It's raining frozen broccoli!

Not much motivation to write...things at the BFC go on as usual. It is slow around here, with very few new volunteers. Still no buffalo out of the park, so we are still spending most of our time around the cabin. The winter is becoming less severe. We all hope for more snow, but we haven't gotten much in the past few weeks. A lot of sunny days though, which has been nice. I spent a couple of afternoons digging out a nice sized snow cave, although it has been gradually sinking (as snow will do) and without any new snow on top I haven't yet opened it up again. I'm hoping for a big snow soon so I can actually use it. This may sound strange, but I have an elk head waiting for me to cut the ears off to make pouches (the rest of the elk is in the freezer, it will feed many volunteers, thank you mama elk). It will be interesting.

As it is right now, there are a great deal more men here at the campaign than women (not counting our several female neighbors, who aren't directly involved with the BFC). So far this season, I've been dealing with it fairly well. However, my BFC gal pal (one of the 3 female volunteers here) recently took an unexpected trip back home for possibly a month. Just today I have started to really feel the need for more female energy. It really does make a difference. I enjoy hanging out with the guys here, in fact a few of them are becoming more dear to me, but it's just not the same. Sigh (oh so dramatic, ha). I hope she comes back soon.

This is quite strange...there is a plan in the works to make a reality tv show featuring the BFC. The man interested in producing it has already proposed the idea to a major network (I don't know which one) and they liked it, so they're sending him out to do interviews. It supposedly would bring in a good deal of money for the campaign, which is great, but I personally think it is a bad idea. We'll see what comes of it...

A Beautiful Winter

I have never known winter to be so beautiful! I have fallen in love with Montana all over again. Although now it is because of the pure, white snow blanketing the ground and the trees, the amazingly clear night skies (the coldest nights) which provide a wonderful view of the Milky Way and the deep, deep quiet of the forest in winter. I was worried before I arrived for the season that I might not be able to handle Montana winters, but so far I am doing quite well and am adjusting much more easily than I thought I would. I am enjoying this winter more than any I have experienced in Missouri. I am happy here, even when my fingers are cold ;-)

Things are still relatively quiet around here at the BFC. No bison out of the park still, which is highly unusual for this time of year. So we are still trying to keep ourselves busy with what needs doing around the property. I have been cooking for about six weeks now, and while I have enjoyed cooking for community again, I am more than ready for a break. It is hard work. While another person here might wake up and feel like they just want to take the day off and hide away, I can't do that. Everyone would wonder why I hadn't made them breakfast, lunch or dinner, ha. I have learned more about cooking and that is a very good thing. I have cooked plenty of meat (all wild game, provided by several of the volunteers who hunt) and have only experienced success. While it is a little odd to cook meat for a crowd of omnivores, myself being a veggie, it is good to know I have greatly expanded my cooking repertoire. I have received many kind compliments (hopefully sincere ;-) on my cooking, and that feels good. For now, I have two more days to finish off cooking for the month, then I will only be filling in here and there to provide days off for whomever else is cooking. As of right now I'll be cooking for another month in the spring, assuming my plans don't change.

Yampah and I are spending more and more time together and I am very pleased that we are growing so close. He is a wonderful man and I am incredibly happy to know him. For the first time in a long time I actually have the desire to establish and maintain a real romantic relationship. I no longer ignore that sometimes frightening F word: future. It feels a little odd, since I have been so determindly single since my last serious relationship (the quite disastrous affair with Owl). It feels good though, and I look forward to what the future has to offer us. He has been gone for the last week, visiting family back east for the holidays. I have missed him! He will be returning today and I am very excited to see him :-D

So, all in all, things are good here, despite some ongoing frustrations with community (or rather those few individuals who make living in community difficult). I am happy and I forsee staying in Montana for a long time.

The season begins...

Sometimes I am amazed that I am here. How the hell did I get out here to the wilds of the big sky country to live and work with buffalo activists? Well, that's an easy enough question, but still...it's funny to think how my life has changed in the past several months. From simply existing in a college town where few knew me or even cared, working just to live, to belonging in an open community of activists trying to actually do something good for the voiceless buffalo. Strange but awesome. I am quite happy to be where I am. It feels good to be doing something I believe in. Despite being financially poor, not having health insurance or really anything I can call "security", I am much happier being a buffalo hippie than I was when I was just another drone. Sometimes I remember the quote my last roommate had posted on her door, "activism is my rent for living on this planet."

So, things are well here. The season has officially started, though we are still only sending out one patrol a day, as the buffalo aren't moving out of the park yet, at least not where we are. Although unfortunately a bull has already been taken in the state hunt north of the park near our other winter outpost. The cabin is still relatively quiet as we are slowing starting to get back into the swing of things. I began my stint as the official cook a couple of days ago and I'd say while the food I've made so far hasn't been amazingly delicious it has overall been pretty decent. I've found that I still have troubles keeping to a schedule when it comes to cooking. I don't know what it is, as I am punctual in almost every other situation, but I find it hard to get food on the table at a predetermined time. It seems to stress me out more than anything else. Something I will have to work on this season...

It is beautiful here. Chilly to cold, although we've had a few pleasantly warm days that were good for hooping. The sun doesn't hide too often. We are still waiting for that big snowfall that will cover the ground until spring, although the mountains are already covered. The nights are so very still and quiet. I am still used to the noise of cities, so the calm always makes me stop for a moment when I go outside at night. For some reason it makes me feel full, maybe even expectant, but of what I don't know. There has been a mountain lion prowling about again, which is always exciting. Another volunteer who has been spending time hunting in the "backyard" (the property butts up to a big national forest) has reported seeing wolf tracks, a group of at least five. They must be hunting as well. It's wonderful to live in a place with so much wildlife, even though some of those critters are more than capable of killing or maiming people. Kinda exciting really...

In Montana for the Winter

Well, I am FINALLY back in Montana, huzzah! I arrived on Saturday, after a ridiculously long bus trip (an extra 24 hours long thanks to a storm in the dakotas) and was greeted by my good friend Yampah (yay! I had missed him!) As soon as I got off the bus the smell of sweet pine trees and cold mountain air washed over me. In that moment I was immensely happy I was back. I am still very happy to be back! It is good to see everyone again. It didn't take me long at all to fall back into things. I feel quite at home again. The season hasn't officially started yet, so we don't have a schedule, aren't going on patrols or having meetings, which is leaving some of us wondering what to do with ourselves. I've already been cleaning quite a lot, ha. There is only one other person here who is as crazy about cleaning as I am, so there is typically plenty of cleaning to do. I'm sure I will be able to keep myself occupied until the season starts up.

Yesterday I helped Yampah carry necessaries up to his new house in the woods, a fancy 10x12ft wall tent. We covered the floor (really just the ground) with tarps and carpets, put in the bed and the stove and covered the top with tarps. There are a few more things to get ready and to put in, but it's already looking quite cozy. Actually, I'm just a wee bit jealous of his awesome little home ;-) It's in a beautiful spot and since it's away from the cabin, it is very quiet and private. Ahh...maybe I will be lucky enough this winter to enjoy its luxuries every now and then.

I'm planning on being here all season, at least until April or May. Right now it's a little cold, and cloudy, so not too bad (actually I've been enjoying it). I've picked out some good gear, boots and thermals and such, so I've been warm. It will only get colder though, so we'll see how that goes ;-)

Montana-bound

Finally! I'm leaving for beautiful (and cold!) Montana this evening. I'm not exactly looking forward to the bus ride (the whole trip should take around 33 hours) but I am SOO excited to be there again! WOOOT! I am hoping I will update at least occasionally when I'm out there, but I won't make any promises. I don't think I posted at all the whole time I was there this summer ;-) Au revoir!

Election thingie

I took a long walk yesterday to vote, then I came home, and practically forgot about the election until past ten o'clock. I thought, "oh yeah, there's a presidential election happening today!" so I got online and saw that Obama had won. WOOOT!! I almost didn't think it was possible that he would get elected. I think I've been becoming a little too cynical, and I've never been a big fan of the government. I'm actually quite glad I forgot it was going on, otherwise I would have been obsessively watching the results and preparing for bad news. I think it was better to just wait and find out when it was all done.

I found some of these exit polls interesting....

So, anyways, WOOT, HUZZAH! Maybe there is a little hope left...

The Wild Trees

Last night I finished reading The Wild Trees. I loved it! The writing did leave a little to be desired, but the information about the redwoods, sequoias and other giant trees, was fascinating! (and the story wasn't too bad ;-) I had no idea there was such a huge diversity of life in the redwood canopies. I found it amazing that up until the 1960s to 1980s most botanists and scientists didn't even know what was up there and didn't think the canopies were worth exploring. The just assumed it was all branches and limbs. Then people started actually climbing up the redwoods and finding all sorts of life up there that no one knew about. All of it was like uncharted territory. And there is so much more still to learn! Wow, just...wow. The capacity of the redwood canopies to draw in and store huge amounts of water and soil to support so much life is just amazing. Lichens and mosses galore, ferns, berries, shrubs, even other trees! Salamanders, voles, owls, worms, even tiny aquatic creatures called copepods that usually live in the sea and that no one knows how they got there. There are literally gardens growing in the canopies hundreds of feet in the air. How cool is that!? The fact that these trees are so old and so amazingly huge just makes it that much cooler. It makes me want to climb trees :-D

Cleaning House

Since I've been at my parents' house (and consequently the house I grew up in) I've been trying to clean out all the junk that I accumulated while I lived here and that has just been collecting dust. I'd like to think I've been fairly successful, but honestly there's still a lot of crap I don't need. I found a box of old bank receipts and important papers and other things that I felt I needed to keep because of something my mother instilled in me long ago. Some odd desire to keep these things because someday I might need them. Well, I brought it upstairs to send all the papers through the shredder (another thing my mother instilled in me: to tear up anything that has my name and address on it before throwing it away, it's like an obsessive thing I can't stop doing). I'm going along, throwing in payroll stubs, receipts and the like, pulling out random photos and other things I'd tossed in there as I went along that I wanted to keep. Then, suddenly, I pulled out a photo of Owl. I paused, then set it with the other photos. I shredded a few more things and thought how it might feel good to toss that picture of Owl in as well. That is apparently all I needed. In it went and I felt no remorse seeing the little bits of it fall into the pile. Ahhh, cleaning house is a good thing.

"There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

I've been wasting plenty of time online recently, and I found something rather amusing: The Atheist Bus! The words they chose for the ad I thought were perfect. The point of this though is that I enjoyed the campaign's collection of quotes so much I am going to shamelessly steal borrow them...

• “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored” - Aldous Huxley
• “An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death” - Justin Brown
• “If anything, an atheist has to be more morally responsible precisely because we don’t blame a god for our own actions” - Ivan Ratoyevsky
• “The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it” - Terry Pratchett
• “Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned” - unknown
• “The foolish reject what they see and not what they think. The wise reject what they think and not what they see” - Huang Po

Sapphire Portal @ Burning Man

My most enjoyable day at Burning Man was spent wandering about with Faun, exploring the deep playa. For a while, we ended up here at the Sapphire Portal (known to me since then as "the blue thing" as I hadn't yet heard its proper name). In Faun's words, it was "an oasis of Peace in a sea of Chaos" and I find that quite fitting. Circular, all blue, with some odd geometrically shaped sculpture fitted with mirrors in the middle, out of which came a somewhat mysterious, yet soothing humming noise. It was quiet, relaxing, peaceful. One could almost forget they were in the middle of a desert with 50,000 other people. We lounged in the shade enjoying the nearness of each other and a respite from the noise of a city that never sleeps. I felt completely peaceful and content luxuriating in the blue with Faun, and would have stayed there all day had we not had need to leave. Of course we left right as a HUGE dust storm started to kick up, and we were still quite far from home!

(Thankfully we found shelter from the storm not too far away, where we tried to wait it out, talking until we decided we really did need to get back, as our water supplies were running low. What an adventure that was! I was quite glad that Faun knew where we were going, as I surely would have gotten lost had I been alone. Visibility was poor at best. Getting back to camp, I heard rumours that it was one of the worst dust storms experienced at Burning Man, and it was making headlines, ha!)

Happy Samhain!

I have spent an inordinate amount of time this evening playing around with my fancy schmancy new flickr and goodreads widgets, for no good reason other than to entertain myself. At least they're pretty, right?

Owl came and went this afternoon. It was strange and uncomfortable. It felt so odd. While talking with him I didn't see in him what I had loved so much before. I felt different this time, like he no longer has any power over me. That felt good, really good. I would have preferred to not see him at all, but it is good to know I will no longer fall into that old trap. Huzzah!

It is November already. Sigh. The summer is over, and thus begins the dark half of the year. I always feel a little sad as the days start grow shorter and the nights start getting cold. I am such a sunchild and I know I will miss the green and the warm weather. Although after having gone through the long winter, I always appreciate the spring and summer so much more. I do enjoy watching the world change through the seasons! I would have liked to celebrate Samhain with my pagan friends (a feast and a bonfire perhaps!) but sadly they are all far away and scattered about. Maybe next year if I am among more like-minded folk... Last night I went next door for a party where I mostly just sat around a fire pit eating junk food and talking with neighbors new and old. There was talk of my infamous outhouse costume I wore when I was little...I'll never live that down. It was enjoyable, and the warmest Halloween I can remember!

NYC Trip & Update

Well, I don't have much to report right now. Things are rather unexciting. Since getting back from my adventures out west I've been spending almost all my time at my parents' place, trying to keep myself entertained. Although I did take a trip out to NYC to visit Rabbit and Wolf, and that was quite wonderful! It was very good to see both of them again, it had been too long. Mostly we wandered about town, loafed around at Rabbit's cute little hobbit hole in Brooklyn, hanging out, being silly and eating cheap, delicious delivery (wonderful thing about the city!) We did take a trip out to Coney Island one afternoon, which was quite nice. The weather was beautiful and the beach was not very crowded. We talked about life and dreams and enjoyed being in the sun. Sadly we were not able to get out for a hike like we had wanted, but, maybe another time. Like I was expecting, the city was too crazy for me, interesting, but just too many people and too much concrete. Where Rabbit lives is not too bad. I did enjoy being able to just walk down the street for groceries or whatever. But still not a place I'd like to live. Very interesting though, to see how so many other people live. Overall it was a good trip and I am very glad we all got to hang out again!

It has been good to see my family again. My nephew is growing fast! He is quite adorable and almost makes me like babies ;-) I have been here long enough though and am ready to get on the road again. Thankfully I'll be headed back to Montana next week. I am quite excited! It sounds like folks at the campaign are looking forward to having me back, and that's a warm, fuzzy feeling :-D I think I am almost ready. I splurged and bought myself a fancy new pack so I will be at least more mobile in my future travels, and so I can go backpacking, duh! I've gotten together mostly everything I think I will take, and it didn't even fill the bag! I was almost shocked, I have learned how to pack light! What a novel concept! Although, knowing me I will probably fill it in the end, hehe.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Owl is coming by to pick up some things he left when he moved (oh yeah, did I mention he has moved back to the mainland?) and I'm not sure if I am ready to see him again. I have come to the point where I just don't feel like I want him in my life anymore, but I don't know if I will be able to tell him that. Honestly I have enjoyed not communicating with him, it's not even something I think about. Although now that I am actually going to see him, I know I should stand up for myself and tell him all the things I have been feeling about our relationship and all that happened. But a part of me feels like it's just not worth it. Does he deserve even that? Would it make me feel any different? I just don't know. Sigh. I am so tired of this.

I don't want to end on that note, so here's something exciting! Yesterday I learned a couple of new hooping tricks! WOOT! Just a simple jump through trick, and a behind the back pass. When I'm trying to learn new tricks from videos I always really wish someone was actually there to show me in person. I think I'd probably pick things up a lot quicker that way. Although, mostly what I've learned I've gotten from videos online, so it obviously hasn't been that difficult ;-) It felt good to work on new things again! Huzzah for hooping!

Spiral hooping at Center Camp, Burning Man '06

I found this before I even started hooping at the end of last year. I remember being completely wowed by this woman, and I find that I still am. I absolutely love the way she moves with the hoop! It's beautiful, inspiring and almost entrancing at times. This may not be her best video (more here), but it is still a favorite of mine, as it was when I was a brand new hooper.



p.s. I may be developing a weakness for youtube...

Flight of the Conchords, Business Time

I love these guys.

Faun Weekend

This past weekend dear Faun came down for our last chance to see each other before I run away to the wilds of Montana again. We escaped suburbia hell (a.k.a. my hometown) and went to Eureka Springs where we stayed in a cute bed and breakfast, which was cozy and luxurious (mmmjacuzzi). We had a wonderful time! On Saturday we went to Lost Valley State Park (near Ponca, AR) to go hiking and enjoy the autumn woods. It was quite busy when we got there, but we decided to try it out anyway and just ignore the other humans. Not too far down the trail we ended up wandering out into the woods to go exploring away from all the people (the best kind of hiking). What a good decision that was! We scrambled over rocks up a creekbed and found a few really cool little waterfalls and bluffs. We played and explored and giggled and didn't worry about a thing. It was a beautiful day, the forest was lovely and we were having so much fun I didn't want to leave. Eventually we headed back, made our way to our room and took a nap before going out for the night. I think the hike wore us out too much though (or something ;-), as we weren't good for much more than dinner and a few beers. It was enjoyable nonetheless, to observe the nightlife.

On Sunday we slept in and lazed about before going out to wander the town. I tried to enjoy Faun as much as possible, as I knew it was the last day I would see him for several months at least. By the time we made it back to my abode, I didn't want to let go. I had enjoyed getting to spend so much time with just Faun without any distractions. The whole time we've known each other we haven't had the opportunity of spending a lot of time together, at least not in the default world. So, it was wonderful being able to just enjoy being together. It was wonderful to know as I was falling asleep that he was still going to be there in the morning. It was wonderful not having to watch the clock or even think about the clock. Having the luxury of an entire weekend with Faun without having to worry about anything or anyone else made it that much harder to say goodbye. Le sigh. I am very excited to get back to Montana, but now there is one more thing I will miss about Missouri...

Ready to Firehoop!

Since going to Burning Man, my desire to add fire to my hooping has greatly increased. Every time I see someone playing with fire, whether or not they are hooping, it makes me wonder what the hell I'm waiting for! I watched a few people firehoop at Burning Man and I made sure to pay attention to what they were doing and how it compared to my own skill level. Mostly they were doing things I already know how to do, so that gave me some more confidence. There is so much more I can learn and so much more room for improvement of course, but after seeing other folks firehoop who aren't necessarily "performers" I felt more inspired to just do it. If they can do it, so can I! ;-) All I need to do is acquire a firehoop and start practicing with it. Realistically it might actually be a while yet before that happens, but it just feels good knowing that at this point, I could do it. Woot! Now for an inspiring (and kinda hot) video...

D.H. Lawrence, "Mystic"

They call all experience of the senses mystic, when the experience is considered.
So an apple becomes mystic when I taste in it
the summer and the snows, the wild welter of earth
and the insistence of the sun.

All of which things I can surely taste in a good apple.
Though some apples taste preponderantly of water, wet and sour
and some of too much sun, brackish sweet
like lagoon water, that has been too much sunned.

If I say I taste these things in an apple, I am called mystic, which means a liar.
The only way to eat an apple is to hog it down like a pig
and taste nothing that is real.

But if I eat an apple, I like to eat it with all my senses awake.
Hogging it down I call the feeding of corpses.

-D. H. Lawrence

Burning Man 2008

WOW. I don't even know what to write. It's hard to know where to start. The experience of having been to Burning Man is hard to describe because it's so unique that there really isn't anything else to compare it to. It really is one of those things that you just have to experience yourself to really know what it's like. To go is to know.

When Pet and I finally became one with the long line to get in the gate on Monday after our cross country trip, it was hard to believe we were actually there. We had been talking about it so much for so long that I had started to lose interest. To be honest, I almost didn't even want to leave Montana to go. Of course part of that was pure and simple laziness speaking, not wanting to bother packing. But, when Pet showed up in Denver to pick me up it started to dawn on me that we were actually going. As we counted down the miles and whole states passed by the excitement started to build. The closer we got the more folks we saw on the road who were obviously heading to the same place (burners are hard to miss). We randomly started chatting with burners at rest stops and gas stations all along the interstate. By Monday morning when we drove through the tiny town of Gerlach, Nevada and saw the hordes of burners stopped for their last chance at supplies the excitement we felt was nearly tangible. We were almost there!!!

Arriving at our final destination: Pandora's Lounge and Fix-it Shoppe (our camp, and home for the week) , I felt elated, relieved, excited, anxious and ready to get out of the car! Of course we rolled in right in time for a big ass dust storm (and I started asking myself why the hell I decided to spend a week in such an inhospitable environment, ha). So instead of setting up our tents, which would have been futile in the wind, we greeted our campmates, pulled out our bikes and headed out to explore the crazy city we now call home. It was like wandering about another planet, all hot, windy and dusty as fuck running into all sorts of people looking like aliens in their goggles and masks/scarves/whathaveyou. But tons of fun! I felt in a daze the whole day, not really knowing if I was seeing things correctly, not really completely believing I was there. Even going straight to the top of the man didn't hit the nail home. I think it finally settled into my brain that I was at Burning Man sometime later that night. Actually, I think I remember the exact moment...we'd gone out into the night with a group of our campmates (all of them still mostly unknown to me at this point) to wander the city and see what we could find. We stopped at Mal-Mart to play with their toys, dance to the awesome 80's music they were spinning and climb to the top of their main structure to get a view of the young city at night. As I stood there and watched the loong line of headlights stretching from the gate to the highway, my brain said to me, "Holy shit! You're at Burning Man! And you've got all week!"

In Black Rock City, there is definitely never a lack of interesting things to see and do, at any time of day or night. All one has to do is start wandering. This was essentially my week. Mostly I spent my days wandering about with no destination in mind, stopping at random whenever something caught my interest (this happened often) and admiring the glories of 50,000 people coming together to create a temporary city based on the ten principles (all while getting a hawt tan I may add). My time spent at camp was split between getting to know my campmates, trying my hardest to nap (impossible) and people watching. Our camp was placed on a high traffic street quite close to Center Camp so we never had a lack of visitors or excitement (not to mention all the folks who stopped by our bike shop).

Most nights I would get a good start at our camp's bar (oh the Pandorans are a bad influence ;-) before heading out with other adventurous souls to see what the night had to offer. After being out in the sun all day long, going out every night was probably bad policy for me (being one to actually need sleep) but the city at night was hard to resist. I was like a moth to a flame. But who can blame me when the night has so much to offer? Heart-pounding bass to follow when wild dancing is desired, dancing til you must collapse, numorous theme camps with soft, cushy surfaces on which to collapse, toys to play with, art to admire, bars to visit, fire to watch, hoops to play with!, stars to be wowed by, the unknown possibilities awaiting you, unidentifiable big glowy things off in the distance, unidentifiable big and small glowy things everywhere, and undeniably desirable above all else: the all important, life-giving and life-sustaining blinkie lights of the open playa at night. Oh night in Black Rock City is fun indeed!! Anytime I ventured out I felt like I was being pulled in twenty different directions because I wanted to see and do all (quite impossible in a city that size ;-)

Although what I remember most fondly is hanging out with good friends old and new, wandering all about the city, being silly and having fun without a care in the world. I was nervous at first since we were camping with a group of people I didn't know very well, but it didn't take me too long to warm up. I ended up being quite happy that we camped with them. Over the week I made a lot of new friends, and at least one very good friend, and for that in itself I am exceedingly happy I went. Wonderful Faun is already near and dear to my heart, despite me having only known him a couple of months. Mayhaps that is the magic of Burning Man at work ;-)

I decided to not go into a whole lot of detail regarding exactly what I did at Burning Man, as I've already done that in my personal journal and it would feel too much like overkill to me. But overall I had an amazing time and I am so so so glad I made the choice waaay back in January to go, even though I had only the vaguest idea what I was getting into. It was immensely fun and I'm already thinking of going again next year. Sigh. I think maybe that I've become a burner ;-)

Montana!

Wow, long time no blog. I had nearly forgotten about one of my old favorite time wasters, which was probably for the best. I told a new friend (nickname yet to be discovered) about this silly little thing and that made me curious to come back to it. So, here I am. Much has happened since last I wrote, much indeed.

Interfuse was awesome of course and I had a lot of fun dressing up in silly costumes and dancing around a big fire.

My adventure to Montana extended from May to August, even though I had originally planned to stay a month. I fell in love with the place rather quickly though and I found it hard to leave, even for Burning Man. It was a very delectable summer: basking in the mountain sunshine, watching the wildflowers take turns blooming and fading, cooking and baking delicious food to my heart's content, hiking about through the forest, lounging and making love in a tee pee, picking morels and huckleberries, swimming in deliciously cold mountain lakes and building relationships with people I can now happily call family. There was a little bit of work in there too, tabling in Yellowstone and the Tetons to talk to folks about what's happening with the bison. Not quite as fun as other activities, but it was a good thing to do and I learned a lot. So all in all, it was an amazing experience and I am very happy I went. I'm planning on returning in November to spend a whole season with the campaign. It will be a challenge and I am very much looking forward to it.

After a quick visit with Fig and Bear in Denver, I met up with Pet for our crazy Burning Man adventure. That pretty much needs its own entry, although to be honest I have no idea when I'll blog again, but this library computer informs me I have little time left before it'll kick me off. So, another day perhaps...

And my summer begins

I'm always a little surprised to realize that I don't like my hometown all that much whenever I come back for a visit. I've forgotten how much it sucks.

So I've been here all weekend visiting my parents (and grandparents on Saturday) and helping Fig and Bear move. I'm bummed that they're moving (to CO) but I know it'll be a better place for them. And it gives me yet another reason to get out there again!

I'm homeless for the summer, but not really. I have places to visit and couches to sleep on. I brought almost all my stuff back here and have kept just the things I'll need this summer, and for Interfuse and Burning Man. It's all very exciting, and only feels a little weird. This summer has been in the planning for quite some time, especially my buffalo excursion, so it's great that it's finally happening!

Pine and I will be headed to Interfuse on Wednesday! WOOT!