gondola in idaho

Did you know there was a gondola in Idaho? Not only that but it is the longest one in the world. On our last "escape the smoke" weekend we ended up spending the day in Kellogg, ID at the top of Silver Mountain Ski Resort, home to the longest gondola ride in the world. Imagine that.

It took about 20 minutes to reach the top. I got a bit nauseous along the way. The really awesome part? They let us bring Tiika with us. (We wouldn't have gone if she wasn't allowed. It was too hot to leave her behind.) She was a little bothered by the ride but overall was her usual traveler trooper self.

In spite of our intention of getting out of the smoke, we still had to deal with a bit of smoky haze as you can see here.

We spent time on top chillin' (an hour, maybe two? I don't remember). Rob went on to ride a chairlift farther up. I declined going since I was still feeling woozy. It wasn't Tiika friendly anyway so only one of us could go at a time. I snacked on some french fries and doodled in my journal. I should have brought my iPod. There is a playground at the top and it was being well-used by what felt like a huge crowd of kids.

Just before we went back down into town so we could head home, Rob and Tiika shared an apple. I love how delicate she can be with her mouth.

That wraps it up for tonight. I still have pictures from our August trip I'd like to post. I need to sort them and prepare them for the web before that can happen. Things are a bit intense at work right now so I don't have a lot of desire to sit in front of the computer when I get home. Who knows when they'll appear. Not I.

.ttfn.

nearly balanced

First, the smoke status. It seems to be mostly gone at this point. Yesterday was a nearly perfect end of summer day. Warm and breezy with only just a slight haze of smoke. This morning feels crisp and clear. Ahhh...

Second, I tangled with the checkbook last night. It is finally balanced, well, within $3.00. There was a time I would have chased down the $3.00. Not last night. It is good enough. Yippee!!

And third, I am starting a two week free membership at a women's only gym similar to Curves this morning. It seems like a good idea but I the place feels kind of creepy to me. I'm going for my first work out this morning at 7:00. We'll see how it goes.

Ciao for now.

smoky again

Rob just poked his head outside. Apparently it's smoky out there again. The relief from the other day's rain has come to an end. We'll evaluate again in just a bit but it looks like we might be heading for the hills to camp for the night and just lay around breathing clean air. Maybe I'll bring my running shoes and go for a jog since I haven't been out since last Monday.

rain!

Yippee! I woke up this morning to a delicious downpour of rain bouncing off our metal roof. What a lovely sound. By the time Tiika finished her breakfast, it had abated enough that we ventured out into a lighter shower. Ahh, I like walking in rain like that...and to know that it must be helping all those firefighters out there to douse the flames, even better.

PS I did get in a short run yesterday. Man, oh, man is it hard after not running for a while. I walked more than I wished. At least I was out there. I intend to go at it again tomorrow.

home again, home again

We arrived home last night at the beginning of some rain showers that lasted for a couple of hours or so. What a relief.

We had escaped our smoky town by heading east on Friday afternoon and not returning until 7:30 last night. It was great to breathe clean air for a couple of days. It was an additional treat to arrive here and have the rain begin. It seems to have cleared the air, at least out at our place. Hopefully town is cleared, too, as I'd really like to get in a run. It would be the first in what feels like forever.

(I suppose I could have run over the weekend since we were camping in National Forest and the road was right there. Somehow, sleeping in seemed a higher priority.)

Regardless of the smoke status, the temperature is supposed to stay cool for a day or two. Very much a good thing in my book.

Time to hit the showers. Have a good week.

couple of brief rants

In my morning walk with Tiika this morning, we encountered a dead cat. Rob came across one in our yard on Tuesday evening. I'm not sure what is going on but if someone is poisoning them, I'm p*ssed. The one this morning might have been hit by a car, it was hard for me to tell.

We have had a growing population of feral cats in the neighborhood so it's not far fetched to think that poison has been put out. While I don't like the idea, if it is the management company's doing and they haven't warned anyone, I'm even more p*ssed. There are a lot of children who live and play here not to mention dogs. It's time for a call.

On another ranting note, the fire that is west of here, the Black Cat Fire, has burned "structures" and continues to threaten more. Many of those "structures" as far as I know are usually called homes. It bothers me that the media don't just say homes but what ticks me off even more are the gawkers who come to get their picture of history:

"Sheriff’s officials say people are stopping to look and take pictures and by doing so hampering the firefighting effort, while impeding those trying to evacuate. In additon, Giffin told KPAX that heavy air tankers and two helicopters were unable to refill for water drops because onlookers were parking too close to the dipping site." (from New West Missoula)

Don't people EVER think outside of themselves? How would they feel if it were their "structures" being threatened by this blaze? Grr. The situation is large enough they have even pulled city cops off the streets to help control the crowds and road closures.

Enough of the crankiness. It is Friday (yeah!) and we are planning to head out of town this afternoon to escape the smoke and ash that is currently the air we are breathing. I am thankful the fires aren't close enough to us to be a threat to our home, humble though it is.

Happy Weekend everyone.

couple of doodles

Just a couple of small pieces of art work. The first is from my journal that I carry with me pretty much all the time. You never know when a thought or idea will need immediate expressing. It's almost full so I have to take a look at my stash soon and pick a new one. It's done in pencil so not all of it came through in the scan.

The second is a piece I've been playing with for a while now, off and on. I haven't been very happy with it so decided I would just doodle on it and see if it got any better. I think it did. You can't tell in the scan, but a few layers back I used some of that really cool iridescent paint that is one color (green) until you angle it a little and then it becomes another (lavender). (Thanks Elisabeth!) My favorite part is the whirly-gig that I ended up sewing on because the medium wasn't holding it well enough.

It was a nice way to spend some time last night. It was dang hot again so I wasn't sure I was going to follow through on the ideas from my air conditioned office. I'm glad I made the effort.

This morning the wind seems to have shifted and the smoke it pretty thick. I think I saw ash in the air as I walked Tiika. Yuck!

super smoky

Dang, it's super smoky out there this morning. I can almost taste it. Yuck! Here's a recent article from the Missoulian newspaper: Mile Marker 124 Fire.

I checked out the ArtFest listings yesterday. Hoo boy, some days are going to be really hard to choose. I've printed out the descriptions for the classes that jumped out at me first so I can read them on the drive over to Seattle tomorrow. Yipes, we leave tomorrow! Guess I should get around to packing now then, eh?

I wanted to post a new favorite picture of Will but realized I don't have one here at home. They are on my computer at work. Time to get them home!

.ttfn.

cooler

I woke up this morning at 2 to the smell of smoke and feeling chilled. The first was a drag but the second was very welcome indeed. Apparently the winds have shifted overnight and the smoke from the Mile Marker 124 fire was coming in through the blower/fan we had running. The good news is that when I took Tiika out this morning it was a chilly 63 degrees F rather than the balmy 76 degrees F we've been having. Yippee!

Today is August 1st, the day the ArtFest 2008 class list is revealed. Oooo, I can't wait to check it out. I've already got a couple of teachers in mind that I'd like to take a class from and a new (better, I hope) strategy for getting the classes I want.

.ttfn.

been very absent

I have been very absent on the blog. It has been nearly a month since I last posted. Yikes! I intended to be better about writing than that. The best of intentions sometimes are interfered with. In this instance it's been the weather. It has been way too hot! And since our place holds the heat so very well in the summer, it tends to be 10 degrees hotter inside than out. At least that's what it feels like to me. The net result is that we typically get home in the afternoon, grab some food and Tiika, then head to the river to swim and cool off. We stay until we are tired and it's close to bedtime. Hence, no time or desire to sit in front of the computer and write in the heat.

Fire season has been going on for a few weeks now but has kicked into high gear in our neighborhood. We have two fires pretty near us. One is practically in our backyard, the Golf Course Fire, and the other is down the road about 15 miles. The following article gives an update:

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/top/news01.txt
(We are at approximately milepost 109 for reference.)

I had a great visit to Portland with a 24 hour art stop in Seattle last weekend. I feel like I am barely getting settled back into being home and now I have to get ready to leave again. We are heading out on Friday after work to celebrate Gretchen's birthday in Seattle, do a little more reconnaissance on the move and then hit Washington County for Brad and Mandy's wedding. Whew!

Hopefully by the time we get back from this trip the temperatures will have dropped to something more reasonable and I can get into a more frequent writing mode. We're looking forward to seeing everyone and taking part in the upcoming celebrations.

.ttfn.