Pre-Vacation

That's not quite true. I'm actually in my vacation, rather than pre-vacation, but I'm busily running all the errands and doing all the chores necessary before a camping trip so it doesn't feel like vacation yet. I've been so busy that it's a good thing I have a couple of days free before taking off for points north and west. Yesterday I had all the maintenance work done on my car and did massive grocery shopping. I also dragged out all the camping/hiking gear, packed food boxes and just generally amassed all the stuff that needs to go with me. I'm taking more cold-weather clothes this year since word is that Colorado has been cold in the mornings already. Cold for this warm-weather person anyway.

Today I plan on accomplishing three main tasks: 1) doing major yard work. The grass in my yard is LONG, but I've put off mowing until today because it's going to have to go for two weeks now. So I'll be struggling to get it mowed and edged today (temps are still close to 100!) 2) get the topper installed on my car and the car packed except for essentials and ice chests. This will be the first year I've put the topper on by myself so we'll see how that goes. It's not particularly heavy ... just awkwardly bulky. I want to leave early in the morning, so I'll do as much as possible today. and 3) get the cats set. Really good cleaning of the cat boxes and extra attention for the cat kids. Addy started moping as soon as I started pulling camping gear out, and has been sticking to my side like glue. And of course, Zoe's eye started weeping last night. Zoe has periodic allergies in her eyes and one or both will start weeping and get all red and inflamed. Plus her little face is all dirty from the weeping. It usually resolves by itself, occasionally needs eye drops. Naturally it would start this right before I leave. I met with the pet sitter, and she should be fine with the cats. She didn't actually get to meet them because they disappeared while she was over. Not her fault. My cat kids are schtizy anyway, and I also had three door-to-door sales people ring the bell during the time she was here. Of course the cats were nowhere to be found.

So it's 6:00 am and I'm waiting for it to be light enough to start mowing. I had planned to sleep a little later this morning since I'm planning on getting up really early tomorrow, but I was awake at 4:50 am. That's about 20 minutes later than my alarm usually goes off, but I really intended to sleep later than that. It's hard for me to sleep late. I'll probably start mowing around 9:00 am, rather than when it gets light. That'll give all the responsible neighbors time to get up and be gone for work. Damp morning grass isn't a problem because it's been so dry here. Any moisture in my lawn is pretty much due to me watering. I hope we get some rain while I'm gone or my lawn and shrubbery are going to be drought-stressed.

This is a picture of part of the trail from the first hike we plan to do, Angels' Landing. It's one of my favorite hikes, partly due to this section of trail. It's almost more of a climb than a hike, what I like to call a scramble. They placed chains strategically to help you with the steep and slick places. It's really fun, but definitely not a hike you want to do it you have issues with heights. We've seen nesting peregrine falcons along this hike and last year we saw condors. I'm hoping to see the condors again this year.

Okay, can't get to reminiscing about past trips. I've still got a fair amount to accomplish before this one, and it's light enough to let the cats out and start some things. I hope to post during the trip, but if not I'll definitely post when I get back.