Is Yellowstone the Next Iceland?

I'm not going to bore you with everything I did today to get ready for the Yellowstone trip. All you need to know is that it involved another trip to Walmart or Walmarts as they call it here.

Here's the "artsy" photo of the day.

I bought the hubby an old sleigh several years ago.

It was to be a lawn ornament of sorts. 

Things tend to fall apart around here.

NOW, for yesterday's big news.  My little family adventure made the front page of the Xenia Daily Gazette, my hometown newspaper.  I guess it was a nice change from the plant closings they usually have.

How did this happen?  I called them and suggested that this would be a great human interest story.  When I told Grizzly son that an interview was going to happen, and the mama demanded his presence, he was almost speechless.  He sputtered and protested, but I won in the end.  He even took a shower.

And he got his picture in the paper.

The girlfriend came along too and participated but she sort of got left out of the story.  Just so you know, her name is Jamie.

Our reporter, Aaron, was delightful.  We loved him.  But you didn't have to put my age on the front page!  Jeesh.

Thanks anyway for getting the blog out there for me.
A moose poop ornament may be in the works for you young man.

Fame is just a nano second away.  Today Xenia, tomorrow the world.

I just checked out the web cam at Old Faithful.

Wait, there are tourists there.  Last time I looked at this there were only bison and snow.

They aren't wearing heavy coats.  It's supposed to be cold there and I've packed for cold.  The temperature is in the high 50's.  Am I packing the wrong things?

The hubby has tied me down so I won't repack. 




Have you been following the volcano erupting in

Iceland?

The ash drifting over Europe has delayed flights for an indefinite amount of time.  Seems like it clogs up the jet engines and they drop like stones.

Hmmmm.

Do you hear the producers of 2012 dancing a little jig?  Nothing like having your disaster movie turn into partial reality.

I mention this because.  Who has their hand up?  That's right class.  I WILL BE LIVING ON TOP OF ONE OF THESE FOR SIX MONTHS!

There's someone else happy with this news.  Check this out to see what one of California's finest has come up with http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/13/vivos_bunkers/.  If you have $50,000, you can reserve your spot in his upscale bunkers.  I can hear the checkbooks opening now.

So, if the Yellowstone volcano goes, just get in your Bentley, pack a few overnight things in your Gucci bag and head to the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California.  Hang out for a year or so with a couple hundred of your new best friends. 

Gee, are there any flaws with this plan?  Don't all talk at once.  First of all, and this will be my only point since it's the best, if most of the world has been wiped out, are these wealthy folks going to rebuild it?  Will they know how to dig a ditch?  Can they grow a garden?  Are they too old to reproduce?  I could go on, but I'll leave you to add things to the list I don't want in print.

I will not think about this anymore.

Before I go stare at my packed bags and think about starting over, let me share a recipe with you.

This is one of my husband's favorites.  It shall be called "Guilt Artichoke Dip."

Drain two cans of artichoke hearts packed in water and chop them up.

Add 3/4 cup of Parmesan or more,

3/4 cup of Mayo or more,

1 teaspoon of lime juice,

1 teaspoon or so of garlic salt,

and some pepper.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or so.

Eat with whatever you have...crackers, chips, your fingers, a spoon.

You can tell I care about the amounts.  It doesn't really matter.  It tastes good because it has Mayo in it.

I also have to make him a malt before he goes to bed.

I'm assuming that he thinks the appliances will shut down when I leave.  

And don't any of you feel sorry for him.

You know what he got today?  DVR or TiVo or some such television thing that records and skips through commercials and all that.

Picture a contented man in his underwear with five remote controls watching "Red Dawn" five times a day.

It will help ease the pain.

Side Tracked on the Road to Yellowstone

(We're taking a minor break from the road to Yellowstone to play a game.  You do like games, don't you?)

You all need to go over to Darlin's blog at darleneslifeforayear.blogspot.com.

She tagged me!

This blogging thing is so much fun.

Tag wasn't any fun for me as a kid since I was all geeky and awkward....I digress.

Back to the point.

Here's how it works.  She was tagged by one of her blogger friends to show the 10th picture she had taken in her first picture folder and to tell the story behind it.  THEN, tag five other people and it just goes on and on and on.

Lots of fun and a little more work than I thought it would be.  Here goes.

I wish this picture was something exciting like finally discovering Bigfoot in my yard.  I do think he lives back in the woods somewhere.  But, alas, it is just a picture of my house.

I've only had my camera a short time, and I was trying to capture the trees budding. I deliberately didn't show the old carpet laying on the ground outside the basement window.  It had been there for several years which started a whole battle with my husband who insisted my youngest son was supposed to move it a long time ago.

The happy ending of the story is that my son came over today to haul some wood and the carpet got moved!  Actually, it got dragged farther out into the woods, but at least I don't have to look at it anymore.  So, I guess this story has a beginning, middle and end.  I am pleased with any progress around the homeplace.

Now, I get to tag 5 other people.  This is hard since I don't want to leave anyone out.  This all goes back to my geeky  youth when I was always picked last.  I digress again.  So here are the 5 blogs I have selected.

Adele at http://borderdweller.blogspot.com.  I know Adele will tag her friends, so I'm not worried about leaving them out.

Tom at http://hiramtom.blogspot.com.

Lucy and Dick at http://freeblogphotos.blogspot.com.  They actually let you use their photos for free!

http://greentangle.blogspot.com.

Sherry at http://niteswimming365.blogspot.com.

I do have an honorable mention.  I hope I can break the rules a little.  Will the blog police come after me?  What the heck.

I like http://blog.yellowstonetraders.com.  He has a store in West Yellowstone, but the pictures on his blog are awesome.  It's o.k. to blog and make money at the same time.  Wish I could. 

Whew!  This has been fun but all of this running and tagging has worn me out.  I need a rest.

Meditating on Yellowstone

I'm going to let a little of the old hippie out and get a little serious here.  I know why I'm taking this trip to Yellowstone, but I should share it with you.  Several years ago I saw Joseph Campbell interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS.  At the time, I didn't know much about him.  I didn't even know that he had died in 1987 which was a big disappointment.  Sometimes you have heroes that you hope you can meet someday or at least attend a lecture to breathe the air they breathe.  That will never happen, but thanks to television, his books and DVDs, his words will always be available.

Thanks to wikipedia.com, you can learn more about this amazing man who studied and wrote about mythology and comparative religion.  Sounds a bit intense?  Yes.  His books aren't meant for light reading with a bowl of popcorn.  I've never been able to get through one without having my eyes cross a bit, but if you cut to the essence of what he said, you will find your life changed in small or huge ways.

If you notice, at the top of my blog, I say that I will be "Working, Writing, and Following My Bliss."  Joseph Campbell is responsible for "follow your bliss" which many a flower child has chanted, I'm sure.  Here is the full quote and you decide if it isn't the most thought provoking prose you have ever read:

Follow your bliss.

If you do follow your bliss, 

You put yourself on a kind of track

that has been there all the while waiting for you 

and the life you ought to be living

is the one you are living.

When you can see that,

you begin to meet people

who are in the field of your bliss,

and they open the doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,

and doors will open

where you didn't know they were going to be.

If you follow your bliss,

doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

I have followed my bliss in small ways, but this time, I'm going wide open.  Whenever I question the sanity of my decision, I read this quote and know that it was meant to be.

Have you followed your bliss?  Do you know what it is?  I would love to hear from you now, or tomorrow or months down the road.  I will quote him again, because if you think this is the only amazing thing he ever said, you are so wrong.  I'm taking one of his books with me to Yellowstone for inspiration.  So, until class meets again..."All is well."