Finally, Camping Season!

May 20, 2019 - May 26, 2019

Monday (5) - Hills with Ro on the Monday after Dirty Girl, considering I didn't go all out on the race this wasn't going to be too difficult, but I was feeling those climbs for sure when we did our hills.  Despite taking a bit of a break while Ro was in Colorado I still had the benefit of the hills for the race on Sunday, plus the booty core work I did all winter. 

Two favorites
I found the ABC Coal Porter at Yankee Spirits in Attelboro!  I thought I could only get that in Maine.
The Deschtes I can find in Ohio, if I'm lucky.

Mowed the lawn while Dave and Jax were off adventuring. 

Tuesday (8 + 1) - Met up with Charlotte to ride Bradford and Woody Hill.  Barney was making a horrible noise, but it went away eventually.  I have to seriously bleed the breaks and do some general clean up and greasing.  Clearly there was something still stuck from my mud bogging a few weeks ago.  Charlotte is a much better mountain biker than I am.  It's nice to get pushed a little.  We did mostly the perimeter loop of Woody Hill.  I'm still not 50% confident of going into the spaghetti bowl and recognizing where I come out.  Close but not quite there.  Plus I left my handy Garmin, with its maps, on Ruby, so there was that crutch missing from my tool kit. 

Charlotte is braver than I.
This was steeper than it looks.

We got a little turned around for the trespassing at the gravel pit section, but then I found the pile of junk I was looking for and we were back on track!

Jax was home alone, Dave was out biking with the guys.  I quick fed Jax, showered, hobbled around, and then leashed him up for an in town walk.  It was 7:30, way to late to go to the woods.  Surprisingly Jax was totally into this walk.  We spent most of it in the park and there were things to smell and pee on and he was mostly oblivious to everyone around him.

Mostly.

When we got home, I was digging in my pocket for the house key when the leash snapped, I jerked my head up as my right arm nearly jerked out of its socked.  The Orange Menace was on the porch and sprinted down the hill to the back yard.  Which, if we had a normal back yard and Jax had his communicator on I would have dropped the leash.  Instead, dragging me along and my legs moving way faster than they wanted to every step jarring my hips and knees we got to the bottom of the hill to our back yard as the cat bounded on to the kitty corner neighbors garage roof.  And the behind us neighbor was out with his dogs and they were staring up at the Orange Menace on the roof of the garage wondering how to get up there. 

You can sort of see Jax's barking buddies in the driveway of their back yard.
The other neighbor's garage to the right.
And the top of the wall that marks the end of our property line.
My fear is he would try and leap off that wall or leap on the garage roof.

The neighbors garage roof eave is level with our back yard, this means there is a 15 foot drop from the end of their yard to the start of their yard.  It's a stone wall, not a nice sloping drop.

The behind us neighbors dogs noticed Jax, Jax noticed them, and they all looked for the Orange Menace. 

It was a very exciting evening.

Wednesday (4) - Long walk to the cafe to get lunch then a hike in Arcadia with Dave and Jax.  The rest of the night was spent pouring over the camping list checking it twice and packing up Spud for our first camping trip of the year.  It was a long horrible rainy winter here in Southern New England, felt like it was 10 months long. 

Ok, lets roll!

Thursday (1) - Uneventful drive to Vermont.  It was supposed to rain and it did, a bit here and there on the drive up and once we got Spud leveled and unpacked (in the dark) it sprinkled and then the skies opened up.  Ah the pure joy of camping in a camper.  OK for the purists in the audience, yes, I know it's not real camping, it's glamping.   Feh. 

Some weird old man and his airstream

Friday (5) - The rain was gone by the a.m. and we set up the outside stuff  after Dave made a breakfast of pancakes and eggs!  His brother gifted him 18 eggs from his chickens.  I say gifted because the wife of the brother charged her (and my) MIL for eggs once.  Who does that?  It must be some weird Transylvania thing? So now it is a HUGE deal if the eldest Smith boy gives anyone eggs.  I asked Dave if he kissed his brother's ring.  HA HA.

The eggs were awesome as farm fresh eggs are.

Breakfast!

Dave wanted to check out Green Woodlands in Dorchester NH, he was going to hike as it wasn't open for mountain biking until June 1st and the property owners seemed pretty serious about that.  It is a family foundation, 35 square miles of land for preservation, it is really fascinating reading what little is published about the property. 

Machine build mountain bike trails at Green Woodlands

I have never seen machine build mountain bike trails.  WOW!  I also never saw moose tracks.  Double WOW! I also never saw a white woodchuck (yep, that is what we are sticking with).  Triple WOW!

White Woodchuck

The morning was just so awesome.  The whole vibe in the woods, we hiked a 4 mile loop, was really cool and relaxed and welcoming.  I get the heebie jeebies in some of the 'reclaimed' places around here - Woody Hill and Big River are top of mind where I just get a weird vibe in parts of the woods.  

Stream through Green Woodlands

Saturday (4 + 7) - Dave's buddy Bill visited for the day and they rode the Ascutney Mountain trails.  The pending rain for Saturday night and Bill being stuck with his tent as his camper van (Westfalia) had a cracked windshield wussed out on staying.  I can't say as I blame him.  Years of camping in the rain and accidentally brushing up against the side of the tent or waking up with the foot of the sleeping back soaking up water, yeah... I'll pass on that fun at this point in my life.  

Ahhhhh....

That left Jax and I to entertain ourselves for most of the day.  While I had the truck to drive, I really didn't feel like leaving the campsite.  We took some short hikes and I set up the hammock and we napped.   Neither one of us are in camping shape, Jax was grouchy when he went to bed on Friday night after being up most of the day on Thursday AND Friday - dogs, they sleep like 20 hours a day.  A 'rest' day would be good for both of us.

He is a handsome regal beast

When they got back I took Barney out to Swoops and Loops across the street from where we were camping.  Bill said there was a little loop in the middle that he thought was called Newbie, and that might be a bit insulting.  I said, I'll take a trail called Newbie I'm still a very timid rider.    I managed to get lost on a closed loop course, new on for me.  I did Newbie three times, Loops three times, and Swoops once.  I got misdirected on Loops, which is a circle.  I'm really entertaining.

Barney

Sunday (5) - Quick hike on some of the Mt. Ascutney trails and then a longer hike at Boston Top in Lebanon NH.  Dave wanted to check out the mountain bike trails and there was a somewhat easy to follow loop I found I could take Jax for a hike on.  

Jax standing on Granite at the start of Spiney

Oh the Saturday night rain never really materialized for us, but it certainly did North of us and Boston Top was soaked and slippery - or greasy.  

A boy and his dog

My and Jax's path crossed Dave's once on the trails  Another very huge park of primarily mountain bike and hiking trails.  The trails were labeled on both the trail heads as well as Strava (once I finally started that I could navigate a bit better.  The trails were not as nice as Green Woodlands, they were more like what we have around here, lots of granite ledge with roots woven over them on the interior trails Jax and I hiked.  They were greasy from all the rain and the fact the snow has been gone less than a month.  The outer trails seemed more muddy than greasy (based on how caked in mud Dave's bike was).  

One of the many 'spines' along the Spiney Trail at Boston Top

SO nice to be back to camping, makes the horrible rainy miserable winter of '18-'19 seem so far away although it still seems like it was a  year long, it now seems like the distant past.  Pshew.

Exhausted

Jax will get back into the swing of camping, he did remember S'mores, whoo boy, did he!

Knitting - 

Socks are a nice take along project and I got some knitting done in the truck and at the campsite and by the campfire.  That was super relaxing.  A few more inches on the cuff of the melon socks.

We had one of the fancy fire pits!

Reading - 

"An Anonymous Girl"
by Greer Hendricks

Fascinating, engaging, and I want to know what happens next and at the same time I don't. 

Happy to be back camping again, it was nice to spend 3 and a half days in the woods and outside.  The weather was perfection.  I love camping in Vermont.

Sincerely,
Beth, a happy camper, bwahaaaaaa  I slay me. 

The biggest battle can be showing up

May 13, 2019 - May 19, 2019

Monday (5) - A run that didn't feel like a struggle.  That was nice!  The rain started just as I was getting back to campus, well timed too!  No elliptical for a couple weeks and my hip pain is gone.  I've also been really diligent breaking up the bound up tissue, that could account for it too.

I'm seriously lacking in pictures this week...

This was from the place I stay in NH.
Gus was their dog, how cool!

Tuesday (3) - Took a walk at lunch, the sun was out, it was lovely.  I walked some new to me streets, always fun.  A little core work and gossip after completed the workout.

Stopped at my favorite packy and picked up some local brews!

My new project at work is going well.  I have some really inspiring and energetic team members, there are 7 of us.  So far it seems like one is going to be a slacker, to her credit she nominated DaBomb to the team.  I was pretty relieved because that part is right up DaBomb's alley.  This leaves me with the solo concern about team dynamics. I'll give it a couple more weeks and see if she volunteers to drop to ad hoc/FYI status before I ask if she would consider it based on her competing priorities.

Wednesday (2 + 4) - Mid morning eye doctor appointment.  Ugh.  After failing the field vision test - could be the machine could be a brain tumor - the added insult of eye dilation and partial blinding by shining a bright light to see the lack (yeah!) of progress of retinal detachment.  I walked to the eye doctor, its a bit over a mile, and I knew I wasn't getting out for a run and Dave was biking later so I had Jax duty.   I have to go back and repeat the test.  I am not a good test taker.  (Note:  I did retake the test it was an equipment issue)

A wet and muddy Jax is a happy Jax.

Jax and I had a really fun hike in Grills, well he'd tell you it wasn't fun till we got about 2 miles in and the Yellow trail was completely flooded, like up to his chest.  He was quite thrilled with this and splashed around and cooled off and was so much more fun and happier after that, and then there were more puddles, mostly long ones, not too deep, he ran through them with abandon.   He LOVES to be wet muddy and dirty.  We got to the car and his harness was soaked and he was still pretty damp.  See, he milks the 'my knee hurts' thing and I lift him up into the car and I get even messier.   I collected some super deep briar scratches on my legs.  Not really here nor there BUT I had a swanky thing in NYC the next day and well, thankfully it wasn't 90F or my thick tights used to mask the flaming red gashes would have looked pretty silly.

Thursday (2) - Knowing I had this gala at the Pierre, ohhhh doesn't that sound all posh, pretentious and swanky New Yorkey?  Bah...  I figured I'd set up meetings with colleagues I don't get to see in person.  Hey I'm gonna be in NYC on the 16th, lets meet in person was met with happiness to see me in person happiness to see you in person.  Well...  they all decided to work from home!  It was so nice out, why spend all the time commuting.  FFS.  I'll cut my boss a break because she had a crisis she had to deal with early in the morning and going into the city wouldn't be a good use of her time.  It would have been lovely to go in later in the afternoon, like after I got to enjoy the nice weather, but that didn't happen.

See I'm really lacking pictures.

I had a lovely walk from work E42nd and 2nd to the Pierre E61st and Madison.  Madison was a complete zoo what with the president being in town visiting his tower on 5th Avenue.  The gala was nice, we were honored for our work with NYLAG and the NY Cancer Clinic.  Dessert was awesome!

Friday (2) - I looked at the wrong commuter train schedule New Haven to Grand Central not Grand Central to New Haven and thought I had more options so I could make my 10:30 call at home.  UM NO.  Fortunately I don't sleep well in hotels and it was another 5 a.m. wake up to quickly realize my mistake and get myself together for the train back to New Haven so I could get into the office for my call.

Along the 3rd or the 1st section of Sammy C's.
Depends on which side you start.

When I finally did get home Dave explained that the rain was going to get worse so it was now or never for a hike with Jax.  It rained for the whole 2 mile hike, Jax moped, we were soaked, and then when we got home the sun came out and it was lovely.  HUH.  Well at least we all got outside.

Saturday (16) - Again I woke up not in a great way on Saturday, not as bad as last Saturday but still, what the hell.  I wanted to get on the road for NH 2ish and I wanted a bike ride, riding my bike makes me feel better, even if it is for a short ride.  My initial plan was to go down to the beach, but I decided I'd rather go to Pawcatuck and ride up River Road and do part of the loop I used to run back when I could run more than 5ish miles at a time.   The river was so beautiful!  The green of the trees and grass is the neon green of new green, the river was a beautiful blue against a lighter blue sky.  It was so visually pleasing.    I'm glad I chose to go that way, it is far prettier than the beach.

OMG the color and the sun and there were a lot of boats on the river too.

Sunday (5 + 2) - Dirty Girl Trail race day!  Leslie puts on a great race and this would be my third time running it.  Last year was a fiasco and I was really nervous about a repeat of that, so for this one actually getting to the start line was the first win.

Mount Washington still has snow in May.

There were a lot of women running the race, I don't know the numbers but it seems like way more than in the past years.  Probably because of the controversy over the logo.

Clearly someone was upset about a girl running.
I don't get it.

This is a mass start trail race.  This year it was a 5 mile or 10 mile option, previous years it was a 10K.  The same format a loop you do once or twice in the Tin Mountain Conservation Center trails.

My weekly run(s) start with me walking about 1/4 of a mile up hill before I start running.  I wasn't sure how all that was going to play out in a mass start where I did HAVE to run to at least hang with a group in my pace range (not get too far back).  I managed to stay with a group for a while then step aside and find a new group.  I found a great one, but they all pulled off to tie shoes and get water so I trudged along and found bit faster of a group, a few broke away and I hung on with them until the end.  Along the way I thanked everyone for pulling me along and secretly wondered along the carriage path if maybe I should pass the group of 4 and go out on my own.  I didn't.  These women helped pull me along through some pretty technical stuff and we were having a good time.   Or at least I was.

Happy to start and to finish.

The finish was in hearing distance and the two middle women who weren't with the lead woman and the woman behind me, had the audacity to pass the lead woman.  She pulled them through most of the race and one of them sprinted past her with 200 yards to go with the other following.  The woman behind me passed me when I realized my shoe was untied and I pulled off to tie it.  I caught up to her to see this all happening and she started walking. I gently touched her on the back and said, "Come on we can run this in, you've got this."  As she had legit passed me I was not going to pass her with the finish in sight.  Neither one of us were going to get any age group awards, this was about finishing, not about beating someone.



With a beautiful stout compliments of Garrison City Brewing I cheered as the other women who pulled me along in the beginning crossed the finish line.

I've crossed many finish lines, most of them I've been disappointed in something, it's taken me until recently to realize that is no way for me to live.  I have enough shit going on, why make something I enjoy into a way to torment myself?

Who knows where I placed, I don't really care, the true victory was getting to the start line of this race.  Results here  (I haven't looked at them, just the fabulous picture Fabienne at the 10 - Mile turn around)

We all run and race for our own reasons and with our own abilities.  This is one of the few races I feel like part of a running community.  Kudos to Leslie for creating that atmosphere!  She greets everyone as they cross the finish line and finds the time to chat with pretty much everyone if she knows them or not.

What's that?

After a long drive home and inhaling a bag of granola and half a gallon of water, I got home to a very lonely Jax.  I stumbled around for a bit and Dave finally showed up from his day out.  I took Jax to Riverwood where we enjoyed climbing the ledges, well he did, my knees weren't too keen on this but the poor guy was home alone.

I keep telling myself I'll pick a spot and take a picture there once a month.
I do have a few pictures from this particular spot.
It is so nice to see the new green on the leaves and the river is so high!

Knitting -

I started a pair of socks, melon in color.  Finished the first one Sunday night, I'll start the second one Monday night.  I don't have SSS, Second Sock Syndrome like so many people do.  I enjoy the soothing process of knitting.  There was an article in the New York Times about this very subject, knitting and relaxation.

Reading -

Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck

It's over.  This book is so sad and so humbling.  People who have nothing and have known nothing but having nothing are constantly trying to make their lives better to the point of when they have nothing left to give they find someone with even less and give the last thing they have.

"Changes in the Land"
by William Cronon

I'm fascinated by the natural environment.  What I learned in this book was you can't let nature just be nature if you intend on using it.  The Native Americans knew this and treated the land in a way to make sure they could continue using it to live off.    The other thing I took from this book was perspective, we know how things are now and read history with a current perspective, we know how it turned out, well the folks back then were living it and it was their reality.    They did not have a crystal ball to see the future and how things would change from their reality of 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 1000 years from then.

"An Anonymous Girl"
by Greer Hendricks

I needed some mind candy after all that thinking and reality.  This is about a psychological experiment on ethics and morality.

The week started great and ended better!

Sincerely,
Beth, the miracle isn't in finishing it is in making the commitment to start (bastardization of John Bingham's quote)

52nd revolution on the 3rd rock from the sun

May 6, 2019 - May 12, 2019

Monday (5 + 2) - After last Monday's 10K and the backlash my body gave me, I cut out the last mile.  I felt like I could, last Monday that last mile was a struggle.  I'm still trying to figure out this balancing act.  The hike with Dave and Jax seemed to help the stiffness I was feeling.

He never licks my face!
He was paying me back for stopping him for a selfie. 
Jax is no fool!

Tuesday (1 + 2)  - I had a bit of hip pain from Monday's run.  A busy schedule didn't allow for lunchtime gym time, I took the long walk to the cafe.  Taco Salad day, score!

Fiddle heads?
I really should fix the color on these.

Home to Jax stumbling down the stairs so we went for a hike in a new to us preserve.  I love the fact he will get in the car and settle in and go anywhere.  Gus just was not a dog who enjoyed the car, so we went to the same places within a 5-minute car ride.  I loaded him up and went off to find Erisman Woods which connects to Babcock Ridge.  I knew there would be some climbing and we might be lucky to log 2 miles, but the climbing would be good for both of us.   The trail maps online showed an out and back but I thought I read something about a loop in Erisman.  The map at the trailhead clearly showed a loop in both preserves, score!

The sign above the yellow blaze says "Easier Way"
Jax wasn't having any of that.

On the way back we came upon a decision, left was the trail and to the right "Easier Way"  Jax headed straight up the hill. GOOD BOY!  He really enjoys the running down part and is learning he has to endure the climbing to get to the fun stuff.

Spring is springing!
Nice to see the new fresh green.

Wednesday (3) - Mostly walking on my lunch run.  At Eastern Point Beach I saw a beautiful Bentley, then I noticed the license plate "ZULI" no way, could it be Rob?  May is when the Money Plant Mimi gave me blooms and I always think of her when I see the blooms.  Mimi's been gone 10 years in December, stupid cancer, she gave me a bouquet of dried money plant right after I started at Pfizer.  She was such an awesome lady, co-worker, friend, mentor.  As all of this wandered through my head I ran by the car and sure enough, it was Mimi's husband Rob.  I stopped, he looked at me with some recognition. I introduced myself and he said, "I recognized the face!"  we chatted for a bit does gardening at the beach on Tuesdays.  I cried a little as I continued on with my run.  But by the time I got back to campus I was laughing to myself about how yesterday was Taco Salad day, always a favorite with the lunch bunch Mimi used to round up to ensure everyone ate and we had time to gossip over the lunch table. 

Money Plant blooms
This is the even year haul, the odd year is about half of this
They are Biennial plants, they bloom every other year. 
I have to pull some seeds and plant next year for the odd year bloom.

Came home to an empty house and an overgrown lawn.  SCORE!  I love mowing the lawn, no seriously.  Yard work is a form of accomplishment.  Enjoyed mowing the lawn and had a beer on the front porch and having the neighbors and their dogs stop by to chat and the dogs to get scratches.  Dave and Jax came home to find me talking to Jamie and scratching Chewy and Coco, whoops!

The Beer was a Grey Sail Wheelhouse Series Pearl
Oyster Stout

Thursday (1 + 3) -  Mikey gave me some old Lacross balls.  The therapy ball I use to work out the kink in my left hip is good, these seem a bit better.  I have no idea why.   I also finally strung together my hip feeling better the rest of the afternoon and evening AFTER running because I work on the bound up butt tissue with the ball after running.  I put one of those Lacross balls on my dresser with the intention of using it in the morning, see if that helps the discomfort and erases the hobbling.  It's worth a shot, right?

I was really looking forward to this.
The last of my 12 Stouts of Christmas.
It was a drain pour - tasted like cough syrup.
Fruit stouts generally have that taste (to me), I have no idea why I thought this would be different.

Dave and Jax and I went on a hike at Tri-Town Preserve.  It was getting pretty clear both of them were not really interested in a long hike so we huffed it back just short of 3 miles.

Friday (2) - Quiet day at work, the crisis crew waited until later in the day to strike.  I really loathe walking into chaos, especially when it could have been dealt with the day before and not be a crisis. I did have to let someone know we needed 500 entry letters signed, they could either wear out their Montblanc or I could set them up with a DocuSign account.  Fortunately, this didn't have to happen immediately and we have a week or two to get our collective shit together for this event

A hike with Dave and Jax before dinner was nice.

Saturday (25 + 3) - The weather is perfect for a ride and I'm perfectly in the middle of feeling like crap.  Advil helped.  I was NOT going to let an opportunity for a decent day to ride pass me by. Got my Garmin talking to the radar and the new headlight set up and off Ruby and I went to see how this was all going to work.  I knew the beach would be fairly busy with Spring Fest perfect opportunity to learn how the radar works.

Watching the world go by. 
He loves this and so do I!
Gus also loved this activity.

OMG the radar is awesome, the Garmin beeps and displays a dot at the bottom of the screen (the approaching car) and there is a dot at the top of the screen (me) and it shows it approaching, the car (or cars) dot (s) moving toward the top dot and then passing.  If the vehicle is going fast (this seems to be if it is over 35 MPH) the display shows red.  I could spend more time paying attention to the road in front of me, missing potholes and not bashing into them.  Plus not being startled by a car when I'm on the back roads.  It was a very pleasant ride experience (my body, on the other hand, was being a bastard, I was glad to not be with anyone so I could go as slow as I needed to) not having to watch my mirror, taking my eyes off the road ahead of me, and listening for cars approaching, which I rarely hear.  These were the best big bucks I have spent, this will make riding on the road a bit more enjoyable.

A few more Advil, super hot shower, and some food and a bit of knitting on the front porch with my companion Jax made me feel much better.  WTF.  Eventually, I was glad I went on the ride.

Jax and I had a nice sunny hike at Grills late in the afternoon.  We had to navigate through a toppled tree, one way was full of briars and the other way was figuring out how to plow through all the branches of the tree.  We tried the briar way, no go.  So we managed to get through all the branches.  It was a pretty big tree, quite a fun obstacle!  I keep meaning to throw a pair of clippers in my car to bring on hikes, for these just in case things as well as the briars.  My legs are torn up from the briars from hiking and from riding the woods. 

Sunday (0) - Yeah I think it's really a zero Sunday the rain is getting progressively worse.   Of course, this was the morning I woke up full of energy.  FFS.

All in all a pretty good week, they all have ups and downs, I guess it is all in how a person manages them.  With age comes wisdom?  Or With age comes apathy?

Knitting - 

Finished a pair of socks for Dave started on cobbling together some summer hiking socks for me from the leftover sock yarn.  I'm never sure what to do with the leftovers.  I can also use these low socks for biking in cooler temperatures.

Reading - 

"The Grapes of Wrath"
John Steinbeck

Status:  In progress

I'm going to claw my eyes out before this is over.  I think I said the same thing when I had to read this for Ms. Varner's American Lit class in HS. 

Sincerely,
Beth, kinda hoping the radar was wrong about Sunday.

Just let it go...

April 29, 2019 - May 7, 2019

Monday (6) - Reflecting on this run, while I could do it, and rather slow at that, an hour after the run my body was NOT happy.  This means the next one will be better and possibly next week and then maybe Shad Bloom.  Jonny puts stupid ideas in my head. 

Don't worry I didn't take all of them, only one package.

Tuesday (1 + 3) - Walked a mile on the treadmill at 6% grade, that works up a sweat and did Booty Core #20, it's been a while since I did a full class.  I felt that!

Jax is saying "Jeez o'Pete, again, again we are trespassing? You better not get me locked in jail, I don't do well in a cage."
We turned around.  Although I do think we were allowed here.
I thought they were no hunting signs.  Jax is clearly a better reader than I!

After work I took Jax to Candlewood Hill State Wildlife Management Area, it is part of the Groton Open Space Association complement of properties, this one is also partially state-owned.  There are no marked trails or trail map.  I was able to find quite a few Mountain Bike segments when I did a search on Strava and also found a heatmap that served well enough as an overall map.  I uploaded one mountain bike ride to Strava to use to guide me along with the map.  I was really looking forward to exploring this.  I knew it would be hilly and that Jax loved hills so we'd have fun.  What I wasn't expecting was the road noise from I-95, it really buts right up to the Highway at the south end of the property.  The noise and OMG the exhaust followed us up the first climb.  I could hear Dave bitching in the back of my mind, and me rolling my eyes (Jax too).  As we went further North in the property it was better, at least the smell was gone if you listened you could hear the road noise.

Heat Map makes it easy to see the trails ridden.
We went as far North as the A.
The blue line to the left of the F - J segment is where we saw the No Trespassing signs.

I'll try this again from the North entrance on CT184, it looks like you can park in the back of a bathroom showroom and access the trails.  There is supposed to be another entrance to the property off the road.  I couldn't see it when I drove by, definitely not going to drag Jax along on a leash along the side of CT184.  You can sort of follow along with the Strava image below.  We had about 3/4 of a mile to go to hit CT184.  Maybe when the trees leaf out it will be better.



Wednesday (1 + 2) - As it goes with my aging body, it isn't the day after it is the day after the day after what you did hits me.   While my body didn't hurt, no joint aches and pains beyond the normal level (annoying), I was tired, exhausted really.  Running a 10K on Monday probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.  I dragged along most of the day, taking the long way to get to the cafeteria in hopes that would help.  Not really. 

From Candlewood.
I'm impressed at how much he is allowing me to take his picture
He's a pretty photogenic fella.

I worked late and then Dave and I took Jax to Burlingame, parking at the Duck Trail (haha Jonny) and doing a Sammy C's, Secret Trail loop back up the Duck Trail to the car.



Thursday (3) - Surprisingly I felt rested when I woke up so taking it easy on Wednesday was the correct course of action.   I wasn't moving very fast for a 3-mile lunch walk/run.  It got my heart rate up a little quicker than expected, but it was pretty warm out being 60F and all.  HA HA HA...

Mean Old Tom - I like it!
I bought this a while ago, not sure why it sat for months before I drank it.
There will be more!

Dinner out with some friends was nice.  Got home to the sound of Dave's bass (yes it can be heard from the front porch - at times all the way to Jeff H's house, 3 doors down, as Jeff has mentioned to me) but Dave's truck wasn't there.  Jax was running around in a panic.  Did a bike inventory, one of Dave's was missing and discovered he left on the recording session with Cedric.  I fed Jax and then took him for a walk.  He was rather energetic for an in town walk, I chalked it up to being home alone at Dog Dinner time.   He's a goof and was remarkably well behaved too.

Friday (2) -  The day that started out with me wanting so desperately to say "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."  I didn't, I thought it, I didn't say it, ok I muttered it, to myself.  I didn't even say it when I scrolled back in the e-mail to find out they knew they needed this documentation Thursday morning yet, waited until 7:30 a.m. Friday to request the documentation from me.  There was no way for me to get this until after 10:00 a.m. and that caused a bit of whining and complaining and we are going to get an observation, IDGAF, I can only do what I can do.

Pole #13 by a dilapidated camp building.
Eerie

I had a lovely 90-minute nap, then Dave woke me up so we could take Jax for a hike.  I needed that nap.  We took a nice walk down the old camp road to Watchaug Pond where we were greeted by two off-leash dogs running around not listening to their guardian.  Eventually, the chaos barked and lunged its way up the single track and we went down to the pond.

Saturday (5 + 3) - Went out to Woody Hill for a mountain bike ride with a plan of 8 (I opted to skip the HS XC course and then I got lost by the quarry) so I made 5.  I'll call it a win.  One of the mud bogs was so deep my back wheel sunk past the axel and then the grinding of grit on the brake pads and disc break started.  For fucks sake (I told you I liked that phrase and will now overuse it, haha) I was happy I overpacked water was able to clean out the brake pads and disc enough to get the breaks working properly again and not grind the pads and the disc.  Fussy things disc brakes but now I want a road bike with them.  So much quicker stopping than rim breaks.

He's a lot less muddy with the last mud puddle to clean him off.
Barney got a bath when we got home.

Dave called and he wasn't going to be joining Jax and me on a hike.  Well, I could say I was sad about this, I was only mad that he waited so late to call.  We went out to a new to us Avalonia Land Conservancy preserve in North Stonington.  There are three that connect, probably a total of 12 miles out and back, so we tackled the closer one and the one with less climbing.  We didn't explore all the side trails and still logged 3 miles and a nice long dip in the river for Jax, I was a little nervous he was going to wade in too far or not come out at all.  60F and humid is not his kind of weather. 

Happy guy in the cool water.  He went in all the way to his collar.

Sunday (0) - Maybe this will turn into something else if the rain ever winds down, but for now (1 p..m.), I'm calling it a zero-day.

The covered bridge from Saturday's hike.

Reading:

"The Grapes of Wrath"
by John Steinbeck

The dialect has me cringing, as does the story.  What a horrible time in our countries history.  Funny how things never really change. 

Knitting:

Finished the first of Dave's pair of socks.  I much prefer knitting one sock on one circular.  I gave it a go with two socks on two circulars and it was making knitting not fun. 

Sincerely,
Beth, huh, that was a pretty full week, perhaps I've earned Sunday off!  Or brownies?  Or beer?  Or all three?