Work-mares.

I've been having waaaaay too may dreams about work.

Some old guy yelled at me for the tunnel fee, saying he was a veteran, and G-dang it, and he didn't think his rig would fit through our twisty turny tunnel.
a) I don't work at Zion. b) the tunnel at Zion is straight.

Then I had another dream that someone gave me a napkin full of change and when I opened it to count it, it was a whole bunch of poisonous snakes and lizards that crawled up my sleeves and pants, and I had to stand still while people cut my uniform off.

I'm also sick of selling the annual pass in my dreams. I do that a lot too.

coincidences.

Sooo... today I had an interesting visitor. He bought an annual pass right off the bat. Found out he was from Cortez, and we started talking about MEVE, and he started talking about the luminaries they do for the holidays. I mentioned that there was a visitor who had parked over one of the lighted luminaries in the parking lot, and their car caught on fire, and the car next to it also caught on fire. And the dog inside the car next to it was released before it also caught on fire, but ran away.
Then he told me the person who'd parked on top of the luminary was his sister-in-law.
wow.

Bed Rock!

Essay Contest

Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks

Bona Fide Books is seeking literary essays about your experience working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades, Yellowstone to Yosemite. Some go seeking commune with nature; others to escape. Diverse park experiences are desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life? Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection.


Guidelines
Submit postmarked no later than January 5th, 2010 to:
submissions@bonafidebooks.com
with “Permanent Vacation” and the title of work in the subject line.

If you are sending hard copy, mail to:
Bona Fide Books
P.O. Box 550278
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96155
If you would like your manuscript returned, include an SASE. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5000.

We do not review incomplete manuscripts; please submit only work that is finished.

I get paid to read

Books I've read since coming to the Canyon (Not in Order)

Clan of the Cave Bear
Eat, Pray, Love
The Weight of Silence
In Defense of Food
Botany of Desire
Twilight
New Moon
In Her Shoes
Good in Bed
Animal Husbandry
The Road
Kite Runner
The Lost Continent- In Search of the Last Small Town
Superior Death
Grave Surprise
Guilty Pleasure
The Laughing Corpse
Circus of the Damned
Lunatic Cafe
Bloody Bones
Killing Dance
Burnt Offerings
Blue Moon
Obssidian Butterfly
Dead Until Dark
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead and Gone
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse

I feel like there might have been more, but can't think of them off the top of my head.

Tim's on a trip!

Tim left for his 5 day backpacking trip in the Canyon yesterday. He's going down to the Thunder River area- the place where that 20 year old kid died this summer. Definitely does not ease my mind.

I got a message last night that a furry little forest creature tried to cozy up to him in the middle of the night. I probably would not have reacted well to having an evil beady eyed rabid mouse crawl in my sleeping bag.

H-dinck the gnome stowed away in his pack, so hopefully the two of them are having a good time together.

Giant Spider Season!

Don't you just want to cuddle up next to these guys? Just soft and snuggly? I think I had my Turquoise Death Spider dream when I started seeing these things last year. I wonder if they'll show up in my dreams again?

Arches

Tim thinks this picture is horrible- that it looks like he has buck teeth- it's a sheep. Not to worry, he doesn't have buck teeth.

South Bass Trail

Tim and I atop the highest peak in AZ!

I'm a little peeved.

I got my first nasty gram. A visitor comment form was filled out about me, not by a visitor but by a local. Someone who lives at Desert View says I have a stony face and every time she drives through the gate I look at her with eyes of hatred. I don't smile or wave either.

1. If you don't roll your window down, I don't really talk to you. Usually I'll say have a great day or something like that to the locals, even if I don't know them.

2. I don't wave people through until they've come to a complete stop, a wave too early is usually misconstrued as permission to drive through the gate.

3. What a Jackass!

Tim: "How do you guys know each other? Friends? Family?" (attempting to ascertain whether they were a commercial tour or not)

Motorcyclist: "We are a Biker Gang from the Netherlands!"

Tim: "Okay then!"

VF Solutions.

I finally placed my last order of the season with VF Solutions. I couldn't find a way to spend my last 45 cents. Even a button costs $0.77, how lame. Hopefully my goretex jacket will come before winter hits. I have my doubts.

In Defense of Food

I just finished reading In the Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I knew there was a reason I was attempting to eat more organic food, I didn't realize it was actually more nutritious for you than non-organic food. I knew it was better for the environment, but it's also better for you. Crazy. It was definitely an eye opener. He sort of beats it into you that processed food is bad in a multitude of ways.

I have an uncontrollable urge to shop at farmers markets, and cook my own veggies.

Eat food, not too much, and mostly plants. (the gist of his book)

I feel better about being vegetarian. I knew it was more sustainable, and I'd heard vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, I still have a lot of work to do to get to the ideal diet.

One of the facinating parts of this book is just how wrong nutritionists are- fat isn't bad for you. In fact, you can have a much higher percentage of fat in your diet, and not actually get fat, or have heart diseases, or metabolic disorders. So long as it isn't processed fat- partially hydrogenated or ethyoxylated, etc. If you get it from natural sources you're much better off.

This entire time I thought low fat was better for me, and that eating less fat would make me be less fat. I read a lot about food- I'm vegetarian, I'm attempting to be healthier because if I don't watch out, I will probably get really fat and get diabetes. So I'm really glad this book came along. I was told a few years ago to read his other book- omnivore's dillemma, just haven't gotten around to it...

(I will finish this later)

Someone's getting married! Hopi Style. (Not me.) When we went through Tuba there was a sign- "Sheep! For all your special occasions!"

Animal effigy of a weiner schnitzel?

Humperdinck the gnome

I miss my gnome Humperdinck. I'm afraid he's currently in Arkansas... His current travel partner says he's on his way home though. So that's good news. He might be getting his own blog once he comes home. One might be in the works.

Mi Jardin!

How does your garden grow?

My garden is going gang busters compared to previous gardens I've had. I've been daydreaming about having a professional organic garden/farm/nursery. Complete with windmills, solar panels and recycled gray water. It would make me super happy if I could garden and grow things all day long. When I was living/crashing in Tucson one winter, some friends of mine paid rent on a community garden plot. It was awesome. There were some hardcore community gardeners and some not so hardcore. I wanted to incorporate that into my organic garden/farm/nursery too. Extra produce going to soup kitchens or maybe sold to local restaurants. Like I said, just a daydream. I could be happy outside of the park service if I could grow things.

Tim's Birthday- (back in May)

Tim said he saw the blog of his B-Day, but didn't see any pictures of him, I saw two, but I added this one for his benefit. He looks really happy in this picture!

Jenn with her mighty red shoulders, and Deluca just happy to be out?

I definitely look drunk in this picture...

Sexy shoes