Hello Again... It's Me

I know, I know.... it has been quite a while since I last posted. It has been a very busy summer and it went by oh so quickly and I don't have anything much to bring to show and tell. How sad.
We finally have had some really lovely summer weather the past couple weeks. It has been a long time getting here and I have made sure to take more time to get out and enjoy it. A lot of walking especially and Bruce and I and Jett even went on an adventure on labor day Monday which I will tell you about in a moment.
We had a couple of visits this summer from friends and family. And of course I have been working on fine tuning my health with interesting results. Since my diagnosis back in March I have worked on my diet and exercise plans and have really seen a drop in my blood glucose numbers, in the last couple of weeks especially. I have even been able to dramatically decrease one of my medications as I have been experiencing quite a few lows of late. This was one of my goals and I am happy to say I have reached it and would like to go off of the medication completely one day. Wishful thinking? I hope not.

Now... on to the adventure. There is a lake behind our subdivision called Nordic Lake. There are several ways to get to different areas of the lake by going on paths through the forest. One is across the street from our house but this path would not end up where Bruce wanted to get to so one evening a couple of weeks back he went exploring and found the path which would take him to a spot he wanted to go fishing at. He suggested we pack up a picnic lunch on labor day and the three of us would make a trek through the bush to the spot. We were quite a sight to see.
I think we must have looked a little bit like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer!! Jett, our dog, is a chihuahua, hardly the adventure seeking, rough and tumble dog breed but he is spunky and weathered the adventure very well I must say!
Here is Jett doing what he likes best... resting!

We had on our hiking boots and gear and our Tilleys to protect our heads from the sun. I planned the menu and packed wieners and all the hot dog paraphernalia to bring along with us and Bruce who picked up a huge backpack earlier this summer packed it with our small Coleman barbecue and his fishing gear and even a chair for me to sit on, most of which he had strapped to his back. I have to say we must have looked comical. Bruce was fully loaded and I had my diabetic kit around my neck and Jett on his leash... Bruce insisted on carrying the cooler and his fishing rods. He can be such a he-manderthal sometimes. We had to walk a ways on the main road past residential houses before we got to the path in the woods. Then it was about a twenty minute walk through very dense brush. It was extremely rocky terrain, some of the paths were quite narrow and somewhat overgrown with trees and brush but they were well marked fortunately. Somebody had previously taken the time to mark the trail so there was no danger of getting lost out there. I found it difficult travelling with the dog in tow. He managed alright but I treaded gingerly over some areas and he was tugging and pulling me along. I was quite nervous about losing my balance and I wised up on the way back and let him off leash to follow along after Bruce. He kept very close by so no need to worry about him taking off and it was much easier for me to make my own way. My biggest concern was coming face to face with a bear but we lucked out and never saw any. After we arrived at our spot guess what I discovered I forgot to bring.... yeah... my camera. What else is new? Really too bad as it would have been nice to get photos of us fully loaded and walking through the thick brush to our final destination. And the spot where we landed was breathtaking. We were perched atop a high rock. This is where Bruce set up my chair for me and we tied little Jett up to a nearby tree and he stayed up top with me while Bruce scrambled down the rock face to the water below to try his hand at fishing. When Bruce's brother Burton was here visiting this is the place they went one of the days to fish.
After a couple of hours we set up the barbecue and Bruce cooked the hotdogs and I did my best to set up the condiments and the other food but there was no where really to do that so we just did the best we could. I thought that perhaps sandwiches would have been easier and would have made our load that much lighter. Hindsight is 20/20. After lunch we cleaned up and Bruce went back down to try his luck at fishing once again. He never did catch anything although he had a couple of nibbles. We saw and heard a beautiful loon who occasionally swam by and then would disappear under the water to try to catch a fish for his lunch and a few minutes later he would turn up again quite a distance away at another part of the lake.
--Photo of Loon on Lake--

This time of year is truly optimal for outdoor activities... it is generally not too hot and there is normally a lovely little breeze. Virtually no bugs to speak of and very little humidity. That day was one of the nicest of the whole summer.
Around mid afternoon we decided to pack up and make our way back home. As we passed by one of the houses along the way a gentleman sitting on his porch inquired as to whether or not Bruce had caught anything since he was carrying his fishing rod! I decided it really wasn't about the fish but more about the time communing with nature and each other. I hope we can do it again before it gets too cold.
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Bruce the Warrior Berry Picker

Bruce has spent a good deal of this summer picking berries for me to put in the freezer so that we have enough for the winter months and we have also eaten fresh berries almost daily. We have many varieties of berries growing wild all over town as well as outside of town, all free for the picking. There are raspberries and black berries growing on one of the paths we walk along daily. We always stop to pick handfuls and enjoy a nice little snack during our walk.
Back to my story... Bruce has several spots here and there to go to pick blackberries. He likes to get there before somebody else gets to them and picks the bushes clean. If he doesn't find any he moves on to one of his other favorite areas. One of the places he likes to go is over to our local ski hill. There are several spots there where the black berries grow. He went the other evening and tried spot number one and found it picked clean so he moved on to another area and found someone there already, picking away.... a huge black bear!! Now I would have obliged the bear and found another spot to pick... far far away from there but Bruce doesn't like to share his bushes with anyone, least of all a bear. So he began waving his arms and yelling at the bear to get out of there. The bear stood his ground and refused to go. Bruce and the bear stood staring at each other for about five minutes... this was Bruce's account so it likely was a much shorter time than that. Eventually the bear stood up on his hind feet to make himself look bigger I would imagine and try to scare Bruce away from his bounty. But Bruce remained undaunted and tried to make himself look larger and continued yelling at and waving his jackknife at the bear. I guess it must have worked because the bear turned and sauntered away and left Bruce to his berry picking. Despite winning the battle Bruce was a bit leery and kept looking over his shoulder just in case the bear decided to come back to teach him a lesson!



Now that summer is pretty much over hopefully life will settle down and I can get back to blogging more regularly. See you next time!!