Boars Head

Boars Head was a lot of fun. Drove up to Sioux Falls on Friday morning. I had wanted to see if i could get my snow boot zipper fixed at Park Ridge Shoe Repair. They could and it would only cost 10 dollars. Score. Got to Svien's around noonish and we loaded up. We ended up taking two cars since no way we could fit Svien, Funk and Morton's fighter gear, and the rest of the stuff into one car. I guess if I would have had my van we could have all rode together. Sadly its was busy getting a new transmission. Merry Christmas to me. The trip out was uneventful and made it to Jondalara's around 10.

Saturday we were suppose to be up and out of the house by 7:30 since Jondalara was merchanting and needed to be there early. We didn't really leave the house until after eight. Got to site and helped her unload. After that I got dressed spent a lot of the day visiting with lots of people. I hung out with Siri watched the rose tourney. Hrodwyn won two for me. Roamed the merchants a bit with Kathy. Forgot to look for a Christmas present for my mom. Doh! Late afternoon I watched Gaia become Astrid's protege.

After Court we loaded up and went to Applebee's to eat. I was very hungry since I didn't eat much during the day. It was raining then and we were a bit worried it was going to freeze. It didn't. Yay. Went back to site since I rode with Jondalara and the boys were going a in Milwaukee hosted by a friend of Funk's. Jondalara and I went to the Comfort Inn and hung out His Highness, Gunther and Co.

Sunday people were slow to get going. We had a yummy breakfast and then headed out to pick Funk up. Wasn't until then that the boys realized we might have to drive through ick. I told them that we should be able to get to MN at least and no use staying in Milwaukee. So we left and it wasn't until we got to Blue Earth that it got crappy. Visibility was the big problem. Around Jackson I told Svien that I was willing to pay for a hotel room. He was determined to go on since the roads were mostly clear. Only snow pack was near bridges. I said okay at that point and continued to keep my eye on the white line. I was glad I wasn't driving. It was pretty crap but we made it back to SF around 10. I ended up staying at Svien's since i didn't want to drive home alone in the dangerous cold. Drove home on Monday. It was horrible cold but made it home no problem. We got some snow at home but it all ended up in the ditches and in my parking spot. Wasn't too happy with the job they did cleaning out our apato lot. Its snowing againg today so they get today to do better. Otherwise I am calling.

Yuletide and Snow

Yuletide was fun as per usual. Its a nice little event. I didn't get to hang out with Rue as much as I wanted but other than that it was a good time. Stopped off and did some shopping before I got to site. Still need to pick up a few things for Mom and Dad. Gah they are the hardest to buy for. Dad's a little easier since he is not as picky as mom. I just don't know. Every year is harder and harder.

The post revel was at Rick's house in Brandon. A little bit of a drive but fun when we got there. Ended up staying over since I had no great desire to drive home at 3am. Everyone was still sleeping when I left at 9. The rest of Sunday was spent doing the usual laundry and napping.

In the evening Hagan called to see if i wanted to go see Role Models. It was hilarious. At lot of the movie takes place with a LARP group and there are many moments that I think would amuse SCA people.

Yesterday we got snow. Started out as rain, ice then snow. (I think that was the scenario for most places) It was ice pellets when I left work. Thankfully it wasn't a complete ice sheet under foot. The crappy part was that I have traded vans with my Dad while mine is being looked at. Its leaking transmission fluid. Not good. While my Dad's van has an remote starter, awesome I think I want one, the bad part is that I forgot to grab my uber ice scrapper. Instead of my heavy duty one I had to make do with a flimsy bank giveaway scrapper. Managed to scrap off enough to see to get home. I was glad I didn't have to go anywhere after that.

Heralds & Scribes Symposium

Murphy's Law 542 states that the outfit you planned to wear at the event will not be temperature appropriate, leading you on an 2 hour search for something else to wear.

Typical the weather in Pierre was forecast to be 70 degrees. Not really suitable to wear my wool dress that I wanted to wear. Hot=crabby and unsociable. After much digging suitable outfit was put together. I grumped at myself for waiting until the last minute.

Murphy's law 343 states that the day you want to leave work early will be the busiest day of the week.

And Friday sure was. Not only did I have to sub for someone else but we had a major committee meeting. Gah! Somehow I managed to get everything done and was out of there by 3 pm.


The trip up was uneventful. I was very glad that no deer decided to slam dance the van. Saw some dead ones but that was it. Rocked out with help from MP3 player. Pretty much roared up the highway and only stopped in Oacoma to get gas and food. The highlight of the drive up was the sunset over the Missouri. (lowlight was not being able to see a thing while driving up the western side of the hill after crossing the river.) Made it to the hotel by 7:30ish. Just in time for to unload and watch Crusoe. I had no idea what rooms other people were in so worked on projects watched TV.

Saturday had breakfast with some of the Wisconsin people. Yay waffles! Then went back to room to put my garb on. Fiona and Skadi showed up before I left for site so I waited while they changed and then headed around the corner and up the hill. Got to love super close sites.

Got unloaded and there and a few people were surprised to see me (pleasantly) and wished they had known I was coming. Huzzah for stealth appearances.

Went to a few classes that will hopefully motivate me to get going on my own heraldic research. I also finally got the hang of how to lucet with Greta's help. The rest of the day was spent visiting with people. Lunch we had yummy soups and for feast we had pizza and a plethora of deserts. So good.

Hung out at the hotel afterward and had a lively heraldic discussion. See smlibrarian lj for details. A different type of post revel but still fun.

We got up pretty early Sunday morning because of of the time change. We had breakfast at hotel and then got packed up. On my way out of town I drove by the capital to snap a few shots since it was a pretty morning. The drive home was super gorgeous.

Since it wasn't too much out of the way, I decided to pop by the demo in Brookings. They had lots of people there and you could not ask for a better day. Hagan had brought up some of our new members and was busy training fighters. Visited a bit but I left before they started the melee. I was ready to be at home. On the way home, stopped for gas at coffee cup and got the bejeez scared out of me by Jess and Rachel. I had been thinking I could meet up with them in SF but when I called they were still in vermillion. They saw me at the gas station and then ambushed me since I didn't see them. Talked to them for a bit and then went home, ordered supper and unpacked.

TGIF now I can collapse

Part of me feels bad I won't be at the Rose Tourney this weekend and then other part is ready for a rest. I did have other things planned this weekend but I have canceled them so I can get over this allergy crap and recover my energy that I used up last weekend at Siege. Seems like I have been on the go for awhile now so it will be good to chill out.

Last night presided over my first meeting as group Seneschal. It went ok except that I didn't initially sit at the head of the table but plopped down in my usual spot. I am not used to the thought of it yet but it shouldn't be too bad. Its not like I haven't done something similar recently.

Congrats to Erin and Dan on the birth of Liam Arthur. No other details than name and that everything is good. I so need to call her.

Warm and windy siege

Thursday I took off work early so I could get a few chores done. I was about to head to the store but decided to give Nailz a call to see where she was at. Strangely she was just about to call me to say she was almost to town. Waited for her arrival and then went out to the Mart of Wal buy a few last minute items. Around 5 we headed out to site to sit troll. We enjoyed the evening while eating pizza and chatting. Around 11 we passed the troll torch onto Del and friends and headed home.

Friday we got up early and sat troll again in the morning. The afternoon was spent running errands and doing some last minute sewing. We waited for Kolbrunna and co. to show up so we could go to lunch but they had already eaten. There were other hungry people so around 3 a group of us went to lunch at Whimps after driving Hagan around so we could procure water troughs for the horsey people. After lunch sat troll for a bit then headed back up to the main hall to relax a bit. By this time I was super tired do to the warm weather and the running around. Ran back down to troll to check on things shortly after the BBQ and Torchlight tourney got started so missed all of that and Mouse's squireing. Was tired and crabby at that point and needed to go to bed. Found Kol and Nailz and headed home.

Saturday morning headed back out and checked on troll and hung out with Juliana and Tarrach until their Majesties arrived. Retained for Her Majesty most of the day until I had to go and close down troll. HM Aesa got a little archery in and then we went down to the new equestrian area. We headed back up to the main hall to watch heavy fighting in front of the fort. I finished up troll, ran home for a bit and a soda and then back to site for court and feast. They had court set up by the time I got back. Feast was yummy pig and afterward it was hang out and relax time. I got to spend time with a lot of people I had been missing this summer, mostly Svaty people that don't live here anymore.

Sunday we went to breakfast at Mr. Smiths and then clean up at site. Then late lunch at Whimps and then home for a nap. Hagan called about 6 to see if we wanted to go see Burn before Reading. Nailz and I went but it was a boring weirdo movie.

Thankfully I was smart and took Monday off where I caught up on my sleep and washed clothes. My sinuses now hate me. I am hoping it will go away soon but who can tell.

Posting at LJ

You may have noticed that I have pretty much abandoned blogger for LJ. I have pretty much fallen for the community aspect of LJ and have been doing most of my blogging over there. For now I plan to keep this blog for my lists and SCA posts but the majority of my posts will be on LJ.

My blog address is http://missdoom.livejournal.com/

Feel free to friend me or just lurk.

Gimli

I had a lovely time at Gimli. Didn't do a whole lot but it was nice to relax in the shade.

Friday morning I had a back cracking session and then headed to SF to kill some time since Hrodir wasn't able to get off work until 3ish so there was no need to rush up to Fargo. Made it to Fargo right about 3. Hrodir had talked about riding along with Camille, Robert and Zanni's husband (I cannot remember his name, GAH) but there was no way my stuff and Hrodir's was going to fit in their van with all of their stuff. Hrodir threw his stuff in my van and off we went. We got north of Grand Forks and my car started to act up when we had to slow down through the construction but once we got to Canada it seemed fine. Well until we got close to site. It was late so we figured we would deal with it later. Hrodir thought maybe one of the tires was unbalanced.

Got to site and everyone was enjoying themselves on the porch of the big cabin. Got unloaded and settled. Drink soon in hand. I didn't sleep overly great that night due to new surroundings and people arriving late in the night. No fault of theirs, I just tend to sleep lighter when I am in a new place. Good excuse to run to the bathroom and visit with people a bit and go back to bed.

Saturday was spent relaxing under the trees watching Landra play and Tarrach and co try to make glass out of sand. They were eventually successful. They ended up with a cloudy green bead. Very cool. I should have gotten a picture of it but the camera never made it out of the bag all weekend.

Sunday my cabin had dishwashing duty but we had many hands so that made it go quick and add to the fun. It was cloudy that day and kind of chilly. Watched the archery some but was distracted by Aineleah's cup and ball tourney and Khadijah's bubble machine. When the rain started we decided to have a porch party. It only sprinkled so we didn't really need to move. After supper I played Perudo and learned how to play cribbage with Johann, Marwen and Vidi.

Monday morning packed up to go home but it started to pore before most could get loaded up. Hrodir and I basically threw stuff in and took off. We ate breakfast in Gimli, got some Canadian crack (i.e. pop and candy) and drove around town for a bit since neither of us had ever done that. There is a giant statue of a viking near the lake so I think next year I would like to stop again and take pictures.
We headed on down the road and the rain stopped. We got to the boarder and got asked the usual questions. They were also asking people to open their back hatches so we pulled forward and then we saw Ia and Landra waving at us in the window. Hrodir made an oh no noise. The boarder guards pulled out the moose antler that Kol had given him and they asked us to pull over and come inside. Tarrach, Fina, Ia and Landra were there too since Tarrach had the other half. I think it made it a little easier to explain after we showed up with the other half. We spent about a half hour there and the antlers got confiscated. We had the option to take them back to Canada but no one really wanted to drive back to Winnipeg.

On the way home my car got more jerky and the vibration got more and more. Hrodir suggested that I stop at a garage in Fargo but we got there around 4 and most things were closed or closing due to the holiday. I decided to press on and see if I could make it home. Driving was crap because it was hot and windy but eventually made it home with no extra problems.

Tuesday I had off so was able to take the van to my mechanic. Turns out the boot under the rim was worn out. Ironically this is the same part that got a rock stuck in it, smoked and melted the hubcap on last year's trip to Gimli. I think next year I am going to have my tires checked out before I go.

Thanks to everyone up in Castel Rouge for putting the event on. I think it is one of the most relaxing events around.