An Anniversary of Note

It took me a long time today to
realize why I've been in such a
strange mood the past week or
so. As I was preparing a bank
deposit around noon I had to
enter the date, and then it hit me.
February 17 used to be my anniversary. This would have been 30 years...The Ex left in the summer of our 24th year, and the divorce was final just 3 days before our 25th Anniversary...Oh, that's it. That's why I've been unusually distracted and even a little bit ... not sad, exactly... I can't even think of the word that would cover the feeling I've had this past week. There must be one, and I bet my friends Madonna and Sally will e-mail it to me right away. It probably has something to do with moving on.

What I do know is that once I got the connection I put on my coat, and because I now have the sort of job that allows me to do so, I took a long walk...and decided that I needed to mark the occasion in some way. Not a celebration, exactly, but a rememberance of sorts.

There's a grocery store down the street...I wondered around for a while, looking at the
marked-down Valentine's Day candy...that didn't seem exactly right, but I craved something sweet. What I took back to the office to share with my coworkers was a big box of Pepperidge Farm cookies...the Entertaining collection...9 different kinds of cookies...the ones I don't often allow myself. It felt decadent! It felt really good to offer my friends a sweet treat and to be able to tell them why I felt the need to mark the day. Best of all, it felt really good to be able to do it without tears...like the swans in the photo today, I feel like I'm finally moving on.

Wolf Howl Video

The Tracking Intensive class went to Northwest Trek on Sunday, Feb. 15th. It was a great day to be out, as the animals were active...I'll be posting photos on my WebShots page in a few days! Today, I wanted to share the wolf howl I caught on video. I apologize for the camera noise...and the shaky video.

The howling was very exciting! I heard a coyote yip from the nearby pens, and first wolf made a really low, deep howl...that's when I turned on the video. You can hear the coyotes in the background, and they really set the wolves off! Just pretend that you don't see the fence in the background.

Just a Quick Update....

Wow, what a crazy week...I'm putting in late nights at work, but in return I'll have a new QuickBooks file that's going to make life easier in the future. I have to finish tonight because tomorrow is the Community School spaghetti dinner and silent auction.

I'll be there, straight from work and hungry. Last year I got a few cool things at the auction, and the kids made enough money to go to Utah! The photos they took were stunning with the red rocks and sunshine. It's a pleasure to see how hard they work and how happy they are to be able to plan another class trip.

These eagles were right outside the office a few weeks ago...I can't believe how lucky I am to be here. I love that I can run outside on a workday and take a few photos of these magnificent birds.

Tracking Intensive class is this weekend, and we will be learning about animal skulls and on Sunday will go to NorthWest Trek, which is down by Mt. Rainier. It's a long drive, but a cool place to go. It's a rehab center, but some of the animals are permanent residents because they are not well enough to be released.

My WARP class went in mid February in 20o7, and the cougars were mating...loudly...and often. I really enjoyed watching the paniced parents of young children try to pull the kids away once they realized what was going on. Perhaps next week I'll have "dirty" pictures to share.

Just Go Outside

It's a beautiful day in western Washington...I took the morning off and went to Monroe for some errands. It was a real treat to have to find my sunglasses as I headed north. Can't say I got everything done I needed to do, but did hit the used books at the library and added to my pile of "must reads". I do have to be careful that books don't keep me inside too much - It's a great time of year to just go outside.

The big disappointment was that the dog park by the river not only flooded, but seems not to be repaired in the aftermath. I'd hoped to make some connections there and find dogs to add to my Tracking Intensive project...but now I'll have to look elsewhere.

On a happier note, I was able to pick up enough Black Cottonwood (Populus nigra) buds to start a new batch of oil for making salve in the fall.

Just to spend a little while outside in the sun was fabulous! I've also noticed that the evening sky stays light a little bit longer - I'm so happy that spring is getting a little closer each day!