40 Things About Me

It's taken me a while to get around to this -- I was tagged over a week ago by Danielle -- A Girl and HERDogs -- but the sticking point has been trying to find a picture of the dogs with me in it (never mind the "most recent" part of the deal). I take 95% of all of the pictures and am rarely in front of the camera myself. This picture was taken at Ft. Bridger, Wyoming at the site of Thornburg the Dog's grave in June 2007 - it was very, very windy.

Per the rules of this game, I'm supposed to post the most recent picture of myself and my dogs and then write down 40 little known facts about myself. So, here goes . . .

1. I never had a dog growing up because my Dad wouldn't let us have one. Thousands of cats, though. I got my first dog from the Humane Society when my spouse and I bought our first house (back in 1992). Kamp was a German Shepherd/Rough Collie mix and he was a wonderful dog!

2. I am a Troop Committee Member in my son's Boy Scout Troop and am in charge of the yearly Valentine Rose fundraiser -- last year we sold over 300 dozen roses and they filled my entire living room. What an aroma!

3. I hate chocolate. (I ate 2 or 3 of those extra large Hersey Bars back with a couple of friends when I was in grade school and I got very, very sick -- I haven't liked chocolate ever since.)

4. I also hate cheese -- any kind of cheese. (Yes, I realize that's possibly un-American and people ask me how I can eat pizza without cheese, but I really can't stand it -- it's the texture, I think.)

5. My first real job was packing bags of potato chips into boxes at the Clover Club Potato Chip Factory when I was 16.

6. I worked as a waitress at a restaurant at Bear Lake (up near the Utah/Idaho border) the summer after I graduated from high school. I lived on the beach in a mobile home with 6 other girls and because we only worked like 4 hrs. a day, spent the rest of my time playing swimming, playing tennis and sailing.

7. I love to go flyfishing.

8. I moved to Deer Park, Texas (near Houston) with my family when I was 18. It was a major culture shock for somebody who had never lived outside of dry Utah before and the "waterbugs" and humidity about killed me. :)

7. I'm an amusement park junkie and love thrill rides, corny midway games and cheap souvenirs. We buy season passes to the local amusement park, Lagoon, and go often during the summer. I especially love roller coasters. Disneyland is a pilgrimage we make every other year. (Oh, and Elitches in Denver, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags (California and Texas), etc., etc.)

8. I like to go to museums and arboretums while I'm on vacation (I'm a sucker for the Model Train Museums at Cyprus Gardens, Old Lighthouse Museum, Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump, Shore Acres State Park, etc.)

9. I'm quite short - only 5 ft. tall. Even though I am the oldest of 5 children, my sibs are all quite tall. My two youngest sisters are around 5'10 and my brother is 6 ft.

10. In high school I won a dance marathon.

11. I also went to every school dance when I was in high school, but never went once with the same guy.

12. I once went skinny-dipping in a local reservoir with friends after consuming a number of Tequila Sunrises. (It was still daylight. :O ) I don't drink tequila anymore.

13. I didn't learn to swim until I was 30. My mom and one of my sisters and I all took lessons, but I was the only one who learned. I can now swim quite well.

14. I'm a pretty good cook and like to collect different kinds of cookbooks.

15. I am also a book hoarder and, due to space restrictions, recently had to donate around 250 hardback books to a local charity because we had no space available on any of the 12 large books cases we have at our house. I love to read!!!!

16. I once got to sing in a chorus at the historic old Mormon Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was actually pretty exciting.

17. I like to paint. Water color is my favorite and I love to paint plein air. I also like pastels and charcoal, but am not very fond of using oils. I frequently take my painting supplies with me camping and on vacations.

18. When my son was in grade school, I used to volunteer teach art as a 2 or 3 times a month. We did fabulous projects from clay sculpture, textile weaving and drawing. We (all of the 3 sixth grade classes and the parent volunteers) even did an extremely ambitious project of doing a large leaded Iraqi Painted Glass window in the library of the school.

19. I was the manager of the Camera & Records Department at a large department store while I was going to college.

20. I have 4 or 5 great 35 mm. film cameras I never use anymore because I prefer digital. One of these days I'm going to get a DSLR!!

21. Gardening is my favorite hobby and I spend hours in my yard every day (when it isn't covered with snow). Pulling weeds is a great way to work off stress.

22. I love to go hiking in the local foothills and mountains with the dogs.

23. I used to down hill ski a lot, but once I fell and got "tipped" by my ski. I showed the wound to the Ski Patrol at the top of the lift and they made me ski down and get 5 stitches in the First Aid Clinic at the Lodge.

24. I prefer to cross-country ski to down hill.

25. I'm very afraid of heights.

26. I love a good red wine.

27. I love Teva sandals and even wear them in the winter (with socks - how granola). I have a really good Teva tan on my feet all year long.

28. I don't watch television. (Unless I'm traveling for work by myself. I was stuck in Los Angeles in May -- and you don't really walk around much downtown after dark -- so I saw a lot of TV that week.)

29. I can fall asleep with all of the lights on, music playing, people talking, etc. It drives my spouse crazy.

30. I love all kinds of music - classical, rock, punk, celtic, western, zydecko. I have a very eclectic selection on my iPod.

31. I learned to play the violin, clarinet and piano and played in both the Orchestra and Band growing up.

32. I have a "thing" for redheads. :D (Yup, my spouse is a red.)

33. My major in college was physical geography. I really wanted to be a geologist, but there was too much required math - which I sucked at.

34. I pick up rocks from every where I go. My coat and jacket pockets always have rocks in them and they rattle around in the washer every time I do the laundry.

35. I can't watch movies about dogs or other animals. They usually end up making me cry. I ran sobbing from the room when my husband rented "The Bear".

36. Yellowstone National Park is my favorite place on Earth and I would live there, if I could.

37. Walking and spending time with my dogs is one of life's big pleasures. I love my dogs!

38. Camping is always my vacation of choice (and the dogs love it, too).

39. My only (human) kid came over 3 months early and weighed barely 2 lbs. He turned out great, but I never dared do it again.

40. I never respond to chain-mail e-mails and delete them promptly (especially if they say "don't delete this").

Whew! This was kind of an interesting exercise. I'm going to have to reserve the right to "tag' other bloggers at a later date (once I have the chance to scroll through the blogs I read to see who hasn't done this yet.)