#2260 a full day of play with LA

Late Saturday morning, MT and I headed up to Park City to meet with our friends Rob and LA who were visiting from Pocatello. We have been friends for, well, let's see... I started working at the paper in Poky in 1988, and that's where I met LA. I think we started hanging out regularly in  early 1989, so that's 30 years. Rob and MT became climbing and skiing buddies, and the four of us were tight. There was a lull in the friendship when MT and I moved to Salt Lake and were getting settled in, but we have stayed in touch and visited each other as much as we can.

We planned this visit so we could hear about their recent trip to Iceland and to get in a bike ride. Of course, it is getting cold now, so we decided to meet at noon at the outlet mall at Kimball Junction. We had a good time shopping in Eddie Bauer. I got a pair of jeans, a vest, and a sweatshirt, if you are interested. I can't wait to wear that down vest!

For lunch we went into Park City itself. LA mentioned a place she and Rob had breakfast once that she remembered as being very good, but she couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. She did remember the approximate location, so we started walking up Main Street. She led us to The Eating Establishment, which happened to be the place Lizzie and I had dinner before our ghost tour back in June, so I knew it was good too. We wanted to eat outside because even though it was chilly, it was sunny and we were all eager to get a bit more sun before the grey, cold winter sets in.

It should have been a clue to us that at 1:30 in the afternoon the breakfast dishes had not been cleared from the patio, but we did not heed the clue. Inside, the restaurant was very busy, but the host had someone clear the tables outside and we were seated there after about a ten minute wait. We got menus and that's it. Soon other diners were seated, their water was poured and their orders were taken. We were still sitting there with just our menus. We sat there for about 20 minutes before we decided to find another place to eat. Very disappointing.

We wandered down the street to a place called The Spur Bar & Grill. They have a patio on the second floor. We were seated immediately, given water and menus. I have to say it was a lot warmer up on that patio than down on the street level, both in temperature and in welcome. The smiling server quickly took our order and made sure we didn't want anything else to drink. Rob and LA told us stories about their time in Iceland and showed us some photos. LA gave me a gift: a unique and beautiful bracelet handmade from native volcanic stone. LOVE!!

The food at The Spur was delicious. We all had the same thing - the Spur burger. I like it when you can taste the beef in a burger. So good! I would have been happy to sit up there drinking a beer or two, but we all wanted to ride our bikes and temperature was at the warmest it would get that day, so after lunch, we drove back down to Kimball Junction to start the ride. We all agreed it would be nicer to do the hard work of pedaling uphill at the start of the ride, then coast back down to our cars at the end.

My personal goal was to make it to the barn, which is four miles up from Kimball Junction. I don't know if I have ever ridden wearing so many layers of clothing. Going uphill I got plenty warm. The menfolk got out to a fast start and were pedaling ahead of us. LA has a bad back, so she has an electric bike. She still has to pedal, but she gets an assist from the motor. I was the slowest and the heaviest breather (and heaviest in general) by far. The air was brisk, but I got warm and sweaty.

We made it to the barn (YAY!) There is an underpass that you can take to get from the west side of the road over to the barn, so we did that. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so I took photos of course.

Fall is definitely in the air and you can see it in the changing colors of the leaves.

Over on the east side of the highway, we noticed there was a trail that would take us back to Kimball Junction. We would be farther away from the highway, so it would be more quiet plus there was the added bonus of the view of the quaking aspen trees.

I mean, that's a pretty trail!

So we rode our bikes down this trail and it was gorgeous and we were happy. The men picked up speed and zoomed down. LA and I took our time, chatting and taking photos.

selfie!

We met up with the men. Rob pointed out that we would either have to cross the highway - without a light - or ride uphill a little ways until we could find a light. There was no way I was going to cross the highway without a light, so we had to pedal. It was steep. I was in the lowest gear I have on my bike and I was struggling. We got to a place where the road was being repaired, so we had to get off our bikes and push them around some construction machinery. The road after the equipment was even more steep, so LA and I ended up pushing our bikes for maybe a quarter of a mile uphill. I am saying now that I *probably* could have rode up that small but steep hill, but I didn't. No shame!

After that, it was all literally downhill. We safely crossed the highway at a light, then coasted down the rest of the hill to parking lot. We were out a total of one hour and 24 minutes; total distance was 8.3 miles. My average speed was a blistering 5.8 MPH (lol). Don't judge me! hahahaha At least I was out there doing it even though my personal rule is that I don't ride if it's not at least 70 degrees. LA must be a damn good friend for me to lower my temperature rule by a good 15 degrees.

After the bike ride, our fun was not over! We were fortunate enough to get tickets to the Jazz game. It was the first preseason game of the 2019-2020 season. The Jazz were playing a team from Australia. The big three stars for the Jazz - Conley, Gobert, and Mitchell - did not play, but it was still fun to be in the suite and see the new guys on the team. Since the game was a blowout - the Jazz won by over 50 points - we talked more about Iceland and looked at more photos. I liked that!

Extra bonus: one of the guys on the other team missed two free throws in the fourth quarter which means we all get a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. HOORAY!!

When the game was over, so was our day of fun. We bid our pals farewell until we meet again. They went back up to Park City where they spent the night at a hotel. They went back to Idaho this morning.  Both MT and I miss Rob and LA. It is fun to do stuff with friends!

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and have some fun plans for the week.

#2094 catching up

It feels like the seasons are in transition over here. In the morning, the air is cool; I need a light jacket when I leave for work. When I leave work in the afternoon, it's warm and I have to turn on the AC in Jack the Sexy Beast. (That's what I call my car.) Tonight when I went to gym at 6:30, the sun was shining brightly and it was pleasantly warm. When I left class at 8:00, it was dark and much cooler than when I went into the gym.

I love the change!

MT is healing. His back still hurts, especially at the end of the day. That makes sense because I don't really think he has been taking it as easy as he should, but I could be wrong. He is making all kinds of noises about how he is going to change the way he does things and go to the gym and hire a trainer and work on strengthening his back.

I guess we'll see.

I went to see Billy Idol in concert on Monday. When I got my concert volunteer schedule and saw that I got to work that show, I was excited! Usually when I work at a show, I claim a patch of grass and I sit or stand and enjoy the music. For Billy Idol, though, I planned to try to get up near the front by the stage. There's a standing area on the east side of the stage and I was able to get a prime spot right at the rail during the opening act and thanks to my stand-up desk at work, standing there for hours was not a problem at all. The only person in front of me was Billy's guitar player, Steve Stevens.

The show was just all right for me. I was hoping that Billy would do his whole greatest hits album, but he didn't. Of course he played "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding". He played "Mony Mony"  and "Eyes Without a Face" and "Dancing with Myself" but he also played a whole slew of songs I didn't know at all. No "Hot in the City". No "Cradle of Love". No "Flesh for Fantasy".

Billy is no longer the lean, sexy punkish dude he was 27 years ago, but then, who is? He's still has the blond spiky hair. He's thick but not fat. He was pleased to remove his shirt several times and I was in a good position to see that there was no extra meat hanging over that belt buckle. He doesn't jump around like he used to, but again, he's 62 now and I would expect him to have slowed down a bit. He sounded good, as growly and gravelly as ever. He seemed like he was having a good time and he was quite generous, tossing all kinds of things out into the crowd. Not in my direction, but that's okay.

Overall, I'd say I had fun, but my expectations were too high. He probably couldn't have lived up to what I thought I was gonna get no matter what.

Monday night's concert was the final show at Red Butte Garden for the season. There were 30 shows and I worked at 10 of them and had tickets for another three. Good times! I calculated my volunteer hours for those 10 shows and it was nearly 38 hours. Nice!

Volunteer time isn't quite over yet. Saturday will be the final docent gig of the season. The complimentary trams stop running at the end of September, but the last Saturday of the month is the fall plant sale which is held in the Courtyard, so no tram, no docent.

Weddings are still happening. I'm volunteering at a wedding on Saturday night and then back-to-back weddings on Sunday evening/night. I think I have another one on October 7. That might be the last one at the Rose House because Garden After Dark (GAD) starts on October 19 and the roses will be done blooming too. There are six nights of GAD: Thursday, Friday and Saturday the two weeks before Halloween. I hope I can get at least two nights of GAD. It's really fun and the theme this year is gonna be lit yo! More on that later.

I'm feeling pretty good. T is doing well. I talked about MT. Osi is fine too. My work is steady and fine. We are gearing up for budget time, so that's interesting. I have contacted my travel agent about working with me to plan and book the trip to Thailand. I've got quite a trip planned in my head, so we'll see what actually works out.

I think that's all I got tonight. Take care of yourselves!

#2087 could have been so much worse

This morning I missed a call from MT and he had sent a text that said, "Call me." Usually we don't talk much when we are working, so I knew something was happening. I immediately called him and he told me that he had fallen off a ladder at work. I asked if he was all right and he said that he was not okay and that he wanted me to meet him at home to take him to the doctor.  This conversation happened around 10 AM.

I locked my computer, grabbed my bag and headed out the door. I did tell my boss and my friends that I was going to take MT to the hospital. I was home in record time; I beat MT there. I located an urgent care near us that took our insurance and I heard the truck pull up in the driveway. I quickly went outside to see MT leaning against his truck with a look of pain in his eyes. T was with him and he looked kind of shaken up too.

MT slowly and painfully got into the car and I headed to the urgent care near our house. The waiting room was packed and we were told it would be about a 90 minute wait. MT could barely stand up on his own and he kept grimacing in pain. His knees buckled when a spasm hit his back. I decided to take him to the emergency room at the hospital down the road.

I dropped MT off at the ER door, parked the car across the street and ran - yes, I ran - back across the street and up the block to the ER. MT had made it into the waiting room but had not reached the check-in desk yet. I quickly filled out the paperwork and asked for a wheelchair for MT. I don't think I've ever seen him in that much pain, including when he broke his ankle when we were in college.

We got into a room by 11:00. There was no position that MT could be in that was comfortable. He would lie down, slowly and painfully turn himself over, get out of the bed, practically on his knees, stand up until his knees nearly gave out (scared me silly that he was going to crumple to the ground in a heap), then he would sit in a chair and repeat the rotation. The nurse did come in to check on us and let us know the doctor would be there "in a minute". That's a lie. We didn't see the doctor for like two hours.

MT was starting to freak out a little and wanted to go to a different hospital. I told him that we would be starting from scratch and that the wait time would likely be the same at another hospital. I did call the nurse and ask for some pain meds for him. I'm not sure why it took so long when the poor man was obviously in a lot of pain the first time the nurse saw him. MT took a couple of Valium then got a pain reliever and an anti-inflammatory through an IV. Those intravenous drugs worked fast. MT calmed right down and was able to sit quietly until the doctor came in. She examined him and decided to do an MRI on his head (which he bumped when he fell), his back and his chest.

Here's what happened: MT and T were working on an outbuilding for a client. MT was about four rungs up on the ladder (about four feet) and stepping onto a scaffold next to the ladder so he could take some measurements. The ladder was a bit wobbly, so when MT stepped off to the scaffold, he kind of pushed off of the ladder and it gave way. MT was caught between the ladder and the scaffold and fell flat on his back, hitting his head on the scaffold on the way down. The impact of the fall knocked the wind out of him and he said he struggled to breathe for about 30 seconds.  Then he got up and said he was done for the day and he and T left the jobsite. I think his being able to get up and get in the truck and drive home was pure adrenaline because when I saw him in the driveway and through the morning at the hospital, he was broken.

A bunch of scenarios went through my head as I was driving home and as I sat with MT in the hospital. Through it all though, the overriding thought in my head was, "He's going to be okay."

The initial result of the MRI was that there were no broken bones or torn muscles. It did, however, show a pulmonary contusion, which sounds dreadful. A bruised lung still sounds awful but less medical-y. A second MRI was ordered to focus on the lung area. That second screening came back normal. Yes, MT was in a lot of pain, but there is no long-term damage that could be identified.

#thankful

With another IV dose of pain meds on board, we left the hospital around 5:30 PM. We got some fast food to take home, since neither of us had eaten since breakfast H O U R S ago. The relief that he was okay drew out all the energy and positivity I had been holding onto all day and I was drained, physically and mentally. How is it that sitting on an airplane or hanging out in a hospital room can be so tiring? I was just sitting there but I was completely exhausted when I got home.

I picked up MT's prescriptions from the pharmacy, then I flopped down on the couch to watch some mindless TV (Queer Eye season two episode one.  Fantastic!) MT is in bed and he's been asleep for awhile. I don't know if he has taken any medicine. It's possible that the minute I drop off to sleep that he will wake up and be in pain. I've thought about sleeping in the spare room, but what if he needs something? It's my turn to help him since he helped me through two knee replacements.

To summarize:
     Always make sure the ladder is on firm ground
     Stay positive. It won't do you any good to worry about "what if". There will be time to deal with reality. Prepare yourself for the worst and always hope for the best.
      Queer Eye will help you calm down and relax. As will chips and dip and a Diet Coke. (I'm a stress eater!)
     We are going to be okay.

#1944 3 things: Snap Judgement live, these shoes don't match, and the beauty of fall

Yes! I have three things to tell you about today!

1. Snap Judgement Live was amazing. Last night MT and I went to the beautiful Eccles Theater to watch storytellers in action. Snap Judgement is a program on National Public Radio that I've been listening to for the past couple of year. The show bills itself as "storytelling with a beat" because there is often music playing in the background as the stories are being told. In the live show, the band Bells Atlas is the live band that plays during the storytelling. There were five storytellers plus the host, Glynn Washington. Washington told a couple of shorter stories during the evening, and each of the others told one longer story. I thought they were all very good, but I especially liked the two women, Joyce Lee and Jen Kober. I liked Joyce's story about the difference between being chosen and being the chooser. I thought it was a good message. Jen Kober was just flat-out hilarious. Her delivery, her body language, and the story itself was perfection. Don Reed's story had me laughing and crying at different parts of the story. The whole show was everything I imagined it would be. I'm so glad we went.

Because we were out late, this morning things just didn't work out well for me.

2. These shoes don't match. My plan this morning was to go to Zumba class at the gym, then go over to Weight Watchers. I got up around 8:30 and the class starts at 9:00, so I had to hurry. I got dressed, then I put my gym shoes in my bag along with some socks and some other stuff and I headed out the door. I got to the gym just in time to sit down and change my shoes and socks. As I'm putting on my right shoe, I think to myself, "Huh. I never noticed that the tongue of my gym shoe is just like the tongue of my cycling shoe." I get up and walk into the class and my gait sounds something like step clomp step clomp. I look down at my shoes and sure enough, that right shoe with the tongue like my cycling shoe actually IS MY CYCLING SHOE. The two pairs of shoes sit right next to each other on my closet shelf. I didn't even turn on the closet light this morning and I just grabbed two shoes, one from each pair. You cannot Zumba in a cycling shoe because it is a very hard slick sole and metal clips. Yep. I was on my way out when Lisa, the instructor, told me I was going the wrong way. I explained about my shoes and she busted out laughing. She doubled over a little bit and said she had done the same thing.

These shoes are not the same

All was not lost. When I came home, I put on one pair of shoes and walked to Weight Watchers, so I still got in a little movement and I gave myself a good chuckle this morning.

3. I love fall. I've said it before and I'll say it again, October is just about my favorite month. I love the colors and the changing light of the autumn. I have a love/hate thing with Halloween. I love/hate the decorations and the costumes and the candy. Here's a couple of photos that I took that sums it up.

Red Butte Garden

The Clown Houses on Brud St.

Have a good day y'all!

Go Utes!

#558 ghost stories

Lately in the mornings on my way to work and in the office I've been listening to Chunga and Tysen on 101.9 The End, a local radio station. In October, they always do a bunch of things about ghosts and paranormal stuff leading up to Halloween. I'm not exactly sure how much I believe in that stuff, but I know that when I hear them talk about it, the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands up and I get a little creeped out.

I don't like scary movies, especially gory horror-type movies. Occasionally, I do enjoy a movie that will creep me out a little, like the Nicole Kidman movie, "The Others" or "The Sixth Sense". Some friends at work told me about a movie called "The Fourth Kind" that's creepy; maybe I'll watch that. It will have to be during the day, though, when I can do a bunch of stuff afterward so I won't be traumatized.

Chunga has been talking about some experiences he's had here in SLC at the Old Mill and at This Is the Place Heritage Park. This month, Chunga and Tysen are going to do a ghost investigation of a house somewhere in the city. Although I get the heebie-jeebies, I still want to hear about it. Weird huh?

A friend of mine at work also likes to go on ghost hunting adventures. She's told me about a couple of places she's been and what she's experienced. Again, when she talks about it, I get that creepy feeling. I don't think I would want to go to those places, but sometimes I think it's interesting to hear about it. It makes me wonder...

#160 home again home again

I'm back home in SLC. It seems that over the weekend, the landscape has shed the last of it's autumn beauty to prepare for the winter. There are yellow leaves all over the ground; the foothills have taken on a brown-ish color and the mountains now have that steely gray look they get when they are preparing to get snow. The air is colder and the daylight-savings time thing didn't help either. It was practically dark when I walked out of the office at 5:15. Depressing.

Still, I remember that Thanksgiving isn't far away and Christmas is just around the corner and that cheers me up a little.

I had a good flight from Long Beach this morning. There was no drama this time around. I'd printed my boarding pass well in advance and got through security with no issues. The flight was good. It was tough to leave my little one behind, but I know that he's in good hands with his loving grandparents. He will have a great time with my mom and dad. I really love that he is able to spend time with them and know them. Still, the house is so quiet without him. It's definitely different when he's not here.

Jet Blue gave me random gifts this morning: a tube of Arm and Hammer toothpaste and some Great Lash mascara. I don't know why this happened, but I needed some mascara so I was happy to get it.

Happy Election Eve. Don't forget to go out and VOTE tomorrow!

Thanksgiving prep, day 1

Today MT and I worked a little on the house. He cleaned the stove, scrubbing the burner wells - I don't know what they are called, but they get nasty dirty. I focused on the carpets upstairs, steam cleaning the guest room and T's room. After that, we had some lunch at Chili's, then T and I went to see Fred Claus. It was funny and cute. We liked it and it was a nice way to get the holiday season started!

Yesterday the weather here was gorgeous. The temperature was in the upper 60s, the sky was blue and there was just a little breeze. Football weather for sure. Today was gray and rainy and cool with temps in the upper 40s. It felt very late fall/early winter. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little snow on the ground in the morning.

There's only one October

My God! Where did September go? When I last checked in, I was working a lot and no one was home. The next week T came home and my dad came to visit, staying for about 10 days. The balance tipped from work to home. The last week of the month was very social because MT and I went out for dinner with people from my work twice and we all went to the circus one night. In all, it was an unusual month.

It is autumn here. The Oquirrh mountains west of my house are dark brown, dotted with the red of the scrub oaks and above that, a dusting of white. The nights are cool and the days are pleasant. I'm slowly starting to take my sweaters out of storage and sadly putting on sweat pants when I get home at night instead of my shorts.


I like October. I love the baseball playoffs. I like Halloween and knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas is right around the corner. The Jazz have training camp and preseason games in October. I like to watch a little football on chilly October Saturdays and Sundays. I want to eat soup or baked potatoes in the evenings. I get the urge to bake something.

A friend at work says that this is his favorite time of year. I call him a "4th quarter" guy because he loves these last 3 months of the year (also because he is an accounting type person and he likes the year-end results.) I like them a lot too. But I also like the first quarter (January - March) because that is vacation time. The second quarter (April - June) is good because it's getting warm and the flowers are blooming but it's not usually too hot. July - September is fun because you can go to the pool and work is busy and exciting and there are lots of concerts and baseball games to go to. For now, though, it's time to savor the awesomeness of October!