Recently in Personal Category

My brother Doug passed away on Sunday morning.  Doug was born with Cystic Fibrosis and when he was an infant, we were told that he probably wouldn't live past 7.  Well, he did. At 38, he was really sick and his lungs were failing and miraculously, a set of lungs became available and he got another chance with his lung transplant.  He had about 6 and a half good years with those wonderful lungs and then he was diagnosed in November with colon cancer that had already spread to his liver.  His body finally gave out on Sunday morning about 6:30 with the sun shining through the windows of his hospital room. Dana and I were with him.

Doug was an amazing boy, then man.  I'm so glad I was his older sister because I remember every stage of his life and had the fortune of both being a part of, and being an observer of, his childhood, teen years and adulthood.

He really was made whole when he married Dana, his wife of the last 15 years.  They were soul mates who loved each other deeply and nurtured and took care of each other. 

Doug was an avid reader (he was abd in Philosophy) and spent his life  searching for answers. He had just found Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, whose letters he enjoyed reading and whose writings he pondered. 

In the last week of his life, and I'm convinced he knew it was his last week, he sent me James Joyce's Dubliner's.  In it he wrote, "Lisa, books are life long friends.  I hope this book becomes one of your friends as it reminds you of your trip to Ireland."

Peace be with you, dear brother. 

We had one last day in Dublin and had so much to see, we made up a schedule the night before.  It took a bit of pre-planning to get to everywhere we wanted to go.  Our list included the National Museum, National Library, Chester Beatty Museum, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Marsh Library, The Irish Writer's Museum, and the James Joyce Center.  We also wanted a bit of last day shopping in the middle and take the last day to drink some more yummy Irish beer. We walked through St. Stephen's Green and started out at the National Museum where we saw Ireland antiquities preserved in the peat and beautiful Irish gold jewelry, as well as remnants from Viking and medieval times.  The coolest thing was a long (log) boat 60 ft long.  After that we walked into the National Library and up to the Reading Room which has green lights on the tables, just like at Penn State's Paterno Reading Room.  After that we did a bit of shopping and headed off to the Chester Beatty Museum where they're having an exhibit (very nicely done) on ancient China and a look at their permanent collection of religious displays from religions around the world.  We decided to then head up to St. Patrick's and the Marsh Library, but we arrived just as the Marsh was closing for the day.  So we went into St. Patrick's and lo and behold, there was a concert by a young people's choir from the UK going on.  We sat and listened for awhile, transfixed by the loveliness of their voices and the fantastic acoustics at St. Patrick's. 

After that, we started making our way to lunch and to the general vicinity of the Writer's Museum.  Dublin is separated to the North and South by the River Liffey .  We were in the south during the morning and headed north for the afternoon.  We shared some fish and chips, had a beer, and then walked down O'Connell St. towards the Writer's Museum.  Dublin has a rich heritage of writers such as Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Sheridan, W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, and Synge.  We took a grand audio tour which left us both wanting to go back and read and read.  On our way to the writer's museum, we walked by a march supporting the abolishment of racism.  The week before a 15 year old boy, star soccer player, was killed by two men in what was a senseless act of violence.  We sat on a rock and watched as people of all races passed by.   After the writer's museum we made a quick stop at The James Joyce Center is quite small but has some interesting memorabilia. 

We headed back towards the south end of town for one last and a stop at the Stag's Head and a stroll through Trinity College.  We also visited Merrion Square and the Oscar Wilde statue, just before closing.  Merrion Square is a very green, beautiful park surrounded by relatively stark Georgian buildings.  We were looking for Toners, and a bite to eat and a beer.  We had a great meal of duck pate and smoked salmon salad and then headed back to the room via St. Stephen's Green. 

This was a marvelous trip for two reasons - because Ireland is beautiful, and because Lauri and I got to spend time together.  She's such a wonderful traveling companion...highly organized and patient with my, "can you repeat that?" or "are you sure we're going in the right direction?" questions.  She made tea for us each morning, and walked slower to keep up with my shorter gait...not to mention being a wonderful woman and great pub crawler.  We thank Mairéad for her helpfulness as we were choosing places to go. Now as we read books about Ireland or by Irish authors, we'll have a context and appreciation for the complexity of the Irish heritage and culture, and for the beauty of Ireland.

This morning we took a walking guided tour around Waterford.  The Waterford Tower is the oldest round tower in Ireland that has been in continuous use.  It's now a museum...it was built in the 12^th century.  Many of the buildings were built by John Roberts, a leading architect who designed both the Catholic Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Protestant Christ's Church.  We left Waterford mid-morning and went to the Avoca Weaving Mills, Ireland's oldest hand weaving mill and watched how they weave beautiful thread into scarves, blankets, etc.  Then we left towards Dublin with a stop at an early 6^th century Monastic site in Glendalough that was founded by St. Kevin.  It's nestled in a valley that reminded me very much of the valleys around State College.  It was very beautiful with a stream running through it.  It is an interesting site in that the buildings go up and down the valley.  Finally, we ended our tour in Dublin, thanked our tour guide and driver, and headed off to the National Gallery where we saw many lovely paintings by Yeats, Osborne, etc.  We both liked the portraits and I saw a lovely portrait of Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland whom Mairéad and I just saw last week in Altoona!

After the Museum came a very yummy dinner of Irish stew and boxties which are the Irish version of a burrito with potato rather than corn.  Finally we strolled through Temple Bar, an area sort of like Rush Street in Chicago. We walked through it all and then stopped at St. Audeons, which is a Polish/Irish Catholic church.  We also walked and looked all around Christ Church.  One thing I'll say...you can walk in the Catholic churches any time for free but there are fees to go into the Protestant churches and you can only enter as specific times of day. Finally, we had a beer at The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin and then after that stopped in another pub, chatted it up with a very lovely young Australian couple and watched the French vs. Leinster rugby quarterfinal match.

Today was a long and fun filled day.  Tomorrow is our power museum day in Dublin before heading back on Sunday.

Today started out with a jaunty ride through the streets of Killarney and then we headed off to Blarney for a morning of shopping.  We drove to Blarney in County Cork and the hillsides were very lovely.  Blarney was an excuse for some to go into Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone which supposedly will give you the gift of gab and make you more eloquent.  Feeling gabby enough, we shopped instead at the Blarney Woolen mills store and then walked around the town.  We decided to go to the grocery and get some smoked mackerel, rolls, tomatoes, and beer and eat it out on the village green.  I was a bit nervous about drinking beer in a public area in front of the police station but Lauri said, no worries, so we just ate and enjoyed the lovely sunshine.  Back in the bus afterwards with a drive through Cork and then down to Waterford.

We had an hour to explore Waterford before heading off to a country pub called Jack Meade's to hear an Irish folk singer named Tommy Commaford.  So we walked along the River Suir to the Trinity Church.  For many years it was illegal based on the Brits to build a Catholic church in Ireland and this was the first Catholic church built after the law was repealed.  It's gorgeous inside with beautiful Waterford crystal chandeliers.  Sadly, the factory has recently closed and moved to Germany.  After that we went to Jack Meade's and sang to some wonderful Irish music and drank some beer and ate salt and vinegar crisps.  It was so much fun.  Then back to the Tower hotel for an amazingly good dinner of salmon.   

Be sure and read tomorrow's entry -- it ends with a chat about our fun time in a pub watching rugby (the quarterfinals between Leinster and France)  with a very cute Australian couple.

Today was a very lovely day.  In fact, we've been so lucky with the weather.  For most days, it's been sunny, or it's cleared up and the sun has come out.  We went to the Cliffs of Moher first thing this morning.  I could almost see the lookouts waiting to sound the alarm when the invaders came on their ships.  The cliffs jut out like arrows into the sea.  The sea was rough this morning and made for some nice pictures of the waves crashing into the cliffs.  The visitors center is very nicely done, built into the sides of the hill.  We enjoyed our short walk there.

Next up was Galway, the 4^th largest city in Ireland, the main city of its county and a lively university town.   In 1234, the medieval fishing village of Galway went big time, when the Normans captured the territory from the O'Flaherty family.  Making the town a base, the Normans invited in their Angle friends, built a wall in 1270 and kicked out the Irish.  The people of Galway supported the English king but it was under siege later by Oliver Cromwell's army.  We had a beer in a pub for lunch, no mussels, and I got some yarn at a local shop. 

After that we headed to a watch a marble carver and then to sheep farmer's ranch.  Lamb is big business here with the chief markets being France and locally here in Ireland.  It's big business and one of the most interesting things that Fintan Rathbaun said was that the wool on the sheep was a cost rather than a revenue generator.  The cost to shear the sheep was more than the price received for the wool.  I thought about that a bit because that flew in the face of my assumptions.  But then I thought about it more and realized that most yarn I've purchased recently has been from Japan, Turkey, and Peru.

In the evening we went to the Poet's Corner pub in the Old Ground Hotel (we should say that we've been to pubs every night) which was great...good food, and good beer... back in Ennis, our home for the past two nights.  We liked Ennis a lot, which is the main town of County Clare.

We left Ennis on Wednesday and headed off to the south towards Killarney.  We took the ferry at Killimer across the Shannon River to Tarbert.  It was a lovely, clear day so we stood on the deck of the ferry, looking for dolphins which we didn't see, and taking in the lovely view up the river and on the riverbanks.  We then headed down to Dingle Bay through Killorglin and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  We spent the first three hours of the afternoon driving around The Ring of Kerry, stopping along the way to look at the lovely hills, great ocean views and clear glacial lakes.  One of the best views is called the Ladies View. Our guide said that it's only clear 10% of the time - well, we were grateful for the weather today.  It was about 55 degrees and the pictures were terrific.  We arrived in Killarney and went on a tour of Muckross House (where Queen Victoria stayed in 1861) which is in the first national park in Ireland, getting the idea from US and Yosemite.  Muckross House was built by William Burn and bought by an Irish American couple for their daughter Maude and her Irish husband.  Maude died young and her parents and husband gave the house and the grounds to the Irish people and it became the first National Park. We went back to the hotel and then a nighttime walk to town for provisions, light shopping, and  O'Sheehan's pub where we met a nice couple from Cork (45 minutes away) down for a two day holiday.  Oddly, Pennsylvania connection #3 occurred there because the man we met has a cousin who lives in Philadelphia. 

These were great days - we're having a wonderful time

I spent part of the day today reflecting on everything that I learned yesterday.  Kilmainham jail was also the place where the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916 (thanks for the poem by Yeats, Caleb) were held and executed.  I hadn't thought about the centuries long fight for independence that the Irish fought before.  We're such a young country in comparison.

Today we drove across the country to the Irish National Studfarm which was very beautiful and very interesting.  Horseracing is a big business here in Ireland.  One thing I discovered was that the horses at this farm do not race in the Kentucky derby because these horses run on grass, not dirt. However, mares come to the farm from all over the world.  We saw some darling new foals as January - March is prime birthing season.  I felt sympathy for those mares that carry foals for 11 months and have to deliver a more than 100 lb. creature with 4 legs!

We had lunch in a pub in Cashel...wonderful mushroom soup with brown bread and a pint, and then we headed off to Ennis.  Almost the whole group opted for an optional castle banquet, but Lauri and I decided to explore Ennis which we did, wandering into the churches and walking around the town.  After that we figured we'd head off to a pub for dinner.  We asked two girls in a coffee shop where to eat and then told us "Brogans" without any hesitation. So we headed out a 7pm after a bit of IM'ing with Mairéad to find out about some Irish dancing in Dublin, we ate some yummy fish and chips and smoked salmon.  We're sitting in the pub, chatting and an older man asks me to dance.  Okay, so how many opportunities am I going to get to dance to Irish music in Ireland?  So we danced...he was a lovely dancer...  and he asked where I was from and I said St. College, PA.  Well, it turns out that the couple sitting next to the musicians heard me and said, "We overheard you say you're from State College?  We're from Scranton!"  It turns out that they are renting a cottage in the country here for a month for their 25^th wedding anniversary.  They have 4 sons and one of the middle boys has kidney disease and has had a transplant.  Almost all of their life is planned so they decided to get away and rent a cottage and do no planning but take each day as it comes, something they can't do.  So we chatted for awhile and I told them about my brother Doug and his lung transplant. What a small world this is.

It was a wonderful first day.  Very little sleep on the plane but launched into a full day.  We went to St. Pro (St. Mary's) church first thing and stayed through the "peace be with you." portion...Lauri wanted to get a rosary for a family member but we didn't see any.  She lit a candle and then, we went on a bus (we figured out public transportation after our 30 euro cab ride from the airport) to the Kilmainham jail which, was just so overwhelmingly sad I can't describe it.  Since I've been to the Rockview prison in PA, I could give it some context.  Children as young as 5 were jailed for stealing bread...just very sad.

So to alleviate the sadness, we went off to the Guinness storefront.  That was terrific and I discovered that I like the Guinness here...at least the Guinness they poured...very smooth, full, just yummy.  Finally, we met up with our tour and we went on a bus tour of Dublin.  We had an hour on our own when we stopped at Trinity College so we took that hour and went to see The Book of Kells which was just beautiful.  I appreciated reading about the vellum and the materials that the scribes used.  It was apparent that even back then, teamwork was important since it's thought that multiple scribes worked on it.

Finally, it was back to the hotel for a wonderful dinner and then Lauri and I were fast asleep by 8:30 due to our very exhausting, but wonderful, 38 hour day.

Mairead, you're right about the Tayto crisps (cheese and onion). On our day-long stay here after our tour, we're going to the museums and art galleries.

Well, off to Ennis.

This will be, for me, an Easter to remember.

I'm hoping yesterday's headache stays away and is NOT a precursor of something worse to come.  Those of you who get headaches understand about the day after -- it is almost gone, but it's lurking in the background.  Someone recently described the next day as a day where you feel fragile.  That's exactly how I feel today.

I continued to plow through my to do list yesterday, but with limited gusto.  I looked for Rick Steve's Ireland at the public library but it was checked out.  We had an earlier edition here at University Libraries and I thought that maybe the Business Library would let me check it out even though the CAT said it was in the reference collection.  Kevin was very nice and helpful and accommodating but unfortunately, the book wasn't on the shelf!  Thankfully, Mairéad lent me a wonderful book so between that, the one from Sally, and then the Fodor's Lauri bought me, we should be all covered reference-wise.  I also bought myself two new pairs of wool socks from Appalachian Outdoors so that my feet will stay warm throughout the trip.  Finally, I folded all the laundry and started pre-packing.  All of this is FUN!  And finally, I found the name of a yarn shop in Dublin called "This is Knit"  I love the gallery of customers projects. Hopefully I'll get there and to the Dublin Woolen Mills.  I'm going to take my knitting with me and hopefully get two more pieces of my sweater finished.  It's terribly slow going.

Tonight's activities include picking up my prescription and getting my Dad stocked up on toiletries.  Oh, and I need to finish and print his taxes. I think I'll also get a new memory card for the camera. Lauri and I are conferring most evenings now as we get all our plans in order.
I can hardly wait!.

Between the process to get my daughter and her crew to Philmont in New Mexico where she will hike more than 80 miles in ten days to having my "study" be category exempt #2 with the IRB,  I have to say I'm about processed out.  I'm trying to figure out the good things about all this and I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

First the scouts.  Julia is a member of Venture Scouts Crew # 31.  I always want to say troop becuase eerily coincidentally, I was the leader of Girl Scout Troup #31 in another state back when I was 31 years old (hence the troop name).  Because the number of kids going to Philmont has changed over time, the crew was faced with needing someone to take Wilderness training before they leave town on Wednesday (just found out about this).  So tomorrow Julie and I are off to Virginia so she can get trained.  Meanwhile, while she's tied up this weekend, I'll chair my ALA committee from the hotel.  Okay, we can roll with the punches here.  But we also found out today that though we've paid for the rafting trip, all of the kids need to make sure they swim in front of the crew leader before they get on the plane Wednesday.  Okay, we'll follow the process.

Okay, what are the takeaways from this?  One...I am, and have been for years, and now it's been reinforced, how important project and process planning is.  It keeps you sane and away from last minute challenges...or at least it allows you to plan for the what ifs.  So, this is just a warning to all those who work for me...I'm going to be insistent about project planning over the course of the next year.  Another take away is that sometimes you have to step up, even when you don't want to.  You have to do things that are for the good of the whole.  It's called teamwork and it's important.

Now let's move onto the IRB.  I'm working on an article with three colleagues from other ARL (Association for Research Libraries) that was invited by the editor of a guest issue of the Journal of Library Adminstration.  We're writing about the ARL Research Library Leadership Fellows program and we're going to survey the first two cohorts of fellows.  Well, because we're going to survey them and write about it, we need to go through the Office of Research Protection.  These guys are great, perform an important function, but it's been a challenge to 1) have everyone take the IRB training (if the school doesn't offer it, they need to take Penn State's); 2) go through their IRB and get all the documentation from these folks and their three schools with their own procedures all into our own IRB.  I am a firm believer in the necessity of this process and again, what are the takeaways?  First, things take time.  As good as our IRB is, they need some lead time, especially when it's summer and they moved into a new office this week.  Second, colleagues that work quickly are wonderful  All three of my colleagues at the other institutions and my administrative assistant did exactly what they needed to do within three days of being notified.  They're amazing.  And finally...if you ever are doing a survey, even if it's very simple and are going to write about it, put going through IRB as one of the first steps in your project plan.

So, all in all the week was a bit frustrating, but a great learning experience.  As I chanted on all my hikes this week, "What won't kill me, makes me stronger." 

I highly recommend vacations. They are cathartic, rejuvenating and fun. My dear friend of 25 years and I went to a dude ranch in Colorado and we journaled our adventures. Feel free to read... or just browse ;-)

Vacation Day 1 – Road Trip

Friday at 11 I began my road trip to Chicago.  Nice day, uneventful.  Drove over the Chicago Skyway for the first time.  The trip went very fast until I reached the northwestern part of Chicago on I-90.  Traffic stopped dead at about Kimball and didn’t loosen up until I was past O’Hare.  I love driving across country by myself listening to country and western music (“Don’t Blink”) is my current favorite.  Got to Lauri’s about 7:30 where Joe had snacks ready.  Their house is lovely with a huge atrium in the middle, big rooms on 5 acres out in Barrington Hills, a very, very nice suburb of Chicago.  The neighborhood has polo fields.  Need I say more?  We had a fun evening of talking about our jobs and down logistics for the morning. 

Vacation Day 2 – We’re off

We left the house about ten in the morning very well provisioned for our trip.  After having a lovely lunch at the Greek Isles restaurant, Joe dropped us at the train station.  We hoped it wasn’t an indicator of things to come when a woman started screaming at us for scratching her van with our Dodge Durango doors (which we didn’t do, by the way.) I decided that I’d bet money on Joe and Greg if they were in a shouting match. We didn’t see that woman again; hopefully she got on a different train.  We were led to our sleeper car.  If you do train travel, getting a sleeper is definitely the way to go.  We sat and polished off a bottle of wine while playing gin rummy and watching the towns of Illinois and Iowa go by. As we got closer to the Mississippi, we could see the devastation that the flooded waters brought to this area.  Houses, garages, crops, all under water.  We had dinner of trout and Cornish hens in the middle of Iowa and sat with a very nice couple from New Jersey who were taking the train from New York to San Francisco.  We modified our gin rummy rules and continued to play through the evening.  About 10pm we got ready for bed, called the porter to turn down our beds, and attempted to sleep.  Despite this being a relatively luxurious way to travel, the beds were really hard and the horn was constant through the night.  I think I rested more than slept and it was a relief to see the sun come up. 

Vacation Day 3 – Granby

We awoke about 6 Mountain Time to the sun coming up on the prairies of Nebraska.  Out the window of the train, we saw cattle and more cattle, and big circular fields of corn.   The irrigation systems rotate around in the circle.  We passed places such as the Yuma Feed Lot.  Cow (probably not the right term) after cow were lying in the mud, waiting to be someone’s dinner.  I’ll have to Google it when I get back.  Our big stop of the morning was in Denver – we were about 1.5 hours behind schedule due to track repairs.  Out of Denver, we snaked through the mountains, ultimately going through 24 tunnels on our way to Granby. We saw mountain climbers repelling down the side of the cliff in the mountains between Denver and Winter Park.  When we got to Granby, Sue Suskin was there from the Bar Lazy J to greet us (along with her 5 year old granddaughter who is staying with her for a month.)  Sue and her husband Dale came up here from Miami several years ago after vacationing several times at the ranch.  They decided they liked it so much that they wanted to work here.

A lovely lunch was waiting for us consisting of bacon and salmon quesadillas and fruit.  It was marvelous and way too filling – Lauri and I each only ate half. We spent the afternoon unpacking, and lounging and reading in the chairs overlooking the Colorado River.  Lauri doesn’t get cell phone connectivity here but I do (yeah Verizon) so we walked up the hill to the tiny (50 people?) town of Parshall.  At the top of the hill, T Mobile would work.  We met Miss Dorothy, owner of the store and the liquor store.  She’s 84 years old and has owned the store for 28 years.  She sits and watches TV and helps the occasional person that wanders by.  Since it’s only 1000 feet or so off US40, I imagine she gets a fair number of wanderers.

Dinner was tremendous.  We sat with a couple, Angela and Martin, from England, a man named Mike from near White Plains, NY and “Moose” one of the wranglers.  The discussion devolved into politics which I kept out of because this is my vacation and I don’t want to get into political arguments.  If Lauri and I can be best friends and be on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, why can’t everyone else?  After which (that was again wonderful -- Eddy the chef is our favorite guy), we met our horses.  Lauri’s horse is Gillie and mine is Cow Girl.  I saw the helper steps and was relieved.  Tomorrow is our first horse ride!

Vacation Day 4 – July 28, 2008 We become friends with our horses

Well I lost day 4 so I’ll try and reconstruct.  We had a great day yesterday.  We spent the morning in orientation and I got to know Cowgirl.  After orientation, we had lunch and then we had trotting class.  It was a really good class where we learned how to trot and give the horse the commands they expect.  We would have taken a ride after class but it started to pour.  Lauri and I read our books on the porch and watched the rain.  Then we each took showers before the cocktail party.  It was fun talking with the owners, Jerry and Cheri.  After cocktails, we had swordfish or steak (I had fish, Lauri had steak) and then we took a walk up to Parshall.  I called Sarah and heard about her trip to Florida and Lauri called Joe.  We headed to bed about 9:30 because we were pooped.

 

Vacation Day 5 – July 29, 2008 PAIN

I got up really early today – wanted to watch the sun come up but it was overcast.  We had a great breakfast and then went out riding with Cheri to finish up our lesson from yesterday.  It was a lovely ride. We learned that the yellow flowers are yarrow and the blue are lupine.  Angela’s horse wanted to eat all the time so in the afternoon, it had a muzzle on.  After a two hour ride, we came back and had bbq beef for lunch.  After lunch, we had a loping lesson.  I had a hard time with that (Lauri is a natural athlete and did well.  My back started to spasm, so I decided enough was enough, got down, and went and sat in the hot tub and took a couple of pain killers.  It felt better at dinner (elk bucco, like osso bucco) and everyone wanted to hear about my back.  It seems that there are two anesthesiologists, two sports medicine physicians, an ophthalmologist, an optician, a nephrologist, and a cardiologist here this week.  So if my kidneys shut down and I have a heart attack, we’re in great shape.  After dinner, we each bought a piece of jewelry, and then came back to the room because we’re pooped.  Tomorrow is an all day ride.

Vacation Day 6 – July 30, 2008 WE ARE

The day started for me about 5am; for Lauri, a bit later.  I walked up to the lodge, got a cup of coffee, and watched the sun get higher in the sky as I knit.  Lauri, Angela and Martin and Mike joined me about 7:30 as today was our all day ride.  Everyone including children (about 40 people) headed out for a breakfast ride.  We went about three miles and stopped for breakfast.  We were all hungry and the crew met us with pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage.  And, very importantly, a portapotty.  Most everyone took a ride back, but Lauri, Angela, Martin and I went with Cheri, one of the owners, on an all day 14 mile ride.  We went up into the Rockies on a trail that afforded us beautiful views of the mountains and of foliage.  We saw groves of aspen and wildflowers such as Giant Angelica, Fireweed, Rosy Pussytoes, and Aster.  We saw a lot more, but some of their names escape me now.  We stopped about 2pm and had a bite to eat.  Eddy, the chef, sent us with sandwiches, cheetos (or fritos), cookies, and Gatorade.   I’ve never had Gatorade and I was thrilled to have it today.  I was really afraid that I couldn’t mount the horse, but each time we stopped, we found logs that gave me just enough of a boost.  After lunch, we road about what seemed like another 2.5 hours (Cheri kept saying, it’s just another 10 minutes!)  I rode in back of Cherie because my horse seemed to like that position best and I kept asking her question after question.  Thankfully, she used to teach high school PE and sex education so she’s used to a lot of questions.  Finally, at the end, Scott met us with the pickup, the horse trailer, and a round of beers.  We drove back to the ranch and all of us were pooped.  After showers and phone calls, we had a wonderful hamburger bbq with cole slaw that was nice and spicy, and blueberry cobbler. Unfortunately we dawdled and the ice cream ran out.  All of us were less talkative tonight.  Oh, I forgot to mention the pain killers and gin….definitely glad we brought both of those.  Tomorrow we’re supposed to have another all day ride.  I’ll see how my back is doing.

Finally, Beth, the children’s program counselor graduated from Penn State in 2003.  Since she had on her Penn State t-shirt tonight and I had on my Penn State sweatshirt, I yelled out, “We are” and she knew exactly what to do.

Vacation Day 7 July 31 2008 – And then there were cows

My back felt better today.  Perhaps it was because I dreamt about riding my horse.  We had a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes, egg, and bacon and then headed out on another all day ride.  It was so different than yesterday.  For one thing, there were eight of us.  Joining Martin, Angela, Lauri and me were Angie, Steve, Telis and Leann.  Angie and Steve live on a farm south of Indianapolis. Leann, Angie’s sister, and Telis live in Palm Springs, CA. We rode up through the mountains and it was really difficult to find the trail because so much logging had been done and new roads from the tractors were there and it looked different to Jerry than it usually does.  We ran into a rancher who had about 400 head of cattle up on the mountain.  It’s federal land but ranchers can get permits to graze their cows, recreational ranch owners get permits to ride horses through the lands, and logging companies get permits to log. We road for awhile and ran into about 150 head of cattle that were grazing.  King and Queen, the dogs, decided to bark and chase the cows.  Then the cows started chasing the dogs!  It was pretty amusing once we knew we could get through the cows.  We had lunch on the side of a hill overlooking beautiful views of Ute Mountain.  We were actually in the Arapaho National Forest and in the Williams Fort section of the Rockies.  After lunch, we turned around and attempted to find our way back.  It really does take a skilled guide to figure out where we were and where we’d been.  On the way back, Angela’s horse decided to jump over the mud puddle.  She did a great job hanging on.  We got back about 4:30, just in time for a nice shower and a beverage before an Italian dinner of eggplant parmesan or chicken parmesan.  After dinner, I decided to do laundry. And now the sun is setting and it’s almost 9pm so time for bed.  We’re having a wonderful time.  I can’t believe how much more comfortable I feel with Cowgirl, my horse.  Another week here and I’d feel great.

Vacation Day 8 – August 1, 2008 Work day

Today I took the day off and worked!  I worked on the encyclopedia article that needs to be finished and out of my face.  However, I did take a rest in the Jacuzzi.  Lauri went on a moderate ride and an adventure ride, but her horse came up lame on the adventure ride so she came back.  After a nice dinner of quail and tenderloin, we watched the staff show.  It featured the BossMan reading a poem, the BossLady leading the human orchestra, Cinderella a la Steven Wright, a doctor skit, a Keys to the Universe rendition, and a funny or really not so funny skit with Moose impersonating a Mexican named Tabasco (the name of Mike’s horse.)  Mike got a bit of ribbing and he didn’t like it.  Then the kids all got awards of some sort and it was really cute.  We said a fond farewell to our British friends Martin and Angela, and psyched ourselves up for the cattle drive.

Vacation Day 9 August 2, 2008  – The Cattle Drive

Today we went out to a range and for $140.00, we pushed, herded and had our horses bite cows.  It was an exhausting day riding out to where the farthest cows were located and then driving them all back towards the ranch.  It was amazing to me that calves can nurse while both they and their mothers walk.  It was awesome….cows, calves, and three very large bulls.  I learned today that girl cows have horns too – I never knew that.  I’m so glad we did it but boy, am I pooped and sore.  It was the hottest and the dirtiest we’ve gotten since we’ve been here.  However, I was able to trot with no problem.  However, the transition from trotting to loping kills my back.  I took several Advil today and I imagine it would hurt even more without them.

We got back, showered for what seemed like hours to get all the dirt off.  Then I did all my laundry and we had an amazing dinner of pork ribs.  Tonight Lauri and I are going to the local bar to check it out.  Then tomorrow, we head back to Chicago after one very special week.  I can definitely cross something off my Bucket List.

Vacation Day 10 – August 3, 2008 – Chicago Bound

Woke up this morning and said goodbye to a lot of the folks here;  Sisi, the very precocious 12 year old, Karen, the ophthalmologist, Leeann, Angie, and Telis, and the grandparents from Virginia whose son-in-law is named Lincoln German.  This has been a wonderful trip to the Bar Lazy J.  Nice people, good food, beautiful scenery and it’s been great having this time with Lauri.  Close family and friends are what makes a wonderful life and I’m very blessed and thankful for my family and my friends.  I’m also thankful to live in such a magnificent country.  We saw views on this trip that I’ve never seen before. I’ll remember the sound of the Colorado River forever, and the sound of the train going up the hill and into the tunnel. Vacations are important, and I did exactly what I wanted on mine.  I’m thankful that I was able to do it, both physically and financially. And now, it’s on to leg 2 – conference in Chicago, then down to Champaign, then off to Dwight.