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.