No More Travels!

First I will answer a question about something I wrote in yesterday's post. Dizzy Dick asked if I hike the Appalachian Trail would I start in GA and hike north, or start at Mt. Katahdin, ME and hike southward. I love the southern portion and would prefer to start in Georgia again. However, I already covered the portion from Springer Mtn. GA to Waynesville, VA, the southern entrance to the Shenandoah National Park. I got off the trail there as I could barely walk with the intense pain I was experiencing. Thinking it was a condition that would go away with a couple of weeks of rest, I did that and re-entered the trail at the northern end of Shenandoah, planning to finish the trail and then come back and pick up the entire Shenandoah. The northern end was about 60 miles from my home and thus easier to get someone to drop me off as well as to pick me up if I had to leave again.

So I began hiking and in 3 days arrived at Bears Den Hostel, which is between Falls Church (where I lived) and Leesburg, VA. I decided to quit the hike, got to talking to a man who was doing trail work and who introduced himself as a professor at George Mason University. He offered to drive Smoky and me home after he had finished his morning of trail work, so I took him up on his offer. I gathered up my belongings at the hostel and looked around for Smoky. I found him, already in the back seat of the car!

I went back in the fall with a friend and hiked some of the trail in Vermont, plus I had already done quite a few miles in PA and MD, so I reckon I have chalked up about 900 miles in total - probably about 750 miles in one stretch. I believe I would like to go back to Waynesville, VA and get on the trail going north through the Shenandoah. If I could deal with it, then I could keep going to Harpers Ferry, WV, and from there I would just set short goals. I'm not deluding myself that I could backpack the 2170 or so miles in one go.

I'm going to get myself in shape no matter what, and to that end I have gone back to my exercise routine. I use a yoga mat, and have always laid it on padded carpeting. It's a little different on a wood floor, and I will probably look for a carpet runner or something I can set the mat on, since I have no natural padding and I need help. When I unrolled the mat on the floor last night, Lady immediately walked over to it as she thought it was for her. Nervy dog - I was sorry to chase her off of it, but I reason that I don't get on her orthopedic dog bed even though it probably wouldn't bother her at all.

The poor dog is really bothered by arthritis. I was giving her glucosamine and chondroitin which seemed to help a lot, but I can no longer afford the dog food plus expensive tablets. I can either choose a lower quality and cheaper dog food, drop the high quality wet food, and get the tablets, but I can no longer do it all. Being a person who tries to eat high quality food myself, almost all organic, I hate to give my dog anything less than the high quality dog food without all the fillers and chemicals. It's a good thing I no longer have to feed children, although I buy only organic snacks and fruit drinks for my grandchildren's visits.

I read in the Sunday paper this morning that my cousin, Gladys, had died. Her funeral is next week, and I don't know if I want to go to the church service or just to the cemetery. I really don't want to go into a church! At any rate I am glad she is no longer suffering.

The sun is out today although the forecast is for more rain. It's easier to deal with the rain when it is interspersed with sunny periods. I may go out this afternoon but can't narrow down what I want to get. What I really want is to get a box of brownie mix, although I have ingredients to mix up a batch from scratch, and it is easy and quick and tastes better.

I think I need some comfort food because I'm tired of worrying about the leaky windows. The rain must be getting in somewhere and flowing down to the low points which are on both sides of the house by the windows. It's starting to get me down because finding the problem could take a lot of time and money. Or I could try replacing the entire roof and have proper rain gutters installed, but I think I would have to finance it and I can't stand the thought of financing. If I considered borrowing money I would use it to buy an RV for extended trips - never to live in full time again though.