Scotland Adventure Begins (4/11-4/12/26)

Two weeks in Scotland is a lot to get caught up on, so I'm not really sure how I'm going to structure these posts. I guess we'll find out together, lol.

Jay scheduled us for an overnight flight from Denver to London, which is our preferred way of traveling across the pond. Usually, we can grab a bit of sleep (with the help of some alprazolam) on overnight flights. Additionally, taking a later flight meant that we weren't in a huge rush as we finished packing and getting the house and critters ready for our absence.

We gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security, and it was a good thing we did, because something in my bag triggered additional scrutiny. As the TSA lady was trying to pinpoint what it was on the x-ray, she gave me the best accidental compliment ever. I had a travel towel rolled up and stuffed into one of my exterior mesh pockets, and she asked about it, and asked why I had it. Asked if it was my workout towel. I laughed, and told her that it was for when we get into the Fairy Pools. She kept looking at the monitor and digging through my bag, trying to figure out what that dense object was. She didn't tear apart my bag, she only unzipped things to get access to the area that the screen was alerting to, taking care to not destroy my packing, which I appreciated, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to repack and get my backpack closed again.

As she was digging, she asked if I'd packed some protein powder or something. I had not, but I grinned big, because between asking about the workout towel and the protein powder, it dawned on me that she thought I looked like someone who worked out. I mean, I play circus twice a week, but I'm just now starting to see my shoulder/arm muscles developing, so it was nice for a stranger to look at me, size me up, and decide I was someone who worked out. It took the sting out of having my bag dug through.

She finally figured out what it was she was seeing on the screen, and zipped everything back up. She never said what it was that triggered the scrutiny, so when we got to the gate, I unzipped my bag and looked at what she'd been looking for. It was my shampoo bar from Swell Labs. I bought it, because their advertising said it was great for travel. Since it's not a soap-shaped shampoo bar, and had caps on both ends, I thought it'd be easy to transport, and I wouldn't have to worry about it getting soggy or gross. That damn shampoo bar became the bane of my existence. It might be great to travel with in your checked luggage, but in a carry-on it became a time-consuming pain in the ass at each and every security checkpoint we went through. Jay suggested I just toss the whole thing in the bin, but I paid $35 for that, I couldn't just toss it. Won't buy another one to travel with, though.

Luckily, we'd given ourselves enough time that it wasn't an issue being held up at security. Eventually we boarded our flight and headed off to our adventure!

Bright eyed, bushy tailed, and ready to GO!

The flight was okay. Despite pharmaceutical intervention, neither of us slept particularly well on the plane and were both a little groggy when we deplaned at London Heathrow. Our train to Edinburgh departed from King's Cross Station, so we had to navigate the train system from Heathrow to Paddington Station, then Paddington to King's Cross. It wasn't the easiest navigation, due to lack of clear instructions on our reservations and being tired from the flight. Luckily, we had scheduled our train to Edinburgh with more than enough time to make the trek.

Once we got to King's Cross, since we had a couple of hours to kill, I made Jay stand in line with me at Platform 9 3/4 to get our pictures taken.

Even though the photo crew there is a well-oiled machine, we still stood in line for almost an hour. I can't imagine the craziness that occurs during actual tourist season.

Finally, we managed to board the trail to Edinburgh. We dozed a bit here and there, and the four-ish hour trip passed pretty quickly. 

Starting to look a little worse for wear after our long
travel day.

We watched the scenery go by, in between catnaps.

The very first time I went to Scotland was over twenty years ago, with my ex-boyfriend's soccer team. My ex was a huge Newcastle fan, so when we realized that the train we were taking to Alnwick stopped in Newcastle, we decided to get off so he could visit St. James' Park and see where his favorite team played. 

I do not remember this view of Newcastle at all from my
previous trip.

However, I remember these signs very well.

Our plan had been to hop off, go see St. James' Park, buy some new soccer jerseys, then hop the next train to Alwick. We thought we'd be only an hour or so behind our friends. What my ex and I didn't realize was that the train only stopped in Newcastle twice a day: once in the morning, and once in the afternoon for commuters. Our late departure from Newcastle turned into quite an adventure, and the memory still brings a smile to my face. Jay, of course, has heard the story before, but he got to hear it again as we chugged through Newcastle.

We arrived in Edinburgh about 8:30 p.m. on April 12th, after leaving at 6:40 p.m. from Denver on April 11th. It sounds like a really, really long travel day, and it felt like it, but Edinburgh is 7 hours ahead of Denver, so in reality it was only about 18ish hours instead of 26ish.

I had watched a few reels from Keep Edinburgh Thriving, and in one of the videos Nashy talks about how so many tourists are unprepared for the stairs in Fleshmarket Close, right outside of Waverly Station. For some reason, I let that get into my head, but instead of being intimidated by the mere 122 stairs, I took it as a challenge.

Fleshmarket Close

It wasn't much of a challenge. After sitting for so long during travel, it felt good to climb those stairs. And, besides, it's not 122 in a row, there's a slope midway up. The slope was by far the worst part of the journey up to the Royal Mile.

When we approached Fleshmarket Close, we looked at each other and said that the stairs reminded us of the stairs in Lake Como, Italy that lead up to the Bellagio Hotel. Both sets of stairs had businesses along them on both sides.

Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy

Finishing a Few Final Projects (4/8/26)

The day started with an absolutely stunning sunrise. I was slow getting out of bed, which meant I was going to be running late to work, but I looked outside and saw the sky. I hustled through getting ready for work and spent a few precious minutes wandering the backyard, taking pictures.

If I'm supposed to be on time to work, maybe God shouldn't reward my tardiness with such stunning artwork early in the morning.

I just love this view. Sunrise is one of my favorite times of day.

I arrived at work in great spirits (and technically, only one minute late), only to be felled by a stomach bug within twenty minutes of my arrival. After a couple of hours of running to the restroom every twenty minutes, I tagged out and went home. There are few things more aggravating than having a long to-do list for after work, cutting the work day short because of illness, and not being able to tackle the to-do list. If I have to cut a work day short, then I want to be able to either play or get my to-do list knocked out. Not sit around, miserable, waiting for the next trip to the bathroom. Finally, after a short nap, and with the demon purged, about 3:30 in the afternoon I was feeling well enough to get started on my list.

AnyTMI, I eventually began knocking things off the list. One of the things that needed to be completed was to finish the insect netting for my broccolini bed and get the drip line installed. Of course, that took much longer than anticipated (don't all "quick" projects take longer than anticipated?), but with the help of my cat scanner, Pongo, I was able to get it completed.

Also, have I mentioned how much I love this chicken tractor frame? Seriously, even though it's not being used as a chicken tractor any longer, the frame has more than paid for itself over the past year or so.

Pongo thoroughly checking my work.

Is it ugly? Yes. Does it work? Also, yes.

Now, with the exception of picking up another couple of round bales for the horses, my pre-trip, around-the-house, to-do list is complete. All that's left is my last day at work, some light cleaning, and packing.

Planting Time! (4/4/26)

Finally! 

I've been waiting impatiently for it to be time to start sowing outside. Because I'm a newish gardener, I follow the seed packet instructions as closely as possible. I looked up our average last frost date, and counted back to make sure I wasn't planting too early. Now, this winter has been ... let's say, mild ... so I probably would have been fine planting even earlier than the seed packets suggested, but I didn't want to risk it.

My original plan had been to use our old slow-feed net as a trellis for my peas to climb, but I decided not to cannibalize it so that Jay and I still had two feeders and nets for when we travel. We can put two round bales out, and then we shouldn't need anyone to replenish the hay supply while we're gone. With the slow-feed net out of the running, I had to come up with something else.

Luckily, L.E. had an old day bed in storage that she was looking to get rid of, so I scrounged up a piece of that and planted it in the pea patch. Because our winds are so brutal at times, I secured it with four pieces of rebar: two taller pieces on the north side of the trellis, where the wind typically comes from; and two smaller pieces on the south side of the trellis, in an effort to provide some structure when the wind inevitably kicks up. I like the end result - it looks like it's free-standing.

I'll admit, I rattle canned the rebar white so that it wouldn't
stick out like a sore thumb.

Because I don't have a ton of confidence in my newly greenish thumb, I do everything in my power to increase the odds of germination, including soaking my peas prior to planting. I planted three different varieties of snap peas: traditional green, one with purple flowers and green pods, and a third with purple flowers and purple pods (they're my favorite). I tried alternating them as I planted, but I think I didn't do a very good job in the middle, not that it'll matter once they start growing. 

Jelly jars did double duty as pea-soaking jars.

Last year, I planted my seeds on the south side of my trellis, and the wind really beat them up, so this year, I planted on the north (far) side so that when the wind kicks up (are you sensing a theme?) it'll blow the vines into the trellis, not away from it. I then woke up in the middle of the night in a panic that I planted the peas in the shade of the trellis and convinced myself that they weren't going to grow, because I put them in the shade. I couldn't very well go out in the middle of the night to make sure they weren't in the shade; I had to wait until the sun actually came up. (Good news: the peas get sun throughout the day.)

Some of my struggles last year were because of watering. In an effort not to run up a big water bill, I tried watering "just enough" and stunted my garden because of it. This year, I decided to copy L.E. and install soaker hoses in all of my beds. I only accomplished installing three of the six that I need, but I'll get the rest put in when we return from Scotland.

I'm attempting to grow broccolini this year. It's one of my favorite veggies, and it never occurred to me to try to grow it until I saw an ad for seeds. They were stupid expensive as far as seeds go (over $5 for 20 seeds), so they'd better grow! L.E. warned me that members of the broccoli family are prone to pests, so I decided to cover our old chicken tractor with insect mesh to protect the broccolini. I didn't have quite enough netting to completely cover it, so I ordered more. The broccolini will be protected before they begin to sprout. Additionally, I read that onions are a good pest deterrent and companion plant, so I put some onion in with the broccolini.

This chicken tractor frame has been so useful!

My gothic garden has to go in in stages, but I did get to plant the poppies. And, under Maggie's new sweet pea trellis, I planted some creeping thyme seeds. Those seeds are so microscopic that I was afraid they'd blow away, so I covered them with greenhouse plastic and weighed them down with heavy old window anchors.

Inside the cinder blocks, I planted sweet peas.

I've done what I can as far as planting before we leave, and I'm hopeful I'll come back to some babies peeking up through the soil.

Big Trip Coming Up

When Jay and I went to Italy in 2022, we had hoped to be able to take a "big" trip across the pond on even years and a smaller, closer trip on odd years. That hasn't quite worked out, with job changes and such, but we're both in good, stable jobs again and ready to get back on track.

Our "rules" for travel are:

• we only visit places that we've either never been to, or that only one of us has been. 
• For example, we've both visited Rome (before we were married), so Rome's off the table. 
• He'd visited Fussen, Germany a couple of times before we were married, but I hadn't, so Fussen was a go. Now that we've both been, Fussen is no longer an option.
• we can re-visit a country that we've both been to, but we can't stay in a place that we've already been.
• We loved Costa Rica and want to return, but the Guanacaste Provenance is off the table. Same with Italy (the exception with Italy is that if we're ever able to buy property there, it would be in Radicofani).
• we alternate choosing destinations.
• We both agreed on our Italy trip, because it combined places we both wanted to see. Jay chose to spend a couple of days in Germany (see Fussen, above), and I wanted to go back to the Tuscan region of Italy. Our desires aligned and we were able to do both.
• This year's trip is to Scotland, my choice. The next trip is to the Swiss alps, Jay's choice.

The reason we put those rules in place is because there's a lot of the world to see, and it's easy to keep going back to familiar places. Our travel time and budget is limited, so we have to be strategic in how we do it. 

In just a few days, we'll be boarding the plane for Scotland, and we're both incredibly excited. Scotland was never really on Jay's list, but as we started planning and researching, he got more and more excited. I found a free countdown app that I've been using for the past few years. As soon as our tickets are bought, I put the leave date/time in the app and let it do the counting down for me. It's fun to watch it go from year(s) to months, to weeks, then days, etc.

This countdown app has some
fun "random" options.

With just four days to go, we're in the "what have we missed, what else needs to be done?" stage. After a year of planning and waiting, the trip is right around the corner. One of the best things about sharing property with L.E. is that we each have built-in house/horse/cat/garden sitters. L.E. will let the cats in and out, make sure the horses are safe, and water my garden while we're gone. When she goes on trips, I do the same for her. It works out perfectly. This year, we've made it even easier. Jay and I will put out two round bales in slow feed nets, so she won't even have to worry about putting hay out for the horses.

Our trip is going to be a combination of city and countryside. We'll start in Edinburgh for a few days, then head out of the city to Glencoe for a few days, then Portree on the Isle of Sky. Even though I'm not much of a city girl, I am looking forward to our time in Edinburgh. We've got reservations for potion making at the Department of Magic, bag making at the Islander, and the thing Jay is most excited about, and was the first thing he booked, afternoon tea at the Signet Library.

Typically, Jay books us Airbnbs whenever we travel, and we've gotten to stay at some absolutely incredible places. I know a lot of people are anti-Airbnb, but we've never had a bad experience. However, this time, he chose to book us at actual B&Bs, which made Mom happy as an owner of a B&B herself. The reasoning is that we want to go hiking, and the hosts will have a lot of ideas and pointers for best hikes, something we've learned over the 28 years that Mom has run the lodge.

In Glencoe, we'll be staying at the Fern Villa Guest House. I guess it's technically "near" Glencoe, not in it, but the pictures are amazing. And when we're in Portree, on the Isle of Sky, we'll be staying at the Viewfield House, which is super fancy-looking. Outside of Mom's lodge, I've only stayed in one other  B&B, on my last trip to the UK. I'm looking forward to the experience of staying at others. We all know Mom's B&B gives a rustic experience with fantastic breakfast. From the pictures, I feel like the Viewfield House gives a hunting lodge vibe. 

Needless to say, posting will be nonexistent while we're away, followed by a flurry of posts once we return.

Easter Egg Coloring

Last night, the Ashinator hosted us for Easter egg coloring. The intent was to color eggs with the Gremlin, but that didn't happen.

Digger and the Gremlin were at my house, waiting for me to get off work, and the Gremlin was struggling. He was tired, cranky, and just wanted to go home. As time got closer to leave for Ashinator's, he got progressively crankier, which, in turn, made Digger stressed and cranky. Gremlin insisted the he just wanted to go home. Tuesdays are parenting switch days, so Digger and Gremlin's mom meet at his speech therapists for the hand-off. She drops him off, Gremlin does his therapy, then they both head to my house for our usual Tuesday night family dinners. By the time it was getting time to leave for Ashinator's he hadn't been home yet.

Seeing Digger's growing frustration, and Gremlin's crankiness, I told them they weren't obligated to go. The Bionic Cowgirl was headed over there, I was headed over there, but if they didn't want to go, I wasn't going to force them.

Of course, this sent Ashinator through the roof. She'd been planning this for a couple of weeks, and we were all looking forward to it. I completely understood. I also completely understood that when Gremlin gets cranky, Digger gets stressed, and no one has a good time. AND, I could understand Gremlin not wanting to get in the car and drive another 20 minutes to go to another place that wasn't home.

Let's face it, there are times when I'm tired, overstimulated, and just want to go home. Most of the time, I feel obligated and I go anyway, and I'm miserable. Though, honestly, there are times when I'm happy I forced myself to go do something when I don't want to, the majority of the time I'm just counting the minutes until it's acceptable for me to leave.

Egg coloring was supposed to be fun activity for Gremlin, and he might have had a blast if we'd forced him to go. Ashinator and Mr. Ashinator are two of his very favorite people in the world. He knew that's where we were going, and he still wanted to go home, which, to me, was very telling.

I don't know, maybe I should have forced the issue, and not given Digger the green light to go home. He was willing to go and force Gremlin to go, but I started wondering why I would force them to do something that neither of them had any desire to do. It wasn't work, school, or a doctor's appointment. In the grand scheme of things, it was something the adults wanted to do with Gremlin. 

Also, I wish that someone had given me grace to pass on activities like this once in a while when my kids were little, instead of feeling forced because it was expected of me. 

Am I sad he didn't want to participate? Of course! 

But it turned out just fine. The five of us had a good time, and colored eggs without them. We were able to just sit and hang out, five adults, doing an activity that we have fond memories of doing as children, using Grandma Nita's old coffee cups that have held our egg dye for decades. It was nice to be able to hang out with my adult kids without it being kid-centric, and I'm actually okay with the decision to let Digger and Gremlin bail out last minute. Their loss.

Playing Catch-up (3/8/26, 3/17/26, 3/23/26)

I swear, all I have to do is blink and I get behind on posting. The truth is, though, that I hate opening my laptop at home. It's so old and slow that I get frustrated waiting for it to wake up and get moving, so I just wait until I've got extra time at work to post (shhhh, don't tell anyone).

Anyway, the Bionic Cowgirl comes down for Sunday dinner each week, then stays at Nebalee's so she can spend some time with her, too. And, as I've mentioned, I always have a project for us to do. One of Mom's friends said that Mom's love language is "acts of service", and they're so right. We all benefit from it, but I've been extra lucky for the past few years, with her help building Whimsy and helping out with Maggie. So far this year, the focus has been on getting the garden started. Later in the spring, we'll go back to working on Whimsy, who needs a new coat of paint and I've got to frame in a few of her windows that I'd left hinged to be able to open them. In two years, the only time they've been opened is when the wind does it, so it's time to just frame them in.

Sorry, I'll get back on track. I built Maggie as a potting shed, to house the amazing potting bench that L.E. gifted me. At the beginning of March, the Bionic Cowgirl and I put that potting bench to work starting seeds. Last year, and the year before, our seed starting didn't go very well, so I was determined to be successful this year. I bought trays with domes, fancy organic starting soil, and grow lights. I plugged in an oil heater and put it on a timer, so the temps wouldn't drop overnight. Our seeds are more spoiled than any other being on our place, they'd better grow!

Leeks and bell peppers

Once the seeds were nestled in their boxes under their grow lights, we put up a utility shelf. I have lots of cool things in the Magical Potting Shed, but most of the actual business of potting is hidden away in the potting bench. Having a utility shelf within easy reach to hold everything we use every day was a no-brainer, so Mom helped me get it put up.

With the seeds planted, and the shelf up, I put Mom to work spray painting the cinder blocks I chose to use for flower boxes. She painted them a metallic silver, then we filled them with potting soil. Now, we just have to wait a couple more weeks to plant the sweet peas in them.

The book nook was meant for living in Maggie, but she gets so dusty that I knew I needed to protect the nook in some way. Jay suggested an acrylic display box, which was brilliant! Unfortunately, I could not find one that was only the size of the book nook, but book nooks are designed to live on bookshelves between books, so I went to 2nd and Charles and found a set of Harry Potter books to live in the display case along with the little nook.

At first, I was a little surprised with myself that I'd go buy books just for display - books are for reading! - then, I justified it by reminding myself I could read the books. It's possible to just open the door of the display case and just pull a book out to read. Eventually, the Gremlin will be old enough that I can start reading these to him.

Mom and I had a good day's work that afternoon. The following Sunday, we headed to Moab for the sentencing, so Sunday dinner looked a little different. It was late when I got home on Monday, so I waited until Tuesday morning to go check on our seeds. The leeks were supposed to emerge at about ten days, and they did!

Look at my babies!

I've watched them pretty carefully over the last week or so, and only about half have come up. It's a good thing I use "black thumb math" when planting, and plant double what I think I need, just in case this happens. Yesterday, I moved the leeks out from under the dome, because they were almost getting tall enough to touch it. Now, they're in a different window, still under grow lights, and they'd better keep growing!

I need to thin them, but I don't wanna.

L.E. and I started our tomato seeds a few days ago, so now it's their turn to get to growing. 

The Sentencing (3/16/26)

This is the mugshot from when our fine,
upstanding citizen was picked up for burglary,
which then revealed his warrant for the accident.

If you've been following along from the beginning (there's a summary in the Plea Deal post), you know what an absolute cluster of fucks working with the State of Utah has been, so I don't know why I was surprised to find out that the dumbfuckery continued the morning of sentencing.

On January 5th, at the pre-trial hearing, when Mr. Graska (aka Sincere Deviolencia. Yes, I'm deadnaming him, and that's intentional) was offered and accepted the plea deal, we were told that the sentencing would occur in Moab, UT, because the courthouse in Monticello was under construction. No problem, we could find a place in Moab to stay. It was re-iterated a couple of times that the sentencing would be in Moab.

Come February, I decide to reach out to our victim's advocate to see if they had any agreements with hotels in Moab, noting that we didn't want to risk running into him. She let me know that they did not, and that our best bet would be to find an AirBnB if we wanted to be certain we wouldn't run into Mr. Graska. So that's what we did. I found one, sent it to Mom, and she booked it. It was perfect for housing the six of us for one night, and it was only about ten minutes from the courthouse.

Morning of the sentencing, we pack up and head out. We get to the courthouse and can't find the courtroom. We follow the signs upstairs to the District Courts, only to be told that the courtroom was downstairs. No problem. The six of us trudge back down the stairs, but don't see a courtroom. We go into a reception area to ask for directions to the judge's courtroom, only to be told that he's in Monticello.

Um, no.

We were clearly told, repeatedly, that the courthouse in Monticello was under constructions and that court would be held in Moab. I had confirmed with the victim's advocate when I was looking for lodging that the sentencing was going to be held in Moab.

At this point, it was seven minutes before court time, and Monticello is an hour south of Moab. There was no way we were going to be able to make it. The lovely ladies at the Moab courthouse were kind enough to offer a couple of solutions: 1) make room for us to log in and attend it remotely, or 2) call the judge and ask him to delay until we got there.

The clerks actually chose option two for us. They took my number, and said they'd call once they got ahold of the judge. We hustled back to the cars and headed south to Monticello. Just a couple of minutes after we got on the highway, the clerk called and let me know that the judge had a very full docket that day and that it wasn't a problem for him to push back the sentencing until we arrived.

I suppose this is the time to say that every person we've encountered throughout this journey has been amazing: kind, thoughtful, and helpful. Some of them (cough-cough-victim's advocate) just aren't very good at their jobs.

It was jolting to file into the courtroom and see Mr. Graska, just right there. Right in front of us. I don't know where else I expected him to be, but sitting in the pew a few rows ahead of us was not it. The judge allowed a few victim impact statements to be read, and allowed statements from each attorney. The defense attorney was clearly trying to argue for time served and wanted jail, rather than prison for his client. Also, the defense attorney said that it was only fair for us to hear what kind of person his client was and read a rambling statement about his client's life, pausing to choke up and cry at what he thought were key points, but mostly were just awkward. Mr. Graska was allowed to make a statement, which he did, but it was also just narcissistic drivel, and he wouldn't even turn to address us (the family). He managed to dredge up some tears, too, but I'm fairly certain that was just because he was feeling remorse about going to prison, not about what he did to our family. He'd shown zero remorse at all throughout this long process.

The judge didn't buy any of the theatrics and gave him the full sentence, after a brief lecture about how this wasn't an accident, but an inevitability for someone driving under the influence and distracted. Have I mentioned, I really like our judge?

Sadly, the full sentence is 5 years in Utah State Prison, 6 months in county jail to run concurrently. He'll be out in two. 

Did I also mention that sentencing happened to fall on Mom's 77th birthday? I guess, happy birthday Mom, your gift is that most of the court crap is over.

I want to share an impactful statement from Mrs. Deejo that resonated with everyone who heard it:

Bill was a force of nature: warm, steady, and deeply good.  His loss left a hole in our family that cannot be filled.  Life moves forward because it must, but it will never again be whole.