Hiking "Blackie"

As if the stupid time change isn't enough. My legs are aching (still!) from our "family bonding" time on Saturday. We hiked up "Blackie." That's one of the smallest mountains here at the lovely Fort Irwin. Let me put that another way... it LOOKS small from down here. It gets larger and steeper as you climb it. Don't get me wrong. The view is fantastic... you can see all of the post and then some. The weather was beautiful. And, we did have a good time. But, I am still in pain from the climb and from the mini-tumble I took trying to set up my camera for an automatic picture of the three of us. Those of you that know me best will have no trouble envisioning that. As you can see from the photos, there are big sharp rocks everywhere. Lots of them. Imagine me...trying to balance a ridiculously expensive camera on one of these rocks while pressing the button and then running to jump into the shot in a somewhat flattering pose. I fell. But, I managed to get into the picture and smile! (We'll put that one in a later post. It requires film developing... that ancient custom.) So, it was a good and tiring time. Then, we had to set the clocks forward. Dang it. I do enjoy the sun being up a little later in the day, but that does not make up for the dark mornings and the week of feeling tired. And, there's the joy of waking up a grouchy 8 year old when all I want to do is crawl back under the covers myself! I was late for church yesterday, and as I sit here typing and doing laundry, it feels like 8:00 am... but it's not! It's already 9:00 am. OK, enough complaining about "springing forward." I will celebrate in the Fall when time is back to normal.