every other orange

I think that the taking a break idea would be best. Thank you for the comments though, I am going to look into saving all of the thoughts on this blog. As far as a top 10 goes... here is a rough list. I'm still debating the order, but this is basically it.

The Color of Magic
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Einstein's Dreams
The Fellowship of the Ring (I liked it much better the second time around.)
Witches Abroad
Pride and Prejudice
The Light Fantastic
Small Gods
The Hobbit
The Rock Warrior's Way

One of my goals for 2008 had been to read 30 books. I kept track using 43 things, and was very surprised to see that I actually read 41. I wanted to keep the list, so here it is:

1. The Hobbit
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. Pride & Prejudice
4. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians
5. The Bible: A Biography
6. The Color of Magic
7. Escape
8. Einstein's Dreams
9. Pyramids
10. The Sweet Far Thing
11. The Alchemist
12. The Historian
13. Citizen Girl
14. Guards! Guards!
15. Night Watch
16. Heaven's Net is Wide
17. Rendezvous with Rama
18. Across the Nightingale Floor
19. Equal Rites
20. The Rock Warrior's Way
21. Eric
22. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
23. The Difference Engine
24. The Light Fantastic
25. Sourcery
26. Wyrd Sisters
27. Desert Solitaire
28. Witches Abroad
29. Reaper Man
30. The Fellowship of the Ring
31. Post Office
32. Small Gods
33. The Two Towers
34. The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic
35. Moose
36. Lords and Ladies
37. The Return of the King
38. Brisingr
39. Men at Arms
40. The Other Queen
41. Soul Music

In other news... some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a long time. I have been playing with the idea of discontinuing this blog, for several reasons, including a lack of desire to be online after work. I have been continuing to post pictures to flickr, and I would encourage anyone who wants to see those to check out the link up top. Otherwise, leave me a comment. I would love to know if anyone wants me to keep going with the blog, or not.

Last Saturday, Josh and I went to the Moab Pumpkin Chuckin festival. The event is put on to raise money for the Youth Garden Project (an amazing garden that high schoolers keep with an amazing amount of plants and also some chickens) and featured a bunch of sling shots and trebuchets and catapults.


There were some very large contraptions that threw the pumpkin very high and sometimes very far... but the ultimate goal was to hit a target that they got to place out in a field. It was a lot of fun to watch, and I've loaded a couple of videos onto Flickr, so feel free to take a peek!


These guys (the Bluff Whipper Snappers) managed to hit their target all three times. The kids helping out had a windsock to see which direction the wind would take the pumpkin, and set it off with a machete.

Last weekend Josh and I went down to Indian Creek to meet up with some friends from Salt Lake for a costumed climbing weekend. Although I am very outspoken on my costume hate, we were told that costumes were "required" (read: high school rule book). We had a pretty hard time finding costumes in Moab, but we were able to put together something for both of us, on a small budget.


I ended up wearing a bunch of neon clothes and black/orange striped tights as a costume, but Josh wore a backwards skeleton costume which actually looked good. It was still a fun weekend though, as there were some incredibly creative outfits, and lots of fun climbing.



We also climbed one day, on our own, and were free from the costumes. Josh is below, gearing up for Binou's crack (a fun one!).

Josh dragged me out to Long Canyon a couple weekends ago. I had been resisting the charms of this canyon for quite awhile. I had thought that I was tired of trad, and didn't want to do a long approach with a bunch of metal on my back... but those reasons seem silly now. It was one of the most gorgeous canyons that I had been in, and the one route that we got in before the rain was amazing! I re-realized that I love crack climbing, especially splitters, and can't wait to get back up there!

I've been really struggling with my mood lately, feeling that I'm constantly on the tipping point between great, and really bad day. I've been blessed with an incredibly busy job (that is a blessing considering the current market possibilities), but my patience was drained months ago. One of the biggest lessons that I took away from my time traveling in the van was how to cope with and enjoy a slow, boring day, and learn to relax and go with that flow. Now that I am back in insanely busy stress, I need to learn to take that lesson to the rest of life, and relax amid craziness.

Josh and I have been visiting the local sport climbing crag more these days (meaning what exactly... I'm not sure). I got pretty tired of trad climbing all last spring and winter, so the sportness has made me happy. We even got to climb with a "climbing legend" for a while last weekend, and learned that even the pros get sketched out on the scary climbs. It definitely made me feel better about being scared, but still wish that I was a stronger climber. Ah, well... someday right?

AND... for everyone that doesn't already check my flickr pictures from time to time, I would encourage it. I tend to post a lot more pictures there and sometimes include more stories. The link is also in the menu bar.

It has really been awhile, I know. Where's Karl was amazing. I managed to get no more than 5 hours of sleep every night, blog 3 times a day, plan the crew stops for the next day, get read and make all of the crew stops, get Karl out of the door, go grocery shopping, dump and fill the RV, make breakfast and some dinners, skip lunch (no time!) and go for a hike everyday. I was busy, but I met tons of incredible people, and learned a lot about the AT. I've also made plans to hike it in 3 years... 2011, I'm taking some months off :)


Shortly after returning from Where's Karl, I left again for my birthday trip. We were originally thinking of backpacking around Moab, maybe the San Rafael Swell, but decided to go to Colorado instead. We backpacked 5 days on the Vallecito Trail, in the Weminuchi wilderness... it was amazing!


Josh had never adventured in the Rocky's before, so the huge mountains were a first. And I had never taken more than a weekend backpacking trip, and definitely nothing at such high altitudes. We had no idea how we would fare.


The first day we managed to hike out 10 miles, over the most varied and rocky part of the trail, ending the day with a river fording. The river was pretty fast, and as deep as my legs were long, so I had to strip down to my underwear. It was also a mountain stream, at 9500 feet, in September, so... Freezing!


The second day, we enjoyed a little less weight and hiked out 14 miles to a high little spot close to the stream. We stayed there for 2 nights went for a pack-free day hike on day 3. At the end of the day, as we were cooking dinner, we were visited by a curious little doe. She seemed very intrigued by Beau, and wouldn't be scared away. We also got a little bit of hail that night - but it wasn't much.
The 4th day (my birthday!) was kind of insane. We had planned on hiking back to the ford and then camping to leave a shorter day for the last one. However, the freezing water must have done our muscles some good, because we felt incredible afterwards! When we reached the planned camp spot, we definitely didn't feel like stopping, and decided to continue on. It was only another 6 miles to our car, and as soon as thoughts of driving home, taking a shower and sleeping in bed entered our heads, we knew that was what we had to do. The last few miles were pretty hellish, as we had to do our first real climbing of the day (after 20 miles!) and we were both pretty fatigued. I definitely felt like I was sleep walking at times, but I was able to pull it together, and finish up an insanely long 24 mile day. Happy Birthday to me :)