Mid June

Well, it's Father's Day. A lovely hot Father's Day in June. June is probably the prettiest month in Boulder, I'm thinking. All that rain we've been having has led to incredible growth. Look at that maple tree. And here I was afraid the Xcel tree trimmers had killed it.

It's also really birdy in the backyard. Magpies, spotted towhees, blackbirds, the white-breasted nuthatch from previous years, flickers, chickadees, robins of course, finches, starlings. I saw a parent starling feeding a fledgling! The only birds we're missing are the hummingbirds. I still have only seen one once at the feeder, and I've planted a lot of flowers for them, but they don't come.

We took a drive into the mountains this afternoon, to give Rocket Boy a little Father's Day outing. He wanted to go to Magnolia, which was a mining community at one time and is now just a road and a neighborhood. Teen B agreed to go along, just for something to do. Magnolia Road goes VERY steeply uphill. We were watching the altimeter in the car climb: up up up, over 8000 feet! Over 8400 -- in other words, 3000 feet above Boulder! My ears clogged up and didn't pop until we got home. I was hoping we'd stop somewhere along the road so I could use the Merlin app to listen for birds, but we didn't. Eventually we ended up in Nederland, where we went to the little cafe in the train cars (and the only birds were house sparrows and crows), and then drove home. It was much cooler in Nederland, so that was nice. Here, right now (6 pm), in Boulder, it's 86 degrees, which is better than yesterday. It's supposed to be stinking hot this week, though. Cooler on Tuesday and Wednesday, but awful the rest of the week. 98 on Friday. Not quite ready for this!

So let's see, what happened this week? Not a lot. We got up so late on so many days that it seemed like the day was half over before it had even begun. I realized that I have to change that, so the last three days I've been setting my alarm clock for 9 am. Each day I've actually woken up before 9, so this is obviously doable. (Yesterday a magpie woke us up, squawking right outside the window.)

Tomorrow (Monday) I am going to set the alarm for 8, because on Tuesday I need to be up by 8, in order to get Baby Kitty to the vet before 8:30. He is going to be having "a dental" because his teeth are nasty. Poor Baby Kitty. One tooth is actually dissolving, which the vet said is painful. They'll pull what's left of that tooth and clean the rest. I didn't ask how much it will cost.

On Wednesday I am having breakfast with book group members -- one current member and one past member who now lives in Philadelphia. We are meeting downtown at 9 am, which means I will have to get up by 8 also.

I think 8 am would be a good time to get up every day this summer. Maybe by doing it 2 days in a row I'll be able to stick with it.

Hmm

This was supposed to be Bird Week, but I didn't do anything particularly birdy. On the other hand, as noted above, the birds did it for themselves. The yard is full of them (except, as noted, hummingbirds). Next week is supposed to be Bug Week. I don't know how I can celebrate that. There will probably be a lot of bugs around because it is going to be hot. I suppose I can wave at them, say "Hi bugs." Beyond that?

Once again, this week I didn't get much done politically. Tried to write letters, couldn't get myself to do it. Felt like I had no idea what to say.

We did however go to the No Kings protest yesterday, and that was a lot of fun. We went up to Longmont to protest with our friend Dave who protests there every Saturday. There were thousands of people there, plus it seemed like most of the people driving by on Main Street were also protesting (they had signs). The van in the picture drove by several times, around and around.

There was also a pro-Trump car driven by a Latina woman that passed by a few times. It said something like "Mexican-Americans for Trump, 45 & 47, support your country," etc. As Dave said, if there weren't any pro-Trump people, we wouldn't have to be doing these protests. I've learned not to worry about them. Sometimes I give them sad looks, sometimes I just wave happily. The point is to love them all, not encourage more dissension.

Dissension. Is that the word to describe the Minnesota murders? Thank goodness they caught the guy, I read just now. 

This coming week I will try to do a couple of actions. I still haven't written to the Daily Camera, must do that if I can think of something to say. And I could write to one of my elected representatives. But what would I say? I'm feeling curiously silenced.

Today a friend of mine invited me to travel with her to Saskatoon in late July for a few days. We would be visiting a friend of hers from 40+ years ago, who I also know slightly, or used to, but haven't seen since 1986. 39 years ago. Funny. When I went to Michigan, it had been 19 years since my last visit. What would it be like to see someone again after 39 years! I have seen my friend more recently -- she was here for a brief visit last fall. When I met this friend of hers, back in 1986, she and I were near the end of an epic round-the-world trip, during which we got SO MAD at each other, it was actually pretty funny. We've traveled together once or twice since then, and it's been OK, but I can't help thinking about that first trip. 

Here we are, in 1986, as infants: 

I would LOVE to go to Saskatoon for a few days! When would I ever have another chance? We're all getting older. And I could get a plane ticket for only about $300 -- my friend (who is wealthy) would cover the hotel and rental car. 

The problem: I don't have a current passport. I could apply for a new one, and try to expedite it, but there's no guarantee I'd get it in time. This would be in only 37 days. Five weeks, basically. I don't know if it's even worth trying.  

I can't even find my old passport. I've looked in about six different places. I found my old old passport, the one from 1985, but not the one from 2002 or whenever it was.

I'm thinking a good project for this week would be to work on the files. If I could spend an hour each day for five days, I'll bet I could make some progress. Maybe I'd even find my old passport.

Hmm.

Now we've started talking about making it a family trip. The thing is, Saskatoon is practically a straight shot north from Boulder. A little less than 1000 miles. Two days up, two days back, maybe three days in Saskatoon. But OMG, the money, the logistics, we'd have to get passports for the twins too (Rocket Boy at least keeps his up to date). The twins actually have passports, from when they were babies, but those were only good for 5 years and are long expired.

I don't know what to do. We might sleep on it. 

The week ahead

So, it's another quiet week. As I mentioned above, Baby Kitty is having a dental on Tuesday and I'm going out to breakfast on Wednesday. And Teen B is getting his hair cut on Friday. That's all we have on the calendar.

Political tasks, yardwork, waking up earlier, working on the files, staying cool. Trying to stay cool, I should say. Probably won't succeed, especially when it's 98. Maybe we should do something for Juneteenth, but it's supposed to be 95.  

I've come up with a plan for summer cooking, but I don't know how successful it will be. The plan is this: cook three times a week, probably Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Make things that I like, don't worry about what the rest of the family likes (as much as I usually do). Have Rocket Boy cook on Tuesday and Wednesday. Eat out on Saturday, forage on Sunday. We ate out again tonight because it was Father's Day, but that's a special occasion, it's different.

(My birthday is conveniently on a Saturday this year.)

For those three meals I cook, try not to turn on the oven, or if I need to roast or bake something, try to do it ahead of time, preferably the night before. Make a salad for one meal, sandwiches for another, maybe stovetop pasta for the third. Or a stir-fry or a bowl or a platter of dips.

This week we had turkey & cream cheese sandwiches on Wednesday, stovetop pasta on Thursday, and a quinoa salad on Friday. None of them were huge hits. The quinoa salad was the biggest disappointment. I am going to be having it for lunch every day this coming week (I had it for lunch today) and I don't even like quinoa. Must remember the part about making things that I like to eat.

Must do better.