10:01 a.m. June 1

AAHhhhhh writing warm up for work. Tuesday morning right after Memorial Day. I keep thinking it’s Labor Day holiday. I don’t know why. By this Labor Day i’m hoping to have trained myself like crazy, summited Mt. Rainier and continue to work out. And establish a strong circle of regular climbing partners. I also hope to go full bore into rock climbing following Rainier to make up for the lack of this summer.

Speaking of Rainier, I’m ALMOST done with fundraising!!!! With a few checks sent to BCM and a few pledged amounts, I’m less than $500 away from my goal!!!! I have a few fundraisers in mind ( a booth at the Bremerton Farmers Market and possibly a BBQ at my house) before the first deadline of June 18. Keeping my fingers crossed that I make it!

this weekend was the brothers trip with the OC class. The hike up to the climbers camp was way easier than i remembered however it probably helped that I was carrying my lightest pack ever – just under 30 lbs – with kitchen, food, shelter, sleep stuff and extra everything for the 10 essentials. Sure, I didn’t exactly have any room for comfort items (sit pad, flipflops, deck of cards) but i was STOKED that i’d managed to get the weight down in my back. After the Wonderland Trail pack, which felt like it included the kitchen sink, and several trips after it, I’ve really started to focus more on weight b/c it makes such an unbelievable difference, esp when you’re small like me. I was nervous about The Brothers Trip since i haven’t really done any mountaineering nor kept up my cardio that much lately, but after seeing some of the 55 lbs packs that some folks were carrying, i knew i would be fine.

Speaking of gear, I’ll be posting my first gear reviews within the next day or so (hopefully today at lunch after a little more editing) – my favorite piece of equipment and my newest piece of gear. I’m pretty excited about doing them and hope to keep doing some regularly, if anything, for good writing exercises.

oohhhh 8 minutes in – halfway there!

Shoulder is feeling better ever since I took on my own strength training and eased up on intensity of my workouts. while it’s frustrating to not be able to go as long as I’d like, it’s sort of comforting to be able ease into working out and building up the endurance. I was doing nothing or too much and i’d feel it every time. So after a few conversations with a massage therapist and an acupuncturist, i thought, well, it doesn’t HURT but it just gets tired. So, short workouts until it gets tired and then quit to let it rest. Heat, some anti-inflammatories and rest in between. I did really well last week. The Brothers Trip didn’t bother it much except at the end of the long hikes, the shoulder felt tired from the pack but nothing alarming. Did a big strength workout this morning and well, may have pushed it a little b/c the shoulder is quite tired. I”ll do some tennis ball massage here in a bit while reading newspapers.

So – fresh head, couple cups of tea in me, its a great way to start off the week. should be a productive one, with two weeks before deadline and the tribes have lots of projects going on, including steelhead spawning, shellfish, wildlife all sorts of fun stuff, plus the backlog of videos i need to catch up on. I got behind because i was trying Adobe Premiere on my work computer and it just didn’t work. crash crash crash. took it home and put it on my home computer and crash crash crash. For once, Microsoft came through with Windows Movie Maker and I can make a 3 minute video in an afternoon, no problem. Sure’d like it have a few more features to make videos a little more fancy but i’m just lucky i’m making videos. I’m hoping the most recent one gets approved soon we can share it on our web site.

whatelsewhatelsewhatelse … chickens! chickens in Bremerton! we’re trying to get chickens legalized in the city, as odd as that sounds, but apparently it’s illegal to raise chickens in the city. folks fear their smell and be noisy. Seriously? i know friends who have them and they are the sweetest things and the best background noise to have. of course if i get chickens ( have a perfect little place in the backyard but i don’t think its big enough), my mother won’t come out to visit. hmmm. nor do i really have any yard for them to roam freely. all those damn gardens. which are nice but …

alright, time’s up – tail up, head down….