Quite the eye opening week, in a good way!

October 8, 2018 - October 14, 2018

Monday (4.4) -  Made the right out of the gate, my usual running route.  Felt good to be on a familiar course.  Walk 1-minute run 3:30 minutes seems to work well.  I have a goal of 5 miles 2 times per week.  Maybe next week I'll up to the 5 or maybe not.  I definitely felt this in my knees when I get up from my desk after the run, but they felt better after only a few steps and didn't go back to being achy the next time I got up from my desk, all seems very promising.  After that, I'll slowly transition to more running time, 30 seconds at a time with the 1-minute walk break and see how that goes.  My right knee was bugging me a bit in the middle few intervals, it never felt like it would buckle, it was uncomfortable when I'd land with my foot too far forward, landing fully on my heel instead of more heel/midfoot when my foot lands just a bit ahead of my hips.

Burlingame service road
Not quite fall yet

Strava does this thing where you can see where you are trending on a particular course you run.  For the first time, it didn't bug me to see where I was running this course a few years ago, in the high 9's / low 10's versus my current pace in the 12's. This starts in 2012 when I started tracking things on Strava.  Interesting data and this really helped me in my conversation with my Rheumatologist the next day.

Jax didn't get a walk, instead, Dave played hide and seek with him.  It was pretty clear how much Gus used to help with this game and give away Dave's hiding spot!  I had to crack up when Jax ran by him at least 5 times maybe close to 8 before Dave started making noises and Jax could hear the clue but couldn't for the life of him figure out Dave was behind a chair.  The fun of a house where all the rooms are connected and you can run around in circles.

Tuesday (3.8) Started the morning at the Rheumatologists office.  I could see my bloodwork before he went over it with me.  All the inflammation markers were UP!  Bloody hell.  I feel better than I have in a while, so none of this is making any sense to him.  We discussed the minimal joint pain I do have and I'm pretty sure that directly relates to what I'm calling running these days, he focused on the joint pain in my elbow and hands, gone, completely gone.  The shoulder pain I have is muscular, not joint and is clearly related to crashing on my mountain bike.

My last one, sniff. 

He asked if I was willing to go on a low dose short course of steroids to see if we can get the inflammation reduced?  I wondered if this was going to happen. He said he would have immediately put me on steroids to reduce the inflammation, but wanted to see how it progressed under my current medication protocol.  I'm not thrilled at the thought of a steroid, low dose or not,  but getting the inflammation under control is pretty important to my overall health and organ function.  It all makes me wonder how long this has been a problem and how much I've learned to live with.

Gobble Gobble

I had a nice quick 2-mile walk at lunch, I had 50 minutes to walk, shower, and get to my desk for my next meeting.

Wednesday (7.7)  Hills with Ro.  This was my first day on 10mg Prednisone, so I had no idea how anything was going to go or feel, I thought it best to do as I normally would then I'd know how things went?   Hills were good, peppy, very peppy considering it was 80F and humid, in October...  Well, summer was a month late so fall will be late too I suppose, all these things are like dominoes.  Wonder if winter will be late or we will get snow the first week in November as some weather gurus are predicting?

Camp site marker

The only difference I noticed was my knees, they didn't feel as achy or a creeky after the hills.  I noticed this on my evening hike with Jax.  I did remember my headlamp as we were venturing into the woods and would be there after sunset.  What I forgot was to charge it.  The light was dim but bright enough to see and I turned off the red flashy in the back to help save some power.  We'd be out for only 2 miles, pretty much all Jax can stand in the humidity we had.  He slogged along behind me not at all happy about the weather but happy enough to find things to sniff and pee on.  We scared up an owl and that was good heart racing fun.  Then we happened upon two people with two dogs on the trail, they did not have on anything reflective or headlamps so we nearly ran into them.  If it wasn't for their dogs making a lot of noise it could have been eventful.  I let them go on ahead as we were going the same way on the trail.  Turns out they were the other car in the parking area!   I kept an eye out for people approaching during our walk, for maybe the first 3/4 of a mile but then I forgot about that car, figured they were probably gone by now, as it was dark and who goes to the woods in the dark?

Thursday (3.8) Enough time to take a long walk to lunch, slowly as I didn't have time to change into shorts and wash off the sweat so I didn't smell the rest of the day.  Jax and I had a quick in town walk before the rain came back and before he had dinner.  He is starting to get into these walks, will wonders ever cease?

goofball

Day 2 of the Prednisone.  I didn't do enough to notice much of a difference, but I didn't ache as much going down the stairs, so that's good, right?

Friday (7)  I was anxious about running, pretty normal for me these days.  How was I going to feel?  I definitely felt better after Hills With Ro than I normally feel, so was this a prelude to a good run?  Or was I fooling myself.  I did a 4-minute warm-up/psych-up walk and started the 1-minute walk 3:30-minute run interval timer.  The run started and I felt good, my breathing was remarkably under control, even and smooth, not panting and raspy.  Must be the cooler and drier weather.  The 1-minute walk break came and I was surprised at how much further I was then the same route on Monday. Back to the run and I watched the watch flip over to the pace, I felt good, and not breathing all choppy, 10:21, no way!  Well some of it is downhill and the wind is at my back, it must be a fluke...  the next one 9:56, then 9:22, 9:52, 9:45 and I was smiling and feeling really great.  Most people would say the wheels came off at this point but I settled into paces more in the 10's, where I am also happiest, for the rest of my run segments, a couple I didn't finish because my heart rate was a bit too high.  I'm beyond thrilled.  BEYOND!!!  I chalked this all up to the Prednisone giving me the extra boost until someone commented on my Strava that his brother had the same reaction to the Prednisone and his doctor said  "...Prednisone doesn't make you feel good, but that's how you should always feel..."  I know the brother has been having autoimmune challenges and I've been watching his Strava feeds with speeds faster and distances longer, so maybe, just maybe this will kick my immune system back into functioning correctly?

My mother further gave me hope that some of her cancer support buddies have been on high doses of Prednisone and haven't experienced the weight gain.  I haven't had the weird dreams, which is good, my subconscious is pretty bizarre all on its own, I'm kinda scared what it will dream up (haha, see what I did there) with the Prednisone influence.

Wilcox Homestead
Front Steps

We took Jax on the old campground loop and that was ok,  Dave is such a grouch with this weather.  We found more old campsite markers and I think next time I'll explore some of what I can see are old camp roads.  It is so cool, not at all spooky anymore.  I'm also studying the maps to see if I can add on another loop to this route so we have some choices of loops and not the same old same old.

Saturday (4.5)  The morning was supposed to be icky so I got done a lot of those, oh it takes 5 minutes I'll do it later, until they pile up and four hours later you are only halfway through the list because, well when those 5 minute things start to pile up they seem to morph into more jobs because the piles get out of control.   I did purge out a lot of crap I've been hanging on to for no good reason and found something I thought I lost years ago.

See the blue marker on the other side of the river?
Maybe another day, maybe never we will try this again.

I wanted to see how I'd feel on the Wickaboxet Blue Loop this week from a week ago, granted the weather is much cooler and that makes being outside more enjoyable for both me and Jax.  Grouchy came with us, I really need to make my imaginary friends happy people, shame on me.  He grumbled and grouched most of the way around the loop, I can't say that I disagree with his some of his points, but seriously, I have Facebook and other social media to get my daily dose of grouchy whiney complaints.  This time we discovered the Wilcox graveyard and the front steps of the Wilcox homestead, that was pretty cool!

Jax enjoying the rocks and roots

Sunday (2.5) My plan was to go to Patchaug with Jax and do a loop around Green Falls pond.  How difficult could that be?  Well...  you have to cross a river from the direction we were heading, and well that wasn't happening, not with 80 lbs of rock (Jax).  Crap.  so we drove around for a bit and went to Canochet Preserve for a short hike.  This turned out to be just the right thing, Jax enjoys going for a ride and he was pretty wiped out once we got back in the car, snoring with in 5 minutes.   I forget he is 8 and that is pretty old for a boxer boy, he gets grouchy when he gets over tired like that, and sure enough he got grouchy when Dave tried to move him from Dave's spot in the bed at about 11 on Sunday night.

Goofball

Knitting:

Still no pictures, or no decent pictures.  I'm about up to the armpit area for knitting and getting ready to divide for the back and the front.  Exciting stuff!!

Reading:

"The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane"
by Lisa See

Status:  Done

I loved this book, a great story, not just because it had a happy ending because it was so well told.

"Dark Places"
by Gillian Flynn

Status: Stalled

I may just let this one expire off the Kindle.  I don't know that I want to read something dark.

"Pachinko"
by Min Jin Lee

A Korean woman living in Japan with her new husband.  More Asian culture.  I couldn't figure out how this ended up on my list and it was because my mom recommended it to someone wanting to read historical fiction on Korea and Japan. Not disappointing!

"The Witches of New York"
by Ami Mckay

Status:  Started

This popped up on the Kindle, again, can't remember who recommended it.  So far interesting set int he 1800's, and about, you guessed it witches in NY.  Women with powers to make things happen are called witches, spells and potions to stop pregnancy seem to be the biggest reason these women are called witches.    I'll keep plugging along.  I can't get attached to the main character, always a bummer when that happens.

~~~~~~~~~~

All in all the week was pretty magical thanks to prescription drugs!  I had no idea my normal was hiding there behind all that inflammation, I figured it was gone forever and rebuilding what I lost wasn't in the cards.  I am curious to see how all of this evolves and if it doesn't last I'll enjoy the memories. 

Sincerely,
Beth, better living through chemistry?

Ah-Ha Moments Gives Me Much Needed Peace

Monday (5.4)  Walk/Run for 4 miles.  I felt it at the end, well I felt it in my knees at the beginning, the decent from Shrewsbury Peak, all 1,200 feet of it I felt all the way down and was still kind of feeling.  Moving does help move the pain into 'uncomfortable' versus 'pain'.

Smoke Metal by Burlington Beer Company
Much better in a glass pint glass, funny how beer can be like that.

I had to get a blood draw, and now you get a patient ID tag and have to go through the who are you when is your birthday.  When I saw the "age 51" on the tag I looked at the nurse and said "I'm not that old, am I?"  she laughed and said, "It's just a number."

After dinner Jax noticed me fiddling around with the jacket rack and got all jumpy and spinney, ah, he wanted to go for a walk!  I grabbed a reflective vest, headlamp, the movie to return to the library and Jax and we had a nice stroll in the mist which transitioned to rain.  He was more thrilled about the rain because that meant he would be toweled off once we got home, one of his favorite things especially with a big towel that goes over his head and whole body and he can wiggle around like a ghost I suppose.   All in all, not a bad day.

So many mushrooms in the forest.  This must be a banner year for them.

Tuesday (5) In the morning my knees weren't happy with the extra mile or the rain and I had a day of meetings so I didn't bother to pack my gym bag, I'd at most get a couple long walks in around campus between meetings and between the rain.

I found it rather, not sure what the correct word would be, for someone who ran the Boston Marathon a few short months to be envious of how quickly I can get up a set of stairs and not be in pain, discomfort, not pain.  Funny is one word, but sad is another...  Pain is pain discomfort is discomfort, and mostly what I have is discomfort.  Or I've convinced myself that is all it is.  Hard to tell, we all measure pain differently.  The thought of taking the long walk to the cafeteria didn't overwhelm me like it did him.  We both agreed going DOWN the stairs strikes a few notes of fear.

Meh, not the usual deliciousness Oskar Banks brews

A friend posted an article on "4 Signs you are ready to run an ultra."  I wanted so badly to put in #5.  You are willing to never be able to run again once you've pushed your body further than it wants to go.   But I remembered I should say encouraging things or say nothing at all...

Jax sporting his fashionable orange.

Dave hadn't been out for a ride in a while, I texted to let him know I could get home early and take Jax to Burlingame for a hike.  We all get grouchy when we don't get exercise and fresh air, he definitely needed some of both!  For an imaginary husband he certainly can test my patience; guess I missed the chapter on making your imaginary friends loveable ALL the time.  I mistakenly thought the loop took us an hour, its 3 miles.  We started about 5:30 and the sun sets about 6:30, it would be dark, maybe for the last 1/10th of a mile. About 2 miles in it was really getting dark, darker than normal with the clouds for, oh it feels like rain, crap.  The mist started a bit, then I turned on the flashlight on the cell phone, Jax walked a few steps ahead of me and I shone the light down in that gap to make sure I didn't fall.  We both know this route pretty well, but it had been a few months since I had been on it and who knew what sort of blowdowns had happened or if new rocks emerged from the continued degradation of the trail or if the High School Mountain Bike club were back to their old tricks of moving things off the trail, just when you expect you are supposed to jump over a log, you find it is missing and begin to doubt your memory of the trail you spent a few Saturdays running laps on.  The mist transitioned to rain and we were soaked by the time we got back to the car 90 minutes after we started.  It was a grand time for both of us!!  Next time I'll remember my headlamp.  As an aside the flashlight didn't drain the battery in the iPhone, I was happy about that. 

Whoops it got dark and I forgot my "10 Essentials"

Wednesday (5.7)  Back to the normal day for hills.  Rather warm and humid for an October day, we hit most of our usual paces.  We dragged up the last hill.  I'm not remembering anything else about the day.  

Boooooozzzzyyyyyy

Thursday (3.4) Another day of meetings with just enough of a break to biological balance but nothing more.  I took the long walk back from the cafe at lunchtime, I had to be in that part of campus for a meeting, picked up a friend along the way and I showed her a way to get another 3/4 of a mile by going to the outer edge of the parking lot.   We didn't talk much, her English is really poor and it was just nice to make small comments about the leaves or the nice weather or some of the crazy stuff we saw in the parking lot.   Took Jax out for a walk after dinner, he was bored, in town walks are boring.  But Dave was out testing out his bike for something or another so that was good fun getting spooked by a biker in the dark and then spending a good 10 minutes barking at him.  Jax probably disturbed the neighborhood.  We all make mistakes from time to time.    

This reminds me the neighbor with the loud truck got a new truck a few months ago.  I saw him with the new one and before I realized what I was saying, it came out.  "Nice truck that old one seemed to get louder every day."  He apologized, but I don't think he really realized how loud it was and that we all could hear it through closed windows.  

Friday (3.5)  Dave went biking with a friend so I "worked" from home.  I did get quite a bit done and had some errands to run.  I had considered taking Jax to a new management area to hike, but time got away from me so we went to Burlingame.  I decided to mix up the loop a bit and add in part of the Secret Trail.  Give him something different.  Doing the same loop does get boring.  Once we got up on the table top of granite I remembered running into Jonny up there for one of my training runs for the 50K.  That got me thinking about a lot of different things and what I have actually accomplished running and biking and maybe I should lighten up a bit on what the future may or may not hold or what I failed to complete this year.    Jax was thrilled with all the ledge and I had to scurry to keep up with him and the thoughts disappeared.  

Jax happy for some ledge to scramble up and jump off.

Saturday (7.5 & 0.9) Jess and I were going to meet up to ride the Yellow Dot / Vin Gormley trail in Burligame.  I was super nervous, to the point of nearly wanting to bail, about this ride.  All I could think of was all the trouble I've had riding this trail and how horrible the rock gardens are and those damn bog bridges and falling off them.    We met up and discussed how to ride the trail clockwise or clockstupid.  She thought the race next weekend was clockstupid and I thought probably not because there would be several left-hand turns across hardtop road and that just didn't make sense, but considering who is hosting the race, it isn't out of the question.  We decided clockwise as that is the best way to ride or even run the course.  I was happy for that because I knew I had about 2 miles of super easy riding until the dreaded curvy bog bridge where I fell.

Turns out Jess is only a little bit better than me.  Her years of dirt bike riding helps her to pick the A-line but it's the pedaling that gets her all wobbly and she had to get off to navigate exactly where I knew I was going to have to dismount to navigate.  We could both see the A-line but could not figure out how we'd get the bikes from there up on that bog bridge.  If we would spend an hour 'sessioning' that part we would have nailed it.  So was this a skills session or a ride?  We decided it was a ride and from that point forward until the little hut we walked our bikes over that ridiculously long bog bridge.  I did get on after the hut and managed to fall with only 2 feet of bog bridge left!  OMG Mind over matter!    Of course, I fell on my bad shoulder but was cushioned by some bushes.  No harm was done (to the bike or me).  

Trail Carnage.  I got mixed up in some thorns, it was easier to ride through them.

After that part, it was smooth sailing and I remembered how much I love the VG and while there were a couple spots I did need to dismount because my confidence was a bit wobbly after falling off the bog bridge.  We picked our way through the rock gardens and sped along the even smooth single track.  I had such a great time and felt like I managed to break through a lack of confidence barrier that has been haunting me since the spring.  

Jess!

Jess and I went to lunch and talked a lot about moving through our various illnesses, injuries, and physical limitations, and how sometimes it is ok to not do an event more than once or do an event just because your friends are doing it or know that anything over 3 hours of continuous effort is going to be a stretch.  Very therapeutic, for the first time I was able to think about what I have accomplished and be ok with being impressed with what I've tackled on my feet and in the saddle.  Those things may never happen again, or maybe they will, for now, I've accomplished a lot and should be proud of myself even if I never run another race or ride another century.

Boooorreeeeddddd

Sunday (4.3) Woke up to rain.  WHAT!!!  That wasn't on the schedule.  Dave went fishing, last trip of the season.  I'm a little less than motivated when he's not home and even less motivated with the rain on the porch roof (it is copper, the sound of rain on metal is soooo soothing to me).  I did get up and feed Jax and went back to bed.  He came up to check on me and remind me we had a date for a hike to a new place.  Funny how he can remember those details but not the detail he isn't supposed to go out at 2 a.m. and have a barkfest in the backyard.  

Rattlesnake Ledge

We went to Tillinghast Pond and Wickaboxet Management Areas.  They are connected and there is a third one (Pratt) in there I discovered on our hike.  Of course, it was on one of the maps,  I was really only concentrating on where we were going to hike.  As it was a new place I wasn't sure how used it was or how well marked the trails were, but it seemed like either they were marked or there was just one loop.  

On top of Rattlesnake Ledge
He always makes me nervous, I'm just sure he is going to jump.

Lots of interesting stuff to explore, Jax wandered off to Rattlesnake Ledge and that seemed like a fine idea.  We explored up there and followed an unmarked trail until we found the blue blaze trail we started following and followed that for the rest of the adventure.  I'll figure out how it all interconnects at some point.  It is a 30-minute drive out there, and it seems so silly to me to drive to go walk in the woods for 2 hours, but that is what it is.  The trail was lightly used while we were there, it was humid and kept threatening rain, so that may keep people away?  

It was a good hike and Jax was desperately in need of something to drink and we found a pond!

Soak and drink, multi tasking!

Knitting:

Still no pictures.  I'll get to it. I'm enjoying the rhythm of the pattern.  This is definitely the correct yarn and pattern combination.  I'll be happy to wear this when the snow flies.

Reading:

"The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane"
by Lisa See

I will be sad when this ends but I want to know how it ends.  One of my nieces is a Chinese girl, she was born in the Hunan Province, very much like Haley in the book she was left on the doorstep of the orphanage.  Unlike Haley, there was nothing left with her to even give her a clue where she came from.  At this point in the book, Haley is about 13 years old and in a group therapy session with other Chinese girl adoptees.  They are discussing being Chinese and having a stringed instrument foisted upon them at a young age, as well as the expectation that they will do well in school because they are Asian, and frustrated that the other Chinese kids, born in the U.S. to their Chinese parents look down on them and don't think of them as Chinese because they are raised by white people.  Couple all this with the knowledge they were abandoned by their mother's.  I've always thought Adele, my niece, would have a difficult time, I was mistaken in the root of that problem only being her adoptive parents, not that she looks so different from everyone else and thoughts of why was she abandoned by her mother.  These girls too talked of the fear of being sent back if they misbehaved.  Then I think about my nephew Jin, he is Korean, except his parentage is known, and sealed in the orphanage in Korea, his parents were in college and made the choice to give up their baby versus terminating the pregnancy.  He will have the option of finding his biological family.  I can't blame him if he did, it is important to know where you came from.   I'm sure a parent would have a much different feeling on the matter.   As this is a novel and most likely has a  happy ending, one of the items Li-yan left with her daughter when she left her in a cardboard box on the steps of the orphanage will tie Haley back to her lineage.  There are other story-lines in the book equally as fascinating, however, this one grabs me at a very personal level.

Sincerely,
Beth, swapping peace for anger.

Lots of things to learn this week

Monday (1.5)  We bugged out from Winhall Campground after Jax and I had a nice long walk around the campground.  I really need to get Dave to join in on these so he can look at the different sites available.   I liked a few down by the river and in the fall they would have great sun.  Where we were was shady in the afternoon.  Our site did have electric and that was what we were there to test out.  The other sites I was eyeing did not.  Hmm, I'd like to come back for sure and stay a little longer.

Woohoo the NEW Scrabble dictionary!

I got the lawn mowed it desperately needed it.  There is some rumor about our town fining people if weeds or grass are over 6" high.  That kind of is my "wildflower garden" but since it sort of looks OK, I'm sure we are ok.

Tuesday (0) I think it rained or something, I'm not really sure.  I've been having a lot of stupid meetings, and I mean they are stupid.  I think these people like to hear themselves and marvel at their intelligence through their protracted pontification.  Not my jam, I'll be nice and play along.

Wee bit more color in VT this weekend

Wednesday (3.4) Walk / Run thing.  Seems to work well if I walk for 5 minutes then set up the interval timer.   I can't remember anything else of note that happened...  hmmm....

Thursday (3.4) Jax's 8th birthday!  I took him for a walk after dinner, he is sort of starting to like these in town walks but would rather be in the woods, wouldn't we all??  I can manage a 2-mile walk around campus to get my lunch and back to my desk.  At least that got me moving on another nonsensical meeting day.

"You are teasing me with those marshmallows.  I shall bite you. I am not amused."  -- Jax 

Friday (5.7)  Hills with Ro on Friday had me all confused.  I amost forgot I needed to wrap up work early so we could drive up to Plymouth VT to stay at Coolidge State Park for the weekend.   This was another first, we didn't have reservations.   We are slowly learning the processes for Reserve America and the reservation window closes two days before the check-in date, the assumption (yes I know what that means) is the unreserved sites are the first to come first served.   We arrived just before 9 p.m. and found our site #16 was vacant and got quickly set up and started a fire and had a beer within 45 minutes of arriving and finding no one at the ranger station, just a note that the sites with green highlights were vacant the X's were reserved.  We both scratched our head at this, but most of the sites had X's, how could this be?  nothing was booked online.

View from the CCC Trail

Dave bought a portable propane heater we could use to augment the furnace in Spud.  If we don't have enough sun to use the solar panels to recharge the batteries then this is a good option.  EXCEPT it really is important to open a window or the CO2 detector goes off and while Dave was alert enough to get the situation remedied, I really was out of it.  A factor of exhaustion or CO2, hard to tell.

Saturday (6)  We woke up to a "stealth" Jax trying to flatten me against the side of Spud, and he was up and ready to go.  Wouldn't that be so awesome, wake up, whappa whappa your head and BOOM! ready to take on the day.  After his breakfast, we did our camp loop and Dave went off to check-in.  Well... we were in a reserved spot and we could have #10, #11, or #12.  #12 looked the best only possibility of a neighbor on the street side of Spud.    We learned in Acadia it's not so great to not have a separator of either the camper or at least a few trees between sites.    Got packed back up and set back up in the new site.

View from the Slack Hill lookout, Mt Ascutney is in the far distance.  If you look closely you can see the Fire Tower

Lesson learned:  You can CALL the rangers office to reserve a site.  Why neither of us thought of that is beyond me.  Probably because I hate the telephone, it only rings when there is bad news, and will do anything to avoid using it or suggest using it.  So now we know!

"Beth, is that snow?" -- Jax
"It's granite." -- Beth
"Bummer." -- Jax

The morning activity was to hike the CCC trail to the Slack Hill Trail, these are both in the park and there is a connector to CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) right next to our campsite.  Jax was beyond ecstatic to get out into the woods.  The CCC trail starts closer to VT100A; I really was more interested in the Slack Hill Trail and seeing the 'scenic vista'.    We enjoyed the first summit and view of mountains.  It really is a nice picnic area at the top of the 'hill', we mentioned we should go up there to look at the stars.  Someday.  Then off to The Slack Hill trail and the scenic vista of Mt. Ascutney in the distance was really beautiful.  There was also a huge piece of granite that looked like a pile of melting snow.

Kent Pond
Tried to capture too much in the pano view. but you get the jist  The road would be behind me.

Dave wanted to explore some mountain bike trails in Woodstock, I dropped him off and took Jax out to Killington to see Thundering Brook Falls.  It was going to be a short hike, less than a 1/2 mile total.  There was an option to park on the road and take a boardwalk (also part of the Appalachian Trail) to the falls or to hike down from a road.  I opted for the path less traveled with Mr. Crazy.  Before we did that we explored the road a bit and found Kent Pond and some fishermen and heard loons.  Not exactly super thrilling, mostly just a short walk to enjoy the views.  Jax thought the teeny bit of the AT he got to hike was great, except for the off-leash dog. Grrrrrrr.  If I would have heard the dog earlier I could have let him off his leash so they could sort it out, but no I've got 80 lbs of Mr. Crazy attached to me on some rock stairs and people screaming for their dog who has no interest in listening to them.  One of these days I fear this is going to go badly and I'm going to get bit either on accident by a stressed Mr. Crazy or a stupid off-leash dog is going to bite me or Mr. Crazy when he growls and snaps because he feels threatened.  I mean really, how would YOU feel if you are restrained and something is coming at you?  It is a totally natural reaction, protect yourself, period.  But I get the "Geeze lady keep your aggressive dog away from public areas."  complete with the disgusted looks.  Hmmm, who is really at fault here?

Where the incident with the unleashed dog happened.  Ugh...

I think we've learned through the bazillion Strava and blog posts about getting bit while running on trails or the street, that it clearly is the fault of the person minding their own business and not the person letting their dog run off leash and here's the key part:  NOT paying attention to them.  I let my guy off leash as often as possible, the number of times I've been surprised by him noticing something with a few seconds to get him leashed and off the trail: not too frequently, but it happens.   The number of times he has run off after something and not obeyed his recall command = 0.   Even Gizmo who was stubborn as a mule would mind my commands, he would do it begrudgingly and like a sullen teenager.  There was one-time, in the first year we had Gizmo and Diesel, they flushed out three or four deer and the two of them went off on a joy run to find them.  I was pretty sure I had lost both of them at that point and was trying to figure out how I was going to tell Dave I lost the dogs, and they came running back to tell me all about their adventure.  That taught me a very valuable lesson and I kept them close and paid attention to what was going on around us.  Unfortunately, our guys and gal learned that if they get called when I have the leash on the ready they know to look for the trouble I saw and they missed!

Thundering Brook Falls

Ok, enough Beth, shut your yap.

I enjoyed the waterfall and wonder what the thru-hikers think of this spot or other tourist spots.  Jax smelled something interesting and dragged me up to a clearing where we found a hiker snacking on a Pop Tart or something equally as yummy.  I apologized and said, "He smelled the sugar."   She laughed.  I even had enough time to find a beer store and had a few minutes to spare before going back to Woodstock to pick up Dave.

"He's in those woods isn't he?  When's he coming back?" -- Jax

Sunday (3.1) The park ranger let Dave know that we could have a 'late check out' of 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. when he said he wanted to reserve the site for Monday, so we could leave late on Sunday.  The site was not reserved so we got a gift!  Awesome.  Last time Dave and Jax hiked to Shrewsbury Peak so I thought I'd like to do that.  We were a bit crushed for time and didn't make it to the peak, we were about 3/4 of a mile from the top.  Still, it was nice to get out for a mileish up and a mileish down (a little over 1,200 feet of elevation) before the drive home.  We didn't spread out too much, packing up was quick and we were through the dump station by 12:30.

Who do I spy through the upside down heart?
His mother will love a copy of this.

If anyone wants a great view from a lean-to site, check this out!  We are trying to find some friends to reserve one of the sites with this view so we can come over and enjoy it!

Well that's a shitty picture of a beautiful view from the Elm Lean To
You can see the top of the fireplace at the bottom of the picture. 

Knitting:

Making progress!  I'll get some pictures eventually, it's hard to photograph dark colors when there isn't any sun.


Reading:

"Where the Lost Girls Go"
by R. J. Noonan

Finished

Too much of a formula murder mystery, I figured it out too early to enjoy the ending.  Usually, I don't figure them out and don't try, I like to let the story unfold as it is going to unfold.  For reference: I was one of those people who was surprised the boat sank in Titanic, I was that into the movie.

"The Ragged Edge of Night:
by Olivia Hawker

In progress

I may give up on this and start something else.  It is an interesting story but as I decide I'm just not that into it, then the author makes it interesting.

"The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane"
by Lisa See

Started

I had to do a double take when I realized this book was set in 1989, I had assumed it was before the cultural revolution in China. My assumption was based on the barbaric ritual performed when a woman gave birth to twins.  This seemed barbaric for modern times, this is a remote Yunnan village inhabited by the ethnic minority Akha.  Clearly, my ignorance smacked me across the face.  Definitely will be an education in perspective among other things.  My mother and several girlfriends recommended this one, I'm glad it finally popped up on my check out list from the library.

Sincerely,
Beth, enjoying the daily lessons of life.