Mostly Confidence Camp Prep

The day began with taking Tara back to the trail fairly early in the morning. No rain- hooray!

But the entire rest of the day was getting ready for Confidence Camp. I had to hustle back from dropping off Tara because Doug was coming to make sure we have a driveable lane back to the campsite. Mostly that meant getting rid of autumn olive. (Now, this method is efficient!)

I had a very minimal amount of work that I thought would accomplish what I needed. Doug said, "I'm your equipment guy! If I come over, I'm doing it right."

And he did, of course. He pretty much created a nice clear packed lane.

It continues back through the trees,

and ends up at the open space where we will set up the campsite. Mostly for access to deliver the porta-potty, but I'll need to drive back there to deliver the picnic tables and other gear. We have the use of a four-wheeler for the week which we will use to bring meals out from the house.

A man and his toy.

Then in the afternoon, Cathy and I went out to explore a section of National Forest where the final field exercise of Confidence Camp will be held. I needed to be sure it was going to work well. I'd selected it from a forest map based on some requirements I wanted, and it's not perfect, but it's close by and will do the job. I've already scouted out the other location where we will do a field exercise.

Between going to the woods and walking out to the campsite four times, I walked a fair amount.

Miles walked in 2026: 152.4

Some old roads in the National Forest and out to Confidence Camp four times: 3.5 miles

See Two Picnic Tables

Christmas 2025

Quite a nice holiday, actually.

Om went and picked up Josh to ensure that he would show up. Steve called and we did gift opening with phone commentary. He's done that the past few years, but he seemed to really get into it today with me sending him pictures of the various gifts. So, that was really fun.

After the successful experiment a few days ago, I made a real batch of the low cal/carb cinnamon rolls. These turned out even better. I learned a few things the first time.

The table looks good. But wait... five plates?

Yup! Doug and Cathy were going to go spend the day with one of their daughters. But all the kids are really sick, so they are waiting a few days. That was perfect- they came and ate with us. We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry relish, and a low-cal chocolate dessert. That list sounds impressive, but we really kept it simple. It's also a meal that most everyone will eat.

Cathy brought a game we all played. It's called Marbles and Jokers. It's very similar to Sorry, but it will work for three to eight players, and there is more strategy to it. Doug won if anyone cares. The board is very ingenious. Each player choses a color and you hinge the sections together with a 2-D ball and socket joint to create the track.

We tried to get a family picture. Well. Josh says this is his smiling face. We couldn't find a location where the light didn't bounce off my hair. Om looks pretty good.

As is so true in most holiday homes, the day started with cleaning up the kitchen so that I could make another kitchen mess. The second one is partially cleaned up. Om took care of all the wrappings (most are fabric and bags, so it's just a matter of folding them and putting back in the box. The only paper wrapping here is on things someone else brought in.)

Cathy gave me a jigsaw puzzle. Actually, I have six new ones. I may have to start one this week. She also brought some pumpkin bread and sweet snacks. That bag of mint M&Ms got opened and devoured.

I'll share some of our loot another day. Right now, I'm beat. And too full of food.

See Food Coma

Fun with Doug and Pam - Day 392

Icky rainy slush happened outside, but inside Pam wanted to do a food experiment. We made crepes.

Yup, you probably already figured out that if I was in Petoskey, I was with Doug and Pam. These weren't to be dessert crepes, but savory ones. Half were stuffed with chicken and half with veggies. We had them for dinner. The chicken ones were great. The veggie ones were good, but we think they need more cheese and some onion, and maybe some mushroom sauce drizzled on the top. The two little ones alone are the leftover batter that Pam and I spread with jam for a snack.

After dinner, we had to do music. Pam played harp, and Bill tried out the pentatonic harp.

Pam and Doug did an Elvis song. We all sang together a lot and fooled around on a lot of instruments. It's the usual evening entertainment when I visit here, and I love it!

Tomorrow's weather isn't going to be wonderful, but we are going to see if we can get in a few miles. It's acting more like February than April.

See Over 4400

Christmas Party

  Tonight we were invited to a Christmas dinner and party at Doug's brother's house. I didn't ask anyone if it was OK to post their pictures, so I'll just show you the lovely table setting.

The food was delicious, I managed to hold my own socially with at least a couple of people, and we sang Christmas carols. Doug played harmonica and Pam led on guitar.

Just for fun, they ended with an Elvis song!

I hope each of you is having just the kind of Christmas you need.

See Chores and Fun

Chores and Fun

  One of the things I find particularly satisfying is to work with other people to accomplish things that need to be done. Today, that translated into helping my friends with chores. Let me first say that it was amazing to be sleeping in a house where I didn't even know that the wind was blowing, the temperature dropping, and the snow accumulating outside. There were about 14 magical inches of white stuff to be removed. Doug and Pam have 2 Air BnB units and one had renters coming today, so we needed to clean things up. Pam and I shoveled the foot paths.

Doug, however, gets out the big guns to clear the driveways!

Later the neighbors stopped by, and their little boy was waiting with great anticipation for Doug to put on some music and sing with him. It was very cute.

Pam and I worked on a little fix-it project in the house that we hope to finish tomorrow. I love helping people with things like this. I also got to read some more, and then we did music again in the evening. Tonight was guitar and accordion. With Pam you never know what instrument it will be the next night. I love it!

I can't really tell you how much these people mean to me. They are two of my dearest friends. They say they are so happy to have me with them for Christmas this year, and it couldn't possibly be a better place for me.

See Buck, Buck, Pluck

Playtime!

 
There probably aren't enough wonderful words available to cover how much fun today was!

I'm starting with a picture of the view from the North Country Trail. This is the first place a hiker coming from the east on the NCT will see one of the Great Lakes. That's Lake Michigan far in the distance. But I'm getting ahead of the story.



Doug was headed out to a business conference, so I made sure I got a nice picture of Doug and Pam before he left.



That meant that Pam and I could do what we liked for the rest of the day!

First Pam and I went into town so I could make an initial contact with the local book store. They didn't buy books on the spot, but did look at them and take the information. The person who makes the final decisions was not in. But at least I've made a start. We did another errand on the same trip, and had wonderful hot pretzels at the Petoskey Pretzel Company.



Then we came home and had leftovers from last night for lunch, and they were still yummy!

After that, we went for a snowshoe walk up to the top of the property. They donated an easement through the Nature Conservancy a number of years ago that took a half mile of North Country Trail off road. This past year, they added a really nice shelter that just needs a couple of finishing touches to be complete. So we went up there and checked on things. I hadn't yet had the chance to see it.



It's got bunk space for 10 people!



Next, we hiked to the observation platform where you get the view I began with. This is a really special place to me because it's where I ended my entire North Country Trail hike in 2010. The friends who came to hike the final three miles and celebrate with me stood on that deck and sang "The Happy Wanderer."



The actual NCT mileage today wasn't worth counting toward Hike 100, but it was like visiting an old friend anyway.

We flagged a trail through the woods on their property so that her AirBnB guests would be able to find it easily. When we came back inside we couldn't believe it, but we'd been outside for about 2.5 hours.



And, you didn't think Pam and I would get through a day without music did you? We played piano (she taught me some new stuff), accordion (I taught her some new stuff). But then, look what I got to try!!!! You would get totally bored if I added all the exclamation points this deserves. It's a half-size cello, and it's missing a string. But Pam said, "that doesn't matter." I'm thinking, "Really?" But she was right. I played two songs with only one missing note. We're not saying how well I played them, but I learned how to hold all the pieces of things, and how it basically works. I'd never, EVER, tried playing a string instrument with a bow before.


Pam always makes me feel like I could actually play music better if I practiced. She's an amazing teacher.

And then we played a really fun card game until we were ready to head for bed. What a day!

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Petoskey Friends

 
I am in Petoskey with my good friends Doug and Pam. This was just a "little" walk down to the recycling station, but it's really quite a big deal. Doug has survived cancer this past year, and is very much in the still adapting to walking again stage. It's SO good to see them!



I couldn't resist taking a picture of this pile of yummy ingredients for the dinner. It looks so great, and smelled great too.



Pam cooked them up and mixed in baked spaghetti squash for a really wonderful vegetarian dinner.



Then Pam and I got right into the music. We did accordion and guitar for a while. No picture. Maybe tomorrow. Then we switched to harps. Pam can do ANYTHING musically. But a few years ago, she went nuts for harps.



She even got me playing. We played the "Going Home" theme from the New World Symphony. Yes, with two hands!



Awesome evening. More tomorrow!

	See last Petoskey Visit
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