I promise I'm not schitzophrenic..

..But I have changed my g-mail address three times in the past year, so for the third (and hopefully final) time, I have a "new" blogger profile. Sort of annoying how its linked to Gmail but I suppose that saves time.. Somewhere.

I'm at the tail end of a work day with a cat in my lap which does, indeed, lead to allergies. But despite Richard's protests that I spoil him, Atticus would have only made a good-for-show barn cat as he has far too much charisma to bother with chasing mice all day. He trots out like he owns the place when a group arrives and ends up sleeping in some 7-year-old's bunk for the weekend, so its not my fault that he's now used to waking us up by screaming in the bedroom window and then coming in for a quick spot of milk. We buy too much milk anyway..

The adventure race is in a week and a half and therefore this week is supposed to be crunch time as far as fitness goes. Getting married and going on a honeymoon allotted my body an additional fifteen pounds or something of that nature (oops, guess I just got kicked out of the fat-o-sphere bloggers for mentioning my weight) and while I'm not on a diet binge, it does feel fantastic to raise your level of fitness several notches in the span of just three weeks or so. I am not in any way, shape, or form a swimmer, but Polly had us doing 500 meters in a couple of days. It wasn't pretty, but it was an accomplishment. Definitely feeling the desire to get back into yoga

Yesterday was cool, this morning zoomed up to seventy-three degrees when I walked to the barn at 8:30, and as I was getting off the tractor at 10:30 we had dropped down to sixty. It's starkly fall outside and not at all sunny, which lamely discouraged me from riding. I'm hanging on to hope that the round pen will not be dropped from the 2010 camp budget as that will make things wildly better. The arena footing is terrible (I swear there's a ten degree elevation change in any direction) and what is supposed to be a round pen strikes me as somewhat dangerous depending on the situation-- the footing is better and it's fine for long line work, but I am really crossing my fingers for a 66' pen with lots of riding space and level ground. Hope hope hope.

I think we might splurge and go see Where The Wild Things Are tonight, because as per usual, we're the last to see any movie that's any good. Richard's been doing pretty well on his own and volunteering and riding quite a bit, but it will definitely be nice to have two incomes after the green card comes through. Cross your fingers.

All in all, marriage makes me disgustingly happy. We're only two and a half months in but surviving pretty well on a single salary and a single vehicle and I can't say there has been a discernible "adjustment period." Though you probably ought to ask Richard as I would not be hard pressed to admit I'm eighty times higher than he is on the temperamental scale. It just feels natural to be together, with our dog in our little house and the big, communal back yard. I can't get over how lucky I've gotten.

And as for the future.. I have been scouring the most reputable rescue websites I can find for a young draft horse. Bringing in a PMU horse from Canada would run upwards of $1500 and I know we aren't in that spot now, but perhaps by the new year..

In my defense, I have had one (1!) crazy-pants horse for the past ten years without ever the desperate desire to have another. One more person in the family means one more horse.. right?

Catching Up

The honeymoon was beyond survivable and more like epic, tumultuous, thrilling, tiring, spur-of-the-moment, and at certain times of sundown and sunup, at least partially magical.

Tonight I finally got around to writing a few thank-you cards —postcards created from friends' wedding photos which I'm more than a little proud of — and the good memories of the day return. Frankly, I didn't really enjoy the wedding day. It was perfect in execution (or at least as close as I had dared to hope) but I was too caught up in micromanagement and trying to make sure the gathered had a good time; what I hear was that it was quite a good little party, though so much of it I missed. All that aside it was the greatest thing that's happened in my life thus far, so I suppose I can't really complain.

Married life, as I am guessing most newlyweds write, is wonderful. There's plenty to fight about but an unfair amount of those moments where we look at each other, finally together in the same country on a reasonably permanent basis, and say "Wow. We are so lucky." We've been riding together (job status changed dramatically; I'm the equestrian director at a camp just a little way up the road from La Junta and so far it's a great reason to wake up every morning) and training for a beginners' adventure race at Camp Eagle in Rocksprings, Texas, along with the two other young directors working here at camp. The only thing I'm passably good at is trail running, but the swimming (we swam our first ever 500m last week: momentous), mountain biking, high ropes and rock climbing will at least give me a kick in the face and some good stories to tell.

Bandit loves his new job with all the prissy mares in the pasture, and Hopalong has two new buddies to go chase / wallow in stuff with. My parents are well (dad's birthday was yesterday and we absolutely nailed the task of baking The Birthday Cake) and our new house is slathered in simple Ikea furniture and every color that caught my eye. Richard indulges me by keeping it pretty darn tidy, volunteers his free time (pre-green card, which may come as early as January) for our new camp, and plays copious amounts of Call of Duty on the xBox. Did I mention he's started riding with me fairly often? I love it, and he's surprisingly really good. But then he tends to be one of those annoying people that's good at any physical thing he tries.

I'll do my best to keep tabs on this blog and update frequently, though it saddens me that I have no friends who write regularly anymore! (Hint, hint.)

Honeymoonbeams

Well, hello there. I'm in Georgia.

Rather, we are in Georgia. As of a week ago, I'm a married girl. Wifey material. Tied down and committed to one person to argue with forever. And after recouperating from intensive end-of-camp time, family travels and reunioning, we loaded down Sullivan the Dodge Caliber with camping gear and food and at least three or four cameras and drove for 28 hours to finally land here, a spot on the map we arbitrarily picked, Blairsville, Georgia, in the north of the state in the Chatahoochee National Forest. Speeding through Nacadoches, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi and eventually on up through Georgia. It's gorgeous. We're holed up in a snug motel on the square with a quasi-mountain view and easy access to our cooler full of leftover wedding beer. (Tonight is a Dos Equis and Tecate evening.) Tomorrow night or so we're going to camp and then it's on to the Carolinas or up the Appalachian Trail.

On the definite list to visit so far are:

• Washington, DC: museumry (Smithsonian!) and monumentally things and the like.
• Assateague Island, Virginia: wild horses and kayaking and camping on the beach. (Did you read Marguerite Henry books as a child? Then clearly you weren't a little horse girl. I so was.)
• Wherever in Kentucky our friend Tobbe lives.

The only real complaint we've had is a plethora of fast food on the drive from Texas, which we did relatively non-stop. Hopefully we'll fix that with more picnicking and less Chick Fil A.

Mmm, waffle fries. And mountains. Great combination.

Bring it on.

Camp kicks into high gear this afternoon, as the riding staff arrives for training tonight and everyone else should be ready on Wednesday for the full staff events to begin. Next Sunday will see herds of boys (and parents; gack!) and then I suppose we will be in full swing.

Richard arrives tomorrow. I always get a tiny bit nervous about his flights, but no overwhelming anxiety. It will feel a relief on all levels to just have him back again, with the shaky promise (come on now, US Immigration) that he'll never have to leave again. Kara came yesterday, which was exciting and I feel like any worries I had about being friends-with-an-internet-friend seem to be for naught. She is very cool. The horses are ready. Wedding plans are not, but I've left my mother with some creative projects for the effort and my dad with hotel and food concerns. Bandit's goofy eye is fixed and though he isn't quite where I'd like him, weight-wise, he is fifteen now and deserves some allowances.

City Year is a go. I spoke with John, who will be one of the senior staff / team leaders, so to speak, next year and that conversation gave me some renewed energies for the service year. Watching some of the PSAs on YouTube had me a little nervous that I was the wrong sort, or too old, or perhaps not a perfect fit for the organization, but it seems like I was well wrong in that thinking. I'm looking forward to the challenges of working with a wide assortment of people, and happy at the thought of meeting those kids.

I'm off to go pick up some staff at SA International, and then my mind is sadly going to be lost to June second when Richard gets here.. Hopefully with some British chocolate and the new Dave Matthews Band CD in tow. He has learned well the lesson on how to appease a girl.

Inviting!

invite inside
Originally uploaded by topochicovase

Well, I fell off of a cliff and died. Proverbially.

But here I am! Invitations completed, a few personal dramas circumnavigated, more books read, and the weather hotter than balls.

Three weeks until Richard's here, and before that, staff training to plan and term schedules and cleaning out the mismanaged lot that was once my once-über-tidy shack.

Molly has passed, and now RosePup. Very sad day that was, though we still have a tiny bit of hope that Rose could be returned— no real sign where she went, but there are enough coyotes and snakes to have done her in, theoretically, though its strange she wasn't harmed by them before. Hopalong has tallied up three encounters with porcupine quills to the face and has cost us well over $300 for that fact. Little snot.

Had another job lead with an environmental non-profit which would have been better for Richard's green card status and our poverty levels, but AmeriCorps has taken precedence. It's just going to be a tight year, and a couple of uncomfortably close months with some lucky members of my family..

(And here's the outside wording for them there invitations.)

Waiting for summertime

Waiting for summertime
Originally uploaded by topochicovase

The dog days will be arriving. Please note: never, under any circumstances, do I dress my dog in human clothing. This oversize bandanna was applied by our vet, for free, without my consent.

But c'mon. It's borderline cute.

Proof of existence

I just finished invitations, minus about ten which I as of yet do not have addresses for. I also browsed our now totally array of music to choose from (I just went from a recessional song off of the Juno soundtrack to Bach. Mix-up much?) thanks to the new guitarist and e-mailed him some preferences.

So all of this is to say.. I'm not completely gone, just spending lots of time dotting i's and crossing t's and thinking of award-winning posts for down the line.

Happy spring— lots of rain there, too?

VB6

I entirely dig this article by Mark Bittman about the VB6 —Vegan Before Six— movement. It advocates eating vegan (or nearly-vegan) until dinner, which is something I can absolutely get behind, if not strictly. It actually shouldn't take too much modification for me, as I generally eat soup/salad/PB for lunch. Just have to cut eggs out of breakfast more often, and replace the turkey in my salads with black beans, but I could very happily survive. After two years as a vegetarian, I see the benefits of the lifestyle, though they don't outweigh the personal inconveniences on a social, economic, and now marital level. (Please, vegan advocates, rip me a new, dirty, chicken-eating one if you'd like; I love what you do, it just doesn't fit me at this point in my life! We all have our ways of reducing the impact, friends.)

So anywho. New goal, after I run to the grocery store next week— learn at least one new vegan recipe a week, preferably something hearty that I could convince Richard to eat on some days. I may steal my parents' slow cooker because basically everything made in a slow cooker tastes extraordinary. I've stocked up on vegan blog readings to do and admittedly feel a little overwhelmed, but I'll aim low for the time being.

Otherwise, I can always live entirely off of hummus.

Down, Tex. Down, boy. Stay. STAY!

I absolutely love my state.

Granted— and this has been a point of personal, inner-struggling contention with myself for the past year or so— I have never lived anywhere else. But for my age and economic means, I've done a fair bit of traveling ("abroad" in Texas can practically mean just crossing state lines, but I've been abroad actually, too, several times.)

My conclusion remains: whether I'm here for life or not, Texas is pretty incredible. From the blessing of dozens of diverse ecosystems to live, work, and romp in (just take 600 mile drive across I-10 or drive down 35; the changes are amazing), to the superior blessing of the best grocery store in the world (all hail HEB,) to a wealth of culture and humanity and technology and large-and-small scale agribusiness that can only come with the sheer population, land space, and money that Texas and Texans have to offer. We enjoy our image as a rebellious place with any number of last frontiers (I promise you; I have lived there: see Brewster County, TX) and cowboys and an assload of firearms and cows and oil rigs and, quite literally, much of what you see in the average Western film of silver screen glory days.

All that said, we are severely — severely lacking in areas because of a lack of efficient government or, in some cases, pure political apathy and ultra-socially conservative ideas. For example, when compared with the other Forty-Nine:

1. We are 50th when it comes to the percentage of eligible voters who actually turn out and vote.
2. We are 1st in air pollution emissions— and toxic chemical emissions to water— and carbon dioxide emissions.. oh, and cancer-causing carcinogen emissions to the air.
3. We're 1st in teenage birth rate levels.
4. Also 1st in the percentage of individuals over 25 without a high school diploma.
5. And 1st in the percentage of uninsured individuals.
6. Insofar as education goes, we rank 46th in SAT scores for graduating high school seniors.
7. .. and the list goes on. (according to Eliot Shapleigh, state senator from El Paso, who spends much of his time apparently compiling a report on all the things we suck at as a state.)

Clearly, we are not the shining beacons of efficient modern industry that we were, say, when somebody got around to inventing barbed wire and we went fence-happy on the prarieland.

With these facts standing indisputably to light, and with the nationwide political climate (and, oh yeah, that Wall Street / economy deal?!) in as flux of a state as it is (total sidenote— do you know about Fluxus? fascinatingly weird and seems very pre-Hipster kid to me) what does Rick Perry chose to offhandedly mention? Oh yes. Secession.

Let me share with you some of the wisdom of the TexasSecede.org FAQ:

Q: Is Texas really ripe for a secession movement? [BACK TO TOP]
A: Probably not (yet). Texans generally aren't the rugged, independent, liberty-conscious folks they once were. Like most Americans, they happily acquiesce to the U.S. government's steady theft of their rights and property via unlawful statutes, programs, and activities.

Unfamiliar with historical or legal details, being largely products of public (i.e., government) "education," today's Texans easily adopt the "politically correct" myths that litter the landscape of American popular opinion. Many don't even know what the word secede means, and believe that the United States is a "democracy" (hint: it's not)[8].

But public opinion and ignorance won't stop us from suggesting that secession is still a good idea for people who value their rights and personal liberty more highly than the temporal affluence, comfort, and false security provided by the U.S. welfare/warfare state. By raising public awareness of even the concept of secession, we hope they might plant seeds that will some day yield a new resolve among Texans for liberty and self-government.


Q: How would Texas—and Texans—benefit from secession? [BACK TO TOP]
A: In many ways. Over the past century-and-a-half the United States government has awarded itself ever more power (but not the lawful authority) to meddle with the lives, liberty, and property of the People of Texas (as well as those of the other States).

Sapping Texans' wealth into a myriad of bureaucratic, socialist schemes both in the U.S. and abroad, the bipartisan despots in Washington persist in expanding the federal debt and budget deficits every year. Texans would indeed gain much by reclaiming control of their State, their property, their liberty, and their very lives, by refusing to participate further in the fraud perpetrated by the Washington politicians and bureaucrats.

By restoring Texas to an independent republic, Texans would truly reclaim a treasure for themselves and their progeny.

Ah. Right. It's The Socialists! All these new Socialists in the White House, and their Little Marxist Dog, too! Since we do so incredibly well ourselves at regulating our own education system (raise your hand if you are young enough to recall /believe that the TAKS was absolutely absurd?,) paying our teachers (I forgot to mention— 49th in the nation!) and monitoring our own welfare and health via medical coverage and truckloads of free radical carcinogens, it's time to think about our break from the 'States.

How absurd is this? Absurd enough to get a nod from our brilliant and efficient Governor, Rick Perry. Extremist? Yes. What's interesting is the short amount of time it took conservatives to switch hats and become the patron saints of rebel-rousing and this twisted brand of community activism. (The general purpose being to destroy the central community, but ah, details, right?)

I think James Moore's Huffington Post article is invaluable to read for Texans. I'll leave you with my favorite excerpt:

..Perry blatantly suggested during the Fox News National Tea-Bagging Festival that Texans are about ready to leave the union because they are sick of Washington. In one cartoonish moment, the Republican standard bearer in this state insulted our entire democracy and every man or woman from Texas who has served under the Stars and Stripes. What is it they fought and died for governor? Was it so you could leave the union when people who had different politics than you were in the majority? I think we had that horror already in our history and, if you read when you were growing up out in Paint Rock, you would know that it was called the Civil War.

If a governor of a Democratic state had suggested such a thing during the administration of the previous president then you and every Republican in the land would have been demanding he or she be tried for treason. Suddenly, you fancy yourself a folk hero leading a band of revolutionaries. Turn around for a minute, pull back the hair from your forehead, and take a good look at who's following you. They are the 2009 version of Rick McLaren's wingnuts.

Oh, and finally—
The Future of the Lone Star Republic! (In case you wanted the spoiler edition before we all slash and rope our way to freedom with our Bowie knives.)

A mixed weekend

So this was our first father-son weekend of the spring and if I do say so myself, all was a success. Of course there's some interesting, larger-than-life dads and beyond-amusing-into-the-realm-of-wow-you're-going-to-be-an-overly-exciting-camper-to-be-around sons, but overall, the families were wonderful. There were two boys especially that absolutely had my heart; they were precious— but little boys will do that to you! I belayed on the rock wall all morning without gloves, which was stupid as the ropes were filthy, but I enjoy belaying more and more every chance I get at it. The afternoon was riding, which is always frustrating but, in my opinion, rewarding. We were short on riding staff but it worked. Bandit was fairly good for the first half but his mind was elsewhere the latter part of the afternoon— he spazzed out and broke a four-horse-long string of dallied horses and I was annoyed. But alas, it's been a month since I've been on him. He's in good condition on that senior feed; I need to take pictures. He looks wonderful at fifteen! Ahh.. he turned fifteen this week.. Wow. I've had him since he was barely six.

Anyway, the rest of today was rock wall belay again, some clean-up, and lots of sitting around and talking. Pretty easy if I do say so myself, and I even got a little paycheck which should pay for Hop's vet checkup this month and the fact that my car needs crap done to it. Boo.

Kate, Drew, Matt (a younger guy from Alamo Heights), and eventually Kile all helped out for the weekend. It ended up being a really fun group despite seeming like an odd dynamic on the outset. Virgin strawberry margaritas will always make me laugh now.

Hopalong thought Father-Sons were amaaazing. Found out that he gets to stay through the summer definitely, which I'm vastly excited about. He almost went down the waterslide, ran through the dining hall during lunch, humped Kiley during the rock wall morning, stole a box of graham crackers and two Hershey's bars during campfire and ate them, and lifted his leg and marked a "tree" which actually turned out to be a kid army-crawling around in the grass in a camouflage coverall. Overall a success and he was very well-liked.

Sad, though, is Molly's condition. She spent a lot of the weekend asleep on my porch (I made her a bed out of some fake sheepskin material and two dry bags) and has trouble getting up or walking or anything else. One kid asked why we were letting a dog starve to death— she does look awful. I didn't expect my own reaction, though, when Scott and I cajoled her to get off my porch and drive home with his family— he told the quaking-legged Molly to "say goodbye" to me and I absolutely lost it. Can't even tell you exactly why, but I sobbed for a good half-hour. I wasn't as worked up about my grandad's death at the actual time. She was such a wonderful dog, so, goodbye, Molly. I'm glad Richard is out in the world to field my hysterical phone calls at 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday. Gosh, I do miss him.