utenzi

Carrie and I did a lot of eating today. We got off to a late start but finished well. No, this isn't something that we ate. Rather it was one of two deer remains that we came across while cutting through some woods while hiking off trail south of Mebane. The day started with Carrie and I hitting Trader Joe's when they opened. And I'll tell you, it was darn nippy out this morning---hell, all day long. I managed to spend $90 on fixings for bruchetta (2 containers of grape tomatoes, garlic, butter, some baguettes, and basil) and pizza (sauce, dough, and lots of cheese) plus several bottles of wine and a lot of small portions of cheese. After that we went to Occoneechee Mountain to burn off some calories to make room for the food we were preparing to consume. The 3 mile hike was bracing 'cause it was damn cold out still. I think it was still below freezing when we finished around 11am. Then we picked up a few more items at Wal-mart since I needed to stop at a gas station ne...

I hurt my back at work last Wednesday and that's been slowing me down somewhat. But I'm not the only one with sore parts. Poor Bella really received a workout this weekend. Just look at the headstand she's doing in that photo on the left. That was taken on Saturday morning during a short snow squall. The weather went from sunny and mild to windy, overcast, and quite cold in just a few minutes. Freaky. And over in about 10 minutes. It happened again around an hour later but by that time we were back at Carrie's place warming up in front of a nice fire eating croissants. The hiking was colder on Sunday when the mercury (does anyone still have mercury thermometers?) dipped down to 20f. Brrrr! Carrie and I took Bella, but not Bibbs, to Occoneechee Mtn for a nice hike around the mountain at 9am. Damn it was nippy out! I didn't even take many pictures 'cause I didn't want to take my gloves off. Later that day we did another hike, around 4 miles, in the woods sout...

I don't know who did the nibbling, but it was done just before we hit the clearing. There was still plenty of plump juicy flesh on these bony parts. Yum-yum. UPDATE: I didn't know it at the time, but a little research revealed that the bony head parts above once belonged to a rabbit. I would not have guessed that rabbits had such a long lower tooth but they do. The overall dentition is very indicative of a herbivore and the larger front teeth plus the placement of the small back teeth spells out the rest.

A few pictures from last night's hike at Occoneechee Park. The sunset was pretty. This picture was taken through the trees as we were sitting at the Quarry Overlook. It was in the low 70s when we were hiking which was a huge change from the low 90s that we'd been used to hiking in. This change in the weather was quite welcome. Even more welcome was the 36 hours of rain we'd had from Sunday afternoon until quite late Monday evening. I'd not mowed my lawn in over a month. At my house it'd been around 7 weeks since I'd had any rain. My back door wouldn't lock. I thought there was some kind of water damage to it and it'd warped. Since my area is pretty safe I just didn't bother locking it. And then when leaving for work on Monday, the lock worked again. I guess the door was so dry it changed shape! I'd never had that happen before. This second picture is the group of us leaving the overlook with the sun shining through the trees behind us. Tonight af...

I went on two hikes this morning. One, the Quarry path at Eno River I did with a Meetup group and the second, Cox Mountain at Eno River West, I did by myself. All told it was around 7 miles---less than I walked yesterday at the zoo but I also did it in a lot less time. Today I was only hiking for 3 hours as opposed to yesterdays six and a half hours. While hiking on the Quarry path I noticed an interesting looking dead tree well off the path on the east side. I wandered back in the woods to get a picture of it. That's it over on the left. And from there I could see an odd clearing off in the distance, further to the east. Imagine my surprise when I found that the clearing was actually an old abandoned graveyard. It's not really old, the most recent gravestone I saw was from 1925 but many of them were dated in the mid 1800s. While the graveyard didn't look like it was visited very often there were signs of care so some people must visit every now and then. I never knew it wa...

Here's 4 more pictures from the hiking last week that I appear in. They were just uploaded today. Juliet, who took the pictures, used a film camera thus the delay. Film! WTF? I guess there's always going to be a few Luddites around. BTW, I'm the one in the green t-shirt. I'm just a minor player in most of these pictures but the background is very pretty. Hanging Rock Park has a lot of very pretty spots, especially the waterfalls that are in the park. I'm planning on doing a lot of yardwork this weekend as well as buy another used kayak off of Craig's List. I'm supposed to go look at it on Saturday afternoon. It's a very old kayak (1990s) but still pretty! I have to go into work for an hour or so on Saturday or Sunday. That's bad but on the good side, I'm signed up to go on a kayaking trip Sunday morning and that'll be fun. And I might go to lunch afterwards with a buddy I have in Pittsboro---which is near where I'll be paddling. And th...

I went hiking after work today and nearly got poisoned for my trouble. That sounds weird---maybe I didn't say it right. In any case, the hike was very hot. The weather was steamy---the humidity was through the roof---and temperatures were in the mid-90s most of the day. *whew* As a result, I only went on one loop at Occoneechee and afterwards joined the other members of the group at a nearby restaurant. That's the location of the poisoning! Well, poorly executed, at least. I ordered grilled tuna because this place tends to overcook their burgers for health reasons. Believe me--after what they do to a dead cow there's not a bacteria in the world that would stick around. Scary. Oddly enough, the problem was the other way for the tuna I ordered. It was frickin' raw and not very good quality. Canned tuna is a big step upwards from the crap they served me. Nasty. Had it been grilled a lot of that taste would have been hidden but not when they serve it raw. I should have d...

On Saturday I hurt my back. I was leaning over my mower, trying to adjust the wheel height when I got frustrated and lifted the thing off the ground to get better leverage. Kinda heard/felt a *pop* sound and that wasn't good. Unfortunately today was the day for a Meetup activity that I had signed up for several months back. Hiking in Hanging Rock state park, which is about 80 miles away from me, followed by 3 hours of tubing down the Dan River. Of these activities, driving, mountain hiking, and tubing, none are very helpful to a back that's hurting. Real bad timing here. I have to work on that. In any case, these three pictures were taken by others in the group. The first two are on the hike up Hanging Rock mountain and the third is a picture at a pool beneath a waterfall, near Hanging Rock park. I'm the one in the green shirt (the first of 3 shirts I was to wear that day) There's no pictures of me tubing since I was usually near the front and nobody else up there had ...

It's weird. My legs don't look all that bad. The poison ivy is very mild. The chigger bites I've gotten are bothering me more than the ivy. Helping in this fight is using better drugs. For the first time I actually went to a doctor right away. She prescribed a strong steroid based anti-itch cream and also advised me to pick up a over-the-counter foam type cleanser designed for poison ivy contact. It really helps. A factor for the future is a bug repellant I can leave in my car. I usually use sprays but due to the heat this summer I wasn't willing to risk leaving a pressurized can in my car. Having a DEET 40 pump spray just for the car solves the problem---and will hopefully keep chiggers away and insects too. Since I'm going to be going tubing down the Dan River this weekend with a local hiking group (apparently we should call it a hiking and floating group now) I'll be able to give the bug spray a try in just a couple of days. Before we do the Dan River we'...

Sometimes you cross paths with folk that you don't have much in common with but just instantly like. That was the case for me when I met Hissy here when I was hiking out of Eno River Park last night around twilight. I don't think my admiration for him was returned and soon we departed and went off in different directions. I'd like to think that both our lives were enriched by the experience but in the end I think Hissy just learned to stay away from hiking paths. You might note that I was very sweaty. For some reason, even on relatively cool days, I just shed water like it's going out of style. It's a wonder I don't just melt away. BTW, in case you're wondering what in 'ell that is around my neck, that's the keyless do-hicky for getting back into my car. I don't like the noise that car keys make jingling around in my pocket so I wear my "keys" around my neck while hiking.

There's a cultural stereotype of southern women that they're sweet and demure. Well, having lived here in the south for over half my life now, I just don't buy it. Take the example found below. I was hiking in Eno River Park after work tonight and taking pictures as usual and check out the reception I was given by someone passing by. The new generation of southern women are a far cry from those in former times. *sigh* In case you're having trouble "reading" the picture---I don't think she's counting to one.

While hiking today in Duke Forest I came upon a total of 4 snakes. The two small ones were happy to see me and wanted to make friends but the big ones quickly scooted away to hide. Wouldn't you think it would work the other way around?

The weather yesterday was just wonderful. The sun was magnificent and yet the temperatures topped out in the low 70s. Perfect conditions for being outside hiking in the woods. Even the tadpoles were enjoying themselves in their odd wiggly way.

Yesterday after work I went hiking at Occoneechee Park. The first lap I did alone since I wanted to go pretty fast. The temp was in the low 90s so one fast lap was plenty. On the second lap I was in the company of 6 other hikers and we took a more casual pace around the mountain. We even did odd things like stop on occasion. Not a good strategy for an aerobic workout but not a bad idea on such a hot day. In any case, this is 3 of the people I was hiking with, taking a break above a stone quarry---and oddly enough, being approached by a giant section of stained glass. Nature is certainly full of wonders! BTW, you can see two teenagers on the other side of the fence. They had hiked up the face of the quarry---scary---and were sitting and smoking within a foot or so of the crumbling edge of the overlook. An overlook, I might add, that has lost parts and pieces many times over the years. The fearlessness of youth!

It's been a rainy and windy day on this side of RTP but over by Durham it was considerably nicer. As a result meeting up with a few folk at Sarah Duke Garden turned out to be a great idea. Because of the cold winter we've had, the flowers are a week or so behind schedule so not much was out but I did get some nice pictures of flowering trees and early bloomers like daffodils. After wandering around the SD Gardens for 90 minutes some of the group hit the cafe for lunch when it opened at noon. I, being the sociable creature that I am, instead took off for Eno River Park and did the Cox Mountain Loop. Cloudy and overcast but it never rained until I got back home at 3pm.

Yesterday was a mite chilly an the skies were very overcast with occasional sprinkles but I was able to fit in a hike after work with a Meetup group. There were only of us so we made pretty good time. As you can see below, we scrambled over rocks and sometimes were gazing up at them (in the quarry) and were able to enjoy some spring blooms along with the drab wintertime surroundings elsewhere. That's Juliet, Catherine, Lauren, and Janice. (from left to right)

My doctor told me to lose weight and get more exercise. Unfortunately it's difficult to squeeze in a hike after work. You end up in dark woods, hoping to find your way back to your car. I'm really looking forward to that time change later this month.

I wasn't planning on being home this weekend so I lucked out that there was room for me on this hike. Meetup hikes are frequently solidly booked weeks in advance. In any case, this hike was along the woods on the west side of Lake Jordan, between Apex and Pittsboro. Above you can see the lake from the vantage of the parking lot. Below is a picture of some of the hikers in the group crossing a small bridge. The two pictures below are linked. One of the trails leads to an old tobacco curing shed. When we got there we found that it was inhabited by a pair of vultures. As we looked inside the shed, the vultures vacated the building in a burst of noise and decided to watch us from the branches of a tree, way up above us.

I went on a 7 mile hike along Morgan Creek today. Usually I'm about the only one taking pictures. But today was different! In the next two pictures you can see me on the far side of the creek. The third picture below is the one that I took. As always, click on the pic to see it bigger.

I really like the symmetry of the picture below. I got lucky 'cause the ground was so wet that there were limitations on where I could stand to take pictures. The "stream" that you see on the left if normally just a trickle if there's any water in it at all (and the water running to the right of it is what's normally the path). Just a few hundred yards further down the path the trail just disappears under the swollen grasp of the Eno River. I tried climbing the hills above the river to find a ridge that I could use to go along the river but to no avail. The hills were very steep and there was just enough snow on the hills to hide loose rocks, logs, and holes and the such. I finally had to give up and return to the trail and backtrack. Drat. Here's another picture of me. Note how red my nose and ears are. It was friggin' cold out there. I'd have worn a coat if I had any idea just how long I was going to be out walking around.