Monday, July 31, 2006

Amazing peaches

I had one of those hard as a rock peaches this morning and they were really great. The peach flavour was quite pronounced. It is tempting to go back and pick up enough for a cobbler. I think the weather would be the only thing stopping me. I sit in an air-conditioned work place right now, but I suspect that it is quite hot and sticky out. I am not sure I even want to do anything when I get back to the apartment. Maybe if the weather starts clearing out on thursday, I will head back over to the store and see if the peaches are still on sale. They really are worth making a peach cobbler for. And now that I think about it, I am not even sure I have a recipe for a cobbler. I must, Betty Crocker has everything.

They are predicting that the weather will be over 100F tomorrow and definitely up near 104F on wednesday. That is after the humidex is factored in. Not sure if that will be in the city or out at the airport. Our airport is out along the sea and maybe cooler than the actual city. Nothing like ashphalt, buildings as wind blocks, and car exhaust to make a city hotter. I was even thinking of painting too. Oh well, I have ends to sew in on my lastest knitting project. The sooner I finish that the sooner I can sew the pieces together and move on to the next project.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Lady in the Water

I decided spur of the moment to go catch "Lady in the Water". And it really was a last minute decision, I ended up power-walking over and still missed about 7 minutes of ads and previews. I was a little sad to miss previews as catching them at that the theater is the only way I se them. I don't watch TV and I am not going to waste more time on the internet with watching previews. I did still catch a few so that was good.

The movie was mostly enjoyable. There were a few points were they jumped to one conclusion where I thought it would have been something else and in the end I was right. A few times I was surprised. Mostly, I was disappointed that there was no big Ahhh moment as with M. Night Shamalans other movies. For me that was a real disappointment. It was a good movie, if you like supernatural or weird story lines. But knowing who the director was hyped the movie up more with an expectaion of a twist ending, or at least a twist in the plot. This movie came across as someone making a few bad decisions that right themselves at the end of the movie. Wow, big twist there!

I went to Whole Foods after the movie and raided their bulk section. I find that the priced at WF are quite expensive, but they have a really nice bulk section which is my only point in going. I can get cheat flour for making breadd and they have nice hard bread flours. I also found some whole wheat pastry flour which I hear can be substituted into baking recipes like cookies with little noticeable differences. So I want to give that a try. It is a good enough excuse to make cookies, especially as we will be getting scorching hot weather the next 2 days. I also picked up some nice peaches. They are a little on the hard side but looked good, the price was right too. Who can pass up cheap peaches? So since the weather will be too hot to cook, I will have to wait a little beofre experimenting some. I thought I would break out a different cookbook once a week and try a different recipe. I have some cookbooks that I don't think I have opened since buying them. That is a shame because some of them have some really nice looking recipes in them. When the weather cools, I will start experimenting.

Cat woes maybe?

I called the pet store this morning to find out if it would be a problem to bring my cat in on a leash and harness for the low cost vaccination program they have. I asked specifically if the people running the clinic will have a problem, not if the store themselves will have a problem. The asnwer was, "its okay, actually a harness is better than just a collar". So I tossed a very unhappy cat into the back of the car for his second ride of the week. I put a blanket on the back seat as last time he dug his claws into the seat and left little holes. He was not a happy cat but he was happy to get out of the car. I got him into the store and stood in line. Then I received the potentially bad news, they will only take cats in carriers. I explained to the lady that I called ahead and verified and that my cat is really well behaved. She had to check with the vet. He allowed it but I got reamed out. Not sure how having a cat on a leash and harness is more hazardous to their health and safety than a large dog, or a pissed off cat in a carrier. One guy in front of me in line, had large, heavy-duty gloves with his carrier. I wouldn't want to have to reach into that carrier unprepared. My cat was relatively calm and the dogs were not making him panic. Even after his shot, he calmly sat there and didn't do anything. I think the vet is on crack. Reaching into a carrier is dangerous too, and dealing with some of the dogs can also be unsafe. So next year when it is time to get the booster shot, I will have to get the carrier back from my parents. I will try to get a smaller, free one off Freecycle to trade with them. Then I can walk the cat in and shove him in the carrier at the last minute. The cat was remarkable calm when I placed him in a cart and did some shopping. Maybe he knew I was buying him food and treats. I was sad he didn't like the treats. I will ry them on him again but looks like I wil have to give them to my parents for the other cat. Oh well. One less thing for him to gain weight over. He is topping in at 19lbs.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Working on Saturday, again

So my crazy day didn't seem quite that crazy. I got up a little early this morning so I could get to the REI garage sale before the store opened. I tossed the kayak onto the car and off I went. There really wasn't anything at the garage sale that was worth inpulse buying. I was going to get a windshield for my roof rack but it was the wrong size. I also didn't want to linger too long as they had everything outside and it was getting hot. I went into the store to pickup a few things, new tubes for my bike, biking/kayaking gloves, and gorilla tape. They didn't have the gorilla tape but they did have small 12oz nalgene bottles. All my other little bottle, ie the non-nalgene ones, have leaked at some point into my pack. So it was time for a replacement, and I know from past experience that my older, larger nalgene's have yet to leak. So in the end, there is nothing like a nalgene bottle. I then went for a quick paddle at the nearby lake.

I got back to the apartment with enough time for a quick shower, a quick bite and then off to work. I ended up staying at work for longer as it was nice and cool. So I did some computing and wrote my field report on my Keen sandals. I like them, they are slightly nicer than the ones I was hiking in on the trail last year.

I came home to find my roommate trying to fix the bathroom doorknob. It was really too hot to be doing work in a small room with no window. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the original knob but apparently he did. So what if the door didn't latch, there is a slide lock that we both used and that kept the door closed and locked. Now that the new knob is in, the door doesn't close properly and the latch is in the way. The door makes much more noise when being closed. Not what I want to hear at o'dark thirty in the morning. Oh well, its done.

Singelringen


I just bought myself a Singelringen. I like the idea behind this. It is a ring for single people to advertise their single status, and to meet up with other single people. It appears to be popular in Europe but I don't know if it is here. Although they claim that the community is growing and spreading across various countries, I seem to get the feeling it is either geeks who troll the web (guess this is me) or people who like hype, like stars. Mostly it is a really nice looking ring so I figured why not give it a try. I am single after all. I think that the more people who get the word out, then the more people will be aware of the rings and maybe more people will be wearing them. Now that would be nice. In the mean time it is just a nice ring.

Friday, July 28, 2006

It doesn't just rain here

It doesn't seem to rain here, actually it tends to be quite humid then we get torrential downpours with very impressive thunder and lightening shows. Just like in the winter, it doesn't really snow mostly it is a little raining with a few flurries, or we get dumped on so hard they spend days trying to clean up from the effects. So tonight the humidity finally broke with a very impressive display of raw furry. I hope no one was caught out in tha especially if there were trees around. The wind was quite powerful. I had to go around closing windows which made the apartment quite warm. The power went down for a few seconds, flicked then came back on. Good thing. I didn't really want to eat my supper alone and in the dark. I had a craving for chili and cornbread os I made some chili and cornbread. I put some cheddar on my chili. I don't know if there is a difference between the orange cheddar and the white or if it is all in my head. Could also be that I may have bought a milder cheddar this time without thinking about it. I will have to get a sharper cheddar next time. The cheese flovour seemed lost in the chili. I am going to go veg out in an AC cooled room, or at least in a room with better ventilation, then hit the sack. The REI garage sale is tomorrow morning and I thought I would bring the kayak and get some more paddling in before I have to run into work.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

An absolutely crazy day

I had to leave work early today so I could bring the cat to a shaving appointment I had set up two weeks ago. So that meant I was running around trying to get everything finished up by 3:30. I just made it out and rushed to get back to the apartment to pick up the cat. I had put his harness on him this morning to lull him into a false sense of security. I missed the red line train by mere seconds so I had to wait for the next one. As it was a hot day, the subway tunnels were quite hot. Finally I made it home. I quickly changed into shorts, grabbed a wonderfully healthy snack of a chocolate bar, then grabbed the cat. He was not impressed. I put him in the cat and turned on the AC full, and he just started to howl. I ended up hitting rush hour traffic and was a little late for the appointment. It was then that I received the worst possible news of the crazy day. The cats rabies shot had expired and they could not take him. I was crushed. I'm sure the cat was not impressed either. I drove home dejected. I will have to get him his rabies shot which may present its own problems. Last time, the people running the low-cost vaccinations at the Petco in Providence, wanted to not take the cat as he was not in a carrier. So now that my parents have the carrier, I hope that the place in Woburn will accept him. I will phone ahead to check as I am not driving him all the way out there for more bad news. I am really tempted to get my own set of heavy-duty clippers and do it myself.

So I figure, since I am at home earlier than I had expected to be, I might as well whip up a quick stirfry to go with some leftover brown rice. I had the veggies in the pan cooking when I went into the fridge to find the rice to nuke it. Low and behold, it was gone. I thing the roommate ate it so I tossed some ramen noodles into a pot of hot water and cooked them up. Into the stirfry they went. It was a good stirfry but I had my mouth all set for rice. Oh well, no worries. I grabbed my knitting and went off to the local knitting group meeting place. Only 2 other people showed but it was nice and relaxing, especially after having to deal with the cat. I was covered in cat hair, so I had to change my shirt before leaving for knitting.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Kayaking fun

I took the kayak down to the pond that is about 1 mile away. It was rather hot earlier and I was hoping there would be a cooling breeze. There was but I then had to paddle against it. I guess you can't get everything for free. I think I might need to get some paddling groves as my hands are a little tender. I think my legs are going to be complaining tomorrow too. Oh well, this is called getting into shape. I joined an online paddling group, so that will mean more opportunites to get out and meet more people. I think if I had extra padding in the sitting area to brace my legs against, I might not get so sore. At least on a good note, the wet suit kept me fairly dry from all the dripping off the paddle. So no wet bottom this time. I was just sweaty instead.

I have to go into work again this weekend. I think this is going to be a busy weekend. Saturday I have to do an hour of work in the afternoon. There is the possibility of catching a movie with a group of people Saturday night, depends on what movie they pick. Saturday morning is the REI garage sale and while I am up that way, I might as well toss the kayak on the car and go paddling around Lake Quannapowitt which is nearby. Sunday I was thinking of going hiking in Breakheart to try to pick some blueberries. Not sure if the season will be good for them or if there will be any or if I will even be able to get enough. I might have to see if I can get all of next weekend off so I can go up to the Whites and pick a bunch then. Looks like a crazy weekend, I think Thursday will be a little crazy too, but Friday should be a littli more relaxing, I think.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

My new do

It seems everyone who has seen the new hairdo has liked it. Or I should say that I haven't received any remarks otherwise. But just because everyone else likes it doesn't mean it is what I want. While I do miss the long hair a little, this is much more manageable and easier to care for. I think I will have to play around with various lengths and styles to find one that I will ultimately like and keep. But for now, I feel like I have made a step towards getting out of a rut. I hate being in a rut because then there is no challenge and without challenge it is hard to better myself. And if I get bored, I find I get nothing done then I get depressed over getting nothing done. This becomes a vicious downward spiral. So I am changing things up and trying to stay on top of my life. Actually I am trying to get a life so I can stay on top of it.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

After

So this is the final cut. I am not really sure I like it but it is out of my face and much more manageable. If you click on the picture there are more photos in Flickr of before, during and after. It looks better wet that when it dries. I may have to go shorter as even this cut doesn't seem that great. I will live with it for awhile and see if I can pin down what I really want. I may have to just keep trying different style until I find one that works. Doesn't help that the wave in my hair works against the cut and that I have a cowlick on my forehead.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Getting there

This was the hair style the stylist gave me after looking through books and recommending a shoulder length one. It was supposed to be long enough to plaf with but short enough to manage. Of course the one in the picture was for someone with straight hair which I apparently don't have. This cut ended up not working for me. The next day after wetting it and putting gel in it, it was limp and lackluster and made me look like I had a mop on my head. So back I went to try to get it fixed.

Before

This was the length of my hair before getting it cut. As I was always wearing it in a plain braid, the length was being wasted and was actually starting to feel a little childish. Mostly it got in my way and seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. Why should I have to fight with my hair everytime I do something. Time to grow up and get something a bit more mature. So off to the haridressers I go.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Log Driver's Waltz

So I have to thank my brother for making my day today as he found a link to "The Log Driver's Waltz" on youtube. He sent it in a rather cryptic one line email. Short, sweet and to the point. I have recently discovered youTube but I never thought to look there. It has not become part of my searching strategy yet. So my long hectic day was livened up a little and this put a smile on my face.

Water can kill you but...

Sure, everyone knows water can kill you. I think some people have actually read about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. So it was with great amusement that I sat on the T watching people walk across the wet floor of the car like they were walking on a tight rope. Some people didn't even want to enter the section for fear of getting their feet wet. The seats were dry so only the floor had been hosed down. The amusement factor was in watching someone in regular street clothes walking like they were afraid a little water would dissolve their clothes. I can understand if someone had a really nice suit or dress on that they might want to avoid the potential for dirt, but most poeple who sat in the area where really not dressed that nicely. So in the end, my commute was make a little more amusing by watching people deal with the wet floor.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Every have one of these attack you?

I saw this and realized all these years that I must have had my own personal one hiding out with me. I seem to have lost the goblin as I grew up, although it could be tath I simply now have underwear that fit properly. The picture is a little scary inthat the goblin giving a wedgie also has a wedgie. Boing Boing linked to this website which I read about this morning and there are some really spectacular pictures inthe gallery. The artist used a biro pen, which I assume is the cheapest pen you can get from Bic.

Monday, July 17, 2006

National Film Board of Canada

Most Canadians know what the National Film board of Canada is. And I think all Montrealers have heard of the NFB building because when traffic backs up past that building, it is bad. Most people have seen the little cartoon film shorts on tv between shows. I remember one about the log driver's waltz. I also remember one about "The Cat Came Back". So I was pleasantly surprise to read today that the NFB has released some of the film shorts on their website for public viewing. So I surfed over to see if the logging song was their but alas, I did not see it. I did see "The Cat Came Back". I think I also remember seeing "The Sweater" once too. So it will be nice to explore a few Canadian made shorts. Now I wonder if the historical ones are also somewhere on the internet. Not sure if those are done by NFB or by some other government agency, but they where neat to watch as they had some little tidbit of history incorporated into an interesting little story that aired in a double commercial ad spot. Much better than watching an ad.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Finally went kayaking

So I finally went kayaking today. I managed to get the kayak onto the roof of the car without hitting the car. I did manage to bang my shoulder really good in the process though, that will be sore tomorrow. I tossed in the 240cm paddle to give it a try to see if maybe it might be too long. After using it I am undecided, I should compare to the 230cm before deciding which will be my full time paddle and which will be a back up paddle. I had to stop at REI on the way to pick up a life jacket. I found a realitively nice one that mostly fits. The fit is a little loose but there is still a little room to cinch some of the straps tighter. I could have stood for a size smaller but this is what I get when I go last minute shopping. I will try on a smaller one next time I am at REI just to check if I should have the smaller one, but this way, if anyone wants to borrow the kayak, at least the vest will fit a wider range of people. Mind you, I am not sure I really want someone else sweating in my life jacket. One of those thing I should not think about. I did ask if there was an easier way to lift the kayak onto the roof of the car without having to fork out for new roof saddles. Seems the towel on the trunk method is the way to go. So I tossed an old towel in the trunk for next time. At least it should save my shoulder.

For a first time out on the water, I managed to do an hour of paddling without too many problems. I did notice that the kayak is not as stable as I remember. Not sure if this is me, the kayak or me remembering a better kayak. I also somehow managed to give my legs a workout. They were a little sore, probably from bracing against the inside of the kayak to help stablize it.

So saturday was a bust and today I did everything. I went to REI, did some kayaking, stopped for groceries, worked on some knitting, and cooked a nice supper. I decided on Indian so I could use up some of the old brown rice I have sitting around. The faster I use it up, the sooner I can start on the new, fresh bag. I actually made near perfect brown rice on the stove this time. This is actually saying a lot. I have tried unsuccessfully to cook this brown rice for over a year. I started on the stove at 35 minutes then went up to 45 minutes then tried in the oven for 1 hour. The oven was better than the stove top methods as they were uncooked. But the oven was cooked and a little wet on the bottom and not quite cooked and dry on the top. This time I did 1 hour on the stove top. I started at a high simmer than stepped it down with the cooking time. It worked really well. I will have to see if I can reproduce the effect next time. I made a nice chicken with tomatoes and garam masala from the new Madhur Jaffrey's Indian cook book I just bought. I also had some lavosh bread in the freezer so I ate some of that with it. While it is not a naan substitute, it was a good bread to accompany the meal. I like good food, too bad it settles in around the hips and stomach. If I eat less, that means more good leftovers. grin

Friday, July 14, 2006

What a crazy week

It has been a crazy week this has been. I think I managed to leave on time only once and I came in late on friday but did end up leaving after 5:00. Normally I leave at 4:30. There has just been so many things coming up with trying to get animal protocols written that are acceptable, getting our special cages "properly" cleaned by the facility and getting mice in them. I also have to go in to work on saturday to put the mice in the cages. So that will eat up a good three hours of my saturday. Most likely I will get nothing accomplished. I have almost consistantly been putting in an extar half hour every day for a week now. If this continues for another week, I will have to chat with the boss and see if we should consider changing my hours. Likely we will keep an eye on it for a month then evaluate it. The extra money will be nice but I am sure Uncle Sam will be trying to get more of it then.

On a good note, the yarn I ordered is in and I can start working on some new projects. I did notice that I am short on some needle sizes for a few other porjects so I will have to break down and buy more needles . Knitpicks has a nice interchangeable set that I am looking at getting. Too bad it doen't have the smaller sized needles, the set starts at size 4 but I also use size 1 on a regular basis. So everything I ordered last week has arrived. I got the cat an appointment for a haircut, and I have one for myself too. I am not sure how much of my hair is coming off. Knees are getting better, I have been doing some strengthening exercises and some stretching. Progress is that I can finally do up and down a flight of stairs with little to no pain. I must remember to not overdo it though. I really don't want a set back.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Soooo Sore!!

I am so sore today. I am sure most of the pain is associated with lifting a kayak, repeatedly, onto the roof of my car. I did try using my shoulder to help with stabilizing and so I have a sore shoulder that feels like a bruise, not just a sore muscle. So it really didn't help that at work today we are trying to set up some water-jacketed incubators. Basically, there is a hollow shell around the incubator that is filled with water and it helps maintain the temperature. And of course it can't take just any old water. It has to take the special deionized water which is not the same as the house distilled water. So we had to cart in water from another part of the building, fill up a small carboy with water (it held about 15L ish) and lift that ontop of the incubator stack. We had filled the bottom one yesterday so today we were filling the top one. The stack is taller than I am and I had to lift several full carboys onto the top. My sore muscles were not impressed to say the least. And it was another crazy day at work. I have been working a little bit over my scheduled time. I will have to keep an eye on the accumulation. If I need to work 37.5 or 40 hours to do my job, I will have to talk with the boss about either increasing my time or delegating out more duties.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Kayak lifting

If you want a really good workout, try lifting a kayak onto a car by yourself. That is what I did tonight. I really want to be able to just load the kayak on the car and go. This would be hard to do if there is no one around to help me with the loading so I spend about half an hour trying different ways to dead lift the kayak onto the car. I found a method that seems to work consistantly so I will stick with that. I do have a bit of trouble getting it off the car so I will have to work on that. The hard part is that the kayak is bow heavy and I cannot simlpy grasp it in the middle, I have to grasp the kayak closer to the front. The kayak is also long which makes for an unwieldy load with lots of potential to hit anything and everything in its path that I can't immediately see. So basically, I shouldn't park next to someone when I load or unload. I did find a good use for the Molson keg. It is now in the garage with the kayak and I can use in as an intermediate drop from one of the hooks while I go deal with the other hook. Puts less of a strain on me and prevents dragging it along the cement.

It was a crazy day at work and I am not sure lifting a kayak onto a car was a good way to end it. I did start the day bright and early with a bike ride. It is nice and cool in the morning and a nice refreshing way to wake up. My roommate joined me and we biked down to Arlington center along the bike path. Didn't go much further than that as I didn't want to push my first bike ride of the year too much. I wanted some exercise and some knee strengthening. Hopefully I achieved both. Only tomorrow will tell.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Pirates: Dead Man's Chest

So I didn't really have time to properly organize an outing but I did drop a few emails and managed to gather a few people to watch the latest Pirate movie. I really wanted to watch the first one before the second one just to jog my memory, but alas a few people came late and we didn't have time to watch it. Instead we watched the Iron Giant, then ran over to the theater. I really was't that impressed with the film and some of the fight scenes were just so ridiculous that I was laughing more than trying to stay caught up with the film. I found that laughing at the stupidity of some things caused me to lose interest in the film and broke the story line enough that I could follow the ending. It was a shame, it seemed to have some potential but the story line ended up coming across as too simplistic. Is that a reflection of what Hollywood thinks their audience can handle or is that what people are demanding?

Friday, July 07, 2006

Crazy day

I had so much to do today and this week that I can't beleive it has only been a three day week. I actually feel like I have done five days of work. I have been fighting with the animal care facility to get things done in a timely fashion but they seem to just plod along at their own pace. They don't seem to care that we need to get experiments up and running if we are to generate data so we can apply for grant money so we can afford to have mice. I set up some cages down in the facility a few weeks ago and when I raised the possibility of putting mice in them next week they mentioned they needed to be sterilized first. They have been sitting there for three weeks and they couldn't get it done by now? I needed wire grids placed in cages containing mice and it was the same thing. They needed to be sterilized. So I gave them to her a few days ago and haven't seen them since. So I don't know if she put them in our other mouse room or if they are still waiting to be processed. This is so crazy. I feel like they are a large time sink, sucking away all my free time while I try to get things set up and started.

So in an effort to get things moving ahead at work, I was running around and ended up staying late. I still forgot things that needed to be done. I had to hit the grocery store where I forgot to pick up a few things as I didn't have time to think about what I really needed. Mostly I have been forgetting to do little personal things. I need to fax my driving record over to the insurance company as Massachusetts is not crediting me for the 13 years I have been driving. They are basically treating me like a new driver and so the insurance company doubled my preminum as an unintended result. The insurance company explained it to me and did find my old Mass driving record so I basically need one more year of clean driving to get the full discount. I think I will start keeping lists on my iPod since that is always on me and I can connect with both my work computer and my home computer. Hopefully that will help. Now all I have to do is remember to consult with it.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Relaxing holiday weekend

So the hiking part of the weekend was kind of relaxing but the rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing. I really only set up the tent to shake out all the pine needles and that was it. I am sore from the hiking as I hit my trail pace and just flew along. The thru-hiker behind me was just barely gaining on me. That was how I guessed he was a thru-hiker. So due to the reather stiff pace I tend to set, my calves are sore and so are my ankles. But on a good note, the knees, that where braced, feel good. They still give me some pain but I think the exercises the therapist gave me are helping. The ankles are sore as I seem to have lost the muscles from the thru-hike and have to build up my ankle strength again. I either wear the sandals to work or shoes which have a fair amount of ankle support. So my ankles have gotten lazy over the winter. I have to work on that. There is going to be some fireworks tonight but I doubt I will be able to stay up sate enough to catch them. I do have to go to work tomorrow, and I really don't sleep well when I go camping, so I will likely hit the sack early to try to catch up.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Semi-relaxing weekend hike

This was a mostly resalxing weekend to go off and hike in the White Mountains. I ended up hiking in the same area as last time for sveral reasons. The first reason is that it is an easy hike and therefore easy on the knees. Secondly, the parking area, while it does got a little crowded is free. Thirdly, I know the area and it is a nice area. I guess I just was not in an exploring frame of mind this weekend. Rain was predicted and I didn't want to have to wander around in the rain trying to find a good camping site. I did get rained on a little and later that night, the rain really came down and gave the tent a good testing. So I managed to give four pieces of gear a good rain testing. I did end up sharing the camping site with another hiker who was slightly annoying. Mostly I wanted to veg out and relax, alone. He also claims to sense spirits which isn't anything I am interested in or interested in hearing about. I was glad to see him off on the last morning. I do sort of regret not having made it to Zealand Hut which had been my plan. But it will always be there, and bluberry season is soon so I can visit then. I did visit with the caretaker at Ethan Pond. She was nice to chat with and I will have to stop in and say hi next time I am in the area. I did find out that Dingle, the caretaker at Kinsman Pond last year is at Imp this year. I would like to drop in and say hi to him too. On my way out this trip, I bumped into a nobo, Slow Leak, so I gave him a lift down the road a few oatmeal cookies I had on me. It felt good to give back some of the kindness that was shown to me while I was hiking the trail.