How do people keep doing these astro chart things? I have never been very good at it, other than my daily horoscope that comes in my inbox.
Where can I find directions? Or would one of you lovelies lend me a hand? 
I know I am a Leo, and my Chinese sign is a Tiger, and that is the extent of it.
My birthday is 08/07/1974. I owe anyone who can help me a beer!
Last night I woke up with nightmares about rattlesnakes.
I have seen quite a few since moving here. I am not worried about getting a bite myself, I know the chances of fatality is almost none. Of those who do die of snake bites, 80 percent of them don’t have enough venom in their system to kill them, it is the adrenaline that kills them. They are literally scared to death.
I do worry about my dog being bitten. In Boulder County, dogs are permitted off leash. This works out well for us, we can hike and explore and not stumble over each other on single trek trails. But the chance of him running into a snake is high.
They do have a vaccine, but it is more than 1000 dollars and is often ineffective because it only works for a single type of snake. They also have aversion training, but that is the same. Very expensive and not guaranteed to help. So if my loving companion of more than 100 pounds gets bit on top of a peak, the chances of him making it back to the car and to a vet before it was too late is slim.
I am not sure what my realistic solutions are. Keep him on leash and heeling? What fun would hiking with him be, then. Stay in town with him on the sidewalks? Try the vaccine and/or training? Lift weights so I can fireman carry him down from a peak in time? All of the above?
Snakes are the worst part of CO. I am tired of these mother f*****g snakes on my mother f*****g trails.
Quick rundown of Vegas -
It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. It was fun, and great to spend the time with my family and watch my sister get married, but even with the cool Red Rock Canyon it wouldn’t be my vacation place of choice.
We left at 4 am.
This is my brother and his girlfriend, Samantha. We picked them up in FC Friday morning and spent most of our time with them.
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We did enjoy 2 dollar margaritas, though.
Samantha and I met BumbleBee.
The next day I went for a run in Red Rock Canyon park. It was cold when I started and hot when I finished, but pretty all the way. No snakes, spiders or wildcats caught me.
The stone kitchen was used by Native Americans, you can’t see the fire pit where they cooked food. I thought it was strange that it was in such great shape.
After the wedding, we went to the Stratosphere.
That’s my dad, still holding his football shaped margarita.
This is my mom, her drink is as big as she is.
They have been married for 38 years now.
Everyone was hot, tired, and had too much to drink. We next went to the Old Strip, which was so much cooler.
Everyone’s feet were tired, so Corey started taking care of sore feet.
The next day, I did nothing other than lay by the pool. I had no desire to see anymore, drink anymore, eat anymore.
Now we are home, recovering. I am so grateful there is no indoor smoking in CO. Sorry about the length of this post, but there was so much to see. Next family trip will be somewhere with fewer flashy lights, I hope!
It’s so good to be home.
Salem and I woke up early go to to Indian Hills to hike. The road to the trailhead started out alright, but a few miles in there was too much snow to reach the trailhead.
(It doesn’t look as much as it was, but up ahead the snow was nearly hood high and hadn’t been driven through.)
We drove back to Boulder and opted for a long walk rather than a hike. These are just pics we took along the way.
I know you are probably getting tired of all the trail pics, they all look a little the same. But I never forget how lucky I am to live among all this beauty, and I need to share it with someone. My husband has been here so long, he takes it for granted.
I hope your day was as peaceful as mine.
So we went shopping today. Let me introduce you to FortCollinsJodi, my little sister.
She is 4 years younger than me. She is getting married next weekend in Vegas to this guy.
We went out and bought a party dress. (I hate shopping, so this was all for her.)
She then needed a new bathing suit.
Doesn’t she have a cool tattoo?
I love downtown Fort Collins, but it’s so much prettier at Christmas time.
We looked at hats.
We found some matching jeans.
Then we stopped to see my daughter, Cassidy. She was working at a coffee shop.
I made it home unscathed. I get more excited for Vegas everyday. I usually hate Vegas, but since I get to look at the parks and watch her get hitched, I think it will be a great time.
We all lose people we love to death, theirs or our own. It is not only our grandparents and parents, but it can be our siblings, friends, children or spouses. We all look at the world a little differently after death. The death of our loved ones shapes who we become, whether we like it or not.
When my daughter was in the hospital and going through treatments we received wonderful care and support not only from the hospital social workers, but from other organizations such as Children’s Miracle Network, The Ronald McDonald House, and Make-A-Wish. They all offered support to the family and the child, and many of their materials presented to us were centered around treatment, how to adjust to illnesses and how to care for sick children. They supported my healthy children with educational material about cancer, about their sister losing her hair and getting special attention. Of all the material presented, none of it helped to prepare any of us for death.
I remember when we were going through her bone marrow transplant in Minneapolis. We came in with several other families. We became familiar pillars of support and relief for the other parents and families and felt a kinship with them that we didn’t have with anyone else in the world. Nobody else could understand, empathize or relate unless they were also going through it. As the treatments went on, we watched the children of our friends die. Same illness, same treatment, and they died in front of us. I was horrified and felt terror, sympathy and relief all at once. We all knew the odds beginning the treatment, but somehow never thought it would be anyone of us – anyone from our group that lost a child. After the children died, the parents disappeared.
It wasn’t until the inevitable day came when my own daughter lost her fight with cancer that I received any material or information about how to deal with the loss of a child. I went to the hospital that morning with a child in my arms and left with a backpack full of grief material that was never read. I understand why they didn’t want to talk about how to handle her death if it came. As long as I believed 100 percent that she could beat cancer, she believed it, too. The power of belief is a strong one, I agree. Sometimes it isn’t enough, though.
When she died I had information about burial services, grief counseling and suicide prevention. I had no problems selecting her burial plot, her funeral music and dress, the sandwiches and punch served later. But I didn’t know how to live. I didn’t even know I was supposed to. I believed that when she died, I did too. The remainder of my life would be spent waiting for my own death to relieve me of my pain. I felt horribly ashamed and guilty if I let my mind drift to the future without her, if I planned my life or what and who I wanted to be after her death. For this reason I just didn’t. I know my surviving daughters felt similar at first, too. They couldn’t even plan a sleep over with their friends or go to the roller rink without shame. They believed they should wait out their lives, too. It didn’t last as long for them because they were young, but I didn’t know how to support them or help them grow when I was caught up in so much grief myself.
So sorry about the quality of these photos, they are the only digital copies I have.
I am going to write about her journey, my journey, her sisters’ journey. I am going to collect them into a single book and offer it to hospitals, oncology clinics, Children’s Miracle Network. I believe families need to know that there is indeed life after death, at least for the living. It’s been ten years now, and I feel I owe this to her. I just wonder how to present it. I wouldn’t have wanted to read about this while she was ill, I would have felt like preparing for her death was giving up on her. But by not preparing, I was neglecting myself and my other children. This is the question that is keeping me awake tonight, I can’t seem to move forward with this until I know.
If it were you, would you want to prepare for your loved one’s death before they died?
My family is all headed to Vegas at the end of this month and I am so excited! It will be my brother and sister and their so’s and my parents. They all enjoy the nightlife and I am sure they will find plenty of that, but I am excited about Red Rock Canyon!
I am renting a car so I can head out to the park before the sun comes up. I want to see the sunrise on desert trails. I have never been able to run on a desert trail before and I am giddy with excitement! They can have their fun, I will have mine. I am a little nervous about running a new trail alone, Salem does not get to go on this trip, but I know there aren’t any large animals that will try to eat me so I think I will be fine.
The trail is less than 20 miles from the strip. It is less than a 12 mile loop but gains 2400 in elevation. More info can be found http://www.wildernessrunning.com/life/tag/redrock-canyon-trail-running.
I have always wanted to run the r2r2r at the Grand Canyon, so this will be my first taste at running in the desert. All terrains are different and it helps to know a little bit about what it will be like.
I worry mostly about snakes and spiders, but I hope those are just silly fears that aren’t real. I am sure some people worry about bears and mountain lions when they trail run here, and their fears rarely get realized.
This is another picture I found online:
The best part is that I will be back before most of my partying family even wakes up. My sister is getting married there, so there will be much celebration to entertain them while I go explore.
I will make sure I send lots of pics!
I have never done a vlog before, and I have never videoed myself either. It’s even harder than taking a self portrait. This is my first attempt at a v-log, so forgive the beginner quality. I quit messing with it less than halfway up the hike, irritated I didn’t know how to do it. I am going to post what I did, anyway, and then just post the pics from the rest of the way.
I love hiking, and have started easing (gently now, gently) into trail running. I am starting with Mesa Trail, because most of the way it isn’t very technical. (Technical trails are single track, rocky, steep, and offer more challenges than trails with gravel and are smoother. I was on Runner’s World this morning in the trail running forums and found this:
Why does the popularity of trail running in the United States surge every time there’s a national crisis or period of epidemic uncertainty?
Simple answer: Running like a wild man or woman through the woods nurtures the soul.
I do look and feel like a wild man when I trail run, even when I hike.
This is a technical trail:
This is not:
I was out of breath and sweaty every time we stopped, I always huff and puff on these trails. Here is my video. Next time I will make one where I am not sweaty, squinting, in sweats and a ponytail and out of breath. I mean come on, how am I going to flirt with people looking like this?
I think I quit using the video around mile four and just started taking pictures. Here is another flower for @vexations. No idea what any of them are, but they are pretty.
This is another rock slide, I see them all over. I am not sure why this happens, why the rocks look literally like a slide from the top, but likely my friend @Therewillbedragons will know. He knows Rocky Mountain National Park well, so I am sure he can offer insight.
Caesar (Dog Whisperer) once did a show on a poorly behaved German Shepherd. His suggestion was to give him a job and have him wear the backpack when they were out walking so the dog felt like he had a job to do. It worked on TV, and by God it works for me. He is much less excitable when he wears his pack, and I don’t have to carry all the water!
Another proud mommy shot:
And another:
The above trail is still a technical trail because it’s steep on both sides and very narrow, but the boulder paths didn’t come until later in the hike. Believe it or not, this is a trail. I am slow and clumsy over the rocks, but it is Salem’s favorite part. We stopped just up ahead so he could climb and get some water, and I could drink water but I didn’t climb any rocks I didn’t have to.
Here he is on his rock, I take so many pictures of him he knows to stop and hold still when I tell him to. That, and he is a ham for the camera.
I usually say “stop” and then “sit”, sometimes when I say stop he just assumes he needs to sit.
I found another pretty tree for Vexations:
I love Xanga people. @vexations reminds me to stop and smell the flowers, @buddy71 reminds me to slow down and look close, @We_Deny_Everything reminds me to use my brain and do the work! (hehe) and @xplorrn reminds me to enjoy the music. Everybody here has been good for me. Anyway, we were climbing the canyon and I was huffing and puffing. It’s a steep climb in only 1.4 miles. We stopped for another water break when I saw this neat stump that appeared to have steps in it, just like the steps (rock steps) we had been climbing. I took a picture of it for Buddy71.
We made it to the top of the canyon, to the saddleback. We didn’t climb the peaks because his paw was bleeding, and I didn’t know if he was hurt or just scuffed it climbing up the canyon. We headed back to the car, here are some of the views:
The closer we got to the car, the faster Salem wanted to go. He was hungry and tired!
At the end of the day, we only hiked 10.8 miles, but it was still a good day. Thanks for reading my oh so exciting trail report!
I have been a runner for years, and I do enjoy a good, hard workout. I had a secret that I was sure made me different, but kept me working out.
Recently I discovered I am not alone. Here is an article I found on CBS about a topic that has been all over the radio. Sorry I am not writing my own post. I don’t have time, I have to go run! 
(Credit: iStockPhoto)
(CBS News) Not only can exercise improve your health, a new study suggests it can make some women a lot happier.
Researchers at Indiana University confirmed through a study that women can have orgasms while they exercise, sometimes called a “coregasm” because it often happens in conjunction with core abdominal muscle exercises. The study was published in a March 19 special issue of Sexual and Relationship Therapy.
“It may be that exercise — which is already known to have significant benefits to health and well-being — has the potential to enhance women’s sexual lives as well,” Debby Herbenick, co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at IU’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, said in a written statement.
While the study is new, reports of orgasms during exercise have circulated for years, Herbenick said.
For the study, surveys were administered online to 124 women between the ages of 18 to 63 who reported having exercise-induced orgasms (EIO) and 246 women who said they had exercise-induced sexual pleasure (EISP). Most were in a relationship or married, and about 69 percent were heterosexual.
“The most common exercises associated with exercise-induced orgasm were abdominal exercises, climbing poles or ropes, biking/spinning and weight lifting,” Herbenick said. “These data are interesting because they suggest that orgasm is not necessarily a sexual event, and they may also teach us more about the bodily processes underlying women’s experiences of orgasm.”
About 40 percent of the women who had EIO or EISP episodes had done so on more than 10 occasions. One-fifth of the women could not control their experiences, and most of the EIO subjects said they felt self-consciousness when exercising in public places. Most of them said they were not fantasizing sexually or thinking about anyone they were attracted to when the orgasms happened.
While abdominal exercises most frequently triggered EIO at the rate of 51.4 percent, others reported having an orgasm when weight lifting (26.5 percent), doing yoga (20 percent), bicycling (15.8 percent), running (13.2 percent) and walking/hiking (9.6 percent).
While the study did not explain why these “coregasms” occurred or how many people in the population experience them, the authors said it only took five weeks to recruit 370 women who said they experience the phenomenon. This suggests that orgasms while exercising may be more common than you think.
There are some theories that may provide an explanation. Dr. Victoria Zdrok, a sex therapist and author of “The Anatomy of Pleasure,” told Men’s Health in 2007 that a lot of women build tension in their legs before they orgasm. “So, when a woman exercises, the release of endorphins and dopamine, which are necessary for orgasm, combined with the tension in the lower extremities, can cause the” stimulation, she explained.
But another expert, author of “Fearless Sex” Dr. Joy Davidson, told the magazine it had to do with strong pelvic muscles. “When they’re doing certain exercises that are tapping into the deep core or into the quads and inner thighs, what they wind up doing is almost automatically squeezing pelvic muscles in addition,” she said.
My daughter, Tiffany, flew in from South Dakota last week. She flies home tomorrow.
Her birthday is the day before mine. She always shares her birthday parties with me, though.
She loves to mess with her hair. I haven’t seen her natural color since middle school.
(pink)
(blue)
She is younger than her sister. Sometimes they get along marvelously, sometime they hate each other.
She is more impatient than me, she is easily irritated and generally moody.
She can be surly and pouty and drives me up the wall.
But she is loving
And sweet
And funny
I am going to miss her like crazy when she goes home.
