GunDiva Day

What a fabulous day! Finally, we managed to get together this morning for a little bit of gunpowder therapy. The weather was great, the company amazing (love you Glenna), and the shooting good. Very rarely do I ever shoot as well as I want to, but it's always a good time. We only shoot one magazine each time we go out and we drill on the basics, but as the Original Bad Boy often tells us, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Next week, we'll work on something else, I think. Probably rapid fire, but who knows?

I treasure the days that Glenna and I do actually get to go out - they don't occur nearly frequently enough. No matter how bad the day or week or month has been, when I return from getting my "Glenna time" all is right with the world. She's got such a wonderful, calming influence on me and I am so lucky to have found a fellow GunDiva in her. Looks like I may get more Glenna time. I'm considering a return to the gun shop one afternoon a week - with a promise from her of some of her wonderful green chili and a promise from the Boss Man of a new Para. See how easily this GunDiva can be bought? Yummy green chili and a shiny new gun and I'll sign on to do data entry.

Just For Mom

Ok, Mom, as I was watching this happen, all I could think of was, "Jeez, Jeeps can sidepass too!" 'Cept they call it walking, but it's the same thing.

Lil Blue BoX

We took the Lil Blue BoX to Moab over Labor Day weekend for a little 4-wheelin' fun. Never having been to Moab, I didn't really know what to expect other than a lot of red dirt. We left after work on Thursday and got into Utah very early Friday morning. Rather that set up camp in the middle of the night, we just pulled into a recreational area and slept in the Jeep. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well, but Allie didn't sleep at all - she was busy guarding us and stared out the back of the Jeep all night long.

We found a campground along the Colorado River and for a mere $12/night we had a temporary home. Once we got camp set up, we headed out to the Top Of The World, a trail rated fairly difficult, but a good one to start our weekend off with. There were times when I was a bit stressed - not afraid - but worried that we'd get stuck and/or broke and there wouldn't be anyone to help us out.

The Top Of The World trail was a good one for desensitizing me to 4-wheeling. RCC had taken me to RZO's Winter- and Summerfests, but those were man-made obstacles, and up the Middle St. Vrain trail with a group of Jeeps. These real-life obstacles were a bit more daunting; especially since we were by ourselves. We still had some time after we got back from the Top Of The World, so we did an easy trail, Onion Creek, which was fun and had 22 creek crossings. I made RCC stop on our way back down so that I could rinse off some of the red dust in the creek. The water was so cool and clear it was amazing. I could have sat my butt down in the creek and stayed there for a good long time.

The next day, we had Poison Spider Mesa on the menu. We loaded up and headed for the trail. We conquered the Waterfall (no water, just a name, I guess) and when we got to the Wedgie, I jumped out and ran ahead across the obstacle to get pictures of RCC straddling the V-notch. Probably the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) decision I made all day. When I got to the top of the Wedgie, I ran into a group from Colorado who invited us to join them. Well, why not? We had planned on doing the Poison Spider Mesa loop and heading back, but Armando didn't have to twist our arms to hard to change our plans to join them on The Golden Spike and Gold Bar Rim. One look at the guide book and I was worried again - the author warned that no one should attempt it unless they had a vehicle with a lift, over-sized tires and lockers. RCC assured me we could do it in his completely stock Jeep.

You know, when weI first met, I told him that my horse could do any obstacle that he could do in a vehicle. That was until we hit this obstacle...

...The Launching Pad was by far the most pucker-factor inducing obstacle we faced all day. I'm still pulling cotton outta my butt from this little ride. I apologized for my boast, because there was no way on God's green earth that Estes could have conquered that obstacle.
It's amazing how quickly you can get desensitized to scary things after facing death. There wasn't any other obstacle that scared me; I was worried that we might break, but I wasn't worried about tipping ass over tea kettle and rolling backward down the hill.
There was one (okay, several) obstacles where the Lil Blue BoX really earned her stripes, but the most important one in the 4-wheel community, as I understand, is the Golden Crack. Armando initially told us that we should take the by-pass (or "super highway"), but after a look at the by-pass, it was decided that RCC could probably take the Golden Crack. You know, he really had no choice because to turn around would mean that we'd have to do the Launching Pad backward and there was no way in hell that was going to happen. RCC did manage to get across the Golden Crack with the a little help. There were two people in front of the Jeep with a tow rope to stabilize the front and one guy on the back bumper to stabilize the back - not a lot of help for an obstacle like this. I'm so, so glad he: 1) made it across, which meant that we didn't have to do the Launching Pad in reverse, and 2) didn't break anything, because we would have had to get a ride to town, buy the parts, and get back up the trail somehow to fix it. There's not a tow truck that I know of that can just climb on up and pick up a little broken Jeep on trails like that.

It took us nine hours to complete the series of trails and we covered less than 20 miles, but it was a ton of fun.
The rest of the trip was anti-climactic compared to our crazy day and I was good with that.

A Look Back at My Baby

Digger and Ashee-butt all ready for their Aunt Nonner's wedding.


My cowboy Digger (not to be confused with his sister, the cowboy-girl, Ashee-butt)

Cleaning up the Training Room at Rocky. What a helpful kid.

On Grandpa Danny's new motorcycle, Blue Bell. Believe it or not, they're both still around :)

The requisite nekked picture (sorry Ash).

First of many stitches. Superman failed to fly and plummeted into the edge of the coffee table. His first of many visits to the ER. I began to worry that they were going to call social services on me with all of the trips we made during his toddlerhood.

 

I Blinked And Now My Baby's 18!

Hard to believe that just 18 years ago, I popped out my first baby after three weeks of constant contractions. The doctors kept telling me they were just Braxton-Hicks contractions, but why don't they try three full weeks of Braxton-Hicks contractions every two to three minutes without a break? I'd finally hit my breaking point and go to the hospital, only to be sent home after an hour or so of observation. The last time they sent me home, I left in tears swearing that I wasn't going back, I'd just have my baby at home.

Well, long story short, I did eventually go back to the hospital and have Digger there. By the time I had him I was so sleep deprived that I lost track of time. It wasn't until I took him for his first well baby check that I realized I'd lost a day or two. In my mind, because of being so exhausted, his birthday was September 1, when in actuality it was August 30. It's amazing what happens when you are totally and completely spent. So after I wrapped my mind around losing an entire day, I accepted that maybe I'd been wrong about the day he was born. Obviously, since his birth certificate and hospital bills clearly stated his date of birth. Oops. What the heck kind of mom was I going to be when I couldn't get his birthday right immediately after his birth?

He was an amazingly patient first child; much older than his years when he was a baby. I look back at pictures of him and see a little man, not a little boy.

Some of my favorite Digger-isms (he was adamant about all of them):

• Mustin' Bustin' as in, "I like Mustin' Bustin' 'cause the pretty girls kiss you when you fall off!"
• Cowboy-girl: "I am a cowboy, Ash is a cowboy-girl!"
• Mynastics: "I don't go to jim'snastics, I go to mynastics!"
• "The Practice have prickers!" Yes, Devon, the catus have prickers, I mean stickers. (But prickers is an apt description, don't you think?)
• Fighterfighter: "I'm going to grow up and be a fighterfighter." I guess firefighter was too difficult to say...
• Drunk, drive, go to jail: That's what he thought the lyrics to "Jump, Jive, and Wail" were. Hey, makes a certain amount of sense.
• "My butt burped!": One night we were at Grandma Mary's and Digger was standing in his pajamas in the living room when suddenly his eyes got big and he slapped both hands over his butt and exclaimed, "My butt burped!". He didn't have the word for fart, and when you think about it, a fart is actually a butt burp.

I've got a million favorite memories, after all, in eighteen years a lot of memories can be made. Some of my favorites:

• We saw a kid in Campus West who had a mohawk arranged into easily 8" spikes, each spike dyed a different color and covered with a condom. Digger looked at the kid for a minute, then looked at me and said, earnestly, "His mom's gonna be pissed!" I almost couldn't chastise him for saying "pissed" because I was laughing so hard, and besides, I agreed with him.
• Digger got his nickname from the girl's volleyball team when I was the head trainer at Rocky Mountain High School, because every time he fell, the girls would say, "Oh, dig-ger".
• Digger's favorite movie for a long time was "8 Seconds" and he'd act out the Lane Frost death scene over and over, beginning with the ride, the fall, and being gored by the bull. Then he'd stagger to his knees and wave for help before falling to the ground, dead.
• Dinour, his imaginary pet dinosaur, caused a lot of trouble at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dinour made lots of messes at the dinner table, so many that Digger had to take Dinour by the hand and lead him outside before dinner. Dinour couldn't mind his manners so he had to stay outside.
• One time, he fell down the steep, narrow stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house and when Aunt Not A GunDiva went rushing over to see if he was ok, he put one hand up to stop her and said, "Don't... touch... me." Guess he'd spent too much time in the training room.
• For his fifth birthday, he insisted that all of the males attending his party come in a tie. Not a suit and tie, but a tie. At that point in time, he wanted to be the president when he grew up. Glad he grew out of that little phase.
• When he was just a short snort, he put those big ears of his to use. He'd pull up on the tips and hiss for his scary face - was actually pretty scary.

I can't believe my little man isn't so little anymore. It certainly hasn't been easy, but he's turned out okay. I know he's no angel, but he got through his childhood mostly intact. Now, if I can just get him well into adulthood unscathed. The scary thing is that he's just ten months younger than I was when I got married, and two years younger than I was when I had him. Hopefully, he'll make better choices than I did.
Love you Digger!

Random Thought...

Do you think animals name their off-spring like we do? I mean, cats and dogs have litters, how do they keep the little squirts straight? What if most of the litter is behaving perfectly, but one or two are being total brats - how does the mom yell at the brats without yelling at the well behaved ones?

Just a thought...

Mountain Therapy

The majority of the time I have "Mountain Therapy" it's on the back of Estes. Today, RCC and I did a different form of Mountain Therapy; RCC's partner, Mike, invited us to join him, so we met up with the Mountaineers club and took the Jeep up the Middle St. Vrain trail. The weather was absolutely beautiful in the mountains - sunny and warm. Since we're headed to Moab in a couple of weeks, today's outing was perfect for testing out the Jeep (or the Lil Blue BoX as RCC's has taken to calling her).

The Lil Blue BoX was one of the few "stockers" on the trail and I'm sure that there was more than one person who thought we wouldn't make it. However, RCC's been doing this a while and is a good driver, so there really wasn't any point during the ride that we were in danger of being stuck. We had lots of rock obstacles, water crossings, and mud holes. It was a great time and a great way to get out of the heat.

Here's video of Mike and RCC negotiating the lake crossing...