Just another week

I can't say my week was all that interesting. 

Monday was the day that the State of Utah observes Juneteenth, so in the morning I ran up North Canyon. 

Richardson's geraniums

Utah sweetpea

Sego lily

Mulesears

Then I came home and did my BYU work, since BYU didn't have the day off. (I'm not technically a BYU employee, but I opt to follow their calendar.) I thought the observed Juneteenth holiday was the perfect day to fill out my primary ballot. (I'm a RINO.)

Tuesday night, my oldest nephew, Preston, and his wife, Claire, arrived, but I was already in bed. I briefly said hi to them on Wednesday morning, but my parents took them camping for a couple of nights. I did typical evening runs, including the Woodbriar Trail, where the grass grows very tall.

I recently saw a PSA saying this kind of thistle is a native plant, not an invasive thistle. Now I know not to step on them.

Friday, I had a few extra hours because BYU opts to observe Juneteenth on the day itself. Since it was a hot day, I went swimming, which is the first time I've been to the pool since April, unless you count my triathlon last month. I was dismayed to open my swim bag and see that my hand paddles and flippers, which I use for practice drills, were missing. The last time I went swimming, I must have put "my" kickboard and pull buoys back in the closet, since I use the rec center's supplies, then forgot to take my own flippers and paddles back with me. I'm not so sad about losing them; I'm sad that I'm so dumb to forget them. Oh well. After I came home, I got to see more of Preston and Claire.

Then yesterday (Saturday), I went up North Canyon again. It will be nice when fall arrives and it's not so hot and bright, so I can go longer than seven miles.

Richardson's geraniums

sticky geraniums

There were lots of sego lilies!

In the evening we spent time with Preston and Claire by playing the telephone drawing game. This game has been commercialized as Telestrations, which is convenient, but it's more fun when you get to come up with your own sentences and have more freedom in drawing.

Speaking of drawing, I was thinking about posting some of my recent dream drawings, but I'm so unartistic that I'm a little too embarrassed to post them. One of my dreams this week was that Target put up Summerween decorations. Then the next day (in real life), I drove by the old JoAnn store, where there was a "now hiring" Spirit Halloween poster, and then there was a box of Summerween pillows at Walmart. (I often see throw pillows and think they look really cool, but then I remember that I hate the whole concept of throw pillows, because they just get in the way.)

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I enjoyed this week's RWB roundup! 

Walgreens has its own Raspberry Lemonade Tums Chewy Bites. I think it's funny that there are seasonal Tums. The pink ones are raspberry, the yellow ones are lemonade—they're not each raspberry lemonade. Part of me hopes I get heartburn so I can eat more of them. (I got lemonade Tums at Target back in 2020, but I left them in the family medicine cupboard, and my dad ate them all.) 7/10.

I was happy to try Chobani American Blueberry Coffee Creamer in a cup of Postum (since I don't drink coffee). It has a nice berry flavor. But summer is not the season for warm drinks.

Dick's Fresh Market has a Sundae Doughnut of the Month, which has sprinkles, globs of frosting, and a cherry on top. I had it, yet somehow I don't remember the cherry! It was a tasty donut (that's my preferred spelling), though the topping was maybe a bit much. 8/10.

I was glad I finally found Pepperidge Farm Maggie's Apple Pie Cookies! They are adorable, and they taste like pie crust. The apple filling tastes a little artificial, but it really does taste like apple pie. 8/10.

The Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie came out earlier this year; I don't know if it was meant for the semiquincentennial, but they do advertise it along with the new Firecracker Cookie Pie. The package warns that "contents are hot!"—and they aren't kidding! I take a bite, and scalding liquid shoots out. It was pretty good, but I might have tasted more of it if it weren't scalding. (I also had to tell the workers that their soda machine was haunted; the screen kept selecting Coca Cola and pouring it out until the soda was dripping all over.) 7/10.

Because I'm addicted to sugar, I wanted to go try the Big Bite Breads Raspberry Lemonade Roll, which is a cinnamon roll with raspberry filling instead of cinnamon, then lemon frosting on top. (There were a few lemon flavors, but this was the only one branded as lemonade, rather than simply lemon.) 8/10.

Kroger Banana Split Social Ice Cream is the third of Kroger's All American Collection of ice cream. It has banana and strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce. It's enjoyable, but I just think it's a little boring. 7/10.

A year or two ago, my coworker told me she loves the Liquid I.V. Firecracker flavor. I had had it before but thought it was terrible. Only this year did I realize why I thought it was terrible: I hadn't diluted it enough. So I decided to try it again with the proper amount of water—and it was actually fine this time! I wouldn't call it my favorite flavor, but it's fine. 7/10.

Most of RWB roundup is for proprietary items. But this week I made pancakes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Half of the flour is whole wheat, and I put raspberries, blueberries, and white chocolate chips in the batter. These are fluffy pancakes that require no syrup! 9/10.

After swimming on Friday, I went and got Baskin-Robbins Fútbol Fireworks Ice Cream, which has cherry sherbet mixed in with the ice cream, as well as popping candy. This is branded for soccer rather than the Fourth of July, but it has "fireworks"! It's OK; there's a reason sherbet isn't as popular as ice cream. 6/10.

I also got Baskin-Robbins America's Birthday Cake Ice Cream, which I have had off and on since 2015 (they haven't had it every year). I didn't count ice cream in general as a Fourth of July treat until 2021, so for many years, it was one of the few ice creams I could have at this time of year. It has blue frosting, strawberry ice cream, and cake pieces. 8/10.

The Crumbl S'mores Cookie is around for all of June. Maybe it was just my palate at the moment I ate it, but it just seemed generically sweet to me, not overtly "s'mores." It's fine as a decadent cookie, though. 7/10.