No kids?! No Fun.

This was supposed to be a weekend of adventure, that turned into a weekend of sleep. The kids were all scheduled to be at their other BioParent's houses, and it is gold panning season in our local streams. We had planned an over-night trip onto FR 49 to pan the mountain streams. Instead, I had a painful day at work on Friday, that turned into true trauma Friday night.

I had all the symptoms of a kidney stone all day at work, but I really didn't know how much pain I was in for, or I would have driven straight to the ER after work instead of suffering it out med-free at home. But I got through it with yoga breathing mixed with blubbery crying, only to find out on Saturday with a CT scan that there are at least 5 more. In our "greatest healthcare system in the world" it is going to be 2 weeks before I can see a urologist.

In the meantime, I just have to deal with the unrelenting back pain and wait. I've decided to work anyway, because it can be up to 3 weeks before they all make their way through my system, and in the meantime will get some bloodwork done to see if there's an underlying cause. I really think it's because we don't take enough time to drink or take a break in the pharmacy, but we'll see.

So with this downtime, here are some pictures from the last 3 weeks...

Blueberries on the vine

More Blueberries from the backyard

My tomato/cucumber pot

My herb pot - sage, thyme, cilantro and grape tomatoes

It is supposed to be sunny on Sunday, so I'll take some updated pictures.

Restless Life Goes On

I cannot believe how tired I am today. Lately, it seems that work is wiping me out. Nothing too drastic has changed at work, but everyone else seems to have stuff going on, and I've been left by myself several times in the last weeks to run the show. Ten years ago, that was no problem, but now, my knee and my back are screaming for me to take it easy. It's to the point now where I can't keep up with my housework, because I'm recovering from work. I feel too young to feel like this, but I don't even feel like exercising anymore, because I'm absolutely wiped out. Hmmm...what's up with that?!

I did finally finish my urban garden on Sunday, which gives me encouragement for the future career. I will load pictures later, when everything grows a little larger. Due to a mapping error by our house builder, we have to move the old garden to another part of the yard, so it doesn't affect our drain field anymore (I know, gross). But before I can do that, the Hermit needs to remove about 10 stumps, and that won't happen until next February, as long as there's not feet of snow like this past winter. We were planning on moving it this year, but Mamma Nature had other plans, so I had to improvise.

I've got several large pots going, a couple of planters, and 3 beefsteak tomatoes in their own pots. Of course, there's not peas or corn this year, but all of the fruits that we planted 6 years ago, have finally grown large enough for big harvests, so to me, that makes up for a lack of a plot. I've been having a great time making jam and syrup from my strawberries, gorged on tons of cherries, just harvested some raspberries for ?? this week, and in a few weeks we'll have thousands of blueberries. The blueberries will be our largest harvest this year, but I think I will still miss my corn and sunflowers. Pictures soon, I promise.

Unwinding

Last night and today feel very strange to me. I finished up my final in Physical Geography and turned in my final Engineering project (the windmill got a perfect score thank-you-very-much), and I think I'm very close to a 4.0. So now I have an Associates Degree in Environmental Science, and I feel like I'm tightly wedged half way between a crevice. It's weird, I have nothing to read, and didn't know what to do with myself last night after the laundry was folded.

Really, I know I should be more proud and excited, but with the economy in the toilet, there are few internships in the field this summer, and I feel held back by working so much in the pharmacy. Agencies don't want to hire me, because I can't commit to a regular schedule with the pharmacy schedule being different every week. I'm crossing my fingers for Universal Health Care soon, and will decide what path to take from there.

In other news, Snohomish County is planning a Sustainability Fair, and I'm hoping to get involved in that soon. I have a friend that works for the city of Everett, and I'm trying to get my foot back in the door. It was so tempting not to apply for a SnoCo Park Ranger Assistant job this summer, but we need benefits, and that job is seasonal. Hopefully something will pan out soon - it usually does.

Enjoy another day in the sun in PNW - day 22 without rain! I heard a rumor of El Nino, which would mean drought up here :( I feel guilty watering the strawberries, but they will be tiny if we don't get rain soon. I think we'll get a first harvest in about 10 days! Yummy!

February Sunshine

Good news everyone! Our robot can now spin in an expanding spiral pattern, an expanding box pattern, and has a rudimentary Ultra Sonic sensor seeking program, too. Our contest is on Thursday, and I think we are going to do just fine. It knocked over the targets today at practice, but it also ran into a wall twice, picked up and carried off my Spanish Dictionary, and the arm fell off once. We are so close!

I should be pruning the fruit trees this time of year, but the bottom branches are stuck in a foot of solid snow/ice. I tried to pry a pear branch free, but it wouldn't budge, and I was afraid I might break it. But look at what the February sunshine uncovered yesterday: