Road Trip: Mariposa, Yosemite, Steam Trains and wildlife.

After Comi-Con, Raccoon, who comments here, offered to let us stay there for two nights, in order to get our energy back for the drive home. So the plan was to go from Fresno to Yosemite and to the edges of San Francisco in one day. What? That’s totally possible right? Well, it turns out it is possible if you are some sort of driving masochist.

The road into Yosemite has not been upgraded since the 60’s and they had stripped many miles so once in the ‘National Park’ lands the two lane road turned to gravel for miles. The up to 5,000+ feet (a mile high) and down again and up again and down again was playing a bit of havoc with my lungs but the scenery was nice and people even stopped for deer.

On the way up we stopped at the Yosemite Steam Train, which is a narrow gauge train that was used in this region for logging and transport and still runs today. If you look at the picture of the engine, straight down from the steam whistle, you can see the vent and the puff of steam venting as the engine is building power. They combine dinner and a steam engine ride, with the number 15 engine in the shed along with some of the other vintage train cars. We sadly didn’t have time for a ride (but picked up postcards!).

We entered the park inner system where you can go left to go to Yosemite Valley or right to go up to the Mariposa woodlands. We went right and started climbing even more. We had wanted to go to the Sequoia National Park but couldn’t fit it in, and to find that the Mariposa had groves of Sequoia trees as old as 1,800 years was a win/win. There was a trail that I was told, “I wouldn’t even recommend mothers take strollers on it.” So we wheeled on the road and then went a bit off road when needed. The road climbed another 1,000 feet so both Linda and I got our exercise that day. The Sequoia’s are tall and majestic and people have been visiting this area for such a long time, most of the trees are named. In fact there is a tree which you used to be able to drive through from the 1880’s until 1969 when it fell down in a storm. Pictures of people taking their wagon teams through the tree show that people like big trees and they like to go through them.

We encountered a fallen giant soon along the path and it was covered with carved initials and dates, the oldest I saw was from 1934 but I am sure if you looked hard there was some from over 100 years ago. A picture of Linda down near the root system gives a sense of perspective on this mid sized Sequoia tree. The Sequoia are a type of Redwood but unique. One of the unique aspects of them are the LARGE pine cones they produce (do not stand under the tree when they fall!). I think you are not supposed to take them from the park but we saw people walking with them (the one photographed was put back on the display stand after). I also think they release the seeds during a forest fire, maybe someone can help me on that. Which would make sense as if you have a forest of 1,000 year old trees you don’t need new ones every year, but when some of them have been wiped out.

While we were up there we looked up at noise and saw a woodpecker who had already made several holes into a tree working away, I don’t know if you can spot him in the bark, as this is up 40 feet or so.

We saw a LOT of wildlife in a very short period of time, which was very refreshing after staring at bad driving, very bad driving and lots of cityscape (hey drivers, there are things called ‘indicators’ you can turn on before you change lanes….just a heads up!).

Here is a blur of a tree, and that black blur is a black squirrel, which I have a film of. He just kept running round and round and round the tree, so I will put a film up of that later, as motion is so much easier to see with animals in the wild. So consider this ‘coming attractions’ once I get the films uploaded to youtube.

We also saw a small type of squirrel called Peco’s which live around the Sequoia. We saw two of them which were running around the place like it was a giant track, first round and round the tree up and down then on to the next park, over the log, down the fallen log, then racing each other right in front of us and around back to the tree again. They did this several times (getting a pictures of two racing Pecos is harder that you might think). If you look at the tree on the left at the bottom you will see a black shape (one Peco) and the other is a grey stretched out blur approaching the tree, the second picture shows the grey on the tree as the black is about to scamper around the corner. It was amazing to watch, like some Chaplin film, or a high energy comedy energy.

There were also three male deer grazing in the valley down from us but blocked mostly by trees and not giving great pictures. However while looking at them a squirrel or Peco jumped up on the stump behind me and started to chitter in chastisement. I wonder what I did? So the wildlife was literally running up to me, in various forms.

Here is Linda between two of the younger Sequoia’s in order to give some perspective on the size of these trees. Soon after we met a couple from Chester in England who said, “You see one tree, you’ve seen them all.” Which I though odd since in the UK, any Oak Tree of significant age is on the survey maps and named and recorded in a national registry. I like lots of trees, the giant Douglas Fir of Vancouver Island, the Moss and Trees of the Hoh, the Redwoods, the Sequoias, and would love to see the gaint Mahogany trees of South America. We have seen the Oaks of the UK, the Black Forest and looking forward to more.

On to Yosemite, Linda saved me a hard wheel by driving down to meet me. We drove for another hour before the Yosemite valley started opening before us (This was taken by me while Linda drove). You go through a long tunnel and then the valley is there, broad before you with half dome in the back, Angel Falls on the right and El Capitan on the left (apparently this year you have to reserve to do the 3-5 day rock climb up it – just in case you don’t have enough things to do or train for). I guess the park service got tired of people stopping so they put in a view right at the end of the tunnel and I got a picture of Linda and the Yosemite Valley. When planning Linda was ‘Why do we have to drive all those hours to Yosemite?” and I kept saying, “It is just something you have to see.”

Yosemite IS something you have to see, along with the giant mansion sized boulders on the ground which are just a ‘cracked chip’ fallen off of these giant granite faces. Thanks to Ansel Adams (who has a museum of his work here) and others, this valley is preserved and an ad saying “Pepsi” or “Got Milk?” is NOT spray painted across any of the majestic towers.

It was close to 7:00 by the time we made it down into the Yosemite Valley Drive and we didn’t know when the visitor center closed or if it was already. Linda had gone out and took a picture, but on the way back two squirrels were getting ‘busy’ which we were told later was not sex, but just ‘playing’, er, okay, well, here is a picture of them and you can decide (Yaoi: Squirrel Style?). I hit the horn to get Linda to look up as I found the visitor’s center closed at 7:30. We drove, we got lost, we got lost again, and then we found the visitors center, with Linda going ahead to look in the gift store. This picture was taking by a kind and very nice looking German female (hee hee!).
On the way in we had passed a sign reading “Speed Kills Bears” with a picture of a bear. I guess it was supposed to make us slow down but considering most people are scared of bears, maybe it ended getting people to speed up? Linda wanted a picture but in the visitor’s center we found a magnet of it. We also got a FEW (dozen) postcards in the 12 minutes we had. Plus I talked to a Ranger and showed him the videos, and he identified the Peco’s versus the black squirrels.

The Ranger also let me know that because we had the blue badge I could drive on an ‘official use’ and ‘do not enter’ road which went out to Mirror Pond and from there we caught the sun shining the sunset on Half Dome.
Yes, these few hours were a fast and rushed tour of Yosemite and while we wanted more, it was enough. On the way back we saw a male buck with antlers feeding with the Yosemite Valley behind. The park seemed to have animals and scenery everywhere we looked. Two cyclists rode between me and the buck deer while I was about to take the picture, the husband saying to the wife "Deer, what deer, I can't see anything?" as he passed by 10 feet from the deer and rode past and away, never seeing.

The sun continued to descend and up above, in the clouds, the sunset continued. We headed out of the park stopping to make some sandwiches and prepare for drive to San Francisco. Eiki Eiki and I had not left the van much but we had seen a lot and taken a LOT of pictures (ohhh, about 200).
The road down from Yosemite is a twist rapid elevation drop which is the hardest on me and made me pass out complete for about 90 minutes (not sleeping but literally BAM, unconscious). It was as we neared San Francisco that Linda let me know that she wasn’t EXACTLY sure where she had the directions to Raccoon’s house.

Oh. (It turned out she had left them……at Raccoon’s house on the way down).

So we hit a lot of exits since a lot of them got the ‘that looks familiar’ to Linda. As for me, since it was a week ago, I had no memory at all. Eventually I decided we would systematically take EVERY exit, and we had eliminated each one until we had one left. It was 1:00 am and we were both punch drunk from exhaustion. There were orange cones and there seemed to be a gap so I directed Linda into what I thought was the ‘construction exit’. I directed her instead to a police car waiting in the dark which popped on the lights, and started writing things down and checking Linda’s eyes (that red is exhaustion, not drugs, honest!). The police officer let us go, but he didn’t know how to get to Raccoon’s address. He did know that the Trader Joe’s we knew was nearby to Raccoon was ‘around here’. Great.

We didn’t get a ticket and after one final wrong turn, corrected we finally made it to Raccoon’s where I lay down, irritating his two cats who had claimed the futon as their new plaything.

Yosemite was worth it, though I woke up the next morning in shock with blue fingers and shuddering. It was good to know we could have a day to rest up as well. Because after that we were headed into the unknowns of southern Oregon, then a long driving day from there straight back to Cheryl’s (who had flown back earlier).

Calling all Knitters! And Sock Lovers! Emergency Knitting please? Plus see squirrel pics!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been fevered, blind, and been prioritizing (plus squirrels). Okay, I am in DESPERATE need of socks and knitters or people who can direct me to someplace other than Sock Dreams to find specific socks.

But first, let’s look at some cute squirrels. I went out at sunset, about so it wasn’t as warm, to see if I could find some squirrels. Linda came with and there were a lot of young skinny and skittish squirrels and a FEW fat and black squirrels. This squirrel wouldn’t come closer but liked to stand on its back legs. Who am I to deny it pleasure (a peanut and standing up).

This was a very greedy and very aggressive squirrel that sat on Linda’s lap and ate a peanut (pics of that in a bit). So after Linda it climbed up my lap blanket to come and see me. Which was nice because I was a wee lonely.

After it stuffed itself on the peanut, the quickly came back and then took not only a triple peanut shelled, but then tried for another peanut in its mouth. You can see it adjusting. Sadly this was the last we saw of this perhaps visionary but person incredibly like a professor with too much energy (someone from the sciences) who simply ran around with the peanuts looking for a perfect place to hide them. He hid one but then ran here, sniff, no not good enough, ran there. The last we saw, he had run across the full field and into the trees still with the peanut in his mouth, not wanting to eat it but still trying to find the perfect place to bury it.

I hope I make sense because I have a fever, and my fingers are purple. But the REAL problem is SOCKS. Yes, here is my last pair of Tall Girl Socks, which as you can see already have three to four holes and will last a week maybe. I have sort of two different colors of socks: those that go with blue (since I have only two pairs of jeans, both blue) and those which go with a black bra and tops that go with that, so red with black, burgundy, a hint of black, whatever. I had a lot of the ones from Tall Girl but that was over two years ago and I think because my hospital bed is inclined so I can breath, my feet or heels get worn. I don’t know why. But these are my last socks, except for a pair of gift socks I am using to hold out until I can find some.

Why is this a serious problem? Because my Reynaud’s in my feet is FAR worse than in my hands. Similar in fact to people with Diabetes Type II (I think that is the amputation type. You can see here that I have such poor circulation that blood has pooled in my ankle by the bones, but the toes are not receiving enough blood and two of them are often black. Also, if the foot is bent to go on the footplate, the veins burst and bruises appear. But I don’t feel that. That is one problem. The second and third problem is that a) I have large feet due to Marfans, a genetic disease which creates large hands and feet and b) I can’t feet my feet BUT I get frostbite at 15-17 degrees C (yes, above zero - about about 60-65 degrees I get frostbite, very BAD frostbite). That means my black toes could get frostbite, very bad frostbite INDOORS and I would not be able to feel it at all...for days (that is bad, and leads to being called, "Elizabeth One Toe").

So I am asking, begging all Knitters to help me; I will try to gift or pay though some sort of barter system to help me with socks. I have been advised that socks are hard and that the Yarn Harlot is right now doing a conference on socks. Because I need socks that are thick, but can still get into shoes, so they have to be warm, particularly in the toes, and have a defined heel, not just a long tube as that will slip off and I won’t feel it. I am US size 12-13, depending – so 12 wide (is that like 10-11 male, I don’t know). I am 10.5-11 for the UK and I am 45-46 for the rest of Europe (I think the 45 is the standard – that is the size of my converse, and size 12 or 11.5 mens is the size of my pumas. I usually have to get a size bigger because as you see my little toe is far down and widens the shoe.

So, I hear that the problems in making the sock are going at that heel, also I need to have stripes as shown in the sock above - that is good for the blue color, or mixed color, some sort of beautiful skein with dark red, purple, deep blue and black would be perfect. I need dark socks and blue orientated socks. So whatever really. The problem is that I simply will not wear a sock that does not match, even though my feet will hurt so bad that I will actually feel them. Like Yellow. I won’t wear a yellow sock. Sorry. Bright red only. Won’t wear a Red only sock, or a green only sock. Because I am a slave to fashion; how can I have a morbid threads top, my skull headband, skelekitty earrings with my blue skinny leg jeans and converse skull and black shoes with Yellow socks in between. But I really am desperate for socks. So if you want to email me at mpshiel@hotmail.com or just put in the comments if you are interested in knitting socks (I know, the second one is boring, I am sorry!) – but they need to be long, not size 4 or 6, they have to be 45-46 or size 11.5 mens/13 woman’s or UK size 11. And have a heel. I am sorry I am picky and desperate. Here is my “Oh please, please pretty please” look with extra kittens in the background to sway you! To anyone who offers to knit BOTH socks (please, not just one!), thank you so much, thank you!

I love Sock Dreams but the socks are too thin there, with winter coming and fall, and my poor circulation, I need to avoid amputation with socks. And yes, I COULD buy men’s work socks except….they don’t match. And really, I want to match, I want to have cool socks (a skull would be nice!). Is that so evil? If you know where I can get some winter, long wide women’s socks please let me know!

Okay, my health is very poor. I have had long discussions with Linda and that took energy; having and struggling to communicate so we love each other takes energy. I wish I was using energy on THIS (hot lesbian intimacy), the nice sexually satisfying kind (notice her socks have holes in the heels too!). But I want to have a great relationship AND then some of that (and then a bit more of it...). Except with all the communicating I ran out of energy, and reserves. But I kept going. Then I had postcards I needed to do, so I worked all day yesterday, and also packages, and I stamped and I stickered and I worked until 7:15 a.m.

By 5 a.m., with Linda asleep, My right arm wouldn’t work and when I finished at 7:00 am the little bit of light I could still see with, a little circle, was pretty much gone. I was blind. And I stayed blind until late today (Neuroblindness is an odd thing). The day before I could not use my right arm or side of my body. And I have had a fever for three days off an on, right now it is on and has been since Friday night. So I hope I am making sense. Because I have it pretty bad fever wise. I have a fever because my body is too weak to regulate my tempature. I had a fever when I wrote and stamped the postcards (so I hope they make sense too). Linda took them over and posted them, my second posting of postcards this week.

I am supposed to be in bed, either sleeping or reading manga and eating pocky to recuperate. Except the last post caused an emotional upheaval and news by Linda to me and I wanted everyone to know we are working through it day by day (I thought I was the cool one in relationships. So was I shocked to find that I was NOT Fonzie to Linda from Happy Days and had been reduced to Ralph? Yes! So talking about that). Now good things happening. Except I am not in bed, I am doing emergency postcards, fulfilling promises and stuff like that. I need to be in bed. Thank you to those who have sent me manga because you are real helpers of my health this week. Thank you, thank you. Because of you, I will try to stay in bed and rest, and make a new record (my record this week for awake resting was six hours – it was supposed to be three days).

If anyone else wants to send manga, now would be a really good time. I know I am not supposed to say that but I am very fevered, I have slept about 60-65% of what I should each day for a week, I have lost control of my breathing many times a day, and have to be revived and now I can’t control one side of my body and keep losing my sight. So I would like to stay put. I am a scared little girl who doesn’t want to read the manga if this is all I have for the month. The wishlist is here. I am reading Loveless, which has four characters called Zero who can’t feel anything (peripheral neuropathy) like me, so in one book, they get frostbite and collapse and never noticed it was cold. It has cat girls and cat boys, Yuri, Yaoi, love of all kinds and a mystery to solve. So Loveless is a good series (get 4 for 3 and free shipping! HINT! HINT!). Emma 9 about the live of servants in the Victorian times is good as well and also 4 for 3, as is I’m the Goddess 3 – the final book in the series about a Goddess, her servant who loves documenting sweets and a Uke who follows them around. Mixed Vegetables 4 is also 4 for 3 (about two children of chef's trying to become expert in the other kind of food, and maybe falling in love), and Otomen 3 (about guys who like typically girlish hobbies and reading romances) is out! Also, Nancy Drew Postcards, how cool is that! I say that because I sent out over 120 postcards in six days. So I am now trying to look around for more cool postcards to send.

Yes, that was shameless wasn’t it? But then people with fevers and black toes don’t have a lot of pride. Because trying to get up from peeing when you can’t use your arm, or undressing for bed when you can’t use your legs and have to be helped and are blind makes a person kind of desperate and shameless. I wish I was sorry. All I can say is that I will, as much as I can, pass on what I receive so that others may benefit, not just Cheryl but outward. I try to write down each name, and make sure that all who give, are also given gifts, and also those who need or I feel could use a gift, I try to do that. The socks however, I will keep.

Okay, quick check: Squirrels, socks, manga, fever, and taking time with Linda to put our relationship first (she says I am NOT Ralph, I am still Fonzie!). I think I covered it all. I hope once I rest, to be able to post more often, or post from bed. But getting those postcards out yesterday was all that mattered; I had food poisoning and a fever and I worked 22 hours about with a nap (plus getting Linda ready, and talking, and a medical appointment). I hope in the days ahead to do something that will make Linda happy and proud – get into BED and stay there.

Squirrel Time: A spring visit to the new mothers

We decided to visit the squirrels, or I did. And Cheryl and Linda came along. I could say it was to visit the new mothers of squirrel litters, with Mother’s Day the next day in North America, or because the sun finally showed itself. But the truth is, I had not been out all week, and all apartment and no world make Beth a little stir crazy!
Actually that face was made while we were waiting for squirrels as there were a lot of loose dogs (terriers) which had driven the squirrels into the trees. If anyone uses that (what I call my ‘Dr. Suess’ face for reasons unknown) as a screensaver, I will do bad things to you. Eventually the squirrels did arrive, but they were either, a) early pups/kits (what is the right word) and so very skittish or b) new mothers. This is a new mother, as you can see by the overgrown haunches and the splayed feet (not yet back to normal size).
The weather was pretty horrific, yes, the sun shined down but there was a light breeze and the flowers were out, I did not overheat, the perfect temp. Here is the start of the squirrel area: I have not cropped or touched the picture in any way, so you can see the kind of rigor in going out in all weather this journalist has.
At first it seemed like everyone else was getting squirrels to come to them. Linda had a black squirrel who while skittish did have the nicest black perky ears.
Cheryl on the other hand, had a couple, a black and a grey which would come to her for peanuts. This ended when finally the black had the peanut and the grey chased it up and down about 4 trees across the lawn and finally even AFTER dropping the peanut, the grey kept chasing the black squirrel. As Cheryl said dryly, “I think it is after something OTHER than peanuts.” Hmmm…

Meanwhile, Cheryl not only had a beauty, what I call an ‘arabian black’ squirrel (the very black ones that look like the stallions), but she had POLITE ONES which ate covering their hands. This squirrel was clearly an offspring of Fiona, Psycho’s elegant and graceful sister. It even takes the peanut, not in the mouth like the rest but in two hands like the Japanese take gifts. I was sitting there meanwhile wondering, ‘When is it MY turn?’

Well, I did get Soot, which I called because the nose had a black ring which indicates that it was on peanut burial detail. Here you can see it even has its mouth open and tongue out (red).I did NOT get the polite squirrels who gracefully take the peanut with both hands before delicately opening it. Soot was not only edgy but also a bit grabby, and would take the peanut or simply bat it out of my hand if it could and get it that way. Kind of like Linda actually, who I had to keep reminded as she cracked another, "The PEANUTS are for the SQUIRRELS!"

Soot also would climb up the leg using, yes, claws, right through the jean material (interesting little marks on the leg found later), this is where you are sort of happy that you have no real feeling down there. As we can see, Soot is like the bear that climbed the mountain…to see what SHE could see, and get a peanut!

I did feed a kit/cub that was so young it kept trying to take a peanut with its mouth. Except, it was young so the mouth was so small it couldn’t grab any peanuts. I had to find a smaller peanut and then give it the small end, and it managed to grab it and then run off with it. Grow quick. Meanwhile, another mama squirrel I will call Rosy (not because she was Rosy but that was her colour and like Rosanne on TV, would knock down people need be for her kids). Rosy seemed to have no fear of the wheelchair at all and simply jumped or climbed all over it, ignoring me entirely (except as the peanut vending machine of course). Here she has grabbed the wheel and is doing odd balancing tricks.

She finally came up to ME (I tend to have issues feeding peanuts to my wheelchair wheel) and I gave her a peanut which she devoured (hey, got a lot of mouths to make that milk for!), after running off.

She soon returned and this time ascended the opposite side of the wheelchair. She had curiosity and was determined to get a peanut, but no fear. Going up the wheel she peeked over my legs like new and rather odd terrain.
She came into my lap, got her peanut and while I paused for a nice picture for the two of us, she was already determining, “How is the fastest way down and how do I take this to my kids?” Priorities.

Still, it was not the WORST of days to go outside and sit with friends. As you can see, with me by this 150-200 year old tree, that I am feeding a black squirrel who eats nearby, then returns for another. We are chilling out together, and not the worst way at all to spend a spring day.

The Beth/Squirrel Reunion: Scruffy, Parkour and Son of Psycho

Yesterday I woke up, I could see the sun shine and I said, as I was lifted out of bed, “Let’s go see the squirrels.” Which since Linda didn’t have an appointment for 1 hour and 45 minutes meant that was possible due to the NEW electric wheelchair (referred to DT: for that DAMN THING for the rest of this blog).

Since I had showered the day before it was get dressed, or be dressed and get shoes on and go, go go. But still that took up the 45 minutes, as Linda wanted me to drink stuff, and eat stuff and stuff had to be packed for safety. Well, our old elevator tends to leave a few inches to climb up, so arriving at the bottom floor was FOUR inches, so even in Tank Mode, I couldn’t climb it. I went up a floor and came down and tried again, got two inches to climb up this time (the elevator lotto) and we headed outside. Took me all of about 30 seconds to realize we forgot my lap robe (linda snagged one from the van) and I took out the now hugely oversized rain jacket for warmth. It was sunny, but there was also snow in the shade so a degree or two above freezing….and the wind was blowing.

But we got to the park in record time which also bruised a record number of my ribs, spine and muscles. See, in other cities, curb cuts go to the street level. In Victoria, just to show how special we are, we like to keep them two inches above street level, or higher! So with 25 of those to hit between me and the park I learned the difference between a manual and an electric chair. In a manual, you are low down, you can flip up casters and lean forward to jump the curb, you are in control, you are driving a titanium Ferrari. On an electric, you are the luggage tied to the top of the bus going up the mountain passes in Central America. The luggage which is bumped open halfway, or smashed from the forces. I learned that driving at HIGH SPEED toward a giant curb cut bump only makes my spine feel like someone smashed it, along with my torso. I learned that if I went REALLY slow….well, I didn’t learn that because I’ll be damned if I go really slow so I just learned about going normal speed (Ow!) and fast (OW!!!) and Very Fast (OH MY GOD OWWW!). As you can see, while it isn’t EXACTLY spring, there are little bits of flowers showing themselves here and there.
I made it to the park and realized that I am also several feet higher than I am in the other wheelchair, so it is harder to feed the squirrels and I worried and thought they would not think they would come up to my lap to get peanuts. I mean, do they know the smell of me, the smell of my peanut fingers or of the wheelchair? The first squirrel responded to rustling bag and I found did not have any problem crawling up the lap blanket (with my encouragement) to see me. I called this one scruffy as it had some claw marks which had removed fur right behind its head which gave it a scruffy look. I later realized I should have called it: Lazy Ass. But still it was encouraging to have a squirrel actually sit in my lap (since we only had 25 minutes once we got there) on my first trip out of the house and back to the park in a LONG time.

It turned out not to be that difficult at all to have squirrels climb up the wheelchair, even though it was brand new and quite high. Most squirrels who approached where willing to climb up to see me. Here is a different grey squirrel (you can see by the clean neck fur) who has climbed up and decided to eat the peanut on my knee (after such a climb, why not!).
Of course, squirrels are individuals (some with very odd neurotic habits!). So there is always the squirrel who has to make everything twice as difficult. Every OTHER squirrel simply climbed up the front using my legs and the blanket to get to my lap. But not for this black squirrel, who I named Parkour, after the sport where you use urban railings, rooftops or other surfaces to achieve your goal. Did it make his peanut any more satisfying, apparently for him as he went off chortling, “A route no squirrel has taken before!”

Here is a profile shot that Linda took for some reason, maybe to prove that sun shines here in Victoria, I am not sure. You can see in the shot how I drive the DT wheelchair which is by pushing the black joystick (almost invisible here) which is between my index and second finger. There is a delayed reaction, to make sure I have my hand in the right position and then a second later it starts up. Despite the delayed reaction I only lot control and started weaving around on the sidewalk four or five times. DT! The other irritation is that to change modes, from like, Outdoor to Tank Mode, you have to come to a complete stop. I am Elizabeth McClung, I AM Brownian Motion, I do not come to complete stops! This is why instead of doing ALL those curb cuts by stopping, changing modes, climbing curbs, stopping again and changing back to outdoor mode, I tried going faster. OW! Okay that didn’t work, what if we try this curb even FASTER! OWWW. DT!!!

Here Scruffy has returned and, despite the fact that my wheelchair is almost silent has decided it is just TOO MUCH BOTHER to actually move away to eat, but to eat not just next to my chair, but with his tail under it (A Beatrix Potter Tale comes to mind!). This is also the shot which makes me look the LEAST like I am super thin (just thin!). This is why I think of him as Lazy Ass. Here you can see the close up of Scruffy, with the scars on his neck. You can also see that he has part of his nice long tail UNDER my foot plate. And since I came to BOND and love the squirrels, not clean them out of my tire treads, I patiently waited for Lazy Ass to finish, fed him/her another peanut and off Scruffy went!

As we were about to leave I was greeted/assaulted by son of Psycho. Psycho was known for his a) trying to steal Linda’s camera several times, b) trying to steal entire 1 pound or 2 pound bags of peanuts several times, including wresting them from em and c) his fearless attitude. Well, I rattle the bag as we have to go and about 50 yards away this black squirrel pops out of the ferns, sees me and starts doing that squirrel run towards me. Usually at 20 yards or so they stop and pop up their head to check around, then at 5 yards they slow down to give me a good sniff over. The black squirrel, at about 10 yards SPEEDS UP and then does a flying leap onto my blanket. And clambers the rest of the way up. There is no sniffing cautiously about here! I was rather shocked, as I had a brand new chair and according to the seating people the only one in Victoria (which is how they would catch me if I tried to give it away), and this squirrel does a flying LEAP onto me? Is my estrogen that high? Is mating season going that badly for him?
No, it is was the son of Psycho, I could tell he was about 9 months old and he quickly rooted about in my..er...lap. And then started to eat right there, like I was the peanutmobile. Sadly, we were late, and had to take off, so I hope to meet him again since that is one squirrel I am definitely going to remember. Even though we shared but two peanuts together, it was Paris…I mean the Park…in the Spring time, and I’ll be at Rick’s and he’ll walk in…wait, this is Casablanca!

I got out, I got slammed around in order to get home, and then it started snowing, slushing a bit in the afternoon. So not QUITE spring yet but there are hints and hopes. I ended up with a four hour nap due to my fun in the sun, ow! And couldn’t move my arms. I have yet to learn the ‘use less, not more’ – I am so used to using gross muscles, like my shoulder to write, that for this DT wheelchair, I need to ground my elbow, ground my wrist and just use the slightest movement forward, side to side or back, whether I feel it or not. Because using my whole arm and shoulder just ends with a) me out of control – don’t walk beside me on the sidewalk (a good safety tip!) and b) a really sore arm.

Have a great weekend and meet your own friends. One day I plan to work up to HUMANS. I hear they don’t like peanuts as much, but they have more interesting conversations.