Every Day

Its always good to be prepared for everything. I particularly pack to be prepared for being really, really cold. Or wet. I hate both of those things. Or hangry I guess, too. Nobody wants to be around me when Im that hungry. Todays weather was in the mid 40's, sunny and leftover snow on the ground. So, here is how I packed for my hike to Natural Bridge today: -An extra sweatshirt -A windbreaker (or rain jacket, however you look at it) -A cliff bar, a mojo bar, a nature valley bar, granola in the car, an apple. -Bottle of water -Camera -Small first aid kit -Two plastic bags for wet feet -Extra pair of wool socks -Sunglasses (Wasn't sunny when I left) -Various other things that are already in my backpack What I was wearing: -Fleece lined leggings and water resistant, Prana, outdoor pants -Fleece brushed long sleeve shirt, Marmot zip up, Colombia Fleece -Cheap gloves, scarf, hat, two pairs of wool socks So I get to the trail and its just up. Lots of stairs. Thats...

I just have a few thoughts on wasters. Wasters are people who waste water, food, energy, time, money or anything really. This is opposed to efficiency geeks. Efficiency geeks are getting things done in a timely manner and not f**king around or WASTING anything. Each year I grow older, I realize that I have a responsibility as a human on this planet. I learn something new that changes my belief patterns or how I go about my day. I take this new knowledge and I really, really try as hard as I can to change and better myself, and the world, in any way that I possibly can. I can't ignore this knowledge. I feel that if I ignore this knowledge, or stay ignorant by not furthering my education, that I am letting myself down, I am letting all of you down and I am letting the environment down. After living in California for a year and the Virgin Islands for 5 months, I have realized what a precious resource water is. Growing up in WI, we didn't really have to worry about it as much a...

Whack... THUMP... thud... THUMP After my coworker left right at the end of the work day, I started hearing this noise. The first three times I heard it, I thought it was the cats making mischief in the other room. Then It happened again and again. At least once every 5 minutes. Every time I thought it was my other coworker coming back, slamming the door behind her. Then, no human would show themselves after the noise. I was able to ignore it until a really loud THUMP happened and I went to investigate. The cats were all cuddled on the bed, not a cat. I explored the front door, quiet. I turned on the light to the porch, nothing. I went back into the living room to go back to what I was doing and I heard it AGAIN. Then it hit me, we just got 18 inches of snow and its now 40 degrees. That snow is sliding off the roof like mad. I caught it out of the corner of my eye. After the thud, I looked out the window of the porch and saw a huge pile of snow before the THUMP. Standing in the ...

Despite the dirt under my nails. Despite the bleach headache that was continuing to pound (we use SO much bleach to clean enclosures). Despite the tiredness that was dwelling. Despite the freezing temperatures. And despite the snow, I was happily running from building to building to get waters filled and make sure everything was in order for the following day. The snow was coming down in big fluffy chunks and I can probably count on one hand the times Ive been excited for snow in my adult life. Today was one of those days. I finished the day at 5:02 pm and ran up to my room. Despite everything, I had decided to go for a run after work. I quickly took off my outer layer of snake poop, dirty mulch work clothes and put on some running clothes. Its always fun to exercise when you've got all the right gear.  Two layers of clothes, the inner layer was fleece lined (oh so warm) and I was ready for that fluffy snow. My roommate/coworker looked at me in disgust when I announced I was go...

My days in Slade, KY are not all that exciting. Most days I get off of work, make myself the most healthy microwave dinner that I can and hop on the internet to scope out job opportunities. Some days I spend a lot of time on You Tube watching my favorite people. Ty got me addicted to Casey Neistat who's an amazing videographer. Other days I do a lot of reading and writing letters (though Im running out of stamps!!). I try to go outside and run/walk on all my off days that are nice (I've been lucky with two weeks in a row of 50's!). It is so hard to find a good balance. I love being busy and social but I also need that time to post blogs, read a bit and catch up on whats been posted on the job board. I absolutely hate too much time to myself. Theres been a lot of that. I have some friends out here which is such a great gift that the universe has given me because without them and the time off of Zoo property, I'd most definitely go insane. I'd head back to WI cross-...

Christmas has never really been a big deal to me as an adult but I still felt obligated to indulge for my extended family's sake and only in recent years have forgone gift all-together. This year was even better. Because NYE and my Birthday are more big a deal for me, I took off of work for then and hung around in KY for Xmas. It turned out to be one of my favorite holidays. Xmas eve included board games, indoor bouldering and T-shirt weather. Tyler and I planned a delicious vegetarian Christmas dinner and one of the other guys on property joined us. We slept in and went for a short hike to follow some of the streams that were overflowed on property because of all the rain before starting dinner. We also had lots of wine. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect time. No stress (except making sure dinner was delicious!). At one point Ty mentioned that he hadn't gotten me anything for Xmas. I smiled because thats exactly what I wanted for Xmas! Just to spend time togethe...

So here I am, living in the Red River Gorge, some of the best climbing in the world and it being winter and all, I didn't think I'd actually be able to climb. But the weather got pretty nice and with some luck, the guys here were able to take me out TWICE this week! Sunday we did a night climb. It was my first night climb and it was pretty bad ass. It was a long route but not being able to see the ground was pretty interesting. I couldn't see how high I was! At one point on the wall, I turned off my headlamp, let my eyes adjust to the night sky and sat in the beautiful darkness. Darkness has a certain feel to it, its more dense and fresh. It has a texture of deepness and intensity. Being alone at night, hanging from a rock was pretty cool. I watched a plane in the distance move for a little bit before I got back on the wall and finished the 5.9 route. I was pretty impressed with myself that I finished it because: A)  I haven't climbed in a few weeks and climbing stre...