Work Hangover Wednesday: Time to Scramble

Another two crazy days at work. We're so busy, we don't even have enough chairs for all the patients. We're bursting at the seams.

It makes the long day go by fast, and there are plenty of interesting stories, sometimes sad. But the personalities and the attitudes of so many of the patients are what amaze me, their resilience and willingness to do what they need to do even when they feel like they are living in the pit of hell at the moment.

It always helps me appreciate that what's bugging me on any particular day is not so terrible. When you just got done working with a sick, sick patient all day and as they are leaving they want to give you a hug, that is really cool.

I have nothing to complain about, really. Then why do I feel like one big itch, I don't know how to describe it but maybe the ashes I've been breathing are affecting my brain.

Perhaps my general irritation and annoyance is just an extension of my hormonal state of the past week or so. I feel like everything and everybody is getting under my skin. It's nothing and no one in particular, and everything and everyone. My conclusion is that it must be me.

If I were a dog, I would snarl and bite. If I were a Buffalo, I would pout, put my nose to the floor between my paws, and pretend to be ignoring my people.

If I were President, I'd be

Baberaham Lincoln.

NOT!

I do need to get out of town. I probably need a real vacation, the kind where you don't go with a run as the main event. Imagine that. A week at the beach?

Unfortunately for many people around here, getting out of town is not really possible, or they are stuck. This High Park fire, while the growth rate slowed over the past 24 hours or so, could flare up again if the winds and temperatures pick up. It's 44,000 acres and only 5-10% contained. Lots of structures destroyed or damaged, lots of people evacuated or being prepared for it. Visibility is not good in town and it's been raining soot. Ashes everywhere, in the windowsills, doorways, and on every flat surface there's a gritty texture.

I'm also concerned about some friends who have not been evacuated but potentially are the next ones in the path of the fire, depending on which way it moves. It's hard to be away and not being in contact, or knowing what's going on.

And that is the situation for our buddy Dale, who was going to crew for us in the Black Hills, but he lives in an area near here that is vulnerable to fire, and two years ago he and his wife had to evacuate, and they have animals.

Dale has decided it's best for him to stick around given the fire danger and the threat of the High Park fire moving south toward him. It's unfortunate but understandable and we know Dale feels bad about having to back out, but he's doing the right thing because right now anything can happen, and it can happen fast.

Which leaves Ed and I with decisions to make. This is where our creativity will be put to the test. We have the Rocket and we have the weather on our side, it's been cool and even raining in South Dakota. Car drops, out & backs, and piecing the trail together might all be necessary. We'll have to be on our toes and use our brains.

So that's the challenge. We'll be on the phone this evening discussing the plan. I'll post updates to the blog as we go. I'm not sure what this will look like, but we'll make the best of it.

Burning Up: High Park Fire

Yesterday we were in town around noon and we saw this plume of smoke rising somewhere behind Lory State Park.

We were out for the day, just doing errands, went out to lunch, and were going to meet some people who are moving here from Florida, they are runners and my friend Bob in Fort Lauderdale connected them with us.

From town, it looked like it might be above Rist Canyon. It was a narrow plume of smoke, but it was a hot day, and it was windy.

An hour later it looked like this:












It's called the High Park fire and it is burning under ideal conditions, and the worst conditions for control. There are steep slopes, lots of beetle-killed trees as fuel, thick trees that allow for crown fires to spread, and high winds, high temperatures, and low humidity.

And unfortunately it is burning near some of the most popular and scenic areas for running within an hour's drive of town: Rist Canyon, Old Flowers Road, Buckhorn Canyon, Stove Prairie.

This morning there was soot everywhere, I left the window open in the extra bedroom upstairs and everything had a layer of ash on it.

Then we heard it spread overnight to 8,000 acres, then 14,000, now 20,000 acres. The wind was calm for a while today and the temperatures were much cooler than yesterday, but this afternoon the wind picked up and now the sky is getting dark again. The winds have picked up to 25 mph too.

Not a good morning for running, when you can see the soot drifting down from the sky. Might as well light a cigarette. Without a filter.


This morning I went to Walmart to do my pre-Mickelson shopping. I didn't have to get very much stuff, and then I came home.

I waited until noon when the sky was clearing over the south part of Fort Collins, and went for a bike ride, for about an hour. The air was bettter but I could still smell the smoke. Northwest of town looked like a huge storm was sitting there, but it was the fire.

I bagged the running plans for the day and finished all the obligations I had before I leave on my trip. I'll get plenty of miles in next week. I just heard there's a fire in Wyoming that, depending on the winds, could easily cause air quality problems in the Black Hills. Looks like it will be that kind of year.

Right now the sky is turning all kinds of colors. The sun has been all different hues of red and pink and purple tonight. One thing about the iPhone camera is that it doesn't pick up on those colors. And my old digital camera doesn't work well anymore. I did my best to capture the colors. It turns everything orange, the light on the house, shining through the windows, it all has an orange-pink cast to it. Unfortunately it smells like an ashtray.

It looked pretty cool, the small magenta globe of the sun behind the gray-green cottonwood leaves and white branches. But I couldn't get a picture. Might have to paint it instead.










It doesn't look promising for any sort of containment of this fire, given the conditions as we head into the night. The wind has shifted south, the soot is back and I had to close the windows again. There are lots of evacuations and more to come in the foothills west of town.

This summer could be a challenging one for running if we keep having fires, the air quality is going to be another huge issue.

This is a price we pay for living so close. Nearly everyone who lives in the foothills has a choice about where they live, and this is one of the hazards of living here. It's unfortunate but this year the fire danger is obviously higher than ever.

We don't know yet what caused it but the last big fire was human-caused, just a few weeks ago, and it's been contained for a while but is still burning in a small area, just across the canyon from this new fire. It's sad when you find out that it was someone's poor judgement that caused a huge disastrous fire.

You can't be careful enough in these conditions. A few weeks ago right after the Hewlett Gulch fire started, I was driving to Estes Park to escape the smoke, and on my way up Big Thompson Canyon, there was a car on the road that had sparks coming out of it's muffler.

And then there's always lightning which can't be controlled, and the fuel conditions, which can be manipulated somewhat but when you have the beetle kill we've had over the past decade or so, it's only a matter of time.

Whatever the cause, fire is always a possibility up here, and this year it's here to stay.

22 years, 22 carats

On Friday, Dennis called me before he left work, as he usually does, and I was waiting for him to come home. It took a bit longer and I figured he stopped off to get something or was stuck in traffic.

Finally he drove into the driveway and the girls and I were waiting outside by the flower garden. He had this guilty-looking smile on his face, and he reached for something in his truck. It looked like he got me some sort of flowers or something, which is unusual for him, but it is our anniversary tomorrow, and he walked up to me, hiding it. As he got close to me he handed it to me.


He decided to give me something special for our 22nd anniversary, on June 9th. What every woman wants, of course. Twenty-two carats...

The Flasher

Last night I was not sleeping well, I kept waking up in a sweat, then having to cool down before I could sleep again.

This morning I ran only 7 miles and my legs were flat as a pancake. No energy whatsoever, probably from not sleeping. I decided to do a little shopping for the trip, I only had to get a few items, some drink mix and some Lara bars, and then went to the sauna.

I think I was hot flashing in the sauna. It felt so hot in there. I don't know why. I stayed only 20 minutes and then I had to get out. I didn't feel bad, I just felt hot. It was a different feeling than I usually have. Heat coming from inside me, instead of on the outside. I still have that feeling, even as I sit here typing.

I did some packing for the Double Mick, mostly making piles of stuff I think I might take, and then I have to sort through it and eliminate all but the most important stuff. I hate to pack, mostly because it upsets the girls. They sniff everything, and they know I'm going somewhere, so they start following me around more closely than usual.

If you know anything about Australian Shepherds, their baseline is to be under your feet at all times, so when I'm packing, I feel boxed in. I can't take a step in any direction without running into dog.

I filled up Isabelle's pool today and she sat down in it as soon as I took the hose out. It's hot outside, it's hot in the house, and I'm hot flashing. There's no escaping the heat. It's a good thing I'm heat trained. I wonder if heat training helps with tolerating hot flashes?

Maybe I could sell that as the next miracle cure, take out big full-page ads in the newspaper alongside the erectile dysfunction ads, and then I could pay for all my Badwater expenses and run across Death Valley multiple times every year.

Maybe not.

One cool thing that did happen today was that one of my paintings sold in the restaurant. Other than that there isn't much "cool" anywhere right now. Unless I climb into the freezer, which I've considered doing.



Happy Friday!

Zom-B-Gon!

Much better day so far today. It was cool and cloudy this morning. I took Iris for 2 miles and then did a total of 8 miles for my morning run. Then I went to the sauna, which thankfully, I had to myself most of the 45 minutes while I sat there and drank three liters of water. I checked all the corners and in between the boards. No zombies in there. The sauna was safe at last. I remembered to bring my Zom-B-Gon.


Starbucks Via instant coffee is the best thing since...the iPhone? I'm not going to say sliced bread, because that might not pass the Mickey Check.

I started making my lists for South Dakota, started making piles of clothing and supplies for the trip, signed up for an online review course for oncology certification which I plan to test for later this year, and made a special trip to Starbucks for a package of the good stuff to take on the trip.

This afternoon I'll do a bit more packing and hope to get a nap in. Then I'll do my evening run. Maybe another 6 miles with some strides.

It's weird being in this non-training state, it's a maintenance phase. Next week is just a long week in the woods, a 5 day fun run. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also wanting to get beyond the recovery phase from this because I am so excited about picking up the speed and training hard the second half of this year to do some serious damage to my 48 hour PR at Across the Years.

It just occurred to me that yesterday was National Running Day and I didn't even run. Ha! I like that. As I've said before, if everyone is doing it, I'm not...

I didn't even plan that one and it worked out perfectly.


Yesterday afternoon I did a bike ride and felt so much better afterwards. I was talking with a friend about cycling yesterday and it reminded me of one of my old mountain biking buddies in Crested Butte, back in the late 80s. Carole and I used to do long bike rides year-round, and here's a picture I found of us, riding our bikes to ski up Washington Gulch above Crested Butte in 1987.

That was back in the days before iPhones, widespread use of personal computers and the Internet, and Starbucks on every corner...but we still hit it hard every day and made our own adventures. I've tried to continue living my life like we did back then, 25 years ago. I feel like I've done a pretty good job of it.

Carole is no longer with us, she died in 2002 from brain cancer. But she lived her life fully every day and pushed herself to her potential. You never know how many days you have, so make the most of each one!

Work Hangover Wednesday: Towanda! vs. the Zombie Apocalypse

What a week. The Zombie Apocalypse is making news headlines. It's an election year and we're more interested in reading about people eating each others' faces than we are about the issues facing the nation and how to solve them intelligently. The Merikins continue to drink the zombie kool-aid (pictured here).

I'm feeling pretty snarky today. In fact, I feel extremely, dangerously, over the top snarky, and really bitchy too. I'm starting to wonder if these face-eating zombies might be perimenopausal women.

Just this morning in the grocery store parking lot, I was having a Towanda! moment. It was all I could do to keep myself from verbalizing the thoughts going through my head. "The world is being taken over by f***ing idiots!" People are completely OBLIVIOUS to what's going on around them.

I wanted to back up and smash into the driving school car that stopped behind me, basically, parked, just as I was trying to pull out of my parking space. It looked like the teacher and the kid were planning to park right there, at a 90 degree angle to me, just having a conversation, OBLIVIOUS to my reverse lights.

I'm older and I have more insurance. And furthermore, don't teach the kid to do stupid things in the parking lot. I was really tempted to Towanda! them. Instead I got out and walked toward the instructor's side of the car, finally she realized what they were doing and looked apologetic and made the kid move. Hel-lo?

By the time I got to back out of my parking space, then I had to deal with the clueless mom jabbering on her cell phone, walking with her two kids down the middle between the parking spaces, OBLIVIOUS to the cars that were trying to get in and out.

The past week or so I've been in a funk and it's most likely hormones, but I feel like I'm about to become someone else. Like somebody who walks the street downtown ranting and raving about whatever the voices are saying to them at the moment.

By the time I get home Tuesday nights, after two busy days at work and listening to a lot of people who need more than just IV therapy, there are times when I start to feel like I need therapy myself. I'm not even being sarcastic about that, there are some sad stories out there. Sometimes I can barely get away before the tears start rolling down my face.

What brings out the snark in me are the people who create their own problems and refuse to own their own crap, and try to blame everyone else for their victim attitude.

In the midst of the national paranoia about government taking action on something that might actually help us, someone is finally stepping up to take action. I'm glad to see it. Long overdue.

Our zombies who continue to eat recreationally with their own faces stuffed full of bad food, and allow the manufacture, advertising, and sales of bad food, in the face of an epidemic of fat kids who are growing into even fatter adults and soon will be getting IV antibiotics for their non-healing diabetic foot ulcers and having amputations at age 30, continue to lead sedentary lives hypnotized in front of the TV where they can be sold the next sugary excuse for food.

Someone is doing something about childhood obesity, and who ever would think it would be a huge entertainment corporation, but Disney is taking action. Soon there will be "Mickey Checks"- meaning if the product is mouse-approved, then it gets the thumbs up for advertising on Disney.

Recently I had an opportunity to try GoGurt. It's sold as a healthy snack for kids, but it's full of sugar. It's enough to gag anybody. That's why they call it Gogurt- because the kid goes on sugar until he crashes.

We'll see if this anti-obesity effort catches on, but good for Disney for being willing to make the first corporate move.

Time to stop bitching and talk about what I'm excited about. Number one, I just made all my reservations for my trip to Death Valley in July to be on the Badwater medical team again. I can't wait!

And next week we start the Double Mick.

Time to get busy packing, and maybe later I'll actually get my butt out the door and go running...

Schaeffer Cabin 80th Birthday

We took the opportunity to get out of town for the weekend and go up to the cabin. This year is the Schaeffer Cabin's 80th birthday.

It was originally built in 1932 on a site up Tarryall Creek about 3 miles from where it lives now, in the townsite of Como.

The girls get very excited once they smell the trees and all the mountain smells when we get near Kenosha Pass.

They start seeing cows in the pastures along the highway in South Park and they have their special "counting cows" bark.

They do know how to count, and they are very accurate. They don't stop counting until they've counted every cow.

There was a big storm moving east through Denver and we drove through it, but by the time we arrived in Como it wasn't raining anymore and we only got a few drops and some wind in the evening.

Sunday morning we slept in. I woke up early and took some pictures around sunrise, when it was still cloudy, and went back to bed. The sky was perfectly clear by mid-morning. We had coffee and took our time getting started, but then we took the girls hiking along the Gold Dust Trail below Mt. Silverheels.

We were amazed at the trees that were down from the wind this winter. One of the windowpanes on a window at the cabin got broken when the wind hurled some shingles at it from the top of the outhouse.

On the trails there were huge trees downed, the Forest Service had already been through with chainsaws and moved a lot of debris, but there were huge holes in the ground where gigantic trees had been uprooted along the trail.

South Park is one of the windier places in the universe. There have been times when we've arrrived at the cabin during the winter months to find one side completely buried under a snowdrift.

All the iris were blooming, the front of the cabin grows more of them every year. They are my favorite flower up there.

Iris, everywhere.

It was cold at night. Dennis said, "It's not a sauna" but I insisted on a fire anyway. It was in the 50s Saturday night. That's 100 degrees colder than what I'm used to!

Sunrise east of the cabin, looking across South Park toward Kenosha Pass.

Sunday morning when we went up the trail toward Silverheels, it was warm, so we chose the trails where there would be more stream crossings for the girls to drink and swim.

The mountains between Como and Breckenridge.

Trail Butts.

Isabelle isn't afraid of the troll under the bridge.

On the hike up Silverheels, there are these two old cabins.

Baby aspen leaves.

No hike with the dogs would be complete without the ultimate trail snack, doggie M&Ms.

Isabelle loves to lie down in the stream.

Boreas Mountain in the background.

Running? I did 40 miles this past week. Mostly good quality miles, decent pace, tempo run, a 5K, and plenty of strides. You'd think I'm training for one 5K, instead of 70 of them strung together in 5 days. Better to be undertrained...