Yowza - I chose the perfect moment to look out the window just now.  Lightning struck close by and charred my retinas - then thunder shook the entire house - I kinda dig it, kind of not - as the last bit of rain we had really waterlogged the roof and made the lights do weird things.  I don't like it when the electricals do weird things. It makes me edgy.

I hate being edgy.

I spent most of yesterday warding off panic attacks over things I cannot control because they are not under my ownership. 

I am not good when I am not in control.

Control issues? Why yes, that's me.

But I have also learned that when my instinct kicks in and tries to get my attention, via anxiety of that level - I need to listen. I trust it implicitly. 

So, I listed the ways I can do things to if not fix the situation, then at least be as prepared as possible for things and did those things!  I may not feel 100% better but I am as prepared as I can be and that helps a lot.

Now I really need to stop looking out the window as that is the 2nd time lightning gave me lasix today.  It's kinda cool though, so I will let it be. (and cross fingers that the electricals don't do anything weird)

Private Selection Muffin in a Cup  Honeycrisp Apple Spice

Sounds yummy right?  LOLOLOLOL

​I always have the highest hopes for foods in a cup - so I thought I would document some of my adventures.  I had to laugh though, I only just read a few of the reviews on this one and they are exactly like my experiences. Bad!

I followed the directions exactly and when I turned to look in the microwave - YOWZA. A Mt. Vesuvius of Muffin!

It smelled so good though, so I let it, uh, set?  *snort* and scraped the bits off to nibble.  It tasted fine if a tad soggy-ish and bland.  I thought maybe if I added less water next time it would go better but I dunno, maybe I will search for another muffin in a cup product LOLOLOLOL

Whenever I try a new foods in a cup, I always think of Wall E.... time for lunch...in a CUP!

Wow... ok, gorgeous Sister Moon last night!  It was also cloudy but I was so happy to have gotten a lot of photos before the cloud cover came in RIGHT before totality! Bugger LOL

It was windy and chilly but totally worth standing out in the cold to see this beauty!  I had to laugh, at one point this stoner guy came bopping by with a radio playing and he was asking why so many people were outside looking up at the sky.  Someone said it was because of the eclipse... so he then asked... in all seriousness... solar or lunar?  ;)

I took these with my Canon Rebel T6 and the 75-300 mm lens with a ton of different settings - I was fighting with clouds and way too much ambient light.  I should have gone to a dark hill somewhere but I was here at home and a lot of lights were on. But I am really happy with these.  My friend, WeeCubeMan took some that looked like he was floating in space right in front of the moon - he has tons of great equipments and attachments and scopes. Very fun! I wish I had been there to see all of his great photos.

​Anyway, Happy Full Moon Eclipse! It was a beauty!

  When you buy a paint your own dinosaur kit because the trex has the funniest overbite.

Last night we had the greatest thunderstorm - it crashed and rolled for awhile, which is rare, so I didn't get too annoyed that it woke me up at 2 AM.  

It was still rainy this morning when I decided a trip to Hobby Lobby was in order.  I needed supplies for more embroidery art and found many fun things that I didn't buy. So proud!

If anyone is interested, here are some of the things I have been working on.  Trying to get lots of stuffs to put up in a shop!  Embroidery Fun.

Now, WTF is WRONG WITH PEOPLE

I mean seriously WTF - What kind of deranged idiot goes to a national park to demolish trees and leave their trashy crap everywhere? Murica! Make it great again.

You can try to blame it on the government shutdown but that won't fly.  The orange cheeto may have shut things down because he has to have his daily tantrums but that is NO EFFING excuse for people to trash things. When you visit a park you LEAVE NO TRACE - you pack your shit out with you, you DO NOT leave it to overflow into the streets and grass because you are too damn lazy to pick up after yourself. You also don't go cutting and knocking trees and rocks over because you think it's fun or whatever goes through that stupid head of yours.  That is disgusting and you are only creating more problems. But what do you care? Someone else can clean up after your lazy ass, right?

One of the many things wrong with life in general. If you can't be part of the solution then stay the fuck home.

Ways to help during the idiotic shutdown.

Huh, that was bothering me more than I thought it was. 

Right, then, consider that my PSA for the weekend. ;)
I think I will go color my in need of orthadontia trex and find other ways to help heal the crap things happening right now. *positive thoughts*

  A few months ago I wrote about my PCT infatuation and linked a lot of my favorite PCT hiking blogs. You can read that post here.

This morning I woke up early, which is not in my character at all LOL  with this fully formed idea of walking the PCT virtually.  I have done a handful of virtual races online, where you sign up - for money - to walk miles that go toward the goal of the race online.  Usually there were about 20 to 30 miles total and took place in Rome or England or even bits of Route 66. You counted up your miles walked and uploaded them to the race site and when you finished, you got a shirt or medal. It was fun and it held you accountable because you had to pay a small fee for it.

I was never able to find one for the PCT though and this morning I woke up deciding that since I couldn't physically walk it, I would do so virtually.

I need to figure the logistics of this now. I want to do a check in here on my blog every 100 miles and maybe find photos of the mile markers and some of the trail in the various sections, so I can see where I am virtually walking. 

I will be using my Fitbit to keep track of my miles/steps and only counting the miles/steps of dedicated walks or runs, not just all my steps from morning to night.  This is going to take me a long long time but hey, goals are good, right?

Most hikers have a window of time to walk the PCT due to weather. Heat in the desert to snow in the high sierra's and winter weather in Washington all factors into the hike, so I won't have to deal with that - but most hikes take about 5 months - 20 to 30 miles a day. I will be doing much smaller miles when I can get in a run or walk, but still, I like this long term goal.   Good work out and at the end of this unknown time period, I will have achieved something anyway.

​Goals, I haz dem.