HOW TO HANDLE DIFFICULT WATER CONDITIONS

I was cleaning out my sock drawer this afternoon and found (among a lot of other things) the directions for a camping water filter I bought in... must've been the mid 90's. In it, there's a paragraph that says:

If you must purify water that is extremely cold (below 5degC/38degF) and extremely contaminated (for example, immediately downstream from a sewage outlet or livestock feedlot), pump the water throught the purifier two times.

First off, if you are next to a sewage outlet or livestock feedlot, instead of stopping to drink shit, why not walk a few more yards to a house or a building for water? I mean, I think I'd hail a farmhand before setting up to fill my nalgene bottle with the brown chunky water oozing out from under the fence. Or in the case of a sewer... if you are standing next to a "sewage outlet"... unless we're talking meteor-strike or WW3 time, I assume there must be other items of civilization around.... like a sink!!! Don't be shy now.

Second, in the extreme case that I actually find myself getting water from a sewer or livestock feedlot, I'll try to make the time to pump it through a few more times... like seven-hundred.

Hard labor

The team hiked into Panther Creek Falls today. Being one of the first relatively cool, or at least not-so-goddamn-freakin'-hot weekends in a long while, we made it a point to get out of the house. It's further than our usual haunts but I was in the mood for pushin' our limits a little.

Aaaaaaaand did it.

It's 3.6 miles to the falls and it's a long, up and down trek.... especially with a 2 year-old strapped to your back. Kerry says he's thirty pounds but that's gotta be old data. Or at least that's how I felt coming back.... another 3.6 g.d. miles.

I didn't remember it being so long! The first time I hiked in was at night and I was drinking beer as I went. Two activiteis that definitely do not go together.... and I'll be the first to admit that there are a LOT of things that do go well with drinking. It was probably twelve or thirteen years ago... back when I was a moron. There were dozens of sketchy spots along this trail where a slip-up could send you on a slide down a rock-strewn hillside if you were lucky or a quick tumble off a twenty foot drop if you weren't.

About an hour from the falls, everyone that was walking back (and there were a LOT of people on this thing today) would warn us about a yellow jacket nest. Apparently, they weren't idle warnings becasue plenty of the people also added that they had been stung. And here we are with two kids and a toddler. As the yards passed under foot, the warnings continued and the hornet scourge grew more and more fierce in our minds. When we got to the point, we hustled through. I saw nothing - no swirling mini tornado of black specks from the cartoons - but felt the dreaded something on my leg - GET IT OFF!!!!! Kerry got stung and so did Finn... he was a little upset, I mean he was crying but it wasn't the piercer and it didn't last long... pretty soon he was back to whacking me on the head with a stick for laughs.

You might wonder about this last bit but it was something I actually encouraged with silly grunts and wails. If you've had a toddler you'll understand. A laughing tyke is faaaar preferable to a screaming, crying one especially when said screamer is next to your ear. I'll take a few - actually quite a few as it turned out - hits to the skull rather than face that.

So we got to the overlook errrrr "overlooking" the falls ansd scrambled down to the little beach I remember camping on back in those zany days... yeah, real crazy... I was with two couples and I was the only one drinking and I don't believe we even went in the water. Anyway, there were tents there today along with a bunch of other people but only a few swimming. But of course Erin and I had to jump in.... Liam did too after watching us for a while. Even Finn played at the edge throwing in sticks and laughing at the romping Labs.

It was a little iffy about how long it would take us to get out and we knew Finn would soon be nearing the limit of how long he would put up with sitting in the pack. We had let him out once along the way and again at the pool but we knew he was going to hit his wall. Anyway, so we hoofed it back at a pretty quick pace. Finn did end up crying in my ear a lot and he sure wasn't any lighter on the trip back but we made it. I was a hating pup at the end... very tired and my shoulders just screaming bloody murder. I was very impressed that neither Erin or Liam whined at all or even made a single comment about being tired.

Then cheeseburgers at the grandparents... a pretty damn good day.

Neptune's Convoy

Here's a little ol'contrast I just noticed last night....

The first drink of a beer is often the best, and is sometimes even replete with majesty in moments like this. But as for the harder stuff, or whiskey as the case may be, the first sip of a double-shot on the rocks - though bracing - is hardly enjoyable to the tastebuds. I'd say the last one, slowly emerging from rolling and sliding thin-film amongst the cubes is the good'un.