Whining... me... *head desk*

Timing.
Timing is something that happens when you're broke.
Of course.
Electronic devices know about timing. They have secret meetings in the dead of night and plan breakages and rebellion.

Computer = dead, kaput, fried, gone; killed 2 hard drives... don't even ask what was on those... (oh? you asked! about 20 movies, a website, mail, etc etc)
Car #1 = in shop w/mysterious cough-no-gas-for-going malady
Car #2 = 4th gear no longer available; fun for driving on hwy at 45 mph to go shopping

I'm sure there's more, but those are the only ones I've noticed so far. *looks around all squinty eyed* I'm using an absolutely ancient computer that I picked up for free at a garage sale. I don't think it has enough ram to load graphics from web pages...

*deep cleansing breath*

But unemployment checks are coming in just fine AND we painted the kitchen cabinets yellow! A bit assaultive in the morning, but a definite improvement over 'something's rotting in the back of the fridge beige'.

The season is finished: site descriptions written, mounds of paperwork in tidy files, pictures printed and labeled, artifacts filed in secret nesting place, assistant gone, and now I'm gone.

Huzzah!

I've been oddly quiet on here because my brain has been engaged by the horrid report of massiveness. It's about, oh, 65% done but as I'm seasonal I handed the thing over to the boss man. He's currently contemplating how to use a small pot of money to get me back in to finish it. In the meantime I'm home, checking my LJ, my FB, my RB, my Twitter, finding the flat surfaces in the living room and dusting off my Etsy shop. I was thinking of doing the NaNo, but I don't know if there's enough braincells still functioning to crack that egg.

Hello LJ peoples! (oh look, my paid acct ran out and I'm down to 10 icons.... bleh)

I am at work.
I am trying not to fall asleep.
I am being stalked by a cricket.

Yesterday I had fun garage sale hopping. I found this great stack of 40s-50s paperback westerns and snatched them up. The blurbs on the back are to die for and the cover pictures are just amazing.

( I shall share a few )

Pretties as promised:

Dark Canyon Wilderness on the Manti-La Sal Nat'l Forest, Utah: http://twitpic.com/kq056

Rock Art on the Manti: http://twitpic.com/kpzro

Room with a View: http://twitpic.com/kpzkj

Kiva down below, watch your step! http://twitpic.com/kpyu5

Book Meme:

List fifteen books that had the most profound impact on you - ones you can think of in fifteen minutes or less.

omg. time limit. instant brain fade.

LOTR (does this count as 3? 4?)
Dune
Song of the Pearl by Ruth Nichols
The Secret Garden
Riddlemaster of Hed (3... right?)
Down the River by Edward Abbey
Tao Te Ching
(panic... my brain cannot think creatively today at all)
On The Loose by Renny Russell
A Pony Called Lightning by Miriam Mason (the first big kid book I ever read!)
Mustapha and His Wise Dog by E. Friesner

Okay, I'm calling it good because... well, just because.
Tag! You're all it!

*collapses into computer chair*

One more volunteer program next week and then a month long report push and the season is officially over. phew! Gobs and tons and piles of sites - standing walls, not-so-standing walls, a 3 story tower, kivas, a leaf shaped knife... complete!, beautiful projectile points over 5k years old, villages and field houses and towers and WOW! how did I ever get so lucky to work in this place!

Sunday I leave for a week long backpacking trip into Dark Canyon Wilderness to find more sites and document some. Hoping for a relatively dry trip... it always seems to rain on us for some strange reason. Perhaps because it's getting into fall? I've always wondered why the powers that be want this trip scheduled when it is.

Then, for some odd reason, I decided to sign up for the NaNo again. Please, strap me to a chair and don't let me type. Why why why. Because I must create! *cackles madly and plays with paper clips*

Amazing quote I just found:

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.


Beautiful.

Holy cow. Is August almost gone? I can't believe it.
Pretty positive someone stole July cuz I can't remember any of it.

( the world is just a blur )

I finally got to see HP:HBP and I have a few comments that are uber-spoilery so...

( don't click if'n you don't want to be spoiled! )

It has been an amazing two weeks back to field work - same asst, new volunteer, tons and tons of sites to record. Loving the cool weather and lack of black flies so far - plz can we have more wind and a bit more damp for the next week? yes?

This week is 5 days in the back country with Red Rock Forest volunteer group. Should be cool! Recording sites and monitoring the status of others.

I just drove to Tucson and back to drop my kid off at a friend's house for 3 wks. She's going to GS camp and SHE picked the backpacking and fishing program. How cool is that!!!

I'm totally exhausted and must pack and get foods ready.

Hello y'all!

And it begins... finally!

Tomorrow is our first day in the field and we're actually going to go do fun stuff and romp through the wilderness and woohoo! Damn this took a long time.

Hey Josie - are you going to the Pecos Conference?

Penny - you alive? I missed you every single day last week.

Here are some cool pics that I've been posting on my Twitter lately - mostly archaeology:

Inside a 900 year old granary: http://twitpic.com/58c62

The oldest human made thing I've ever held: http://twitpic.com/561rq (note: that should be 10,000BC or 12,0000BP - I can't edit the tag)

An Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) site in the back country: http://twitpic.com/4sces

Pendants we found 2 years ago: http://twitpic.com/4o1up

Points we found 2 weeks ago in the La Sal Mountains: http://twitpic.com/49zi8

Another amazing site: http://twitpic.com/3yikw

Granary tucked away in Dark Canyon Wilderness: http://twitpic.com/3w9bt

A boulder granary pic that I messed around with: http://twitpic.com/3s23z

This is my office: http://twitpic.com/3iz9j

Feel free to wander around the album!

The body of Everett Reuss was finally found and identified after how many years? 70? 80? He made such an impact at such a young age.

"Music has been in my heart all the time, and poetry in my thoughts. Alone on the open desert, I have made up songs of wild, poignant rejoicing and transcendent melancholy. The world has seemed more beautiful to me than ever before. I have loved the red rocks, the twisted trees, the red sand blowing in the wind, the slow, sunny clouds crossing the sky, the shafts of moonlight on my bed at night. I have seemed to be at one with the world. I have rejoiced to set out, to be going somewhere, and I have felt a still sublimity, looking deep into the coals of my campfires, and seeing far beyond them. I have been happy in my work, and I have exulted in my play. I have really lived." --E.R.

Good info on his life and writings

Oddly disturbing link of the day: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5165121

And look at the prices! And look at the number of sales!

*passes out*

Well, today I'm finally, totally and actually supposed to be going into the field. We've had stops and starts and weather upsets and, well, stuff deterring us from jumping in. My asst Meghan still doesn't start for another month, but we've got a ton of little projects piling up that need dealing with. Soooooooooooooooooooooo, we (le bossman and I) shall go wander in the wilderness. I'm hoping that the wind we had yesterday does not whip up today as we're going into a burn area. The biologists want to plant tons of trees and we have to make sure they don't dig holes through ancient sites. Could be cool... could be massively dirty... wanna know where I'm going? Type Porcupine Rim into Google image. zomg gorgeous

I found this gem on the terrific website Not Always Right - Funny and Stupid Customer Quotes and had to share it:

(Many young couples with young children belong to my pool, and many of them ask a lot of questions. A man leads his 6-year-old son into our guard office.)

Pool patron: “Excuse me, ma’am?”

Me: “Yes sir? Can I help you?”

Pool patron: “I’m very scared my son is in trouble.”

Me: “Is he okay? Did he hurt himself in the pool? Are there any major injuries?”

Pool patron: “His skin is all wrinkled and soft. It feels strange. Is it going to fall off?”

Me: “Sir, that happens to everyone’s skin who has been in water for an extended period of time.”

Pool patron: “So his skin won’t fall off, right?”

Found this gem for y'all:

Veddy Bad English

But what does it meeeeeeeeeeeeeeean?

The spring wind storms have arrived and we're under a high wind warning for the fourth time in two weeks. The air is full of red dust and the windows whine under the gusts. My hair is stiff from walking in it for just a few minutes!

The bad thing? This wind leeches the moisture from the soil and our summer will be dry dry dry. Can we have some more snow please?

First day back to work... walk in, discover pile of computer stuff on my desk which has buried most of my belongings, no boss... wait 30 min, no boss... dig out calendar from under large pile on desk, realize boss is out for the entire week to training about 5 hours away. I dug out important things on the desk and ignored the rest of the pile.

Ahhh, everything is normal - onward! into the unknown!

Then I searched for what I was supposed to be working on and found that le boss had taken the entire set of project files with him. Ooooh, that's handy. So I made up things to do for the rest of the day and listened to my mp3 player! Woohoo! But I was making money - which is a hella good thing after so long being broke.