The not-so-glamorous part of long distance hiking few get to see

June 14, 2019 - Friday

41 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I should NEVER have eaten that first, random, handful of leftover popcorn while waiting for the coffee to brew. I was standing at the kitchen counter with my mind stuck in early morning neutral and looking out the front window, when my hand reached into the bowl and removed a few stale kernels.

What is it about day-old popcorn that tastes so good, especially first thing in the morning? Is it just me or does popcorn, like a fine wine, actually improve with age? 

I've already had my usual two morning cookies, the ones I consume on a daily basis to, as Mary Poppins says, help the medicine go down, but it's barely past 6 AM and I'm chomping on day-old popcorn.

Maybe if I eat it all and get the bowl washed and put away before Sargie gets up, she'll forget it was ever there and this whole popcorn thing will be your's and my dirty little secret. 

Deal? Deal.

I'm good with it if you are.

Thursday was mostly spent with hose in hand, spraying mud from every piece of hiking equipment that accompanied us this past week.

A tailgate makes THE best drying rack 

By the looks of it, we could have saved ourselves an entire hike by simply rolling around in the muddy hole in the garden. 

It was Thursday evening before the tent, hammock, packs, and rest of the equipment were washed, dried, rolled, and/or folded and put away. 

I was on the cell phone for part of the day to the service department at Hughes Net, the satellite company from whom we subscribe our internet and VOIP phone service. 

Our home phone quit working several days ago and after spending more than an hour talking with them then, they sent a new modem. I installed it yesterday and found the phone still didn't work.

I have to give the company some kudos. Though it took a while, they worked in tandem with the customer service people fixing the problem from their end and by the time we arrived home from our ride yesterday, we had full phone service.

Though it's not cheapest internet in the world, Hughes Net has been good to us, both in reliability and customer service. 

Sargie and I took a wonderful ride around the area on Thursday afternoon, stopping along the way for a burger and Coke. 

Everything is so... green.

The late afternoon and evening were spent in the yard. Sargie was doing one thing or the other with her flowers while I finished packing the hiking equipment. 

I later fertilized the strawberries.

It appears we might have a bumper crop this year. These berries were planted in the early spring, a year ago. A mere fifty of them, all looking quite dead from spending almost two months in the garage refrigerator, not only survived, they thrived. We should begin harvesting in another three weeks.

Today's a big one on Pentoga Road. Sargie and I will be going to the bank in Iron Mountain later today where I'm going to plunk down a bit of cash on the counter for the final payment on our home and property. 

I'm not going to get into financial details here, but it sure feels good, mighty good. What I will say is that it certainly pays to start an annuity or investment plan early in life. The one that has paid for the house was started around forty years ago. 

I love when a plan comes together.

It's to rain today, but hasn't begun yet. Though it's not even 7 AM, I think I'll head out the door and begin working up next winter's supply of firewood. I'm behind on so many of my usual summer tasks and here it is, the middle June already. August will be here before we know it, school will start, cold weather will roll in, and...

Oh hush, I don't even want to think about it.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...