Thickening of the Plot

A little philosphy on the topic of writing today.

I'm working my way through re-reading the Joe Pickett novels by C.J. Box. I picked one of them for my top 10 reads of 2025. But, honestly, I could have picked them all. I really like this series. Why? And why am I re-reading them so soon?

I'll answer the second question first. I'm doing them again because I didn't actually READ them the first time through. I listened to the audiobooks while I was down with shingles. First of all, audio is my weakest input channel. Secondly, I usually fell asleep listening and had to go back and figure out where I had "lost it." This may have resulted in missing some things. Third, highly related to the first reason, I take in much more when I see the print, when I can flip back through pages to check something. I'm highly visual.

Why do I like this series? I like the (mostly) outdoor setting, even though it's set in the West which I understand much less than the eastern forests. The characters are a little bit larger than life, but not excessivley so. Joe is (mostly) a little too good. Nate is (mostly) a little too feral. Joe's family is spot-on, except his mother-in-law, who is a little too grasping. Law enforcement at every level is a little too corrupt. But like the Jack Reacher books, sometimes you just want to see justice being done, even if it's not exactly legal.

The writing is good. Here's a sample that's not part of the high-tension plot. "The moon was a perfect thin slice of ice-white in a thick soup of stars that hardened as the temperature dropped near freezing."

Dialog is crisp and is fitted to the character, not generic and stilted.

Here's what got me thinking today. I just finished Free Fire, where the story is set in Yellowstone National Park. Parts of the plot are somewhat believable; the motivations for the crime(s) are solid as eventually revealed. Four people are slaughtered in a remote section of the park that, because of the wording of the law, turns out to be a place where one can commit a perfect murder. In fact, the killer turns himself in, knowing he can't be prosecuted. The rest of the plot then hinges on what was his motive. No one can find a connection between him and the victims. Except Joe, of course.

Now, if I were to give you a five-sentence syopsis of the rest of the plot, you would probably snort and say, "Ridiculous." And you might be right. But the point is, as the way it's written, it works.

So, where am I going with this? As you may or may not be aware, I am stalled on the plot of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp. I have A,B, & C written. I know pretty much what E is going to be. Part D has eluded me for months. I've kept writing, hoping the next piece would appear. It has not. I've written some nice stuff in this transitional section. For example: "I heard no deep, even breathing suggesting that anyone was asleep. I certainly wasn’t. Flapping nylon, moaning wind, the uneven percussion of rain falling from branches as well as the sky, and fricative sighs of pajamas against blankets created a muted sound track for our emotional discomfort."

What hit me today was that maybe I don't need part D to be quite as realistic as I've been thinking. The whole story is a bit ridiculous anyway- set against the background of a Live Action Role-Playing Game- Ana, Chad, and Mariah find themselves compelled to play by a sinister stranger. Can it get more goofy than that? (I've warned everyone that this story is "different" - you'll either like it or you won't.)

Maybe I need to just buckle down and outline a scenario skeleton that makes some sense and then put some muscles and flesh on that baby. I've got people who like my characters. I need to run with that and get them through this bizarre, thick, plot

I wrote 182 words today, and they don't move the story along. Got to fix that.

See Cover of Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp

Bell Choir- January 2026

Today was handbell Sunday. We hadn't practiced these songs much because we worked so hard on the Christmas songs. But we were granted the gift of everyone reaching deep and doing a pretty good job. Sorry that neither video is framed very well, but the music is the important part.

This is "Song of Joy" by Arnold Sherman



The second song we played was "In the Bleak Midwinter." I'd never heard this until I was an adult and was involved with Methodist groups. It's pretty much a Methodist hymn. The words are a poem by Christina Rosetti, a well-known poet of the mid 1800s.

I've put the words below the video.



1 In the bleak midwinter
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone:
snow had fallen,
snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter,
long ago.

2 Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

3 Enough for him whom cherubim
worship night and day,
a breastful of milk
and a mangerful of hay:
enough for him
whom angels fall down before,
the ox and ass and camel
which adore.

4 Angels and archangels
may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air,
but only his mother,
in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the Beloved
with a kiss.

5 What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man
I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him,
give my heart.

I took a walk after church, but the snow is deep and even Cartier Park wasn't plowed. Shopped because we are supposed to get a blizzard tonight and tomorrow, and filled the veggie bin.

Going to bed early. I didn't sleep much last night.

Miles hiked in 2026: 23.4

Cartier Park, Ludington, MI 1.4 miles

See Bell Choir Christmas Part 2

The Second Long NCT Hike - 1995

Everyone seemed to like last night's ancient history post. Since today's news is more snow, I'll just share another early NCT hike.

In 1995, we added my grad school housemate, Mathilda, to our hiking troupe, and decided to check out the western end of the North Country Trail. Prior to that time I'd only driven through North Dakota in the winter, and we had no idea what to expect. Except for the heat, we were delighted!

I'll start at the end. We finished at the western terminus in Lake Sakakawea State Park. There was no lovely sign there at that time, just a small post in the ground.

We were astonished at all the water. I had not previously realized that this was the prairie pothole region and there was lots of water and lots of waterfowl. I've always loved this picture. It just says North Dakota to me. Potholes and headwaters of the Sheyenne River behind us.

We started at the eastern edge of the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area near Harvey, ND, and hiked west. The "Mighty Og" was a privately constructed bit of roadside art that we found hilarious. It's gone now.

I'd love to show you lots of pictures from that hike, but I'll try to limit myself. Almost all the wildflowers were new to me. This is purple prairie clover.

The white pelicans were amazing. They remain one of my favorite birds, although they are so shy I have yet to get a truly decent picture of one.

My scariest night outside, ever, was on that trip as we survived an impressive thunderstorm while completely exposed on a bluff. And we'll never again find ticks problematic. We were covered with them all the time. We had to wipe quantities of them off each other at every stop.

The biggest problem was the relentless heat. It was over 100° many days in a row. If we couldn't find any shade (if we could, it was usually a single tree), we took to setting up our tarp at lunch and taking a snooze. We were super-thankful for the irrigation canal. We continaully wet our shirts and hiked until they dried- under a half hour, and then we did it again. In the evening we swam. It was always there so we had water to filter.

This was the first trip of many where my feet turned to hamburger. It was pretty awful. Mostly I just learned to walk anyway. It took 19 years, and many iterations of attempts to solve this problem, before we figured out that I needed to ditch the boots and use trail runners. The boots kept my feet too hot.

And at the end of these 134 challenging miles, I realized... I wanted to hike the entire NCT.

I had delusions that Chips would be able to do it all with me. Of course, dogs don't live long enough at the rate we were hiking. And his life would be shortened even more. But, to my knowledge, he still hold the record for the canine with the most unique miles on the NCT at about 1200.

Following this hike, I attended my first ever NCTA Conference to see if I wanted to get involved with this organization. Well... I think you know how that turned out.

I edited, did errands, washed dishes, blah blah.

See Allegheny NF- 1994

The First Long NCT Hike - 1994

Hunting up the picture I've used to advertise the Confidence Camp got me looking at some other old hike pictures. That trip was in 1996. The first long hike on the NCT was in 1994. Marie, her son David, and I hiked the 96 miles through the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. It was our first long backpacking trip and we made most of the rookie mistakes and lived to tell.

We had a blast, even though it rained almost every day, and we were almost constantly soaked. It was puppy Chips' first long hike too, and he loved it.



I was just learning how to use a 35mm SLR camera and most of the pictures from that trip are too dark, and they never did all get digitized. But I'll share a few. Here are Marie and Dave signing us into a trail register... probably our very first of who knows how many. I'm fairly confident of the "first" status because of the Finger Lakes Trail logo on the box. That means it was at the NY/PA state line.

Here Dave and I are resting on a rock with a plaque thanking the Allegheny National Forest by the Allegheny Outdoor Club. Interestingly enough, the trail here has been re-routed and the plaque has been moved although it's still on the trail, although not on this rock.

This is one of my personal favorites because it demonstrates how we spent almost every evening. I, in my hard-headed purist fashion, had declared that we would cook over a fire every night. I hadn't yet even bought a backpacking stove. The rain guaranteed that we had NO dry clothes after the third day. Every night we hung socks and underwear over the fire and roasted them. When pieces more directly over the flames got too hot, we'd move them farther out. A few things got singed, but we didn't actually burn up any briefs. It was worth it to at least start the next day in dry undies.

I can't find a color copy of this photo right now. It's not worth finding the slides and turning on the scanner. You'll have to settle for black and white. I felt on top of the world, and I sort of was! Chips was not about to let me get to a higher space than he was.

Now, you need to take a peek at two of these pictures to notice my hiking stick. This is the stick nicknamed "Chickenspit." It is now one of the curtain rods in my bedroom. See link at the end.

I hope you enjoyed, or at least tolerated, this trip down memory lane. I can hardly believe this was 32 years ago.

You can read lots more about it in North Country Cache, available from me.

I did minimal work today- several projects are in limbo until I get feedback from people. I started a new puzzle and read.

See The Project Done

Redbud in Winter

Just an urban tree ID, but hopefully I've sharpened my skill a little at recognizing this in winter.

Eastern redbud seems to grow this far north as an ornamental, but I haven't found any much farther north than Ann Arbor that are growing naturally. This specimen is an ornamental.

The seed pods are distinctive. I should have peeled one open to show you. I'll do that next time.

The twigs grow in a lazy zig-zag. Not very distinctive here, but you can clearly see that the leaves will be alternate, not opposite. You can also see in this and the next picture that they buds are very rounded, almost egg shaped.

I didn't do a good job of catching the specific things to look for when the uniquely shaped leaves aren't on the tree, or even more obviously, the pink spring flowers. But this picture does show the spots on the twigs- lenticels. And, yes, the Dollar General sign behind it. This is a planted street tree in Scottville.

I did take a picture of the bark, but I'm not even going to share it. I need to go back to this tree and find the characteristic that is distinctive and take a picture of that.

Stay tuned for more about the Eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis, in the future.

I was pretty good today. I worked on a number of things, had a Zoom meeting, started working on my next columns.

See a blooming redbud in Ohio