As I stated in the sticky post at the top of this blog, this is an attempt to post through the year rather that one big dump at the end of the year. So, here we are 10 days into the year and I haven’t made any posts yet. I’m getting the suspicion that I might be setting a pattern for the year with posts at random intervals. Hopefully at least one or two each month.
The year started as usual with me and the boys participating in the First Day Hike at our local state park. As a board member of The Friends of Peebles Island State Park, I usually end up leading a portion of the crowd that shows up. We have had upwards of 300 in past years and have broken it into two hikes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We had 110 people in the morning and 75 in the afternoon. I led a group of about 15 in the morning. A good friend was in my group and took the photo of me using a picnic table as a soap box to lecture the crowd.
Family tradition is to do lunch and a movie for each of our birthdays. Christopher’s birthday is January 2 but we usually celebrate his in the afternoon after the first day hike. This year he opted to do lunch at a diner and watch “The Princess Bride” on TV at our house. You know you’re getting old when your child gets his first AARP card. Yep Chris turned 50 this year.
Now that the year is finished I had time to review the data from my smart watch. In 2024 I walked a total of 4,914,953 steps. According to Garmin that means I walked 2,457.48 miles. Seems like a lot until you look at the daily averages – 13,428.83 steps per day or 6.71 miles per day. Thirty years ago that would have been an easy lunch time run!
My usual daily walk is over to Peebles Island State Park and back. Some day I wander through the woods off trail. On one of those recent bushwhack efforts I found an abandoned camp of a homeless person. Here are a few images of the camp.
I pondered my own ancient history while looking at this camp. When I was in the first grade my parents went their separate ways. They never divorced, probably because neither could afford it. For about 9 months we lived in the back room of the grade school janitor. If not for Mr. Cooper we could easily have been homeless. At the end of that stint in one room we went on welfare. It was another 4 and a half years before my mother could get a job that supported the family of three. So when I saw this I was truly thankful for the good things that have come my way over the last 50 years.
We live on an Island where the Mohawk River joins the Hudson River and get to watch the many moods of the river(s) as they rise, fall, freeze, and thaw. This winter we have had a couple of 4 or five day spells below freezing. Ice formed in the slack spots but before it got thick swift water broke it up and created interesting jumbles of ice.
Then walking through the woods I found a fungal growth on a downed tree that made me think of cream sickles!
Come back often to see what else I have to bore you with.