Cajun Crawdads

I recently noticed some clunking in my car and took it in to get checked out. Just as I suspected: a faulty control arm. For those of you who aren't car gurus, if this breaks, I'm toast. So I did NOT drive a ton this week. BUT - Becky and I did work out every day (and in the real gym) so we are sore.

If you were wondering how the birds were doing. 3

Becky also took me golfing for the first time ever. And I was not good. But I got better. But I also missed the ball 66.66% of the time. Gotta try again.

I drove up to Flag for a PT appointment and to check out a possible apartment for later. Then up to Page so Rog and I could get a license - which was the worst hassle. And then up to Jackson Flat.

Yakking. 

I wore waders like those old cranberry bog dudes and went fishing and planted crawdad traps before it was dinner time. But my waders had a hole and were slowly leaking. I changed into the spare waders and tested them out. And they had a hole and were rapidly leaking. So I changed into some spare pants and socks and didn't really participate in the manual crawdad catching.

The next morning I went yakking (like the good ol days) and it was nice. The ducks didn't like my being on the lake, but I did. We packed up and came home and watched the Magnificent Seven (old version) and had a Cajun Crawdad boil. Just like the movie Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. But they looked like those big bugs at the restaurant in the Emperor's New Groove. So picture that.

Also congrats to DJ D-Wreck and the Shennsley. You know why.

Pizza Frita

If you didn't know, I started working for UberEats. Basically I just wait for calls during lunch time, pick up food, and deliver it. Easy.

Now I usually work for 3 hours a day, making an average of $10 an hour. Which kind of sucks. BUT is better than nothing AND actually includes a lot of free time within those 3 hours. So over the past week, I've been charting where all the parks and outdoor basketball courts are in the city.

Willow Lake

This also helps me have a little bit of structure and some extra cash - and includes the flexibility to work when or wherever I want. And I've been discovering places. Like Limoncello's a genuine Italian restaurant with gelato. And Willow Lake. But we'll get more into those.

The baby hummingbirds outside our house. They stick their butts in
the air and shoot poop out of the nest when they need to go. 

First, I just wanted to announce that I have won yet another prize from car dealership junk mail. It's only $10 to Fry's (a grocery store), but it's $10 more than I had previously. Huzzah. In other news, the apartment gym and pool are now open and I bought a new book in a good series.

Over the weekend I was on my own since the Babers left to brand some cows and ride some horses. So I worked double and explored half of the Willow Lake trail - it just goes around the lake and the half I did was pretty flat, open, and would make an awesome running trail. I also went to a garage sale and met a man selling firearms. I took a walk on the trail by my house and watched BOM videos and watched Midnight in Paris, which - as ol deek described - is a Naomi movie.

The second half. 

Roger was in Flag for a Bach party for his buddy Carson and he drove down Sunday night when it was over. Monday we hiked the entire Willow Pond trail - which was supposed to be 3 miles of that easy running path and turned into 6 miles, most of which was climbing up and down huge rocks. Which was unexpected, but enjoyable. Also I have a ton of bug bites and probably poison oak.

So freaking good. 

Then we went to Limoncello's for lunch at that Italian place (or as Roger says, EYE-talian). For lasagna and pizza frita (basically a stupid good calzone), some Italian soda, and strawberry gelato. We went swimming and took a nap and went to buy a gun that the man upcharged me for by $200 so I did NOT buy a gun. And then we ate potatoes.

Limbo

The SLC VA hospital was supposed to meet me this week, but instead, I spent two more days in Page doing shenanigans and left for Prescott, with a PT visit along the way. Right now, my knee feels pretty good except for some very frequent and painful shifting/clicking that is also moderately disconcerting. But other than that, I'm getting back into it.

So now I'm living with Roger's cousins and their 2 kids in a shoebox apartment as they finish their house (where we will eventually live). I share a room with 3y o Paislee who never sleeps there and get to hang out with her and 1y o Marshall on the daily. Becky and I are planning to work out every day and are 100% (excluding Sundays). We're also making TikToks now and learning a bunch of the dances so we can go hard at the clubs (when they reopen).

Our "Wocket in My Pocket" outfits

Zeb was in town to help with the house, so we had B&G for breakfast after our run and before I drove up to Williams to meet Maddy for a semi-illegal Sycamore Falls hike. The falls are not running currently, but if they were, I'm not sure we would have found them. We did meet a couple of kids our age, Vlad and Shane, who showed us how to climb down into the canyon and tried to give us PT advice. Haha. They promised to send us the drone pics they took.

This is for Roger to see and cry about. 

While in the bottom, we saw some girls taking pictures from above and they also promised to send us those pics. We met a group of hilarious old people having a rock throwing contest. And another delightful family who helped us find our way back to the trailhead.

Looking down into the chasm. 

Maddy and I went to Carol's and watched them try to fix their camper with limited screws (since the missing box was in Ryan's pocket). We had a cookout with the Grandparents and put whole green chiles on everything.

Sunday morning we had french toast and bacon and learned all about how Ryan and Carol met and dated (thanks, Stu). And talked about some of the coolest hikes in AZ. We watched Kelly and the Chin smoke at a Boston devotional, which Grampy proclaimed, "was the best part of the whole thing".

Last finals week ever.

I had my last finals ever on Monday/Tuesday. I cared little. But did well enough (probably) despite not reading the questions. 

Most of my effort was expended in bringing stuff over to Roger's apartment to store (and helping him organize it in a way that makes the apartment still livable). And finishing off all the rest of the food in my house (popcorn and ice cream). And exercising and reading my birthday book. 

I packed my car up by Thursday night and I spent the whole day cleaning. Friday, I cleaned a little, worked out, ran some errands and to the store and to a doctor's appointment, and drove up to the Sandall house in Page, AZ. 

We spent half a day laying cement before Roger joined us and we ate watermelon and had a cookout with experimental cobbler for dessert. Which was dang good in the new fire pit. And I eventually showered. 

Last week of classes ever. Get. Me. Out.

This was my last week of classes ever and I actually went. We played useful jeopardy in MedTher and had a nice chat in the others. I almost had my practical cancelled due to technical difficulties, but then it was just rescheduled and I killed it.



I worked out a lot and resumed PT and ran on the Alter-G again (and I'm getting faster and less assisted). I painted and watched Next in Fashion and tried to go on a hike, but everything is closed with a $5K penalty, so we just parked on the side of the road and bushwacked along the river side. I got an oil change and found out I do NOT need to change my brakes yet (but I do still need an alignment).



We made pizza and shakes (nearly every day). And Carol gave us bacon and eggs, so I thoroughly enjoyed that. I also painted a bird on Roger's forest scene (that does NOT belong) so now he will never paint over it because he thinks none of my art should ever be destroyed, but his is disposable.

 

The big news of the week is that I gave Roger a hair cut and his coworkers thought he got it professionally done. And both of us were stressed throughout the whole thing. The other big news is that Roger bought a car! His truck survived a few crashes and Jurassic Park, so it's not super reliable anymore. But he refuses to do a photoshoot if it's not a truck. (And also we tried to fix the truck's camper window and the replacement plexiglass blew over and shattered.)