Sunday, August 29, 2010

Damn! I Needed That!

A solid two miles out on the trails. It has been four days off from walking and I felt it, today. lol

It was really lovely today. A little windy... We had to push against the gusts. Gusts that were hard enough to blow up under my glasses and bend my eyelashes down so I couldn't see. How freaky is that? The wind did serve to keep us cooler, tho. Even though it is only in the seventies, the sun was high and shining directly down on us and the wind kept us cool and comfortable. No heat exhaustion, today.

It was so pretty out at the lake. The water level is up, the water was a dark steel blue, ruffled by the wind and reflecting the vault of sky above it. The sky was a great bowl of blue, nearly cobalt at the top, shading to cerulean and then to turquoise. Great rafts of huge, fluffy clouds in gradations of bright white to steel grey moved with matronly dignity across the sky, refusing to allow the brisk wind to hurry them on their way. All of the plant life was very green, fresh and deeply watered thanks to the recent storms.

The final quarter mile or so of Normal Trail was pretty chewed up. Shoulders washed away, the trail roughed, in lower spots much of the packed dirt carried right away, culvert pipes exposed to the light of day. Along the tail of the trail, the ground was still damp, attesting to the high water level. Fences were down, debris caught in long, filthy streamers in the barbed wire. And among the garbage and dead plant material, a green plastic Adirondack chair, upside down and coated with mud.

The trails, even in the chewed up areas were still in decent condition, attesting to the good quality work that goes into constructing and maintaining them. They were level, for the most part and easy and safe to walk on. The City has it's work cut out for it, tho to repair those areas.

After our walk we decided to pop down to Sonic for Happy Hour drinks. The males got fruit slushies and I had a small diet cherry limeade. My standard Sonic slurp. We sat in the car, slurped out drinks and listened to music and chatted for a bit. Sadly, our enjoyment was brought to an end when a woman pulled up next to us, rolled down her windows and lit up a cigarette and let the wind carry the smoke directly into our car. She didn't get the hint when we started hacking and coughing, so we split. Look, I know that she has every right to what she wants in her own car but it would have been nice if she had remembered or even cared that smoke travels on the wind and that not everyone enjoys breathing it.

Well, my little fingers are typed out, my friends. I think I will go read blogs and so forth. :D

11 comments:

  1. I do love a windy day. :-) Sounds like a great walk! I appreciate others' right to do as they please, but I have asthma so I also get a little annoyed at smokers sometimes.

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  2. I bet it felt great to be out in nature today. Do you have your next walk planned? No gnats!!

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  3. It sounds lovely up in your area of AZ. It is still rather uncomfortable down here in PHX. Muggy after the storms. And right now 100 degrees.

    I'm contemplating entering a dog show in Chino Valley in September. It's always been so hot and dusty when I've been up there for this show in past years. But still thinking of going none-the-less. 70 degrees would be grand!

    Glad you had a good hike!

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  4. What a glorious picture you've painted! Thank you! I can almost see the beauty of your walk - and almost feel the wind on my face.. Again, thank you for sharing...

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  5. Wow, your writing put me right there with you! Beautiful!

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  6. I used to smoke a lot and for years, so second hand smoke doesn't bug me. I actually still enjoy the smell. Sometimes non-smokers hints of coughing and whatever else just makes smokers want to smoke around them more. Haha. I was never like that though. I was always self conscious of that habit.

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  7. I love when you wax poetic!

    We had 98 yesterday. Not fit for man nor beast. And this is why I would take winter over summer.

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  8. Hi, I found your link via another link. I'm especially drawn to blogs written by people who have large amounts of weight to lose because I started out at 355 back in October and I understand what a huge undertaking it is. Please come and visit my blog, I'd love to have you over. :) Keep up the great work. It's especially nice to be able to get outdoors and enjoy nature.

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  9. Have you ever taken any pics of your trail? It sounds so pretty...well, except for the stalker taratula.;)

    WTG lady, you're doing great!!

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  10. I always love reading about your walks - they make me a little jealous imagining gorgeous nature and then silly because I'm sure there are beautiful places on the mountain that I just need to get out there and go see! Thanks for sharing :)

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