Summer Stay-cation: Day 5

Today was awesome. I am sore. But that's a good thing. Sort of. Today I had my breakfast and coffee. Nephew pulled through and we now have MILK! YEAH! I went running. Only did 2.3 miles, but Mr. Creepy said I did my fastest mile. It's interesting that when I feel like I am not going particularly fast and just plugging along, I have a faster pace than when I am consciously trying to go a bit faster. Whatever.

I got on the internet and played. Was going to watch "Futbol", but the U.S. game was already over. Oops. I sat outside in the sun for a bit and soaked up some rays, made more freckles, then got to work sanding the rest of the beams for the pergola. I don't think you know how big it really is so here is proof.

 The big beam in front I did yesterday. The four in the back are halfway sanded at the point of this picture. I had to take a few breaks from sanding for my hands/wrists. I didn't want my carpel tunnel to flare up. That bastard!

And then it was time to paint. And paint. And paint some more. I painted till I ran out of paint... which was here.

So will have to go to Home Depot tomorrow. Oh darn. Heh heh, I love that store. Sis came home and watched me paint, and we both vented to her best friend who came by to hang out with us. Made her feel better. We then traveled the very far distance to my parents house. And by far I mean 1.5 miles. And we ate really bad food (Taco Bell) and played cards. I didn't win, but came in second. So I improved my standing.

With all I did today, I should sleep pretty good tonight. Tomorrow will be interesting. We will be putting the pergola back together. Hopefully with my dad as supervisor, no one will have to go to the hospital. Also tomorrow is my last day of the stay-cation. It went by too fast. I feel like I need 3 more days. Oh well. I have more vacation hours, I can cash them in later. Take another week off later this summer perhaps.

Summer Stay-cation: Day 3 & 4

I didn't really do anything on Day 3. So it didn't really warrant it's own post. However, I did realize two things yesterday.

1: I can't do nothing on a stay-cation. I can't just sit in my room all day on my computer or watching t.v. I get too bored and frustrated and kinda pissy. So I decided that I had to get out of the house for the rest of the week. The back yard would do fine. I just have to do something. Anything.

2: While on my walk on Day 3, (I didn't go running) I decided to walk up the hill. If I walk all the way to the top where my street dead ends and back down, it is about 3 miles. And by up the hill, I mean UP THE HILL. People drive to this street just to walk/run/bike this hill. I thought that maybe I should actually try and run it sometime... I also decided that today (Day 4) was not that day. But I digress. I've known before, and it sunk in that if I had the money (1 to 2 million dollars) to afford to live on top of the hill, I wouldn't want to. Sure they are practically castles, but all they are are huge homes with little to no yard space with a view. I don't want a pink palace (there is a pink palace up there, I'm not making this up). I wouldn't fit in there. My priorities aren't palace with a view, luxury car, and hired help. There isn't anything wrong with that, it just isn't me. I don't need all that house space, or a luxury car or a Mercedes SUV. I'm a simple girl. It just doesn't seem practical to me. Just walking up there, I feel out of place.

So anyway, that was Day 3. Today, I got out of the house. I went to my local coffee shop for breakfast, since we are out of milk. But don't worry, I have... faith???? that the $4.00 I gave to the nephew who works at the grocery store, will come home with said milk after his shift. Faith, you gotta have faith, faith faith...

I ran another 3 miles today. No records or milestones, so no creepy Tiger Woods. I sat out in the back yard for a bit. And then I got to work sanding and painting the large beam for our large pergola that we took down when we got our new roof. It's been in pieces on our patio for months now. I want my patio back. Unfortunately, both dogs now have white paint on them. It's they're own fault. They aren't the brightest of their species.

By God, it's a fountain!

Long long ago (back in 2009, the year I went mental and other things happened) in the far distant smelly tar lands (Taft, California) *shutters* some of my crew members came across something that they thought I would like. At the time I was telling them of the adventures I was having fixing my house and landscaping my backyard. I was collecting rocks for a pond that my sister was constructing while I was out doing field work. Now there aren't many rocks in Taft. There's a lot of sand, and sticky stinky sand, but not a lot of rocks... that I'd be willing to display anyway in my glorious and wondrous backyard. HA! I did procure a coyote skull and a sheep skull however, and several other crew members took home some animal bones as well. We had a lovely cat skull sitting on the dashboard for a few weeks. It was adorable until you looked in its dead empty eye sockets and your soul turned black with despair.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted. At the end of the day when we would all meet up again, they said, "hey, we found something you may want". So off we went to find the GPS coordinate they logged. Low and behold they had found a stash of transmission tower ceramic insulators. These weren't your cute aqua glass insulators that people spend $50 bucks a pop at overpriced antique stores. No sir. This was an intact 40-50 pound ceramic insulator. And I thought it was beautiful. I thanked the crew members who found it and thought of me. We heaved it into the back of the SUV, and off we tootled. My first thought was to get it home and turn it into a fountain.

Well it made it home and sat in my backyard for years. It was a stand for tomato plants for a few years. It also held strawberry plants when we rebuilt the main vegetable garden beds. But finally after years of neglect and wishing it was still hanging off a steel transmission line in the dessert, it has become a fountain!

One of my nephews drilled the hole needed to run the rubber tube, and my sister one day took our old pond apart (we never took the time to maintain it) and replaced said pond (mosquito breeding ground) with our new fountain. TA DA!!

isn't it just the cutest thing ever?

and it works!!

Trees Trees Trees: Part 3

So um, I still have 12 sticks in 12 pots, but miraculously 9 of them now have leaves!

 All 3 Goldenraintrees!

 The lonely White Flowering Dogwood (1 of 4)

 All 3 Eastern Redbuds!

And both Crapemyrtles!

I love the leaves on the Eastern Redbuds and the Goldenraintrees.

All of these lovelies will grow big and strong and in a short few 20 years, they will look like this:

A full grown Eastern Redbud

Goldenraintree

White Flowering Dogwood

Crapemyrtle

Now, as I said before here: Most are up for grabs. I am willing to part with both Crapemyrtles only because I already have one in my backyard and three in my front yard. The City of Gilroy obviously LOVES Crapemyrtles! I'm not complaining, they are beautiful trees, and they bloom in the summer, not spring. Two of the Eastern Redbuds, and two of the Goldenraintrees are also up for grabs. Since only one white flowering dogwood took root, I'm keeping him.

So these little sticks with leaves are ready for their forever homes. However, I think they should stay in their pots for a bit longer. But then again, I don't know anything really about keeping trees alive, especially baby ones.

So far only one has been truly spoken for. My mom has laid claim to one of the Crapemyrtles. Whether she remembers sending me that email or not.

If anyone wants one, please let me know and we can arrange their pick-up/delivery. I'm serious! I cannot plant all of these in my yards. Well, I could but then mowing would be like a mowing/edging obstacle course.

Trees Trees Trees: part 2

Long, long ago in the not to distant past I wrote this: Trees Trees Trees. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. And then thought, "how rude, that I gave them money and then they don't send me my stupid trees that they promised."

They finally arrived, on December 24th. Merry Stickmas!

Yup, I now have 12 sticks. I have three Eastern Redbud sticks. Four White Flowering Dogwood sticks. Three Goldenraintree sticks, and two Crapemyrtle sticks.

I went to the great and wondrous Home Depot (on December 26th) and bought pots and soil for the sticks and went to town potting the twelve sticks.

don't worry, I made little labels so I know which stick is which

Obviously, I can't plant all twelve sticks in my yards. Well, I could but then I wouldn't have a yard anymore, I'd have a stick forest. (for some strange reason, I like mowing my lawns) So, here is the deal. If all twelve sticks survive and take root and live. (I don't have the greatest track record with trees) Eight of said sticks are up for grabs. I want to keep one of each for myself obviously, and I will find places for them in my yards. So come spring/summer, and I haven't killed them with love, kindness, and water, and they bloom and grow leaves and stuff, I shall post again who has survived. And whomever said they want one or two can come pick them up.

Live long and prosper little sticks!!

Trees Trees Trees

So back when I had a real job, not that my current job isn't real, but when you know, I had like money and stuff, I used to donate to quite a few different organizations. Such as The Red Cross, National Park Foundation, State Park Foundation, Yosemite Conservancy, and Sierra Club, and held memberships (with donations of course) to the SAA (Society of American Archaeology), SCA (Society of California Archaeology), Santa Cruz Archaeology Society, New Zealand Archaeology, and Sierra Club, among others. The only one I have kept current and still belong to is Sierra Club (because I like and usually agree with what they fight and lobby for). In the past, I think I also donated to The Arbor Day Foundation because this came in the mail.

At first I wasn't going to fill it out. When stuff like this comes in the mail these days, I usually just dump it into the recycle bin. But I held on to this one. I actually read it. So I decided to do it. So for filling out the survey and donating $20.00, I will get 10 trees, and the Arbor Day Foundation will plant 10 trees in a park somewhere in the US. I think it is a pretty sweet trade off. However, I know now that I will become inundated with even more stuff in the mail asking for money/donations from The Arbor Day Foundation and other similar agencies, it's just how these things work. I think my recycle bin can handle it. The 10 trees will be (according to my survey) 3 American Redbuds, 3 Golden Raintrees, and 4 White Flowering Dogwoods. I've always liked redbuds and dogwoods!!

So I'm curious in what state I will get my 10 trees. In the lovely picture, of course it shows a lovely family planting a young perhaps 3-5 year old sapling in their front yard. Somehow I don't think they will be sending me 10 3-5 year old saplings. They better not come in seed form either. I can't grow trees from seeds. I've tried and failed. My best guess is that they will come to me like my now dead Spruce that came with the Wall-E DVD. He came in a tube.

I've decided I will keep you all posted on the 10 trees. When they arrive, how they arrived, in what condition they are in, etc. Also, I don't have space for 10 trees. So if I can keep them alive and get them big enough to safely plant in a yard, and you live nearby... let me know, you may get a tree.

Well, I'm Impressed anyway

I did this to my thumb

 With this lovely mallet

While making this paver patio in my parent backyard!

Considering all the tools and power saws I used, this one small injury is nothing but miraculous. Impressed I didn't loose a finger or an eye... or Quirk the Cat.

Red Runner post challenge

Catch up on what this is here:

So yeah. The actual final day is Friday the 19th, but I will be in LA that day, so obviously I won't be running that day, or probably the day before that either since that day I'll be driving down to LA. And well, the challenge went into the toilet by halfway through the second week of the 9 weeks. Yeah, so here's why.

Recap on what the challenge was: Short run on Monday, Wednesday, Friday (between 2 and 2.6 miles) and  six rounds of strength training of three 30 second intervals with a rest between each round. I would change the strength training routine every three weeks. So the first three weeks strength training exercises were:push-ups, squats, and lunges with hand weights, and the second set was curls, behind the head curls, and something else I can't remember now. I don't like push-ups, I'm not good at them. So at the end of week 1 my left wrist was hurting a bit but I was more impressed that my thighs were sore. Halfway through week 2, I had definitely aggravated the tendonitis in my left wrist. So no more push-ups or anything having to do with my arms from then on out.

And quite frankly I was having a hard time making myself do 6 rounds of exercises. Ugh. So when it was time to switch up for the next three weeks, I decided to focus on abs and legs. So, planks, squats, sit-ups, etc. It sort of worked. Some days, I didn't do them, some days I did. Weeks 4-6 were not fun weeks for me on many levels.

Weeks 7-9 I sort of gave up on the 30 second interval thing, cus I wasn't doing it anyway. So with my brace on I went back to arm and core exercises with the hand weights. And the last two weeks I just did the running because I was working at my parents house hand digging out a patio and fixing their garden and transplanting shrubs. Yeah, I'm old school with a shovel.

I have no idea if I lost any weight. Maybe I'll weigh in tomorrow or something. But although I would like to reach the weight loss goal I had set last year, I don't really care about it now. I'm more concerned about muscle tone and getting rid of the muffin top.

My crazy friend and I are doing the Skyline to the Sea Trail in mid May, which is the "fun" reward for reaching my weight loss goal. So I'm doing it whether I reach it by then or not. But like I said, I don't really care about that goal anymore. It is not a necessity or priority.

I bet that was the most exciting thing you have read... ever. Bwahahahahahahahahaahaha

Lady Marmalade... without the prostitute part

Due to our sort of success with making plum jam this past year, I thought we could attempt to make mandarin orange marmalade from the mandarins of our tree in the back yard. We aren't eating them fast enough or giving enough away, and I don't want them to go to waste like our last batch ever of white nectarines (I cut the tree down - don't worry, will be replaced with a lime tree in the near future).

So this past Sunday I went and picked about half of the remaining mandarins off the tree. Looked up some recipes and found two to try. One for mandarin marmalade and one for mandarin vinaigrette. Apparently there is enough pectin within the pith of the citrus, and you don't need to add any, so we already had what we needed for the recipe. And only needed to buy some cider vinegar for the dressing.

So Monday evening rolls around and I thought I better get started on the marmalade. So I washed a little over half of the mandarins. And started peeling zest, peeling the little buggers, and picking out seeds, and removing pith.

Oh My God! I started at 5:30, and finally finished with a little help from sis when she got home from work at 11:30! My fingers and back were sore. Suffice to say, we did not actually make anything on Monday.

Tuesday evening rolls around and I thought I'd better get cracking. I begin to juliane the peels. After about 1.5 hours I am halfway through the bowl. Ugh. Meanwhile sis had made dinner and prepped the mandarins for cooking. She pulsed them in the blender a bit to break them up, added the sugar, water, and lemon juice (from our lemon tree) and had the pot ready for me to add the rinds. We decided that I had cut up enough and into the pot they went.

50 minutes later, ready to jar. Meanwhile we had another pot boiling to sanitize the jars.

We made all of 7 jars. Which was about perfect. We only had a tiny bit left over. We reboiled the jars, and all lids have "popped". We did it. Phew. We decided that mandarin marmalade, no matter how fantastic it tastes, is not worth the effort. Over 8 hours of labor for 7 jars of actual marmalade.

The vinaigrette however was very easy. Cider vinegar, mandarin juice, brown sugar, shallot, salt, and basalmic vinaigrette in a blender and add olive oil while it is on. Presto!

So we used all the mandarins I picked on Sunday. Now what to do with the remaining ones still on the tree??




oh, and by the way, Sura the dog was here the entire time.

Steel Testicles

My house, Fuzzbucket, has for the past week, smelled like death. Why? Because we heard some rodents playing under our house and in our walls, and I had the genius idea of throwing rat poison under the house and sealing all the vents. It worked. Something had died. When the smell first appeared, I thought the little dog had peed again, and was getting quite mad at him. I was thinking, he’s peed so much now in the house that it has leaked through the floor into the sub floor and we can’t get rid of the smell now without ripping out the floor and replacing the urine soaked sub floor. It took about a day for me to realize that the smell I was smelling wasn’t urine at all. It was decomp.

We lit candles for a few days, but when my room started smelling up, I had had enough. It was time to suit up, grow a large pair of steel testicles and go under the house to find the dead things and remove them.

Here is me suited up. I’ve got my rain pants and rain jacket on, mittens with rubber gloves over them, bandana because we didn’t have any masks, hat to keep my hair back, and head lamp to see with. Also had a garbage bag for dead things and the hot pockets box to use as a scoop.

Luckily there was no standing water under the house. Usually during the winters there is a small pond under there. But there hasn’t been a whole lot of rain this year, and so it was just very wet and it is more like a freezing mud pit.

Fuzzbucket’s crawl space is quite small. You can’t crawl on your hands and knees. You have to scoot on your belly. It is only about a 1 foot 6 inches worth of height down there and gets smaller the farther you go.

I found the first dead rodent under the hall bathroom. It was a fuzzy grayish mouse. It stunk. Scooped it up with the hot pockets box and into the garbage bag. I continued the search, scooting, scooting, scooting. Found the next dead thing under the living room near where the fire place is. It was pretty gross. It was completely flattened, bones sticking out everywhere and as I scooped it up, realized it was also covered in maggots. Nasty ass mother f@%$&! Got it in the bag and twisted it up so the maggots wouldn't start creeping out.

By then I had about had it under there. I started the trek back up and continued to search for more dead things on the way. Didn’t see anymore. However, there is a nice collection of red plastic bowls down there, along with various nails, screws, and other unidentifiable things. The original plan was to get the dead things and also rewire the cable lines coming into my nephews rooms, but the cable lines are a complete mess down there, and I didn’t want to pull the maggot/rodent bag of death around anymore.

Sorry nephews, you will have to wait till summer, when it is dry down there.

There is so much moisture down there that the dirt is growing fuzz. Not green fuzz like moss, but it’s white hairy fuzz. It was kinda cool.

I was going to have an after picture of me as well, but I kinda had to undress while in the hole. But here are my clothes after coming out.

It has been two days now, since this adventure, and the house still smells! So we are still burning candles. Oh well. My sister thought I was very brave though. Those steel testicles are awesome.

adjusting

Working from home has been, well, an adjustment. One would think that an opportunity to work from home would be ideal. It may be ideal if I actually had the space and was set up for it. I’m not. I take over a corner of the kitchen table and run an Ethernet cord from my bedroom (where our cable comes into the house) down the hall through the living room and into the kitchen. Then when my nephews come home from school, it’s a battle for the cord so they can play their online video games. Working from home is distracting. Home has always been home, my escape from work. Now, work is in my home. It’s also pretty lonely. There’s no one to talk to to discuss whatever it is I’m working on. I have to call someone, and try to explain to them what I’m working on or looking at. And there is no one here to motivate me. When we had an office with actual people in it, we weren’t watched 24/7 or felt watched, but because my co-workers were there, I was motivated. Other people working, makes me work. Now I have to motivate myself. That is not one of my top skills; trust me. My sister and I made a small table today for my work computer and accessories (scanner, speakers, keyboard, etc). That’s right, we made a table. I routered and everything! I’ll still be in the kitchen, but I won’t have to “put” everything away at the end of each day. We shall see how it goes. I’m still adjusting. I still don’t know if I like it or dislike it. I do like that I can now go to work in my PJ’s and nobody looks at me funny.

I never thought I’d miss the commute to the office, but I do. Not the 2 hours I spent in my car every day, but the daily habit of “going to the office”. And right now the drive up the mountain is beautiful. The trees are changing and loosing their leaves, and when the wind blows, it’s like snow… only its leaves.

What to do...

Guess what? It's raining. Oh, it's done now. I am here at the office on a Friday all by myself. Everyone else, all two of them, are in the field or meetings today. So what have I done? I fixed all the spelling errors on most of these blog posts. I didn't bother with the grammatical errors. That's just a waste of my time. I have done some work though too.

My hike the other day was nice. I did a loop trail at Coyote Lake (a Santa Clara County Park). I had never been there before. It is beautiful, and there is a nice community there as well of small ranches. The trail was closed, but I did it anyway. The sign said the trail was closed to equestrians and bicyclists. It said nothing about people on foot. So I had it all to myself. The only wildlife I encountered, if you even want to call it wildlife were turkeys. I picked up some books at the book store the other day. One is a small book on easy trails in the San Jose East Bay region. I think I will go through and walk all of them.

And now for something completely different:

I've been emailing a friend of mine recently and she said some interesting things that got me thinking. We were discussing the fact of why we are both still single and in our 30's. The two of us live very different lives but we are similar. We are both strong, opinionated, independent women. I had a boyfriend in college, but it wasn't until that relationship ended, that I realized what I had become and I didn't like it. That put me off relationships for quite a while. Two things came to mind when I realized I will be the crazy lady with cats. (I'm already crazy, just don't have any cats yet)
1. I have no social life. You need one to actually meet people and get friends. But I don't like going out. And I'm an anxious nervous freak when I have to meet new people, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.
2. Like I said earlier, I'm very independent. I've been "alone" as it were for a long time. I can and have lived just fine all by myself. I don't need a "man" to do anything, because I can do it. I can build a bookcase, mow the lawn, lay a brick patio, take out the trash, and even get rid of a partially decapitated mouse in a trap, all by myself. I can even change a light bulb! And I do a job that most Americans think as a male profession. Although in reality there are more female archaeologists than male these days.

And so we have decided (my friend and I) that because of this fierce independent nature, men are usually put off by it. The ones we are attracted to are not attracted to us. And those who are interested tend to be, how should I say, a bit on the girly side, which for me is not an attractive trait. It is kind of off-putting when I'm more of a man than he is. They either want to "take care of you" or want to be "taken care of". And we don't need either. I am capable of wearing the shiny armor and riding a white horse, I don't need to be "rescued". And I sure ain't going to "rescue" you. Just get up off your damn ass and "get it done".

And so according to my friend we will be crazy single ladies the rest of our lives. And there is nothing wrong with that. The world needs crazy cat ladies. And she may be right, I don't know. I've gotten this far on my own, and it ain't too shabby. Only that the single life can be, at times, a lonely life. But that's why we get CATS!

Things: they are a changing

Hello and welcome to the first post of 2010, from me anyway. I don't know if this year will be good or bad, but one thing I do know is that it will be different. For starters the work office has shrunk from 6 to 4 people (including me). The boss-man and our business admin have moved the "business" part of the office to what I assume to be the boss-man's place of retirement. Yet I don't believe he will retire in the next few years. So when I go back to work Monday morning, I am assuming that I will get to move my desk and all my stuff out of the dungeon (the lab) away from the dust, dirt, bones, and everything else you can think of to an actual office with... wait for it... a real window! It looks out to the lovely asphalt parking lot, but a real window with blinds and it *gasp* opens! Wow.

My sister, whom I live with, will be getting married in October... in Hawaii. So I will finally be able to visit Hawaii, Maui to be exact. And then we will be adding yet another boy to the household. heh heh. He's 40 something, but in reality he is an adolescent boy trapped in a man's body.

I will try to only work a 40 hour work week. While in the office anyway. When I'm in the field running a project it is near impossible. I'm lucky if I can keep it down to a 10-11 hour day while out and about. Perhaps this 40 hour a week thing will help in my lack of enthusiasm about the job. Don't get me wrong, I love archaeology and I like digging holes and walking around looking at stuff. I just don't like the, how should I say, the bureaucracy and how we are treated.

In other news: On my birthday while you all were either nursing a hangover or lounging on the couch stuffing your face with junk food watching college bowl games, I was lounging on the couch eating junk food watching a Dr. Who marathon on BBC America. Then went to Home Depot and bought some pine boards and cut them and fixed my bed so that the mattress will not fall down through the frame. Then I watched more Dr. Who. Ate more food, watched Dr. Who. You get the idea. So I guess this birthday was better than the last one. I didn't want a party or anything. And so I got to sit on my ass. Perfect.


My sis bought me a tree for my birthday. We went and picked him out today. We found him at Home Depot. The nursery was closed, sucks for them. We picked out a young magnolia. I think he will do great. His name is Brisco. We planted Brisco in our infamous tree killer spot. We first planted Bruce the spruce there last spring. We got Bruce in the mail with our Wall-E DVD. Bruce died soon after. We then planted Sam the walnut. Sam we found in our backyard. A squirrel left a nut and it sprouted. So we thought, why not? Sam died soon after. And so Brisco here is our third try. Brisco is young but not so little. I think he will survive. And if you get the link with the names, you are perhaps an even bigger dork than me, and I salute you!

By only working 40 hours a week, I hope to gain more actual home time. I want to explore and see my town and the surrounding parks, trails, and whatnot. I hate running and so to get in shape I want to hike. Sounds like a good idea to me.

I did a bit of research on NZ archaeology. The country and the environment/cultural laws are younger than any U.S. ones. Yet they seem to be much better off. And it looks like they pay better too. But it also is a very competitive market to get into. There just aren't very many jobs. One can hope, I suppose.

So here's to 2010. It will definitely be different than last year. And I'm hoping better.

And so I say again, it's been a while my friends

Just a pic of me hugging a huge marble, really it's marble... from about two years ago at Florence Lake, California.

It seems I say this every time…. It has been way too long since the last time I wrote. I keep thinking about it, but then I never do just sit down and write an update. A lot has happened since the last time. My sister and I bought a house together. And we are actually enjoying each other’s company. I never thought I would live with my sister and her two teenage sons, but I am happy being with them. There are a lot of “home improvement” projects, many are done, there are plenty more to do. I’m trying to build a bookcase; it’s not going so well. But I really want it, and well, what I want, I have to build myself because there is nothing like it out there. I fell in love with it when I saw it on TV. If anyone (and I know who you are) ever saw the show Moonlight last year (only one season) the main character, Mick, had the most awesome bookcase in his apartment. So I am trying to replicate it to fit my bedroom.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and that can be very dangerous. Actually it gives me anxiety attacks. (Thanks dad) The things I’ve been thinking about give me these lovely heart pounding, I don’t want to puke feelings because they are things I don’t have answers too, and I will never really know the answers ever, because well… the questions are open ended… and can have many answers or none at all. Why do I think such things in the first place?? I love torturing myself apparently. I’m going to keep thinking about them until I finally face them, really think about them, and answer them truthfully to the best of my knowledge, and where I am in my life right now.

On a brighter note, my 31st birthday was one of the best birthdays of my life… ever! I spent it with my family. And my two nephews, my sister’s boyfriend, and myself went indoor skydiving. One of the coolest experiences of my life. Don’t know what else to really say about it, but woo hoo! Here is their website: iflysfbay.com

Now, on with the archaeology. I’ve been working a lot in the foothills east of Fresno lately. That’s where I am right now, actually. In a hotel in Fresno. The only good thing about Fresno is that it has a lot of good restaurants, and that it is close to the beautiful foothills and Sierra Mountains. Other than that, there isn’t much to see here. We’ve been doing survey work and recording (documenting) sites near and under the transmission lines (power) that feed Los Angeles, on private property. It has been a… well… interesting experience. Being on private property automatically puts me out of my comfort zone. Our client (who we are working for) was supposed to notify the property owners that we would be on their lands. Well, that never happened. So since I am the project supervisor, I am the one who has to “talk” to these owners when they see us on their land. Several things have happened. 1. Owner comes up in big truck with big hunting dogs and loaded rifles. I about shit my pants. “Who are you and what are you doing?” I explain. Then he lightens up a bit… he thought we were illegally hunting on his property. He said he had caught hunters earlier in the day nearby. Then he said that there are 3 mountain lions nearby as well, a mother and 2 young adolescents. Oh wonderful. 2. Owner comes up on his horse, asks “who are you and what are you doing?’ I sense a theme. I explain… he is concerned that we stay only where we are suppose to stay… which is only in the “right-of-way” i.e. 300 feet on either side of the transmission lines. I say, no problem. 3. Property owner comes up in big truck; stares you down like he wants to kill you with his eyes. (I had a headache that day… turned into a three-day event). He was not happy, at all. He asked for proof of who we were. So I gave him phone numbers of our client. He calls them right then and there. He’s not happy. He doesn’t like our client, never did. He doesn’t like us, or what we do. He doesn’t want anyone on his property. He doesn’t want the Indian people to know about what is on his property. (He thinks, if they did know, that they would somehow get access – that’s not how it works, by the way). He thought we would “loot”. It was just all negative, negative, negative. Seriously, if he could kill with his eyes… geesh. I said, hey, if you want us to leave, we will. He finally said, well you’re almost done, you might as well finish. So the next day, we worked like a bee was up our ass, and got the hell out of Dodge! 4. Meet the leasers of the property and/or owners and they are chill, don’t care that we are there, or they are ecstatic and do whatever they can to help. I like these people. I’ve been having phone conversations with one in particular who is so ecstatic about what is on his property that, after we had finished with his property, he has gone back out and found more features and wants to send me pictures, and wants to know all about it. He’s pumping me for any information he can get. I’ll say again, I like these people. So this project has brought me tons of stress and I’m sure more grey hairs; it is the project that never seems to end; but also a lot of satisfaction and joy. I am learning a lot about the cultures that were here before the cattle ranching and citrus orchards. i.e. the Armenian immigrants and the Yokut Indians. This is the first time that I have worked on a project where we have found pictographs and mortars 35 centimeters in diameter and as deep as my entire arm. These sites are amazing.