Walking, Because Running Equals Death By Overwhelming Heat

Today’s Exploit:

I have been going for long walks lately. None quite as long as my eventful walk about a week ago, that one was 8.5 miles, I checked. 

However, with the heat and me being lazy, I have spent more time on long walks with a few bursts of running when I’m feeling super motivated. 

Other times I am far more interested in things like Speedy Gonzalez, here.

Or the endlessly boring, flat landscape.

And the baby cows that can’t decide if they want to play, or if I’m some horrible monster that is going to attack.

Also, last night I met the driver for the landowner. And had 4 other trucks stop to ask what I was doing and if I needed a ride. In the process of getting out of the road so that one of said trucks would not kill me I stepped on a thorn. The first one ever to go through my shoe and poke my foot. Stupid Texas plants and their pokeys.

Did you know that it takes 21,000 steps to walk 8.5 miles? And 12,000 to go 5.5? Yesterday I did 7.5 miles and that was 16,000 steps. 

I Knew I Was a Beast of Burden, But Really?

I have been waiting for a year to find out what the date 22 March 2013 holds that is significant. I was told that if I waited until then I would find out.  I am still waiting.  Rawr.

Today’s Exploit:

I work in a horse trailer now. I am no longer worthy of a box. This is sad, in case you were unsure about that transition.

The box was insulated, and had a working AC unit and blocked the noise, well most of it, of a drilling rig. As much as I complained about it, I rather liked the box. 

My current working conditions are sweaty, loud and wobbly. 

The AC barely works, and does not keep up with spring temperatures. I dread summer. Not to mention, part of it fell on my face the other day. And I didn’t even get a black eye to show for it. Stupid AC. 

I got a little fan, and it helps a little. Sadly, I’m thinking I should have gotten the super-extra-mammoth-industrial-17 speed fan. It might have put a dent in this heat. 

The loud part comes from the fact that my horse trailer is made from some plywood. Just thick enough that a standard cabinet handle won’t work properly. It has no insulation, thus the heat, and the cold at night. (It was actually in the 30s the last 2 days.) And it sounds like I am on the rig floor with my ear against the loudest mechanism. It may be worse. It may be that I have a funnel gathering all of the noise and maximizing it to feed into my ears on the itty-bitty end. And that is on top of the standard buzzing of the transformer, and the AC fan trying it’s hardest to blow hot air into the sweltering mess.

The trailer is on wheels, naturally, but they didn’t think it necessary to stabilize it. Therefore it rocks like a see-saw when you sneeze, and wobbles awkwardly if you dare to breathe. It also dances in the wind and jitters in the rain. I have to work off my “sea legs” every time I get out for some natural light.

By the way, this trailer does not have any windows, the door latch barely works and there is no handle to pull the door closed. It’s fun, you get to slam the door as hard as possible without getting fingers in the way, or letting the wind catch it about 23 times before it latches. 

A Sunrise, Wide Angle

Red Jello is my favorite. Then orange. I don’t like the green. 

Also, I don’t like whipped cream on it.

Also again, I just discovered this site, I want them all.

Today’s Exploit:

This color later filled most of the sky.

Wide Angle

Some Pictures on a Drive

I was just very disappointed by a very sugary cup of strawberries and whipped cream. An excess of fake whipped cream and a few over-ripe strawberries are not my idea of an ideal combination. 

Today’s Exploit:

I drove some in Canada.

The rig was an 8.7 hour drive from Calgary. So I took 2 pictures to show you that.

Lots of open space, but trees.

Hey look! MOUNTAINS!

The rig is also 1.98 hours from the nearest city. So I took 2 more pictures to show you. 

You’re welcome.

My New Year's Adventure

I am doing the Insanity workout. I am starting week 3 today. I don’t remember my feet cramping so much last time I did this. 

Ouch.

Today’s Exploit:

Some time last month I was told: “AAAHHHHHHH! WE ARE SHORT ON PEOPLE IN CANADA AND HAVE TO MANY PEOPLE HERE AND THEREFORE YOU MUST LEAVE IN TWO DAYS!”

And my reply was: “Um, two days? I don’t really have anything together.”

Then they said, “BUT WE NEED YOU THERE THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY AND NO ONE ELSE HAD THEIR PAPERWORK OR PASSPORT CRAP TOGETHER AND THEREFORE YOU ARE THE ONE THAT MUST LEAVE YESTERDAY!”

So I said: “Ok, I need to go home and pack, and maybe buy something warm to wear since Texas never sees temperatures below 98 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Then some plans changed and they told me: “OK YOU CAN HAVE 5 DAYS AT HOME BUT YOU MUST DO ALL THE TRAVEL ORGANIZATION AND CLASS REQUIREMENT SCHEDULING YOURSELF ON THIS REALLY CONFUSING WEBSITE!”

And I managed to get everything organized, through the company website, along with some plans for expense reports and got a call from the manager telling me to be at the shop the same time I was supposed to be taking Emergency First Aid. 

Yay for confusion.

Anyway, some Canadian pictures for your viewing pleasure.

My home for 2.1 days. I walked in and out the door 37 times the night I got there, I'm pretty sure the desk attendant hated me.

I thought my sister would like this. A nice little market place 3 or 4.3 blocks from my home. It's kinda like a mall with an imports grocery in the middle.

And then I found a river island and fell in love, because it has a running path, a skating rink and a coffee shop that was closed for New Year's holiday.

See how much I loved it? I even learned to use the settings on my camera for it.

And I loved it some more with picnic tables and a strange cowboy hat-swing in the background.

That was the bridge where I discovered the skating rink. It was on the river, on both sides of the bridge with chairs and cones for new skaters and people doing jumps and some kids playing illegal hockey and all sorts of fun stuff. I was sad I didn't have my skates with me.

Calgary has some really awesome street lamps also, I was in love with them too.

A Short Trip

My family is growing. Myrtle Mint was joined by Maya, who is her cutting. Then we acquired Allison (Ally) the Aloe. It was just the 4 of us for a while and all was good. 

But, out of the blue, one windy and not-at-all-cold day a nice young man joined us. His name is Jack the Cactus. Jack lives in the bottom of a windshield wiper fluid jug and grows little red and supposedly edible fruits. 

The thing was that no one knew where he came from. It took me a month to track down the guy who found Jack, dug him up and put him in his wiper-fluid home.

Today’s Exploit:

I recently made a short trip for my work.

My manager called me and told me that they needed me to go to Canada. Evidently the north has more work than we do and fewer people. And no one else on the loan list had their paperwork together. 

So I had a day to organize my work stuff, and was told I had 2 days to organize travel info, pack and get going. Also, schedule some training stuff.

Luckily they re-thought that and gave me another 2 days to get myself put back together and to actually believe that they wanted me to leave the country.

So I got everything done, and planned my flights to give me enough time to sight-see a tiny bit.

When I got to the airport I noticed that the section that usually says “Economy” said “First”. But who pays attention to details like that? 

But then we were getting ready to board, and I didn’t have a group number...and I was sitting in row 3. And then it finally hit.

Somehow I had managed to get first class seats, and my job paid for it. 

And then I was really classy and slept through the whole flight because my sister made me run all over trying to send her a spare key. She was really clever and locked hers in her car. Hehe. 

PS Happy New Year

The Magical Up-Hill Race Loop

Traveling messed up my sinuses. I haven’t been able to breathe properly since I got back.

Today’s Exploit:

I signed up for another race. Another half-marathon. 

I don’t know what I was thinking, but then, the last one wasn’t so bad...

I should have known better when I signed up for a trail run on a mountain. Even a mountain that I had run on before. A year makes your mind hazy and the hills don’t seem so bad and the elevation is just a whisper. When really the hills were nearly vertical climbs and the elevation means you wheeze while walking that flat spot and suffocate on the hills.

A recount, for future reference:

Mile 1: Ack! it’s all up hill. It never ends. Note to self: find more hills to practice on in the flat desert of South Texas.

Mile 2: I give up, I’ll never be able to keep up with Catherine. I need to catch my breath and PS the hill still never ends.

Mile 3: I hate mountains and trails and hiking and running, Oh, wait! I see a level bit of trail!

Mile 4: Oof. Forgot to eat on that monstrous hill I just climbed. I REALLY hope I don’t get a migraine. I have another 6 miles before I get to another aid station. (Lack of oxygen means it never occurred to me that I had the option of going back to the last aid station that was 1/2 a mile back.)

Mile 5: Well, I’m pretty sure I’ll be climbing for ever and ever and ever, but at least it’s not quite so steep. Shoot, I just got a blister.

Mile 6: I made a FRIEND! Yay! She’s doing better than me and she hasn’t run in a long time. This was her way to “get back out the door”. 

Mile 7: The three amigos passed us, and another lady caught us. We are now the three amigas following the three amigos. But we like their pace and we like walking up the hills.

Mile 8: Ooh! Cramp in the calf, I think I’ll walk a minute. Ooh! Cramp in the other calf. Stop to stretch.

Mile 9: We really are going to climb into the clouds. I think this mountain’s magical and our entire race loop will be up hill. PS the cramps are getting worse.

Mile 10: Aid station, woo hoo! And they claim it’s all down hill from here! They gave me a salt tablet and an orange slice maybe the cramps will go away.

Mile 11: They lied. I still have to go up hills. But now walking makes my quads cramp and running makes my thighs cramp. So I have to half shuffle and try really hard not to cramp and make myself fall off the mountain. 

Mile 12: I’m pretty sure that the 50 mile group is going to beat me in this race. At least it’s pretty. "Shuffle shuffle grunt (cramp) shuffle"

Mile 13: I see people! And the cow bells! Yay! The kids are there to give me high five, and I’m turning away from the finish, oh no! another cramp. Ok, it’s only 20 more steps, I can do this. CRAMP! ENTIRE LEG! AAAHHHHH!

I hopped across the finish line and had 5 people attack me to make sure I wasn’t hurt. And then I nearly got tackled by a 4 year old, he wanted to give me a hug and didn’t care if I was stinky and sweaty and salty and falling over on my own.

Amazingly enough, the only part that I wasn’t smiling and having a good time was that 4th mile when I had the migraine scare. The rest was torturously fun. And I got 5th place in my age group. Out of 8, but still...

Sleeping in the Rain

I used my new stove for the first time yesterday.   It was amazing.  

I made french toast.  

Now I need to come up with something that it might actually make a difference for.  Like caramel or custard or clotted cream.

I also might need a copper sauce pan.  

Today’s Exploit:

I took my friend Kevin, who doesn’t like to be called Kevin, to Wyoming.

We went to the cabin for a weekend with the madness that is the typical Naylor/Hepner/Kalberer get-together.

I like to sleep outside, so he decided to be brave and try to handle the “cold” as well.

When we went to bed it was gorgeous and clear and the fire was quietly fading.  

Unfortunately some time later clouds came in the rain started.  At first it was just spitting at me.  But it woke me up.  

I didn’t want to be wet so I woke Kevin and told him it was raining.  

He gave me a disgusted look and told me it wasn’t.

I told him I was going to move to the porch anyway and he could get wet if he wanted.

So I gathered my cot and sleeping pad and sleeping bag and toted it to the  porch of the bathhouse.  Good sense kicked in and Kevin followed me a few seconds later.  

We got re-situated and 82 seconds later it started really raining, but we stayed nice and dry on the porch.  And it was still nice and cool.

When we got back to Texas his family asked how it went.

Kevin:  She made me sleep outside in the cold and the rain.

Me:  ... (Incredulous look)

Family:  ...Oh?

Kevin:  Fine, she actually made me wake up and move out of it.  Even though I didn’t want to.

It Wasn't Heat Stroke

"Colors"

My skin is kind of sort of brownish
Pinkish yellowish white.
My eyes are greyish blueish green,
But I'm told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown,
But it's silver when it's wet.
And all the colors I am inside
Have not been invented yet.

~Shel Silverstein

Today’s Exploit:

Today Matt discovered the reason the computer on the rig floor keeps doing the freak-out.

It works happily until he goes to slide, or change the direction of the well.  Then “KA-BAM”.  The screen locks up and the mouse stops working and the keyboard says, “Nuh uh”.

So we have to restart it and let it get running and open its programs.  

Then we can send the screen he needs.

First we thought it was the heat.  

It’s really hot.

So we propped it up on a giant bolt to allow air to circulate underneath.

It seemed to work for a while, until the next time Matt had to slide.

After re-sending the screen a few times this morning Matt called to tell me he’d solved it!

The computer works just fine, until he sets his iPhone next to it.  

Who knew?  A phone can shut down a computer just by being in the same air space.  Not even the fancy-schmancy programs that let you start the car or turn on the burglar alarm from far away.  

All it took was being within a couple feet of each other.

Technological magic.

Ice Cream Magic

The current joke on the rig, for the DDs anyway:

DD to roughneck:  Have you ever been to North America?

Roughneck:  Where?

DD:  North America

Rounghneck:  No, are you going?  I go with you?

Today’s Exploit:

Obsessions

My new favorite quote:

If I call you darling, will you make me pancakes?

Today’s Exploit:

gardens

kitchens

party lights

mountains

running

snow

music

bread

smiles

chocolate mousse

going home

comfy chairs

basil

popsicles

nap time

air conditioning

cupcake pans

dancing

books

lazy mornings

shade

bright apartments

cold

oceans

gray shoes

laughing

sharp knives

ice cream

random numbers

lemonade

pillows

puppies

Myrtle Mint

I’m Gonna Sleep Outside

It took me 13 tries to rent a moving truck.  For as simple as that site was it was really confusing.

Today’s Exploit:

I get to go to the cabin!

I have vacation time.

I have airplane tickets.

I have a sleeping pad and warm hat ready to be packed.

I also have a jacket that I’m really hoping to need.

Now I just need some mountain weather.

Cross your fingers and hope for cold, just don’t tell anyone it’s my fault.