halloween 15

 

Typically for Halloween night, I either have turned the lights off or just put a bowl of candy on the front porch with a sign telling kids to help themselves to one. This year tho, we stuck around and handed out candy to the little ones. I actually enjoyed it. We had maybe 30 or so trick-or-treaters, despite the hard rain. My favorite was a lil 4 or 5 yr old Batgirl. I was afraid we'd have too much candy left over so I said she could take two. She replied, "I'm gonna take three" and then took four. It was cute tho so she got away with it.

We had some friends over and watched It Follows. The movie wasn't great but it was nice just hanging out all casual-like. I'll admit that the holiday bug did start to bite earlier in the week and I thought about getting a costume together but I'm not a fan of the last-minute costume so I held my cool and just played the responsible adult. Next year tho...

What else?

Yesterday, we hit up Hawthorne for drinks, trying the Portland Cider bar for the first time. I had a great honey cider. I enjoyed the atmosphere there and they had a lot of ciders on tap and taster options so I'm sure we'll be back.

This morning, we also tried the Spritely Bean, a comic book store/coffee shop not too far from us on Powell. Again, I love the atmosphere and the drinks were good so we will most likely go back there too. I have to admit that we are blessed with coffee shops within walking distance.

the cookie experiment

Years ago, when I still lived at Long House, a guest from a party brought over pot cookies. Ashes put them in the freezer and later told me that I could have them. There were three of them and, on two separate occasions, I ate the first two. They were nice and mellow so I didn't think a thing about eating the third on another night. It turns out that the third was so much stronger. I came out of my bedroom and informed everyone that I was going to need comfort. Ashes told me it would be okay, assured me that I couldn't die from a THC overdose, and told me to sit on the couch while we watched TV. Every time I tried to get up from the couch, Dean would stand up from the floor in front of the couch and push me back down. He was such a good stoner helper.

Yesterday, my new thing was making totally legal, home grown pot cookies. Today, after work, my new thing was eating one. I knew I should have started with 1/2 but I wanted to honestly say what a full cookie would do. To make the THC oil, I took 10 grams of pot and cooked it and then cooked it in oil, and then cooked it again, froze it, thawed it out, strained it through a cheese cloth, and it was ready. I only used 8 teaspoons of oil as the recipe recommended using 1/2 teaspoon for every serving. I still have at least half of the oil left. However, one cookie was enough to fuck me up proper.

I use pot frequently but I'm a very low user. I like to ride a long but shallow high during the weekend or a quick puff after work so riding an intense cookie train was a bit too much but I survived. I tried watching the Walking Dead but it was too intense so I cooked. I managed to make some really good enchiladas and do some laundry but I couldn't leave the house. After a bit, I couldn't do anything but lay on the bed and wait for it to pass. I did look up how much pot you'd have to take to OD. A 175 lb adult would have to ingest 33 grams of pure THC. I definitely didn't have pure THC, and I only used 10 grams of pot for the oil, only used 1/2 of that for the cookies, and only ate 1/25th of that in the one cookie I had so I knew I'd be fine. I had bought the ticket so I was going to ride the ride.

Fortunately, Andrew came home and we watched Party Girl which is the perfect movie for my situation. Next time I try baking, I will eat 1/4 or 1/8 of a cookie first and work my way up. But, it does mean that I have way more pot and edibles that I'm going to be able to use.

funerals for friends

Last week, I found out through Facebook that someone I knew passed away. I knew Robin but I can't say that we were more than just acquaintances. I've talked to him at parties but I think I probably saw his old dog Kansas more in the last 8 or so years than I had Robin. Still, I never had a negative experience with him & he was one of my few friends that had a strong bond with a dog so I wanted Togo pay my respects.

He was a fun-loving, all-around good guy that inspired everyone around him to be better and that's pretty much the best thing I could hope for anyone to say when I'm gone. There were a lot of people at the service; I only knew a handful of them but it was great to hear them speak of Robin and his adventures. Plus I've never heard someone in a chicken costume drop so many F-bombs during a eulogy before.

A lot of people posted online about how Robin showed them how to not take yourself too seriously. That's really stuck with me all week. That and that life is to be valued. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those ideals looming around the forefront in my mind but I feel altered.

What else?

On Friday, I got to tour a new group home with a customer & his family. He fit in great & loved it. It was the first thing that I did that day and I really just wanted to drop the mic & walk away because it felt great and I knew the day couldn't get better.

stand up work

After a month of family leave, I returned to work today. I've a actually been missing it. I thought that I would love the life of being a homemaker but I've been missing a sense of purpose. In the book The Outlander that I listened to on the way back to Nebraska, the narrator talked about how laziness was frowned upon in this highland castle because everyone has a stake in making their community work together. I've been feeling lazy so I'm glad could go back to doing my part.

As I was walking up to my office, I began to get nervous that things may have changed while I was gone but I was also nervous that they may not have changed. I didn't want to come back to a completely different job with different people in a different system but I'd like to think that, in a month, things would move along. My job isn't that stale.

I ended up getting just the right amount of change. I didn't lose any customers or gain any new ones and progress had been made but things didn't seem like they were out of my control. Basically, it was my old job again. However, I did get the nice new addition of a standing desk, pictured above. I marveled at it for a second and then lowered it back to a sitting position. I'm definitely going to be standing more though. I need to make some changes to my life, my job, and my routine but I don't want to completely disrupt everything.

What else?

For my last day of freedom yesterday, I took it easy. I read comics, walked Ava, and got the mixings for vegan cannabutter which will be my new thing down the road. My new thing yesterday was seeing the office of my gym buddy (or swol mate as Sophia likes to say).

biking tilikum

 

I was ready to go back in to work today...yesterday. However, when today actually came around, I thought I may as well enjoy this one final day of my leave. I met Ashes and Dom downtown for lunch while Andrew worked from home. To get there, I used the Tilikum Crossing. I had biked it before but never functionally, always as a tourist. Also, I have never taken the upper path that goes north on the westside from the bridge. It's really quite nice as it pulls you away from the pedestrians and the restaurants on the southern waterfront.

Also, Andrew and I ended up trying out Nakhon Thai on Hawthorne. While I was in Nebraska, Nakhon opened up where the Hawthorne Cafe used to be. It's surprising that yet another Thai restaurant would open up on Hawthorne but this place has a Southern Thai menu, a good cook, and a nice space inside so I think it will survive.

make it a good day

Yesterday, my new thing was going to be Mediterranean Stew. To make the stew, I went and bought a slicer like my mom had in Nebraska. It's a little inclined plastic shelf with a blade in the middle for slicing veggies. However, I got a little careless with it so my new thing was going to the ER at Portland Adventist.

Since I've been in Portland, I've only had Kaiser Insurance until I started this job. Since I've been at this job, I've just been to the doctor once when I had an ear-ache and they did nothing about it. At Kaiser, ER visits were only a $20 copay so I thought that it would be worth it since I couldn't get my thumb to stop bleeding. I didn't cut too much off of it; it was only about 1/8 inch round circle. I bandaged it up 3x and put some blood clotting powder (which stung like holy hell) and it persisted on bleeding through. I got worried enough to go in and they cleaned it up a bit and put a little band-aid on it and billed with 10x what my copay would have been at Kaiser. So I was extremely pissed off at myself. I was upset that I did something as stupid as slice my thumb when the slicer even gives you a tool to hold the veggies (but in my defense, it doesn't work so well for eggplant. I was upset that I went to the ER in the first place and then that I didn't just walk out when they said it would be a $200 copay. So, I was determined to have a better day today.

I had coffee with Andrew, walked Ava to Tabor, took a THC lozenge, deep-cleaned the house, trimmed the bedroom curtains (my new thing), started watching the last season of Continuum, got a bubble tea, read comics in the hammock, met Andrew at Dove Vivi where he bought me dinner, and then met up with friends to watch the new Black Panthers documentary. Mission accomplished.

What else?
Earlier this week, I finally finished the complete Civil War in the Marvel series. I remember a friend telling me about it years ago as it was coming out. Since I've been getting comics on my Kindle, I've been interested a lot more in DC than I have in Marvel but I did enjoy this, mostly because it introduced me to a batch of new characters with whom I was previously unfamiliar. My favorite of these was Jessica Jones (pictured above) so I also got the Jessica Jones:Alias and Pulse series which I finished tonight. I'd highly recommend the series, even to someone who is less than familiar with comics and Marvel in particular. She stands alone enough to make it understandable and it's just fun.

wahclella falls

This is one of the easiest hikes I've done in the gorge but I just stumbled upon it this morning and there's nothing wrong with easy and the last minute if this is the result. It's so easy in fact that it's a shame I haven't been here before. It's probably best that I came on a weekday in the fall tho because the parking lot was still full. When Ava and I started out, we ran into a dozen people taking photographs. I thought that it must be a migration or something that they were capturing on film but a guy told me it was a class.

I kept Ava on leash for a while just because of the number of cars but I was afraid she was going to yank me down a slippery stone path so I let her run free. It's what we came here for after all. I'll definitely go back when I need a quick forest and falls fix.

What else?
Yesterday, I just had the Prickly Pear Cider at NWIPA for my new thing. It was unnaturally pink but surprisingly not that sweet.

all the trimmings

 

Years ago, this would have been inconceivable. I once paid $200 for 2 oz of shittier pot. I didn't buy it myself but a friend knew some people and he did it for me. He came back a bit frazzled from the purchase. The dealer was there with some of his friends and they had a gun on the table. Fortunately, in all my misadventures with pot, I've never personally experienced that and now I won't have to.

Legalization is the way to go. Not only do you eliminate the criminal aspect but you also get rid (or significantly reduce) the possibility of dealers trying to push something else onto the kids that find them. Plus, I heard that Oregon brought in 11 million (!!) dollars it's first week of legal pot sales. That's a significant amount of taxed revenue!

However, I didn't need to contribute to that at all and I might not be for the foreseeable future. That 2 oz of pot lasted me over 2 years. Since legalization, my intake amount may have increased but I'm still a lightweight and now we can have 8 oz in our house which we have thanks to our three legal plants. Andrew harvested it today and I helped him with the trimming. It's really sticky which is really good except for the scissors. It's still got a month to dry out in a jar but after that, I have no idea what we'll do with it all. I'm going to try making tinctures and edibles. I love this future.

What else?

I really missed my bike while I was gone so we took a bike ride out to Gresham via the Springwater. It is so gorgeous out there right now with the leaves turning colors! 

past time for a massage

A week ago, my aunt was over visiting me and my parents and they all started talking about their vacation in Thailand. They agreed that the massages were awesome. I started to reflect back over how long it has been since I've had a massage and my aunt highly recommended I get one after my trip. I did feel really stiff all morning after driving so much. I didn't want to have any commitments for the day but I also felt that a massage was necessary.

I went to a new clinic, Laurelhurst Massage Therapy. The guy there was great and the facilities were wonderful. Really, they almost make me realize that I've messed up in this life. If I would have been thinking, I would have gone into massage therapy and been able to set something up like they had in their back shed. It was a two floor building with a dry sauna and the best shower ever (three shower heads!) on the main floor and the massage room upstairs.

I feel sooooo much better after having gone. I will definitely not wait so long until my next massage, long car ride or no.

back where we belong

We made it.

Today's ride was only 5 hrs and 50 minutes which is close to half of what Wednesday's ride was. It was no issue whatsoever. I was so excited about getting back and being off the road and at home with Andrew that I got up before dawn to get there.

Although Oregon is flush with scenic views and potential stops, we only stopped once every two hours for some exercise and to get gas. The picture above was our stop at the John Day River. It was the only park on the trip that we paid to get into and it was only a dollar.

Andrew didn't expect me back until later and I wasn't sure that we would stop more or have car trouble so I didn't let him know that we were getting back so early. I sent him a text when we were two blocks away so he came running out of the house. Ava was crying when she realized where we were and ran around like mad. Our journey is over.

 

dubois to ontario

Today was a lot better. I started off the day with a latte in Dubois. It was the first latte that I've had in weeks and I was so grateful. After I got some breakfast, we left town and went to drive through the Tetons. I could see it was raining in the distance but that also made for a beautiful rainbow pictured below.

While going by the Tetons, I stopped a lot and let Ava run. I also pulled up next to some Bison and got some pictures. After the Tetons, we cruised through Idaho, backtracking somewhat to return the battery charger I bought on the way out at Idaho Falls. We hit the Craters of the Moon and ended up going through Boise during rush hour. Poor planning but I got to our hotel at Ontario just after 6.

Three years ago, Dean and I stopped at Craters of the Moon and ended up here at the Ontario Inn. I didn't realize it when I booked it but as soon as I saw the dog area in the back, I knew we were here before. The Inn's nice enough but I was hungry and unable to find any good veggie options as I walked around town. I walked the other way from the Inn and ended up at a place called Bargitas. I waited while they made my burrito while Ava was tied up outside barking. They're kind of a fast food place but serve margaritas. I wanted one so bad but couldn't drink while Ava barked. I cannot wait to get her home so I can get a little space.

the road back

After two weeks, I started headed back to Oregon today. I haven't been around my parents for more than a week since 1995. It was great to get to spend so much time just chilling with them without holidays being the reason I come back. I got to help them around their house but more importantly, we got to spend quality time together.

But now I'm on my way back. Two weeks is Also the most amount of time I've spent away from Andrew since we became boyfriends. I miss him and our house and my friends and Portland and being able to leave Ava alone. It's time to for me to go back.

We did our biggest stretch of the drive back today, heading 10 hrs to Dubois, WY. I should have planned a shorter trip because we didn't get a lot of time to stop anywhere although we hit a couple spots quickly. We walked around Hell's Half-Acre which was gorgeous and then we were able to stop at Wind River outside of Dubois. I also just finished The Outlander audio book. It was good and entertaining but I think I'll listen to a few podcasts and Dan Savage's book American Savage tomorrow to change things up.

familial familiarity

 

Facebook had provided me with an odd sense of familiarity with family. Even tho I'm so far away from everyone else in my family (especially my extended family), I feel like I know what's going on with most of them. For example, whenever I post anything, I can almost always count on one of my aunts liking it and possibly (positively) commenting on it. This gives the illusion that we're interacting but when I stop to think about it, I realize that she doesn't post anything really personal about her life and I don't get deep in mine. Hell, I don't get as deep as I could here but on Facebook, I keep it all friendly, mostly funny, sometimes opinionated, and rarely heartfelt. 

Therefore, it's nice to see the people that I see on FB in person instead of just their avatar reposting a cartoon or a meme or that they like X, Y, and/or Z. Today, I got to see three of my aunts on my mom's side, one of my cousins, and my second-cousin. I also got to go to my cousin's farm. This cousin isn't on Facebook and she's a cousin I feel kicks ass because she's a vet so I was really glad I got to see her, in person.

Also, I was glad that Ava got to meet everybody and she got to see the horses that were on my cousin's land. Big farm animals are very intriguing to her (you can hear her whining for them in the video and they came to the fence as a result).

and then i just chilled

Like I predicted, the days began to blend together. It's been nice just relaxing and not having any big tasks or journeys ahead in the immediate future. Still, I've been trying to get new things done and spend time with my family. 

On Friday, my mom and I went to "town" (that's what we call Kearney) and I used the HyVee gas station pump. I also tried the Chile Relleno for the first time at the mexican restaurant/store here in Gibbon. I thought I had had it before but after seeing it, I realized that it was new (and pretty damn good). My aunt and uncle came up from Kearney to join us for dinner and to see me and meet Ava.

On Saturday, I got my car worked on and ready to come back to Oregon and then went to the Goodrich ice cream here in town and had a cone with Ava in the park while the rest of the town watched the Huskers game.

On Sunday, I got up early for sunrise pics below. My dad and I also went to see The Martian which I really enjoyed. However, the movie cut out 80 minutes into it and we had to wait for a bit for the management to fix it. I also downloaded Words with Friends onto my Kindle and my mom and I have been playing a lot.

Like I said, it's been chill and easy. It's what I came here for.

time keeps on slipping

When I decided to come back to Nebraska, I had the momentary idea that I would put blogging on hold during my stay here because I was going back to little town Nebraska where new things would be harder to come by but then, I thought, that's kind of the point. I'll admit that my new things are often new eateries/bars/menu items/drinks so staying in a town where the dining and drinking options are much more limited (especially for a vegetarian), I knew I would have to be more creative with my new things. We've kind of had an agenda for the past week: getting adjusted, visiting Grandma, my sister and her kids visiting, going to the bridges, and visiting the new baby. Yesterday was our first lull in activity with no real plans on the near horizon. Today was even moreso with my parents both working all day out of town so I was here with Ava.

I thought about heading to town to get some routine maintenance on my car or driving to a spot where Ava and I could go on a long hike but we've been driving every day. So instead, I ate half a THC caramel and chilled at the house, watching Orange is the New Black, sorting through my 1000+ iPhone pics, making lunch, doing dishes, laundry, etc. My new thing was walking down some different streets with Ava. I've pretty much explored a different route every day but that will only get me so far. After a while, one runs out of streets and the new things become something that you have to actively work towards.

In cleaning up my iPhone pics, I came across this excerpt that I took out of the Shell Collector by Hugh Howey. When I read it months ago, it resonated with me and this blog. This is why I'm determined to keep on doing new things. Not only do I want to sample so much of what life has to offer but I also just want to slow it all down. When I reflect back on my vacation here in Nebraska, yesterday and today (and probably tomorrow) will all blend together and be categorized as "and then I just chilled," but I like telling stories to friends and family and I want to be able to tell them something fresh all the time which is why I've got to keep doing new things. Keep it fresh...yo.