Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.
– Derek Zoolander
As predicted, the week has been a busy one, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting on the trails. I just couldn’t go as far as I may have wanted to.
Wednesday, I got to the trails just after 7 AM and did a quick 4.39-mile loop. A loop that was only “quick” because I saw virtually nothing that I wanted to photograph, and the shots I did take were complete shit. Not one keeper!!
After two days of pseudo-slack, I was up and at the trails at 7 AM on Monday in search of miles for feetz. Miles were found.
It seemed like Thursday was the first day Ma Nature deemed that spring could officially begin, and I was eager to embrace the day proper.
Despite arriving home late from our trip to Lansing (More on that later, but I will say “late for me,” is arriving home at 11 PM, but that is 2 hours minimum past my bedtime!) I was still up at 5:50 and eager to get in the woods.
The week thus far has been productive in the lumbering and photo departments.
While the mornings are still pretty chilly, spring is definitely in the air, and the forest is slowly becoming alive with activity and burgeoning nature nubbins that will soon turn the trees green.
I was fed up with the lingering post-flu cough I had, so on Saturday morning, I took a not-so-speedy trip to the local Urgent Care, where I arrived just as their computer system crashed, thus preventing me or any of the 4 people ahead of me from being processed and seen in an “Urgent” manner.
Thunderstorms moved through the area before sunrise on Friday morning. Along with that came some warmer temps and I fully expected to see the woods brimming with activity when I hit the trails (in shorts!!!) a bit later; it was not.
On Wednesday, I got out a 5.12-mile lumber and felt pretty good, other than some continued coughing fits left over from my seemingly endless battle with the flu, which I contracted a mere 28 days ago.
Other than a couple of birds, I didn’t see too much catching my eye to photograph, but as usual, I did find some woodsy goodness and nature nubbins here and there.
The weekend into Monday, Ma Nature teased mid-Michigan with thoughts of Spring, but as I’ve said many times since moving here in 2010, you can’t really rely on Spring to bring consistently warm days until early May—maybe.
So, I was not surprised to venture into the woods wearing gloves and carrying around the regret of not wearing my “winter” jacket (actually a Bontrager cycling jacket with easy-to-access rear pockets, but don’t tell anyone) instead of the lightweight rain jacket (also a Bontrager cycling jacket disguised as a hiking jacket. Shhh!). At least my hands were warm as random snowflakes flitted around in the air.
Another week of lumbering is upon me, and, in turn, word salad and crap photos will be thrust upon you like an unwelcome visitor.
With a knockdown case of the flu now behind me, I promised myself that I would not sit on my ass all weekend, and I think I did an OK job.
