My Desktop

Stole this from Os. My Desktop is pretty bare. I've moved all the "often used" stuff to the left hand side bar, I have a Webshots calendar on the top right. Like Os I have a rotating wallpaper with my own pictures. This was taken during the '06 summer trip to Glacier Park with Rachel. I have a huge blow-up of that picture to frame. Nothing too exciting to see...


Here are the meme rules:

Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. Here’s how you can do a screen capture (it's SO much easier with a Mac--when will you ever learn?):

1. Go to your desktop and press the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
2. Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and doing a Paste (CTRL + V). If you wish, you can “edit” the image before saving it.
3. Post the picture on your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop if you want. You can explain why you prefer such a look or why it is full of icons. Things like that.
4. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktops as well.
5. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

People who have already pimped their desktop: Francine of La Place de Cherie Chez Francine Bloggishi Unchained Melody LadyJava’s Lounge Mariuca Revellian Dot Com|Desktop Emila’s Illustrated Blog Spiff, The Spaceman Rolando Brown Baron The Kat House Views From the Back Row Give a Moose a Muffin add yours here after doing this tag

I tag the following great bloggers.

Of course, you know THAT ain't happenin'! But feel free to steal it!

HNT...mountain drive

The speed limit through Rocky Mountain National Park is 35 mph on the "straight" sections. There are some 10 and 15 mph curves. Give a Montana girl a Pontiac G6 and put her in Colorado...she's not going to follow the speed limit. Happy HNT!

Fall Colors in Rocky Mountain National Park

What a wonderful time to visit the National Parks! With a bit of a change in elevation you can find some beautiful colors starting in September already. I drove from east to west through the entire park last Thursday and made the route back to Denver via Winter Park. It was a splendid day. Thought I should share a few with you but I was in one of those moods where I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures, just wanted to enjoy it and keep it tucked away in the private of my head.

From Top to Bottom: The falls just above Alberta Falls, the shores of Bear Lake, Nymph Lake on the way to Dream and Emerald Lake, a drive by shooting on the way up the east slope, and Lake Irene on the far west slope.

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Denver girls' night

With a little luck and some timing four of us from Carroll College were able to get together on Friday night in Denver. Three of us were in the same class and the 4th was just a year ahead of us. We all lived together at various times during and after college. Some of us have stayed in very good touch but for the most part don't get to see each other very often so this was a great opportunity to catch up.

We went to a great little diner just off the 16th St. Mall called Sam's No. 3. The food was amazing and the drinks were great. We had breakfast, mexican, and steak plus beer, Purple People Eater's, Rum Mango Mania, beer and all for just dinner. Then we wondered 16th St, went to Oktoberfest, and then to a piano bar called Sing, Sing next to Coor's Field. As you can see, we had a great time!

HNT...in the woods again

I went playing in the woods again. This time in Rocky Mountain National Park northwest of Denver, Colorado. This is the scene from Bear Lake. I found a nice, flat rock jutting out into the lake to lay on and watched the sun sparkle on the water and light up the leaves. It was a beautiful sight.

More Colorado pictures a bit later. Happy HNT!

Mile High Magic

I made it to heaven on earth today!

The best way to get tickets on game day? Dress in local colors and be cute. Brianne and I scored seats on the Broncos bench twenty yard line, 30 rows up! Only in Denver can you wear an orange shirt and blue jewelry and be cool!

I have been a Denver Broncos fan since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I never got to see Elway play. McCaffery shattered his tibia in the season opener the week before I had tickets to see them play in Arizona six years ago this weekend. TD has retired. I saw the Pope in the original Mile High but never a game before they tore it down and built Invesco Field at Mile High. Thankfully, Plummer is gone. But today...I attended the HOME OPENER, against the OAKLAND RAIDERS, and was only 34 rows from the field! Heaven, baby, heaven!

At kickoff thousands of orange balloons were released and then there was the fly by by the Air Force. Yes, I cried! I was so happy.

No boring game day outfit for me! We bought the beads, visor, and tattoo in the stadium and put the face tattoo on in the ladies room. The crazy Raiders fan behind me kept trying to touch it. It was funny for the first quarter. We nearly called security by the 4th but he got awful damn quiet during the overtime.

He did it again!! Jason Elam saves the day! Jay Cutler had an average performance but our defense blew a 13 point lead and sent us to overtime after Elam tied it up with a field goal. Oakland got the first chance to score in OT but a timely Denver timeout foiled the first "good" attempt from around 46 yards. The second time they missed and the crowd went wild! Several plays later, Denver was on the 6 yard line goal to goal and brought in Elam for the game winning field goal! Complete mania...the crowd goes wild!

What more can a Broncos gal ask for? Happy DAY!

Only a face a mother could love...

I think he might be a cross between Yoda and the dog from Men in Black but gosh darn it, he's awful darn adorable! I'm off to Denver for the week, hope the older two take good care of the little one!

Ahhh...human again

Nothing a day of football and naps wouldn't cure (never mind the $100 worth of headache medication)! I'm much better this Monday night.

Better enough to do laundry, wash dishes, finish up some cards, and find the top of my desk! Doesn't that all sound like something worth getting better for?

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Weekend rundown

Rundown...that about sums it all up. The week has come and gone and I'm completely rundown. My head is stuffy from a head cold, my head and neck are throbbing from a migraine, my arms and legs are full of mosquito bites scabbed over and red, my quads are still aching from a 30-1 kickball victory. I think I need another weekend away but who knows when I'll have time for that!

I thought after last weekend's long rest I would be up and running on all 8 this week. Not the case. Tuesday the family had to come to the realization mom just isn't healthy enough to be at home anymore. By Wednesday evening she was transferred from the hospital to a nursing home 60 miles from home. Luckily Grandma is just down the hall and was able to sit with her until Dad and my sister were able to show up. Mom is no longer able to stand on her own and she can't eat much either. She is on a lot of pain medication and not nearly comfortable enough.

I got an email on Tuesday or Wednesday as well telling me I had "upset" the athletic trainer at last week's high school football game. I guess I stepped on his toes by talking to a parent of a player who got injuried. Whatever...the trainer was in the locker room, I was standing in front of the stands, the dad asked how the kid was. Duh...I'm a trained medical professional and who cares if the kid trainer worked for the Washington Redskins for a year. I've been with this team for 4 years and working in sports med for 10 + years. I wasn't going to just tell the dad I didn't know anything. I spoke with the head athletic trainer for The Clinic about it and he said not to worry about it either as he would have done the same thing. I was also big enough to write the kid an unneeded apology which 5 days later he still hasn't responded too. This week's upcoming home game might be interesting. The kid needs to understand I'm not going to come to a football game I'm assigned to work at and just stand and do nothing.

Wednesday night I felt like I had been run over by a mack truck. By midnight I was completely stuffed up. I loaded up with Sudafed on Thursday and managed to help my kickball team to a 30-1 victory in our second week of play. Who knew an adult could have so much fun playing a child's game?

Friday was miserable. Couldn't breathe, couldn't hear, could hardly talk. Boss was a grouch because he agreed to schedule four huge surgical cases on our call day and then got hit with 3 added cases. Not my fault! Then he yelled at me for trying to get our regular scheduled cast room patients taken care of on time too. At least he was cordial last night at the department party.

The boyfriend and I hung low on Friday night and I actually slept well. yesterday I could breath without sudafed but was still running around with a severe case of "medicine head". I managed the outpatient picnic and the department shootout. The boy even managed to get fourth place in the shooting contest! I was very happy. By bedtime though I was itching, stuff, and by 4:30 this morning fighting a headache. Luckily he let me sleep until 11. I then helped him set up his new tent and now I'm stuck at home with ice on my neck sipping a hot cup of tea and working on laundry.

This week will be better, right?

HNT...Montana on my, uhm, shoulder.

I couldn't resist adopting an adorable kitten who already came with the name Montana, now could I? Last night he tuckered himself out playing all over and crashed on my shoulder as I was watching TV. Yes, I am as tired as I look but who cares. I have a new snuggle bug.

Happy HNT!

August Non-Fiction Five Read

What: Measure of a Man
Who: Sidney Pottier
Category: Spiritual Memoir
Review: I finished my August book several weeks ago but haven't gotten around to posting about it because I've been trying to think about what to post. I was expecting eye opening knowledge and wisdom. A "secret" to life read. I didn't get the vibe for either. I was actually very disappointed in this book and often caught myself wondering just how arrogant is Mr. Pottier.

This man has done great, great things on film and he lived a tough life growing up in the islands, moving to Miami, opening a bbq shop that failed in New York, to his fame in Hollywood. Nonetheless I had a hard time finding something to latch onto in this book. Hard work gets you a long ways...yeah I knew that already. The one resounding confirmation in the book was his unwillingness to compromise his views and values. He easily could have done any film in his early days but he was picky. He chose films that spoke to him and his values. He took risks in his films and bucked the system when he could. For that I respect him. Overall, the book didn't "hit" me like I expected it too.

Now, I need to get on to the next one--Infidel. With this challenge I've picked up more nonfiction books though and I'm actually in the middle of Chocolate Legs: Sweet Mother, Savage Killer instead of the book I had on my list. I really DO like nonfiction...you 'da thunk it!

Introducing...Logan and Montana

You have read the saga of the flooded southeastern portion on Minnesota and know while I was not the most stricken of those hit I was affected. My 1998 Saturn SL2 four-door, affectionately called "Patch" has gone to his final resting place. That car and I made some great solo road trips together across this country. I've covered from Rochester, MN to Phoenix, AZ via South Dakota and Montana along the way. I actually shed a tear when i went to get all my things out of it.

In fond tribute to the last road trip "Patch" and I made I have named this 2005 Mercury Mariner Logan. Even with a moaning radiator Patch was able to get Rachel and I to the top of the world at Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. My shiny new friend and I made our first solo trip this weekend. It was short but we enjoyed the ride. The best road trip upgrade...a 6 disc CD changer; books on CD are SO much easier when you don't have to fumble every "end of disc" to switch it out!

So meet...Logan!

There has been a bit of a secret for the last several weeks as well. When I was returning from my Montana trip I was able to spend some time on the farm with the kittens. I had been thinking of a new pet the last several months, even considering a dog. The more I considered my life style (i.e. taking two week road trips to the West) and such I knew a dog wasn't in the stars right now. But, those farm kitties were awful darn cute.

The farm kittens were too little to be taken away from their mommy. I left them after a few days of oohhing and aahhing. Upon returning home though I began perusing the Paws and Claws web site. I came upon this picture of a very skinny bug eyed black kitten and scrolled down to see his name...Montana. He was abandoned at a local fair and was taken into foster care to get a bit bigger. I met him just before the big flood and it was destiny; the little guy snuggled into my neck and then put his little paw on my mouth and stared at me with those bug eyes. He came home with me today.

Ladies and gentleman...Meet Montana!

A restoring weekend

I didn't take any pictures but there would not have been anything exciting to show. I took this weekend to vegg. I want to thank the Smedsrud family for a great party in the barn and the Huber clan for boarding me for a night and allowing me to just hang out.

Thursday night I met my sister in Minneapolis to accompany her to the Vikings/Cowboys NFL pre-season game. I could have cared less who won since my Broncos weren't on the field but it was a blast watching my sister as the Vikings defeated her beloved Cowboys. I stayed at her hotel with her for the night before driving back on Friday morning for a dentist appointment and a short day at work. My sister than joined me at my house and attended the opening high school football game for the team I cover locally. The boyfriend joined us for drinks and dinner afterwards.

Saturday morning my sister and I did a bit of shopping before heading out on I-90 to I-29 to reach Volga for a wedding reception in the Smedsrud barn. It was great to sit outside, visit, catch-up, reminisce, and graze. This family has been coming to my mom and dad's ranch for 31 years to hunt. We stayed up till 2 am visiting in the kitchen after all the guests left.

Sunday morning we said our good-byes while my sister headed northwest to home and I went south to visit my best friend's family since they were all home. We ate, watched movies, visited, held the new baby, talked about the baby to be. I slept in the "dungeon" basement bedroom last night nice and cool and dark.

I made it back to Rochester around 8:15 tonight, I'm unpacked already, and I have my feet up to end a quiet relaxing weekend. I'll have pictures of the new "family" addition tomorrow. It did a nice job on this weekend's road trip so I'm happy with my new wheels.

Have a great week everyone!