A Mid Winter Thaw?!?

Christmas is over. A good Christmas it was. I think this is the first year I've had both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. A little disorienting. I also have New Years Eve and New Years Day off this year. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself just yet.....

I spent Christmas Day with the family. Of course I was out of bed late since it was one of my few days off this week. Got some pretty cool gifts. An awesome pair of swim goggles that I can't wait to use when the lake thaws. Since I'll do anything to make people laugh, I wore them the entire day. While we opened presents, while we ate dinner, while I napped, while I played the wii (which I think helped my awesomeness at boxing), and by the end of the day I had the biggest rings around my eyes. Unfortunately I had to take them off to drive home since it was dark and the goggles are tinted....it just didn't seem too safe. I also got a new game for the wii. It is some medical game, I haven't opened it just yet. Can't wait to get a bunch of my doctor and nurse friends to come over and see how much we really suck. I also got several books and a bunch of odds and ends.

Last night the temps in Gaylord rose up into the 40s. Today I think it got as high as 48. A lot of wind, fog and rain. A lot of our snow has melted and it almost feels like spring outside. I was going to go out and do ski patrol today, but they opted to close the hill instead due to the rain. Bummer. If it were March, I would be extremely thrilled about this weather. Instead, it is still December and I know that tomorrow morning we will be under another winter storm watch with blizzard like conditions. This weather is just crazy!! However, it has helped my driveway problem somewhat. I was able to go out to the end of the driveway in the pouring rain and widen my driveway a bit until my arms couldn't lift the heavy snow any longer. That stuff was so heavy it was like shoveling cement. Not fun! I guess I'm ready for the snow to come back so I can go out and do some more skiing and snowshoeing.......

Merry Christmas!

It has been awhile since I've posted anything, so I figured I better do something about that. First I better wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Since it is officially Christmas now....

Haven't been up to too much, just a lot of work and not very much play. The weather in Gaylord has been.....frigid. With a ton of snow. It seems that it has pretty much been snowing everyday for the past month. My driveway is rather messy. The end of it has gotten rather narrow and the "Early hump" has turned into quite the curb. I'm not too sure my mailbox is still connected to the post, and think that the snowplow may have knocked it off when it came flying by. The neighbors is missing, so it is possible. Either way, if it did get knocked off, it is cemented into the snowbank and I won't know for sure until the snow melts. Whenever that may be. I feel that it should be the middle of February and that the snow should start to melt, the days should be getting longer, and that things should start to warm up. But they are not. Instead, it is only something like the 4th day of winter.

I started doing ski patrol last week. It is kinda fun. I didn't get the opportunity to head out to go skiing when I went, but hope to next time. Besides, the temperatures were so frigid the day I went, most of the other people just sat in the hut and monitored the hills from there. There was one tubing accident, but no injuries. Plus I've met a lot of really cool people who love the outdoors as much as I do. I've already gotten all sorts of invitations for hiking and biking trips for next summer. So I'm pretty pumped about that. Afterward some of us headed over to one guys house who just so happens to own a hot tub, and has been the designated hangout post ski patrol. For whatever reason, while we were sitting in the hot tub all nice and toasty shooting the shit, and of course drinking, we decided to jump out real quick and do some snow angels. That is highly NOT recommended. Although I am slightly inspired to do the polar bear dip this year. I did end up with a huge bruise on my knee from running back into the hot tub and sliding all over. But I am definitely looking forward to doing ski patrol again.

Other than a bunch of work related stories I cannot share, but oh so wish I could, that about sums up my past week. I better head to bed so that Santa stops by the house for a visit....

A Hodge Podge of Events

First off, not only is it raining in the middle of December in Gaylord, it is also thundering. What is up with that? It better not melt all of the snow we have. I do hope it takes care of the huge hump I have at the end of the driveway though......referred to every year as "The Early Hump." Towards the end of the year it is like driving over a curb. Pretty ridiculous.

So I have to brag that I am the Foosball Champion!! There has been trash talk for the past week about this foosball competition we had the other night. I was unstoppable, everyone I played I put to shame. They even ganged up on me, 2-1, and I still rocked! I do have a huge blister on my thumb from the night. We played for 3 straight hours. I was exhausted by the end of the night!

Finally got the house decorated for Christmas. Normally I cut my own tree down, but the tree farm I go to had all their trees brought in this year. I opted to support the Boy Scouts and bought my tree from them. The kids were hilarious, curious about everything. Very helpful little guys, I think they would have come home and helped me set the tree up in the house if I would have asked. I also finally got the outdoor lights up on the porch. I love sitting in the living room at night in the dark with all the Christmas lights on, it makes it just bright enough that you can walk around without running into things. Always a good thing.

So depending on when this rain stops, I may or may not go out snowshoeing tomorrow. I'll be awful disappointed if I don't, but such is life......

I've been spending way too much time surfing the internet lately. In particular spending time on White Blaze, reading all the trail journals of the people who have attempted thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail. Lets just say, I've got that itch again. Wish I could win the lottery so that I could afford to take 6 months out of my life to just hike everyday. Guess maybe I should start by playing the lotto......

Enjoying the Snow!

I finally have a few days off. I've worked the past 7 days, including an all nighter last night. I was made extremely jealous by a friend of mine who would tell me almost daily that she went out skiing and how awesome the conditions have been. I finally made it out today. Of course I didn't roll out of bed until almost 3pm, but immediately got up and headed out to the Pine Baron. The trails are excellent! Of course I'm extremely worn out, so I went home had dinner and took a nap. There is a huge full moon tonight, and tomorrow it is supposed to be the largest full moon of the year since it is so close to the earth. I snow blowed the end of the driveway around 1030pm, and decided that I couldn't let the opportunity pass so I would go out skiing, again. I headed out to Aspen Park, which is normally lit up at night, but wasn't expecting the lights to be on at 1130. Luckily they were, since when I went to put my headlamp on, I found out the batteries were dead. It was a perfect night to be out there. Temps in the teens, with a nice light snowfall. Gosh I love the winter!!

I can't wait to get up and do some more skiing tomorrow. I've also decided to start doing ski patrol out at Hanson Hills. It is voluntary, but you get compensated with free skiing and tubing, so I decided I couldn't pass that up. I have some sort of meeting there tomorrow, followed by a big foosball competition at a friends house!! I need to get my rest, off to bed I go...

And God said, "Let it Snow"

And than it snowed, and snowed and snowed some more. Gaylord is under a winter storm warning until Friday morning. It is projected that we could get 1 to 2 feet of snow. If you ask me, that is quite a range, but either way the snow is coming. And has been coming for a week now. So exciting! Yesterday I headed over toward Oscoda, mainly to take pictures of the big dumping, but also just to get outside. The closer I got to Lake Huron, the less snow they had. I took a 6 mile hike along the Ausable River. Didn't even need my skis or snowshoes. It was cold, and a bit blustery, but so worth it. Luckily they didn't have so much snow that my four wheel drive wasn't able to take me way back in the woods. It appears that these trails aren't used for skiing during the winter. Or maybe they used to be, but it is not in the budget, yet again this year. Who knows. Anyways, attached are some pictures.

Tomorrow, it is back to work....

I Survived!

I survived my long 7 day stretch at work. Off for a few now.....oh Thank God! That stomach bug is going around terribly right now. So many patients coming in with the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. I felt kinda pukey on Tuesday, but nothing transpired. I haven't thrown up in over 5 years, and counting, and am not about to start now! I had to listen to my sister puke all day today while trying to enjoy Turkey Day at The Parents house. I'll just steer clear of her for awhile.

Not much on the agenda. Gaylord has gotten a fair amount of snow, and a friend of mine went out skiing yesterday. Slightly jealous. The snow seems pretty sticky yet, so we'll see. I got to run the snow blower for the first time on Tuesday. Of course that was the day I wasn't feeling so hot, so I was quite frustrated when it wouldn't start. I tinkered with it for awhile and finally got it going.

Took the Nintendo Wii over to The Parents house for a little before dinner entertainment. Now I know I look stupid when I play it, but I swear my parents looked a lot stupider than I do. I laughed so hard. Good times!

All for now. Off to bed.......

Glad it is Thursday!

As if my morning didn't start out bad enough waking up to a nice cold house, the day had to go out with a bang also. Dad came over and it was a rather easy fix with the furnace. We cleaned the pilot sensor, and everything seems to be working fine now. What I didn't see happen was when I was still upstairs, he unplugged the washer tub to plug in his spotlight. So as I was attempting to get everything ready to go back to work tomorrow, including doing my laundry, I heard what sounded like water hitting the basement floor. I was puzzled for a minute when I went downstairs to check it out. What I found was something you would see on tv. Water overflowing out of the wash tub, spewing all over the floor, bubbles going everywhere. Luckily I was able to react pretty quickly and shut the washer off. And luckily I don't have a ton of crap in the basement that could get ruined. But there was a ton of water that I spent about 2 hours sucking up with the shop vac. Honestly though, I couldn't help but start laughing at the scene. All is cleaned up now, the floor is drying, and I'm headed to bed in the hopes that I don't have another day like this for a really long time......

Humm...it's kinda cold in here.......

Today is probably the coldest day we've had so far. It is 21 degrees with a 10 degree windchill. So what do you appreciate most on cold winter days? Heat. Guess who has none! I woke up this morning, feeling a little chilly, but thought maybe the furnace hadn't "woke up" and inc the temp to a cool 63 degrees. I let the furnace turn down to 58 at night to save on heating costs. Anyways, I heard something kinda loud coming from possibly the basement or maybe outside this morning. Couldn't tell. But looking at the thermostat, it is 56 degrees in here right now. The furnace will come on and blow cool air out for maybe 30 seconds and shut back off. The noise? Yup, the furnace. So I'm oh so patiently waiting for my favorite furnace man, my Dad, to call me back. In the mean time I'm hiding between the covers with the electric blanket turned on.

Lazy Days!

So today my biggest accomplishment today was getting out of bed and making dinner. I also finally brought the road bike in from the garage. Don't think I'll be riding that outside anymore. It is now sitting in the dining room on a spinner. Kinda fun I guess. Considering you are just sitting there pedaling for however long you're able to entertain yourself. My ass hurts just like it would if I were out riding it for a hour, so I guess it is semi-effective. My main goal with that is to keep my legs in shape, if not improve them for next summer. Which seems oh so far away...... The mountain bike is still in the back of the jeep.....just in case? I don't know. I guess I should probably come to terms and bring it inside also. The highest I saw the temp get today was 23. That's freaking exciting. Supposed to get down into the teens tonight. Burr.....

I'm Thinking Winter is Here to Stay

We've had a fortunate fall, with a nice warm stretch at the end. I'm pretty sure I did the last of my mt biking for the summer on Saturday. Since than, it has started to rain and now snow. The ground is covered, with a forecast of up to a foot of snow by 11am tomorrow morning. We'll see.... Someone was telling me that the Farmer's Almanac has forecasted for this winter, "the worst of memory." Whose memory? Mine? I've been through some pretty bad winters up here. Or is it the memory of the guy who just moved here from California? What does that mean? So, ready or not, here it comes.....EXCITING!!!

Spent the weekend catching up with a friend of mine from Pennsylvania. A bunch of us got together, mostly from work and EMS, and gosh did it kind of get out of control. One of the highlights was teaching my friend's 11 and 13 year old how to play beer pong. Can't wait for them to go back to school and tell all of their friends what that did over the weekend! We did substitute the beer for green kool-aid...yummy!

Other than that, some much needed R and R. Got my Nintendo Wii set up. Gosh is that thing freaking fun. The only bad part is, I'm still recovering from an arm injury from when I crashed my bike two days ago. One of the docs at work said I pulled something and that it will just take time and rest for it to heal. And I'm such a patient person, that that is no big deal! But right now, it hurts to stretch it and do any heavy lifting, pushing or pulling. At work on Friday I did chest compressions for probably 10 minutes, and I felt like that arm was going to fall off. It hurt!

Back to Work

Well, after having 10 days off, it was back to work Monday. My last few days of vacation were pretty lame. The weather turned really shitty here, it got cold and started to rain....than snow. Sunday night/Monday morning, I would say Gaylord got about 8 inches of snow, although I think the totals really varied throughout the county. Pretty exciting. For the most part though, it has melted and I'm sure the rest of it will be gone today as it is now raining outside. Yucky! I can't wait for enough to play in. This is the painful period. So with the snow, I've seen several people out jumping the gun and snowmobiling. Of course one of the docs at work is still out mountain biking....in the snow. He is awesome though, seriously cracks me up. He said he only crashed maybe 6 times, that he could remember. Hit a tree once. Silly man! My legs are covered in bruises from my last crash. And my right arm is pretty sore, kinda concerned about that. Work has been busy lately, but if it slows down while I'm there I'm going to see if someone can snap a picture of it, just to make sure it isn't broken.....that would suck!

So today I got the hairs cut. So painful. I hate going to the beauty shop....I can't stand sitting there listening to all these woman gossip about people. One old lady...maybe in her 60s, kept talking about her myspace page. I thought that was more for teenagers. I so wanted to say something smart ass, but I'm not feeling up to par today so I just sat there quietly waiting for the lady to hurry up and finish her job. How reserved of me!

Now, I am sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for UPS to deliver my Nintendo Wii. I'm so excited. Last weekend, in my super bored state, I decided I needed a hobby to help pass the time over the winter, so I bought a Wii. Is that considered a hobby? I'm pretty excited. I feel like it is Christmas morning or something.

While I've got time, I want to share a hilarious work story. Which I can share, because there really is no privacy violations, as you will see at the end of the story. So EMS got called out to a residence for a possible DOA (dead on arrival). Apparently the electric company was out at a house last week and noticed there was someone sitting at this dining room table. Well they had to go back out there to finish the job, and noticed that that person was now slumped over the table. There was a cereal bowl on the table, a newspaper spread out, etc. So the workers felt awful that this person was probably dead, etc. Not to mention it was warm last week, so I'm sure the smell would be over powering. For everyone who has not had the pleasure of smelling a really ripe, rotting body, it is the worst. Makes my stomach turn talking about it. Anyways, of course no one answers the door when they knock, so the deputies had to kick the door in. When they made it to the dining room table, it ended up only being a manequin. Apparently the people were leaving for the winter, and in an attempt to make it look like someone was still living there so that no one would break into the house (like what just happened), they tried to make a "scene" of someone eating breakfast. Seriously, that cracks me up! Who does that? The medics were not the least bit amused, so when I started laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face, I don't think they appreciated it. Good times!

A Productive Day!

Another beautiful and productive day. Unfortunately probably the last one of the year, but I try not to think that way. I was able to accomplish many misc errands I've been meaning to do for the past month or so in the morning, thus rewarding myself with a nice 11 mile mountain bike ride in the Pigeon River in the afternoon. The weather was perfect! Scared a ton of deer, and luckily there were not many gunshots like I heard the last time I was out there. Especially since I was dressed in dark green and brown....I know, real smart. My biggest feat of the day was getting the boat started. All that horsing around with it last week, and all it needed was a new battery. An easy fix, thank God! I was thinking some pretty awful thoughts when I was working on it last week. Shame on me!

Another Beautiful Day!

I slept like a gem last night, and got up this morning full of energy. First I took my parents puppy on a 4 mile hike, that was about all that she could hack. At one point she collapsed in the middle of the trail and refused to move. After I kept on walking, she eventually got up and started running after me. She is a dog that still hates the car, but as soon as she spotted it some 100 yards away, she took off and sat looking at the door until I caught up. Once I opened the door, she jumped in the front seat and immediately fell asleep. Cracked me up.

So after doing some hiking, I went mountain biking on a nice little single track in town. It was a quick 6 mile loop, but it is pretty out there. A wonderful ride, and no incidents!

After that, I came home to cut my grass. The first time, and maybe the last time that I have ever cut grass in November. But it will make the spring raking experience a little less painful. I hope.

And while I was out and about, I decided to go snap a picture of the Obama toilet display for everyone to enjoy. Quite funny. You can take it however you want to.....

Some Crazy Weather!!

I've lived in Northern Michigan my entire life. I do not remember ever, ever having such a beautiful November day. The past couple of days the temps have been in the upper 60s. I was downstate visiting a friend of mine the past couple of days, and the temp hit 73! Geesh! So after being rather lazy on Sunday, we took advantage of the fine weather and did some mountain biking on Monday. Unfortunately, it had rained some the night before so the trail was rather slick. The trail he choose had a ton of slippery rocks and leaves. We both crashed once. I wish I could have caught mine on camera. I was flying down a hill, hit a nice big mud hole and just lost control. I skidded quite a distance, luckily landing in mostly sand. I've got an abrasion to my elbow, a bruise on each knee, and a bruise that covers my outer aspect of my entire right thigh. I look awesome! But gosh was it fun! He was headed out to go again when I left, but I wanted to make it back in time to go vote.

I've got my entire yard completely raked. What an accomplishment that was! I did that over the weekend, but my arms are still killing me! Basically, I'm just a big limp sore muscle lying in bed right now. Of course the next two days are also supposed to be nice, so I'm sure I'll be out there doing something.

Funny thing when I got home tonight after being gone for a couple of days. When I opened the door, the cats were acting all kind of freaky. Well come to find out, it seems that every dead fly came to life while I was gone and somehow have gained entry into my house. In the past, when a fly gets into the house, the cats go mad jumping everywhere trying to kill the little bastard. I can only imagine the chaos that was going on when they all came to life. The cats just look exhausted. Luckily, I always keep my bedroom closed, so I was able to retreat in there without being bombarded by flies. They'll all be dead again in a couple of days.....

Time to go finish watching the end of the elections. I apologize to all of you political freaks, but I'll be glad when it is all over with. I'm tired of listening to it (and I don't even watch tv), seeing all the signs, etc. My favorite though, was a sign I would always pass on the way into work. I sometimes take the long way and venture through a small hickish town called Frederic. Out in one of the yards is an Obama sign that they have proudly displayed on top of a toilet that is sitting in their yard for some reason. Now this could be looked at from many angels. So do you think they like Obama, and are just using the toilet to put the sign up in the yard? Or do you think they are trying to be clever and are using the toilet as a prop, signifying that he would be a shitty leader? I voted for McCain, but it looks like Obama took Michigan anyways......

Lights Out!

Much to my surprise and sheer happiness, the neighbors porch light finally burnt out!! And although it has not started to stick yet, it has been snowing like crazy from what I can see looking out the windows at work the past couple of days. I still need to get the leaves raked and the boat winterized. Sigh....

Back to Work Early

So after spending most of the day raking the leaves, when the phone rang and the there was an opportunity for me to go into work and make some extra cash, I was all over it. It was my own stupid way of negotiating being able to stop raking. Not that it means anything, just that I'll have to do it all another day.

Interesting thing that I've observed about my "weekend" neighbors. They live downstate, and come up on an occasional weekend or holiday, they also rent the place out for weekends. Anyways, I'm not the only one that has noticed this about "down-staters" or "flat-landers" or "trunk slammers", but the first thing that they immediately do is go around and turn on every light in the house and every light outside the house. I'm not sure if it is due to a fear of the dark or if they just want to let everyone know that they are there. But my neighbors are not the only ones who do this. Anyways, this past weekend several people came up, and slowly they have left. I believe they are gone now, as it is 2am and there are no cars in the driveway and the last one left was the old guy. But what did they do, and what do they do quite often? They accidently leave the porch light on. Last time it was the light on the other side of the house. This time, it is the light that shines directly into my windows. Quite annoying. And the light is not dim by any means. So I guess I'll let it burn until it dies, or until they come back up to shut it off. Or I could stand there and pelt it with rocks until it breaks......

Off to bed, as I have to get up early to go back to work.

Too much hiking!

Well, over the past few days, I've hiked about 30 miles. And now, my knee is causing me problems again. Whats up with that? Am I getting old? I got caught in the rain the last mile today with the dog, so we ran back to the car. Which just made the pain worse. I've tried ice, took a hot bath, have been popping tons of tylenol and motrin, and the pain still isn't budging. So I just took 50mg of benadryl, hoping that it will make me sleepy enough to fall asleep and forget about the pain until the morning.

So I've been to the Jordan River Valley, some new places in the Pigeon River, and out to the Pine Baron where I normally ski. I did take pictures, but they are in the camera, still in my backpack on the dining room table. And I'm lying in bed. So, I'll get to those another day. The leaves were definitely past their peak, but it is always nice to just be outside.

Funny story about my trip on Friday. I went to the Pigeon River with a fellow hiker, and I guess Dad was in my neighborhood so he stopped by the house. I leave my garage unlocked, good to know for all you potential burglars, so when he found the car, both bikes, and the kayaks in the garage and the fact that I didn't answer the phone or the door, I guess that made him panic. So he called Mom, who came over with the spare key to my house, and they didn't find me in the house. They called me several times on the cell phone, which we didn't have service where we were hiking, so they got no answer. My brother said they were really panicking, but they won't let me in on all the details. In fact they didn't even tell me they busted into the house, until I asked them about it because all of the bedroom doors in the house were closed. It all makes me laugh, in a few days I'll start making fun of them for freaking out like they did. For now I'll give them some time to recover. I wonder how much longer they would have waited until they called the police......

It is 5am, and I'm wide awake. Been awake for the past 3 hours. I just can't sleep. Granted I probably slept too much yesterday, but last night I was still super tired so I popped a benadryl and went to bed at 1030. I woke up at 130am, and have been awake since. It is so frustrating. So I've been laying around the house watching Season 4 of The Office. God that show is hilarious! I already own the previous 3 seasons, but not being home in the evenings, and not having cable television, I missed every episode last year. So I've been laying here watching a years worth of tv. Kinda sad.

So, I've given up on falling asleep and am patiently waiting for the sun to rise. I've decided that I'm going to go hike the Jordan River Valley today. This is probably the most challenging trail in the area, rated at moderate to difficult. It is an 18 mile loop, and is meant to be a two day trip, and they have a nice rustic campground at the bottom of the valley. I have done it in one day, and it is quite a work out. I'll be headed out solo here in a few hours, since I just decided to take this trip. I've taken a couple people out there before, and it is not surprising at all when I mentioned to them that I was considering going out there that they were not interested in the least. Go figure.

And bad news for me on the hiking front, my hiking partner just found out she was pregnant. Needless to say, she won't be doing any backpacking with me for a few years. Bummer for me, but I'm happy for her. I've already decided that I'm buying her husband a man boob, since she hates interrupted sleep as much as I do. The only time I've ever seen one was off Meet the Fockers, when the grandpa makes his own mammary gland to breastfeed his grandson. The movie is hilarious. So now I'm in the market for a man boob and a new hiking partner.....

I'll give a trip update when I make it back tonight, hopefully before dark.....

Too much work!

Well, I finally survived my stretch of days working. Barely. Sorry to all you people who regularly work 5 days a week, I suffer enough working 6 day stretches every other week. Plus I get 8 days off in between! I'm such a wimp. Please do take into consideration that I am stuck there for 12 hours though....

This stretch was so long and miserable, I kind of started to feel bad for the patients that would get stuck with me as their nurse. I just become more sarcastic. Some get the humor, some don't.... And this one patient in particular, that frequents the ER once, sometimes twice a day, yeah, he got stuck with me as his nurse in the last hour before I got to go home. So what did he get? The largest needle in his arm I could fit. Is that sadistic or what? But, my rationale is, that if he is really as sick as he is telling us, and he if he is so sick to come to the ER as often as he does, he needs that big IV. If he really hasn't peed in two days and has thrown up over 100 times since he went home 10 hours ago like he told me, he needs as much fluid as possible! Amazingly, he went home a hour later. There are so many hidden stories of the life of an ER nurse. Some funny, some not so funny.....

So anyways, I'm excited to get my 8 days off started! I would like to take a road trip of some sort. A friend of mine wants me to come visit him down near Detroit! Eeeks.....Sarah in the city! And of course I need to get out in the woods hiking and maybe do a little bit more mountain biking before the snow starts to fly! The bruises on my legs, from my last crash, are quite impressive. One is the darkest color of black I've seen. It's awesome!!

Well, off to bed now, but more to be updated in the blog as my time off passes by....

A Beautiful Day!

Today was one of those perfect fall days that you just gotta love. Of course I got a late start to the day, since I had great difficulty falling asleep last night. Whats up with that?

Anyways, I opted to go mountain biking on one of my favorite hiking trails out in the Pigeon River today. I thought that the leaves would be much closer to peak than they were, so I was kind of disappointed. Of course that only means one thing, I'm going to have to get back out there again. I believe it is Pheasant Season now, and there were a lot of gunshots surrounding me. The only thing that made me look any different from an animal would have been my red camelpack. Guess it is time to bring out the bright clothing so that I don't become some sort of hunting statistic. So I rode a little over 11 miles, and have added some pictures of my trip. And, I had my first "accident" on a bike since for as long as I can remember. I was on a narrow, winding and twisting boardwalk (coincidentally my favorite part of the trail when I hike it), when I turned too sharp to go around a corner and my rear tire fell off the boardwalk into the muck. And so did I. My left hip landed on a nice hard root, which should leave a kick ass bruise! I twisted my ankle pretty good, although it feels alright right now. So I got up, brushed myself off, had a nice chuckle and finished the trip. I actually didn't even get dirty. I saw many deer while I was out there, but unfortunately the camera was in my pack, so I didn't get any photos. Maybe next time I'm out on foot I'll get some pictures of them!

So after my ride, I stopped by the parents house for a free meal. Gotta love the fact that I'm 28 and still drop by for free food! I also had some extra time to take the puppy out to the woods for some more trail walking. Here is a photo of her. Overall, a good day, even if I am a bit sore right now. My ass hurts to sit, so I've been laying in bed patiently waiting to get sleepy enough to shut the lights off.

Unfortunately, tomorrow there is supposed to be rain. I'm bummed......

Days Off!!

After working a night shift Thursday night, I've been off. I remember what it is I dislike about working midnights.....the drunks. Who starts drinking in the middle of the day than carelessly passes out on someones lawn so that the cops and ambulance have to bring you to the ER? Where you puke and swing at the nurses and doctors and are just obnoxiously drunk. Lots of people. Some nights it is like working in a drunk tank. It was one of those nights. But that is all a distant faded memory now....

After sleeping most of the day away on Friday, Addison and I spent a chilly rainy night in Traverse City and than totally lost track of time in the casino until 3am. Now I am not the gambling type at all, but gosh do I love to people watch! We eventually made it home than proceeded to sleep most of Saturday away also. We did muster up enough energy to go mountain biking. I'm getting a little more braver, and am having a lot more fun with this. He has no fear, lives for speed, and races motorcycles and dirt bikes. I, of course, have seen accidents from mountain biking and the resulting injuries that can incur and that stays in the back of my mind. We did have fun, but it totally emptied our energy tank.

My parents went out and got a new puppy this weekend, a 10 month old golden retriever that they named Bailey. She is the cutest damn thing. Since she was going to be locked up in a cage all day, I went over there today to release her and take her to the trails for some hiking. She did fairly well, considering her size, but was tuckered out after not even two miles. She is a ways away from being in any shape to hike the Appalachian Trail with me! I'll be sure to snap some pictures of her to add to the blog.

A couple more days off before I head back to work to work 6 night shifts. That should be just in time for the full moon! Giddy up!!

Damn it's Cold!

When I left work this morning, there was what seemed to be an inch of frost on my car. Okay, maybe not an inch, but enough where I had to scrape the windows to leave. The temp was 27 freaking degrees! I hate cold mornings! Although it did help keep me awake all the way home....

Work, work, work....

Basically, that's all I've been doing, is working. It has been busy at work too, which just wears me out. Because that is all I've been doing, and the fact that I can't share any of my fabulous stories, I really don't have much to say. The weather up here has been incredibly shitty. Cold and rainy. In the forecast, is a possibility of snow tomorrow night. That is exciting! I guess it is time to shut the bedroom window. That is sad and depressing.

Speaking of sad and depressing, how about the current economy. I don't watch the tv and the news for a reason. I like to go about my business and be all naive' about everything. Unfortunately, with everything going on, it is big enough for even me to find out about.

But, I'll just continue on with my life just like I've been living it the past 28 years. Tomorrow night I will go to work. And than on my stretch of days off I have a friend visiting, and we plan on doing some mountain biking and hiking. I'll be sure to take pictures! More later....

I'm Cycled Out!

Well, a couple of days ago I went over to Charlevoix, and biked 18 miles between there and Petoskey. God it was beautiful out there! The leaves are starting to turn, the sun was shining, it was just a great day. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and therefore have no pictures to share. Well worth the trip, but my legs were feeling it the next day. But after I got home from there, I hauled the kayak down to the lake to float around for a bit. There were actually people out on the lake tubing. Which I think was awesome. Granted they weren't out there very long, since the water was freezing, but kudos to them for giving it a go! Overall, it was a great day in the sun!

Yesterday, I worked until 3am. It was one of those days where everything that popped in my head fell right out of my mouth. Does anyone else have these days? The fact that I had too much sugar in my system didn't help! I was rather hyper, too much pepsi for me that day! I could feel my face turn beat red from things that I shouldn't have said. Funny thing was, I didn't even care. I made a couple of great first impressions on some new traveling nurses. And the one traveler that I can barely tolerate, I think he got the hint that I just can't stand him. My permanent co-workers would just shake their heads and laugh, and encourage me. Like I needed encouragement that day! I have a friend who helps me out in situations like these. We have a code word we use when one of us starts digging a hole for ourselves. Where was he when I needed him? It is centipede by the way. Which just makes us bust out laughing when one of us blurts it out. The stories I could tell.....

And today was another gorgeous day. I woke up after having little sleep, but full of energy. So I opted to go give mountain biking a whirl. Real mountain biking. I have a good bike, but have never tried this activity for some unknown reason. So in the beginning, I thought it sucked and contemplated just quitting after not even a quarter a mile. But I made myself stick with the entire 6 mile loop, and ended up loving it. It has a hint of danger in it, when you're flying down some of these hills at a high rate of speed and hitting every root and bump along the way. No, I didn't fall, and no I didn't hurt myself. Although my calves are killing me sitting here typing this. It is a lot harder than I anticipated! All I could envision while I was doing this, was how similiar the trail was to when my brother and I were riding our bikes as kids and he fell and got a concussion. In a sick way, it made me laugh.

Cheers!

The Great Outdoors!

I finally have time to post some pictures from my recent adventures. I took a trip up to Escanaba last week to attend a conference on Forensic Nursing. I talked my co-worker into going up a couple of days early to do some hiking. So we went out to the peninsula at Big Bay De Noc, where there were hundreds of monarch butterflies that were preparing to migrate down to Mexico, and were getting ready to set off across Lake Michigan. Guess I am niave' and didn't think butterflies migrated that far! Anyways, there was an awesome lighthouse at the point. It was built in the late 1800's and is no longer functionary. There was discussions of tearing it down a couple of years ago, but funding was found and it was restored to its current state. You are able to climb up the spiral staircase to the top where you have a 360 degree view. It was pretty cool! We also visited a couple of waterfalls while we were up there. I just love the UP.

Once I got back, I headed back to work for a dreadful 7 day stretch. Overall, it wasn't too bad. I survived.

Since being off, I've been out on the bike quite a bit. I've been riding to my friends house everyday to feed her cat while she is in Ireland. It is only a couple mile trip, but it forces me to get out there. I've also ridden into town a couple of times. I set out to the Pigeon River yesterday and did a rather quick 10 mile hike. There were some pretty dark clouds headed my direction, and it gets dark a lot earlier than I realized, so I didn't have much time to waste, but did snap a couple of pictures while I was out there. I'm hoping to head back in a couple of weeks, when the leaves should be at their peak.

Tomorrow, I'm getting up early to head over to bike along Lake Michigan, between Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. The weather is supposed to be in the upper 60s. Lets just hope it isn't too windy! More later....

A New Bike!

A friend of mine is letting me borrow, with the potential to buy, her road bike. I've found out most people don't know what a road bike is. I currently have a mountain bike, which is awesome for the dirt roads and trails in the area. A road bike, which some people call racing bikes, have super skinny tires are extremely light and are meant only for paved roads. The thing I was most apprehensive about was the clipped shoes, where your shoes lock right to the pedals. This is great because you are able to use all your leg muscles to both push the pedals down and pull them up. It also makes getting off the bike in a hurry, quite tricky. Anyways, since the weather was good today, I took it out for a spin. A long spin. This bike is super fast, and super fun. I went all around the neighborhood, than I rode it to my parents house and back. Altogether, about 20 miles. But a funny thing happened on the way back home. I had a late dinner with them, and didn't leave there until after 8pm, which it now starts to get pretty dark shortly after 8. About half way home, there was a mini-van pulled over on the side of the road. The passenger door was open, and there stood a very old man, probably in his 80s, not only vomiting next to the car, but he also had his pants pulled down to his knees. I'm not sure exactly what was going on there, and I made it a point to keep my eyes on the road. I didn't want to see anymore than I already had. Just a funny, yet disturbing story I had to share. Sorry to anyone who spent anytime visualizing that one.

Ocqueoc Falls

A couple of days ago, the weather was too perfect not to go for a hike. Temps in the mid 60s with a nice cool breeze. I headed to the only falls in the lower peninsula: Ocqueoc Falls, over near Onaway. I went for a nice 7 mile hike, with rolling terrain. My knee started giving me problems again after a couple of miles. What is the deal with this thing? A doctor friend of mine thinks I may have torn something in there. How wonderful would that be? So I spent the past two days just resting it. Today though, I did opt to cut the grass, go swimming, and for a short little bike ride. After all that, it feels pretty good. So keep your fingers crossed!!

I have attached a couple of pictures of the falls. The last section of the trail (or the first, depending on where you start) follows the river for a little bit, than comes out to the falls. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people there walking around in them, so I didn't get the greatest pictures. I hope to return there in the fall, for better photo ops.

Back to work tomorrow for my exciting 6 day stretch!!

Enjoying summer!

Where have I been? Today I'm trying to rest my body from all the extensive activities I've been doing. Last Wednesday, I figured what the hell, I want to go for a bike ride. Since Gaylord finished their Rails to Trails section last year, I've been wanting to get out there. So I biked the 30 miles from Gaylord to Indian River. It was beautiful, the trail is awesome, not to mention mostly flat, so it is easy going. I plan on biking there tomorrow to visit a friend, than I'll pedal my ass back. Sounds like a good time, huh?

I finally made it to the river to do some kayaking. We've got a new nurse at work who just so happens to live on the Manistee River, so yes, most of us are taking advantage of that! A friend and I kayaked for a couple hours out there before the weather turned bad. I forgot how freezing cold that river can get. But it is a beautiful river, and most tourists stay off of it because it is a bit more challenging than the slower and shallower Ausable River. To each his own.

And yesterday, after it rained hard most of the day, I spent the evening with friends around a bonfire. Telling stories, playing with all the neighborhood kids and just taking it easy.

Today, I'm barely motivated enough to clean the house and the garage (oh my, it has never been that messy), and find some food to eat. Only a couple more days and it will be back to work. Sigh...

My Bucket List

Last night, I was able to cross off an activity from my list of things I want to do before I die. I went ghost hunting. A friend of mine and her significant other have been doing this as a hobby for several years now and have accumulated a ton of equipment. So last night they finally agreed to take me along. We went to a place near Grayling, an old ghost town called Pere Cheney. The town had burnt to the ground twice and there is an old cemetery there with over 500 people buried there. Unfortunately it is quite the party place for young kids, and a lot of the headstones have been broken and stolen. Anyways, they have had a lot of stuff happen to them out there, so that is where we headed. Now I believe in ghosts and hauntings 100%. When I was a kid I had a friend who lived in a haunted house that was an old jail than an old hotel. I've had strange things happen to me at work, and most people that work at the hospital have stories of the one haunted room there. So I was optimistic when we went out there. But, we spent 3 hours wandering around this place, and I didn't see, hear or feel anything. I understand that something isn't going to happen every night, so I would be willing to try again. They brought a couple of their friends along who are big into ghost hunting, and I would definitely wright them off as crazy. Any sound in the woods (and there were a lot of them, since we were in the middle of the woods), they would come up with some story about how that is probably a ghost. But in my mind, and in reality, I'm sure it was just an animal. They were able to fabricate a story and twist everything enough so that they would believe it was something. But, whatever, its not my hobby, so go for it! Once we got home at 3am, they did show me some of the pictures and voice recordings of things they've captured out there. So, maybe next time..........

My Hike "Gone Wrong"

After wasting away most of the day doing much of nothing, I opted to head out at 430 for a "quick" 11 mile hike on one of my favorite trails in the Pigeon River. It is an easy trail, so I figured I shouldn't have any problems getting back before dark. All was going well for the first several miles, I was making great time. Than I noticed a little bit of pain in my right knee. Thats odd, I didn't remember hurting it somehow. I did stub my toe on a root, but didn't notice any pain right away. Unfortunately, the pain in that knee got continuously worse. As long as I kept moving, it was tolerable. But to stop, for even a couple of seconds and try to go again, the pain would be more severe. Of course I was alone, way out in the middle of the woods, and had no other choice but to continue hiking. Slowly. Fortunately I made it out before it got too dark. It is always much darker deep in the woods since the little daylight that there was, was not coming down on the trail. I felt tired, sore, vulnerable and helpless. Now that I'm home, I've popped 800mg of Motrin, iced the knee, took a hot bath, but still it hurts like a b***h to stand on that leg. Imagine my dilemma. Two more perfect days before I go back to work and I'll be unable to hike, bike or swim. All my favorite past times. Whats a person to do?

City Life

Having some extra time off, and no good plans, I opted to go visit my kid sister in her new apartment in Grand Rapids. It is such a drastic change from my daily life up here. Of course I love taking advantage of things I can't do up here. Ordering pizza at 1030 at night and actually have it delivered to the house, quickly, and eat it while it was still warm. Being able to talk on the cell phone, and know it is the other person to blame losing reception on. People watching, oh what a good time that is. Plus all the different events going on in places close by. We spent the afternoon at a celtic festival watching people try to dance to bagpipes. Funny. But on the other hand, I was quickly reminded what it is I hate about city life. Traffic. Pollution and trash everywhere. And the noise. My dear sister lives on one of the busier streets in the city, only two blocks away from the railroad tracks where a train goes by almost every hour.....at all hours of the day and night. Lets just say I slept much better deep in the woods along the Appalachian Trail knowing that I could get attacked and killed by a bear than I did on the second floor of her apartment. Weird. So after wandering around all day, I opted out of spending another sleepless night in the city and headed home early to fall asleep to the sound of a moth trapped between my screen and the window. It will find its way out once I shut the lights off....... Home sweet home.

Back from the AT!

Well, I made it back last week from my Appalachian Trail trip! Oh what an adventure. We ended up only spending a week there, but we covered 50 miles in 4 days. It was everything I imagined and than some. One thing I wasn't quite prepared for was the altitude. The first several days I was nauseated, dizzy and would become short of breath with minimal activity. I did eventually adjust to it, thank god! But the mountains were unlike anything I had anticipated. The makers of the Appalachian Trail were kind enough to take you to the top of every mountain in the Shenandoah Park.

There were many highlights in the trip. Everything from hitch hiking to watching the wildlife. We saw three bear, including a cub, a rattlesnake, and numerous deer who have no fear of people. Basically they just walk right up to you. They are not hunted, and I'm sure some people do feed them, so they really don't know better. The weather was crazy there. It rained almost every day and it was hot and humid. There was one day where we decided to get off the trail for a couple of days thanks to flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorms.

I can understand the physical wear and tear that this trail can have on your body. My feet were full of blisters after a couple of days. Periodically my right foot would become numb for some unknown reason. And still, even after being off the trail for a week, I get terrible cramps in my legs, especially if I walk too much or too fast. All of it is getting better, but they are reminders of the pain that I endured while there.

We met some really cool people out on the trail also. For the most part, a majority of the thru hikers had made it through this section of the trail, but there were some people who had gotten a late start. Very interesting people to talk to. Even though only talking to them briefly, you can tell how the trail has changed them just by the way they talked about their lives before the trail. Most of them were tired of their lives and quit their jobs, one guy had just gotten out of college and wasn't ready to settle down and find a real job yet, another guy had just took an early retirement. We also met a lot of volunteers out maintaining the trail, they do a fabulous job.

So I did take lots of pictures, and made a 19 minute video that for some reason I can't figure out how to attach onto this post, so I'll just throw in some of my favorites. I am anxious to get back there someday, and am still planning on a possible 2010 thru-hike, depending on what happens in the next few years. It will always be a dream of mine..........

In the meantime, I am planning a trip to the Upper Peninsula for August where I want to hike the 42 mile section of the North Country Trail that runs along the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. I've done some day hikes out there in the past, and it is where I picked up a couple of pathetic backpackers to give them a ride to their car a couple of years ago. I've heard it is spectacular. Now it is time to search for a good hiking partner or a gullible friend to drag along with me!

Off to the AT!

In less than 6 hours I'll be headed to Virginia to start my first hike on the Appalachian Trail. Of course I have to be up in about 5 hours, but cannot sleep. Go figure. My pack weighs 35 pounds, which is about average. I can handle that. I think I'm ready. I'll be back in 10 days or so.......

A Productive Day!

Today has been one of my more productive days lately. I am officially packed and ready to hike the Appalachian Trail. I'm done dehydrating my meals and they are all nicely packed in ziplock baggies so that all I have to do is add boiling water. God only knows what they are going to taste like, but I figure I'll be so tired and hungry I really won't care! My hiking companion for this trip stopped by today and we compared gear and what we are taking. We are both getting really excited!!

And my greatest accomplishment of the day......finding a home for the kitten! I posted an ad on Craig's list last night and got two bites for him today. Of course when I go out to the garage to get him, he is gone. Apparently he decided to go on a trip today and didn't make it back until 830. I think he knew something was up. But when he came home I trapped him in the garage and finally caught him for his first ride in the car. This cat is so screwed with its new owners. Of course he starts peeing when I take him out of his carrier, but the lady said it was okay and that she would just give him a bath when they got home. Umm.....most cats don't like water. She proceeded to ask me ridiculous questions such as what to feed him. Than she took the kitten to the car, where there was two screaming kids anxious to see him. He is in for quite the lifestyle change. Poor thing. Oh well, no longer my problem!

So only 3 more days of work and in 5 days I'll be off on a long walk!

It Has Been Awhile....

So it has been quite some time since I've posted anything on my blog. Mostly I've been working, making some extra money for my vacation.

Yesterday I got back from my first big backpacking adventure of the year. I was able to talk a couple of friends into accompanying me to the Jordan River Valley. It is a nice eight mile downhill walk to the campground where we stayed the night this time. Than there was the dreadful 10 mile hike back up hill to the car. We had to leave one guy behind and come back with the car, since he said there would be no way his legs would take him up those hills. Which was much easier than having to find someway of rescuing him from the middle of the trail. (I think I know where you can find some cheap backpacking equipment for sale if anyone is interested!) The weather was a toasty 80 degrees and humid. So after that trip, I would say I am ready for the Appalachian Trail. Physically and mentally, I'm ready to go. All I have to do now is figure out the minimum I can bring that will fit in the pack. Because I have learned, weight is everything.

Go Wings!

The Detroit Red Wings are THE Stanley Cup Champions of 2008! Tonight they got some lucky bounces and finally shut down Pittsburgh and won the game 3-2...but barely. Now the cup is back in Hockeytown! What a spectacular run it has been!

After a last minute decision to cancel our overnight hike the other day due to poor weather conditions, today a friend and I decided we would hike the entire 18 mile loop of Deadman's Hill in the Jordan River Valley. I found out the hard way that 18 miles there, all at once, is way too long. That is definitely a 2 day trip and lesson has been learned. After hiking up and down those hills for 9 hours, and barely making it back before it got dark, my legs and feet are killing me. I will never do that again. I have a huge blister on my heel and any type of movement required by my legs almost brings tears to my eyes. Time to load up on both tylenol and motrin.

So after this hike, and another 14 mile hike two days ago, it is time for me to go back to work so that my body has a chance to recover. Which isn't saying a lot, considering I am on my feet almost all day, I do a ton of walking, and my shifts are 12 hours long. I guess the only good thing, is there are no hills in the ER.

Cheers!

A Hike

Since the weather was gorgeous the other day, I decided to pack up my stuff and go out for a hike in the Jordan River. It was a warm 72 degrees, with a nice cool breeze. Perfect for all the hills I had to climb up and down with 30 pounds of gear on my back. But little did I know that the 3 hours I spent hiking would set me up for a night of misery. The picture with all the white stuff on the ground, that isn't snow, it is all pollen. There was crap flying through the air the entire day. And the mosquitoes were extremely hungry and got quite the feast off of me. I am one lumpy and bumpy person right now. Makes me itch just thinking about it. Even though I jumped in the shower as soon as I got home, I sneezed and itched the entire night, even though I had benadryl and sudafed on board. No wonder why I couldn't get out of bed until noon......

Tuesday I'll be headed out for my first overnight hike of the year. Normally I have a hard time finding people to partake in activities like this, but I'll have 4 companions. Talking about backpacking at work enough has gotten some of my co-workers interested. I'm hoping that they have a good time so that they will go with me again. I'm looking forward to it!

Today I had my first outing with my "little sister." I was involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program when I was in high school, but it all seems so different now. It seems like too much responsibility and a huge commitment. Something that I fear. And the kid doesn't really talk. She'll answer all of my questions in as little words as possible, which is quite impressive. She showed me pictures of 6th grade camp when we met last week, and she also looks out of control. I think I might be in over my head. But I'll stick with it, and hopefully she'll start talking soon......

Well, I'm off to the grocery store. I bought a food dehydrator to make meals for my backpacking trips this summer. Time to get creative!!

A Quick Review!

So several small, yet significant, things going on lately.

The Wings have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals!! They will be playing Pittsburgh, and the series starts on Saturday.

Only 12 more days until my first backpacking trip of the year! And less than 7 weeks before my departure for the Appalachian Trail! I've purchased a food dehydrator, and am going to attempt to make some fancy schmancy meals for the woods. My dinner menu for home for the next few weeks will consist of rehydrated food. Yummy!

It seems that summer is never going to come. Tonight, May 21st, it is snowing. Yes, snowing. Big wet flakes. What the hell?

I was matched with a little sister, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program the other day. I am really only committed to seeing her 3 or 4 times a month, but with my huge problems with commitment, I've already got that feeling of regret and too much responsibility. What was I thinking? Of course I'll follow through with it, like I always do.

A really quick, funny nursing home story. The past two nights I moonlighted at the nursing home, and it just so happened to be a full moon! The residents were out of control. This one 90 year old lady with Alzheimer's, she was a rocking the one night. Very paranoid that her niece had taken her car out joy riding. I asked if she had any kids, she said no. I asked if she was ever married, she said no. Than she felt the need to toss in the fact that she was passionately in love with her first cousin when she was younger. I bet that is a secret that not many people, if any, know about! I didn't know what else to do but start laughing.....

Good times!

How Sweep It Is!

Yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings swept one of our best rivals the Colorado Avalanche, thus moving us on to the conference finals. We killed them in an 8-2 game, which from what I saw was pretty exciting. Now we are waiting to see who our opponent may be, San Jose or Dallas. I'm hoping for Dallas, solely to avoid the late 1030 games.

Update on the kitten situation, I'm down to two little kittens. They are just starting to open up there eyes. And I must say, the one is the ugliest little thing I've ever seen. It has this big gray/black blob right over its mouth, kind of like a mask. Poor thing. It sure won't help trying to find it a good home. Hopefully it has a good personality.

I continue to go out hiking on my days off. I went out and bought some insoles for my boots, and they seem to be working out fairly well. I've been going out on the mountain bike trail near town. It is a six mile loop, and close to home, so it is convenient. I've never done mountain biking to that extreme, but I think I might give it a whirl. I'm not big on helmets, but I would definitely purchase one prior to the event.

Off work for tomorrow, than I guess I got really money hungry a few weeks ago and volunteered to moon light over at the nursing home Sunday night. What was I thinking?

Grayling is on Fire!

This afternoon a wildfire sparked near Grayling. The last I heard, it has burnt over 1100 acres. Firefigthers are still trying to contain the fire. From what I can gather it has come very close to town, and there are many conflicting reports of whether any buildings have burnt down yet. They have closed down I-75. A paramedic friend of mine took these pictures while sitting in the ambulance on stand by. He is at the south end of the city. Glad I didn't have to work today!

On a totally different subject, my wonderful and oh so dedicated garage cat, Ruff, has had another liter of kittens. I obviously didn't make it to the vet in time to get her fixed before this happened again. I'm not sure when they showed up, but right now there appear to be three healthy little kittens. With her first liter, she lost two kittens that I know of. And her second liter, only one kitten survived for a couple of days, and than it died also. We'll see how many make it with this one.

I put in another 4 miles of hiking today. I carried 20 pounds of weight on my back. This is the best I've felt so far. Of course it was only 4 miles. No blisters, no back aches, no nothing!! As soon as I can tolerate carrying twice as much weight for a minimum of 10 miles, it will be free sailing from there. Only about 10 more weeks. Things are supposed to get cold and snowy this weekend, but as soon as it warms up for any length of time, I'll go off on my first overnight hike.

Tonight the Wings started the second round of the playoffs! They beat Colorado 4-3. A great game, they really looked sharp. Only 11 more wins to go!

So other than Grayling burning, things are good in my world.

Oh What a Blister!

I put in another 9 miles of hiking on my boots today. Over the past two days I have developed one of the worst blisters of my life. If I didn't find feet so disgusting, I would actually take a picture of it to put on here. But it is on the pad of my right foot, and it is about the size of a quarter. It hurts like a B**** to put any weight on it, so it makes walking difficult. I think I'm going to invest in some insoles, since I like everything else about the boot. That and I haven't developed blisters on my heels, where I thought they would appear for sure! But I'm up to walking with about 20 pounds. I crammed a bunch of stuff into my actual backpack for the walk today. It felt pretty darn good.

Right now I am trying to stay awake as long as possible. I actually volunteered to work a night shift tomorrow, so the longer I can sleep in tomorrow, the safer it will be for my patients. But, I'm not too sure how much longer I can stay awake......

Spring!

It finally feels like spring in Gaylord. I took my first long hike of the year today. I hiked almost 12 miles along side the Ausable River. My how the water levels have risen!! It was also my first hike in my newly purchased hiking boots. Other than the pads of my feet being a little sore, they felt great! I just need to walk around outside barefoot for a couple of weeks and my feet will be hard and callused, than I won't even notice the pain. I carried about 15 pounds of mostly water and of course my camera in my day pack. It felt pretty good. I bought my actual backpack for my long trip last week. I spent over three hours walking around REI with the pack full of stuff and my boots on. I could easily curl up inside of one of their tents and just live in the store. And it really isn't that big. I wish there were a store closer than 3 hours from my house. It would be a great place to meet a lot of interesting people. One of the salesman entertained me for over 30 minutes just talking about his experience on the Appalachian Trail. I would even consider quitting nursing and working in a place like that instead. I'm sure they would get great discounts!

It has finally warmed up enough to the point where the frogs are coming out to mate. I am able to tolerate keeping the window cracked a small amount, so that I can listen to the frogs all night. It is enjoyable for awhile, but it gets to the point where they can get terribly loud. On that note, time for bed. I have a rather busy day off tomorrow.

Chicago

Today is day 3 in Chicago, and I'm very ready to go home. I was reminded by the end of day 1 why it is I don't like city life. People are rude, things are dirty, it is noisy, it is a pain to get anywhere and there is way too much cement. Parking is another huge issue, as it costs a ridiculous amount to park anywhere.

The most shady thing about our visit was the hotel. When we came in there was a half empty water bottle on the counter and there was used bars of soap in the bathtub and by the sink. Not one to complain, I made the most of it. The rooms decor is this God awful orange color. The heat doesn't work, and I'm rather cold tonight. The pool was cold, the lifeguards not so friendly and it lacked a hot tub. Boo! Our room, on the 12th floor, overlooks the tops of some pretty ruff looking buildings. I guess I got what I paid for, since it was the cheapest hotel I could find. But, the location has been ideal. We have been able to walk most places, but certain individuals are now complaining that their legs hurt and that they have blisters. Every night I have had gut rot from eating out for the past three days, something I'm not used to at all. It has made for long miserable nights.

The fun things included the zoo (where I even got a sunburn!), the aquarium and the science museum. One of the highlights of the science museum was the fact that we got lost, but after circling the place, we were able to find a place to park (where I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed) for free. I feel like I finally cheated the system.

So tomorrow I will be making the long ride all the way home. So looking forward to it. The seven hour ride will be well worth sleeping in my own bed. It will be back to work the next day. Things will be back to normal.

Trail Magic

As I continue to read on and on about the Appalachian Trail, I've realized I have both given and received trail magic. Trail magic is something that happens to you while you are out hiking or backpacking that is unexpected. It can be someone welcoming you into their home for lunch, people who place coolers along the trail and fill them with ice cold beer, and my favorite is someone who took the capri sun juice drinks and filled a river full of them so that hikers could enjoy a nice cold drink. It always happens when you least expect it. When I took a trip to the UP a couple of years ago, I "rescued" two backpackers that wanted desperately to get off the trail and stay in a nice warm hotel room. I am the one who provided their trail magic and gave them a ride to their car. When I was out hiking last summer, some strangers that I helped lug all of their camping equipment to their site fed me lunch on my way back to my car. Only 3 more months and I will be out on the trail for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to find out what kind of trail magic is out there!

In the mean time, I will be headed to Chicago tomorrow. No real reason other than to just get away. The science museum, the aquarium and the Sears Tower are all on my list of things to do. The rest of the time I will spend searching for free things to see. I'll be picking up my kid sister and my cousin to keep me company. Should be fun!

Goodbye to my neighbors!

Well, I knew at some point my old neighbors across the street would be gone. I honestly thought they would die up here. But, they have come to that bridge in their lives where they were having much difficulty taking care of themselves. Recent illnesses with frequent falls has made them decide to move into an assisted living facility downstate. It is where all of their 7 children live, so it probably is best that they will be down there. They seemed all eager and excited. They said they would be putting the house up for sale. A scary thought for myself. Who knows who or what may buy the place. Or maybe it will just stay on the market forever, just like all the other houses for sale in the county. So the moving truck left today and the house was pitch black when I got home tonight. Now that they are gone, I don't have any close neighbors who live here all the time. I'm not sure why, but I have this feeling of greater isolation and aloneness from the rest of the world.

And the Winter Lingers....

You would think after living my entire 28 years in Gaylord, I should know better than to think I "have the weather figured out." Waking up this morning, I found approx 6 to 7 inches of snow in my driveway. The ride into work was snowy, wet and the roads were awful. Since it is the end of March and it is officially spring, I think the county figured the winter was also over. The roads are still a total mess and I refuse to do any type of maintenance to my driveway. I know it will all melt someday....

The winter blahs...

Even though there is technically two more days of winter left, we are currently under a winter storm warning. Ice with a possible 3 inches of snow accumulating. I'm so sick of this crap....

Backpacking!

Well, I finally got some of my backpacking equipment in the mail the other day. I set the tent up in the living room this evening, gosh is it small. But incredibly light. Hopefully my hiking partner will lose some weight before we head out, otherwise it is going to be rather tight. My sleeping bag only weighs 2 pounds, and stuffs into a small bag about the size of two loaves of bread. Incredible.

I've also started a more regular aggressive workout regimen. I have an elliptical machine, a stationary bike and several hand weights. Most people will laugh when I say I'm going to start running when things finally warm up around here. I hope to head to some of the mountain bike trails in the area, more hilly and uneven terrain.

Hopefully here in a month or so I'll be able to head out on my days off and start taking small hiking and backpacking trips. Should be a busy summer!!

It has been awhile...

It has been a long time since I had anything to blog about, which was pretty aimless in itself. Of course I'm going to come up with about the same quality of material. A funny story, but you probably had to be there to laugh so hard you start to cry. My sister is on her spring break and she has been staying at my house. Today we decided to "get crafty" and attempt to make our Mother her upcoming birthday present. This included paint of various colors. As I am painting away, my pretty calico cat decided to hop up onto the table and land right in the middle of my hot pink paint. Of course this freaked her out, and she bolted. Running around the house as we are chasing her, leaving pretty hot pink paw prints all over the house. After catching her, we had no other choice but to try and wash her foot off in water. If you don't know already, cats don't like water. For the most part the paint is off her, but the paint is still all over my carpet. It looks awful, and I haven't the slightest idea how to get it out. The whole thing is still pretty funny.

I also just finished watching the new release, Into the Wild. It is about a young man who follows his dream of living out in the woods of Alaska. Awesome movie and highly recommended, even though it is a bit lengthy. It does push me even more to follow my dream of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. Of course he does die at the end....

Well, off to bed. I have an early morning meeting at the Woman's Shelter. Something new that I am volunteering at to help coordinate the care of physically and sexually abused woman who come into the ER. I think it will be quite rewarding.

Walking for the Fallen

My Dad met up with this guy at a gas station this afternoon in Gaylord. He started walking in Nevada, and is walking a mile for every fallen soldier. I guess he was quite the site. He had just gotten squared away with a set of snow shoes and was headed to the Upper Peninsula. Pretty damn cool!

It ALMOST feels like spring!

So today the temps were in the mid 30's, the sun was out and things are kinda sorta starting to thaw. Its amazing how 30 degrees is warm. I'm able to run around without a jacket. Thats actually really messed up. But not to worry, we have another Lake Effect Snow Storm coming on Wednesday. More cold, wind and snow. Seriously, it is getting old.

So what have I been doing lately? I've become a very sedentary, lazy, couch potato. I sleep in, lay on the couch and nap, eat, do as little as possible and than go back to bed. Some days I am able to find enough energy to get on the bike for 30 minutes. Other days I am so tired I'm only able to take a shower and get the mail, than lay around. I always get like this toward the end of winter. I've been reading up and learning as much as I can about the Appalachian Trail and have started buying equipment. The more I read about it, the more I want to go out and hike the entire trail. But, considering I could only find one person to hike with me for 100 miles, the chances of finding someone to leave civilization for 6 or 7 months are slim. However it is easy to dream about while I'm laying on the couch. Whats a person to do?