Gray, Wet, And Cool...Spring (A Muddy Westside Trail Hike)

6:38

Merganser Among The Raindrops 

It's 7:30 and I have been up for forty five minutes, not much of a morning sky, no colors, no obvious sunrise, just a gray blanket of a sky, a gray wrinkled lake surface.  It's 36º out, the yard and walk, damp not wet.  It looks like rain off and on for the day, the rest of the week looks sunny.

A Not So Subtle Request

We did not get outside early enough yesterday to kayak as the wind picked up around 9:30, and we were still sitting here drinking coffee, listening to NPR, reading the paper (spoiler alert...more drug busts in Jamestown).  Because we missed our walk Saturday afternoon, we wanted to get one in on Sunday, so with drove off to the Mt. Pleasant Trail head for the Westside Trail, just this side of Sherman, a quick 15 minute drive.  On the way, we saw our first red winged blackbirds of the spring.

A Touch Of Green

We have been on this trail in all seasons, so we know it pretty well but not well enough, as it was quite muddy in some sections, making it difficult to walk without sinking in.  It had not rained recently, in fact, it snowed about five days ago, so it was a bit of a surprise to find it so wet. The woods are still bare of leaves, though they have buds and, for some reason, we noticed bright orange spray paint on lots of seemingly healthy trees, for what we are not sure.

A Marked Forest

We persevered, walking as far as the Lean To, a covered shed for hikers to spend the night.  Unfortunately, it was a mess, riddled with plastic bottles, beer cans, and trash, the result of pigs who hike!  I am not sure why/how anyone who hikes this trail, enjoys the outdoors, would leave litter like this behind.  We were out for about and hour and a half, slow going because of the mud.  At least the temperature was fine, high 40's, perfect for a long walk.

An Explicit Request

Trash Left Behind By Hikers

We got home around 12:30 and Evie made breakfast, of fresh eggs from the Ryder's Cup and home fries with onions, a good way to start the rest of the day.  It's still too early around here to do much in the yard other than pick up twigs, and Evie's garden is still too wet to work in.  So, we stayed inside the rest of the afternoon, Evie reading her book, and I watched the Cavs beat the Celtics to move to the next round.  Not much action around Woodlawn, nor was there much on the lake.  Perhaps it was too windy.  We relaxed with a glass of wine around 5:00, enjoying the beginning of dusk here on the lake.

About 6:30, we both went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, fried rice.  This time Evie was the sous chef, I was the cook.  I had bought some ground pork on Saturday, so I flash cooked it in the wok, adding hot bean sauce and garlic.  I took it out, then steamed the bok choy, celery, carrots, broccoli and cabbage (we like vegetables), then added the cooked pork and rice, some sauces, and we had a pretty good rendition of fried rice.  It was a good night for TV, so we started with Bill Maher, switched to Nurse Jackie at 9:00, and finished the night off with The Good Wife, before going up to bed to read before sleeping.  I am not sure what we would do if we did not have something good to watch each night...read more I guess which would not be so bad.