Graduation

The graduates throw their mortarboards
Man, I am uber-emo about graduation. I had to sit in the nose-bleeds from being so late. Never drove before! Got to see all the guys as they walked, but only saw a few afterwards. It took me forever to get down to the ground, and by then, many had left. I saw quite a few, though, including Pounders (although not nearly as long as I would have liked) and Haynes and Sumler and KC and Hess and and Bo and RV and Kimmel and Jar and Myers...I also spent quite a bit of time unloading my emo-ness on Preston's family....but somehow I missed Maulden and Spradlin and Jor-Dog and Steve-o and Winkie and Gouch and Carlito and Roger and Slim Jim and even Bob for crying out loud...lots more I missed, and I may never see them again...MEZSH.

Lake Moreau 2

We went back to Lake Moreau today. It's close to the house and I wanted to try to find the waterfall.

Never found "the" waterfall, it cost me six bucks to get in, and I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. All in all, a good hike.

Apparently, weekends late in the day are not a good time to go, since the guard shack is manned. The six bucks is per car, so really not that bad. I was just miffed that I had to pay to hike. But by the time I went home, mapped a route, etc., I would spend more than that in gas. So it was worth it to just do the hike.

Another 45 degree angle hike. Well maybe not 45 degrees, but it sure felt like it. I still can't believe how bad the mosquitoes were. My hands and arms were sticky with blood by the end of the hike. One of the pictures above has two markers on it. One is the typical disks used here. The other is a splash of red. I believe that isn't a trail marker at all; it's where someone wiped the blood off their hands after being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I used to brag that mosquitoes never bother me. I won't be saying that again any time soon.

The view, which was so not great I didn't even bother to post a picture here, was blocked by trees. You couldn't see the lake, but you could see some mountains in Vermont. I knew my house was out there somewhere; I could see the Northway and I recognized a field I pass every day. Ella was happy. She got her walk in; that's pretty much all she cares about. Today was the first time she actually ate some of the trail mix I offered her. The mosquitoes left her alone; she has been debugged and is on heartworm prevention, so no problems there.

The Dog Whisperer

I was embarrassed a few weeks ago in Baltimore when we were at one of those dinners where we have to socialize. I don't do that well. A few 7&7's help, but they also boost my confidence, something I really don't need. One guy asked what I thought of Cesar, since the talk always gets to dogs or Star Trek with me. Rather than just admit I had never watched him, I explained my views on dogs. "That's what Cesar says," the guest told me. Oh great. Mark one up for Beej. I was surfing channels the other day and it happened to be on. I now watch him every chance I get, not just because some of his cases are hysterical but also I agree with him on a lot of things. He also has that elusive quality of Charisma that can't be purchased anywhere, not even Wally World. I've seen four or five episodes so far. He works with every breed of dog imaginable (and I think he owns most, as well) and has handled every problem I have ever seen and some I never knew existed. In one ep, a woman had "gotten her son" (read "herself") a chihuahua. She treated it like a baby and the damn thing was savage. As savage as those can be, anyway. Her son could not touch it or her without being attacked. I loved it when Cesar said to her, "You take the dog's side over your son?" It was awesome. I know a lot of Dog People don't have kids, and I used to be one of those people that believed that if a kid got bit, he deserved it, but common sense (and having kids) have changed my viewpoint. I am the Captain of the ship called Ella, and as I learned in Star Trek (I had to work it in there somewhere) a captain is responsible for everything that happens on the ship. EVERYTHING. So if my dog bites someone, it is my fault. There are some instances where that is not always true, but I believe that it usually is. In this case, this kid was just trying to pet the little yappy mutt. He was not being aggressive at all. You could tell the kid was scared to death. (The kid in question was 14.) Cesar almost walked away because when he disciplined the dog, the woman started to cry and told him no. But he stuck it out and showed the woman that just like kids, undisciplined dogs are horrible to be around. My problem was the other way. I had no problem disciplining the dog, but had trouble saying No to the kids. I know dogs act on instincts, but kids have thought, feeling, emotion, memory, etc., and one wrong word can scar.

Star Wars

I see that Star Wars has a new movie coming out this summer. Well, not a real movie; a CGI thing. Of course I will see it. That's one of the conditions of lifetime membership. Besides, John Williams provides the music, so it will at least sound phenomenal. And maybe Yoda will be a more believable fighter instead of looking ridiculous as he did against Dooku. I remember sitting in a packed theater as we all laughed during this serious battle. It was too funny not to laugh.

Math

As I hike, I sometimes do math. You know, like, what is my angle of elevation? Us geeks are like that. I could, of course, bring a pedometer and actually do the math, but when I am in the woods, I like to be as far from technology as I can. Someone told me there are a lot of osprey in Moreau park. What's an osprey? Some kind of bird, is all I know. I kept hearing birds, songs with which I am not familiar, and I wondered if that was them. I could Google it, but that cheapens it somehow. If someone tells me or shows me, that doesn't seem like cheating. I know, I know, I am psychotic. For some reason, the phrase "vacuously obvious" keeps coming to my mind. It was a favorite phrase of my gender bender professor from UCA. Shim said it all the time. (Shim is a pronoun that Gee and I made up to stand for gender benders. I won't share the one my dad uses...) I think that phrase is all I can remember of my college math. All the math I use now is related to high school. The most useful information I possess are the math standards; what they really mean, what each level is expected to know, what each level is capable of, that kind of thing. I'm going to a math conference in San Diego later this month. I am not thrilled at the thought of flying there from here, but I do enjoy a good math conference. I've been to a few.

Well, gotta get back to painting. Furniture arrives Tuesday. We might try Blue Mountain next...er wait, I'll be in Arkansas attending graduation next weekend. Guess it will be the weekend after that.

Lake Moreau

Wish I had my camera, but no, I left it at the office so I "borrowed" this picture from another website. I was utterly stunned at how much landscapes can change in two weeks. Apparently, it rained a lot here in Moreau while I was off in Rochester. Everything is green. Bright green. You know how the cars get covered with a yellow film in the spring? Well, here it is so thick you could make a snowball...er, pollenball out of it. It's funny how sometimes what surprises me most are the similarities.

Had a little trouble finding the trail, because it is in the middle of this tourist trap. It's not in my guidebook; I just saw the sign and said to Ella, "Wanna go for a hike?" She always says yes. The park has a big sandy beach with life guard towers and tons of camping spots. Full service bathrooms, too, although everything is buttoned up due to the fact that it is still "off season." It was a little early for a Sunday when we got there, around 9, and no one was around. So, I broke my rule of never letting Ella off her leash. Signs everywhere, I had just read Katz book about how he threw a ball for one of his labs onto a frozen pond and almost lost both his life and the dog's, but I still make a stupid mistake. I hadn't planned to (Oh that's great. Like anyone ever says, "Hey, I think I will make a stupid mistake today.") but there was no one around and this great big squirrel was teasing her, and well, you know. She was also wearing her prong collar and 6-foot leash, which I hate having on her in the woods, but I had forgotten the flexi. Add to that the fact that she has been in prison, er, I mean, a boarding kennel for two weeks and you get a measure of my state of mind. (Which reminds me, I knew nothing of the tornadoes until I got an e-mail from my dad stating, 'Don't worry; we're fine." I showed my colleagues the e-mail and one said, 'Great. Guilt and relief all in one e-mail.')
So after all this lead up, it's rather anti-climatic because nothing bad happened. Ella just went cracker dog. She ran and ran and ran, around this tree with the squirrel, in huge loops, her ears flopping in the breeze. I clucked to her once and she ignored me. I knew better than to make matters worse by yelling at her (thank you, Jon Katz) so I just hunkered down on the trail and waited for the storm to subside. After a few minutes, I decided the storm wasn't going to subside so I began to backtrack slowly, nonchalantly. I heard her before I saw her; running as hard as she could straight at me. She would have hit me in the middle if I hadn't seen her in time and ducked down. She still knocked me on my ass, but I got lots of cushion so that was no big deal. It was literally the first time she actually showed me she'd missed me. She'd been ignoring me since I picked her up and quite frankly, I was worried. So maybe cracker dog (aka The Zoomies in agility and obedience circles) is what she needed.
We'd already gone about a mile so I decided it was time to head back. As we joined the main trail, I saw a man with bright green pants on heading down the main trail away from us. Phew, I thought, got her leashed just in time. Then we met a couple with dogs. One was an Australian Cattle Dog and the other was a PRT. The dogs, not the people. A PRT is Parson Russell terrier, the "new" name of JRT which I think was changed years ago but still hasn't caught on yet with the general public.
Just about the time we made it to the parking area, we met up with Mr. Green Jeans again. I said, "Hey, is this thing a loop?" (I know; here's your sign.) He said it was, and asked if this was my first visit. We got to talking and he told me quite a bit about the trails of Lake Moreau (sorry; I keep thinking of the Island of Dr. Moreau, the one from the 70s with Burt Lancaster, Michael York, and Richard Basehart as the Sayer of the Law) and told me there is actually a very nice waterfall and how to get there. Gotta try that one soon before "season" opens and the beach makes it an undesirable place to be.

Another great hike for the record book, and one we will go to over and over again. I guess it will become my new Petit Jean.

I'd love to ramble on about work but a) I probably shouldn't and b) We go to publish in less than two weeks and I really want to keep my job. Suffice it to say that things are going well. I had to give a talk on gender equity both weekends (we saw two different groups of teachers) and I began each with my Arkansas Computer Literacy Exam, always a big hit. (See last blog if you aren't familiar with it.)

Hope you folks in AR survived the storm; I've heard nothing to the contrary so I will assume the best. Dad did send me a picture of Toad Suck Daze (can't wait to pass THAT around the office tomorrow) so looks like things are ok in the central region. My best to everyone; until next week!