kilbourne hole

went on a hike yesterday to kilbourne hole, a maar volcanic crater about an hour southwest of here, in the middle of nowhere basically.



the crater doubled as a shooting range.



in fact, the only other person out there was an ATV enthusiast with a gun on his belt. however, he was kind enough to offer us water. even though he was sitting on his running 4-wheeler on the edge of a cliff wherein a nesting owl was perched. that was weird. snapped a few photos of the owl, but they didn't turn out too well. here is the cliff (sans gunman), with owlie somewhat visible in her hobble:



we took another one through our binoculars...it is posted on flikr. with many other photos of the hike.

this place is a bit of a geographic anomoly. click here for more info about kilbourne hole



in related news, a black widow spider decided to set up shop behind the tank of our toilet.

tree

got my phone back. yeehaw. now everyone, don't all call at once... the line'll get all gummed up. just kidding.

so, back to the daily routine. our minnesota trip was a bit of a blur. joe's blog captured the essence of that. not sure what else to say, except that it was great to see everyone, albeit under such terrible circumstances.

andromecus--or, andy hurt, as he is more commonly known--wrote a touching bit about chase on his blog recently. these kind of personal testimonies filled several hours of the memorial service. everyone had something different to say, and i was blown away by each and every one of the stories. really each speaker did such an amazing job. they really captured the essence of chase.

we had to wake up and rush off to the airport sunday; unfortunately, our plans to meet up with jaimi, dwyer, ari, jesse, nick and some other folks for breakfast didn't work out due to the early-ish flight. and that was a disappointment. didn't get the time to check in with the fam, either. but, as joe said, it was an ultra-condensed trip. may have spent more time in transit than waking hours in MN, or at least it seemed that way.

um. back to working with the kiddos. which i probably shouldn't call them that because most of them are bigger than me. back to frustrations with my job. and yet, time is flying by.

want to start gardening, not sure if it's too early or what. it's definitely some type of spring here, as evidenced by my lack of socks. i want some new shoes. see how interesting blogs can be ?

see, look: here's an interesting diagram:



where do blogs fit on the tree diagram of human knowledge?

currently, i am on branch: reason - philosophy - science of man - logic - art of remembering - memory - natural

and, howard, did you like the decisions diagram i sent you ?

just a quick note to say that i left my cell phone in minnesota this weekend, so i won't be getting any calls for a little while.

reflections on the weekend forthcoming. it was difficult but amazing. we are so glad we were able to make it back.

shine on you crazy diamond

as many of you know, we'll be flying out for the memorial service tomorrow morning. probably have to leave about 5am from home, and will be in mnpls @340pm.

it has been a long week, and it is starting to catch up with me...and joe too. we are both emotionally and physically exhausted.

sunday night, when we first heard chase was missing, and then later heard he was found dead, it was just too unbelievable. we had no details at all, so i was holding out for the chance that there had been a misunderstanding. mainly i was shocked and in denial i guess. the second day, when the horrifying details started to emerge, that was when it definitely hit the hardest...talking to friends to the first time, breaking the news, imagining how it happened. it was all too much.

i know it sounds corny, but for me, listening to 'shine on you crazy diamond', i had a breakdown monday night. one thing about chase was that he was really intense about his music...so things like neil young and pink floyd have a particular resonance right now with this whole mess. ben and jim, also so far away from everyone, had a similar monday: listening to music, reflecting, drinking.

it'll be a difficult weekend, but it is so very crucial for us to connect with everyone...and to have some kind of closure with chase. obviously it won't be over after this weekend, but it will bring some element of concrete reality to the situation. it's hard to be down here, so removed from everyone at a time like this. it just seems unreal.

thank you to all who called/wrote/etc. this past week. the outpouring of support is incredible. for those of you not active on myspace, take a look at chase's profile. he's got people around the globe expressing their grief & love for him. myspace can be pretty silly most of the time, but i think in this instance it has proved to be a really valuable resource for people to connect. there are also so many videos online of his work; i was talking to dwyer about this...it's just amazing that he is there. his voice is there.

well, joe just got home so we'd better get to the laundromat...so we can pack for the morning. more later...

chase korte

chase,

to me, you are an inspiration. you were a force of nature. with boundless energy for life...

you followed your heart, and you had more drive than anyone.

you were rugged, with your beat up old boots and worn leather jacket. we knew you as 'the perfect human specimen'...those calves said it all.

at the U sometimes you'd come up in random conversation, and people would say, incredulously, 'you're roommates with chase korte !?!?' [pronounced kore-tay]. because you were legendary, and universally loved.

nothing was better than to be with you when you were excited about something (which was often). such exuberance! and you would stutter a little, maybe shout a little, and always maintained eye contact.

this is the chase i love. warm, rugged, driven, intense.

your energy lives on in all of us. i love you.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa !

My Grandpa Hatch, my Mom's Dad, is awesome ! It's his 80th birthday today ! hurrah!

Here's a pic of him and my wonderful Grandma at Eric's wedding last September:


Sorry i can't be there for the big party. I love you, Grandpa!

hike

instead of watching the superbowl, we went on a hike. joe wanted to do some bouldering. we never really found the spots tho. but, we DID find a horseshoe. horseshoe, colts, lucky charm. coincidence ? i think not.



aside from that, we also found loads of empty shot gun shells. on the road in, we passed a bunch of guys with huge rifles. the cows were all over the place. no fences or anything. i don't really understand how they survive on dry grass and no water. also, the extreme quiet of the desert was interrupted with random blasts from the white sands missle range. eerie.

i was sad to miss prince at the halftime show. he is amazing ! so i got all nostalgic about the prince concert on the streets of downtown. don't let his high heels deceive you...he is only 5'2", my height. how i love that tiny man ! also, 'purple rain' in the pouring rain reminds me of when i saw REM at midway, and it started pouring for the encore 'it's the end of the world as we know it...' ah, lovely memories.

one final MN-related note: garrison keillor checks in weekly at salon.com. read it.

what the heck ?

RUSH ? this is laughable.