random

1. I was leaving the library this morning and walked past a average, normal looking man - jeans, t-shirt, ball cap and from the jingly sound emanating from his feet, he seemed to be wearing tap shoes. Odd? I say yes.

2. Our RS has a little group that is hiking together occasionally. This Saturday we are walking from one end of town to the other - 15 1/2 miles. I haven't been walking/hiking much recently so I thought I'd better get out of the house this week and get moving. I hiked in the Phoenix mountains 2 hours yesterday and 2 hours today. It feels great. I don't want to be the weak link on our walk this Saturday. I probably still will be. One of the girls going is a marathon, triathlon, hike rim to rim through the Grand Canyon kind of girl. I will just wave to her as she disappears in the distance.

3. The desert is greening up in a few little spots. It looks pretty.

4. I can't figure out the weather. Yesterday, I was out walking at noon, and was a little worried about sun burn. Today I started at 8:30 and had a sweatshirt on zipped up to my chin and the hood up and was wearing gloves. It was quite chilly for about 30 minutes of my hike, then I rounded a curve and was in the direct sun and had to start stripping layers off. Then on the backside of the mountain, I started shivering again. I think I added 15 minutes to my hike stopping to take my jacket on and off.

5. I discovered some inequality in the Phoenix Parks and Recreation bathroom system. There is one single solitary handicap accessible restroom in the park where I often hike. It has a door. It has a lock. It has lots of space. It has a sink, of course. But here is where the inequality is blatant: it has HAND SOAP! I get why a handicap bathroom needs more floor space and needs a locking door. What I don't understand is why the rest of the population doesn't need a door. There is always such a high risk of being bombarded by a 4th grade field trip group at a very vulnerable moment. But OK, I'll survive. But here is what really gets to me -- why oh why does this bathroom get soap? There isn't a bathroom in any park in this city that offers soap. There is often a warm air hand dryer that you can bake the bathroom germs onto your skin, but no soap. Why is that? Why do I have to carry my own personal bottle of germ protectant when I visit the city parks? I am torn between being excited that I discovered this little gem of a bathroom, and being ticked that this city only offers soap to a select few.

6. Brady has been gone a week now. I am glad we got a couple notes from him this week, because I wouldn't have survived a whole week without hearing from him. I thought this would be easier. For goodness sakes, this kid has lived away from home for two years already, however, we could always text or call. In the book "The Time Traveler's Wife" as the main character travels through time, nothing goes with him. As he leaves, there is a pile of clothes and shoes where he stood. That is what it felt like as we unloaded the van after our trip and there was Brady's backpack, shoes and clothes that he had been wearing the previous few days while he moved on to the next time/space continuum.

7. It's fun hearing about my niece's experiences on her mission too. Kelsie and Brady are in the MTC together. She is a fun, fun girl.

8. American Idol starts again tonight. I love that show. The judges are all changing though, I hope it is still as good.

9. On the topic of American Idol, I purchased a CD of an American Idol runner up a couple of years ago -- Blake Lewis. I liked his performances at the time, but I can't stand most of his CD. I think he might be a fun performer to watch, but I've deleted most of his songs from my player. There are only a couple of songs I like, but I don't know what they are because my music player has writing so small that I can't read it out in the sun while I'm walking. I pretty much operate my little MP3 by a Braille system.

10. I wanted some decorative metal shutters for the back of our house. I went to the place that did a little metal work for us before and it was now a used tire shop with hispanic signage everywhere. I walked in asking where the metal shop was. I was told it was gone, but he told me he knew a guy and what did I need? I described to him what I wanted, thinking he was going to send me to another shop. In the meantime, he had customers - two older women - sitting in their car, jacked up at an angle while they were in the middle of a tire change. So this guy is talking on the phone to his metal worker friend and trying to describe what I wanted. I had some measurements, but not a clear description of the decorative part of it. I was going to look at what they had, and pick something. As we went through a LONG conversation being translated into Spanish over the phone, I apparently ordered two metal decorative shutters, sight unseen to someone I don't know who they were or where they were located. I also needed them in 3 days, over a holiday weekend so I didn't have time to go anywhere else anyway. In the meantime, these 2 women were still jacked up at an angle in their car waiting for their tire guy to get back to them. We got the shutters on time, and I like them. So apparently the sign that said "Llantas Usadas" doesn't mean "Used Tires" but could actually be translated to mean "I've got a guy that can take care of all your Metalwork needs".