I've been spending quality time with my dad.  His flight arrived last
Thursday at 2:30pm, and left this morning (Weds) at 6:30am *groan*.

In that short time, we managed 4 hikes and one day exploring a
historic town, so one event per full day.  My dad is from flatland (9'
above sea level) ... I took him up to 9.5K' the first day, 11.2K' the
second day ... he did great!

We have lots of pics, but I don't want to post these on the newsgroup,
so if you're interested, please let me know.

Dad and I were on good behavior through until the drive to the airport
this morning.  It still wasn't too bad, but he did ask me, "Well,
wouldn't *you* feel better if you lost weight?"  I told him that it's
not a health issue, so I'd like to know why it's so important to them;
I feel like they must be ashamed of me somehow, or they wouldn't care.
He denied that but couldn't explain why it mattered to him.  I also
told him, the more they bring up the weight thing, the less likely I
am to change, because I resent their pushing.  He said, "You know,
rebellion only hurts you."  I told him rebellion isn't something you
choose to wear in the morning like a shirt.  It's not that easy.

Beh.  But anyway, other than that one little bit, we had a wonderful
time, saw beautiful vistas, enjoyed mountain lakes, and generally
exhausted ourselves every day.  We had plenty of time to talk about
life, the universe, and everything on our hikes (well, mostly on the
downhill *grin).

The first day, we hiked to Lost Lake in the Indian Peaks, Hessie
trailhead.  Second day, Blue Lake in the Indian Peaks, from Brainard
Lake.  Third day, we drove up I-70 and wandered around Idaho Springs,
an old mining town that still has some neat architecture.  Fourth day,
we hiked to the top of Green Mountain in Boulder, although we did so
from a trailhead at the top of Flagstaff Rd (it's a pretty tough hike
anyway; I don't think dad would have appreciated hiking it from the
bottom, Gregory Canyon trailhead or Chataqua).  And on the fifth day,
we hiked Rawhide Loop at White Ranch, which turned out to be the
easiest hike so far.  Eric was able to join us for that one.

As for Oscar ... she has been doing great, but the last couple of days
she has been at her paw again.  I can also see that the pad hasn't
fully healed.  And she is developing a lip ulcer again.  So we have an
appt at TED tomorrow ... my first opportunity to try the Sherpa bag.
In the meantime, she gets to wear the Collar Of Doom again.  She
deeply resents this, but it doesn't stop her from scarfing down the
dry food (much less messy with the collar).

I have taken off vacation through the end of the week anyway, and I
hope it will be relaxing =)

Going to try to catch up with the group, but it will take a while.
Purrs and well-wishes to all.