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.

I saw my first bear! Dave saw his first milk snake! Jax, well he didn't care about either...

Monday (3.5)  Well look at that comments are back to being delivered via eMail!  Yeah!  And to answer your question Padre - the hip thing seems to have cleared it self up, a little bit of stretching and some foam rolling and time I guess was what it needed.

Watching the world go by.

More walk/run this was the first time I wasn't desperately wishing for the walk break.  The weather is more conducive to running which I'll attribute to the wanting to continue to run/not feeling like I needed a break after a whopping 3 minutes and 30 seconds of running.

Tuesday (2) If I take the long way to the cafeteria it is a mile walk.  My knees were feeling yesterdays 3.5 miles.  Wonderful...   Jax and I went on a stroll after I got home from work.  Fortunately neither outing ended up in getting soaked by rain.  I guess this is the remnants of Florence moving north then east, and like a N'or Easter it does come in bands it can be bright and sunny one minute and pouring the next.  I should have snapped a photo of the radar, it really is amazing how it comes through in waves or rather bands.

What's going on out there?
OMG he is so spoiled.

My knees are uber crunchy sounding lately, probably a combination of the humidity and the Euflexxa wearing off (November the shots start again).  I am a little nervous to ask the person walking next to me if they can hear the crunch crunch crunch when I'm going up and down the stairs.  I kinda want to think I'm hearing it because I can feel it not because it is loud enough to travel the 3 feet between my knees and my ears.

Wednesday (1)  Well a mile is a mile, right?  Feeling like the inside of my skin is a the outside of a porcupine makes moving not very appealing.  Guess that's better than not wanting to be touched, and not just by people, by clothes?  Think it's the change in weather.

A little Spud through the trees.

Thursday (1) Got my mile!  Woo hoo!  Breaking all sorts of records aren't I?

Winhall Brook in Winhall Brook Campground

Friday (1) I thought we were leaving early, Dave said we discussed it and we were leaving later.  OK.  My mind gets foggy from time to time, perhaps we did, perhaps we didn't.  It's been a bad Auto Immune week, so who knows, I went to work, no reason to waste a vacation day.

Thought this was a cool tree along the North side of the West River Rail Trail

We left a bit before 4:00 p.m. and got to Winhall Brook Campground in South Londonderry, VT about 8:30 p.m.  We dilly dallied around with dinner and grocery shopping along the way.  This was a super easy place to park the camper at night.  Very big open field.  Electricity and water were our luxuries this weekend.  Although water still needed to be used judiciously because there wasn't also a sewer so no long showers, just the usual quick rinse.  6 gallons of water in a minute is really a lot of water, and consider the grey tank holds 21 gallons, get in soap up rinse off and get out is the only option, unless you go to the pay shower.   With the temperature getting down into the low 40's it would be nice to use the heat.

Watching the world go by

There are two options a heat pump (electric) or the furnace (propane).  Being able to experiment with both, we prefer the propane it is much quieter and heats more evenly, plus it is drier so we don't have to deal with moisture accumulating.  Moisture is evil to campers, they are made with such light weight materials many things can go wrong with extended moisture. 

Dave opted for this place and the open camping versus wooded because it is cooler now and the sun would be welcome.  It was like staying at the Ritz with electricity. 

Saturday (9)  We ended up not using the heat on Friday night, it didn't get much below 50 and we left a window open, plus it was nice to hear Winhall Brook.  The morning greeted us with fog over the valley, very pretty.    Dave went to Killington for some down hill riding.  Jax and I had a long post his breakfast pre my breakfast wander around the campground.  He has so much more energy with the cooler weather.

Jax and I went to the north side of the campground to walk on the West River Rail Trail.  We found both the lower and the upper trail and saw only one person for the 5 miles we walked/hiked/adventured.  He got a little goofy which is nice to see.  Kind of a cross between Diesel's galloping goofball move and Gizmo's four paw drive.  (video above)

Lye Brook Falls, 

We napped and Dave texted he was having all sorts of mechanical issues and would be later than he thought.

West River (north side trail)

I decided we'd explore the south side of the West River Rail trail and did that for a few miles.  I planned on biking those miles of rail trail on Sunday. Jax was up for whatever, at a slower pace, with more sniffing.  Sure thing buddy, no problemo.

Sunday (6 7)  The morning we went on a hike to Lye Brook Falls, that was nice, a very easy uphill to the falls and some time to check them out, rocks and water, woo hoo Jax says... we thought it was pretty.  Jax really wanted to see what that clump of white stuff was about 10 feet off trail.  We were pretty sure we knew what it was and why didn't the person bury it?  Guess the humans and the dog were at odds with what was interesting?

I took a bike ride on the south side of the West River Rail trail, about 2ish miles in it became single track, steep climb then gentle, then the trail markers got really confusing and I was riding through a lot of mud, I lost the trail, no one should be surprised by this.  Eventually I found it again and it was nice until it wasn't.  I wasn't in the mood for single track but did have fun carrying Barney down some stair to see Angel Falls, across a stone bridge while trying to not fall into the brook, and ride a little ways down the rail trail till I decided I'd had enough of that nonsense and rode back to where I saw a bench over looking the West River and had a seat for a bit and enjoyed the view.  I have nothing to prove to anyone or a requirement for doing anything.  There were a bunch of people hanging out at the falls, otherwise I would have taken a picture.  The falls looked like angel wings to me, I found some pictures on the inter-webs.  Not a fan of the slow shutter speed to make the water look all smokey, you can get the jist of it and see the wings.

http://www.newenglandwaterfalls.com/vt-angelfalls.html

We all went out to check out Ball Mountain Dam, this was one of the two weekends a year they do releases into the West River and most places were filled with kayakers seeking adventure on the white water of the West River.   They put in after the dam, hiked the kayak up to the top of the dam, then down and then put in and kayaked to Jamaica State Park.  We then went to Jamaica State Park to see that and found a nifty store selling apple pie, no vanilla ice cream to be found but the pie was good without it.

Bear crossing the road South Londonderry, VT

Pretty full day, especially after not sleeping well on Saturday because of the loud heat pump kicking and Dave deciding 8:30 p.m. was a good time for coffee.  Gak.

Milk Snake at the Ball Mountain Dam

Knitting 

The Vermont Spinnery Weekend wool is so nice to work with, I'm nearly over how much the wool cost me, knowing the pattern and the wool will work well together.  The pocket backs are now installed in the sweater and I have a few more rows of ribbing before I start on the cable pattern.

Books

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

Status:  In progress

I'm slowly making my way through this until something better comes along in my audio cue.   It is starting to get interesting with a detective finding one of the Lost Girls, and her supervisor unearthing some suspicious behavior of his supervisor.


"The Ragged Edge of Night"
by Olivia Hawker

Status:  Started

A friar stripped of his place, and his students murdered, by the Nazis is trying to find his place in the world, answers a want ad for a husband in name only to help a widow raise her three children.   Very interesting.

I never could get my old Kindle to come back to life and an awesome sale on Kindle Paperwhite magically appeared in my inbox, so I have a new Kindle that talks to the computer and talks to the Fire and talks to Goodreads.  I know I should be very scared of all this electronic talking.  Especially after talking about tires with Dave over dinner both our computers had advertisements for tires....

Mileage:

I'm not keeping very close track of mileage, I check the totals in Strava from time to time, and don't do comparisons to last year and previous years. Unfortunately, as part of the corporate insurance we have things to do (physicals, blood work, fall and spring step challenge) this all amounts to $500 a lot of freaking money in my mind.  The problem is $200 of it is questionable in achieving because my authoritative source for activity (steps) isn't one on their list.  I like my Polar watch, I could fetch the Garmins I gave away, nahhhh...   Guess I have to figure out how to make this work so I don't loose the $$$ or my mind in tracking steps.  Stupid if you ask me, even though my activity level is half or less of what it was last year I'm still an over achiever of the rank and file.  Yeah, so that was a little self congratulatory and annoying, but seriously, I am on a tough course coming to grips with what my declining health and advancing age are doing to my endurance, humor me, please.

Sincerely,
Beth,  happy she can at least run once a week, while there are others who can't even run at all.

Prepping Jax for the Coming Winter Duldroms

Monday (0)  Not really sure.  Mostly panic and prep for Thursday's presentation.

In other news, I re-homed the blue fancy sweater, it was an awkward "I know this is weird, but I think this would fit you and you would look good in it, take it home, try it on and keep it or give it back.  Yes, it was a tremendous amount of work, no I don't want anything for it, I want the sweater to be used and have a home" as I handed it to her in a plastic bag.  She is a fellow fiber enthusiast so I think she understood and seems like she is going to keep it.

Tuesday (5.7)  Hills with Ro on Tuesday and early, and it is also garbage day, humid and well as long as we weren't downwind of the garbage trucks.

Wednesday (0) Shit show of a day.  Finished the last row on the sweater collar.  Think I nailed it this time.

Dave and his RC Plane

Thursday (0) NYC.  If I heard my name mentioned one more time and awesome I was going to vomit.  I don't believe I deserved it.  Plenty of people take things they didn't earn or deserve so I should just suck it up and accept the compliments?  It doesn't sit well with me.  Wonder how those who take away from the deserving sleep at night?  Probably like the babies they are?  The only saving grace was this wasn't taking any reward away from those who earned it and were the highlights of the meeting.   I am hopeful they will receive the award they have earned for the efforts they put forth and the difference they made.  It was a HUGE feather in the cap of the company and the division, I did the job I volunteered to do, period. (as my maternal Grandfather used to say to end a discussion.).

The big score was a bottle of Central Waters Brewing Company Brewhouse Coffee Stout, the last one on the shelf at The Beer Table.  Not a train beer, a nice sipping while knitting kind of beer.  :)  A couple train beers, I only drank one.  Really not in the mood for beer, as odd as that sounds.

Bound off the collar.  I nailed it.  A good wash to let the fibers bloom and I think this will be the first sweater that fits properly and I like.

Friday (1) The Not Trespassing loop in Exeter with Jax and Dave.  Surprisingly Dave came along for our adventure through the fields and to the pond.  The yarn came for Chocolate Stout, it's a dark purple so doesn't go with the name, much like Dark and Stormy is green.  Oh well...    I make yarn cakes and got started on the pockets for the sweater.  Stayed up too late.

The yarn, the pattern, the swift, the ball winder, and a beer!

Saturday (20) Did a usual bike loop backward.  Not a huge fan of left turns but it was pretty quiet out in the morning.  Saw quite a few people biking.  Explored Pound Road after Tom P sent out an EBAC Testosterone Ride including that, he thought it was a through road, I was sure it wasn't, the Dead End sign is pretty much a dead giveaway, ya think?  Anyhow it goes back to a Rez they are cleaning up.  Talked to the owner for a bit as he was going out with a load of junk as I was biking in on my exploration journey.  Nice guy.  Cute dog too!

Cute fuzzy insect.

Got the sweater cast on while Dave drove us out to his parent's house for the evening. And another too late evening in the books.

Sunday (0)  Took Barney out for a gravel grind and his disc breaks locked up.  Lovely.  Farted around with that for a while, in the hot sun and called it.  Rim breaks have their advantages, for sure.  Guess I get to learn something new.  By the time I got home the breaks were loose and the wheels spinning free again.

Jax spent the time I was home staring at me, being pissed and bored. Can't we canoe? Was all he said before he fell asleep with his eyes open and his tongue hanging out.  It is really disturbing looking.  My parents and Dave and I are all very worried about how he is going to handle not camping and having adventures all winter.  We may have to find a place to store Spud where we can go spend the night in him so Jax doesn't get lost in the throes of a deep depression.  Hell, we all may get lost in the throes of a deep depression.  This has been the best summer we've had since we were first dating.

W. VA. 1997

I spent the down part of my day on family history research.  This is fascinating to me, at first it was "challenge accepted", where my mother said I'd never find anything on her father's family.  Well, challenge accepted. I met the paternal side, all the way to the house her Great Grandfather built when he set up roots in Indiana.  Turns out my mother's grandfather, my great-grandfather was, well, every family has at least one, the black sheep.  My aunt (my mother's sister) and I were met with Uncle Hank had CHILDREN!!  Hell, he had a second family as DNA has proven.   This has all been so much fun for me, putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle where I only have a few pieces of the picture!

6/17/2000 the Volk Cousins, two missing, and second cousin (there are two more)

This week's fun was the arrival of my mother's father's mother's father's death certificate.  I'm in the high 90% confidence range on this one.  He either deserted the family or was compelled to leave the family.  Based on the personalities and expectations of women in my family, on both sides, I'd hazard to guess he wasn't measuring up to expectations.  Clearly, I lost all that chutzpah, and am a disappointment to my heritage.    This opened up some more doors and a view into those I came from.  I really am a disappointment. 

G-G-Grandmother in the PA Coal Patch and me... apples and trees...  funny eh?

Knitting:

I've updated on the sweaters in the narrative.  Suffice it to say, once I find the right buttons and wash Dark and Stormy (who is seafoam green in color) she will bloom and be perfect, I am sure.  Chocolate Stout is cast on and the first couple rows started.  She will have pockets so this will be a very new to me! I'm excited for a new knitting adventure.

Books:

"Girl Waits With Gun"
by:  Amy Steward

Finished

Excellent book.  Kept my attention and the author doled out the back story backstory measured way, I'm interested to see what happens in the rest of the series.  This is based on true events.

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

Started

So far OK.  The story is probably duller than the narrator lets on.  Her clipped tone keeps me wondering what is going to happen next.  Although I have heard this narrator before and keep expecting the characters (Mike Hunt) to show up.  So far the story is dull and ripped from the headlines... yawn...  It was another 'available now' book and not one on my list. 

Sincerely,
Beth tomorrow starts another week and another opportunity to make a difference.