I Hear the Outdoors Calling

Okay, it is now that time of year to stop lamenting about not getting a chance to go snowboarding this past winter, and start getting psyched about just visiting the mountains. The areas that are available for a snowboarding trip are limited, especially if it would just be a weekend trip. But there are so many really cool places just a short distance away that are great for a road trip through the mountains, or, one of my most favorite things to do when the weather gets nice, hitting the trails. I absolutely love to go hiking, but I also really dig mountain biking. Realistically, this summer, I'm just hoping to get in a few day hikes (because of that stupid liver thing and the complications surrounding it). But I can definitely get in to a couple of those!

I just spent the last hour looking at one of the kick-ass National Geographic trail maps that I have, mapping out a couple of routes that are going to be great for whenever there's an opportunity. Both of the routes I traced out start only a few miles, maybe 30 – 45 minutes northeast of Murphy, NC where the Bartram Trail crosses Highway 19. North along the trail takes you to the Appalachian Trail and then east along the AT brings you back to the highway. Probably a good route to take if there are 2 cars available and one can be parked at the exit. But to go south on Bartram, even though it would mean a little backtracking, looks like it would be way more intense. Not necessarily the difficulty of the hike, but the scenery, views and photo ops. There is a great network of trails that branch off of Bartram, and it looks like there could be several different loops to take. So I think that that will be the plan. C’mon! who’s ready to go? Murphy is only about a 4 hour drive away, so now is the time to DO IT!!

George is Saved in the Nick of Time

After making sandwiches on Oaknut bread, bread that I knew would become soggy within less than an hour with the shrimp salad that was as fine as any you could ever taste, I knew I was going to forget something in my haste to stuff all the necessary accoutrements into a tote bag for the show. Hmm – napkins (lots), cut strawberries, a decent domestic red, plastic champagne glasses(?), corkscrew – where is she? the sandwiches are already getting soggy – oh, yeah, water and skeeter repellant. I should have waited to make these stupid sandwiches.
There is still about 45 minutes before the music starts, so just take a deep breath and, there she is pulling in the driveway now. Don’t show any impatience, now. This should be good. This week it is a bluegrass band playing on the lawn of the Appleby Library, conveniently within walking distance up the street on this pleasant June evening. So into the house she walks with a commiserative and piteous look on her face, and a peach basket on her arm. She folds back the layers of towels in the basket and in the bottom of the basket, there he was – fur all nappy, emaciated, eyes sealed shut with the goop that was oozing out – oh, he was in such bad shape. He couldn’t have been more than four weeks old; why did the mama cat abandon him? So we wiped out his eyes, found a box to put him in, rewrapped him in fresh towels, and placed kitten and a small bowl of water in the box, put the box on top of a heat register (where the pilot light is always on, so it is always a little warm on top), and off we went.
When we got back, the kitten had not moved, and his eyes appeared to have seeped out some more of that ugly sludge, but he seemed to be warm and breathing easier. He was washed in the bathroom sink, and that’s when we started seeing all the huge fleas, living on him and off of him. I mean, these fleas were the size of house flies! They were the grossest and most engorged fleas I had ever seen! After washing him and drying him off, the fleas had to be picked off: I think that Heather probably picked off at least 50 more fleas after most of the varmints jumped off or fell off during the bath or drying. 50 BIG FAT UGLY FLEAS!! It was an absolute shame. But, after wiping his eyes out once more and then making up a tiny bottle of formula for him, which he got the hang of pretty quick, he started to perk up a little. He ended up drinking down about 3 full ounces of formula and then seemed to be able to rest peacefully for a few hours.
His recovery was amazing! Within two days, George the Wonder Kitty, went from the threshold of death’s door to this picture of health that you see below. See what just a little TLC does? And by the way, the music was awesome and immensely enjoyable, and the sandwiches, while they were a little bit soggy, they were delicious, as I knew they would be…

All Better Wonder Kitty

The Simplest Shots

This moonshot turned out pretty good. There will be more as I approach the satellite, closer and closer...

Saturn

Yes, the ‘scope was out the other night and my camera got lucky.  I’ll try to improve over time with images such as these

Finally, We've Come in the House

And so it begins. Since long back in the day, I mean, we were still using quills, ya know? I always thought, man, this stuff needs disemmination, it needs to be seen - at least some of it, by maybe a few people. But at the back of my mind, just under the level of consciousness, I wanted anonymity. Or if not to be fully anonymous, perhaps the appreciation for my words would be recognized posthumously. JEEZ - that's a morbid thought, but you see, everything that has historically compelled me to put words on paper, to articulate the confoundments and practice self-expression much more effectively than anything that I could ever do verbally, has been rooted in some type of sticky sacharrin romantic goo. Oh sure, there has been and continues to be lots of diverse subject matter from the personal to the public, political and cultural, funny and infuriating, but the only junk that I ever had the arrogant audacity to think was actually good prose, would always be the gooey muck that most people try to rinse off as quickly as possible. So now, this is going to be more of a challenge than it would seem, because the attempt here will be to entertain, hopefully to educate, maybe to opine, to show off, possibly to steer folks towards some of the things that I have found that could be interesting, useful, fun and even lucrative. In other words, you just never know what you may find here, and hey, neither do I. Rock On!