The Hazard Chronicles

I don't really know what to write this week. It seems like a lot of things are happening all at once. Rachel has much of her family here for a loose-ish family reunion. I just finished working the craziest month of my entire life. There was an act of senseless violence in our area that made national headlines. My sprained wrist is keeping me from enjoying much of what I love in terms of physical activity. Evelyn finally got a job as a dishwasher at a sushi restaurant. The saga of the lost stuffed-owl, dating back to March, came to frustrating close with many unanswered questions. And on and on and on. All of these things feel like they deserve a mention and could merit a post on their own, but I just don't have a ton to say about each. Maybe I'll just do little sections.

Family in town: As mentioned in the last post, Rachel's sister has moved to Post Falls. At various points during the next month, pretty much her entire family has come, or will come to visit and hang out and help with the move. We all do things together sometimes, but since I am usually at work during these moments not much has changed for me personally. It will be interesting to see, as time goes by, how these relationships evolve and how intertwined our lives become.

Work: There isn't a lot to say here, except that I have recently been taking on a few bigger cases with more complex treatment. This has resulted in more work stress than is normal for me, but I feel like it's good stress and that, professionally, I am growing. Cool. But still, it's nice sometimes to just do simple stuff and to push myself in other areas outside of work. It's a balancing act, for sure. I think in the end, it will result in greater fulfillment and satisfaction in all areas, but it would be nice to take breaks from time to time.

Violence: There was a shooting near here. It seems senseless. Then again, senseless doesn't seem surprising anymore, which makes it so it kind-of does make sense in it own convoluted way. I think we can all agree that it's dumb, a pointless tragedy, and that things like this resonate for years and years in small communities like the one we live in up here. There is also a powerful way that small communities come together and support each other in times like these. 

Evelyn's job: Ev has been trying to get a job for a while now, but it seems like for a while it was sort of a half-hearted type of trying. But then money started getting tight because of a series of traffic incidents, and her motivation went up. She finally found some part-time work as a dishwasher. It's not much, but it'll pay the bills.

My wrist: I think I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but I went off a bike jump with a trailer attached to my bike, and got held back and didn't clear the gap, and fell and sprained my wrist. I'm sure it was funny to watch. It hasn't really affected every-day activities, and I can still work just fine (thank goodness), but rock climbing and heavy weightlifting are off the table for probably a few months. I am bummed about this more than I let on.

Stuffed owl: Addy had a stuffed owl named Puff that meant a lot to her. In March, we took a ski vacation to Boise, and Puff was left in the hotel room where we stayed. We have had ongoing talks with the hotel people, and tried to get them to send it back, but these attempts always ended in frustration. Finally, we decided to go on a rescue mission. We would drive to Boise, do some cool things along the way, and rescue the owl. We called the hotel to alert them of our plan, and it turns out that nobody actually knows what happened to Puff. It's not there. Puff is lost, probably forever. Addy is very sad about this.

Renaissance Faire: The world of "Ren-Faire's" (which overlaps into anime, sci-fi, and comic-conventions) is one that I have never fully understood. I still don't. But Jackson and a small group of Dungeons & Dragons friends are pretty into it, and they do all the cosplay things, and there was a thing in Sandpoint this weekend that they went to. Jack dressed as his D & D character, a warrior princess with a whip. That was interesting.

Ladies Weekend: Rachel got out with some of her friends for a weekend of relaxation. They paddleboarded, hiked, and played up in Wallace. I think they had a good time.

Addy in Montana: Addy was invited to go to Montana for several days on vacation with her friend. 

Upper Priest Lake: This is how me and the girls spent our weekend- a short overnighter to Upper Priest. It is beautiful up there. 

Maren's Recital: Maren had a voice recital this week where she sang "Popular" from the popular play, Wicked. I think she did a pretty good job, but she said she missed a few notes. Overall, I think she had a good night. It is always a pleasure to hear her sing. 

Here are some pictures:

I had a night to myself and I went and saw this play. Topdog/Underdog. It won a Pulitzer a while back. At first I didn't like it, but Rach and I met for dinner afterwards, and as I was describing it to her I found myself more and more impressed with the way the themes played out.

Addy and Sarah in Montana

This is from a night at our house where we all watched the stage version of Frozen (on tv). There were a few other activities surrounding this and some food and it made for a good Frozen party.

From Maren's recital

Ladies weekend

Jackson

I have a bunch of photos of our hiking trip. We were off to a little bit of a rough start because, when packing, both of these girls used broken packs. We have lots of other perfectly good packs sitting at home. This made their hike interesting. Good thing it was only three(ish) miles.

Have a good week!