Hello and welcome to An Altitude Problem, in the land of grrrr. Only for us, though. the county has swelled with people in annoyingly good moods. Even Keystone employees are in these awful happy moods lately. They are chatty. In elevators where there is no escape, they rattle about how great it is, another day in paradise. Traffic backs up a half mile with cars leaving Keystone at 4:30. It is a three day weekend, and it shows. Our colds still have not left, in spite of copious amounts of vitamins C and D. Yours truly wonders what has come over her, hating taking the dog out skiing, not feeling like battling the crowds to play in the terrain park or shred the slopes, not that she has the time anyway, during the day. Coming home is not exciting, just another evening to be spent doing more chores, wash the dishes, vacuum the floor again, make fruit smoothies, scrounge in a fridge full of spoiled food and not much else for sustanance. Going to work is more of the same old same-o, rush through the same condos I was in four days ago, and will be in again four days from now. Change batteries in the carbon monoxide detectors, because they malfunction at this altitude and false alarm, causing them to get unplugged and the batteries to run down. Reprogram the same remotes I reprogrammed four days ago. Flip the same breakers back on that I flip back on every time. Same smells of chlorine from the pools and hot tubs, same slimy quartered limes to be dug out of crusty garbage disposals, same overflowing ice makers and closet doors off their tracks. The garbage disposals are the worst. There is no way to be able to see what is lurking, causing the blades to catch, the only option is to reach in. Yesterday it was a pickle. I reached in and felt something finger-sized, limp, and slimy. I recoiled a bit as I forced myself to pull it out. I am terrified that someday i will pull out something truly disgusting, like a dead mouse or (unreasonably) an actual finger.

Looking ahead, we think we may be able to work ahead to cover our work for March first and second, and hope the weather is nice in Fruita. A mountain bike ride where it is dry and somewhat warmish may be just what the doctor orders. I feel a little bad about driving so far for a day and a half of riding bike, but hey. It would save my faithful few from more posts from the land of grrr. There might even be posts from the land of sparkling spring snow and happiness.

Until then, do as I say, not as I do, and love life, because we only get one.