Pretty good weekend presented in full Fall weather regalia. Friday night I finally tried the inline skate thing. Everybody laughed at my indoor/outdoor beginner gear but did not laugh at my starts or crossovers...thank you Sunday night public skating in Ellenton. Much debate over the rest of the weekend whether or not to pony up for some 'real' skates and perhaps take a serious shot at speed skating. Stay tuned I guess. After skating, we filled my craving for food so spicy it would melt my face off by going to White Orchids for some Thai noodles that were delicious and just a single red pepper flake away from the unpleasant pain threshold.
Saturday morning we did some back-splash tile shopping and brainstorming, then saddled up for an AT hike. It is nothing short of madness that the Appalachian Trail lies within 15 miles of our house and we haven't hiked any of it yet, but now we've got about three miles of artificially high-alpine* trail along the top of Blue Mountain under our belts. The day was perfectly perfect and we could have, with proper optics, seen our house from up there. Instead we saw one lethargic snake and many raptors circling coal piles far below.
Finally, great news! We got this gizmo called a D-V-R which means that when Michigan loses a humiliating football game at home (again) in the middle of the day, I can watch it whenever I want and it shortens my life by two hours instead of three! Awesome!
*Artificially high alpine because trees would be able to survive there if not for the Superfund-mediation-required levels of zinc in the soil. Hooray mining! Our belief is that the mountain was basically strip mined and used as a tailings pile simultaneously, which today is manifest in a grassy plain atop an unnaturally rocky ridge.
Sunday, November 08, 2009