I've been called out

Chris has called me out. I did not post anything during the month of September. What Chris doesn't realize is that it still beats last year's whopping 5 posts for the entire year. But hey, since he reminded me, here I am.

I'm sitting at work, sipping on some cranberry tea, and contemplating my day. My Mondays start out pretty much the same every week. Now that it's cold, there's a lengthy trip to the other end of our poorly laid-out building to get hot water for my tea added to the mix, but it generally starts with contemplation. My advisor likes for us to send him a list of action items for the week on Mondays, followed by a summary of the week's progress on Fridays. This is a relatively new thing, but I like it, since it allows me the opportunity to track my own progress.

But I digress, I was going to talk about September. Right after I put a jacket on. It's cold at work. Okay. So September was rather busy. When I last wrote, I was working on stuff for G-ma and G-pa's 60th anniversary party. We had a fabulous party, and there are plenty of pictures, as proof. Here's the slide show!



The project I was working on was a photo book for them. The slide show is a bit long, but here's a link to ALL of the photos that were in the book: http://picasaweb.google.com/burkabean/GMaAndGPaSAnniversaryBookAlbum#

The weekend after that party, Chris and I went to a football game. We volunteered at the thrift store in the morning and then went over to the game. Thanks to the fact that dad thought it was going to rain (it was beautiful all day in Clemson), Chris and I got their tickets to the alumni box, complete with cushioned seats and free food. Quite fun.

We went whitewater rafting with Chris' family for his grandfather's birthday the next weekend. I conveniently ended up in the seat that I'll call the buffer seat. Without me there, the rest of them would have been more soaked, but lucky for them, I was there to block the waves. It was cold. And wet.

The NEXT weekend, Chris and I went backpacking. Oh is that a story. So we went on the foothills trail. We were doing 2 miles on Friday afternoon, 8 on Saturday, and 4.5 on Sunday. Same route we'd done before. No big deal, right? Right. So the first problem came a week before we left when I discovered that our original plan had a boat-only access on one end of the trail. So we switched to the plan I just mentioned. We got on the trail on Friday. Friday was a good day. I had fantastic results at work and things were generally great. The weather was beautiful and we made great time to our first campsite, where we were next to some younger boys and their dads. All the boys looked at me like I had tentacles growing from my head (oh my goodness, is that a GIRL?!? hiking?!?). No big deal, we camped, had dinner, slept, and got up, ready for the next day. The next two days were going to be tough. The Saturday hike was long, and the Sunday hike was straight uphill. But we'd done it before. We knew we could handle it. We set out, me in front because my legs are shorter, and we're making great time.

Space in the paragraph to make reading easier.

Okay so we sit down for lunch and these three guys come by and ask if we're the ones who had been stung by hornets. We say no, and they then tell us where to look out for the hornets. We hike about 2.5-3 more miles and sit to check the maps. A woman then comes by and tells us she's just been stung. Oh, looks like we found the hornets! So we walk around the corner and see the string marker and the nest up ahead. The men had assured us the best way to keep from being stung was to go up and around. So we did. Took us a while to get back down to the trail because of the brush, but we made it back down. Now we're hiking along and la-dee-dah, when I all of a sudden scream, turn, shove Chris back down the trail, and place him between me and the copperhead snake I had just nearly stepped on. It's not a baby, but it's certainly not fully grown, but it is sure as heck a copperhead. Chris gets a lesson in identifying snakes, then watches it while I walk back down the trail and have a complete panic attack meltdown complete with tears and hyperventilation. Eventually, I calm down and we determine that the snake isn't going anywhere, but it's camped across the trail. So Chris watches it while I hike up and over the trail, then I watch while he does the same.

Intermission...

Act 3: We keep trekking and eventually come to the turn for our campground. And there's a sign. The campground is closed for construction and we are asked not to enter. Note that there was nothing on the trail's website about this, kay? Now, remind yourself. We've just hiked 8+ miles, nearly been eaten by crazy flying snakes from outer space, and there were hornets too. Our car is 4 miles, practically straight uphill, from where we are. I'm not exaggerating about the uphill. Ask anyone who's done it. Or, I'll show you the topo maps. So Chris and I have to make a decision. We fill up with water from the river, and we hit the trail. Really, the only good choice left is to hike out. It's only 2:30 at this point, so we can make it before dark. We trudge up the trail. At one point, I even defined trudging as the walk of one who is downtrodden, oppressed, has given up hope, and something else. Pretty accurate, if you ask me. So we're walking and walking and walking, and we reach one of the few flat spots (SO not exaggerating). I'm over the snake enough to laugh about my complete panic attack. My foot had started shaking and everything. I'm talking about this when, all of a sudden, Chris grabs me and starts pulling me back down the trail. At the same time, my brain registers the ~ 4-foot timber rattlesnake that is stretched across the trail. I'm starting to wish I had a picture of this guy. So I'm at this point so freaked out about the fact that the snakes are out to get me that I spend a few minutes sobbing into Chris' shoulder (have you gotten the point that I'm terrified of snakes yet? I won't go in the reptile house at the zoo), then I start figuring out how to get around the snake because, yet again, the snake is uninterested in moving. So Chris watches the snake and I walk around it. Then I watch it while he walks around it. I think this is the point to mention that in addition to the 2 poisonous snakes we encountered, there were also 4 nonpoisonous snakes that we encountered. Total of 6. Chris, in all of his years of hiking, hundreds of miles, has never seen a snake on the trail. And we saw SIX.

Needless to say, Chris led the way the rest of the trip and was so alert that he thought a friendship bracelet was a snake. It may take me a while to get back out on the trail after that. It was like a cataclysmic hodge-podge of all sorts of things gone bad that have never (knock on wood) happened before during a trip like that. At least, not for me.

So we made it down the trail and into the car and home on Saturday. We ended up hiking 12.5 miles on Saturday. And it wasn't a stroll down the street.

I took Ozaria bowling this month. Most of you haven't seen her, so this is a picture of a rather sassy bowler. She's sassy because she was beating me by 20 points in the 6th frame, with bumpers. I had a comeback rallying, but still lost by 1 point. While I was the one TEACHING her how to bowl. 

This past week was full of wedding stuff that I'll put on the other blog. Then we had a fantastic baby shower on Saturday for Jeff and Julie! Baby Oprah is going to be getting lots of training on how to be super girly from yours truly. I started knitting a blanket for her a month ago, because she's due in December. THEN the invitation for the shower showed up. In a marathon knitting week, during which I surprisingly didn't give myself a repetitive motion injury, I bound off the blanket on Friday night, soaked it, blocked it, and forced it dry, though it was apparently still damp, and actually managed to give it to them. Here's the blanket:
 

They loved it, and you should have SEEN the dress mom made for Oprah. So fabulous. And then I promptly started 3 new knitting projects. Gotta get the Christmas knitting going now, you know?

My friend Shelly came to town to visit and for the baby shower, so she stayed with me on Saturday night and we did quite a bit of hanging out. We just had lunch together, in fact. Shelly and Julie and I. You may not know, but that's trouble.

This week, several of my friends from my church not-so-small group and I are starting a knitting circle. Knitting and crocheting, all while watching Glee. Doesn't get any better. I've been asked for a lesson, and another girl is teaching crocheting, so it should be a fun night.

And that's all!