D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

  Well, it wasn't a crime. But it will be a return. My brother, in his infinite wisdom, has orchestrated a backpacking adventure to a lake that our dad took us to when we were kids. Several of the progeny units from his side of the family are coming along. I hope we can keep up with them. One I know of, has been attending a 'boot camp' program, and I'm afraid of her, very afraid. She will probably kick my hiking boots right off me. Some of us girls are all excited to practice different methods of starting a fire. With and without modern tools. (Wait a minute missy. Are you properly authorized to be playing with fire?) You betcha, Chief Wet Blanket, said sibling unit made me stop at the forest service and get a fire permit. (Fine then.) In anticipation of playing with fire, I cooked myself up some char cord, which is like char cloth only using cotton cording. I actually crocheted up some craft cotton for one batch. What used to be lime green, is now black as night, and safely contained in my altoid tin. I tried it in the back yard and just one spark from my fire steel ignited it into a [albeit short lived], coal. I'm ready to go all caveman like http://www.lesstroud.ca/survivorman/home.php. [My hero] I have just finished baking my most important camping food. Cheese/oatmeal crackers. Can't face the hike without them. Also I made a batch of peanut butter cookies. I may or may not share. It depends on how wicked tough ole' miss 'boot camp' is. If I think she's going to vote me off the island, I may keep my secret weapon crackers to myself. Hmmm… perhaps I could purchase the immunity idol with them... [I actually dislike that program with a deep and abiding hatred. But I couldn't pass up the analogies.] (Cheap literary devices. You are a sucker for them.) I KNOW! Anyway, I'm full of bravado now, but we will see how I'm doing half way up there when I may be wishing I had packed fewer things. Especially because no one on this hike actually remembers how many miles it is from the trailhead to the lake. This makes me nervous. I like to KNOW when to start whining. Sunny is staying with my sister-in-law. She got to pick which dog to keep, so Ben is coming with us. I didn't think I could deal with TWO dogs in the mountains. We leave early in the morning. All I have to do is load up my backpack. Right now, everything is spread out on the couch where I can look at it, and have my last chance to eliminate the superfluous items, should I notice any. ***   So here is a picture from long ago. It actually explains a lot about me, and why I am the way I am… look at the company I used to keep… You can click on it to make it bigger….     That's my brother in the middle with the red hat and the goofy grin. He hasn't changed a bit.