The secret life of books

I've been slowly moving a large bookshelf from my old office to my new office. Along with that, I've been I've been rediscovering old favorite books, books I haven't read, and college textbooks I wonder why I still have.

My old favorites include those in my blog profile, such as the classic To Kill A Mockingbird. I actually have two copies of that – a very worn, missing cover one from my original reading at Cache La Poudre Junior High School. It was so worn, it was destined for the waste basket. I asked the librarian (was it Mrs. Neth?) to let me keep it. A few years ago, I thought I should buy a new copy of it for my collection and pass on the old one. Yet when I went to register and release it, I found I couldn't part with the worn one. Its well-loved condition would probably not be as revered as it is in my bookshelf. So it stays.

Every book has a story behind it. Desert Solitaire (Edward Abbey) was recommended by someone once, probably a guy I had a crush on (though who it was, I don't recall now). It really appealed to my tree-hugging side. I have yet to visit the places in the book (Moab and Arches) but it's on my list. (Another blog around the corner).

Marley and Me (John Grogan) was a gift from my sister Annie for my birthday. Its the true story of "life and love with the world's worst dog." As a human to two of the world's worst (but getting better) dogs, I laughed and cried my way through this book. This one shows how dog lovers can truly appreciate their pups, in spite of and in love with all they do.

I have a couple of signed books. One of my most favorite authors is Maya Angelou. I've been lucky to see her speak several times. One of those times even luckier to meet her. She signed my copy of Even the Stars Look Lonesome. More recently, I've become enamoured with Sue Monk Kidd's books, especially The Secret Life of Bees. This past Fall, a fellow GABster (bookclub) and I heard her speak and she signed my copy of Bees.

Now as I put all these books back in my shelves, I realize I'm not only a packrat but a bookaholic. I'm addicted to the 3-for-2 at Borders and the clearance tables there and at Barnes and Nobel, and used books on Amazon.com. I'm very protective of my books too. As a kid, I used to play librarian forcing my sister, parents and anyone else who ventured by to check out books. Recently I've discovered Bookcrossing. It's a place online to register your books with a unique number and then "release them into the wild." The idea is the finder writes a journal entry about their find, reads it and passes it on, with the website as a virtual travel journal for the book.

But moving the books has also given me a chance to edit. Do I really need all my women's studies books from college? The Journalism textbooks? No, probably not. If I edit, then there's more room on the shelf for the new books.

Currently reading: Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

Ladies do tea

The book club gang met at the Brown Palace a couple of weeks ago for afternoon tea. We read Murder at the Brown Palace, which wasn't as exciting as I hoped (the story is interesting but the book was backwards -- telling the best part first). The tea was very fantastic. It was fun to dress up and have cucumber sandwiches and lots of sugary treats.

Afterwards, Pam, Nichelle and I wandered into the Ship Tavern to check out the bullet holes in the bar.

I need to write up a life list. I don't have one really, but it I did, tea at the Brown Palace would be something to cross off.

Earworms

You know how you get a tune stuck in your head? It's called an earworm and unfortunately it's never the whole song, just an annoying snippit over and over and over and ...

This happens to me all the time. I always wake up with a song in my head. This is odd because I don't wake to an alarm clock. As a freelancer, I have the ability to wake up when my body tells me so. So it's not a song I catch from the clock radio jarring me out of slumberland. Sometimes I can figure out where it comes from -- sometimes I think it's an old tooth filling picking up random radio stations.

Today it's "Paperback Writer." Just that part. "Paperback Writer" over and over. But then my mind likes to change it up a bit -- usually something to the dogs or cats. So now it becomes "Puppydog barker".

Argh.

Happy New Year!

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit.

Happy New Year! Why is it that we start each year with resolutions? Apparently the tradition of resolutions dates back to the early Babylonians. Today most popular resolutions are to quit smoking, lose weight, get out of debt, spend more time with family, and get organized. The most popular resolution for the early Babylonians was to return borrowed farm equipment.

So here it is January 1st once again, and I wonder what the heck happened to the last January 1st. Each one brings the realization of the passage of time, and the fact we're all a bunch of procrastinators. How many people can look back at last year's resolutions and say that they were successful?

But tradition for tradition's sake, here goes:

1. Visit at least one new national park.
2. Get my health under control (this seems to be an ongoing thing given I have this blasted PCOS that waxes and wains. I am too young for this!)
3. Put a stamp on my Passport. (See I got one from last year.)
4. work less
5. Organize and edit (I can't believe it's even worse since I decided to remodel and move my home office).
6. I am having a blank on the rest – but will add more as I think of some.

Here's to the first day of the rest of the year!

Dreaming of a white Christmas

Wrapping up gifts, trudging over snowbanks to bring neighbors cookies, playing Christmas CDs, making banana bread ... and now it has started to snow -- big, fat, magical flakes. The kind you always dream of for a perfect white Christmas.

Yes, we still have feet (yes, feet!) of snow all over the city but Mother Nature decided to overdeliver for Christmas 2006. Tucked away in our warm house with all our furry ones, we're settling down for a long winter's night.

There's a certain magic to Christmas Eve -- best summed up from a scene out of my favorite TV show, Northern Exposure.

"It's an old legend, that on Christmas Eve at midnight, all the animals fall on their knees and speak -- praising the new born Jesus.

(pausing to reflect)

Back in the winter of '68, my Dad was doing a short term for D and D. Mom was -- I'm not sure where Mom was. Anyway, I was home alone on Christmas Eve and I stayed up late to see if my dog, Buster, would talk. He did -- at least I think he did. I don't remember Buster's exact words, but that's not important. What matters is that a seven-year-old boy experienced his own personal epiphany.

My point? It's that Christmas reveals itself to each of us in a personal way -- be it secular or sacred. Whatever Christmas is -- and it's many things to many people -- we all own a piece of it. Kinda like Santa's bag, inside there's gift for everyone.
My Christmas wish for you tonight -- may your dog talk"

Chris-in-the-Morning from 3.10 Seoul Mates (also reading from the Friendly Beasts)

So echoing that sentiment, may you have a Merry Christmas, may your dog talk and may your cat only bite the Christmas tree bulbs when the power is off.

... and world peace

The Event
WHO? All Men and Women, you and everyone you know.
WHERE? Everywhere in the world, but especially in countries with weapons of mass destruction.
WHEN? Winter Solstice Day - Friday, December 22nd, at the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you choose.
WHY? To effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy a Synchronized Global Orgasm. There are two more US fleets heading for the Persian Gulf with anti-submarine equipment that can only be for use against Iran, so the time to change Earth’s energy is NOW!

... a whole different approach to whirled peas ... I mean world peace. Peace man!

Karma

My younger sister went to my grandma's several weeks ago and Gram was sitting with her travel agent. "Guess what," she told A., "I'm taking the kids to Mexico for Christmas." Nice. The kids are her two daughters, but not my dad, who is also a kid, plus my cousin. Nuttin' for the rest of us. She abandoned us for Thanksgiving too. Beginning to wonder if she's just mad at all of us for some reason.

Anyway ends up their flight was supposed to be out of Denver to Mexico yesterday morning.

Karma.

BIG Bon Hiver

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it ... okay... you can stop now!! The first day of Winter arrived with 36 inches of snow at my house. It started yesterday morning and the storm just stopped and churned over the front range. The hubby had to go into work yesterday morning but smartly took the bus. He arrived back home about 1:30pm, just before the highway was shut down due to stuck semis, too many stuck cars and too much snow. The neighbor brought out his ATV with snowplow and helped Mark get back into the driveway. The first moose photo is 5pm Weds Dec. 20 and the second is 9am Thurs Dec. 21.

We just signed up for digital cable so have plenty to do until we can get back out of the house!

Definitely a white Christmas -- this isn't going to melt anytime soon.

Happy holidays from Grumpy Mc Mini

My Elf Name Is... Grumpy Mc Mini
What's Your Elf Name?

http://www.blogthings.com/elfnamegenerator/

It's your B-woof-day!

On December 6, Princess Flounder turned nine years old. I've been her human for all but the first seven weeks of her life. She's a purebred black Labrador Retriever with white toes (her yellow lab grandparents) and now a white muzzle in her older age. Favorite pasttimes include chasing squirrels, disemboweling tennis balls, napping and riding in the car. She and I have done the Furry Scurry, an annual charity walk for the Denver Dumb Friends League, almost every year since 1997. She's 100 lbs thanks to her 120 lb father (her mother, Princess, was a dainty 60 lbs). She grumbles and snorts and tends to get us up before the sun. She can also clear a room with her "vapors". But she is the best black lab in the world and we love every moment with her.

Happy b-woof-day Flounder- Pounder!

Kauai – No Kai Oi

The hubby and I snuck off for a week in Kauai the end of September. It was our first time to the most northern inhabited island in the Hawaiian island chain. Kauai is the oldest of the island, which makes it geographically the most interesting. It most looks like an island in the south Pacific.

We stayed at the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation in sunny Poipu on the south side of the island. We did a package deal through United Vacations that includes air, car and 7 nights lodging. Normally we find package deals are the best (although the last two times we've gotten gipped on the car – basically you have to turn it in at the same time of day you picked it up or they charge you a “day rate” that is almost as much as what we normally pay for a week!). The Outrigger was nice. However the first "package" room we stayed in was right on the end of the property by a busy road (that also was under construction). So you want to be sure you book a higher level that “Garden View” when you book there. We were able to switch after two nights to a much quieter condo that was away from the road.

The property is all condos – which we love because of the room and the kitchen (not that we always cook but it’s nice to have the space). It has gorgeous gardens including a massive orchid garden. It's also right on the Kiahuna beach. It's a nice swimming beach (most of the time, read more about that below). It's also across the street from several restaurants and shops – including our favorite Hawaiian eatery Roy’s and my favorite jeweler Na Hoku.

One of the first days we jumped into the water off our beach to find a salt water washing machine. The remnants of an Asian typhoon were causing some crazier than normal waves. Luckily around a point there was a protected reef next to the property and with a shaved ice shop near by. Bonus!

The gorgeous landscape of this island makes a helicopter ride mandatory. Helicopters and I don't really jive but an hour ride was doable and misery was overridden by the sights. My photos were odd as I didn't want to move my head to shoot out the side window, so I just shot without looking. We took Air Kauai's tour around the island.

Kauai includes the Waimea Canyon, a multicolored rift on the north west side of the island, the Na Pali cliffs just beyond the canyon, and Mt. Wai’ale’ale, the second wettest place on the Earth. Many movies have been filmed on the island – including Jurassic Park.

Our main goal was rest and relaxation, but we also spent time exploring the island. I love the "revealed" books and hauled around The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed (Ultimate Kauai Guidebook).

Because of that book, we found a lot of spots we wouldn’t have normally found —like the glass beach. It’s a beach in an industrial area in front of a couple of large fuel tanks. It's the site of a former dump. The beach is covered with glass that has been sanded down by the water into multicolored stones. The dump has been slowly reclaimed by the sea and has developed some interesting cliffs —a mixture of lava stone and rusted car parts. Strange how trash can look interesting and how nature can make it better. Just above the beach is a red dirt 60-year-old Chinese cemetery (there’s a weird irony of a cemetery and a dump sharing ground).

There’s also a place nicknamed Kaboom Mountain – due to a military stash of ammo stuffed through out caves in a cliff. You get the picture.

Just recently caught up with an old coworker who was lucky enough to live in Kauai for six months this past year. I think that would be fantastic. One week is just not enough!

Some favorite photos are posted on my Flickr page. My favorite is of Kalalau Valley - the one at the top of this post. The colors are incredible. It was even better beyond the camera.

Now off to dream of the next trip …

Lying was the worse sin

The first commandment should be “think before you act.” It amazes me how many times, a prominent person is caught in something they shouldn’t have been doing. The latest to fall is the Rev. Ted Haggard, who after days of denying the rumors, admitted first he did buy Meth and then that he committed "sexual immorality."

Obviously he should never have considered doing these things in the first place, given the “moral requirements" of his position in the church, and the words he was preaching. But we are all human and we all make mistakes (the drugs and the cheating, not the fact that it was a gay relationship).

The most grievous error was that he denied the charges. He lied. One could argue that he was trying to protect his family or his church congregation. But in the end, he was really only looking out for himself.

My bookclub recently discussed religion and schools. One general consensus was that while it wasn't necessary to push the Christian religion in school (or any one religion), it was important to teach the underlying values and morals. This teaching seems to be missing in everyday life, no matter what you believe.

This further complicates the Haggard case, as he was a high-ranking person in his church. His job is guidance and teaching. He is supposed to be a role model. By lying about what he did, he showed that it is more important to save your own butt, rather than be honest.

I have to question why he was in his church position in the first place. Clearly, Haggard was not living the life he would should. Did he decide to hide his real self merely for power?

It also makes one wonder about these mega churches -- more and more I read about corruption and other very non-Christian activities. It’s all about the power, not the word.

Now we can only hope that this shows people not to lie and cheat. Forgiveness is a big thing. But so is learning from the mistakes of others.

When honesty is stupid

I've been remodeling around the house, currently focusing on moving my office from a dark, cramped room to a larger, sunnier room. Along the way, I bought a computer cart from Target on sale. A couple of weeks ago, I decided I wouldn't need the cart in the new space. I hunted down the receipt and took it back along with some other items to return.

Ends up the receipt expired about two weeks ago (about the time I decided I didn't need it). The item is still in stock but with an expired receipt, it's the same as no receipt. So the only thing they could do is to let me exchange it for an item the same price or higher. It had to be one item and out of the same department.

So I hunted through domestics to find an item I needed/wanted that was $32 or more. I came upon an entry way shoe bench for $39.99. So here's the stupid part. They considered my exchange "no receipt" but I pointed out that I had purchased the cart on sale for $32. The original price was $39.99. So I paid the difference between the sale price for the cart and the new price for the bench. Had I kept my honest but stupid mouth shut, it would have been a straight across exchange.

Sigh. So for that honesty, Karma, please keep me in mind!!

and now, here's Duke Gary Winston!

My second newest nephew arrived on September 9. I wrote in a previous blog that my youngest sister lost her dog, Gunner, to cancer in August. She and her husband were looking for another German Shorthair but this time a younger pup. She had been scouring Petfinder.com and found a 5 month old at the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter. Since they live in Albuquerque, she emailed me Friday afternoon to go check him out. I wrote back, "you realize I won't leave the shelter without him, are you ready for a puppy?" She said, check him out and call me.

So Saturday morning, September 9, we drove down to the shelter. I made Mark walk in first and find the dog from the tags on the front of the cages then I walked in with my eyes shielded so I wouldn't look at anyone else. Shelters are good to help adopt out pups but I hate them at the same time. I want to take everyone home.

A volunteer came over to ask if we’d like to take him into the bonding room, and we did. I called Sara on the phone as the pup licked me from head to toe. He is a gorgeous chocolate brown with the white and black spots on his underside. His disposition was fantastic – a lot of energy but normal for a pup. He was about half the size he'll be as an adult. I knew immediately he was my new nephew. Over the phone, Aaron asked if he looked like a "Gary," I replied "no, he looks like a Winston."

We went back to the front desk to make arrangements only to find out he had to be fixed first before he could be released to us. This was a minor issue - I really wanted to get him out of the shelter and at the same time, that weekend was more convenient for Sara and Aaron to get him. As I discussed it on the phone with Sara, a volunteer mentioned that because he had a cough I detected earlier, he might be able to be released without being neutered first.

The woman at the front desk was the biggest … well you add your choice of words there. She was not willing to bend at all. So we asked to chat with the vet. She snapped that he wasn’t in until later that afternoon. Fine, we said, we'll call. She threatened that if someone else looked at the pup and wanted him, then we'd lose him. I said, nope we're taking him no matter what and put down the $35 adoption fee with a receipt.

Drove back home and waited until 2:30. Getting through to the shelter is a challenge since it goes through the city of Denver system. Several times no one answered, I was put on hold and then disconnected -- only to find out the vet wasn't in yet. Finally after being very persistent (I am sure Ms. You Know What was responsible for disconnecting me several times), I was able to chat with the vet. He had examined the pup and decided that the pup should be immediately removed from the shelter and told us he would release him to us that day.

So we called Sara and Aaron, who were waiting by the phone to jump in their car (as they could not wait to get him, plus wanted to go up to see new baby Ezra). We jumped in our car and headed back down to the shelter.

We walked in the door, and Ms. YKW looked at us and started yelling at the other girl, “did he tell you anything? He didn’t tell me anything” and buzzed the vet. Her feathers were very ruffled that we had succeeded in doing what we wanted and not what she wanted. The vet came up and handed her a sheet of paper, "here's the release notes." She snapped back, "I don't type." The other girl quietly took the form. We signed it stating that we would have him fixed by October 9, slipped a harness on him and took him out the door.

He was hesitant at first to get in the car —probably since the last trip brought him to the awful shelter. We didn’t know what happened to him before.–The Denver Municipal Shelter doesn't get details like the Dumb Friends League, unless he bit someone. All they could tell us was that his previous owner gave him up. We knew from his demeanor that he had not been abused but for whatever reason, the previous owner couldn't keep him. Maybe he required too much space and lived in an apartment. Maybe he was too much of a puppy. Maybe the owner had to move.

He slept with his head on my lap most of the way home – he had been given drugs for the kennel cough which made him drowsy. Once home, he was very excited to see everything. We kept him gated in the kitchen and the girls in the living room because of the cough -- even though they're vaccinated, I wasn't sure what kind of cough it was. He was curious about everything and was really funny when Toby the cat came up to greet him -- apparently the first time he'd met a cat. He is smart and learned the stairs quickly -- something he should teach his cousin Sarah-Dog, who after six years in my house is still very afraid of the stairs.

We had him for about 7 hours before Sara and Aaron arrived from Albuquerque. We fell in love with him and were tempted to turn out all the lights and pretend we weren't home. But I know Sara and Aaron are dog people like me and had a big hole in their hearts to fill. Their other pup Mollie (an English Pointer) was lonely and missing her buddy. When they arrived they were still wondering what to call him. It took a few days for them to decide on a name so I called him Duke Gary Winston a combo of the ideas. They decided on Duke. His cough was gone in a couple of days and a week later, he was “tutored.” (Thank you Gary Larson.)
Duke, you will live a spoiled long life!

Welcome to the world Ezra!

In September, I got two new nephews in my life. The first is 5 lb, 2 oz Ezra Paul who arrived a little early but very healthy on September 6. He’s a very mellow and happy baby. My sister had gone in to the hospital the night before with the feeling that something wasn't quite right. They checked things out, found nothing too out of the ordinary but the doc decided to keep her overnight on a monitor. The next morning, she went into labor and an hour into it, they performed an emergency cesarean. Every time Trina had a contraction, Ezra's heartbeat would drop. Ends up the poor little guy had a short umbilical cord. He would have been in trouble had she gone into labor at home. Chalk one up for mother's intuition!

Bon Hiver!

The first snow is falling in my neck of the woods.

Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below,
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of people you meet.
Dancing,
Flirting,
Skimming along,

Beautiful snow! It can do no wrong;
Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in frolicksome freak;
Beautiful snow from heaven above,
Pure as an angel, gentle as love!

Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go
Whirling about in maddening fun:
Chasing,
Laughing,
Hurrying by.

It lights on the face and it sparkles the eye;
And the dogs with a bark and a bound
Snap at the crystals as they eddy around;
The town is alive, and its heart is aglow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow.
(-possibly J.W. Watson)

Pacific Northwest Dreaming

The end of July I did a whirlwind tour of Western Washington state. It’s an annual event for me to visit my W-Dad in Olympia and then meet up with fellow mooseheads in Roslyn. This year I added a couple of other stops.

I arrived at Sea-Tac for some record high temperatures (100+). They even had the highest overnight low temperature while I was there. This is a part of the country not used to high temperatures like that, and needless to say, most are without air-conditioning. My nephew, Nigel was already at my W-Dad's house. He kept trying to put the "air-conditioning" on, which was simple the furnace fan to draw in the cool night air. Only he was trying it during the day while the temps were high.

The first weekend, we went to the Lacey flea market where my Dad’s wife sells potpourri (grown in their yards) and potted plants, and then on to the Lakefair booths. I bought a beautiful necklace and earrings set from a Seattle glass artist. To beat the heat, we took the pups to frolic in Kennedy Creek.

As it finally started to cool down in Olympia, we headed to the north central part of the state to the Bavarian town of Leavenworth. It's a interesting town, even the local McDonalds and Safeway market buildings follow the Bavarian architecture style. All the shops on the main drag are full of flavored taffy, souvenirs, and cuckoo clocks. They all have speakers pumping out Oompah music as you go. The first afternoon we arrived, we wandered among the shops (although the weather was still more than 100 degrees F). So after a little while, headed back to the condo resort for the pool.

The following day, my Dad drove me about an hour south to Roslyn, WA where I met up with my "moose buddies" (fellow Northern Exposure fans). We had a blast as always hanging out at the Brick, seeing Pirates of the Caribbean in the old movie theatre (which used to be a morgue in the coal mining days), to visiting filming sites from the show. "what a time we had ... Splashed through bogs, ate like hogs, slept like logs." I stayed in my favorite B&B, the Huckleberry House Inn in Roslyn.

After the moosefest weekend, a couple of friends and I headed for the Emerald City of Seattle for a whirlwind tour. Since I did the same whirlwind through Seattle last October, I was tour guide. We dropped off our other buddies and the car at Sea-Tac airport and took the Grayline into the city. Our rooms for the night were at the historic Roosevelt Hotel, within walking distance of several things and a nice view from my room of the bay. After we checked in, we were off to Pioneer Square for the Underground Tour. There were a lot more people there in the summer than in the Fall but it was still a lot of fun. The tour guides have a lot of fun with it. After the history of Seattle, we headed for lunch to the same little Mediterranean Mix place I ate at last October. Hey – it was good!

With our bellies filled, we went on a mission to a specific shoe store Jennifer wanted to see. Along the way, we stopped into a native Pacific Northwest gallery filled with many neat things. Unfortunately we arrived at the address of Ped Shoes to find it had closed for good at 6pm the day before! Argh! But we continued on our way to the Pike Place Market for some cinnamon almonds and to watch the end of the day with the fish-tossers. As the shops closed down, we headed down the many, many steps to the waterfront so Jennifer could see the creepy things at Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, as well as go pirate-wild at Pirates Plunder.

Jennifer was starting to load up with bags and even with Marie and I helping out, decided to take a taxi to the Seattle Center and the needle. This ended up being a good idea since my other option was to walk six blocks up hill to the monorail and unbeknownst to me at the time, the monorail was still closed after a crash last Fall.

We went up the Seattle needle, rested our feet, chatted and watched the sun go down over the city. We caught a taxi back down to the Roosevelt and had a late, late dinner at the hotel restaurant.

The next day, I didn’t have a flight until 8pm but Marie and Jennifer’s were early. Marie was really early and was up before us. I decided to ride in with Jennifer and see about standby on an earlier flight. Jennifer was going through Denver on her way to Boston. I ended up getting on her flight. She wasn't able to get her seat until checking in that day. As we sat there waiting, she complained that she was shoved in the back -- row 34. I looked at her ticket, we were on United and she had a economy plus. I was in row 36 -- an exit row. What the ... what kind of plane has economy plus that far back and an exit at row 36. Ended up we were on a 777 overwater -- normally reserved for Seattle - Tokyo flights. It was brand new and the biggest plane I've flown on so far.

After that whirlwind trip, I was ready for a nap!

Catching up

I've got several over due blogs to post. I'll pop them up as soon as I can.

Hazardous materials

I mailed a book the other day. The usual dialog with the postal clerk involves the question whether the package contains liquids or hazardous materials. Well, definitely no on the liquids. It's a book (which was mentioned since I was sending it media mail). The fluid ink has long dried on the pages. Hazardous. Well, that one could be argued. Maybe the book (a computer software manual) could cause boredom. That might be hazardous. Or perhaps it has bad information. That too might be hazardous. It could cause paper cuts or even a bruise if it was lobbed at someone's head (it's a big book).

Book as hazardous materials. Will further ponder this dilemma.

what he really REALLY said...

Computer analysis proved Neil Armstrong actually said this:
"One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind .... %@#&! what did I just step in??"