“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 815 (Thursday) – take a hike

The roses want to escape.

June seems to be busting out all over with red roses aplenty trying to escape the confines of the picket fence and pink rhododendrons exploding at the front of the house. The weather, however, seems to have gotten confused. According to one source found online, the average temperature in my area for June is 79 degrees, but today’s temperature of 60 is closer to April’s average of 59 degrees. 

At least it wasn’t raining and a friend and I took a hike. We set forth in Willard Brook State Forest, chosen for its easy access between our respective homes and also because we wanted a hike that was “something not hard.”  

My reason for wanting an easier hike had a lot to do with the wonky knee, which felt mostly okay this morning, but acts up at whim, and why push things and risk a mountainside event.

Green and lush.

We hiked for two hours, and according to my pedometer, 11,230 steps. The woods were peaceful and green with moss covered rocks, fields of ferns, streams both silent and gurgling, and rippling reflections. Also, mosquitos and ticks. We followed a pine needle covered trail over some rocks, across a stream, and through the grill graveyard where dozens of old rusty metal grills were heaped.

There were a couple times we were somehow spun around and had to think things through, find the trail markers, and backtrack, but it was all good. Better trail marking and signs would have helped. We laughed that we may not have had cell phone signals, but we had seven hours of daylight in our favor.

At the conclusion of the hiking, we set out in search of lunch. Our first-choice location, a popular café with porch seating had a sign on the door stating they are currently closed. The second choice was a tavern/restaurant around the corner where we dined upon mozzarella sticks and potato skins before heading back to our respective homes.  

Back at The BungaLowell, clothes were peeled off and dropped directly into the washer. A refreshing shower rinsed off the bug spray and sweat and hopefully, any creepy crawling things that might have been on me like the tick or spider or whatever brown multi-legged thing it was that moved along my hairline and nearly gave me a coronary event in the car while driving.

Lunch!

Over at the laptop, the email inbox contained messages with links to the results for the blood labs and x-rays from Wednesday's medical activities. The bloodwork was all noted as normal. The x-ray report notes arthritis and fluid in the knee and a message from my practitioner to follow-up with the orthopedic specialist she gave me info for yesterday. 

It looks like there could be some good times ahead. It’s been a year and a few months since the cardiac adventures of winter-spring 2021, and eight months since the grand dental event of fall 2021, so it must be time for a fresh round of “getting old sucks, what’s next?” roulette.

I hear this is a game that, once started, never ends. Hopefully that is just an ugly rumor, but the events of the past year or so seem to suggest it’s true. Aging stinks, but a lot of that has to do with the American insurance mafia and the web of complications, networks, premiums, deductibles, and co-pays that allow it to sustain itself  and force tradeoffs for the average working schmuck like groceries or a specialist visit. Zero stars. I do not recommend. Stay young, people.