hike #6

Hike #6
1/20/19
2-2.5 miles
my neighborhood out-and-back

I meant to take a hike yesterday (Saturday) since it was 50 degrees outside, but Rose woke up with a fever of 104! That called for a day of snuggles instead. We watched two Harry Potter movies together, and she watched some of the new Carmen Sandiego series on Netflix while I quilted. Today I got out for a quick hike after the sun rose and before she woke up - and also before the snowstorm started today.

quilt #22

I made this quilt in record time! Rose and I went to my cousin Sarah's wedding in October, and I used their wedding colors to select the fabric in November (they had already selected the design). I finished the whole thing on New Year's Eve - only two months from start to finish, which absolutely has to be a record for me. It's bigger than a throw but smaller than a twin. Hopefully they like it!

NUMBER ONE
7/07 - Fractured Pinwheels (for the Burmen)

NUMBER TWO
12/07 - Roman Fence (for Gramma Larson)

NUMBER THREE
5/08 - Log Cabin (for my parents)

NUMBER FOUR
9/08 - 30s throw (for my friend Ryan's baby Evan)

NUMBER FIVE
12/08 - Stars and Stripes (for Jack and Marsha)

NUMBER SIX
12/09 - scrap quilt (for our living room)

NUMBER SEVEN
5/10 - Hug and Kiss (for the Failors)

NUMBER EIGHT
12/10 - Amish quilt (for Anne)

NUMBER NINE
12/10 - Corner Stars (for my former boss/mentor Joan)

NUMBER TEN
1/11 - another 30s throw (for my friend Megan's baby Norah)

NUMBER ELEVEN
9/11 -Nature Studies Nine Patch (for friend Mitra)

NUMBER TWELVE
3/12 - I don't remember the name of the design! (for Rose's crib)

NUMBER THIRTEEN
7/13 - Christmas Cactus (for my office at work)

NUMBER FOURTEEN
8/13 - Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for my friend Aryn's baby Vivia)

NUMBER FIFTEEN
12/13 - another Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for Rose to have at school)

NUMBER SIXTEEN
1/14 - Checkerboard Plaids (for Mike)

NUMBER SEVENTEEN
3/14 - Scrap quilt (for Rose)

NUMBER EIGHTEEN
5/14 - Bali Sea Stars (for friend Marcy)

NUMBER NINETEEN
7/14 - Honey Honey Layer Cake Quilt (for friend Anna)

NUMBER TWENTY
8/15 - Wee Woodland (for friend Jane)

NUMBER TWENTY ONE
10/18 - Churn Dash (for me!)

NUMBER TWENTY TWO

12/18 - Between the Lines (for Sarah and Bryce)

hike #5

Hike #5
1/13/19
4-4.5 miles
my neighborhood loop

Yesterday was a lovely, lazy Saturday. I watched some TV, baked some cookies, and finished a quilt top that I started last April. It was wonderful! So this morning I got my weekend hike in with Doug. Sounds like we're in for cold and snow later this week, so it was nice to enjoy the sun and relative warmth one last time!

It started a little chilly...

...but ended quite warm!

hike #4

Hike #4
1/11/19
2-2.5 miles
my neighborhood out and back

What a day!!!! I was supposed to be on a 7am flight to Denver for a training this weekend, so I spent the night at a hotel in Great Falls in order to be better rested for the weekend training. (Ha! I never sleep well the night before flying because I get so anxious I'm going to sleep in and miss my flight. I was wide awake from 3am on.) As I was sitting at the gate at 6am, they announced that my flight was cancelled due to crew sickness! So after waiting in line for what felt like eternity, I  finally got rebooked for an afternoon flight out of Helena instead. I left a message for my work (since they are paying for this training) and also left a message at the main office for the training company so they would know I'd be late. I got some breakfast, then headed home to regroup before planning on heading out again, but this time in the opposite direction. Once home, I found out that I could not attend the training if I was more than one hour late - which I clearly would be since the training started before I was even scheduled to leave Helena. Argh! A stressful couple hours followed as I worked on rebooking my training, cancelling all the reservations I had for Denver, and blocking my schedule for the rescheduled training in March.  And also managing my anxiety that I was going to get fired for wasting company dollars, my worry that I might have missed some detail in all the rebookings and made a mistake that would cost us all more time and money in the end, and my guilt that I wasn't at work when technically I probably could have seen a couple patients if I hadn't gone home to prepare for going to Helena and then to Denver. (Yes, logically I know that I tend to catastrophize, but it feels SO REAL in the moment.)  By the time all these rebooking tasks were done at lunchtime I was utterly FRIED.  So getting a quick hike in seemed like a good plan. As the sun shone down and I hit my rhythm on the path, I started to feel my worries melt away. I began to truly believe that it was all going to be okay, and that I wasn't a terrible person for things that were out of my control. Is this kind of what a runner's high feels like? I ran for about five years but never felt anything even close to a "high." But I do know that I get a calm when I hike (especially when I can feel the sun and can't hear any traffic) that I can't get any other way. And now I can breathe again and perhaps even enjoy the rest of my unexpectedly free afternoon.

Blogging in the sunlight of our new greenhouse!!

hike #3

Hike #3
1/6/19
approx 1-1.5 mi
made our own path up the highest ridge in our neighborhood, just to see what we could see


Went on another hike today, just because the weather was beautiful AND because I'm going to be out of town next weekend (at a training) so likely will be unable to get any hikes in again until the following weekend. My two main hikes in the neighborhood are the 2-2.5 mile out and back that I did for hike #1, and the 4-4.5 mile loop that I did for hike #2. I wasn't in the mood to repeat either of those, so instead we just headed down the road a bit and then hiked straight UP to the highest ridge in our neighborhood, just to see what we could see. It was AMAZING. The pictures don't do it justice.

straight UP the snowy ridge
(Doug beat me!)

WOW

my attempt at a panorama

Can you see our green roof in the distance?

between the big rocky outcroppings is the entrance
to the canyon - between them you can see where the
plains of Montana start...

there's our house :)

hike #2

Hike #2 
1/5/19
approx 4-4.5 miles
my standard neighborhood loop (with elevation change)

Most of last week's snow melted, at least on the slopes with southern exposure. On the north slopes it just refroze into sheets of ice! Luckily I brought my hiking poles along, as they saved me from face planting or landing on my bum multiple times.  Mike and Rose joined me for the last hundred feet of my hike, which was a nice surprise at the end!

hike #1

Background: In 2018 I embarked on the 52 hike challenge - basically, a challenge to myself to get outside regularly and move my body on a more routine basis. The rules were that the hikes had to be at least a mile each (ideally not on pavement), and only one hike would count each day. I think I may have gotten close to the full 52 hikes, but I lost track in the last quarter of the year so I'm really not sure. So this year I'm recommitting! Welcome to #52hikechallenge2019, which I am committed to documenting through this blog.

Hike #1 
1/1/19
approx 2.5 miles
an out and back in my neighborhood

We got about 5" of snow the day before, so even though the mileage wasn't high, this was a tough hike! I also added on a little side jaunt up a hill at the end in order to take some pictures from a different angle, so that added to the difficulty as well :)