Early Summer Plans

Last Tuesday was Go Pick Up Evan Day. His finals finished on Monday, and the school has a policy that students vacate their dorm rooms within 24 hours of their final final. Never mind that the official end of quarter was actually Thursday. I guess it makes sense from the school's point of view, as I can imagine several ways that stressed students might decide to blow off steam once they don't need to study anymore. And I bet the students are more creative than I am. After we left Davis Wednesday morning, Evan heard from one of his friends still at school that a cow was found inside one of the residence halls. Well, the dairy cow facility is right across the street.

Here are a 2 pictures from the road trip part of the trip; this first one is the gloom I met heading north into Gorman.

It wasn't so bad, but a bit farther north the gloom turned to heavy, heavy fog. Visibility seemed like 150-200 yards. It was scary, heading down a steep grade, knowing there were tractor-trailer rigs nearby yet invisible in the mist.  It was a great relief to drop into the valley and below the cloud cover.

On the return south we stopped to stretch our legs at the Pyramid Lake Visitor Center. Well, stretch and waste some time, as our exit at the south end of The Grapevine was going to coincide with the L.A. evening rush hour.  My plan failed, the visitor center really didn't hold our attention that long (I'd never stopped there before). But I did take a picture of the lake, because I can't remember the last time I've seen it full. It seems like 7 years out of 10 Southern California suffers from "drought conditions", which strikes me as an odd label, seeing how the area is already classified as semi-arid.

It feels very good to have Evan home for a bit, and I'm enjoying it while I can. I love him, admit to feeling frustrated at times over his actions, and I think it's just plain twisted that about the time he started turning into a reasonable being (out-growing those teen years), we sent him off to college.

This weekend we head back to Davis, Evan is taking a chemistry class over summer session. After dropping him off, the dog and I are continuing north. We will visit with friends, and I'll console myself whilst attending the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon. Fiber, fiber, and more fiber. Plus I can stop in and visit Evan on the way south again.

Currently, the Pocket Wheel and I are sampling some of the Shetland roving that arrived last week, and so far it looks like this;

and doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. That tends to be a problem around here.