The Olympics

I get why some of you are boycotting the Olympics.  Really, I do.  I'm not doing it, but I get it.  

For me, all the reasons to boycott the Olympics as an organization are stacked up against the individual athletes and their accomplishments.  Those kids have worked their asses off to get where they are and I'm going to support them, even if it's just me in my home cheering where they can't hear me.  I don't want to punish them over actions they had no part in and no control over.  

In a rational world, the athletes would en masse raise their voices against the stuff the organization is doing.  But as I've said before, we're in a far from rational world.  They're stuck working with the Olympics and I'm going to give them my support.  I mean, where else would most of these kids get to show their talents on a national stage?  It's not like ESPN is jumping over themselves to televise badminton.  They occasionally show swimming or running, but only the die-hard fans watch.  Right now, in this venue, it's their one shot to get the accolades they deserve for all their hard work.

So, yeah, I'm watching.  If you're boycotting to the point where you don't even want to read about it, stop reading here...

OMG, the girl - Chloe Dygert - who was in the cycling race and fell?  That spill was awful, but the fact that she got up, got back on her bike, and raced her heart out to win bronze was freakin' amazing.  She was feeling the pain when she walked up for an interview, and no wonder she was on the verge of tears after that fall, but go her.  I felt really bad for her, though.  If she hadn't fallen, she could've easily taken gold.  I wanted to give her a big, ol' hug.

I'm not sure what's up with our gymnastics girls.  Okay, so they're in first, but they're still making me sad. Poor Jade got knocked out of her best event - floor exercises - because she missed the landing on one of her passes and fell.  Now she can't compete in the finals for that event.  And none of the other girls even went up and hugged her after that.  Sad.  The men's side is worse.  But the bright spot is Paul Juda.  Go, Paul.

I'm also cheering on people of other nations.  Israel particularly, but any one of these individuals who represents my values is gonna get a big WOOHOO from me.   Screw the lousy organizations and the horrible policies of the countries they're competing for.  You go, guys.  

Looking Forward to the Olympics

I'm not sure if you pay attention to these things, but the Olympics are coming up.  Over the weekend, Hubs and I were watching the Olympic Trials in Men's Gymnastics, Women's Gymnastics, and a bit of the Track and Field.  They picked the teams for the gymnastics and those are fine.  Not great, mind you, but fine.  We'll see how they stack up against the competition later this month.  

I'm not sure how they go about picking the actual individuals that get sent for the teams.  I get the whole highest overall score thing, but even that seems a little odd to me.  I know there were several individuals who rocked harder in their specific event more than others who didn't make the team.  Sad that, really.  I'm all about the individual, so... :shrug:

I was really pulling for this one girl - Tiana.  I thought she was pretty much flawless in her execution, but I guess her difficulty wasn't high enough to get the points.  Personally, I'd rather see someone nail their routine with a lower difficulty then flub the thing with a higher difficulty, but that's me.  Flawless execution is a thing of beauty on its own without all the extra tricks that may or may not come off.  Jus' sayin'.

There was another girl - Joscelyn - that reminded me of Mary Lou Retton.  She made the team as an alternate. I expect she'll kick ass at the trials in 4 years.  

The new blood to watch on this year's team will be Hezly.  She's a little spitfire.  

I don't remember much about the guys, to be frank.  In that case, I was rooting for Shane Wiskus.  He only made it as an alternate and he looked kinda crushed.  Frederic did well and he's probably our best shot for a medal.  I wish him the best.  

Previously, we'd watched the swimming trials.  Katie is kicking ass as usual.  I love to watch her.  She makes it look like she's just out for a swim and she's so far away from the other swimmers it's like she's swimming alone.  

All in all, I'm looking forward to the Olympics.  How about you?

And for my own 'Olympics', here are my stats from Day One of Ju-Lo-Wri-Mo

Starting Word Count - 4564
Ending Word Count - 5438
New Words = 874
Time: 35 minutes

I also put a widget up there on the right to keep track.  

Have a great day!

Sunday Update - Week 7

Okay.  So here we are again.  Sunday.  Hmm.  Let's see...

I've spent a lot of time this week editing.  I went from pg137 to pg214 - notes made and entered.  I have another page of notes to enter that I made last night.  Those should get me another ten pages along or so.  But the manuscript is up to 375 pages now.  I'm wracked with self-doubt and pushing through, because eh, what else is there to do?  I think it's helping that I'm treating this like it's not my book.  I'm just editing it.  That gives me the ability to set the work aside from the author.  Which is me.  If that makes any sense.

No marketing.  No reading.  Because editing.

I did bake some stuff.  On Monday, I did a vat of stew, granola bars, and homemade biscuits.  Thursday I did oatmeal jam squares.  Yesterday I made no bake cookies with oats and crushed pretzels.  Yes, I know it's not all baking.  :shrug:

The activity front picked up a little this week.  Two days of working in the woods.  Man, after a couple weeks of being lazy, climbing that damn hill was a bitch.  Especially the first day.  The second day was better.  I'll do it again today.  There's a lot of work left to do before warmer weather hits and I can't go into the woods.  Ticks and snakes, doncha know.  

Speaking of working in the woods, I found more barbed wire.  This time, I didn't get tangled in it, thank you very much.  But it was at the very bottom of the hill and there was a lot of it.  I considered how I was going to get it up the hill and then trudged back to the house for something to carry it in.  You can't carry strands of loopy wire, barbed or not, in a garbage bag.  Shreds the plastic and then what's the point?  So, I went into the garage.  My big bucket is filled with iris bulbs right now.  But hey, there's the plastic tub I had dirt in!  I grabbed that and headed out the door with Hubs telling me if I waited, he'd help.  Eh.  I wasn't in the mood to wait.  I trudged down the hill with the tub.  Hopped the wet-weather creek that was about 3 feet across with running water and went to work, bending and cramming and stuffing the wire into the tub.  Luckily, only the top strand was actually barbed.  I got it all and trudged back up the hill carrying this tub.  It wasn't heavy, just cumbersome.  And not a scratch on me.  Yay.

On a side note, I think this wire dates back to the late 1800s.  I'd sell it online, but the thought of trying to ship it leaves me cold.  

On another side note, I need to remember to tell the new neighbors about the possibility they have barbed wire in their woods, too.  So the kids don't run afoul of it.  

Anyway, that batch is gone so I don't have to worry about deer getting tangled up and hurt with it.  I think the recent deluge of rain uncovered it or they would've hurt themselves before now.  And then I went and really uncovered it, so it definitely had to go that day.

And that's my life.  Editing, baking, woods work.  Oh, and we did watch a lot of Olympics.  My god, I've never seen so much curling in my life.  It became a joke here.  "Look, honey!  Curling!  And I was afraid I might go all day without seeing it."  I think today's the last day, so back to my regularly scheduled programming.  I might just cancel TV because there are only so many reruns a brain can take and all the new stuff blows.

What's up in your life?

Sunday Update - Week 5

Welcome to Sunday.  For some reason, I keep waking up at 4am.  Which makes me want to go to bed extra early, which makes me want to wake up early... Blerg.

Anyhooways...

I'm making progress on Song of Storm and Shroud.  This third round of editing is not going any faster than the second, though.  Still, I'm at the part where I make notes and then enter them right away, instead of the part where I make all the notes and enter them when I reach THE END.  So, what I have now is pretty close to what's going to be there when it goes out to the world.  (Unless I go totally nuts and decide to make this one book into several by fleshing out shorter scenes and delving deep into the characters and the world.  Which would be kind of cool.  But if I do that, I'll never get this book done.  Except it might be better for it.  GAH!)  Anyway, I'm 49 pages into what is currently a 370 page Word file.

No marketing this week.  I'm too busy.  

No reading for the same reason.

I did do some baking, though.  I made white bread.  It turned out pretty good.  It could be better.  I screwed something up early on and I also probably should've kneaded it more.  Hubs likes it, so it's all good.  I also made no-bake cookies and added tiny pretzel sticks to them.  Those are tasty, but gargantuan, so eating one is like eating three or four.  

I also got some log work done.  That was 3 out of my 4 active days this week - sawing logs and working on restacking the stacks.  We've pulled out a fourth pallet and we're putting all the smaller wood pieces on that, which means taking the smaller wood pieces out of the other three pallets and restacking those.  

The fourth day was shoveling snow.  We got about 8 inches.  It looks pretty, but it also looks like the reason I left Michigan.  Derp.  

In other news, Beauregard the Broad-winged Hawk took down what I think was a Brewer's blackbird.  I got some awesome pics of him eating it in the snow.  

We've been having flocks of blackbirds (I think they're Brewer's) pass through over the last week or so.  Easy pickin's for a hawk like Beau.  

We're also having larger numbers of deer stop by.  The snow draws them in because they know they can get food here without having to dig through the white stuff.  I think we counted 24 at one point yesterday.  

Okay, we've been watching the Olympics.  I know, I know.  They shouldn't be holding an Olympics in China in the first place.  Here's my thinking on the subject:  The time to boycott this crap was when the Olympics committee was thinking about awarding China with the prize of holding this winter's games there.  When there was still time to change the location.  It's not like any of China's crap hasn't been going on for years.  So, the games are there now and our athletes - the ones who've been working for years to get to this point - are there now.  So, I'm watching.  If you want to hurt China, beat the crap out of their athletes by winning.  Win everything.  And highlight the dirty, rotten, nasty things China has done and is doing while celebrating the achievements of all the other athletes.  Not watching and not cheering on the good people who had no part in China's abuses doesn't hurt China.  It hurts the good people.  

And besides, I'm already boycotting so many things.  It's tiring.  I want to watch people achieving their goals and winning awards.  I want to get excited when they do something awesome.  The world is a shitty enough place.  Leave me alone with my little bright spots.  =op

Not much else going on here.  They still haven't plowed my road.  But I have nowhere to go, so I'm not that twicked about it.  (Twicked... it's something I used in my book, so I'm trying it out here.  On a personal note, I need to cut down on my swearing.  New neighbors have little ears and I swear a lot when I'm working outside.  It's not an easy task, lemme tell ya.)

Okay, your turn.  How was your week?  

Sunday Update - Week Lost

I have no clue what week it is.  Hell, Michigan, I'm not sure if there even was a week.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  

I'm still plugging away on the edit notes for Untitled Fantasy.  I think I was at 29% last night.  Not sure how many pages of notes that makes.  Copious amounts, to be sure.  I was sure Hylani was the big, burly blonde, but early on, it was Frola.  Gotta fix that.  That whole scene where they're debating what kind of magic X has, well, it's got to go.  They know what she has.  There's a whole thing nearer the beginning where everyone knows what everyone else has - well, except for that one chick...  Anyway, it's a lot of work, but it's moving along.

Sorry I forgot to do a reading wrap-up yesterday.  There was nothing to report, but I know you like to read it and put your own books on there.  Here's hoping next week is better.

No baking last week until yesterday when I did granola bars and then made a pizza.  I added about a tablespoon of honey to the pizza dough this time.  It was pretty good, so I'll probably do that from now on.  Between stirring the bars and the kneading pizza dough, my arms are feeling it today.

On the activity front, I only did two things last week.  I biked one day and I walked another day.  It was my first walk in like 6 weeks and I could definitely tell.  Ugh.  I'm up to 40 miles walked and 46 miles biked.  Of course, I'm not counting taking care of the garden in my activity.  I did that every day.  So I got that going for me.  Weight: 184.4

Speaking of the garden, no flowers on the zucchinis now.  I do have buds.  I'm hoping to get a mix of male and female flowers this time.  One of my from-seed tomato plants has flowers.  On the store-bought tomato, the one tiny tomato is about golfball sized now and the other tiny tomato is about pea sized.  

The Olympics are over for all intents and purposes.  I think they're probably doing the closing ceremonies as I type this.  Anyway, we ended up with 113 medals - more than any other country - and as of last night, we also have the most gold medals.  Huge shout out to all the awesome athletes who went there to represent our country and did an amazing job at it.  Nerts to the others.  They don't matter in the scheme of things.  Super special shout-out to Molly Seidel who brought home a bronze in women's marathon - something we haven't had in decades.  And to Nevin Harrison who kicked ass in women's canoeing.  And to Richard Torres, Jr. who literally kicked a bunch of guy's asses to take silver in heavyweight boxing.  And to Alison Felix who said goodbye to her long Olympic career by leading the gals to gold in 4x400 relay.  And to the gal who was shouting about how much she loves America.  And to all of the others who are too numerous to mention by name.  You guys rocked it out this year!  USA! USA! USA!

I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with myself now that the Olympics are over.  Work harder at editing perhaps?  

On that note, I probably should go do something constructive.  How was your week?

Thursday This n That

Well, the shit that went down earlier in the week has derailed me.  Why blog if they're just going to kill it for no real reason (or for reasons I'd rather not contemplate)?  Anyway, here I am.  I have a job to do and I'm going to do it.  

And now, as I write this, it's in the back of my mind whether each thing I write is going to piss someone off.  People can get offended by anything and these days, they do.  :shrug:  I gotta be me.

We've been totally wrapped up in the Olympics.  Hell, the TV is already on and we NEVER turn the TV on this early.  But Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of us, so our morning is their night and things are popping over there - medal matches and whatnot.  Woohoo.  Not sure what I'm going to do with myself once they're over.  Sunday, I think, is the last day.  Bummer.

The Westcoast crud that's in the atmosphere has me all garbaged up.  It's supposed to be going away shortly.  Not shortly enough for me.  Seriously, I do not want their air.  Or their people.  Or their politics.  Okay, some of their people can come.  Refugees looking for a better life who don't want to turn middle-America into the places they left.  I'm okay with that.

All I want is to be left alone to live my life and do my thing.  I'm not over here bothering anyone.  But the more they crack down, the more they make me want to get all radical and in your face.  The Zucker wonders who radicalized us?  He, and people like him, did it.

:deep breath:

The deer are happily munching corn - mamas, babies, bucks... the whole shebang.  It's awesome.  Lumpy and Sonny and Shady.  Uno.  Whitelegs and her gang.  Spot and Stripes.  It a great day at Sanderson Acres.  (I was going to say beautiful, but it's all hazy again.  Smoke. Blerg.)

Something is killing my spiders.  We have two corpses hanging in the windows now, their abdomens deflated like spent balloons.  Creepy.  My little orb weaver got a big beetle this morning and now she's busy wrapping it up for later meals.  Yeah, spiders are gross, but they're also fascinating.

Okay, I probably should go do something constructive.  What?  I dunno.  Somethin'.

Anything on your this-n-that today?

Sunday Update - Week 31

It's morning.  Hubs got up at 5 and I was going to roll over to snatch some more Zzzs.  Then I heard thunder.  Then I remembered I'd moved my big tomato plants out to the middle of the deck.  Sat up, pulled on a pair of shorts and out I went.  Good thing, too, because about 5 minutes afterward, the sky opened up and it splooshed hard.

It took me about an hour to remember it was Sunday.  So here I am...

In writing news, I'm making slow progress on my edit notes.  I think I'm up to 14% of the book and about 11 pages worth of notes.  Hubs joked that I'm going to need another notebook soon.  I got it covered, man.  

The marketing of my sale for the Dennis Haggarty books was a bust.  I did sell two books, though.  Got me a buck twenty-nine.  Woohoo.  Hey, that's more than I made in the month of May. My recent Amazon deposit was $1.17.  Someday, I hope to be able to afford a cup of gas station coffee.

No reading last week.  It's a slump.  :shrug:

I made chocolate chip cookies last week, except by the time I was ready to start throwing batches into the oven, I was too hot to go through that whole process.  So I smushed all the dough into a 9x13 and made bar cookies.  They're awesome.

I was only active one day last week.  Gah, I was such a toad.  At least the weight is holding steady at 183.8.

The Olympics has been a thing here.  I turn them on around 8am and they're on all day for the most part.  Unless every channel is showing something boring - like basketball and volleyball.  (I'm so over volleyball now.)  

When I'm not editing or focused on the TV, I've taken to doing crossword puzzles.  I found an old book of them in my stuff when I cleaned and now I'm working through it.  They're semi-easy and I cheat, so not really brain-taxing.  

It's been super hit here.  Like 97 with a heat index of 105 hot.  Needless to say, I'm blaming the heat for my lack of gumption.  Hey, I'm still tending my plants - ungrateful wretches that they are.  This thunderstorm is supposed to bring a slight cool down.  Maybe that'll make my plants happy.  It'll certainly improve my attitude.  Well, maybe.

Nothing else of note to talk about here today.  What's up with you?

This n That on a Friday

Okay, so I forgot to post yesterday, so here's the This n That, but on a Friday.  

I've been up since 4 and I'm only just now beginning to be awake enough to be human.  Thank goodness for coffee.

Hubs has been up since 3.  Right after I got up, he started the laundry.  Friday is sheets and towels day.  He just threw the sheets in the dryer and now he's collecting all the towels.  Get 'er done.

Shout out to Suni Lee who stepped up in the gymnastics and is kicking ass.  (No, I don't want to talk about why she needed to step up.  I'm just glad she did.)

To all the Olympic athletes... don't bite your medal.  It's crass.

Speaking of which, anyone else notice they not showing the medal ceremonies this year.   I thought I was missing them because they were showing them late, but then I saw gals wearing their medals after the competition and no ceremony.  I guess I could Duck-duck it, but I don't really want to know the reason because it will probably piss me off.

Editing is going slow.  It seems like every other paragraph needs some kind of tweak.  Blerg.

Halfway through a cigarette just now, it tasted like goat butt.  I hate when that happens.  Gag.  Luckily, it only happens like twice a year.  And since I smoke a pack a day and there are 20 cigs in a pack... well, it's too early to math, but you get the idea.  Every rare once in a while a cig tastes like pot.  Makes me wonder.  I have to put those out, too.  Pot makes me barf in a most spectacular way.

I both get why people do drugs and don't get why people do drugs.  They want to lose control and blank out.  I hate that feeling.  Which is why I quit drinking in addition to not doing drugs.  If you're trying to escape reality because you think it sucks, it's still going to suck when you sober up.  I guess that whole 'escape reality' thing is also why people are in such a rush to try and warp reality.  Doesn't work, but they still try.  It'll still be there whether they try and change their view of it.  :shrug:  

It's been HOT here.  Like 97 yesterday with a hear index of 105.  Gah.  And as I was laying in bed last night I realized I forgot to water the garden yesterday.  Here's hoping that once the sun comes up this morning I still have a garden and my one tiny tomato didn't wither up and drop off.  

Thank goodness for the exercise bike or I'd spend all day sitting on my ass in the AC.  I'm up to 42 miles.  Which is more than I walked all this year so far.  So much for hitting 100 miles walking this year.

Okay, that's more than enough out of me today.  What's up in your world?

I'm Watching the Olympics

I've been watching the Olympics.  Yeah, there are a few scattered athletes with bugs up their asses (and that's all I'll say about that), but for the most part, the athletes are out there doing their thing without a word about their political leanings.  

Watching Lydia Jacoby win last night was awesome.  And the moment after she touched the wall, when she turned to see the scores and realized she'd won... Her face lit up and she glowed.  And it lifted my heart.  Watching her people watch her win was even better.  I would've been screaming right along with them if Hubs hadn't already gone to bed.  I think the whole town of Seward, Alaska was partying last night, as well they should've been.

Obviously, I'm rooting for the US team, but really, I want to watch and cheer for any athlete who proves themselves to be outstanding.  The Austrian gal who won a gold in the Women's Road Race.  The dude from Norway who won the Men's Triathlon.  The Brit who nailed it in the Men's Mountain Bike race.  All worthy opponents and great athletes.  And then there was the dude from Tunisia who kicked ass in the Men's 400m Freestyle swimming.  No one expected him to win.  He was in the last lane because his times were so crappy.  But there he was zooming ahead of everyone to win.  Dude.

Also outstanding was the gal who won the US's first medal ever in Taekwondo.  Kicked Russia's ass, lemme tell ya.  And she was so excited to have won.

These people are why I watch the Olympics.  They're stronger than the ones who try to ruin it.  Focus on them.  If you're one of those people who's staying away from watching because of a few silly turds, who should've spent more time focusing on their sport than flapping their gums, you're doing the good athletes a disservice.  And you're doing yourself a disservice, too, because you're really missing some awesome, inspiring, and happy stuff.

USA! USA! USA!

Sunday Update - Week... Hellifino

What do you get if you cross a hippo, an elephant, and a rino?  A hellifino.

Umm... yeah, it's early and I'm not quite sane yet.  

I wrote some this week.  Not nearly the word-extravaganza I was hoping for, but hey, it was writing.  An additional 4578 words were added.  What can I say?  Sometimes this writing stuff is hard.  :shrug:  I did sit down and draw a map.  It sucks, but it's a start.  I also looked at free map drawing software.  And then read the FAQ wherein I discovered I couldn't commercially use the maps I would make (as in inside anything I would sell.. like books) unless I used the pay version.  Umm...  Yeah, I'll go back to doing it the old way.  Thanks.

It wasn't a great week for reading either.  

No baking.

I did a bunch of active stuff this week, though.  I reorganized some stuff and I did some weeding stuff and cleaning stuff.  I did a lot of Helper Monkey stuff for Hubs when he was doing the roof.  All the mowing I did the week prior finally caught up to my body and I dropped some poundage.  Weight: 184.4

Speaking of roof stuff, Monday morning Hubs went out into the smoking room and discovered a puddle.  Thus began the saga of the drip, which I already detailed.  Yesterday, Hubs was up on the roof fixing things.  Right now, it's raining cats and dogs, so fingers crossed, eh?  So far, no drips, but it's early yet.  I hope everything he did works, not only to ameliorate the drips but to keep him from having to do that again.  One thing I learned, for future reference... peanut butter takes Liquid Nails off your skin.  (but not out of clothing, so there goes my favorite pair of pink shorts)

We've been watching the Olympic trials.  My favorite athlete so far is Gabby Thomas.  She's a runner.  But she's also working on her Master's degree in epidemiology.  Smart and fast.  Seems like a good person.  And she's pretty, too.  Of course, Simone Biles is back and kicking butt.  And Katie Ledecky is back, too, swimming like a dolphin.  Sam Mikulek made the team again for men's gymnastics.  All kudos to Sam, but I think he should've sat this one out and let one of the younger, healthier dudes have his spot.  (He's got wrist issues and a wonky elbow.)   There's a distance runner from my old stompin' grounds that I'll be rooting for - Grant Fisher - even if I didn't get to see him in the trials.

In gardening news, still no veggies.  Loads of flowers on the zukes, but that's it.  The flowers do their thing and then drop off, leaving only a stalk behind.  :sniffle:  Same with the tomatoes.  Flowers, but no fruits.  It's very disheartening.  

We're seeing fawns way more often now.  Yay.  And we have three raccoons coming to eat.  And two bunnies.  Chester Chipmunk is alive and well, and living under the big hydrangea.

Well, I think that's it for me for now.  How was your week?

Thursday This n That

Since the recent announcement that FB would be changing their stuff so it shows more actual personal interaction type stuff and less marketing stuff, my newsfeed is filled with... :drumroll: book marketing stuff.  I'm still not seeing the people I have actual relationships with.  I have heard people who are waving their arms that FB is going to be killing our marketing opportunities, though.  Like I said, more book selling stuff has been in my newsfeed than ever before.  Just anecdotal evidence, but that's where I'm at.  :shrug:  To see the stuff I want to see, I resorted to making a folder of bookmarks to the actual FB pages I want to read that I fear FB might hide from me.  Paranoid?  Probably, but being paranoid has worked for me for years, so I'm sticking with it.  ;o)

I'm up to page 170 as of this morning.  347 pages total.  If I do 59 pages a day, I'll be done with this part by Friday.  Then I'm going to proofread it again, because I'm afraid I might've put some errors in while I was cleaning up errors.  We're still go for launch on the 21st.

We've been seeing one half-rack buck lately with a white face.  It's kind of creepy.  There's also a doe with white legs.  Not as creepy. 

While I was excited to see Shawn White win a gold, I was a bit ticked off by his treatment of the flag afterwards.  We both were.  When did the flag become a fashion accessory to be draped over one's shoulders or, if not draped, dragged along on the ground like a forgotten scarf or Linus' blanket?  White was excited, I get that.  But come on.  It's the freakin' flag.  I would hope he would at least do what is supposed to be done to a flag that has touched the ground or been otherwise sullied - burn it.  But I suspect he won't.  Burning flags has become such a hot-button thing that I would guess people will freak out if it happens when it's actually supposed to happen.  Next time, Shawn?  Tell the person handing you the flag to hold onto it for later, when you're calm enough to treat it with the respect it deserves.

And while I'm on a roll, let's all remember that, despite what the media might want you to believe, North Korea sucks.  It's a dictatorship and its people are horribly oppressed.  The guy who runs it is a whackadoodle and his sister is not a princess, she's a evil witch.

Ahem.

The little birdies are enjoying the brush piles we've created on our land.  They're awesome hiding spots where few predators will be able to snatch them up for a quick meal.  The squirrels are also utilizing them as jungle gyms and lookout posts. 

And now, I have pages to edits and miles to go before I nap.  Have an awesome day everyone and drop a line about what's on your this n that radar, if you like.  =o)

Olympics Time is Here!

:Kermitflail:

I do love the Olympics - both winter and summer.  I love watching these athletes do what they've trained their whole lives for and succeed.  All the athletes.  Sure, I root harder for the U.S.A. team members, but seeing someone who is infinitely talented in their chosen endeavor crosses border lines.  For instance, did any of you catch the short-program for the men last night in the new team figure skating?  The guy for Japan was amazing!  So fluid.  So confident.  And there was such joy on his face.  You could really tell he loved what he was doing.  Since our guy kind of bombed last night, I hope this Japanese guy wins.  (Especially since I can't stand the Russian dude.  I seem to remember he was kind of an ass during the last Olympics.)

I can't wait for the short-track speed skating to begin.  And the half-pipe.  And the moguls (which had preliminaries on last night).  Hell, I'll even watch curling if there's not a more exciting sport on.  I can't wait for the medals to start pouring in. 

I'll also put up my typical Medal Count thingie over in the sidebar once medals start getting awarded.  (And once NBC fixes their medals webpage.  Right now, it's showing 2010 medals still.  :shrug:)

What about you?  Do you watch?  Do you care?  Which events are your favorites?