Things I saw today

oh sh*t

even the trees were scary!

...and now the cascades
Cold lampin'
Tree hugging hippie!
Twin trees with fuzzy socks

Ramsey Cascade Trail

The call of the wild(erness)

Howdy Peeps, the Wizard here to satisfy your hunger for more posts. Today is Wednesday and the end of my work week. I couldn't be more pleased with that situation; I am ready for a break. Friday can't come too soon and my anticipation is slowly building. This Friday, weather permitting, I will be hiking in the Smokies with some friends. I began venturing out into the woods this January, in an effort to improve fitness and have some special time in the forests of the most visited national park in the U.S. The park is truly a place of immeasurable beauty and each week I find it luring me back with the promise of undiscovered trails and unparalleled vistas. This week we will be hiking to the Ramsay Cascades, the highest waterfall in the park. It is not the longest, nor steepest hike I have undertaken since rediscovering the outdoors, but if Harvey Broome is right, we are in for a picturesque trek. I will try to find some space in my pack for a camera so I can give you a glimpse of what waits at the end of the trail. Until then stay happy and healthy.

Old Dog

So by now my loyal blogfans, if there are any left, are probably wondering what has happened to their beloved Wizard. What could possibly make a marginally reliable blogger slow his posting down so much? Well don't hold your breath waiting for the answer. I could ramble on about how I can't remember the new password to the new Google-ized Blogger, how work has been busy,how I've been spending most of my spare moments hiking and playing with family, how the rigors of everyday life have beaten me down to the last bloody nub of existence, how I have had to learn to type with my toes because a Chinese hand lotion that contains urusiol oil has rendered my fingers useless, itching, oozing stumps, or how I have just not felt like it recently. Those are plenty of good reasons, just pick a few and let's make up already. Big Hugs!

Enough about me, how have you been? Do you still like pickles? Good, me too! Except not those little sweet nasties. Gerkins, gherkins, jerkins, yuck. One late night in college, I recall stumbling thirstily over to the fridge to grab a Coke after a night out on the town. The end result of my sleepiness plus booze plus more booze was mistaking a jar of gherkins for the can of refreshment I so desperately wanted. After unscrewing the lid (right about now is when the two sober brain cells briefly thought about sending up a signal flare, but the rest of my drunken brain cells promptly puked all over them both, rendering the flare useless) of my much-anticipated Coca Cola, I unhesitatingly knocked back a huge swig of sweet gherkin juice. Not the best idea on a drunk tum tum, 'nuff said. To this day I can't drink Goldschlager or eat sweet gherkins.

Things I have learned recently:
Car repairs are more expensive than you expect.
Everything weighs a lot if you have to carry it 7 miles up a mountain.
Bossy, yelly people are not fun to be around without earplugs or indifference
Some parents do horrible things to their children in public.
Some people kill other people for no reason.
Mass media sucks.
Thinking about losing my daughter makes me cry.
My wife can rearrange a room with the best of them, and look hottt doing it.
Grill season is good.
Father-in-laws are often right.
I miss blogging.

Have a good night and thanks for believing!