So first, here’s
a picture from Saturday. Paulette did
most of this; I finished the last row and the border.
On Sunday, I made
myself go to the Discover Dinosaurs show.
(Exhibit?) I had to finagle my
way in because though the website said they were open until 7 and urged people
to come early or late to avoid the crowds, they failed to mention that they
stop selling tickets at 6:30. But
finagle I did, and what a neat idea- all these huge, animatronic dinosaurs set
up in the Reno Events Center, all in neat scenes with lights along a pathway
with black fabric walls separating the exhibits. Some moved constantly, some had buttons so
you could move them, all were kind of scary… and I’m 34. I don’t know if they were all life-size, but
all were big enough that you would be uninterested in running into them in real
life. Several scenes had a T-Rex chasing
after omnivores, which I felt was impolite, but I am clearly democratic in my
views of the animal world. I bought a
fake dinosaur claw in the gift shop to make up for the fact that I did not pay
to get in. Had I been able to wander
longer, I might have gotten a picture of myself riding a dinosaur. Yes, they had some animatronic dinosaurs with saddles on them. If only I had gotten there a little earlier.
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| Eeeee! Baby Triceratops! |
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This is the Dilong, which I doubt. I suspect it is more like a Dishortly.
|
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| This is the Ankylosaurs, which used to be my favorite dinosaur. |
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| This is my new favorite dinosaur, the Irritator. |
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| As you can see, I am not making this up. |
On Monday, I went
to work, even though I would have much rather stayed at home. If that wasn’t impressive enough, I went on
my first hike with the Meetup group that I joined. I wanted to do this one because it was
Easy/Moderate. The description said that
folks interested in the easy hike could go back at a certain point, and the moderate
folks could charge on ahead. I thought I
should start with easy.
I found the
parking lot, was one of the first four people there, was one of five people who
brought dogs, and randomly chatted with strangers. When the organizer showed up, we introduced
ourselves and went over the plan. She
would lead at a speedy pace, a group officer would keep a medium pace in the
middle, and a regular would bring up the rear.
If you needed to leave, you had to sign out with the lady at the
rear. If you needed to respond to a
nature call, you had to leave your pack on the trail so she’d know to wait for
you. Yeah, right. I’ve seen enough movies to know that’s how
you get murdered or eaten by a bear. Riley
pooped right before the hike. Since
there were no trash cans, I put the poop bag by my car door.
I was prepared
for an “easy” hike, which I take to mean flat.
Yes, I understand that I drove up the mountain to get to the trailhead,
and there are no flat surfaces up
there, but I am new to this, so cut me some slack. We launched onto the trail. I figured that we’d all kind of fall into
staggered paces, but there wasn’t enough room on the trail for allowing someone
to pass. You had to find a place to pull
over. Some people knew this ahead of
time and ran across the road to get to the head of the pack. We climbed up the embankment to get to the
trail, only the embankment did not level out.
It was ALL uphill except for a couple small dips. I used those to try to slow my gasping. At first I had Riley on the leash while
people were launching past me. She
walked behind me, and I wondered if I was pushing her too far and I’d have an
expired dog when we reached the top. Once
everyone found their places, I took off her leash and she ran ahead, eventually keeping on
the heels of the hiker in front of me. Periodically,
she’d look back and wait for me to catch up.
Oh. I guess she’s fine.
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| Uh, these pictures don't covey how steep it was. I swear. |
The dirt on the
trail was soft and we all left little storms of brown clouds behind us. Riley had some very brown legs. At the top of the hill, I broke out the water
and Riley was so grateful. Cesar is
right about being able to show affection through such a simple action. I love it when I ask her if she wants water and
she licks her lips. Another dog owner
brought some kibble with treats mixed in, and all the dogs surrounded her and
enjoyed having their dinner hand-fed to them.
I was already
sure I didn’t want to continue the hike because I was exhausted, but took a
moment to test my blood. 49. Jesus!
No wonder I’m so exhausted. I
gobbled some glucose tabs and a granola bar, then four of us headed back down
the trail (once we had officially separated from the rest of the group). Our mini team leader chatted with me about
diabetes (which her husband has), the Air Force (which her son was in), and
hiking (which she does all the time… alone.)
We were almost to the bottom of the trail when she screamed something
that I could not understand. I whipped around and saw her frantically climbing
the side of the hill and I started scanning for whatever rabid animal was
attacking us. “BIIIIIIIIIIKE!” she cried
again. “CLEAR THE TRAIL!” Oh, bike?
This is not an appropriate level of panic for a bike, lady! When I say that she screamed, I am not
exaggerating. She did not call out,
which would have conveyed the information at the appropriate volume- she
SCREAMED and started scrambling up the hill, grasping the ground for holds as
if her life depended on it. I may be
unfamiliar with hiking etiquette, but I doubt bikes warrant screaming bloody
murder. She scared the hell out of me so
much that I couldn’t even process her words!
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| Riley just after leaving the parking lot |
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| Riley suddenly getting very tired. |
We got back to
the cars unscathed by the terrifying biker and checked our names off the list,
checking out of the hike. I picked up
the poop bag and put it in my trunk, making a mental note to take it out. Then I got in my car and- trying to keep my
door from whacking into the Mustang next to me- found the door felt rough. I investigated the door frame and found that
Chris had done some good damage while prying open my car door Friday- against
my wishes- to drop off money. He would
rather break into my car than meet me in person, especially since Trampolina
will not leave his side. (You are just
as insecure as you should be.) I watched
him use his lockout kit I don’t know how many times over the years, and I have
never seen him do such damage to a car.
Clearly, he did not give a shit.
I also NEVER saw him abuse that lockout kit- he only used it to help people.
So here I am,
just did this brave, fun thing and had a good time, Riley enjoyed it, we both
got some good exercise, and I should be ending my night on a high note. Instead I find that he didn’t just break into
my car and trample all over my simple and very reasonable boundaries (that part’s
not new), but he was destructive about it and didn’t even give my car the same
effort and care that he gave perfect strangers.
To say that put a damper on the evening is putting it lightly. I will also say that I prefer the high road,
and I have worked very hard to stay there, but it requires a resolve that
becomes dangerously weak at times.
Remember Left Eye from TLC?
Remember when she burned her boyfriend’s mansion down? She was only trying to set his shoes on fire,
but I get it. It’s too bad I do not have
a retaliatory nature, but how far does he think a person can be pushed? Is he trying to find out? What comes next is not me setting your house
on fire, but me calling the police and letting them handle it. You made your bed. I will lie in it no more.
So at home, after
a beer and some dinner, called Dad and found out that he’s coming to visit this
weekend! What a neat surprise! I started looking through the paper for fun
things to go do and ended my night on a happy note after all.
Then this
morning, I was busy getting ready and packing my lunch and suddenly realized-
there is still a full poop bag in the trunk.
