body has come back to haunt him.
First it was his right shoulder.  He's right-handed, so most of the tough work was likely done with that arm.  He somehow ended up with a torn labrum a few years ago.  If he hadn't had surgery, his bicep could've detached from his shoulder and fallen like a limp noodle to his elbow (if I'm remembering correctly).
The surgery fixed the tear, but he still experiences pain in his shoulder.
All the bending over lead to lots of back pain in recent years.  Not necessarily a bulged disc, but nerve pain.  The kind of pain that doesn't show up on an MRI because you can't really see nerves...I know, because I had lower back/hip pain for months and my MRI showed nothing wrong with my lower spine.  The worst part is, so many doctors will either throw strong pain meds at the problem and not treat the cause, or they tell you the pain is all in your head.  Sure, it's the "center" of the central nervous system, but until they come up with some way to "shut off" the brain to pain, I don't see any other helpful treatment except to ease the pain.
The whole thing is very hard to see because I can't help him.  His pain threshold is higher than mine, and as a kid growing up with migraines, he was given lots of pain killers--which lead to a high tolerance to those as well.  So most medications that help him would knock an elephant on it's ass.  And those medications are highly addictive.

Why can't they just fix the cause at the source so he doesn't have to worry about the pain anymore!?

Day 5--big city fun

On our last full day in Denver, we did a couple of things you can only do in big cities.

We went to an IMAX theater.  TO WATCH HARRY POTTER!!!!
and
We went to Dave & Buster's.  TO ACT LIKE WE'RE KIDS WHO JUST GOT TO SEE HARRY POTTER!!!!

Ok, so it was probably more exciting for me than the Mister, but the final final Harry Potter movie was badass in IMAX 3D.  The screen is the size of 13 football fields (my rough estimate) and the 3D effects and sound were crisp and clear and perfect.  It was the best way to see the last movie in the series and what an ending!  I almost cried.  Except I realized I wasn't as emotionally attached to the series as people who've read it, so I didn't.

Afterwards, we just hopped, skipped and jumped our way right next door (literally, the theater & restaurant are in the same building) to Dave & Buster's.
We see commercials for the place all the time and have wanted to go, so this was our chance.
We played games and won tokens for 2 hours.  It was great fun after the great movie and I'm happy we got to play and relax some more.

Finally we headed out.  We were kinda hungry, but not really, so we drove around looking for something to jump out at us and say, "Don't I sound yummy?"
No luck.
But something else jumped out at us:

You don't really see THAT in Montana.  You're welcome.

We drove here and there and couldn't find anything, so we went back towards the hotel and went to a restaurant near there.  It was silly.
The wait staff all had to wear fancy clothes (men in suits, women in little black dresses).
The food was over-priced and underwhelming.
The Mister & I stuck out like sore thumbs.  Or just lost tourists.
Either way, I would never, ever go there again.

Then we went back to the hotel room and packed for the long drive home.
We drove home the next day.  I don't know if the dogs were happier to see me than I was them.  It may be a tie.

We had so much fun, and I really loved getting to spend time relaxing together.  The Mister seemed to enjoy himself, too, if the "let's go on another vacation right now" comment can be believed.  :o)

Day 4--last little bit (and no pics!)

After the zoo hassle & sweatfest, the Mister & I decided to take a little trip over a hill and into the woods of Boulder.  We were going to try to make it to Estes Park because we just had to visit there while we were in Colorado.  Instead, we met an old friend of mine, and her husband.
How old?
I went to high school with Lindsey.  She was "my" sophomore when I was a senior.  We were in pep band together.  She's one of the very few people from school that I still care about.
She graduated the summer the Mister & I got married, and was the only friend I invited to our wedding.  In fact, the last time we'd seen her was at our wedding.
10 years and one day later....we met her and her handsome husband at a local brewery in Boulder.  She's a successful physical therapist for children and he's an engineer who does some pretty cool work.  We got to hang out for a couple of hours and catch up.  It was such a treat to see what a beautiful woman she's become and how happy she is with her life.
There's so few people in my life that I connect with and feel truly comfortable with, and she's always going to be one.
Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before I get to hug her again.

Day 4--Oh what a zoo!

And I don't mean the animals.

On Day 4 of our trip, we got up and went to the zoo.  At our first attempt, we'd seen that parking fills up fast.  And Denver heat climbs quickly.  So if we got there early, before all the traffic, and before the temps rise, we'd have a good time.  Right?  yeahno.

We arrived around 9:30ish, which is pretty early.  The zoo opens at 9.
The parking was full-ish, but not packed yet.  In fact, we found a pretty good spot.
We got into the park, saw some animals, and then ran smack dab into the herd.  Denver Zoo has lots of animals, but not enough of one species to form a herd.
I speak of the young children and clueless mothers herd.  They cluster together and run from place to place, screaming and yelling and pointing and making me twitch while the mothers conglomerate and discuss their childbirth stories.
One or two children I can handle, even if they're screaming.  However, there was 20+ kids in one place, ranging from ages 0-5.  (Dear daycare professionals:  You have my respect, despite the fact that I think you're mentally questionable.)
We entered a place where no stroller can go.  Where there is, in fact, a stroller parking area.  That there's a need for this area boggles my mind.

ANYWAY.
The heat was high, too.  I believe it was 80ish while we toured the zoo, on top of some rather staggering humidity (for Denver).  Most of the animals were seeking shade and conforming their bodies to it so they could stay cool.  For that reason, we didn't get may pictures of cats.
While being hot, sticky and irritated by children, we saw animals as quickly as we could so we could return to the room of air conditioning and quiet.  Some exhibits we didn't even bother going into because there's a limit to how much sweat-to-water ratio I'm willing to suffer.

And since I didn't have the patience to actually get a description of the animals I was taking pics of, you'll have to make due with the descriptions I have.

I have to say the animals seemed to have gotten a memo about our visit.  A lot of the pictures we got were of rear ends.  Some of them were even in focus.  The pictures below are really only a fraction of how many were taken and slightly acceptable.
Note to self:  Next time, only bother taking pics if the critters are facing you.

Some big porcupine.  I felt as prickly as it looks that day.

Itty bitty deer (dwarf deer, if I remember correctly)

There's a lion laying in the shade right in the middle.

whosit and whatsit

Hyena

Here kitty kitty

Leopard

Yay tiger!

Same tiger.  So pretty.

Giraffe--black tongues.

Polar bear being led out to treats

crazy fact:  polar bears have been interbreeding with kodiak bears, possibly to deal with the loss of habitat & feeding areas?

nomnomnom!

Another polar bear being treated

Arctic fox?

otters being playful

back and forth they swam

pants reflection--can only be found at the Denver Zoo

The rainforest room foliage

tri-colored squirrels?

little lizard

snakes

Big Catfish

another snake

an iguana?

fishes & rays

The ray smiling at us

more cool fish

giant reef aquarium

Sea horse!  (See, I know one for sure)

A lion fish

big blow fish

sea urchin (the prickly things)

shrimp

komodo dragon

I stuck my tongue out right back at it

Alligator

turrrrtle

colorful frogs

Sea lion?

peacock

camels--two humped

Peacock attack!  actually pretty funny--mom thought it'd be nice to have a picnic on the grass.  kids will be making her pay for therapy for the next ten years because of their terror of peacocks

nomnomnom

you lookin at me?

Mongolian desert horses?

Fox sleeping in a log

I think they're bat-eared foxes?

single-humped camel

okapi

read about them in a book when they were still considered "mythical" animals

The new Asian Tropics exhibit construction

Lots of birds

The cutest little owl I've ever seen

A rarely seen robin!

Sparrows taking advantage of some food

Primates

one of my siblings

This little guy was about the size of my palm

my other sibling

Monkey island

Stork and pelican

He wants to come see us

Mountain goat

Ram

That's a cheetah, again, laying in the shade

It's a kangaroo!

turtle & bird.  Impressive, right?  You can almost never get a turtle to hold still long enough for a picture....

Giraffe sculpture at the entrance.  Even that was showing me it's rear end!