Same day or a different day? Who the hell knows? It’s Thursday, but I thought it was Wednesday, which was yesterday, the day I thought it was today. It doesn’t matter because it’s cold, dark, and sunless for the 25th day of 2023’s first 26.
Stomps & Bootlicking
Wow, you gotta give January credit. As I type this shit on Sunday morning, it is, of course, still dark out, and of course, we are entering our 21st day of 22 featuring grey, sunless skies. Fuck January.
Dogs, Hawks, and Chats
As we enter the second half of January, things remain dark, dank, repetitious, dark, and dank. Except for last Saturday, when the Weather Dogs actually blessed mid-Michigan with our first day of sunshine in 2023, 14 days into the new year. Of course, roughly 24 hours later, it was gone, and Dankuary continues on.
Dreary Hikes & Stiff Ones
With my SSL certificate back in place, I think, THINK!, I have the website back up and running. As with most problems I’ve encountered in my life, I fucked enough shit up that I needed to ask for help; repeatedly until I finally got it sorted. It was like the parable of the leper and the unleavened bread from the 2nd season of Fraggle Rock. I think.
Migration & Dark Thoughts
Dear Reader,
This post was written several days ago, and for that, I apologize. Both for the delay and for the ongoing shit content. I know there are roughly 1 to 3 people who wake up each day anxious to read about the ongoing exploits of a one-time crap endurance cycling junkie turned unfunny, chubby 51-year-old middle-class slacker white guy.
The migration of this site to a new host did not go according to plan because I did the exact opposite of what the Tech-Heads were telling me to do at nearly every turn. I’m not very bright, but you know that. Hopefully, things will be back to normal in a day or six.
— Management
With that housekeeping out of the way, five days into the 2023 Soil The Woods Tour, five hikes are done. Praise the dogs!
New Years & Clever Swines
I was in bed by 10 PM on New Year’s Eve, which is an improvement to last year’s un-celebratory events. And while there was still no “celebrating” of the new year due to me not really caring, my attitude seemed significantly better.
2022 Mental Recap
This is my last post of 2022. A year-end wrap-up post, if you will. Almost all of it has to do with crawling out from the rock of depression I’ve been living under for the past couple of years. Read if you want, or don’t.
Stupidity & Dangerous Curves
Last week’s Winter Storm Elliot ended up being pretty standard stuff for my part of Michigan; however, the gusting 30+ MPH winds, my unwise decision to “hold off a bit longer” until I got the snow tires put back on the 2014 Ford Escape, and the county’s strange decision to forgo plowing or salting the roads meant that I missed two days of hiking that would have easily g0t me to my self-imposed 25-mile weekly hiking goal. Crap.
A Zone 0 Holiday
My family and I are about to spend the Christmas holiday in our own home for only the 2nd time in the past 12 years. The first time was in 2020 when the world was balls deep into the COVID-19 pandemic, so there was little to feel good about. This time it’s ongoing dog boarding issues have prevented us from traveling back to Western PA for the holiday, and if you know me, my distaste for holiday travel, and my love of routine, you know I’m pretty stoked about that.
Stomps, Logs, and Fat
As I start this post in the morning darkness of the winter solstice, I have just cut a large Yule Log (the reason for the season?), and I am eagerly awaiting today’s very limited appearance from the sun before heading into the woods to burn some incense and get freaky with a nymphomanic Yule Goddess in celebration of longer days returning.