California Wildfires

Callie and I went up to Bang's Canyon per usual. There is a short hike I like to take when I'm overtired and haven't slept much, which was the case this morning. As we hiked up the hill to the first meadow on this terrific trail I saw two hummingbirds flying around. They looked like they were thinking of making a nest together and lay some hummingbird eggs...how sweet. We came around the first bend where the trail heads back down and we can usually have a spectacular view of the entire valley from the Mesa, Mt. Garfield, the Bookcliffs...all the way to Utah. I love looking down at the valley from that vantage point and I feel so lucky I live in such a beautiful place. Today the sky was filled with smoke so thick that I couldn't see the Bookcliffs or the Utah border. Mt. Garfield and the Mesa were masked by a thin haze and I could see the smoke settling down over the city. I hope those in California suffering through this disaster see some relief very soon, and I'm sorry we've already lost two firefighters.

I wonder if she'll be open to a second date

FERNDALE, Michigan - A first date went from bad to worse when a man skipped out on the restaurant bill, then stole his date's car, police said.

Police say 23-year-old Terrance Dejuan McCoy had dinner with a woman April 24 at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale. The woman said the two met a week earlier at a Detroit casino and she knew McCoy only as "Chris."

And I thought I had met some really lousy men!

British Pigs

Living in the past can be a good thing

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—With the help of a $250,000 reward, the founder of the Papa John's pizza chain has finally reunited with the muscle car he sold years ago to help keep his family's business afloat.

John Schnatter sold the gold-and-black 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for $2,800 in 1983. The money helped save his father's tavern in Jeffersonville, Ind., and he used the rest to start what would become a worldwide pizza business.

I loved this story. If I could, I would find my Karmen Ghia too. It was my favorite car, first cars are always the best. I still managed to wreck it twice before Dad sold it, but it was cute and fun to drive when I wasn't running into other cars. :-)

Lonliness

There are more than 300 million of us in the United States, and sometimes it seems like we're all friends on Facebook. But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever. Between 1985 and 2004, the number of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters tripled, to 25 percent, according to Duke University researchers. Unfortunately, as a new study linking women to increased risk of heart disease shows, all this loneliness can be detrimental to our health.

This is the first paragraph in a Newsweek article I read this morning. The whole article spoke to me. This is the core of my problem. And it has been like this for years. In or out of romantic relationships, surrounded by friends, working with people on a daily basis. I am intensely lonely. I know part of what's happening this minute is an attempt at total redefinition of myself in sobriety. But above that, I'm in my mid-40's with no direction, no passion for any subject, no real career that interests me, no love relationship and no one I can turn to for support. I am surrounded by family, friends, co-workers and customers and I have never felt so lost and alone in my life. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about finding a safe harbor to navigate from. And I still believe I have found that safe harbor. What I didn't know was how comfortable I would get in that harbor and then how it would leave me completely empty. When my life was full of drama and alcohol and transient relationships there was at least some activity happening, whether good or bad. Now, as much I love my sobriety, it is so different. I feel so happy that I am sober, and I will go to any lengths to maintain my sobriety, but this overwhelming feeling of heaviness and emptiness and I am on my own forever is strong and suffocating. I guess I hope that if I talk about it here and other places, it will pass, I will find my compass. My purpose and life will have meaning and that meaning will take away the intense sadness I feel. I hope.

Impressive photography

I was browsing the best pictures of the last decade on MSNBC.com. There are some incredible pictures that capture some major events that have taken place. The Twin Towers, Iraq, Albania, etc. This picture struck me the most. I don't condone fighting, but I have to say, this is some seriously impressive photography. These squirrels in a campground in Namibia are duking it out over camp food.

Callie girl

I haven't posted any pictures of Callie in a while and was downloading some pictures this morning after our hike. We've been hiking fools this summer, running all over Bang's Canyon pretty much on a daily basis. It's good for her, re-centers me and gets everyone some good exhausting exercise. We did go up to Glade Park once with Dana and did the Turkey Flats trail. That was great! Once I quit obsessing about what happens if we run into a Bear, I had quite a nice time. We didn't see any Bears, but we did see one dear and lots of trees and flowers.


She's so cute. This is what she looks like after a long hike and she's tired.









Playing with Gauge. Miles and Gauge have moved to a house, so Callie is missing her friend. They used to love to play tug of war with a huge rope Gauge has.






Turkey Flats Trail. Miles and miles of wilderness and beauty. Dana liked this hike a lot because the trail was smooth and relatively flat. There were still some challenges since we were at about 9000 feet above sea level.







There's a dog in that pond. We love taking advantage of hikes after the rain. Small pools form in the canyons, the water is cool and Callie dives right in!