Sunday, May 24, 2009, 07:55 PM
Falk and I just got back from the annual Memorial Day hike. I was the new addition to the crew, which is usually comprised of him and his two friends, both named Jeremy. This year we hiked a trail up at Pidgeon River State Forest in northern Michigan. We got off to a late start unfortunatly to start off the day. Then we were hampered by having to take a long detour thanks to construction and a bridge out. We finally arrived at the forest a little after noon and after signing the guest book at the HQ, a short bathroom break and map check, we headed for our parking spot at a camp site that would be our starting point. Then Falk and Jeremy C. went to go drop the second car off at the ending point. An hour and a half later they finally return and we get on the trail at 1:30 pm, 3 hours later than we wanted to.
We hiked for an hour before stopping for lunch (ironically...we stopped next to the HQ we initially stopped at for the map check). Being so close to the building, we had another water fill up and potty break before hitting the trail again. We were making good time, averaging a pace about 2.5 to 3 mph until we hit the hills area. After conquering the hills, we took a quick break, but not a long one because we were in a race against the sun to make it to camp before it got dark. We resumed our 3 mph pace and maintained it for a majority of the hike, which I think was pretty good.
Unfortunatly, the map was quite decieving. We thought we had planned an 8 mile hike for the first day. Turned out the map was just a guideline and we ended up going 13 miles the first day. By the time we made it to camp, I was hardly able to walk. My back had given out 2 miles before camp, my injury from the accident last week re-aggrivated by the weight of the back pack and the constant walking. Once I slowed down because of my back, my legs cramped up, making me absolutely miserable.
I didn't get to enjoy much of the camping at the campsite, because I took a Flexaril, ate about 1/4 of my dinner (Freeze dried lasagna) and went to bed. The guys decided there was no way we could finish the trip with my back the way it was, so they went and asked our campsite neighbors for a ride to the second car the next morning, which they kindly did.
All in all it was a fun trip. But I've told Falk we are never attempting a 20 mile hike again and next time we're confirming our mileage better. Now I'm going to go take another flexaril and a long hot shower to hopefully relax my muscles so I can sleep tonight and hopefully be able to walk staning up straight tomorrow!
Happy Memorial Day!
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( 0 / 0 )Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 12:04 PM
Wow...the results show for Dancing With The Stars was a suprise last night. Lil' Kim was voted off. I had her pegged to be in the top 3! I almost didn't watch the show last night because I was that sure that Ty Murray was going home. No offense, he seems like a great guy, but he should've gone home last week actually. Chuck was dancing better than him. I guess that's the power of the fans.
But still...I thought Lil' Kim was doing amazing. I also liked watching the Dance Center..a spoof of Sports Center. I found it quite entertaining how they were making Melissa's dance partner Tony seem like he's the one who scorned her. And come on...Jerry Rice in a sparkly bow tie. And the stats were hilarious (Lil' Kim: Height: Lil, Weight: Lil, shoe size: Lil).
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( 0 / 0 )Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 12:12 AM
It's just past midnight and I'm finding trouble going to sleep so I thought maybe writing down what I'm thinking will help get it out and give me some peace so I can sleep.
What can I say about the past few months of my life. It's been a whirlwind and a lot of stuff has come at me. My grandfather passed away in Febuary. He was a great man. My sister and I use to go to Texas for two weeks during the summer to stay with my grandma and grandpa when we were growing up. My sister and cousin would usually hang out up at the house and play. They were closer in age and liked all the girly stuff. I was a tomboy though and loved working. So I would go with Grandpa out to the back pastures and fix fences and drive the tractor. Grandpa would tell me stories about what he did during WWII. He was a retired cabinet maker, and one summer he built me a shadow box for my collectible Star Trek action figures I was collecting. He use to let me drive the truck when we went to feed the cattle and check on them. I learned to drive from him in an old 61 Chevy truck with no power steering. He took me hunting in 2001 after many years of promising to. I shot my first 8 point buck with him.
Then came the alzheimers. We knew he was sick a few years ago, when his stories started repeating themselves within a matter of minutes, or when they made no sense at all. For the next 7 years we watched him slowly degrade before our eyes. Achingly slow actually. He started to become violent, so my aunt and grandma had to put him in a nursing home unil he passed away.
I was worried about my grandma, but she seemed okay at the funeral. But, everything had been hard on her and unfortunatly, depression runs in the family. I've been affected by it. My mother, sister and aunt all have too. She was no different after all she'd been through. I got the call that she was in the hospital because she had said she felt empty and didn't want to live anymore.
Now my grandmother is a very strong woman. She has always been positive and looked at the brighter side of life. She's a cancer survivor. She beat the disease 3 times. To hear that she was now wanting to end her life filled me with a lot of emotions, some I'm sure I haven't even processed yet. The emotion I'm to right now is fear. They hospitalized her for a week. She just got to come home today on the condition she's not left alone and takes her meds and attends therapy. But I'm afraid.
I've known people who committed suicide. I've known people who've tried. I've had a co-worker who had a bad streak of days at work and had gotten some paperwork for doing stupid things. I saw he was depressed, invited him to come hang out with my friends and I to cheer him up. We all went to dinner, went and watched a movie. I told him things would get better and he would be fine. He talked about wanting to get a new car and maybe move out of the dorms in a few months. The next day when I showed up for work, I found out that he had pulled his car up to his dorm, taped a hose onto his tail pipe, poked the hose through a window, taped the window off and bolted the door shut. Of course people noticed and called the cops and he was hospitalized before he could actually hurt himself. But he had made it all to clear what his intentions were.
As an instructor, I had people who said the magic words to get out. "I want to hurt myself." Those were the golden words to say to leave basic and go home. Most didn't mean it. They just knew the game and how to quit. Some did mean it. Like the girl who was found next to an empty pill bottle, half awake. Then you're left helping to carry her downstairs to a holding room, while telling her to stay awake and asking repeatedly how many she took so we could tell 911.
Depression is hard. It's scary when you feel like your Alice in Wonderland, falling down the rabbit hole. You don't know when you're gonna hit the bottom. I just hope my Grandma realizes she has people she can rely on to help her though this.
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( 0 / 0 )Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 02:22 PM
Last night I finally got to watch the season premier of Deadliest Catch that I recorded last week. The season looks awesome! Last nights Dancing With The Stars was good as well. I personally think Ty is going home tonight. Either him or Laurence. Those two have been the slowest to pick up the dancing (of the remaining competetors). I'm still a big fan of Gilles and Melissa. I really think it's gonna be those two and either Shawn or possibly Lil Kim in the final three. Unfortunatly that shows getting to the point where I'm going to hate to see anyone go cause I enjoy watching all of them dance.
Other news...we finally got a chainlink fence put up in our backyard so the dogs can go out and play and we don't have to stand outside and watch them constantly. We also got a storm door installed on the front door, which is something I wanted. Also got some shrubs ripped out of the side yard next to the garage. Next step is getting the last stump out of the ground and getting grass planted back. Hopefully by the summer the yard will look in better condition.
Otherwise we're gearing up for a busy summer. Lots of travelling planned (my HS reunion, Shore Leave, Disneyworld). I almost feel like I'm living a dream, being able to do all of this without begging for time off and feeling bad that I'm off having fun instead of committing all my time to my job.
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( 0 / 0 )Tuesday, April 7, 2009, 10:55 PM
Okay...almost a year since I blogged. Time flies when you're not having fun.
Alot has happened...mainly since January. I'm now out of the Air Force and back to simming. I love being back on my old game. It's just as fun being a player as it was hosting it.
As far as everything else goes...I've been up and down in my personal life. Things I'd rather not get into in a blog. I finally got to move in and have a normal life with the hubby. No more living on opposite sides of a country trying to make a relationship and marriage work. That is definatly an up.
Otherwise...now I'm just sitting around being a bum during the day. Harassing random people in 10-F during the night. Watching Dancing With The Stars and anxiously awaiting the return of Deadliest Catch next week.
Well...since I'm back...and have loads of free time...I better start blogging more often.
Til next time!
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