Lunch with Ramona

  Ramona and I thought it might have been 3 years since we got together, but it's only been 2. We had lunch together in May 2021. I could not believe I agreed to go out in public and visit with someone, but I did. That's got to be it for a while though.

I knew there would be internal backlash from spending such a social year, but I didn't really expect it to be so severe. I really just want to crawl in a hole and not talk.

Anyway, we did have fun, and she has a draft copy of a book of stories she has written. That should be fun when it's ready to tell you about.

Then we went down to take a peek at the lake. The Ludington Lighthouse in blue and white.

The most interesting thing was the jumbled ice. The water was half frozen, and the lumpy ice was rolling in slow motion. I took a video, I thought, but it's not on the camera card. So, I guess you won't see that!

In other news: Again, I spent most of my work time on two of the big projects. There is some hope that one of them will be finished tomorrow. I'd be really glad to get that off my schedule. The other one- labeling hike pictures- well, that will take forever.

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Congested

  I had to laugh at this sign on a dirt road today, especially since I saw no one else at all. However, the day was really full, so maybe it was a warning about that.

For starters, I took Denali back to the trail.

She started out in the rain, but it stopped in another hour where I was. Hopefully for her too.

Then, I did one of my favorite things- driving home on a back road I've never seen before. It began innocently enough on Fire Tower Road. This ended, not surprisingly, at a fire tower. The Udell Fire Tower to be exact. I've shown you this before, but I hiked to it that time.

After the tower, the road got a lot more iffy. No pictures- I was busy driving. When I got to Forest Road 8180 I turned right. I knew where that crossed the trail. It's really straight, but has some fun rolling hills.

Then I turned on Good Road. Let me tell you how incorrectly that road is named. It started out as a fairly ordinary two track. But then it turned into this.

Um... that was still pretty good. I didn't take a picture of the last section. Let's say that I should have turned around, but I was almost to- could almost see- the next actual road. I got out of the car and tested the depth of the mud holes with a stick and decided I could get through if I was really careful. Didn't want to have to embarrass myself with getting towed out of a place like that. Well, I thought I might have to make that shameful call. But I did make it through!

Then I met Ramona for lunch since she was down my way. She used to be a forest ranger, so she enjoyed my forest road story. However, it seems that part of what I drove isn't supposed to be open to vehicles at all any more- the part beyond the fire tower! O well, there were no barriers and no signs. It's being driven. But I probably won't feel the need to do this route again.

Then my car had to go to the shop (not related to this morning's adventure at all). They called mid afternoon to tell me it would not be done today. So I had to scramble to find a ride to bell choir. Wasn't taking a chance on missing again this week!

What a congested day, but all good. (Except maybe the 10 seconds of "terror" when I thought I was going to get stuck). But as a t-shirt I own says, "Bad Decisions Make Good Stories." Now it's just one more great back-roads tale.

See A Day with Denali See Udell Fire Tower

Ramona and Running Around

  The two best parts of the day were, #1, having coffee and a visit with my friend, Ramona, and #2, when it was all over. One of my errands took me to Manistee where she lives, so we spent a bit of time together. Other than that, I went to 11 different places in an attempt to be efficient at the errands that never end.

Other pieces of good news are that "my" peanut butter and my favoite ice cream are available again after being missing from the shelves for over 2 months. Also, I was able to get the package of salad greens I like, the availability of which has been spotty.

The bad news is that it still contains four little heads of lettuce, but the package is considerably smaller. Who do they think they are kidding?

The shopping news of the day concerns bottle return options. I've been keeping a bag of returnables that had to go to Wal-Mart because they were store brands. As you know, this is not my favorite place. But, as I said yesterday, I've been doing some cleaning. And there was an item I had to buy at Wal-Mart, so I added returning those cans/bottles to my list for the day. I walked in the store with my bag of cans and the greeter said, "You can't bring those in here." I was a little shocked since the return machines were directly to my left and I was watching people use them. What she meant was that I needed to go back outside and join the end of the waiting line for the returns. OK, fast forward to over AN HOUR later, I had my little chits of paper worth $1.60, and got to go stand in line at the service desk to cash them in. Wal-Mart had 10 return machines and were allowing only 2 people in at a time to use 5 machines (2 for cans, 2 for plastic, 1 for glass) .

I took most of my bottles and cans to Meijer, where I do almost all of my shopping. Meijer had 8 machines, and all of them were in use. OK, by the time I finished, 3 of them were full and needed to be emptied with no employee appearing instantly to do so. But that left 7 in operation. I waited under 10 minutes to begin my turn.

I give Wal-Mart a grade of D. They don't get an F because they were in some mode of operation. And they don't get D- because they did have an employee dedicated to the bottle area to free up jams and empty machines when they got full.

I give Meijer a grade of A. They have new machines that sort plastic bottles from the cans for you (glass still goes in a different machine). The area was clean and did not smell bad. People did not have to stand outside the store to wait. They had mounted panels between the machines to keep people "distanced." I can't quite give them A+ because they didn't have a johnny-on-the-spot to empty the full machines.

And, it's good news that Wal-Mart actually had the item I wanted to get there.

But I'm really glad this set of running around is over... until I need something else, right?

See Friend of the Day

Friend of the Day

 
I've decided the most interesting thing today was meeting Ramona for coffee. OK, I had pie too.



We chatted and just had fun spending a little time together. That's called friendship, right?

In other news: I wrote the Dedication and Acknowledgements for DMS Mistletoe, did a few follow-up details, and discussed possible audiobook options for the Dubois Files books. Did grocery shopping (always a hateful task in my mind) Other than that, I goofed off. At least it felt that way after so many days of not letting myself take a break.

	See Dinner with Ramona
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Best Chrismas Pageant Ever

 
Tonight I went with friends Sue and Martin to Manistee. We met up with Ramona at the Bungalow restaurant and ate dinner together.



Then Martin, Sue and I (Ramona had already seen it) went to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, put on by the Manistee Civic Players. This was staged at the high school, rather than their usual venue at the Ramsdell.

I'm sure most of you know the story, so let me just say this in introduction: this is the sort of production that community theater is all about. The cast is largely children. I'm sure anyone who has organized a typical church Christmas pageant can feel the irony oozing from this play full of children about a play full of children. According to the program, this was the first stage experience for a lot of these kids, some as young as six years old. And they did a great job. I could understand almost all of their lines- certainly no worse than many plays where the actors are all adults.

I'll just hit the highlights of the plot. None of the other children like the Herdmans. Those kids are mean and dirty. In fact, one boy admits to liking to go to church because it's the one place no Herdman will go.



As Christmas approaches, Mrs. Armstrong breaks her leg and can not direct the Christmas pageant. She gets Mrs. Bradley to agree to take over. But almost no one wants to be in the Christmas pageant because it has become familiar and boring.



Meanwhile, Charlie Bradley makes the mistake of telling one of the Herdmans that there are lots of free refreshments after Sunday School. Consequently, the Herdman's show up and immediately volunteer to take on roles in the pageant, no matter that they don't even know the Christmas story.

Here are Imogene and Ralph Herdman, fighting over the doll that is going to represent baby Jesus.



Mrs. Bradley reads the Christmas story, and these unwelcome kids who have never heard it before add lots of "Shazam," and they ask interesting questions.

Imogene decides she wants to be Mary, and here's the result as she absorbs the power of the familiar tale.


Imogene and Ralph after the wisemen visit. Wiseman LeRoy Herdman (or maybe Ollie, I'm not sure) brings the gift of the ham from their welfare basket.



Finally, I just have to show this picture. This is one of the "baby angels." What else can I say... angelic.


Lots of fun! Time to visit in the car on the way, too.

In other news: I am working on the last editing of Dead Mule Swamp Druggist.

	See A Tuneful Christmas Carol
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Spirit of the Woods Hike - April

 
I made the effort to get up and go on the monthly hike today. Great day! There were 17 of us that met, and 7 people turned around at the point to give them 5-6 miles. Ten of us went all the way to McCarthy Lake and back for a total of 8 miles.



I love McCarthy Lake when it's not overrun with people camping and ATVing, and today was one of the good days.



Here are the intrepid 10 who walked the entire distance.



Plus, Lily the beagle



and Sophie the dachshund did more than the 8 miles. Lily's radio collar registered 12 miles for her.



Both dogs are always very busy exploring, but Sophie gets around to being social too. Her "mom" says she really likes me. She climbed in my lap when I sat down.



Good friend, Ramona, was also on the hike. She's been all over the world since retiring, so we haven't seen each other very much.



We ended where we began (it was an out-and-back hike) at the Big Sable River, by the Vince Smith Bridge.



This hike was pretty much the opposite of the hike I took last fall, 78.3 and walking, except for the two southern miles.

I got almost no sleep before the hike. My goal was to stay awake till 7 pm, but I've already fallen asleep twice trying to do this post. I think I'll move the party to bed.

North Country Trail, south from Vince Smith Bridge to McCarthy Lake and back, Lake County

	See Big Sable Headwaters
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Spirit of the Woods Hike- Hodenpyl Dam Pond

 
Today was the monthly hike for the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the North Country Trail Association. We did walk a portion of the NCT. It's a section that goes along Hodenpyl Dam Pond, just north of what our chapter maintains.

Despite the prediction of heavy rain, eight people showed up. No rain- the weather was perfect!



There was a light breeze off the pond (really a lake). It was a beautiful walk.



The people enjoyed the antics of two dogs- Max the dachshund,



and Lily the beagle. Being a beagle, she had much more important things to do than pose for a portrait!



We saw the fruits of Limber Honeysuckle, Lonicera dioica, a native honeysuckle.



This was a nifty find- a map turtle, Glypteris geographica, sunning itself in the pond.



Half of the people were new, and we had a great time! Ramona (see link below) has just returned from a year in Peru, and it was great to have her back with us too!

	See Ramona Retires
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Ramona Retires

 
Tonight was the retirement party for my good buddy, Ramona. She is returning to "civilian" life after 34 years with the National Forest Service.



Everyone in three or four counties who is at all interested in outdoor recreation knows Ramona. She is one of the most giving and helpful people you could ever hope to meet.



Don't you think the most perfect gift for someone who spent countless hours writing tickets on people who don't know how to play nice in the woods is a shot-up sign?



How about a professional photo of Nordhouse Dunes, from the well-known Michigan photographers Todd and Brad Reed? Ramona spent a lot of her early years with the FS working on the Wilderness designation for that area. You've seen a lot of hike pictures from there if you are a regular blog follower.



Finally, hey! It's groundhog day- what a perfect dessert item.

Wishing Ramona all the best for whatever comes next (and I'm hoping it might include a little more time to do things together).

	See Nordhouse
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