utenzi

I went on two hikes this morning. One, the Quarry path at Eno River I did with a Meetup group and the second, Cox Mountain at Eno River West, I did by myself. All told it was around 7 miles---less than I walked yesterday at the zoo but I also did it in a lot less time. Today I was only hiking for 3 hours as opposed to yesterdays six and a half hours. While hiking on the Quarry path I noticed an interesting looking dead tree well off the path on the east side. I wandered back in the woods to get a picture of it. That's it over on the left. And from there I could see an odd clearing off in the distance, further to the east. Imagine my surprise when I found that the clearing was actually an old abandoned graveyard. It's not really old, the most recent gravestone I saw was from 1925 but many of them were dated in the mid 1800s. While the graveyard didn't look like it was visited very often there were signs of care so some people must visit every now and then. I never knew it wa

Since I wasn't able to sleep on Friday night I headed out to go hiking while it was still cool Saturday morning, just after the parks open up at 8am. We had a lot of rain during the night so I choose Eno River Park to see just how swollen the river was. Hell, it was so swollen the toads and frogs were staying away. Here's a couple examples of amphibians I found hiding from that raging river.

Sometimes you cross paths with folk that you don't have much in common with but just instantly like. That was the case for me when I met Hissy here when I was hiking out of Eno River Park last night around twilight. I don't think my admiration for him was returned and soon we departed and went off in different directions. I'd like to think that both our lives were enriched by the experience but in the end I think Hissy just learned to stay away from hiking paths. You might note that I was very sweaty. For some reason, even on relatively cool days, I just shed water like it's going out of style. It's a wonder I don't just melt away. BTW, in case you're wondering what in 'ell that is around my neck, that's the keyless do-hicky for getting back into my car. I don't like the noise that car keys make jingling around in my pocket so I wear my "keys" around my neck while hiking.

There's a cultural stereotype of southern women that they're sweet and demure. Well, having lived here in the south for over half my life now, I just don't buy it. Take the example found below. I was hiking in Eno River Park after work tonight and taking pictures as usual and check out the reception I was given by someone passing by. The new generation of southern women are a far cry from those in former times. *sigh* In case you're having trouble "reading" the picture---I don't think she's counting to one.

The weather yesterday was just wonderful. The sun was magnificent and yet the temperatures topped out in the low 70s. Perfect conditions for being outside hiking in the woods. Even the tadpoles were enjoying themselves in their odd wiggly way.

It's been a rainy and windy day on this side of RTP but over by Durham it was considerably nicer. As a result meeting up with a few folk at Sarah Duke Garden turned out to be a great idea. Because of the cold winter we've had, the flowers are a week or so behind schedule so not much was out but I did get some nice pictures of flowering trees and early bloomers like daffodils. After wandering around the SD Gardens for 90 minutes some of the group hit the cafe for lunch when it opened at noon. I, being the sociable creature that I am, instead took off for Eno River Park and did the Cox Mountain Loop. Cloudy and overcast but it never rained until I got back home at 3pm.

I was hiking today in Eno River Park. Trying to drop a few pounds due to my doctor being insistent on that point. And lo and behold, I came across a friend I associate a lot more with summer hiking than winter. At first I wasn't sure if the lovely snake was alive or not. There was a bad flood here two weeks ago and plenty of dead critters can be found on the banks of the stream. But when I touched him there was a very slight shiver evident. So I picked him up. Once I'd held him for 30 seconds or so he started to warm up enough to show interest in his surroundings, namely me. Before he decided to make a snack of me---a little unlikely due to our relative sizes, but still---I figured I'd put him back down in a sunny spot where he'd stay warm for a little while longer. And so there he is, making his way amongst some roots. But given the chilly temperatures---at least for a cold blooded critter like a snake---I doubt it'll be long before he's all curled up and dorma

I really like the symmetry of the picture below. I got lucky 'cause the ground was so wet that there were limitations on where I could stand to take pictures. The "stream" that you see on the left if normally just a trickle if there's any water in it at all (and the water running to the right of it is what's normally the path). Just a few hundred yards further down the path the trail just disappears under the swollen grasp of the Eno River. I tried climbing the hills above the river to find a ridge that I could use to go along the river but to no avail. The hills were very steep and there was just enough snow on the hills to hide loose rocks, logs, and holes and the such. I finally had to give up and return to the trail and backtrack. Drat. Here's another picture of me. Note how red my nose and ears are. It was friggin' cold out there. I'd have worn a coat if I had any idea just how long I was going to be out walking around.

I went hiking at Eno River Park despite the 32 degree weather, huge rainfall yesterday, and chance of snow.  I'm glad I did. It was quite beautiful despite the chill in the air. Making it more interesting was that when I got there I was greeted by a park ranger who warned me that river water levels were so high that much of the trail system was under water and the suspension bridge was iffy. Yikes! The bridge is usually something like 15 feet over the water. The picture to the left shows the bridge in the background (the thin horizontal line) and the space between the trees heading right is the submerged path. Once I got there, the water was around 5 feet below the bridge but it had obviously been much higher the night before. Even so, the trail leading to the bridge was deep under water and a very round-about route up a hill was required to get to the bridge. This is me up on top of Cox Mountain. I made it using the camera's self timer, just sitting it on the ground, and didn&

It was certainly a brisk morning for a hike but at least the sun was out and due to all the rain, the Eno River was looking pretty good. The waterfall above was very near the parking lot, between an old gristmill and the blacksmith shop. This part of Eno Park has educational / historical buildings that were originally part of a small settlement named Synnott's Mill (Michael Synnott operated the mill from 1752 thru 1778 whereupon a new mill downstream drove Synnott out of business). We hiked the West Point trails in Eno Park. We started at 10am and it was probably around 35 degrees there. As you can see from the graphic, when I left my house, 30 miles west of where we hiked, it was a lot colder. The hike was supposed to be 4 miles long but we had to shift around a bit to avoid a flooded area so it was probably only 3.5 miles as we hiked it. There were enough hills to get me to take off my hat and gloves fairly soon and eventually my jacket as well.

It's been a month since Julie and I broke up and today I had my first date. The "PJ" refers to "post Julie." I'd love to wax rhapsodic and talk about what a wonderful experience it was. I'd love to but it would be a friggin' LIE. Ye gods this was not good. The woman was a massive emotional bleeding wound. Her ex-husband had done a financial and emotional whoop-ass on her and she just couldn't stop talking about it. Yikes. I hope this isn't what dating is like. Those 4 months with Julie are looking better and better. As is, I don't know if I'll ever dare scoot out of my den here at home and go on another date. Anyone out there just want a casual sexual relationship? (girls only please) I hope you know I'm kidding. Sex is kinda nasty with all those liquids being tossed around. I only go through with that stuff for someone I really care about a lot. Or if she has huge... but I digress. How's that for a scary sight? I decided t

I had today off of work so instead of doing something I should be doing, like mowing the lawn before it rains, I went off to Eno River Park and met up with some other folk to go hiking. I even saw a fellow I work with camping there with his son. This first picture was taken in the latter part of the 5-6 mile hike. It's the Cox Mountain side of the Fews Ford area of Eno River. Spring is definitely started when the green gets this lush. Once the leaves all come in, this part of the trail never gets much sun. Here's the folk in the group I hiked with chugging up Cox Mountain. It's not a very high mountain, in fact most would call it a hill, but it certainly is steep! Aren't the turtles cute? Four of them on one small branch and in order of size. How sweet, huh? I hope to get back to the park in a few weeks to see how much change the leaves coming out will make in my pictures. It's a very pretty park and this next month is the prettiest time of the year there. Late Apri

I hate to mention the phrase "carolina blue" on a day when the unranked Maryland Terrapins defeated the #3 nationally ranked and #1 ACC ranked team UNC Tarheels. And that's 8 out of the last 11 games that the damn turtles have prevailed. But since the phrase describes the picture below so well, I'll use it anyway. I took this today while hiking in Eno River Park, west side. I metered the shot off of the sky and then pointed the lens at the sun to overexpose that part of the sky. As a result, you get to see the rich blues that we had today in the sky and give the trees lining the bank of the Eno River a lot of brooding character. I love how those branches just seem to be stretching out and grasping at the sun. It was supposed to get up into the mid 50s today but I swear it never got much past 45. I was wearing a fleece pullover while hiking and I never took it off. I was expecting to be hiking in my t-shirt and sweating. Nope. Not today. But it was very sunny and a b

Lee and I stayed busy today. While we got off to a late start--don't ask--once we got in motion we managed to take a hike in Eno River Park, wandered the lovely Sarah Duke Garden at Duke University, and had a tasty and somewhat fattening repast at Bullocks, a Durham institution. These turtles were near a waterfall at Eno River. They don't seem to see eye-to-eye. It was funny to see them perched on that log like that, butt to butt (do turtles really have butts?). That one on the left is balanced on its belly with all 4 feet just moving away. I think it was dreaming about swimming. What a silly turtle. Just a few hundred feet down the trail from the turtles was that fellow below. He didn't seem to mind resting on my finger at all. It was kinda weird 'cause usually snakes don't like being held at first, but then settle down. This guy took to it right from the get go and really didn't seem to want to leave when I put him down. He was kinda cute too. Lee almost adopt

I went on a hike yesterday afternoon. I was accompanied by Julie and her daughter. That's them over on the left while crossing a hanging bridge. I'll tell you, that type of bridge sure does bounce a lot! It was a nice hike though a bit short since 10 year olds don't like to go as far as adults do. They drink a lot of water too. I managed to salvage several souvenirs from the trip. Two of them I found last night, and the third tick wasn't discovered until I got back from making a brief run into the lab this morning. The two last night were pretty big and easy to see--adult ticks--but that one today was a very little stinker, nymph stage I guess, and I didn't find that one until it was nice and full of my blood. Damn arachnids! Now my legs are so itchy that it's quite annoying. The picture below is a friend we found on the way back. While we didn't stay and visit long it was nice to meet her. She didn't seem to share my sentiments tho and just scurried of

Above you can see the Eno River, just above Fews Ford near the start of the Buckquarter Creek Trail. I was wandering along the trail with Jules after work on Thursday. I tend to like to take pictures from both sides of a stream so anytime there's a good linkage of rocks, I try to switch sides. The rocks you can see in that picture above allowed me to do just that. Here's the same rocks photographed from upstream, on the other side, a minute or two later. In the picture above you can see Jules measuring the distance between rocks in her head. Studying the situation... Just before I took this picture I yelled to her that she shouldn't try it 'cause the rocks didn't have enough surface area on top for her to land after a jump. But did she listen? This is what happens when people don't listen to my advice! LOL Fortunately Jules just got wet from the knee down. She could easily have landed face first on a rock. Jumping across streams on rocks is for the nimble, y&#

I went hiking with Jules after work last night. We went along the bank of the Eno River which isn't very far from where she lives. That's safest since I don't want her to know where I live. She's a little off at times and it's best to be safe. N'est pas? We came upon those two turtles sunning on a branch about 2 miles up the river and almost immediately after Jules saw the Mama Goose. I was still looking back at the turtles and Jules hissed at me to stop just moments before the goose followed Jules' lead with goosey hissses of her own. Of the two, the goose sounded far more like she meant business. Ha! I didn't approach any closer but I did get 3 good pictures of the Mama guarding her orbs.

The picture below is my new desktop paper. I'm not sure what size it'll be after Blogger uploads it, but the version I'm using on my computer is set to 1680 x 1050. The resolution of my LCD. Click on the pic to see it full size. It's one of the better ones I've taken this year. I took the picture on Saturday at Eno River Park which is near Durham, NC. The last month has been kinda weird for me. A number of former girlfriends, all of whom broke up with me, have gotten back in contact. Romantic interests aren't prevalent here, of course, but just the coincidence of being contacted like this by several women all at once is statistically freaky. The longest gap since last contact, and in my consideration the least likely to have ever contacted me again, is Jan, a woman I dated for about 4 years when I lived in Atlanta. We even lived together for just over 2 years, I think. Or maybe one year. My memory isn't very good with dates. The picture there to the left is

I finally got around to watching the pilot episode of Bionic Woman. It sucked. Totally sucked. I taped the second episode and I think I'm just going to delete it unwatched. This show, despite what seems like a very sizable budget, can't muster even one likable character. After seeing that first show, all I could think is that all those characters really deserved one another. And if you want to go beyond unlikable characters, the plot premise is pretty slipshod, special effects are second rate, character motivation and personality realism are quite lacking. Anybody like the show?