November
6, 2009
The day was gorgeous, sunny and about sixty
degrees. We arrived to only a few campers and none where we
wanted to camp. We got set up and then did the 2.4 miles of
Mouse Trail, the trail around the campground. So much
development has encroached on the park! Now about half the trail
backs up to people's backyards. Sad. They should have left
a buffer. About seven-tenths of a mile in, Moosie decided the
trail was haunted. He demanded, bounding against me and acting
all weird, to be put back on his leash. Something evil was about
and he was near terrified. It lasted only a bit but it was quite
odd. A couple of deer were right off the path looking at us.
The park filled to near capacity! Only a few
sites left.
I have the fire ready to be started.
Awaiting the kid's arrival. And those grand dogs!
Some explanation ...
Some explanation should precede the
pictures. Joe has been disappointed in my excitement upon entering
a bar and reading the drink menu, exclaiming, "Look! They have
blueberry mojitoes!" He suggests I need to temper the foo-foo
drinks and find something, well, manly. This was brought home
again when my law school friend Barb made mention of the same
idiosyncrasy. I had the audacity to order Zin at the Great Lakes
Brewery. Barb's comment worried me more.
I had a constitutional law professor
who used to look down his nose and ask, "Who brought the foo-foo
coffee?" That would be me and it was normally coffee-toffee.
I have thirty two years of putting people in jail, a BA, MPA, JD, good
family and I carry a gun. I have no need to impress anyone with my
manhood. Having thirty years teaching law, I, too would be suspect
of my manhood. I have the scars. He doesn't.
But, then, I'd hate to bring
disrepute on Joe. Barb's opinion matters even more. So here
I am awaiting their arrival with a $50 bottle of Macallan's 12 year old
Scotch Whisky. It is to be a manly night about the fire, forsaking
the Fruity Red Sangria, of which I have two five liter boxes for Megan.
That might be enough. $50 worth of Scotch is enough, right?
Here is the progression:
Start:
One:
Two:
Three:
This might be four:
This isn't five, we didn't take a picture.
Pretend it is five:
What was left at the end of the night:
Interesting stuff, this Scotch Whisky. Over a
period of many hours we did not become intoxicated and I have to
admit, the stuff kept the fire stoked, us warm and provided the best
of company. I had no hangover.
Of course I could have bought
how many five liter boxes of Fruity Red???
Follows are some more fire pictures:
We took a small, half mile walk upon
their arrival. On Saturday we had some cinnamon buns for breakfast
and took a nice 4.3 mile walk. Garmin's maps are off on the location
of Lake Erie by a few hundred feet.
After Megan and Joe left I decided to
do kites. Opening a bag and what is this?!?? A new kite.
A parafoil 22. Looks big. Better use the 150 pound line.
I got it in the air only to have it literally pick me off the ground.
At the same time a ferrule failed, I let go and it went sailing high
into a tree. This is a very expensive sled! My antenna
masts, duct tape and my awning rod proved high enough to snag it and
pull it down. No worse for the wear. I tied better knots
avoiding the linkages and put it in the air again. I used some
rope to tie it to the picnic table. It decided it was going to
take the picnic table for a ride, pulling up one end and beginning a
slide. I had all I could do to get it back down. The winds
were high. Very high.
We ended the day with a two miler
where deer ran out into our path twice and both times they were fifty
feet ahead of us. They are making so much noise themselves and are
not expecting company. Surprise!!!
November 8, 2009
We slept so very well. I slept
twelve hours and the dogs never budged. They were so tired.
After getting up the dogs wanted to
go on a walk. I promised them a short walk about the campsite.
Yeah, right. It is a sunny and warm morning with highs promised in
the seventies. We ended up doing 6.4 miles. Look at the
graph below. A couple of things are odd. The first loop, to
the left, is us walking west from the campsite, to the main camp road
and then being inexorably drawn down the paved all purpose trail to the
beach trails. Second, although we walked to and along the lake on
the way out, we used a grass trail to cut the field part of that loop
out. This walk also went to the end of the cottage loop.
Another thing I noticed is the
difference between the prior graphs and this one. The prior graphs
show speed being quite unstable. I am calling that first effect "Piperization".
The second graph, being not being logged with a Piper, shows much less
Piperization.
I begged Moosie to pee on this sign.
I offered him cookies, an extra egg on his food. He just didn't
have it in him.
This crabapple tree was intensely
orange. I wish it would have come through against the November
colors.
The sparrows report the Martin doors
on this house and the gourds were much appreciated as the November wind
is fierce.
Stepping on out!
Sure is pretty for a November day!
November berries.
Nearing dark, we decided to check out
an odd trail that ran off the paved path right where the path into the
campground met the beach/field loop. We turned right and walked
into a mowed trail that ran through deer field. It is deer field
because each of the below pictures was taken after a deer popped its
head up as I walked by.
For example (and remember these are
not the full picture, click on the picture for the full image):
The deer on the left is about fifty
feet into the field. Surprised both of us. Until ...
The deer on the right is about twenty
feet into the field. I heard something. I looked. She
looked up. I don't know who was most surprised.
This continued on. These are
about 50 yards in.
If you can't see it in this version
of the picture, click on the picture to get the full version and look to
the lower right of the sun:
The bat house. On the trail you
walk right by it. Knock, knock! Anyone home? Wouldn't
do this except it was November.
That's not a bat. Blow it up
and look at it.
Night, night site 161
Not done yet! There was one
last fire and a wee-bitty left in that Scotch Whiskey bottle. It
kept me company for about an hour. I did not burn the bottle!
November 9, 2009
We took a nice walk, again through
deer field although the deer weren't to be found. We also had to
take a trip up the big hill. Must do that once, right? On
the way back they needed no rest area. They were quite restful
where they were.
For up-to-date park maps and information, check
the
Ohio State Park website