A good summer month of lumbering for me is roughly 120 to 130 miles. July was not one of those months.
A combination of extreme heat and humidity, Canadian wildfire smoke, appliance repairmen in the house, and an intense battle with the black dog had my July screwed.
After the mood I was in last week 1, I was surprised to have such a good weekend that featured a whole lot of not much.
Today I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do in years past, but never really got around to doing it: a photo gallery from the first six months of a year of lumbering and photo creeping. Which, of course, will be followed by the second six months come January.
It’s taken me close to two weeks, but I finally had a lumber that produced some OK images. Not great, but OK enough that I dig them.
I woke up Thursday morning at 5:20, fed the dog, and thought about the morning’s lumber. Something was telling me to skip it, and after a few minutes of internal discussions, I decided that I was not one to argue with “something,” and pulled the plug.
All aboard the Depression Express (TOOT! TOOT!), next stop: Crazy Town!
No, I’m not going to bore you with tales of the random fits of depression and anger that I’ve been dealing with for a few days now, mostly because I can feel it ebbing away like a lost erection into the soft man-FUPA of life. Also because I don’t know what the cause of it was, other than being bored with life, not sleeping well, not enjoying who and what I’ve become/not become, and wanting the world to normal up for just a gahdamn minute—ONE MINUTE!!
But, like I said, ebbing and shit. So, into the woods, Fat Man!
If you listen closely, you can hear it; it’s the sound of me exiting a cocoon of gelatinous, depressive slack like a birthed Orc. Only it smells worse and looks even worse-er.
Wednesday’s lumber was more of the same, with my aging ass in the woods and on the trail at 6:05 AM to avoid the worst of the day’s stifling heat and humidity.
The weekend was the weekend; I did intervals on the Dreadmill on Saturday morning, and I made the best of watching the Round of 8 World Cup matches (C’MON ENGLAND!) whilst making bad decisions.
The weekend also helped kick off the annual “Week of Me,” which started on Sunday when Wifey and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. Yes, yes, I am just as surprised as you that she’s still here, but to know me is to tolerate me, and Wifey does it very well. AND I think she MIGHT even love me.
This week was better than last in the lumbering department, but not by much.
Yes, skipping Monday was my fault for staying up too late on Sunday watching England play Mexico (totally worth it), but the heat, humidity, and bugs of the early morning woods had me scaling back my now normal 6-mile loop to 5-mile loops for two of the week’s four lumbers.