~Summer Slacker in training...Kaitlyn and a camera shy Bandon, just a day up Camping~

For those of you that follow me on Twitter (as I’m sure everyone twitters these days, right?) or those who are my friends on Facebook (what?!! you haven’t friended me on Facebook yet? WTH?) you know that I snuck out of town again last week. I couldn’t help myself, it’s the allure of Mountains and the seasonal salmon run……

My current ‘at home status’ is simply a temporary pit-stop. I’m leaving again this Wednesday. It’s the fourth of July weekend ~ I must go, no choice,  no apologies, adios style!

It would be un-American not to go enjoy the weekend, right? As for leaving on Wednesday, well that’s just a preemptive maneuver to avoid the weekend crowd and claim a banner camping space. It’s a dog eat dog world on a holiday weekend, fight for your bone, king of the hill, claim your territory flag quickly sort of deal. Early departure, well, I’m just smart like that~

This is the first summer since I started blogging (as some of you can vouch) that I’ve tried to touch base in between my frequent departures. In the past I just took off, traveled, did my thang and usually around September I’d pop in for a, hey I’m alive, blog post. It feels a bit strange this year to keep admitting  just how often I take off for days at a time. If someone was watching my action I imagine it would hurt the neck, a bit like a tennis match, back and forth, to and fro, there she is and there she goes……

Just a regular morning in the mountains

Welcome to my world~

I took this picture a week ago on a trip. It should illustrate why I’m on the run all through the summer. There are so many things to see, so many moments to etch into my memory and simply put….there is so much beauty out there I can’t bear to risk missing any of it.

 I’m not sure if that desire makes me a true slacker or if I’ve just constructed a life that allows for personal exploration and frequent adventures.  Movement outside of my hometown is one of the priorities in my life that brings me true joy. I understand every individuals definition of joy is different, but I can put out there that I truly hope other people make room for joy in their world as well…..frequently.

Combat Salmon Fishing

In the Great Outdoors, when it comes to either fishing or hunting, participating woman are the minority.  Meaning, for every 10 or 20 guys, you might discover one lady tucked into the group giving the activity a whirl.

In my experience, usually that one lady is there by conversion effort rather then true individual desire. Meaning, a guy started dating a lady that had never fished or hunted and he told her that’s what he was into….. in turn she automatically gushed, “OH, I love the outdoors.” Translation “OH, if you love the outdoors, I’ll learn to love fishing or hunting, at least until we are married anyway.” ~~For the record, loving the outdoors and loving fishing/hunting are two different balls of wax, I’m just saying ~~I liken the conversion ladies to—-Eventual Weekend Fishing and Hunting Watchers & Widows.

Conversion ladies gets the full treatment. The men will put in an impressive effort to take care of these gals, tying bait, fixing snags, carrying a backpack etc….. Guys become quite the gentleman in a zone where typically they can relax and flex their manly instincts. Bless their little hearts, these guys want desperately for their ladies to love what they love……….

And then there are a few of us gals participating in the rougher side of the outdoor league that are there, not to impress a guy, but because we want to be there. I’ll call us few, The True Bloods. A True Blood will go fishing all by her lonesome self without the need of a male babysitter and love every second of it.

My Bambino Jack Salmon

I’ve noticed, we True Bloods get treated differently out there in the testosterone zone. Once the guys realize we can handle our own equipment, that we aren’t there by association and we are just as competitive and focused as they are, we earn “honorary guy status”…….all the veils fade and the censor chips are tossed into a deep crevice.

When guys absorb that I’m not going to go all hormonal on them, they will first let the cuss words fly. Oh lordy these guys can cuss when they get going. Sometimes I think there should be a new cussing credential that soars past typical trucker cussing. If I say, “Dude, you cuss like a salmon fisherman” that means you could roll grandpa, twice, in his grave with profanity. I never flinch when the profanity flies. All part of the experience in acceptance.

Once a gal has passed the profanity test, nothing seems to be off limits in this honorary status. Guys jump straight to scratching their balls at random and spitting off the river bank without shame in front of a True Blood. In my experience complete acceptance is when the guys seem to forget I have ovaries and pee at random near me. I can’t write how many times I’ve glanced over from a campfire or riverbank and witnessed a guy water painting circles in the dirt. Now if I could just figure out how to pee in front of the guys without exposing my ass to the world, all would be equal and balanced.

I understand some may translate all that I’ve written as crude behavior on guys part, but for me, I see it as a time when everyone can let loose, forget the constrains of city life, pressure, expectation and presumptions. In the rougher outdoors, there is a different set of rules everyone abides by, an honor code and that code has nothing to do with Emily Posts etiquette book.

Driving long distance provides Robert and I ample talk time. I imagine most couples occupy the air inside a vehicle with a variation of say, talking and music, but in the case of Robert and I…….we despise each others music choices.

He is Metallica and I resemble U2. It can get ugly if we try and force our music on each other, mosh pit ugly. He wants to smoother me with the sleep pillow he says my music inspires for him. I want to remove the screw driver his music drives into my forehead and shove it through his eyeball.  The only non-violent solution is silence or talking. Our conversations often go deep South or wildly North. It depends on the leading conversational keywords………

Rebecca: ” Well, if that’s what you think you need, you better look for a new wife.”

Robert: ” I don’t want a new wife, but maybe a small harem would be fun. You don’t think having multiple husbands catering to you would be remotely interesting?”

Rebecca: “ I’v heard this concept from other men, so I won’t hold it against you, but why do men think having multiple wives would be the answer to their dreams? You’d never hear a woman state she’d like mutliple husbands, no way. There wouldn’t be enough time in the day to clean up after all of them, find things for them, sooth their egos and pump their pride. No thank you.” 

Robert: “ Oh come on, it couldn’t be that bad! Well, as a man, a house full of woman does sound appealing for many reasons.”

(OH, I’m sure it does!)

Rebecca: “Why exactly? That is, beyond only thinking you’d get to have sex all day long. Answer carefully here buddy, I have a blog and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Robert: ” I’m not saying another word.”

Rebecca: “Oh come on, I’m intrigued, lets hear it.”

Robert: “Conversation is over.”

Rebecca: “Chicken shit.”

There is a reason you never, ever, hear a woman say, “Gee, I think it would be fun to have multiple husbands.” We ladies carry a deep understanding of the implications such an arrangement would create. Ladies, can you just imagine if two of them had a sniffle or felt ill? That thought makes my toes curl. It would never work unless us gals could muster a serious mentality role reversal and men got shot up with enough estrogen to shed a few tears on a daily basis.

I’m sure in some twisted way, multiple ladies would be a swanky deal for the guys. But multiple men? Nope, I’ve thought about it, One, is plenty.

After edit~It was just decided, I’m off for another 3 or 4 days of salmon fishing. Goodie! More drive (talk) time! I hope everyone has a great week~

So, as many of you know, Google indexes everything we write. I just happen to have a few applications stashed on my website so that I may monitor how my blog and words are chopped up, stir fry style, and linked out to the information highway. 

I’ve already missed so many good ones that have fallen off the page, so this is as good a time as any to start this new feature. Simply put, I can no longer resist keeping track of the interesting ways my blog shows up, not to mention the sometimes appalling ways my blog is visited via wandering travelers by means of GOOGLE SEARCH~~~

• All these stats only show up if the person actually visits my site from their Google search
• Pink, which is the most important part here, is the exact search terms the person typed in to discover my blog as a potential information source
• Occasionally, I’ll include the main Google page result to illustrate why Google thought I should be included with the search…….
• Lastly, I just may have something to mention or suggest to the wayward Google travelers……….

Visitor: Elkhorn, Nebraska arrived from google.com on “When did huggable become social grace? « Provocation Of Mine (d)” by searching for hugging in social groups.

Dear Elkhorn, Nebraska~ I’ll hug you. I’m currently in training. Just say yes to hugging.

Visitor: San Diego, California arrived from google.com on “In I Dee Ho, we wrangle Dinosaurs « Provocation Of Mine (d)” by searching for ho name the dinosaurs.

Dear San Diego, California~ I’m sure you meant to say “who” named the dinosaurs and couldn’t have been looking for Ho dino’s. If there were such things as Ho dinosaurs I highly doubt there would have been an extinction. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Idaho form of Ho dinosaurs. Truly.

Visitor: Houston, Texas arrived from google.com on “Exposed Nerves « Provocation Of Mine (d)” by searching for my teeth nerves are exposed.

Dear Houston Texas~ One word. Vicodin. That is all. Vicodin……….

Visitor: Rockville, Maryland arrived from google.com on “Provocation Of Mine (d)” by searching for teen puts frozen popsicle in ass.

Google Search Result (This is how MY blog ends up #2 in that precious search-notice the highlighted words and you’ll see how Google kindly puzzle pieced me into this one):

 Provocation Of Mine (d)

Robert: ” Your ass does look cute when you stick it way out and away from everyone.” …. Classy civilized behavior I tell ya……………now, I must go put my shoulder on …It means mid-week sleepovers and a whole lotta frozen popsicles. …. Teen: “Seriously, Mom, now that you have a mini-laptop, don’t you think it’s …
www.provocationofmind.com/ – Cached – Similar -

Dear Rockville, Maryland~ I hope you weren’t disappointed to discover Google pieced together 4 blog entries of mine to satisfy your, lets just call it, “Specialized” information search. Might I suggest……oh, nevermind. All the things I could write to do justice to this search situation would just be bad, bad, bad. (second thought, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, let go of the stick)

For today, because I wanted to get the Google Edition ball rolling, most of these are pretty sweet and tame……ok, except that last one. From here on out I’ll safely store the best of them in a draft until I’ve got a decent collection of head scratchers.

I know, I know……the things I do to entertain myself!

Be gone again, this very night.

Traveling and exploring. It’s like a drug. A sensational… just try it once or twice and you’re hooked, sort of addiction. I’ve only been home since late last night and the walls of my house feel like a torture chamber of implied stationary boredom. In other words, I want the hell out of here, and pronto. Another emergency trip of the soul saving….. travel variety may be in order in the next few days. I’m telling you, it’s a sickness that is never quite satisfied.

I had a fabulous time. First we went North for some salmon fishing, then we swung South for some more dinosaur fishing.

I believe what made this trip extra special was the fact we ended up camping with a group of fantastic people. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t expected..By the luck of the camping space claimed, we broke bread, shared a campfire and fished with people I’d never met before this weekend and I loved it.

Honestly, I barely fished (bait fishing and I don’t mesh well~I’m all about the flyfishing) and I still had a wonderful time. I was in the midst of kindred people and that was all the entertainment I needed. I believe I can even claim I made friends that I shall see again. Big Bonus and gives me something to look forward too~

In light of recent blog entries I find it prudent to go on record today and state I hugged during departures yesterday. I can’t claim I was the initiator, and the first one caught me unaware so I’m sure it would rate low on the huggable meter, but the next few I paid attention, hugged back like I meant it (and I really did) and you know what………it wasn’t so bad!

I do believe there is hope for me yet~

I also did some flip video over the weekend. Maybe if I can figure out how to actually work the thing beyond just taking videos, I’ll post up some live action one of these days. This dog can indeed learn new tricks….hugging….video…..I can just see the horizon of possibilities getting bigger and brighter every day.