gladysday’s blog

Last Saturday, my boyfriend and I went hiking for a few miles on the Sourdough trail up near Jamestown. We started up the trail about four o'clock with knives and mace, some water, some Emergen-C, and a few pieces of potato bread and a Reese's peanut butter cup that I won in a bet that Obama would get the nomination (called the Obama bar).

Anyway, we went up and down and around and it was nice because it was overcast so it wasn't overwhelmingly hot. We made it about 2 or 3 miles and then ran into Camp Dick. While I used the restroom, my boyfriend inquired about the camping accommodations and then we waved and started back down the trail. There was a nice family in front of us for a few minutes from the camp, but then we were alone again. It was dark, but it wasn't really night yet. I'm guessing it was about quarter of seven.

About I'd say one or two miles from the camp, I heard a branch break in the quiet, pastoral forest and I said to my boyfriend, "I just heard something break."

"I did too," he said and then we heard it again.

I looked up and there about fifty or sixty feet from us was a cinnamon-colored bear cub looking at us in the tall grass. You could see only his torso and face. He looked to be about a year or a year and a half at the most.

My breath stopped for a second, and all of a sudden my boyfriend shouted as loud as he could and the bear turned around and ran the other way. I jumped about twenty feet in my head and came back down to earth slowly - my heart pounding.

"Get your knife and your mace out slowly, " He said softly. "And stay close behind me to make us bigger."

"Ok," I said catching my breath. I got out my buck knife and extended it in my left hand, but then I had to switch hands to get out my mace and then switch back hands.

He told me to walk down the trail looking down the embankment in a 180 degree peripheral while shouting as loud as I could. We did this all the way back to the start of the trail. About fifty feet as to where the trail began, he told me to withdraw my knife so I did. I just had the mace. Then we got back and I withdrew my keys and we took off our gear and got into the car.

We drove to a camp with three men and a woman who had some sort of lean-to and were drinking beer. We told them about the bear and the guy said they had nothing to worry about. They were sleeping inside the shed tonight.

Then we drove past five women campers who had a red truck and a tent. We told them and they thanked us profusely. I told them to lock up their food in their truck.

We waved and left. I didn't tell them I had the Obama bar and the potato bread in my backpack. It was an amazing experience, but if the mother had been close by, we would have been in big trouble. I wasn't even sure it was a male. In fact, I thought it was a female, but the boyfriend thought it was a male.

We were exhilarated and told the tale at the Millsite later over Italian food. I brought the food back. The Obama bar is in the freezer. I'm waiting to break it open after the General Election.

I stayed home sick today. I called my boss at 7:15 this morning which is way too late, but I was throwing up coffee. Yuck. I know it's TMI, but I can't help it.

My friend Gary sent me a link of this video for assoholics anonymous. Really funny. I will put up the link if anyone wants to see it, but I can describe it better than the movie itself. Perhaps I have been secretly drinking arrogant bastard ale and that is why I am acting like this. j/k.

I want to go shopping today, but I feel like shit.

I bought a digital camera the other day, but am too sick to get started on using it. There was a guy in Walmart that reminded me exactly of my old boyfriend. It was weird. He jokingly said excuse me when he went by me and was kidding around that he was going to shove me out of the way. Weird. Oh, I also got an eggplant starter. I know Walmart is evil and I will probably burn forever in hell for it, but I just didn't know where else to go. We have two huge ones in Longmont. In retrospect, i probably should have gone to Target. Our landlady's son works there too.

I am so fucking spacey tonight. It's a weird night. It's cold and rainy and I was watching a doc. on Alaska and also wearing an Alaska sweatshirt. Now we are watching CNN, now Fox...I don't like Fox very much, but my boyfriend watches it sometimes. Last night I watched Northern Exposure. It was the episode where Chris-in-the-morning gets eighty-sixed from the restaurant for picking a fight with the denizens and calling them ants and that he's a grasshopper. Then Ed gets to do the morning show, but Chris finally discusses it with the owner and all that shit gets worked out.

I have a potty mouth. Sorry.

I'm back. I couldn't sleep. I talked to Rebecca today. She actually wasn't ready to get together on Sunday. She needed rest anyway. Tomorrow she, Nancy and I are going to get together. I got her a card and a gift. I hope she feels better about the situation when she's ready to, and not when people expect her to.

I'm angry all the time right now. It's been about a week now, and it just won't go away. My sleeping patterns are all screwed up and the doctor gave me some Ambien but I don't want to get addicted to it. Then I will just be another drug-addict writer and I'm not William Fuckin' Burroughs. When I am good and ready, I will go lie down.

Went to airport with boyfriend on Sunday and saw Kate. It was really good to see her and she looked great. Gave her Cowgirl poetry. Hung out. Took pics. Orange alerts. Left. Went to Long John Silvers. Called Rebecca. Had to cancel.

Weeks been busy. No time. Ever. God.

It's Friday and I haven't done the dishes.

I was sick all weekend. I had this horrible stomach ailment in which I would get these terrible contractions of pain and then it would subside. It wasn't a woman's thing, but something digestive that I get every once in a while. It still hurt last night so I took today off and made an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow morning. This shit has been going on for months and I'm beginning to believe that maybe I have an ulcer. Prilosec doesn't work for it and Nexium is too expensive, but I decided I'm going to get the Nexium because I'm tired of going through this every few months. My boyfriend says that I should get an X-ray or at least get to an internist. I don't know what to do but I'm sick of this shit. 

I was sick all weekend. I had this horrible stomach ailment in which I would get these terrible contractions of pain and then it would subside. It wasn't a woman's thing, but something digestive that I get every once in a while. It still hurt last night so I took today off and made an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow morning. This shit has been going on for months and I'm beginning to believe that maybe I have an ulcer. Prilosec doesn't work for it and Nexium is too expensive, but I decided I'm going to get the Nexium because I'm tired of going through this every few months. My boyfriend says that I should get an X-ray or at least get to an internist. I don't know what to do but I'm sick of this shit. 

Xmas was overall pretty good. My whole family was there which was amazing and there were no major conflicts. It was the usual good food and the ceremonial ripping of the gifts. The noise level was high with all my sisters there and they swarmed the kitchen. I sat back and helped with the dishes later which I think is a pretty good strategy.

I did have some difficulties with my sister who is sick a few days before when I was up at the house.  She was talking some smack and I protested and it got ugly between us. It didn't last very long and I had to blow it off. It did hurt though because she kept callilng me a victim. I sat there and wondered if I sometimes acted like this. It's hard to be angry at someone who has cancer. You want to be supportive and loving, but if someone is treating you like shit you can't just take it. She finally did apologize on Xmas, but that really stung. It would have been a perfect holiday if not for this.

Anyway, I was sick all this week with a rotten cold which was actually cool because I didn't have to go to work. Thank god I still have some paid sick days. My boyfriend took care of me and cooked meals and hung out with me. I went through a huge box of kleenex and an entire box of Alka Seltzer cold medicine. It lasted about five days!

Tonight we are going to a sober dance here in Longmont. It's at a giant barn, so I hope that doesn't mean they are going to be playing country music all night. That would suck. I think I talked to someone last year who said the music varies. I'm definitely not staying if I have to listen to Garth Brooks and Reba McCintyre songs all night. We were planning on doing nothing at first, but my boyfriend's daughter is working over there so were going to stop by. I hope it will be fun.

Happy New Year to Spinsterwoman and anyone else who happens to read this!

Thanksgiving was pretty good. My Mom made the turkey and we all brought something. I didn't feel like cooking so I bought a Pecan Pie from King Soopers along with some pickles, olives and table water crackers per my Mom's suggestion. My sisters went all out. Figgie made green bean casserole and Figgy pudding. Martha brought the salad and baked bread. I felt a little guilty for being lazy, when my sisters are so domestic, but I guess that's just the way I am sometimes so oh well.

It was nice except for the fact that my sister's new boyfriend was dancing with us and just about hitting on us.
I hate dealing with obnoxious drunks--especially French-american ones filling in for my ex-brother-in-law. My sister made it clear to me that night that he wasn't going to be sticking around. Were glad because he was threatening to throw Xmas at his house, but maybe he was talking smack since he was plowed. My boyfriend was ready to beat his ass, but he doesn't do that anymore plus he never would at my Mom's house. Well at least the obnoxious drunk wasn't me. Made me glad I am sober.

We went to the new multiplex in Boulder on Friday and saw "No Country for Old Men." It was great and i was on the edge of my seat,  but it had a weak ending. Nobody was really monitoring the place so it was easy to sneak into "Beowulf" before it even started. It was an entertaining popcorn flick and they used some kind of combination of film and animation that looked lifelike yet surreal. I never read the book so it was all new to me.  I am not sure if I would have seen it twice though because I'm not into the historic mythological type stuff like that. I like me some gore, so the Coen brothers was more my speed. It was great because both Zach and I got to see the movies we wanted to. Thank you bad security at the Century!

There really isn't much going on lately. I took two vacation days off this week for my birthday. So far I have done laundry and babysat Zach's grandchildren. Tomorrow I make Chili. woohoo.

On Saturday we celebrate the collective birthdays of Figgie and I up at my Mom's house in Lyons. I suppose the family party should be pretty fun. I got Fig this East Indian rap CD by a woman named Kala. I guess she's pretty hot (as in popular).

There hasn't been any interesting movies to talk about. I did read a really good memoir by Julia Scheeres called "Jesus Land." It's about her growing up with her adopted black brother. They deal with racism in this hick town in Indiana where they move.Then their parents send them to  this horrible reform school in the Dominican Republic. It's really grisly and sad at the end. The amazing thing is that although they go through all this really painful stuff, they end up leading normal lives.