After the shocked look on her face, I simply stated that I had always wanted to have a hurricane named after me. Really. How much more narcissistic can a person be than to wish mayhem and destruction being broadcast on all the international airwaves being referred to as “Hurricane Alowetta!”

Doesn’t sound that intimidating now that I think about it. But it wouldn’t be any worse than some of the other names they use for hurricanes. Apparently, these things get named well in advance. One search I did found the list going through 2014, and each year has ALL the alphabet (except Q, U, and Z for some reason). When was the last time you heard of Hurricane Walter or Hurricane Valerie? Really - they are on the list.

I guess some of these storms get names that we may never hear about since they billow up, get a name and promptly poop out before making any real strides toward scariness and panic.  I’m not trying to make light of the hurricane season - obviously, hurricanes can be devastating both in economic and life damage.

But honestly - how afraid are you going to be of a hurricane they name - Lisa? or Hermine? or Virginie (not Virginia) for crying out loud!!  Yes, these are all names on the 2010 list!

So, my suggestion is, if they aren’t going to name a hurricane after me, then we should change the entire way they are named. Instead of sissy names, I think WWE names would be more appropriate — wouldn’t you think twice before saying you are going to “ride this one out” if the hurricane were named, “Spike,” “Triple H,”  or “Hacksaw?” How about “The Hurricane!”

Yes, these are real WWE names, and I think they bring the all important “Run for your lives, the sky is falling!” fear with them that hurricanes deserve. Get people to really set up and take notice of what is happening around them!

Of course, I guess there is the part where some of my friends and family are now reading this and saying (hopefully to themselves only) - “what’s she talking about? She is a hurricane, every time she leaves a place there is a wake of destruction in her path!”

Guess I got my wish after all~

I’m not knocking legitimate issues for some, and maybe most, of these people. Family illness, kid problems - these are legitimate reasons I think for not working full-time. And if you find out your life expectancy just got shortened before your bucket list was complete - by all means, spend your last days with the people you love.

But really - leaving a job that pays more than the GDP of some third-world countries without one of those reasons?  Tiger Woods salary could pay down the national debt in about 3 years - he’s giving that up to spend more time with family? A little advice Tiger - the last thing your wife wants to do with you after learning of your filandering escapades is to spend ANY TIME with you. I guess she let you know that when she took you for 850M.

What ever happened to integrity in your own self-evaluation? If you as a general or a CEO or public servant know you are a total screw-up and didn’t fulfill your contractual obligations, if you sank the international company into the financial toilet, if you opened your big mouth and let the whole world know you are an intellectual moron sometimes — why don’t you just man-up and say it?

We are a fairly forgiving society for most events - example, that umpire who publicly admitted he really messed up the baseball history books by making a bad call. We all sighed in unison and held out our collective arms to give him the “we’ve-all-made-stupid-mistakes-in-our-lives-too” hug.

Stop hiding behind the commonly-used-today excuse of becoming a “victim” of your circumstances. Give us a chance to believe that MOST people do have integrity, and restore our faith in the “I made a mistake, and I’m sorry” explanation. So that we, too, can recognize the value of admitting mistakes and making it right in our own personal worlds.

Man-up, or woman-up as the case may be, and let’s bring back the integrity of personal ownership and responsibility for our actions.

PS -If you are leaving a position because you were just pronounced with a date-to-meet-your-Maker, my prayers are with you. Go hug your family a lot.

The view from Grand Mesa

I took a drive up on Grand Mesa yesterday. It’s been a while since I ventured up on the big flat-topped mountain that we used to spend just about every weekend camping, fishing and just getting away from the heat of GJ.

Normally, we would have been going up in a pickup with either a tent, a camper or a trailer behind. But my little red sports car took me up the Delta side very well. (Well, okay it isn’t REALLY a sports car, but it cornered just fine at 70 mph on the mountain roads )

As is usual this time of year, the top of Grand Mesa is green, green, green and the lakes are the clearest blue you can imagine. As I topped the switchback and drove up to Ward Lake, I remembered all those times of making the trip with kids — in the back of a camper, in the back of a pickup (yes, back in the old days it wasn’t a big deal!), or just in the back seat.  Most of my nephews and nieces have made that trip at least once in their lifetime, and some are still making the trip as adults.

Some new generations of fishermen/persons

All the boys made the trip too many times to count -  for camping, fishing and even skiing during the winter. Kaiser creek, Weir and Johnson, Eggleston Lake…all have memories of kids and fishing poles, and cooking hot dogs on an open fire, and smores, and ….rain, and mosquitos and skunks. Boy, have we had some adventures!

Makes you wish you were there!

One time the pickup broke something on the way up, and we literally pitched a tent on the side of the dirt road; another time the mosquitos were SOOOOO bad we actually had to pack up the tent and go home, we couldn’t even be outside for 5 minutes!

Most of the trips were uneventful, from the serious side, and tremendously eventful-ly full of memories - at least from our side. Kids remember things so differently, I’m not sure they could tell you much about it.  We have a picture of Alex camping at Vega Lake at about 3 months old, which is probably why the mountains are his favorite place to be.

Of course, kids grow up and other priorities in life take over - baseball, band, FFA, etc. and little by little camping on a regular basis went away. But driving up there yesterday by myself gave me time to ponder about life’s joys - and Grand Mesa certainly is one of those great joys! So thanks to all our kids, nephews and nieces for making it so much a part of our lives!

Ward Lake on the biggest flat-topped mountain in the world

We live at the edge of the high mountain desert - where the desert and the mountains meet. Because of that, anywhere that does not have a constant water supply (by a lake, river, irrigation canals, etc) is mostly dirt and scruffy greenish/brown bushes.

Except for about 3 weeks in spring - if we had a good, wet winter, and some spring rain - when the desert is “green.”  That is the desert this week - greener than usual, and more pleasant to view when driving the highway between the two above-mentioned cities.

And we have been doing a lot of that driving in the past few days and last 2 months. We are moving back to Grand Junction, where we lived for many years. Having been in Delta County for the past 10 years, we have made the decision to move back to the most western city in Colorado, so we can expand our business and do a few more things on our “bucket list.”

We opened an office in March, and have the opportunity to lease out our house while it is still for sale. So we are making the journey back - and probably not surprising if you believe old Indian lore.

The story has something to do with the Ute Indians, original occupants of the area, who claim if you don’t take some of the dirt from the area with you, it will draw you back. So, guess we did it wrong! Forgot the dirt!

We are excited about our next big adventure - you know, things like this either keep you young, or wear you out faster, either way we are ready!

We are opening a bigger office at same location that Marc worked for 8 years - he says his office will be in the same spot he was in 18 years ago when he first went to work at Pyramid Printing. Probably has something to with the dirt, too!

We had an inspiring Easter Sunrise Service and breakfast at the local community church, and an awesome experience in worship service. There are some Sundays that are just too magnificent for words, and this was one of them. From the song worship to the Resurrection message, it was a lovely and uplifting day. The sacrifice made for us as mere humans is so overwhelming; sometimes I can’t even comprehend it.

Earlier in the week, I attended the funeral of a man just a year older than I am – which is certainly a bit unnerving. It was the father of a young man Alex went to school with; we knew the family from that relationship, but not very well.

The funeral was held at the local Elks Lodge and attended by more than 200 people. I should be so blessed to have that many people attend my funeral. There was plenty of camo and Carharts, but there were also suits and dresses. The music was not typical (Stairway to Heaven) but the message was the same – comforting.

Often when I sit at funerals, I think about other funerals I have attended - and I’ve really been to a bunch in my lifetime. My father is a minister and I went to lots of funerals of people I knew, as well as people I really didn’t know. I’ve also attended funerals for several close and beloved family members. Unlike my beloved husband, who informed me on the way to our daughter’s funeral that he had never been to one before.

We sometimes talk about what should go on at our funeral, when we should pass from this world. Marc’s favorite is he wants a jazz band to play, and a big party to celebrate his departure. Me, I’m not sure, I’m just hoping some people show up!

Weeks like this remind me to appreciate the magic of ordinary weeks – those weeks where the best you can say is that you worked a full week, made it through the grocery store without incident, and by Friday night you can fall asleep in the chair watching some old movie!

Another dog, however - who looked like a black lab and was a much larger dog - immediately attached herself to Alex, quietly following him around the yard and sitting while he petted and talked to her. In those days, Alex spent more time talking to animals than people, and she seemed to enjoy that greatly.

So, home she came with us, greeted by two other boys and a very small yard. That was until yesterday, when the painful decision was finally made to put her at rest from the last few years of arthritis, old age and general pain. We had postponed this decision for many months, even after we lost another old friend and her backyard companion.

To describe her as a member of the family doesn’t really do it. She didn’t sit at our table and only occasionally was fed table scraps, but she did sleep inside the house most of her life with us, at the foot of Alex’s bed.  She could hear his diesel pickup coming from down the street and immediately ran to the gate to greet him. She made hundreds of camping trips riding in the trailer and sleeping under it while boys went bicycling, 4-wheeling or jeeping.

She chased sticks until she could no longer walk, she dove into the lake as soon as we arrived at the camping site, and she barked appropriately at strangers to protect her family.  She was a friend and companion to our whole family and many of our friends, and we will miss her terribly.

In the end, we all die. I know that. I accept that, and on some days even look forward to that final journey. And I hope that the title of that fun movie is true - All Dogs Go To Heaven - so that we will see her again!

Rest in Peace, dear Sadie.

I hate those kinds of lists, because I always leave something really important out! I do know that I am most thankful for the giving I receive from others. Many times it is so much easier for me to give to someone else, than to graciously accept the giving of another person. It is humbling to just accept a gift (whether a package or a compliment), without either some excuse or pass.

For many years, we spent Thanksgiving at Marc’s parents, (Ed and Dorcas) because we spent Christmas at my parents. When you marry into a family, you also must learn to adapt to other customs.  Dinner was always “dinnertime” at their house, so we learned to adapt by eating a large breakfast, and snacking throughout the day.

The tablecloth was always the same. Gold, with cornucopia’s on all the corners and leaf pattern down the sides. I know this well because today that same tablecloth is on my table, awaiting the turkey and trimmings.  It is probably 40 years old now, but when you only use it once a year, it can last along time!

She always made stuffing differently than I was used to - one year my brother spent Thanksgiving with us, and we still comment on that stuffing every year at Thanksgiving.

I miss her now - miss both of them - and today I made a Pork Pie…another old family recipe that she handed down. It made me thankful that I received so many gifts of love from them over the years.  It was a privilege to have them live with us for five years, and I am thankful that my children were able to know their grandparents.

Especially now that I am a grandparent, I am thankful for grandchildren. They are the best! Good thing I didn’t kill my own children, so that I got the reward of grandchildren!

So thanks to all my family - those around and those not around now, for giving to me! I am forever humbled by your graciousness, thoughtfulness and undeserving love!

We went to Moab last weekend, to help with a bicyclist event for the weekend. No, I didn’t ride a bike - we operated an Aid Station at the top of a mountain pass and the bikers rode up 27 miles to 8,500 feet so we could give them water and snacks! Then they rode the rest of the 100-mile trek back down to the desert and heat!

And it was fun- warm weather, sunshine and some chilly moments at the top of the La Sal Mountains. Wonderful restaurants to eat at - albeit with the strangest liquor laws anywhere in the nation - and a great hotel for the stay.

It’s one of the real perks for owning your own business - you can decide to work all weekend, or play and work all weekend!

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my new phone camera - not a professional photographer for sure!

Our Aid Station and one of the bicyclists

Castle Valley from the top of La Sal Mountains

Not so in a Little Town. In a Little Town, you are fortunate to have the “recyle trailer” visit your Town Hall parking lot once a month…on the Thursday before the 3rd Saturday of each month (I am NOT kidding! - that is how it is listed).

So, you keep your milk bottles, plastics, tin cans, aluminum cans, and glass in separate containers in the garage for the month, then….if you can remember that this is THE Thursday… you load them in your car and head town to the parking lot. Between 10 am - 2 pm. It’s gone after that.

When you arrive, you may deposit your recycles in the appropriate bins, take your containers home and start the process again for another month…and if you don’t remember it is THIS Thursday, or you happen to be out of town then….well it is another month for you and your recycles in your garage.

There is no newspaper or regular paper recycling here. For that you can drive to Delta and deposit your newspapers in a bin at their town parking lot, or all the way to Grand Junction (about 80 miles) to deposit your regular paper recycling.

So the next time you think I’m a dirty rotten scoundrel for not being a better environmentalist - just remember they don’t always make it easy for some of us rural folks. (and just for the record - we also need the 4-wheel drive for DRIVING in the snow, not just because we want to suck up all the fossil fuel left in the world!)