Leftovers and news. in A small but passable life.

I snuck off a call to my sis-in-law last evening after Mom left to go play cards. My little brother is alright. It was just his thyroid acting up. It was chest pains several years ago that led to the discovery of the thyroid malfunction. Well then, crisis averted. Very good news.

And then after I posted that last entry I realized that I’d forgot to write about the moon event. I had went to the East side of the RV park and found an empty space to lean on the wall. Right at the predicted time the partially eclipsed moon rose above the desert just South of the Superstitions, between them and Silly Mountain. Beautiful. It took an hour to full eclipse. By that time there were a half dozen golf carts parked in the street next to the one I’d parked there. But as soon as the moon was fully eclipsed everybody left.

The moon was high enough by then that I was able to go back to the house and set a chair out back to observe. After an hour the eclipse was moving off. I sat there and watched most of the moon reappear.

Anyway, another anniversary has passed without me noticing. It was September 18th 2008 when the factory closed and I was laid off. Seven years now without a job. And sometime this month will be the anniversary of when five years ago the 99 weeks of unemployment ran out.

Trauma has turned into numbness and apathy long ago. Why was I even worried? Why did I actually give a shit for so long? And really, why did I ever think that something as stupid as a job actually mattered in the total scheme of things?

Live and learn.

I really should get out of this chair and engage in some sort of physical activity. Or I could just wait until I get back home and on the trail with a forty pound backpack and wish I had. But, like it’s often said and I know from personal experience, nothing really can substitute for actual backpacking. Actual trail miles are the best training. Start out slow and go from there. Just like that damn hill I walked down and then back up with water every day for thirty days back in the Spring. If it has to be done it’ll be done. Either that or curl up and die. Simple, really.

And I’ve been thinking about what extras I’ll be backpacking with. I think I’ll leave all the electronics at home except my LED headlamp. No iPod, Kindle, radio, cell phone (it’s dead anyway!), GPS (I’d have to pack extra batteries), or the two solar d.lites. For evenings in the tent I’ll take my paper journal and a couple of paperback books. For navigation I’ll take the trail guide, compass, and maps.

I’ll old school this two hundred and something miles.

I’ve been studying everything on the website because I forgot to bring the guidebook.

http://www.ozarktrail.com/

So yeah, I’ve been thinking I’ll need to go at the first opportunity after arriving back home, which will be two days after the plane lands. I’m afraid that if I put it off a week (to the last window of weather opportunity for the year) I’ll not be able to muster the motivation to get out of my other chair.

I haven’t quite figured out what I’ll do at the end of the hike, how I’ll get back to the city, but why worry about something so minor before I’ve even hiked the trail?

I’ll probably end up keeling over from a massive coronary somewhere on the trail anyway.

Anyway, I’ll leave this entry with another awesome video: