Tse Tnaz (tall lady)

 The last week before the storm. Jokes, but it was a pretty chill week. I had fewer patients and more paperwork per day, which actually is good for my social meter. I was feeling pretty congested for a few days, so I just played basketball this week and felt good for about 20 minutes. So that's nice. 

I babysat Marshall and Paislee. We read books, played on the swings, went to a YW activity, and watched Encanto. They even got to say hi to Roger before they went home. 

It was nice to see all the leaders in one place at our activity this week, even if I made up booklets for nothing since Bishop forgot he already had some (all the YM lost theirs, so he stopped worrying about them). 

Roger's friend came down from UT for a hunting trip. It was more than both of our social meters could handle. And also the missionaries came over. And also I talked to the parentals, MGH, and Zubby on Sunday. 

I read 3 books and only have 1 more to go for my January purchases (which I couldn't complete until December's were all read). Nikita Gill is my new favorite poet. I read a stand-alone with demon faeries and started a series on magical Vikings. 

A Day Off

Workwise, our patient numbers are thinning. Which is good since our employees are as well - a few people have covid and a few others are changing locations. I'm sad Kim is leaving, she's the goat and I've loved working with her. But, I had a day off this week and so Rog and I got to go on an adventure. 

The dream. Albeit a blurry one. 

We woke up early for a sunrise hike to Cathedral Rock, my favorite Sedona place so far. We met another photographer from Texas and helped a different one with his blue shirt themed photos. We saw lots of birds and hot air balloons and decided to get a longer lens for our camera. Next month. 

We ate at Lonespur Cafe, which was decent and chatted with Joe for a while. Then we ate steaks smothered in mushrooms. After Rog left for work, I went to print some things at Grandma's house for YW. I was there for 3.5 hours because we got pizza and ice cream and she told me about how she used to steal cats from the neighborhood, hide them in the garage, and feed them with liver pilfered from her dad's butcher shop. Classic. 

My favorite kind of taxidermy.

I had boxing and Olympic lifting this week. I'm getting better at snatches, but slowly. I figured out how to help my shoulder not hurt after lifting too. Volleyball starts up a week from Monday, so I gotta have it handled. 

We had our ward game afternoon which was suggested by the RS/Primary Presidents during ward council and Bishop tricked me into attending by making me come up with a game for the YW. Vonetta did the hard part, but I still had to be there. Rog and I won the mummy wrapping contest and everyone loved the ping pong ball shake. We came up with a great idea for an adult dance with the YW babysitting for next month's ward activity, so I replaced the tentative game night on the schedule. Apparently, that was not sufficient because the Primary Pres scheduled ANOTHER game day on a different Saturday. Bishop had my back on that one though. 

Always happy to be here

The YW are doing good at teaching the lessons so far. We'll see for the activities and our goals/missionary work deal coming up. We've got some things I'm excited for. 

Boy's Trip

Roger decided to go hunting the morning of his first day of school since he didn't have class until 12:30. Then he shot a deer. It took him all day to pack it out and then it was very rutty and stinky in the house and he missed class. Which he felt a little bad about, but this is the professor that teaches his ornithology class too and is requiring everyone to buy binoculars instead of a textbook. 

 181cm on that rack. 

Meanwhile, I went to go see a new patient in an ALF and got bit by their dog. It was just a little ankle biter and it BARELY broke the skin at all, but the paperwork has been ridiculous and I've had several telemed appointments making sure I don't have rabies, and antibiotics just in case. Yeesh. 

Bad lighting, Not a bad wound.

I've been loving our new camera and learning about photography. I finally broke and bought the editing software I've been planning on. I like it because it's a one-time purchase that can do just about everything that Photoshop + Lightroom do. I also found out about a free Photoshop clone that I'm looking into. So far, it's been pretty light experimenting, but it can make a huge difference. I went to a private hike in a neighborhood to get this shot. I also just ordered my first aluminum print, so I'm hoping that turns out bomb. 

Accidentally cropped out some trees on the left, so I gotta go fix that. 

In other news, it was Roger's boys trip this weekend. So we went on a brief date before he left to get me some dinner and get all his food (since I know about all the good deals). He left and our house has stayed very clean since. It's nice to know I'm not going crazy sometimes. 

I went on a hike, ground up the deer meat we're making into jerky, played around with some YW stuff and goals I have for this year. And I watched Practical Magic and Love Potion Number Nine - both with Sandra Bullock since I'm on a kick right now. Both worth seeing at least once, I think. 

My Happy Place (this side of the Atlantic)

This week has been chill, although I've kind of been hoping I get a real mild case of covid, so I don't have to go to work for a little bit.  I did kind of get exposed, but I don't have any symptoms, so I just have to keep gloves and a mask on per usual. 

Favorite place this side of the Atlantic. 

I remembered last minute that this is a boxing week. It was good to be back in class with some regulars. My friend, who works at the gym, hasn't been able to come since he's been schedule during class the last few months but PROMISED he would come in January. Surprise surprise when I saw him lifting halfway through class this week. I pulled him in, don't worry. 

My knee is finally to a place where I can bend it into child's pose and I'm trying to keep it that way while alternating weeks with boxing and basketball. Pray for me and my slow repair from the healing stick. 

Just a happy hiker. 

I took everything I thought I needed to the DMV to try to get our new car registered. It was a mess and the lady there surprised me with the information that taxes on my car would be about $3K. That didn't seem right and after having done some research, I'll be paying her another visit. 

Roger planned out a fun day in Sedona for us. He made me breakfast and drove there in the wee hours of the morning. I saw a bunch of deer and he missed a bunch. Then we did a fun hike with an arch and some offroading up the wash. We had a delicious lunch of Mexican and a to-die-for (but overpriced) Oreo shake. We chatted for a while and then split up so he could try to do some more hunting (unsuccessfully thanks to some ridiculous hunters) and I could take a solo hike around Cock's Comb. They were a little off the beaten path for Sedona and so it was mostly me and a few mountain bikers on the trail. It was a good day. 

Signature pose 3. 

The YW planned our activities for the year and I think it's going to be a good one. We had homemade pizza with tons leftover and figured out a plan to help them accomplish their goals. Some of them only said probably 3 words the whole time, but that's more than zero. 

@boger_mandall

The new car is great. Rog especially loves it. I love that it gets where I need to go. I love the gas mileage much less than my Prius (and so does my wallet). But it's been really nice in the snow and off roading and in the mud from Williams to Mund's Park to Sunset Crater. 

The stance. 

We've been playing with out new camera and took a few different hikes up to the Old Caves Crater hill to get nice pics of the snow-topped mountains.  

The crew hung out for New Years Eve (and made us stay up til midnight) with Dicecapades, which seems like a fun game for when you have energy. As it stood, it was nice that everyone cared more about sleeping than playing so it didn't get too competitive. 

Rog and I watched TWO movies this week - Scott Pilgrim (which Rog loved for the one liners and cameos) and Geronimo (which is part of my research for a second Hank book). That's right, I'm taking one for the team and watching more than just Tombstone and Toy Story to supplement my cowboy knowledge. Rog loves it. 

My new favorite book.

Grandma Sandall had a pie party as a celebration of life for her late husband. The pies were delicious (and plentiful) and we were glad she had a good turnout. We returned her Christmas tree and got to chat with her for a while.

The other big news is that despite our very spotty internet, I have officially started Roger's finsta account for all the model shots I take of him. Follow @boger_mandall for more.