Click through to Flickr to see more of Rocky Martin’s adventures!

Janiece may well be the MOST awesome person in the entire world.

I… I have no words…

We didn’t pay $40/person to tour the houses, because we only had part of an afternoon. Despite that, it was fascinating.

(there are more pictures of this tree if you click through.)

Plus, a columbine flower.

(although in theory, the word could be sarcasm)

I was surprised to learn there are still women for whom that word has a sting and a bite.

When I was in college, I read (in Cosmo of all places) an article on the word “bitch,” which pretty much said that men use it as a term to put uppity women in their place. You know, like when we’re being strong, and assertive, and standing up for ourselves.

That was the point when I decided that the word bitch would never bother me, because I wanted to be a strong woman.

Of course, I spent several years confused about the term “strong woman” and precisely what that meant, (Note to my college aged self: You’re doing it completely wrong.) but eventually I came to terms with what it meant to me to be a strong woman, and I’ve been working on it ever since.

A couple years after college I came upon Elizabeth Wurtzel’s book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women (I’m amazed that the cover on the current version is toned done from the cover on the version I have, which I love. How did a book praising strong women get its cover toned down?), which reinforced that idea.

…I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy…

Here’s the thing, it’s not shocking for a man to believe and act in such a manner, but–even today–we’re still fighting over what feminism is or should be or who should make the sammich. (Every time I see one of the arguments I want to shut all participants in a very small, very dark basement, for a very long time.)

We can have all the debates about gender equality and sexism and male privilege we want, but it seems to me that as long as women are called bitches for saying what they think and for standing up for what they believe, it’s pretty clear what the state of things really is.

Misogyny still exists. Some of us still deal with it Every Single Day. And as long as it does I’ll willingly and proudly take the title of bitch. I will not sit down and shut up and be nice, just because that’s what society expects me to do.

I will laugh loudly. I will be brash and outspoken. I will tell you my opinion and you are free to debate me but you have to use rational arguments and logic. I will stand up tall and make my presence known and not stand in a corner waiting to be acknowledged.

I will continue be a bitch, and I’ll continue to proud to be called one.

Drive from Fort Collins to Denver

Fort Collins

It was somewhat odd–I’m used to cemeteries around here, and found myself somewhat shocked at how recent the stones of the founders were. Of course, I’m pretty sure at least some of the stones had been replaced.

Plot and stones of the founders of Parker, Co.

These seem like original headstones:

These seem likely to have been replaced at some time in the past half-century:

I really liked this headstone. The local rock with the metal plate inscription I think is a lovely touch.

This headstone made me almost inexplicably happy. (As perhaps a bit of clarification, I used to collect stones and pebbles to give to my grandmother when I was little. She saved them in a glass jar in her kitchen.)

But aside from that, it was a beautiful day, and there were lots of spring flowers.

Our first trip was to Dinosaur Ridge, which is a free park. It was a steep hike in parts, but beautiful, and I was sorry my ankle didn’t like the climbing, because I would have liked to have spent more time there.

This didn’t make a lot of sense to me…

…until a later walk along Sulfur Gulch clarified things for me.

Here are some of the dinosaur tracks:

And then the hike:

And we found a baby rattlesnake! (No one was bitten)

That pre-soak lead me to wonder–would an automatic car wash get your car cleaner if you went when it was raining. If a pre soak does anything at all, then I would think that your car already being wet from the rain would help soak the grime off.

Any argument as to why this would not be so?

round
flip
plug
light
dark
yellow

Today’s word is: inconsistent

That really isn’t anywhere accessible to young, gullible kids.