back from summer hiatus

Look network TV gets a break and so do I.

Few things. I have been wildly busy with three lab minions working on three different projects. Just when I think I am head, I realize I only have the tiger by the tail and there are three tigers. Speaking of minions, they have taken it in stride and have designed T-shirts based on the idea. Not the point for writing this. Work is work until it is a death march designed to test the will of the Gods.

Two days ago, minion number two and I had to go out and do field work at a local state park. It had to be in mid-afternoon due to the plants blooming schedule. This plant also only lives on rocky outcrops in quite direct sunlight. Assume it was 112 in the shade etc etc. I decide that the boys, dopey and bashful, should come with us and afterwards we will go for a bit of a jaunt through the forest. (Mistake 1 of ?) On the way out the door, I notice that JuneBug the dog/yard art has meandered into an open car door and in her very mild way, insisted on joining us. Why not? The more the merrier (said the Donner Party)

I miss 'back in the day'

I will spare you the details to some extent. So highlights

Basically this only less excited

At the trail head a Chilean woman asked us to go down the trail about a mile and see if we saw her teenage daughter and friend as they had left this woman and a 1 year old baby to go take a picture and hadn't come back in over an hour. See picture.

At some point there was a yellow jacket attack.

There were 1/4 mile posts counting down from 28. This gave a nice pace to the whining and incessant scheduling and rescheduling of rest stops. I will admit though that when Wilson began timing our pace between posts around mile 4, the pace piked up.

JuneBug. Oh JuneBug. Apparently we have been underestimating her advanced age. She must have thought we were trying to kill her. Her mood varied between almost amused and rolling on the ground in what appeared to be the throes of death. She may have been faking for sympathy but this was at mile 2. 

Pause here and take a moment to read the classic onion article entitled "Dolphins not so intellegent on land." A quote from that article that came to mind was "the dolphins appeared to be looking directly into our eyes, as if pleading with us to help them perform better in these tests." A dolphin might have been more adept at this task. Sorry JB. 

By the end I was pulling her, begging her, cajoling her, pleading.... you get the idea. My shoulder is still sore from her deciding to stop at random intervals.

My favorite mental image of the day was Mr. Fabulous, aka Senor toilet, aka bashful, sort of fell apart at the end. Spirits were broken by mile 5 or 6 but around the six and a half mile mark his body began to let him down. First it was his mouth. He stopped talking. At this point I decided he should start every morning with a six mile stroll. This was not the best though. The last mile was all down hill on loose rocks, scree is the technical term and word of the day. Mr. Fabulous lost control of his ankles. He fell over and over and over. (If he were not durable I would have been concerned. He has had three black eyes this summer. Falling down is nothing.)

The vision you should have is of a model on the runway who has had her shoes chosen for with no regard for her ability to make a 50 walk in them. Take that and combine it with the limp jointed marionette doll.....

This....

Plus....

Made the whole day worth it.