This past 10 days or so have been rough. Enough said. Allow me to give you the highlights...
1. Stupid friend drama. Oh well, it will work itself out in due time. If not...there's other fish in the sea.
2. Dropped my wallet in the toilet...post doing my business. At the YMCA. Double bonus.
3. Because of my job, I've been exposed to TB or Tuberculosis for the uncool (like myself). Getting tested tomorrow...not awesome.
4. Somehow managed to staple my sweatshirt to a stack of papers at work. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have your boss de-staple you from information about a Supreme Court case? Yep.
5. Got the opportunity to pluck out rogue chin hairs from an older woman I know. And by given the opportunity, I actually mean not given a choice but to do it. Welcome to my life.
6. My allergy that I thought was gone has tricked me yet again. In the past 24 hours, I have sneezed no less than 75 times. Not even kidding.
7. Next week happens to be our Spring LVC retreat. This means that I will have a 9 day vacation from work (because of my weekends) and will be spending 5 days camping in northern Washington. Saturday also happens to be my birthday...guess what's planned? An LVC mandated day of "intentional silence" from dawn till dusk. I wish I could make this stuff up.
8. I've lost my ability to sleep-in. It's like losing a piece of my soul.
I think that about covers the con's of the last week or so. I wish I could say that the pro's have outweighed the negative, but it's just not the case. However, tomorrow is only a day awaaaaaaaaaay!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Adventures of a Cake Topper
It's been awhile since I last updated and honestly, it's because I got busy and forgot. Perhaps it's just hard for me to pin down exactly what I think would be worthy of a post. Or, something shiny floated by and my thoughts on writing become preoccupied...that's probably the closest thing to the truth.
ANYWAYS....I have been well. January was a chaotic month. Nativity House did not follow it's usual routine of having a slow first couple of weeks due to welfare checks arriving, followed by a steady rush of chaos at the end. Instead, it was crazy the whole way through. I can honestly say that I learned so much during the month, perhaps more than any other. To briefly recap--2 people (in the same day) had seizures in my arms, I was able to participate in a few drug busts, at least one of my "boyfriends" went to jail (or violated probation and will be going), I joined a gym, became an unofficial personal trainer, and visited friends and family in Michigan for 2 weeks.
It was really great to visit people in MI, but I'm so happy to be back in Washington. I think the "Snowpocalypse" was the key factor that made me realize I don't want to live in Michigan. Oh, and everyone asked me about the weather out here. Let me clarify--yes, it rains. However, it's not nearly as much or horrible as you are picturing. Imagine walking through the tail end of an obnoxious sprinkler that sprays all over the sidewalk you're trying to walk on. You get wet, but not really. Instead, you get misty...that's the weather in Tacoma. Serious.
In other news...I've met a new boyfriend. He's a little different from the others, but all the more special. His name is Milo. He's this 70-year-old black man with the most beautiful blue eyes. He's led a rough life including spending nearly 40 years in prison, but he considers himself a blessed man. He prefers to sleep outdoors so as to be closer to nature and refuses to live alone in an apartment. My day is not complete without seeing Milo.
Everyday that Milo comes into Nativity he yells "Honey, I'm home" as soon as he sees me. He constantly asks me to read him stories, and I usually oblige. He also really likes to bring me "gifts." These are generally found items, but I cherish them all the same. I've collected some youth wide receiver gloves, a Mickey Mouse cake topper (who came with me to MI and got his picture in a snow bank) and a Happy Meal toy. His reasoning..."I thought of you when I saw this and figured you would like it."
So, I've pretty much decided...who needs a real boyfriend when you've got an older man who's so full of life (except when he sleeps. "You've gotta sleep with one eye open when you're my age cause death is always creeping around the corner") and is definitely in the running for the person who brings the most uninhibited joy in my daily journey. I think we should all be so lucky to know someone like Milo.
ANYWAYS....I have been well. January was a chaotic month. Nativity House did not follow it's usual routine of having a slow first couple of weeks due to welfare checks arriving, followed by a steady rush of chaos at the end. Instead, it was crazy the whole way through. I can honestly say that I learned so much during the month, perhaps more than any other. To briefly recap--2 people (in the same day) had seizures in my arms, I was able to participate in a few drug busts, at least one of my "boyfriends" went to jail (or violated probation and will be going), I joined a gym, became an unofficial personal trainer, and visited friends and family in Michigan for 2 weeks.
It was really great to visit people in MI, but I'm so happy to be back in Washington. I think the "Snowpocalypse" was the key factor that made me realize I don't want to live in Michigan. Oh, and everyone asked me about the weather out here. Let me clarify--yes, it rains. However, it's not nearly as much or horrible as you are picturing. Imagine walking through the tail end of an obnoxious sprinkler that sprays all over the sidewalk you're trying to walk on. You get wet, but not really. Instead, you get misty...that's the weather in Tacoma. Serious.
In other news...I've met a new boyfriend. He's a little different from the others, but all the more special. His name is Milo. He's this 70-year-old black man with the most beautiful blue eyes. He's led a rough life including spending nearly 40 years in prison, but he considers himself a blessed man. He prefers to sleep outdoors so as to be closer to nature and refuses to live alone in an apartment. My day is not complete without seeing Milo.
Everyday that Milo comes into Nativity he yells "Honey, I'm home" as soon as he sees me. He constantly asks me to read him stories, and I usually oblige. He also really likes to bring me "gifts." These are generally found items, but I cherish them all the same. I've collected some youth wide receiver gloves, a Mickey Mouse cake topper (who came with me to MI and got his picture in a snow bank) and a Happy Meal toy. His reasoning..."I thought of you when I saw this and figured you would like it."
So, I've pretty much decided...who needs a real boyfriend when you've got an older man who's so full of life (except when he sleeps. "You've gotta sleep with one eye open when you're my age cause death is always creeping around the corner") and is definitely in the running for the person who brings the most uninhibited joy in my daily journey. I think we should all be so lucky to know someone like Milo.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Happy 2011. Between December 31st and January 2nd, I was told "Happy New Years" by no less than 200 different people. I'm blessed.
2011 has started off to be an interesting year thus far. Nothing extremely monumental has happened, but it just feels good. To think that this time in 2010 (because it was so long ago) I was just beginning the last semester of my undergraduate career. I was freaking out about post-graduation and what was going to happen. You know, pretty much end-of-the-world worthy problems.
Anyways, here I am in 2011 living in Tacoma, working full-time, and surviving. Whew. It's true that my job may be temporary (my program ends in August) but I am currently looking at other job possibilities post-LVC. Ideally, I really want to stay in the Pac Northwest or at least a state that is not considered to be a part of the "Midwest." Sorry Mom and Dad. You must have known this day was coming sooner or later.
However, that 2011 rant is not the purpose of this post. I got side-tracked...surprise, surprise. What I really wanted to write about was my last couple of days of craziness that has become my daily life.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a large occasion because I got to go to an actual Sunday morning church service. It's a big deal and comes around like once every 3 months due to my work schedule. I went to an "urban" church in downtown Tacoma. I can't say that I was overly impressed with my experience though. Oh well. I'll just chalk it up to learning something new everyday and a notch off my Tacoma Bucket List.
At the start of the day I'd hoped for nothing too out of the ordinary. Things changed though, when I walked into Nativity House. I put down my coat and greeted a couple of friends. Around my 3rd minute in the place, I was informed that a lady was having a seizure by some concerned guests. Megeen, a Jesuit Volunteer, and I ran to this woman's aid. It was a fairly mild seizure. She was still able to stand with minimal assistance from Megeen and I and was minimally responsive. The man she was with explained that this happened at least 3-4 times a day. Drug induced?...perhaps? Who knows.
She came out of the seizure after a couple of minutes and immediately pulled down her pants and peed all over the floor! Megeen's initial reaction, "This isn't the bathroom, maa'm." It was all that could be said. To her credit though, she managed to pee for at least 25 seconds, while standing in a room with over 250 people AND managed to avoid getting any on herself. She's a hero in my book. However, I had to clean up this mess and spent the rest of the day with the sneaking suspicion of smelling like urine. The worst part...I smelled like someone else's urine. Yuck.
Now, I'd hoped that this was the last of the surprises. Wrong again. Lunch came and went without a hitch. Then I was reminded about a pair of gloves that I had forgotten to give someone. On the way, I was grabbed by the arm. The reason, "Rachel, I'm about to have a seizure." Shoot. I asked Joe if I needed to call 911, he shook his head no and then went completely unresponsive. I was the only staff member around. SIDE NOTE--Joe is more than twice my body weight and size. He started shaking uncontrollably, eyes rolled into the back of his head and started to choke. Among the chaos, 911 was called and some guests helped me get Joe out of his chair and laying on his side.
At this point, I'm supporting Joe's head in my hands while he was laying on the floor. He was blue from the choking, but slowly regained color. Amidst the shaking, Joe also bit his tongue and terrified me when he started spitting blood. However, after a few minutes, he regained consciousness and the paramedics arrived. He was then taken care of and has since been seen on the streets going about his business.
All in all, it was a looooong day and things just kept piling on top of one another. I have these next 2 upcoming days off for my "weekend" and apart from babysitting and a 5:30 am yoga class I agreed to, I will be relaxing.
In other news...3 weeks from today I leave for Michigan for my 2 week vacation. I'm so excited.
Signing off now.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
So Much For A White Christmas
Alas, Christmas time has come and gone once again.
I have to say that this has been one of the most interesting Christmas' that I have had in a long time. I can't really say that it was anything too special or extravagant, but I was surrounded by some of my favorite people, so I suppose that counts.
I don't know if the feeling of the "Holiday Season" ever really sank in this year. Perhaps it's because the weather was fairly clear (with some rain) and 50 degrees pretty much everyday for the past couple of weeks. Also, I watched the original Halloween movie like 3 days before Christmas, so maybe that killed the mood as well?
It could have also been the fact that I actually had to decorate for Christmas. Who does that, honestly? All I know is that I broke a sweat hanging like 30 stockings, using a bag of men's underwear donations to break my fall, getting stuck under the tree, and had some close calls with a few light strands. But it was for the Nativity House, so it's all worth it in the end.
Things improved throughout the days (including my self-diagnosed case of whooping cough) until I accidentally decapitated Joseph in the Nativity scene. It went like this---we had a Christmas Eve worship service and of course we needed to bring out our Nativity scene from the shed. After fishing out this mangy looking box and checking for mice, I brought it inside.
As I was pulling out the figurines and dusting off the grime (shows how often it sees the light of day) I didn't realize that Joseph was a little more fragile than the rest. So, as the Queen of Hearts so eloquently states, "Off with his head!" Oops. However, Joseph was sort of in a kneeling position with a perfect little nook in his arms, so I just placed his head in there, like he was holding it. I thought it was a fun new twist on the classic depiction. I think Washington Irving would have been proud of my comparison of the Headless Horseman to Joseph, but we eventually had to use another set. Oh well, no Sleepy Hollow style Christmas set for Rachel this year.
As for the actual days of celebration, they were fun. The majority of my time was spent at NH with a multitude of guests, volunteers, semi-pro football players "giving back to the community," and assorted others. I was told "Merry Christmas" by at least 200 different people and received nearly as many hugs. Honestly, there is no other place that I would have rather been.
I also got to Skype with my parents and family members in the morning and spent the evening at my boss, Dominique's, mother's house watching basketball and hanging out with the "Bro Club."
Now it's back to the awkward week between Christmas and New Year's. I look forward to babysitting a 9 year old boy named Ben for a few days. We have big plans to discuss Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, well playing legos and watching Despicable Me.
Life has never been so good.
I have to say that this has been one of the most interesting Christmas' that I have had in a long time. I can't really say that it was anything too special or extravagant, but I was surrounded by some of my favorite people, so I suppose that counts.
I don't know if the feeling of the "Holiday Season" ever really sank in this year. Perhaps it's because the weather was fairly clear (with some rain) and 50 degrees pretty much everyday for the past couple of weeks. Also, I watched the original Halloween movie like 3 days before Christmas, so maybe that killed the mood as well?
It could have also been the fact that I actually had to decorate for Christmas. Who does that, honestly? All I know is that I broke a sweat hanging like 30 stockings, using a bag of men's underwear donations to break my fall, getting stuck under the tree, and had some close calls with a few light strands. But it was for the Nativity House, so it's all worth it in the end.
Things improved throughout the days (including my self-diagnosed case of whooping cough) until I accidentally decapitated Joseph in the Nativity scene. It went like this---we had a Christmas Eve worship service and of course we needed to bring out our Nativity scene from the shed. After fishing out this mangy looking box and checking for mice, I brought it inside.
As I was pulling out the figurines and dusting off the grime (shows how often it sees the light of day) I didn't realize that Joseph was a little more fragile than the rest. So, as the Queen of Hearts so eloquently states, "Off with his head!" Oops. However, Joseph was sort of in a kneeling position with a perfect little nook in his arms, so I just placed his head in there, like he was holding it. I thought it was a fun new twist on the classic depiction. I think Washington Irving would have been proud of my comparison of the Headless Horseman to Joseph, but we eventually had to use another set. Oh well, no Sleepy Hollow style Christmas set for Rachel this year.
As for the actual days of celebration, they were fun. The majority of my time was spent at NH with a multitude of guests, volunteers, semi-pro football players "giving back to the community," and assorted others. I was told "Merry Christmas" by at least 200 different people and received nearly as many hugs. Honestly, there is no other place that I would have rather been.
I also got to Skype with my parents and family members in the morning and spent the evening at my boss, Dominique's, mother's house watching basketball and hanging out with the "Bro Club."
Now it's back to the awkward week between Christmas and New Year's. I look forward to babysitting a 9 year old boy named Ben for a few days. We have big plans to discuss Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, well playing legos and watching Despicable Me.
Life has never been so good.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Yes, I am still alive.
I survived Thanksgiving. Things actually went off without too much of a hitch, which I am thankful for. I think the biggest speed bump was learning that one of our male guests does not wear underwear. Then, to make matters worse, I got to experience that he was indeed telling the truth when his pants fell down. Thankfully, I only caught the tail end (haha...both literally and figuratively) and wasn't exposed to nearly as much as everyone else. I still shudder at the thought.
Things have been good for me the past couple of weeks in the work area. It's been pretty quiet around the House due to everyone getting paid. Checks on the first, live the high life for a couple of weeks, then back to the shelters. It's a sad truth for many. On the plus side, donations have been coming in like crazy and it's awesome to actually be able to have/distribute all of the things we're asked for daily. Also, I'm really excited to spend Christmas at the shelter...it's going to be great. One of the Jesuit Volunteers, Megeen, and I decorated Nativity House this week and it's cool to see the place actually look more festive and less like a jail.
On the health side of things, I've been better. After my pink-eye cleared, I developed a weird rash on my hands. Anyways, I had an allergy to latex/maybe oranges as well as overly dry skin/something else. To make a long story short, it sucked. My hands were bumpy, red, itchy, etc. Thankfully, that's mostly cleared up, but not without some new fun nicknames. I now answer to Cootie Woman and Murphy's Law ("Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong). Whatever.
Oh, and the highlight/low point of my week thus far was when this old drunk man named Don snuck up behind me yesterday and kissed me on the neck. It was really gross to be nuzzled by this old gross man. I told him that was not okay, but he's also got mental issues....he also calls me MaryAnn (maybe a Gilligan's Island reference?) Either way, I had nasty old man spit on my neck all day. Gross
Until next time.
Things have been good for me the past couple of weeks in the work area. It's been pretty quiet around the House due to everyone getting paid. Checks on the first, live the high life for a couple of weeks, then back to the shelters. It's a sad truth for many. On the plus side, donations have been coming in like crazy and it's awesome to actually be able to have/distribute all of the things we're asked for daily. Also, I'm really excited to spend Christmas at the shelter...it's going to be great. One of the Jesuit Volunteers, Megeen, and I decorated Nativity House this week and it's cool to see the place actually look more festive and less like a jail.
On the health side of things, I've been better. After my pink-eye cleared, I developed a weird rash on my hands. Anyways, I had an allergy to latex/maybe oranges as well as overly dry skin/something else. To make a long story short, it sucked. My hands were bumpy, red, itchy, etc. Thankfully, that's mostly cleared up, but not without some new fun nicknames. I now answer to Cootie Woman and Murphy's Law ("Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong). Whatever.
Oh, and the highlight/low point of my week thus far was when this old drunk man named Don snuck up behind me yesterday and kissed me on the neck. It was really gross to be nuzzled by this old gross man. I told him that was not okay, but he's also got mental issues....he also calls me MaryAnn (maybe a Gilligan's Island reference?) Either way, I had nasty old man spit on my neck all day. Gross
Until next time.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A Bad Taste In My Mouth
Let's see...what has happened in the last couple weeks of my life? These past couple of weeks has been really strange and epic all in one.
I contracted pink eye like 3 weeks ago. My best guess is it happened at Nativity House when I had to clean poop off of one of the bathroom walls. Not kidding. It happens fairly frequently. Anyways, I figured out an equation of what I believe happened. Poo particles + my wall scrubbing = pink eye for me. Awesome. I went to this semi-shady clinic, but I figured it was just pink eye, so how bad could things get screwed up right? Wrong. I took my drops for the correct amount of time yet things got worse. Turns out, after an appointment with a real eye doctor, I was allergic to the original medicine.
Thankfully, I got new drops, but things can never be that easy with me. I learned that 1-4% of people have strange reactions to these specific drops. Yep, you guessed it, I'm one of those people. After each drop (4x a day) came this awful taste in my mouth that lasted like 45 minutes each time. The closest thing I can compare it to is that taste you get post-vomit and pre-toothbrush. My housemate Mike told me I looked like a cat hacking up a hair ball when this effect set in because I was constantly on the verge of gagging. I'm almost fully recovered now. If my eyes don't fall out when I put in my contacts tomorrow for the first time this month, I am cured. If not, I'm S.O.L...I s'pose.
This last week of work culminated into a 17 year old girl and her "23" year old boyfriend screaming expletives at me when I told them to leave. *No one under 18 without a parent or guardian because of liability with other guests.* Topping that series of events can only be described in two words...Preacher Man.
There are 2 guests that have come from who knows where and have taken the Tacoma homeless system by storm these past few weeks. Let me give you a little description of these characters.
"Preacher" man is a large African American man who likes to sing hymns, read from the Bible (or his own version of the Bible), smoke crack, occasionally get violet, curse people, and just chaos overall. He sounds wonderful right?! Anyways, his wife is fairly sweet and I actually feel really bad for her. Preacher really dominates her as well as spiritually abuses her. I'm pretty sure that June is intellectually disabled in some capacity. For example, she is not allowed to talk to other people that smile at her because "even the Devil smiles at you." However, she stays with husband and refuses to get help to be away from him, so there's only so much we can do.
When I say that they have taken Tacoma by storm, it's true. In less than 2 weeks they have been banned from 95% of all of the homeless resources that the city offers...churches included. Nativity House was their last resort, until Sunday happened.
Preacher was up to his usual causing commotion as soon as he stepped through our door. *Let me also note that all of the guests can't stand these two because of the havoc they wreak at every establishment.* Basically, we knew that Dante (Preacher) was going to get himself kicked out for the day, it's pretty much inevitable...the calm before the storm. Well, to make a long story short(er) Dante got in my face, harassed me, and then started to subtly threaten. Not cool. My boss Dominique told him to leave because he was causing a commotion. His response..."A commotion...I'll give you a commotion!"
Let me paraphrase what came out of his mouth followed by his wife's. "Nativity House is cursed and calamity will fall upon this building." "I curse every single person in this building." "You will all feel the wrath of God and face eternal damnation." "Mt. Rainier is going to blow up (it's a volcano and if it blows, Tacoma is gone) and cover you all in it's fiery lava." Etc. Etc. The list goes on. Case and point...according to this crack-smoking man, I'm cursed. Shoot. Oh well, I'm still gonna pray for them daily.
Needless to say, we banned them too. In fact, I was really sad that I had no video camera handy or video capability on my phone...the whole scenario was hilarious. Lots of booing homeless people with this man yelling curses at everyone.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the start of my longest work week thus far. For those of you that don't know...I work EVERY holiday all day. Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone near and far!
I contracted pink eye like 3 weeks ago. My best guess is it happened at Nativity House when I had to clean poop off of one of the bathroom walls. Not kidding. It happens fairly frequently. Anyways, I figured out an equation of what I believe happened. Poo particles + my wall scrubbing = pink eye for me. Awesome. I went to this semi-shady clinic, but I figured it was just pink eye, so how bad could things get screwed up right? Wrong. I took my drops for the correct amount of time yet things got worse. Turns out, after an appointment with a real eye doctor, I was allergic to the original medicine.
Thankfully, I got new drops, but things can never be that easy with me. I learned that 1-4% of people have strange reactions to these specific drops. Yep, you guessed it, I'm one of those people. After each drop (4x a day) came this awful taste in my mouth that lasted like 45 minutes each time. The closest thing I can compare it to is that taste you get post-vomit and pre-toothbrush. My housemate Mike told me I looked like a cat hacking up a hair ball when this effect set in because I was constantly on the verge of gagging. I'm almost fully recovered now. If my eyes don't fall out when I put in my contacts tomorrow for the first time this month, I am cured. If not, I'm S.O.L...I s'pose.
This last week of work culminated into a 17 year old girl and her "23" year old boyfriend screaming expletives at me when I told them to leave. *No one under 18 without a parent or guardian because of liability with other guests.* Topping that series of events can only be described in two words...Preacher Man.
There are 2 guests that have come from who knows where and have taken the Tacoma homeless system by storm these past few weeks. Let me give you a little description of these characters.
"Preacher" man is a large African American man who likes to sing hymns, read from the Bible (or his own version of the Bible), smoke crack, occasionally get violet, curse people, and just chaos overall. He sounds wonderful right?! Anyways, his wife is fairly sweet and I actually feel really bad for her. Preacher really dominates her as well as spiritually abuses her. I'm pretty sure that June is intellectually disabled in some capacity. For example, she is not allowed to talk to other people that smile at her because "even the Devil smiles at you." However, she stays with husband and refuses to get help to be away from him, so there's only so much we can do.
When I say that they have taken Tacoma by storm, it's true. In less than 2 weeks they have been banned from 95% of all of the homeless resources that the city offers...churches included. Nativity House was their last resort, until Sunday happened.
Preacher was up to his usual causing commotion as soon as he stepped through our door. *Let me also note that all of the guests can't stand these two because of the havoc they wreak at every establishment.* Basically, we knew that Dante (Preacher) was going to get himself kicked out for the day, it's pretty much inevitable...the calm before the storm. Well, to make a long story short(er) Dante got in my face, harassed me, and then started to subtly threaten. Not cool. My boss Dominique told him to leave because he was causing a commotion. His response..."A commotion...I'll give you a commotion!"
Let me paraphrase what came out of his mouth followed by his wife's. "Nativity House is cursed and calamity will fall upon this building." "I curse every single person in this building." "You will all feel the wrath of God and face eternal damnation." "Mt. Rainier is going to blow up (it's a volcano and if it blows, Tacoma is gone) and cover you all in it's fiery lava." Etc. Etc. The list goes on. Case and point...according to this crack-smoking man, I'm cursed. Shoot. Oh well, I'm still gonna pray for them daily.
Needless to say, we banned them too. In fact, I was really sad that I had no video camera handy or video capability on my phone...the whole scenario was hilarious. Lots of booing homeless people with this man yelling curses at everyone.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the start of my longest work week thus far. For those of you that don't know...I work EVERY holiday all day. Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone near and far!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Spawning Salmon, Courage, and Jurassic Park
Things have been crazy these last couple of weeks. I need to try and be better about updating this. I think I have a guilt complex about this blog because I have been reading the book, Julie and Julia. I don't really know why I'm reading this because I have seen the movie a few times. Anyways, if Julie can work full-time, cook French meals and write about it daily then I am super lame for not even being to update weekly. Oh well.
To fill you in on what I have been up to, let me tell you about Myrtle Creek, Oregon. LVC requires us to have retreats 3 times this year, which is basically 5 days at a camp somewhere in Washington or Oregon for times of "relaxation, re-creation, and rejuvenation." And because my work weeks are Thurs till Mon, that meant that I coming off a 9 day vacation (the retreat was Thurs till Mon). I'm excited for work tomorrow because I am starting to get antsy, but I am so happy to have had this vacation...it was much needed.
We stayed at Camp Myrtlewood while we were in Oregon. First of all, let me tell you how I excited I was for this place...mainly because of the name. For anyone that doesn't know, my car is named Myrtle. So, in honor of my little Galant, I slept in Myrtle cabin because Laurel cabin just seemed like it would be a slap in the face. Anywho, it took us about 8 hours to reach Myrtlewood from Seattle/Tacoma. I just have to throw out that driving though Oregon reminded me a lot of driving through the Smokies in Tennessee and North Carolina. Lots of rolling hills/mountains, very green, and fairly long stretches of nothing. Here's a glimpse, but it doesn't do it justice. Please note the loner Charlie Brown tree at the top that sparked my interest for this particular picture.
Pretty much my time in Oregon was spent hiking, reading, hanging out with the LV's from Seattle and Bay Area houses, eating smores, doing absolutely nothing, etc. I will talk about a couple of highlights though. The camp had 4 all white cats and there was one in particular that forced itself on everyone.
Courage is his name and being friendly is his game. He would first lure an unsuspecting LV in with his meows and cute demeanor, and as you bent down for a pet, he would pounce. Landing on your shoulders, lap, chest, or wherever he decided was most fitting, Courage had you in his web. More than once I fell for his antics and found myself trapped with a sleeping cat on my legs or shoulders. You may be asking why I didn't try and move him, well let me tell you. Courage has 3 powerful weapons-nails, teeth, and persistence...all of which he uses continuously. If you tried to move him, he would bite or dig his nails into tender flesh, and if you did manage to get away, he would follow. So for me personally, I'm weak and let him sleep on me because I didn't have much else to do. This picture is specifically for my mom...note how happy I am.
It was really cool being at the camp too because it was super foggy, so the hiking was slightly terrifying. I really felt like I was in Jurassic Park and was waiting for a Velociraptor to come out and take me away...not kidding. I even helped to calm my nerves by making my best raptor impressions and stomping around with my arms up to make me seem big. Thankfully, I made it out alive. Also, see photo above if you have doubts about what I say. Ferns are great hiding places for dinosaurs.
Finally, it's salmon spawning season and Myrtlewood has a creek (or stream or river?) that runs through it, so it was awesome. There were tons of salmon that were swimming up-stream to lay their eggs in the shallow gravel beds. We saw some salmon that were over 3 feet long and it was so cool to see this part of Creation that few people get to witness.
On our drive home we saw 3 rainbows which was pretty awesome. I would say the best part this was the fact that we drove through the end of this particular (photo) rainbow. I've never experienced that before and it was crazy because one second it was in front of us and then next it was behind us. Crazy cool. Sadly, I found no leprechauns or pots of gold at the end of this rainbow. Also, please note how prominent all of the colors are...rainy season has its advantages I guess.
To fill you in on what I have been up to, let me tell you about Myrtle Creek, Oregon. LVC requires us to have retreats 3 times this year, which is basically 5 days at a camp somewhere in Washington or Oregon for times of "relaxation, re-creation, and rejuvenation." And because my work weeks are Thurs till Mon, that meant that I coming off a 9 day vacation (the retreat was Thurs till Mon). I'm excited for work tomorrow because I am starting to get antsy, but I am so happy to have had this vacation...it was much needed.
We stayed at Camp Myrtlewood while we were in Oregon. First of all, let me tell you how I excited I was for this place...mainly because of the name. For anyone that doesn't know, my car is named Myrtle. So, in honor of my little Galant, I slept in Myrtle cabin because Laurel cabin just seemed like it would be a slap in the face. Anywho, it took us about 8 hours to reach Myrtlewood from Seattle/Tacoma. I just have to throw out that driving though Oregon reminded me a lot of driving through the Smokies in Tennessee and North Carolina. Lots of rolling hills/mountains, very green, and fairly long stretches of nothing. Here's a glimpse, but it doesn't do it justice. Please note the loner Charlie Brown tree at the top that sparked my interest for this particular picture.
Pretty much my time in Oregon was spent hiking, reading, hanging out with the LV's from Seattle and Bay Area houses, eating smores, doing absolutely nothing, etc. I will talk about a couple of highlights though. The camp had 4 all white cats and there was one in particular that forced itself on everyone.
Courage is his name and being friendly is his game. He would first lure an unsuspecting LV in with his meows and cute demeanor, and as you bent down for a pet, he would pounce. Landing on your shoulders, lap, chest, or wherever he decided was most fitting, Courage had you in his web. More than once I fell for his antics and found myself trapped with a sleeping cat on my legs or shoulders. You may be asking why I didn't try and move him, well let me tell you. Courage has 3 powerful weapons-nails, teeth, and persistence...all of which he uses continuously. If you tried to move him, he would bite or dig his nails into tender flesh, and if you did manage to get away, he would follow. So for me personally, I'm weak and let him sleep on me because I didn't have much else to do. This picture is specifically for my mom...note how happy I am.
It was really cool being at the camp too because it was super foggy, so the hiking was slightly terrifying. I really felt like I was in Jurassic Park and was waiting for a Velociraptor to come out and take me away...not kidding. I even helped to calm my nerves by making my best raptor impressions and stomping around with my arms up to make me seem big. Thankfully, I made it out alive. Also, see photo above if you have doubts about what I say. Ferns are great hiding places for dinosaurs.
Finally, it's salmon spawning season and Myrtlewood has a creek (or stream or river?) that runs through it, so it was awesome. There were tons of salmon that were swimming up-stream to lay their eggs in the shallow gravel beds. We saw some salmon that were over 3 feet long and it was so cool to see this part of Creation that few people get to witness.
On our drive home we saw 3 rainbows which was pretty awesome. I would say the best part this was the fact that we drove through the end of this particular (photo) rainbow. I've never experienced that before and it was crazy because one second it was in front of us and then next it was behind us. Crazy cool. Sadly, I found no leprechauns or pots of gold at the end of this rainbow. Also, please note how prominent all of the colors are...rainy season has its advantages I guess.
I think that's about all I've got for now. Until next time, that's all folks!
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