I have never before gone apple picking and I was unsure as to what I should expect. Being somewhat vertically disadvantaged, I had assumed I would be balancing myself on my tippy-toes or relinquishing quality apples to taller persons. Neither were correct. Instead, I was given a pole-thing with a metal-dealie at the top, which I would use to collect apples from the tree tops. Below I am demonstrating my skill with this tool.

And see, the fruits of my labor.

As evidenced by the wind in my hair and my huge poofy coat, you would be correct if you inferred that it was windy and chilly. Brrr! In fact, the previous evening Boise received 1.2 inches of snow, reportedly the earliest snow on record - - to the chagrin of everyone. Fie, La Nina, fie!

Now, you may be somewhat shocked to learn that Josh and I engaged in a bit of silly goofing-off at the orchard. While Elizabeth was extremely serious about her apple-picking (she collected 25 pounds of apples) and Edvin was carrying all 25 pounds of her apples, Josh and I were practicing our ninja fighting skillz. In the below photo, please note the awesome harness-bucket thing around Josh's torso. Initially, I was peeved that he got to carry it, but when I realized that it was intended to carry apples (possibly 25 pounds worth) I wanted nothing to do with it.

Josh and I collected 8 pounds of apples, pretty much more apples than we know what to do with. Don't get me wrong, I like apples and I eat them occasionally, but we participated in this event primarily for the goofing off and secondarily for the socializing with Elizabeth and Edvin. Speaking of whom, here is Elizabeth with her 25 pounds of apples - - note that the bag is too heavy for her to lift.

On Sunday, Josh and I went on a glorious evening hike. We are both upset at the sudden turn towards winter weather, but we are determined to enjoy the foothills as long as we can. The hike was very enjoyable. Josh spent a good amount of time watching out for cougars, as they have been spotted in them thar hills recently. He also examined numerous animal footprints to determine if they were from a cougar. While I am not a wildlife specialist, I surmised that a cougar would not attack two full grown adult human beings when there was likely plenty of other food options available. I did, however, suggest that we take up some big sticks just in case. I also opted to growl into rustling bushes to scare away predators. Anyhoo, it was absolutely lovely and I took about a million photos. Here are just a few.

And so early last Thursday morning, we loaded up three adults, their crap, and their mountain bikes into my fuel-efficient vehicle and drove to Missoula. The drive was long, but it wasn't horrendous by any stretch of the imagination. We arrived in Missoula at about 4:00 pm and made our way to Eric's brother's house, where we would be staying. If you recall, Thursday was the night of the Vice Presidential Debate, so we declined a family dinner engagement and went to downtown Missoula to watch the debate over some beers. There was a bit of a snafu in the communication between Eric and the Obama Campaign dude, in which the latter had informed the former that there was to be a debate watching party, when that information was untrue. We made our way to the Union Club, thinking we were going to be watching the debate with other bleeding heart liberals, but other bleeding heart liberals we did not find. Instead, we got some grub from the bar kitchen (I had a chilli hot dog with fries, if you are curious) and watched the debate. The bar ended up getting really packed with other debate-viewers, so we were far from lonesome. Afterwards, we wandered around downtown.

The next morning, we rose and went back downtown for breakfast. Upon the suggestion of a local, we went to a very small place on Higgins. The goodness of the breakfast was slightly overshadowed by the crowdedness of the place (as Eric had to sit alone in the corner for some time due to lack of available seating). Afterwards, we wandered around that part of town, venturing into a few shops, including a bike shop and some kind of strange novelty shop. We also explored Eric's old neighborhood, including a walk by his old house. The males also got their swing on. After extensive wandering, we went to a coffee shop where I had lunch of a roasted red pepper sandwich and barley salad. I also took the opportunity to visit a yarn shop that was reported by various internet folks as being the best yarn shop in Missoula. Once I walked into the shop, however, I was to feel slightly uncomfortable as the shop owner was discussing her ill health and impending death with a friend. I was unsure what the most polite behavior would be in this instance, so I just kind of walked the circumference of the shop quietly and slipped out.

Then we went over to Rattlesnake recreation area and went on a fun mountain bike ride. I must say, the mountains outside of Missoula make the Boise foothills pale in comparison. Eric led us on a ride that took us way up the mountains and afforded us a lovely view.

The downhill was great fun, punctuated by a herd of wild turkey sighting. We ended up doing two loops. The first took us up the mountains at a fairly steep grade and wound us along the side of the mountains. The second was up some of the roads at a more moderate grade and down some singletrack with switchbacks. Both times we ended the loops with a fun jaunt through what I called Sherwood Forrest, a section that had truly sweet winding singletrack in which the autumn colors were striking on the adjacent trees.

The ride was a lot of fun and left me wanting to take a longer trip to Missoula to have more riding in its mountains. Afterwards, we picked up a large quantity of pizza for Eric's family, as a token of appreciation for letting us invade their home. We had every intention of hitting the bars that evening, but found ourselves watching "Empire Strikes Back" instead. I have to say, watching a Star Wars film with commentary by a five and four year old is a quality experience.

The next day, we went to a bakery downtown for breakfast and coffee. Afterwards, we went to the Obama campaign headquarters and spent half an hour in an asinine training, as though canvassing is rocket science. We got our clipboards and went to a neighborhood near the University to do our political duty. Eric went by himself and Josh and I teamed up. I thought the volunteer coordinator was full of doo-doo when he estimated it would take us 3.5 hours, but he proved to be right on the money with his estimate. Josh and I were able to get several people registered to vote and got quite a few absentee ballot requests completed. We also had a good conversation with a Republican leaning Obama as well as a few Independents. Therefore, if Montana goes blue this election, it will be ALL because of us. We rule.

By the time we were done canvassing, at around 2:30, we were all starvin' marvin. Eric directed us to a drive-in where we procured some delicious drive-in food. Of course, I couldn't allow us to have a normal / boring drive-in experience. I had to go an drop Eric's burger down the front of my person and onto the car floor. The server person was nice enough to get him another free of charge. Then, as I was exiting the car, I managed to drop the entire tray that was loosely affixed to the window and which was supporting multiple uncovered containers of ketchup, all over the ground. The resulting ketchup splatter caused me to have a large quantity of ketchup all over my clothing, compounding the preexisting ketchup and mustard stains that I aquired when I dropped Eric's burger onto my person. Anyway, I was just keeping it interesting for everyone.

The next adventure was to Blue Sky Brewery for some free beer. If you've ever been to a local brewery, you can imagine how that adventure went. We all had to try on every single Brewery hat, had to play with all of the beer openners, had to put the beer cozies on our heads, and in general defied our maturity level. Afterwards, we returned to Eric's brother's house for some R&R. That evening, Eric went to a family BBQ and Josh and I had a date in downtown Missoula. We went to a sushi place, where we enjoyed some fairly good sushi, and then wandered all around, having various silly moments. We explored the river area, having a great deal of fun running on some grassy mounds and eventually went to a bar for some wine. We returned to the homestead where Eric recounted the shenanigans of the family BBQ.

The next morning, which would have been Sunday, we had a hearty breakfast with the family, which included pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage made from a deer that Eric's brother shot and killed. We then loaded our persons, our crap, and our bikes into the car and set off for Boise. The drive back took longer as a result of more lengthy stops, including a lunch stop at Kooskia.

Photos for this are available here

Around noonish, we loaded our persons into the automotive vehicle and went to Nampa. What fun! As it was around noonish, we were both in the mood for a nutritional supplement. Somewhere along the Nampa-Caldwell Boulevard, we stopped at a joint called "Blazin' Burgers" and we each procured and subsequently consumed a 'blazin' burger'. Instead of normal fries, I opted to spend an additional $0.60 for the sweet potato fries. Yum! While we were waiting for our food, we noted a number of religious prayers, psalms, and other sayings posted around the place. From this we deduced that the owners were believers. After wolfing down our yummy nonsecular food, we went over to the Flying M Coffee Garage for some coffee and mental contemplation. I believe that we also conversed about topics of great import. We each had two entire cups of joe which caused us to feel a little jittery and over-caffinated. After the second cup of joe, we decided to stroll around downtown Nampa. The rain had temporarily subsided and it was quite pleasant out. We ended up spending a bit of time and money at this new clothing shop, which of course I totally forget the name of...something like the White Pine... The shop featured affordable fair trade and organic clothing, and we both found its selection quite fashionable. Because I am a seasoned shopper, I went directly to the Sale Rack and located some discounted items. During my browsing, I noticed that the shop was selling Toms. Many moons ago, I bought a pair of Toms and have really loved them. Unfortunately, they didn't sell very well and the store ceased to carry them. Which lamed me out because I have wanted another pair. It also lamed out Josh because he has been wanting a pari. So of course, we both went bananas over the Toms. As my previous pair were brown corduroys, I decided to go with something a little more silly. Here they are on some astroturf....

The duration of my weekend consisted of mellow social engagements and BBQs. I attended two BBQs in a single weekend and ate a month's supply of protein and yellow mustard. Also, beer. A BBQ on Friday evening at Amy's featured the cute puppy being extremely ornery, which I was relieved he had gotten out of his system by Sunday morning when Amy and I took him for a pleasant hike in the foothills. Of note on that hike is that we saw a unicycling mountain biker, which I thought was pretty impressive. I've heard about people who mountain bike on unicycles and have seen photos on the blessed internet, but never witnessed it in reality. It was very cool! The other BBQ was at Elizabeth's on Saturday night and it was very mellow. To Elizabeth's chagrin, the torrential rain had pretty much ruined her plans of being outside and the barometric pressure had caused everyone to feel particularly subdued.

The remainder of this post will focus on my latest knitting adventures.

To begin, I am compelled to go on and on about my failure at being a library user. I blame the hours of operation, as the library seems to never be open when I feel like going...like, 2:00 a.m. This is similar to my feelings about going to the gym. I don't understand why more establishments aren't open 24 hours a day, that would be a really good idea and I'm certain would not be an inefficient use of resources. Of course, several of my friends are frequent library users and they occasionally opt to tell me about their latest library borrowings. One friend in particular has borrowed a number of knitting books containing patterns I would like to get my hands on but haven't been able to justify purchasing the entire book. Now, I remember scouring the library's knitting books a few years ago and determed that the selection was total crap. And I haven't really been back. But from what I gather from aforementioned friend, apparently there has been some book acquisitions of the knitting variety in the past several years. Who would've known!!!

Over the weekend, I took some time out of my day to peruse the library's online catalog, and noted a number of titles which I am extremely interested in. My primary interest is a book which I believe is out of print (because the general asking price for used copies is around $220) but contains some intricate stranded designs, called Norsk-Strikkedesign. Contained within its pages is a pattern called 'Season of Darkness and Winter Light' (it is the design featured in the cover photo) and it is one of those designs that makes knitting seem magical. I am thrilled to tell you that I have placed a hold on the book, and am so excited about borrowing it (hopefully in a few weeks).

Speaking of stranded knitting, I am slowly making headway on my Selbu mittens.

For reasons of wanting to avoid the 'second mitten curse' and of wanting to knit matching mittens, I am knitting both mittens concurrently. So obviously, I have twice the knitting completed as featured in the above photo. I have temporarily set the mittens aside, however, so that (1) I can practice my stranded knitting, and (2) to acquire a certain gadget. After all, stranded knitting takes skill. Skill which I currently lack. In my previous stranded projects, I have employed the "drop and grope" method, which is a good method to use if you like knitting to be slow and tedious. It's also a good method if you prefer to have really bad tension. So clearly, I am in the market for improved skills.

Before I really get going, I'd like to mention that I've found a lot of really helpful information about stranded knitting on this blog. If you scroll down, on the right sidebar there is a section where she has compiled her posts about techniques. For anyone else who is a novice strander, I would highly recommend them.

To acquire better stranded skills, I have taken up a new project with easy colorwork (see below). I had been practicing the two handed method, but have frustratingly concluded that I am the opposite of ambidexterous. As a result, I am practicing a number of single-handed methods, some of which are working out for me better than others. In my reading about technique, I have stumbled upon a yarn guide gadget. While it is normally used by continental knitters, I have learned that some throwers (like myself) have had great success with it. And so, I have set down my Selbu mittens until the arrival of my yarn guide in the mail.

The project that I am currently working on is my Tweedy Waistjacket. The yarn is the Jo Sharp I bought in Seattle, which I have tried working for a number of projects but have not found anything very suitable until now. The pattern is in the Fall '08 issue of Interweave Knits, and I am delighted at how perfect it is for this yarn. It shows off the tweediness of the yarn quite well. Also, this is one of the faster projects I've worked on in some time.

I'm sorry to leave you all hanging with such an incredibly brief and short post. I know that you were hoping I'd write at length about all of these rather insignificant topics, but I clearly just don't have it in me. I wish that I could just go on an on, until most of you cease skimming this post and just close your browser, but obviously I am in the mood for sticking to the point and not rambling on about whatever comes to mind. Until next time...

Josh and I have been on an Owyhees kick, as evidenced by the fact that all of my recent posts contain a reference of an Owyhees adventure. This past Saturday, we treked out to somewhere in the Owyhees for a bike ride. The first little misadventure occured while we were trying to get to where we would begin the ride and we found ourselves on a scary person's private property. The signage in the Owyhees needs a great deal of improvement, to put it mildly. Also to put it mildly, I was concerned that the luncatic hermit living in an isolated part of the Owyhees was going to shoot us dead and prop our decapitated heads onto poles as a warning to other trespassers. You may infer from my writing of this post that we came out of that encounter only a little ruffled, thank the little baby jesus. Following the encounter with crazy-man, I found myself driving my car over terrain poorly suited to my vehicle's schematics. Yet again, I was more than a little ruffled. But we managed to get our persons safe and sound to a spot at which to commence our ride.

As I said, signage in the Owyhees could use a bit of improvement. Josh and I are both decently observant people, yet both of us failed to notice this sign at the start of our ride. Though, if we had noticed it, we might not have been quite as awe-struck when we came upon this...

A herd of wild horses. In my Public Land Policy class, we've briefly discussed wild horse management policy, so I am somewhat familiar with it, but to my knowledge, I've never before seen wild horses. And on this ride, we came upon a few herds and it was quite remarkable. For the duration of the ride, I was singing to myself the U2 song about wild horses.

When we encountered them, we weren't sure the best response. One, we had no idea how they would react to us - - we've got experience running into stock animals like sheep and cattle, but no wild horses. So we kept our distance and allowed them to retreat, then slowly rode past until there was a good distance between us.

There were a lot of interesting relics and geological features along the ride. Above, some kind of headstone. There was also a particularly nifty volcanic rock section (no photo, unfortunately). It was sometime after we rode away from this headstone that we grew increasingly uncertain about our location. We stopped several times for Josh to consult the map.

We rode and rode. Eventually, we did two sets of steep descents and hike-a-bike ascents. And at the bottom of the second descent, Josh and I had paused to discuss something of great import, when we were silenced by the rather startling sound of all the air in one of Josh's tires suddently whooshing out.

That was disconcerting and sad-making.

We then hiked the bikes up a really steep hill and I got comfortable while Josh worked on fixing the tire. This took some time. Josh also took the opportunity to consult the map for the umpteenth time. From our vantage point, we were able to see two canyons and were wondering which canyons they were, as that information could have helped Josh to ascertain our location. After a while, a dude on an ATV sputtered by and was able to tell us that one of the canyons was Jump Creek. We asked the dude for advice on which way we should go, as we were at an intersection in which one road went down and another went up. We both felt uncertain about his advice, and decided to backtrack back to the car. Josh later consulted additional maps, including Google Earth, and realized that the dude had given us very bad directions and that if we had taken his advice, we would have been poorly off.

Once the tire was fixed, we had to re-hike-a-bike back up the steep hills we had just traversed and set off back from whence we had came.

For me, it was a spectacular ride. I was feeling really good and had a blast. I had also put my cyclecomputer on the bike, so I can say for certain that we rode 31 miles, our average speed was 8.6 mph, and our max speed was 27 mph. Not too shabby. It was about 3.5 hours of riding, but we had lots of stops, so we were out for at least an additional hour. For the drive back, we decided to take a different road so as to avoid driving by crazy-private-property man, and we discovered a much better route to access that part of the Owyhees.

Photos for this entry are at my Somwhere in the Owyhees photoset.

In mountain biking news, I have been getting in a lot of riding now that the weather is cooling off. Last Friday, Josh and I rode a most awesome foothills 'loop' - - up Bogus Basin, up Corralls, up Scott's , down Scott's, down Trail 4, and down Crestline/Kestrel. The ride was somewhat monumental for me, signifying that I am overcoming my fears about steep drop-offs. I don't believe I wrote about this, but last year when I had the bike with the grabby breaks that exacerbated many of my fears about steepness, heights, and drop-offs, Josh and I went on a ride on Scott's Trail and I experienced something of a total panic attack about the drop-off along a steeper part of the trail. As this year is a different year, with a different bike, and a different attitude, I have been feeling very accomplished at overcoming my fears and anxieties - - which is particularly significant because so much of mountain biking is about mental attitude. I've been riding trails which I had become rather wimpy about, and challenging myself on much more technical terrain, discovering that most of the time, things just LOOK hard, and that when I relax and pedal/roll over something, I find that it is much easier than expected. So anyway, Scott's trail was the final test to myself that I am totally OVER the crashes and negative mental attitudes that got me down last year. To clarify, there's nothing about Scott's that is really hard (it's a nice intermediate trail) but a few sections of trail had qualities that would freak me out. Anyway, so on Friday when we were doing our awesome loop, I was mentally preparing myself to ride down Scott's. I kept giving myself all kinds of encouragement, reminding myself that I've ridden much more difficult trails, and that this was nothing, NOTHING to get a panic attack about. And as I was descending, I told myself to focus on the trail, relax, breath...and I kept thinking that the scary sections of the trail must be around the next turn, so I stayed relaxed, breathed, and focused on the trail in front of me. I was still expecting the scary section of the trail to be around the next turn when I realized that I had made it to the bottom. HUH? The trail on which I had experienced a panic attack, I had now ridden without a single hesitation. I am serious when I argue that mountain biking is primarily about mental attitude, and secondarily about fitness. After descending Scott's, there was still a LOT of downhill left, and I had a blast bonzaiing down the mountains.

On Saturday, we returned to the Owyhees and tried to ride from 'our parking space' to Succor Creek. The previous weekend when we went out there, we encountered a couple on an ATV picking up litter, and had a conversation about how some of the roads we were riding would take a person out to Succor Creek. And so this weekend, we tried to do just that. Of course, I had gotten all complacent in the cooler temperatures and convinced Josh that it would be okay if we left in the afternoon, rather than bright and early in the morning. BAD MOVE. Aside from being a bit on the hot side, I found the roads a tad sandier than I prefer. It was still very ridable, just took a bit more effort to plow through. Before I would feel comfortable giving it an official review, however, I think I need to ride it again. I realize that my being kinda too hot was detrimental to my fully appreciating the ride - - also, I now realize that I did not consume many calories during the lengthy ride, and so I possibly lacked energy that I might have had if I had been more responsible with my caloric intake.

So, it takes about an hour to drive out to 'our parking spot' in the Owyhees. Since joining the modern era with the acquisition of my iPod, I have placed all of my compact discs into a compact disc book-holder-deal, which I have placed in my car (for, you know, road trips). Despite the plethora of music available during this particular road trip, Josh and I opted to listen to the Flight of the Conchords cd THREE TIMES IN A ROW. Needless to say, we have since had the catchy tunes stuck in our heads. In fact, I am pretty much in a constant state of mentally huming the tunes to myself, both awake and asleep, and it is kind of annoying.

I'll begin by highlighting Saturday evening's fun, a BBQ chez Amy. In spite of the good company (Amy, Elizabeth, Leah, David, Josh, and Eric), the good atmosphere (the backyard lawn), the good food (chorizos, potato salad, fruit salad, roasted veggies), and the beverages (beer), no one had a very good time. In fact, it was so terrible, that we have decided never to have a BBQ ever again. What made the experience pretty much unbearable was this puppy-dog who was running around trying to swindle everyone's beer. Note, that below photo was a shot from the gods - - it appears as though David was giving the puppy beer, when in fact the puppy was the perpetrator, having suddenly lunged at the beer bottle. Through the course of the evening, so much beer was spilled as a result of puppy (and subsequently licked up by puppy) that we surmised he had become rather tipsy. Photos of the horrendous evening are available here.

Saturday was also the day when Josh and I had yet another adventure in the Owyhees. Unfortunately, it's been a while since we were down there - - but we decided to do a refined version of the Sage Creek Loop that we did in June. We've been out there enough that we're really getting to know our way around. This was the first time in the Sage Creek zone when we didn't have to spend time figuring out where we were going and back-tracking because we went the wrong way. We did a perfect loop that I approximate was 2.5 hours. Ultimately, I bet Josh and I could make some money by developing a mountain biking Owyhees book - - Josh was even talking about opening a bike shop in Marsing (maybe not the best idea in today's economy). Anyway, the loop took us over lots of ups and downs, some unridable ups that we had to hike-a-bike, and some pretty challengingly technical downhills that I felt very accomplished after riding successfully. I've developed a lot more confidence on the more technical downhills - - the Owyhees are great for that. The Boise foothills, all groomed and smooth, are wonderful but can hold a person back from developing confidence on not-groomed and not-smooth trails. I love the Owyhees - - so much potential adventure. Photos from this ride may be viewed here.

I've been getting a good amount of riding in, which adds to my feeling good on the bike. On Sunday, Josh and I rode Sidewinder, which is a nice fun quickie ride. Funny story about that ride... I had been having a bit of trouble with the shifting on my bike. On the ride in the Owyhees, the front gears were very malaligned - - Josh did a complete gear adjustment on the trail, but they wouldn't function properly. I took the bike into the shop to have the mechanics fix it. Got the bike back on Sunday and Josh and I rode Sidewinder. The front gears were working, but the back gears were not. Josh spent more time trail-side trying to adjust them, to no avail. We rode anyway. As I was grunting up one of the climbs, the chain broke. Josh was the mechanical hero, as he was able to fix the chain with his semi-broken chain tool and we were able to finish the ride. That night, we hung out at the bike shop drinking beers, Josh fixing my bike for good, and me knitting.

And finally, I know how you have all being eagerly awaiting my knitting report.

I've finished Inishfern. TAHDAH!!! My improvised top-down asymmetrical seamless raglan. The cables both diminish and transform into different cables. It is fitted with a flair at the waist. And the button band - - an opportunity for improvisation! After trying a number of options, I found that I liked the expanding garter panel with a set of cables - - the buttons are set by the cables, as opposed to traditional button holes. Tradition, smadition! Below you may see more clearly the cabled button band - - also, note my vintage buttons.

In other knews, I know I've been going bananas obsessing about mittens. This explains why I randomly cast on for Ice Queen over the weekend. I have to roll my eyes at myself - - not only do I have several projects currently in progress, not only do I have my sights set on several patterns, but Ice Queen is a very random and spontaneous cast on. I suppose that it happened after I was reading about how cowls are the new scarves, and I realized that the pattern might be a good use for that lace yarn I procured for a failed project a few months ago. And so...Ice Queen. I've taken the Cascade Elite Silky Alpaca lace yarn, doubled it, and also included a strand of the green angora from a thrift store sweater I recycled. Very very soft and very very warm. As evidenced by the below status-photo, I am knitting it much tighter than the pattern, so as to make for a more warm cowl.

Problem One: Way back in June, when I went bananas at a local yarn shop during the mini-vacation to Seattle, I bought a bunch of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, with no specific pattern. I had been planning on improvising my own design, which has been undergoing various revisions within the confines of my mind, but I got distracted with other projects and this precious yarn has been collecting dust. As you all know, one of the most exciting parts of knitting is the dreaming stage, when you consult your stash, consider a multitude of patterns, peruse online yarn stores, compare yarns and guages, and Ravel somewhat obsessively. Well, I seem to exist in this 'dreaming stage' constantly and even though I've got projects in the works, I derive great joy from the infinite knitting possibilities.

Recently, I've gone back to this Jo Sharp yarn, which exists as tweedy awesomeness, and I've devoted some attention to attaching a pattern to it. I had pretty much resolved on the Rambling Rose cardigan from Interweave Knits, but then I noticed that something I've been lusting after on Ravelry has made its way into a pdf pattern download. If that is not a sign from God, than I don't know what would be.

And so, problem number one, is Baby Cables and Big Ones Too which will be knat in two colors of tweed, with the contrasting color comprising the garter stitch yolk and lower half of the arms. Part of what makes me drool all over this design is its similarity to the Cobblestone, but with feminine shaping and...sigh...diminishing cables.

Problem Two: I'm sure you have all been axiously awaiting my cast on for those Druid Mittens I mentioned two posts ago. Well, step one, acquire the pattern. My excitement for mittens has taken an expected-for-me turn - - that 'dreaming stage' I articulated above....yeah. Mittens.

Now, let's take a step back and discuss one of my life-long loves: fashion. By 'fashion,' I do not necessarily refer to trendy or high-end, but rather my own particular take which usually includes a good dose of fug, lots of contrasts (or, as some people call it, failure to match), and stuff that is interesting. Sometimes there is trendy, and rarely is there high-end (but only for financial reasons). As you can imagine, knitting has been integrated with my fashion tastes, and together they have 'fueled the fire' of that dreaming stage I keep mentioning.

In my mind, I have seen the glory of pairing modern knitted items (such as that diminishing cables pullover above) and traditional knitted accessories. For some time, I have been a great admirer of the traditional knitting and have only recently discovered what I expect to be my outlet. Mittens. And so, Selbuvotter (I highly recommend checking out the projects) and Latvian Mittens (again, check out the projects) will soon enable me to fulfill a great fashion dream. One of the reasons why mittens excite me is the notion that I will not go to jail and be executed if I fail to make matching mitts. In the past, I have considered my failure to maintain attention on a project, and have wondered if I would be able to make two of something (ie, a matching pair). But seriously, who's going to shoot me if I am spotted wearing a Latvian mitten with a Norweigan mitten? I didn't think so.

In other news, and possibly Problem Three, the temperature is cooling off. Which means more opportunities for me to have fun in the outside! This summer, when it was over 95 degrees, I opted to stay indoors...which proved to be much of the time. I have previously described my person's poor temperature regulation, and I have decided to 'live with' this condition rather than fight it. Anyhootily, last night it was in the low 70s, and I went on a fun mountain bike ride with the Josh. We didn't have much time before the sun set, but we meandered around some fun trails for about 45 minutes, which is sufficient for both cardiovascular health and mental health.

This year's fun began at 9:45 when the group met at Ann Morrison Park. In previous years, "the group" has gone bananas with costuming - - this year, however, we failed to costume. Although, Josh and I donned some big straw hats which were loads of crazy fun. Hats! At 10:00 the bike parade commenced, with an estimated 2,000 pedalers, and the group jockeyed for position. Throughout the parade, the group failed to stay together. There were just so many people on so many bikes, I have concluded, that it was near to impossible for the group to remain intact. Not to worry, however, this is precisely why God invented cell phones.

The parade is one's chance to see all of the many many wonderful costumes - - more wonderful even, than big straw hats! Unfortunately, I failed you, my dear readers, as I was unable to photograph the truly awe-inspiring costumes. There was a fantastic dragon, Mr. and Mrs. Potatoheads, garden gnomes, Jesus, etc., etc. I will go ahead and mention the guy with whom I attended public school from elementary thru high school who constructed a two-high bike and rode it through the parade with impressive balance and agility. The parade is about an hour in length and concludes with a critical mass through downtown which is very exciting with all of the bike bells ringing and the bystanders cheering (for bikes & ballyhoo!) and the total absence of automobiles. It is, in fact, a promotion of the bicycle-pedaling lifestyle.

After the parade, the group went for lunch. And after lunch, we returned to the park, where we acquired wristbands and tokens to exchange for beer. I'd like to take this moment to articulate my excitement for the Greenness of this particular festival, as the organizers seek for it to have a relatively low carbon impact on the environment. Which is awesome. The beer cups are corn and 100% compostable, and there were recycling and composting stations set up throughout the venue. Anyway.

Before the first beer was drunk, several of us decided to stand in line to partake in the wonky bike riding which is an incredible amount of fun, especially if you've consumed a few brewskies. Though, some of the bikes I attempted the impossible and was defeated, even after multiple try-and-try-agains. Everyone took turns riding the wonky bikes, some of us went at it several times.

As it was hot that day - - and after several hours of drinking lots of beer and overexerting ourselves with sillyness in the direct rays of the sun, the group was rather consumed by the heat. We trotted to the nearby river and employed the cold water to our advantage. After that, the group parted ways for much-needed naps. There must be something about being really really silly, smiling and laughing until you hurt, and being both hyper-active and somewhat intoxicated in the sun and around bikes for an extended amount of time that is exhausting. Several individuals had attempted to make some sort of plan with me that evening, but I declined in advance, saying "Oh, that's the day of the Tour de Fat." And when they respond, confused, "But it gets over at 4:00" I have to explain that a person is quite incapable of doing anything of consequence after engaging in the Holy Trinity of Fun. Though, that evening, the group reconvened for a viewing of Ironman at the dollar theater.

More photos are available on my flickr photoset. Also, I would like to direct external parties to David's photos which are substantially better than mine.

As scarves are a regular component of my wardrobe, even in the summer (what with the crazy air conditioning action at my place of employment), I find great joy in having a variety of fashionable scarves from which to select for my daily outfit. To add to the joy, knitting a few scarves a year... Many of you should have noted (what with my constant mentioning of it) that I have become more interested in cables this year. Previously in my scarf history, I was of the rather staunch opinion that scarves ought to be reversible - - and this limited my cabling engagement on scarves, as the options for reversible cables are few. More recently I have discontinued my preference for reversible scarves, and this has opened my scarf world to inifinite and exciting possibilities.

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Below, a preview of Inishfern. A few finishing touches remain to be completed. One, that bad crocheted buttonband that I mentioned....needs to be redone. It is much too bad. Considering the badness of the crochet, I may opt to pick up and knit some buttonholes. This may prove to be my best option, especially to counter what I fear may be too much negative ease at the top.

I wore Inishfern all day yesterday and it was lovely. It fits just the way I wanted, it is wonderfully comfortable, and looks pretty and attractive. You will note the asymetrical neckline, of which I have become quite fond. And the sleeves, which you cannot really discern from the photo, are mostly straight - - not tappered, not bell - - and I love them. Per my joy of cables, this is cables upon cables and cables fusing with other cables. However, I do not feel the cables are over done as can happen when cables are allowed to take over and go totally bananas. Cables, love them, but keep them in check.

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I would like to conclude this thrilling post with a list of projects for which I plan to cast on this fall.

• First and foremost, Brooklyntweed's Druid Mittens. Sigh... I have almost decided which yarn to employ - - a deep-red wool from my stash that I recycled from a thrift store sweater. Although, I may crumble at the beauty of that Jamison shetland wool and throw down the dollars. These would be my first adventure into mittens, and if they go well, I envision myself knitting a lot of mittens.
• I have found Brooklyntweed to design some nice manly items, and so I am planning on knitting the Turn a Square hat for the SO. I have no idea what yarn to use - - as knitted gifts for the SO must be both machine washable and machine dryable.
• And, if I can get up the guts for steeks, Little Birds by Ysolda.

There are plenty of other ideas for improvised projects - - legwarmers, more top-down seamless raglans - - but these are specific patterns which I have a mind to follow.

Fall is around the corner. With it comes school and less time to knit, but more time to enjoy what I knat over summer break.

Incidentally, my Floating Feather Loop is one of my 'in town' favorites. It covers mostly flat roads, and I could see how someone might find it boring, but I enjoy spinning my legs and riding at a faster pace. Also, I find great joy in my cyclecomputer. I play different games with myself during a ride, for example, where I'll get going at a certain speed and try to maintain the speed for a certain distance, or I'll slow down and see how fast I can speed back up. I've also been working on my downhill skillz, and it's fun to climb one of the foothill neighborhood roads and then speed down. After which, I like to see what my top speed was. Anyway...

School will be starting soon. I'm taking two classes that I am rather excited about - - public land policy and state and local policy. The first, public lands, it should be evident that I am all about the public lands. And state & local, I've become more interested in local policy in recent years. Also, I have heard excellent things about the profs for these classes, which should be a nice refreshing change. I've started working through the readings and I do wish that we could skip the basic theory and dive into the topic. I realize that not everyone in the program has a political science BA, but still, we always spend the first few classes on basic theory refresher and I wish that (a) we didn't have to repeat curriculum, and (b) that basic theory be a prerequisite that if people don't get, they learn about on their own time.

In knitting knews, I have finished my Inishfern, which you may or may not recall my writing about previously. I don't have photos yet, but hopefully soon. This weekend, I had a bit of a button-fiasco - - my original plan for fastening the cardigan together was to employe hook & eye's, but quickly discovered that one should not use 'hooks' with a knitted fabric, especially one knitted at a looser guage. After throwing the hook & eye idea out the window, I had to consider buttons, and thus, buttonholes. Even though I claim to be of the anti-planning persuasion, I admit the utility of planning certain things in advance...for example, buttonholes. As I had not planned for buttonholes and the knitting on my Inishfern was complete, my options were to rip out the edging and rework with buttonholes or fashion buttonholes onto the already knitted edging. I opted for the lattter. By using my crochet hook and the rudimentary crochet skillz I learned from "the crochet edging" of my Nantucket Jacket, I clumsily crocheted some buttonholes for Inishfern. Amazingly, it worked out. Though, I have such little understanding of crochet that I don't even know what I'm looking at when I see it - - I always think to myself "Oh, that looks weird...it must be crochet" - - and so I am certain that my crochet buttonholes are really really bad crochet, but I have no idea. They are functional as buttonholes and they are rather invisible (handy, considering the bad crochet), so it works.

I also ripped out my garden scarf because the center cable panel was coming out particularly disjointed-looking and I hated it. Nothing worse than disjointed cables. I rewrote the cable chart to align with my sensibilities and began anew. I also added two more cable panels to the sides, as I decided that I wanted a wide scarf. These additional cable panels are of the celtic-style cabling, of which I am very fond. Also, bobbles! The yarn for this project I am not sure about. It is Ella Rae Bamboo Silk which I procured almost 50% off at a big yarn sale last weekend - - and just during the knitting process I am noticing a tendency for it to shed. Aside from that, it is quite glorious.

Interestingly, several weeks ago, I bumped into an acquaintance who asked me if I would dog-sit for her during this week in August. It was with joy that I was able to honestly say that I didn't think I would be available because I was planning on attending a Star Trek convention during the exact time of her vacation. Has that ever before been used as an excuse to get out of doing something???....after watching Trekkies, I believe it has.

Anyway, I've been deliberating whether to go to the convention over and over in my head, and my inability to make a decision on the matter proved to make the decision for me...as the convention is currently in progress and I am not there. But, after seeing that film last night, I feel as though it enabled me to vicariously experience the convention without having to actually go and spend the moolah. And, I feel satiated with my vicarious convention experience.

If you haven't seen the film, it provides a glimpse into the convention experience and follows several really odd crazy Star Trek fans. For me, it was embarrassing and painful to watch. There was the lady who insists that she is a real Star Trek Commander and doesn't acknowledge anything said to her unless people call her "Commander" and she doesn't go anywhere without her toy communicator, phaser, and tricorder. Then there's the lady who was disturbingly obsessed with Brent Spiner, and every moment of the film with her made me feel really uncomfortable. Oh, and the crazy libertarian commando female who's obsession with Star Trek came out of an obsession with Conan the Barbarian and homemade armor. The dentist and is family who surround their professional dental practice in all things Star Trek and who have become so accustomed to wearing their Star Trek uniforms all of the time (they even force their children to wear the uniforms) that they seem to have no clue why that is odd. The other guy who wears his Star Trek uniform at all times and who, if he had the money, would get plastic surgery to have pointed Vulcan ears, because he feels much more like a Vulcan than a human. The guy whose house is completely filled with Star Trek items and whose life goal is to build a shelf to display his glory. The guy who spends all of his free time trying to build the various gadgets from Star Trek and goes to Radio Shak to talk to the 'experts' about what components would work well for a Romulan cloaking device. ...Of course, my favorite was the male teenager whose obsession with Star Trek is simply behind explanation. And this is not to mention the sheer quantity of money that the fans spend on their obsession - - there was a scene of an auction and someone bought a Klingon forehead piece for $1,400, which I thought was utter craziness. These people, none of them appeared to be at all affluent, yet they seemed to be spending their entire livelihood on Star Trek junk. Not that I am anyone to judge, but SERIOUSLY...

So, after viewing the film, I have decided that I am undoubtedly not a trekkie in any shape or form. I enjoy watching the program, but the fanaticism...yeah, no. In conclusion, I would like to say that I greatly enjoyed Wil Wheaton's account of some convention details. I will enjoy from afar, very very afar.

This past weekend, Josh and I went camping in the Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes area. I'd like to begin by directing you to Josh's blog entry that contains a nice summary of the events.

The Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes is a lovely area. That photo above is of the canyon right at the base of the reservoir. And a big reservoir it is. To get to where we would camp, we had to drive on a scary road to the end of the reservoir and then through the forest and mountains to some campgrounds approximately 13 miles before Trinity Lakes (some high mountain lakes). Our camp spot was lovely.

Soon after we arrived, we went on a mountain bike ride up Fire Road #101 which took us up a gradual climb to the top of some mini-mountains. After the bike ride, we went down to the stream adjacent to our camp, and washed the dust and sweat off our persons and spent several hours splish-splashing around in the water. This was one of my favorite activities of the trip. We cracked open a few beers and had a splendid time playing stream-side.

Interestingly, we opted not to have a camp fire. I realize this is normally a prime joy in camping, but for some reason we weren't feeling it. Instead, we went on a nice evening walk - - primarily so that I could massage the terrible intestinal cramp that I had developed - - played some smashmitten and boggle, and retired to the tent for some reading at a ridiculously early hour. I read half of an exciting science fiction short story about a kid who stumbles upon an abandoned alien space ship and takes it for a spin. It was apparently one of the year's best sci-fi short stories, some years ago.

The next day's primary activity was a big mountain bike ride up to the Trinity Lakes area. According to Josh's calculation, we climbed about 2300 feet in elevation. We rode up a gravel mountain road, which featured an interesting mix of turns and straight-aways, smooth dirt and rugged rocky surfaces. The first part of the ride was through the forest, and then it took us well above the tree line to a higher mountain zone. After two hours of consistent climbing, I began to wonder how much farther it would be to get to the lakes. It was about this point that the road began featuring some more challenging rugged surfaces that took a bit more effort to pedal one's bike over. Also, without the trees, we found ourselves more directly in the sun's rays. All of this, in addition to the fact that my leg muscles were starting to feel the burn, compelled me to feel a bit cranky. At some point, a truck passed us and Josh took the opportunity to ask how much farther it was to the lakes. The man said that the lakes were still a ways away and that the road was really rugged and that we wouldn't be able to ride our bikes up there. This last statement really irritated Josh because the guy clearly underestimated the utility of the mountain bike. Soon after that, we found the turn-around spot. It took about 2.5 hours to ride up, and about 15 minutes to bonzai down. I must say, wow, the downhill was incredibly fun. We had the whole road to ourselves and we bombed down SO FAST. Before we began the descent, Josh commented that we would probably be using our breaks a lot, what with all of the ruggedness and turns. In reality, the breaks were hardly used. I did opt to navigate the particularly rugged stuff slowly, and those sections I really enjoyed - - it's amazing what sort of terrain a person can roll right over on a bike, I didn't even bother navigating around huge rocks, I just rode over them. On the smoother surfaces, I kept my fingers off the breaks and was flying down the mountain. So thrilling! I wish that I had my cycle computer on the bike so that I could have known how fast I was actually travelling - - Josh seems to think that it was faster than ever before and I have to concur. Of course, as irony would have it, Josh later consulted a map and discovered that we had stopped not too far from the lakes.

Photos for this adventure may be found on my Anderson Reservoir photoset

The day of reckoning has come for air pollution in the Treasure Valley. Levels of ozone, the colorless gas that causes lung and heart damage and is the main ingredient of smog, crossed a key threshold Friday - all but guaranteeing the state will have to take painful new actions to reduce air pollution in the coming years.

I've been walking around lately saying all kinds of pompous things about how the recession hasn't been affecting me - - except, of course, lowering the interest on my savings account - - GAR! Gas prices can go up to $6 a gallon for all I care - - since I fill up the gas tank in my car MAYBE once a month, but more like every five or six weeks, it's not a big deal to budget for gas. Hah!

But yes, air pollution, as with all pollution, really pisses me off, especially since I feel that I have a very low carbon impact on the world, I don't see why I should have to breath in everyone else's SUV fumes.

The air here has been pretty crappy - - it's always crappy in the summer because the entire West is always on fire (exaggerate...me?). So crappy, in fact, that it has sometimes been impossible to see much of the foothills. Gar. Anyway, on Sunday Joshua and I went on a road ride. I haven't been riding all that much (because of both the heat and the air quality) so it was nice to get out and pedal...sorta. I did not have the opportunity to look up what the local Air Quality Index was for Sunday, but my guess is that it was pretty bad. About half an hour into the ride, I developed a screaming mad headache. I've actually been getting a lot of headaches recently that I attribute to the bad air. Anyway, eventually the headache went away and was replaced by various migraine symptoms: dizziness, nausea, tunnel vision, disorientation. These symptoms took over my entire being during the last 15 minutes of the ride when I was peddling home, and it took all of my concentration to not fall over. What is noteworthy is that this has never happened to me before in all of my life. And I place full blame on all of those assholes who continue their single-occupancy SUV driving.

Yesterday, however, I went on a road ride and it was wonderful. There were a bunch of high clouds in the sky blocking much of the sun's rays. And the Air Quality Index showed the area to be in the green. I made full use of the opportunity and took my bike out for a spin. I was under some time constraints, what with a lovely scheduled social interaction with Leah, but managed to put in exactly one hour on a glorious bike ride. Besides the fact that I really really enjoyed myself, I suppose it's worth noting the little game of chase that I tried to play with another cyclist on the road. At some point during the last half of the ride, I had turned a corner and noted that way far ahead was another biker. I decided to try and catch up with him. Several times, I put in a huge effort and would get really close to him, but would then feel so pooped out that I dropped way back. Once I caught my breath and energy, I would resume the chase. I felt pretty accomplished whenever it was clear that I was gaining on him - - as it was evident by his sculpted leg muscles that he was in much better shape than I. I should also mention that I suspect he wasn't on a very serious ride - - (lowering my eyes in shame), as he was carrying a large backpack and appeared to be commuting home from work. BUT STILL, I totally caught up with him (sorta) several times. At the end of my final chase, I did catch him and was riding right behind him, drafting to rest my legs and lungs. I couldn't decide if it was psychotic to draft a total stranger, so I 'let him go' and mosied on home.

On Friday, right after I got off work, Josh and Jennifer did some hill climbs on our road bikes. We rode up to the Crestline Ridge area and I got to practice going fast in my drop bars. I also saw my Dad's motorcycle up there and I spent a bit of time wondering where the Dad was, but I now believe that it was my uncle who had taken the motorcycle, as I have seen him wandering around up there on previous occasions. At any rate, it was a decent 'quickie' bike ride.

We had just enough time to shower and get our booties on over to a birthday party. Per my usual, I didn't bother to confirm the location of the party before leaving, and so I took advantage of my cellular phone to contact Elizabeth about where I ought to have been going. I hypothesize that Joshua really loves this aspect of my personality. What is nice is the non-judgementalness that I receive from Elizabeth when I contact her because I was irresponsible - - Elizabeth herself had not actually looked at the location of the party and had to get online and look it up - - so we both benefitted from my irresponsibleness. Anyway, I had a really good time at the party. Josh and I brought ingredients for calimotxos, and I took the opportunity to sit back and enjoy several. There was homemade guacamole and salsa available, and so I actually hung out right next to the food table for the duration of the party. Fortunately, most everyone that I was interested in talking to were also interested in standing adjacent to the food table. It worked out quite well - - the talking and the eating. Later, they brought out entree-style food items - - such as grilled fish and enchilladas with mole sauce (Laura and Tom made the mole and it was very yummy). Beyond the mole, I'm not entirely certain of who made what, but it was all delicious. I spent some time over by the grill area in awe of the cooking action - - they had two or three grills fired up and were doing all kinds of exciting things with dutch ovens. The experience really made me want a backyard of my very own.

On Saturday, I got up early to plan out the cable action on one of my current knitting projects. For some time, I've been wanting to make a modernly fashionable fisherman guernsey-style of sweater. I've taken a cotton/angora blend of yarn that I harvested from a $2.50 thrift store sweater and am fashioning it into something that I am calling "Inishfern" - - a nod to Alice Starmore. Though, I am hesitant to associate my Inishfern with the term guernsey or with Starmore, for fear of offending the traditionalists. I plan for Inishfern to be the polar opposite of traditional. The construction is Barbara Walker's top down raglan cardigan and I'm just at about the bustal region. I'm very pleased with how this project is coming along.

In another knitting digression, yesterday I harvested an XXXL sized thrift store sweater for a lovely cotton/wool blend of yarn. It is a fantastic red color and is the same weight as the cotton/angora for Inishfern, so I'm plotting a two-color ribbing with this new yarn. /end knitting digressions.

Back to Saturday morning...

Josh and I took advantage of the morning coolness to venture out on a road ride. We did the "Jennifer Loop" - - which is also known as the "Floating Feather Loop" - - a pleasant 32 miles. The ride's goal was to work on cadence. Josh and I would take turns leading - - during the higher cadence intervals, depending on the road's grade, I was leading us at 19-24 mph which I felt good about. We both consumed about four Gu's throughout the ride and I never felt overheated (thank you, windchill factor!) - - though, at one point when we were stopped at a traffic light, I was aware the it was pretty hot. I ended the ride feeling very healthy and physically fit. It was a great ride.

That afternoon, we wandered downtown and spectatored at the Twilight Criterium. There is a new course this year and I found it more pleasant for spectators than the previous course. We found a nice grassy knoll upon which to relax. We saw a bit of the kids race, which is always super entertaining. Then we saw the "4s and 5s" race - - several of Josh's coworkers and ex-coworkers were in this race and it was interesting watching them.

After that race, we took a bit of a siesta and splashed around in the pool where Josh lives. I have since developed a horrible rash either from an allergic reaction to the chlorine or to a fungus on the pool lounging chair. Either way, the vast majority of my person itches so badly that I want to scratch it off and I'm not finding my anti-itch cream very soothing. I am also treating a mild case of athlete's foot which is adding to the overal itchiness of my present.

After the siesta, we returned downtown to watch the men's pro race. I had wanted to see the women's pro race, but time did not allow for this. By the time that we returned, there were a lot of other spectators and we found a variety of locations from which to spectate. The final location was atop a parking garage which offered a good view of an exciting turn in the course as well as the finish line. Personally, I found the beginning of the race more interesting than the end - - as there was a three-person breakaway right at the beginning which was able to 'lap' the peloton in about five laps. In this breakaway, there were two Toyota-United racers, and the rest of that team got to the front of the peloton to slow it down (possibly facilitating the breakaway's 'lapping' of the peloton). After the race, we went to Gernika for some wine and beer.

My Sunday was also nice. Well, sorta nice. It was god-aweful hot and I spent the majority of the day feeling overheated and sluggish. Sundays are also my 'errand-days' so I spent most of the day on errands. But I rather enjoy doing errands - - makes me feel like a grown-up. One of my errands included going to a hardware store to buy some clamps. Now, finding what I am looking for at a hardware store is not my forte, and I was unable to locate a customer service representative, so I spent a good amount of time wandering around. Once I found the clamp section, I stood in front of them, pondering my MANY options, for some time. In case you are wondering, I needed a clamp for my new knitting yarn swift, as the clamp it was manufactured with is insufficent for my clamping requirements. I located an affordable clamp, purchased two just in case, and have since been successful at using my swift with a greatly improved camp system.

On Friday, Josh, Josh's Mom, Carla, and I went to the YMCA after I got off work and played some basketball. It was quite hot outside, so some athletic recreation in the airconditioning was lovely. We played some game called "knockout" - - I'm not sure if this is a pre-existing b-ball game or if they made it up, but it was a lot of fun. I, however, was not very good at it - - that whole "hand-eye-ball-hoop coordination" thing. I did arbitrarily win - - at some point, someone decided that the next person to get a shot would be the winner - - and that was me, the winner, even though I was well behind everyone else in terms of total shots.

Afterwards, we all made the trek over to someplace south of Nampa to attend a Mormon singles dance. Occasionally, I have noted that sometimes a person can have unrealistic expectations of a particular situation. On this particular occasion, Josh's Mom was rather consumed with the notion of meeting a Mormon cowboy...specifically, a Mormon Sam Elliott. I'm not prone to bursting anyone's bubble, so I went along with the scheme as though meeting the Mormon version of Sam Elliott was a realistic endeavor. When we arrived, we were all disappointed. I am at a loss as to how to describe the scene without coming off as an ass, but since I normally come off as an ass and since I don't care if you think I'm an ass for how I felt about the attendees at the Mormon singles dance, I'll just spit it out. Ugly, everyone was butt ass ugly. Even Josh's Mom, who I have the sense is not someone to riducule someone else's appearance, pointed out an ugly person with a terrible haircut. Another problem with the dance was that it was misleading as a dance. By "dance" everyone has assumed that WE would be the ones dancing. Instead, they had two Hawaiian women dancing and everyone else watching them dance. It was odd. We hung out long enough to watch a full Hawaiian dance and for the women to introduce their children and tell everyone what ward they belong to, and then we began our escape to the car. We did sit in the car in the parking lot for several minutes just in case Sam Elliott were to swagger by. Eventually, we left and went to a motorcycle bar in Melba.

On Saturday, we all piled into the car (with the addition of Eric, so it was a very full car) and went to Blue Lake. Blue Lake has become the standard place to take out-of-towners to show off the wilderness glory of Idaho. Even though the water in the lake was freezing (indeed, we later learned that a week ago, there was still ice on the lake), Josh was determined to get his swimming on. Now, when opting to go swimming in freezing water, some people employ the tactic of jumping in the water immediately to get it over with. Not Josh. Josh prefers to slowly inch is way into the freezing water, to really prolong what would be a relatively short freezing shock to the system into about a half hour ordeal of shocking his body one inch at a time. Me, I waded in the water a bit, and then just relaxed on the shore.

One point worth noting about the trip was that I had failed to bring appropriate footwear for the quarter mile hike down to the lake and back. As you all know, that hike, while short, is decently steep and has lots of rocks and loose sand. And I hiked up and down it in my flip flops.

Incidentally, I've been wanting to update everyone on my flip flop situation. Several months ago, I mentioned that I had opted to purchase a rather expensive pair of Ugg flip flips, only because the salesperson assured me over and over that they "would last forever." You may recall that I was skeptical but gullible. So, this was back in April, which is not exactly flip flop wearing weather. For roughly one month, I had barely worn them at all. And then one warm day, I wore them to my place of employment, and at some point during the course of the day, they broke. So much for "lasting forever." Lucky for me they broke before the month was up and I was able to return them for a full refund. I then procured a much more affordable pair of flip flops that I have been wearing ragged, have held up remarkably, and that have proven to be the best pair of flops I have ever had the privilege of wearing under my feet.

It was this pair of flip flops in which I hiked over the weekend. I was very impressed with their performance as hiking flops. The only drawback to them was that after I had tromped across the various streams and they were all wet, the material under my feet became ridiculously slippery and it was a bit problemmatic to hike back up to the car in my slippery flops.

That evening, Josh, Carla, and I got really smashed and went dancing at a local club.