I'm off in 1o minutes to a new adventure! I'm doing something I've always wanted to do...going to the Sturgis Rally on a motorcycle! Now, everyone knows I'm by no means a hard-core biker chick. (Or even moderately-solid-core). But as a former Nebraskan, and a neophyte South Dakotan, the Sturgis rally is an event I hear a lot about, and have always been curious to see. So I'm pretty excited to be going. Besides, the Black Hills are always a great place for a road trip, and I haven't yet spent a weekend with the boyfriend that I haven't enjoyed. So I'm pretty excited!

And prayers for safe travels never go amiss. Hint, hint.

Tea

I will write an ode to tea some day. Besides babies and horses it might be the most wonderful thing God put on earth. Just inhaling the scented steam while it steeps is soul-soothing. It's effects begin before you even take a sip. It's not the caffeine; it works with herbal teas too. It's like nirvana in a cup (Buddhism, not the band. Not that the band is bad, I just don't find them quite as calming).

Ok. The day can proceed again.

Vegetables

My garden is up! The tomatoes and cabbages and peppers I had planted from seedlings are looking well...the Roma even has baby green tomatoes on it. I'll have to watch it carefully though; the plant itself isn't very big, and as awesome as early tomatoes would be, I don't want them killing the plant before it can really start producing. The corn, and beans are about 2 inches tall...I swear, one day they weren't there, and the next I looked out my window to see thin rows of green in my garden. The peas are only just starting to poke out of the dirt. At least, that was last night. Then we got rain overnight, and now it's warm, so they'll probably be looking pretty good by the time I get home. The spinach is also just starting to peek out. There are a few cucumber plants about an inch or so high as well. I'm pretty excited; I'll have to post pictures one of these days!

The strawberries, however, are being preyed upon. Every time I see a hint of pink in the strawberry patch, I get hopeful...then I check them later to see how they are doing, and they've been eaten! Just the red bits...the culprit tends to pick out the red cheeks of the strawberry, and leave whatever is still green. I've caught both birds and squirrels cavorting in the patch, so I might have to see what I can do to put up some netting or something around them. Poor strawberries! Don't even have a chance to get ripe.

Debating on planting some butternut or acorn squash yet too. I think acorn.

First Time in a Long Time

I went fishing this weekend! I haven't been fishing since I was 16; that was the first year that I had to buy a fishing license, and I wanted to go snagging for paddlefish with my dad. So that would be the last time I'd been fishing, up until this weekend. The boyfriend got me a fishing pole, so I got a license, and off we went, to the Palisades along the Big Sioux River. It was a good time...I caught 3 bullheads, and he caught a couple as well, along with a smallmouth bass and a mud turtle...which we threw back. (Though I hear turtle tastes like chicken...)

I also got a couple of tomato plants, and a bunch of seeds to put in my garden. I'm so happy that my new place has a garden patch in the yard. There's a strawberry patch as well, with some of them already turning pink! It's very exciting. Planting corn, beans, peas, cucumbers, spinach, and basil, at least. My mom also gave me some tomato plants, a few cabbage plants, and some peppers. I said "Mom, I don't eat peppers. What am I going to do with them?" And she laughed and said, "well, maybe Sarah will eat them." I guess I can make salsa out of them, that would be good.

New Era, definitely

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm enjoying my new job. Working at the Oral History Center at USD, if you missed that memo. I probably shouldn't be posting this while I'm at work, but hey, you need quick breaks even from jobs you like, right? It's been a good experience: I'm learning new things, I have employers who care about what actually goes on, and who are motivated. My co-workers are easy to get along with. The work is interesting, and I can take pride in doing it, because it's something that actually needs to be done. It doesn't feel so futile, working here, you know? It's mentally stimulating work, so my brain isn't fermenting anymore, and I feel like this job could actually take me somewhere that I want to go--instead of being stuck in storage all my life. Ok, well, technically, I'm still in a "storage" room of sorts, but it's a dynamic storage room instead of a static storage room.

Hey, it made sense to me. Deal with it. :P

I'll be moving into a house in Vermillion this weekend. Rental. It's got a yard, and space for gardening, which is mostly what I care about! And I have a place to do all of those messy SCA projects that you don't want to do indoors now! Like retting flax!

I'm going to miss a number of Sioux Falls peeps. But I was already missing a number of Vermillion peeps, so what can you do? It's been great reuniting with some people down here tho. Well, not that I ever really lost track, but it's wonderful to be able to actually hang out with them again. And it's even better being in Vermillion this time around, because I got to choose to be here, instead of feeling like I was stuck here until I finished a degree. I really do like this town.

Of course, the timing was somewhat unfortunate...of course I had to start dating Boy in Sioux Falls the day before (literally!) I start a new job in a town an hour away. But an hour isn't bad, and I think that space is a good thing to have in a new relationship. It seems to be working, anyway!

I guess this means that any plans I had for grad school will be put off for awhile longer though, if I still decide I want to go. This job is grant-funded for 2 1/2 years...after that, who knows. I mean, I'm sure I could get out of it if I really wanted/needed to, but I'd like to finish the job I start, instead of being here to get things started, and then go gallivanting off to England or some such to take more classes. It's ok though...I'm still not sure what I want to go for, because all of the programs that look REALLY awesomely perfect don't really offer me too many future job prospects other than teaching college, which isn't something I think I want to do. And I just cringe thinking about how much MORE in debt I'd be when I finished a degree that wouldn't get me a job to help pay off said debt. Sigh. Well, I have at least 2 1/2 years to think about it!

So that's mostly what's new with me. What's new with you?

Oh...and I'm going to Crown Tourney this spring. In a week. As a consort. I still haven't decided if I want him to win or not...

Wish me luck, however it turns out!

New Era, or just a New Job?

I've FINALLY found a new job, which I will be starting on March 23rd, 2 days after we get back from Gulf Wars. I'll be working for the American Indian Studies program at USD, cataloging the collections in the Oral History Center. It looks like it will be an exciting job, if only I can figure out how to do it! I'm looking forward to it: to getting out of Sioux Falls, to getting away from hell...I mean, the Lab at Augie..., to being in a smaller town, and to having a new challenge. Oh, and to having my job provide me with health insurance and paid vacation time! But I do have some apprehensions about it as well. Mostly that I won't be able to do everything necessary for the job. It's pretty important that it be done right, and I have to figure out how to catalog this stuff on my own. It doesn't look like I'm going to have a lot of direction here! But I'm willing to give it my best shot. I will make something work! Anyway, so I'm nervous, but very excited. And not too nervous just yet, because I have Gulf Wars to get ready for first! One thing at a time. Wish me luck!

Changing Direction

Before I drifted off, last night, into a sleep full of many very strange dreams, I had what may have been an epiphany. Ok, maybe not an epiphany, but a very significant thought, anyway.

I miss horses. And dirt. And hay. And kids. And pulling weeds. And going for walks. And wind in the grass.

And I want them, more than I want England. More than I want an important job in an important museum. I'm not sure I can have both.

So I need to do some serious thinking about what I want to do, where I want to go, my personal goals in life. Maybe it's not as tricky as I've always thought it would be. Actually, thinking about it, there is an overwhelming sense of peace that has come with this realization. Maybe I've found the right track.