Weekend Report

I'm kind of a rock star, you know...at the end of my weekend Ladies retreat a number of young women came to me to ask if they could have their picture taken with me. Some of them told me I should be on "Survivor". How does one become such a heroine to 20 yer old Christian women?
I think it's partly because I won my very first ever team sports award on Saturday morning. I was one of 6 members of the team declared "Most Challenged" in the Warrior Princess Boot Camp games. We placed 3rd...out of 3 teams. But I did get 2 of my 3 grenades into the baskets, and I let one of my teammates paint my face with cammo paint...black and pink...I was stunning.
Another reason might be that I took my really cool fish spear that we made in class (WARP07) to add some warrior-like authenticity to my costume on Saturday evening. But the main reason was that I shared some of my favorite outdoor things with a few of them during a short walk in the park just off highway 90 in Issaquah. We found cottonwood buds just ready for harvesting to make oil for salves. There was not a nettle, a dandelion, or even a plantain to talk about nor did we see any birds, except for the 15 or 20 Great Blue Herons that flew from the trees down by the creek. They were exciting, but were pretty high up and flying fast. The park signage had pointed out that the trail to the rookery was closed, and so we could not investigate that option. Then we hit a muddy patch of trail, and I feared losing them altogether...so I pointed out that trackers LOVE mud. One of the young ladies inquired about what I might be tracking on the trail. "Well, there are dog tracks, and I saw a coyote track just back a bit," I said.
"Can you show me a coyote track?"
"I sure can," I replied and pointed to the ground just in front of us. "And there's a coyote scat," I told her. "See the little bones?" Much to my surprise, she took photos!
Had I been alone, or with other trackers, I might have teased apart the scat for a closer look at the tiny vertebrae to see if I could identify the coyote's last meal...but with my new friends, I decided to play it safe and not scare them out of tracking...who knows, one of those photos may be my intro to Tracker fame! Anybody need a famous tracker chick to teach a class? I can bring my own spear!

Merry Christmas!

What a week! It's been nice to be out of the office, because my social life has been way too busy to allow for work, too. I'm not typically a social person, but the Christmas holiday options have kept me hopping.
On Monday, I took the 7:58 bus from Duvall to Bellevue, bumping into my friend Shannon O'Donnel at the transit station. We nearly walked into each other, as we were both intent on the next part of our respective journeys, but we did have time for a quick hug and wishes for happy holidays before parting. She was on her way to her first day on a new job, and my first stop was the Barnes and Noble a couple of blocks from the bus station.
I really didn't intend to buy myself a gift...but found a really cool new field guide to trees by the National Wildlife Federation...they had the bird, wildflower, and insect versions, too, but I only got the one. I really like the way it's laid out, and I think it will be a big help with my Kamana homework. Tree ID is still hard for me.
My next stop was in Kirkland to help Ellen Haas finish some Christmas cookies and set up 100 luminarias at the park. We watched the firemen set the bonfire ablaze, enjoyed the caroling from the Christmas Ship as it sat off the shore in Lake Washington, then went back to her house for cookies, a nasty rum punch, and general merriment.
I napped on the couch while we waited for the lunar eclipse to begin. Jonathan woke me up in time to run out on the deck and see the beginning of the penumbra. Now, Seattle in December is not the best time to view an eclipse. While it was not raining, the clouds were thick. Still, the sight was worth waking up for. We went out several times to look in awe at the natural phenomena.
On Tuesday morning, I make biscuits and sausage gravy - Ellen says she'd never had it before! She cooked up a nice omlet, and Jonathan joined us before heading off to visit his family in Idaho. I used my new field guide to identify the tree that Ellen had cut - it was a nice Noble Fir. Ellen said I was correct, and I was really impressed with the new book!
Ellen and I went back to the park to pick up the luminarias, and found that some of the candles were gone from the paper bags...then we started to find them burried under the leaves...one tea light holder was chewed, with half the candle gone...squirrels, we decided, were at work. I pooped out before our planned trip to see the trumpeter swans land at Bob Heriman Park, and chose to catch a bus back to Duvall and go to bed early...I slept 10 hours straight!
On Wednesday evening, Shondell and Darlene came (with home-made egg nog) and we shared a rotisserie chicken and watched "Lethal Weapon", my favorite Christmas movie.
Last night was for Christmas Eve services, and early to bed...this morning I opened the package mom and Susan had sent, and was delighted to find, among other things, an autographed copy of a book of cowboy poems of faith!
Life is good here. Merry Christmas to all!

Zombie Tracking, or They Pay Me for This

So Wilderness Awareness School go invited - yes, invited - to have a booth at the first annual ZomBcon event at Seattle Center over Halloween weekend. They asked for a speaker to talk about where Seattle residents would go and how they would get out of the city in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse. They were serious. Did we go? You bet we did. Although October was a crazy month if the bookkeeper's office, I got permission to go work the booth on Friday (the day after our annual audit!) and on Saturday. It was a hoot...and while I had expected the event to be dark and scary, I was happily surprised to find that zombies are a lot like us...well, us from Wilderness Awareness School, anyway.

The top photo shows Lindsay and Shondell in front of our "shelter" and our table displays. Jan (or Yawn, as I like to call him), who was in my WARP class in 06/07, and now works as our web guy, had created a cool zombie-themed postcard with info about our survival skills. That's him on the far right of the center photo (with Shondell looking on) demonstrating how to make a bow-drill fire.

The third photo shows Evan, another of my classmates and his zombie friend checking out our booth. Jan and I hadn't seen him since graduation, and were surprised to bump into him there.

We were supposed to have 20 minutes to talk after Max Brooks (author of the Zombie Survival Guide) and a couple of other guys spoke. We got cut to 2 minutes, but Mike was still so amazing that I had people stopping at the booth to learn more about us!

Next post, I'll tell you how the survival skills I learned at WAS kept me from getting my butt kicked by a marine who stopped by our booth! I hope they let me out of the office more often. It was fun.

Another Wild Weekend!

Just in case you thought I'd gone crazy after my last post, I wanted to share what I did Saturday...A friend and I caught the bus in Monroe and rode up the pass on Highway 2 to Gold Bar to check out Gold Dust Days...The bus ride was nice, as the highway 2 traffic is quite intense on a sunny Saturday, and we were both happy to enjoy the scenery without worrying about the other drivers...Gold Bar is a small town, and it seemed that everyone had turned out for the festivities! We missed the parade, but got there in time to see the Civil War reenactors shoot off the cannon. The setting was beautiful, even if no Civil War battle ever got close to Washington...however, there WAS a ship called the USS Tahoma that was part of the Union Navy blockade! Tahoma was the name given to Mount Rainier by some of the indiginous Pacific Northwest tribes.

Darlene and I wondered through the classic car show entries, watched kids enjoy horseback rides, shopped the craft booths, and watched a bellydancing tribute to the Lennon Sisters - to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" !!!

We also stopped at the Washington Prospector's booth and for $5, purchased a bag of sand and a goldpanning lesson. We each brought home 6-8 flecks of gold, and think we should get a bit of gear to stick in our packs...Gold Bar got it's name for a reason.

And we still made it back to Monroe in time to hit several of the garage sales we'd seen from the bus! My personal best was about $50.00 of Pampered Chef tools for $2.00...an even better deal than the gold flakes! Burgers at Red Robin and a quick stop at an antique shop completed our day. Summer in Washington is good!

Not My Usual Thing...

Friday night, biker bar, heavy metal band...never thought I'd lead a post with that combo. A bunch of us from work gathered at Pete's in Carnation to celebrate with a friend who's decided not to do the New York to Washinton commute any longer...Although we only saw Dan a couple of times a year, it's going to seem strange to work here without him. Of course there's still e-mail and FaceBook, which is how we ususally communicate anyway, and I know that his family will appreciate the fact that he's not flying across country for work anymore. So, although I'm more of a George Strait, Gary Allen, David Ball,
Steve Wariner kind of girl, I went along for the party...Pete's is where Wilderness Awareness folks gather in Carnation. The food is good -bacon burger and fries for me, with vegetarian fare for some of the others - and I can drink a rootbeer out of a brown bottle and not look too out of place. We did not know it was Metal Night until we got there...and since we grabbed a couple of tables outside in the courtyard, the music wasn't too annoying...until we got ready to leave...5 minutes inside the bar while I paid for my meal was more than enough for this country girl. Once I can hear again, I'm gonna plug some hard core country into my CD player and apologize to my brain.

Beach Art

I love the way the seaweed is draped over the shell...looks like Mermaids were designing beach art...I don't often have the opportunity to wander on the beach. Vashon Island was great fun for me.

Island Fun

I just returned from 3 days on Vashon Island with my friend Cyndi. She's been trying to get me over for a visit ever since she and Max moved there last year. I caught a very early bus on Tuesday, and the ferry across to the island...I was on the north side of the boat admiring the beautiful Olympic Mountains, when the ferry turned slightly to enter the dock...and there was Mt Rainier off the other side!
Cyndi met me at the ferry, and we explored a beach, a wooded trail, and the town of Vashon, where we had a lovely lunch at The Hardware Store...I love a good burger and fries, and recommend them here!

We watched deer in the yard, and then saw "Avatar" - I thought it was a beautiful movie, but we agreed it was somewhat lacking in plot and character development.

On Wednesday, we made goat-milk soap and I spent a lot of time running from window to window to watch the deer. The twin fawns were so cute! I got to visit a cool coffee roasterie, and bought some new herbs for tincturing at home. We went down to a different beach, and then back to watch "Coco Before Channel" , which is pretty good, but in French, so the subtitles were necessary for me to follow the story.

Many Thursdays Cyndi has to go to Duvall anyway, and so we planned our day around the ferry trip...beach first - the tide was out, and so I got to walk the mud flats and picked up a bunch of shells, and saw a huge crab, a many-legged starfish, and we caught a quick glimpse of an otter! Even though it was in the Sound, we think it was a River Otter, not a Sea Otter - but still a big thrill. Cyndi treated me to lunch at The Monkey Tree, a nice vegetarian place with great bread and the best chocolate chip cookies that are as big as a salad plate!

I'm truly blessed to have friends here in the Pacific Northwest! My first island stay was fun, and I'll be eager to go back for more island adventures!

End of School Year Notes

I've been surprisingly emotional as this year comes to a close...I'ts been 3 years since I graduated from the Wilderness Awareness School Residential Program - now known as the Anake Program. Last Friday, we welcomed this group back from their 5 day survival trip, and as always, everyone did survive. Hearing stories about how they did so is inspirational! I know that they will go out into the world with not only the solid naturalist skills that we teach, but also with the uncommon knowledge that they have gone through a rite of passage that most people don't get to experience in our culture.
I believe they will be better, and happier people for having done so...I know what an amazing experience I had, and the many ways that it affected me. I'm still learning how profound an experience it really is to go out into the wilderness with only the clothes on your back - and your classmates - your friends - your clan.

We did well. So have each year's graduates. I'm so happy to be able to remain in this amazing place as a part of this amazing program.

What a Way to Spend a Saturday!

I'm not the partying kind...You won't find me dancing on a tabletop in my underwear at midnight while baying at the m0on and wearing a lampshade as a hat. Let that picture sink in...
Sometimes, though, I receive an invitation that's too good to pass up. Saturday I enjoyed a homemade wine tasting party up on Lake Margaret. It was a lovely, sunny and warm spring day. I laid for a while on the dock soaking up the vitamin D while fishermen cast into the clear water. Lake Margaret is home to a small population of native Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) , or so I hear.
The wine was good, the company pleasant, and Shannon's rabbit tart, beef liver pate, and bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese were amazing.
I liked CW's dandelion wine. Jonathan's plum wine was good, but his blackberry wine was my favorite. Cyndi and Max brought a lovely raspberry meade and a tasty elderflower cordial. I tried them all over the course of the afternoon. We (10 or 12 of us at the height of the party) all enjoyed the array of food and drink without anyone behaving badly.
The highlight of the day was watching an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) catch a fish then try to keep it when the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus luekocephalus) swooped in to take it away!

Do I Look Homeless To You????

I was early getting into Kirkland by bus, and Ellen had forgotten her phone. It had been raining hard when I'd left Duvall early Monday morning and so I'd wrapped a trash bag around my backpack, which was stuffed full for 2 days at Ellen's. I had noticed that when the Kifaru pack gets wet, it smells a bit.

I'd picked up some cookies for the party and had found my Mom's birthday present at a Barnes and Noble store in Bellevue, so I also had a large plastic bag that I was trying to hang on to as I tracked the otter and then a Yorkshire Terrier on Juanita Beach. The cold wind was blowing in off the water. I was wearing my fleece camo hunting cap to keep my ears warm, and some really dirty wool gloves I'd found in my pockets. I guess I did look a bit - ragged.

I suppose it's even possible that I was behaving strangly...by city norms, anyway. Still, I was a bit taken aback when the gentleman approached me in the parking lot. "Are you OK?", he asked. "I've been watching you wander around for a while, and it's cold out...I thought you might be one of the homeless."

Fortunatly, Ellen soon arrived and my would-be rescuer at least believed that I do have friends - but perhaps not that I'm entirely sane.

Merry Christmas!

I have a week off for the holidays, and plan to watch my favorite Christmas movies with friend Shondell on Sunday - "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon"...popcorn and brownies are the plan.

Then I'll ride the bus into Seattle on Monday (I have 2 free passes that have to be used by the end of the year!) and I'll wind up in Kirkland to help Ellen make cookies and join her and other good friends at Denny Park to see the Christmas Ship...There will be caroling, a huge bonfire on the shore (firemen too!) and dogs, kids, the entire neighborhood...and wine. Check it out here...
http://www.argosycruises.com/themecruises/xmasSchedule.cfm

Ellen has plans for seeing Christmas lights and events on Tuesday, then I'll return on the Wednesday bus for a quiet end of week with the cat, a pile of good books, and plenty of hot chocolate.

Merry Christmas to all my friends!

I ROCKED!

I just finished up the final weekend of the Tracking Intensive class. Saturday I got to present my dog tracking project to the class.
I spent a lot of time worrying about it. Public speaking has never been my thing. I knew I was on to something, and that my research was valid...and the thought of standing up and telling my classmates and instructors what I'd found was frightening.

One thing I've learned here at Wilderness Awareness School is that people will support you if you ask. My instructor, Dave Moskowitz, reminded me that everyone in the audience would be very interested in the project. I also arranged for a couple of my classmates to tackle me if I bolted for the door!

What really helped was that some of our Elders came in to support me! Many thanks to Pam, Jenn, Walt and his wife Katy, and to Auntie Barbara who all took time on a sunny Washington Saturday to come out and witness my presentation. I had other friends in the room, too. Ellen and Jonathan came - Ellen's dog Taz was in the project, and Jonathan is a tracker and former Rezzie and TI student. Current Rezzie Shondell, who helped with some of the dog tracking was there to support me, too.

I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it! I guess speaking about something you're passionate about is a little different than an assigned topic...I never would have belived that it would be fun.

My Missouri friend Madonna says I have to start owning my power...Yeah, I Rocked!

A Nice Surprise Today!

It's always nice to find a package in the mail! Today I got one of my favorite gifts - a book. My friend Madonna sent me a second editon copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a wonderful book, and one I haven't read in many a year. I'm delighted to have it, and will enjoy it all over again.


It's the second book she's sent me recently. "The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging" by Arianna Huffington and friends arrived in time for my birthday although she mailed it from St. Louis on December 12th. Given our record snows in December I'm surprised it's not still in a drift somewhere. It's a good book, and I have been using some of her hints in this blog. Madonna says I'm going to get rich off it someday. I could live with that. It's a great book if you are thinking about starting your own blog. You might want to check it out.


I've recieved other books as gifts this year, too...One of them I'll feature in another "episode" of my blog because it's a cool naturalist/travel book from my friend Laurie.

Yikes!

So as I'm getting ready to leave work, I realize it's been a while since I've checked in...Lots of cool stuff is happening right now, and I don't even have time to tell the best stories...

Not having a phone has really had a negative impact on my keeping up with friends, this blog, and my writing....Not having a phone is a blessing because I'm not spending hours in front of the computer at home. I am releaved not to be getting calls for other people (Jesse, whoever he is didn't let his friends and family know his new number for the entire 14 months I had my last number).

I love not having a phone in the house...and I hate that I end up not checking in with my friends.

Just so you know, I haven't forgotten you...I have some cool pics to share, great stories to tell, and at least one confession to make...and on that note, I'm running out the door!

Gone...

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd checked in...It's been a pretty strange time for me.

I realized a couple of weeks ago that my friend Van had a birthday on July 3rd. Then I remembered that he'd taken his life last fall. That got me thinking about two other good friends that I've lost in the past couple of years.

Sid was a great guy - one of the first to let me know that it was cool to be a girl who wanted to hunt and shoot. He was a Missouri Highway Patrolman for 30 years, and that was after he'd survived Vietnam. Just after he became our Sheriff, he suffered a heartattack, and spent the final year of his life waitning for a transplant. He died of a massive infection just before he was suposed to come home. Van was a mutal friend. This happened a few months before I found Wilderness Awareness School and came west.

Steve was another guy I worked with for a long time. He helped me bury two old dogs, and gave me a Leatherman tool as a going away present. Van was the one who called to tell me that Steve had died. He had a really warped sense of humor, and liked John Wayne movies.


I miss all three of them. They were all suportive of my outdoor pursuits, even when I beat them at skeet or got a bigger turkey. They were like my brothers, and I miss them.

The Sun Does Shine in the Pacific Northwest

Today I'm thankful for sunshine...and for my cat, Clara, who is being very affectionate right now...and for my friends here, and back in Missouri...and for family in Arkansas, Okalahoma, Missouri, and Wyoming...and that my co-worker's baby girl was born safely on Thursday...OK, so I probably did that backwards, but the sun was beautiful today. I couldn't find my sunglasses, but that's OK, too.

At WAS we started every day of class with some version of the Thanksgiving Address. It's a good way to start any day, and I try to be mindful of my many blessings. Some of my classmates in the Residential Program had a tough time with the generally cloudy weather here. The California folks, in particular, seemed to hate the dreary days and the rain. I like it. One of my biggest migraine triggers is sunlight bouncing off chrome and mirrors. I love being able to drive without worrying about that.

Although it does rain often here, it's usually not raining very hard, and I hardly ever hear thunder or see lightning. I have seen hail a couple of times, and sleet, and snow...but compared to Missouri weather, it's generally pretty mild. I appreciate the sunshine, and know that tomorrow it will probably be overcast and/or raining to some degree. I won't waste time tonight looking for those sunglasses, because it will likely be a few days before I'll need them again. And thats OK with me.

Don't Discount What You Do

I had decided that I wouldn't send my sister any more coupons. For some time I'd been taking the coupons from the Sunday paper that I didn't use and mailing them to Susan every Monday. She lived near Bakersfield, California at the time, and it seemed like a waste of my time and 2 stamps to send them. I doubted she got that much use from them, and it was a pain to mess with them. So, I wasn't going to do it anymore...until I got her phone call.

At first, I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying...it was the former. Here's the story she told me.

She had been working in the livingroom by the open window. That's how she heard Bryan's conversation with the mailman. My nephew had been sitting by the mailbox so that he would be first to see my envelope. He took it from the mailman's hands and told him what an important letter it was. "It's from my Aunt in Missouri," he explained. "She loves us and sends us coupons so we don't starve."

Now, my sister's kids were not going to starve without the weekly envelope from me. But to this day, even though Bryan is an adult with a family of his own, I still send my sister coupons.

You never know what it is that you do that is the most important thing to someone else. What I saw as unwanted coupons were a love gift to my nephew. Sometimes we never hear the story and so never know what a difference we make in someone else's life. But I'll bet there's some little thing that you do which means the world to someone else. Keep sending out your coupons.

I had a lovely surprise dinner out with Pam today. She's an elder at WAS, and a tracker, too. I shared this story with her today. She's one of the people who have made a difference for me...her gifts are many, and she shares them generously with everyone she meets. Pam, thank you for sharing your "coupons".

A Package From Home

I was a little late getting home from work today. A note stuck on my door greeted me...I had a package waiting in the office at my apartment complex. It was raining big fat, cold drops that bordered on slushy. What could be worth sloshing around the corner for? I wasn't expecting anything and Christmas and by birthday had passed.

Of course I did slosh over to the office. I had not 1 but 2 packages waiting for me. The first was a small green and white box from The Swiss Colony. I remembered that Mom had asked me at Christmas time if I had received one from them, but I had forgotten all about our conversation. The cheese and sausage made a nice accompaniment to my homemade soup.
I called to thank her for it - the 3rd time I've spoken to her in a week.

The 2nd box was from my friend Cheryl in Butler, Mo...the place I'd called home for nearly 30 years. She had stuffed it full of cookies, candy, a pretty tea cup, a calendar, and in a blue bag, I found 3 packages of tea from Whittard of Chelsea! I made another call.

I've had my soup, cheese, sausage and crackers. The dishwasher is running. I have my chores done...I also have a book waiting, and water on for tea...Here's the dilemma...do I have the Cinnamon and Orange Rooibos, the Very, Very Berry Fruit Infusion, or the Blueberry and Yoghurt Fruit Infusion? I'll let you know tomorrow.

How Book Club Saved My Sanity

I had a nice walk in the rain this morning. I went over to the library to pick up a copy of "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns. It's the February book club selection at the Monroe Library, and I've decided to give them another try.

I went last November because the Bates County Bookies had already done "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. It was one of our favorite books, and I thought that it would be a good introduction to the local book club. I wasn't ready for the change...although the ladies were nice and the conversation intelligent, I felt like I was betraying the Bookies. I wanted Cheryl, Sally, Jennifer, Candi, Linda H., Diane, Melissa and Donna...I wanted home-baked treats, tea, and the easy camaraderie of old friends. And they didn't serve snacks - not even tea.


The Bookies began the same summer my ex left. Cheyrl talked me into going to that first meeting. Book club gave me a reason to leave the house one evening a month at a time when I would have rather not gone out. I made new friends, we read some good books - and a few stinkers. I started to heal, and to build a life as a single person. Part of the appeal was the food! The Bookie who had chosen the book would bring treats - often homemade, and often following the theme of the book. Since "The Devil in the White City" was about the World's Fair at the turn of the century, we had Juicy Fruit gum, popcorn, iced tea and lemonaide - fair food mentioned in the book!

As I started to explore making changes - ones that I chose - the Bookies offered encouragement and practical advice. I knew that I wanted a different job, but saw my lack of a college education as a huge barrier. It was a Bookies field trip to the Cheesecake Factory that led me to believe that I still had a chance to do something different. A lucky seating arrangement put me at the table with Donna and Georgeanne. Those lovely women took the time to ask me about my dreams, and to assure me that I still had time to make them come true. They told me bits of their own stories, encouraged me to look for a classes that would move me closer to what I really wanted, and gave me tips on financing an education. By the end of the meal they had me convinced that I should go for it! I still wasn't sure what "it" was, but I knew I was going to start looking for it.

I'm going to start "Cold Sassy Tree" tonight. I'll have to call the library to let them know I'll be coming to book club on Tuesday, even though I couldn't get that book. Who knows who I'll meet there. Perhaps my next mentor will be there...or my first student...

Many thanks to those who have taken time to come read my blog, and to those who have left comments. I thought you might like to know a bit about my friends.

Margaret, it' great to hear from you! I'll tell the cat story another day...I'm laughing too hard to type it in right now. Margaret and husband Gary rescue abused horses...good work, guys!

Filip is a dear friend I met on the first day of class at WAS. He and Jenn are wonderful people who lead exciting lives, so check out his blogs, too. He's the one who will correct me if I mis-identify anthing in this blog...I'm counting on him for that.

All I can say about Annonymous is that he/she has good taste. I hope you check back often for updates.