Why can't horses just go ahead and be invulnerable as well as strong?

Oh for pete's sake.  I couldn't wallow in the joy of my vacation for ONE FULL DAY?  No.  No, disaster had to strike right away.

At first I didn't think it was my disaster, and I was totally sympathetic.  I heard through the grapevine that a friend's horse colicked.  I tried to get in touch with her but couldn't, so I grabbed a sleeping bag, a pad,  some snacks, and some water, and I drove out to the farm to trade off turns walking the horse around.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the horse was dead.

Yeah, that was a cheerful reunion.

I expressed my sympathies, gave hugs, and decided to go check on my own pony while I was there.  I got out a soft brush and started grooming him.  In the fading evening light, I admired his sleek new summer coat and thought how good and healthy he looked.  And then because it was that time, I got the worming tube out and started to give him his dose.  He, of course, resisted a little bit.  He threw his head up in that defiant "NO!" horsey posture.  As one does.  And then I saw it.. a dark area under his jaw.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" is what I thought.  But no, no.  No kidding.  Explodey horse head, round three.  Blood, pus, and other yucky things which it was rapidly becoming too dark to see were hanging out in the vicinity of his formerly, if briefly, intact lymph node.

I called the vet.  Then I called the vet's cell phone.  Then I texted the vet's cell phone.  You should be proud of me, I didn't use profanity in any of those attempts.

Best case scenario at the moment is that she'll prescribe a round of a different kind of antibiotics, and they'll work.  And no more pointless cultures, because we've tried that multiple times and learned zilch.  Though she is of course the expert, not me, so if she really wants to try another culture I'll pay for it.  But I'm expecting a big fat zero in the "things we learned from this test" results.

Anyway I was sad, then I was miffed, then I was worried, and now I am waiting to hear back from the vet.

So how was your day?

No more bachelor life for JD

I'm home!  I'm sure you're thrilled.  At least the dog was thrilled.  She grabbed me with her little prehensile doggy-claws and didn't want to let go.  However she has now settled down and things feel pretty much back to normal, including the fact that I am now procrastinating doing the laundry and cleaning the litterboxes.

We had a really excellent hiking trip.  I really shouldn't play favorites with my hiking trips but this one was really, really good.  For one thing the weather was forecast to be ridiculously bad, and in fact it was pretty good.  For another, we pretty much rocked the hiking part.  I think Dee did her longest day ever, and she was still in decent shape afterward, barring her standard under-toenail blisters.  (We have *got* to find shoes which will fit her after her feet swell.  Seriously.  It's an issue.)  We met some really fun and nice people named (as a group) the Happy Hikers, and we saw them several times.  And we ran into a whole bunch of old friends on the trail!  Plus, Trail Days happened.

The Happy Hikers decided to do a massage line after they saw me and Dee trading off shoulder massages.

So aside from Toe Blisters, we were relatively injury free, which is nice.  Oh, actually on the last day Dee tripped and scraped up a knee.  And ripped out the knee of her hiking pants.  But it didn't progress to anything worse than a scrape, so some gauze and a little advil took care of it.

I chose this section for the scenery.  I love me some Grayson Highlands.

It was crazy crowded however.  I have seldom if ever seen this many people camped at shelters.  We only managed to get into a shelter one night.  The others we camped out.  The new tents performed quite well.  Mine admitted a quarter sized puddle of water during a thirteen hour stretch of (occasionally torrential) rain overnight.  I think that's pretty good, but the tentmaker was unhappy with it when I told her.  I may go back and seamseal a little more, or I may not.  Not sure it's worth the hassle.

Our last day we decided to leave the AT and hike down the Creeper Trail into town, as did many other hikers.  We got into town one day early, AND we got to stop at a trailside cafe.  Double win.  Pulled pork, french fries, and a cold coke on a hiking day do not suck.  And since we were in town, that night, we got to have pizza.  Neither of us really wanted to set up in tent city, so we extended our motel reservation by a day and found a ride to Abingdon.  Our ride was in the back of a pickup truck, which given our six days without a shower was best for all concerned.  The gentlemen gave us a lift back to Damascus in the morning, AND some helpful hints on hiking southbound from Katahdin.

I managed not to spend ALL of my money at Trail Days, though I may have eaten all of the food.  In which case I'm sorry about everybody else going hungry.  But I had a serious case of Hiker Hunger going on and there was nothing I could do about it.  Friday we had breakfast at the motel, then second breakfast, then ice cream, then lunch, then beer, then dinner.  Then cupcakes.  I'm not sure we reined it in on Saturday, either.  Sunday I tried to cut back.

It was really grand to see so many hiker friends, but I became sad when it was time to say goodbye.  One or two days of hugs and quick conversations is not at all the same as getting to hike together for days.  I miss spending hours and days with these folks. Seeing as how most of them don't appear to be giving up hiking, maybe I will get to spend lots of time with them again.

I did get one incredible unexpected bonus:  Little Aspen and Toothpick said they'll summit Katahdin with me!  They live in Maine so I figured I'd ask if they wanted to meet me on the trail for a bit, which is kind of like saying somebody lives in California so it's no problem to meet them in LA right?  Maine is huge.  But they liked the idea, and I'm summiting on a Sunday so they'll both have the day off anyway.  I'm excited!  I thought it would be me climbing alone, taking my arms-length iphone picture of myself.  Having two wonderful people up there with me to celebrate the day would be a huge gift.  I just hope it works out - it's still a couple of months away and plans can change.

I am outta here like Vladmir

Dear Mom,

I will not be blogging, probably, for the next week or so.  Please don't fret.  I may put up entries at Trailjournals.com, if I have signal.  In any event, Happy Mothers Day!  Probably I will be in a no cell zone that day so have some virtual hugs now.

Dear everybody else,

Piss off.

Okay, I didn't really mean that.  But if the world would go away, or even just back off for a while, that would be nice.  It has been really freaking busy out and I need to go somewhere quiet and lonesome with a good friend and just chill the hell out. 

Unfortunately, I think the trail will probably be pretty crowded.  Trail Days time around Damascus is prime time for current thruhikers actually hiking through, and also old thruhikers reliving their glory days.  As I will be doing.  Although I don't know about the glory, seeing as my hike turned into a very extended section hike as opposed to a thruhike.  But I plan to enjoy it anyway.

My POINT is that I am going hiking and will not be partaking, so much, of the wonders of civilization for a few days.  First I have to get through tomorrow at the office, which promises to be super busy.  But then.. Mwahaha!  It is just me and the wilds and DeLee and some Kahlua and approximately seven thousand other hikers!

Honestly at the moment I'm only hoping for two things.  1) My spine doesn't fall out.  2) I can find a flat place to put my tent at night, probably wedged up next to a man nicknamed Chainsaw.  (All hikers nicknamed Chainsaw are very loud snorers, FYI.)

Then, once we are thoroughly exercised and sunburnt and covered in poison ivy, and possibly triumphant, DeLee and I will merge with the stinky masses of hikers in Damascus and we will be with My People.  People with names like Little Aspen and Leapfrog and Slowride, and Toothpick and G Hippie and Cody.  And many, many others I hope.  If I can remember I will take many pictures. 

PS It was really nice here today.

I love it when that big tree behind the house leafs out

If this picture had smell-o-vision, you would be sighing in happiness right now, like I was.

Blue sky.  Not grey.  Blue.

My day in pictures except for the heinie part

JD and I went out for lunch today.  The lunch was pretty darn good.  We went to Siri's Chef's Secret in Greenbelt and had yummy Thai food.  But it was the outside of the restaurant that kind of made my morning.

Pretty!

Look at you, you sexy thing.

Delightful.

Even the sky was busy being dramatic.  You would not believe how cool this looked with polarized sunglasses on.

The cats left me a message in the kitchen this morning.  I'm still trying to decipher the meaning.

I am creeped out by this wall of plastic sheeting at work.  It reminds me of a horror movie.  You can hear voices and see shadows through it.

The axe murderer is just on the other side of this.. whatever it is.

Hello!  I have new glasses!

Non-pictorially, I'm packing things up, trying to make my belongings fit into my backpack.  A week's worth of stuff is a lot of stuff.  Especially when the weather is uncertain.  I am watching the weather for Marion, VA (the closest town, and at a reasonable elevation for comparison) trying to decide if I can use my 30 degree bag that is really a 45 degree bag, or if I must take the 15 degree bag that is probably a 30 degree bag.  Everything would fit much better with the smaller bag.

Also I am icing my heinie.  OF COURSE my back would pick right before a trip to get hinky.  I don't care, I'm going.  I will take the world's largest supply of ibuprofen with me.

I am, apparently, old.

A company nurse called me.  I participate in a "Well Aware" program.  They chose me, believe me.  I did not seek them out.  They looked at the charts and said "Pasty white sysadmin, fat, not so healthy.  Better keep tabs on this one or she will cost us, whooee."  Or at least that is how I imagine their meeting going.

First they tell you that they are recording the call for "quality control" purposes.  I wonder what quality is ever controlled through recorded phone calls?  But as you know I am right out there with my bidness on the internet, so what do I care?  Fire away.  Ask me about my noxious gas, right up next to the recorder there. [1]

So first she asks about my diet and exercise, and she is all impressed with me.  Look at me, I lost several pounds!  Woot!  Although it was supposed to be several pounds times three.  But still, downward trending.  Also I confirmed that I eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  She did not ask for details or I would have told her about the banana, apple, onion, brussels sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, and tomato I ate yesterday.  However now I have told you so I can feel good about myself.

And she asked my waist size.  Again she was thrilled.  Less heart disease!  Probably!  Also less we have to pay out!

But then.. then she started making casual remarks like "Has a doctor talked to you about taking aspirin daily?"  And "Have you gotten a pneumonia shot?"  These are OLD PEOPLE questions, lady.  I am not old.  Ask my mother, she'll tell you.  I may not be a whippersnapper, and I may be wearing a back brace this very moment, and I may have started saying "Back in my day" before every sentence, but I'm not OLD.  Do old people wear wizard hats?

Actually maybe they do.  In the movies all the wizards have long white beards, right?  That might imply that they're old.

So the gist of the call was "Yay for you, you're really holding off the ravages of old age well!  Keep it up, but definitely start taking preventative measures because that old age bus is about to run you DOWN little wizard, and it is starting with your lungs and your heart."  Boy, was I cheerful after that.

Also, next week is my birthday.  I'm turning old.

[1] The noxious gas discussion came later in the day.  And I was talking to the vet, about the dog.  Though my coworkers didn't realize that fact at the time, and they were getting pretty uncomfortable with overhearing the conversation. "I can live with the noxious gas," I said.  "I don't want to change any of the food."  I imagine they will soon be bringing in personal respirators to wear around the office.  Maybe they will casually leave simethicone capsules around in pleasant candy-type dishes.

Almost entirely medical, if you include mental health

My new glasses arrived today!  After Marc pointed me at a really cheap online glasses site, I ordered a pair.  I must say that I wouldn't have purchased them if I had tried them first, as the only places they touch my head are at my nose and behind my ears.  I'm trying to figure out if I can bend the ears so they don't squeeze as much.  If I can do that, they'll be awesome.  I splurged and got an expensive pair - for the frame, polycarbonate lenses, anti-reflection coating, two pairs of clip on shades, and shipping, it was about fifty bucks.  If I buy another pair I'll probably go for the $6 glasses.  At that price I can afford glasses for every day of the week, should I wish to have such a thing.

I am making a long to do list.  I have a bunch of things I need to accomplish by Thursday night so I can be ready to drive out to my hiking site and get started Saturday morning.  DeLee has apparently come down with outrageous poison ivy over the weekend and I'm a little worried that this is going to turn into a solo trip.  I hope she heals up enough to hike.  Right now she's in a fair amount of discomfort.  I haven't seen it yet but from the description it's a really bad case.  It came on fast which means she got a lot of exposure to the oils.  And that can go systemic pretty fast.  Luckily she got in to see a doctor this morning.  Now we all have to wait.  I'm sure she's the most anxious to have it go away, since she's the one with the itching.

I went a little nutty with the ebay-ing over the weekend.  Now I have nine items which I hope to ship out between Wednesday and Friday morning.  I've cleared out quite a lot of space on my camping gear shelves.  I may actually eventually be able to fit all the remaining camping gear on them!  That would be nice.  Of course, the kittens will just knock it all down, but one must start somewhere.  After that I have a few more odds and ends to try to sell - a vintage dress, a little more miscellaneous camping gear, maybe some other items I've never been able to throw away.  Then I plan to slow way down on the selling.  I'm getting pretty sick of being surrounded by boxes, and I'm sure JD is too.  I must say (again, probably) that ebay really is the neatest solution for me to things that I can't bring myself to throw away.  This happens to me frequently.  I don't want something, but it has too much value to toss or just give away.  I want to know that somebody wants it.  And heck, sometimes you can't even give stuff away but you can sell it.  Strange but true.

In the morning Beauty gets driven to the vet's office.  She keeps acting lethargic.  It's only off and on, but it's worrisome since she's on some potentially dangerous medicine.  She doesn't love going to the vet, but I want to keep her around for a long, long time.  So she gets a drive, and I get a bill.  Really neither of us will be happy.

Wish me luck that the chiropractor (human doc, this time) gives me a clean bill of health.  I'm more than ready to take off my sacroiliac brace, and I hope to have this hiking trip be as pain free as possible.

More pictuers of camping gear, plus a cat

Dori checking out my latest acquisition.

That is one puffy sleeping bag, for sure.

These are pictures of my new Montbell Super Spiral U.L. Down Hugger #1, i.e. a stretchy but I hope warm sleeping bag.  In theory it's a fifteen degree bag, but I will be happy if it just keeps me warm down to freezing, unlike the thirty degree bag from the same line.  I got in it and verified that it is too warm for a seventy degree room.  I'm not going to have weather cold enough to really test it before DeLee and I go hiking, so I am just hoping for the best.  If nothing it else, it is much.. oranger than my old bag.  

Even the bag that it came in is huge and puffy. 

 I set my LightHeart Awning tent up in the yard again.  I replaced some of the guy lines with reflective lines, and I added some gadgets to help me tighten the guy lines.  I am still undecided about the tent.  On the one hand, I can't get it set up really taut, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.  But on the other hand, it was rained on this afternoon and it is still bone dry inside.  And if we did accidentally get good weather, this is an *awesome* tent for stargazing. Both sides of the fly roll up to the top, leaving you with acres of mesh through which to see stars.  And if I wear my glasses I'll even be able to see them.

Also I still can't get over my feeling of claustrophobia,  having my head in the point of the tent.

This trip with DeLee has turned into a bit of a troubleshooting event for me.  I will be testing out a fair amount of gear.  I'm certain I won't freeze to death or be totally miserable, but I might be a little uncomfortable.  Which will only make me appreciate JD and civilization more so bonus!  Drinks all around.