Well.  I went kayaking today.  :)  First time ever.  It was really fun!

Don't get too excited, there was no whitewater involved, nothing that required several hours in a swimming pool learning how to roll over and extract yourself without drowning, nothing to even extract yourself from.  Just this orange kayak-shaped thing with a snap-in seat and a paddle.  And of course, a lot of water, 4 blue herons, an osprey, a seal, a buzzard, a flock of tiny little sandpiper-looking birds, and endless seagulls.

I now consider myself practically an expert.  Whee.  You pull the thing up, scootch into it, wedge your feet on the rests, and paddle off!  Don't do a canoe paddle, just this figure-8 sort of deal across your legs.  It's very good to watch the tide so that you don't end up stranded and have to walk back up an entire bay full of mud.  Also, don't be afraid to paddle across the wind; you won't tip over.  As long, of course, as you make sure that it's not very windy before you take off.  ;)  Floating along on an out-going tide is deceptively easy; coming back will take a bit of work.  

And let's put emphasis on the deception part of the whole deal.  If the tide is going out, but not very fast, and the wind is ruffling the surface of the water; you could swear that the water (and you yourself) is holding perfectly still and it's the island that is moving.  And when you're out farther from land, and the same thing happens - or possibly a larger gust of wind comes up in your face - no matter how hard you are paddling, it seems as if you haven't budged an inch.  Look behind you and take heart though, the shore is receding.  It's good to keep an eye on the shore for another reason too - come around the point into that wind, and you may think you're paddling along merrily, sure to be home in time for cocoa; but glance sideways?  You ain't budging, honey.  All that work was just to keep in place, better dig a little deeper, and maybe aim not quite straight into the wind.  

Back to convention tomorrow.

We heard a cute story today.

Two workers were getting ready for meeting in their room and the door wasn't quite shut, so the little boy (3-4) invited himself in.  When he saw them praying, he knelt down too.  One of the workers looked down at him, and he looked up, and when their eyes met, he put his finger to his lips and said, "Shhh!  If you make noise, I will put you out of the room!"  

We all know where he'd been hearing that!

Hello from Saginaw, everyone.

It's hot here.  I heard the forecast was that it should be hot, and when we got here it was hot, and it still is hot.  Last night at about 10:30 was just nearly the perfect temperature... alas that it didn't stay that way!

There have already been three amazing things here so far:

*breakfast at a sane hour (8 am!)  ((Not during convention, alas, but I don't get up for breakfast during convention anyways, so I don't care.))

*none of the five of us in our room get up early.  I woke up (accidentally and went back to sleep as fast as possible) at 6 and no one else was up.  Wow, I think.  How nice.  :)

*AND.... drumroll... so far as I could tell (through earplugs and white noise) no one snores.  

Those are, of course, not the /really/ amazing things expected, but they will do for nice starters.  

Let's you and me go and ...

My new favorite words.  :)  

That was how much of Jonathan's conversations began this week.  

Aunty Leilani, let's you and me go - 

be excavators

hunt mean gophers

play in the pool

swing 

skate across the ice 

catch sharks

dig up this hole

Yesterday, he wanted me to go away  - just for the night, so he could have his bed back.  So he was trying to figure out how I could leave before bed, and when he ate breakfast, I would be back.  

Today, I said, "Hey, Jonathan, you get your bed back tonight!"  

He says, "No.  I want you to sleep here more nights."

"I wish that I could, but I have to leave."

"I am going to lock all the doors so that you can't get out."

Big 'awwww' in chorus.

I was such a good girl this week!  I went to the cycling class Darla teaches /both/ Wednesday mornings.  :)  Yay!  Exercise!  Go me!

We also painted Darla's kitchen yellow.  It looks really nice.  :)

In Billings now, Spokane tomorrow and Olympia Friday.

Clearly I am tired, or I would not (probably.. ok, ok, probably I would anyways!  Unrepentantly, too!) be inflicting this on you - but I was right!

Depending, of course, on your estimation of the value of your time; it really only makes sense to speed when the distance you have to travel is over twice the value of the speed you are traveling.  Otherwise, you don't save enough time (imo) for the possible ticket, not to mention the extra gas you'll need to buy, to bother.

Translation:  if the speed limit is 75, and you have 150 miles to go, you will only save 7.5 minutes by speeding up to 80.  The time you save only gets less as you have fewer miles to go.  With 100 miles to go, you save 5 minutes by going 80 instead of 75.  But if you have more than twice your speed value (75 mph and 200 miles to drive, for instance), you begin to save enough time that it might actually be worthwhile.  

Happy 1 am!

Have I mentioned before how I love Wyoming?  I thought I might have but, not being entirely certain I emphasized it enough, I figured it wouldn't hurt to say it again.  :)

Yes, I'm still up at this hour - there was a lightning storm going on, and it is just now moving away.  I stayed up to watch - and even got (by sheer luck!) two pictures.  As soon as I remember how, I'll post them here for your viewing pleasure.

It was the best lightning storm ever - the sky was lighting up non-stop; a strike several times every second, and a constant dull grumble of thunder.   A few bolts of lightning were bright enough that I think they permanently are seared onto my retinas.

J and I were Great Hunters today; we stalked meat-eating dinosaurs and mean deer with our water pistols.  Then we went fishing in the sky.  J caught several red lizards that he grilled with hot barbecue sauce for supper.  And I baked a cake.  (The cake was real. ;)