Winter Vacation

I love it so. 

Creative Serving

One must get creative when eating soup for dinner two nights in a row. One also might eat cereal from a Pyrex measuring cup in the morning. 

Garden Update

We grew this.

And some other things. But not very many things. It was a less-than-stellar output. It's a good thing we don't have to rely upon it for food for the winter. 

Piles o' Grilled Food

We took advantage of the beautiful weather -- on November 1st, what?! -- to grill kielbasa, burgers, hot dogs, and cabbage wedges. Yum. 

Driveway Brake Work

Bargain$

I bought all of this for $69. A few weeks ago I took some outgrown clothes to a resale shop called My Best Friend's Closet. They bought a few things from me and gave me store credit on a gift card. Last Saturday I took in a few more things. They gave me more store credit.

Then Solomon and Miriam each picked out several pieces of clothing they liked. The total should have been about $115. But I used the previously earned store credit and an electronic text message coupon to get my total down to $69. 

Between what they already had in their closets and what we bought last weekend, these kids' wardrobes are set for the winter. 

LOLZ on the Road

Privilege

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to how a person's current circumstances are determined by the privilege that person has or has not had in life. And that privilege is, more often than not, pure luck. Sure, personal choices and temperament have something to do with where one ends up. But some people, regardless of decisions made or personality traits possessed, will never have the opportunity to make particular choices.

For example, a child born into poverty and barely scraping through life is likely never to have the opportunity to choose to go to college. This child, as he grows, will be forced to make choices about how to acquire food, shelter, and other basic life needs. If he does make a stab at getting a secondary education, he's likely to be put off by the need to work more than he can study. Lack of education will be one more thing to keep him in poverty.

A child born into a middle- or upper-class family is likely to be expected to go to college. And when he does, the majority of his expenses will be covered by parents, loans, and maybe a part-time job. Nevertheless, once he's finished, he's much more likely to have acquired the skills he needs to break even. He'll not be 90% focused on meeting basic survival needs.

This is just one of many examples. (And there are outliers; I won't deny that. But this is not about outliers.)

The point was illustrated by two cases I came across at work recently. One is a 12-year-old girl who lives in a group home for troubled teens who've been kicked out of their homes and/or schools. A staff member from the group home called to make a post-run appointment for this girl. A post-run appointment is made after someone has returned from running away from the facility. During that appointment there are toxicology and STI screenings done to see if they have done any illegal drugs or contracted any infections from unprotected sex with who-knows-who. It's heavy stuff -- especially for a 12-year-old.

I have a 12-year-old.

Wanna know what he's into? Legos. Minecraft. Nerf anything. His iPhone. Making goofy faces. Fart jokes. Building and programming robots. The farthest thing from his mind is running away from any where. Unless the farthest thing from his mind is doing something that would get him kicked out of his home in the first place.

Because I cannot fathom ever kicking him out of our home, I cannot fathom what circumstances this young girl has come across that have put her where she is. But things in her life are vastly different from the things in my son's life. Most of the decisions these two children will need to make in life will be the result of where and to whom they were born. There is almost no changing that.

The other case that demonstrates the pure luck of the draw was even more personal. I met a young mother with a newborn. She also has 3 other children, all 3 and younger. She is living in a safe house because her newborn child's father punched her in the face, leaving her with broken bones. She is younger than I was when I had my first child.

When I stopped to count up all the strikes she has against her, I might as well have been counting up all the things I have had going for me. But for a few differences, I could be her. I'm lucky that my grandparents paid for nursing school. I'm lucky I didn't get pregnant a fourth time. I'm lucky my ex-husband didn't physically abuse me. I'm lucky that when I finally gathered the guts to leave him, I had a supportive family. I'm lucky that when all of that came crashing down on me, I had a few years more of life experience and emotional maturity than she does.

I'm unbelievably lucky and so are my children. And that, folks, is the essence of privilege.

I Hate Moving

That is all. 

Funnel Cloud

If you look very closely at the far right corner you can see a wannabe tornado. 

And then about 5 minutes later this one happened. 

Vacation

Upstate New York. 

Spades

Four conservative bidders. Super conservative, at that. We're only playing to 200, instead of the usual 500. After 7 hands we've barely broken 100. Pete said, "This is a game of attrition."

Brewing Beer

Summer Evenings ...

... might be my favorite thing ever. Small brewery. Patio. Good beer. Great company. Definitely one of my favorite things, at the very least.

Driveway Oil Change

New Restaurant

This place, Schoolhouse Libations and Kitchen, is fun. The menu is presented in an old school folder. The bar is full of books - and booze, of course. There are classroom style chairs and even some desks scattered around. And the drinks are served in beakers.

Garden

We planted snap peas, lettuces, cabbages, broccoli, carrots, and mustard greens in late March. The greens have done well and we're starting to eat some. The carrots were a complete bust; we've had zero. The peas were a delicious, smashing success. But they're all done now and we've ripped them out to plant cow peas. We've never planted cow peas so we're not sure what to expect. They look like green beans except they are purple.

Tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers followed in mid-May. The tomatoes and eggplant were all choked out by mint. (Mint is delicious -- we've made many a lovely mojito with it, but it grows in quantities which almost no backyard gardener can use.) We thought the cucumber was another mint casualty until we got into the patch today to rip out the mint and discovered a healthy, thriving cucumber plant in its midst. Much rejoicing followed.

To make up for the sad lack of tomatoes, Pete bought some pre-started tomato plants at the famer's market today. We plunked them into the ground this afternoon and we're hopeful that we'll end up with some good tomatoes by the time August rolls around.

July 4th

Ribs and potatoes. Mojitos. Playground. Fireworks after a drizzle. Oh, yes.

Hiking

Teeny orange caterpillar of some sort.

We hiked about 6 miles, round trip, through part of Golden Gate Canyon State Park to Windy Peak. It was fun and difficult and very worth it.

Double Rainbow

Celebrating the End of Another School Year

Freddy's Steakburgers and fries. Delish.

Flooded

Our creek has had water in it for almost 2 solid months.

This Conversation Happened Today

This phone call took place as I was leaving the referenced parking lot to look for parking elsewhere.

Parking Office Employee: Auraria Parking Office, how can I help you?

Me: I was wondering if you are aware that the lift gate in the Maple Lot is not working? I've tried three times in twenty minutes to get in.

POE: Yes, there's someone headed over there now to lift the gate. We can't do it electronically right now. 

Me: Great, do you know when that person will be there?

POE: Let me check ... :puts the phone down:

POE: Ma'am, he's there right now. 

Me: Is he wearing a uniform of some sort? Or in a staff vehicle or something? Because I'm telling you I was there for twenty minutes and no one is there. 

POE: Yes, he's there because we lift the gates at 4:30 for evening parking without a pass. 

Me: But it's 5:30 right now. 

POE: Yes. 

Me: So the gate goes up for the night at 4:30 but right now it's 5:30 and no one has opened it?

POE: Yes. 

Me: :head explodes: