A poem, by me.
Okay, so I have either a bug bite or a scratch JUST inside my nostril and it ITCHES and it's started swelling and it's nearly all I have thought about for the past 2 days. Mainly, I think about the discomfort and dwell on the vague feeling that I may have contracted some disease that would end in me having a fake nose as my real one will fall off. I have a good idea of the nose I would rather have, but obviously, the interim seems super gross. And potentially painful. Both things I don't enjoy.
So, I have been putting cortisone cream in my nose to battle the itch and swelling factor. No joy yet, but soon. I hope.
Now for some pics!
I was meeting Karen to walk, so I did my hair like Agent Smith. ha!
I do not know what this tree is.
Yet.
We walked the north end and back, I like the way the buildings NEEEEEERLY align.
It's a 12 mile there-and-back walk, over half of it uphill headed south, so it's a nice leg-stretching workout.
Karen fell about 2.5 miles in to the walk! She stumbled long enough that we both thought she was going to get her footing, but over she went, and facing downhill at that. I felt AWFUL about not trying to catch her, but I am pretty sure that would have ended even worse and we both would have been hurt, likely with a knee in someones eye socket.
Still, she ended up with some really good bruises. I made her lay on the ground a few minutes while the shock wore off and she assessed the damage. She was trying to pop right back up to keep going. She had taken Aspirin that morning for her knee and BLED, I thought we were going to end up at the ER, the blood pooled around her like a crime scene. I was considering jogging to the nearest house.
She was doing MUCH better than I was, though I was trying to be all cool about it. Panic never helps, but my inner monkey was dancing up a storm while Worse Case Scenario Esther cranked out some tunes on the brain organ. Most of those tunes had words like 'exposed bone fragments' in them. eeeeee
She sat up and started wiping off the blood and picking out the gravel. I FINALLY got the nerve to look, with that 'rearranged gut' feeling that comes with the sure knowledge of oog ahead. But it was this circle about the size of a dime. Yeah, she'd scraped herself in some little scratches here and there and I could see it was already bruising and swelling, but I did not see a single internal organ. I put some Neosporin on a bandaid, covered the wound and we kept walking.
At Veto
We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and plan to go again ASAP!
Matt has been working late, I don't see that changing soon, but the puppies are really worried when he does not come in by 6. They pace and stare down the driveway and are both listless until he finally arrives, then they both act like idjits.
Two of the four houses are well underway.
There is so much noise coming from over there, all day every day. His grandmother lives RIGHT BY the site, just to the right of that bush in the shot. Poor woman.
On our backpacking trip 2 weekends ago, Matt got into...something. Chiggers for sure, maybe mosquitoes as well. He's MISERABLE. I have 3 bites still around, he still looks like this. My bites ITCH, I can't imagine how much he must be itching. I have rubbed every ointment and cream we have for every skin ailment there is and he still wakes up in the night, digging. He's taken all kinds of allergy meds, too. It's head to toe, too. All over his back and arms. :(
Murph has stopped clawing the door half down to get in, but he does this hilarious staring thing. Nia is playing it cool, but as soon as the door is opened, she flies in. See the streaks on the glass? They fuel up at the water pool and then come dribble. I wash that door 5 or 6 times a week.
Chilling in their chairs
He's a cute dog. I just wish he were a little better behaved.
Chan has pink hair.
My new to me tent
I know I just bought one back a few months ago, but this one is just for me. Matt really likes hammock camping and it's not fair to ask him to haul half my tent AND his hammock and I would rather not carry 6 pounds of 2-man tent alone, so I got this TINY one man tent that weighs under 3 pounds. It started POURING before I got it all set up, so my Big Agnes pad is wet. It's also too wide for the tent!
It's a diamond shaped tent and uses LOTS of stakes, I only had the ends staked before the rain started, so it's a little slack.
I am not sure I super like it, but it will work for now. I know I can resell it for what I paid without any trouble at all. Plus, if I get REALLY adventurous, I can go without the tent and just use the fly. That's just over a pound. I am not super interested in sleeping without a tent, but I imagine at some point, I will toughen up. hahaha Or get tired of hauling so much weight in my pack and start looking at what I can leave.
My base weight-pack, bag, pad and shelter-runs around 14 pounds. I read a guy today who said his was 4 pounds. FOUR. I know a newer pack would shed at least 3 pounds off my load, but he must be sleeping in a folded sheet under a poncho on a super thin pad and carrying it all in a kindergarten backpack. I enjoy being comfortable.
Anyway, I spend a good bit of time weighing my weight options. I could shave off nearly a pound by going back to my smaller pad, but I love the space. I will have to upgrade my pack soon, it's over 20 years old and the zippers are getting sticky and the seams are starting to pull apart in a couple places and it's just plain HEAVY, over 5 pounds empty. I could spend $100 and lose a pound on my hammock camping weight and $250 would get another pound off my sleeping bag. It's all just so insane. I have been really careful of the budget and have bought everything used or on clearance. I have put less than $300 in my whole set-up, including the hammock and BOTH tents, which I won't keep all of anyway. But you can shell out thousands if you have it to shell.
If I just hike next to water all the time and only eat seaweed sheets and forgo comfy camp shoes and all clothes, including clean underwear, I can trim off 15 pounds right there. Food, water and clothing are heavy. In gear, lightweight is either unsafe and misery-making or $$$$$. Or sometimes both. Grandma Gatewood hiked the whole AT with a shower curtain, wearing tennis shoes and carrying a bag over one shoulder that she restocked along the way with canned tuna. Not something I want to emulate. I will never be that tough. And I bet if she had a Big Agnes pad, she'd figure a way to haul that puppy.
The two waiting slots. UGH I so dread that whole enterprise.
Murph waiting for Daddy
Murphy hopes Daddy gets a new job soon.
Coming soon to a sleeping bag liner near...me!
It's SOOO buttery soft and warm.
I went to get 'anything' in fleece that was a good price. It's going inside a bag I am making, so it does not matter what it looks like. But I found this and loved it! And it was on sale from $24.99 a yard to $3.27 a yard! It's so warm, much warmer than my current fleece bag!
