Headed Up the Mountain

See you later!

Oh The Places You'll Go

I'm just peering down my road to see where it's taking me. Past the twists and turns, the ups and downs, where am I going?

I know I can't really see the true destination... but that won't stop me from trying!

Major life decisions have a way of doing that to me.

And It Keeps Going

So... yesterday I felt a little like I'd been training, building momentum for the last three months, intensely working and using all of that to run myself full force into a wall.

Thud.

Technically, the test went fine. It wasn't what I'd hoped for, but was probably what I should have expected realistically.

I did do better than 86% of the other people who took the test, but unfortunately I'm not competing with them to get into grad school, I'm competing with the 14% that did better.

I'm still going back an forth on what to do next. Retake it? Start looking at other, less demanding schools (although I did just fine to get into two back-up schools on my list)? Keep time and energy for applications (due in two to three months)?

About every hour feelings changes, but I'm waiting until I get back from a week of backpacking to settle on a plan.

I already know too well, life rarely turns out as planned, which is generally fine.

Oh, and my backpacking partner hurt his back so I'm not sure quite what I'm doing next week either :)

Still Out

I'm taking the GMAT this morning, 8 AM, Mountain Time. At 12 PM you may here a huge sigh of relief, it's over... depending on the score!

Out

Out of the office, out of my mind, out in general.

Fire lookout on Mt. Baker. Looking toward Mt. Rainier (that tiny bump in the distant center).

I'm taking the GMAT tomorrow, so I'm headed out of town today (it isn't offered here in Sheridan).

Busy Busy Busy!

For construction with all volunteer labor, we're keeping a good pace!

Still Around

First round of haying is done (I'm not sure if there's more, but we still have a while until winter!), but the babies are still around!

Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes

Mmmmm. Chocolate.

It is here, in the land of hunters, that I am having my first delicious brush with vegan baking.

Chocolate Frosting in the making.

And who better to learn with than the all knowing authority of 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World' and the Post Punk Kitchen, Isa Chandra Moskowitz! Super easy, super good.

Mix dry ingredients first

Recipe for cupcakes found here.

Recipe for frosting found here.

The frosting recipe is for vanilla. I changed it to chocolate by adding some cocoa powder in the place of powdered sugar and chocolate liqueur in the place of the liquid.

How the Garden Grows

So the garden has been growing without me. Thank goodness!

Actually, Karen takes care of it, so it is being tended, just not by me!

But I still eat all of it. In fact the basil I recommended 'we' grow magically turned into tubs of pesto this week. Yum!

Swiss Chard

And that's the way I like to garden!

It's also the way I gardened in Nicaragua, just take it off the tree!

The Sky is Falling

Or at least it was a few days ago.

It's been an amazingly rainy summer. It rained twice as much as normal in June and the hills are still green in July!

Craziness!

On The Wall

The first piece of art for a first home.

The West

Deep breath, in a different way.

It's another version of the west.

It's the Little Things

Just a little moment to realize how lucky you are.

This is Kat's groundbreaking, the start of her half of a 2200 sf duplex. That's 1100 sf of 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen.

Her own little slice of heaven.

Rodeo Week

It has started!

She's Such a Giver

It's Rodeo Week here in Sheridan! And the kick-off is a... kick-off.

The boot kick-off is a Sheridan tradition to start off the week and this year, Katie Lloyd, Habitat for Humanity Americorps volunteer won with a kick of 71 feet 1 inch!

The article mentions that Katie and another one of the volunteers were practicing with their steel toed work boots at the house site earlier in the day, but somehow in my supervisory visits, I missed seeing it.

Katie ran track for CSU and is currently training for a half marathon, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with her winning!

She is just such an awesome volunteer that she does anything she can to help spread the name of Habitat! You know, like getting on the front page of the paper!

Thanks Katie!

There's Just Something About the West

Deep breath.

Lucky in Wyoming

This was one of the views at the campground over the weekend.

Complete dependence on constant power.

Not that it is inherently bad; believe me, it sure is a lot more comfortable and productive to have power at your fingertips (including batteries!).

When I lived in Seattle with all those other treehuggers it was hard for me to believe that there were people in this country for whom the destructive power of fossil fuels wasn't obvious.

But it is actually really difficult to see the extent of the impact of coal and natural gas industries here in Wyoming where the population of the entire state is just over 550,000.

There almost no litter, no air pollution, no crowding.

For today, in this place, there is still enough space for everyone to be individuals and to do as they see fit.

I wonder if they know how lucky they are.

The Long Weekend

I hope you had a wonderful fourth of July!

Mine was spectacularly American and the first one I've celebrated since 2006.

Lake, sun, trout, grill, camping, friends, fireworks, not necessarily in that order.

Framing at Murphy House

So we start with this. Clay dirt.

And in just a few short weeks, we've got a front door....way.

Not quite done yet, but well on its way!

Upstairs and downstairs, so much progress has been made.

By so many people giving of themselves and their time.

To bring a family home.