Thursday's Thoughts

• Yesterday we had maybe the most perfect camping experience at Turner Falls. We made a fire and had smores before we crashed in our hammocks which were strung in juniper trees where we could hear the falls. The night was perfect- quite chilly but our teeth weren't chattering or anything. This morning we stoked the fire and made hash browns, eggs, bacon and sausage which we washed down with energy drinks and Powerades that had cooled overnight in Honey Creek- perfect, perfect in a way that I have not had many perfect times like that in my whole life.

  

  Campfire in front of our secret Cave Of The Shadows

  
  

  

  We could hear the falls bubbling from here, the beavers splashing in the water and the owls hooting. I slept like a baby.

  
  

  

  Camping pro tip: build cooking fire so it burns lengthwise and place flat stones along it's axis. Slide pot down as it burns or push it the other way to tone the heat down in the dish.

  
  

  

  Walnut with husk on it?

• A thing now is for women to get a tattoo on their foot that as something about standing their ground, walking on their own two feet, the Lord carrying them, I walk alone...
• The beard comes off tonight.
• Camping pro tip: when you roll up your sleeping bag leave; clean synthetic long underwear, wool socks, beanie hat and some hand warmers inside- you won't regret it. I mean really- you won't hate yourself for always doing those little things.
• PS take some Febreze  fuzzy vanilla spray to shoot into the bag before you crawl into it.
• Mmmmm vanilla. Mmmmmm fuzzy .
• Wow, this weekend flew by.

  

  I wish I could read his mind. He stared at his shadow cast on a towel covering that chair for minutes. Anyway, look at those shorts, the pose and he drives an Aztek!? Come on - he rawks!

• An old Army acquaintance was from Mount Pisgah North Carolina. I always thought I'd end up there and look him up but I haven't done so yet. I randomly looked up another guy years after we parted ways when I randomly passed through his small hometown in another state. I asked about him at the convenience store. They knew him and directed me to his house but we got lost-ish and ran out of time to find him.

  

  Mantis have interested me since I was a kid. If you present them with a tiny bit of hamburger they will eat it right out of your hand. This guy was living in a pond cypress near Holland's Lake.

• 10/22/2013 @0106 edit: I just recalled- it was Lagrange Tennessee.

  

  You look like you could use a nice sunset right about now. 

• Getting tattoos in place of your eyebrows is retarded but that surprised expression way women are doing them today is ridiculous.
• Madness: gunman dressed in a clown suit kills drug cartel leader at  party.

Friday's Dispatch

Thermostat in the middle of Honey Creek

• How do we know Ron Johnson personally destroyed JC Penneys and that all the decisions he made to turn the retail brand around were horrible? because even a know nothing dolt like me can see that he did and that they were. I nearly fell over when they announced no more discounted price sales and was in fact getting out of my car to walk into a sale at Kohls when I heard the news on the radio. This is no exaggeration and I was literally only going into Kohls that day because I got a sale paper in the mail with a sweet scan card for an extra 20% off.
  
  
  
  
• It is 0419 and I am drinking hot chocolate for the first time in years.
• The Bike only needs the chain replaced and a good cleaning to be complete. The pedals I found at Wal Mart are mountain bike Wellgo brand. They're light, have sealed bearings and look really good- all for 10 bucks. I wasn't ready for the difference the new pedals made and was pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish of them for that price. Next, will be bags and bottles. Wally World also has some nice insulated 24 oz bottles with racks for 15 bucks.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If we don't make it FG will be the one future GFs will obsess over.
• She still hasn't looked at this blog since I asked her to not. Don't ask me why I would trust that to be true at all but I give that belief an 80% accuracy rating.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  This pool is in a tributary to Honey Creek in TF. It was interesting because of the amount of wildlife in it. There were water bugs, tadpoles, crayfish, fish... I am sure plenty of predators have lusted over those tasty morsels- the sheer walls and the little alcove in the back protect the prey pretty well.

  
  
  
• Hot chocolate backed by hot tea will break you into a sweat if the house is a little warm.
• Years ago when I heard the Republicans ragging on the President about being a community organizer my first thought was, OmiGod- that is all they got? and then I thought, If I were President Obama I would own that and come out and say, There has been a lot of talking disparaging me for my time as a community organizer. I was trying to help my community. I was trying to help build a better America by building a better city. I was trying to help my fellow Americans in need. I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do. When he broached the subject some time later there wasn't a nickels worth of difference between his speech and my inner world one (although mine might have been a bit better). Regardless, he destroyed his opposition with their own hatefulness and lack of imagination and vision.