Wade Mountain

Today I went on a hike to Wade Mountain, a privately-owned preserve a couple miles from my home. I was excited to see two landmarks on the trail: a spring and a rock wall. I got to what looked like a spring, but it was dry. I was so disappointed that I had to double-check my position on my GPS. Oh well, the rock wall should be interesting. Well, it turns out the rock wall was not a tall cliff face, but the following wall built out of small stones in the middle of nowhere.


Out comes my GPS again. Sure enough, I had the right place. Oh well, the last half of the trail was much more interesting, but my camera broke on me and my other cell phone pictures didn't turn out.

I did find out I was in better shape than I thought. Between being overweight and my pack, I was carrying 100 pounds more than some skinny people with small day packs I was outpacing on the trails.

And by the way, if you hike with your dogs, please keep them on a leash. I came very close to having to whack two of them with my pole who ran ahead of their owners and accosted me. If I had been a snake or another wild animal, they could have been seriously injured, and I have seen rattlesnakes sunning themselves across trails.

Heather and School

This morning, Charla asked Heather if she was ready to get dressed for school. Heather thought for a moment, then said, "Um...no thank you." It's funny because she really likes school once she gets there.

Farewell Zachary

Our foster son Zachary left yesterday afternoon to stay with a relative in another state who will hopefully adopt him. This was very hard on us, especially Charla, because when we first got him there was a very good chance we would get to adopt him, so we got very attached. We are going to take a break from fostering at least until the summer, and probably until one of Heather or Michael is potty trained.

Zachary's new mom is a first-time parent, and it made me feel a little guilty that I enjoyed the thought of her very first parenting experience to be bringing an 8 month-old on a cross-country airplane trip, so she was a little miserable while we were miserable.