24/7 Volunteer in Service to America - for a Year

I've been pretty busy lately. Last week I went to Albuquerque to train for my Americorps Vista position with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The problem when you haven't posted anything in awhile is that you have too much to write, and in my case, no energy to write it. So I'll summarize it in poorly organized bullet points.

• Albuquerque was hot, but we were in the Hilton. I did not have to share my room so I felt very spoiled. People who liked onions probably thought the food was very good. I am not one of those people.
• Training was pretty interesting - mostly interactive discussion. Not nearly as painful as when I trained for the Census.
• Corin (the white cat) has been throwing up for months now and he has lost 4 pounds in the past 2 years. He had to have surgery my last day in Albuquerque. Apparently he consumed 13 hair ties and a very large necklace (probably the equivalent of 4 more hair ties). Now hopefully he will gain weight. Apparently he has been hiding his addiction for a long time. Gas Monkey says he only gets this one chance. So next time (and there better not be a next time) I'm going to take my friend's advice, give him a whole bowl of hair ties and tell him to enjoy his last meal.
• I started my job at the Colorado Division of Wildlife. I have a very friendly supervisor and work in a friendly office. The only drawback is the CDOW is a government agency - i.e. they don't even provide the water cooler's in the office. And you always have to watch out for other people's toes, because it is a very political agency. Yay for bureaucracy!
• My official title is "Wildlife Outreach Coordinator". My purpose is to develop and strengthen programs to encourage participation from impoverished or alienated groups (in particular Spanish-speakers and impoverished children).
  
• I am in charge of a few projects. First, to oversee the translation of the CDOW website into Spanish. Second, to strengthen volunteer recruitment programs to increase public participation. Third, to evaluate "Growing up WILD," a curriculum used to education young children about the environment and wildlife. Currently I am going through various curriculum focusing on wildlife issues and critical thinking, going through each activity and then deciding whether they satisfy any of the new requirements for Colorado public school systems. But mostly I'm spending the next week reading.
  
• I rode my bike to and from work once so far. A total of 10 miles round-trip. Very doable but I hate coming back home - it's all uphill.

That's it. It is pretty boring really.

Gas Monkey's Bionic Hip

It has been six weeks since Gas Monkey's surgery. Today we went to the doctor's for some post-surgery x-rays. They looked great. It's amazing with all of the unnecessary risks he's been taking, he is still fine. The doctor said he can walk without crutches now (although he should start off slow, putting 25% of his weight on his leg this week, 50% next week, etc). Best of all, all of his movement restrictions have been lifted. Now he can drive, dress himself, get in and out of the shower, and help me water the garden. My life is about to get much easier. He's also excited to be more independent. We are both happy campers.

My New Baby

You can't really tell, but it is just the cutest, tiniest little zucchini squash ever. Maybe 2-3 inches long. I think it is a girl and I'm naming it India, after a shade of green I saw on a Wikipedia page. And some people wonder why I cried after the hail storm. My garden is my baby and each plant is a little character of it's own. I hope India grows to be a large, luscious lady (BAM! - look at that alliteration, or consonance if you want to get technical). Then I will decapitate her, shred her to pieces, make zucchini bread and share her with you.

As you can see my garden has fully recovered, thanks to a lot of tender loving care, gentle petting, and daily pep talks. Now if only I could kill weeds with neglect.

An Alternative Use for a Box Spring . . .a Cat Bed!

I particularly like her legs hanging off the sides.

Before Gas Monkey's surgery, our bed frame kept damaging our floor so we threw it away. At the time we were not in any particular hurry to buy another frame, so the bed stayed where it landed, on the floor. However, after Gas Monkey's surgery B bought us a new bed frame so he could get in and out of bed. The only problem was now the bed was too high. So for the time being the box spring is sitting upright against the wall in my room. And both cats love it. Unfortunately. But hey, if I was a cat I'd sleep up there all the time too.

Could a cat be any happier?

Montana and Wyoming

Last weekend Gas Monkey and I went to his cousin's wedding in Montana. We spent a little less than a day with his dad and grandma. Not much else to say about Wyoming. Nothing really happens there.

The view from Gas Monkey's dad's porch. I could wake up to that everyday.

The day after we arrived in Cody we needed to get to Red Lodge, MT. I was responsible for driving the whole time and I decided we should drive through the Beartooths. The Beartooths are a beautiful mountain range in between Cody and Red Lodge. We don't usually drive through it because it takes more time, but I was getting a little sick of the sagebrush covered rolling hills. Here's a few pictures from our drive.



At the FMIL's (future mother in law) house the craziness was already beginning. My FMIL was hosting a large dinner party and by the end of the evening probably 50 people had showed up. Luckily Gas Monkey and I got to spend the night at his mom's neighbor's house (a 1.5 million dollar mansion, built by a lawyer from back East who is almost never there). At least we got some privacy and could go to bed relatively early (relatively compared to Gas Monkey's cousins. We still went to bed at midnight.) The day after that was the rehearsal dinner in Bearcreek, a tiny town just outside of Red Lodge. The dinner involved a deliciously bloodied steak and pig races afterwards. I couldn't get any pictures of the pig races because my camera died just after I took a picture of the track. Gas Monkey's pig came in second, so no big winners.

Saturday, the 10th, was the wedding. It was really pretty on a nice little ranch turned chapel area. Since we drained the open bar, then went down town and closed the bars, understandably it is taking me a few days to recover. It was terrible to have to drive all the way home the next day. Sunday we left at 3 p.m. and got home at 12:30 a.m. It was pretty miserable for me the whole time. I think Gas Monkey's grandma didn't understand why he had to stay awake with me the whole time since he wasn't driving. Too bad, I really needed him to keep me awake. I have enjoyed going up to Montana more and more, but I am glad to be back home. I fly to Albuquerque next week for my Americorps training.

New Cooking Blog

I know what you are thinking. Just how many blogs is this chica going to have? And also, why does she think anybody cares about her life? Well, I don't know how many blogs I'm going to have, and I don't know how often I will post, and I know nobody really cares, but I'm bored, and it keeps me motivated. Plus it is easier than writing this stuff by hand, so it is a record for me to look back on in times of reflection.

This time I have started a cooking blog. I'm trying to cook from home, and this will be a good place for me to record which meals I have made, and which were successes and failure, so I'll remember in the future.

http://sloppycook.blogspot.com

Who knows, maybe you'll actually want to try one of my recipes, or you'll find a new dinner idea.

Also, this link will be in the side on this blog, where it says "Other Places I
Express Myself."