The Astrophysics Lab: September

Above: Just a pretty sunset picture I took last month.

Hey everyone. Just catching up here. Here are a few pictures below of things we've done lately. See flikr and facebook for many more pictures. They are harder to upload here, so I don't upload as many on blogger. We've been good here. No flu, thank goodness. But Brian and I seem to have had one, or many, small colds, for about 3 weeks now, and they don't appear to be going away any time soon. So, who knows what's going on with that.

I'm sticking with the belief that spinal cord nerves, like arms and legs and eyeballs, can't be regrown just by wanting it to be so, and meditating on it. That is causing me some friction with people. So, that's too bad. If I inform someone that something is permanent, it's not because I'm saying I want it to be permanent, but because it is permanent. Lots of things are permanent, and lots of things happen that we didn't really want to happen. Accepting that fact is different than wanting that fact to be true. Very different. It just is real. That's reality.

I've rediscovered the band Rush, which I used to love in High School. I finally got around to hearing their 2007 record, which I only barely listened to when it came out. MalNar is great! I'm loving remembering all of the songs I used to hike to, and went to concerts to hear, and I love the new ones, and how they generate the feeling of motion. I always feel like they are driving or hiking songs, and I love that feeling. It makes sense, really, since the author of the lyrics, the drummer, also loves travel and writes of it often in the songs.

Our oven appears to be broken, so we're going to have to replace that. We've been living without it just fine, and just using the toaster oven, but we have a goal to replace it in time to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Also, we are shopping around for homebuilders. Soon, we're going to check out Tilson, a custom homebuilder in town. They tell us they can make all the modifications we need, like wider doorways, lowered counters, and accessible things I need. We're not in a hurry, but someday we do need to start building ourselves a one-story house. So, talking with them will be a nice first step.

I need to find a way to satisfy my hiking desires. I've tried handbikes again, and confirmed that I really don't have the arm strength for them, which means I'm out of options for self-powered vehicles to replace hiking, as I had hoped. So, I'm looking to motorized things. Maybe 4-wheelers or something would be fun. For now, I already have that electric scooter, so I think I should use it more often to get out there, go over the rocks, and get some speed. I spent most of yesterday outside in the rain with my kids, running and scootering around the neighborhood. It was great!