Folly Beach, SC

This past weekend, James and I went out to Folly Beach, just outside of Charleston, SC. I know, I know, what the hell am I doing out playing, I have studying to do (arrrrrrrrgh) but I was good, I studied in the car, and a bit on Sat afternoon.

But when I was not torturing myself by scraping my nose in textbooks, we had some fun. We took Ms Moose to a dog park, where she had some fun but definitely showed her age (i have some precious video of Moose swimming as a 2 yr old, let's just say she's not quite that fast anymore). We waited out a cool thunderstorm, then went surfing. Folly Beach is a prime southeastern surf spot, according to several surfer-dude friends of mine.

James did awesome! He caught a bunch of waves and rode 'em in to the shore. Me, not so much. I was craving the feeling i had in Waikiki in 2004, "oh my wow this is friggin awesome!!!!!", but i never got fully upright. I knelt a few times, crouched a few times, and *almost* stood up, but the waves were kinda short in duration (according to a few friends at school, that pretty much sums up E Coast surfing). Fun anyways. Not so bad, floating around in an ocean that was about 80+ degrees. (Very different from New England!!)

We also went out kayaking. While Moose has been out on several boats, OOOOOO boy!!!, she has never been in a kayak. Those of you who knew Moose at a young age are probably laughing right now, very loudly - Um, NO. AS IF!! But now, at her much more um sedentary age, she was quite content to hang in (yes, IN) the kayak - we got her in the kayak, without rolling in the slimy stinky low-tide mud would you believe, and got her turned around so she could lay down with her head on the gunnel. She was lovin' it.

The estuary hosted not only shrimpies, which hopped into the boat (really. One hijacked its way back to Atlanta) but also dolphins (look for the fin in the pic!!) I was quite nervous that Moose would want to jump in to go play, but thank dog I mean god, she didn't. I have no idea how we would have gotten her back into the kayak.

We had some fun. And now, I am ACK back at it. I will not count days until I am done with boards part I, but oh. It will be good.

On a positive note, I am making forward progress as a student intern in clinic... I have four patients, and I am on track to complete my requirements for this quarter five weeks early. Which, cough gasp, leaves me plenty of time to STUDY.

Did I mention that this sucks? Man, I thought studying for my qualifying exam at MCW was bad. Try doing that while taking 25 credits. UGH.

Climbing in Colorado: Garden of the Gods

Over break, I went to Colorado to climb with my friend Doug. We didn't get out climbing as much as I would have liked, but we did hit a few good areas: Garden of the Gods, El Dorado, and the Flatirons, outside of Boulder.

Garden of the Gods is a collection of unique red sandstone formations a la Sedona, sheer rock walls rising out of the sand. It is just due west of Colorado Springs, on the way to Pike's Peak.















It looks absolutely lovely, and there is a Falcon guidebook that suggests that it is eminently climbable. Um.............. yeah. I should have checked rockclimbing.com first. Oops. Chossy rock, manky or nonexistent pro.

We did do one route, Window Route, a 5.2 labelled a three-star classic. It is situated on the face and ridge of a gorgeous rock formation called Three Graces. Now, for those of you not familiar with climbing vernacular, 5.2 is translated as "really easy." Most people would do it without a rope. Me, I like safety, so I prefer to rope up. And a three-star 5.2? Where else ya gonna find that? What a great warmup!





I've never before had a 5.2 kick my ass. I'm almost embarassed to say it. But, truth is truth - and the truth is, I backed off from finishing it. Something about the unprotectable 30 foot runout over a ridge followed by a few stout bouldering moves (again, unprotected) to bellyflop over two successive sandstone fins, to try to find the (hidden) anchors on the opposite face of the fin. And, oh, did I mention manky pro, and a likely groundfall from about 50 feet?

Hm. Yeah. I dunno, might have been off-route :) i'm a bit famous for that.


Directly after we crawled down the chimney between the fins of the Three Graces to retreat from the route (kinda fun, see pic), Doug tried to lead up a 5.7. Again, it was not, in fact, a 5.7. We growled at the rock, and decided to bail on the Garden in favor of ElDo - figured that it was still very early in the day, if we drove up there we would skip the heat of the day and still make good use of daylight to tick off a few routes on better rock.

Regardless, the Garden is stunningly beautiful, and we had crystalline weather.

More on ElDo, the Flatirons, and other colorado adventures later. Right now I have to be good and write an essay for a scholarship application :)

Congrats to Amy and Patrick!!!!!!!!

Matthew and Elizabeth have made their appearance! 
And they even got different birthdays :)

Matthew Lyndon
born 11:58pm, July 5th
6 lbs, 6 oz., 18 1/4 inches

Elizabeth Grace
born 12:00am, July 6th
5 lbs, 9 oz., 17 inches

Aren't these two of the most beautiful creatures you've ever seen???  

I can't wait to meet them!

ACBK is doing well and looking forward to heading home Tuesday.  :)

projects over break #2: a new window

The window is in! It still needs some finishing touches (caulk, paint) and I haven't gotten around to painting the walls yet. I hope to do that Sunday. But, here's the story:

When I bought the house, I looked at the downstairs and thought, wow, that's kinda dark. And closed-in. If there was a window in that blank wall the room would be completely different. (The only outside light in the room was from the doors at the end.) The first two pictures are of the expanse of wall to the left of the fireplace where i wanted a window.


Yes, we did actually install a window in the hole - too many bugs around here to have an open portal of entry.

Moose was really diggin' it.


and James installed a windowsill almost big enough for Billy's butt.

It does make a big difference in the room. It's very nice to sit in my kitchen and be able to look out into the side garden. Next year, when the hydrangeas are healthier and they bloom in force, the view from this window will be lovely.

I like it! and the reaction of each of my friends who have walked into the house since it was installed is.... wow. Way different, the room looks so big now. I think we did good :)

Ms Moose

Billy, as usual, is fine. Very little could derail that cat from his life of luxury. Mrow.

Moose has been not well for the past few weeks. When I got back from CO, she had a urinary tract infection - blood in her pee, and she needed to pee about 50 times per day. Having had a UTI or two myself..... ow. Not pleasant. Worse yet, she wouldn't eat. NOT a good sign for a 10 yr old lab.

I gave her cranberry extract tablets, and fed her water via ice cubes. She wouldn't drink liquids. Food, she wouldn't touch. Holy cow. The #1 labrador retriever sign of not good. When I would return from an outing, she'd kinda stagger up from her nap spot and stumble to the front door to meet me when I returned, if that. (By comparison, even as recently as 2 mo ago, she'd be waiting at the door to greet me, and she'd just about plow me over with enthusiasm) Oh, not good. Yes, I called the vet. he said give it a week or so, apparently it' s not uncommon for an older dog to have a UTI in response to their person deserting them for a vacation. But waiting to see how things go is tough. I'm not good at waiting. i just wanted to see Moose eat. Is that so much?

This is all very scary stuff for me. A big dog like Moose, avg life span 7-10 yr. I've considered every year past 7 bonus, esp after having had several things biopsied. 10+... I have to face facts. Every month of happiness and health for her is good. it will not always be so. And I will have to deal with that. it's not something i can fight. You all know how much I love her. It's just hard.

So, did I mention I got the AC fixed? Oh, yay!! Me, I don't half give a crap, except that it will be a great selling point for the house (i got a transferrable warranty). But apparently Moose does. I set the thermostat at 75 degrees two days ago and she's eating and drinking again. Aside from limping (labs are notorious for hip problems, esp later in life) she's almost spunky. Almost. A huge thank you to my Dada and Mama for setting aside funds for me to take care of things like AC. There is no way i'd be able to do any of this, unless my grandparents had worked to provide the ability for their kids and grandkids to handle such financial challenges.

Pfft. Apparently Miss Moose is a Northern dog. Heat does not become her.

Well, the good thing is, at this stage in Moose's life I don't have to worry much about her wandering off the moment i'm not watching, or doing something stupid like running across a highway or swimming in class 4 rapids... she MOSTLY listens to the word "no" now.

We'll see how things go. after all that's all i can do.

Projects over break, #1

I know, Darcy, you thought i was insane when you walked into the kitchen of the house I'd just bought... The previous owner of my house liked pink. No, she loved pink. And I, as you know, am NOT a pink person.

Ever since I updated the kitchen from magenta wallpaper with a floral border (see pix) to a nice neutral shade of light blue, I've been itching to finish the edges, which came out a little rough. In fact, I bought tile to do so while I was on my way back from NC over Xmas break. That tile has been sitting on my counter ever since. Ah, school. Well, it's done, and it came out quite nice. The following are two views of the kitchen before:















painted, close-up of the little areas that needed finishing:








and the final product: Doubleclick on any picture for a closeup.























J, the tile hotplate you made is perfect here.















I will post pix of the big project, creating a large hole in the side exterior wall of my house, later today... and the finish of that project will involve painting the living room. When that's done, there will be NO MORE PINK in my house :)