Back in Summit County... momentarily. The weather has been phenomenal, we hit seventy degrees one day. I am back to running again, now that the weather has decided to let me. My loop is a four and a half mile jaunt around the Three Peaks golf course, including perhaps a five hundred verticle feet climb in the middle mile. Someday, I'll own one of those handy-dandy GPS tracker thingies that tells me the elevation I am at at any given point, giving my legs and lungs a reason for burning, even though my watch tells me I am running at an impossibly slow pace.

B. has decided that, in pursuit of spending more time together, he shall accompany me on my runs... on his bike. It suits me fine, he can carry a water bottle and provide me with conversation. Whether or not I can carry on a conversation is a good guage of whether I am working out too hard. The rule of thumb, they say, is a good four words between gasps. And I can still run at my own pace, and not wait on another runner, or slow them down.

As suddenly as our season ended, the next phase is kicking in. Painting, remodeling, carpet layers, window washers, refurnishing, pressure washing garages and driveways, repaving driveways... will we get it all done in time for another winter season? And all the yards that need to be tidied, beer bottles and cigarette butts picked up, and after that, the grass will grow, and so will the noxious weeds, and the swallows will build nests, and as much as our summer guests want a true rocky mountain experience, they complain long and loud about swallows under the eaves outside their windows. Swallows are protected. By law, their nests cannot be removed after their eggs have been laid, until they leave them in the fall. If we do not stay on top of discouraging them to build on our properties, they will be stuck there and we will be stuck with getting that phone call day after day.

We have already rented almost all of our available units to long-term summer guests. It's that time of the year again. We are hoping to avoid the nightmare of last year, having to harass half a dozen broke tenants every month for last months rent, only to finally have it payed on the day this month's rent is due, by doing very thorough screening and credit checks on prospective tenants. So far, it has been a much better experience for us. Just one of the things you learn in your first year, that can go so much smoother your second year. Just today, we got a check from the Red Cross, providing interim housing for several misplaced victims of an apartment fire (incidentally, the same apartment we lived in last year... the guys who lived below us).

This month is one of the slowest for short term rentals, shoulder season. Everywhere, employers are closing their doors, telling everyone to scram, take a break, come back when the tourists do. The employees who stay on take to regarding everyone with suspicion who comes through their doors (Who are you? What do you want? please dont hurt me...you sure you're a customer? let me see some ID...) Ok, I am embellishing a bit. But anyone vacationing here this time of year, looking to buy suvenier tees and shot glasses, is usually looking for a bargain, and won't be too convinced that they really need the fleece joker hat with the spikes shooting in all directions. They wont be leaving fifty dollar tips or buying drinks for all of their friends. No, this is the season of the two for ones, the local's specials, the end of season blowouts. Subarus once again rule the road, folks once again notice when a Texas tank (a large, shiny SUV with Texas plates) rolls into town. Once again, one can pump gas at the cheapest place in town, without taking fifteen minutes to pump sixteen gallons, because a Texas tank is sharing your pump on the other side. If time is money, the Sav-o-mat saves nothing. One can read the paper, do their paperwork for the day, have a long and meaningful conversation with a complete stranger while one tops off their tank. The only way to make filling up there even slightly worth it is if you have nowhere to be, and you have a pump all to yourself, with nobody on the other side.

The factory stores no longer bustle with conspicuous consumerism, and pretty much everyone wearing designer blue jeans tucked into a pair of Uggs has left town. All the pretty things are gone, the snow bunnies, the jocks who ski in letter jackets, the trophy wives and doctors skiing in fur. For about a month, we are left with only the best that the Summit has to offer- the year-rounders and the summer construction workers. The year-rounders are easy to spot- Dog fur on fleece, cargo shorts no matter the weather, ratty A-basin tees, hairy faces and bodies, sinewey bird legs. Bumper stickers anti government, corporation, war, and global warming, pro love, peace, and legalized marijuana. Ski racks replaced with bike racks. Snowboards replaced with skateboards. And the construction workers are everywhere as well- testosterone, sunburns, toolbelts, constant hammering and buzzing of powertools, constant chatter in an indistinguishable mixture of languages. Woodframe skeletons sprouting everywhere, at a frenzied pace because winter is coming.

We impulsively booked flights to Hawaii several days ago. We were eating breakfast the other morning, bemoaning the fact that we had to go back to work, wondering where we could go next, and agreed it would need to be somewhere warm. Summit County is still a bit chilly. (Although the daffodils are finally blooming... I know, the rest of your daffodils bloomed a month and a half ago!) But the trails are still covered with snow, anywhere that there are trees to shade them, severely cutting down on one's options. Anyway, the result of our bemoaning was more bemoaning, that our options were limited because we have not yet applied for passports, so we were left with only a few options. We chose Hawaii because neither of us have been there. Only after booking the flights, did we begin to research lodging and activity options. We will divide our time between Oahu and Kauai, Oahu because it was the cheapest to fly into, and Kauai because of the options for outdoor activities. We have a tent in the smallest imaginable package, borrowed from some friends, which I am hoping can be our lodging accomodations the majority of the time. The new waterproof hiking boots are definitely coming with us, as well as biodegradable soap. We are planning on living as we do in Moab, on backpack food -gatorade, peanuts and craisins, and then splurging on one actual meal a day, which is rather small because by the time we get to it, our insides have shrunk enough to want to reject it. It is amazing how little food one can actually get by on, and how quickly we forget that small fact when we get back to civilization, where burgers and ice cream are so readily available.

Perhaps I shall find time for a brief report while we are there, perhaps not. We are planning to leave on the eighth, and be back on the nineteenth of May. So check back after the eighteenth for a trip report and pictures...