Yesterday I took part in a hospital emergency drill.

Nobody told me ahead of time that it would involve a 'vertical evacuation' meaning: they needed to test some equipment going down flights of steps. I got to try out (as a 'patient') a chair with some kind of slide mechanism on the back and something called a chute. The chair was not too bad but a little 'heads up!' about flipping me backward and bumping on the stairs would have been nice. The chute was corrugated plastic that I was strapped into and dragged down 2 flights of stairs in. It was really pretty funny - bumpity, bump, bump. Glad I bundled my coat under my head.

The two teams I worked with were interested in learning how to use this equipment but one team told their 'patient' volunteer that they didn't have time to do the drill.

The things I do to keep from getting bored...

Boulder is settling down and getting ready for winter.  Today was in the 50's, warm enough for some yard work but now the chill and clouds are rolling in.  Snow clouds have a particular look to them and these are a little too high to qualify.  

This year, I've taken control of my yard and I'm asking more out of it.  A second compost heap is next to the north fence and it's filled with leaves from all over town.  Sugar borrowed the rototiller that we gave to a friend and broke open an area to garden that's about 6'x24'.  When we fence it in against the deer,  the dogs will have a larger yard to sniff around and protect from evil joggers and strollers.

I'm going to be a mother-in-law!  I have 10 months to get used to the idea.  I'm lucky to have a lovely daughter-in-law-to-be.

Yesterday ended 2 weeks of early voting at CU and what a trip!   We thought we were hot at the end of the first week when we processed 500 voters with 3 election officials.  Yesterday, the count was 1500 and thankfully, we had a full staff.   It was an amazing experience, helping all those first time voters.  

I'm exhausted.  Try saying  "What's your last name?  Ballot goes in the box face up, arrows in first, green stripes sticking out the top.   No, other way.  Yes, now the back page, too.  No, almost, yep you got it, now spin it around, arrows go in first.    Great!  Here's your sticker."  several thousand times with a smile on your face  and you'll know what I mean.  

I think half of Boulder has already voted.

picture came up on 'exhausted puppy google search'

I'm working the early vote and have found out that a lot of people don't realize that mail in ballots are real live ballots.

People, you only get to cast one vote. If you receive a mail in ballot, that is a ballot and that is yours. You can mail it in or drop it off at an early polling place (or where ever the instructions tell you to).

If you change your mind about voting by mail and want the thrill and excitement of voting at a polling place, you will be given a provisional ballot. That ballot has to be hand checked to ensure that you didn't cast the mail in ballot you requested. So don't be mad or disappointed - your vote will still be counted.

I'm curious to see how all the provisional ballots will affect the timing of the election results in this remarkable election year.

I stayed up into the middle of the night reading an old friend's book,Family Bible. I'm amazed at times to be reminded of the fact that there were interesting people in my home town. If I had stayed, I would have been one of the local eccentrics, probably, but I had to leave in search of something that I've actually been finding along my way. It was quite a trip to read about places where I grew up and find out what my friend's life was actually like.

We had our first frost last night and it may freeze tonight so I pulled in some flowers to enjoy.






Those zinnias are so brash and bold but the roses were delicate enough that I didn't know if they would last.

We had a bumper crop of apples in Boulder this year.  These are the few that the squirrels didn't sample.

Working with groups is really an adventure in itself. Since we have our own business and homeschooled, our groups have pretty much been hand-picked and really enjoyable.

I've been volunteering with new groups this year and have found lots of variation.
One pretty much conveyed that my help wasn't worth keeping after I offended one member while following one of the group rules.
Another group ran its course when the people we were supposed to help conveyed that they didn't want the help because of liability issues.
Another group has some funky communication established with a whole political hierarchy even among the volunteers. My mentor went so far as to tell me not to speak to others when I had questions.

Help is a funny thing.

Someone just sent notice of a article that says Mental Health Parity is being snuck through with the bailout.
It's just one line:
"The revised bailout bill also includes a "Mental Health Parity" provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness at parity with physical illness."
This is an enormous issue that needs to be debate out in the open on its own! If this is passed, all our insurance rates will go up and mental health screening is certain to increase.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is BART, the Big Animal Rescue Truck that Code 3 Associates uses as a base of operations on disaster assistance calls.  

They're down in Houston now, helping the animals affected by the wild weather.  All the help is free and funded by donations and grants.  

Give a little if you can, ok?

I went on my first DAT (disaster action team) call this week, a pre-dawn house fire in the county. Wow.

Now's a good time to send some money to relief agencies.  I don't know how the others are doing, but the American Red Cross is having to borrow millions to feed and shelter the people affected by all the recent hurricanes. I spoke with a local RC fundraiser who told me he had gotten only one call after Gustav!   Try to send some money, even if just a little.  If you don't designate where the money should go, they are able to put it where it goes the farthest.                           

(image from wikipedia.org)

Victims Needed!

If you like to be painted in scars, burns and other injuries then this is
the position for you. If you find that Holly Wood is not beating down
your door but you’re a great victim with a horrific voice, we want you!
Your participation supports a regional Community Emergency
Response Team Disaster Exercise. For more information about CERT
go to http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/.

To Volunteer Contact:
North Central Region c/o
2008 CERT Summer Games
certsummergames@gmail.com
303.768.8734
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
7:30a-1:00p
Denver Police Academy
2155 N. Akron Way, Denver, CO
~Lunch Provided~

I went by Indochine on Valtec and was surprised by these great buddhas. I don't know what that little white monster-animal is but I want one.

View Larger Map
Google's Map's Street View has come to New Orleans. A lot of the area looks like normal Deep South to me but if you browse around the lower 9th Ward, some of the houses still look like Katrina just went through. I have to wonder if this is a FEMA trailer in this driveway.
Time for another reminder to gather your preparedness kit for emergencies.

 I went down to the Denver for a Red Cross briefing about the DNC.  Wow.  What a set up.    We'll be on call 24/7 for the week of the convention, ready in case we're needed.  This is an amazing group of people!  I'm really looking forward to working with them.

I was in downtown Denver the other day and during the lunch break I walked past this thing. It caught my attention as a novel idea for car travel. The inside looked a little uncomfortable, but functional.

That night on the news and during the next few days I saw all sorts of stories about this Solar Taxi. Makes sense - the car was parked behind the Fox station which is near KUSA and KMGH. This kind of ingenuity makes me happy.

I was an election judge for the first time yesterday. I knew it was going to be slow but it was a good dry run for the general election coming up. Luckily I got my own precinct and got to be the Sign In judge so I could see this view all day long. The mountains were pink at 6:30 am.


There were a LOT of mail in ballots this election! Plus a good number of people got the mail-in ballots but wanted to come in to vote anyway. I had a great group of judges to work with. What a long day - but a good time.

I've been getting involved with the Red Cross lately, hoping that this will be an organization I can settle into for years to come. Sometime before or after Katrina, I did some RC training at the now defunct local office but was never called to volunteer. That particular training didn't win me over but the organization seems to have gone through some changes and I'm finding it a better fit.

I've signed up with the Disaster Action Team and that means being on call for periods at time in case something happens (probably house fires, which are the most common disaster). And I'm taking a class on Sheltering to prepare for the DNC, in case there is a need.

Funny, I'm not looking for disasters but at the same time, I hope this training will be put to good use sometime.

It is so friggin' hot and dry:  7% humidity outside and 90º on my thermometer in the shade.  I've been making sure the birds have water but it's a task to keep everything else watered.   The city of Boulder has a policy this year of penalizing over-watering, but you don't have any way to know when you're about to go over the limit.  I'm usually under the limit,  but it's hard to tell.

We spent some time at the Boulder creek yesterday and soaked in the sounds and negative ions from the burbling water.   It took my mind off my crunchy grass at home.

This picture from wikimedia.org really does it justice.  

The Dog Days of Summer.  This is the 15th day of 90º plus temps.

A great way to start the day is going out to add water to the bird feeder and seeing a spotted fawn darting out from behind a gooseberry bush 8 feet away. The mom is munching on my garden with her two little ones. The deer have been busy reproducing this year! Here's a photo of another baby that visited us a few months ago.

A neighbor down the street, is an artist and a gardener. For years I've walked by her Christmas tree farm and we bought some honey from her hives which was pretty tasty. Last year she gave away a bunch of plants from her garden and I got a rose bush and some sort of vine that are doing well in my yard. This year, she is giving away trees! I picked up a Russian Hawthorne and an Acer Maple. What a lovely person to have around.

This sign of summer was new to me, though I imagine it's been there for years. When the sunset shines on my washing machine, it must be pretty high in the sky. It's in a northwest room of my house. Next year I'll track the progress - maybe this will be my personal Stonehenge.

Did I mention Honey and Sweetie moved out? It's the second exodus from the nest so it is just what it is. I'm in the midst of spreading out after a year of squeezing 4 adults into a house that was probably meant for 2 adults/2 kids. Now there is space where there was none before. I can change things and rearrange without getting four opinions first. I miss them but we all like each other so we still see each other.

The worst of the grass pollen has passed so I can get back out into the yard again to move things around and weed and water. This time of year has got to be my fav.

Summer is in full swing (now that June 20th has come and gone) and that means chores galore.  We did start painting the house last week but as is our usual custom, the next phase still hasn't been scheduled.  It does look better if you don't focus on the splotches on the unpainted trim.  Besides the house, no huge home improvement projects this year unless I decide to paint the downstairs area.

We packed 5000sf worth of houses this week and even with the stifling heat, it went well.  Suddenly we are the less expensive option, maybe because we haven't raised prices with the gas hike.   Still making money, though.

The garden has exploded with color  and I'm looking at sweet peas, yarrow, chocolate flower and Mexican Sage and roses, butterfly flower, those little purple bell-shaped flowers and the honeysuckle.  And  potentilla.  And one day lily that the deer missed.

Defining some terminology with Sugar the other day.

We started painting the house for real yesterday.
















Hansel helped from a distance.

It's been dry here during the last week but we got some great views of other people's storms. The Colorado Front Range gets more thunderstorms than all other states except for Florida and that makes for some great cloud and lightening shows. From this vantage point of slightly higher up the mountains, you can see far across the plains.