lots of work

while i did have to roll out of bed at 4 again this morning to make it to laramie by 7:30, i was rewarded with another sunrise, this one in the shirley basin as the sun rose behind laramie peak:

i think sunrises were created to reward those people who are early risers, whether voluntary or otherwise. i enjoy taking off from town at 5 when it's still pitch black and seeing the sky gradually lighten before the sun breaks over the distant horizon, which is generally lined by mountains in wyoming. i did, however, enlist mexican martinez to give me a wakeup call. for some reason he always gets up at 4. he's crazy but it works out well for me.

yesterday was a full day, spent at the state fair in two different meetings and then at the roundup's ag hall of fame picnic that we host each year. this year i actually had friends come. :-) bout time, after three years. friend b who works for the bureau of reclamation in casper came over from the roping with his roommate and friend j was also there, of frozen goose fame. friend k was also there - she works for senator barrasso's office in casper and we often to run into each other when we're out on the town. aside from them, there were also many people who are acquaintances through my job with the roundup.

(i find that many ranch boys in wyoming think farming is awful, but that's because they've had to irrigate and bale hay throughout the night. that's what they list as the worst parts of it, so if you take those away, like in iowa, it's really not so bad.)

this is j and the frozen goose. i found out last night that after i posted it on facebook her coworkers found it and printed it out. sorry, j. :-D


i left from the picnic pretty quick to get back to casper and clean the office and write two articles for this week's paper.

two days ago i worked up an offer on a house with my realtor, but i found out this morning that i wasn't taken up on it. so i keep looking.

i came to laramie this morning for governor freudenthal's wind energy symposium. friend k is also here today, as well as many other people who were at the picnic last night. this meeting goes through 12:30 tomorrow, and tonight i plan on meeting up with iowa friend a for dinner.

on my way down i called a two people i know are early risers - my dad and friend G. of course, they were both already up and working when i called and it's nice to kill some time driving with a phone conversation. i had already had a way too cheery phone conversation with scott at 4 a.m. :-P