In summary, July

It seems fitting that I should finally find time to blog on this last day of July. It's Harry Potter's 37th birthday; the old man is rapidly nearing middle age!
Wait, so am I.

Well, here it is, all of July in Pueblo. Buckle up, dear reader. Be safe.

On July 7th, in the throes of Virus One, I nevertheless filled out the paperwork and wrote the check and bought the supplies and brought home this kitten. I'm just one of these people who, once committed to doing a thing, does it, even if it kills or severely weakens her. I have some growing to do in this area.

But I have no regrets. We chose the right kitten, guys. We had a talk before entering the shelter about the personality traits we wanted our kitten to have (friendliness, affectionate-ness, playfulness and courage), and this guy had them in spades.

We called him Tiger to differentiate him from the other candidates, and he was the friendliest and most affectionate little feline in the room. Add to that that he was already neutered and ready to go and we had a winner. He came home with us the day before Miles' birthday. We named him Boo Diddley, for another of the villains in the Super Mario Brothers games.

So far Boo is a perfect little diplomat between the warring factions in our house (Grendel vs. Everyone Else). We adore him.

 On July 8th, we celebrated Miles' birthday at City Park. We got one (count 'em ONE; the curse of the summer birthday!) party guest, but we had fun.

The birthday party in the next shelter invited us to their magic show!

And we took full advantage of the rides, which STAYED open despite a threatening forecast. 

Miles is the owner of a couple of new Wii games, a new doll, a new book about space, and several new shirts with space scenes on them. It was a success, as far as he was concerned! And he *just* finished his thank-you notes.

I have had several on-boarding type events for my new job and feel really anxious to get planning! I did get into my new  classroom once when it had just been cleaned....

And I plan to go again tomorrow. We've cleaned out our garage and I found the box I was looking for: all my teaching stuff from 2009! There will be posters, everyone.

 That's my room, that second one from the left. Right by the entrance of the building, and with a lovely view of the mountains. Plenty of natural light, unlike my last office.

I can't wait. I think this job is going to be such a good fit for our family.


Last week I joined the local teacher's union! This is kind of a symbol, for me, of the whole public school teacher identity that I wanted. There's just something about the group/community endeavor of public schools and teacher's unions that inspires me.

We took two weekends this month to take some local hikes. It seems regrettable that in the six years we lived in Virginia, we did almost no travel within the state. Never saw the coast, never went to Richmond, barely scratched the surface of the parks. We plan to see as much of this area as we have time and resources to see. We have a pretty firm conviction that Colorado will not be our final settling place.

So we took a trip to the Mountain Park Environmental Center in Beulah, only about 45 minutes southwest of Pueblo.

There was significantly more climbing than we thought! This is really part of the trail.

It was rough on Koopa, but he managed it and we cheered for him.

I love me a blooming prickly pair.

The top of the trail afforded some gorgeous views.

Meanwhile, most days I am working around the house and taking the kids to their swim lessons, which are every day for three weeks. It's been... a bit of an ordeal. Miles is 8 and still can't/won't swim, after his fourth consecutive year of lessons. He just takes a really long time to work up the guts for a new skill, and cannot handle any kind of pressure. He resists direct orders and refuses to do each scary new thing with a tenacity that confounds and frustrates his instructors. Given that most swim instructors are teenagers, he doesn't tend to make much progress. However, this year he has gone from being unwilling to put his head underwater to doing several "bobs" in a row, jumping in from the side, and puppy paddling halfway across the pool!

It's frustrating because he will probably close this week, the final week, without having completed the necessary skills for "leveling up." He'd have to do 10 bobs in a row, belly float for 5 seconds and back float for 10. He really needs three more weeks of lessons, but we just cannot. Summer is basically over, at least in terms of our schedule, and that June paycheck is all I'm getting till September 30, and yeah... we just can't. I'm emotionally drained. Cross your fingers for me that he gets a swimming miracle and gets to hit the level-up gong this week after all?

Only a week after I recovered from Virus One I was down again with Virus Two. That one was a bugger. I ended up scaring myself into going to urgent care when I tried to get out of bed one morning and nearly went unconscious. Apparently, the fever and dehydration combined with my natural low blood pressure to give me some vasovagal syncopy. Anyway, I did recover but I don't recommend catching that one. Thankfully, only Adele and I did.

The dog and cat continue to bond. Koopa doesn't quite know how to play with a kitten, but he tries, and Boo puts up with it admirably.

Last weekend, having thoroughly recovered from Virus Two, I was ready for some more hiking! This time we hiked the newly dog-accessible trails at Cheyenne Mountain Park.

No climbing this time; they don't let dogs on the mountain due to concerns that it will disrupt the wildlife. But we still enjoyed some pretty views and fresh air.

And, just before leaving, we caught sight of a community of wild prairie dogs! For real; no zoo in sight! We pulled over to watch a while.

Can you make him out?

The bulk of summer, for us, is passed; next weekend we start back-to-school shopping! I'm anxiously awaiting information about the kids' teachers and open-house night at the school. But I'm grateful to have this blog, because it forces me to look back at where I've been, and stop leaning forward into where I'm going. I have to turn back, and this corrective makes me straighten up, so to speak, and recognize the present. In three weeks, school begins. But tonight, I walk Koopa, and eat dinner, and read The Return of the King and Wonder Woman comics to my kids, and watch Netflix with Jon. Today is a good place to be.