Happy belated anniversary to this blog. As of yesterday I have been spilling my guts for nineteen years.
It was a “different” weekend for me. Friday and Saturday mostly involved drinking beer at a bar. Want to take a stab where most of my money is being spent?
Speaking of spending money, I thought my hand was going to be forced into buying a new iPhone on Saturday when my trusty “old” (four year) iPhone XS refused to wake from its slumber. I finally used some Google Foo to learn the button sequence I needed to press in order to shake it back to life, and I was never so relieved to see that Apple logo appear. I intend to get a new iPhone soon, but have been dragging my feet due to “Heatgate” and trying to figure out how I can lower my monthly cellphone bill.
Yesterday I did my first Meetup hike. It was a bit confusing figuring out where to meet the meetup group since Clinton Nature Preserve in Villa Rica has a couple of different parking areas. The phrase “look for people pretending to stretch” entered my head as I scanned people wondering if they were Meetup participants. The small group, perhaps twelve of us, equally divided amongst men and women, hiked eight miles at a fairly fast pace (at least for me). It reminded me, perhaps too much, like hashing. I liked Clinton Nature Preserve, and was surprised that I’ve never hashed there. I’d bet a lot of money that the hash, specifically Black Sheep or Wheelhopper, has hashed there, but I have not. I was told that normally a subset of the hiking group goes out for beer/dinner after the hike, but this was not the case yesterday. Since I was “in the neighborhood” I intended to head to Hixtown Brewing in Villa Rica, but then I saw a text from Dean/Jackass inviting me to Flat Iron. Since I have been a bad friend, I decided to drive back to East Atlanta to meet him instead.
Although it pleases some, I’m not ready for this cooler weather. My body doesn’t handle abrupt temperature changes well, and I’m suffering from the ramifications of this today as I don’t feel particularly well. The house temperature just reached 65°F, so my heater kicked on. This might be the earliest I’ve used heat in many years; normally I can get into November before the heat comes on.
I solved today’s Wordle in five attempts; my starter today was STARE. My statistics told me to start with a different word, but I ignored that.
I’m interested to hear how angry some people are with today’s NYT Mini Crossword since some of the clues today were Connections.
Connections took me awhile this morning, but I finally got all of the pieces in place without any errors.
Today I solved Connections
Purple > Green > Yellow > Blue
The darker mornings are also messing with me. I thought I’d swing up to Lowe’s Wehen it opened at 6am to buy more soil. It’s now nearly 7am and I’m still in bed because it’s pitch black outside, and I am comfortable under my warm bedding.
Wordle in 3 starting with COLDS. Connections: I came up with the purple category 1st. But it wasn’t what they named it….but mine worked. hahahaha. Yellow was easy. Had to stare at the rest for awhile but came up with them with no mistakes today. Unlike yesterday where it took me 6 to come up with Wordle and 3 mistakes in Connections. GUTS races at Fort Mountain went well with no glitches. Hope the runners had a good time. It was a beautiful week-end. Colors were just starting but not as pretty as in past years. Flush in MoonPies again. GUTS has put on several races at Clinton Preserve and I think there was a Wheelhopper there where everyone got lost. I have my Women of the Woods hike this morning. I will have to dress a little warmer. I will continue to celebrate Sal-tober.
I saw Stan yesterday as well. He looked wiped out, but said he had a good time.
I’m not surprised people got lost out there, if not for the leader who knows the park intimately, we would have too.
While most of my shoes are still new(ish), I might have to invest in new socks. Recently I have started having problems with the balls of my feet. Of course I’m not a doctor, never mind a podiatrist, so I’m grasping at straws. Yet another health issue…
Wordle in 6, starting with TREAD. What a pisser.
It was a lot of chores this weekend with more to do. Out to the park Saturday to do some prep work for the Games. Thought I was done with the disking, but madam thinks I did not go deep enough, so I get to repeat it all. That’s a good 4 hours wasted.
I finally got to drive the new truck yesterday. Not that I was restricted, just no opportunity. I’ve determined it has a warped rotor as I get it to chirp when lightly braking. That really seems to be the only issue. A sweet ride, for sure.
About to head to breakfast and an oil change. Happy 2nd place discovering the new world day.
-FP
system upgrade issues – making Monday morning EXTRA fun……..
Ugh, sorry to read that.
At least you are not ill, as I seem to be. Of course I’m talking physically since every knows I’m mentally “not right”.
I will say that my seemingly constant barrage of sicknesses and health problems has really made my quest for any sort of happiness harder.
My 1st mtn bike ride with clipless pedals was in 1999 at Clinton Preserve. Allan was trying to kill his new girlfriend – its amazing I didn’t break up with him then.
We had WAY too many people – thanks to the way Cheetah got Wheelhopper to come up with a simple “google” search for mountain biking – lots of people who would not like hashing, and of course we didn’t have enough beer – couldn’t buy beer on Sunday at all back then.
Surprisingly we did not see a single mountain biker yesterday, and we were out there from about noon to almost 3pm. We barely saw a couple of other dog walkers / hikers.
I was hoping to find Paw Paw trees out there. We stopped at the civil war era wooden house and there I found plenty of black walnut and some citrus trifoliata (bitter citrus with sinister thorns).
You hiked 8 miles in less than 3 hours? That is FAST.
If Strava is to believed, we averaged 2.9 mph (8.38 miles in 2:55). There were times I felt like I was marching instead of hiking.
Think I am going to roast some squash tonight, mostly to add some heat to the house later in the evening, and in order to make soup for dinner.
We had a lovely weekend in the mountains. Saturday afternoon we sat out on the deck wearing our winter clothing, and then when it got really cold we went inside and had a fire. I thought it would still be too warm for a fire, but I was pleasantly surprised! Very chill, and chilly, weekend.
Today we are going to the Braves playoff game! NLDS game 2. Braves lost the first game on Saturday so it’ll be interesting.
I tried to be productive, but I’m just not physically up to it today. I transplanted four kale plants and tried my homemade covering. We’ll see how this turns out.
And I’ve already eaten more calories then I will expend today, so I think that I won’t be making soup tonight after all.
Sorry you’re feeling puny. Out on my tractor re-disking pasture. It’s a bootiful day out.
Wordle in 6 by the skin of my teeth.
Lovely weekend!! These cooler temps are my jam for sure.
So next year on the anniversary are we going to do a dramatic re-enaction of the event that was the impetus of this blog? We can have an ITP estate and farm tour and party afterwards 🙂
Hopefully it is not too soon to joke about that.
Hope all is well ITP crew, heading down to Florida next week for some more family drama. As we all know, ageing parents are fun to deal with.
Gonna try making some Taco Bell crunch wraps on the blackstone tonight, seems pretty simple and look quite tasty.
Safe travels, Bob.
I think we need to celebrate 20 years, for sure.
Not too soon, though I remember it as if it occurred yesterday.
Good luck with your family drama, mine ignites more often than I wish.