Too Late...

I'm sitting in Coal Creek Coffee in Laramie - the second location, not the original - about to start another day of job searching. 

As a quick aside (are any of my asides ever quick?), I have been spending a portion of nearly every day at Coal Creek since I've been here.  In college it was kind of an original coffee house for Laramie, and I loved it.  It had good personality, good ambiance, good food and drink.  Now they've expanded to a second location right by the stadium on Grand Ave.  It's nice...but generic.  It follows all the rules of a run-of-the-mill coffee house, i.e., oversized couches, rust colored walls, cement floor...but it's not Starbucks, and I would rather give my money to the local shop. So, why am I here if it's not my fave?  Well, because I was staying with my dad in the hotel next door while he's in town for work.

And now an aside to my aside:  Many of you know my weakness for wonderful foam so I must note that I had great foam at the downtown Coal Creek last week.  It wasn't French Press good (just look at the picture of the coffee on their homepage!), and nowhere near the foam at La Boulange in San Francisco, which is the gold standard for foam in my opinion, but the Coal Creek foam was up there.  Ahhh...

Anyway, back to the subject.

So, the song playing in Coal Creek as I walked in was the slower version of Apologize by OneRepublic, you know..."It's too late to apologize...too late..."  For a couple months before I moved I was pretty obsessed with the Timbaland version.  It just so happened to be the song I heard in the car on the Friday before I left when I was stressed out about packing and sick as a dog and I suddenly started bawling.  See this post.  

Walking in and hearing that song suddenly made me sad.  Now, let's get something straight here.  I do not regret moving, I wouldn't move back, and I'm happy being back in the West.  

But hearing that song reminded me of a life I once had...not necessarily settled, but...secure mabye?  Once, three short and simultaneously long months ago, I had a job, an income, an apartment of my own, and now I have none of those things.  And like the song says, it's too late now.    

It was just a flash of sadness, which I am now over.  Particularly since they've changed the station to one that's a little more upbeat. 

Ok, time to start job searching!

Morning Humor

Uncle D. sent this forward to my dad. We read it while having breakfast at Village Inn in Ft. Collins, Colo., this morning.

Since I nearly snorted milk out of my nose laughing I thought I would share.

Purina Diet

"I have two large dogs and was buying a large bag of Purina at Wal-Mart and was in line to check out.

The woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

DUH?!

On impulse I told her no, I was starting the Purina Diet again. Although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital the last time. However, I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes everywhere and IVs in both arms.

I told her it was essentially a perfect diet and the way it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy who was standing behind her.

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her no, I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to need help as he staggered to the door laughing."

All-Around Cowgirl

Saturday night I went out to the ol' Fish On Ranch in Centennial, Wyo., where Apes and her family are the ranch managers.  They were having a birthday BBQ for some family friends and I went out to take a break from big city life in Laramie.  

The ranch is amazing.  It's a private guest ranch where people like Bobby Knight go to fish - and Craig, April's husband, is his fishing guide.  (Yeah...Craig is the one holding the mountain lion on the ranch's homepage.)

Anyway, we had a great time.  I filmed a little going away video in the corral for a friend who will be moving West soon, and enjoyed some burgers and rum and cokes (thought of you CK!) as we watched the sun and some elk go down in the hills.

It was wonderful.

The drama of the night?

I killed my first animal since I've been back while I was driving out there.  I didn't mean to!  The dumb gophery thing darted out in front of me, saw the car and decided to double back.  Big mistake.  Big.  I'm pretty sure I sawed him clean in half.  I was disturbed for about 30 seconds until I remembered those gophery things easily number somewhere in the bazillions.  This sounds a little heartless, but eh, what can you do?    

Ok, a couple of pictures from the ranch...

The entryway at April and Craig's (this is only a portion of the heads):

Still in the entryway: