Not to honk my own platypus, but I do believe I set a new start time record for this morning’s lumber when my feetz hit the trail at 6:37 AM. There was much rejoicing.
My theory is tri-fold: Beat the heat, beat anyone hiking with a dog (no offense, but Fido ain’t great for critter spottin’), and lastly, I figure the sun was up at 6:10, so I might as well get going.
And if I wanted to get real hair-splitty, I also needed to make time because after my hike, I needed to mow and trim the lawn of the Cul-De-Sac-Shack, and run to the store before I wrap my day early to watch Villa and Spurs this afternoon. Not sure why I bother, Villa are playing for Europe, and Spurs are playing to get the fucking season over with, so it should be a shit-show.
So as not to make this post too long, I got out early for a 5.10-mile lumber, and hit my self-imposed 30-mile weekly goal, finishing the “week” with 30.03 miles in 5 days. This week also made, what I THINK, is my 5th week in a row of hiking at least 25 miles. Don’t call it a comeback! Seriously, don’t, the fact that hiking 30 miles over 5 days gives my mind the illusion of being fit, shows how pathetic I am these days.
The miles are not a big deal, but I am happy with the pics from the week, and thankfully, I got a few more pics today that I dig, including an early morning shot of an Oriole in the warm morning sun, flowering nature nubbins, more cobwebs, and a swamp spider about to, if you zoom in, feast on an insect bound in spider silk and awaiting departure.
When I finished, I was putting my gear away and stretching, and I had my second Amish encounter in two days. This time it was a lone Amish man, walking through the lot, grabbing a trail map, and heading into the woods. Given that he had binoculars with him, I suspect an Amish bird nerd. To be fair, there are a ton of Amish around here out on the dirt roads, but in almost three years of hiking at Deerfield, I’ve never seen one. Hope he saw some cool shit.
***
I gotta split, much to do before Spurs come on.
Later.