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Last updated Thu Aug 28, 2008 Member since November 2005

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We re not newlyweds anymore. :( Just an old married couple. Happy Autumn! Our wedding page is still active:--> Click here

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Melissa's World, generalized

October 01, 2008
I meant to do this yesterday, but I didn't. Oh well.

We celebrated our 1st Anniversary on Monday. It was so wonderful. The whole weekend was good. On Friday Tracy came down from Wetaskiwin and took us out for supper. Sadly, the service was horrible at the restaurant, and there were problems with some people's food (mine was right and hot & tasty), and by the time the food got there I was so hungry I was nauseous. We got through it, though. Adam gave me a pre-anniversary gift of tickets to Cats (show on Sunday).
Saturday we went and helped Baba dig up her potatoes (ok, Adam dug, I picked them up pretty much), and Baba & Dedo gave us some china that says "Wedding Anniversary" on it and a little "crystal" (we know it's just glass) Cinderella carriage figurine.
Sunday was fairly uneventful except for going to see Cats. It was a really good show, despite the fact that we were back far enough that we couldn't make out the details of their faces and costumes (I'd forgotten the binoculars), but we still heard everything and understood enough. We had a really good time. :)
Monday was our official anniversary. So we woke up early, jumped into the car and I drove us out to Lake Louise. We went up the gondola and spent a little more than an hour at the top of the mountain, remembering our wedding, reading the cards we'd gotten from everyone, and taking some pictures. Then we came down and had lunch at the lodge, same as last year. Drove around Banff on our way home (mostly to see the finished road contstruction from last year) and then headed home. Since we'd had a late lunch, we had a late supper. Mumma stopped over to bring us a card & a gift - a bell that says "1st Anniversary" on it. We ate supper, had a glass of champagne (ok, Adam had more than me but we didn't finish the bottle), and watched our ceremony video while we ate the piece of cake we'd saved. Before supper we'd looked through the guest book & photos from Roger. Then we watched our first dance video and danced along with it. I cried. Not too long after that, we went to bed.

Here's pictures that we took on Monday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dogmelissa/archives/date-posted/2008/10/01/


I love you, Adam!!! I can't believe it's been a whole year. Looking forward to so many more wonderful years with you. I know we'll have some tough times ahead, but the knowledge that you will be with me through all the good times keeps me strong. I'm looking forward to growing old with you. :)

- Melissa
Tags: anniversary
Wednesday October 1, 2008 - 12:41pm (MDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
3 days till our anniversary
We are 3 days and a few hours away from our anniversary. It feels a little surreal to be saying this... I've never had a wedding anniversary and I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. I don't feel like I've done very much this year, yet it's gone. How things have changed.... I feel like we've lost touch with a lot of people in the last year, yet strangely, there are few that I miss. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad - well, it seems bad that we've lost touch with people, but good in a way, because it shows that they weren't very involved in our lives. I'm trying to accept that and be happy about it, but it's tough some days.

Strangely, I don't really have much to write today. I thought I did, but then my phone rang and I got all distracted by a potential new job (15 apartments!) and now I can't remember what I was going to say!!

Business has been very slow, and I really need to get my act together and do some advertising. I guess I really just feel weird spending the money and I'm very nervous about spending money on advertising and having it be a complete waste. I'm sure it won't be, but it still just bothers me to have to do it.
My top contenders for ads are as follows (not in any particular order):
1. Calgary Herald classified - in the "In & Around The Home" section (online and in print). A 4 line ad is $125 for 7 days, $190 for 14 days or $305 for 30 days.
2. Renovations Magazine - free distribution in various locations (no home delivery or online advertising, but obviously people aren't going to look if they're not thinking of renovating). A "marketplace" ad (2.25” x 2.778”) in their "winter" edition (deadline Oct 24 for Nov 21 distribution, next issue comes out Jan 11) is $233.
3. Community Newsletters - targeting specific communities (would probably pick places like Crescent Heights, Silver Springs, Tuscany, Bearspaw and omit places like Forest Lawn). The most affordable options are the 4 area B&W 1/8 page ad $259 (per issue). Or the Small "Business Classified" ads, which are $15 each (and are essentially the same as the 4 line Calgary Herald ad) or $12 each if I book into 10 areas or more. Medium ads are $25 per ad ($20 for 10+) and large are $35 ($30 for 10+).
Since the community news letters are delivered at different times of the month depending on what community and because it's more generalized (same basic price puts me into the Calgary Herald all across the city), I'm hesitant to go with them. The Reno magazine I think would be good because it's a targeted audience. Just I'd have to design an ad and I'm really worried about that. I guess I better decide PDQ since I'd have to get my ad in to them before the 24th of October! The Herald can be started at any time and the community newsletters go monthly, so if I miss a deadline it just goes in the next one.

In other news, I went back to the doctor who re-ran my blood tests and also screened me for Vitamin D deficiency and anti-thyroid antibodies. I was low (but not deficient) on Vitamin D and "normal" for antibodies. I still feel like crap, still have symptoms of hypothyroid, including low body temperature, and yet she looked me in the face and said "there's nothing wrong with your thyroid, I'm not even going to try you on medication to see if it helps". She told me eat nothing packaged (ie pre-prepared food) and to buy organic foods. Yeah, that's going to help, I'm sure. NOT. I eat better than a lot of people - I cook almost every meal from scratch, I bake bread, I make cookies & other desserts, I don't eat junk food very often. So yeah, I maybe don't eat as many veggies as I could, but I don't eat Eggos or Poptarts for breakfast and TV dinners for supper! I'm waiting on the foodsmarts food intolerance test... then regardless of the results there (well, ok, if it shows that I'm intolerant to something I'll cut it out of my diet for awhile and see if I feel better) then I'm going to go see a naturopath. I have a hard time believing that a naturopath will hear how I'm feeling and tell me "there's nothing wrong with you". I could be wrong, though.

Well, I don't have much else to report. Must get off and ensure Adam's anniversary gift is ready for Monday. I do have tomorrow as well, but I have chiro, then going to get my area code put on my car ads, then physio, then supper, so today is probably my best opportunity to get it done.

So off I go!
M.

PS: Apologies for the pink-ness of the page theme. I don't have control over that, but I wanted the wedding theme, so....
Thursday September 25, 2008 - 05:14pm (MDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
September 12, 2008
September 12, 2008 magnify
Well, I had spent some time yesterday typing up a blog entry, then pushed the "preview" button. My screen came up blank - or at least it looked like I hadn't typed anything in my blog. When I went back, it was all gone. I didn't have the patience to type it all again yesterday so I'll try it today.


Re: 9/11.
I know that I'm delusional if I even think that anyone directly affected by 9/11 reads my blog, but I honestly don't think that I can just ignore the day completely. It shocks me that it's been 7 years, because I still remember that moment, that whole day, like it was only last week. I remember the initial shock, thinking "this has got to be some weird joke" when I saw on TV that one of the towers was on fire. Then the 2nd plane flew in...and time seemed to stop. I remember going to the Humane Society that day for work and realizing that even the animals were being quiet - how they somehow sensed something very wrong that day. It was a day that anyone over the age of 5 at the time will probably never forget.
To those innocent people who died that day - may you rest in peace. I hope you all know that the world thinks of you, even if we didn't know your names or faces.
To the heroes who risked their lives in an attempt to save others - thank you. Your selfless actions everyday make many of the rest of us seem so selfish, but without you, we'd be lost.
To the heroes who lost their lives that day... whether that was on a plane, fighting or on the ground trying to save others - the world owes you more thanks than can ever be expressed.

Simply put - though I wasn't directly affected in any way, the events of that day hurt me deeply, and the scars will never go away.


In other news...
So I read this book, Mood-Food-Body Connection by Gary Null, PhD - which basically talks about certain conditions which are created or made worse by our diets, environment and sometimes both. Because of this book, I am so much more aware of what goes into my body, and I'm taking steps to find out if any of it is making me sick. Adam's contacts through his employer got us hair analysis (mineral/toxin) for free. My results aren't in yet (not sure when they will be), but that's ok. When it's free, it's easier to wait. He's also getting me a food allergy panel test - not sure if it will be free or greatly reduced cost - which tests for allergies which don't appear as a "typical" allergy reaction. It tests for internal reactions, which can affect any organ/system in the body, and often manifests not as a rash or anaphylactic reaction, but can cause depression, bloating, headaches, anxiety, and may even be linked to autism, adhd and other behaviour disorders (in both children and adults). Whatever the results of that one, if it turns out that a food (or foods) is causing me to feel like crap, I'll be more than happy to cut it out of my diet, even if it's one of my most favorite foods. I'd rather give up ice cream or peaches (or whatever it is!) than be depressed everyday.
The other thing I thought was really interesting in this book was the section on thyroid disorders. A few other places in the book, when they have a "case study", I'd read it and be thinking "hmmm, that sounds like me", but in the thyroid section it was like I was reading a list of symptoms and check-marking each one. The confusing part is that my thyroid has been tested, and the tests came back normal. However, I don't know what they tested (TSH? T3/T4 levels?) or what the exact results were, so they might have missed something. Then I got to a really interesting part - where he talks about how in his personal experience, there's probably about 40% of the general population walking around with sub-clinical hypothyroidism. That is, the blood work looks normal, but they're having symptoms that suggest hypothyroidism and if given low-dose thyroid hormone, they improve. One interesting cycle he talked about was the link between thyroid disorders, exercise & stress. It's in the diagram, but basically it goes like this: thyroid malfunctions (whether that's lack of TSH or an immune reaction that destroys the thyroid hormones) -> decreased energy levels and decreased desire to exercise -> decreased stress relief through exercise leading to increased stress levels -> increased level of cortisol in the body (stress hormone) -> suppression of thyroid function. It's a nasty cycle! I don't want to self-diagnose, and obviously if my blood work is coming back fine, I'm not in any position to do so, but I seem to be stuck in this cycle. I don't know where it started, but I certainly can't get out of it! So I keep reading. Then I get to a very interesting part. A story about a nun, who had been feeling like she'd been living under a dark cloud since she was 12. She was 62 at the time she went to see the doctor/author. Her main complaints were depression, fatigue, bloating and constantly being cold. She'd been to 30 or 40 different doctors, including psychiatrists, endocrinologists and other specialists. No one could find anything wrong with her. Her thyroid hormone levels showed up normal in a blood screen. So he had her check her basal body temperature (temperature on waking but before getting out of bed), and her temperature never came up higher than 95F. She was placed on a treatment protocol of thyroid hormone (gradually increasing the dosage until symptoms started to go away) - and within 3 months, her depression, fatigue and bloating all lifted. 50 years of suffering with an undiagnosed thyroid condition because no one had checked her temperature. Got me thinking. Wondering what my temperature was. So I went and bought a digital thermometer. Have taken my temp the last 4 days and the highest it's reached was 97.1F, and that was a day when I tossed and turned for about 10 minutes, cuddled with Adam, and generally forgot that I was supposed to take my temperature at first; all the "activity" could have raised my temp. The other 3 days, the warmest it's been is 96.8F - which the author in the book says is the point where you start suspecting thyroid problem or an auto-immune disorder where the body destroys it's own thyroid hormones. Many of the symptoms of thryoid problems are similar to depression, with the exception of the feeling cold/low body temperature. As a result, many doctors will prescribe anti-depressants for people complaining of fatigue and depression. However, many anti-depressants actually make thyroid problems worse, and they have other side effects, too. Interestingly, my own doctor suggested anti-depressants, which I refused because I believe they don't solve the problem, only mask the symptoms. Then I read this book. Now I'm fairly sure that I do have a thyroid problem, and that alone may be causing me to feel like crap, or it could be a combination of that and something else. I won't know unless I get a few more tests done, starting with an anti-thyroid antibody test, possibly getting started on a low-dose of thyroid hormone to see if my temperature comes up, and then getting the results of the hair mineral analysis and food intolerance tests. Basically, I'm starting to feel like I have a genuine physical reason for feeling like crap, and I pretty much won't sit by and do nothing about it. If my doctor can't or won't tell me anything, I will find someone who can - probably a naturopath.
The good news is that it looks like this cycle of feeling like crap really isn't all in my head, as my doctor would like me to believe it is.

In health-related, but non-mental health related news...
See the picture at the top of the ankle structure? Remember how I posted the same picture awhile ago, when I first hurt my ankle? Well it's up again for a reason. Because I was wrong about what I hurt. I finally got sick of being in so much pain and went to the doctor for x-rays. They were clean, so off I go to physio. Very nice lady, asks me how I hurt it, did I have x-rays, etc etc etc. Then she starts moving my ankle around to see where it hurts, what's moving in ways it shouldn't, etc. Turns out that my right ankle, which I sprained when I was around 12, is actually in worse shape than my left - it was never treated and obviously didn't heal properly. Her description of it was "loosey goosey". But it doesn't hurt, so that's fine. So on my left ankle, after poking around for awhile, she decided that I'd injured 2/3 tendons that hold the ankle in place (see diagram), and as a sprain is a partial (or complete) tear of a tendon, she described my injury as about 50%. And that is 4 weeks almost to the day from when I hurt myself, so I can imagine that there has been some healing in there at that point - so I did some pretty good damage to myself and I'm lucky that I didn't fracture anything or completely tear anything. The point on the top of my foot which has been hurting she said is more likely a muscle strain and it's not getting much chance to heal because I've kept walking on my foot, which causes the foot/leg to compensate for the injury - so those muscles haven't healed yet. Got some exercises to do and I get the pleasure of doing the hot/cold baths with my foot (if you've never done it, just know that it sucks), and I'm doing those everyday. I've been for 2 sessions now, with the expectation of 3 more before re-evaluation. Adam's benefits will cover up to $500, which would be a total of 7 sessions, so I'm hoping that I make good progress in the next week so that I can just keep doing the exercises at home and not have to go over the benefit limit. It still hurts quite a bit and I'm very frustrated with being in pain. *sigh*

In other news... we are almost done painting outside!!!! I did the 1st coat on the last section of fence yesterday, and once that is done, then we just have to do the deck. It's raining right now, but here's hoping it'll dry up tomorrow and we'll be able to get the fence done and maybe start on the deck. Kitchen window drywall repairs are almost done, then the kitchen can be painted. Once that's done, then we can do the flooring, which I'm totally excited to do, and then the kitchen will be done. I honestly can't wait. Then we're on to the half bath, which will be a complete pain, but totally worth it in the end. Buh-bye purple panels!!! After that, it's just some minor repairs (stair squeaks, minor painting projects) and then I think we'll be done all the stuff we wanted to do to the house. The more we fix in this house, the less I want to move, but I really don't know how we'd have kids in this house. *sigh* I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe we can make this house work for kids & my office & the cats and not go insane. It'd be nice to have a bigger house, but I'm so totally afraid of repairs that we might need to do to that one, and the amount of painting we'd have to do, putting in a garden, putting up a clothesline, etc etc etc. It just seems like such a pain. But so would living in this house with 2 kids! I guess we'll see....

Ok, I think that's all for today. And I'm going to be smart and copy this text so I don't lose it if Yahoo decides to be weird again.
I've got to go ice my ankle and then prep for the football game tonight. I'm sure the weather is going to suck. I hope the security people let me bring in a thermos of tea or hot chocolate.

TTYL,
Melissa


Friday September 12, 2008 - 03:29pm (MDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Every day is a learning day...
Today was an interesting day. I've been feeling emotionally crappy since we got home from our vacation and decided to go back to the doctor. Also because my ankle is still very sore and I wanted to see if I should go to physio or what... so I went today and saw a different doctor than I normally see, but who I have seen before.
So here's what I learned today:
1. If there's any possibility that an injury could have caused a fracture, go see a doctor right away - because they'll send you for x-rays regardless of how long you wait to go in. Unfortunately for me, due to the time of day, the x-ray clinic wasn't taking any more patients, so I have to go tomorrow instead. If my ankle/foot is fractured, I may need a cast. If not, I will be cleared to go to physio, but I will not be sent to physio until I have a clear x-ray.
2. Twinrix vaccine eliminates your ability to donate blood for 4 weeks after getting it. Even the doctor didn't know this! I was scheduled to donate tomorrow and just happened to think of it when she was getting ready to poke me. I called Canadian Blood Services and they said nope, no way, for 4 weeks. So I called the doctor to tell her and she was surprised but said it made sense because any vaccine is going to cause an immune response so it would probably alter the blood until that all settles down. So I can't go donate blood before October 2nd, and if I get pregnant then I'm ineligible until after that (not sure how long after).
3. 5HTP is a derivative of tryptophan, which is a pre-cursor to serotonin and melotonin in the brain. Both of the latter combine to regulate mood as well as sleep patterns, and disturbances in either can lead to depression. I've been taking these for a few days and it has made me feel somewhat better. However, it says on the bottle "do not use if pregnant, lactating or trying to conceive", so I thought it best to ask the doctor about that. She said that she hadn't heard of any reasons why it would be bad, but if it says don't, then don't. She suggested I call Motherisk, which I will, but didn't really have an answer for me on that one. In looking at the Motherisk page, though, I am again frustrated with the conflicting information that is given to pregnant women (or those trying to conceive). Their site says that ginger, plain old ginger, is not recommended during pregnancy as a nausea-reducer for morning sickness. Their reasons? It has never been tested in pregnancy and proven safe. Ok, fine, there haven't been any formal studies on it, but it's been used by millions of women all around the world for hundreds of years and there's never been any birth defects linked to it. Many many many medical professionals will tell you to go ahead and take ginger capsules, eat gingersnaps, drink ginger tea or any other ginger-containing beverage or food if it makes you feel better. Morning sickness can be dangerous to both mom and baby, but ginger hasn't been tested scientifically so I shouldn't take it?! Grrr. I know what Motherisk is going to say about 5HTp if that is their stance on ginger. They're going to say don't even think about it. The other option - St Johns wort - will also not fly, as it hasn't been tested in human pregnancies either and to add to that, a study on mice showed some changes in male offspring that didn't look good. At least the 5HTP didn't cause any concern in mice. So I don't know what to do in that regard. I want to have a healthy, happy baby, and I'm not willing to take things that *will* impact the baby, but I also really really need to be happy myself, and I really don't want to take anti-depressants. Which leads me to...
4. I'm reading a book called the Food Mood Body Connection, and though the editing isn't always good (there's mis-capitalizations, spelling errors and bad punctuation mistakes), the point of the book is quite impressive. Basically it talks about how the food we eat, the chemicals around us, and even "natural" things in our environment (things like pollen) can trigger mental illnesses. There's more and more evidence that vitamins and minerals in higher doses that the "minimum to not have a deficiency of that item" are necessary to prevent long-term disease, but also in the short-term, there may be many many mental issues which are a result of an abnormal response to a vitamin or a mineral. It might mean that you have too much of something in your body (typically metals like lead, aluminum or copper), or too little (just about every vitamin and most minerals can cause mental problems when the body doesn't get enough). One thing I thought was interesting is that it talked about a "bible" used in diagnosing mental disorders - there are (in 2000 when this book was published) 374 different kinds of mental illness or disorder in this book. Included among them are these two very interesting ones: "Nicotine Dependence Disorder" (basically, if you have trouble quitting smoking, you have a mental illness) and "Caffeine-Induced Sleep Disorder" (if you drink coffee at night and can't sleep, you have a mental illness?). The author has a PhD in nutrition and is considered an "alternative practicioner". He has treated hundreds of patients who were diagnosed with mental disorders (as well as physical one) and though not all were successful, he has a wealth of knowledge. He suggests that every person who feels something is "wrong" with them (whether mental or physical) should first have a hair analysis done for metal/mineral levels, then an IGG and IGE allergy test, and he recommends to get a further test done for chemical and environmental allergens as well. It is his experience that many people are actually allergic to things (whether it's food or something like pollen or pesticides or perfume) and have symptoms that would normally be considered "mental illness". Most people diagnosed with a mental illness are treated with a variety of prescription drugs, most of which have side effects, and really, none of which actually FIX the problem. They merely mask the symptoms, and may cause their own set of problems. I spoke to the doctor today about this and she was actually quite excited that I was open to that - she said that I absolutely should go see a naturopath and have things checked out. Even if I find that nothing shows up strangely there, then we start looking at drug treatments. It's odd to speak to a doctor who is willing to step away from the prescription pad and let you find a solution, but I understand more now about her because she was talking to me about her son who is autistic. She said that many many autistic people have a "leaky gut" and an abnormal reaction to one of the proteins in milk, which makes their body do crazy things with it, and causes some of the symptoms of autism. She said 5 years ago, anyone would have looked at me like I was nuts if I said that I thought my mood was caused by food or something in the environment, but it's not like that anymore. So, I am going to find a naturopath and see if I can figure out what might be causing me to feel like crap. Here's hoping it's not the things I really like; cheese, tea, honey or cats.

So that's my learning day... today I learned a lot, and my doctor even learned something. Overall, a pretty good day.


Oh, I put pictures up from our trip, the link to them is in the previous thread.

M.
Wednesday September 3, 2008 - 06:53pm (MDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Vacation Over
Thought I'd post a little now that we're back safely from our vacation. This will be a mish-mash of descriptions, events, feelings, etc.... sorry if it gets confusing.

We left Wednesday evening... almost 2 hours later than we'd wanted to, but we got out safely and had everything packed that we needed (or hoped). Grabbed fast food on the way and drove to my parent's house.
Arrived around 11:30, brought in only the basics that we needed for the night and visited with my mom (dad was in bed already) until around 1am. Not too much to report there, except for the lovely news that my sister is pregnant - just past her first trimester now, due 03/03/09. Adam said to me later that he hoped that news wouldn't ruin my vacation, and I tried not to let it even enter my mind, let alone bother me, but it really really does bother me for so many reasons - many of which I can't even vocalize. Some of it is jealousy and I know that, but I don't know why. I think part of it is that I'm younger and I just wanted to do something first - which is so dumb because there's lots of things I've done first. But I know that's part of it. I feel very sad - it's easy enough to go about my day to day life and not think about my sister, but when I hear about a baby and I realize that's going to be my niece or nephew and they'll never know me, I'll never know them, all the things that I did with my aunts & uncles as a kid will never happen for this child.... and the same goes for our kids. Sure, they have aunts and uncles on the other side, on Adam's side, but my kids will never know their only maternal aunt. I'm also very sad for this unborn child because I truly feel like my sister is too selfish to be a good parent. I fear for their life but for their emotional well being as well. How will a child ever learn to be accepting of others, to understand how to work through problems between very different people to find common ground, if their mother can't even find a few minutes of her life to put herself aside and reach out to her only sister? Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that our kids will be perfect, but I've *tried* to communicate with my sister and been shut down at every turn. I feel basically like my whole life I've been reaching out to her and getting slapped in the face for it. At the very least, I think our kids will understand the difference between "family" and "relatives" - as unfortunate as that is to learn. It would be so much better if they could grow up thinking they were the same thing, and never have to learn the difference, but I guess at least if they learn it early they will be spared some of the pain I've had to go through recently in learning it.
So... onto new topics. We left for Montana Thursday late morning. Crossed the border no problem, found our campground no problem, found a site. Went to register and the lady at the booth said (after she took our money) "you know about our trains?" (they're right next to the tracks, we'd crossed them as we came in). We said yes. She said, "and you know about the whistles?" We must have looked confused because she said the train whistles every time it comes through here. How often? "Oh, all the time". And she pulls out 2 pairs of ear plugs and hands them to us. Sounds lovely... what have we got ourselves into?? So it turns out that the train *does* come through quite often, and all day & night. And they whistle.... the incoming trains start whistling when they're directly next to the campground, which is separated from the tracks by a stand of trees about 10 feet deep, if that. And they're LOUD. Thankdully they only came through about 3 times during the night, but everytime it woke me up. That kinda sucked. Oh well.
Friday we went to find the kennel where Cube was going to go on Saturday and bought our tickets for the Brewfest, and made sure we knew where the bus came. Chilled out at the campsite and didn't do too much (very nice).
Saturday we were going to have a shower ($1 for 3 minutes) before we went to the Brewfest, but the campsite had a huge stainless steel tub behind the bathroom for washing dishes in. Since we had dishes to wash anyhow, we took them down to the wash tub, washed the dishes, and then I turned my head upside down under the tap & washed my hair. It wasn't perfect, but I knew I wouldn't be able to have a shower in 3 minutes! After that, we did go into the bathroom and took a shower - Adam did a full shower and I just washed my body. Good thing I'd already washed my hair because it took probably the whole first minute to get the temperature of the water to not burn me and then I'd barely rinsed the soap off my body when the time ran out. Then we packed up the dog and went to drop him off. No problem there, headed to our bus pick-up area, got a bag of ice for the cooler and tried to park the car in the shade. Bus took us up to Big Mountain for the Brewfest - on the new road to the mountain which is just finished this year (they did part of it last year and finished it this year), which is SO much better than the old one. Brewfest itself was pretty cool - lots of beer, but most of them had either IPAs or Hefeweizens, so there wasn't a lot of variety that way. We had bracelets with tickets and they were supposed to take a ticket when we got a beer, but many of them forgot or just didn't care, so Adam had a ton more beer than his 10-ticket bracelet would indicate. I had to stop when I had 5 tickets left (though I'd probably had 8), since all the mixing was getting to me. Sipped my favorite for more than an hour. We managed to stay right till the end, Adam got sloshed, and then we took the bus back down. Had to go into the grocery store for a few things (including beer) after we got there, so we did - with Adam yelling "Where's the BEER?" as we entered. The cashier at the nearest till pointed and said "back corner" and didn't look at all phased, like this was a daily occurence for a drunk person to come walking in and yell "where's the beer?". It was pretty funny, and embarassing at the same time. Oh well. Got some beer and our other few things and went to get the dog. No problem there. Went back to camp and spent the rest of the night dealing with too-much-beer stomach aches (both of us). They weren't bad, so that was ok.
Sunday... moving day! First we went for a walk around the campsite and filled a 1L Nalgene bottle with Saskatoons. They're a couple weeks past their prime, so the pickings were slim, but we still managed to fill up the bottle. Packed up the camp and headed south towards Swan Lake. Found the campground just fine, picked a spot, unloaded some stuff and set up the tent. We were making a sandwich when we noticed the large number of wasps, but thought it must just be the scent of the meat drawing them in. Cracked open a beer and were sitting on our chairs relaxing. Cube wanders behind me and all of a sudden come running back in front of me, shaking his head, pawing at his face, rubbing his nose on the ground and in an instant I knew he'd been stung by a wasp. Adam ran for the Afterbite while I checked him out - found the sting inside his left ear (on the ear flap). Thank god for it being on the flap and not in the ear or in his mouth. Stinger was still there, so Adam pulled it out and we put the afterbite on. Cube was *not* happy - don't blame him. Then we went and looked where he'd just been, and there are wasps going in and out of a very large hole in the ground underneath a tree - a fricking wasp nest!!! I immediately took Cube to the other side of the site and sent Adam to get the campground host. He comes back with a shovel and dumps 3 shovel fuls of dirt on the entrance to the nest. Within a minute, there's probably a hundred wasps flying around, trying to save their nest. We decide that we're going to move sites and I needed to get out of there right that instant, so we decide to go for a walk to check other sites. We went into a few sites and finally settled on one of them - no wasps!! - and came back to the original site to get our stuff. Campground man has found wasp spray and is now spraying the wasps that are swarming around the entrance to the nest. They start falling, but they're not dying immediately, instead they're thrashing around on the ground. Cube sees one and thinks about sniffing it; I tugged him away!! Now they're pissed off, dying, and covered in poison - I think not Mr. Cube!! So we get our stuff moved, and settle into the new site. Cube seems to be ok.
Monday... Weather is holding, and it's a beautiful hot day. We went down to the beach and sat in our chairs in the shade reading. Went in the water and it was pretty cold so we didn't stay in long. Thought about washing my hair in the lake, but would do that later. Went back to the site after a couple hours and decided to go for a bike ride. Packed Cube into his basket on the front of my bike and head off. I'm sad and pathetic and am tired after not very long. We turn off the highway onto a side road that sounded like it might have a nice place to ride or maybe walk. Turns out to be a hiking/biking trail through the woods to some back-country camping. Something like 21 miles I think the sign said to the next spot. So we start. And it sucked. Hit a bump, Cube's weight shifts, handlebars turn and I nearly fall off. Legs are burning, ankle hurts, and I'm getting mad. Adam was having fun and wanted to continue, so he offered me a bike trade. Sounds pretty good except his bike frame is much longer & wider than mine, so it was not a good fit for me. But we made it. Through the woods on a single-track trail until we popped out on what I think was a logging road. Decided we should probably start heading back and instead of going back through the bush we took the logging road. Lots of uphill for the most part, then we hit a junction and started coming down.... that was kinda scary cause I'm riding a bike I'm not used to with brakes that are different than mine, and I'm already/still tired. That's fine, we made it all the way down to the highway, where we changed back to our normal bikes and headed home. Storm clouds brewing and wind was really strong, but we got back. Delayed making supper as we thought it might rain... finally got too hungry, so I made supper and we ate and did dishes. Adam started a fire and we played a couple games of crib. Wind died suddenly and shortly after that it started to spit. As it was fairly late, we put out the fire and went to bed. It rained all night. I'm not talking like a gentle little sprinkle, like it was raining SO hard it sounded like hail and the rain was bouncing off the ground and coming up under the tent fly to sprinkle our faces (and everything else in the tent) with mist. That was a tough sleep.
Tuesday... woke up to find some puddles in the tent and decided that we would start heading home. Stay with my parents again and finish the drive on Wednesday. Packed up a lot of the camp, set the tent to dry out as much as possible (still threatening rain) and went on a Saskatoon hunt. Filled another Nalgene bottle. Finished packing up, I couldn't leave without filling up a half-full bottle with 'toons, and then we were on our way. Relatively uneventful drive back, stopped at a couple grocery stores to search for beer & crossed the border without any trouble. Grabbed a sandwich in Fernie and got to my parents around 9:30. Visited & went to bed.
Wednesday... breakfast at parents, a couple games of crib, packed a few more empty beer bottles and some dent store goods and finished our drive. Beat rush hour, thankfully, and had a late supper and a bottle of wine. Wine went straight to my head and I spent the night drunk on the couch - went to bed with a tummy ache and still not feeling 100% today.

Edited to add: Here are the photos from our trip. They're mostly in order, with the exception of Adam, Beer, Dinner & the 2 videos. Ah well. http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z60/dogmelissa/Montana%20Vacation%202008/

So that was our trip.... pictures up soon & now we're just about into fall. Lots of exciting things happening in September (one big event I'm hoping for), including our first anniversary!!! and then we're into Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Holy smokes does time fly!

Must go make supper now......
Melissa
Tags: vacation
Thursday August 28, 2008 - 06:52pm (MDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments

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