New Shoes!

So, after much deliberation, I decided to cut short the boot hunt and go with a pair of sample Kaylands I found down at OGE. So far, I love them! They are way more comfortable and warmer than the Nepal Evo's I demoed at the ice fest.

First off, let me start by saying that I've spend the last couple of weeks trying o nall of the boots I could. Because the Red Rocks trip fell through, I had the money to invest in some boots. I go to OGE one night to see what they have to offer, and I find these puppies on the consignment shelf. Now, I'm not a huge fan of OGE, I know I'm biased but I find the staff there absolutley useless. After having been told that "They're, like, totally waterproof, I like, think." (etc).

I tried them on, I think they fit. I put them on hold, go home and think about it. Now, I liked the way the Evo's fit in store, but they were only OK at actually climbing (plus, even on proform they were $250). I was a bit in between sizes, I liked the stiffness but not the fit. I really wanted to try out the Vasque M-Possibles because of the boa system, but no one within a 4 hour drive had them to try on. So I sucked it up and dropped the $170.00 on these Kaland Gioves.

So far, I'm very pleased!

New Page Photo

Changed the photo at the top of the page from one a friend took in Joshua Tree to one I took of an abandoned hunting camp on the side of Big Spencer Mountain near Moosehead Lake in Maine. I've always wanted to paint it, but never have...maybe that's what I'll do tonight.

We all have rough days...but don't forget the A1 sauce.

I really suck at this whole blog thing, I promise I'll try and be better at keeping up with this all.

New semester has barely started, and all of the pressure is looking towards the summer. Shall I be a responsible young adult and get an internship related to my field of study, or should I play for a summer, this being my last real summer vacation and I've worked my ass off for the last two? Suggestions, please!

The boy and I recently celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Not really sure what that means, but we're still plodding along. It will be interesting to see what happens if we do end up spending the summer apart.

Sad news from back home. My middle brother, Patrick, is 12 years old and has had pet chickens since the first grade. He went out to feed them the other morning, and found one of them, Penny (by all means a fat old wretch) dead- frozen to the wall of the coop. He's a very sensitive young man, and he called me in tears on sunday morning to tell me the sad, sad news. I offered what simple advice I could; she was in a happier place now where it never snows, where she never gets barked at by dogs, and where there's planty of grapes for her to pick at.

He hung up on me.

Later that day he called me to apologize, then handed the phone off to my father. He told me how later that afternoon, Patrick confided in him that he wanted to build a funeral pyre for teh dead hen. My father panicked, having already scraped the remains of the deceased off of the side of the coop, wrapping them in a trash bag and sinking them to the bottom of the dumpster.

"Well, you know, Patrick," he said solemnly, "That's a great idea and all...but eventually, it would start to smell like a barbeque."

PENNY, RIP
2004-2008