Mirallel

This last Wednesday while Kiah was on spring break, we went south to Platte River State Park to spend the day together. It was too early in the year for the paddle boats and horseback rides to be open, but there were plenty of trails to explore. We started off climbing the observation tower. It’s a lot sturdier than the one at Mahoney but I think it’s about the same height. We enjoyed the view while being buffeted by the wind. We got to see a train pass by along the shore of the river, ducking in and out of the hills. Then we descended to our car and drove to a lovely picnic area overlooking the river. With full tummies, we ventured out to explore the trails. The way we wanted to go was too muddy, so instead we passed down by the river, crossed a stream, and then clambered up a steep hill to a nice vantage point. By the time we wished to circle back we were on the wrong side of the stream. We kept pressing on, looking for a crossing, which we finally found. However, there were no trails that lead from where we were to where we wanted to be. We cut cross-country, gamely dodging branches, ducking trees, and jumping over gullies. I have a new respect for animals that can manage to wiggle their way through the dense underbrush. When we arrived back at our car, we drove to the other half of the park where the cabins and lake were located. We fed corn to very assertive geese and enjoyed watching a duck dive under the water for food. The weather was perfect the whole time, sunny and cool, and due to the time of year, we practically had the park to ourselves. We hope to go back again soon.

A few warm days to tease me and then we’re right back to below freezing. If it’s going to be this cold it may as well snow, though I hear we are supposed to have lovely weather for Stephi’s birthday party on Sunday. We are going to a symphony concert called Final Frontier which is a selection of space-themed songs including my personal favorite: Holst’s Jupiter! It will be so much fun to hear a live performance of that work. I hope it is sufficiently loud. After the concert we will have the obligatory cake and ice cream which I am looking forward to making this Saturday. It is her 21st so we are decorating our apartment up good with a nautical/ocean theme. Bring on the sticky tac!

I made what felt like 82 phone calls today trying to get some information for work. It’s days like this that make me feel like a telemarketer. I suppose I should be glad that I only have to make so many calls occasionally as opposed to actually being a telemarketer. Only one more day until the weekend!

I got to go on my birthday outing this week: a trip to The Bullet Hole, the local indoor shooting range. How exciting! We produced our gun permit, rented a 9-mm Beretta, and purchased two boxes of ammo. Lane 11 was ours for the next hour. The employee carefully walked us through gun safety and handed us our protective gear. I really despise safety glasses, but at least the ear protection was more like old-fashioned headphones than those foamy things you stuff into your ear canals. Kiah showed me how to load the magazine and then it was time for the moment of truth: Can Melissa fire a real firearm in a competent fashion? The answer…Yes! Not one of my first round of shots missed the target. We were shooting a Robin-Hood style target for the first while, and I won’t claim that all my shots went inside the first couple rings, but I did have more than one bullseye. I must confess a real gun is nothing like an airsoft or bb gun. I was a little intimidated when I saw the kick the gun had and heard the loud report even through the ear protection. However, handling the gun wasn’t all that bad. As long as I was in the correct posture with my right foot back and my arms held somewhat rigid, the recoil was absorbed with my shoulder and back muscles, which are quite sore today! Speaking of arms held rigid, I have discovered yet another thing that is difficult for double-jointed people to do. I can’t lock my arms in the approved fashion, so I had to make do with holding them as securely as I could manage. Kiah thinks that is why my back is sore as he is able to take all the recoil with his shoulders. Then again, his shoulders are also quite a bit more substantial than mine! In any case, between the two of us, we fired off about 100 rounds of ammo, decimated four targets, and generally had a fabulous time. I think we will have to go back again when we can afford it. Too bad we already got our Christmas present for each other.

The big day is over, the ballots are being counted, and we will have a new president. I must admit to being somewhat surprised at the amount of foreign interest in our election. There are news articles with the headlines “Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Around the World” and “Obama’s Win Restores World’s Hope in US.” Perhaps I’m just uninformed, but I don’t see what Obama has promised or is supposed to do that reaches the magnitude of those comments. I know he is anticipated to be less aggressive in his foreign policy, but I haven’t heard of any Ten-Step Plan to World Peace or Free Food for Everyone agenda. All the commentators seem agreed that Obama will bring change, but what type of change still seems vague. I’m also not sure what I think about foreign leaders speaking directly to Obama while he is not the sitting president. Obama intends to act aggressively while president-elect and not wait until the inauguration. Circumstances may dictate such an approach but it doesn’t seem respectful to me. My personal doubts aside, I hope for our country’s sake that he will govern with wisdom and that whatever changes he makes are for the best.

Perhaps he could start by fixing Nebraska’s voter registration system which apparently mislaid my registration. It’s a good thing McCain and the other Republican candidates won for our district or I would have felt like an irresponsible citizen for failing to follow up on my registration. I still do to some extent. Considering that Kiah’s voter information card took over a month to arrive, I wasn’t worried when mine hadn’t appeared. I guess I should have been, but I would have had to realize it by October 20th to do anything about it. Alas.

The local kennel had an offer we couldn’t refuse, so we are now the proud owners of a 5-month old Cairn terrier. For those of you not familiar with the breed, our current dog is basically a Cairn terrier as West Highland terriers are Cairn terriers bred to be white from about 150 years ago. His name is Scotch, and he is settling in quite well at our apartment. Archie doesn’t appear to be jealous (we have been making a point of paying equal attention to them) and seems to enjoy tussling with his new companion. Having two dogs does make it a bit challenging to walk them, but other than that the adjustment hasn’t been too hard. Check out the photos!

Fall is my favorite season, and this fall has been particularly pleasant. The trees still have leaves and our first frost is supposed to happen tonight. I’m happy to be back in Nebraska where fall lasts at least a couple of months and everything isn’t dead and dry by August. This last weekend I took a trip downtown to catch the sights and take pictures. It had been a few months since I had gone on what I term a “photo expedition.” Downtown has some spectacular architecture and a lot of parks and green spaces. I even made it down along the river to where we had our rehearsal dinner cruise and where the new pedestrian bridge is located. I’ll have to go back again and get the parts of downtown I missed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday weekend so much fun! I got to do something special each day so it was like having three birthdays. On Friday I took the day off from work after a particularly stressful week. It was wonderful to be able to sleep in and relax. I had my piano lesson with Mom and I got to chat with Stephi for a bit while I was over, which is always a treat. That evening Betty and Steve came up from Lincoln to take us and Kiah’s parents to dinner. I wanted to go somewhere with a fun atmosphere and also somewhere I hadn’t been before. I looked online and found place called The Drover, an old steakhouse here in town. After much debating, I actually ordered a steak for the first time in my life. Their special was a whiskey steak and it was quite delicious. The salad bar was one of the best I have had in a long time. Not that it had so much more than other places offer, but it was much more flavorful. Add to all that a bottle of superb German wine and you have a dinner fit for a king- er, birthday girl. I was forced to suffer through their rendition of “Happy Birthday” but I got free cheesecake for my pains, complete with a birthday candle! Ooooooh, ahhhhh. And then there were presents. Hooray!

Saturday I once again slept in (probably sleeping off all that steak). Kiah and I went to lunch and then he  surprised me by saying his present to me was a trip to a firing range. Cool! Melissa shooting a gun, I know it’s a scary concept. We tried to go that afternoon, but we need a permit to rent the gun, so that pleasure is deferred to sometime this week. I am quite excited to indulge my superspy-wannabe self. In the evening, our church hosted a hayrack ride/bonfire (I’m sure they picked the date because they knew it was my birthday). We got to get to know more people at the church, in particular some couples our age. We even had Marcus and Rose over to our place afterwards for some games. Hooray again!

Sunday Kiah had to work, so I was left to my own devices. My family came to the rescue and took me out to lunch at Valentinos (mmmm, tasty). It’s not very often we get the whole Bardon clan together, so it was a lot of fun to see everyone. Stephi headed back to Oklahoma later that day and Zach will be heading out this week, so the next occasion will probably be Thanksgiving or Christmas. After lunch, I drove downtown with my trusty camera for a photo expedition. The trees are starting to change and the high clouds made the lighting good, so I wanted to take advantage of it. That and, for living in Omaha much of my life, I haven’t been downtown all that much. It was fun to go exploring and see the buildings and parks. Hopefully, I can post a few of the results in the next week or two.

This post is only slightly belated (cough). Here are photos from our cross-country, or perhaps more accurately cross-state, moving expedition. Kiah’s parents drove down to help us load up and drive. We noticed a difference in the amount of stuff we had to pack this time. Those end tables and bookcases really add up. Last time we had room to spare in our Uhaul but it was a tight squeeze this time around. Good thing we had Kiah and Jim to mastermind the truck loading.

We had the Subaru hooked to the back of the Uhaul so we only had two vehicles to manage. We had great weather for our trip (see below).
We left bright and early in the morning. Well at least early.
We said goodbye to our old apartment and after 500 or so miles we arrived at our new residence.


We very much like our apartment. It is quiet and convenient, and has lots of windows. For any of you that haven’t seen it yet, swing by for a visit. We have a very comfortable couch!